A/N: While this chapter has a certain amount of drama, it's not as munch
as usual. After the last two chapters, I need a bit of a break from it.
Also, this chapter will have a few scenes that aren't Squinoa or Spaye-
centric. There's a little in here with Jet, Ed, and Zell, because I feel
I've over-looked them, and because I wanted to begin cultivate something of
a father-daughter relationship with Jet and Ed. No worries, though,
because this chapter is mostly Squinoa.
Session 8: Balamb Shuffle
Shards of broken glass glinted upon the marble floor, shining like stars that had fallen from above. Smatters of deep red liquid dotted the floor, a series of blood moons to complete the earthly sky, and bodies lay strew about, limp and lifeless, stretched out as if they'd gained the ability to fly. Spike crossed his arms over his chest and frowned, his usual mischievous eyes now darkly serious.
"Believe it or not, we were lucky," Margie said. "If Shin hadn't taken charge in your absence, we might all be dead right now. It was all so sudden... It seemed that our thoughts just escaped us."
"Where is Shin?"
"In the infirmary. He took a couple bullets, but he's all right. Can't say that his brother Lin faired quite as well... He's missing."
Spike nodded, watching with a distant expression as a crew of their own people worked to clear the mess. "So, who was it? Phoenix, Blue Snake, White Wolf?"
"I don't know. No one has taken responsibility for the attack yet."
"No one? That's not right. Any syndicate would've claimed responsibility for this immediately. And it doesn't make sense to attack us here. We've managed to keep decent relations with all the various syndicates; we don't have a rival. And if it was property or merchandise they wanted, they would have started there."
While Spike rambled on in the background, Faye wandered away from him, slowly picking her way through the debris and maneuvering around the bodies. As one of them was picked up and carried away, her eye caught on something falling from his pocket. Moving carefully to the spot where the fallen enemy once lay, she picked up what appeared to be a card, and realized that it was exactly the same as the one she'd ripped off of Nida.
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The first sensation to return was the pain. With every breath she drew and released, an unimaginable pain accompanied the exchange. Drowsily, she slid her hand down until she felt something thick and stiff around her mid section. Pushing the questions out of her mind, she stretched and allowed her eyes to flutter open.
At first, she expected to see the baby blue walls of her room back home, decorated with posters of her favorite music groups and movie stars, and an autographed picture of her mother. The brief image that passed through her mind was one of cold steel walls, however, and she decided she must be asleep on the ship's infamous stiff yellow couch. So it was true? He had allowed her to come back? She turned on her side, and through the pain, she realized the couch felt a lot comfier than it had been before. Then, a familiar scent enticed her senses, and she sat up so suddenly, she had to bite back a scream.
The general lack of possessions gave it away. The one time she'd been in Zell's room, it had been covered wall-to-wall with posters of bikini-clad women and rap artists. Edward's room had her trademark smiley face painted everywhere, and even Jet's room had something of a personal flair with all the ship repair manuals and his award-winning bonsai tree on a bookshelf. Something between panic and excitement burned in her stomach as she realized, with a start, that she had been sleeping in Squall Leonhart's bed.
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Jet frowned in concentration, gently snipping off a limb from one of his bonsai trees with his miniature, palm-sized hedge clippers. "Can't it wait? We don't exactly have the money to be buying parts right now."
Squall, who was leaned in the doorway of what had been deemed Jet's bonsai room, shook his head. "I wasn't the one who asked to go to Europa. I could've told you my ship wouldn't be safe there. It wasn't the first time that's happened to me. And anyway, I barely managed to make it back after they took off with most of my parts."
"It's not in the budget."
"Well, I can't go out and get more bounties until it's fixed."
Jet growled and slammed his plastic fist on the table. "Dammit, if it isn't one thing it's another! I swear things were much easier before I let you people on board."
"Jet! Edward's tummy goes rumble-rumble!" a voice called from somewhere down the hall. "Rumble, humble, mumble... Chicken, and duck- duck... hmm... Edward does not know what rhymes with duck-duck... Maybe what Jet said when he cut his bonsai? Bonsai, bok choy, duck-duck, fu-"
"Edward!" Jet yelled, pushing past Squall and stomping into the living room where Ed was walking on her hands. "Get ready! We're going after parts for the ship!"
