Sammy-Chan: Ok, ok, another update, I'm pretty good with updates lately so screw all those who think other wise. That's right … I'm telling you all to-*gets hit in the head with a lamp* Now where the hell did this come from. *A boot whizzes past her ear nearly hitting her* HEY! I'm the author, now unless you want updates I suggest stopping!! … That's better. This is in Selphie's point of view. *Ducks her way out of the trail of a flying boulder* Holy shit, I'm sorry!
~Chapter 18: Double Murder to the Turth~
Squall was getting on my nerves. Squall was really, really, really getting on my nerves. How to break into the guy's office? What the hell did it matter? This seemed to be a big issue in his mind.
"We should knock … then enter and surprise him." He stated.
Rinoa scowled, "Knock? Who do you think you are? Mary Poppins? You aren't here to raise his kids or talk about nice business-like things, you're here to raid his office!"
Go Rinoa, go, go! I can't believe she slept with that guy. Well, actually now that I think of it … anyways. It's not that really hate Leonheart it's just that his manners get on my nerves. Or maybe I'm being a motherly figure and protecting my best friend from falling into the hands of a pimp. I plead the latter option.
"Guys, did it ever come to you that we should go in before something doesn't go in our favor. As soon as the guards discover that the security system is down they'll be looking for the likely culprits." My boyfriend pointed out soothingly.
Squall agitated his hands frantically as if to say "Fine, no knocking!" and with that he barged into the office. The next few moments were some of the most frightening moments of my entire life. Squall just walked right in and tripped over something. Rather, someone. That someone also had the courtesy of being dead. I nearly screeched out my horror. Rather, I would have if Rinoa hadn't cupped her hand on my mouth.
Zell pulled me into the room and Rinoa followed behind. She shut the door quietly and locked it. Squall rose up to a standing position rubbing his head dizzily.
"Who the fuck leaves a dead body lying in front of a doorway?" He asked angrily as though the fact that there was a corpse lying in front of him didn't affect his humor.
"Oh my god!" I semi-squealed.
"No one would leave a body in the doorway." Rinoa acknowledged. Her eyes darted about the room nervously. As though her sixth sense was tingling she added in an under-tone, "I think the person who did this was disturbed …"
"Yah … mentally …" Squall declared as though a psychologist.
"No you retard, that's deranged … I'm talking about the fact that he didn't get to finish his job …" Rinoa rolled her eyes.
"Right, well my first words were 'cookie' and 'toy'. I wasn't handed a copy of 'How to Speak Like a Noble' when I was 10 months old …" He sneered.
"Guys …" I said still trying to recover from the shock that I was in front of a dead corpse. "I think that maybe …" I paced around the room and leaned on a rosewood desk. "… We might be suspected …"
"Fiddlesticks …" Said Squall in a snobbish voice mocking Rinoa, "It was obviously done by those filthy, no good, classless bastards … the peasants if I may use the term."
Rinoa blew her stack, "Fuck off you cock-sucking asshole!"
Zell was bending over, examining the body. Everyone was too preoccupied with his or her own business and I think that's why he chose this specific moment. Something cold and metallic was pressed against the back of my head. My blood turned to ice and I stopped breathing. The gun wasn't shaking and I was positive the holder wouldn't have thought twice about pulling the trigger.
I meekly spoke up above the noise level of my comrades, "Guys …"
They all turned. Rinoa turned and she opened her mouth to scream but the man silenced her.
"I wouldn't do that commander." His cold, high-pitched voice warned. The hair on my arms stood on end. It was then that I realized that these could be the last moments of my life. I shut my eyes tight.
"Let her go …" I recognized Squall's voice as almost pleading. That was a shock.
"I don't think so Squall." He said.
"Hiro, please, just, don't hurt her …I beg you, please." Rinoa's voice was uneven and quite shrill.
I used the ounce of courage left in me to turn around and face him. His face was contorted into a wicked smile.
"Never thought of the grand day when I'd see a Galbadian at my feet." His eyes glinted and he pushed me out of the way. I hit the wall and was dazed by the sudden impact. He turned to Rinoa.
