Chapter IX
APPARITIONSRinoa couldn't stop laughing. After all this time, she still couldn't stop laughing.
"He went postal after the director gave him the script. His face was like 'Do I look like Jaisun Biggs to you?' I wouldn't even believe it myself if I wasn't there to see it."
"Why?" asked Alys. "What did the script say?"
"I don't know," Neo answered, struggling vainly to keep a straight face. "But he gave Rifty a whole apple pie and told him to start practicing."
Rinoa exploded with another laughing fit. This time, Alys Trebek joined her as Neo Redlovi recounted his recent meeting with former Garden student and now upcoming stage actor Rifty Star. After all this time, she still found their company insanely hilarious, even thought it had been a while since that time when they were inadvertently shoved into the unenviable mission of saving the world from alien conquerors. For her, it was a shining moment in her career as a SeeD, made especially memorable by the antics of the now famous Silver Star Elite, whose unconventional (and perceivably unintentional) approach to the task made it look less grim than it really was. She had developed a close friendship with the SSEs ever since, and maintained contact with them despite the rising demands of her station. Besides, she needed the laugh once in a while. Especially during the recent days that were made unusually stressful by the unstopping propaganda of a disgruntled Winhill governor.
"Did Rifty accept the role?" she asked, preparing for another comical scenario.
"Did he? Rifty mashed the pie all over the director's face! And then he said 'The role fits you better because you're a dick.'"
"Hah-ha!" Alys laughed. "And so did the story of the Galbadian Pie stage version end. I hope Rifty finds a new job soon. I heard he got banned by the director's guild because of it."
"Not really. The stage censors wouldn't have allowed it anyway, so they ruled out Rifty's behavior as 'righteous indignation'. I think he just signed a new contract with the producers of Much Ado About Adel." Neo turned around. "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go and polish my knives."
Rinoa watched fondly as Neo walked away. "You know, I think he never recovered from what Luna did to him. Seems like he's been talking to a lot more to people since that time."
Alys agreed. "Uh-huh. But I'll be damned if I knew what Luna did to him. By the way, have you heard about Kyo and Athena?"
"No. What about them?" was Rinoa's curious retort. Alys bent towards her and whispered. "Oh, really! Wow! Who would have thought, huh."
"I know. And it all only started with Athena's incessant blabbering about her butt," said Alys, prior to expending some moments to assume a more subdued mood. "By the way, how are you and Squall doing?"
"Squall and I? We're doing just fine. Thanks for asking."
"That's good. I thought you'd also go the way of a lot of couples I know. Some of my friends had broken up for the smallest reasons."
Rinoa smiled. "Nope, not Squall and I. If you know about all the things that we went through before we fell in love, you wouldn't be worried. The two of us… I don't know, but it seems to me like it'll take a great deal to break us up. You know…"
"Yeah," Alys agreed. "It's no secret. A lot of people envy you two because they think you're just so perfect for each other."
"Well, I know him." Rinoa blushed. "I know he would never allow anything to get between us. Of course, we've had our ups and downs. But compared to how much we feel for each other, those are all superficial. I really do think nothing in this world would be able to break us apart."
The SSE looked at her, total envy and admiration written all over her face. "Really? That is just sooo inspiring to hear, Rinoa. You really love him that much, don't you?"
"Yeah," Rinoa said, her voice softening. "I love him more than anything in this world. And there's nothing I wouldn't do for him."
He heard everything Rinoa said from behind the door of the gala room porch. And her words echoed long and hard in his mind.
