Tracking a Killer

Ch. 4

Selphie sat at the pilot's seat in the Ragnorak with her composure completely steady. Only Dante knew of her fit of crying, and he wasn't even in the cockpit. He decided to get a quick nap in the passenger cabin. Selphie started the engines and the Ragnorak began humming to life.

"What in the hell are you doing Tilmitt?" Seifer shouted at her even though he was only a few steps away. "I didn't tell you to start up the ship."

"I'm heading to Galbadia to pick up Rinoa." Selphie said in her defense.

"Rinoa was not hired to do anything. This is our job, not hers. You don't go anywhere unless I tell you!"

"What the hell is your problem Seifer?" Zell yelled at the commander.

Quistis left the cockpit due to the fact that she was sick of the two constantly fighting. They had fought with each other ever since they had walked into his office.

"Damn it Tilmitt! Land this craft!" Seifer shouted in fury, ignoring Zell.

They had been 100 feet above the ground hovering, and Selphie stopped all ignitions and let the Ragnorak free fall back to the ground, making Seifer and Zell fall. Selphie got up and walked out with tears flowing down her cheeks again.

Seifer stared and watched Selphie leave the cockpit. When he looked back, all he saw was Zell's fist connecting with his face, and he collapsed to the ground, watching Zell follow Selphie out.

"Son of a bitch," Seifer muttered to himself.

~ Passenger Cabin ~

It annoyed Dante at how people flooded into the place he was using to nap, or try to take one. First down came Quistis. This didn't bother him cause she sat down on the other side of the cabin and appeared to be attempting to get some sleep herself. Then came Selphie and Zell. Selphie was crying again, and this somehow made him feel low. Selphie sat directly next to him and quietly whimpered to herself. Zell decided to make pathetic attempts to comfort her, and it seemed to only make her cry worse. Quistis followed Zell over.

Seifer now came into the room incredibly furious. He stood at the doorway and began shouting at the group again, and most of it seemed to be targeted at Selphie. Dante sighed and pulled out a pistol, careful to keep it out of sight. He held it down by his waist as he fired a round between a couple of chairs and then it screamed at Seifer, cutting a lock of his hair off before hitting the wall behind him.

Seifer looked at Dante in fury and possibly a little fright. "You're that close from being relieved from your duties commander." Dante said and then closed his eyes and tried to sleep a little, which was of course impossibly next to the sobbing of Selphie.

Seifer glared at Dante as he slowly turned around and went out of the room. "Thank you," Selphie whispered to Dante. Dante was shocked when he realized that she had grabbed his hand and held it firmly. Selphie then rested her head on his shoulder.

Dante shook her off and got up. "I remind you of him, don't I?" Dante said as he walked out of the cabin leaving Selphie staring back at him confused.

~ Deling City Tavern ~

Rinoa stared into her glass of wine at the bar counter. She hadn't taken a single drink in the past 2 hours. The SeeDs had left without her, she figured it to be to save time and pick up the others.

This was really the last thing on her mind. Everything in her life was collapsing. Her father's main servant gave her a letter of an eviction notice of her house in Timber. The contract was under Squall's name, and the landlord wanted her out so he could move his nephew into the house. She couldn't press charges because if she did continue paying the rent, it would be illegally subletting the house.

After she left the mansion, General Caraway told his guards not to let Rinoa back onto the premises without his approval. She had little money and it would take her a long time to get back to Timber to resume her job. She had missed the past two days without calling in and figured she had been fired anyway.

Worst of all, in the past 2 years, whenever she was down like this, she had Squall to be there for her. Rinoa drank down the last of her wine and told the bartender to refill and leave the bottle. This consumed the last of her money. Rinoa sat there for the next hour thinking and consuming the entire bottle of wine. She passed out on the counter.

"Son of a bitch," the bartender groaned as he saw her passed out. "Lewis, help me get this drunk out of here."

"Don't throw her out in the street," a handsome man in a business suit said as he walked across the room. "Does she really look like she belongs in the street? I'll take her upstairs and get her a room for the night."

"Whatever you say Mr. Wilkinson." Lewis said as placed her arm of his shoulder and carried him upstairs.

~ Ragnorak: outside of Trabia ~

"Seifer, where are we going to go?" Selphie said back in the pilot's seat.

"Go to the D-district Prison. There are a few prisoners there that might be able to give us a lead to the assassin, or maybe why the assassin went after Squall."

"They won't let us in." Zell said bluntly.

"Sure they will. Those guards might still be afraid of me, so they will listen to me." Seifer stated.

"Or, they might be afraid of you and blow your damn head off." Zell snickered when he said this.

"Shut up, both of you." Quistis commanded. "Let's go. Wait, where is Dante?"

"Let's go." Seifer muttered to Selphie. "I don't care where Dante is."

Selphie reluctantly launched the Ragnorak towards the Galbadian Desert.

~ D-District Prison ~

Seifer led the group to the hidden entrance to the underground prison. Seifer confronted the solitary guard in his booth. "I'd like to speak with the warden," Seifer said casually.

"Sorry, this entrance is for people with clearance. Besides, the door only opens on the inside."

"Listen, I know this is the only entrance that is above ground. I know you can use an intercom to get the clearance." Seifer said keeping himself calm.

"That's not how it works anymore. The door is only capable of being opened from the inside, and only when a scheduled appointment with a cleared guest is going to occure."

Seifer couldn't keep his calm any longer. "I'll show you my goddamn clearance!" He yelled as he drew his gunblade and cut into the thin aluminum surrounding the booth. "Let us in."

The guard hit an alarm and engaged his pistol at Seifer. Seifer took a hit in the shoulder, and fell to the ground.

"We're going!" Quistis yelled to the guard.

"You've got 30 seconds!" The guard yelled and began counting down.

The group left ran off, nobody helped Seifer up so he was behind, and they all ran back to the Ragnorak's cargo hold.

"I take it that it didn't go well." Dante said, sitting in the car that the Ragnorak always carried.

"You skip out on us again and you are off this mission," Seifer said as he walked away holding his wound. "We're going to Deling. There's a couple of people I need to talk to. We are not going there to retrieve Ms. Heartily."