"Selphie, explain the lay out of Trabia Garden. You two go with Selphie and snuff out any one causing trouble, and you two go tend to any injured. Keep them safe from further harm. And you, come with me. Any trouble, contact me right away. Any sign of Galbadia, call me right away."
They all saluted their commander.
"One more thing," Squall said softly, "Don't fuck this up."
They spoke in unison their acknowledgements and off they all went after Selphie did what she had to do. One SeeD remained. Following close behind Squall, obviously scared as he shadowed him. He didn't have time for lack of confidence. "What are you afraid of? Me, or war? Either answer, you've choosed the wrong profession."
The boy stayed silent. He was clearly lost for words as he stumbled to find himself. Squall looked over his shoulder. He was definately young, not unlike what he was when he first came to SeeD. Although, when he was scared, he never showed it. He thought of his first SeeD mission, how he was scared to death, but still followed every order Seifer gave him. And he enjoyed the thrill of the fight. How each monster he cut down gave him confidence. It gave him strength to bring down something so much bigger than him, something so unrelenting. He saw so much of himself in this kid, it scared him in a way. Hopefully he was some good with the weapon he was given.
"Just stick by me kid, and you won't get hurt." He gave the boy a slight reassuring smile.
As they stepped through the freshly paved streets, they saw nothing out of the ordinary, not counting the panic that was setting in and the mass of gatherers. Squall didn't understand it himself, there wasn't enough destruction to cause this much panic, yet these people were hysterical. But to the people of Tibia, this was there home, and someone had invaded their home and attempted to rob them of everything they knew. That they spent to long rebuilding. He forgot that he felt the same way during the Galbadians attack on his home. Steadying his hand on the hilt of his Gunblade they continued further into the depths of the city. Things were eerily quite, nothing seemed amiss, while at the same time something seemed wrong. He stepped forward when a shuffling of feet caught his attention. He turned around in time to hear the cry of a lone soldier as he ran towards them, just mere metres away. The boy stood their frozen, horror clearly etched onto his young face. He made no attempt to grab his weapon, or even move out the way of the deadly assault. Squall drew his weapon, the sun hitting the blade and sending a blinding gleam of light off it's shiny surface. It was clean, like it had never taken a life before when infact, it had taken too many. Squall lunged forward and the noble lion Griever etched onto the end of the blade seemed to give a roar of it's own, as he swung sideways just as the soldier was about to bring a lethal blow upon the frozen SeeD. Pulling the trigger to deliver the fatal deafening blow, the soldier fell to the ground.
Bending down Squall grabbed the soldiers shirt, wiping his blade clean before returning it to his side. Standing back up he looking at his comrade. Fear had literally frozen him solid. Placing his calloused hand on his shoulder, he gently shook him, reassuring him that it was okay. "Hey kid, I told you I had your back." He removed his hand as the kid gulped back the lump in his throat. Bending back down, Squall placed a finger to the mans neck, his heart had stopped. Looking him over, he realised there was nothing to identify him. Squall had never seen this uniform before. Shrugging, again he stood back up, signalling to get the boys attention.
"Go back, tell Selphie there are a few insurgents causing trouble and to keep her eyes out. Obviously they anticipated us being here. I don't know what their plans are, obviously they haven't harmed anyone here. Just let her know, and stick by her side. Help her out and do whatever she needs of you."
He just nodded in compliance and ran off. Squall was now alone, the way he liked it. Rubbing his forehead he continued his way into the heart of the Garden. He was glad to be rid of someone who could compromise the whole mission. He didn't want to have to baby sit anyone right now, let alone have the death of a boy on his hands at the moment as well as everything else. Raising an eyebrow, he noticed something shoot passed infront of him. It was so quick, he wondered if he was seeing things. Drawing his weapon, he held it at the ready as he cautiously stepped forward. Studying his surroundings, the only thing out of the ordinary he had noticed was the size everything was now. It wasn't the same third world Garden he was used to. It was almost in a class of it's own. His Garden was still better in his mind, but this was getting right up there.
Briefly distracted, the only thing he heard was a loud bang. Closely followed by a second. He had enough time to turn around before a metal object flew right passed his head, just barely grazing his cheek. He had just enough time for his eyes to focus on the figure before him and the gun he held in his hand before the second object, which he now knew was a bullet made contact with his thigh before exiting right through and out the back of his leg. The man fired again, this time giving Squall enough time to lift his sword and the bullet grazed off the hard metal with furious sparks and sounds. Again he fired, Squall judging and dodging again. Twice more and he was able to do the same until again the man pulled the trigger and this time, only the sound of the barrel turning could be heard. A look of horror covered the mans face as he realised he was out of bullets. The SeeD commander smirked and he ran forward, watching as the man before he fumbled around for his bullets and trying to reload his pistol, skidding to a halt he pulled the sharp steel of the blade against his clean shaven neck enough to cause great discomfort but not enough to cause any pain. Not yet atleast he thought to himself.
