Rating: R
Disclaimer: Paxx and Krik be mine...but....if you want them, go ahead and take them.
A/N: I have to say that I am nothing short of amazed at how supportive all the reviews have been, especially considering that I'm a new author to you all. You guys are awesome...thank you!
Chapter 3: Incognito
Selphie walked up to the street vendor with a brilliant smile across her face. At Quistis' request, she'd changed out of her yellow dress and opted for a simple dusty pink skirt and pale yellow, button up shirt. It wasn't her usual style, she loved bright colors, but Quistis had been adamant that they dress to blend in with the crowd. Selphie's hair had also been redone. Quistis had straitened out her hard earned flips with a curling iron and then curled all of her hair under to hide her uneven ends.
Selphie frowned a little to herself. She looked so...average.
Humming to herself, she once again started down the busy streets of Deling City. She was supposed to blend in, listen to the rumors flying around among the people, try to find out what the buzz on the street was. Presently, all she'd found out was that a man named Harry was apparently a "huge ass" and that the Deling City street vendors charged unreasonably high prices for their food.
Paxx and Krik were on the same boring job that Selphie was. Quistis didn't trust Seifer to just wander around the town without causing a disturbance, so he was with her.
Seifer...his name seemed to be coming up more often than not. Selphie and Quistis had spoke of him often as she redid Selphie's hair. Quistis seemed upset, but she wouldn't divulge any of the details. She wasn't into sharing much, and when something bothered her, she seemed to like to keep it to herself for a while.
Selphie hadn't been reluctant to speak her mind. She didn't like Seifer, and that was no secret. Hate was much to strong of a word, she didn't hold everything that he'd done against him, but she still found him unreasonably grating. He seemed to delight in pushing other people away, in making them feel sad and angry. However, Quistis seemed to be taking the brunt of his attacks. At every turn he did something to make her life just a little bit more difficult. Selphie had often wondered if he just resented being on the mission and was trying to get Quistis to send him home.
"Hey, Selphie...any luck?" Paxx had fallen into step beside her, his dark hair just barely peeking out of a navy blue cap.
"Nope," she reached up and touched her own hair, still not used to the new style. "You?"
"Not really," he sighed. "Saw Quistis and Seifer."
"Really?" This perked Selphie's interest. "Where were they going? Was he being a jerk to her? Was she fighting back?"
"They were walking toward General Caraway's mansion," he replied. "Quistis looked angry, Seifer just looked smug...and neither of them were saying anything."
The constant tension between Quistis and Seifer had come to be the best kind of gossip among the team. The entertainment value alone was staggering, everyone had their own theories on what would happen next. Paxx had his money on Quistis...he was pretty sure that at some point she'd reach her limit and bitch Seifer out like he'd never been bitched out before. Krik was leaning more toward Seifer. He felt, understandably, that Quistis wouldn't be able to stand up to Seifer and would eventually bend to his will.
Selphie didn't have any idea who would come out on top. She hoped Quistis, but there was always the chance that the constant fighting would only continue for the remainder of the mission and not stop until they were safely back at Garden. Neither party was likely to give in quickly.
"I wonder what they've got to talk to General Caraway about..." Selphie mused. "I mean, obviously...something about the mission...but, what?"
"Maybe just to ask him about the rumors," Paxx offered. "He would be the perfect man to ask."
"Yeah...maybe..." Selphie ran her fingers through her hair. "He might not know though. I mean...being Rinoa's father and all, they probably don't tell him a whole lot in advance. Don't 'ya think?"
Paxx shrugged in response, his dark brown eyes surveying the people around him with trained acuity. The people of Deling City were largely unaware of the SeeD presence in their fair city. Most of the people who milled by had their own problems to deal with, some of which were relatively important while mattered only to the head that had conjured them up. Selphie had found out about most of the problems, and felt like she'd suddenly been thrown into the audience of a daytime talk show
"I don't care what they're doing," Paxx finally replied. "I'm just glad that I don't have to deal with Seifer."
***
"You're making a mistake," Seifer insisted.
"Seifer...I am not making a mistake," Quistis sighed. "He's Rinoa's father, he'll help us."
