One-Sixth.....oh my god!!! It's chapter 3!!
June 22nd, 2072, 2:37am
The ceiling was rather dirty, Squall noticed. Rinoa had fallen asleep in his arms a few hours earlier, worn out from appeasing guests who had arrived to find no wedding and the endless discussion on how to find Selphie. Squall knew she was exhausted. The wedding being canceled was a much bigger deal than everyone thought. His angel was sweet, caring, capricious, and beautiful.........but she didn't have the endless supply of energy Selphie did and was not great at coping with disappointment. He looked down at her sleeping face and his heart warmed a little. At least Rinoa was okay.
"Asheethbuurblengggg..........." Rinoa whispered something unintelligible in her sleep.
Now that he thought about it, it was kind of strange. Rinoa was usually the target. Over the last year, a number of incidents had been thwarted, all involving Rinoa, of course being the most powerful sorceress alive. Why anyone would want to take Selphie was beyond him. He remembered the last time he'd seen her, had it only been last night? Squall had been checking people in at the door for the rehearsal dinner and Selphie had been hanging decorations behind him. She'd been singing 'Put on a Happy Face' and 'accidentally' nudging Squall whenever she sang a line about someone frowning or looking glum. What on earth had happened? He sighed and looked over to the closet where his tux was still hanging.
June 22nd, 2072, 3:00 am
"Ouch! Watch your head."
"Be careful."
"Hey, that's a little too south of the border....."
"Don't be such a priss...."
"You're calling me a priss, Mr. 'My ears are completely off limits?'"
A loud beeping called Xu and Nida from their late-night makeout session on the bridge.
"What on earth could that be?"
"It's the incoming message tone."
"No shit, Sherlock. I meant what kind of message is coming in at 3:00am? Even towns under siege wait until at least six."
They accepted the message, found it was a mere recording and were about to go back to the making out until they saw the tag line: 'One down, five to go.' They looked at each other and debated whether the message's importance outweighed the fact that they were going to get a gigantic lecture from Cid. Of course, it did.
June 22nd, 2072, 3:24 am
"This is an office! Not your backseat at the drive in! And if I ever catch you two in here again, you, Miss Chiang, will be transferred to Trabia and you, Mr. Almestan, will be transferred to Galbadia, both as cafeteria workers! Now I want to see both of you in the DR tomorrow, in separate rooms. Go away! Out! Scat! Go find a dorm room!" They both blushed bright red.
Squall entered as Cid finished his diatribe. Xu and Nida saluted, then ducked their heads and quickly left the room. Squall could hear them giggling again as they got in the elevator. He went over and sat next to Rinoa, who looked really on edge. He saw Quistis, who was snoring gently on the other couch. Irvine's cowboy and horse pajamas were funny but unsurprising, although Squall would never say it out loud. The look on Irvine's face, however, was not funny, but all too unsurprising. No Zell. It troubled Squall for a minute, but he shook it off. Zell was a heavy sleeper.
"Okay, I called you all here not just cause' your Selphie's friends, but because you happen to be the best SeeD team we've got." He looked pointedly at Rinoa who had refused to enroll at Garden but insisted on staying. "We got this message a little while ago, when...Quistis. Quistis. Wake up, Quistis, will you Irvine?"
Irvine reached over and pulled one of Quistis' long bangs; almost identical to his own. He tugged again, harder. He was about to reach over and tap her across the cheeks, when she grabbed his hand and twisted it around.
"Ouuuch!"
"Oops, sorry.......SeeD training, you know."
Cid shook his head. "Anyway, we received this message a little while ago. It was pre recorded, and we don't know where it came from. Here, let me show you." He turned on the screen and motioned for Irvine to stand up. He complied, but kept glancing toward the blank screen. Cid proceeded to drag a melancholy, sleepy Irvine into the outer office while the others waited for the message to begin.
"Why're we out here Mr. Kramer?" He yawned. "Did something happen?" His eyes narrowed and he was suddenly alert. "That's about what happened to Selphie, isn't it?" He turned and scrambled for the door, while Cid tried to hold him back.
