Chapter 4: A Mission for A Decision
Rinoa left the next morning. Squall was hiding his wound to everybody. Even if he was supposed to take it easy, he tried to act as normal as possible. He knew his friends would notice there was something wrong if he slew down.
He didn't have training for the whole week, disappointing Zell. He saw Rinoa just a few times because she had to assist her father in some boring meetings. Not seeing her too often made him forget about his dream of the future.
He was forced to change his bandage almost everyday because some moves he made caused the cut to reopen and bleed again. He felt week the whole week from all the blood he lost.
The easy time ended quite fast when an announcement was heard.
"Squall, this is Headmaster Cid speaking. Come to my office right now!"
Squall was at the cafeteria with Quistis, Selphie, Irvine and Seifer. Zell was still having a hard time seeing Seifer in the Garden. The others accepted him easily and Seifer was happy with that. Even if he didn't like Zell very much either, he has tried his best to make him change his mind about him. Earlier this week, when he saw him running in the hall, he let him go without punishing him. As the leader of the Disciplinary 'Posse', it was a miss of his duty.
Of course Zell saw Seifer letting him go away, but still he couldn't accept him…yet.
"It sounds like an emergency," Quistis said. "You better get going."
Squall got up.
"Okay. See ya later!"
The others waved back to him then he left.
Seifer turned his head to look at Zell with a thoughtful face. He was at the opposite side of the cafeteria, far from the others and was facing his back to the gang. Selphie noticed.
"Still haven't got him your side?"
Seifer slowly shook his head. Selphie looked at the ceiling, thinking about something. She snapped her fingers when she came up with an idea.
"Zell is a bit mad because he didn't have training with Squall the whole week," she explained. "What do you say asking him to have training with you?"
"Yeah!" Irvine approved. "Good idea!"
"What if he refuses? You all know how mean I was to him when we were kids."
"But you have changed," Quistis said. "He has changed. He'll end up giving you a chance."
"You think so?"
"It's worth to try, don't you think?"
"Yeah, it's true."
Seifer got up and walked to Zell. The others kept their eyes on them.
"What do you want?" Zell asked rudely when Seifer was by his side.
Seifer sat up in front of him.
"Squall was quite busy this week, wasn't he?"
Zell looked at him, noticing Seifer was trying to be kind. He made an effort himself.
"Yeah, bummer!"
"You're upset?"
"Of course, I am! He's always training with me, almost everyday! He didn't for the whole week without telling me why!"
Zell frowned. He didn't know why he was telling Seifer all that.
"Why are you asking?"
"I want to ask you something."
Zell looked curious.
"You wanna know?" Seifer asked playfully.
"Why not? You started, now spit it up!"
"Wanna train with me?"
Zell was surprised. He wasn't waiting for that kind of proposition coming from Seifer.
"You're not a SeeD."
"So what? Not only SeeDs train!"
Zell raised an eyebrow looking at Seifer.
"Why do you want to train with me?"
"Why does Squall train with you?"
"Because he's my friend."
"Maybe I'm trying to be too…"
Zell thought about it. Maybe he should give him a chance… He's trying so hard to make the others forgive him. Even Squall did!
"…Ok…But don't think I'm accepting you! I just have to train to stay in good form and I don't to go alone."
"Alright, then it's settled. Let's go!"
Both got up and left the cafeteria, heading for the training center.
"Looks like he's gonna succeed," Irvine said.
Selphie nodded.
Quistis decided to talk about something else.
"I wonder what does the Headmaster wants from Squall. Hope there's nothing wrong."
Squall was standing straight in front of Cid and making the SeeD's salute. Cid made him stop that.
"I got a message from Deling City," he explained.
Squall worried for a second.
"It's from General Caraway," Cid continued.
From that moment, Squall really started to worry. Cid raised a hand to reassure him.
"It's not about Rinoa if it's what you're afraid of."
Squall sighed before remembering he had to stay formal.
"He's asking for some SeeDs."
Squall raised an eyebrow.
"Why would he need SeeDs? He got the army."
"Why did he need SeeDs against the Sorceress?"
"Yeah, it's true."
Squall came back to the initial problem.
"So what's the mission?"
"It's another reason why he asked for SeeDs: there is a mutiny in Deling. The soldiers are trying to take over the city. For his own security, General Caraway had to left the town in a hurry and is asking us to calm the things down. Only the highest ranked soldiers came up with that idea, the others are just obeying."
"We have to go there and fix things up?"
