Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Noon, the next day, Irvine ate his lunch alone, as Selphie was in the Quad working on the Garden Festival. He had drills to attend and time to kill afterward, and planned to spend the rest of the day with Selphie. But, of course, nothing ever goes as planned. The White SeeD ship pulled up alongside, matched speed, and, as they normally do, one leapt aboard the Garden's main second floor deck, and waited. Seeing him there, Squall sent Xu to meet him, and find out what they needed. When she returned to the bridge five minutes later, he called a meeting. Irvine ran from the Cafeteria to the elevator, catching up to the short girl on the way. He saw as Zell and Rinoa entered the elevator and sent it up to the second floor, and followed them as soon as the elevator returned. Irvine and Selphie caught up to Zell and Rinoa, and the four reached the Garden's main balcony. Squall and Quistis were already there.
Immediately, Irvine could see that something was wrong. Squall's emotional armor, which Rinoa had to draw him out of so long ago he forgot, and he still retreated into when he had to, lay in ruins, and Irvine could see him barely avoiding crying. Quistis leaned against the Garden wall, her face soaked in tears, although she was not visibly crying. She hid it very well. A White SeeD faced the two, primarily focused on Squall. Rinoa spoke first "Squall, what's wrong?" Squall turned to her "You'd best let him explain it," his voice choked with tears, his hand indicating the White SeeD, who explained the situation, telling the exact same thing that had Squall and Quistis crying. Selphie grabbed Irvine for comfort, who threw his arms around the smaller girl, tears streaming down both of their faces. Squall recovered first, mostly, his sadness turning to wrath waiting for direction. "Tell me who did this! I'll kill him myself!" Rinoa, who was less affected by the news "Calm down, Squall. It's too dangerous!" She grabbed at her boyfriend, trying to restrain his fury, and caught his arms. He threw her off from his left, although she retained her grip on his right. The White SeeD spoke, or rather spat, a single word, a name "Seifer."
The news that it was Seifer's doing brought Squall's wrath to well beyond a boiling point. "Once I get my hands on him there won't be enough left to burn!" "Calm down Squally!" "After all she did for him as a kid, he repays her like this? I'll scatter the bastard all over Deling City! I'll squeeze enough blood from him to turn the entire sea blood-red!" "Squally, would you please calm down? It isn't safe for you to go like this!" Squall, though, was well beyond rational, or the point of listening to anyone, even Rinoa. However, he was beginning to get tired, and his burning wrath had cooled to icy fury, and it showed in his voice, which, if tone of voice affected the temperature, was cold enough to reach the ocean a deck below, and freeze it to the point of crushing Garden's basement. "I'll give him... a heart-to-heart... with the Lionheart." The last three words were said patting the elaborate grip on his gunblade, which he always carried with him. Quistis, who had also calmed a bit, spoke up "Rinoa's right. If you'd watch the news, you'd know that Seifer is quite popular in Galbadia. Besides, we need you to run Garden. Send someone else."
Squall began to think "Quistis is right. But who? I can't endanger Rinoa. Zell's not an assassin. Selphie's not either. Either Quistis or Irvine... Irvine's a trained sniper, and was raised in Galbadia for seven years of his life, so he can blend in." Quistis interrupted his train of thought "Squall, are you there." Squall snapped back to where he was, away from planning a mission. "Irvine, I'm assigning you to the mission to assassinate Seifer. Gather your sniper rifle and sidearm, along with your ammo. You're setting off on foot as soon as we reach Timber." Irvine was busy crying into Selphie's hair, but hearing his name snapped him back. It still took time to process, as the news of Seifer's latest murder still filled his mind. Seconds later "Yes sir," he said as he saluted his commander. Squall turned to the White Seed "Did you recognize any accomplices?" "He attacked as part of a pack of three, with the rest of the boarding party, probably the entire crew of his ship, holding many of us off. His right flank was covered by a wind mage with silver-gray hair wearing a blue shirt and carrying an oversized blue shuriken. I think she was female, if she is, she's not very feminine, and hides what she can't avoid altogether, and besides, I didn't get a good look at her, before Seifer's left flank, a black man who must weigh two hundred pounds with all his muscle, knocked me out by almost spearing me through the gut on his staff." Squall recognized those two descriptions "Fujin and Raijin. They knew what they were doing, and must take the consequences. Irvine, kill them if you can."