"Irvine! It'd do absolutely no good for you to see that! Come sit down, this instant!"Cid shifted nervously and reached down to fiddle with his robe's belt. "Look, Irvine. I know you. Maybe not this upstanding young man you've become, but I know you, the person, that doesn't change. And I know that if I let you see that tape, you will go nuts. You tend to go ballistic when people you care about get hurt. It's good that you care so much, but I don't want you to get out of hand. You will get out of hand if you see that. So, I want you to go wake up Zell. Here's his room code."
Irvine stared at the Headmaster in disbelief. People were hurting Selphie and he didn't get to see their faces? He thought about it for a minute and crumpled the piece of paper in his hand. He and the headmaster continued their stare off for a few seconds. He then stalked off toward the elevator.
June 22nd, 2072, 3:27 am
Rinoa watched intently. Over the last year and a half, there had been numerous attempts to kidnap her, kill her, seal her powers, you name it. She found herself to be rather an expert at crappy kidnappings and she looked at the message to determine what kind of operation the idiots were running.
" Hello all." A youngish man appeared, very thin, dark eyes and blondish hair. In only those two words, he had revealed his mixed origin or at least his bad attempt to disguise his voice. No matter how clipped and Trabian he tried to sound, his Standard was spoken with a High Plains accent, much like Irvine.
Rinoa determined that the guys were, in fact, idiots.
"Nice to finally get to talk to you!"He gushed. "I mean, ya'll did save the world!"
Rinoa looked at the room he stood in, it was dark and dank; it looked like someone's grandma's basement. They were definitely idiots.
"Anyway, we all know what this is about. We have something you want and you hold the key to something we want. It's that simple." He smiled, what Rinoa supposed, he thought was an evil smile, but just came over as misguided and creepy.
"Don't bother trying to find us. Despite all the flak Ms. Tilmitt here has decided to raise about our crappy job, I assure you, you will not be able to find us. We will give back Ms. Tilmitt when you give us wan---" At this point he was interrupted by a burly man bursting into the room, panting.
"She got out sir, but they just got her back. Where do you want us to put her?" The blond man scowled and gestured at the camera.
"You might as well bring her in here. I can try to sweeten the deal." A few other men arrived, carrying a bound but ungagged Selphie. Rinoa could hear her whisper, "This is a super-duper-mega bummer!" They dumped her unceremoniously on the floor. The blond man snarled and dragged her by her hair over to the camera. His eyes were filled with rage as he shook her and then turned around. She sat up quickly and looked at the camera.
"Hey, are we on Galbadia's Funniest Home Kidnappings?" The man glared at her.
"Can someone get me a gag?"
"Can someone get me some shoes, while you're at it?" Selphie didn't look scared or even angry. Merely bored. She was shoeless, still wearing her pajamas, dirty and bruised. The man started speaking again and she rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Believe me Ms. Tilmitt, you don't want to go out there. Especially a pretty little thing like you, so late at night."
"Suck it."
"You are not a nice person. Anyway, be a good girl, and be quiet while I tell your little friends about our world domination plans."
"Uh-huh."
"Anyway. This is specifically directed at Commander Leonheart. There will be some incidents in Galbadia next week. I would appreciate it if SeeD would not intervene, if you ever want to see Ms. Tilmitt again."
He checked his watch. "Oh yes, Mr. Dincht as well."
Selphie's eyes bulged at this news. She had over heard them planning something that sounded pretty awful, but she had assumed they would be easily thwarted by SeeD. She now realized her purpose. She started screaming at the camera.
"Squall!! Don't listen to them!! They're idiots!! They can't do anything to me! You have to go to Galbadia, they have super strength, you can't let them do this, dammit! They're going to---aaah!" The blond man had pulled out a gun and had started pistol-whipping Selphie across the face and arms. She was bloody, but still determined to tell Squall whatever she had to say.
