Clash of the Gardens

Part III: Life

Alert

Hours had passed since her encounter with Selphie, but Rinoa felt like it happened days before. She walked through Balamb's halls, unable to shake the feelings of insecurity that overcame her being. Where is everyone? Where's Squall?

Rinoa looked around and began to quicken her pace. From the main hallway, she could see the entryway of the Training Center. The Training Center? I bet he's there… Confident in her new ray of hope, she happily jogged to the Training Center.

Upon her arrival, Rinoa was disappointed to see how many SeeDs were present. She wondered if there were some sort of prize on the other side of the giant steel door. She looked around for Squall, but he was nowhere in sight.

There were two doors on opposite sides of the rooms. The doors on the left had opened and out paced a lively SeeD returning from his training. Zell was also one to enjoy the services that the Training Center provided, but he didn't frequent the place like Squall had.

When he saw Rinoa waiting in the main hall, he found himself grinning. I didn't think she was the fighting type. He laughed and called out to her.

"Hey, Rinoa. What are ya doing here?" Zell waved and stopped before her. Rinoa only sighed. She had hoped it was Squall who came through those doors. Why was she so anxious to see him? Whenever he wasn't around, it felt like something was missing; Probably because he had been with her since the beginning of her journey, or it was because he made her feel secure.

"I was looking for Squall, you haven't seen him around here, have you?"

"Nah, this crowd is too big for him. He really prefers to be alone in this place. I'm surprised you didn't figure that much out by yourself."

"I kinda figured that." She did consider turning around when she first came across the large crowd of fighters, but she also wanted to be sure that Squall was there too, and so, she stayed. "Hey, do you know where he might be?"

"Well…I think I might be able to help you out, but you can't tell him that I told you. Okay?"

"Okay."
"Also, you have to promise me you won't go where he is…I don't think you'll be safe there."

"Just where is this place?"

"You really want to know?"
"Of course."

"Alright, I'll tell you…" Zell pulled her to the side and whispered in her ear.

Because of the intense darkness and heat, Squall was losing energy quickly. He had never allowed himself to stay inside of the Fire Cavern for so long. The Training Center had been taken over by other SeeDs, and there was hardly any space left for himself. Slightly disappointed, he decided to leave campus completely and do his own training. Of course, the monsters weren't much of challenges, but he used these weaklings to help boost his magic usage. Bats, Fire Bombs, and Beuls were all that filled the Fire Cavern. He went through slaughtering the monsters with ease.

As a handicap, he cast blind on himself and listened to the positions of the bats. Even though he was blinded by the magic, Squall was confident in his accuracy skills. The sounds would help him to distinguish the proximity of himself and his foes. The bats' positions were easy to determine, considering every five seconds they would release their hideous cries while in battle. Squall sliced upward with his sword to slash the bat from the heavily polluted air of the cavern. He landed on his feet and knelt to the ground. The heat seemed to make it extremely difficult to breathe by every second. He cast an Esuna on himself and took a deep breath.

"There you are!" A voice shouted from behind. He looked back and saw Rinoa standing there with the same smile she had the day before. His eyes fell to the ground slowly.

"What is it? Why are you here?" He faced forward and stood to his feet.

"I didn't know where you were for sure."

"…Now that you've confirmed my position, you should get back to Balamb. It's dangerous here."

"Bats? Dangerous? Yeah, right." She laughed.

"I don't have time for this right now, would you please leave?"

"I'll leave in a moment. I just wanted to be sure that you're okay."

"I'm fine."

"You look like you need some air." He turned to look at her face, and there he saw her grinning, as expected. He forced himself to stay quiet. "Squall, I have a question." He tilted his head to the side and gripped the handle of his Gunblade. He moved it upward and allowed it to rest on his shoulder. She cleared her throat and looked at the ground. "…What do you think about our situation?"

"How many times do I have to tell you? Go talk to Selphie about the war."