"Not only is a Galbadian at my feet … but so is her commander. And her little boyfriend … and dare I say it, even the commander's boyfriend is at my feet. This is a grand day indeed."
"You bastard …" Squall winced at his only option of surrender. Zell slowly walked over to me and looked me over to see if I was ok.
"You know …" He directed his attention to Rinoa, "I never liked your father. I never liked your mother. Your sister is of the worst kind and as for you … you're too weak. The whole Caraway Heartilly family disgusts me." He smiled a creepy smile that sent chills running down my spine.
"How long I've waited … just to be able to do this." He aimed at my best friend and pulled the trigger.
The rest of the scene is quite a blur. I screamed the loudest that my lungs would allow and I saw Zell rushing to tackle the man. A 'Firaga' spell came from the ventilation duct and Squall … well. I've never seen him in such a state. His eyes were glowing icy blue as if he was about to take action on the man. Instead he rushed to Rinoa.
Hikari came swinging out of the duct and kicked Hiro in the back of the head. The gun was knocked out of his grasp by Zell's tackle. It looked like he was knocked out pretty badly.
After delivering her blow, Hikari immediately rushed to her sister. "Rinoa!" She screamed.
I managed to rise from my trance like state and walk over to Rinoa. Her eyes were closed and I sincerely thought she was dead. But she was breathing heavily and I could see a bullet hole on her left arm. She was sweating and you could tell she was holding back tears.
Zell came to join our crowd. "Rinoa are you alright?" He wheezed.
I'd never seen Squall so … gentle. He put his hands on the side of Rinoa's face and asked her, "Please, answer me. Are you ok?" He looked like he was about to die himself.
"What does it look like Squall?" Her shaky response came. Her eyes were still closed.
He went to touch her arm, "No don't! Pain …" She whispered.
"Ok …" He said. It was almost as if nobody existed except them. "Rinoa …" Hikari's weak voice came out. She was about to cry again.
"What are you doing here?" Rinoa asked bewildered, her eyes still shut tightly.
Hikari never got to answer her sister. Someone swooped her up and she let out a small squeal.
"You shitlickers have pushed me to my limit!' Hiro's hiss made Rinoa's face contort and she opened her eyes despite of the pain.
Hiro held the gun to Hikari's head as she tried furiously to get away.
That was the last straw. It was then that I realized how much Rinoa meant to Squall. How seriously he took his knight duty.
"You lousy son of a bitch!" He articulated each word and as he did he whipped out his gunblade. Before anyone had even blinked he charged at Hiro with lion speed thrusting the blade into Hiro's abdomen and slicing it upwards in his thorax before retrieving it from the corpse. Hikari fell to the floor atop of Hiro. Zell scooped her up quickly to avoid the dirty bastard's blood to infiltrate her clothes.
I gasped and closed my eyes. Two dead corpses. In the same room. One tremendously bloody and one not so bloody. Zell worked in a hospital so dead bodies didn't affect him. Squall killed people for a living so no biggy there. Rinoa and Hikari saw many executions for mercenaries since her family was always invited to their trials. I think I was the only one who hadn't seen a dead body before. I nearly fainted. I would have fainted if Rinoa hadn't been shot. Immediately all thoughts rushed back to her.
"I'm ok …" She said, her voice a little stronger. She got up and leaned on the wall. "It's just that it hurts …" She winced in pain.
"I'll take care of it." Zell said, "Besides, I'm the one with the best medical knowledge." He put down Hikari and examined Rinoa's left arm. When he went to reach for it she withdrew to a corner of the wall, "I don't want anyone touching it." She said defiantly.
"You'd rather go through life with one missing arm?" Zell asked.
She paused and then responded, "Yes …"
Zell raised his eyebrows, "Just let me see your arm." Without waiting for her reply he gingerly raised her drooping arm as she cursed out her pain.
"… Bullet's still there … we better hurry up here and go, I have the tools necessary back at the hotel." He said.
"First we have to find the passageway to the hidden area …" Squall said nervously.
