Chapter 29

Declaration of an Ending

I was sure I felt myself stumble, as if my body was completing the movement it had initially wanted to make before I had come under the spells sway. I blinked, stared around me shakily, steadying myself. The world seemed to roar back into life and then snap back into balance, sounds clicking back into life, smells back in the air, light moving in front of my eyes.

I saw the red before my feet but didn't initially register its significance. I looked towards it out of sheer curiosity at first. The next thing I knew, there was the President of Galbadia, dead at my feet, blood pooling in front of his shocked eyes. His throat was gaping open, like the split flesh of a ripe fruit; a clean efficient cut.

"Seifer..." I breathed out, looking up wildly, ignoring the sudden surge of voices, panic, horror, that sprang up around me, "Seifer!"

To my right, Rinoa screamed but it seemed somehow insignificant. Gone. I turned round wildly, searching. He was gone. Not a single trace, even a clue as to his whereabouts was left. If I hadn't seen him with my own eyes before I was put under what I presumed was a stop spell, I would never have believed he had been here at all. But he had been, and he had been holding the President hostage with a foolishly sharp Hyperion to his throat. Being the usual arrogant prick, all brawn no plan, the same old Seifer. But the same old Seifer would never slit a man's throat in cold blood, no, never, not without a damn good reason. And yet now, here, the blood reaching my boot as it widened, coalesced, stained...here was his prisoner, throat slit. There weren't many conclusions to come to, and they all involved the same culprit.

No.

No, he wouldn't...

"Squall," someone's hand was on my arm, but the voice sounded distant, hollow; the hand shook me roughly, "Squall, we have to get out of here, there are reinforcements coming, we can't let them find us here!"

I turned to look at Xu and I think she flinched. Her eyes must have seen more than I intended in my own and I quickly pulled a barrier around my thoughts. I felt reality return, force its way past the shock, through the mire of clamouring questions that flooded my mind. The present...I looked over to my team, Selphie's eyes wide as she ran to my side, Nida trying his best to stay focused and failing. It was then that I heard what Xu had obviously heard. Footsteps running, heavy boot tread.

I turned to Rinoa, her long hair fallen forwards, covering her face, but I could tell her eyes were fixed upon the red, the gore. Was she thinking the same thing? Was she wondering if Seifer was capable of such barbarism? I shook off Xu's arm and grabbed Rinoa by the shoulders, pulling myself together while simultaneously pulling myself apart as I forced myself not to think about him, about where he might be, about why, why, why..?

"We need somewhere to hide," her eyes were glassy with tears and she looked at me, seemingly horrified with my lack of feeling, "do you have somewhere to run to? We need to get to ground and fast, take us somewhere reliable, somewhere you trust."
"Wha-what? But Seifer, where..?" she started, a hysterical lilt to her shock.
"There's no time for that, get us out of here, now!" I shook her once, roughly, pulling her out of whatever stupor she'd fallen into, trying to ignore her startled, angry expression.

I tuned to the others. More faces full of disbelief, more looks of shock. Not important, it wasn't important now. What was important was to get out of here safely, regroup, form a plan and get back to Garden. What was important was to ensure the safety of Garden before we worried about one single cadet who had endangered us all in the first place and was now missing, perhaps a fugitive. What was important was...was...

"We're moving out, now, let's go," I said quickly, turning quickly lest anyone notice my turmoil, to see if we could escape the way we entered.
"Wait! Squall what about Seifer? We can't just leave like this without finding him first, right!?" Selphie had a hold of my arm, hauling me back.

Her eyes were wide and almost fearful. I couldn't seem to find anything to say to them; odd for me, ne? Of course not, I never know what to say in the easiest of situations, never mind one like this. It was hard enough for me to relate a simple feeling to anyone, never mind hold a meaningful conversation, and damn well not when the subject of that conversation was just what I was trying to deny right now. Not now...

A situation like this. Seifer...what the fuck have you gotten yourself into?

"We're leaving Selphie," Xu said, thankfully stepping in; at the flash of anger in Selphie's eyes she quickly added, "We'll have time to look for him after we're all safe. We have to get out of here first, get out of sight."
"Xu's right Selphie," I added when the brunette still didn't detach herself from my jacket.
"C'mon Selphie," Nida added, his tone calm but with a hint of urgency slipping through.
"If we get out through the back," when I followed the source of her voice I found Rinoa was at the back door, holding it open, and her voice drifted through the stagnant air, "I can take us to a friend, she can hide us for now, but we have to hurry."

I nodded, glad that she had calmed down, that she could be of use. We ran, and the corridor was free of guards, odd considering I was sure that Selphie had said to me before that there were car's stationed at the back road behind the building. If any alarm had been raised, surely the troops there would either surround or infiltrate the building. This corridor, and consequently this exit, should now have been swarming with Galbadian blue uniforms.