"I did, but I wasn't talking about the war. I was talking about…our situation."

"What exactly do you mean?" Quizzically he stared at her, making her more nervous in the process. Rinoa couldn't find an answer. She wasn't sure if there were any reason at all that she needed to talk to him.

"I don't know. …Forget I asked." Truthfully, Rinoa only wanted just to be around Squall. She was becoming embarrassed just by standing before him now, and for a moment, he seemed to be just like the man she first met that night. He sighed and once again turned away from her. She angrily looked at the ground. "Rinoa! What's wrong with you? Say something!" She sighed and walked closer to him. "Why aren't you practicing with the others?"

"…It's too cluttered in there with all those people. Bad enough, there are hardly any monsters to challenge when everyone else is knocking them off, too."

"But you know, with all that closeness, it's a great way to experience real life battle with your comrades, you know?"

"I already know what to expect out there on the battle field."

"…The war between you all and Esthar?"

"Yeah." He looked around.

"What was it like?"
He looked at her and then to the ground, trying to find the words to explain his horrible battles. Death cries, gunfire, spells, and scents were all that filled the air. It was a terrifying sight for most people, but for Squall, it was a place that made him feel in control. Realizing that his feelings were too difficult to explain, he decided to make his answer simple. He moved his eyes from the ground and to the roof of the cavern, and a tiny smirk became present on his face.

"It was war."

Rinoa sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "That's it?"

"…What else did you want me to say?"

"Well…you could tell me what happened, first of all. And, you could also mention how you were feeling when you went through so many obstacles."

"You sound like you could answer those questions yourself."

"No, I can't. That's why I'm asking you!" She shouted and his shoulders dropped as he sighed heavily. "Oh come on, just tell me. What's so hard about that?"
"You weren't there; therefore, I can't really explain it in every detail. Besides, war is not a subject to be shared and talked about like a story. The pressure under the heat of battle is all one can feel. It's even possible for a person to lose his focus if so much as a minor distraction occurs. On top of that, there's no room to breath and everywhere you look, someone is planning to strike you down."

"…Now was that so hard to do?" Rinoa slightly frowned while Squall shook his head. "Were you afraid?" She continued.

"No. I'm a SeeD, I've had special training to deal with combat." Rinoa chuckled.

"No, Squall, I mean you. Were you afraid? Not how they taught you to feel."

"I wasn't sure, actually. It was different than what I had anticipated."

"Life can be so unpredictable."

"I shouldn't have let my concentration fall…"
"Squall?"
Squall stood silent and walked farther into the cavern. Rinoa decided to follow behind him. The fire and lava boiled around them intensively, but Squall kept walking.

"Squall, I think we should turn around now. There's too much smoke in here."

"…Why don't you turn around then?"

"Squall! I'm serious!"
"So am I! Why are you still following me? …I brought you safely from Timber to Dollet, and now here we are on Balamb's continent. You were in Balamb, the place you wanted to go from the start, remember? Why are you still here?" He stopped walking and she stopped behind him, covering her mouth with her hands to protect herself from the smoke.

"I told you I wanted to go to Balamb City! The city! I never said anything about Garden! You brought me here, remember?"

"Even so, you didn't give me a choice!"

"Squall, I can't afford to argue at a time like this. It's too hot in here, and I'm going to suffocate."

"So leave!"

"No!"

"Why not!"
"Because I'm not leaving until I see that you're right beside me!"

"For the last time, stop worrying about me!"

"Fine! I give up! All I want to do is talk to you, that's all, Squall! You always have to drive people away from you! Don't you realize that you are all I've got?" Rinoa turned away from him and quickly walked back to the entrance. Squall turned back to her and frowned. All this time, he had been worrying about himself and thinking that she was just a leech, when all she needed was a protector. A protector? He wasn't her protector, what more did she want from him? She had been acting out of character ever since she was introduced to the Headmaster. Was she afraid of something?

