Chapter 6- Confrontation
Squall stood up at the sound of approaching footsteps on the gravel of the open-air courtyard before the tomb. He drew his gunblade. Behind him, Squall felt Rinoa stand up and gather her magic to her. If he closed his eyes, he might have even been able to sense which spells they were. He didn't have time for that now.
"Who do you think it is?" Rinoa asked.
"No idea," Squall said. "Enemies, probably."
They're question was soon answered when three people rounded the corner and stepped out into the sunlight. Three people he recognized. Squall felt a small smile touch his lips and he sheathed his sword.
"What are you doing?" Rinoa hissed.
Squall turned around, a faint frown creasing his forehead. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Its Zell."
"Stay right where you are, Leonhart!" Seifer called. His gunblade was out. "Better yet, take a step back."
Squall turned back to Seifer. "What are you talking about, Almassy?" he asked.
"Squall, baby, just do as he says," Zell called. Squall noted he had his gloves on, as if he was prepared for a fight. It took Squall a moment to place the third person. The Sorceress Thyriss. She had cut her hair since Squall had last seen her. Why was she with Squall and Seifer?
"Squall." Rinoa sounded tense. She hadn't released her magic yet. If anything, she seemed to be preparing more. "You do realize they are not our friends, right?"
Squall turned back to Rinoa. "What do you mean?" Seifer and he had their differences in the past but, for the most part, they were the past. Not now. And Zell was always one of his most loyal friends.
Friends? Squall frowned. He was far more than friends with Zell and had been for several years. Why was he here with Rinoa?
"Squall, look at me," Rinoa whispered.
Squall shook his head. "What do you mean they are not our friends," Squall asked again. He stepped back away from Rinoa as a sudden panic took hold of him. He wanted to turn and run in the other direction as he had not since face-to-face with Ultimecia. Just like then, he didn't. One step was all he allowed himself.
Behind him, Squall noticed Seifer, Zell, and Thyriss whispering, as if quickly forming plans.
"Look at them, Squall," Rinoa said, stepping next to him. She placed hand on his arm. "They're working for Thyriss. Under her control. Why else would they be coming to attack us?" Her voice was strangely compelling. Squall found his eyes drawn to hers and a strange sort of calm took over. His chest loosened and he breathed deeply. He drew his gunblade again.
"I understand, Sorceress," he said. He looked at the trio in front of him. "Its not their fault. If I can stop Thyriss then..."
"Then Zell will free of her influence, yes," Rinoa finished for him. She released his arm and took a step back.
Squall didn't wait for them to finish their plan. He ran forward, swinging his gunblade as he went, making for the Sorceress. Instead of landing a blow on Thryiss' soft flesh, his blade landed squarely on Seifer's own. Seifer pulled his blade back and solidified his position between Squall and Thyriss. Squall didn't give him a chance to launch an attack of his own but immediately swung his blade around to try and hit Seifer's weaker left side. Seifer seemed to anticipate his move and moved out of the way to the right. Squall twisted his body just in time to catch Seifer's blade with his own.
Behind him, Squall heard the chanting of several spells being cast. He didn't have time turn and look but he did take note of the heat as a fireball zipped past him. Damn, he needed to get to the Sorceress before she did something to Rinoa.
Seifer took advantage of Squall's momentary distraction to swing at Squall again. Squall caught the blow on his arm, the gunblade biting deep. Squall ignored the pain and pressed closer to Seifer, forcing the man back, away from his charge. Seifer skirted to the left rather than straight back, to keep himself between Squall and Thyriss. Squall swung his blade to the right. Seifer was slow catching the blade. Squall took advantage and swung again, this time landing a solid blow on Seifer's right side. Seifer hissed in pain but continued to block Squall's blows. He was not, however, moving away from Thryiss.
Behind him, Rinoa screamed. Unable to help himself, Squall turned to look. Zell was pining Rinoa to the ground, laying several good punches on her. Damn!
Squall turned and ran back to Rinoa's side. He pulled Zell off of her and shoved him away from the fighting. Before he could help Rinoa up, Seifer was on him. Squall just had time to bring up his blade before Seifer's hit. Seifer pressed his attack, forcing Squall to retreat away from Rinoa. Exactly the wrong direction he wanted to go.
Squall was too busy with Seifer to pay much attention to Rinoa but he could see her being lifted by some spell into the air. At least she was safe from Zell then.
Once again, Seifer took advantage of Squall's distraction to land a blow. This time, the blade bit Squall on the side. A deep cut that caused Squall to drop to stumble to one knee. Something hard and blunt hit Squall in the back of the head.
