Disclaimer: Alrighty, listen up. When someone who is fifteen years old dresses up for Halloween and makes a fool out of herself JUST because she can't afford candy that isn't free … you know that she doesn't own Final Fantasy VIII.
Chapter Twenty-ThreeRinoa yawned as Zell droned on about the security forces. She discreetly stretched her arms to get rid of the pins and needles. Caraway shot her a glare and slammed his fist on the table, "Keep awake, for Christ's sake!"
She jumped in surprise, her eyes wide in panic, "Sorry, sheesh."
"Uh … well, anyways, as I was saying. They've got cameras at regular intervals on the first few floors that are monitored by the security section that is located on the 21st floor. The total sector in charge of security stretches to about the 24th floor." Zell was drawing little stick figures on a napkin within a space labeled '21-24' in a lousy attempt at a diagram, "From then on, there are actual security guards that secure the general area for obvious reasons. Those floors need the back-up immediately if there is ever a problem."
"There are still cameras on that floor that are monitored on the floor just below Ackroyde's office, right?" Squall asked and brought the coffee cup to his lips. It was midnight; he had trained all day and needed sleep. If it weren't for the caffeine fix, he'd be out cold.
"Yeah, but those cameras are easy to disable. No intruder has ever been expected to get that far. I mean … only prized agents and Ackroyde are allowed past the 25th floor." Zell rubbed the back of his neck and yawned.
"Oh, I feel so special." Rinoa murmured, barely audible, and she too sipped some coffee from her mug.
"There's no chance of getting a word with Ackroyde if we walk in there and ask to see him." Zell informed as if it wasn't obvious enough, "So we try to make as less noise as possible until we reach the security sector. I can't hack my way past the 25th floor, so you'll have to deactivate doors and cameras by my instructions. Even before the 25th floor I can't work many miracles. It is a government building so security is pretty top notch."
"Government building." Rinoa chuckled to herself, "Government … approved …" She rubbed her temples, "So other than that?"
"We can continue this tomorrow morning. Just a warning that you shouldn't forget about the guards above the 24th floor … they're armed like an artillery."
"You don't arm an artillery, the artillery arms you." Rinoa muttered her correction.
"Huh?" Zell asked confused, wondering if he had really heard
her say something.
"I said you don't arm an artillery. You
can't be armed like an artillery." She repeated, "Whatever, it's a quarter past
midnight, let's not get technical."
"I agree." Julia spoke her rare word, "Let's just go to sleep."
***
The dim light coming from the other room lit up the closet space. Rinoa sighed, out of relief and out of exhaustion, as she looked upon her two sleeping children. Riana had finally won the top bunk and she lay cuddled into a little ball, her fist clenched, sleeping soundly.
Alessandro was asleep on his side, facing her. His breathing was rhythmically set. Her motherly check-up was made however she didn't leave. Taking a moments time, she gazed upon her sleeping kids.
Someone came up behind her and she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her delicate waist, "Is there something wrong?" The deep voice of her husband asked.
"No, not really." She replied with her usual manner.
There was a moment of silence as the father also looked on at his sleeping son and daughter. Squall asked tentatively, "What're you thinking about?" He had never made a habit of asking that question however the few times he had asked he had received no response.
The extended silence made him believe she would not reply so he just kept his position until she spoke again. She uttered a distinct word, the answer to his question, "Running."
The teenaged Squall could not reply, could not find words of
comfort. Adult Squall was nowhere to be
seen. He let go of her waist and took
her by the hand, "Come on, let's just … let's just go to bed."
"Why can't we run, just for a little while?
Procrastinate all this. We could
go to Timber or something and just live there until they find us and when they
do we'll move somewhere else just please-"
"No, Rinoa … that's not going to work." Squall cut her short, annoyed at her childishness.
"Are we ever going to be happy?" The question was abrupt, too abrupt.
"What the Hell is that supposed to mean, Rinoa?" He scowled at her, his temper rising.
"Never mind." She muttered more to herself than to him and she turned around to leave the room.
"I'm sorry to learn I've ruined your life." The words were filled with venom and a twinge of hatred.