"Exactly. Some soldiers are very dangerous so don't hesitate to kill."
"Yes, sir!"
Cid frowned before smiling.
"You're so serious, Squall. When I think at first you didn't even want the leader job…"
Cid was lost in his memories. He shook his head to get back in the present.
"Anyway. Now you have to decide who you'll send there."
"I'll go myself and I'll take my friends if you don't mind."
"That means?"
"Zell, Irvine, Selphie and Quistis."
"That's all?"
"Well you know it's the kind of mission SeeD candidates can't afford. Only us are experienced enough."
"As you wish. You're the one in charge."
"And I would like to ask you a favor."
Squall hesitated telling, but Cid encouraged him to go further.
"Ask."
"Well… I would like to take someone else," he said insisting on the word 'someone'.
Cid frowned as he understood immediately whom he was talking about.
"He's not a SeeD…"
"Let's say it's a test, to test if he's worthy of our trust. Besides he's more experimented than a few long time SeeDs I knew."
The Headmaster kept silent, thinking about it. When he put back his sight back on Squall, he smiled.
"Granted!"
Squall went back to the cafeteria and stood by his friends' side, looking around.
"So what did he want from you?" Irvine inquired.
Squall didn't answer, looking around for something.
"Where is Zell? And Seifer?"
He looked at his friends and noticed they were hiding something to him. He insisted.
"Where are they?"
Selphie smiled mysteriously, making Squall's patience diminish.
"We don't have time to play! Where are they?"
Seeing Squall was serious, Quistis decided it was enough.
"At the training center," she answered.
"Both?" Squall asked with a surprised face.
She nodded.
"Together?" he asked with his voice growing louder with the surprise.
The three nodded.
"Seifer made his move and Zell followed him," Irvine explained.
Squall was amazed. He never thought Zell would end up changing his mind about Seifer.
Squall turned around to go get them when he saw them entering cafeteria, both laughing like crazy. They were covered with dust and dirt. The four others just looked at them as they approached, astonished.
"I told you not to summon Quezacoatl so close to the water," Seifer told Zell still laughing.
"And what about you using Tornado magic in the middle of a sand spot!"
They laughed again. Seifer suddenly noticed the others were looking at them.
"What?!"
Squall just shrugged and smiled.
"Nothing, just glad you too finally get along."
Seifer and Zell looked at each other and shrugged like it was obvious.
"Anyway, we got serious work to do," Squall interrupted.
"We got a mission?" Irvine asked.
"We got a mission," Squall answered. "We have to stop a mutiny in Deling. The soldiers are trying to tale over the city."
"Will we be under Caraway's orders?" Selphie asked.
Squall shook his head.
"No. He had to leave the city for his own security. We'll be on our own. We will have to kill the troublemakers; highest ranked soldiers started all this mess. The others are only following orders."
"Who's going?" Zell asked in an I-wanna-go tone.
"Myself. And Quistis, Zell, Irvine and Selphie, you're coming with me."
"Whoo-hoo!" Selphie exclaimed.
"Finally some action!" Zell said.
Seifer waved to them heading for the exit.
"I think I'll see ya later, then."
He was about to leave.
"And Seifer?" Squall stopped him.
He turned around and put his fist on his hip, looking at Squall with a what-now face.
"You come along."
"What?"
The others were just as surprised as Seifer. Squall was very serious.
"But he's not a SeeD!" Irvine protested.
Squall lost patience.
"Enough! Give me a break with that stupid excuse! He's not a SeeD, so what?"
Irvine quickly shook his hands in front of him. Squall walked to Seifer and calmed down.
"We're kinda low of experienced SeeDs here. This is an important mission and beginners can't afford it. You saw as much fight as we did so I'm asking you to came with us."
Seifer wasn't sure what he should do.
"What will I have to do?"
"The same thing than us and since I'm in charge, you'll have to follow my orders. You know you hate orders, especially if they're coming from me, but if you know you won't be able to do that, then don't even bother coming with us."
Seifer turned around to face Squall his back and kept his head down for a while.
"Kill Galbadian soldiers?" he asked half turning his head backward still keeping it down.
"Yes."
Seifer turned and faced Squall
"You bet, I'm coming!"
Squall smiled.
"Great!"
"So! When do we leave?"
Zell and Seifer cleaned up a bit, then they all prepared for the mission. Taking their weapons, potions, equipping magics and junctionning GFs, they were all ready and went to the parking lot. Squall drove all the way to Deling. It wasn't a problem because Balamb Garden was on the continent, not on its island as it used to be.
