Chapter 9
"Squall, we've been walking for hours and we still haven't seen any sign of them. Shouldn't we just go on without them?" Squall could see that she was exhausted, she wasn't used to the SeeD way of life after all, so he wasn't surprised when she suggested giving up.
"We can't. I never leave my team behind." He slowed his pace almost imperceptibly, making it easier for Rinoa to keep up, without making it obvious that he thought she couldn't handle the pace.
"Never?" she questioned, drawing level with him.
"You sound surprised."
"You just never struck me as the loyal type, that's all." Squall didn't reply to this, instead he stopped in his tracks and motioned for Rinoa to get down.
"There are people up ahead. It might be the others, or it might be…" He didn't need to finish this sentence. Rinoa knew what he meant. "Just in case, I want you to stay here and keep down, alright?" She nodded, at the same time mentally admonishing herself for taking orders.
"I've always hated taking orders from anybody, and now here I am obeying someone I barely know."
She sighed, shaking her head.
"At least he's not just anyone. I trust him, right? I mean, everyone else seems to, even though he's so cold towards them. But, can I really trust a mercenary? He was sent here to kidnap me after all. That's not something I can just forget. On the other hand, do I have another alternative? Go back to Timber and wait to be kidnapped all over again? Go back to that man and become a pawn in another one of his plans? I guess I've got nowhere else to go."
Squall looked back towards her, flicking his hair out of stormy blue eyes, sending a shiver through Rinoa as they bore deep into her soul.
"Are you alright?" he mouthed silently. She nodded in return.
"I guess it could be worse. A lot worse."
Squall skirted through the undergrowth, hardly making a sound. He managed to make out the incessant burbling of a nearby stream, which was where the group of people appeared to me. From this angle, he didn't have a clear enough view of whether or not it was his team. Sighing, he knew he'd have to take his eye of Rinoa to get a better view. It wasn't that he was afraid of her trying to escape again. He was confident of catching up to her if she did. The few hours walking they had done had shown him that that shouldn't be a problem. He was more worried of her getting into danger if he wasn't there.
"Why? It's not as if she's really my responsibility anymore. The headmaster will certainly cancel the contract with Caraway as soon as he hears the truth. Maybe it's because she helped me to discover the truth. If she hadn't have mentioned the document concerned with destroying SeeD, I might have thought that the attack was all just a misunderstanding. We could all be in a great deal more danger if it wasn't for her. I guess we should all be grateful for that."
He looked back at her, making sure that she was still okay. He motioned to her as best as he could that he would have to move to see who it was, but that she should remain. Looking back at her, something stirred deep within his soul.
"It's definitely not because I feel I owe her something. It's something else. I just don't know what."
Moving to get a better view, Squall thought he recognised one of the voices from beside the stream.
"Yo, Quis? Make us some hotdogs will ya?"
It had to be Zell.
"Make them yourself. You'll never learn otherwise. Anyway, shouldn't you be busy trying to find Squall?"
Satisfied that the people before him were in fact his team, he emerged from the trees.
"Where the hell were you guys?" he growled.
"Sorry, Squall. We were looking for water, but we couldn't find any so we ended up right out here." Selphie hung her head in shame. "We're all sorry."
"Why? What happened?" asked Quistis, concerned.
"Some of Caraway's men ambushed us."
"Caraway?" everyone exclaimed in unison.
"Yeah. Turns out he wants to destroy SeeD. Painting a picture of us as kidnappers would certainly help him."
"But couldn't he have asked us to kidnap anyone? Why the expense to kidnap Rinoa?" Squall shrugged his shoulders. Of course, he knew the truth, but what Rinoa told him was revealed in confidence. He didn't feel right betraying her trust, even of his comrades had a right to know.
"Hey, guys." Irvine shouted from some distance away. "Look what I found." Irvine was dragging Rinoa by the arm so hard, it was clearly hurting her. He dumped her on the floor in the middle of the group. "She was trying to escape again."
