AN: Squalphie lovers unite!!!!!!!! Squalphies for everyone!!!!! Heh, I never made a disclaimer for this…Well I own it! So there! I just don't own the characters or the land of final fantasy eight, which belongs to the nice squaresoft people. But I own this story. evil laughter. So you guys all like squalphies right? I know there are more of you out there, so you better review! waves gunblade wildly
Squall: Hey! That's mine!
Aeris D: Not anymore! MINE!!!!!
Selphie comes in, looking distraught.
Squall: ignores Aeris What's the matter with you?
Selphie: Someone took all my sugar…..
Aeris D: laughs crazily It was me! I took it! And I'd do it again too!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Chapter Two
She would never admit it to anyone, but Squall made her nervous. Her, the ever happy, constantly hyper Selphie. And why wouldn't she be? His blue-gray eyes were on her now, and they were void of any trace of emotion as he studied her, silent. It was his hands that gave him away. Glove-less, the long fingers of one smooth hand held a pen that was threatening to snap between his thumb and forefinger. The other lay resting on his desk, fingers wrapped tightly in a fist.
He was angry. It wasn't hard to tell. But was he mad at her?
Self-consciously she lifted one foot and adjusted her boot. When she put it down it made no sound on the thick blue carpet that covered the floor. Rinoa had picked it out; saying it matched Squall's eyes. Squall's eyes, were currently on her.
"Squall?" Selphie asked warily, and she saw his hands relax.
"Do you know what happened?" He asked in reply. She shook her head. He sighed, feeling slightly guilty. She was fidgeting with her boots again; which she did whenever she was bored or nervous. He wasn't mad at her-just the situation in general-but there was a certain degree of apprehension in her emerald green eyes that let him know that she thought he was going to rip her head off and throw it to the dogs.
"Representative Bailey is dead." Squall paused, waiting for her reaction. He saw her eyes widen in shock and the color of her skin going strikingly pale against the yellow of her dress- shoulders slumping in defeat-as she processed the information. He continued. "The five SeeDs that were guarding him are also dead. At approximately 12:08 P.M. this afternoon, all forty security cameras in Timber's Government building went out simultaneously. Ten minutes later they all came back on. During those ten minutes, someone managed sneak past the guards that were stationed around the building, and murder the Representative and the hired SeeD." Squall stopped speaking as he monitored her response. She was looking at him with wide, confused eyes that threatened to spill with tears any second.
"Why don't you have a seat, Selphie."
Unable to do anything else but nod numbly, Selphie took a seat in front of his desk. She couldn't believe it; her first mission alone and she had failed. She had let everyone down by not discovering the identity of the person responsible and now the Representative was dead, and so were the SeeDs… And it was all her fault.
Without saying anything more, Squall turned the computer that sat on his desk so that it faced her. On the screen were several small thumbnail pictures. Squall clicked on one and it enlarged so that Selphie could see what it was.
Representative Bailey lay on the plush green carpet, eyes still wide open with the expression of horror that had frozen upon his face as he had died. His clothing was torn in many places, his body pockmarked with giant holes. There was blood everywhere, splattered on his wrinkled face, in his graying hair, and saturating the carpet around him and turning it black as the two complementary colors mixed in gruesome artistry.
Selphie swallowed, forcing back the vomit that was threatening to surge upwards. She suddenly had a lot more respect for Squall and the job he had to do.
Deciding that she had seen it long enough, Squall closed the picture and turned the computer back so that it faced him once more. His expression was grim. "Do you recognize the type of weapon that was used?"
She found herself nodding. Irvine had used the stuff often enough for her to know. "They used pulse ammo…"
"I'm sure you realize then how difficult it is to obtain that ammunition, as well as to use it. With Irvine it is a part of his limit break, and it can only hit a single target at a time. We can therefore determine that whoever is responsible for this, massacre, was low on health, fast, and very strong. And smart."
Selphie found her voice. "But there must have been at least two of them, one to hack in and take down security and the other to kill them."
"Anything is possible, whether it was only one person, or several, but I don't think there were more than three, tops. It was a smooth mission for them. In ten minutes they managed to find the representative, kill him and the five SeeDs protecting him, and get out of the building without anyone being none the wiser."
Selphie bit her lip. "So…what are we going to do?"
Squall sighed. "I'm not sure exactly. I was hoping you could help me with that."
"Me?" She squeaked, and Squall noted her surprise in amusement.
"Despite what you expected I did not call you here to demote you, or," he allowed himself the pleasure of smiling slightly, "bite your head off. Any failure on your part was due to the underestimation of the enemy on my own."
Selphie looked immensely relieved. "So how am I supposed to help you?"
"You were in Timber, on assignment. I want your last report." Squall sighed. "I want to know what happened down there."
Selphie frowned, which Squall decided, didn't really suit her at all, even if her constant cheeriness did occasionally get on his nerves. "Gee, I really don't know Squall. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, and when I traced the letters that were sent, one of them supposedly came from the Forest Owls, which can't be right. They wouldn't do something like that."
It was Squall's turn to frown. "No, they wouldn't. Or at the very least, it's highly unlikely that they would do so."
"But," Selphie seemed to hesitate, as if debating whether or not to share her thoughts. There hadn't been anything mysterious, but the people in timber were acting too normal, if that was possible, and it hadn't seemed important then, but now…
"But what?" Squall asked curiously.
"The people there…when I questioned them, they seemed a bit too normal, if you know what I mean."
"Too normal?" Squall repeated quizzically, and Selphie nodded.
"It was like they were all a bunch of perfect people in a perfect town. It was just really weird. They were all really happy but when I started asking questions they'd change the subject and just smile and laugh and invite me to dinner. And being happy is a good thing but really they were a little too happy if you know what I mean but they weren't drunk or high or anything like that 'cause even I would have figured it out if they were but--."
Squall lifted his hand and cut her off. "Alright, I get the idea. I'll have Quistis check it out. In the meantime you're officially off-duty. And if we come up with anything I'll let you know. I wouldn't be surprised if you had another mission soon. You're dismissed, Selphie."
Selphie stood and saluted. "Sir!"
Squall sighed and saluted back half-heartedly. When she left his office he slumped back in his chair and groaned. Stupid Cid, making him stupid commander….
AN: Hey, so I hope you guys like it. Yes, it's short, but I've been so busy….Anyway, I don't think the paragraphs were too big in the first chapter, were they? Grrrrrrrr….Maybe a little, but not horribly….REVIEW! CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW!
Squall: I'd do it if I were you. She's also taken Selphie's coffee away too…
Selphie: nods sadly I feel like Squall on a happy day…..
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!