Laguna sat behind his desk, fairly vibrating with rage. Kiros and Ward flanked him, and Odine sat in a chair opposite them, an expression of serenity on his face, as if nothing could touch him. Laguna wanted nothing more than to reach across the desk and wipe the smug look off the man's face.
"First off," Laguna said, "we are conducting this meeting in private, without the presence of Squall or Ellone, as a courtesy to you, Doctor. I do not believe in taking my staff to task in the presence of others. There is no need for them to see me reprimand you, as I assure you I will."
Odine sighed, already bored with the proceedings. "It iz a great burden on the brilliant that we deal with people of limited intellect. That you lack the proper perzpective iz not my problem."
Laguna slammed a fist on the table and started to rise from his seat. Instantly, he felt the hands of Kiros and Ward on his shoulder, restraining him. He lashed out with words instead.
"In the terms of your employment, you were specifically ordered to cease all research into the nature and function of Ellone's power including, but not limited to the manufacture of 'Junction Machine Ellone.' That device will become a weapon used by the Sorceress Ultimecia in the future to strike at us, and I have prohibited you from developing that machine!"
Odine smacked his lips and rolled his eyes. "That iz exactly why I am developing Junction Machine Ellone."
Laguna stared blankly. He blinked several times.
"If I never build the Junction Machine," Odine said, "then Ultimecia can never utilize it to travel back in time. If she never travels back in time, then I never know not to build it, meaning I do build it and she does travel back in time, meaning you do tell me not to build it. That means I never build it, preventing her from traveling back in time, and zo on. It iz an irrezolvable paradox. One that could have grave conzequencez! But, we know that she used if, therefore, we know I built it, therefore, I built it despite your order."
He sat back in his seat, satisfied.
Laguna slid forward in his seat, slowly. Odine, a man accustomed to microscopes, had the distinct feeling of sitting underneath one.
"I am a forgiving man," he said, speaking more coolly than anyone had ever heard him speak. "Some would say to a fault. But my patience is not inexhaustible, and your I consider your actions beyond what I'm willing to tolerate. I know what sort of atrocities you performed for Adel. I read the reports. Every one of them. You kidnapped Ellone and traumatized her for life. The only reason you're still a citizen of Esthar is because Kiros convinced me you have more use working for us than against us.
"And now I find that you violated my express order to cease your research into Ellone's power. That you had good reason to do so may be one mitigating factor. That we need your help is another. However, when this is all over – when Squall completes his mission – you may prepare yourself for a total auditing of your laboratories, your financial accounts, your personal life, and anything else you can imagine. If you have a bank account, I will find out how much is in it. If you have a safety deposit box, I will open it personally. If you have ever hidden a key under a rock, I will take the key and find the door to match it.
"I suggest you leave, now, and put yourself to work before I reconsider my very magnanimous position and have you removed from the country outright. Are we clear?"
"You don't know who you're dealing with," Odine sputtered, jumping to his feet.
"You will leave my presence at once," Laguna said, his voice little more than a growl, "and get to work immediately on this project before I order Ward to snap you in half and use you for kindling. Once Squall returns, we will renegotiate the terms of your employment, based precisely how industriously you work in the near future. Are we clear?"
Odine obviously had more to say, but the loud sound of Ward cracking his knuckles made the doctor think twice about replying in the negative.
"I'll be in my lab," Odine said.
"Good," Laguna said. Then, once the door had closed behind Odine's hastily retreating form, he added. "I really don't like that guy."
"Well, boss," Kiros chimed in, "if he didn't know it before, he certainly does now."
Ward rumbled deep in his throat.
"That's for sure," Kiros said, adding, by way of explanation, "Ward shares your low opinion of the doctor."
"I just hope he doesn't try to sabotage the project," Laguna said, resting his chin on one hand.
"He wouldn't dare."
Ward sniffed the air a little and made a dainty face.
Kiros laughed so hard he had to hold his side.
