Disclaimer: I own NOTHING … except for Melvin and Sarah (Whom I keep locked up in a cage).
~Chapter 18: Reality Unbound~
"Hey, listen, the payphones aren't working. Can I please use your phone?" Zell begged the receptionist at the Deling city hotel.
She shook her head in denial, "Sorry sir. Unless you are a client of this hotel, I can not allow you to make calls on this phone."
Zell let out a cry of frustration, "This is very important! Because of the storm outside, the payphones aren't working… And really, this is important!"
The receptionist gave him the same response, "I'm really sorry, sir."
The blonde martial-artist darted out of the hotel and into the wet streets. He pushed past people, not really knowing where to go. Then he saw an old woman, under an umbrella, hunched over a tiny apparatus… a cellular phone.
He ran towards her and said, "Hello, sorry, ma'am."
"What?" The old lady snapped at him, "I'm speaking to someone right now."
"Please, lady, I need to use that phone: it's really important."
"Well, it sucks to be you, young lad." The old lady snapped back at him and continued speaking into the cell phone.
Zell groaned in aggravation and tried again, "Ma'am, I really need that phone. It's very important and it'll only take a minute."
"Yeah, hold on a minute. There's this little whiny ass that won't leave me alone, hold on, Marge. I'll call you back." The lady spoke to the person on the other line, "Now what the hell do you want, stupid?"
"I just need to make one call… Just one." Zell pleaded, "It'll take… A minute."
The woman looked at him suspiciously then finally caved. She handed over the tiny communicating device to him and repeated, "Only one call, for a minute only."
Zell thanked the old woman and began dialing Seifer's cell number. It rang once, twice, three times… Zell prayed to Hyne he would answer. Finally the voice mail clicked on and Zell didn't bother to listen. He shut off the communication and began to dial another number when the old lady whacked him with her purse, "What do you think you're doing, you hooligan?" She screeched.
"It didn't pick up!" Zell said defensively, shielding her onslaught with his arm, "Please, one more call!"
The old lady stopped and snapped back, "It better be quick or I'll-"
"It will be!" Zell assured, he quickly dialed Seifer's office number.
His prayers were answered, a rough voice answered, "Seifer speaking."
"Yeah, I got bad news." Zell announced.
***
Seifer and Irvine were in Seifer's office, having a beer. Pondering about Zell's sudden call. He didn't have time to speak for long but when Seifer reassured him that he was in Galbadia Garden, Zell said he would be on his way.
"He never told you what the bad news was?" Irvine asked again.
Seifer shook his head and then responded with a verbal answer, "No."
After a few moments of thoughtful silence, Seifer's office door creaked open and Squall Leonheart came in. His hair was messy and wet and his eyes downcast. Seifer sighed knowingly. For the past months, every time Leonheart walked into his office, he was in this state.
"You looked like you just stepped on a land mine." Irvine remarked.
Seifer shrugged and informed Irvine, "You get used to it."
Squall stumbled a little and plopped down in a guest chair and sighed in his turn. He spoke no words for his companions could already make a pretty accurate guess.
"So, what's up?" Seifer asked and somehow, deep down he had a prophecy of the answer.
"Well we… Broke up. You know, we're sort of… Not seeing each other, ever again."
"What now?" Seifer's voice was unusually high pitched, "So you're letting her marry Monkey Boy?"
"Yeah, I guess I am." Squall said quietly.
"So you don't care if he gives her a few cracks on the head or beats her? You don't care if she gets raped or hurt? Do you even care if she's happy!?" Seifer screamed at his best friend.
"I do care!" Squall screamed back furiously, "Melvin won't hurt her! She'll be fine…"
Seifer scowled, "Oh so you're one of those guys who believe that saying something will make it happen? Reality check for Mr. Leonheart… Melvin will hurt whomever he likes."
Squall shook from anger; whom the anger was directed to no one really knew. He cursed loudly at Seifer and then sat back down on his chair, muttering, "I'll kill the asshole if he does anything to her… I'll break his goddamn neck…"
Zell ran into the room at Mach 3 and tripped on Seifer's rug in the process, falling flat on his face. The two other men (Squall was too busy cursing) looked at their friend in disbelief.
