Warnings: Lots of OOC in this chapter I believe.
Blind Love
Part 4
Squall blinked owlishly down the way McPherson had disappeared, his mind rather slow in processing what he had said.
Blind? Squall practically shouted inside his head.
This was incomprehensible. Surely McPherson had to be lying; yet, the man really had no reason to say such a lie, so then it must be true!
A weak groan sounded behind Squall, reminding him that he really should be helping Seifer. Squall walked over and knelt down beside Seifer. A gentle touch on the shoulder caused Seifer to whimper and jerk away from Squall's hand. Squall felt his chest constrict painfully. This was not how he wanted Seifer to react to him; he needed, wanted Seifer to trust him but how was such a thing to be accomplished when so many bad things had happened between them? Yet, Squall was determined to earn Seifer's trust.
"Seifer?"
No response.
"Seifer, please."
Still nothing.
"Seifer, I'm here to help you."
A small movement, a recognition perhaps, that Squall was there.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I swear. I'm going to get you out of here," Squall said while trying to remain calm.
A low groan reached Squall's ears and he saw Seifer's lips move but did not hear him say anything.
"What?" Squall asked as he leaned down closer to Seifer.
"No," came a hoarse response. "Leave me."
Leave him? Squall wondered in shock. That, of course, made no sense whatsoever and Squall had no intention of obeying it. How could he possibly leave Seifer when he needed Squall's help so badly? There was no way Squall could ever abandon someone he cared about so much, not after knowing personally how it felt to be abandoned.
"No. I'm not going to leave you here to suffer. I'll think of a way to get you out safely."
"Why?" was the quiet response.
"Because, this is so wrong, what they are doing to you. They don't have the right to and I won't let it continue!"
"Have every right."
"No! They don't! This is inhumane, the way they are treating you. No one deserves to be treated this way, especially you; you've gone through so much already."
"Squall…" Seifer whispered while groping helplessly for Squall.
Grabbing Seifer's hand and clutching it to his chest, Squall said, "I'm going to make everything better. I'll get you out of here. I promise. I won't abandon you, I swear. OK, Seifer? Just hang on for a little while longer. Can you do that?"
"Maybe…"
"You have to, Seifer! I know you can; you've always been so damn stubborn. Please? For me?"
"I'll try…for you."
"All right. Here's what I'm going to do. I'll come get you later tonight, sneak in here somehow; it shouldn't be too difficult. Then, we'll just try to get as far away from this god-awful place as possible. After that, I dunno, I'll think of something though. I won't be able to help you much today, won't be able to heal you or get you food and water. McPherson expects me to hate you and I played along with it. I'll keep playing along so he doesn't suspect anything. All right? You going to be OK until tonight?"
"I'll manage."
"Good. I should go. I'll be back later tonight."
"Promise?" Seifer said, a bit desperately, while squeezing Squall's hand tightly.
"Promise. I could never abandon someone I care about."
This earned Squall a weak smile, which was very satisfying for he had not expected to get such a positive response from Seifer. Reluctantly letting go of Seifer's hand, Squall stood and left.
Walking back to McPherson's house, Squall could not help but feel terrible about having to leave Seifer in that awful place. But what else could he do? He knew he couldn't get Seifer out now with all the townspeople around. There was no way he could fend off all those people as well as support Seifer.
This thought reminded Squall of how physically battered and weak Seifer was. It was truly shocking to see his once proud and strong rival reduced to such a state. And the blindness…that was rather frightening. Seifer was completely helpless and would be totally dependent upon Squall later that night. That seemed almost unnatural. Yet, Squall was determined not to fail, he would keep his promise to Seifer and get him to safety.
Arriving back at McPherson's house, Squall took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself to deal with that horrible man.
"Well, Squall, how's the little brat? Did you rid me of that nuisance?"
"No, I did not."
"Pity. Although, maybe it's not such a bad thing that you didn't get rid of him. That boy needs to suffer more for what he did and I'm going to make sure he does. Death is a mercy that he does not deserve."
