Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII.
Note: I guess I'm using 'AAA' as breaks, fanfiction doesn't seem to want to let me use symbols...
Chapter Two: Lost in a Crowd
Irvine was late for his meeting with Headmaster Martine. Originally Irvine was supposed to meet him in his office, but a harassed looking cadet had interrupted his flirting session with a student librarian to inform him that he was to meet at the front gates, ready to go immediately.
That didn't necessarily mean that Irvine had stopped flirting. On the contrary, the cowboy had just shrugged and waved the cadet off before smoothly wrapping up the conversation at his leisure, then walking coolly away after letting her know that he had other obligations. Seconds later he could be seen rushing to check his ammunition as he hurried towards the front gate.
He was fumbling with his ammo when someone knocked into him, causing all of his bullets to go flying, clanking and bouncing as they skittered on the stone floor. He cursed and looked up to see the backs of a large tan boy and a petite silver-haired girl.
"Thanks a lot!" he hollered, but neither turned to acknowledge him. "Great." he muttered, crouching down to recover his bullets. There were a lot of them, and they kept slipping and sliding through his fingers as he scrambled to scoop them up. The bell signaling the start of afternoon classes rang, and he hurried to retrieve the last of his bullets. He was debating on jogging so he wouldn't be that late when a painful sounding CRACK resonated through the empty hallway. He whipped around just in time to see the tanned boy catch the girl and gently prop her against the wall. For a few seconds he only watched as the boy placed something next to her and made sure she wouldn't slip.
"Hey!" Irvine called out. This time the boy looked up at him, but only for a few seconds before running away. "Hey!" Irvine called again, running after him. A haste sure would have been useful right now…he thought. He slowed when he reached the girl, not sure if he should pursue the boy or check on the her. He sighed and knelt down, noting the Phoenix Down left next to her hand.
She must be with that Balamb group the intercom mentioned. But then why was she running away? Very quickly, Irvine went through his options. He could turn her in to the faculty, but nowadays it just wasn't safe to trust the staff, and he wasn't morally capable of doing that to a girl. He could always revive her, but there might have been a really bad reason that she was running away from her group, and another reason for her ally to betray her. Without another thought, he stored the Phoenix Down in his pocket and picked her up.
"You are so lucky that I'm not punctual." he told her.
About ten minutes later, Irvine casually strolled out of the front gates of Galbadia Garden. He waved jovially in spite of Martine's prominent frown.
"You're late, Kinneas." he scolded.
"I didn't hear about the change until I was already waiting in your office, sir." Irvine answered respectfully. Martine grunted before turning to who must have been the leader of the group, a boy wearing too much black leather.
"As I was saying earlier, this is Irvine Kinneas, he will be your sharpshooter. Understood?" he waited for Squall to nod before curtly adding: "Leave whenever you're ready, and remember, failure is not an option." that said he walked back into the car, not so much as glancing back at the rest of them. Irvine knew the boy standing before him, recognized him (as well as most of the others) from earlier days, but he could tell by the way they stared at him that they didn't remember him.
"Irvine Kinneas." he repeated, waiting to hear their names. They introduced themselves one by one, but before Squall could start talking, Irvine held up a hand.
"Sorry to stall the mission, but I just need to know, do you guys have a one-eyed, silver-haired girl on your team?" Rinoa's eyes widened while Squall's brow furrowed. Irvine had guessed that there weren't many girls with that description.
"She's not on our squad, she was supposed to leave with Raijin." Squall told him.
"She's not in trouble or anything like that?"
"No." Squall replied, looking uncomfortable.
"Oh. I better go let her out of my room, then." Irvine said, a scandalous smile playing at his mouth as he turned back towards the school.
"Wait, what?" Zell yelled. "What's Fujin doing in your room?"
"Kinneas," Squall called, and Irvine glanced back at his new leader. "Why didn't she go with Raijin?"
"The big guy with the stick?" Squall nodded. "I don't know. I'm pretty sure he cracked her a good one on the back of the head, though."
"Raijin wouldn't do that." Rinoa muttered. Squall's brow was furrowed again, it was obvious that he was mulling something over.
"So, what are we going to do about Fujin?" Quistis asked. Squall shook his head.
"It's Fujin's choice. She's not a part of this mission."
"What is our mission, anyways." Selphie asked, tilting her head to a side.
"It's…a direct order from both Balamb and Galbadia Garden." Squall answered, scanning the orders from Martine one more time. "We're supposed to assassinate the sorceress from afar. Kinneas will be our sharpshooter, we support him and if it fails we attack head on." he glanced around to make sure everyone understood, but even Quistis seemed a little uneasy.
"You know, it might not be so bad to have Fujin around." Zell said meekly.
