Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds
Chapter 9 - Jokes, Near Death Experiences And Everything In Between
By: Fat Zombie
Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens,
A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins,
I will never ask if you don't ever tell me,
I know you well enough to know...
Why can't I feel anything,
From anyone other than you?
Taken from Taking Back Sunday - Cut From The Team
"This is it" said Zell quickly.
"What?" Irvine asked. He was obviously confused as to where he was meant to be going and was trying to concentrate on driving as well. "Where am I goin' Zell?"
"Right there". Zell pointed in the direction of the restaurant. "There. Right there".
"Where?" Irvine asked again. Zell opened his mouth to say something but Irvine spoke before he could. "Oh, I see. Right there". He pointed to the restaurant.
"Yes" Zell confirmed, sounding a little exhausted.
"Looks like a nice place" Irvine commented.
The car pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and quickly swerved into a space, jolting to a rather harsh stop. Zell, Irvine, Selphie and Nevaeh all got out, randomly stretching journey-sick limbs. Irvine wondered off for a walk, trying to get his muscles back to full working order.
"Thank god that's over" Selphie said.
"Agreed" Nevaeh stated, stretching her arms above her head.
"It'll be worth it" said Zell. "I promise. This place-"
"Hey guys" Irvine interrupted Zell. "Come and take a look at this".
Selphie, Nevaeh and Zell walked over to Irvine. He was stood next to a car. He was looking at it in detail, peering in through the windows.
"What is it?" asked Zell. "Someone's gonna think you're trying to steal that".
"Fat chance" said Irvine.
"Why's that?" asked Zell.
"'Cos its got Balamb Garden plates bolted to it" Irvine answered.
"So someone else from Garden is here" stated Selphie. "So what?"
"Well here's the thing" said Irvine. He bent down to look into one of the car's windows. The rest of the group followed suit. "Isn't that Seifer's gunblade?"
"Hey. It is" Zell confirmed. "You can see the markings at the top".
"Guys" Selphie said.
"What?" Both Zell and Irvine asked in unison.
"That's Quistis' Red Scorpion on the back seat" Selphie pointed out. Both men looked in.
"Holy shit" Irvine blurted.
"Seifer and Quistis are here together?" Zell said. It sounded like a question but he already knew the answer.
"Son of a gun" said Irvine.
"Let's go" Nevaeh suddenly said. She headed off towards the restaurant.
The group followed on. Zell ran to catch up to Nevaeh. "What are you gonna do?" he asked.
"See if they're in there" Nevaeh answered simply.
The four SeeDs made their way to the side of the restaurant. They bent down below the window to make sure they wouldn't be seen. Eventually, the four reached the wall of the building and poked their heads up high enough to see in. They all scanned the restaurant for any sight of their two friends.
"I don't see them" Selphie stated.
"Me neither" Nevaeh agreed.
"I do" said Irvine.
"Where?" asked Zell.
"Look to the back left corner of the room. Its a small table" Irvine explained.
"Hey, yeah. I see them" Selphie agreed.
"Uh-huh" Nevaeh seconded.
"They look kind of tense" said Zell.
Irvine spotted Seifer getting up and walking off somewhere. "I know what'll make 'em more tense" he said, standing up and walking towards the entrance to the restaurant.
"Hey" said Selphie. She and the rest of the group followed. While Nevaeh looked confused, Selphie looked slightly worried and Zell and Irvine both wore evilly mischievous grins. The group approached the reception desk. An old man dressed in a tuxedo stood behind it.
"Good evening" the old man said courteously. "Do you have reservations?"
"Uh, yeah" said Zell while stepping forward. "A table for four. The name is Dincht".
The old man looked through a book on the desk. "Yes, I see" he confirmed. "Would you like me to show you to your table?"
"We have some business to attend to first" said Irvine, leaning forward. "Could you tell us which it is?"
"Of course sir" said the old man. "Its the table over by the window right there" he continued, pointing to the table. "I'll send a waiter over as soon as you are all in your seats".
"Thank you very much" Irvine said with subtle smile. He walked off through the restaurant with his three friends following. All tried to be as inconspicuous as possible and Irvine spoke out of the side of his mouth. "Selphie and Nevaeh, you go and talk to Quisty".
Nevaeh nodded but Selphie spoke up. "Where are you two going?"
Zell turned as the group split in different directions. "To find Seifer" he answered with that same mischievous grin.
* * * *
Seifer looked to the man at the bar. "Yes sir" the barman asked.
"Gin and Tonic and a large Whiskey" Seifer stated.