"They're going to---" This time he kicked her in the ribs with heavy boots and Rinoa was sure she heard a rib crack. Selphie had managed to loose the bonds on her feet and kicked the man square in the groin. He screamed, but at that instant, the men he had instructed to bring a gag returned and they also started kicking Selphie. Her insistent cries faded into mere screams of pain. When she was unconscious, they picked her up and took her from the room. Rinoa was sure she had heard someone say something along the lines of 'she don't need to be alive for the 6th anyway.'
The blond man got off the floor and wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth. "I'm terribly sorry about that." He checked his watch. "But we don't exactly have time to make another one. Believe me, that's the least of what we could do to Ms. Tilmitt. She has really been getting on my nerves, and I do believe this place contains an iron maiden." He smiled wanly and then snarled, "Remember, if you so much as attend a parade in Galbadia next week, I'll stick that little bitch in the room."He looked down at the gun in his hand and tightened his grip. He released it to show the handle crumpled into the shape of his fist. "So long."
June 22nd, 2072, 3:34am
Irvine bounded down the hall to Zell's dorm room, which happened to be two doors down from his own. Even though it was 3:30 in the morning, he hurried, in the off chance that someone might see his pajamas.
"Zell, how can you be such a heavy sleeper? Cid called you four times." He muttered as he stopped in front of the door. Knocking and kicking on the door got no response. Calling for 'chicken wuss' to get out of his coop didn't work either. Last resort. He punched in the door code Cid had given him, fearing Zell's uppercut. Zell had a tendency to punch people who woke him up unexpectedly. The door swished open with scientific precision.
"Fuck dammit. Not again."
The room was a disaster, but that wasn't exactly a surprise. It was Zell's. Zell's punching bag was torn across the side and was slowly leaking beads. His usually carefully stacked Combat Kings were strewn across the floor. The window was broken and the glass around the edges had wet blood. And Zell was missing.
Irvine quickly tried to rationalize. Maybe Zell had gotten really mad and broken all his stuff. Maybe he was in the training center trying to work off all that anger. But Irvine knew it wasn't true. Irvine had often teased Zell about being a mama's boy, because it was true. Unless he was on a mission, Zell always went to bed at the same time and slept heavily for 8 hours, just as his mother had always instructed him. They all envied the way Zell was so well-rested. He would never get up in the middle of the night.
Irvine booked it back to Cid's office.
June 22nd, 2072, 3:41am
Rinoa and Quistis looked to Squall expectantly. Squall looked right back.
"What?"
"What do you mean, what? They were talking to you! What are you going to do?" Quistis seemed a little hysterical. When Selphie was being kicked, she hadn't flinched, like Rinoa, but stared grimly. Now she was on the verge of screaming.
Squall still hadn't quite processed everything. His wedding had been canceled and the kidnapping and Selphie being hurt and being told to do nothing was the only thing he could not comprehend. Squall Leonheart did not do nothing.
"I don't know. What do you want me to do?" Squall hung his head. "I don't know what to do, Quistis!" His voice was tremulous, teetering on the edge of tears.
Rinoa, who had been crying, suddenly spoke up. "What did he mean by 'Mr. Dincht, as well?'" They looked at each other and stood to go find Zell. They were almost to the elevator when a panting Irvine stepped out.
"They got Zell! Holy Hyne, they got Zell!" Now all three of them looked at Squall expectantly.
"What? I don't know how we're going to find these guys! We couldn't trace the message! That room could have been anywhere! I don't know where they took Zell! I don't know!" He was angry and felt helpless, which was his least favorite feeling.
"I do." Rinoa spoke quietly, measured, to take the focus off of her faltering fiancée. "They are obviously somewhere very cold. The burly men were all wearing thick jackets and the blond man was shivering, but Selphie wasn't. She's from Trabia, remember? But it's somewhere populated, because he mentioned Selphie being pretty when he said she shouldn't go outside. He meant she could raped or something."
Quistis cocked her head to the side. "Good work Rinoa, that narrows it down some. But that's still every major town in the Northern Hemisphere. And we don't even know if they took Zell to the same place."
