Legal Disclaimer: I don't own any Square-Enix characters....but... I'd love to have Quistis own me.....(mmmm Quistis)
Yikes! I have no reviews yet!!! People don't read anymore! The world is going to collapse into itself because people won't read!! ........kidding. Here's Chapter 2.... "The Drink"
The bar was empty save for a few local drunks. The group quickly selected a large table in the back of the bar and made themselves at home. Seeing the large party sit down, the waitress groaned, but approached the table nonetheless.
"What can I get you guys?" the waitress retrieved her order pad from her apron.
"I'll have a tequila with a lime." Squall spoke up.
"Gin...straight up." Seifer glanced at the waitress.
"I'll have a bottle of Southern Comfort" Irvine flashed a charming smile.
"I'll have a glass of Merlot if you please." Quistis scooted up in her chair.
"Champagne please." Rinoa asked.
"Tch... a beer would be cool." Zell said.
"Hard lemonade please!" Selphie looked up.
"Allright... that's not too difficult... I'll be right back with your drinks." the waitress headed for the bar.
"Hey! Save us a seat, ya know!" a voice came from the door.
"SEIFER!"
Seifer's face lit up, "Rage! Fuj! Where have you guys been?"
"LAGUNA." Fujin chopped the air.
"What Fujin is tryin to say is......"
"We were running missions between Lunatic Pandora and Esthar for President Loire." Fujin said, gaining her a look from everyone at the table.
"Fujin's talkin a lot more now, ya know?" Raijin scratched his head.
At the mention of Laguna, Squall had squirmed in his seat. Lately he had been thinking a lot about Laguna. About things he suspected... about Laguna being a perfect idiot. Everything he's told me makes me think he's my father...Squall's inner voice spoke up. I was an orphan...If he's my father... why did he abandon me?
"You're talking to yourself again Squall." Rinoa whispered in his ear.
"So where have you been Seifer?" Fujin asked the leader of the posse.
"Well.... I've kinda been living in Winhill. See, I found this old abandoned house... and I guess the residents thought live and let live..." Seifer answered her question.
"What's on your mind?" Rinoa whispered to Squall again.
"Laguna." the answer came out loud.
Everyone at the table looked over to Squall as if he'd grown broccoli from his ears. After a moment they went back to their respective conversations, Seifer talking to his posse, Quistis talking to Zell, and Irvine and Selphie chattering to each other.
"Here are your drinks everyone!" the waitress seemed to appear out of thin air.
Fujin and Raijin took seats at the large table and ordered drinks for themselves. Squall was reluctant to pay for them as well, but knew he would look rude for not buying their drinks. He had plenty of gil saved up in his SeeD bank account anyhow. Fujin and Raijin excused themselves from the table as the night wound down and more drinks were ordered. Selphie had passed out in Irvine's arms, who joined her not long after, and Rinoa had fallen asleep in her seat. Quistis was still awake and listening to the conversation between Squall and Seifer, but soon fell asleep herself. Zell threw comments in once and a while.
"No Squall, I had your ass beaten! Demon Slice sent you flyin into tha door.." Seifer drawled, clearly intoxicated.
"Yeah...but I came back with Blasting Zone, and I wiped you out." Squall was drunk as well.
"Squall can beat you any day, any time Seifer." Zell's eyes were bloodshot. He'd had at least 14 beers.
"That might be Shhhicken-Wuss, but I can still beat you." Seifer laughed.
Instead of answering, Zell just passed out on the table. Seifer and Squall shared a laugh.
"So.... you still haven't told me what happened after that day in the Timber Radio Station." Squall looked up from his latest Tequila.
"You already know the story..." Seifer answered almost soberly.
"No, I don't. I didn't see you until a week later in that parade." Squall said truthfully.
"Well... I guess you could say that the Sorceress revealed herself to me as Matron. I, of course, missed Matron a lot."
"You were her favorite."
"Right... so she offered me a chance to be a Knight, something I've dreamed about for years... So... I took the offer. I mean, she was Matron, Squall. How can you not think Matron's making a right decision?........................Even when she gave the order for the missiles to be launched, I still trusted in her." Seifer said plainly.
"That doesn't explain your fervor when you battled us... You could have told us at any time." Squall said flatly.
"You want the truth puberty boy? I enjoyed it.... I enjoyed every second of it. It made me feel alive to battle people who were actually worthy of fighting me." Seifer said proudly.
Squall guessed that he could understand Seifer's sentiments. He had felt that battle high like Seifer must have. It had felt good.... sometimes too good.....
"Regardless... I guess I'm glad to have my rival back...." Squall said.
"Likewise." Seifer nodded, and raised his drink.
"To battles... whether won or lost...." Seifer toasted.
"To second chances... and old friends." Squall added.
Both nodded and downed their drinks.
"Seifer Almasy... long time no see..." a man in a black cloak stood behind Seifer.
"Garret... somehow... someway... I knew your sorry ass would find me. What the fuck do you want?" Seifer growled without looking behind him.