Zell, who had been stretched out on the sofa, yawned and said, "Hey, count me in, too. If I keep lounging around the ship like this I'm gonna start to get chubby."
"Start to?" Squall retorted as he started out of the room. "I'm in the shower."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Jet argued. "We're going to get parts for your ship and you're just gonna stay here?"
He stopped in mid-stride, silently frowning for a moment before he said, "Someone has to stay behind and watch after Rinoa. I guess... Since I'm sort of responsible for her being here in the first place..."
Zell chuckled. "Aw, you're worried about her! You called her by her name and even let her sleep in your room."
"Well," the slightly older man scratched at the back at the back of his neck. "Her ribs are busted, and the couch is uncomfortable... I... I don't wanna hear her bitching about it later."
"Ah, so tending her wounds was just something you did to avoid her yelling at you for it later?" The blonde grinned. "And I guess it had nothing to do with that fact that you had to un-"
"Leave it be, Zell," Jet warned. "And anyway, unless you want me to leave you behind, I suggest you quite your babbling and get ready. I'm heading to Balamb for the parts shop in a few minutes."
Even as Jet said this he had a smile on his face. Shaking his head at the teasing from his comrades, Squall took the stairs into the cockpit and leaned against the window, staring at the calm blue waters of the island to pass time until the others left, and he could move through the ship without being laughed at.
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(Everything was so calm and peaceful. I should've known it wouldn't last. But why? Why would one of my own people betray me? Faye said I didn't trust people on a personal level, but isn't this personal? Who else could be lying to me that's right under my nose?)
"Still sulking, Spike?"
"I'm not sulking. Just thinking."
The yellow-clad woman that had come up behind him shrugged. "Same difference. It's just one incident. It doesn't mean-"
"That it won't happen again? You're street smart Faye, you should know that this was only the beginning."
"But that's not what's bothering you."
He shrugged. "Doesn't matter."
"Hmm, let's see..." she began in that taunting voice that grated his nerves. "Could it be because there was a traitor among your people for all this time and you never knew? Because you were betrayed by someone you trusted? Hurts, doesn't it?"
(It's not the first time...)
"Can it, Faye. I don't need your input."
"Oh, I must have struck a nerve," Faye purred. "Guess this isn't the first time you've put your faith where it didn't belong? Obviously you didn't learned your lesson the last time."
(I learned never to let someone get too close... They'll shoot you in the back. Or someone you love.)
"Well, Spike, don't beat yourself up too much," she said, offering fake sympathy. "We all make mistakes... even if most of us don't make them twice."
"You don't get it, do you?" he asked finally. "If there was one traitor there could be more. No, I never trusted anyone on a personal level, but I did try to trust my men as best as I could. I respected them if nothing else. I thought that might be enough to hold this organization together, but now that I know I'm wrong... now that this has happened, no one can be relied upon. Any sense of security is gone... Anyone can be the enemy." His eyes, now almost black with the utter seriousness with which he spoke, locked with her own. "Even you."
Despite her best attempts to lock down her emotions, Faye quivered inside...
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Market Street was packed from side to side with shoppers, merchants, and the ever annoying tourist that would wander, lost for the most part, from stall to stall, completely unaware that they were being ripped off. At the end of this mile-long stretch of road was a parts shop, and it was probably the emptiest shop of all of them in Balamb's infamous Plaza. Even the alleys and side streets that branched off from the main road were filled to bursting with people.
"It's easy to get lost, here," Jet began at the entrance to the Plaza. "We have to make it to the end of the road, and we have to make it together. Don't wander off, you two!"
Zell and Edward both nodded like obedient children before following him into the thick crowd. After pushing their way past a few stalls, Zell broke away from Jet and ran to one of them that was loaded with magazines.
"Oh, man! I don't have this issue yet!" he exclaimed, picking up a video game magazine. "Or this one!" he added, snatching up a magazine with a scantily clad woman on the front.
Scowling, Jet shoved his way to the excited blonde and grabbed him roughly by the shoulders. "Those aren't in the budget, either! Now come on! If you wander off again, I'm leaving you behind!"
Jet turned around, expecting to see Edward at his side, but saw only a shifting mass of pedestrians rushing past him. The flame-haired child was nowhere to be seen.
