War Story
Chapter Ten: The End
By PasifiKStaR
Author's Note: Well, this is the end of this story! The anticlimatic closure. I just want to remind everyone that I had no political motive in writing this. So please don't email me complaining about what you think my underlying political agenda was or how you do/don't agree with them. I don't care. --;; That's about it. Thank you everyone who has put up with it this entire time! I really appreciate it:) I can't tell you that enough. Much love, everyone!
All Standard Disclaimers Apply: I do not own Final Fantasy or "May It Be" (by Enya)
"No..." Quistis gasped as she turned her head back at the hallway as she watched the vanishing backs of her comrades. "No, we can't!" she screamed as she turned back to Squall, who was walking rapidly ahead of them with a bundle in his arms. "We can't just leave them there!" she argued in vain.
"It's not our choice anymore, Quistis! It's THEIRS!" Squall shouted as he jumped over a chunk of fallen cement wall, one of many that littered the failing corridor. In his arms, a limp Rinoa bounced as her head hung low. Dark bangs fell over dulled brown eyes as pale fingers tightened around the cloth Squall wore.
"You are their commanding officer!" Quistis shouted back as Seifer tugged her forward harshly. She hardly noticed the way he gritted his teeth as he ran carefully beside her as her main focus was the fate of the two soldiers that had just left for a suicide mission. "You can stop them! You can ORDER them to stop! Stop them! Squall!"
Her cries fell on deaf ears as Squall kept his ice cold gaze fastened to the crumbling doorway before them. Quistis' eyes began to water as a thick smoke from earlier fires caused by explosions and gunshots filled the hallway with their horrid stench. Before her, the crisp clear vision she had when they arrived with was now blurred by the haze caused by their choices.
Squall's head didn't turn back. His jaw was clenched as he concentrated one thing: getting Rinoa out of there. Quistis didn't know if it frustrated or angered or disgusted her. She suddenly felt a sense of betrayal. How could Squall send his two soldiers - his FRIENDS to their deaths?
"They're not doing this as soldiers," Seifer hissed as he gritted his teeth and pushed himself forward. "They're doing this as people. We are a family, Quistis..."
Quistis closed her eyes tightly and nodded as his statement sank it. We would gladly die for each other.
"Quistis!" Zell's voice echoed in her head. "Quistis!"
Her head snapped up and turned in the direction. "Zell?" she murmured absent mindedly.
"C'mon, Quistis!" Zell said as he swept down next to her. As she followed his movements, her heart pounded in her chest as she realized the heavy weight against her left side. Her eyes widened with shock.
"Seifer! Oh, Hyne!" she gasped. Her arm quickly shot underneath his arm. "Seifer!"
"Keep going!" the wounded blond snapped as his eyes narrowed with the shots of pain that shot through his body.
"Hold on tight!" Zell said as he heaved Seifer's other arm around his shoulders. Zell put his own arm underneath Seifer's and pulled him up. "Let's go!"
"Seifer!" Quistis gasped as she looked down at him. His body was leaning heavily against her, as if all his weight was slowly shifting on to her body. A blood stained leg got her attention as a dark stain spread through the cloth of his pants. "Your leg!"
"Forget about the damn leg!" Seifer growled as he strained to carry himself under his own power. Sweat was dripping from his grim lined face. With each step, Quistis saw the pain shoot through his face.
"Quistis! Pay attention!" an authoritative voice shouted ahead of them. Quistis looked up and saw Squall glance back quickly to make sure they were keeping up. "Don't get distracted! We have to get out of here!"
"Distracted?" Quistis spat out. "DISTRACTED?" Her blue eyes narrowed with fury as a surge of emotion filled her. "How can I NOT possibly get distracted?" She shrieked as heaved Seifer's muscular body against her slimmer figure. "What am I supposed to think about? ESCAPING?" She shouted as hot tears began to slide down her ivory face. "My friends are in there DYING!"
"They are doing this to save us and the world!" Squall growled viciously as he looked over his shoulder, his face hardened like stone. "DON'T LET THEM DO THIS ALL IN VAIN!"
Zell closed his eyes tightly for a moment as he struggled to swallow down the frustration, fear, and utter helplessness that was quickly overtaking him. His grip around Seifer tightened as he pulled forward, trying to keep up with Quistis' quickening steps.
Seifer tilted his head back and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the searing fire that was shooting up with each weak step he took. He felt Quistis and Zell brace him like human crutches as they pulled him forward. Their steps grew stronger and faster and he looked down. His eyes narrowed as he watched his leg quiver underneath his weight.
He swore. It wasn't going to last long.
"We're almost there!" Zell encouraged painfully as tears collected in his sapphire eyes. He could feel the heat of the fire behind them as they climbed over and around tumbled pieces of the building. They could feel it moving beneath them with each step.