Zell got up as if nothing ever happened and announced, "Melvin's only getting married to Rinoa because this way they'll have more control on the General's decisions!"
Irvine stared and asked, "What now?"
"Melvin told me everything… He was bragging about it! His father wants to gain control of the Galbadian army. See look, if he's got Rinoa then he's got Caraway and if he's got Caraway… Then he's got an army!"
"Zell, if anything bad happens to Rinoa, General Caraway'll send in some troops and that's it." Seifer shrugged, "I think you've just been watching too many movies about world domination."
"No! I swear it! Think for a minute … they'll kill Rinoa before the troops get to her." Zell said impatiently, "Melvin even told me so!"
"He himself told you so?" Seifer repeated.
"Yeah, he was in Deling City… I saw him there today!"
"Today?" Squall's head snapped up from his cursing and threats to the invisible Melvin, "Seifer, that makes sense… I saw Melvin at Rinoa's house… Today."
"Aw fuck… You're kidding me right? I just thought that Melvin Tribal's father was trying to get Caraway to buy more shit with the ties he'd have with his daughter." Irvine scowled, "But now we're talking about freaking world domination?"
"No, just a manipulative puppeteer…" Zell informed, "He just wants the protection he needs… I mean, with Galbadia's army in his control, he'll be the universal seller of weapons and he'll have the protection Trabia needs."
"Oh shit… Rinoa!" Squall yelled out and bolted to the door but Seifer caught him by the collar.
"Don't do shit on impulse! First off, I find it kind of suspicious that just a couple of years after your father plans you a marriage, Caraway decides to marry off his only daughter, to which I might add, is doing excellent in her studies. Didn't he always say he wanted her to be an independent woman?"
"So what?" Squall released himself from Seifer's grip, "She's not a toy, ok? I'm going to get her!"
"Wait! There's something really suspicious going on here!" Seifer yelled, "Just sit your ass down… We've got stuff to figure out."
***
Seifer waited outside the Caraway mansion. Finally, Rinoa walked out and shut the door behind her.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"We got shit to figure out. Get in the car." He pointed to his vehicle, "Come on… It's really important."
Rinoa's eyebrow shot up in a questioning expression but agreed to it anyways. Seifer began to drive out of Deling city.
"So where are we going?" Rinoa asked uncertainly, she didn't know why she put so much trust in her friends like that. Had Seifer or any other of her comrades told her to jump off a bridge, she probably would have done so.
"To Sarah's private apartment."
"Come again? Sorry, I could have sworn I heard you say we were going to visit Sarah."
"We are… Well, you are." Seifer informed, "Wipe that stupid look off your face… You're going to see her."
"No way! That girl would pay someone to shoot me!" Rinoa exclaimed.
"I'll be in the car." Seifer reminded her, "Don't worry about it. I just want you to ask her a couple of questions. Like, if she was given a choice to deny or accept Squall, if her father proposed to Laguna or if Laguna proposed the idea to her? You got it? If she's ever met the Tribal family, that's an important one. Ok?"
"Ok, fine. But why ask her and why do I have to do it?" Rinoa frowned.
"Because she thinks your weak. She'd be scared of Quistis and she'd doubt Selphie's trust." Seifer explained, "She thinks you're scared of her. If you show up and ready to question her, it'll throw her off guard. Just please do it." Seifer explained.
In twenty minutes time they had arrived in Dollet. Seifer stopped in what looked like a wealthy neighborhood in front of a large apartment building. He looked at her.
"Just scream if she attacks you." He reassured her.
Rinoa rolled her eyes, "Right, sure… Her apartment number please?"
"She's on the tenth floor, apartment number 9. Take the elevator, when you get to floor number ten you turn right and look for number 9."
"Ok…" Rinoa got out of the car.
***
She nervously rang the doorbell, unsure of everything surrounding her. How would Sarah greet her? She just hoped it wouldn't be a slap in the face. The blond opened the door and gave Rinoa a disgusted look.
"What do you want?" She asked.
Rinoa tried to put on an apologetic face, "Can I come in, please?"
A smirk spread across Sarah's face, "Oh sure…" She opened the door wide and Rinoa stepped into the apartment.