They entered the city easily. There were just a few soldiers. Seifer wanted to kill them but Squall objected, saying only the high ranked soldiers were dangerous. The others were just obeying. Of course Squall had already explain the purpose of this mission before leaving the Garden and again in the car to be sure everyone was understanding but Seifer's killer instinct tended to forget the priorities.
Once they were in front of the car renting shop, Squall stepped forward and faced them.
"There's no use for us to stay together. We'll split into two teams. I'll lead the first one and…"
He looked at the others to decide who was to be the other leader. Zell punched and hopped, telling Squall he wanted to lead. Squall bent and slowly shook his head. Not that he didn't trust Zell, just that he wanted him in his team. Squall got his eyes back on his friends and locked them on Seifer. Zell was sulking.
"Seifer, you'll lead the other team."
He continued before anybody could say anything else.
"I'm taking Zell and Quistis. Irvine and Selphie, you go with Seifer. And remember: only the high ranked soldiers are to kill. If you're not forced, don't hurt the others."
Seifer looked bored.
"Alright, alright, we know!"
Squall frowned, crossing his arms on his chest and facing Seifer.
"It's serious, Seifer! You're the leader of the team because I think you're worth my trust!"
Seifer was annoyed but still nodded. Squall signalled Irvine to approach.
"You watch him, ok?" he whispered.
Irvine winked to show he understands.
The teams split up. Squall's team went on the main street where Galbadia hotel was. Not many soldier. Not many people either. Good thing. Not involving people would make their job easier.
"Well, it's kinda calm around here…" Zell said deceived.
"Halt!"
The SeeDs froze.
"Show me your face!"
They turned around slowly to obey. A soldier was aiming his gun at them.
"I never saw you before. Where are you from? This city is under Galbadia's army's control!"
Squall and Zell exchanged glances as they understood that soldier was a troublemaker. Squall stepped forward.
"We're SeeDs from Balamb Garden and we're here to stop this nonsense!"
He took his gunblade with both hands, Zell stood in fight position and Quistis cracked her whip. The soldier called for reinforcement and two more came. They shot but the SeeDs dodged the bullets and counterattacked. Each took care of one soldier. When Squall was finishing his opponent off, the soldier shot one last time. The bullet past a centimetre away from his face. From the surprise, Squall collapsed. The soldiers were down.
With horror, Quistis and Zell ran to him, sure he was dead.
"Squall!!" Quistis yelled.
Zell kneeled by his friend's side, ready for the worst. Squall slowly sat up, causing his friends to sigh from relief.
"My God, Squall! Don't ever do that again!" Zell exclaimed patting his back, making Squall hold back a painful groaning.
"I was sure you were…" Quistis started unable to finish.
Fear was on her face and on Zell's. Squall reassured them.
"I'm okay, the shot didn't touch me."
He touched his face were the bullet past by to reassure himself. His back was the only thing painful.
"But I was as scared as you are!"
The three laughed together.
The other team was walking through the other streets. No soldier to fight. Seifer was really bored. He swung his gunblade in front of him with anger.
"So boring! I thought this kinda job was exciting! Not even a soldier yet!"
Irvine and Selphie were still careful.
"Calm down, man! We'll find some soon enough," Irvine assured.
He was kinda bored himself, having his gun on his shoulder. Selphie swung her nunchaku before catching it with one hand.
"I agree with him, it's booooring!"
Irvine agreed too of course. He was an action guy and walking in the middle of a lifeless street wasn't very exciting.
"What can I do? I'm not the leader."
When both turned their sight to him, Seifer remembered HE was the leader. He decided to act like one.
"I bet the big action is at Caraway's mansion. Let's go!"
All happy again, the team made its move.
Squall's team was already there. They were standing on the street in front of the closed iron gate. Two soldiers were guarding the gate, looking at them with a suspicious look. Squall put a fist on his hip and frowned, wondering what to do.
"What now?" he asked shrugging.
The soldiers gave him his answer as they took their gun and aimed it at them.
"Go away! You don't have anything to do here!"
Squall took his gunblade and gave the soldiers a mad cornered smile.
"Yes, we do…"
The SeeDs attacked, not giving any chance to the soldiers. They didn't have the time to shoot. They were down in no time.
When the gang was about to open the gate, aiming noise was heard behind them.
"Hands up! And don't move!"
