Tour de Force
by Soul Hunter
Part 4
Four hundred yards of barren grassland battered by 55 mile per hour high winds separate him from a one-foot tall effigy of the vile sorceress who went by the name of Ultimecia, a scornful spirit who threatened all of existence from her lofty perch in a future era before he and five of his equally fearless friends ventured to her time to end her life. Irvine Kinneas, former marksman extraordinaire from the defunct Galbadia Garden and now one of the most highly decorated SeeDs of its counterpart in Balamb, positions his eagle-sharp right eye behind the back end of his custom-made sniper rifle's telescopic view-finder.
Blinking his eyes repeatedly, the gunslinger takes careful aim. He wonders: he doesn't usually take a careful aim on targets as easy as this. Reluctantly, he pulls the trigger, firing a single round of hollow point towards the object positioned in between the crosshairs.
The shot missed by a yard.
"Damn..." he mutters in frustration. This is the third time that he had to take this shot this day, and he can't figure out why he seems to have lost his skill all of the sudden. He stares at the other bullets arranged in a neat row by his side, and deliberates whether to continue with this practice session which he deems an exercise in futility.
He knows very well what's causing this sudden attack of incompetence. It's been more than a week now since he read a note left in his room by his beloved Selphie, prior to her departure for that retrieval operation with Zell. And the lack of news about their whereabouts is causing him great distress at this very moment. It's not that this is the first time either one of them had to go on a mission that lasted as long as this.
But that's exactly what's been causing the dread in his heart. Opting to be square with himself, Irvine subsequently realizes with clarity that it's not really the length of time or the absence of communication. It's the unexplained dread itself, a foreboding shadow that though he struggles hard to rebuff, Irvine unwittingly interprets as some sort of omen. For all he knows, Selphie might be sprawled in some desolate snowfield at this very moment, bleeding badly and unable to do anything to help herself. Irvine feels a sense of helplessness set into his being, a gnawing feeling of despair that not even the arrival of Squall was capable of alleviating.
"Still worried about Sefie, huh." he starts, a remark that was frowned upon by the gunslinger.
"No shit." Irvine comes back wryly. "You really don't expect me to feel all peachy keen about this, do you?"
"Hhh... no." Squall sighs, opting to tolerate Irvine's crass repartee. The SeeD commander thinks, if he were in his comrade's position and Rinoa were in Selphie's, he'd feel exactly the same way.
Regretfully, Squall wasn't really the sensitive type with a penchant for cheering up forlorn friends. He really wanted to tell Irvine that everything will be fine, that Selphie is safe under Zell's protection. But as is typical of the SeeD commander, he can't figure out how to begin. Choosing against a lost cause, he instead started with his primary reason for coming to see his beleaguered teammate.
"We need to leave immediately. Headmaster gave an order for us to escort Governor Markkon to the summit in Esthar." he begins, pertaining to an escort mission aimed at protecting the revered Winhill Governor who was currently receiving a slew of death threats as of late. Irvine looks at Squall, then flashes a sneering grin.
"That's a shit assignment, and you know it." the gunslinger retorts. "And don't pretend you didn't tell the Headmaster to include me in this mission just so I can get my mind off Selphie."
Squall simply shrugs. Turning his back to his comrade, Irvine nonchalantly opens the gun casing and begins to disassemble his sniper rifle. Shoulders drooping, he then lets out a resounding whine coupled with a thoughtless question.
"Why am I feeling nervous all of the sudden? Do you suppose there's some reason why I'm like this? Do you think something really bad happened to those two?"
"You're just being superstitious." Squall curtly replies.
"I hope you're right, Squall." Irvine returns, his voice reeking with anxiety. "I hope you're right..."
Irregular rock formations litter the path they have chosen to traverse on their way to the terrorists' hidden base. But Zell and Selphie quietly continues, deeming it wiser to choose this path rather than to stay on the open field where they can be easily seen by the enemy. Not exactly fully recovered, Selphie wasn't able to avoid losing her footing in one especially jagged descent. She softly moans after the fall, with Zell quickly coming to her aid to help her up on her feet once more.
"You okay?" he briefly asks.
"Yeah..." Selphie returns, before seeing Zell instantly turn his back on her to continue on his way. That simple gesture was enough to let her know that she is not alone in this nagging moment of self-reprisal.
"You're still thinking about it, aren't you?" She blurts out in an effort to clear the air between them. To her utter consternation, Zell didn't respond to her pointed question.
"Zell, will you please talk to me. I'm starting to feel like an idiot being the only one who wants to settle this."
He looks at her, guilt written all over his face. "It... it's not right, Sef. What happened back there was very, very wrong." The sudden remark made Selphie feel like she was being immersed in a pool of ice water.
"How could you say that, Zell?"
"What?"
"How could you say that? It's like you're implying that I'm the only one who wanted it to happen!"
