Disclaimer: Verily, I must admit the noble conceptions of Squaresoft to be beyond my humble grasp. Prithee, do not charge me for my pretense. Lawks, I do be a-talking strangeth!
Alternate Fantasy
By Draic
Chapter Two: When You Least Suspect It
Oh, shit…
As I lay there, hypnotized by the gleaming silver blade inches from my face, there was a knock at the door. Before I could think of saying anything, the door opened.
"Squall? Are you awake? You --" Rinoa's voice cut off abruptly.
I shoved the pillow under the sheets a few seconds too late, sat up in bed and tried to look innocent. Rinoa's face was white and she spoke in a breathless whisper.
"Squall, is that a… a knife in your pillow? Oh, Hyne, Squall…" She started towards me and stopped, bit her lip and reached a hand out to me, then abruptly grabbed the ring on the chain around her neck and held on for dear life.
"It's nothing," I told her. "…I dropped it." I added, and winced at the obvious lie.
I expected her to explode and yell at me hysterically, but she just stood there and looked at me, fear and concern and an image of myself reflected in her deep, dark eyes.
"Squall…" she murmured. Now I was worried. Wouldn't she normally have yelled at me?
"What?" I asked hesitantly. Would I actually have preferred it if she yelled?
She shook her head slowly, as if shaking away painful thoughts. "…Quistis wants to talk to you."
Quistis. Vague memories of a dream surfaced, and I felt my face heating. I shook my head. You've probably just received a death threat, Squall. This is not the time to get distracted by things like that.
"Where is she?" I asked, standing and crossing to the washbasin. I splashed my face and looked at Rinoa in the mirror. She was still fiddling with the ring at her throat. "Rinoa?"
She gave a start. "What? Oh, she's in the cafeteria." Some of the colour returned to her face, and she added half-heartedly, "You should get something to eat. You haven't been eating properly since the concer… um, since FH."
I sighed and rubbed my face with a towel. Not since the SeeD exam, actually. Everything just seemed to pile up… Timber, the sorceress, Galbadia's prison, the missiles… I guess I thought it wouldn't be my problem once I told the Headmaster. I was going to dump everything on Cid, and then he turned around and dumped everything on me… ironic. Now I have to deal with Garden's problems as well as my own… It's so depressing…no wonder I can't find an appetite.
I looked up and saw Rinoa was watching me. Or watching through me. She was clearly gone again. Had something bad happened?
"Okay, I'm up." I said. She nodded absently and chewed her lip. "Rinoa…?"
"Mmm?"
"I need to get changed."
Rinoa blushed. "Oh, yeah, right… so, um, I'll see you later, then," she said. She made for the hall, but stopped in the doorway and turned to face me. "Squall, look after yourself, alright?"
I stared at her for a moment. What? Me? Why? Oh…
I'd actually forgotten about the knife for a while.
Rinoa grabbed my arm. "Alright? Squall?"
"…Alright." She turned to go.
"Rinoa?" I called.
"Yes?"
I scratched my head. "Um… You too… Look after yourself."
Oh, great. Fantastic. I sound like Laguna.
She smiled with her sad eyes and left.
I had a quick shower and got changed. Leaning over the bed to get my jacket, I looked down and remembered the knife.
Better not leave it lying around.
I pulled it the rest of the way out of my pillow and dropped it on top of a bunch of paper in the top drawer of my desk, then closed the drawer and locked it. I grabbed my jacket, dropped the key in my pocket and left the room.
Lost in my thoughts, I was halfway to the infirmary when I realised it wasn't the cafeteria. I actually had to look at the directory for the first time in about a decade, discounting the time I'd shown Selphie around.
Eventually, I did make it to the real cafeteria but standing there, looking up at the colossal menu was enough to make me lose my appetite through total indecision.
What should I get? Pie? Sandwiches?
"What'll you have, honey?" the cafeteria lady asked.
Then I saw it: the perfect solution.
I shrugged. "Whatever."
"Okay… how about some Balamb fish and chips and a little salad?"
"Fine."
She passed me a plate of food, and as I took it, she commented, "I haven't seen you in here much lately, Squall."
So?