As much as it wasn't phrased as a request, the barman understood nonetheless. "Coming right up sir" he said and turned away to fix the drinks.
Seifer leant forward against the bar and stared down at its polished top. Quite how he'd gotten himself into this one he'd never work out. Obviously Rinoa was the reason he and Quistis where in this restaurant, but quite why she felt the need to stick her nose in was beyond him. Out of it all, two things were certain. One was that if Rinoa knew something or thought she did, everyone else would soon think the same. The second, and more important in Seifer's opinion was that Quistis might think the same. Seifer still couldn't work out whether that was a good thing or not, but for the moment he decided to waive optimism and just assume that it wasn't.
"Well, well, well" a familiar Galbadian accent rang out in Seifer's ears, jogging him away from his thoughts. "What have here?". It was the cowboy! What the hell was he doing here?
"Doesn't seem like somewhere you'd usually hang out" another familiar voice said. The blonde doofus was here too.
Determined to give the two the reaction they didn't want, Seifer turned around with a smirk on his face, his left eyebrow slightly peaked. "The same could be said for you Dincht" Seifer said. He looked at his two fellow SeeDs stood before him. "Aren't we looking smart tonight?" he observed. "Well, as smart as I've seen at least". It wasn't that either Zell or Irvine looked particularly formal. They'd just notably made an effort to tidy themselves up for the occasion.
"Aren't we looking slightly underdressed?" Irvine retorted.
"Yeah" Zell agreed. "Didn't you know what type of restaurant this was before you brought Quisty here?". Zell wore a smug grin.
"No, in fact" Seifer answered. His bluntness wiped the grin from Zell's face, much to Seifer's enjoyment.
"In any case" Irvine interjected. "How'd you get Quistis here anyway? Drug her?"
"Kidnapping instructors is frowned upon at Balamb Garden" Zell added.
"Then Rinoa is in big trouble" Seifer explained.
"Huh?" Zell grunted.
"She gave us an 'urgent mission' in this town" Seifer began to explain. "We didn't open the orders until we got here 'cos we were in such a rush" he continued. "When we read them, we found out she'd set us both up on some 'date' here". He looked around quickly to see where the barman was. Two drinks seemed to be taking an extraordinarily large amount of time to prepare. "Wasn't my idea" he added.
"No way" Zell muttered.
"Yep" Seifer said, raising his eyebrows briefly.
"She really went to all that trouble?" Irvine asked. "Rinoa, I mean".
"Yeah" Seifer answered. "Orders are out in the car if you want proof".
The three fell silent. Neither Zell nor Irvine had expected this to be the case. They had been ready to really give Seifer hell over the situation and now they were the ones left speechless. Eventually they all turned to face the bar at the sound of the barman clearing his throat. "Your drinks sir" he said, sliding to glasses in front of Seifer.
"Thanks" Seifer said, picking up the glasses. He turned to face Irvine and Zell. "Shall we?" he asked. All three headed for Seifer and Quistis' table.
* * * *
"She did that?" asked Nevaeh, a tone of disbelief in her voice.
"Yes" Quistis confirmed.
"If you knew Rinoa better Nevaeh, this wouldn't be so much of a shock to you" Selphie explained. The news didn't appear to shock her.
"You seem very unsurprised" Quistis' commented on Selphie's reaction. "You're not in on this are you?"
"God no" Selphie answered quickly. "She's acting completely on her own on this one" she explained. "Unless Squall's in on it, and somehow I can't see that being the case".
"Me neither" Quistis agreed.
Suddenly from across the restaurant, a loud voice called out. "Ladies, ladies, ladies" it said. It was Irvine, walking towards the three girls with Seifer and Zell. "Look who we found" he added, pointing to Seifer.
"He was on his way outta here when we caught him" Zell joked. Seifer merely held up the drinks, signifying he'd been at the bar. Quistis nodded an acknowledgement.
"Six people and two seats guys" Irvine observed. "I think this a little outta proportion".
Irvine jumped and turned around quickly as a voice began to speak behind him. "I believe I can help there sir" it said. It was the old man from the reception desk.
"Jesus" Irvine shrieked in a higher-than-usual pitch. The old man choked down a laugh. "That was really somethin'" Irvine commented.
"Would you like a table that would accommodate your whole group sir?" the old man asked.
"Is one available?" Zell asked.
"Yes sir" the old man answered.
"That would be great" Zell confirmed. "Uh, if its not too much trouble" he quickly added.
"Not at all sir" the old man smiled. "Right this way".