"She has proven to be exceptionally strong." Quistis recalled. "And skilled in battle. Her grades were better than Zell's, too." she added, and the fighter glared at her.
"She's not a SeeD." Squall argued. Something unnerving stirred in the pit of Squall's stomach. He didn't want to work with someone who had been so close to Seifer, not after what had just happened. It made him feel wrong, somehow.
"I'm not a SeeD." Rinoa pointed out.
"This isn't your mission, either." Squall told her. She pouted, but before she could say anything, Squall spoke up. "Besides, will she be emotionally right for this?" he asked, remembering how she had outright rejected the thought of Seifer being dead. He wasn't even sure if he himself was one hundred percent well for the mission. The group was quiet for a few moments.
"Well, look at it this way," Zell finally said. "I couldn't stand Seifer, but I still think it was wrong. Fujin actually liked the guy, I think she'll want revenge, too."
Squall sighed. "Whatever." he would just let them see how Fujin was doing for themselves. Then they'd be singing a different tune. "Everyone else wait here." They must have mistaken his passiveness for surrender, because they exchanged smiles as he walked up with Irvine.
AAA
She remembered very clearly, the day Seifer had told her his dream. It was three weeks before their failed SeeD test, and Raijin was in bed with a low fever. It was also the only time the infamous trio had been downsized to a duo, and though Fujin loved Seifer's company, she was nervous without Raijin to kill the silence that Seifer so detested. It was late, and they were sitting in the empty quad, polishing their weapons. It was raining outside, hard enough for them to hear it pattering on Garden's thick walls. Seifer, bothered by the quiet and the rain, spoke up.
"I'm so sick of this!" he had exclaimed, throwing down his rag and glaring at his gunblade. Fujin calmly looked up, ignoring the thundering heart in her chest. She looked at him inquisitively, and his green eyes glanced at her before returning to the shine of his weapon.
"They give us weapons and tell us to fight for good, that we're going to do good in the world, but who the hell are we saving?" A corner of Fujin's mouth turned down. She didn't understand, and she had let him know in her own straightforward way.
"Look around, Fujin! Nobody needs a Knight in shining armor, they're just sugar coating the fact that we're expendable killers!" His chest heaved and his then-unblemished brow creased, he was still obviously upset. Fujin never recalled anyone referring to SeeDs as knights, but she guessed that Seifer had long ago linked the two together.
"Well I'm sick of it. After I become a SeeD, I'm gonna to take it to the next level. I'm going to quit this miserable school and be a real hero, one that has something noble to fight for, a princess that needs to be saved." he decided, glaring at the ground. Fujin only nodded to show that she understood, but a million things were passing through the girl's mind.
Seifer was strong and smart enough, but he wasn't thinking practically. Fujin knew her friend well enough to know that he was only seeing himself -accompanied by Fujin and Raijin, of course- riding off to the sunset to accomplish heroic deeds, slay monsters and save princesses. He wasn't thinking of the money he'd need to save up, the connections he'd need to acquire. But Fujin was.
No good knight could ever make it alone. A good knight always had a good squire by his side, someone to take care of the little details so he wouldn't have to. Fujin knew in that moment that she would take on the responsibility, she would be his squire. She would do anything to help her knight reach his goal.
AAA
Something cold flowed over Fujin, and she shuddered, as the memory fled from her mind's eye.
"Fujin," a voice commanded. "Fujin, you need to wake up."
Almost immediately her eye snapped open and rolled to lock on Squall. She sat up, rubbing the back of her head.
"RAIJIN. WHERE?" she demanded, scowling up at the two boys. Irvine's face fell into confusion, and Squall's face hardened. That was when Fujin remembered that they didn't speak her language, and both of her translators were gone.
"Raijin's gone, we don't know where he went. Irvine reports that he assaulted you before he left, is that true?"
Fujin closed her eye, remembering her last few moments with Raijin. He had been complaining about finding Seifer, but then he'd…she opened her eye again.
He'd abandoned her.
And left her in the care of Squall Leonhart.
She mentally cursed and swore to herself that she would murder Raijin for his betrayal. Where would he head to? Probably try Timber, she could still catch up if she left immediately.
"Fujin?" Squall asked impatiently. She swung her legs over the bed and stood.
"MOVE." she ordered, glaring up at him.
"You have two options," he continued as if she hadn't talked. "You can either go back to Balamb Garden or come with us on a mission in Deling."
She was about to shove Squall out of the way when a thought occurred to her. Seifer had threatened the President, and his last name had been Deling. If she remembered her politics correctly, Deling was supposed to have been the descendant of the city's founder, and lived in the capital.