Later...
Balamb Garden pulled to a small area off the Timber coast. A small boat came out from Timber to meet them. Irvine and Selphie wandered to the main second-floor deck of Balamb Garden, where Irvine and Selphie joined the tide of people leaving for shore leave. They landed in Timber Harbor, a small dock connected to Timber proper via a short railway. The two rode in to Timber, Selphie's normal enthusiasm for trains and boundless energy contained, because she would have to say goodbye to her Irvy. She sat on him the entire ride. When they reached the main Timber station, Selphie kissed him goodbye, their kiss continuing for several minutes, neither wanting to let the other go, both knowing that they must, Finally, Irvine pulled away from Selphie, his hands sliding, reluctantly, off her body, and he began, alone, to go to avenge a death and kill a murderer, his rifle in a case in his duffel bag, his pistol on his belt. He stepped aboard his train, and the train pulled out, its destination: Deling City.
Irvine's train pulled in to the city, his ride mostly undisturbed, as few would want to disturb a man with a sniper rifle at his side. Besides, he spent the day-long trip entirely in SeeD's private cabin. He was incredibly tense on this train trip. He tried to calm down, to think of Selphie, but that just enraged him more. As Deling City drew near, he became even tenser. Nothing would calm him down. He found a bottle of (illegal) tension pills that he had bought for this purpose in his pocket. He took one, and it began to flow through his system, calming him down minutes later. "The price we pay for power..." He disembarked the train, and, concealing his rifle in his coat, disassembled for easier concealment, began to walk to the Deling City Hotel. There he paid for three nights, rode the elevator up to his floor, and walked to his room. There he checked the maid service schedule, and decided he'd continue to hide his gun case in his duffel bag. It wasn't labeled as any gun, and, besides, it had a strong lock. Irvine walked to his window. It had a good look at the Deling City square. He stripped, crawled into bed, and went to sleep.
He'd spend one day with his ear to the ground, another to investigate sniping positions and his target's locations, and the third to finish quickly, then be out before anyone noticed. The first of his investigation days went by perfectly. He found where Seifer's mansion is, in the rich district along the edge, near General Caraway's old home, before he moved to the Presidential Residence. He found what buying people drinks can find about Eternal Peace, and about Seifer's speaking schedule. Seifer would have a speech on the day Irvine had planned for his assassination. Irvine decided to get him before his speech. He stopped by a store to buy a bottle of alcohol detoxifying pills, and took a full dose, along with several glasses of water from the room sink. At least he wouldn't be badly hung-over in the morning.
He woke up the next morning with none of the effects of the alcohol. First, he went to buy binoculars, in a "how can I have forgotten those?" mood. He bought a good pair, buying everything in cash, because it was less traceable, and left the store. Back at his hotel room, he began to scan everything he could see with his binoculars. Seifer's mansion was visible from his room, and he began to take in every detail. He could see the murderer himself in his office. That arrogant smirk still sat on his face "Who are you killing this time, Seifer?" Irvine scanned further, and spotted Raijin and Fujin there too, and decided his room would be a workable spot. He began to go hunt for other possibilities, to kill time the rest of his day. The central arch was locked. Out on the plains, there really was nothing to afford him concealment that wasn't so alone that it would be obvious. He wouldn't even try the Presidential Residence. He looked at a few other possibilities, but, eventually, decided on his hotel room.