"Oh... nothing....... your head on a silver platter....................you betrayed her you son of a bitch. I think you deserve a little of your own medicine." The man paced around to the front of the table... standing behind a sleeping Irvine and Selphie. "I want you outside... right now... and Mr. Leonhart.... we have matters to discuss as well. I suggest you sober yourselves up for this one..." he finished, and set two remedies on the table.
Squall was still confused as to who this man was, but apparently he had been a strong follower of Ultimecia.
Seifer reached for the remedy. God damn brown nose motherfucker...he thought to himself. Garret had always vied for Ultimecia's affection. Her attention, though not romantic, was focused more on Seifer. Garret had been nothing but jealous all the way through the Sorceress War. It's time to end this sad fuck's life... Seifer thought again... and drank the remedy.
Squall drank his own remedy. After a moment, they felt cleansed of the alcohol, and the three men exited the bar, Squall and Seifer's hands on the grips of their weapons. Squall had not forgotten LionHeart his time.. it was strapped to his back now, in a sheath. As the trio stepped out into the cool evening, Squall carefully drew his well-known crystal sword. Seifer followed suit, drawing what looked to be an extremely modified Hyperion from his coat. Before, the hilt of the weapon had been a 9mm pistol. Now it looked to be a Desert Chimera .50 caliber. The blade looked sharper, and had a serated quality about it. Seifer meant business.
"I don't know you, but if you have something to say to me, I suggest you say it." Squall took a fighting stance.
"I hate you.... I hate you both. Both of you must perish." the man drew a wicked looking sword from his cloak. the sword had two blades, both rising up, then curving outwards to make a hook formation. The man took a fighting stance, separating the sword into two hooks.
"As far as I know, I never did anything to you." Squall said, reaching out for Bahamut to junction.
"You killed my goddess you bastard!" Garret screamed.
Squall nodded. That was all he needed to know. "Seifer.. do you need a junction?"
"No..." was the reply.
"You... you blonde haired sniveling brat. You always had her attention. She gave YOU the dreams, and passed me over. No matter how much I tried to curry her favor... YOU were always there. She even called you a worthless maggot! BUT STILL, you gained her favor. I damn you Seifer Almasy. I damn you and your whole family to the abyss." the man cast Meteor.
"Shit...." Squall muttered, and jumped to dodge the falling asteroids. Seifer did the same, but both got hit a few times. Whoever this man was... he had drawn powerful magic, and was not afraid to use it in town. Residents of Balamb, including Ma Dincht were poking their heads out their windows, surveying the battle, and the damage the meteors had done to their homes.
Lucky I had him already juncitoned... Squall summoned Cerberus, who proceeded to cast Double and Triple on him and Seifer. Squall quickly cast shell on Seifer, then himself. Seifer lifted his hand, and cast a spell. A golden glow emitted from his spell, and enveloped him in gold splendor. Aura...
"Yaaargh!! Demon Slice!!" Seifer bellowed, twirling around like a tornado, and smashing into Garret blade first. Garret deflected a few of the blows, but most hit home, gashing his arms, legs and leaving a nasty gash on his stomach.
Garret laughed loudly, "Is that the best Seifer Almasy can do?"
Casting Curaga on himself, he prepared his next attack. He did what Squall hoped would not happen. He summoned a GF.
"Catoblepas!! Kill them!" Garret pointed in their direction.
The large beast that Squall had fought in Ultimecia's castle began to cast it's own Meteor spell, which far exceeded Garret's. The meteors began to fall... only to be swatted aside by a massive force.
Squall was in shock. The Omega Weapon swatted the meteors aside, tossing them into the far reaches of space, then turned it's attention to Catoblepas. With a single slice of it's claws, Catoblepas fell into several smoking pieces. Garret was alarmed.
"You've beaten me this time asshole. I'll be back for your head!" with that, Garret used a float spell and danced from rooftop to rooftop, and soon was nothing more than a speck in the distance.
Squall surveyed the scene, readying for a battle with the strongest creature he knew of. The Omega Weapon, however, was nowhere to be found.
"Where did it go!?" Squall stammered.
Seifer chuckled, "I told you I didn't need a junction..."
"You don't mean....."
"Yep... I stumbled upon Omega here just after you guys beat him in Ultimecia's castle. He had pretty much fallen apart, but still tried to start a fight with me. I beat him into submission and he offered to be my GF rather than die completely."
I should have done that.....Squall thought inwardly.
"Let's get back to the others." Squall said, and turned back towards the bar, only to see that it was nothing more than a pile of rubble. A meteor had fallen on the small pub.
"RINOA!!!!!!" Squall screamed, and started digging through the pile of wood and steel.
Seifer hung his head sadly. This is my fault... I.... wanted to defeat them before... but not.........kill them......... He lifted his hand and cast Tornado to clear away the wreckage. Squall ran through the now open, but broken, doorway, searching for his girlfriend. A groan came from underneath a huge piece of roof that now lay inside the bar. It had apparently been too big to pick up with Tornado.
"What....the....hell..?" the voice groaned. It belonged to Irvine.
Squall searched underneath and saw a hint of black hair flowing from underneath the table they had been sitting at.