"You're a SeeD, you're not supposed to need help."
"Remember when you were captured?" he asked, grabbing Quistis' wrist to slow her progress toward the mansion that was looming in the distance.
"Oh, you mean when you tortured Squall?" she asked in a vicious whisper. "Yeah, I remember that." Seifer didn't even flinch, but his grip on her arm tightened.
"Remember how daddy got his little girl out?" he hissed. "Remember how he left everyone else there to rot? He's a general...if they are planning something, he's at the top of it, and he's not going to let us come walking in to stop them."
Quistis jerked her arm away from him, more angry than ever because his argument was so logical. She didn't want to cave into that logic, didn't want to admit that she was wrong. But...what if she did walk into the general's mansion and started asking questions? What if she compromised the entire mission just to save face? Would that be work worthy of an instructor?
They were beginning to draw the attention of people passing by. Seifer pulled his cap low to hide his face from them and drew Quistis into the shadows.
"Look, if you want to fuck up this whole damn thing, that's fine with me," he announced viciously, his jaw tightly clenched and his voice hushed. "But, I don't particularly want to be killed by the damn Galbadian army when they find out who I am!" Quistis was about to reply with her own cutting remark when an idea suddenly struck her.
"Seifer! That's it!" She gasped audibly, and a man wandering by hooted lewdly at them. Seifer flipped him off, the look that crossed his face under the shadows of his hat aggravated.
"What's it?" he demanded when he turned back to her.
"The army," she replied, her anger giving way to excitement. "We could join the army."
"Have you lost it? I mean...really...because you're not making any sense at all," he grunted and stepped back away from her as if she'd just announced that she was infected with a highly contagious disease.
"No, I haven't lost it," she snorted, then looked around to make sure no one could hear her. "We can join the army. We'll be incognito...disguise ourselves. As soldiers, we'd definitely find out what's up. Right?" Quistis' heart started pounding unmercifully against her ribs. It could work...they'd be on the inside. Most importantly, it was her idea, one she was feeling more and more confident in by the moment.
"I used to think I was insane," Seifer shook his head. "But you're about as damn nutty as anyone I've ever seen."
"You just know that it'll work!" she shot back. "We've got to round everyone up...change the orders completely."
"It's not going to work," Seifer was trailing after her now, the embodiment of the doubt that always echoed in the back of her mind. She tried to block him out. Joining the army would work, it had to work...there was nothing else. They could hang around Deling City for a few more weeks, be wandering the streets stupidly when the army attacked Timber and Dollet, or they could become a part of it. They could stop everything from the inside. It was a beautiful plan, and Quistis was proud of it.
He continued to walk behind her, unusually silent. Seifer was never without something to say on any matter. Quistis was sure that she could bring up the subject of knitting and he'd find something to argue or be rude about. He just wouldn't be Seifer if he let a chance to be mean pass him by.
As she turned a corner, she almost walked right past the very average looking Selphie. The change of hair and dress had staggering effects on Selphie's appearance. She'd never looked like a mercenary, but presently she looked just like every other girl her age on the face of the planet. She still retained her cute, perky good looks, but there was nothing other than her grass green eyes that really made her overly unique anymore.
"Quistis..." Selphie paused. "You look happy."
"I am...change of plans." she replied. "Where's Paxx and Krik?"
"Back at the hotel," Selphie motioned in the general direction of the hotel with her hand. "Wrapping up for the night."
"Okay...good, let's go." Selphie cast Seifer a curious look as they walked toward the hotel. Quistis was fairly boiling over with relief. Her instructors license was in hand, she could almost see it being presented to her. She'd been a little uneasy when they arrived in Deling City and she went to give orders only to realize that she didn't have the slightest idea what to do. Suddenly having direction was a blissful gift to Quistis' mental state of well being.
They found Paxx and Krik waiting in Quistis and Selphie's room, waiting patiently to give their reports. Quistis, however, wasn't interested in hearing them and started in on her announcement as soon was the door closed behind Seifer, clicking shut with finality.
"Alright," she cleared her throat, "we've got a new plan. We're abandoning the current plan and are going to go deeper undercover tomorrow morning."
