Chapter 2

Xu walked purposefully out the elevator of Balamb Garden towards the staff offices on the third floor. As an assistant to Squall, she was obligated to work the hours that he had assigned himself, and if that included 10-3 on a Saturday, then it was her duty to work from 10-3 on a Saturday. She was running late of course, Squall told her she did not have to come in until 10:30 at least on Saturdays, so that she could get more rest. She was kind of surprised when Squall's office door was locked and the lights turned out. That's strange, she thought, Squall is always here by 10 AM on Saturdays. She looked at the wall calendar, and it still read March 3rd. That was yesterday, he always changes it when he comes in. I wonder where he could be. Xu sat down at her desk and dialed Squall's room number. When she got no answer, she tried his cell phone. Xu shrugged and started working again. He is probably in the shower after waking up late.

A half hour later, when Squall still did not show up, Xu dialed both of his numbers again, then decided to page him "Squall Leonhart, please call Xu at extension 4116. Squall Leonhart, please call Xu at extension 4116."

After five more minutes, she decided she had better call Irvine, since he said he was gonna take Squall out the night before. She dialed Irvine's room phone and got an answer on the third ring. "Hello?" a tired and barely audible voice mumbled into the receiver.

"Irvine, this is Xu, do you know where Squall is?"

Silence was the only reply for a moment while Irvine came to his senses "He isn't at work?"

"No, and he isn't answering pages or his telephones. Didn't he go out with you last night?"

"No... he decided to stay in and drink by himse....oh...crap..."

Xu heard the receiver hit the floor "Irvine? Irvine?! IRVINE!!!"

Xu sighed and hung up the telephone.

Irvine raced towards Squall's room still putting on his shirt. He did not have his standard chaps, hat or hairpiece on, and he looked more like a demon from hell than a SeeD, not that it mattered to him. He skid to a halt in front of Squall's door and banged on it loudly. After 5 seconds he pulled out his copy of the master key and open up the door, fearing the worst.

He threw open the door and saw Squall lying on the ground next to his bed. He ran to him and, after feeling a pulse, breathed a sigh of relief. Irvine reached up and switched on the bed lamp. Squall's skin was clammy and pail. Irvine knew immediately what was wrong and picked up the telephone. "Medical emergency in administration quarter number 21! I repeat, medical emergency in administration quarter number 21!"

Irvine hung up telephone and brought Squall up into a sitting position. Squall moaned slightly and opened an eye to look at Irvine. "What are you doing here?"

Irvine responded "Squall just hold still, don't move too much." As he stared around the room. He saw the bottle that Squall had been drinking out of the night before. Lying on the floor next to the table was another bottle, and Irvine was sure that his friend had a case of alcohol poisoning.

"Irvine? Leave me alone will you?"

"No Squall, you are not well. You need a doctor"

Squall mumbled something in reply, which Irvine could not hear. Irvine stared at Squall for a moment until Squall repeated "Did you hear me? Let me be!"

Irvine was confused, but he felt that Squall talking was better than he passing out again was. "What do you mean"

Squall mumbled back "Its too much... too much pain... just let me die....."

Irvine felt his stomach start churning as he realized what Squall was talking about. Not again. At that moment, the medics rushed in and Irvine explained the situation to them. They nodded and put Squall on a roll away and rushed him to the infirmary. Irvine sighed and picked up the telephone again, and started to dial Xu's extension, but Xu's voice came over the intercom first "Squall Leonhart, Irvine Kinneas, and Zell Dincht please report to Headmaster Cid's office immediately."

Irvine sighed and left the room heading for headmaster Cid's office. On the way there he met Zell walking out of the dormitory section. He called out to Zell and Zell spun around gaping. "Whoa! What the hell are you?! The devil incarnate?"

"Zell, shut the hell up."

"Whoa, what's eating your shorts today?"