He awoke the next day. This was the day. He pulled his sniper rifle case from his duffel bag, took the key from the keychain he always had in his pocket, and unlocked it. He packed his bags, and assembled his rifle, taking meticulous attention to every bolt, every part screwed to another. This was it. He looked at his box of .50 caliber rifle rounds, carried inside the case. He loaded and chambered a bullet, then set his rifle down, opened his window, pushed out the screen, and began to watch with his binoculars. There was Seifer, in his office. Irvine took a dose of anti-tension. Raijin and Fujin were in two of the courtyards of Seifer's mansion complex. Irvine took aim, first at Raijin, then at Fujin, then, finally, at Seifer. His finger tensed on the trigger, and the same sound that he had heard hundreds of times before, the sound that threatened his right ear's hearing, and the sound that ended a life, rang out from the gun, despite its silencer. Irvine reloaded, swung the rifle around, and aimed it at the girl who always dressed in light blue. His laser sight settled between her eye and her eye patch, under her gray hair, and the sound of death rang out again. He settled on Raijin, and fired a third time. "That was for my mission," formed in his lips and was forced out by a breath from his lungs. He found he had more extra bullets than he could use, so he reloaded a third time, and lowered the gun a fourth time, shooting the man in the white trench coat, the man who no longer had a head, in the chest "and that was for Sis's murder."
Irvine packed up the gun hurriedly, closed the bullet box, put them in their case, and locked it firmly. He buried the case under his dirty laundry in his duffel bag, and proceeded downstairs to check out. He had his tickets for the train out in his hand already, and climbed aboard. Killing one of the people he grew up with, whom he remembered from his childhood, even once one of his childhood friends, took a lot out of him. He slept most of the train ride, and his dreams constantly wandered to Seifer. He heard the voices of his friends, sometimes giving him a hero's welcome, which he hated, them giving a hero's welcome to a murderer, as much as when they yelled at him for killing the man who had been raised as his brother. Seifer killed Ellone, he killed Seifer, what made him any better? Once, he heard Edea's, no, Matron's, voice, his memories of his childhood fights with Seifer all rolled into one.
And yet, consciously, he knew that she was dead, killed by Seifer's terrorists, most likely. But, he realized, he had tried to kill her. What made his attempt at murdering his mother-figure any better than Seifer's doing the same by proxy? He couldn't talk to Selphie about this, he needed someone who would remember. Rinoa could remember, was a good friend of his, and was nice. She'd be able to fin an answer to all this, a reason where there was none, and set his thoughts to rest. He almost wished he hadn't given up GFs, so that he could forget this. But then he remembered Selphie. Using GFs from the age of twelve onward had left her hopelessly addicted, and with the memory of a goldfish. He would not let that happen to himself. His thoughts turning to Selphie came with another realization: He had spent four days away from her. Balamb Garden would be returning to Balamb two days after he left, and he'd need to take a connecting train from Timber to reach Balamb, and meet up with them. Selphie, with her GF-weakened memory, might not even remember Irvine. This made him terribly unhappy.
Author's Notes and Recap: The following characters are dead: Cid and Edea (killed by Seifer's terrorists), Ellone (killed by Seifer), Raijin, Fujin, and Seifer (killed by Irvine). Only Irvine and Rinoa have any memory whatsoever. Next Chapter will include more romance between Irvine and Rinoa, and signs of problems in her relationship with Squall. As for Irvine with Selphie, I suppose you'll have to find out.
To my reviewers:
Green: As I said, next chapter is IrvinexRinoa, with less angst or villainous plotting to get in the way.
fallingfarther: Glad you like it, and thanks for your help with ideas. I've stressed this before in a review of FOYD: Proofread for spelling. Your ideas are good, but if anyone but you had written Smoke and Mirrors, I'd have stopped reading after the first sentence because of its atrocious conventions (especially spelling. Yes, I do that. If a story doesn't look readable, I skip it). If you're going to have to wait ~24 hours for something to show up, you don't need to type as fast as you can. Plus I'd expect better from you. I was always in the normal English classes and I *still* could spell better than you can.
Wonderful Failure: Thanks. I've got *checks* 12 more chapters to write and post, if I don't combine any more (originally, from SeeD finding Ellone's death to Irvine assigned to go to Deling was Chapter 3, and chapter 4 picked up there and ended with the sniping scene).