Down a side street, Edward rolled and tumbled her way between people's feet, following her nose toward the ramen stand further down. She came to an abrupt stop when, down another side street, something shiny caught her eye. Ambling down the road, she came to a stall near one of the side gates that was decorated with windmills.
"Where has Edward seen those before?" the girl wondered aloud. Her musings were cut short when a large blue van busted through the gate and went swerving down the street, causing shoppers to run screaming. At the top of the tall antennae was a yellow smiley face, and Edward decided that it would look great on the antennae for the controls she built to the ship. Loping along on all fours, Edward caught up to the van quickly enough, and jumped onto the hood, lightly smacking the windshield as the driver swerved in a panic. At the same moment, a bullet fired from behind the van struck the back wheel, and the van became violently acquainted with the wall around the shopping center.
Edward lightly bounced against the ground, after snatching the smiley face while she fell, before standing and doing cart wheels all the way to the back of the van where the back door had come open. The girl curiously peeked inside, and with a gasp of awe declared, "It's a woof-woof!"
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It was slightly unnerving, though the fact that she was still wearing the same undergarments from before did ease her apprehension a little. Still, the only people on the ship capable of bandaging her up were men, and that meant that a man had undressed her while she was unconscious.
(I don't think they'd... do anything. Jet's too much of a gentlemen, and Zell... Well, I can't be so sure with him. But Squall? Oh that would be embarrassing...)
The over-sized black shirt she now wore was definitely his. It was the same one she had 'borrowed' before he'd taken her shopping for new clothes. But why would he bother to take care of her? She already knew he didn't care.
She frowned to herself as the image of Squall gunning down her former captor flashed through her mind once more. Squall was almost always calm, never allowing his emotions to control his actions, or even his expression. And yet, he'd gotten so worked up the night before that he'd killed someone. His eyes had burned with uncontrollable rage, waves of anger seeming to pour off of him in warning of how dangerous and unstable he had become... It certainly made her think twice now about her teasing him.
Then, of course, there was the undeniable curiosity about his past. She had a vague idea of what had happened, but she wanted to hear it, word for word, from his mouth. Still, she didn't think after seeing what happened to Vincent for picking at Squall's past, that she would ever dare to ask. With a cold, sinking feeling, Rinoa realized that she was now afraid of the same man that she'd become hopelessly attracted to.
She tried to push the thought from her mind and drift back to sleep. If anything could ease her mind right now, the peacefulness of slumber would be it. Apparently the fates had other plans, however, because a major distraction came walking through the door in the next instant.
She went completely still, as though she was asleep, and he didn't think to check and confirm it. He figured if she was awake, she'd have been up and talking by that point. Instead she just watched him silently, wondering what he was up to while he pulled a clean towel from his dresser before shedding his shirt. She smiled at the sight, happy that she could enjoy it without his attention on her, until she realized he was undoing his pants, too. A brief debate with her conscience followed, and grudgingly she gave a small 'ahem' to get his attention.
Rinoa had never known him to be jumpy, but when he heard her behind him he nearly jumped two feet in the air. Squall turned around to look at her, confused for a short moment, before scratching at the back of his neck in what she recognized as a sign of his nervousness.
"I, uh... thought you were sleeping."
Fear and distrust made way for amusement, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Oh really? I thought you were just giving me a show."
In mock anger, he tossed his shirt at her so that it landed on her head, and she laughed hard until it was broken by a small yelp of pain at the stabbing sensation in her ribs. As she pulled the cloth from over her eyes, she saw him looking back at her, something that could be interpreted as concern to the untrained eye crossing his face. "You all right?"
"If I am I certainly don't feel like it," she replied, her vision wandering away from his face against her will. "Oh my God! Were you hurt last night?" she demanded.
"What? No, what would make you think..." his voice trailed off as he noticed where her line of vision was aimed. "Oh," he began, his voice unusually soft. He gently touched the two scars on his side, the unpleasant memory attached to them drawing his mouth into a thin line. "These are from a long time ago," he replied gruffly, turning his back on her so that she couldn't see them anymore.
"I... I'm sorry," she said quickly, the fear rushing back to her. "I didn't mean to make you angry!"
"I'm not angry with you," he returned. "You weren't the one that..."
