I don't own Final Fantasy VIII. Squaresoft and Sony do. Though I got
myself a nifty Inu Yasha pencil board ^_^
Here's the next installment!
Chapter 18: Commander's Orders
The coffee was too damn strong again. Quistis set the cup back on the dimly lit desk in her office with a measure of disgust. She had to stop asking Zell to pull these all nighters with her. The caffeine was starting to become a health hazard and would surely kill her…that is if Zell didn't manage to pull that one off first. Setting her pen down, she stretched lazily. Any normal person would have slinked their way out of the office after a good solid ten hours and headed home to be with their cats. But Quistis was a certified workaholic, and when she had a task to complete she did it, no questions asked. It's why, ultimately, she had been promoted to the rank of SeeD junior commanding officer, just below Squall. She was devoted as all hell. And she hated it.
The knock on the office door was soft, too subtle to be anyone but Squall. Taking off her glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose, she buzzed open the lock. Sure enough, the auburn haired commander of Balamb Garden entered, a drained look on his face to match her own. She looked at him with an amused little grin as he sank into one of the chairs next to her desk and let out a long sigh.
"You didn't sleep again?" The question was tinged with a slight edge of humor that would have usually irritated the hell out of him, but just this once he was too tired to let her get under his skin. Let her have her hits when she could find them, he figured with a shrug.
"Junior kept me up," he said with a yawn that rivaled her last one. Quistis couldn't help but smile. That little boy had done so much to lighten the tension between Squall and the rest of his circle of friends. Just when the emotional issues got to be too much in the middle of a SeeD meeting in would come Junior with his bright eyes and big smile. Quistis loved the kid, even if she still had issues with his father.
"No Selphie tonight? What, her and Xu go out shopping again?" Her grin twisted into a smirk. "Hope you cut the credit cards." But Squall seemed unamused and offered no answer to the question.
"What's with you tonight?" she said, wrinkling her nose at him. "You're even crabbier than usual." Squall leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees in a tired gesture. "The moron sent out another request to my office earlier tonight."
Quistis blinked. "Laguna?" She looked fairly uninterested. "So what? He sends out requests all the time. It's easy money." Squall shook his head, standing and taking a small handheld out of his jacket pocket. After punching in a few numbers, he handed it to her with a frown. "Not this time. I want you to see these numbers." Quistis, her curiosity perked, took the small panel and slid her glasses back on her face. What she saw when her vision came clear brought a frown to her face. "These," she said blankly, "are response readings." She looked up at Squall, who had lost the jacket and was now leaning against the wall, arms folded, looking like he could kill the next person to come along. "Squall, these kinds of readings are only-"
"Found when there's a concentrated amount of energy being used in a single spot," he said, cutting her off. "I'm glad you remember your text." There was a certain subtle sarcasm in his words, but Quistis was too confused to even care. Squall looked directly at her, his blue-gray eyes flashing dangerously in the darkness of the room. "The readings match directly with Sorceress powers." Quistis nearly dropped the panel in her hands.
"But…there's only two people who can do that anymore," she said.
The look on Squall's face could've frozen lava.
"Oh Hyne…" Quistis's glasses slipped ever so slightly down her nose as she put two and two together. "Than…"
"Rinoa," he said coolly, his voice dark. "I think she's having a hard time controlling her powers." Quistis pushed her glasses up carefully as she looked at Squall. "But what about Seifer?" He remained calm. "Seifer has no idea how to support someone with the emotional or physical demands of a sorceress." Quistis looked a little confused, her eyes begging for an answer that she knew only Squall could give her.
He sighed before continuing. "When a sorceress picks a knight," he said, his voice just a little shaky, "she can…link with him. In ways most people can't link. That's why a sorceress's knight is usually a lover." He seemed to spit the last words, almost as though they tasted bad. "It's like you're not just two people, but one. Joined."
Quistis took off her glasses. "So, it's an intimacy thing."
Squall nodded, his eyes steadily on the floor. "Yeah, something like that."
"So Seifer…then he's obviously having a problem?" Squall nodded. "I think that's an obvious assumption," he said evenly. Quistis kept her eyes on him. "So what do we do about it? Why is SeeD getting involved?"
