Wrongfully Accused

Chapter Fourteen

Quistis slowed down as she tried to listen for any sounds coming from behind her. Someone had been following her since she's left Raijin's neighborhood and she wasn't about to lead them back to the hotel. She looked up at the wall ahead of her and smirked. The lights from behind her were casting three shadows, her own and two others. 'Amateurs. Still, I'd better end this now before it gets out of hand.' Quickly Quistis spun around and cracked her whip at the feet of her stalkers. They jumped in surprise and tried to run back in the opposite direction. With the flick of her wrist the first man fell to the ground, screaming in pain from the now bleeding laceration across his back. The second man just looked on in surprise as Quistis prepared herself for her second attack, but what happened next threw her completely off guard. He laughed.

"Stupid bitch. You shouldn't have done that." He said as he raised his arms.

'What is he.........?' "Shit!" Quistis jumped out of the way as he aimed a fire spell just above her head. 'Lucky for me he can't aim.' It wasn't until three more people appeared behind her that she realised he wasn't aiming for her. 'He was signaling for reinforcements. Damn, I should've seen that coming.' Trying to plan her next move Quistis analysed her situation. The two in front of her wouldn't be too much trouble, even though the one she'd wounded was pulling himself to his feet, but the other three would be a different story. Two men and a woman all armed with handguns and staffs strapped to their backs. Even if the first two were amateurs, these three definitely weren't. Their fighting stances and choice of weapons indicated sophisticated martial arts training, and there was no telling what other skills they possessed. Her first decision was to take out the two idiots in front of her. A blizzard spell knocked the one that was laughing at her against a wall and the second one never even saw her move as the whip split the skin across his face causing a blood curdling scream to erupt from his throat. Quistis heard the other three jump into action as they surrounded her in a triangle formation. The woman looked her directly in the eye, challenging her to make a move. Without a moments hesitation she kicked the man to the back left of her roughly in the stomach then rammed her right elbow into the other mans neck as he tried to attack her from behind. The first tried to kick her in the shins from where he lay on the ground, still clutching his stomach, but she jumped up to avoid his leg and swiftly kicked him in the stomach again. The second then wrapped his arms tightly around her upper body and rammed her body up against the wall where he began to punch her repeatedly on the face and upper body. Quistis tried to fight him off but he grabbed her by the neck and forced her harder up against the wall. He raised his fist back and smirked down at her bloodied face. Quistis closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, but it never came. She opened her eyes to see someone grasping her attackers hand. The man recoiled as a fist connected sharply with his jaw. Quistis hands flew to her throat as she gasped for breath, but not before looking at the person who had saved her. She couldn't see the face but she recognised the coat. 'It's that guy from the nightclub, the one that was staring at me.'

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With the second man out cold he turned his attention to the one still kneeling on the ground. Quickly Seifer ran over and picked him up by the collar and rammed his head into the wall. Satisfied that both men were no longer any trouble he turned his attention to the woman, who, he noticed, had yet to attack. She pulled out her staff and held it in front of her with both hands. Seifer took out the army blade and held it in his right hand. It was no gunblade, but it would have to do. He ran towards her, and swung the blade at her chest. She jumped to his left then tried to knock him over with her staff, but he jumped over it and landed behind her. Seifer kicked the back of her legs forcing her onto her back but she swung her staff around, the impact knocking him onto his knees. Both jumped back onto there feet and took up defensive stances. This time she made the first move, running forward aiming the end of the staff at his head. Seifer moved his head out of the way and grabbed the end her weapon. Keeping hold of it he pulled her to him, and pushed his body up against hers. She looked at him in surprise before stumbling back and falling to her knees.

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Quistis looked on in awe, she'd never seen that kind of fighting outside of Garden. His face was still hidden under the hood of his coat, but there was no mistaking the physique, or the aggressive fighting moves. She watched the fight unfold before her like a dance, each opponent trying to outdo each other with their violent moves. Quistis fell to her knees as the scenes continued to play out. She saw the woman fall back, she saw the blade in his hands and the blood flowing onto the ground where she lay. He walked towards the wounded figure, intending to finish what he started. A desperation arose in Quistis' mind, she couldn't let him kill her.

"Stop!! It's over, you've won. What more do you want?" He looked over at Quistis as she pushed herself slowly to her feet. "Don't do it. It's not worth it. You kill her now and you'll only make things worse."

He looked down at the ground, contemplating her words. His gaze moved to the woman as he muttered something to her that Quistis could not here. Quistis sighed in relief as she saw her stand shakily to her feet and run off into the street, clutching her wound.

"You always did have a way with words." He said facing away from her.

"I said nothing you didn't already know."

"Do you always hang out with such a lively group?"

"Always. Why did you save me?" She said shakily.

"Who said I saved you?"

"..................."

"Your friends here have something I need, you just got in the way."

"Well, you've lost them now."