"Oh! Fun!" Selphie tossed herself down on the bed. Seifer said something unintelligible under his breath and leaned heavily against the doorframe.
"We're going to be joining the Galbadian Army," Quistis continued. "All of us have been trained in combat, so faking being a soldier should be a piece of cake. Of course, there's no telling where we might get posted, so we have to find some way to stay in contact with one another. What we'll try is requesting a place to be stationed and hope that the request goes through. If not, we will stay in contact via the phone."
"What if they tap the wires?" Selphie bolted upright on the bed.
"Why would they do that?" Quistis shook her head. "They don't have any reason to record every conversation every soldier has on the phone. If anyone asks about it, you're calling your family."
"Yeah, but what if they do!" Selphie continued. "I mean, what if one of us gets caught and we're all separated?"
"Don't blow your cover," Quistis shrugged. "Hopefully we won't be separated at all."
"But, if we were all split up," Krik broke in, fueled by Selphie's what-if scenarios, "and something happens that our cover is blown, we're all pretty much screwed. We'd be lucky to get out with the five of us fighting, alone we'd never make it."
Quistis sighed and leaned against the dresser, resting her head momentarily in her hand.
Think...think...there's a way around everything. What can I do? I can't just walk in there and demand that we all get conveniently placed with each other.
"How about we say we're specialists?" Selphie offered. "Missile specialists or something."
"They'd want some sort of proof," Quistis shook her head.
"Since we're spies," Seifer levered himself away from the door. "How about we just lie?"
"Lie about what?" Quistis asked, not appreciating his tone of voice.
He grinned and walked over to Quistis. One of his gloved hands landed on her shoulder and the other motioned to Selphie, who was still laying on the bed, and Paxx.
"Well, I believe we have couple number one right over there," he grinned. "Paxx and Selphie...they're inseparable you know, and Selphie just won't have him going off somewhere without her."
"Pass Selphie off as Paxx's girlfriend?" Quistis asked in mild disbelief. Paxx and Selphie exchanged glances, then looked back to Quistis.
"Don't forget Quistis and Krik..." Seifer replied, giving her a hard shove toward the other man.
"What about you?" she asked, digging her heels into the carpet and turning to face him. "I'm more worried about you being alone than anyone else."
"Oh...nice to know you care," he raised a hand to cover his heart. "But, I can take care of myself."
"So can I," Quistis narrowed her eyes. "That's not the point. I don't trust you to be alone on this mission."
"Well, one of us has to be...unless you can find a way to travel in three," Seifer shrugged. In that moment, Quistis thought she hated him more than ever before. Not only was his idea the best one, but he was quickly taking on the role of leader...her role.
"Paxx...Krik..." Quistis spun around to face them, silently fuming at Seifer. "The two of you have a fairly strong resemblance to one another. Do you suppose that you could pass for brothers?" The two looked at one another, seeming to notice the similarities in their physical appearance for the first time.
"Sure," they both replied at the same time.
"Good...I'm sure they'll be willing to station two brothers together," she sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted by the events of the day.
"This is so cool!" Selphie rolled onto her back on the bed and tucked her arms close to her chest. "We're actually going undercover with fake identities."
"I'll see you in the morning," Quistis announced to Paxx, Krik, and Seifer, then turned her back on Seifer to speak directly to the other two. "We won't all go down to register together, so Selphie will decide when you go. She'll be your leader."
"Yes, Sir," they both nodded and started out of the room. Seifer started to follow them, and then turned around.
"They'll recognize me, you know," he announced. "But wait...let me guess...you've thought of that already."
Quistis hadn't, but she thought it'd be best to not admit that to him.
"You'll have to dye your hair or something," she shrugged. "The scar is fairly tell-tale, but they may not think about it if you don't look like the Seifer they remember...if, indeed, any of them have clear spaces of memory from the incident with Matron."
"Ah, hell," he turned around and raked a hand through his hair. "Damn...fine...I'll dye my hair."
"Seifer," Quistis called out to him as he was about to close the door behind him. "I'll help you in the morning if you want...we're going to need to buy a lot of hair dye."
A/N again: K...so, I'm thinking this wasn't my best chapter ever. I had a hard time writing this one for some reason.