"One down, five to go. One down, five to go, One down....." Squall whispered to himself. Why do they want Zell? One hostage is good enough for what they want. Why Zell? He thought while Rinoa and Quistis argued about possible locations. "They're trying to separate us!" He bellowed.
"Why?"
"I don't know. But the title of the message when it came in was, 'one down, five to go.' I think they're trying to split us all up for some reason, or kill us or something." They all nodded assent. One hostage was good enough. They didn't need to take Zell. So they must have had an ulterior motive.
"Evil sorceress supporters?" Irvine ventured.
"No, Selphie was yelling something about super strength and you saw what he did to that gun." Rinoa observed.
"Yeah, and they broke her Strange Vision right in half. This is much bigger than keeping SeeD out of some assassination attempt or a bank robbery. But what?"Quistis started pacing in her typical thinking fashion, her long, tangled blond bangs swishing to and fro. Squall took a minute to collapse on the couch, having been temporarily relieved of the focus of attention. When he looked back up, Rinoa had obviously come to some sort of conclusion.
"So, I'll go down to Balamb and talk to the General, warn him about whatever these fools are going to do." Squall bolted from his seat.
"Rinoa, don't! They're trying to break us all up. Don't go anywhere without one of us. For all we know, they might still be around!"
"Alrighty then, why don't you come with me?"
"Okay, they could be planning something. I mean, with two world leaders in town, something could go down." He was referring to his father and Rinoa's, both leaders of their respective countries, who were both sleeping peacefully in the Balamb Hotel, after news of the cancellation. Extra SeeD's had been placed on duty, for the occasion, but Rinoa had sent most of them home, not wanting to employ SeeD for her own wedding.
"So, it's decided. Let's roll." Irvine smiled grimly. "We have to get started somewhere."
June 22nd, 2072, 4:30 am
Knock. Knock. Knock.
General Caraway rolled over in bed, recognizing the laconic way of knocking as belonging to his future son-in-law. He groaned. The kid went out of his way to make Caraway's life miserable. And now he was probably going to tell him that he and Rinoa were eloping, without a proper wedding. Bernard Caraway walked over to the door, fully intending to smack Squall upside the head and go back to sleep. He vaguely thought that he shouldn't be so hard on the kid. At least he had a head on his shoulders, unlike that moron Loire. He wondered if that's what Squall thought about Rinoa.
"What do you want Sq..........You are not Squall."
"Nope."
"I suppose you've knocked out all my body guards and cast Sleep on all the SeeDs on this floor."
"Right on."
"And if I bothered to try to escape and yell and scream, you'd get me anyway and hurt me later?"
"That sounds about right."
"That's my cue then."
Caraway gave the woman a swift kick in the stomach, did a flying leap over her body, rolled and was running down the hall. He checked his shoulder for the holster he always kept when he wasn't sleeping at home. He dove for the elevator. Once inside, he gathered his wits and his gun. He knew that they'd be waiting for him when he got to the bottom floor, so he wouldn't go to the bottom floor. He was on floor 5 now, how about floor 3? He checked his small handgun for ammo and the clip was full. On floor 3 he realized that the woman had lied. She hadn't just cast Sleep on the SeeDs on this floor, but in the entire hotel. He stepped over a few sleeping bodies. He didn't junction magic and was in his pajamas and had no remedies on him. There had to be one of her agents on this floor. He sent the elevator back up to keep them moving.
He moved into a crouching walk, gun at the ready. He was planning to go to the roof and call the Garden and then keep moving about the hotel, hiding. Too late. When he opened to door to the stairwell, the woman and a few of her lackeys were standing, blocking his exit. He turned to go, but there were more behind him as well.
"So glad you finally decided to cooperate, General."
::authors note::
Okay......this chapter was kinda fun to write. I love Nida and Xu together. It just seemed right, with her so authoritative and him so ambitious. Read my other story, Coffee and TV for mor insight on that. Reeeaaaad and reeeeviiieeeew, please. Also, tell me what you think is happening. I have a pretty good idea, but I want to know how it comes across.