"You've got to keep your strength up, Commander," she added with a smile.
I sighed. More advice, but no solutions.
"Whatever." I muttered. "Can I have my lunch now?"
She blinked and let go of my plate.
I walked to the eating area and searched the many faces for a sign of golden blonde hair or a green… a red dress. Green? Quistis doesn't wear green. I wondered briefly at the image of Quistis in the twisting green-and-cream outfit, but soon shoved it to the back of my mind. Snapping out of my thoughts, I finally noticed the odd looks I was receiving.
I must look like a fool standing here like this. Oh, screw it. If she wants to talk to me that badly, she can find me.
I chose a table at the back, by a window and poked at the salad.
Who would send me threats by knife? Seifer? He has no idea where we are, now that the Garden's mobile. So… it had to be someone inside Garden. Who hates me that much? Or are they working for--
The clattering of cutlery broke me out of my trance and I looked up as Quistis moved to sit across the table from me.
She caught my eye and smiled. "Sorry, was I interrupting your train of thought?"
"Not really." I was staring at her plate.
Quistis had a serving of lasagne, a few slices of carrot and some lettuce. My mouth watered.
Why did I leave the decision to an overweight, middle-aged woman instead of making up my own mind?
I stared at my own plate and poked doubtfully at a chip.
"I didn't think you liked fish," Quistis commented, starting on her lasagne.
Eyes fixed on her fork, I said, "I don't… really…" I shook my head and looked back up at her face. "Rinoa told me you wanted to talk?"
"Mmm. We're nearing Trabia. We can be at… whatever's left of their Garden by noon tomorrow." She hesitated. "…I know you're probably going to want to check it out, so you'll need to think about whether to take Selphie straight away. Understandably, she's really uptight about this."
"She doesn't seem too upset."
Quistis rolled her eyes.
"And no one thought you seemed stressed at all until you broke down in Galbadia when we heard Seifer had been executed."
I didn't really want to think about that. I looked down at my plate, and was surprised to find I'd eaten the fish and most of the chips. I looked back up at Quistis, who had put down her knife and fork and had her arms folded on the table. Quistis, who whether I liked it or not, knew me better than anyone else.
"…You seriously had no clue?" I asked.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Weird. I was expecting the usual 'whatever.' Maybe I'm losing my touch…" She caught my eye, and said, "Oh, I had some idea, Squall, but you do try so hard to suppress all emotion."
She dropped her eyes and intently studied her plate. I shifted uncomfortably.
"…Is that all you wanted to talk about? Selphie and Trabia?" I asked finally.
Quistis looked startled for some reason.
"Oh! No. No, of course not. For one thing, there's the MD level. Xu had an idea that we could send down some of the higher level SeeDs to get rid of the monsters and do some repairs."
"On what?"
That window you smashed for one, plus the ladder, that damned elevator… they might even find something useful."
I nodded, and she continued.
"The Garden Faculty need to be questioned. They seem to have been loyal to NORG rather than Garden or the Headmaster. Without NORG… we need to make sure they aren't going to do anything drastic, like try to kill Headmaster Cid again. Oh, and speaking of Cid --"
"Hey, Squall!" a male voice called. I put my hand to my head and sighed.
"Zell?" Quistis asked me without turning.
I nodded as the spiky-haired youth made his way to our table and plonked down next to Quistis.
"Oh, hey, Instruc -- uh, I mean, hi, Quistis."
He winced a little as Quistis' smile faded. She obviously still missed being an instructor, and although I was fairly sure NORG had some part in her dismissal, she hadn't reapplied, let alone been asked back. But it was really none of my business. She had to deal with her own problems…
"So, uh, what's going on?" Zell asked, breaking the silence.
"General meeting, by the looks of it," I replied scathingly. He just grinned. "So what were you saying about the Headmaster, Quistis?"
She looked around and leaned towards me a little. "He's resigned."
"What!?" Zell cried, all but drowning out my, "Why?"