He sighed and rested his forehead in his palm. Even if she were afraid, what could he do to help her? This obviously wasn't his department. Rinoa did appeal differently to him than other females, and there was something about the looks that she often gave him whenever they exchanged thoughts.

He thought about her ring and it's representation of her mother, and his own ring's symbolism. He never told anyone about his accessories; she was the first to ever know, the first to ever hear him speak so truthfully about himself and not ashamed of it. The way her eyes peacefully settled on him had eased his heart and enabled him to speak his mind so freely; however, he could hear the tone in her voice from just a few moments ago, something told him that she would cry.

Behind the cold look on his face, Squall was feeling guiltier by the second. He knew how it felt to have the heart shattered by the mere words of another. He distanced himself because he hated the criticism from others. He hated having the urge to cry. A crybaby was no one and no one would remember a crybaby.

Despite his poor compassionate skills, Squall decided to apologize to her, it was the least he could do.

When he found Rinoa, she was dueling with two Bombs at once. She looked weakened by their attacks, but continued to put up a good fight. With one bomb ready to self-destruct, Rinoa looked as if she had prepared to let it take her life as well. Squall ran over to her and cast a blizzard spell on the giant Bomb. She looked at him with no reaction present on her face. This caused an unfamiliar reaction from Squall, as he slightly backed away with a hurtful expression in his eyes. The bomb lifelessly fell to the ground, but the other remained as healthy as ever.

"I can do this!" Rinoa shouted and cast blizzard spell on the remaining Bomb, it too had fallen just as the other previously did. Rinoa wiped her forehead and looked at Squall again.

"Are you okay?" He asked with concern present in his voice.

"Why would you care?" She asked coldly.

"…And why should I care?" He spoke with a hint of sarcasm.

"Beats me."

"Exactly. Rinoa, you chose to follow me and I laid down the rules to you before, didn't I?"

"…I can't cry, I can't depend on others, but only focus on making myself useful and lastly, if I fall behind, you won't wait for me. Those were the rules, right?"

"Correct."

"I never complained, Squall! Not once! Sure I dragged behind you for a long time, but never did I purposely make you stop. Do you want to know why I'm still following you?" He stood silent and positioned his body into his favorite stance. "Squall, every time I fell, you picked me up. You were there for me and you didn't expect anything in return. I felt like I had lost everything in Timber, but when you came along, my hope went into you. I feel safer when I'm with you, and that's why I'm still here."

"…I…I'm sorry." He whispered and looked at the ground. "I didn't realize…" He scratched the back of his head and sighed.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine, honest." She smiled and walked out of the cavern. He put his gunblade away and looked at the cavern's walls.

"I'm fooling myself."

"Angelo! Where are you going?" Rinoa yelled while walking the plains of Balamb.

"Rinoa?" He walked out of the cavern and followed behind Rinoa, who had now jogged after Angelo's image in the distance.

Irvine walked on the lonely road to Balamb Garden. He held the case in one hand and occasionally touched the handle of his Valiant with the other. In order to take out his target properly and without being spotted, Irvine would have to hide in the nearby forests of Balamb Garden. He found a tall tree that would shade him from the naked eye and provide good height to easily snipe his target.

In the case he carried was a sniper rifle that he had to put together before climbing into the tree. And there he sat in the tree, holding the large rifle on his thigh as he lazily rested on the large bark of the tree. He yawned and fanned himself.

"Sure is hot out today."

"Angelo!"

"What the…" Irvine sat up quickly.

"Where are you going!"

"Who's that?" He said while peaking into the eye scope on top of his rifle. Zooming in, he could see that it was General Caraway's daughter running in the fields. He smirked and dug into his pocket. "I can kill two birds with one stone today, can't I?" He loaded the gun and took aim. "Wow, she's one pretty girl, but how? I mean Caraway always looks so serious and angry. Creepy… Irvine, stay focused!" He told himself.

Rinoa stopped jogging when she realized Angelo was now drinking from a small puddle of water far away. She smiled and put a hand over her eyes to shade the sunlight.

