Chapter 8
As always
"This is a major disaster!" Zell was the only one to speak; the news struck them all as sudden and unexpected. He spoke in his usual blunt way, Quistis considered the possibility of it being his trademark. Eloquence could not be attributed to Zell certainly.
"Major disaster isn't the word." Laguna spoke and Kiros didn't bother telling him 'major disaster' was two words, not one. "I mean, why did they get Ellone? She can't be what they're after!" He paced the office; Cid was once again in command of Garden and the group who had been involved in the defeat of Ultimecia were all assembled there.
There were the planners of the aforementioned mission and the SeeDs who had carried out the mission six months ago, with the obvious exceptions. Squall they now understood had been kidnapped along with Ellone, the reason for doing so was not entirely clear but they were closer now to understanding than they had been a week before.
And the outlook was not positive. Cid had called Laguna after Rinoa reported that Squall was missing. Cid had requested to call them into Garden to discuss what they knew. The Esthar president was involved in the matter now regardless of Cid's opinion that he should leave the matter to garden.
The problem, Rinoa decided was that they were experiencing the aftermath of the recently ended sorceress war. An era had ended with Adel's death, as had been the case eighteen years earlier there was a lot of debris to clear. Laguna and his friends had postponed her death and left the next generation to do the dirty work.
Another reason Rinoa could not look at Laguna now was that he seemed altogether more concerned about Ellone than Squall. Inwardly she cursed her young sorceress powers for giving her insight into peoples' emotions. It gave her an advantage in her relationship but made her biased regarding Laguna. Because she out all of Squall's friends and close 'family' knew how much the news of their relationship had hurt him. Not so much the news itself but the damage it had inflicted on his carefully organised life had caused him to come grinding to a halt.
She had tried to put in words the feeling. He had had a routine, she had known it well, he thrived on discipline and he had got up at a certain time each morning and went to bed at curfew and ate at regular times. Missions he was well prepared for and he did them as efficiently as possible, he had the ability to stop thinking about his personal life on these occasions.
When Ellone had introduced him to Laguna months ago he had considered such a person to be unreal. The reason he thought it was a dream, a strange one albeit but what else could it have possibly have been? When acquainted with the truth it was a little more weird, but they lived in a world of magic and added to that his ability to block out curiosity when he needed to everything was okay, he could deal with it.
Laguna had absolutely no right to interfere the way he had, he considered his own situation at risk if he told Squall but ultimately he had believed that Squall would benefit from the knowledge. He had been so wrong.
Rinoa remembered having to watch Squall stumble through the first few weeks with the information at the foremost of his thoughts. Until he developed a way of dealing with what he then knew it was useless to try to be normal, underneath the person Garden had trained Squall had gone through life after what probably would be his major mission knowing he had everything and there was something to his life other than just work. There would be something that would last after.
Now Ellone was gone, Laguna had nothing to take his mind off the situation. Seventeen years in Esthar without any family to look after, Rinoa had previously expected that he had had a part in Ellone's departure from the orphanage; he had certainly paid for the maintenance of the ship.
Rinoa looked at the wall, nobody was saying anything, and Cid and Edea were letting the silence continue for too long. They were all hoping someone else would say something.
We're all to busy trying not to think about what could happen, why aren't we doing something? Weeks frustration was coming to a boil, Rinoa let it consume her for a moment, hating Laguna for ruining her life indirectly. Squall was the only person she had now. Her father was miles away, she couldn't care less, and now Squall was gone.
Do I really need him that much? It was something Rinoa had never really considered, she had always felt that relying on one or a few people was a negative quality, one of Squall's traits. But she realised in a moment as teenagers often do that she was the same, she had changed so frequently, until now she had changed who she relied on. Her mother, her father for a short while and then Zone and Watts. The last two she had been dependant on in her brief period as the leader of the forest owls. She had then abruptly changed again, Squall being her boyfriend necessarily came first and so he still did.
But she had never been deserted, and although it was not his own fault he had been kidnapped a part of her still blamed him for it. He could have done more to defend himself. Even better he could have not left at all, or taken a weapon.
"Rinoa what do you think?" Quistis had spoken, she was watching Rinoa intently. They all were- as though seeking her permission for something. Rinoa was ashamed to think she had actually missed an entire conversation.
"Do I think what?" Rinoa could think of no valid excuse for missing so much conversation, but her mind still sought reasons to do so.
"About our plan?" Quistis was going to drag out her awkward situation a bit longer. Rinoa had tried but though they talked and seemed perfectly good friends Rinoa felt a quiet dislike toward Quistis. The feeling she knew was mutual.