"No." I said, "I'm giving orders now. Hikari, climb back though that vent and tell us if there are any secluded areas near this office. Just come back here in 5 minutes if you can't find any." I gave her my watch. "We're going to sit Rinoa in the chair and raid this guy's office. Why would Hiro try to kill him? Then we try to the best of our ability to … clean up this mess so that none of it points back to us. Now everyone go …"
Surprisingly everyone listened. Hikari climbed onto the desk and back into the duct. This gave me renewed self-confidence. I tried to ignore the two corpses while I forced opened file cabinets. I flipped through the files quickly. Economical state, Space Program, Identification files … identification files. Something struck me. Identification files.
"Guys …" I said pulling out the thin folder. "Look …" I opened it. It only contained one piece of paper. It was torn off a piece of loose leaf and had a few digits written on it.
"18-36-17-0-22-32-4-19-37." I read aloud.
Rinoa's eye shot open wide, "Give me that …" She said sharply. I obeyed.
"It's a computer program number. It must give you access to everyone's identification file. No one has access to it except my father, Loire and Almasy. Why would Alex Desmond, secretary to the head of Trabia's Weapon Department have it?" She said bemused.
"What type of files?" Asked Squall.
"All about a desired person. Blood type, birth date, family-" She was interrupted by us three.
"Family?" We said in unison.
"Yah …" Rinoa looked at me as if understanding. It was obvious that we wanted to know who our parents were. It's any orphan's goal.
"Could you go into that program without being traced?" Zell looked at her earnestly.
"Sure …" She said smiling despite the pain.
Hikari came down the vent once more and without a word to anyone, began observing the bookshelf on the eastern wall. She threw down a couple of thick encyclopedias and reached behind their original spot unleashing some sort of switch.
"Just like in the movies." She said triumphantly as the bookshelf slid off its original spot on the wall.
"Good job …" Zell commented.
Squall just smiled and rushed inside the closet-like room. Three filing cabinets lined the wall. He opened the first drawer. Nothing. The second drawer, nothing. He continued to open and close drawers until he had come to the second cabinet. In the last drawer something must have grabbed his attention.
He literally took out the whole drawer and said, "We're ready to go, this is all the information we'll need."
He entered again the office and dropped the drawer on the desk. "Hikari, close back the area and put the books back in place. We can't do anything about Hiro but we can make it seem like a homicidal then suicide."
Watching Squall work was a unsettling scenery. He took off a decoration blade off the wall and tinted it with Hiro's blood. "Rinoa, could you get out of the chair?"
Hikari, who had completed her task went over to her sister and said, "I really need to talk …"
"Now?" Came Rinoa's response. Hikari shook her head and looked at Desmond's body. Her eyes welled up with tears. Squall grabbed Desmond's corpse and set it in the chair. Taking Hiro's gun he wiped it of any fingerprints with tissue paper and carried it (still wrapped in tissue paper) to Desmond's body whom was still settled in the chair (A/N: No duh … I don't think it would be possible if the corpse just started running away). He carefully remarked that Desmond had been shot in his right temple. So he put the gun in Desmond's right hand so his fingerprints would be found and then he put the gun on the floor on the corpses right side.
"You do have an ounce of genius in you …" I remarked.
"Don't I …" He said seriously. "Now let's scamper."
The way out went smoothly. We avoided each guard magnificently and we were able to get to the van without any commotion. We drove out of there like it was Hell. We finally arrived at the hotel where Rinoa was cared for.
Zell bandaged her arm. "It should be fine." Rinoa winced. You could tell it didn't feel like it.
I brought over to her the laptop and the small piece of paper. She immediately set to work. That's what had always amazed me about Rinoa. She never really completely surrendered to pain. It was almost as if she was nearly immune to it. Zell sat beside her and Squall sat on her other side. Hikari sat half on Squall's lap and half on Rinoa's lap. I sat on Zell's lap as we anticipated the results. I finally was going to know where I belonged.
Rinoa typed in the number and opened up the program. Not just one program but many. I don't think anyone could figure out what the hell she was doing. Connecting to things, then transitions of files, numbers, SO many numbers and codes my head nearly started aching!
Finally she came to a screen. Names were identified. There were over a million results.
"Is that everyone in the entire world?" Hikari voiced the thoughts of us all.