"I'm sorry that you had been thinking otherwise." She hadn't meant to say it, she hadn't meant to make it sound so hurtful, she hadn't meant so many things. "No, that's not what I meant." She quickly caught herself but the damage was done.
"Right, ok." He turned around and left the room. She heard him come to bed two hours later. She was awake, and cursing herself for being the way she was. She resisted the urge to curl near him to avoid the pain of him pushing her away.
***
Scuffling noises awakened her from her uneasy sleep. The dripping of the pipe was monotonous however there was irregular noises coming from right above her. Panic swelled like a balloon inside of her. She practically leaped out of bed when she distinguished footsteps.
She pulled on her jeans over her pajama boxers in a rush and scampered out the door, 'Someone's upstairs, someone's upstairs, someone's upstairs!' Were the only coherent thoughts that passed through her conscious.
She passed by Zell's bed and saw it empty, "Oh my God." She mumbled and grabbed the firearm that was near the bedside. It was a small handgun, she didn't even check if it was loaded or whether or not it was on safety.
Darkness surrounded her and she was powerless without light to see. She felt her way through the stacks of cardboard boxes. She was literally shaking, shivering with anxiety and fear. What was she to expect? Armed agents? Trainees? Ackroyde himself?
She never had the time to reach the slate staircase as something slammed her into the wall. In a complete state of panic, she neither screamed nor thrashed about, she only dropped her weapon to the floor and shut her eyes in the mass of terror, "What the Hell are you doing?" It was Squall.
Rinoa couldn't help breath a sigh of relief, "I-I-I just … heard … something upstairs." She half-mumbled, half-stuttered. Her hands were shaking and to stabilize them she grabbed her husband's wrists. Just as she expected he pulled away and picked up the dropped weapon.
He glared at her through the darkness, "Good job, when someone attacks you the last thing you do is drop your weapon."
"Would you have rather I shot you?" Rinoa snatched the gun from him in defiance.
"Not that you would have, it's on safety." He growled at her in annoyance, "Let's go see what's upstairs." Rinoa grudgingly followed and disabled the safety.
They emerged in Caraway's office, still prime looking and clean. They heard voices down the hall, already three men could be distinguished. Then a forth, "Where da fuckin' Hell is dish stupid fuckin' place?"
A fifth silenced him with a haughty commander-like-voice, "Shut up, Mace. Keep looking. Flint and Conrad, look in the office. Dan and Mace, you search the upstairs. I'm going to look in the garage." Then they heard the footsteps coming closer.
Squall took away the wine glass from the statue and deposited it on the shelf. The sculpture slid back into place, closing the first entrance to the basement. "Please explain to me why you didn't tell me to get back into the basement before you closed the door." Rinoa whispered in a desperate manner but he cupped a hand over mouth and forced her into the closet, entered himself and shut the door without noise.
There they waited, stuck between two large filing cabinets. Rinoa shivered and the uneasiness at the pit of her stomach wouldn't leave her be. Flint and Conrad entered in the bureau; "Snazzy …" One of them snickered.
Rinoa was only vaguely aware, in her utmost fear, that her husband was nudging her to the back of the closet. He then stood, back to her, front to the door, a pistol aimed. With his free hand he took her handgun and aimed for the door again.
"Whatever, there's nothing in here." The other said.
"We don't even know what we're looking for."
"Ah fuck it. Does it really matter? So what if we don't find Leonheart and Heartilly? The only freaking thing that the captain's looking for is a promotion. I mean, what the Hell're we gunna get out of it?"
"We'll get to hand-cuff Heartilly." There was a rude snicker and Rinoa clasped the corner of a filing cabinet to restrain her undying urge to lunge out there and claw out their jugular artery. 'Why are men all the fucking same?' She grimaced in disdain as the thought floated around her head.
Little did she know, Squall was clenching his teeth and the guns much tighter than he had been at first. 'Breath in, breath out … They're allowed to think your wife is hot, it's when they want to touch that it gets serious … breath in … breath out.'