[I]He would never allow anything to get between us…[/I]
[I]I love him more than anything in this world…[/I]
[I]There's nothing I wouldn't do for him…[/I]
[I]Nothing in this world would be able to break us apart…[/I]
Squall had never felt more grieved in his life. He had never been more heartbroken. There was a time when such words from his beloved would make him count his blessings and feel like he was the luckiest man in the whole world. After all, Squall did share the same sentiments Rinoa had expressed. To him, she was the best thing that ever happened to a life that had been replete with insecurity and loneliness brought about by a slew of losses. Ellone, whose gentle touch abandoned him when he was very young. And Raine, whose loving warmth he never knew. Rinoa almost filled the emptiness in a heart that was left with all those harrowing losses. Squall had always seen her as his savior, the only one who successfully rescued him from his self-imposed isolation.
He was more than content with her. He was happy to live the rest of his life with her. But despite this, many times he'd suffer from acute bouts of the same insecurity he had struggled against for so long. This had been one of the things that people failed to see in him. Squall, the cool and confident SeeD commander who could do nothing wrong, in truth feared that someday he might see Rinoa torn away from him. A few years ago, he would have given a big fuss about this perception people had of him, having had this attitude of always fearing what impression other people might have about him.
Now, he didn't care. So what if they saw him in this manner, and the truth was far from it? He didn't give a damn. All that mattered to him was Rinoa. All he ever wanted to do was for Rinoa. But sometimes he'd be gripped by this fear that someday, something might happen that would break them apart. Rinoa knew this, and in most of those times she had tried to quell his fear and assure him that she would never leave. There was even a time when she went beyond her supposed limit and wrote him a letter. Squall had fondly tucked that letter in his wallet, and had kept it there ever since. Despite himself, he couldn't stop reading it once in a while.
I look at you and I see the incarnation of my soul's wish, that someday someone may love me with all his heart, despite all my faults and shortcomings. I listen to your voice and hear the sweet promise only one with such devotion as you could possibly say. I lean against your chest and hear the only heart in this entire universe that beats in unison with mine.
You have your fears. I know. And once and for all, I'll tell you.
Thunder and lightning may pierce the sky and decimate the heavens, but my eyes will always be fixed on you.
The strongest storms and highest floods may wipe out all that stood on the earth, but I will remain standing up for you.
The sun and the moon may connive to scorch the world, but I will be here to comfort you.
Everyone you love may end up leaving, but my arms will always be wrapped around you.
I will hold you tight, tighter than I've ever held anyone or anything.
I will never turn away. I will never leave you.
I will always love you, Squall.
Author's Note: That little excerpt was taken from the one-shot fic Never.
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That certainly did it, and he would have been set at ease for the rest of his life.
Recent revelations showed that such a thing was still far from sight. A specific anxiety that he used to harbor had resurfaced, and had now begun to threaten their relationship. He didn't know where to direct his anxiety and the burgeoning anger in his heart. He didn't know if he should blame Quistis for lying to him. Maybe he should try to understand her since it did appear at face value that she was doing him a favor, having disappeared from everyone's sight to hide a most unnerving truth about that night nine months ago.
But the truth had finally caught up with them. Squall was thinking that he shouldn't be bothered by the guilt of secrecy. After all, it was Quistis who concealed everything from him. It wasn't his decision or influence in any manner. Maybe that shouldn't have been his responsibility, and he tried to insist this despite the nibbling conviction that it wasn't really the case.
But still, if every garnish of exaggeration and every crust of denial were stripped away from the controversy, he would still be left with the fact that something did happen between him and Quistis that night. Even though he could rightfully claim innocence to the crime of willfully deceiving Rinoa, Squall was still left with the truth that he and Quistis shared a night that was meant only for lovers.
However he sliced it, it was still an act of betrayal.
And to aggravate the predicament, he had to ask himself how many people had done such a thing and still managed to walk away as though nothing happened. No harm, no foul, as the adage went. That should have been the case with him and Quistis. But it wasn't. He asked himself why, and realized that there could only be one answer. And that answer may well destroy everything between him and Rinoa. What in the world should he do now?
Face his fear. Know for sure. Find out once and for all if he indeed had something to be afraid of. And hope that the ghost was just an illusion. Hope, probably against hope itself, that Quistis had an entirely different reason for leaving.