The SeeDs froze and obeyed. They slowly turned around. Zell widened up his eyes.
"Waah! We're surrounded!"
"Shut up!"
One of the soldiers stepped forward, still aiming at them. He was looking pretty nasty.
"You're SeeDs, aren't you? I bet that Caraway called for you."
He was especially aiming at Squall who just kept frowning at him with a mad face. The soldier lost patience from that annoying face. He put the barrel of his gun under Squall's chin, making him lift his head a bit.
"I asked you a question!"
Squall didn't make a move while Zell was getting pretty nervous by his side. The soldier was about to shoot.
"Hey!"
Every soldier turned around. Squall, Zell and Quistis saw who shouted.
"Seifer!"
Seifer was standing behind the soldiers with Irvine and Selphie.
"Need a hand?" Seifer proposed.
"Why not?" Squall smiled.
The nasty soldier got mad.
"Seifer, you traitor!"
"No, I'm not! We were betrayed by the Sorceress who was controlling our minds!"
"We would have ruled the world by now, Seifer! You'll pay!"
A big battle started, SeeDs against Galbadian soldiers as always. Bullets were flying everywhere but none of them touched the group. Soldiers were killed one by one. Soon, there was not any soldier left, only six tired fighters.
"Pff… Hey, thanks, man!" Zell exclaimed at Seifer.
"A few seconds later and we would have picked up Squall's brain on the floor, huh?" Selphie joked.
Everyone laughed nervously because it was true.
Squall moved away from his friends a little, trapped in his thoughts and feeling pretty weak. The others kept up talking.
"Squall!"
He turned around and his face lightened up when he saw Rinoa running to him. She stopped a meter away from him to catch her breath. Squall was happy to see her but a bit surprised too. He walked towards her.
"Rinoa! What are you doing here?"
"I'm living here, you see?"
Squall shook his head
"I mean…I thought you would have left with your father?!"
"In fact, he asked me to make sure the SeeDs he called take care of their mission. I didn't think it would be you."
"Anyway, I'm glad to see you."
They smiled to each other. Squall facial expression changed suddenly. A small shining light was seen about twenty meters behind Rinoa. Without saying a thing, he grabbed Rinoa's arms and dropped onto the ground, dragging her with him. Squall ended up on his back and Rinoa landed on him. She hid her face on his chest when she heard a bullet passing above them. When she risked an eye up, everything was back to normal.
"How did you know, Squall? Thanks anyway."
She started to worry when she took a glance of his face.
"Squall?"
He was having hard time keeping his eyes open. He mumbled in big pain.
"Squall! What's wrong?"
"My…back…"
"What's with your back? Squall!"
Alerted by her scream, the others joined them quickly.
"What's going on?" Zell asked kneeling.
"I don't know!"
Rinoa was panicking. Selphie helped her get off Squall while Irvine was trying to make Squall sit up. The weak guy moaned from pain.
"What happened?" Zell asked. "A minute ago he was well and now he looks so weak!"
"No, he wasn't. If you knew Squall as well as I do, you'd have known," Quistis said.
"He said it's his back," Rinoa told the others in a worried tone.
"Let's see…give me a hand," Irvine said.
With the help of Rinoa, they took Squall's jacket off.
"My god!!" Rinoa shouted.
Squall's grey T-shirt was covered from blood. The inside of his jacket was pretty bloody too.
"Where the hell is this come from?" Zell asked in disbelieve.
Seifer kept silent while the others were surrounding Squall. The wounded guy was about to faint.
"We'll see later about that," Rinoa cut in. "Let's take him into my house, quick!"
"I'll take him," Irvine said.
"Let me open the gate first."
"I'll give you a hand," Seifer proposed.
"Me too!" Zell added.
Once the gate was open, Irvine carried Squall in. Selphie has taken Squall's jacket. As they were passing the gate, Rinoa came back to Squall's side and held his hand.
"The…shooter…"
Irvine smiled.
"Don't worry. He was down before he noticed he missed his target whatever it was."
'I know he was aiming for me,' Squall thought in his foggy mind. 'It was a warning. It's them who will attack me.'
"They…are…after me…"
"Shh…don't speak," Irvine ordered.
'I know who I'm dealing with now. They know I'm here, they know…I gotta go or the others will be in danger…'
Selphie went to open the door for the mansion. Squall could barely move in Irvine's arms. He was about to close his eyes.
"Hold on, Squall," Rinoa's soft voice said. "Stay with me…"
Squall fainted.