Rinoa recalled Vincent's words before, and immediately understood. "Yes, I know, but... I didn't mean to bring up bad memories. You... obviously don't like that too much," she pointed out with a dry, nervous laugh.
He turned back to her, one eyebrow arched as he studied the uneasy expression on her face. "What's wrong with you?"
"N-nothing..."
Sighing, he pulled on another shirt before stepping closer to her, his intentions of a shower now completely forgotten. The closer he got, the more desperate her eyes grew, begging him not to come any nearer. He ignored the pitiful look, not stopping until he was seated on the bed next to her. "You're... afraid of me?"
She looked away, out of terror or shame she wasn't sure. Was it abnormal to feel this way? She wasn't sure of that, either. Spike had been the only man in her life that hadn't taken his anger out on her, even her father had...
"Rinoa, look at me, please."
She shook her head, unwilling to comply, but was surprised at the gentle tone of his voice. Her father, Vincent, the man in Callisto, and now Squall... they had all said that same phrase to her at some point, and yet, Squall was the only person who said it more as a plea, and not an order. Still, she couldn't bring herself to turn her head. How could he be any different than the others, after what he'd done?
He sighed angrily and she flinched, expecting some sort of retribution. Instead he backed away from her, just a little, and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess saying I'm sorry isn't going to make things any better. I made a mistake, that's all I can say for myself. I told you I wouldn't leave you again... Not until I know you're safe at home, anyway. That's all the apology I can offer."
"But Vincent, you..."
His eyes widened. "Did he mean something to you?"
She shook her head furiously. "No! But he... and then you..."
"Oh... Rinoa... If you knew the things Vincent had done in the past, you would understand. Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do, but I guess I just... lost it."
"And how do you know you won't again?"
"You mean will I lose my temper with you?" he asked, and waited for her weak nod before he continued. "I already have once, and the worst I did was kick you off the ship, which I told you I wouldn't do again. "No matter how much you piss me off, I couldn't... wouldn't..."
Frail arms wrapped around his shoulder from behind, squeezing him tightly, and he didn't bother to shrug them off. "I would never hurt you."
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Jet sighed. "Somehow I get the feeling that if we follow the commotion, we'll find Ed."
The two men traveled down the road at a leisurely pace, intuition telling them that Edward would be there, that there was no rush. A round of gunfire, however, disrupted the theory and sent them both into an all- out run against the crowd. After all, any sane person would be running away from the gunfire.
As they approached, they notice three things: a tall man with an afro, the gun in his hand which was aimed at a dog, and the red-haired bean- pole on his arm with it's teeth sunk into his flesh.
"Get off me, damn kid!" the man growl, giving his arm one good shake and causing the child to go slamming into the wall. Then next thing the man knew, he had Jet's gun pointed in his face.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? You can't go hurting little kids like that!"
"Whatever! Just back off and take your kid. I just want the dog."
"No!" Edward wailed, rushing over to hug the small dog. "Jet-person, don't let him hurt the woof-woof!"
"Ed, if it's his dog," Jet tried to reason.
"But it's not! He's trying to steal the woof-woof!"
"Hey, I saw this guy on Big Shot last night! He's a wanted dog- napper!" Zell exclaimed. "He's not worth much, but he is here..."
"Settled, then." Jet hit the man in the head with but of his pistol, causing the man to crumple to the ground. "There now, Ed, the dog will be fine, let's go."
Edward hugged the dog harder. "Edward wants to keep him!"
"No way! We don't need another mouth to feed!"
Ed's bottom lip poked out and trembled as her golden eyes glittered with tears. "B-but... Ed has always wanted a woof-woof of Ed's very own!"
"Look, you've got your own room, I gave you a computer, you have food in your belly... most of the time, and a roof over your head. Isn't that enough?" He took Edwards sniffling to be a no. "Fine! But you better look after him!"
Edward grinned and launched herself at Jet, latching onto his leg. "Papa!" she exclaimed, smiling as if she had just won the lottery. "Thank you, Papa!"
"W-what?!" Jet demanded. "Ed, I'm not your..." his voice trailed off as she looked up at him with questioning eyes. Sighing, he just smiled. "Never mind, Ed."
***
See you space cowboy...