Noon, the next day, Irvine ate his lunch alone, as Selphie was in the Quad working on the Garden Festival. He had drills to attend and time to kill afterward, and planned to spend the rest of the day with Selphie. But, of course, nothing ever goes as planned. The White SeeD ship pulled up alongside, matched speed, and, as they normally do, one leapt aboard the Garden's main second floor deck, and waited. Seeing him there, Squall sent Xu to meet him, and find out what they needed. When she returned to the bridge five minutes later, he called a meeting. Irvine ran from the Cafeteria to the elevator, catching up to the short girl on the way. He saw as Zell and Rinoa entered the elevator and sent it up to the second floor, and followed them as soon as the elevator returned. Irvine and Selphie caught up to Zell and Rinoa, and the four reached the Garden's main balcony. Squall and Quistis were already there.
Immediately, Irvine could see that something was wrong. Squall's emotional armor, which Rinoa had to draw him out of so long ago he forgot, and he still retreated into when he had to, lay in ruins, and Irvine could see him barely avoiding crying. Quistis leaned against the Garden wall, her face soaked in tears, although she was not visibly crying. She hid it very well. A White SeeD faced the two, primarily focused on Squall. Rinoa spoke first "Squall, what's wrong?" Squall turned to her "You'd best let him explain it," his voice choked with tears, his hand indicating the White SeeD, who explained the situation, telling the exact same thing that had Squall and Quistis crying. Selphie grabbed Irvine for comfort, who threw his arms around the smaller girl, tears streaming down both of their faces. Squall recovered first, mostly, his sadness turning to wrath waiting for direction. "Tell me who did this! I'll kill him myself!" Rinoa, who was less affected by the news "Calm down, Squall. It's too dangerous!" She grabbed at her boyfriend, trying to restrain his fury, and caught his arms. He threw her off from his left, although she retained her grip on his right. The White SeeD spoke, or rather spat, a single word, a name "Seifer."
The news that it was Seifer's doing brought Squall's wrath to well beyond a boiling point. "Once I get my hands on him there won't be enough left to burn!" "Calm down Squally!" "After all she did for him as a kid, he repays her like this? I'll scatter the bastard all over Deling City! I'll squeeze enough blood from him to turn the entire sea blood-red!" "Squally, would you please calm down? It isn't safe for you to go like this!" Squall, though, was well beyond rational, or the point of listening to anyone, even Rinoa. However, he was beginning to get tired, and his burning wrath had cooled to icy fury, and it showed in his voice, which, if tone of voice affected the temperature, was cold enough to reach the ocean a deck below, and freeze it to the point of crushing Garden's basement. "I'll give him... a heart-to-heart... with the Lionheart." The last three words were said patting the elaborate grip on his gunblade, which he always carried with him. Quistis, who had also calmed a bit, spoke up "Rinoa's right. If you'd watch the news, you'd know that Seifer is quite popular in Galbadia. Besides, we need you to run Garden. Send someone else."
Squall began to think "Quistis is right. But who? I can't endanger Rinoa. Zell's not an assassin. Selphie's not either. Either Quistis or Irvine... Irvine's a trained sniper, and was raised in Galbadia for seven years of his life, so he can blend in." Quistis interrupted his train of thought "Squall, are you there." Squall snapped back to where he was, away from planning a mission. "Irvine, I'm assigning you to the mission to assassinate Seifer. Gather your sniper rifle and sidearm, along with your ammo. You're setting off on foot as soon as we reach Timber." Irvine was busy crying into Selphie's hair, but hearing his name snapped him back. It still took time to process, as the news of Seifer's latest murder still filled his mind. Seconds later "Yes sir," he said as he saluted his commander. Squall turned to the White Seed "Did you recognize any accomplices?" "He attacked as part of a pack of three, with the rest of the boarding party, probably the entire crew of his ship, holding many of us off. His right flank was covered by a wind mage with silver-gray hair wearing a blue shirt and carrying an oversized blue shuriken. I think she was female, if she is, she's not very feminine, and hides what she can't avoid altogether, and besides, I didn't get a good look at her, before Seifer's left flank, a black man who must weigh two hundred pounds with all his muscle, knocked me out by almost spearing me through the gut on his staff." Squall recognized those two descriptions "Fujin and Raijin. They knew what they were doing, and must take the consequences. Irvine, kill them if you can."