"Hey you!" Rinoa exclaimed cheerfully upon seeing Squall emerge from the doorway. "Have you been eavesdropping on us?"
Squall managed a timid smile. "No. I just got here," he said. Alys smiled at him as she walked by.
"I'll just leave you two love birds alone, okay?" she said while winking at Rinoa. "Later, Rinny."
Squall wanted to smile back at the Silver Star, but he could no longer force it out. The guilt had effectively squashed any semblance of good cheer in him. Good thing he wasn't known to be the perky type like Selphie. Alys could easily dismiss his flatness as being in character.
He turned just as Rinoa planted a gentle kiss on his lips. "Hey, feel like doing something tonight? I thought you might wanna ride to Timber with me and see a movie…"
Squall looked at her. Rinoa quickly held two fingers against his lips.
"Enjoy a little candlelight dinner…"
He tried to talk, and she gently shook her head at him.
"… Sleep over at the hotel…"
Rinoa's eyes were dreamy, almost shimmering with its own sparkle. And Squall knew she was having one of those overly romantic moods again. Normally, such a moment served as an oasis in the middle of a bone-dry desert for him. No matter what his disposition was, such a behavior had always been welcome. Squall's attitude may have normally been as warm as a winter day in Trabia to most people, but he still knew better than to not drop everything whenever Rinoa got into this mood.
Now, he just felt crushed by the guilt.
How could he have betrayed her like this?
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Martha Deen-Stuart was the kind of woman to whom no one would ever be intimidated to approach. Nearing the age of sixty and living alone save three housemaids, she was unusually jolly and cordial to people for her age and situation. She had always thought that being miserable in response to one's lonesome state was like pouring gasoline over a forest fire when what people should be doing was pouring water. Martha never believed in sulking. For her, it was one's responsibility to derive delight for herself whatever her state of life may be.
She would have preached this principle to Lucresia Scaramanga if she had known the convicted old woman personally. While reading the daily paper, Martha could only shake her head in pity for the woman, whose crime had been attributed by the media to her achingly lonesome state in life, having been allegedly abandoned by her two sons. It didn't have to be that way, Martha thought. If she could, she'd have done something to exhort Lucresia to adopt a different outlook.
It was now moot, Martha thought as she read on. The day before, Lucresia Scaramanga had been executed by lethal injection before a Galbadian tribunal for charges of attempted genocide and treason, for her deed of awakening the nihilistic demigod Vesta one year ago. Such a waste of life, she pondered on.
Not that she was speaking hypocritically. For all indications, Martha's situation really wasn't far off from the condemned old woman. She herself had to undergo the tragic loss of her husband and children, all members of the Timber military force, who died in sporadic encounters between their squads and Galbadian shock troopers. If anyone had any right to lose it just because of the loss of loved ones, it was Martha. But she chose not to dwell on it and instead cherished whatever she had left.
And one of these was her beloved niece, Iris. Herself an orphan, Iris had been left to the care of the loving woman after her father – Martha's brother – and mother both succumbed to the atrocities that had been rampant during the first Sorceress War. Martha took her in willingly and was only too happy to treat Iris as her own, in the process keeping her from being adopted by the like-minded and kindhearted couple Cid and Edea Kramer, proprietors of an orphanage in Centra.
She had always been proud of Iris and supportive of her dreams. When the young girl first expressed her desire to enter Balamb Garden, Martha had been all out in supporting her dreams, even though it broke her heart that they'd be parting ways in the process. But even though apart, she had kept close watch on her niece. Whenever Iris received an award, she would throw a party in her big house in Timber. Whenever she got into a bind, the older woman would immediately call her up and console her.
When Iris told her about Zell, Martha was a bit skeptical at the prospect of her entering a relationship. But she still invited the two of them for a weekend stay in her house. Zell couldn't have received a warmer welcome save the one his own mother had always accorded him. And when Iris became a SeeD, Martha asked the Timber TV station's network president to congratulate her on the air.