Rinoa left the next morning. Squall was hiding his wound to everybody. Even if he was supposed to take it easy, he tried to act as normal as possible. He knew his friends would notice there was something wrong if he slew down.
He didn't have training for the whole week, disappointing Zell. He saw Rinoa just a few times because she had to assist her father in some boring meetings. Not seeing her too often made him forget about his dream of the future.
He was forced to change his bandage almost everyday because some moves he made caused the cut to reopen and bleed again. He felt week the whole week from all the blood he lost.
The easy time ended quite fast when an announcement was heard.
"Squall, this is Headmaster Cid speaking. Come to my office right now!"
Squall was at the cafeteria with Quistis, Selphie, Irvine and Seifer. Zell was still having a hard time seeing Seifer in the Garden. The others accepted him easily and Seifer was happy with that. Even if he didn't like Zell very much either, he has tried his best to make him change his mind about him. Earlier this week, when he saw him running in the hall, he let him go without punishing him. As the leader of the Disciplinary 'Posse', it was a miss of his duty.
Of course Zell saw Seifer letting him go away, but still he couldn't accept him…yet.
"It sounds like an emergency," Quistis said. "You better get going."
Squall got up.
"Okay. See ya later!"
The others waved back to him then he left.
Seifer turned his head to look at Zell with a thoughtful face. He was at the opposite side of the cafeteria, far from the others and was facing his back to the gang. Selphie noticed.
"Still haven't got him your side?"
Seifer slowly shook his head. Selphie looked at the ceiling, thinking about something. She snapped her fingers when she came up with an idea.
"Zell is a bit mad because he didn't have training with Squall the whole week," she explained. "What do you say asking him to have training with you?"
"Yeah!" Irvine approved. "Good idea!"
"What if he refuses? You all know how mean I was to him when we were kids."
"But you have changed," Quistis said. "He has changed. He'll end up giving you a chance."
"You think so?"
"It's worth to try, don't you think?"
"Yeah, it's true."
Seifer got up and walked to Zell. The others kept their eyes on them.
"What do you want?" Zell asked rudely when Seifer was by his side.
Seifer sat up in front of him.
"Squall was quite busy this week, wasn't he?"
Zell looked at him, noticing Seifer was trying to be kind. He made an effort himself.
"Yeah, bummer!"
"You're upset?"
"Of course, I am! He's always training with me, almost everyday! He didn't for the whole week without telling me why!"
Zell frowned. He didn't know why he was telling Seifer all that.
"Why are you asking?"
"I want to ask you something."
Zell looked curious.
"You wanna know?" Seifer asked playfully.
"Why not? You started, now spit it up!"
"Wanna train with me?"
Zell was surprised. He wasn't waiting for that kind of proposition coming from Seifer.
"You're not a SeeD."
"So what? Not only SeeDs train!"
Zell raised an eyebrow looking at Seifer.
"Why do you want to train with me?"
"Why does Squall train with you?"
"Because he's my friend."
"Maybe I'm trying to be too…"
Zell thought about it. Maybe he should give him a chance… He's trying so hard to make the others forgive him. Even Squall did!
"…Ok…But don't think I'm accepting you! I just have to train to stay in good form and I don't to go alone."
"Alright, then it's settled. Let's go!"
Both got up and left the cafeteria, heading for the training center.
"Looks like he's gonna succeed," Irvine said.
Selphie nodded.
Quistis decided to talk about something else.
"I wonder what does the Headmaster wants from Squall. Hope there's nothing wrong."
Squall was standing straight in front of Cid and making the SeeD's salute. Cid made him stop that.
"I got a message from Deling City," he explained.
Squall worried for a second.
"It's from General Caraway," Cid continued.
From that moment, Squall really started to worry. Cid raised a hand to reassure him.
"It's not about Rinoa if it's what you're afraid of."
Squall sighed before remembering he had to stay formal.
"He's asking for some SeeDs."
Squall raised an eyebrow.
"Why would he need SeeDs? He got the army."
"Why did he need SeeDs against the Sorceress?"
"Yeah, it's true."
Squall came back to the initial problem.
"So what's the mission?"
"It's another reason why he asked for SeeDs: there is a mutiny in Deling. The soldiers are trying to take over the city. For his own security, General Caraway had to left the town in a hurry and is asking us to calm the things down. Only the highest ranked soldiers came up with that idea, the others are just obeying."
"We have to go there and fix things up?"