"Yeah and get paid for it … Hell yeah." The second one let off a groan and repeated, "Hell yeah."
'Disgusting pigs.' Rinoa thought in an annoyed fashion. Squall's thoughts went more along the lines of 'I'm going to find them and kill them.'
There was some chuckles and then, "Forget it, there ain't no entry to no basement here. Let's just chill." At the moment that the trainee agent said that there was a cackle on his radio and through the static the message was quite clear, 'We're getting out now, boys. Exit.'
"If 'el capitano' says so." One of them joked and the couple in the closet heard the footsteps of the intruders falling away, out of the house. When he was sure they were gone, Squall burst out from the closet and went straight to the hallway. Rinoa caught up with him and latched onto his arm.
"Where're you going?" She asked, confused.
"They've found something."
"Like what?"
"Like the basement."
Time seemed to trickle in slow motion as the feeling of dread set in. As Rinoa saw her parents and Zell clamber down the staircase she had the faint feeling of slipping into oblivion. She held on to the ramp at the bottom to steady herself, "Is everyone ok?" Julia asked wearily, "We heard a noise and we all went to investigate."
"What do you keep in the garage, Caraway?" Squall asked immediately.
The general stared back, wondering how this question was of any relevance. The thoughts settled in like dust being layered on abandoned furniture, "Where are the kids?" He returned a question.
Squall's eyes shot wide open though it was as if he already knew, it was all too simple, too ironic. The extra hatch leading to the basement. The agents had been called back. To lure prey into a trap, you need bait. Ackroyde had his bait.
Rinoa sprung towards the garage and when she saw an open hatch, barely visible, almost unnoticeable, even when it was open. She jumped down and saw a similar scenario. Cardboard boxes, a maze of them. She maneuvered through them and saw Zell's empty bed, the 'kitchen table', she followed through, saw the two doors, entered her own room, then her children's … and saw that her kids were gone.
"SON OF A BITCH!" She cried out, hoping Ackroyde would hear her but not see the tears trickling down her cheeks, "GODDAMN ASSHOLE!" She turned around and kicked a doorframe and pieces of plaster and wood flew off, leaving a dent.
Squall was halfway through the maze when he heard his wife's cries. "Damn it." He cursed and continued on to meet his broken spouse. It was the third time he'd ever seen her cry and it still felt like the first. "Why the Hell didn't you tell us there was another entry to this place?" She looked past him to her father.
Caraway didn't answer, he turned away and Julia followed. Zell looked as if he wanted to utter an excuse, a plea of pardon but knew it wouldn't do much good.
"Squall …" She said weakly, her eyelashes were wet with tears and her eyes refused to meet his, "It hurts so much." Were the only things she was able to say.
"I know." He hugged her frail body to his and murmured in her ear, "But it'll be alright. We'll figure something out. I promise that … that sometime soon, everything'll be ok."
"We're never going to be able to live a normal life without
looking over our shoulders constantly waiting for someone to slit our throats
or something else, no matter where we go, who we become. Everything's just screwed up in advance."
"No, it's not. It's not because of one
little mistake that we won't have a future.
We're going to go there, we're going to get our kids and then we'll …
disappear from the agency's line of sight.
We'll lead different lives, everything'll be fine."
"Liar." Rinoa whispered, "Do you really think we'll be able to lead normal lives without a care in the world after all that's happened? Beyond the dead, the dying, the pain, the killing?"
"Yeah. I do. You just got to believe right? All that crap they told us when we were little kids … just to believe in it."
"Believe in what?" Desperation ran it's course and she felt like the helpless little wife being kept together by her husbands arms, "I just want Alex and Riana back …"
"Just … believe in us. Believe in … beyond the bloodshed."
These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real. There's just too much that time cannot erase.
Sabam: Ah yes, don't shoot me. This chapter was amazingly ass-wrenching, wasn't it? I'm sorry, but it had to come to pass. Please review and I promise I won't kill the kids. *Laughs like a maniac* Joking, joking, don't call the SPCA. Yes, you heard right … SPCA. I'm so evil. Welp, review right?