Why the smirk? Rinoa soon found out… In the apartment were three of Sarah's closest friends. Beautiful, now she was about sure she wasn't going to be coming out of this building alive.
"Uh… hi." Rinoa said blankly, "Well, anyways, Sarah, we have to talk."
"Sure… I'm listening." Rinoa wished she could just wipe that evil smile off her pretty face.
"Ok, you prefer to do this in public? Well that's fine… So were you given the choice to accept your marriage to Squall or did you absolutely have to marry him?"
"Well, he proposed didn't he? So she had the choice to turn him down." One of her fiends piped up.
Rinoa was getting confused but she decided to stick to the version she'd heard from Squall, at least… For the time being, "Right, well was it your father who proposed your engagement to Squall or was it Squall's father?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Another of her friends asked. Rinoa bit the inside of her mouth to keep control. Couldn't they just butt out?
"Well, I don't know what you heard from Sarah here… But Squall never proposed to her. This was an arranged marriage." Rinoa was hoping she wasn't going to hit a wall with this because she didn't even know what was true anymore. She looked to Sarah and her expression said it all… She was right.
Sarah's friend's faces fell slightly. The got up from the couch, grabbed their purses and jackets and began to walk out the front door. "Sister, you need to get your facts straight… Your head as well …"
Rinoa triumphed. 'She thinks your weak… Throw her off guard.' Was what Seifer had told her… And now was that opportunity. "Oops, did I just make you lose your title of 'Woman Who Won Balamb Commander's Heart'? Oh… Sorry, girlfriend. Funny how some people can make a reputation on what comes out of their mouth."
"What the hell do you want?" Sarah screeched, "Squall is still mine and he always will be!"
"Ok, ok… Calm down. I just want to ask you a couple of questions." Rinoa said, still smiling… She had control, "So, did you have a choice to deny Squall's answer."
"No." She answered, "And if I did, why would I?"
"Yeah that's true…" Rinoa smirked, "He's very good looking… Not to mention a great kisser. Hey, has he done that tongue thing with you yet?" Bluffing was her friend in this battle.
"The what?" Sarah's vocal chords would have snapped if she had dared to go an octave higher.
"Well, guess not. Anyways, so did your father propose it to Laguna or did Laguna propose it to your father?" Rinoa asked casually.
"My father proposed it to Laguna, ok?" Sarah hissed, "Anything else?"
"One last thing, do you know the Tribal family?"
"Of course. My father works as president in Mr. Tribal's weapon industry."
"You mean… You're from Trabia?" Rinoa asked.
"Yes, is that a problem?" Sarah asked, not as if she really cared of Rinoa's opinion, "Why are you asking me all these questions? It's really none of your business."
"Oh you poor, poor, ignorant bitch." Rinoa held a tone of mock pity in her voice, "Well, I have to go. Bye." Rinoa left the building as she could.
***
"Seifer, what is going on?" Rinoa asked as soon as she got back into the car, "I've got all the info you wanted. Just tell me why this was so important."
So Seifer explained everything there was to explain. About Melvin, about his father… About their suspicions and his determination about what exactly was going on.
Rinoa was mesmerized, "Well how did they know Squall was in love with me?" Then suddenly it struck her… She already knew. At the New Year's party when she was fifteen.
"I was wondering if you could answer me that, Rinoa?" Seifer looked at her and realized she understood everything now. He started up his truck and began to drive her back home.
"If we can just prove to your father that this is all just a set-up… Then everything'll be fine."
"Seifer… What made Laguna accept the offer from Sarah's father?" Rinoa asked.
Seifer paused before answering, "The threat on his son's life…"
Sammy-Chan: Oh lord … I was planning this to be a 20-chapter fic but here I am SQUEEZING the storyline in. Ha ha…it'll still be 20 chapters don't worry. Anyways, please review and I sincerely hoped you like this boring chapter. Sorry, not much Squinoa but there will be in the next chapter and A LOT in the 20th… At least that's what I was hoping. So please review! Thanks!
Beta's Note: Oh the irony of it all. The song on the radio while I write this thing… Adonis- Take It Off. Now, will everyone agree with me that Squall is a brown-haired Adonis? I like this chapter… Everything makes more sense. *starts to sing the song 'I Can See Clearly Now' by Johnny Nash* BBYE!