"She wasn't trying to escape, I told her to stay there," Squall told them. This was met with many puzzled looks. Rinoa picked herself up from the floor and punched Irvine in the face, causing him to howl in pain.
"Ow. Geez, that hurt. Who let her off her leash?"
"I did," pointed out Squall, trying hard not to laugh. Rinoa looked at him quizzically, not used to seeing this side of him.
"What the hell for?" screamed Irvine, still smarting from the blow.
"She helped me out. And after all, it was Caraway who ordered her kidnap. We're not working for him anymore."
"How do you know this?" asked Zell.
"I had a little talk with one of the soldiers Caraway sent." Everybody understood exactly what that meant.
"Well. What do we do now?" asked Quistis. "Do we just go back to Garden?"
"We'll travel to Galbadia Garden and explain our situation to them. They should let us rent a car to Dollet. We'll have to take the boat seen as the trains are down. We'll have to hurry, we may not have much time. As soon as Caraway realises his plan's failed, he may decide on another course of action. He's bound to have a back up plan."
"Are we leaving now?" asked Irvine, rubbing his cheek. Squall was about to say yes, but he thought of how tired Rinoa must have been before.
"No, we'll rest up for now," he said, glancing at Rinoa, who seemed relieved. "This seems like a good enough place to camp. We'll leave early tomorrow."
Squall was sat alone at the edge of the campsite, pondering the days events.
"So much has changed in one day. Yesterday, I knew exactly what to do, who I was fighting for, who I should take orders from. Now…now I don't know what to think. I don't know what to do anymore. Maybe that's what Rinoa meant about me being naïve. Maybe I can't think for myself. Life's so much easier when you just have to follow orders. As soon as you begin to think for yourself,that's when it's complicated."
Deep in thought, he gazed across the campsite at the others. Quistis and Zell were trying to start a fire with wood that Irvine was collecting for them. His deep crimson cheek made Squall chuckle to himself. Selphie was by the stream, collecting water in bottles for their journey the following day.
"Do any of them know what's going on? I almost envy them. Here, they just have to follow my orders, they don't have to think what our plans are, where to go now."
Squall shook his head, trying to clear it of all thoughts. As he did this, he became aware of a presence behind him. He spun around to find Rinoa standing behind him.
"How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough," was the only reply he received. "Can I sit down?" He gave a slight nod, and shifted over slightly, making room for her. "I just wanted to thank you."
"What for?"
"If I wasn't here, there's no way you'd have been resting right now. I'm slowing you down."
"No you're not."
"Don't lie to me. I know you were slowing down this morning so that I could keep up with you." She smiled, showing him that she was grateful, not angry.
"I was that obvious, huh?" She laughed at his obvious disappointment. "I guess you were right when you said I was easy to read."
"Actually, I'd like to take that back. You really surprised me today. I didn't think SeeDs could be compassionate, and well,I was quite shocked to see you laugh." He guessed she was referring to the Irvine incident.
"That was a nice punch by the way. Where did you learn that?"
"I watched you hit that soldier remember? I just tried to imitate you." He looked embarrassed.
"Now that's something you don't want to do."
"Are you making a joke Squall Leonhart?" she teased.
"Whatever."
"Don't like being teased I see?" she said, a mischievous smile on her face.
"Whatever." At this, they both began to laugh, and as their eyes met, they both felt something unique, something they'd never felt before about anyone. He didn't want to break their gaze, as if doing so would break some magical link between them, but Quistis was shouting him.
"Squall!"
"What!" he shouted back impatiently.
"We've got the fire going. You want something to eat?" He turned to Rinoa.
"Shall we?"
"Hey, you two were looking kinda cosy over there," Irvine said, patting Squall on the back. "You look cute together."
"Shut up Kinneas." Squall took another bite out of the food that had been cooked on the campfire.
"Seriously, though, she's hot. Don't you think so?"
"Shut up."