Squall toppled forward, the world dimming around him. The last thing he saw was a black portal opening up beneath Rinoa as she was pulled into it. Then the portal vanished, along with Squall's consciousness.
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Rinoa yanked herself free from Tain Sayptor's grasp. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked.
Tain raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "Rescuing you, I thought," he said.
"A 'thanks' might be in order," Etris said. She giggled. "Though under the circumstances..."
"If you wanted to rescue me, why didn't you fucking help?" Rinoa demanded. She was in the middle of a forest, surrounded by trees. There was no one in sight. She fought the urge to kill these two imbeciles and leave them. She would figure out where she was later. First the idiotic girl had audacity to flirt with Squall and now this!
"No time," Tain said. "We'd be late."
"For what?" Rinoa turned her back on them. "You might as well send me back."
"No can do, Rin," Etris said. "Even if you really wanted to. I'm beat. Twice in one day is enough for me."
Rinoa turned back to the brunette and scowled. "Really?" she asked.
Tain apparently had quite enough of Rinoa's antics. She suddenly found herself gripped by the throat. "Watch your tone with my sister," he said. "And be fucking grateful I don't kill you now after that fuck-up you just allowed."
Etris came to stand beside her brother. "He's not very patient with mistakes," she said, her face rather serious for once. By 'He', Rinoa knew she did not mean her brother. "Tain, let her go or we really will be late."
Tain let Rinoa go. "You can come with us back to town. We'll put you up for the night. Then you can explain to Him how you lost your Knight."
Rinoa gasped for breath while the two walked off into the woods. She scurried to catch up with them. "I wouldn't have lost Squall if you had helped me," she muttered.
"Maybe," Etris said. "Maybe not. I can't tell the future. Can you?" For some reason, she giggled again.
"If we hadn't intervened, you'd be dead," Tain said. He pulled a Key out of his pocket, black obsidian. "I know that for sure."
Rinoa frowned at the Key. She tripped over a root and would have crashed into the ground but for Etris' steadying hands. "You're exhausted, Rin," she said.
Rinoa nodded. "Its been...difficult."
"Right. Well, if your Bond is strong, your Knight will come back," Etris said.
Rinoa bit her lip. "Its not. I did lose him..." To her chagrin, Rinoa began to cry. It just wasn't fair! She had worked so hard and now Squall was beyond her grasp and she had failed Him and damned if there weren't going to be consequences for that...
Etris soothed Rinoa, murmuring soothing words and rubbing circles on her back. Eventually Rinoa pulled away, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. She looked around. Tain was nowhere in sight and the sun could no longer be seen through the treetops. Late afternoon at best.
"Thanks," she said.
"Its alright," Etris said. "You had a rough day."
"Where's Tain?"
"I sent him ahead. We don't want to be late, after all."
That was the third or fourth time they had mentioned being late. "Late for what?" Rinoa asked.
Etris smiled a little sadly. "Come on. Let's get home and then you'll see." She started on ahead. "So, you know what the Key's are, right?" she called back to Rinoa.
"I know they grant the Knight certain Sorceress-like powers." Rinoa's throat was raw from both screaming and crying. She was also starving. Funny how she hadn't noticed either thing before.
"Right. In some cases, even stronger than what we Sorceress know now. Unless you know how to make a magic nullifying field."
Rinoa shook her head. She had suspected that was how He was blocking her magic. But... "Doesn't He have to Bound to a Sorceress?" she asked.
Etris shrugged. "If he has one, I've never seen her."
"Oh."
The reached the edge of the woods and stepped into a small town. Rinoa thought the buildings had the look of Galbadia. There were several townspeople scurrying about their afternoon business. Probably looking to get inside before the night fell and the temperature dropped even further. Rinoa could feel the tell-tale chill of snow in the air around her.
"What does Tain's Key do?" Rinoa asked.
"He has two," Etris said. She led Rinoa into the town proper and through the town square. "The one he showed you gives him the power of foresight. Not for long, not reliably. But enough." She sighed. "We had just started home when a vision struck him of you dead. So, we high-tailed it back to the woods where no one would see me cast the Portal spell to get you out of there." She frowned. "And it did almost make us late. I am late, Tain might have been on time."
Etris stopped by the front door of a two-story house not that different from the ones around it. She opened the door and went inside, motioning Rinoa to follow her.
The warmth hit Rinoa full force and goosebumps shivered up her arms as she stepped into the small living room. The living room was furnished with a rug in the middle of a hardwood floor, a small fireplace, and two large couches. From the doorway, Rinoa could see the kitchen with several pots already bubbling on the stove. There was stairs leading from the living room to the second story of the house.
"We're home!" Etris called. She motioned for Rinoa to sit on the couch.
