~*~ When Did This Happen? ~*~
:: Seiftis. Squffie hints. (Quistis x Seifer, Squall x Selphie) ::
Chapter Fourteen: Map it Out.
~Silverium~
Disclaimer: Squaresoft. Not Silver.
Quistis bit into a blueberry muffin and chewed thoughtfully. The explosions of sweetness in her mouth made her happy and she licked her lips and took a sip of orange juice. Beside her Irvine was wolfing down breakfast and across from her Seifer was lost in his thoughts once more. He stayed inside himself a lot, Quistis observed quietly.
"I thought we'd start at the council member's house, and search around. He lives in a mansion so there's a possibility that he's…still in there," Quistis blinked her sapphire eyes and wondered what she had just implied,
"If he's dead I'm not touchin' him." Irvine said instantly,
"…" Quistis looked down and finished her muffin.
"Cowboy, you're a SeeD." Seifer stared across the table at Irvine who squirmed,
"I hate dead people…" He ended lamely,
"Anyhow," Quistis said firmly, standing up, "Let's get packed. There's a bus we can take over."
The mansion was everything they thought it would be. Entering in under the protective tape the three spread out to cover more rooms. Quistis meandered around a massive kitchen, examining anything sharp for fragments of blood. Irvine had taken to the living room and was oogling at the stereo system while Seifer drifted through and upstairs.
After Quistis had come up with nothing she walked upstairs to find Irvine and Seifer in the office. Both were at computers, the reflections of the screen in their eyes.
"Find something?" She queried,
"House plans." Both replied in unison,
"The guy made floor plans, we're ticking off the rooms we've searched," Irvine added,
"Good idea." Quistis replied, standing by the printer as the sheets came out.
Both Irvine and Seifer printed out copies, so both could have one. Quistis held up the first floor on either sheet and began to mark off rooms. As she went she suddenly frowned, they weren't identical. The rooms were the same, so what was different? She looked closer…
"The walls." She murmured,
"What?" Seifer looked over, bored,
"The walls on these maps are different, these ones are thicker in places. Oh Hyne! I think you two found secret passages!" Quistis gasped then found a red pen on the desk and began to outline the thicker walls,
"Quistis, this is not a horror novel," Seifer replied skeptically,
"No, Seifer, look," Irvine walked around to Quistis' side and leaned over her shoulder, his arms to either side of her narrow frame.
The contact of the Cowboy and the Ice Queen made a spark of jealousy light in Seifer which surprised him. Irvine's ponytail had slid forward and was brushing against Quistis' cheek but she didn't seem to notice. She too was busy pointing out the connecting thicker hallways and scanning the other floors to see the dark look on Seifer's face.
"…right?"
"Seifer?" Irvine asked, looking up,
"What?" Seifer growled, then changed his tone, "Ah, what?"
Quistis raised her eyebrows but said nothing, "You haven't been up to the third floor?"
"No."
They hiked up the staircase in silence. When they reached the top they briefly searched a few rooms but Quistis was intent on reaching the attic. It was a typical set up, a pull down from the ceiling with a staircase that unfolded. Seifer took out Hyperion and walked up boldly, Quistis and Irvine following with their weapons out.
The attic was cluttered but devoid of life. It was Irvine who found the secret door in the wall, and Quistis wasn't sure how he had managed to find it in the first place since it was so well concealed. The inside was very thin, all three of them had to walk sideways, and when the wall sloped down for the stairs it became increasingly hard to get through. They encountered numerous spy holes along the way, allowing them to see where they were and when they hit the first floor Seifer, still in the lead, made a new discovery.
"This place goes underground," He said grimly, pointing at a hole in the ground and a ladder disappearing into it.
"Why was this necessary?" Irvine asked, with a frown, "This guy is just a council member, he shouldn't need passageways."
"I know, it's weird, well, let's go." Quistis said, nodding to Seifer.
Putting Hyperion away the tall man gripped the pole and slid down slowly. Quistis waited a few seconds and then hopped on after, giving Irvine a tight smile. None of them knew what they were getting in to.
Into the darkness they descended and at the bottom Quistis jumped down to be lightly caught by Seifer. The touch was warm and welcome, her eyes searching his for any alarm or distrust of the room they stood in. When Irvine dropped down the three ventured out once more, lighting electric lanterns so they could see. The room was a collection of books and papers; from ceiling to floor they stretched out everywhere. Filing cabinets stuffed with loose sheets were jammed into corners and tables buried under paperwork were cluttered into small spaces with chairs all around them.
"Looks like a library," Irvine commented,
"Gee, what gave you that idea?" Seifer snapped, a frown on his face,
"Cool it," Quistis growled, stepping forward to the closest table and looking at what had been so closely observed.
The papers screamed loud headlines, most directly from the news, some actual clippings. It was easy to see what they had in common, all of them were conspiracies. Seifer and Irvine had come up with the same thing and, dragging three tables together, they sat down and looked around.
"It's a library of very conspiracy, or rumoured conspiracy in existence," Irvine said, bewildered, "This guy had no life,"
"Maybe he was trying to prove something," Seifer said, looking blankly at a few papers,
"Hold on," Quistis pulled out her glasses and blinked a few times, looking at the writing scribbled down on the notes,
"Watch out bad guys, Trepe's gone badass school instructor." Seifer whispered,
Quistis shot him a look of pure coldness as Irvine cracked up. Her blue crystal eyes flicked back to the papers and she looked at the dates, trying to find the most recent. The closet she could find on any of the tables was a report from last week. Holding it under her arm she went to the filing cabinets and looked for some sort of organization to them.
"Look, he has them sorted out between fallacy and truth, look on the table for one week ago, see if he's labeled it," Quistis replied, finding no marker on the pages she had taken.
There was a silent rustling of papers and then Irvine stood up, holding the matching folder,
"He seems to think it was true,"
"What was true?" Seifer growled, impatient,
Quistis looked at her papers and scanned them, "The new council has been taking money from the town to fund…something. Ah…let's see. To fund the building of a scientific research laboratory…under this house."
She looked up and then looked down at her feet, lastly back at the papers. Irvine and Seifer fell silent and walked over to her, the three pouring over the papers.
"Do you think someone found out?" Irvine asked,
"It could be the council, you know, I doubt they'd want this fiasco recorded," Quistis replied,
"Yeah, you always have to kill the one the knows the most," Seifer added, his eyes narrowed and looking around.
"Does that say if the lab was ever built?" Irvine quipped, his eyes searching the room.
Quistis shook her head and they spread out slightly, their lanterns throwing shadows across the room in eerie poltergeist-like figures. At the back of the long room was a solid door. Gritting her teeth Quistis handed her lantern to Irvine and unhitched her whip once more. She grabbed the lever and pulled it open forcefully. Her eyes widened and a scream tore out of her throat.
"Quistis!"
A lantern smashed. A sword flashed. And a gunshot rang out.
~*~*~*~*~
Author's Note!
You're all going to hate me! I'm going home over the weekend! I'm not going to update until maybe Sunday! But…if you leave me lots of reviews, I'll upload more than one chapter when I get back. Deal? I love you guys!
~Silverium.