Later...
Balamb Garden pulled to a small area off the Timber coast. A small boat came out from Timber to meet them. Irvine and Selphie wandered to the main second-floor deck of Balamb Garden, where Irvine and Selphie joined the tide of people leaving for shore leave. They landed in Timber Harbor, a small dock connected to Timber proper via a short railway. The two rode in to Timber, Selphie's normal enthusiasm for trains and boundless energy contained, because she would have to say goodbye to her Irvy. She sat on him the entire ride. When they reached the main Timber station, Selphie kissed him goodbye, their kiss continuing for several minutes, neither wanting to let the other go, both knowing that they must, Finally, Irvine pulled away from Selphie, his hands sliding, reluctantly, off her body, and he began, alone, to go to avenge a death and kill a murderer, his rifle in a case in his duffel bag, his pistol on his belt. He stepped aboard his train, and the train pulled out, its destination: Deling City.
Irvine's train pulled in to the city, his ride mostly undisturbed, as few would want to disturb a man with a sniper rifle at his side. Besides, he spent the day-long trip entirely in SeeD's private cabin. He was incredibly tense on this train trip. He tried to calm down, to think of Selphie, but that just enraged him more. As Deling City drew near, he became even tenser. Nothing would calm him down. He found a bottle of (illegal) tension pills that he had bought for this purpose in his pocket. He took one, and it began to flow through his system, calming him down minutes later. "The price we pay for power..." He disembarked the train, and, concealing his rifle in his coat, disassembled for easier concealment, began to walk to the Deling City Hotel. There he paid for three nights, rode the elevator up to his floor, and walked to his room. There he checked the maid service schedule, and decided he'd continue to hide his gun case in his duffel bag. It wasn't labeled as any gun, and, besides, it had a strong lock. Irvine walked to his window. It had a good look at the Deling City square. He stripped, crawled into bed, and went to sleep.
He'd spend one day with his ear to the ground, another to investigate sniping positions and his target's locations, and the third to finish quickly, then be out before anyone noticed. The first of his investigation days went by perfectly. He found where Seifer's mansion is, in the rich district along the edge, near General Caraway's old home, before he moved to the Presidential Residence. He found what buying people drinks can find about Eternal Peace, and about Seifer's speaking schedule. Seifer would have a speech on the day Irvine had planned for his assassination. Irvine decided to get him before his speech. He stopped by a store to buy a bottle of alcohol detoxifying pills, and took a full dose, along with several glasses of water from the room sink. At least he wouldn't be badly hung-over in the morning.
He woke up the next morning with none of the effects of the alcohol. First, he went to buy binoculars, in a "how can I have forgotten those?" mood. He bought a good pair, buying everything in cash, because it was less traceable, and left the store. Back at his hotel room, he began to scan everything he could see with his binoculars. Seifer's mansion was visible from his room, and he began to take in every detail. He could see the murderer himself in his office. That arrogant smirk still sat on his face "Who are you killing this time, Seifer?" Irvine scanned further, and spotted Raijin and Fujin there too, and decided his room would be a workable spot. He began to go hunt for other possibilities, to kill time the rest of his day. The central arch was locked. Out on the plains, there really was nothing to afford him concealment that wasn't so alone that it would be obvious. He wouldn't even try the Presidential Residence. He looked at a few other possibilities, but, eventually, decided on his hotel room.