"Raijin and Fujin are up ahead!" Squall's voice shouted outside the doors. Quistis gritted her teeth and let out a frustrated scream as she collected all her energy into supporting Seifer.
The sound of her frustrated scream drowned out the electronic voice telling her that there was but one minute left before the building self destructed and fell around them. "Hurry!" a voice shouted ahead.
She saw glistening silver hair in the moonlight and knew that Fujin was waiting for them to reach them. Quistis looked up and saw Fujin armed and ready on the gun turret of the vehicle, prepared to defend her fellow squad mates from any soldiers who dared attack them now.
Zell was panting hard and took a deep breath to try to calm his rapid beating heart. His entire body was shaking as he dragged Seifer against the back of the awaiting vehicle. As soon as they were against it, Zell fell forward and landed against the metal bumper. Seifer stumbled forward, only to be caught by Raijin.
"He's been shot, ya know!" Raijin exclaimed, horrified as he saw his friend fall. Quistis fell with him, trying desperately to keep him up. The large man jumped down and began to lift him to safety.
"Selphie?" Fujin gasped. She helped dragged Seifer into the back and lifted her head to look up. "Irvine?"
One eye turned to Squall, searching for answers. Quistis turned to him, almost accusingly, as she dragged her worn, bloody, bruised body next to Seifer's. She, too, wanted to know why. Why did he let them go? Why didn't he stop them? Why? WHY.
Fujin followed his gaze and a sharp breath escaped her lips. Her eye widened before welding up in tears. "Negative..."
"Are they-" Raijin began to clarify, but Seifer grabbed Raijin's arm to brace him as he pulled himself up. Raijin immediately turned to Seifer and paled as the blond nodded his head slowly. The weapons specialist turned his head back to the burning building, utter disbelief on his face.
They heard someone sobbing apologies and confessions of adoration and love. Quistis picked out the sound amidst the sounds of sirens and explosions. She saw pale arms grabbing on to someone's body in vain as they shook violently with regretful tears. Her eyes rose and watched as a war hardened man stared helplessly at the building as explosions rocked the ground beneath them.
They watched as glass shattered and flew into the air. As metal melted and twisted into each other. As cement crumbled to the ground like a sand castle consumed with the waves. The sirens were replaced by the sounds of a building being demolished from it's base.
Quistis felt arms wrap around her numb body. She felt a large, callused hand cupped her face and turned it towards a dirt stained shirt as she was held tightly in a protective embrace. She remembered hands rising and grabbing on to his shirt as they trembled violently. Even as her head turned against him, her eyes remained on the scene before her.
Dust and debris flew into the air, creating a cloud as thick as morning fog across their line of vision. Smoke filled the night sky as shadows danced along with the flames that created them. There was nothing left by flaming rubble.
Rinoa fell to the ground in tears. Her hands rose to cover her face as she sobbed. Zell closed his eyes tightly and lowered his head as tears mercilessly came from his eyes. Quistis couldn't take her eyes off the fires and the smoke and the ruins. Everything was destroyed. The equipment. The capsules. The soldiers. The sorceress...and two special operations operatives...that would not have wanted to go any other way.
The sound of boots crunching against the fallen stone caught her attention. As Seifer caressed the back of her head, she watched as Squall stepped away from Rinoa and walked forward. In an almost dream like state, the Commander walked into ground zero as dust still whirled around.
He didn't seem to feel the sting of the near by fire or the dirt from the fallen structure. Through the haze, they watched as he bent down and shoved aside a chunk of metal. He paused for a moment as he took a sharp breath and closed his eyes tightly.
He reached down and lifted up a half charred cowboy hat. He held it in his hands as he stood up, his gloved fingers tracing around it's former edges as he remembered the man who wore it and the only woman he'd ever allowed to wear it. Squall's hand clutched it tightly, squishing it's burnt fabric against his hand as he closed his eyes.
Rinoa watched him with tear filled eyes as he stood there, staring at the blaze before him. Dark hair fell over his haunted eyes as his body was silhouetted against the fire. Shadows danced across the chaos of rubble around them. Slowly, the commander turned around, the hat held firmly in his grasp.
A lowered head shielded the pain that contorted his stoic features as he approached and Quistis bit her lower lip, momentarily tasting the salt of the tears on her face. Rinoa stood up and awaited Squall with open arms. He dragged himself into her grasp and closed his eyes as he buried his face in her soft, scented hair.
His hands tightened their grip around her, as if afraid she would suddenly vanish as well. His face was buried in Rinoa's narrow shoulders as his shoulders rose and fell with pained breaths.
Quistis felt a warm drop against her cheek and looked up. Seifer's gruff face was staring out of the vehicle. She could still see the glistening streak the tear had made as it traveled down the side of his face. Her lower lip trembled as she rose her arm and pulled him against her, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
"Raijin..." Squall said in a hoarse voice as his hold around Rinoa loosened. The tall soldier looked at him slowly and blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. Squall narrowed his reddened eyes and took a step forward, his head held up high as his composure returned to him. He took a deep breath. "Take us home."