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Next Session: Memories, the key to out past, the source of our happiness, or discontent. We wander the stars, lost to our minds, in search of closure for the unfinished pieces of our lives, the scattered shards of a puzzle we don't understand. In our darkest hours, when there is nowhere to run, they will hunt us like prey, these lost and shattered memories that torment our mind. Even with time, we cannot forget... Session 9: Ballad of Lost Memories
Session 8: Balamb Shuffle
Shards of broken glass glinted upon the marble floor, shining like stars that had fallen from above. Smatters of deep red liquid dotted the floor, a series of blood moons to complete the earthly sky, and bodies lay strew about, limp and lifeless, stretched out as if they'd gained the ability to fly. Spike crossed his arms over his chest and frowned, his usual mischievous eyes now darkly serious.
"Believe it or not, we were lucky," Margie said. "If Shin hadn't taken charge in your absence, we might all be dead right now. It was all so sudden... It seemed that our thoughts just escaped us."
"Where is Shin?"
"In the infirmary. He took a couple bullets, but he's all right. Can't say that his brother Lin faired quite as well... He's missing."
Spike nodded, watching with a distant expression as a crew of their own people worked to clear the mess. "So, who was it? Phoenix, Blue Snake, White Wolf?"
"I don't know. No one has taken responsibility for the attack yet."
"No one? That's not right. Any syndicate would've claimed responsibility for this immediately. And it doesn't make sense to attack us here. We've managed to keep decent relations with all the various syndicates; we don't have a rival. And if it was property or merchandise they wanted, they would have started there."
While Spike rambled on in the background, Faye wandered away from him, slowly picking her way through the debris and maneuvering around the bodies. As one of them was picked up and carried away, her eye caught on something falling from his pocket. Moving carefully to the spot where the fallen enemy once lay, she picked up what appeared to be a card, and realized that it was exactly the same as the one she'd ripped off of Nida.
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The first sensation to return was the pain. With every breath she drew and released, an unimaginable pain accompanied the exchange. Drowsily, she slid her hand down until she felt something thick and stiff around her mid section. Pushing the questions out of her mind, she stretched and allowed her eyes to flutter open.
At first, she expected to see the baby blue walls of her room back home, decorated with posters of her favorite music groups and movie stars, and an autographed picture of her mother. The brief image that passed through her mind was one of cold steel walls, however, and she decided she must be asleep on the ship's infamous stiff yellow couch. So it was true? He had allowed her to come back? She turned on her side, and through the pain, she realized the couch felt a lot comfier than it had been before. Then, a familiar scent enticed her senses, and she sat up so suddenly, she had to bite back a scream.
The general lack of possessions gave it away. The one time she'd been in Zell's room, it had been covered wall-to-wall with posters of bikini-clad women and rap artists. Edward's room had her trademark smiley face painted everywhere, and even Jet's room had something of a personal flair with all the ship repair manuals and his award-winning bonsai tree on a bookshelf. Something between panic and excitement burned in her stomach as she realized, with a start, that she had been sleeping in Squall Leonhart's bed.
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Jet frowned in concentration, gently snipping off a limb from one of his bonsai trees with his miniature, palm-sized hedge clippers. "Can't it wait? We don't exactly have the money to be buying parts right now."
Squall, who was leaned in the doorway of what had been deemed Jet's bonsai room, shook his head. "I wasn't the one who asked to go to Europa. I could've told you my ship wouldn't be safe there. It wasn't the first time that's happened to me. And anyway, I barely managed to make it back after they took off with most of my parts."
"It's not in the budget."
"Well, I can't go out and get more bounties until it's fixed."
Jet growled and slammed his plastic fist on the table. "Dammit, if it isn't one thing it's another! I swear things were much easier before I let you people on board."
"Jet! Edward's tummy goes rumble-rumble!" a voice called from somewhere down the hall. "Rumble, humble, mumble... Chicken, and duck- duck... hmm... Edward does not know what rhymes with duck-duck... Maybe what Jet said when he cut his bonsai? Bonsai, bok choy, duck-duck, fu-"
"Edward!" Jet yelled, pushing past Squall and stomping into the living room where Ed was walking on her hands. "Get ready! We're going after parts for the ship!"
Zell, who had been stretched out on the sofa, yawned and said, "Hey, count me in, too. If I keep lounging around the ship like this I'm gonna start to get chubby."