"Exactly. Some soldiers are very dangerous so don't hesitate to kill."
"Yes, sir!"
Cid frowned before smiling.
"You're so serious, Squall. When I think at first you didn't even want the leader job…"
Cid was lost in his memories. He shook his head to get back in the present.
"Anyway. Now you have to decide who you'll send there."
"I'll go myself and I'll take my friends if you don't mind."
"That means?"
"Zell, Irvine, Selphie and Quistis."
"That's all?"
"Well you know it's the kind of mission SeeD candidates can't afford. Only us are experienced enough."
"As you wish. You're the one in charge."
"And I would like to ask you a favor."
Squall hesitated telling, but Cid encouraged him to go further.
"Ask."
"Well… I would like to take someone else," he said insisting on the word 'someone'.
Cid frowned as he understood immediately whom he was talking about.
"He's not a SeeD…"
"Let's say it's a test, to test if he's worthy of our trust. Besides he's more experimented than a few long time SeeDs I knew."
The Headmaster kept silent, thinking about it. When he put back his sight back on Squall, he smiled.
"Granted!"
Squall went back to the cafeteria and stood by his friends' side, looking around.
"So what did he want from you?" Irvine inquired.
Squall didn't answer, looking around for something.
"Where is Zell? And Seifer?"
He looked at his friends and noticed they were hiding something to him. He insisted.
"Where are they?"
Selphie smiled mysteriously, making Squall's patience diminish.
"We don't have time to play! Where are they?"
Seeing Squall was serious, Quistis decided it was enough.
"At the training center," she answered.
"Both?" Squall asked with a surprised face.
She nodded.
"Together?" he asked with his voice growing louder with the surprise.
The three nodded.
"Seifer made his move and Zell followed him," Irvine explained.
Squall was amazed. He never thought Zell would end up changing his mind about Seifer.
Squall turned around to go get them when he saw them entering cafeteria, both laughing like crazy. They were covered with dust and dirt. The four others just looked at them as they approached, astonished.
"I told you not to summon Quezacoatl so close to the water," Seifer told Zell still laughing.
"And what about you using Tornado magic in the middle of a sand spot!"
They laughed again. Seifer suddenly noticed the others were looking at them.
"What?!"
Squall just shrugged and smiled.
"Nothing, just glad you too finally get along."
Seifer and Zell looked at each other and shrugged like it was obvious.
"Anyway, we got serious work to do," Squall interrupted.
"We got a mission?" Irvine asked.
"We got a mission," Squall answered. "We have to stop a mutiny in Deling. The soldiers are trying to tale over the city."
"Will we be under Caraway's orders?" Selphie asked.
Squall shook his head.
"No. He had to leave the city for his own security. We'll be on our own. We will have to kill the troublemakers; highest ranked soldiers started all this mess. The others are only following orders."
"Who's going?" Zell asked in an I-wanna-go tone.
"Myself. And Quistis, Zell, Irvine and Selphie, you're coming with me."
"Whoo-hoo!" Selphie exclaimed.
"Finally some action!" Zell said.
Seifer waved to them heading for the exit.
"I think I'll see ya later, then."
He was about to leave.
"And Seifer?" Squall stopped him.
He turned around and put his fist on his hip, looking at Squall with a what-now face.
"You come along."
"What?"
The others were just as surprised as Seifer. Squall was very serious.
"But he's not a SeeD!" Irvine protested.
Squall lost patience.
"Enough! Give me a break with that stupid excuse! He's not a SeeD, so what?"
Irvine quickly shook his hands in front of him. Squall walked to Seifer and calmed down.
"We're kinda low of experienced SeeDs here. This is an important mission and beginners can't afford it. You saw as much fight as we did so I'm asking you to came with us."
Seifer wasn't sure what he should do.
"What will I have to do?"
"The same thing than us and since I'm in charge, you'll have to follow my orders. You know you hate orders, especially if they're coming from me, but if you know you won't be able to do that, then don't even bother coming with us."
Seifer turned around to face Squall his back and kept his head down for a while.
"Kill Galbadian soldiers?" he asked half turning his head backward still keeping it down.
"Yes."
Seifer turned and faced Squall
"You bet, I'm coming!"
Squall smiled.
"Great!"
"So! When do we leave?"
Zell and Seifer cleaned up a bit, then they all prepared for the mission. Taking their weapons, potions, equipping magics and junctionning GFs, they were all ready and went to the parking lot. Squall drove all the way to Deling. It wasn't a problem because Balamb Garden was on the continent, not on its island as it used to be.
