Chapter 4 - Persuasion and Perseverance
Again, Selphie Kinneas awoke. This time, her senses knew immediately what to search for.
First… check. Squall was on his back this time, dozing on the other side of the campfire. The Lionheart was still in his hand, she was amused to note. Next… check. The hide was still in place, but the light which peeked through had acquired a washed-out grey quality which bespoke the recent dawn. The smell of roasted meat still lingered in the air, but she didn't see… check. Over on Squall's side, she could just see a long scaly length of something that looked like a dragon's tail. (And on that subject… check. She still had everything; it seemed that even without his memory, Squall wasn't the type to steal other people's things.)
Oh, and… check. Her temperature was back down; the semi-enforced rest break had done its work. Indeed, she felt like she could run a marathon…or go traipsing all over the countryside for yet another day. That thought only dimmed her spirits, as opposed to crushing them as they had come so close to doing yesterday.
The firepit had been well-banked, and it was the work of a few moments to kindle it back to life. Her movements roused Squall, who raised his head to look at her. "You seem better."
"Yup. I feel great!" And unlike yesterday, it wasn't a lie. Well, not as much as it had been. "Tee-hee, thanks Squall!"
This time, when he glanced at the entrance and back at her, she wasn't surprised. This time, she was ready. "This time, I'm not fainting. And that's your name, Squall."
He blinked. She pointed at him for emphasis.
"Squall Leonhart! Son of Raine Leonhart and Sir Laguna! The Legendary Knight who defeated Ultimecia and saved the world from Time Compression!"
He blinked again. Sat up, rose to his feet. Walked around the fire, knelt in front of her. She impatiently slapped his hand away when he attempted to check her temperature. "You're the right age, the right build, you carry the Lionheart gunblade and you're really good with it, and you've got that scar on your forehead." She drew its pattern across the mess of hair which obscured it. "You're Squall!"
Squall stared at her for several moments. Then he shrugged and turned away.
Not even a 'whatever'? She gaped. Whups…
The making of breakfast went on in silence. The old- the young Squall, she would have just teased without mercy. This Squall, she suspected, wouldn't even notice. Her offering of some greens to go with the dragon-steak was accepted with a short nod, which was the closest thing he gave to a response for a good while.
It wasn't until the food was in front of them that Selphie scraped up the courage to try again. "So, like… what do you do?"
"I hunt."
"Ooh, a hunter! Trabia Garden loves hunting!" Yes, it was blindingly obvious, but she needed to get him talking. "So, what do you like to hunt?"
"Monsters."
"So, what kind of monsters do you hunt?"
"Dangerous ones."
"Why?"
He paused for a moment, then shrugged. Bummer…
She tried again. "So, like… do you hunt people?"
This one actually merited some thought. "…If they're monsters."
"Do you mean if they're undead? Or are you talking about bandits?"
He shrugged again. This time she took it as a move forward; he was telling her about himself – just with even fewer words than the young Squall had used.
"How far back do you remember?"
Another shrug; this one, she could tell, translated to 'whatever'. Which in turn translated to 'don't know, don't care'.
"What GFs are you junctioned to?"
He gave her a look. This one was…well, mostly it was 'shut up'. But she blanched when she glimpsed the tiny spark of curiosity lurking in his eyes. That one, she suspected, meant 'what's a GF?'… Oh sweet Hyne, he really was that far gone.
Squall picked up his belongings. Selphie realised with a start that he was intending to part. Without so much as a goodbye! Well alright, let's try the direct route… There was no way she was going to just let him disappear again.
"I…need your help. And not just to get back to Garden."
He stopped, looked at her. He sat back down. She surreptitiously breathed out, thankful that it had worked. Yesterday, she'd obviously needed his help; today, he could just as easily assumed she was fine. Although, the look in his eyes mutely told her that this had better be good.
Well, it was.
"Do you remember yesterday? When I asked you if you'd seen any mine entrances?"
He nodded.
"Weeell…" Selphie suddenly winced. She needed to stop talking like they were in their teens! It had been bad enough yesterday, when it could be written off from the illness and exhaustion (and the shock, from seeing that scar on his chest); today, she needed to sound like she had a functioning brain… She snuck a look at his face; strangely, he seemed to understand. …How weird is that?… Or maybe she was just imagining things…but she preferred the first option anyway, so she decided to make it so. Taking heart from this, she started again.
"Well, my husband is trapped down a mine, with some friends. And LOTS of monsters." His gaze sharpened, upon her use of the magic m-word. "They've been trapped for a week. Now, they're still alive – but they're lost, they can't find a way out."
"Monsters…in a mine?"
"Oh! You probably wouldn't know this, huh?" As she had thought. "This mine is a really old one. It was abandoned back during the First Sorceress War, when Trabia was invaded by… You don't care about that though, do you?"
From the look on his face, it was obvious that he didn't. She took a moment to mentally thank Hyne that she'd taken the time to learn how to read Fujin's and Ward's facial expressions over the years. Without the practice, she'd have soon been in trouble here.
"Anyway… there's apparently all these powerful monsters down there. And, the mine seems to have tunnels running underground for a long, long way from where they went in. So…"
A frown creases his scarred brow, his hand slowly raised to cover it. Selphie tried not to giggle like a giddy schoolgirl at the achingly familiar sight. And she did manage it. But it was that close…
"Why did they enter? And where?"