But there were none. Not a single one. And yet as we pushed out into the heavy sunshine, running along the gangway and trying to ignore the sounds of soldier's yelling and shouting orders before the door slammed shut and cut off the sound completely...that voice.

The voice that had spoken before I was paralysed...I had heard it before, in my dreams. It was always soft, speaking as if to a child, something that it didn't understand, speaking softly and correctly but with...love, I think, but anyway that wasn't really important now. What was important was that there had been another person in the room before Seifer disappeared. I could quite easily assume that this other woman, the voice had definitely been female, was the one to cast the stop spell, but then assuming at a time like this was dangerous. Something was sickeningly wrong with this, all of this.

We made our way back through the bar and, luckily, avoided two Galbadian soldiers who were investigating a burning crate in an alleyway opposite our hiding place. We quickly sneaked into the house to our right, following Rinoa and closing the door quietly behind us.


"I'm sorry to jump in on you like this," Rinoa's voice was calm and yet hard to ignore in this oddly peaceful room.
"Don't worry your pretty head," the other woman replied, wiping her hands on her apron and flashing Rinoa a wide smile, "you can stay here as long as you need to, you know that."
"Thank you," Rinoa said back turning to scan the room, looking to each of us in turn, "we really appreciate it."
"Well," the woman cocked her head, listening to the continued sound of sirens, shouting and the yelp of dogs outside, "sounds like you're in for a long wait. Better make yourselves at home. There's a room upstairs if you want to rest and I'll make something hot to drink. Sorry, afraid foods short these days so we'll have to ration."
"Don't worry, we'll try and stay out of your hair," Rinoa said back, and the woman smiled back affectionately.

I hadn't wanted to be rude, it wasn't my intention, but I was the first to head upstairs without having said a word to anyone or even show a word of gratitude to our new host. I knew that I couldn't help losing myself in my own thoughts. Every time I tried to pull myself away from mulling over the far too recent events at the TV station, I started to think about Seifer, about where, about why...then, ineluctably, my thoughts returned to the TV station. A vicious cycle.

The house was small, seemingly fragile and plain. We all ended up piled in the small spare bedroom with its discouraging view out over the paper mills towards the back on the TV station. Our host had brought us some strong, sweet smelling tea and left it on the dresser. Rinoa had followed her back downstairs to help with food preparation. Everyone had taken a cup, but embarrassingly enough I couldn't even stomach the thought. Xu and Selphie had taken up position sitting rigidly on the bed, Nida leaning against the wall by the window, casting furtive glances to the outside world. I had found myself standing in the middle of the room, feeling oddly exposed as Rinoa finally returned, closing the door behind her, but couldn't think where else to put myself.

Seifer. What have you done?

"Alright," Xu's voice was calm yet determined, "we're regrouped and we're safe, well, as safe as we can be right now. Is everyone okay?"
"I'm okay," Selphie nodded after a moment's hesitation.

Nida just nodded tightly, Rinoa following his example. I didn't move or reply, standing in the middle of the room with my fists suddenly clenching. I felt like I had lost control of my body, my limbs wouldn't respond, I was suddenly utterly livid and completely terrified all at the same time. I clenched my teeth as hard as I could, forcing myself to relax and not show my emotions to anyone.

"Squall?" Xu sounded almost angry, "What the hell's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me?" I said back, my tone surprising even myself; it sounded cold, deadly, "I'll give you three guesses."

I turned to look at Xu, taking in her momentary shock, before continuing.

"Why was Seifer at the T.V. station?" I demanded.
"How should I know?" Xu said back with narrowed eyes.
"You were following him, you knew he'd gone AWOL," I reasoned.
"I did, but that doesn't mean I know what's going on in that screwed up head of his," Xu said back, shrugging, "for all I know he could have just been sore about not getting to finish his fight this morning and come chasing after Zell."

I stalled, not following her reasoning. But Zell was also at the detention centre, wasn't he..?

"What do you mean chasing after Zell?"


This place was like a maze, or maybe rabbit warren was more accurate. I had been so sure of myself when I thought I knew the way to the TV station, but now, stuck at another dead end, I was beginning to doubt my conviction.

"Shit," I scowled and turned to run back towards the small plaza this alley had branched off from; then I heard the gunfire.

I ducked behind the crates at the entrance, filled with wood pulp for the mills. As I stared out a group of Galbadian soldiers ran into the plaza, halting as their leader raised his hand.

"They may have doubled back," he growled, turning to look at his troops, "Kain, Grant, you stay here and keep an eye out. Radio me immediately if anything, and I mean anything happens. We won't let them get away with this!"

And then he was gone, taking all but two soldiers with him. Were they talking about the President? Had Seifer managed to make off with him then? That mad fucking bastard, if he's got Squall hurt I'll never, ever forgive him. I ground my teeth and watched the cloud shadows playing over the bright sand coloured stone, watching the soldiers check their perimeter and then settle at another alleyway opposite my own, watching the area carefully.