"You want to print this?" A glasses wearing man in a brown suit asked suspiciously as he looked up at the tall, proud looking blond that was standing in front of his desk.
"Yes," Quistis replied as curtly as possible. "Is it not what you were expecting?"
Cid looked down at the disc that was placed in front of him. It contained Quistis' article from her experience in the Galbadian Army. He signed and removed his glasses from his face. "I can't print it."
"Why the hell not?" Quistis demanded in a stern, foreboding voice. Her sapphire eyes narrowed as she stiffened even more so. Cid looked up at her and shook his head.
"This isn't what we wanted," Cid told her. "We wanted a war story, Quistis. The ones you were used to writing involving the forces behind the event. What happened?"
"A war happened, Cid," Quistis told him, matter of factly. "That's what I wrote about."
"You wrote about random people!" Cid gasped.
"War IS people!" Quistis spat out quickly. Cid jerked his head back. "I wasn't fighting robots. I wasn't fighting machines or the forces of evil like some anime super heroine! I was fighting PEOPLE, Cid. Human beings who had jobs to do, just like you and I, only their job is to fight."
"Do you know what the other papers will do when they read this?" Cid asked incredulously. "They'll NEVER in a thousand years let you go on another assignment for any of them ever again! I promised them the best I had - I expected the best story ever from you, Quistis! A story about corruption and power, the struggle of governments and why this was happening! And instead you write about these people you met-"
"I wrote about humanity, Cid," Quistis told him with narrowed eyes and a defensive tone. "I wrote as unbiased as I could about the war. I wrote about what I saw. What I felt. What I came to understand. People KNOW that there is corruption and cover ups in the military. But what about those simple lives that are entangled in the great scheme of things? What about the little things that make up the big things?"
"This is an article on war, not a fairy tale I asked you to write!" Cid exclaimed.
"If it was a fairy tale, where the hell is the happily ever after?" Quistis snapped. "You weren't there, Cid! You don't know how it feels to watch people BURN after an attack. To watch a person you shot die in front of you. To watch people you considered FRIENDS DIE for your sake."
"What the hell does this have to do the war? You didn't mention a damn thing in here about politics or aggression or even who the country leaders are-"
"I didn't see a Hyne damned politician out on that battle field, Cid! I saw normal people like me getting killed!" Quistis hissed. She shook her head. "If you don't want to print it, FINE. I don't care. I did my job."
She whirled around and was about to stomp out of the door. "Quistis!" Cid yelled as she put her hand on the door knob. "This isn't the war story I wanted." he told her bluntly.
Quistis stiffened. Her hand gripped the door knob tightly. "No," Quistis said softly. "It's mine." She opened the door and stepped through the halls.
Zell had been waiting for her outside the office and jumped out of his chair as she came out. "I heard yelling," he said with a frown. Quistis nodded. "It didn't go well?"
Quistis smiled sadly and shook her head. "It wasn't what he wanted."
Zell frowned. "I liked it."
"I know..." Quistis smiled softly and patted his shoulder. "I'm leaving tonight and I have to pick him up before we head over - We'll meet you there?"
Zell nodded. "Yeah..." Quistis nodded and stepped past him. Her long blond hair was tied up in a tight bun as a crisp dark military uniform graced her body. Long, proud strides carried her through the office as she walked out the doors.
Zell looked back at the door to Cid's office one last time before straightening his own uniform and following the older woman. Just as he stepped out, Cid opened the door, the disc in hand. He looked around and then looked at the woman that was his receptionist.
"Xu," he said as he placed the disc in front of this. "Put this on the cover."
"Seifer? Seifer, are you ready?"
"Yeah," a deep voice said from down the hall of the ranch style house on the outskirts of Deling City. Quistis peered down the dimly lit hall and smiled softly. "My bags are by the door," a person said as a figure came into view. "Can you grab them for me?"
"Sure," Quistis said as she bent down and picked up the duffel bag. As she put the bag over her shoulder, she leaned down and kissed the forehead of the blond man that had rolled himself forward. She grinned from ear to ear. "I'm impressed...you were able to put on your uniform without falling?"
"I was laying in bed when I put it on." Seifer said as he rolled his eyes. Quistis chuckled and pushed the door open as Seifer grabbed the edges of his wheel chair and pushed himself out the door. His uniform was nice and crisp as medals adorned his upper body. A hat that matched the color of his uniform topped his neatly combed hair.
Seifer had lost feeling in the leg that had been shot and was unable to walk without crutches. It was a painful reminder of what had been lost that day.