"What?" Laguna asked. "What'd he say?"
"Ward thinks Odine wet himself on the way out of here."
* *
Rinoa brushed away a stray strand of hair that kept falling in her face and kept reading. The papers she'd brought back to Garden didn't contain anything exciting. In the spirit of openness, Ambassador Shackelton wanted to throw a reception and dinner for diplomats from around the world. Rinoa, accustomed to high-level, black-tie affairs, had volunteered to help plan. Thus, she'd started carrying mountains of paperwork to help her correlate the minutiae that occupied her days and nights: which person didn't want to sit next to which person, who'd feel slighted if they sat too far down the table, and so on.
She closed her eyes for a moment and let the details fall away. When she opened her eyes, she found herself looking at Squall, asleep – for the first time in days -- on the bed beside her. Even as she watched, he turned again, fighting whatever battle ran through his mind. His muscles convulsed, but he did not cry out – he wouldn't, she knew. Squall had too much discipline for that, even in his sleep.
He could only fight against the nightmare for so long, though, until it overcame him. When it did, he awoke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright, eyes wildly attempting to focus in the half-light of the lamp at Rinoa's nightstand.
"It's alright," she said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I'm here. It was just a nightmare."
He half-turned to face her. "I know what it was."
She sank. "Squall, I know this has been awful for you. Losing Balamb Garden. But you can't shut me out of this."
Squall stood up and walked into the bathroom. Rinoa heard the sound of water running as Squall washed his face. The water stopped.
"I don't want to talk about it. This is my problem. I don't want to get into it."
"Every night I watch you lay here next to me, staring at the ceiling, or the wall, or the floor. You don't even bother pretending to sleep anymore. You spend three days working yourself to the point of physical exhaustion and then you collapse on the bed, only to wake up a few hours later, still shaking from whatever nightmare keeps haunting you. If you think this doesn't concern me Squall, you're wrong, because I worry about you."
Squall watched her from the doorway of the bathroom. He came back into the bedroom and pulled open his dresser, pulling out a fresh pair of blue jeans, which he donned, and grabbed a t-shirt from the nearby closet . He turned to Rinoa.
"We done?" When she didn't answer, he continued. "I'm going out."
Rinoa felt herself sink as the door closed behind him. She sighed and turned her attention back to the papers still in her hands. Squall would stay away -- in the training center or his office, or another secret hideout -- until she left for the embassy, at which point he'd return and prepare for his workday. She wouldn't see him again until nightfall at the earliest.
* *
A knock at the door prompted her to look up from the book she held.
"Who is it?" Selphie asked.
"Squall."
"C'mon in."
Squall entered the room to find Selphie curled up in the chair opposite the door. She sat, wearing a navy blue baby doll nightie, with her legs folded underneath her. She watched him cross the room and take a seat in one of the chairs along the wall.
"What are you reading?" he inquired.
She flipped the book closed to look at the cover. "Collection of short stories. What's up with you?"
"Couldn't sleep," Squall answered.
"And you knew I'd be up?"
"I had a feeling."
Selphie half-smiled. "That's a first."
Squall, restless, rose from his chair and moved over to Selphie's small refrigerator. He looked to her for permission and she nodded. He opened it and pulled out a bottle of water, and stood, drinking it, at the foot of her bed.
"How... have you been?" he asked.
"I haven't slept," she replied. "Every time I close my eyes, I picture that train falling into the ocean. I hear the voices of the junior cadets begging me to save them. I... I promised them that they'd be safe."
"For me it's his voice," Squall said. "His voice, laughing at me. It follows me wherever I go. Sometimes, when someone's talking, Mallis laughs so loud that it drowns out the other person's voice."
"What're we going to do about it, Squall? I mean, about the dreams, and the laughter."
Squall frowned, staring into the depths of his water bottle. He looked up at Selphie with deadly certainty in his eyes. "We're going to kill him."
"Do you know when? Have you decided yet?"