"Welcome back!" A young girl, somewhere between the ages of ten and thirteen came down the stairs. She was dressed in a long white nightgown that did little to hide the pallor of her face. She was, to Rinoa's eye, also far too thin to be healthy.
"Should you be up, Iri?" Etris asked, walking to the girl. She knelt down and took the girl in her arms gently, as though she might break.
"I'm feeling fine today," the girl, Iri, said. "Nurse even let me go outside for a bit!"
"Iri was telling me about her adventure in the park," Tain said, coming down the stairs. He glanced at Rinoa before going into the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready soon."
Iri turned to Rinoa. "Who's this?" she asked. "Is it Tain's girlfriend?"
Tain didn't deign to respond but Etris let out a silverly laugh. "No, she's taken," she said. "She has a handsome Knight waiting for her."
Rinoa's stomach clenched. She didn't think she would get the chance to get at Squall a second time. But there was always hope. She just needed a plan.
"Rin, this is my little sister, Irel. Iri, Rinoa. She's a friend of ours. She's going to be staying the night."
Iri smiled at Rinoa. "Nice to meet you," she said.
"Iri, come help in the kitchen!" Tain called.
The girl nodded and walked slowly into the kitchen. Etris came and sat next to Rinoa. "She's not well," the brunette said, her voice more intense than Rinoa had heard it yet. "That's why we need the Keys. There's one that will fix her. We just need to find it. That's how we help Him. We find the Keys and he sends someone else to retrieve them." She looked at Rinoa. "At least, until you lost your Knight. Now we'll have to leave her again and go to Trabia to find it."
Rinoa thought for a minute. Squall knew the next Key was in Trabia. Would he be curious enough about what was happening to go after it himself? Squall was a very hands-on type of leader and Rinoa herself had made it personal.
"I think I'll go to Trabia first," Rinoa said. "Maybe I'm not done yet."
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Zell pulled his eyes away from Squall for what must have been the hundredth time this past minute. He was not staring, not hungrily drinking up every breath his lover took. Even though Squall did look as though he wasn't sleeping well. Shadows were under his eyes that stood out like dark bruises against his unusually pallid skin. There were restraint marks around his wrists that had made Zell furious when he first saw them.
Other than that, the man seemed unharmed, physically. Hyne only knew what he had gone through mentally. But physically...he would be fine. Other than the cut along his side that Thyriss had Healed and the lump on the back of his head where Seifer had brought the hilt of his gunblade down.
"Did you really have to hit him so hard?" Zell asked. He looked over where Seifer was sitting by the fire.
"I would rather him unconscious for a couple of hours than following Rinoa through the Portal," Seifer said.
"We wouldn't have known where he went," Thyriss said. "We're just lucky he was distracted to let himself be hit."
"Yeah, I guess," Zell said. The exhaustion of the past week was hitting Zell hard. He could almost have curled up here and fallen asleep on the ground. Not that was he was going to. He wanted to be awake when Squall woke up. Hyne only knew what Seifer would say to him if Zell wasn't awake. Then again, perhaps Zell was being a little uncharitable to the man.
There was movement to Zell's left and Squall woke with a start. He jerked briefly against the bond that Seifer had tied around him. Zell had argued about that but Thyriss had sided with the gunblade wielder. There was no telling how much control Rinoa would have over Squall when he woke.
Squall went limp, then turned his head in the direction of the fire. Zell breathed easier when he saw Squall's eyes fasten on him briefly and recognition sweep through them. He hadn't been sure earlier that Squall had even known who he was.
Squall turned his gaze back in Seifer's general direction. "I'm myself, Seifer," he said. "You can undo the bonds."
"Sure about that, Leonhart?" Seifer said.
"He said it," Zell said, standing up. He walked over to untie Squall himself.
"Not so fast, Chicken," Seifer said, standing up. Zell found himself stone-walled by a forcefield in front of him. He glared at Thyriss who was watching Squall intently. Seifer went over to kneel by his former rival. "How can we trust you?" he asked.
Squall was silent for a long time before answering. "I suppose you can't," he said finally. There was an edge of defeat to his voice. "I don't know how much control she still has. But she requires eye contact to re-apply the spell."
"That's true," Thyriss said. "I think you can trust him."
"Of course you can bloody trust him," Zell growled. He knew that Thyriss and Seifer were right to be suspicious though. If it had been Seifer laying there and not Squall, Zell wouldn't have trusted him for a minute. That didn't stop his frustration with the other two however.
The forcefield in front of Zell vanished and Zell stepped forward to help Seifer. Seifer backed away and let Zell take over the task of untying Squall. Zell heard him return to the fire.