June 22nd, 2072, 2:37am
The ceiling was rather dirty, Squall noticed. Rinoa had fallen asleep in his arms a few hours earlier, worn out from appeasing guests who had arrived to find no wedding and the endless discussion on how to find Selphie. Squall knew she was exhausted. The wedding being canceled was a much bigger deal than everyone thought. His angel was sweet, caring, capricious, and beautiful.........but she didn't have the endless supply of energy Selphie did and was not great at coping with disappointment. He looked down at her sleeping face and his heart warmed a little. At least Rinoa was okay.
"Asheethbuurblengggg..........." Rinoa whispered something unintelligible in her sleep.
Now that he thought about it, it was kind of strange. Rinoa was usually the target. Over the last year, a number of incidents had been thwarted, all involving Rinoa, of course being the most powerful sorceress alive. Why anyone would want to take Selphie was beyond him. He remembered the last time he'd seen her, had it only been last night? Squall had been checking people in at the door for the rehearsal dinner and Selphie had been hanging decorations behind him. She'd been singing 'Put on a Happy Face' and 'accidentally' nudging Squall whenever she sang a line about someone frowning or looking glum. What on earth had happened? He sighed and looked over to the closet where his tux was still hanging.
June 22nd, 2072, 3:00 am
"Ouch! Watch your head."
"Be careful."
"Hey, that's a little too south of the border....."
"Don't be such a priss...."
"You're calling me a priss, Mr. 'My ears are completely off limits?'"
A loud beeping called Xu and Nida from their late-night makeout session on the bridge.
"What on earth could that be?"
"It's the incoming message tone."
"No shit, Sherlock. I meant what kind of message is coming in at 3:00am? Even towns under siege wait until at least six."
They accepted the message, found it was a mere recording and were about to go back to the making out until they saw the tag line: 'One down, five to go.' They looked at each other and debated whether the message's importance outweighed the fact that they were going to get a gigantic lecture from Cid. Of course, it did.
June 22nd, 2072, 3:24 am
"This is an office! Not your backseat at the drive in! And if I ever catch you two in here again, you, Miss Chiang, will be transferred to Trabia and you, Mr. Almestan, will be transferred to Galbadia, both as cafeteria workers! Now I want to see both of you in the DR tomorrow, in separate rooms. Go away! Out! Scat! Go find a dorm room!" They both blushed bright red.
Squall entered as Cid finished his diatribe. Xu and Nida saluted, then ducked their heads and quickly left the room. Squall could hear them giggling again as they got in the elevator. He went over and sat next to Rinoa, who looked really on edge. He saw Quistis, who was snoring gently on the other couch. Irvine's cowboy and horse pajamas were funny but unsurprising, although Squall would never say it out loud. The look on Irvine's face, however, was not funny, but all too unsurprising. No Zell. It troubled Squall for a minute, but he shook it off. Zell was a heavy sleeper.
"Okay, I called you all here not just cause' your Selphie's friends, but because you happen to be the best SeeD team we've got." He looked pointedly at Rinoa who had refused to enroll at Garden but insisted on staying. "We got this message a little while ago, when...Quistis. Quistis. Wake up, Quistis, will you Irvine?"
Irvine reached over and pulled one of Quistis' long bangs; almost identical to his own. He tugged again, harder. He was about to reach over and tap her across the cheeks, when she grabbed his hand and twisted it around.
"Ouuuch!"
"Oops, sorry.......SeeD training, you know."
Cid shook his head. "Anyway, we received this message a little while ago. It was pre recorded, and we don't know where it came from. Here, let me show you." He turned on the screen and motioned for Irvine to stand up. He complied, but kept glancing toward the blank screen. Cid proceeded to drag a melancholy, sleepy Irvine into the outer office while the others waited for the message to begin.
"Why're we out here Mr. Kramer?" He yawned. "Did something happen?" His eyes narrowed and he was suddenly alert. "That's about what happened to Selphie, isn't it?" He turned and scrambled for the door, while Cid tried to hold him back.
