The Dish: An Angsty Seiftis Chapter 5: One Unexpected Eavesdropper, a final fantasy viii fanfic

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII belongs to Squaresoft.

Well! The threats I've been receiving! ^_^ Life goes on…

The Dish: One Angsty Seiftis

Part Five: One Unexpected Eavesdropper

Squall paced his office restlessly. Teaching was a thankless, torrid task, and to take on five classes—who in Hyne's name had wished such an impossible mission on Instructor Quistis Trepe? But that was really beside the question. The fact of the matter was, Quistis' reports had not come in for thirty-six hours straight and he was very worried. She had promised to report every twenty-four hours and Quistis had kept her word, at least until a day and a half ago. She had managed to gain more than a foothold now, having spent about two months there, and she had increasingly important information to impart. So far, ten SeeDs had already died at their hands and Squall did not want Quistis and her partner from Galbadia to be numbers ten and twelve.

Squall stared down at his desk. The trouble with suicide missions was that they were usually top secret. That way, if there were casualties, it would simply be assumed that it was the usual thing. After all, considering that every mission had the propensity for casualties, it would appear that every mission was a suicide mission. But suicide missions—the real, classified ones—were suicide because of the high-level risk and skill involved. Since not all of them were undertaken for purely monetary reasons, thus contradicting Garden's official policy, they had to be classified. Usually no more than two high-ranking SeeDs were sent out—Garden could not afford to lose more than two on any suicide mission. Frankly, it couldn't afford any casualties, but sometimes things could not be helped. This was one of those unhappy occasions.

The private line on his desk rang. Squall snatched it up. "Commander speaking."

Cid's voice was grave. "Any news yet, Commander?"

"No, sir." Squall's shoulders slumped.

There was a brief silence. "Mission status?"

"Unstable, sir. There's reason to believe that the mission may be in jeopardy."

"I see."

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Request permission to lead a team to investigate."

"Permission denied."

"Sir, the situation may be escalating and—"

"Exactly, Commander. This is a suicide mission for a good reason. Our sudden appearance may cause the situation to escalate to levels beyond our control and put Quistis and Hans in grave danger by exposing their identities."

"Sir, this is a suicide mission, but if Quistis is in danger—oh, Hyne—" Squall choked, his eyes widening as the facsimile machine nearby started spitting paper. "Her report is in, sir."

"Bring it over at once."

The door to his office blew open just as he hung up.

"Leonhart!" Seifer Almasy burst into the room, his eyes wild.

"Almasy," muttered Squall. He could feel a huge migraine coming on.

Seifer leaned over Squall, his hands on the desk, breathing furiously, his face scarlet with rage. "You sent Quistis on a suicide mission?!"

Squall's eyes narrowed. "You were listening at the door." He debated giving the secretary a good talking-to, but realised that no secretary could have stopped Seifer in his tracks.

"Never mind that! You shouldn't have let her go!" exploded Seifer, seizing Squall by the collar. "How could you?!"

Squall jerked himself free. "Shut up, Almasy. She volunteered. You know nothing." He ignored the guilt digging hooks in his heart.

"No, you know nothing!" hissed Seifer. "Quistis would volunteer for anything if she thought it was her duty to do so! She'd sacrifice herself for anyone—for anything! You know that! Leonhart, what were you and that bloody idiot of a headmaster thinking by letting her go?" Seifer paused for breath, then went on harshly. "If she—if anything happens to her, anything at all, Leonhart, I'll kill you if that's the last thing I do!" He whirled and stormed away, but Squall called him back.

"I'm going to Headmaster with her latest report."

Seifer turned back, green eyes blazing as they met Squall's blue-grey eyes. They stared at each other silently for a moment. Then Squall walked over to join Seifer. Together, side by side, they headed for the Headmaster's office.

Cid was surprised to see them entering at the same time and, needless to say, none too happy that Seifer had learned the truth.

"I will not," repeated Cid stolidly, "send more than one top-level SeeD on this mission. Besides, she is not alone. Esthar has a high-ranked SeeD with her."

Seifer gnashed his teeth. Squall was silent.

"There is no due necessity to send out another team. Mission has not approached critical status at all," went on Cid, warming to his theme. "If anything is wrong, Quistis will send a signal."

Seifer sneered. "Don't tell me she'll fire a rocket!" His green eyes flashed. "Know what I think? I think where she is, she won't be able to send a distress signal—and when she does, it'll be—too late." His face went white as he said those words.

Squall cleared his throat. "Based on her report, sir, Garden will have to send more teams of SeeDs quickly. We might as well start right away."

Cid opened his mouth to say something, but the telephone on his desk rang and he snatched up the receiver. As he listened, his face changed. Squall and Seifer exchanged glances as Cid slammed down the receiver, his face grim. His eyes were sharp and flinty behind his thick glasses.

"Commander, the situation has changed. That was Esthar Garden on the line. As of twenty minutes ago, Esthar suffered no less than eight railway derailments. Three of its major cities, including the capital, have had communications cut off and are unreachable. One of them is Esthar's ammunitions supply headquarters, which contains a number of chemical bombs that could blow Esthar to smithereens and pollute the atmosphere stretching up to a thousand kilometres all round. Timber reports that certain forces have tried to stir up trouble against Garden in its capital, but are presently under control. And—about Quistis—" Cid stopped.

Seifer knew the answer before Cid finished speaking, and he sprang to his feet. "NO!" he snarled, his voice strangely hoarse.

"She's trapped in Esthar," confirmed Cid sadly. "President Laguna Loire of Esthar has disappeared, presumably kidnapped or held hostage." He shot a sympathetic glance at Squall's half-stunned, half-disbelieving face. "Esthar Garden has sent three teams of SeeDs—they need the rest for defence. Galbadia Garden is sending two teams. Trabia is sending a team to help as well. Commander, I want three teams sent out. Join forces with the other Gardens and get back control of the ammunitions headquarters. I want those three teams ready at once!"

Squall gathered what was left of his wits. He rose and saluted, ever the Commander. He turned slowly to face Seifer, who was staring dazedly at Cid's desk, and spoke, his voice filled with a grim determination. "Almasy. You're my second-in-command on this mission."

Seifer faced him. He nodded.

Together, the two most brilliant students Quistis Trepe had ever taught marched out of the office of the Headmaster of Balamb Garden to save their former teacher.