"Good girl." She said softly.

Irvine decided that now was the perfect chance to take the shot. He aimed the rifle to her neck and took a deep breath. "Focus." He said to himself, and in an instant, the trigger was pressed.

Rinoa felt a sudden sting in her throat, but she thought it was a tiny bug of some sort. She fanned around herself and coughed slightly. Her eyes felt heavier, and now her body felt numb. She began to panic and tried to call out, but her voice didn't work. She took a step and fell to the ground.

Irvine smiled at his success, and mentally gave himself a pat on the back. He laughed and gave his hat a short tug. "She went down quicker than I thought. I love this rifle!" He cheered from the tree, and the sound of his voice seemed to catch the ear of a canine.

"Rinoa!" Irvine looked up from the tree and saw a male running toward her motionless body.

Squall ran to her and knelt down beside her. He saw that there was a dart in her neck, which was obviously the cause of her unconsciousness. "Rinoa…" He touched her throat and felt it swelling underneath his fingers. "The sniper could still be around…" He rose up quickly and looked at Angelo. It was obvious that Angelo knew that someone else was there. The canine jogged toward the forest and began to bark.

Irvine looked at the oncoming dog and then to the man who was now also running over. "Holy crap!" He shouted and jumped down from the tree. He ran through the forest, but Angelo quickly caught onto his trail. Squall was gaining in speed also, but Angelo jumped and took a bite into the softest spot she could grip. Irvine yelled out in agony and fell to the ground holding his bottom. "I surrender! Call off the dog! Call off the dog! I surrender!" Irvine's voice was almost in a childish scream.

When Squall slowed down and caught his breath, Angelo was standing over the Sniper and growling.

"Who are you?" Squall spoke while drawing his blade.

"Oh!" Irvine looked back from the ground, not wanting to sit on his bottom nor make a sudden move, which would trigger the dog's instincts. "I…surrender."

"Get up, one false move and I'll kill you."

"Understood, but please, call off the dog."

Squall sighed and looked at Angelo. "Angelo, ease." She looked at him and backed away from Irvine.

"Good dog!" Irvine cried. Angelo growled again. "Hey!"

Squall took the equipment from Irvine and had Angelo keep good watch of him. Irvine walked beside Squall, but was sickened by a Bio spell that Squall took pleasure in casting upon him. When they came across Rinoa lying in the grass, Irvine sighed.

"I'm sorry. I was just following orders. By the way, I'm Irvine, Irvine Kinneas." Squall ignored him completely and looked at Rinoa, as she remained motionless on the ground. "…Don't worry about her, she should be fine in about three hours. I didn't realize the shots were that powerful…"

"Shut up." Squall said and picked Rinoa up from the ground. He placed her on his back and led Irvine to Balamb Garden.

Though he rushed out of Caraway's Mansion in a hurry to engage his mission, Seifer had other plans of his own. He was already enraged by the lack of respect from Deling, being placed as a supporter and not an initiator. Why didn't the old man just dismiss him right then?

Seifer stood tapping his foot impatiently while leaning his back on the Galbadian Vehicle. Two other soldiers were presently seated in the back of the vehicle and had dared to not bother him at the moment.

Finally, Seifer saw another Galbadian Vehicle out in the distance that was approaching them quickly. That famous smirk draped across his lips, followed by a soft chuckle that seemed to make his comrades uncomfortable. He pushed himself from the van and walked out to meet the others. His comrades leaped out of the vehicle and walked behind him.

As the other van came to a stop, Seifer was thrilled to see them approaching him quickly. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the men who stood before him. One seemed to be shaken quite a bit, but the other was just a cool as Seifer's relaxed heart.

"So…" Seifer said slowly. Instantly the other soldier took control.

"Both Caraway and Deling were quite busy after you left their premises, Sir."

"Oh really? Do tell."