Squall wasn't looking at Zell. His gaze was off in the distance, towards the Tomb. His breath came out in little white puffs as the sun slowly set around them.
"That's it, then," Zell said, as he finished the last knot.
Squall sat up slowly and rubbed his wrists. The knots Seifer had tied had been loose enough to not aggravate Rinoa's much tighter ones. Zell had checked them himself. Several times. "Thanks." Squall's voice was soft enough that Zell barely heard it over the crackling of the nearby fire.
"How are you?" Zell asked, keeping his own voice low.
Squall still wasn't looking at him. Now he was staring at the fire, as though entranced. Whatever he was thinking about, he wasn't going to share easily. That was okay though. Zell knew how to wait. At least when it came to Squall.
Without warning, Squall suddenly stood up and walked away from them, towards the tomb.
Zell stood up as well, debating whether or not to follow. He glanced from Squall to Seifer and Thyriss.
"Go on, Zell," Seifer said. "He's going to have to talk to someone. More likely you than any of us."
Zell looked at Seifer, sudden comprehension dawning on him. No wonder Seifer was being so...understanding about everything. "You maybe," he said. "You know what its like..."
Seifer shook his head. "I'm the last one he'll open up to. Besides, I've been doing my best to forget those days." He grinned his cocky grin at Zell. "Well, not the best maybe. I haven't used any GFs..."
Zell cursed at him and spun on his heel to head towards the tomb. Squall was sitting on the steps, staring at his feet. He looked up when Zell approached.
"The fire's warmer," he said.
"Yeah, but you're over here." Zell took the seat next to Squall. The cold stone stairs seeped into his pants and chilled his behind. Squall must be freezing.
"I don't want to talk about it." Squall's voice had the monotone that Zell hadn't heard since they were both teenagers.
"Wasn't going to ask," Zell said. "But, could you please look at me?"
Squall turned his head. Zell gently caught his chin and pulled it all the way towards him, until he could look in Squall's eyes. Squall tensed a little under his hand.
"I know. That's what she did, isn't it?" Zell said. He kept his voice low. He didn't want to frighten Squall. He cupped his hand around Squall's cheek.
Squall nodded. "I know she's not you," he said.
"Squall, its cool. You don't have to explain anything. Whatever you need, baby."
Squall closed his eyes and tilted his head up away from Zell's touch. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Zell said. "You'll tell me when you're ready. Just..." Zell reached up and pulled Squall back, keeping physical contact with him as much as possible. "Just don't shut me out."
"Don't...shut you out?" Squall looked momentarily confused
"Yeah, I'm not going to lose you to that bitch when she's not even here to..."Zell cut off as Squall pressed his lips against Zell's. Zell opened his mouth to allow Squall to take what he wanted. Zell felt both of Squalls' hands around his waist and he was pulled closer into Squall's warmth. Squall's tongue danced around his mouth, as though trying to remember everything. Zell pulled Squall tighter and held him until Squall finally pulled away. Even then, Squall didn't pull far away, he kept Zell close enough to rest his head on his shoulder.
"I won't shut you out," Squall said to Zell's shoulder. "You might have to remind me though."
Zell pulled Squall closer to him, wrapping both arms around him again. "I can do that," he said.
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Sometime after midnight, the snow had started falling softly. Seifer was glad they had packed enough blankets to withstand a rather cold night. He hoped the snow would stay light until they made it back to Deling City.
Across the fire, Thyriss stirred in her sleep. Seifer glanced at her and then away. If he got tired, he would wake her for the second watch of the night. Zell could bitch about not having a fair turn in the morning if he wanted.
Seifer turned his gaze over to where Squall and Zell were asleep, curled up in each other's arms. He couldn't have told you who was holding who tighter but both looked like they had been getting the sleep they had been sorely lacking for the past week. Seifer felt a momentary tightening his stomach, a longing for Quistis. But she was much warmer than he was back at Deling City's hotel.
Seifer leaned his head back against the pillar behind him and watched the snow fall from the black sky. Squall was in for a hell of time. Being controlled by a Sorceress and breaking free of it was no joke. Seifer was surprised Squall had resisted as much as he had. He wondered idly if it was his relationship with the blond fighter he was now wrapped around. Seifer certainly could not have fought against Edea's - Ultimecia's- control.
Wait until Squall realized that he would never really free of her as long as she lived. That would be a fun conversation to have.
Well, it, and so many other things, would wait until morning. For now, Seifer enjoyed the quiet solitude of the night and peace that pervaded the small campsite.
A/N: This one and the one before it was actually hard to write. I wasn't sure I wanted to reunite Squall and Zell soon, but I couldn't really justify extending it either. Let me know what you think!