"Start to?" Squall retorted as he started out of the room. "I'm in the shower."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Jet argued. "We're going to get parts for your ship and you're just gonna stay here?"
He stopped in mid-stride, silently frowning for a moment before he said, "Someone has to stay behind and watch after Rinoa. I guess... Since I'm sort of responsible for her being here in the first place..."
Zell chuckled. "Aw, you're worried about her! You called her by her name and even let her sleep in your room."
"Well," the slightly older man scratched at the back at the back of his neck. "Her ribs are busted, and the couch is uncomfortable... I... I don't wanna hear her bitching about it later."
"Ah, so tending her wounds was just something you did to avoid her yelling at you for it later?" The blonde grinned. "And I guess it had nothing to do with that fact that you had to un-"
"Leave it be, Zell," Jet warned. "And anyway, unless you want me to leave you behind, I suggest you quite your babbling and get ready. I'm heading to Balamb for the parts shop in a few minutes."
Even as Jet said this he had a smile on his face. Shaking his head at the teasing from his comrades, Squall took the stairs into the cockpit and leaned against the window, staring at the calm blue waters of the island to pass time until the others left, and he could move through the ship without being laughed at.
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(Everything was so calm and peaceful. I should've known it wouldn't last. But why? Why would one of my own people betray me? Faye said I didn't trust people on a personal level, but isn't this personal? Who else could be lying to me that's right under my nose?)
"Still sulking, Spike?"
"I'm not sulking. Just thinking."
The yellow-clad woman that had come up behind him shrugged. "Same difference. It's just one incident. It doesn't mean-"
"That it won't happen again? You're street smart Faye, you should know that this was only the beginning."
"But that's not what's bothering you."
He shrugged. "Doesn't matter."
"Hmm, let's see..." she began in that taunting voice that grated his nerves. "Could it be because there was a traitor among your people for all this time and you never knew? Because you were betrayed by someone you trusted? Hurts, doesn't it?"
(It's not the first time...)
"Can it, Faye. I don't need your input."
"Oh, I must have struck a nerve," Faye purred. "Guess this isn't the first time you've put your faith where it didn't belong? Obviously you didn't learned your lesson the last time."
(I learned never to let someone get too close... They'll shoot you in the back. Or someone you love.)
"Well, Spike, don't beat yourself up too much," she said, offering fake sympathy. "We all make mistakes... even if most of us don't make them twice."
"You don't get it, do you?" he asked finally. "If there was one traitor there could be more. No, I never trusted anyone on a personal level, but I did try to trust my men as best as I could. I respected them if nothing else. I thought that might be enough to hold this organization together, but now that I know I'm wrong... now that this has happened, no one can be relied upon. Any sense of security is gone... Anyone can be the enemy." His eyes, now almost black with the utter seriousness with which he spoke, locked with her own. "Even you."
Despite her best attempts to lock down her emotions, Faye quivered inside...
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Market Street was packed from side to side with shoppers, merchants, and the ever annoying tourist that would wander, lost for the most part, from stall to stall, completely unaware that they were being ripped off. At the end of this mile-long stretch of road was a parts shop, and it was probably the emptiest shop of all of them in Balamb's infamous Plaza. Even the alleys and side streets that branched off from the main road were filled to bursting with people.
"It's easy to get lost, here," Jet began at the entrance to the Plaza. "We have to make it to the end of the road, and we have to make it together. Don't wander off, you two!"
Zell and Edward both nodded like obedient children before following him into the thick crowd. After pushing their way past a few stalls, Zell broke away from Jet and ran to one of them that was loaded with magazines.
"Oh, man! I don't have this issue yet!" he exclaimed, picking up a video game magazine. "Or this one!" he added, snatching up a magazine with a scantily clad woman on the front.
Scowling, Jet shoved his way to the excited blonde and grabbed him roughly by the shoulders. "Those aren't in the budget, either! Now come on! If you wander off again, I'm leaving you behind!"
Jet turned around, expecting to see Edward at his side, but saw only a shifting mass of pedestrians rushing past him. The flame-haired child was nowhere to be seen.
Down a side street, Edward rolled and tumbled her way between people's feet, following her nose toward the ramen stand further down. She came to an abrupt stop when, down another side street, something shiny caught her eye. Ambling down the road, she came to a stall near one of the side gates that was decorated with windmills.
