Ok, so this will be kind of a boring chapter, but hey, ya need the info, so there you are. I know it's been years since I've written, but I still hope you enjoy. Please read and review!!!
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The Bitter Truth: Part 4
What is it that torments us most? Could it be the loss of a loved one or the hurtful words of an enemy? Even if those that we love were taken from our lives, we would still have that sense of finality and the knowledge that, at least for them, it's over. No, the thing that makes us lose sleep at night and causes us to go mad is simply not knowing. Playing over one hundred different ways of how a lover was tortured and killed does nothing to quiet our minds. Someone once said that ignorance is bliss, but they were dead wrong...
Squall grabbed his leather jacket from the passenger seat as he got out of the car. He had just returned from his daily morning training session outside and then a quick stop at Balamb to pick up a few things that he needed. Riding the lift out of the garage, Squall stopped himself before absently scratching the white bandage that covered his cheek.
(At least it's healing) he though to himself. Dr. Kadowaki had insisted that, since the cut that Seifer/Adel had given him was rather small and not too deep, she hadn't needed to cast any magic. She had simply told him that it might leave a scar if he didn't leave it alone. And while he didn't really care if he got another scar or not, he was constantly reminded by his friends (Selphie in particular) not to touch it.
Finally arriving at the main floor of Garden, nothing could have prepared Squall for what he was about to see. At first, there was only one, lying just in front of the door to the garage. Then, a bit further, lay another. And as he continued farther and farther into Garden, he lost count of how many bodies he ran past on his way to the Infirmary.
"Dr. Kadowaki, come quickly!! I don't know what's happened but there are many students hurt! I don't understand what's happened, but you need to hurry!" Squall yelled as he passed from the office and then to each patient's room. Finding no sign of the doctor, he almost ran on to find the headmaster instead when he remembered the storage room at the end of the hall.
"Dr. Kadowaki, are you there?" Finally realizing that something was very, very wrong, Squall tentatively walked towards the last room, drawing his gunblade. As he approached the door, he reached out a hand to push it open. At first, Squall's mind couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. Then gradually, the pieces began to fit together.
There, on one of the extra examining tables was a message; not written in paper and ink, but carved on the forehead of Dr. Kadowaki's severed head, her blood seeping from the letters. He could only pray that she had been dead before that message had been written. Fighting to keep himself from vomiting, Squall lowered his gunblade and inched as close as he could handle to read the message:
"I'm back..."
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Seifer grabbed a towel as he stepped out of the shower and began to dry himself off. He moved slowly, making his movements careful and deliberate so as not to undo Dr. Kadowaki's handiwork. Wrapping the towel around himself, he walked into his room and began to dress.
He sat down on the bed wearing only his pants, debating whether or not to take a quick nap before he met Quistis and their friends for lunch. He was no longer afraid of sleeping, since the last few nights, his hand interlaced with Quistis', he'd had the best nights of his life. Not simply because he was free of his nightmares, but because he had shared his dreams with the woman he loved.
Seifer bent down to put on his socks when a noise from outside stopped him short. He heard people running down the hall. Not really thinking much of it, he crossed his bedroom and grabbed a white ribbed tank top and put it on. Then, after slipping on his shoes, he waved his hand in front of the sensor to open the door.
Nothing happened.
Puzzled, Seifer tried again, but still he got no response. He tried pushing in his personal code to make the sure the door was unlocked, but still no luck.
Seifer was about to turn to try and get a hold of someone through the intercom when he heard more noise coming from outside: the crunching of glass underfoot, the crack of a whip, a hiss of pain, and then the sound of a body hitting the floor before all was silent.
(There's only one person who has a whip in Garden) Seifer thought to himself with mounting panic. (Oh no....)
"Quistis!!" Seifer screamed as he began to pound on the door. Hitting and kicking the door with what little strength he had recovered seemed to have little effect, but he continued until he had used up all of his energy.
Turning his back to the door, Seifer sank to the floor and put his head in his hands, trying in vain to simply think about a way of escaping his prison and not about what could have happened to his beloved Quistis.
Seifer turned his eyes skyward in a silent prayer and then looked desperately around the room, trying to find something that could be of use, when his gaze fell upon the intercom. With renewed determination, he stood, walked over to it, and pushed the button...
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/Hello? Anyone there?/
Squall's head shot up at the sound of a staticy voice. He stood up from where he had been kneeling next to one of the students that had worked in the library and walked over to the intercom.
"Who is this?" he demanded.
/Squall? Is that you?/
".....yes, this is Squall" he said after a slight hesitation. "Who are you?"
/Squall, it's me, Seifer. I think something's happened. I'm locked in my room and can't get out. But I could hear people fighting outside, in the hallway; one of them had a whip. And Squall, you know that Quistis is the only person in Garden who has a whip... I don't know what's happened to her and I can't get out of this fucking room!/
Seifer seemed almost hysterical as he finished talking. /Squall, what's going on?/
Squall paused a few moments before answering. "I don't know exactly what's going on. I just got back from training and so far, everyone that I've seen is dead. I found Zell in the kitchen and the elevator appears to be at the bottom of Garden so I can only assume that Headmaster Cid must be dead as well. .....and I can't find Rinoa. Seifer..... what time did you and Quistis leave the Infirmary?
/Quite a while ago. We were released a few hours before lunch, why?/
Swallowing hard as mental pictures of what he had seen flashed through his mind. "Because, when I found Dr. Kadowaki, there was a message and it seemed pretty fresh."
/What message? And what do you mean by 'fresh'?/
"It was carved into her forehead."
There was a long pause before Seifer answered. /My God...... But what did it say?/
"'I'm back.'"
/Oh no........no, no no, NO! This can't be happening! Squall you have to come and get me out of here; we have to find Quistis and Rinoa. ......God, please don't let them be dead.../
"I'm on my way..."
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It seemed like forever before Seifer heard Squall's voice on the other side of his door. After a few useless tries with the electronic lock, Squall decided to use brute force."Stand back..."
Seifer moved to the far end of his room before Squall shot a few bullets into the door to make a hole large enough for Seifer to crawl through.
"Why is it so dark?" Seifer asked as he emerged into darkness.
"I couldn't get the lights to work when I came in."
Turning to his keypad, Seifer hit a button and the corridor was instantly flooded with light. "Well, that's odd, why didn't it work before?"
With this newfound luminescence, both Squall and Seifer were able to see. Turning, as one, they saw what Seifer had heard when he was locked in his room.
Not too far from Seifer's door was a large pool of blood. Glancing down at his shoes, Squall noticed that he had walked right through it. As he looked back at the blood, he noticed something familiar floating in the middle.
"Oh God, please, no..."
Squall walked slowly to the center and knelt, heedless of the blood, to pick up a necklace from which dangled two rings.
"Squall, what do we do?" Seifer asked quietly.
Squall held back tears as he tried to clean the blood from Rinoa's necklace. "We continue searching until we find them."
"And what if we don't...?" Seifer hated to ask, but his hope was fading from him. Seeing all the blood, knowing that half of it had to be Quistis' made him believe in the worst.
"We will," Squall said with deadly determination. "I'll continue looking in the remaining dorms and you will start outside."
Squall stood up and started walking past Seifer. Taking that as a dismissal, Seifer began to walk towards the Atrium to go outside.
"Oh, and Seifer?"
Seifer turned, and looked at Squall expectantly.
"If you find the person who did this, kill them.......slowly."
A little surprised at that last word, Seifer nodded slowly, understandingly, and then walked outside.