"Shhh!" Quistis hissed at Zell. "We don't want anyone knowing about this! It might only be temporary…"
Might!? This is too important a matter to be unsure about! This is bad…
"… and even if it isn't, we don't want anyone panicking until we're sure. As for why… he's been under a lot of stress lately. Half the Garden recently tried to find and kill him, he is one of the few people on the planet who may know where Ellone is and what she means to Edea, plus he was in charge of killing his own wife until recently and now he has to stand aside and let it happen."
"Man," Zell said. We sat in silence for a while.
"If Cid leaves Garden… who's going to be the new Headmaster?" Zell asked quietly.
Quistis' eyes flickered, but she said nothing.
Oh, no. They're going to try and make me Headmaster. No way. I have enough problems already… I gotta get out of here.
"Well that all sounds fine to me," I told Quists. Except for bloody Commander Headmaster Squall, it does! "Is there anything else?" I asked, planning to leave.
"No," Quistis said, and bent over her plate again.
"Hey, Squall," Zell said suddenly. "Was there really a knife in your pillow this morning?"
Quistis' head shot up. "What!?"
Oh, great. I sank back into my seat. I wasn't getting out of this one.
"Rinoa told you?" I asked Zell.
"Yeah, well, she looked worried and I asked why, so…" Catching my drift, he added, "It's not like she's spread it around the whole of Garden or anything. She didn't even seem to want to tell me."
Well, I guess it hadn't spread to Quistis, so that counts for something…
"Squall, this is serious!" Quistis said, looking worried. "Why didn't you tell us!? Someone could be trying to kill you!"
No, because if they were…
"If someone did want to kill me, they wouldn't leave a knife in my pillow when they had a perfect opportunity to put a knife in me." I told her.
"So it was a threat, then."
"A pretty poor one. There was no message or warning, just the knife itself." But then I suddenly remembered… No message? There was that dream with Sis… No, that's impossible.
"But if it wasn't a threat, or an attempt to kill you… that doesn't make any sense." Zell put in.
How could someone from a dream affect the waking world?
"…Maybe it wasn't Squall they were trying to kill…?" Quistis mused. "On the other hand, why would you expect to find anyone else in Squall's dorm?"
The two of them continued the conversation, not noticing my preoccupation.
"Who could have done it?" Zell was saying.
Wasn't there another… dream?
"It has to be someone within Garden."
A few images resurfaced from the depths of my mind. Quistis in green, Seifer… smiling… I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate.
"You think one of us did it?"
If I can just remember what happened… It seemed so real; I remember that.
"Perhaps we have a stowaway?"
Rinoa! Quistis didn't know Rinoa… and… and Selphie had a temper, but was getting along with Seifer.
"Nah, no-one gets past our gatekeeper. But what about in FH? No one was guarding the 2F entrance…"
Zell and Irvine… I don't remember… were they even around?
"The maintenance crew should have noticed… but where would they hide?"
Dr. Kadowaki was in the cafeteria, which was where the infirmary normally is…
"MD level?"
"Not likely, but we can tell the SeeDs going down there to look out, just in case."
It seemed like the whole Garden had been rearranged…
"Training grounds?" Zell offered. "Nah, too dangerous. Parking lot? Quad?"
Then there was that doctor. What was his name? Dincht, wasn't it?
"Squall, what did you do with the knife?"
I wonder… any relation to Zell?
"Squall!"
My train of thought popped like a bubble. "What?" I asked, annoyed.
"Where's the knife? You didn't just leave it in your pillow, did you?"
"Oh… I locked it in my drawer." Managing to recall the last image from my dream, I turned to Zell. "Zell… what does your father look like?" Quistis shared startled glances with Zell and they both stared at me.
"Uh… he's a little taller than me, he has blonde hair…" he began, and stopped. "Why the hell do you want to know?"
Why do I want to know? It was just a dream… "… Just curious."
"I think I have a photo in my wallet… yeah." He pulled out the picture and slid it across the table. Staring out of the photo at me was a perfect replica of the doctor in my dream.
What does this mean?
I looked up at Zell. "Have I ever met your father?"
He scratched his head. "Uh, no… I don't think so… he's a train driver, so he's not in Balamb a lot."
Train driver, not a doctor. But…
"Has he ever… had a different career?"
"The hell!? … Well, from what I hear at home, he was a doctor when I was a kid. He's never really talked much about it…" He trailed off and stared at me, confused.
