XIII


Selphie dragged Squall through the hallway and into the ballroom, which was almost crammed to capacity already. The band was playing, and a few early couples danced in the middle of the room. Candles, perched on every available outcropping along the walls, cast flickering shadows augmented primarily by the light of the moon and stars outside the snow-rimmed skylight.

Quistis breathed an audible sigh, casting a longing glance at the dancers before she turned to Selphie. "You've done a wonderful job," she said. "Everything looks perfect."

Selphie grinned. "Thanks," she said. "I was really afraid we weren't going to finish it in time, but...."

"You shouldn't have worried," Quistis reassured her. "Isn't that right, Squall?"

Squall was silent. Quistis glanced at him, wondering if he hadn't heard her or was just ignoring her. Squall's eyes were skipping over every single person in the crowd, as if he were trying to identify each and every one.

"Squall?" Quistis asked. Squall started.

"...what?"

Quistis watched him for a moment more, then sighed. "You seem so... preoccupied. Are you all right?"

"Fine," came the curt reply.

"I know it's been a hard couple of weeks," Quistis started. After a few moments, Squall had tuned her out entirely. He went back to scanning the crowd, hoping against hope that the one person he was looking for wasn't there.

"I don't think he's listening any more, Quisty," Selphie said.

Quistis nodded sadly. "I think you're right," she said. "Squall?"

Squall made a noise that effectively communicated that, while he was aware that she was talking, there were very few ways he could possibly care less about what was being said.

Quistis glanced at Selphie, who mouthed the words "Go on!" and gave her a thumbs-up and a wink.

"...care to dance?" Quistis asked.

That caught his attention. Squall turned to stare at her, face completely unreadable. "What?" he asked.

"There have been a lot of rumors floating around Garden," Quistis explained. "We need to show people that you're still here--and still alive." A twinkle of amusement gleamed in her eye. "Anyway," she continued, "you're a good dancer. I've seen it."

The way he stared at her was intensely reminiscent of the way he had analyzed some of the tactics quizzes in her old class, Quistis decided. It was quite unnerving.

The seconds seemed to stretch on ad infinitum, growing more and more uncomfortable. Quistis opened her mouth to say something along the lines of "Never mind--"

"Why not?" Squall replied flatly, turning and stalking out onto the dance floor.

--- - - - ---


Nida burst into the hallway at a run, eyes tracking left and right in search of Nemo. The man wasn't built for speed and he hadn't been gone long--there were only so many places he could have headed.

There was a creak from the direction of the Training Center, and Nida turned in time to see the massive door at the end of the hall swing closed. Nida ground to a halt, kneeling to draw one of the long knives in the concealed sheath strapped to his shin. Re-sheathing his throwing knife, he headed toward the Training Center.

As he had expected, Nemo ambushed him by grabbing him as soon as he stepped through the door. Hoisting him into the air by the front of his SeeD uniform, Nemo stopped suddenly as the point of the dagger hit his throat.

"Stalemate," Nida hissed. "Try anything and I'll knife you before you have a chance to breathe."

Nemo considered for a moment. Slowly, he put Nida down and backed out of knife range.

"Smart man," Nida said, dropping one of his throwing knives into his hand. "You're Nemo, eh?"

Nemo's eye shifted uncomfortably. "...I'm nobody," he said.

"Thanks for the confirmation." Nida shifted his weight, balancing on the balls of his feet. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "More specifically, why are you after Squall?"

Nemo's eye widened in what was unmistakably sheer panic, throwing Nida offguard. A moment later Nemo charged, taking Nida by surprise and slamming into him full-force. The impact sent Nida sprawling, his knives skittering across the packed-earth floor and out of reach.

The tackle was poorly executed, however. Nemo failed to get a pinning grip on his opponent, who had soon twisted away and retrieved the throwing knife. Nemo rolled to one side, grabbing Nida's dagger from the ground and trying to balance it in his hand. The weapon looked strangely puny compared with his natural girth.

Nida sidled towards the door leading into the Training Center proper, pushing it open and darting back into the area. Nemo charged after him, knife held at the ready.