Squall put the water down and sat on the edge of Selphie's bed.
"I'm going away soon," he said. "On a mission. It has to do with Ellone's power and the idea Quistis proposed to us, so I'll be traveling back into the past. To fight Mallis in Adel's time. I don't know when I'll be leaving, since... preparations are still underway, but you can rest assured, once I'm there, I'll do everything in my power to kill him."
"But, if you kill him in the past..."
"I'm aware of that," Squall nodded, standing up and pacing the room as he talked, suddenly animated again. "But don't you think that if I have a chance to put things right, I should seize it? If I can kill him in the past, and prevent him from ever coming to Balamb Garden, shouldn't I jump at the opportunity? Think of the loss of life it would prevent. Think of the people he captured, sitting there as prisoners – that's assuming they're still alive. We don't even know that. No matter what the risks, I have to take this opportunity."
"Well," Selphie shrugged, "if our tussle with Ultimecia didn't break the time-space continuum, I guess bending it a little more can't hurt."
Squall stood and faced Selphie, digging in the pocket of his pants. He fished out a jewelry case.
"I... got this for you," Squall said, holding it out in his hand.
"And you've just been carrying it around in your pants pocket?"
"I've had it stashed in my room," he explained. "I grabbed it before I left."
"Weren't you a little concerned that Rinoa might find it?"
"I have a little more training in espionage and dead-drops than she does. If I want to hide something from her, it stays hidden. Besides," he shrugged, "worst-case scenario, she finds hidden jewelry – what's the most logical inference she's going to make?"
"True enough," Selphie replied.
"Here," Squall said, extending his hand again. "Take it."
"Squall... I can't," she shook her head.
Squall crossed the room and set the case on the small table beside her. He stood watching her, his face a mask, knowing that he'd already won. She stared back at him ferociously until her curiosity got the better of her. Finally, she took up the case and opened it.
"Squall, how much did this cost you?" she breathed.
"Who cares," he said, sullen. "They pay me too much anyway."
"It's gorgeous."
So saying, she pulled it from its case: an amber stone of surpassing beauty suspended from a delicate gold chain. The stone had a deep, rich color about it that seemed to swirl with the light. As Selphie looked at it, she felt herself drawn into the depths of the ancient fossil.
"Put it on," Squall commanded.
Selphie stood up and walked to Squall. She turned around, fitting the necklace to her throat, and allowed him to fasten the clasp. When he had done so, the stone hung to the base of her throat and felt warm against her skin.
"Turn around," he said.
She pirouetted, slowly, while he watched. As he looked at her, she glanced up at his searching eyes.
"Why did you buy this?" she asked.
"Because I wanted to see it on you."
His eyes continued to move over her -- the blue of her nightclothes to the amber of the stone, which brought out the hidden flecks of gold in her jade eyes. He watched the stone rise and fall with the motion of her breath and felt a sense of satisfaction.
"You can only wear this for me," he said. "This is ours. This is our secret."
"Of course," she nodded, smiling softly.
Selphie stepped closer to Squall, took his hands in hers. He felt acutely aware of the warmth of her body next to his, as she leaned in close to him. She tilted her head up, and closed her eyes.
"No," he said.
Selphie opened her eyes and stepped back, maintaining her hold on Squall's hands.
"I'm sorry, Selphie," he continued. "I... can't. Once we start on this road – I mean, once we really start, there won't be any turning back. And," he freed one of his hands to caress Selphie's face, "I'm not that strong."
Selphie nodded and smiled a little. "Let it not be said that I was the woman responsible for leading Squall Leonhart into temptation."
Squall stepped back. "I'm going to go now."
"To your office?"
"Yeah. Work to be done."
"Will you come see me again?" Selphie asked. "I mean, here? Like this?"
"Count on it," Squall said from the door, pointing to her necklace.
And with that, he slid through the door and vanished into the night, leaving her alone again, with only the necklace and an empty bottle of water as the evidence of her visitor.