The old man led them to a large table at the back of the restaurant near a window. From their seats they would be able to view the village of Pelin below, lit up for the night. They could see that directly behind the restaurant there was a concrete walkway about five feet wide then a steep hill that led all the way down to the village. They all sat and the old man took Irvine, Selphie, Zell and Nevaeh's drink orders then left, mentioning that he would send a waiter over as soon as possible. As sure as clockwork, a young boy of fourteen or so arrived with menus and took the group's orders. Quistis caught some abuse for being the only vegetarian in the group, though it was all in good fun. This was pretty much the way the whole night went on, everyone joking and having a good time. Even Seifer and Quistis were getting along, which took Zell a little time to get used to but he excepted it in the end.
By 11:30 PM the whole group were more than slightly inebriated. Occasionally fits of laughter at nothing did occur, but for the most part the SeeDs didn't really display the amount of drink they had managed to consume between them.
At this particular point, Irvine had gone to the bar to get more drinks for the group. He'd noted that the barman had changed since the last time he'd went. It didn't seem too matter much, and he quickly forgot about it. He set the drinks down on the table and slid in next to Selphie. Everyone slid their drinks in front of them. Now that Irvine had returned, Zell decided to continue his story. He began to speak, his speech slightly slurred. "So Seifer" he began. "Seifer straps Squall up to this wall by his arms and legs, and starts to electrocute him periodically" Zell explained.
"Oh my god" said Nevaeh. "You actually did that" she asked Seifer.
He was noticeably red in his face but tried to explain nonetheless. "I was under the influence of the biggest evil this world has ever known" he said. "What's a guy to do?"
Nevaeh nodded. Under normal circumstances she may have questioned more, but as her current state didn't qualify as 'normal circumstances' she accepted Seifer's words with the minimum of protest.
"Anyway" Zell said, bringing the attention back to himself. "Seifer leaves Squall in the custody of some guard" Zell started again. "Some asshole with a bad moustache" he commented. "This guy proceeds to interrogate Squall on what SeeD really is. What it stands for". Nevaeh nodded for him to carry on. "So he carries on blasting Squall with this electricity every time he refuses to talk, and eventually Squall gives. He says "I'll tell you what SeeD is", and the guard is all excited, like y'know, he's broken the leader of the enemy". Nevaeh nodded again. "So Squall lifts his head and he says "SeeD stands for spreading seeds all around the world to grow flowers, so everyone will be happy and will never fight again"". Zell burst into laughter as he finished, quickly followed by the rest of the group. Tears streamed down Zell's face as he banged his fist on the table. The group wouldn't have probably found the story so funny normally, but once again this wasn't 'normal'.
Zell slowly recovered as several of the group continued to convulse with fits of laughter. He picked up his drink and raised it to his mouth, but stopped before he tipped any down his throat. "Hey" he said. The group continued to laugh. "HEY" he said louder. Slowly the rest of his friends stopped laughing and looked at him. "My drink smells weird" he said. "Does anyone else's drink smell weird?" The rest of the group all picked up the drinks and sniffed the liquid inside.
"Yes" Seifer answered immediately.
"Mine too" Irvine stated.
"I don't know" said Selphie. "I've never had one of these before, I don't know what its supposed to smell like". The group all looked at Selphie briefly, then resumed looking to one another for each others reaction to their drinks.
"Mine" Quistis paused, smelling the liquid a second time. "Mine smells like Lataxis" she stated. "It's a poison found in Laboratis snakes, its deadly to humans".
"That's it" said Irvine. "It is. We used to get them out in the desert in Galbadia".
Everyone put their drinks down on the table and pushed them away from themselves. "Something is very wrong here" Zell stated. The whole group stood up slowly, all having the same instinct to leave as quickly as possible.
The whole restaurant went quiet as a voice shouted out. "DON'T ANY OF YOU TAKE ANOTHER STEP" the voice screamed. The barman that Irvine had noticed earlier stood on the bar-top, brandishing a sub-machine gun of some sorts.
The shock had been enough to sober the group of SeeDs up quickly. Almost. "That would be the 'wrong' part" Seifer muttered under his breath. He subtlety poked around his right hip, forgetting that he'd left 'Hyperion' in the car. "Hey cowboy" he addressed Irvine, still under his breath. "You don't happen to carry that shooter everywhere with you, do you?"
"All but romantic evenings out, I'm afraid" Irvine replied quietly.
The barman come gunman had lowered his tone to one of instruction. "Now" he began. "You're all gonna sit back down in your seats" he told the SeeDs. As the gunman began to walk towards them, a woman fainted, falling from her chair and knocking the gunman off balance.