"Well she's living somewhere in Esthar, which makes her an immediate threat if anyone finds out," he said, moving back to the chair next to the desk. As he came back into the light, Quistis could see the circles under his eyes beginning to form. He was tired…and stressed, but that wasn't really anything new. She frowned. "Why in hell would she go to Esthar? They'll skin her alive if the authorities find her!" Squall shrugged, staring off into some dark corner of the room. "Who knows. Maybe she thought it was a good tactical maneuver. Go where they'd least expect to find you." Quistis nodded. "Yeah," she remarked, "or she thought she'd have sanctuary with Laguna in office." Squall shook his head. "No. Laguna may be the president, but there's only so much weight he holds over the military factions. Why else would he constantly call on SeeD?"
The two went silent as Quistis soaked it all in. He was right…as usual. Which was extremely irritating to her in her current state of exhaustion. "So what are we supposed to do?" she asked, snapping ever so slightly. Squall kept his eyes on that same dark corner, his voice cool as the steel edge of his gunblade. "We find her."
"And?"
"And if she's a threat, we do whatever Laguna pays us to do."
Quistis stared at him in amazement. He still hadn't moved, nor had he shown any outward sign of any emotion whatsoever. Like a statue he sat there, his white shirt seemingly glowing in the darkness.
"You aren't seriously thinking of taking this proposition, are you?" Quistis's eyebrows were raised far above the rim of her glasses, but Squall's expression never changed.
"Laguna requested that I see to this assignment, seeing as…because…"
"Because you were her knight." The words made him flinch even as they flowed from her mouth. Squall shuddered for a moment and stood, looking even more agitated than when he entered. The simple motion of him tugging his jacket back on was somehow violent.
"I'm leaving. If you need anything, call Nida. He can tell you where-"
"Selphie doesn't know yet, does she?" asked Quistis, her voice tinged with urgency. Squall turned slowly on one heel to face her again, his eyes a light grey, cold and solid.
"Selphie is passed out on the couch right now and I'd like to keep it that way," he said evenly. Quistis actually found herself taking a small step backward under that gaze, but her resolve was stubborn as always. "She has just as much a right to know as I do. Rinoa was our friend."
The vein in his temple started to throb with pain as he held back the anger bubbling in his stomach. "She is NOT in active duty right now. When the client feels it's necessary, that's when the minor factions of SeeD will know."
Quistis's eyes narrowed as she faced him off. "Selphie's a high enough rank that she doesn't even need clearance to look at the files, active or inactive duty. Don't feed me bullshit Squall!" Squall's teeth grinded slightly as he leaned forward enough to attempt an intimidation tactic. "As your commander, I'll feed you whatever information I see fit." Squall turned to leave again, evoking a loud slam on the desk from Quistis.
"Dammit, Squall, Selphie was her best friend! You know that! She has a right to know!"
Squall turned so quickly and viciously one could have mistaken him for an animal. "and I have a right to decide what kind of danger to expose my family to dammit!" The silence that followed the shouting left an uncomfortable awkwardness between the two for a moment before Squall shoved off on the desk and stalked out of the room, his footfalls heavy and swift in the hall. Quistis could only sit there and watch him leave before her senses caught up with her enough to remember. The letters from Seifer that were continually pouring in, the empty threats, the phone calls… It WAS acceptable that perhaps, Selphie and Junior were in some sort of immediate danger. And Laguna, however distant he may be from his son, was not the kind of man to let his friends or loved ones get hurt.
He was going to send the only man that could possibly deal with the situation directly into the fire, and Squall probably wouldn't let anyone help him. And knowing Squall, he'd rather die than let something get to Selphie or Junior.
Stubborn ass…
Quistis sank back into her chair, taking off her glasses again and folding her arms thoughtfully. Selphie would be safe…she didn't really have much to fear from Rinoa unless the girl had gone daffy enough to want Squall and anyone from her past dead. But Rinoa…well, that seemed so hard to fathom. Impossible almost. Even if her powers were a little out of control when she left, it was very hard to imagine Seifer offering so little support that Rinoa started to go mad.
Then again, he'd failed once before. And to disastrous consequences.
She reached for the phone almost automatically, though it was such a strange gesture. Quistis calling for help…Zell would've laughed his ass off at that one. The phone rang four times before a sleepy voice answered.