"Where has Edward seen those before?" the girl wondered aloud. Her musings were cut short when a large blue van busted through the gate and went swerving down the street, causing shoppers to run screaming. At the top of the tall antennae was a yellow smiley face, and Edward decided that it would look great on the antennae for the controls she built to the ship. Loping along on all fours, Edward caught up to the van quickly enough, and jumped onto the hood, lightly smacking the windshield as the driver swerved in a panic. At the same moment, a bullet fired from behind the van struck the back wheel, and the van became violently acquainted with the wall around the shopping center.
Edward lightly bounced against the ground, after snatching the smiley face while she fell, before standing and doing cart wheels all the way to the back of the van where the back door had come open. The girl curiously peeked inside, and with a gasp of awe declared, "It's a woof-woof!"
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It was slightly unnerving, though the fact that she was still wearing the same undergarments from before did ease her apprehension a little. Still, the only people on the ship capable of bandaging her up were men, and that meant that a man had undressed her while she was unconscious.
(I don't think they'd... do anything. Jet's too much of a gentlemen, and Zell... Well, I can't be so sure with him. But Squall? Oh that would be embarrassing...)
The over-sized black shirt she now wore was definitely his. It was the same one she had 'borrowed' before he'd taken her shopping for new clothes. But why would he bother to take care of her? She already knew he didn't care.
She frowned to herself as the image of Squall gunning down her former captor flashed through her mind once more. Squall was almost always calm, never allowing his emotions to control his actions, or even his expression. And yet, he'd gotten so worked up the night before that he'd killed someone. His eyes had burned with uncontrollable rage, waves of anger seeming to pour off of him in warning of how dangerous and unstable he had become... It certainly made her think twice now about her teasing him.
Then, of course, there was the undeniable curiosity about his past. She had a vague idea of what had happened, but she wanted to hear it, word for word, from his mouth. Still, she didn't think after seeing what happened to Vincent for picking at Squall's past, that she would ever dare to ask. With a cold, sinking feeling, Rinoa realized that she was now afraid of the same man that she'd become hopelessly attracted to.
She tried to push the thought from her mind and drift back to sleep. If anything could ease her mind right now, the peacefulness of slumber would be it. Apparently the fates had other plans, however, because a major distraction came walking through the door in the next instant.
She went completely still, as though she was asleep, and he didn't think to check and confirm it. He figured if she was awake, she'd have been up and talking by that point. Instead she just watched him silently, wondering what he was up to while he pulled a clean towel from his dresser before shedding his shirt. She smiled at the sight, happy that she could enjoy it without his attention on her, until she realized he was undoing his pants, too. A brief debate with her conscience followed, and grudgingly she gave a small 'ahem' to get his attention.
Rinoa had never known him to be jumpy, but when he heard her behind him he nearly jumped two feet in the air. Squall turned around to look at her, confused for a short moment, before scratching at the back of his neck in what she recognized as a sign of his nervousness.
"I, uh... thought you were sleeping."
Fear and distrust made way for amusement, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Oh really? I thought you were just giving me a show."
In mock anger, he tossed his shirt at her so that it landed on her head, and she laughed hard until it was broken by a small yelp of pain at the stabbing sensation in her ribs. As she pulled the cloth from over her eyes, she saw him looking back at her, something that could be interpreted as concern to the untrained eye crossing his face. "You all right?"
"If I am I certainly don't feel like it," she replied, her vision wandering away from his face against her will. "Oh my God! Were you hurt last night?" she demanded.
"What? No, what would make you think..." his voice trailed off as he noticed where her line of vision was aimed. "Oh," he began, his voice unusually soft. He gently touched the two scars on his side, the unpleasant memory attached to them drawing his mouth into a thin line. "These are from a long time ago," he replied gruffly, turning his back on her so that she couldn't see them anymore.
"I... I'm sorry," she said quickly, the fear rushing back to her. "I didn't mean to make you angry!"
"I'm not angry with you," he returned. "You weren't the one that..."
Rinoa recalled Vincent's words before, and immediately understood. "Yes, I know, but... I didn't mean to bring up bad memories. You... obviously don't like that too much," she pointed out with a dry, nervous laugh.
He turned back to her, one eyebrow arched as he studied the uneasy expression on her face. "What's wrong with you?"
"N-nothing..."