Martha loved Iris like her own. She became the daughter the elderly woman never had, and more than made up for the slack left behind by her deceased husband and sons. And whenever Iris visited, Martha would always throw a party and invite virtually the whole of Timber to celebrate with them.
She would have been busy preparing for a bash today after Iris arrived the day before. But Martha chose to forego the party for now when her niece complained of recurring stomach pains, which was the very reason why she took a vacation in the first place. She had gotten up earlier than usual this morning to call her personal doctor. It was merely ten minutes ago when Martha was told that the doctor was on his way. Now, she was whiling the time away with the morning paper, feeling sorry for Lucresia for having chosen the wrong path to cure her loneliness.
"Good morning, Aunt Martha."
She quickly looked up to the stairway. "Good morning, dear," Martha said as she immediately stood up, as though preparing herself for what Iris may need. "It's nice to see you up early."
"Actually, I hardly slept a wink last night," Iris said with a sluggish voice. "I feel terrible."
Martha felt worried. "Are you still having those stomach pains?"
"Yeah. I think it's getting worse," Iris complained, grimacing while clutching her stomach. "It feels like something's eating me from inside."
"Don't worry, dear," Martha said to try and console Iris. But concern was still written all over her face. "I've already called Doctor Fabool. He'll be here to check you out." Martha ascended the stairs to meet her niece halfway.
But before the elderly woman could reach her, Iris suddenly seized, as though an electric stun gun had been shoved into her stomach. "Iris!!!" Martha screamed after her, who then had begun to collapse down on the marble steps. The older woman quickly rushed to her side. "Iris?!? Are you all right? Iris!!!"
Martha Deen-Stuart became gripped by horror when Iris started convulsing violently in her arms. Her skin quickly turned from creamy to pale, and then to a nearly grayish hue as her seizures worsened and her mouth began to foam. When Martha held her, Iris felt cold to the touch.
"Oh my God! What's happening to you, Iris?!? IRIS!!!" Her panicked screams reverberated throughout the big house. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US!!!"
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Rinoa couldn't help but pout. Especially during the recent days, it hadn't been a common thing for her to feel overly romantic like how she had been feeling today. Whenever it happened, she had always tried to capitalize on it by consummating a tender time together with Squall. As far as she could remember, he had always welcomed such occasions. But that wasn't the case now.
"This is the first time you turned me down when I'm in this mood," she whimpered. "Do you already have something else planned for today?"
Squall wanted to say 'No'. But if he did, he thought it might only fuel more suspicion in Rinoa. On the other hand, if he said 'Yes', he would be pressured to come up with a damn good excuse…
… Or be compelled to tell the truth.
"Well…?"
Squall had not been the perfect boyfriend for Rinoa, and he knew this. But one more thing that he wasn't, at least to her, was a liar. His mind warred against his conscience whether or not to turn this moment into the first time or not.
But if he lied to her and she found out from someone else, what then?
Nope, there was no way out of this. Turning down date invitations had never been easy… especially if one was keeping a vicious secret.
Squall drew a deep breath before reluctantly starting. "I… ran into Marcus this morning at the training center," he began, his chest pounding, his face trying hard to project a jovial look. "Guess what he told me."
"What?" Rinoa replied, smiling.
"He saw Quistis."
"WHAT? He did?!?" she exclaimed. "Was he able to talk to her?"
"I suppose so. You know how Marcus is when it comes to Quisty. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually tracked her down and not just ran into her."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Rinoa chuckled. Her voice then turned more serious. "So what did he say about her? How's she doing? Is she living together with Hunter like what we all think?"
"I don't know," Squall said, his nervousness growing, realizing that sooner or later he'd be required to tell her what he had planned about Quistis. "I didn't ask for the details. All I know is he found her in Dollet. That's probably where she had been staying all this time."