He awoke the next day. This was the day. He pulled his sniper rifle case from his duffel bag, took the key from the keychain he always had in his pocket, and unlocked it. He packed his bags, and assembled his rifle, taking meticulous attention to every bolt, every part screwed to another. This was it. He looked at his box of .50 caliber rifle rounds, carried inside the case. He loaded and chambered a bullet, then set his rifle down, opened his window, pushed out the screen, and began to watch with his binoculars. There was Seifer, in his office. Irvine took a dose of anti-tension. Raijin and Fujin were in two of the courtyards of Seifer's mansion complex. Irvine took aim, first at Raijin, then at Fujin, then, finally, at Seifer. His finger tensed on the trigger, and the same sound that he had heard hundreds of times before, the sound that threatened his right ear's hearing, and the sound that ended a life, rang out from the gun, despite its silencer. Irvine reloaded, swung the rifle around, and aimed it at the girl who always dressed in light blue. His laser sight settled between her eye and her eye patch, under her gray hair, and the sound of death rang out again. He settled on Raijin, and fired a third time. "That was for my mission," formed in his lips and was forced out by a breath from his lungs. He found he had more extra bullets than he could use, so he reloaded a third time, and lowered the gun a fourth time, shooting the man in the white trench coat, the man who no longer had a head, in the chest "and that was for Sis's murder."
Irvine packed up the gun hurriedly, closed the bullet box, put them in their case, and locked it firmly. He buried the case under his dirty laundry in his duffel bag, and proceeded downstairs to check out. He had his tickets for the train out in his hand already, and climbed aboard. Killing one of the people he grew up with, whom he remembered from his childhood, even once one of his childhood friends, took a lot out of him. He slept most of the train ride, and his dreams constantly wandered to Seifer. He heard the voices of his friends, sometimes giving him a hero's welcome, which he hated, them giving a hero's welcome to a murderer, as much as when they yelled at him for killing the man who had been raised as his brother. Seifer killed Ellone, he killed Seifer, what made him any better? Once, he heard Edea's, no, Matron's, voice, his memories of his childhood fights with Seifer all rolled into one.
And yet, consciously, he knew that she was dead, killed by Seifer's terrorists, most likely. But, he realized, he had tried to kill her. What made his attempt at murdering his mother-figure any better than Seifer's doing the same by proxy? He couldn't talk to Selphie about this, he needed someone who would remember. Rinoa could remember, was a good friend of his, and was nice. She'd be able to fin an answer to all this, a reason where there was none, and set his thoughts to rest. He almost wished he hadn't given up GFs, so that he could forget this. But then he remembered Selphie. Using GFs from the age of twelve onward had left her hopelessly addicted, and with the memory of a goldfish. He would not let that happen to himself. His thoughts turning to Selphie came with another realization: He had spent four days away from her. Balamb Garden would be returning to Balamb two days after he left, and he'd need to take a connecting train from Timber to reach Balamb, and meet up with them. Selphie, with her GF-weakened memory, might not even remember Irvine. This made him terribly unhappy.
Author's Notes and Recap: The following characters are dead: Cid and Edea (killed by Seifer's terrorists), Ellone (killed by Seifer), Raijin, Fujin, and Seifer (killed by Irvine). Only Irvine and Rinoa have any memory whatsoever. Next Chapter will include more romance between Irvine and Rinoa, and signs of problems in her relationship with Squall. As for Irvine with Selphie, I suppose you'll have to find out.
To my reviewers:
Green: As I said, next chapter is IrvinexRinoa, with less angst or villainous plotting to get in the way.
fallingfarther: Glad you like it, and thanks for your help with ideas. I've stressed this before in a review of FOYD: Proofread for spelling. Your ideas are good, but if anyone but you had written Smoke and Mirrors, I'd have stopped reading after the first sentence because of its atrocious conventions (especially spelling. Yes, I do that. If a story doesn't look readable, I skip it). If you're going to have to wait ~24 hours for something to show up, you don't need to type as fast as you can. Plus I'd expect better from you. I was always in the normal English classes and I *still* could spell better than you can.
Wonderful Failure: Thanks. I've got *checks* 12 more chapters to write and post, if I don't combine any more (originally, from SeeD finding Ellone's death to Irvine assigned to go to Deling was Chapter 3, and chapter 4 picked up there and ended with the sniping scene).