"Irvine! It'd do absolutely no good for you to see that! Come sit down, this instant!"Cid shifted nervously and reached down to fiddle with his robe's belt. "Look, Irvine. I know you. Maybe not this upstanding young man you've become, but I know you, the person, that doesn't change. And I know that if I let you see that tape, you will go nuts. You tend to go ballistic when people you care about get hurt. It's good that you care so much, but I don't want you to get out of hand. You will get out of hand if you see that. So, I want you to go wake up Zell. Here's his room code."
Irvine stared at the Headmaster in disbelief. People were hurting Selphie and he didn't get to see their faces? He thought about it for a minute and crumpled the piece of paper in his hand. He and the headmaster continued their stare off for a few seconds. He then stalked off toward the elevator.
June 22nd, 2072, 3:27 am
Rinoa watched intently. Over the last year and a half, there had been numerous attempts to kidnap her, kill her, seal her powers, you name it. She found herself to be rather an expert at crappy kidnappings and she looked at the message to determine what kind of operation the idiots were running.
" Hello all." A youngish man appeared, very thin, dark eyes and blondish hair. In only those two words, he had revealed his mixed origin or at least his bad attempt to disguise his voice. No matter how clipped and Trabian he tried to sound, his Standard was spoken with a High Plains accent, much like Irvine.
Rinoa determined that the guys were, in fact, idiots.
"Nice to finally get to talk to you!"He gushed. "I mean, ya'll did save the world!"
Rinoa looked at the room he stood in, it was dark and dank; it looked like someone's grandma's basement. They were definitely idiots.
"Anyway, we all know what this is about. We have something you want and you hold the key to something we want. It's that simple." He smiled, what Rinoa supposed, he thought was an evil smile, but just came over as misguided and creepy.
"Don't bother trying to find us. Despite all the flak Ms. Tilmitt here has decided to raise about our crappy job, I assure you, you will not be able to find us. We will give back Ms. Tilmitt when you give us wan---" At this point he was interrupted by a burly man bursting into the room, panting.
"She got out sir, but they just got her back. Where do you want us to put her?" The blond man scowled and gestured at the camera.
"You might as well bring her in here. I can try to sweeten the deal." A few other men arrived, carrying a bound but ungagged Selphie. Rinoa could hear her whisper, "This is a super-duper-mega bummer!" They dumped her unceremoniously on the floor. The blond man snarled and dragged her by her hair over to the camera. His eyes were filled with rage as he shook her and then turned around. She sat up quickly and looked at the camera.
"Hey, are we on Galbadia's Funniest Home Kidnappings?" The man glared at her.
"Can someone get me a gag?"
"Can someone get me some shoes, while you're at it?" Selphie didn't look scared or even angry. Merely bored. She was shoeless, still wearing her pajamas, dirty and bruised. The man started speaking again and she rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Believe me Ms. Tilmitt, you don't want to go out there. Especially a pretty little thing like you, so late at night."
"Suck it."
"You are not a nice person. Anyway, be a good girl, and be quiet while I tell your little friends about our world domination plans."
"Uh-huh."
"Anyway. This is specifically directed at Commander Leonheart. There will be some incidents in Galbadia next week. I would appreciate it if SeeD would not intervene, if you ever want to see Ms. Tilmitt again."
He checked his watch. "Oh yes, Mr. Dincht as well."
Selphie's eyes bulged at this news. She had over heard them planning something that sounded pretty awful, but she had assumed they would be easily thwarted by SeeD. She now realized her purpose. She started screaming at the camera.
"Squall!! Don't listen to them!! They're idiots!! They can't do anything to me! You have to go to Galbadia, they have super strength, you can't let them do this, dammit! They're going to---aaah!" The blond man had pulled out a gun and had started pistol-whipping Selphie across the face and arms. She was bloody, but still determined to tell Squall whatever she had to say.