"I don't know what you were talking about, sorry." Rinoa answered. She felt silly- and they were making her feel even worse. Their faces wore serious expressions but she could sense the mirth in all of them. She could imagine Irvine talking about it later- how much like Squall she had become. More than ever she disliked Quistis, in that moment she hated her. How dare she try to evoke laughter from everyone at her expense in the current situation? She was stressed out by this and all they seemed to do was single her out when she didn't want to.
Laguna seemed to recognise some of what she was feeling from her expression. He quickly explained.
"We thought we could find the base by monitoring areas of activity on isolated areas of the continent. These guys are old scientists and are gonna want a place where nobody's going to find them. We think they'll choose Centra." Rinoa sighed. He had simply quoted his friend in his first sentence and he seemed pretty proud of himself for saying the words properly. It was embarrassing to watch. No wonder Squall was upset about being related to him.
"Yeah but how long will that take?" Selphie asked Laguna, she was standing by Irvine or the other way around, it was hard to tell. "These scientists worked for Esthar once. Do you really think they're going to wait that long before they do anything like threatening SeeD?"
"Definitely." Laguna said, but his eyes revealed more concern. "They wanted to send Rinoa into space straight away when they took her to Esthar. They also wanted to take her back to Esthar instead of taking part in the final battle." Rinoa stood up frowning. She hadn't heard this bit of information and it made her uncomfortable to listen.
"I suppose I should be saying thank you." She muttered sarcastically under her breath. It was because of this man her boyfriend was messed up as he was, she owed him nothing- not even politeness.
It seemed as though he had heard her, he reddened and he grabbed his leg briefly before apologising and running out of the room. Kiros shot her a look before following at an equal speed.
The tension in the room was incredible now. Everyone wanted to look at Rinoa but weren't bold enough to do so. Rinoa looked to Cid and Edea to begin the conversation again. Edea took the hint and announced the first words of the speech she had mentally prepared while everyone else had been talking and thinking.
"We can't leave things how they are. This organisation believes it is acting on behalf of the world and will not willingly abandon their plan. They must have one otherwise this would be a complete waste of time. Now we have some coordinates we can start examining to rule out all the possible places they can hide on Centra.
You shall have to be extremely careful because they have a motive and are likely to be very driven by it. Another thing, don't underestimate them. They appear by all accounts to be a amateur, unorganised group but they've achieved so much already which singles them out. Any questions?"
"Yeah," Zell said, raising his hand in the air. "Who's the leader?" Edea hesitated.
"Selphie shall be."
"WHAT!!!" Zell shouted. A few smirks appeared on the faces of the three men standing at the back of the room. Selphie looked as surprised as Zell.
"But Matron…" She started to say but Edea cut her off.
"We all need to start somewhere, you haven't had a chance yet so now is your turn at leadership." To say they were surprised was an understatement; everyone in the room had expected Quistis to be the leader for the mission. She was the obvious choice, graduating at an early age, becoming an instructor, and having had experience on certain missions as leader. By all rights she should have been squad leader.
She looked relieved though. The responsibility lifted from her shoulders, which had been generated by the reasons for dismissal as an instructor. No leadership qualities they had told her. She would not be forced to being the leader when she didn't want to be.
"When do we start?" She asked Edea.
"Tomorrow."
"Shouldn't we get ready then?" Rinoa spoke up.
"You aren't going." Edea had spoken. Rinoa looked outraged.
"Why?!" She demanded with a degree of rudeness that Quistis winced at.
"Because you aren't a SeeD. That's why."
"I went on other missions with them! I have powerful magic- you might need me on this mission- that's why!2 She turned around to face each of the SeeDs in turn. Selphie suddenly was very interested in the pattern of tiles on the floor.
"If you go, you obey Selphie's orders and don't go running off to help them yourself. Is that clear?" Rinoa opened her mouth in surprise but closed it again quickly.
"Yes."
As the SeeDs and the sorceress left the room Laguna wondered just how difficult the mission would be. Edea had successfully manipulated Rinoa into obeying orders and the young sorceress had yet to realise it. What would her reaction be then?
When Squall and Ellone were back he would make more effort to get to know Squall, at least that's what he was trying to force himself to believe. When it was all over he could sort out the mess that was his life and let the ghosts rest.
At least he hoped he could anyway.
I am so sorry about the update but not having many reviews made me think I didn't have to work so hard. I would love at least one review though so if you have the time could you?
Thanks to all my reviewers so far.