"You could really go for someone like that. What do you say Squall?" Irvine winked at him.
"Shut up."
"Of course, if you don't want her, I'd be more than happy to show her what a real man's love's like, if you know what I mean?"
"You know what Kinneas? I'm glad she hit you." With that Squall stormed off to the opposite side of the campsite.
"Geez, I was just trying to get a rise out of him," Irvine protested to the group of onlookers.
"Hey, what were you and Irvine talking about?" Rinoa sat down next to Squall.
"Nothing."
"Aah come on, it must have been something for you to get all annoyed about it."
"You don't want to know the things that Irvine talks about." Squall told her. "Believe me." She screwed up her nose.
"I think I can guess," she said, trying to stifle a yawn.
"You tired?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "I don't think I've ever walked so much in my life."
"You should get used to it. Tomorrow will be much worse."
"Great," she enthused sarcastically.
"You'll be alright. Most people wouldn't have made it this far without complaining." She began to look proud at his compliment.
"Oh, Squall. I still have your jacket," she suddenly remembered, beginning to take it off.
"Keep it," he insisted, putting his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from slipping the jacket off.
"Thanks." They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of them knowing what to say for a time. "Squall?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you tell me what it's like being in SeeD?" He didn't reply. "Please?"
"Alright," he sighed, relenting. "Well, most people join SeeD when they're very young and train in fighting and magic, as well as normal school lessons like history. Most SeeDs are orphans like me, with nowhere else to go." He looked down to see if she was listening, and found her head settled against his shoulder. She was fast asleep. He smiled at her. She looked so peaceful, shivering in the cold. He put his arm around her, hoping to keep her from the cold, and held her close to him. "Night," he whispered.
Well, exams are finished now, so I will hopefully have more time to update, and hopefully the updates will be longer too.
Thanks to:
Dan
Renegade Seraph
Rinoa Heartilly
Mariko
Angelprinczess29
Starlight
Riona
Rinoa Leonhart73
Alexandris Roses
"Squall, we've been walking for hours and we still haven't seen any sign of them. Shouldn't we just go on without them?" Squall could see that she was exhausted, she wasn't used to the SeeD way of life after all, so he wasn't surprised when she suggested giving up.
"We can't. I never leave my team behind." He slowed his pace almost imperceptibly, making it easier for Rinoa to keep up, without making it obvious that he thought she couldn't handle the pace.
"Never?" she questioned, drawing level with him.
"You sound surprised."
"You just never struck me as the loyal type, that's all." Squall didn't reply to this, instead he stopped in his tracks and motioned for Rinoa to get down.
"There are people up ahead. It might be the others, or it might be…" He didn't need to finish this sentence. Rinoa knew what he meant. "Just in case, I want you to stay here and keep down, alright?" She nodded, at the same time mentally admonishing herself for taking orders.
"I've always hated taking orders from anybody, and now here I am obeying someone I barely know."
She sighed, shaking her head.
"At least he's not just anyone. I trust him, right? I mean, everyone else seems to, even though he's so cold towards them. But, can I really trust a mercenary? He was sent here to kidnap me after all. That's not something I can just forget. On the other hand, do I have another alternative? Go back to Timber and wait to be kidnapped all over again? Go back to that man and become a pawn in another one of his plans? I guess I've got nowhere else to go."
Squall looked back towards her, flicking his hair out of stormy blue eyes, sending a shiver through Rinoa as they bore deep into her soul.
"Are you alright?" he mouthed silently. She nodded in return.
"I guess it could be worse. A lot worse."
Squall skirted through the undergrowth, hardly making a sound. He managed to make out the incessant burbling of a nearby stream, which was where the group of people appeared to me. From this angle, he didn't have a clear enough view of whether or not it was his team. Sighing, he knew he'd have to take his eye of Rinoa to get a better view. It wasn't that he was afraid of her trying to escape again. He was confident of catching up to her if she did. The few hours walking they had done had shown him that that shouldn't be a problem. He was more worried of her getting into danger if he wasn't there.