"They're going to---" This time he kicked her in the ribs with heavy boots and Rinoa was sure she heard a rib crack. Selphie had managed to loose the bonds on her feet and kicked the man square in the groin. He screamed, but at that instant, the men he had instructed to bring a gag returned and they also started kicking Selphie. Her insistent cries faded into mere screams of pain. When she was unconscious, they picked her up and took her from the room. Rinoa was sure she had heard someone say something along the lines of 'she don't need to be alive for the 6th anyway.'
The blond man got off the floor and wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth. "I'm terribly sorry about that." He checked his watch. "But we don't exactly have time to make another one. Believe me, that's the least of what we could do to Ms. Tilmitt. She has really been getting on my nerves, and I do believe this place contains an iron maiden." He smiled wanly and then snarled, "Remember, if you so much as attend a parade in Galbadia next week, I'll stick that little bitch in the room."He looked down at the gun in his hand and tightened his grip. He released it to show the handle crumpled into the shape of his fist. "So long."
June 22nd, 2072, 3:34am
Irvine bounded down the hall to Zell's dorm room, which happened to be two doors down from his own. Even though it was 3:30 in the morning, he hurried, in the off chance that someone might see his pajamas.
"Zell, how can you be such a heavy sleeper? Cid called you four times." He muttered as he stopped in front of the door. Knocking and kicking on the door got no response. Calling for 'chicken wuss' to get out of his coop didn't work either. Last resort. He punched in the door code Cid had given him, fearing Zell's uppercut. Zell had a tendency to punch people who woke him up unexpectedly. The door swished open with scientific precision.
"Fuck dammit. Not again."
The room was a disaster, but that wasn't exactly a surprise. It was Zell's. Zell's punching bag was torn across the side and was slowly leaking beads. His usually carefully stacked Combat Kings were strewn across the floor. The window was broken and the glass around the edges had wet blood. And Zell was missing.
Irvine quickly tried to rationalize. Maybe Zell had gotten really mad and broken all his stuff. Maybe he was in the training center trying to work off all that anger. But Irvine knew it wasn't true. Irvine had often teased Zell about being a mama's boy, because it was true. Unless he was on a mission, Zell always went to bed at the same time and slept heavily for 8 hours, just as his mother had always instructed him. They all envied the way Zell was so well-rested. He would never get up in the middle of the night.
Irvine booked it back to Cid's office.
June 22nd, 2072, 3:41am
Rinoa and Quistis looked to Squall expectantly. Squall looked right back.
"What?"
"What do you mean, what? They were talking to you! What are you going to do?" Quistis seemed a little hysterical. When Selphie was being kicked, she hadn't flinched, like Rinoa, but stared grimly. Now she was on the verge of screaming.
Squall still hadn't quite processed everything. His wedding had been canceled and the kidnapping and Selphie being hurt and being told to do nothing was the only thing he could not comprehend. Squall Leonheart did not do nothing.
"I don't know. What do you want me to do?" Squall hung his head. "I don't know what to do, Quistis!" His voice was tremulous, teetering on the edge of tears.
Rinoa, who had been crying, suddenly spoke up. "What did he mean by 'Mr. Dincht, as well?'" They looked at each other and stood to go find Zell. They were almost to the elevator when a panting Irvine stepped out.
"They got Zell! Holy Hyne, they got Zell!" Now all three of them looked at Squall expectantly.
"What? I don't know how we're going to find these guys! We couldn't trace the message! That room could have been anywhere! I don't know where they took Zell! I don't know!" He was angry and felt helpless, which was his least favorite feeling.
"I do." Rinoa spoke quietly, measured, to take the focus off of her faltering fiancée. "They are obviously somewhere very cold. The burly men were all wearing thick jackets and the blond man was shivering, but Selphie wasn't. She's from Trabia, remember? But it's somewhere populated, because he mentioned Selphie being pretty when he said she shouldn't go outside. He meant she could raped or something."
Quistis cocked her head to the side. "Good work Rinoa, that narrows it down some. But that's still every major town in the Northern Hemisphere. And we don't even know if they took Zell to the same place."