Sighing, he pulled on another shirt before stepping closer to her, his intentions of a shower now completely forgotten. The closer he got, the more desperate her eyes grew, begging him not to come any nearer. He ignored the pitiful look, not stopping until he was seated on the bed next to her. "You're... afraid of me?"
She looked away, out of terror or shame she wasn't sure. Was it abnormal to feel this way? She wasn't sure of that, either. Spike had been the only man in her life that hadn't taken his anger out on her, even her father had...
"Rinoa, look at me, please."
She shook her head, unwilling to comply, but was surprised at the gentle tone of his voice. Her father, Vincent, the man in Callisto, and now Squall... they had all said that same phrase to her at some point, and yet, Squall was the only person who said it more as a plea, and not an order. Still, she couldn't bring herself to turn her head. How could he be any different than the others, after what he'd done?
He sighed angrily and she flinched, expecting some sort of retribution. Instead he backed away from her, just a little, and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess saying I'm sorry isn't going to make things any better. I made a mistake, that's all I can say for myself. I told you I wouldn't leave you again... Not until I know you're safe at home, anyway. That's all the apology I can offer."
"But Vincent, you..."
His eyes widened. "Did he mean something to you?"
She shook her head furiously. "No! But he... and then you..."
"Oh... Rinoa... If you knew the things Vincent had done in the past, you would understand. Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do, but I guess I just... lost it."
"And how do you know you won't again?"
"You mean will I lose my temper with you?" he asked, and waited for her weak nod before he continued. "I already have once, and the worst I did was kick you off the ship, which I told you I wouldn't do again. "No matter how much you piss me off, I couldn't... wouldn't..."
Frail arms wrapped around his shoulder from behind, squeezing him tightly, and he didn't bother to shrug them off. "I would never hurt you."
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Jet sighed. "Somehow I get the feeling that if we follow the commotion, we'll find Ed."
The two men traveled down the road at a leisurely pace, intuition telling them that Edward would be there, that there was no rush. A round of gunfire, however, disrupted the theory and sent them both into an all- out run against the crowd. After all, any sane person would be running away from the gunfire.
As they approached, they notice three things: a tall man with an afro, the gun in his hand which was aimed at a dog, and the red-haired bean- pole on his arm with it's teeth sunk into his flesh.
"Get off me, damn kid!" the man growl, giving his arm one good shake and causing the child to go slamming into the wall. Then next thing the man knew, he had Jet's gun pointed in his face.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? You can't go hurting little kids like that!"
"Whatever! Just back off and take your kid. I just want the dog."
"No!" Edward wailed, rushing over to hug the small dog. "Jet-person, don't let him hurt the woof-woof!"
"Ed, if it's his dog," Jet tried to reason.
"But it's not! He's trying to steal the woof-woof!"
"Hey, I saw this guy on Big Shot last night! He's a wanted dog- napper!" Zell exclaimed. "He's not worth much, but he is here..."
"Settled, then." Jet hit the man in the head with but of his pistol, causing the man to crumple to the ground. "There now, Ed, the dog will be fine, let's go."
Edward hugged the dog harder. "Edward wants to keep him!"
"No way! We don't need another mouth to feed!"
Ed's bottom lip poked out and trembled as her golden eyes glittered with tears. "B-but... Ed has always wanted a woof-woof of Ed's very own!"
"Look, you've got your own room, I gave you a computer, you have food in your belly... most of the time, and a roof over your head. Isn't that enough?" He took Edwards sniffling to be a no. "Fine! But you better look after him!"
Edward grinned and launched herself at Jet, latching onto his leg. "Papa!" she exclaimed, smiling as if she had just won the lottery. "Thank you, Papa!"
"W-what?!" Jet demanded. "Ed, I'm not your..." his voice trailed off as she looked up at him with questioning eyes. Sighing, he just smiled. "Never mind, Ed."
***
See you space cowboy...
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Next Session: Memories, the key to out past, the source of our happiness, or discontent. We wander the stars, lost to our minds, in search of closure for the unfinished pieces of our lives, the scattered shards of a puzzle we don't understand. In our darkest hours, when there is nowhere to run, they will hunt us like prey, these lost and shattered memories that torment our mind. Even with time, we cannot forget... Session 9: Ballad of Lost Memories