"Who are you and what the fuck are you doing in this town." Squall hissed at him, his rage clearly audible in his tone.
The man knew who the guy in front of him was, and knew that he was not to be fucked with. He gulped hard, causing the sword to dig in to the skin on his neck causing it to bleed. When he finally spoke, he spoke with a thick eastern accent. "I am no one. And I am here just doing what I was told."
"Don't fuck with me!" Squall barked at him. "Who do you work for and why here? What do you want?"
Barely shaking his head, the mans eyes full of fear. "I do not know who he is. We didn't speak to him directly. We only did what he told us, so he would not hurt our families. We only did what we had to do. We were only meant to take care of you or Cid. Both eventually..."
Before he could finish, Selphie and the other students burst through the door. One grabbing the guy by the arms and pulling them behind his back to restrain him. Pushing against the back of his knees, he fell to the ground. Squall withdrew his weapon, and returned it to it's side. Mentally annoyed that he'd have to clean it later. His sword was as much apart of him as his scar.
"Take him back to Balamb. Put him in a holding cell, I don't think he has much to say, but Cid may want a word with him. Let him know that he may know more than he is letting on. Also, tell him I'll breif him when I get back. Get going, now."
Feeling faint for a second, squall held his forehead, his headache had definately worsened and he couldn't make sense of any of his thoughts. The group of SeeD's finally left. The constant pounding inside his skull was beginning to drive him crazy. He was running full of adrenaline from what had just happened, but his head was a major dampener on it.
Selphie took a cautious step forward, a look of concern on her face. "Squall... You're bleeding." She whispered as she extended a cautious hand to reach up to his cheek before her eyes were downcast.
He stepped back to dodge her hand, he didn't like anyone touching him. He reached up and wiped his cheek, looking down at the blood staining his hand. What was a new fucking scar, he thought to himself in anger.
"Squall..." Selphie said again, her eyes welling with tears, "Not your cheek... Your leg."
He looked down, blood clearly staining his pants. And right as his eyes laid sight of it, an intense pain shot through his leg, causing him to keel over in pain. He knelt down, trying to regain some sort of composure. It really was mind over matter, while he hadn't noticed it, his mind had pushed the pain to the back of his mind. But now, it was almost too painful to bare. Not that he hadn't been through worse. Through clenched teeth he tried to stand. He wasn't weak, and he wouldn't be considered weak. Not in the eyes of the people who were meant to look up to him. He raised, only to stumble forward and fall again. Punching the ground, he conceeded momentarily. Selphie knelt to his side and placed her delicate hand on his shoulder in some form of incouragement, whispering under her breath that he was going to be okay.
Enraged, he pushed her hand away and forced his body to stand. "Don't touch me, I'm fine. We need to get back to Garden. We won't be leaving for a while if you want to stay behind and make sure things get back to normal." With that, he limped out of Selphies view. All she could do was watched worriedly, as he struggled to make his way back.
Squall growled as he sat on his bed. Confined to bed rest? How could anyone inforce that on him? Shaking his head he looked down at his bandaged thigh. It was a lot worse than he thought it would be, but no reason why he couldn't continue his work. He grabbed the pain killers beside his bed and shook a few from the container into his mouth, swallowing them in a single gulp. Atleast these were helping all the thoughts that were running through his head. They took some of his pain away and made him feel numb. Numb was something he could deal with. Sliding his hand through his long brown hair, he placed a cigarette between his lips and covered the end as he lit it. Exhaling the smoke through his nose, he raised from his bed and dragged his stiff leg behind him across the room. Holding the cigarette between his lips, he pulled on a white wife beater and some pants. From there he sat back down on his bed with his Gunblade. While LionHeart was definately his strongest weapon, and definately the best looking, his favourite was his Revolver. When he needed it, it always was there to save him from the tight spots. It was his first weapon, and the most dearest to him. Running his fingers down the length of the blade he felt the sharp edge, before sliding his hand over the etched lion. Feeling it fill him with strength and pride. Exhaling the smoke from his cigarette, he lifted the blade, sliding his finger to the trigger as he let the artificial light shine off the blade.
"Hungry, boy?" he mused to himself, lowering it back to his lap. "Later" He whispered, running his palm along the cold metal before standing up to return it back to it's case. Right now, he had to see Cid.
Making his way slowly towards the Headmasters office, he ignored everyone. They looked at him, congratulated him, even just said hello. But he had nothiing to say to either of them. His mind was blank, numb from the pills he had been dosing up on. For now, it was a good change. Anything to take the edge off all of his pain.
Arriving at his office, he was quick to take a seat and rest his leg, careful not to let the pain show through to Cid. He didn't want to stuck doing nothing. He tried to listen, but nothing much seemed to sink in as he sat there.
"So in summary, we don't really know who waws behind this but we are certain, the people involved were just trying to protect their family. And for certain, the people who arranged this, will definately we try something again. They want us out of the picture for some reason. Until then, we need to lay low. Not for our protection, but for the rest of Balamb Garden. Squall, you did well. I'm proud of you."