"One down, five to go. One down, five to go, One down....." Squall whispered to himself. Why do they want Zell? One hostage is good enough for what they want. Why Zell? He thought while Rinoa and Quistis argued about possible locations. "They're trying to separate us!" He bellowed.
"Why?"
"I don't know. But the title of the message when it came in was, 'one down, five to go.' I think they're trying to split us all up for some reason, or kill us or something." They all nodded assent. One hostage was good enough. They didn't need to take Zell. So they must have had an ulterior motive.
"Evil sorceress supporters?" Irvine ventured.
"No, Selphie was yelling something about super strength and you saw what he did to that gun." Rinoa observed.
"Yeah, and they broke her Strange Vision right in half. This is much bigger than keeping SeeD out of some assassination attempt or a bank robbery. But what?"Quistis started pacing in her typical thinking fashion, her long, tangled blond bangs swishing to and fro. Squall took a minute to collapse on the couch, having been temporarily relieved of the focus of attention. When he looked back up, Rinoa had obviously come to some sort of conclusion.
"So, I'll go down to Balamb and talk to the General, warn him about whatever these fools are going to do." Squall bolted from his seat.
"Rinoa, don't! They're trying to break us all up. Don't go anywhere without one of us. For all we know, they might still be around!"
"Alrighty then, why don't you come with me?"
"Okay, they could be planning something. I mean, with two world leaders in town, something could go down." He was referring to his father and Rinoa's, both leaders of their respective countries, who were both sleeping peacefully in the Balamb Hotel, after news of the cancellation. Extra SeeD's had been placed on duty, for the occasion, but Rinoa had sent most of them home, not wanting to employ SeeD for her own wedding.
"So, it's decided. Let's roll." Irvine smiled grimly. "We have to get started somewhere."
June 22nd, 2072, 4:30 am
Knock. Knock. Knock.
General Caraway rolled over in bed, recognizing the laconic way of knocking as belonging to his future son-in-law. He groaned. The kid went out of his way to make Caraway's life miserable. And now he was probably going to tell him that he and Rinoa were eloping, without a proper wedding. Bernard Caraway walked over to the door, fully intending to smack Squall upside the head and go back to sleep. He vaguely thought that he shouldn't be so hard on the kid. At least he had a head on his shoulders, unlike that moron Loire. He wondered if that's what Squall thought about Rinoa.
"What do you want Sq..........You are not Squall."
"Nope."
"I suppose you've knocked out all my body guards and cast Sleep on all the SeeDs on this floor."
"Right on."
"And if I bothered to try to escape and yell and scream, you'd get me anyway and hurt me later?"
"That sounds about right."
"That's my cue then."
Caraway gave the woman a swift kick in the stomach, did a flying leap over her body, rolled and was running down the hall. He checked his shoulder for the holster he always kept when he wasn't sleeping at home. He dove for the elevator. Once inside, he gathered his wits and his gun. He knew that they'd be waiting for him when he got to the bottom floor, so he wouldn't go to the bottom floor. He was on floor 5 now, how about floor 3? He checked his small handgun for ammo and the clip was full. On floor 3 he realized that the woman had lied. She hadn't just cast Sleep on the SeeDs on this floor, but in the entire hotel. He stepped over a few sleeping bodies. He didn't junction magic and was in his pajamas and had no remedies on him. There had to be one of her agents on this floor. He sent the elevator back up to keep them moving.
He moved into a crouching walk, gun at the ready. He was planning to go to the roof and call the Garden and then keep moving about the hotel, hiding. Too late. When he opened to door to the stairwell, the woman and a few of her lackeys were standing, blocking his exit. He turned to go, but there were more behind him as well.
"So glad you finally decided to cooperate, General."
::authors note::
Okay......this chapter was kinda fun to write. I love Nida and Xu together. It just seemed right, with her so authoritative and him so ambitious. Read my other story, Coffee and TV for mor insight on that. Reeeaaaad and reeeeviiieeeew, please. Also, tell me what you think is happening. I have a pretty good idea, but I want to know how it comes across.