"Squall, why this sudden interest in Zell's father?" Quistis asked, totally bewildered. "You're not trying to accuse him of attempting to kill you, are you?" Zell laughed nervously. I wasn't listening.
I've never met Zell's father, but I manage to conjure him up in the most life-like dream I've ever had? And a doctor, when he learned the trade when he was younger?
What if… somehow…
What if the dream was real?
And the one with Sis…
No! No, this whole thing is a coincidence. I must've seen a picture of Zell's dad somewhere.
"Squall…"
"No, it's nothing," I cut in. "I'm fine."
"So what was with the question-and-answer jazz?" Zell asked.
How am I going to explain away this?
"I…"
I had no idea what to say.
Luckily, Quistis was there to get it totally wrong for me.
"Oh, Squall!" She was wearing that amused smile she did so well.
"What?" I asked.
"Did Rinoa finally get to you?"
I stared at her. What?
Zell caught on before I did. "Oh, your 'little talk' at the concert?"
I stared from one bemused face to another.
"This is an odd way to start expressing yourself, Squall, but I'm glad you're opening up."
"Yeah, I mean, I'm flattered and all, but… Man, you need to work on your timing!" Zell laughed.
I covered my eyes and tried not to laugh along with him, at him.
"And to think that Rinoa came off thinking it went badly! She could use some lessons in Squall-reading, eh, Squall?" She was attempting to make a joke, but the joke was on her.
Ha! The so-called expert gets it wrong!
But I had to play my part. "Whatever," I said, and tried to look sulky.
Zell moved around the table and sat next to me, draping his arm across my shoulders. "Look, Quistis, we're best buds!"
They were both laughing at me now.
"I'm outta here." I said, no longer needing to act. I threw Zell's arm off me, stood and left them to laugh at my retreating back.
I wandered back to my dorm and locked the door. I needed something to do, to help clear my thoughts a bit. Should I go to the Training Centre? Was I really in the right state of mind to chance fighting a T-Rexaur? Probably not.
There's always the dreaded paperwork…
Except there wasn't. The stacks of paper I remembered from last night were gone. Had someone come in while I was out? I'd have to impress on people my need for privacy. I didn't really mind that all the work had been taken out of my hands – I hadn't actually given it away, so technically I wasn't dumping it on anyone. But I was annoyed that for once, I actually didn't have anything to do. I sat at my desk and looked at the few remaining slips of paper - the students' Garden Improvement Suggestions:
"More funds for the Library Committee" – Library Girl.
"Customary membership to the Garden Festival Committee" - S.T.
"More Hot Dogs!" - Z.D.
It was laughable really. None of these people really thought it would benefit Garden, but it would suit their own purposes quite well. Was this what I was expected to do; what the Commander of Balamb Garden was left to do? Wade through pleas for money, for pet projects and personal squabbles? I wondered what title was awarded to the people who actually did the work.
Mildly amused, I leaned back in my chair and put my hands behind my head. There was a metallic ring as something slipped out of my pocket and hit the floor. I sighed and looked down.
It was the key to my top drawer.
Oh. Yeah.
My good humour evaporated as I picked up the key and unlocked the dagger's prison.
I rummaged around the drawer, then stopped, confused. I tried to peer into the shadows at the back, then in sheer exasperation, I pulled the whole drawer out and turned it upside down.
Papers fountained out and glided through the air. A few lost Gil clinked onto my desk.
But the knife was gone.
Ooh… spooky! (Laughs) Hope everyone's having fun! Thanks to all the reviewers:
AUTHORS:
ZidanesNEWPrincess (hope you haven't fallen off your chair!)
Baby Rose (You still think it's just a dream?)
Elf Dragon (stop being mean to Quistis! You're so MEAN to her!)
faery-of-fiction (thanks for adding some detail to your review!!)
ANONYMITES:
FF8Goddess (my first ever reviewer… I do hope you find me again so you can see this thank you!)
Cailin (my second ever reviewer! Thanks so much!)
Mel
Well, everybody, hope you're enjoying yourselves, and remember the three R's: Read, Review, and… uh, forget the ravioli…
Draic