"Yes," was all Squall managed to say before turning his back to McPherson on the pretense of looking out the window but really he wanted to hide the emotions that would surely betray him.
Why was it that so many people continued to blame Seifer? Squall had lost count of the number of times he had told the press, his students, anyone, that Seifer was not at fault, that he had been controlled, used by the sorceresses. Seifer may have been aggressive, loud and violent even before the wars but that did not mean he was heartless. They had all been trained to be fighters, warriors; they all had that aggression and violence in them that Seifer had; they had all just been able to control it better than Seifer. Unfortunately for Seifer, this lack of control meant that everyone saw the aggression, which now made it easier for people to blame Seifer for bringing evil upon them all.
Seifer was not evil; he was not a terrible or heartless person like so many people claimed. Yet, these people did not know the real Seifer, the one that hid behind the brash behavior. Granted, Squall did not really know the real Seifer either. But, he remembered seeing brief glimpses of the real Seifer. There had been times during their schooldays when Squall had seen Seifer smiling and laughing with Raijin and Fujin. He had seen Seifer help students in need, whether it was because of homework problems or because they were injured or being bothered by other students. And, more recently, Squall was remembering those few precious moments at the orphanage when Seifer and him would play together. When it had been just the two of them, Seifer was rarely loud or aggressive; he had actually been very easy going, kind and gentle. Squall desperately wanted to have more of those moments with Seifer. He just hoped that the recent events had not destroyed the part of Seifer that Squall wanted to see more of. Maybe, once he got Seifer someplace safe, he would be able to rediscover the gentle side of Seifer and bring it out.
"Hey, kid! You still with me?"
"Yes, sorry," Squall said, turning to look at McPherson, now much calmer after having remembered those childhood moments with Seifer. "I was just thinking about all the things Seifer had done."
"That little shit. Every time I think about all the killing he did and all the suffering he caused, I just want to kill him."
"What's stopping you?"
"I get way too much enjoyment out of causing and seeing him suffer. So, I hope you don't plan on taking him away from me soon, I might have to stop you."
"Hmmm…I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. While I'm thinking about it, though, why don't you show me around your town and introduce me to you people. I would like that very much."
McPherson immediately jumped at the change to show off and brag about his town and all the wonderful people it. This thankfully kept his mind off of Seifer, sparing Squall of his awful remarks about Seifer. Unfortunately though, Squall was forced to spend many hours in the man's company, listening to how expensive the street and building were, how they made the best beer in the country, produced the most corn, owned the best tracks of shoreline and had the kindest, most generous people as neighbors. By the end of the tour, Squall not only had a stronger urge to kill McPherson but he also wanted to burn the entire town and all its inhabitants to the ground. Never had he seen a group of people more conceited, self-congratulating, ignorant, unforgiving and just plain annoying. The only person he would even consider saving was the innkeeper's wife and that's only because she had been kind enough to bring him breakfast.
Finally escaping McPherson a few hours before dinnertime, Squall all but stomped back to his room at the inn. Slamming and locking the door behind him, Squall collapsed on the bed with a groan. That had to have been the most grueling thing he had ever done. Yet, it had not been a total waste of time. It had been a good opportunity to convince McPherson that Squall truly hated Seifer. Hopefully this would prevent McPherson from being suspicious of the planned rescue.
Thinking of the rescue reminded Squall that he had not yet formulated a decent plan. Getting into the cell shouldn't be a problem, the lock was really only strong enough to hold a person as weak as Seifer was. But, what to do once he got Seifer out of the cell? Where to take him? Seifer would not be accepted everywhere and he needed peace and quiet in order to heal. Going to his father was out of the question; at least half of the people in Esthar still hated Seifer. Back to Garden? Having his friends around would be of great help and comfort; yet, there were still some people who hated Seifer even there. Plus, Squall suddenly realized, it would probably be extremely humiliating for Seifer if his former classmates saw the condition he was in now. So, Garden was out of the question, Squall refused to take Seifer someplace where he would only suffer more. But, where to go then?