"BAHAMUT!!! MOVE THIS ROOF!!!!!" Squall roared, and the mighty GF came down from the clouds and did it's master's bidding. Squall expected to see carnage, but instead saw that, for the most part, his friends were okay. The poor waitress wasn't so lucky. Her head had been completely severed from her body. It looked like a large piece of glass was the culprit. The roof, had it gone a little to the left, would have fallen flat instead of diagonal, and crushed the table, as well as everone under it. Squall smiled inwardly while picking up Rinoa's limp form. They had dove under the table at the sound of battle outside. How very cowardly of them...Squall thought, but then realized they had been intoxicated. Zell was picking himself up, and Irvine was grabbing Selphie. Quistis shook her head and sat up... only to hit her head on the table above her. Rinoa was out cold. She had sustained some sort of injury to her head.
"Rin... wake up..." Squall brushed her hair out of her face.
Rinoa blinked groggily, and Squall noticed that one of her pupils was extremely contracted, the other dilated. Shit... a concussion.. a bad one too... Squall thought....I have to get her to Dr. Kadowaki.
"Easy does it Ms. Trepe." Seifer said, while picking up Quistis.
"Let....me....down......you...." Quistis passed out.
Seifer chuckled as they exited the broken building. Irvine had woken Selphie up, and she seemed to be in good shape. What alarmed everyone was the fact that she had slept through the whole battle. Zell had a large laceration on his right arm from the elbow to the shoulder, but a Curaga stopped the bleeding. Irvine had taken a broken leg of a stool in his stomach, and it still resided there, but again... Curaga stopped the bleeding. Squall and Seifer had various wounds from battle, but knew they had to take charge of the situation and get their friends back to Garden as quickly as possible.
Squall ran up to the Car Rental office, Rinoa safely in his arms. "I need to rent your fastest car that can hold a lot of people." Squall said tersely.
"That'll be.....oh Hyne....she's hurt!!........er... Free of charge young man. Just have Garden send it back to me." the rental clerk handed him the keys to a fast looking sport-utility that sat in the garage.
Squall put Rinoa in the passenger's seat, while Zell and Irvine shoved into the back seat. Irvine took Selphie on his lap so Seifer could attain a seat. Selphie worriedly examined Irvine's wound, asking if he would like her to pull the piece of wood out.
"NO!!!!" all three men shouted at once.
Seifer climbed into the car, and sat the sleeping Quistis on his lap. "We'll be home shortly Quisty...." He murmered in her ear. He knew she couldn't hear him.
Garden- 15 minutes later:
"Why... I don't believe I've had my infirmary so packed in a while!!" Dr. Kadowaki exclaimed, still in her pajamas and bath robe. Despite being woken up at 1 A.M., Dr. Kadowaki worked with the pace and intelligence of a true practitioner of medecine. Squall and Seifer's wounds were easily tended to. Zell's gash was packed and bandaged next, and then Dr. Kadowaki's attention turned to the more serious injuries of Rinoa and Irvine. Selphie sat by Irvine's bed and cried as he squeezed her hand when the piece of sharp wood was removed. Curaga was cast, and Dr. Kadowaki went to work, checking to see if any organs were damaged. When it was discovered that none were, she sewed up the wound, and cast Regen on him. She then prepped the CAT Scan machine for Rinoa.
Seifer bid the group goodnight and picked Quistis up to take her to her room. He got looks from everyone but Selphie, who giggled and suggested he might have a thing for Quistis.
"It's nothing like that!" he spat, storming out of the infirmary with Quistis in his arms.
Selphie and Irvine soon left, much to the discontent of Dr. Kadowaki, who insisted that Irvine stay just for the rest of the night, for observation. Irvine shrugged and said he'd be fine before walking out the infirmary door with Selphie's support.
Squall stayed through the rest of the night for the results. After about three hours of studying the CAT Scan photos and tending to Rinoa, Dr. Kadowaki came out into the waiting room.
"She's awake now Squall, but in a lot of pain..." Kadowaki said darkly.
"Can I see her?" Squall looked hopeful.
"Sure... just don't jostle here with huge hugs and such." she answered waving to the intensive care room.
Squall jumped up from his seat and ran to Rinoa's bedside.
"Rinoa!" he put his hand on her forehead.
"Squall? What happened?"
"Shhh. You need rest right now. Er... go to sleep and I'll tell you tomorrow." Squall soothed.
"But... what if your gone? What if I can't find you?" she panicked.
"Rinoa... you know where you'll find me if I'm gone. Remeber our promise?" Squall patiently calmed her nerves.
"Is she allright?" came Seifer's voice from behind him.
"She's hurting badly..." Squall stated.
"I'm gonna rip that motherfucker's heart out with a rusty spoon." Seifer murmered through clenched teeth.
"Who in the hell was he anyway Seifer?" Squall stood up after seeing Rinoa was fast asleep.
Seifer nodded. "I guess I have a story to tell.... and it's a story that might bore you and you don't have to listen, because I always knew it was going to be this way..."
End of Chapter 2
I feel good about that chapter. I was gonna leave it on a cliffhanger, but nah... That last statement that Seifer made, about his story....it's a quote from a book I once read that got turned into a movie.. 100 Billion cookie dough points to whoever can tell me what book/movie it was.