Great, I thought, now I'm stuck here. I knew that I could take them easily, hell there were only two of them, but what I wasn't sure of was whether I could take them both out before one of them radioed for help. I really didn't want to deal with the rest of those guys all at once. I looked up over the top of the crate as carefully as I could, and that was when I saw them.

My position gave me a wide view over the square, the two houses across from me with the enemies standing in their alley beside them and the bar to the right of the houses, with the stairway leading down to the entrance; and over the lip of the stairway poked a very familiar head.

"Selphie?" I said quietly.

The head disappeared. I instinctively looked over to see if the guards had noticed but thankfully they seemed not o have noticed. How long that would last however, I didn't know. From where Selphie was she wouldn't be able to see the Galbadian's. Her head disappeared and I grit my teeth. My eyes darted back to the enemy. She was going to walk straight out into a trap.

Then an even more familiar sight crept into view. Squall, head and shoulders above the sandy ground, looking around cautiously. I swallowed, suddenly, irrationally glad that he was alive. I almost tried to get him to notice me, some sort of signal, but thankfully managed to resist. I had bigger problems to worry about. Squall, followed by Selphie and what looked like Nida were slowly emerging from the stairwell. I swallowed, pulse speeding up, looking back and forth between the enemy and my friends. Fuck, fuck and double fuck.

Before I could even think of what I was going to do after they noticed and came to investigate, I quickly called up a fire spell and launched it at one of the crates further down the alleyway I was hiding in. I saw Squall stall, holding up his hand to the team and frowning. Thankfully, or this all would have been a waste of time, the guards decided that this event was significant enough to investigate but not really significant enough to call their Captain about. Well, let's not say that I don't have my moments of genius okay?

I ducked back behind my makeshift hiding place and prayed that the guards kept their eyes on the burning crates. Soon two sets of boots crept past me, stepping identical steps past me.

"Did it just catch fire? Was it a stray shot or something?" one of them was almost whispering to the other.
"I don't know," the other said sternly, "maybe someone did it on purpose t..."

He never finished his sentence, ironic, considering he'd guessed the truth behind my trap. He went down with a punch to the pressure spot at the top of his spine. I grabbed his gun as the other soldier turned to me with a cry and smashed the butt into his chin before kicking out into his stomach. He collapsed beside his fellow soldier, blood running from a split lip, unconscious. I quickly dropped the machine gun, hesitating before reaching down and pulling one of the soldiers berretta pistols from his harness and putting it into the large pocket in my trousers. I don't like guns but, considering the situation, better safe than sorry.

By the time I'd pulled the guards down the alley and out of sight Squall and the others had disappeared. I swore colourfully, biting my lip and trying to figure out here they might have been headed. Back to the train station? No, that would surely be too risky, Squall would know that the trains would be stopped to prevent anyone leaving, especially considering this was an incident concerning the President of Galbadia. So, a way out of town then? Seemed like it would be a better idea to wait until things had settled down a little before making a break for it, the place was swarming with soldiers on the alert. Well, had they gone to ground then? But where?

I looked up and took in the square once more, leaning against the crate I had hidden behind earlier, just in case I needed to find a hiding place quickly. They had come from the bar, so maybe they had retreated back inside when they saw the guards? No, that didn't sit right, Squall wasn't one to miss an opportunity to move forwards instead of retreating. He would take the chance and use their distraction to head towards his destination. So, where exactly would that be. I looked up to the mills behind me. Maybe they headed to the mills to hide there? Most of the residents of Timber were affiliated in one way or another with a resistance faction, it wouldn't be hard to find shelter if they still had that Rinoa girl with them. I quickly did a sweep of the square and the surrounding buildings before I stepped out into the open again.

And, in accordance with my sudden lucky streak, I looked up to the window on the second floor of the house across from me. The curtains were drawn hastily shut, but not before I spied Selphie's familiar curls. I blinked, thanked my lucky stars and then quickly legged it over to the doorway and knocked. I looked around cautiously as I waited, feeling that any moment my luck was going to run out and I would end up getting us all discovered.

There was no reply from within. I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination, or did I hear marching? I felt sweat break out across my palms. I knocked again, harder, moving my feet, swallowing, blinking, I could hear that sound, getting louder, my heart beating, I knocked again, come on, come on, come on, please...

"What do you want," the door opened so suddenly that I hesitated, not sure exactly what to say.

A woman stared at me, the door only opened enough to afford me a look at her stern countenance, blue eyes clear and long brown hair tied back with a headscarf. I swallowed again.