They entered the city easily. There were just a few soldiers. Seifer wanted to kill them but Squall objected, saying only the high ranked soldiers were dangerous. The others were just obeying. Of course Squall had already explain the purpose of this mission before leaving the Garden and again in the car to be sure everyone was understanding but Seifer's killer instinct tended to forget the priorities.
Once they were in front of the car renting shop, Squall stepped forward and faced them.
"There's no use for us to stay together. We'll split into two teams. I'll lead the first one and…"
He looked at the others to decide who was to be the other leader. Zell punched and hopped, telling Squall he wanted to lead. Squall bent and slowly shook his head. Not that he didn't trust Zell, just that he wanted him in his team. Squall got his eyes back on his friends and locked them on Seifer. Zell was sulking.
"Seifer, you'll lead the other team."
He continued before anybody could say anything else.
"I'm taking Zell and Quistis. Irvine and Selphie, you go with Seifer. And remember: only the high ranked soldiers are to kill. If you're not forced, don't hurt the others."
Seifer looked bored.
"Alright, alright, we know!"
Squall frowned, crossing his arms on his chest and facing Seifer.
"It's serious, Seifer! You're the leader of the team because I think you're worth my trust!"
Seifer was annoyed but still nodded. Squall signalled Irvine to approach.
"You watch him, ok?" he whispered.
Irvine winked to show he understands.
The teams split up. Squall's team went on the main street where Galbadia hotel was. Not many soldier. Not many people either. Good thing. Not involving people would make their job easier.
"Well, it's kinda calm around here…" Zell said deceived.
"Halt!"
The SeeDs froze.
"Show me your face!"
They turned around slowly to obey. A soldier was aiming his gun at them.
"I never saw you before. Where are you from? This city is under Galbadia's army's control!"
Squall and Zell exchanged glances as they understood that soldier was a troublemaker. Squall stepped forward.
"We're SeeDs from Balamb Garden and we're here to stop this nonsense!"
He took his gunblade with both hands, Zell stood in fight position and Quistis cracked her whip. The soldier called for reinforcement and two more came. They shot but the SeeDs dodged the bullets and counterattacked. Each took care of one soldier. When Squall was finishing his opponent off, the soldier shot one last time. The bullet past a centimetre away from his face. From the surprise, Squall collapsed. The soldiers were down.
With horror, Quistis and Zell ran to him, sure he was dead.
"Squall!!" Quistis yelled.
Zell kneeled by his friend's side, ready for the worst. Squall slowly sat up, causing his friends to sigh from relief.
"My God, Squall! Don't ever do that again!" Zell exclaimed patting his back, making Squall hold back a painful groaning.
"I was sure you were…" Quistis started unable to finish.
Fear was on her face and on Zell's. Squall reassured them.
"I'm okay, the shot didn't touch me."
He touched his face were the bullet past by to reassure himself. His back was the only thing painful.
"But I was as scared as you are!"
The three laughed together.
The other team was walking through the other streets. No soldier to fight. Seifer was really bored. He swung his gunblade in front of him with anger.
"So boring! I thought this kinda job was exciting! Not even a soldier yet!"
Irvine and Selphie were still careful.
"Calm down, man! We'll find some soon enough," Irvine assured.
He was kinda bored himself, having his gun on his shoulder. Selphie swung her nunchaku before catching it with one hand.
"I agree with him, it's booooring!"
Irvine agreed too of course. He was an action guy and walking in the middle of a lifeless street wasn't very exciting.
"What can I do? I'm not the leader."
When both turned their sight to him, Seifer remembered HE was the leader. He decided to act like one.
"I bet the big action is at Caraway's mansion. Let's go!"
All happy again, the team made its move.
Squall's team was already there. They were standing on the street in front of the closed iron gate. Two soldiers were guarding the gate, looking at them with a suspicious look. Squall put a fist on his hip and frowned, wondering what to do.
"What now?" he asked shrugging.
The soldiers gave him his answer as they took their gun and aimed it at them.
"Go away! You don't have anything to do here!"
Squall took his gunblade and gave the soldiers a mad cornered smile.
"Yes, we do…"
The SeeDs attacked, not giving any chance to the soldiers. They didn't have the time to shoot. They were down in no time.
When the gang was about to open the gate, aiming noise was heard behind them.
"Hands up! And don't move!"