The orphanage! Why hadn't he thought of it before? It was such an obvious answer. Now that Matron had fixed it up, it was perfectly habitable and an ideal place for Seifer to recover. Now all he needed was a way to get there.
Finding his cell phone, Squall called Quistis.
"Balamb Garden. Quistis Trepe speaking. How may I help you?
"Hey, Quist. It's Squall."
"Squall! It's about time you called us, we haven't heard from you since you left here. We were beginning to worry."
"Sorry. My dad can be rather demanding when it comes to spending time with him. And for the past several days I've been on a mission."
"A mission?" came a very shocked response. "Squall, you're supposed to be on vacation! Why are you on a mission?"
"I offered to go for my dad. It gave me a good reason to get out into the countryside and look for Seifer. And I found him."
"You did? Oh Hyne! Squall, this is great! Where was he? Is he OK? He's not hurt is he? When can we see him?"
Sighing, Squall wished he didn't have to tell Quistis about Seifer's condition; he knew it was really going to upset her. Yet, it would be better to tell her now than have her see Seifer with no prior knowledge of how terrible his condition was.
"It's a pretty bad situation, Quistis. He's being held prisoner in a small town in southeastern Esthar. They haven't treated him too well; when I saw him he was barely conscious. Also, he's…he's blind, Quistis."
Silence.
"Quistis?"
"I…you…blind?! I…I can't believe it! Seifer can't see? No. That's not possible. There must be some mistake!"
"No mistake. He most definitely can't see."
"Oh, Squall! This is so awful! He must be suffering so much. Seifer doesn't deserve this; he's been through so much already. But how could it have happened? Did the townspeople do it?"
"I don't think they did. So, I have no idea how it happened. Hopefully Seifer will be able to tell us and maybe we can find a way to get his sight back."
"Yes. There had to be a way to cure it. But you must get him out of there, Squall!"
"Of course I'm going to rescue him! Tonight. And I need your help. It should be easy enough getting him out of town but I want to take him to the orphanage and I need a way to get there."
"We can come get you with the Ragnarok."
'Yes, that's what I was thinking. Bring one of the guys with you. I'll need someone to help me support Seifer; dunno how long I'll be able to do it by myself."
"You mean they've hurt him so badly that he can't walk by himself?"
"Yes, they have. But, remember, Quistis? He's blind, he'll need me to guide him."
"Oh, I had forgotten, sorta. It's just…it's so hard to believe it, that Seifer can't see at all."
"I know but you'll see it's true once you get here."
"All right, tell me where you are and when you want us to get there."
Squall gave her the appropriate coordinates that would land the Ragnarok about half a mile out of town and told her what time to be there.
"Oh, one more thing, Quistis. I don't think Rinoa should know what's going on. I'm not sure what her reaction would be; you know she's still rather resentful about what Seifer did to her."
"Yeah, you're right. We'll try to get out of here without her knowing it. Might be difficult though."
"Yeah, I know. Just do your best. I'm sure you'll manage it."
"Thanks. Good luck, Squall, and be careful, OK?"
"Yeah, no problem. C-ya later."
Hanging up the phone, Squall got off the bed and began packing up all of his things. Once that was done, he started sharpening his gunblade. It was probably on unnecessary task but it was better to be safe than sorry. That done, Squall considered whether or not he should call his father. Squall eventually decided not to, he was not in the mood to deal with an emotionally distraught father when he had so much to worry about.
And he was worrying, quite a bit. He couldn't help it, there was just too much at stack here. McPherson worried him the most. Even though the man probably had no idea that Squall was going to rescue Seifer, it was always possible that McPherson might catch Squall. This was Squall's greatest worry, that he might run into McPherson while getting Seifer out of the cell.
No sense in dwelling on it so much though since he couldn't really do anything about it now. Instead, Squall decided to get a few hours of sleep, he needed to be well rested in order to survive what he knew was going to be a very long night.
End Part 4
-Not too happy with the way this turned out, not as dark or as depressing as I wanted it to be, guess I'm just not good at writing that kind of stuff, oh well! Hope you enjoyed it