"Why? It's not as if she's really my responsibility anymore. The headmaster will certainly cancel the contract with Caraway as soon as he hears the truth. Maybe it's because she helped me to discover the truth. If she hadn't have mentioned the document concerned with destroying SeeD, I might have thought that the attack was all just a misunderstanding. We could all be in a great deal more danger if it wasn't for her. I guess we should all be grateful for that."
He looked back at her, making sure that she was still okay. He motioned to her as best as he could that he would have to move to see who it was, but that she should remain. Looking back at her, something stirred deep within his soul.
"It's definitely not because I feel I owe her something. It's something else. I just don't know what."
Moving to get a better view, Squall thought he recognised one of the voices from beside the stream.
"Yo, Quis? Make us some hotdogs will ya?"
It had to be Zell.
"Make them yourself. You'll never learn otherwise. Anyway, shouldn't you be busy trying to find Squall?"
Satisfied that the people before him were in fact his team, he emerged from the trees.
"Where the hell were you guys?" he growled.
"Sorry, Squall. We were looking for water, but we couldn't find any so we ended up right out here." Selphie hung her head in shame. "We're all sorry."
"Why? What happened?" asked Quistis, concerned.
"Some of Caraway's men ambushed us."
"Caraway?" everyone exclaimed in unison.
"Yeah. Turns out he wants to destroy SeeD. Painting a picture of us as kidnappers would certainly help him."
"But couldn't he have asked us to kidnap anyone? Why the expense to kidnap Rinoa?" Squall shrugged his shoulders. Of course, he knew the truth, but what Rinoa told him was revealed in confidence. He didn't feel right betraying her trust, even of his comrades had a right to know.
"Hey, guys." Irvine shouted from some distance away. "Look what I found." Irvine was dragging Rinoa by the arm so hard, it was clearly hurting her. He dumped her on the floor in the middle of the group. "She was trying to escape again."
"She wasn't trying to escape, I told her to stay there," Squall told them. This was met with many puzzled looks. Rinoa picked herself up from the floor and punched Irvine in the face, causing him to howl in pain.
"Ow. Geez, that hurt. Who let her off her leash?"
"I did," pointed out Squall, trying hard not to laugh. Rinoa looked at him quizzically, not used to seeing this side of him.
"What the hell for?" screamed Irvine, still smarting from the blow.
"She helped me out. And after all, it was Caraway who ordered her kidnap. We're not working for him anymore."
"How do you know this?" asked Zell.
"I had a little talk with one of the soldiers Caraway sent." Everybody understood exactly what that meant.
"Well. What do we do now?" asked Quistis. "Do we just go back to Garden?"
"We'll travel to Galbadia Garden and explain our situation to them. They should let us rent a car to Dollet. We'll have to take the boat seen as the trains are down. We'll have to hurry, we may not have much time. As soon as Caraway realises his plan's failed, he may decide on another course of action. He's bound to have a back up plan."
"Are we leaving now?" asked Irvine, rubbing his cheek. Squall was about to say yes, but he thought of how tired Rinoa must have been before.
"No, we'll rest up for now," he said, glancing at Rinoa, who seemed relieved. "This seems like a good enough place to camp. We'll leave early tomorrow."
Squall was sat alone at the edge of the campsite, pondering the days events.
"So much has changed in one day. Yesterday, I knew exactly what to do, who I was fighting for, who I should take orders from. Now…now I don't know what to think. I don't know what to do anymore. Maybe that's what Rinoa meant about me being naïve. Maybe I can't think for myself. Life's so much easier when you just have to follow orders. As soon as you begin to think for yourself,that's when it's complicated."
Deep in thought, he gazed across the campsite at the others. Quistis and Zell were trying to start a fire with wood that Irvine was collecting for them. His deep crimson cheek made Squall chuckle to himself. Selphie was by the stream, collecting water in bottles for their journey the following day.