"Deling has made a deal with Trabia Garden, and now we're allies with them. He mentioned something about Balamb's SeeD murdering the Headmaster of Trabia and taking General Caraway's daughter hostage, and now they're all up for helping us in this fight."

"And what about Caraway?"

"Caraway…Caraway phoned Deling right after you left and said that his daughter was kidnapped."

"And this was a secret mission, one that Deling wasn't supposed to know about?" He looked at the ground and smiled. "Caraway wanted me to get caught in Balamb against orders." Seifer sighed and muttered. "There are serious consequences for not following the President's orders. That scum wanted me to lose my privileges in the most shameful way possible: Failure to obey high commands means loss of respect, loss of purpose and…loss of power." Slowly, Seifer began to look at the sky. "I see."

"What is it, sir?"

"…Deling. Deling has to get out of the office."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't question me and don't you dare try to stop me. Let's move out!"

"Sir!" The men yelled together and ran to their vehicles. Seifer grinned evilly as he sat on the seat of the van. He remained quiet throughout the ride. His behavior had worried the men, and each wanted to know what could have been going on in the mind of Seifer; however, at the same time no one actually wanted to know. Besides, everyone already knew that Seifer would never satisfy the curiosity.

Seifer's body was suddenly being moved by the same adrenaline that overtook him on the fields of the Esthar War. He smiled again in his menacing delight.

Irvine was held captive inside the Detention Center of Balamb Garden's security personnel. He had been held there for over an hour, and was already being questioned about his motive. Irvine occasionally grinned and winked at one of the female SeeDs present, but she grunted at him and turned her head away. He then turned his attention back to his interrogator.

"I told you before, I'm a soldier of the Galbadian Military. I was given specific orders to safely retrieve the General's daughter from your grasp. That's all."

"We're wondering why you had a sniper rifle in your possession. Seems like you were here to do a little more than take back the girl."

"The General's daughter?" One SeeD spoke underneath his breath.

"How was I supposed to get the dart into her neck? Only the rifle can do that trick. I told you that a dozen times already!" Irvine snarled.

"Don't you get smart with me, I only want the truth."

"Aren't you listening to me!" Irvine became serious. "…You know what, I'm done talking with you and anyone else you send in through here. Geez, I think I'd rather the guy who brought me here to interrogate me, at least his silence seemed to be easier to deal with!" And with that, Irvine shut his mouth. He didn't even take interest in the female who had rolled her eyes at him a few moments ago. Irvine was finally left alone in his cell at the Detention Center after the SeeDs finally decide to give up. A smile of satisfaction overtook his mouth as he closed his eyes and sat back on the wall.

Squall quietly sat beside her bed in the infirmary as he had done before in the fields of Timber. She had silently passed out on the ground from exhaustion and dehydration. He laid her body near the river and watched over her as a guardian would. Squall hadn't understood why he stared at her for as long as he did, the sight was too unbearable to take his eyes away. Squall never looked at any female that way, and all those girls in Garden were all his comrades and nothing more.

He worked with them; therefore, he couldn't possibly get himself involved in any other way with any of the women. What was he thinking about? Rinoa had changed his way of thinking. Never in his mind, would the subject of dating occur. It was a miracle if he found a girl attractive, but only for a few seconds. Squall sighed and moved his hand through his hair. Before he could continue his train of thoughts, someone entered the room in a hurry.

"Excuse me, Squall." Squall looked up at the short boy, a junior classmen whose current job was to deliver orders.

"Yes?" Squall answered.

"You're needed in the Detention Center. They say that the Galbadian won't answer to anyone but you at this moment."

"Are they serious? What's this about? The guy was interrogated two hours ago, wasn't he?"

"Uh… Are you going to go-"
"I'm on my way, thanks." The Junior Classmen nodded his head and ran out of the Infirmary. Squall rose from his chair and took one last look at Rinoa, who lay silent on the mattress. He sighed and exited the room to begin the interrogation with Kinneas.