"No... it's not that..." Zell snaps back; a brief but meaningful reply conveying the secret message that he did in fact like what happened, no matter how terribly guilty he feels at this very moment.
Lashing at himself for actually admitting to that truth, the martial artist returns, his emotions full throttle in its intent of not holding anything back.
"Don't you get it? Don't you realize what just happened?"
"What?!?" she shoots back resoundingly. "What happened?"
"I don't know, dammit!!!" Zell exclaims. "All I know is I didn't try to stop it. And whenever I think about it, I think about Iris. How do you think am I going to face her after this?"
Tha Trabian SeeD slams her eyes shut, a tormenting wail seemingly echoing from her heart which feels like it's being shoved into a meat grinder. She then throws her gaze back to Zell, indignation written all over her face.
"You... You ASSHOLE!!!" Selphie blurts out, catching Zell completely by surprise. "You think you're guilty, huh? You think you're friggin' guilty?!? How do you suppose I feel like at this moment? What about Irvine, huh? What?!?"
She was already red with anger, prompting Zell to try and approach her. But Selphie suddenly jumps back.
"Don't touch me, Zell!" she hollers. "Don't you freakin' touch me because you have no idea just how bad you're making me feel right now!"
"Selphie..." he gropes, desperately trying to appease her uncharacteristic rage. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way..."
But she didn't answer anymore, pushing him aside instead as she continues along the rocky path leading to their target. With desperate eyes, Zell follows her movement, his heart being rent at this very moment by excruciating guilt. But unlike before, the terrible reprisal is not so much caused by his seeming unfaithfulness to Iris than it is by the knowledge that he has just caused Selphie a world of hurt.
As he stares at her, Zell wonders, asking himself about this nagging emotion eating into his heart right now. Admittedly, he's gripped by an unwelcome surprise, owing to the truth that... he hates himself for hurting her, much more than he does for his self-professed infidelity to the pigtailed girl.
What have they gotten themselves into?
Another hour of trekking by foot elapsed before the two SeeDs slowed to a crouching approach. Right in front of them, a solitary rock formation stands in the middle of the vast snowfield. To the untrained eye, the monolith looked inconspicuous enough to escape notice. But not for the pair of battle-hardened Garden mercenaries who easily spotted faint snowshoe prints leading out from the western end of the solid structure. Stretching his neck to get a better view, Zell tries to search for any sign of a switch or device that may be used to open the gate they assume to be along the side of the rock formation.
"Great... looks like the only way to open that entrance is from the inside." He said. "Any ideas?"
Selphie didn't answer, eliciting a frustrated sigh from Zell out of knowing that she's still mad at him. Trying to shun the disturbing thought, the martial artist begins to slowly inch toward the next tree, wary that he might be seen by a hidden sentinel camera.
"I'm going in for a closer look." He announces. "I might be able to rig something up to open that friggin' gate."
Selphie looks at him, then moves to take hold of his forearm.
"Zell... don't." He glances at her with a mild surprise. "Th... That access is designed to be exposed so they can easily detect intruders. We have to find another way to get in."
Deep inside him, Zell feels an uncanny relief stemming from the apparent sign that Selphie has already forgiven him. But he holds himself back, careful that he might push his luck too far. He then squats back next to her as Selphie begins to talk once more.
"Let's think about this." she begins anew. "There are probably more laser batteries surrounding that entrance, so the direct approach is out of the question. I'm thinking of waiting until someone from inside opens it, but..." She hesitates, recalling the event that took place a few hours ago. Selphie then decides against continuing with her sentence from fear of the allusion of referring to a similar event brought forth by that idle stretch of time not unlike the one she almost suggested.
And Zell has exactly the same thing in mind, likewise opting not to further in the same direction.
"Of course, we can try the direct approach and just blow that thing into the next century."
"Uh, I thought we're supposed to exercise subterfuge with this operation." Selphie remarks.
"Not really." Zell replies. "Remember the mission parameter: leave one perpetrator conscious for questioning. That means we have the go signal to run amuck, right?"
"Yeah, right. How do you suppose can we go against an army of terrorists?"
"Hey, you have to ask?" He comes back, this time with the ardor inherent to him. "I'm THE Zell Dincht and you're THE Selphie Tilmitt. We're da bomb! The wrecking crew! Balamb Garden's Tour de Force! You should instead ask how these mooks are going to go against the two of us!"
A vicious grin forms on Selphie's lips, followed by the old fire in her eyes that had become common from all the battles that she fought in the past. Dropping her backpack to the ground, the reenergized SeeD subsequently pulls out her deadly nunchuku while turning to Zell, who was making sure that his Ehrgeiz gloves are strapped securely. She then nods to her field partner.
"Alright, let's do it! Blow the place to smithereens!"
- end of part 4 -