"Do any of them know what's going on? I almost envy them. Here, they just have to follow my orders, they don't have to think what our plans are, where to go now."
Squall shook his head, trying to clear it of all thoughts. As he did this, he became aware of a presence behind him. He spun around to find Rinoa standing behind him.
"How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough," was the only reply he received. "Can I sit down?" He gave a slight nod, and shifted over slightly, making room for her. "I just wanted to thank you."
"What for?"
"If I wasn't here, there's no way you'd have been resting right now. I'm slowing you down."
"No you're not."
"Don't lie to me. I know you were slowing down this morning so that I could keep up with you." She smiled, showing him that she was grateful, not angry.
"I was that obvious, huh?" She laughed at his obvious disappointment. "I guess you were right when you said I was easy to read."
"Actually, I'd like to take that back. You really surprised me today. I didn't think SeeDs could be compassionate, and well,I was quite shocked to see you laugh." He guessed she was referring to the Irvine incident.
"That was a nice punch by the way. Where did you learn that?"
"I watched you hit that soldier remember? I just tried to imitate you." He looked embarrassed.
"Now that's something you don't want to do."
"Are you making a joke Squall Leonhart?" she teased.
"Whatever."
"Don't like being teased I see?" she said, a mischievous smile on her face.
"Whatever." At this, they both began to laugh, and as their eyes met, they both felt something unique, something they'd never felt before about anyone. He didn't want to break their gaze, as if doing so would break some magical link between them, but Quistis was shouting him.
"Squall!"
"What!" he shouted back impatiently.
"We've got the fire going. You want something to eat?" He turned to Rinoa.
"Shall we?"
"Hey, you two were looking kinda cosy over there," Irvine said, patting Squall on the back. "You look cute together."
"Shut up Kinneas." Squall took another bite out of the food that had been cooked on the campfire.
"Seriously, though, she's hot. Don't you think so?"
"Shut up."
"You could really go for someone like that. What do you say Squall?" Irvine winked at him.
"Shut up."
"Of course, if you don't want her, I'd be more than happy to show her what a real man's love's like, if you know what I mean?"
"You know what Kinneas? I'm glad she hit you." With that Squall stormed off to the opposite side of the campsite.
"Geez, I was just trying to get a rise out of him," Irvine protested to the group of onlookers.
"Hey, what were you and Irvine talking about?" Rinoa sat down next to Squall.
"Nothing."
"Aah come on, it must have been something for you to get all annoyed about it."
"You don't want to know the things that Irvine talks about." Squall told her. "Believe me." She screwed up her nose.
"I think I can guess," she said, trying to stifle a yawn.
"You tired?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "I don't think I've ever walked so much in my life."
"You should get used to it. Tomorrow will be much worse."
"Great," she enthused sarcastically.
"You'll be alright. Most people wouldn't have made it this far without complaining." She began to look proud at his compliment.
"Oh, Squall. I still have your jacket," she suddenly remembered, beginning to take it off.
"Keep it," he insisted, putting his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from slipping the jacket off.
"Thanks." They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of them knowing what to say for a time. "Squall?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you tell me what it's like being in SeeD?" He didn't reply. "Please?"
"Alright," he sighed, relenting. "Well, most people join SeeD when they're very young and train in fighting and magic, as well as normal school lessons like history. Most SeeDs are orphans like me, with nowhere else to go." He looked down to see if she was listening, and found her head settled against his shoulder. She was fast asleep. He smiled at her. She looked so peaceful, shivering in the cold. He put his arm around her, hoping to keep her from the cold, and held her close to him. "Night," he whispered.
Well, exams are finished now, so I will hopefully have more time to update, and hopefully the updates will be longer too.
Thanks to:
Dan
Renegade Seraph
Rinoa Heartilly
Mariko
Angelprinczess29
Starlight
Riona
Rinoa Leonhart73
Alexandris Roses