Nida halted on the bridge, balancing the throwing knife. Nemo ground to a halt, dagger still gripped in his hand. Nida took a second to evaluate his options--the knife he was holding was meant to be poisoned--only a very lucky hit would be anything more than a minor annoyance. Nemo didn't know that, however--to the best of his knowledge, he was facing someone who was a very skilled assassin. By the way he held the dagger Nida could tell that knife-fighting didn't come easily to him, and that he was even more uncomfortable with the light dagger Nida wore.

Drawing back his hand in a move that he tried to make painfully obvious, Nida let the knife he held fly at Nemo's face. Nemo's arm came up, catching the knife in his forearm. Nida launched himself forward as the knife left his hand, twisting and snatching the dagger from Nemo's grip as Nemo realized what was happening and brought a fist down, striking a glancing blow to Nida's spine.

Nida went to one knee, twisting and swinging the dagger at Nemo's calf. The blade tore through cloth and skin as Nemo lifted his leg, stumbling backwards. Nida leapt to his feet, charging at Nemo. The man was already offbalanced, it shouldn't be to hard to--

Nemo caught his footing amazingly quickly, ramming his palm straight forward as Nida lunged. His palm connected with Nida's sternum, knocking the air out of his lungs and throwing him backwards, into the water. Nida managed--somehow--to gasp just as he hit the waterline, pulling some air into his lungs as the chilled water enveloped him. He dropped his dagger as he sunk into the artificial river, grappling for something to hang onto. Nemo would be waiting for him to surface--and this time, he would have all the advantages of ambushing an unarmed person. All Nida could hope for was that Nemo would think him dead and leave. Then, perhaps, he would be able to follow him and attack him from behind.

When Nida finally returned to the surface, Nemo was gone. Only a bloody throwing knife remained to say he had ever been there. Hauling himself out of the water, Nida tried to shake himself dry. He was freezing in the recilculated air.

Moving for the door, Nida hoped that Nemo wasn't waiting on the other side. However, there were no mishaps as he moved out of the Training Center and into the hall, sneaking from bit of sparse cover to bit of sparse cover.

But when he reached the potted plant about level with the erstwhile parking lot, he knew he was in trouble.

He could see two girls--roughly his age, he guessed--about midway down the path leading to the dorms, both facing the dormitory corridors with automatic guns drawn--presumably to convince anyone coming out that they would be better off back in. Each was dressed in a grey jumpsuit with a red rose emblazoned over the left breast pocket, and each one had a combat knife strapped to their side. Beyond them a group of six other girls stood, similarly clad and armed. Lialla stood among them, a grey cloth with a rose on it tied around the left arm of her now certainly stolen SeeD uniform. Worse, she was holding Squall's gunblade and ammo belt. Nemo was talking to Lialla in hushed tones, saying something Nida couldn't hear. Soon, they all turned and headed into the Quad, leaving the two girls to guard the dorms.

Desert Rose, Nida identified, thinking back on everything he knew about the south-Estharan mercenary company. The information was regretfully little--he knew that it was exclusively female, and that they hated SeeD with a passion. He also knew that Lialla was one of their high-ranking members, skilled and very ruthless in what she did.

Nida had only a very vague idea of what they had planned, but he knew that he had to stop it somehow. How, he didn't know. He was no match for seasoned mercs with automatic weapons, and there was no way that he'd be able to get through to the dorms to find someone who might be armed better than he was. He could go to the 3F office and hope ValHalla would be there to report to, but there would be little that she would be able to do even if she was there.

Nida ran over his list of choices, and decided that finding ValHalla was the best option. Turning in order to sneak back down the hall towards the elevator, he found himself staring into the barrel of a gun.

"You shouldn't be out this time of night," the merc holding it said. Nida raised his hands, slowly standing up as she motioned him to. "You gave us a good run," she said. "But it's game over now. You're not going to interfere."

Another Desert Rose came around the corner behind the first, and leveled a gun at him. Nida raised an eyebrow.

"All this for one unarmed SeeD?" he asked.

"All this for the infamous trickster Nida," the first girl said dryly.

Nida winced. "Am I never going to be able to live that down?" he asked.

"Lialla told us about you. You're not going to anybody's rescue tonight."

Nida glanced from gun to gun, and shrugged bitterly. "I'll have to agree with that," he said.