"Shit … no." Rinoa scowled. "Only nobles … that's all there is. Unless any of you are blood related to a noble you won't be in here."
I felt a pang of annoyance. Only nobles, it was always only nobles. 'Peseants' as Squall had so mockingly used the term before, weren't important. They didn't need to be informed about. I didn't have time to voice my repulsive thoughts on society. Rinoa opened another program. It seemed that it was used to scan the results. She typed in my name 'Selphie'.
"Tilmitt, Rinoa, Tilmitt." I corrected, there might be a hundred Selphie's within the results.
"Who knows if that is your real last name …" Rinoa pointed out.
Only one result came. I held my breath. If this was really me, this 'Selphie Leonheart Loire'. Wait a minute … Leonheart? I looked at Squall. There was an uneasy silence.
"Well, if this is you Selph you might be related to Squall …" Said Rinoa slightly amused, "Then again … Squall might not be a Leonheart."
"Just click the link …" I said impatiently.
"You sure?" She asked uncertainly.
"Rinoa!" I knew she was doing this purposely. To play with my nerves.
She clicked it. Name: Selphie Leoheart Loire, Blood Type: AB, Birth Date: July 16th
That was all the information that was needed. Time stopped for me. For 18 whole years of my life I was someone that I wasn't. For 18 years it had been "Hey, I'm Selphie Tilmitt." And for those ten short seconds I realized that I would never be Selphie Tilmitt again. July 16th was my birth date. I was of AB blood type.
"Scroll down …" I whispered.
She did, and there I saw the category 'Family'. Laguna Loire: Father, Raine Leonheart: Mother, Squall Leonheart: Brother.
Even Rinoa held her breath. Squall's jaw dropped. He wasn't the only one in shock.
"Omigosh …" Hikari gasped.
"I would have never thought …" Rinoa and Zell said in unison.
"I'm related to …" I didn't finish my sentence, I just looked right at Squall. The first few 30 seconds passed in silence. Then I realized that I knew it all along. Squall had always been this little pain I couldn't seem to get rid of and it seemed that he thought the same about me. As much as we've insulted each other, fought with each other … deep down I really do care about Squall and I know he cares about me. It was that type of hidden brother-sister love. I knew that if Squall died tomorrow that I would cry. I would miss him.
It can't really be explained. This guy that you've known for all your life and then poof, he's your brother.
I just smiled and closed my eyes. "Let's try Zell now …"
"Ok …" Rinoa was still under some shock. She paused and then said, "Wow you guys are related to Laguna … that means you're … nearly on the council."
"And that means …" Squall said anxiously, "That I owe Sefeir NOTHING. Not even the slight bit of respect of the GREATNESS of truth!" He stretched his arms in relief.
The joke seemed to relieve the tension in the air as we all enjoyed a slight laugh. Rinoa typed in 'Zell'. Same thing, only one result showed up. That was normal, Zell was a pretty uncommon name. One might even consider it 'rare' but it was the last name that made us gasp.
"Zell Desmond Heartilly Caraway." Rinoa read aloud not believing anything she was reading.
"So basically … whether it's Zell or not, someone is definitely related to you." Squall commented numbly.
Zell held his breath. I held mine and Rinoa clicked the link. Name: Zell Desmond Heartilly Caraway, Blood Type: O, Birth Date: March 17th.
Zell coughed, "I mean, come on, I don't look anything like you Rinoa … scroll down."
She did. James Caraway: Father, Julia Desmond Heartilly: Mother, Rinoa and Hikari Heartilly Caraway: Sisters.
Then no one dared to breath.
Sammy-Chan: Eheheh … cliff hanger!!! CLIFF HANGER!! AAAHAHAHAHA!!! *goes on insane rampage* CLIIIIIIIFFFF HANGER!!! *breaths deeply* I'm ok. This is my best chapter so far. I hope you like it. PLEASE review, I beg of you. Thank you all so much! You're reviews is what motivates me to continue writing! I write what people enjoy reading. Thank you, honestly, everyone. I would like to thank especially my two great friends Erica and Heida for supporting me with their insane reviews! I hope you liked it.