"She won't get far, not with that wound."

"Then why are you still here?"

"I can't let anybody find the body of a dead SeeD in a alley like this, the press would have a field day with it," He pulled back his hood and turned around to face her. "and publicity is the last thing I need right now."

Quistis glared at him in shock before raising her hand to her neck. Her eyes widened with fear as her fingers touched a small metal object protruding from the skin below her ear.

"They're called hook darts. The may look like small disks but they've got curved spikes about 3 mm deep hooked into your skin. They're a bitch to pull out. I should know, they've been used on me many times." Seifer said, his voice void of all emotion.

Quistis screamed in agony as she pulled the object from her neck and threw it to the ground. She tried to place a hand to her neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding but her body began to shake uncontrollably. "W-What's happening to m-me?"

"Not sure, it depends on what type of poison they used on the tips. It might only be a sedative, but then......"

"Aaah!" Quistis screamed out as the pain gripped her body like a vice. She fell to her side gasping for breath. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as the pain became unbearable, her mind screaming for some form of relief. Slowly her surroundings began to fade into a blur as she tried desperately to stay conscious, but it was no use. She wasn't even aware when a pair of strong arms gently picked her up and carried her out of the alleyway.

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Leanne yawned as she stretched out her arms and stared up at the ceiling. She'd been surfing the net and talking to contacts for the last six hours, trying to get every piece of information about the SeeD's that she could get her hands on. So far she knew the date that they'd arrived in Deling, any recreational activities they'd been engaged in and any public events they were to be attending, but other than that and a list of names, she had nothing on them. 'This is ridiculous! They must be doing something, they've been here for almost four days now.' She turned her gaze back to her laptop as a popup appeared on the screen telling her she had mail. She checked to see who the message was from but didn't recognise the address. Eventually curiosity got the better of her and she opened the message. There was only a couple of sentences but it was enough to make her yell out with joy.

He's broken out.

She's being stalked.

They will have to work together to see this through to the end.

Below the message was two separate photos, one of Quistis entering the side entrance of the police station followed by a dark haired officer and another of Seifer breaking into the back of the nightclub. 'I can't believe it. Almasy and Trepe working together. But who sent this? It could be fake. Who knows when these photos were taken.' Not wanting to jump to conclusions Leanne clicked on reply and sent a message back.

-Who are you? How do you know this, and why are you telling me?

Almost instantly she got a reply.

-I'm just someone who wants to know the truth, like you.

"Hmph, that really answers my question." She said sarcastically.

-How did you get these photos?

She waited again for a reply.

-You need my help.

"Like hell!" She fumed, before replying.

-What makes you think I need your help?

Five minutes passed and there was no reply. "This is getting ridiculous." She said to herself as she ran her hands through her long brown hair. She jumped when she finally got a response.

-The SeeD's are professionals. No reporter can expose them on their own.

"That's what you think."

-What makes you so sure?

After that, there was no reply. 'Who was that?' Leanne got up and began pacing the room. 'All right, let's say this guy is telling the truth, what do I do now?' She smiled wickedly as her eyes fell upon the list of social functions the SeeD's would be attending. Quickly she ran towards the phone and dialed the number of her bosses assistant.

"Hmmm." came a muffled voice from the other end.

"Anna? It's Leanne, I need you to........."

"Shit, Leanne it's three in morning!"

Leanne nearly dropped the receiver at the tone of her voice. She'd forgotten that it was now morning. "Crap, I'm sorry I didn't realise the time."

"You never do."

"What?"

"Never mind, what do you want?"

"I need you to get me invited to a party."

"..............."

"The senator is holding a formal.... umm.... thing in two days...."

"Banquet."

"A banquet? For 300 people, man that's a lot of food........"

"Get to the point."

"I need you to get me an invitation to it."

"What!? Are you mad? An invitation, for a nobody, to such a prestigious event in only two days?"

"I thought you were good at this sort of thing?" Leanne asked with a smirk.

"Well...... I am.... but..."

"Great, so you'll do it then."

"I didn't say th......."

"Oh, and Gary doesn't have to know about this." She shivered at the thought of her boss finding out about her little 'investigation'.

"No way, I'm not getting caught up in one of your little schemes. Not this time."

"But....."

"You almost got me fired last time."

"That won't happen. I promise. Look, Anna I really need this. Gary's been sticking me with dead end stories that are doing nothing for my career. I don't wanna be working for him ten years from now. Hell, I don't wanna be working for him ten minutes from now."

"..................."

"Please?"

"......... All right, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you!! You won't regret this!"

"I already do."

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At first I wasn't too happy with the idea of Seifer coming to Quistis' rescue because it makes her look like she can't defend herself (and we all know that's just NOT true) so I tried to make it look like she did a fair bit of the fighting herself. Seifer just finished them off. In the end I think it turned out pretty well. A big thank you to frost for the idea.