Quistis tossed his bag into the back of her rented car and helped Seifer get into the passengers seat before folding up his wheel chair and putting it behind her. She got into the driver's side.
"You look good," Quistis said as she pulled out of the drive way. "Did you iron your uniform?"
"Nah," Seifer said casually. "I had Raijin come and take to the dry cleaner's."
"Oh..."
"You look good, too," Seifer said as mischievous green eyes scanned her body up and down. "It fits you." A slight blush rushed to her cheeks as she smiled slightly.
She glanced over at him and mentally thanked Hyne for sparing him for her. Seifer had been frustrated at the loss of control over his leg. When the bullets and the embedded pieces of metal and glass and been pulled out, the doctor told him that it wouldn't be long before he'd loose feeling of his leg. A week later, Seifer was in a wheel chair.
But like the strong man he was, he refused to be treated like a invalid. He had some feeling in his other leg, but shards of twisted metal that he had passed when they were escaping the building had cut into his muscle, weakening it severely. As a result, he was confined to a wheel chair most of the time.
However, at night, Quistis would wake up and hear him in another room, letting out his frustrations about his legs. He would swear and curse with a fury as he'd lift himself off his wheel chair and tumble to the ground. It pained her to see him like that. A man once so independent now couldn't even walk down a hall way with crutches. She would watch him from the shadows, unsure if he even knew she was watching.
They pulled into a gated area and drove on a cement path way through a lush green lawn dotted with stone markers. They recognized a few familiar cars that were already parked and slid into a space next to them. Quickly, Quistis got out of the car and got out Seifer's wheel chair as he opened his door. She watched as he gracefully lifted himself up and placed himself in the seat.
He looked up at her and grinned. Quistis rolled her eyes. "Fine...I'll push you."
Seifer chuckled, knowing he was perfectly capable of pushing himself towards the small group of people that was gathered further into the cemetery. Quistis grabbed the handles behind Seifer's broad shoulders and pushed him through the emerald lawn.
"Hey," Zell said as he stood up straight and saluted them. "I thought you weren't going to make it."
Quistis laughed as the group parted way for them. "Says you. I left before you did."
"Officer Trepe," Squall said as he stood up straight and saluted the two. "Commander Almasy."
"Captain Leonhart," Seifer saluted in reply. "Where's the blimp?"
"Seifer..." Quistis hissed in a low voice laced with disapproval. The blond male just smirked as Squall stepped aside and revealed a back to normal size Rinoa who held a bundle in her arms. She narrowed her eyes at Seifer as she rocked the baby in her arms.
"I'm not a blimp any more." she told him matter of factly as she wore a white medic's uniform in comparison to the soldiers' dark ones.
"Deflated, huh?"
"If I weren't a mother..." Rinoa warned.
"Okay, ya know," Raijin laughed as he shook his head. Fujin was standing next to him, holding a large bouquet of roses. "Let's do what we came to do."
Squall nodded and pulled out a lighter. He bent down and lit the two white candles placed in front of a small cement altar. Fujin stepped forward and placed the flowers at the base. The group surrounded the tomb, as they had a few months earlier, when it was first erected.
Irvine Kinneas
Selphie Tilmit
Officers First Class, Diablo Squad
It had been a year that day.
Rinoa closed her eyes as she rocked her child against her shoulder. A soft, calming song echoed through the cemetery as she sang against her child's head. The others stood there silently, paying respects to the fallen heroes.
Zell bent down and looked over the names engraved into the stone plaque. "Do you think they're okay?" Zell asked as he watched the flame dance over the candle.
"Of course, ya know," Raijin answered. "They're together. That's what they wanted."
"Speaking of wanted," Zell said. He bent down and dug through a plastic bag where he had used to carry the candles. "Quistis...here."
The blond woman turned to with him a confused look as a heavy stack of paper was placed in her opened hand. She grasped it and looked down at the headline. She covered her mouth as a warm tear slid down her face. She felt an arm go around her waist and looked down.
Seifer pulled her closer to him and leaned his head against her stomach. She smiled sadly and put her hand over his with her free one as she placed the newspaper on the ground.
Mornie utulie (darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantie (darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
"A War Story," Squall said as he looked down at the headlines on the newspaper. He looked down at the picture of his squad in black and white. Two familiar faces now absent from their presence smiled back at him reassuringly. "Written by Officer Quistis Trepe-Almasy, Diablo Squad."
Seifer looked up at Quistis as she gingerly sat down on his lap. His arms wrapped around her body as she leaned against his body and rested her head on the crook of his neck. A warm hand touched her stomach softly as she felt Seifer's comforting touch caress her cheek. Her hand closed over the larger hand resting on her slightly swollen belly.
She closed her eyes as a warm breeze blew past the remaining members of the squad. Rinoa's voice carried over and Quistis smiled.
A promises live within you now...
--Jonathan Larson Rent