"Oh good!" she enthused. And Squall had to brace himself. He knew what Rinoa was coming to. "Let's go see her!"
"We can't," he quickly answered.
Rinoa's face turned quizzical. "Why not?"
"I'm not sure…" was all Squall could say. He didn't know how to deliver his next words.
Rinoa continued her curious grilling. "Why, what's wrong? She's in trouble, isn't she? Is that why she left without telling us where she was going?"
An opening?
"I'm not sure about the details," he replied, intent on taking advantage. "But I do think she might be in some kind of a bind. That's why…" Squall hesitated. To his consternation, he felt a block in his throat, preventing him from saying that he needed to see her on his own.
He didn't know what to feel when Rinoa completed his sentence. "You think she's in some kind of trouble that's why you had to go see her. And the rest of us can't come with you. For now. Right?"
He looked at her meaningfully, his eyes asking if it was okay for him to see the instructor alone. To Squall's relief, Rinoa returned with her trademark sweet smile and an understanding series of nods
"Yeah, it's okay," she returned. "I don't mind."
"Really?"
"Squall…" Rinoa wrapped her arms around him. "You and Quisty go a long way back, and I know that you care about her despite all this 'talk to a wall' balderdash. So… don't worry about me. I'm not going to go hysterical just because of this. Go see her, and say hi to her for me, okay?"
Squall felt his chest loosening a little bit, making it possible to answer her with a smile. "All right. Anything you want me to bring you when I get back?"
"Just bring yourself back in one piece," Rinoa retorted, after which she eagerly pulled Squall towards her and gave him a prolonged, wet and immensely seductive kiss on the lips. "Just so you know what you'll be missing while you're away. Hurry back, okay?"
"I will." he said before turning around. Just before making his exit, Rinoa called him back once more.
"And Squall… I love you so much…"
Squall felt his heart shatter again.
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Merely a few yards separated his personal office from the receiving room. But for General Caraway, this was probably the longest walk he took in traversing the distance between the two rooms. As he anxiously strutted, a slew of questions and speculations were running back and forth in his mind. Not because this was the first time he was visited by no less than a highly decorated SeeD from Balamb Garden or due to the fact that he didn't usually receive such visits. He would have taken this with hardly a grain of salt... if not for the name given him by his personal aide.
Irvine Kinneas. A name that sounded to him like a proverbial nuclear blast from the past… Or the voice of a conscience that simply refused to stay its accusations. It wasn't as if this was the first time Caraway had an audience with the gunslinger. They had met in at least two separate occasions before: one was when Irvine was assigned to the SeeD team tasked to assassinate then-Sorceress Edea, and the other was when Caraway personally asked him to get his daughter out of a desert prison facility reserved for political criminals. In both occasions, Caraway had felt the same anxiety, but to a lesser degree since it was him who initiated the event. Obviously, it wasn't the case this time, so he didn't know what Irvine could possibly want with this visit.
No… General Caraway knew of at least one non-ludicrous reason why Irvine was here. And that reason, for him, was the biggest fear he had ever known. Though struggling, he gathered every iota of effrontery in himself to finally open the door of the reception room.
He wandered his eyesight momentarily before finding Irvine seated behind the desk with a globe beside it. Richard Caraway cleared the frog inside his throat before addressing his grim-looking guest, uttering a silent prayer for his fears to not come into fruition.
"Mr. Kinneas, what a surprise" he thundered with the purest of hypocrisies. He had intended to say 'pleasant', but he didn't want to overdo his already glaring pretension. General Caraway had never been the gracious host type. "What brings you to my rather tumultuous town?"
"General…" Irvine softly acknowledged, the grave look in his face showing no sign of change.
The Galbadian general felt his anxiety grow more intense, his steely eyes disguising his apprehension as they locked at the viciously silent SeeD.
"As you can see," he spoke out to lighten the thickening tension between them, "It's not only your Garden that's bearing the brunt of that lunatic governor's incessant ranting. We've been having this problem since a couple of days ago… and frankly, I'm not sure what I should do anymore."