"..hello?"
"Hello…Matron…"
Here's the next installment!
Chapter 18: Commander's Orders
The coffee was too damn strong again. Quistis set the cup back on the dimly lit desk in her office with a measure of disgust. She had to stop asking Zell to pull these all nighters with her. The caffeine was starting to become a health hazard and would surely kill her…that is if Zell didn't manage to pull that one off first. Setting her pen down, she stretched lazily. Any normal person would have slinked their way out of the office after a good solid ten hours and headed home to be with their cats. But Quistis was a certified workaholic, and when she had a task to complete she did it, no questions asked. It's why, ultimately, she had been promoted to the rank of SeeD junior commanding officer, just below Squall. She was devoted as all hell. And she hated it.
The knock on the office door was soft, too subtle to be anyone but Squall. Taking off her glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose, she buzzed open the lock. Sure enough, the auburn haired commander of Balamb Garden entered, a drained look on his face to match her own. She looked at him with an amused little grin as he sank into one of the chairs next to her desk and let out a long sigh.
"You didn't sleep again?" The question was tinged with a slight edge of humor that would have usually irritated the hell out of him, but just this once he was too tired to let her get under his skin. Let her have her hits when she could find them, he figured with a shrug.
"Junior kept me up," he said with a yawn that rivaled her last one. Quistis couldn't help but smile. That little boy had done so much to lighten the tension between Squall and the rest of his circle of friends. Just when the emotional issues got to be too much in the middle of a SeeD meeting in would come Junior with his bright eyes and big smile. Quistis loved the kid, even if she still had issues with his father.
"No Selphie tonight? What, her and Xu go out shopping again?" Her grin twisted into a smirk. "Hope you cut the credit cards." But Squall seemed unamused and offered no answer to the question.
"What's with you tonight?" she said, wrinkling her nose at him. "You're even crabbier than usual." Squall leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees in a tired gesture. "The moron sent out another request to my office earlier tonight."
Quistis blinked. "Laguna?" She looked fairly uninterested. "So what? He sends out requests all the time. It's easy money." Squall shook his head, standing and taking a small handheld out of his jacket pocket. After punching in a few numbers, he handed it to her with a frown. "Not this time. I want you to see these numbers." Quistis, her curiosity perked, took the small panel and slid her glasses back on her face. What she saw when her vision came clear brought a frown to her face. "These," she said blankly, "are response readings." She looked up at Squall, who had lost the jacket and was now leaning against the wall, arms folded, looking like he could kill the next person to come along. "Squall, these kinds of readings are only-"
"Found when there's a concentrated amount of energy being used in a single spot," he said, cutting her off. "I'm glad you remember your text." There was a certain subtle sarcasm in his words, but Quistis was too confused to even care. Squall looked directly at her, his blue-gray eyes flashing dangerously in the darkness of the room. "The readings match directly with Sorceress powers." Quistis nearly dropped the panel in her hands.
"But…there's only two people who can do that anymore," she said.
The look on Squall's face could've frozen lava.
"Oh Hyne…" Quistis's glasses slipped ever so slightly down her nose as she put two and two together. "Than…"
"Rinoa," he said coolly, his voice dark. "I think she's having a hard time controlling her powers." Quistis pushed her glasses up carefully as she looked at Squall. "But what about Seifer?" He remained calm. "Seifer has no idea how to support someone with the emotional or physical demands of a sorceress." Quistis looked a little confused, her eyes begging for an answer that she knew only Squall could give her.
He sighed before continuing. "When a sorceress picks a knight," he said, his voice just a little shaky, "she can…link with him. In ways most people can't link. That's why a sorceress's knight is usually a lover." He seemed to spit the last words, almost as though they tasted bad. "It's like you're not just two people, but one. Joined."
Quistis took off her glasses. "So, it's an intimacy thing."
Squall nodded, his eyes steadily on the floor. "Yeah, something like that."
"So Seifer…then he's obviously having a problem?" Squall nodded. "I think that's an obvious assumption," he said evenly. Quistis kept her eyes on him. "So what do we do about it? Why is SeeD getting involved?"