Squall found himself just nodding. It wasn't really a shock that people wanted him dead. And he didn't find himself caring. They could try all they wanted, if they succeeded, good on them. Whether he died, mattered not to him. Atleast he'd be rid of this pain. Not that he deserved a quick death, anything would be better than this. He sat as Cid continued to speak to him, but he never heard a word. He just nodded in places were he felt his agreance was necessary and kept his mouth shut.
Needing to stretch his muscles and cure his boredom, Squall found himself in the Training Area of Garden. As a SeeD in training, he had spent many hours her perfecting his art. Slicing downwards he cut down the Grat before him. He was offered a brief few seconds to catch his breath before three more appeared. He easily dispatched of them. With shrill cries they sunk into the ground, and disappeared from his view. For a good few hours, he cut down the small fry, feeling increasingly worn out. Finally, a T-Rex appeared. His leg was causing him trouble, he couldn't be agile but there was no way he was running away. He ran away from a lot of things, but a fight wasn't one. After all, that's how he received his scar in the first place. The beast towered above him, and made the first move, lunging towards him which he was able to jump back from. The ancient dinosaur let out a furious roar in the face of the lone warrior, tilting it's head to the side in confusion when Squall didn't budge. He lunged again, causing Squall to jump to the side, but the beast anticipated this and with a swing of his tail, he hit the SeeD in the stomach. The force knocked the wind out of him and sent him flying. He finally hit the ground, bouncing a few times before skidding to a halt as he hit the wall. T-Rex stomped over to him and roared again. Weakly Squall pushed himself to his feet, he wasn't going to quit. He didn't fear this beast, nor did he fear death. It could kill him for all he really cared. It snorted in his direction, then turned and left. He screamed at it, but it did not return.
Sliding his hand around his side he weakly stepped out of the Training Area. The monster had got the better of him for now, but he wouldn't let that be it. He'd hunt it, and he'd kill it for making a fool of him. Conceeding defeat he leaned against the wall, digging into his pocket before shaking some pills into his mouth. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Just for a few minutes he thought.
When he opened his eyes, it was busy around him. He didn't know how long he had been out for, but it must have been longer than he wanted. He banged his head against the wall before pushing away and steadying himself on his feet. Slowly, but surely he reached his room. Peeling off his clothes and bandages, he headed for the shower. Turning it on cold, he stepped in. He only ever had cold showers now. Bowing his head, he allowed the cold water to run down his shoulder blades and down his back. After the long work out, and the pain from his leg and ribs, it was a welcomed feeling.
He inspected the new recruits with Cid, before again returning back to his room and replacing his Seed uniform with his casual wear. His usual black jacket with fur trimming, the black pants and other trinkets that came along with it. He reached him to the Griever emblem around his neck. A habit he had picked up from Rinoa. A bad habit, he now considered. He used to find comfort from it when she wasn't around, as she did with her rings. One hers, one his. He squeezed it tight until it left the impression in his palm. Sighing he let it go. What was the use anymore.
Cutting across the quad, he headed for his office. He was already in a bad mood, he didn't feel like bumping into anyone he had to talk to. The pain in his leg becoming unbarable, he reached into his pocket and retrieved his box of cigarettes with a lighter. Lifting the box to his lips, he pulled one stick out and lit it. Removing it from his lips he looked up, he wished it would rain for once. The rain would reflect his mood and would be a welcomed change from the unusually hot weather. Placing the cigarette back between his lips, he pushed on, trying his hardest not to show his limp, and failing miserable. Atleast with his smoke in his mouth, he could focus on that to take some pain away from his leg. Or so he hoped.
"Hey, man!"
"Damn." Squall swore under his breath. The last person he wanted to run into was the one that found him.
"What are you doing right now?" He querried again, his hopes to get Squall out from his work. Maybe to rest atleast.
Squall quickened his pace, in turn emphasising his limp. Anything to avoid answering that question. He was doing nothing, but if he had to say that, he'd get pushed into something he didn't want to do. He was sick of being treated like a child. In his haste to get away, he just barely caught sight of a woman in blue. Her long raven hair cascading down her back, just barely hiding a set of angel wings. As she turned, their eyes met. Those eyes were unmistakable, and he knew exactly who it was. Speechless, his jaw dropped, letting his cigarette fall to the ground in front of him. He felt so many things in that instanst. Happiness, love, pain, hurt. Well over three years, two months and 14 days had passed since he had last seen her face. His eyebrows furrowed as he closed his mouth, and it's agapness was replaced with a deep frown. He wasn't going to let his feelings betray him. He wasn't going to let her have the satisfaction. After everything, how could she show her face around here? What else did she want from him? She had already fucked him over, what else did he have to give?
Looking down, he placed his foot over his cigarette and stomped it out, like he hadn't seen her at all. Like if he had seen her, it didn't matter to him at all. He hadn't noticed Zell at his side.
"Squall, I think we should go, yeah?"
But he didn't really hear him, stuffing his hands inside his pockets, he had already gone.