The gunslinger didn't utter a word, his attention single-mindedly fixed on General Caraway with the kind of cold and hostile gaze that wasn't typical for a jovial ladies' man like him. It was so out of character, so much that the behavior didn't escape General Caraway's notice. Nevertheless, the latter opted to maintain his casual stance.
"By the way, how's my little girl doing? I hope she's having a better time coping with all these than I am."
Silence still. At this point, there can be no doubt in the general's mind that the SeeD wasn't here for a social call. No way. He gave Irvine a revealing look of recognition, which the latter promptly returned with an almost questioning, at the same time condescending expression.
"How did you manage to get inside, anyway?" Caraway said, turning unwittingly towards the wide picture window, from where he could easily see the crowd of protestors camping just outside his house. "You've probably noticed that nice mob I have on my doorstep."
"With this…" Irvine finally spoke out while holding up the Exeter. General Caraway was slightly taken aback when he noticed that the gun's safety was off.
What? Even if Irvine had indeed come for the very thing he had been suspecting, and fearing, the young SeeD wouldn't be so stupid as to actually start a fight. If he were after revenge, he wouldn't be so dumb as to strike now. He may be a SeeD, but that hardly upped his odds against the squad of Galbadian anti-riot soldiers stationed just outside the mansion. Besides, Caraway refused to believe him to be so foolish. The world supposedly regarded him with the honor aptly befitting the hero that he has turned out to be. Irvine wouldn't just throw everything away…
Would he?
But still, even if the idea sounded foolish, General Caraway cannot allow himself to lay down his guard. Instinctively, his right hand discreetly moved to feel the 9-millimeter pistol holstered inside his topcoat.
"Don't try it, General. You may be Galbadia's greatest soldier, but you're still nowhere near as fast as me when it comes to that."
"And what makes you think I'd shoot you?" Caraway asked.
"What makes you think I won't?" was Irvine's cold reply.
At this point the general could no longer deny the hostility that had Irvine in its grips. Though prepared for instances like this, he still felt anxious and insecure, and it was not because he had been out of action for so long. Neither was it because he knew no one quicker with a gun than the young man before him.
It was the secret.
General Caraway felt his stomach churning. No matter how hard a front he had tried to forge, he was still after all, only human. And one of the main traits that separated humans from animals was that humans had always been susceptible to guilt, no matter how callous they pretended to be. The more hardened ones merely knew how to conceal guilt. He certainly was one of those who excelled in hiding his. He had been doing it for the last nineteen years.
And now everything was in danger of bursting high and wide, like a volcano that had been threatening to erupt for decades. At this point, General Caraway had come to realize that he had no choice but to face the specter he had been running from all this time. It had finally caught up to him, and now was standing before him with a gun.
A gun… and a strange grin.
"I came here because I have a confession to make," Irvine suddenly said.
General Caraway didn't budge. His face was still unflappable, successfully hiding his dread.
The SeeD didn't seem to mind the general's lack of attention. Or maybe he was so sure that it was about to change.
"I slept with Rinoa the other night."
Irvine's statement sounded so incredulous General Caraway almost felt like laughing, if he hadn't known the renown the SeeD had popularly held among his peers. If anyone knew Irvine Kinneas inside and out, it had to be General Richard Caraway himself. After all, he was the one responsible for Irvine's transfer to Galbadia Garden after discovering his presence in that old stone house somewhere in eastern Centra. He wanted him there, to be able to keep close watch of him. Caraway had even found it a little amusing when Galbadia Garden Master Martine Dodona first reported Irvine's inclination to the gun as his weapon of choice. If there had been any doubt to his identity that related him to the general, that fact had laid it all to rest. General Caraway himself had been a champion marksman many times in his prime. Irvine definitely took after him well. And like most generational patterns, he even bettered his old man. And in more ways than one. Irvine was evidently a hundred times more skilled than Richard Caraway in the fine art of swinging. And he knew it. He would have been proud of him if it had not been for the secret.