"I'm with the guys upstairs," I said, feeling suddenly foolish; her eyes narrowed.
"There is no one upstairs, I'm alone," she said harshly.
"Then who the hell shut the curtains," I shot back, my nerves on edge as I darted a look towards the growling sound of boot tread, "look, I'm not lying, I swear, please..."
"You can't come in," she said quickly, closing the door.

That was when the first soldier rounded the corner. My eyes widened and I did the only thing I could. I barrelled into the door, knocking it back and the woman to the floor with a cry. I closed the door as quietly as I could, heart racing, hoping to all hell that the soldiers hadn't heard. I heard footsteps on the stairs. When they found their guards gone, they would be searching these houses. I needed to...

I would have continued my thought but, unfortunately, that was when the rolling pin hit me in the face. I fell, partly from the force of the blow and partly from sheer surprise. I looked up to see the woman who I had knocked down in my haste, rolling pin in hand, incandescent with rage. I held up my hands as she raised it for another blow.

"Wait!" came a hissed command from behind her, but she didn't stop.

Then suddenly the rolling pin was gone and the woman was pulled quickly out of the way. Then there was a hand fisted in the front of my shirt and I was hauled unceremoniously to my feet and pushed against the wall. Squall glared stonily at me, his breath hot on my face as he leaned in to hiss.

"What the fucking hell are you doing here?"

I couldn't answer, because my heart was lodged in my throat and effectively stopping words from escaping.

"I..." I croaked out.
"You what?" he said, leaning in closer; I had to fight the blush.
"Shh!" Nida suddenly exclaimed and we all, automatically, fell silent.

The sounds of orders being shouted filtered through the door from outside. I tensed. Oh god, oh god, please don't let them know we're here, not because of me.

"Get upstairs," the woman who answered the door suddenly said, glancing at me suspiciously, but tagging on the end, "all of you."

Squall hesitated, then quickly let go of my shirt and nodded, backing away. I let out the breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding and, quietly as possible, followed the others up the narrow staircase and into a small bedroom. This must have been the room I saw them in from the square. I was the last one to enter the room and closed the door behind me. I looked to the others, Nida against the wall by the window, Xu and Selphie on the bed, Squall pacing quietly backwards and forwards. I felt suddenly out of place. I didn't know what was going on, what had happened, they all knew something I didn't. I stood by the door, not knowing what to do with myself. Then, suddenly, a hand grabbed my own and pulled me down onto the end of the bed. I looked at Selphie, puzzled, and tried to ignore the glare Xu was doing her best to bore into my skull with.

"What are you doing here Zell?" she whispered; well, at least she didn't sound like she was going to kill me.
"I...look Selphie," I started but stopped when Squall shot me a look before turning away, continuing his pacing, "...I just had a bad feeling about this mission, that's all. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you guys and I wasn't there to help."

That was a really good lie, I thought to myself, almost proud in a perverse way. Well, Selphie seemed to buy it, even if she did look reproving. She didn't ask anything more of me and we continued to wait, in silence, for the area to clear. The soldiers knocked on the door but the woman, whatever her name was, managed to get rid of them after they did a precursory sweep of the first floor. Something must have satisfied them, either that or they were called away for something more important because they left soon after. I let out a sigh of relief.

That was before I realised that, now we didn't have to be quiet, that Xu was fully authorized to scream at me now. Thankfully, before she got the chance, the door opened and the woman bustled in carrying a black box, her expression dark. Squall eyed her curiously.

"I think you all better listen to this," she said seriously.

She clicked a switch on the box and it sprang into life, crackling. I realised that it must be some sort of makeshift radio and soon, as she twisted a few knobs on the side and the crackling subsided, realised it was also picking up the militaries frequency. The voices slowly strengthened and we all strained to listen.

"...onfirm the President has been assassinated, repeat the President has been assassinate..."
"Assassinated?" I gasped, earning myself a glare and a hiss to shut up from Xu.
"...suspects still at large, one assailant in custody, details currently unknown, over."
"Could it be..?" I was surprised to hear Squall sounding so...worried?
"Male, blond, six-one, name unknown, age unknown, we're detaining him in the auxiliary barracks until we can transport him to the train station for transfer to Galbadia Prison, D-District, over," Seifer had been caught? The line crackled and I chanced a look at Squall, trying to gauge his reaction; his eyes were blank, unreadable, "Roger that, transport will be confirmed for 1300 hours, have the prisoner ready, over."

The rest of their chatter faded away as Squall stood, his change in position distorting the fragile link to the frequency. The Woman turned off the radio and looked at us solemnly.

"D-District," Nida said quietly, "that's only for..."
"Prisoners on death row," Selphie finished as Nida trailed off.

Squall turned away from the group, moving over to stand in the middle of the room with his back to us, hands clenched into tight fists.

AN: Wow, never thought I'd be updating this story! Yikes, over a year since the last update, I really suck! Oh well, hope you enjoyed this and please review, I will reply to them this time! Sorry again for the wait.

Maiko