"Well she's living somewhere in Esthar, which makes her an immediate threat if anyone finds out," he said, moving back to the chair next to the desk. As he came back into the light, Quistis could see the circles under his eyes beginning to form. He was tired…and stressed, but that wasn't really anything new. She frowned. "Why in hell would she go to Esthar? They'll skin her alive if the authorities find her!" Squall shrugged, staring off into some dark corner of the room. "Who knows. Maybe she thought it was a good tactical maneuver. Go where they'd least expect to find you." Quistis nodded. "Yeah," she remarked, "or she thought she'd have sanctuary with Laguna in office." Squall shook his head. "No. Laguna may be the president, but there's only so much weight he holds over the military factions. Why else would he constantly call on SeeD?"
The two went silent as Quistis soaked it all in. He was right…as usual. Which was extremely irritating to her in her current state of exhaustion. "So what are we supposed to do?" she asked, snapping ever so slightly. Squall kept his eyes on that same dark corner, his voice cool as the steel edge of his gunblade. "We find her."
"And?"
"And if she's a threat, we do whatever Laguna pays us to do."
Quistis stared at him in amazement. He still hadn't moved, nor had he shown any outward sign of any emotion whatsoever. Like a statue he sat there, his white shirt seemingly glowing in the darkness.
"You aren't seriously thinking of taking this proposition, are you?" Quistis's eyebrows were raised far above the rim of her glasses, but Squall's expression never changed.
"Laguna requested that I see to this assignment, seeing as…because…"
"Because you were her knight." The words made him flinch even as they flowed from her mouth. Squall shuddered for a moment and stood, looking even more agitated than when he entered. The simple motion of him tugging his jacket back on was somehow violent.
"I'm leaving. If you need anything, call Nida. He can tell you where-"
"Selphie doesn't know yet, does she?" asked Quistis, her voice tinged with urgency. Squall turned slowly on one heel to face her again, his eyes a light grey, cold and solid.
"Selphie is passed out on the couch right now and I'd like to keep it that way," he said evenly. Quistis actually found herself taking a small step backward under that gaze, but her resolve was stubborn as always. "She has just as much a right to know as I do. Rinoa was our friend."
The vein in his temple started to throb with pain as he held back the anger bubbling in his stomach. "She is NOT in active duty right now. When the client feels it's necessary, that's when the minor factions of SeeD will know."
Quistis's eyes narrowed as she faced him off. "Selphie's a high enough rank that she doesn't even need clearance to look at the files, active or inactive duty. Don't feed me bullshit Squall!" Squall's teeth grinded slightly as he leaned forward enough to attempt an intimidation tactic. "As your commander, I'll feed you whatever information I see fit." Squall turned to leave again, evoking a loud slam on the desk from Quistis.
"Dammit, Squall, Selphie was her best friend! You know that! She has a right to know!"
Squall turned so quickly and viciously one could have mistaken him for an animal. "and I have a right to decide what kind of danger to expose my family to dammit!" The silence that followed the shouting left an uncomfortable awkwardness between the two for a moment before Squall shoved off on the desk and stalked out of the room, his footfalls heavy and swift in the hall. Quistis could only sit there and watch him leave before her senses caught up with her enough to remember. The letters from Seifer that were continually pouring in, the empty threats, the phone calls… It WAS acceptable that perhaps, Selphie and Junior were in some sort of immediate danger. And Laguna, however distant he may be from his son, was not the kind of man to let his friends or loved ones get hurt.
He was going to send the only man that could possibly deal with the situation directly into the fire, and Squall probably wouldn't let anyone help him. And knowing Squall, he'd rather die than let something get to Selphie or Junior.
Stubborn ass…
Quistis sank back into her chair, taking off her glasses again and folding her arms thoughtfully. Selphie would be safe…she didn't really have much to fear from Rinoa unless the girl had gone daffy enough to want Squall and anyone from her past dead. But Rinoa…well, that seemed so hard to fathom. Impossible almost. Even if her powers were a little out of control when she left, it was very hard to imagine Seifer offering so little support that Rinoa started to go mad.
Then again, he'd failed once before. And to disastrous consequences.
She reached for the phone almost automatically, though it was such a strange gesture. Quistis calling for help…Zell would've laughed his ass off at that one. The phone rang four times before a sleepy voice answered.
"..hello?"
"Hello…Matron…"