And here he was, claiming that he had bedded Rinoa. All of the sudden, what used to be a silly scenario became deadly serious for General Caraway. What if he had been wrong about Irvine's purpose for this audience? What if he really didn't know the truth, and had come here merely to display a most unusual behavior of gloating a supposed accomplishment before a man who'd bury him neck deep in the middle of a bomb testing site because of it? The bottom line: what if it was true that he had slept with Rinoa?
"You're kidding, right?" was all General Caraway had managed to say. Irvine's grin grew wider.
"What do you think? You've been around, General," he said with palpable sarcasm. "You probably know what kind of reputation Irvine Kinneas has among the ladies."
Yes, he knew. And Caraway hoped it didn't have to be true. The scenario he just presented was too mind-blowing.
"And Rinoa's one of the most gorgeous babes I've ever met. And knowing who I am, what I can do and had always wanted to do, I simply COULDN'T pass up on someone like her, can I? Surely you've been to a situation of spotting a girl that you KNEW you just had to have, right?"
The contempt in Irvine's voice was too heavy, Caraway thought. There had to be a more grievous reason for this visit. He was consequently torn by the implications. His fears trained back to that specter he had contemplated about just before. He wished it were that, and yet he also hoped it wasn't.
Damn, which one would he have wanted to be a hoax? Which one could he live with a little less torturously? What kind of mess had he done in his life that his choices had now been reduced between the lesser of two evils?
"So…?" Caraway tried to act uncaring. "Rinoa's a big girl now. S-She can take care of herself. It's not anymore my place to tell her what and what not to do."
What the hell was he saying? Even if Rinoa had turned into the worst slut in the world and had gone to bed with nearly every boy she knew, she just couldn't do it with Irvine Kinneas. She just can't! Not with Irvine Kinneas!
"Tell me it isn't true…" Caraway finally muttered under his breath. Irvine heard it, and felt a morbid sense of victory well up from his chest. It was time to drop the real bomb.
"Well, not really." He said. "But it could have happened. Like a few months ago, Garden held a welcoming party for freshmen, which, ironically, was hosted by our good friend Zeilgr Markkon back when he wasn't the asshole he is now," Irvine started to recount as he lifted himself off from the expensive swivel chair. "After dinner, the usual crew got together for a few rounds that turned a little rowdier than we had planned. Even Quistis got herself drunk, imagine that."
Author's Note 1: The event mentioned above was not explicitly shown anywhere. But that welcoming party held in Zeilgr Markkon's mansion in Winhill was featured in the short fic "Have You Seen My Feet?" and its flipside story Heartstrings.
Caraway listened intently as Irvine went on. "Things really got a little wild, so much that I didn't at all mind that Arturo Hagel came a little too close for comfort with Selphie. But they were never out of my sight for more than two minutes so I really didn't think something happened that I should be suspicious of. Besides, I wasn't having it bad myself. I was with Rinoa. And she was so out of it I could easily have pulled her in a room and gotten away with it. Squall was nowhere in sight, and Zell and Quistis were out cold. So who was there to stop me?"
Irvine paused, his jaws stiffening as though he had just pondered on some kind of heresy. His voice was dark and heavy when he continued.
"It's a good thing Squall's my friend. I may be a notorious ladies' man, but I would never make a move on my friend's girl. I suppose that's what's been keeping me from eating a bullet."
So nothing really happened. General Caraway wanted to feel relieved, but he knew he couldn't. He just knew Irvine was en route to something much more unnerving than that. Again, he was back to worrying about his nineteen-year old fear.
"But what if Squall weren't my friend, huh?"
Nineteen years. He thought he had gotten away with it.
"Then I would have friggin' screwed my own sister."
He was wrong.
"What then, you stupid idiot?"
End of Chapter IX