This was all Zell, who was nearest to the window needed. He cocked back his elbow and drove it through the pane of glass. "OUT" he shouted as he grabbed Nevaeh and hopped the shattered hole. Quistis and Seifer quickly followed, and Irvine slung his long coat around Selphie and followed his friends. They all hit the floor as the gunman opened up on the shattered window with his machine gun. "THE CARS" Zell shouted above the noise of the gun. "GET TO THE CARS".
The team ran with their heads down as low as possible round the side of the building towards the parking lot. "Can any of us actually drive safely right now?" Nevaeh asked loudly.
A window shattered above Seifer, bullets crashing through. "I THINK I'LL TAKE MY CHANCES" he shouted.
The group continued onwards towards the cars, and stopped at the edge of the building for cover. Zell leaned his head out and surveyed the parking lot. "I can see them from here" he said, turning to face the group. "It doesn't look like there's anyone out there" he explained. "I say me and Seifer make a dash for each of the cars". Seifer nodded. "Once we've got them started, you guys make it out there as fast as possible and we get the fuck out of here". The whole team nodded. "Right then" Zell smirked at Seifer.
With that, the two took off at a full run towards the cars, Zell slightly ahead of Seifer. Bullets bounced off the pavement all around them, sparks shooting up as hot metal struck cold concrete. "Shit" Irvine muttered, watching as the two ran.
Just as Zell got within twenty-five feet of the cars, a bright light illuminated the engine compartments of both. This was followed by a deafening explosion, knocking Zell off his feet and causing Seifer to stop in his tracks and raise his arms in front of his face. "HOLY SHIT" Irvine shouted as he watched both cars fly into the air, now nothing more than huge fireballs. He stood slightly and readying himself to run to his friends' aid. However Seifer recovered quickly and dragged Zell to his feet, pulling him back towards the group and the cover of the restaurant wall.
Once Zell had gathered himself Irvine led the group back around the side of the restaurant to the rear where they had originally exited. "What are we supposed to do back here?" asked Selphie.
Irvine looked at her, then at the drop. "GUESS" he shouted, before literally throwing himself over the edge.
"Oh shit" was Seifer's only comment.
"No way" said Selphie. "No way am I doing that".
"SHUT UP" Seifer shouted as he pushed her over the edge and down the hill. He was sure he heard her shriek over the gunfire as she tumbled away. He smiled to himself.
Quistis noticed Seifer look to her questioningly. "I believe I'll take care of it myself" she said, and jumped over the edge. Nevaeh quickly followed Quistis.
"C'MON" Seifer shouted at Zell. The martial artist stood up, keeping his head down and walked toward the edge.
"Why are people always trying to kill us?" he asked, throwing himself down the hill immediately after.
Seifer moved to the edge and peered over. He could vaguely make out the clouds of dust being thrown up by his friends further down the hill. "Maybe the world just hates heroes" he said before jumping down the hill.
Author's Note: - How was that one? Returning to the action again. WAHOO! Well, 'wahoo' if that's what you like anyway. In any case, I'm sorry that this has taken so long. I don't think I'm gonna bother sayin' "I hope to get the next chapter out soon" 'cos somethin' always comes up that dictates that I can't get it out as fast as intended. Instead I think I'm gonna just say that the next chapter will be done when its done.
If anyone is wonderin', I used Quistis 'Red Scorpion' whip instead of her Save The Queen 'cos I hated the name. And the story about Squall on the electric wall may not be absolutely correct but I figured that Zell was drunk and wasn't present at the time in the game so he's not gonna be able to tell it perfectly well. Oh, and you're wonderin' about the song lines at the start - I know they don't really fit the chapter but I couldn't find anythin' that really fitted. If anythin' it feels like it might display Zell's mindset coming into this chpater, but I'm probably clutching at straws! Those words are only there 'cos I like to out them in anyway!
As always, reviews are welcome (In fact they're exactly what I want) so I can find out what you think is good about the story, what is bad, and in general what you liked about the chapter and what you expect to happen in the next chapter. I always like to hear people's predictions. I may not write the chapter to fit them but its fun to see what direction readers think 'FF:HS' will head in next, and sometimes it gives me some good ideas to include in the next chapter.
Oh yeah. If anyone has a problem with the use of the word 'f*ck' in this chapter or any others then please tell me. It just occurred to me that my story is rated as a PG-13 and realised that some people may have a problem with kids that young reading stories with these words in. If so I'll up the rating to R but I doubt that will stop kids below that age reading it anyway!
Till next time, c ya!