The SeeDs froze and obeyed. They slowly turned around. Zell widened up his eyes.
"Waah! We're surrounded!"
"Shut up!"
One of the soldiers stepped forward, still aiming at them. He was looking pretty nasty.
"You're SeeDs, aren't you? I bet that Caraway called for you."
He was especially aiming at Squall who just kept frowning at him with a mad face. The soldier lost patience from that annoying face. He put the barrel of his gun under Squall's chin, making him lift his head a bit.
"I asked you a question!"
Squall didn't make a move while Zell was getting pretty nervous by his side. The soldier was about to shoot.
"Hey!"
Every soldier turned around. Squall, Zell and Quistis saw who shouted.
"Seifer!"
Seifer was standing behind the soldiers with Irvine and Selphie.
"Need a hand?" Seifer proposed.
"Why not?" Squall smiled.
The nasty soldier got mad.
"Seifer, you traitor!"
"No, I'm not! We were betrayed by the Sorceress who was controlling our minds!"
"We would have ruled the world by now, Seifer! You'll pay!"
A big battle started, SeeDs against Galbadian soldiers as always. Bullets were flying everywhere but none of them touched the group. Soldiers were killed one by one. Soon, there was not any soldier left, only six tired fighters.
"Pff… Hey, thanks, man!" Zell exclaimed at Seifer.
"A few seconds later and we would have picked up Squall's brain on the floor, huh?" Selphie joked.
Everyone laughed nervously because it was true.
Squall moved away from his friends a little, trapped in his thoughts and feeling pretty weak. The others kept up talking.
"Squall!"
He turned around and his face lightened up when he saw Rinoa running to him. She stopped a meter away from him to catch her breath. Squall was happy to see her but a bit surprised too. He walked towards her.
"Rinoa! What are you doing here?"
"I'm living here, you see?"
Squall shook his head
"I mean…I thought you would have left with your father?!"
"In fact, he asked me to make sure the SeeDs he called take care of their mission. I didn't think it would be you."
"Anyway, I'm glad to see you."
They smiled to each other. Squall facial expression changed suddenly. A small shining light was seen about twenty meters behind Rinoa. Without saying a thing, he grabbed Rinoa's arms and dropped onto the ground, dragging her with him. Squall ended up on his back and Rinoa landed on him. She hid her face on his chest when she heard a bullet passing above them. When she risked an eye up, everything was back to normal.
"How did you know, Squall? Thanks anyway."
She started to worry when she took a glance of his face.
"Squall?"
He was having hard time keeping his eyes open. He mumbled in big pain.
"Squall! What's wrong?"
"My…back…"
"What's with your back? Squall!"
Alerted by her scream, the others joined them quickly.
"What's going on?" Zell asked kneeling.
"I don't know!"
Rinoa was panicking. Selphie helped her get off Squall while Irvine was trying to make Squall sit up. The weak guy moaned from pain.
"What happened?" Zell asked. "A minute ago he was well and now he looks so weak!"
"No, he wasn't. If you knew Squall as well as I do, you'd have known," Quistis said.
"He said it's his back," Rinoa told the others in a worried tone.
"Let's see…give me a hand," Irvine said.
With the help of Rinoa, they took Squall's jacket off.
"My god!!" Rinoa shouted.
Squall's grey T-shirt was covered from blood. The inside of his jacket was pretty bloody too.
"Where the hell is this come from?" Zell asked in disbelieve.
Seifer kept silent while the others were surrounding Squall. The wounded guy was about to faint.
"We'll see later about that," Rinoa cut in. "Let's take him into my house, quick!"
"I'll take him," Irvine said.
"Let me open the gate first."
"I'll give you a hand," Seifer proposed.
"Me too!" Zell added.
Once the gate was open, Irvine carried Squall in. Selphie has taken Squall's jacket. As they were passing the gate, Rinoa came back to Squall's side and held his hand.
"The…shooter…"
Irvine smiled.
"Don't worry. He was down before he noticed he missed his target whatever it was."
'I know he was aiming for me,' Squall thought in his foggy mind. 'It was a warning. It's them who will attack me.'
"They…are…after me…"
"Shh…don't speak," Irvine ordered.
'I know who I'm dealing with now. They know I'm here, they know…I gotta go or the others will be in danger…'
Selphie went to open the door for the mansion. Squall could barely move in Irvine's arms. He was about to close his eyes.
"Hold on, Squall," Rinoa's soft voice said. "Stay with me…"
Squall fainted.