"Well…it's a long story, but let's just say they were hunting dragons, and they couldn't find any. So they went looking in the mine. And…where are we, exactly?"
"A few kilometres south of where I found you."
"…You carried me all that way?" She found herself blushing; he was either kind enough not to notice, or simply didn't. "Um…then about twenty kilometres east of here, in the foothills…" He suddenly emitted a harsh chuckle. "Why are you laughing?"
"…No dragons. I left there a few weeks ago." Squall's mirth subsided. "Hmm…" He fell silent, for several minutes. His hands, running independently of his mind, began to use a magic stone to whet the Lionheart's edge. Selphie began to bounce with barely contained impatience.
Eventually he looked up. "The entrance…blocked? Have you seen it?"
"Of course! And…yeah, it's blocked. It caved in."
"And…it opened to the southeast?"
She shot up. "No! It faced the west! You mean there IS another entrance?"
"Hmph… No wonder all the monsters disappeared…" He stood up again, putting the stone away. "There'll be hard climbing. Can you handle it?"
Beaming happily, she shrugged. "I'll just have to, won't I?" Then a thought occurred. "Or…" She considered, "Do you think we can fly there?"
She was ready to explain the whole 'flying' thing, but he just shrugged it off. "Part of the way, maybe. But the terrain's uneven. And I'll need to be on the ground to find it."
Selphie clapped her hands. "Ok, that still works! I'll just need to make a com call…"
—ox-oxo-xo—
Other people, under other circumstances, might have complained about their current post – that is, flying in circles for days on end over a drab lot of mountains. Partly, of course, the dearth of grumbling owed to the undeniably important reason of their mission. Mostly, it came down to the people performing it.
Firstly: all three of them were SeeDs, or at least had been SeeDs. And SeeDs didn't complain. They just didn't. Their comrades would never let them live it down.
Secondly: on the whole, they were enjoying themselves immensely.
Raijin reluctantly turned away from the window, and its spectacular panorama, to examine the console. Hyne, I love this… This was his first time in the recently completed Ragnorak-class pinnace, and it was brilliant! If this went on any longer, Nida might even let him have a go at flying it. Of course, Fujin was more likely to get a turn first. She'd fallen in love with the weapons console in minutes. She sat there by the hour, occasionally firing off deadly accurate bursts to blow apart monsters nearly a kilometre below them. She'd even giggle when she did it! Raijin hadn't heard her giggle since they were kids! Though Nida had just smiled fondly, and steered the pinnace in the direction of another hexadragon.
There was a flashing green light on the console, and a switch under it; when the Estharians had turned it over to its new trio of owners last month, they'd had been kind enough to translate each label, and this one was the com. He flicked the switch. "Hello? …Ya know?"
"Raijin, is that you?"
"How'd ya know?" He turned to his left, to the pilot. "Hey guys, it's Selphie!"
Nida beamed. "Hello Headmistress Kinneas, it's great to hear from you. We were all getting worried."
"Awww, thanks guys. Listen up, we've had some good luck. Can you trace the call to find my location?"
"AFFIRMATIVE." Fujin typed in a command, her demeanour accurately portraying the haste of a woman who wished to get back to riding her beloved weapons as quickly as possible. "DONE."
"Swing over and pick me up. When I'm on board, we're gonna be following Squall."
Nida was the first to retrieve his voice – and his lower jaw. "Uhh… what was that?"
"Look, I'll explain later… Just get here!" And the circuit cut out.
The two men stared at each other. Fujin put a stream of tracer rounds through the top of a roaming dragon's head at a range of 1,384 metres. This time, the former White SeeD didn't giggle.
"Ya know…"
"Yes, I know, she's insane. But she's called us in, so…" The acceleration slammed them back in their seats. Over the whine of the jet engines, Raijin heard him mutter, "Besides, she always was insane…"
-ox-oxo-xo-
Selphie looked at Squall. "See? It's easy! Every so often, just hold that button down for ten seconds. That way, we can track you from the air, AND you don't have to stay in the open if you don't want to."
The hunter nodded absently, still scrutinising the landscape. The prospect of a good hunt in the offing improved his memory vastly, and he knew where he needed to go; the trick was to get there as quickly as possible.
At length he was satisfied. Taking the time to parcel and store the dragon-tail gave him something to do until Selphie Tilmitt let him get the hell away from her.
Wait… again? That was really beginning to piss him off.
"Selphie Kinneas."
"Huh? You're actually talking to me?" The silly woman grinned at him. "And will you knock it off with the 'Kinneas' crap already? Just call me Selphie!"
He hesitated. He just knew he would regret this. "…Does 'Tilmitt' mean anything to you?"
For some reason, her eyes fogged up; the smile that accompanied this, however, was most certainly genuine. "Tilmitt was my maiden name. Back when we were friends, that was my last name." She ran up and gave him a quick hug, catching him off-guard and pulling away before he could react. "See, Squall? I betcha you'll remember all kinds of stuff, with me to help you out!"
And that interminable mental voice suddenly acquired a smug air.
In fact, he was regretting it already.
A/N: 'Ragnorak' is spelled as I intended it. Think of it as an non-spaceworthy version of the Ragnarok, without the funky claw thingies.