And if she could take out the President, that was one less thing for Seifer to worry about, if he was still alive. And if he wasn't alive…then it was all the more reason for Deling to die.
"DELING." she replied, roughly stepping away from Squall. Squall was surprised. He'd been expecting her to try something rash, or at the very least refuse to go back without Seifer. Her sudden change in heart worried him. I don't trust her…
He nodded, and they walked back down to the rest of the group.
"It's good to see you again, Fujin." Rinoa offered sweetly, but Fujin didn't reply in any way. She had never said a word to Rinoa, and she wanted to keep it that way. In fact, thinking on it, she decided she'd prefer to not say a word to any of them unless it was absolutely necessary.
"So, you're joining us?" Selphie asked. Fujin only recognized her as the rather hyper girl who had passed the SeeD exams, so she was a little puzzled as to why the smaller girl was so happy to see her. She simply nodded in response.
"Great. Well, we need to divide into teams, right?" Irvine asked, pure mischief in his eyes. Not waiting for a response, he walked between Selphie and Rinoa and put an arm around each of them. "How's this?" Quistis raised her eyebrow, obviously disapproving, but she waited for Squall's opinion. He rolled his eyes.
"Have a good time…" Squall muttered, most likely trying to avoid conflict. Fujin glanced to see who that left her with. She inwardly sighed when she looked at Quistis, then Zell, then finally Squall. It wasn't the best group, but it could have been worse, she realized, glancing at the other team.
"Are you being sarcastic?" Selphie looked up and squinted into Squall's face, searching his eyes for something. "You are, aren't you!" She accused, pointing a finger at him. He stared at her in open confusion. "Well fine then! We will have a good time!" she concluded, sticking out her tongue.
"Yes, we will have a good time." Rinoa added in a tone Fujin knew only too well. She used to use it when Seifer upset her about something or another. It was the tone she used when she was going along with something when she clearly didn't want to go along with. It was cold and condescending yet absolutely childish. Then, very boldly, she grabbed Irvine's arm, hugging it close to her as her face set into an expression that was almost a sneer.
Fire boiled up in Fujin's soul. Seifer may or may not have died for her honor, and there she was acting petty because Squall didn't care about her. It hadn't even been a whole day and already she had moved on.
She forced back the tears that stung at her eye, taking a slow, deep breath to keep them at bay. Seifer deserved so much better than that, he deserved to be mourned and missed, not forsaken like yesterday's newspaper. She wanted to kick Rinoa harder than she'd ever kicked Raijin, wanted her to pay for her cold-heartedness. But if she did anything rash now, her chance to avenge Seifer would be lost, and right now that was more important. Her hand curled into a fist so tight it hurt.
"Come on, Mr. Kinneas, let's go!" Rinoa exclaimed happily. Fujin's chest felt hollow, and every spoken word seemed out of place, the mirth so terrible in the midst of her pain.
Irvine and Selphie said something, but Fujin wasn't listening anymore. She just wanted them to be gone. Before they walked off, Rinoa caught Fujin's eye, and she paled slightly when Fujin's lip curled back. Fujin hoped whatever the raven-haired girl was feeling -whether it was guilt or fear- would be enough to kill her. When they were far enough away she glanced at Squall, who looked completely lost as he stared after the group that had just departed.
I thought I could at least count on Squall to not get caught up on hormones. She was about to recall Seifer's nickname for him, but it hurt too much, and she forced herself not to. Can't count on anyone but my posse…she took another slow breath, her anger still there but manageable now that Rinoa was gone. She tried to focus on the present.
"I think I feel sick." Quistis said, wrinkling her nose.
"Irvine Kinneas…" Zell mumbled under his breath. "What a loser."
"Come on, Squall, let's go." Quistis said, taking Squall's arm in her own. A light red blush covered Squall's cheeks, and he froze up. Too bad she didn't do this when the brat was still here. Fujin thought.
Zell was about to say something, but he took notice of Fujin's state and stopped. She glared at him, and he was quick to look away.
"Let's move." Squall ordered, finally shaking his arm free from Quistis. Quistis stared after him for a few seconds longer than she should have, a shadow of depression detectable on her face.
Fujin waited until everyone else walked a few steps before following, making it very clear that she didn't want to talk. That suited Squall just fine, and Quistis was left with the task of entertaining Zell.
It was just one night, Fujin reassured herself. Just one night of putting up with Squall and the rest of the SeeDs, then she would get her revenge and find Seifer.
End Chapter
A/N: Sorry, tried to make this chapter longer, but it just wouldn't go…I wasn't making up that "Rinoa-Irvine" situation, either, it happens in the game if you let Irvine pick the team (of course, the dialogue got tweaked to flow with my writing). Anyways, please review.