Irvine was quiet for the rest of the way to Cid's office despite several attempts by Zell to start a conversation. When they reached his office, Cid invited them in, and looked at them for a moment, focusing especially on Irvine's non-standard appearance, before asking, "Where's Squall?"

Irvine replied immediately "He is in the infirmary, sir."

This gave Zell a start. "WHAT!? He's in the infirmary? Man, what are we doing here?"

Cid, now frowning, interrupted Zell "hold on a minute, Zell. Irvine what happened?"

Irvine glanced down for a moment considering. "He had alcohol poisoning, sir"

"I see. So he still hasn't gotten his drinking problems under control, has he? Or are you going to tell me this is another relapse?"

Irvine stood up quickly "Sir, with all due respect, yesterday was a very hard day for him, it was the 3 year anniversary of her... departure. He can't help feeling absolutely miserable, and if anybody is going to take the blame for this, it should be me, I should have been paying more attention to him last night."

Cid sighed and picked up a folder "Very well, but I will have to take him off the mission then. Your orders are to..."

Irvine interrupted again, not even bothering to take a seat "Headmaster, Squall needs a mission to distract him from the pain he is feeling inside. Hyne only knows how much he needs it. He has been essentially mission-less for more than 2 and a half years, and you even removed his Training Center privileges to boot! He isn't going to move on if he has nothing to do but think back and feel guilty"

Cid paused for a moment to regard Irvine. It was obvious to him that Irvine cared a great deal for Squall's well-being. He opened the folder and flipped through a few pages before responding "Very well, then. Squall will go on the mission, but you will lead the mission Irvine."

Zell spoke up this time "Sir! That is..."

"That is enough, both of you, one more interruption and I'm assigning an entirely new team. Because of his self-destructive behavior, I have no choice but to relieve him of his duties as Garden Commander. I also don't want him to endanger the mission, your lives, and Garden's reputation because he has lost all self control and will to live. You are leading the mission, Irvine, understood?"

"Yes, sir" they both replied in unison

"Good, now here is the mission briefing." Cid handed out the folders sitting in front of him. "Our client this time is one Arne Darvin, CEO of Defiance Industries, by far Galbadia's largest weapons manufacturer. We have even contracted them to build certain military hardware for us, including our sea skimmers. Needless to say this contract is important to us. You are being hired to defend Mr. Darvin's daughter, Natalie Darvin. You will leave tomorrow at 4 PM for Timber, and have an overnight layover there, before departing at 7 AM on a Train for Galbadia City. He will meet with you at his mansion at noon. Any questions?"

Neither Zell nor Irvine spoke up. "Good, now I believe that the two of you would like to depart from here correct?" Both nodded. "Very well then, dismissed."

Zell and Irvine departed from Cid's office with haste and made their way to the Infirmary. Once they stepped inside, Dr. Kadowaki pulled them aside. "I thought you two were going to monitor and restrict his alcohol intake. Cid isn't very happy at all about the situation."

"We're sorry, Dr Kadowaki. We didn't know that Squall had so much alcohol in his room."

"Hrmf! If you boys don't help him manage his alcohol intake, I'm going to make sure all three of you suffer extra misery during your next physicals. Oh speaking of which, you are due in for them in 3 weeks."

Dr Kadowaki walked to her office and started taking down notes, while Irvine and Zell walked into Squalls room. Squall was awake, but did not respond to their presence, but just stared at the ceiling. It was Zell who first broke the silence "Hey, Squall, how are you feeling?"

Squall continued to ignore them. After a moment Irvine decided he should try to bring Squall out of his stupor. "Squall, we have been assigned a mission."

This got his attention, and he sat up and hung his feet over the side of the bed. "Cid is sending us three on a mission?"

"Yes, Squall. Protection duty, from a rich customer, this will likely have quite a bit of action."

Squall thought for a moment and then opened his pocket and withdrew a package. Marboro Cigarettes was etched on the side. Squall withdrew a cigarette and then offered the pack to Irvine. Irvine raised his hand to reject them. Squall put away the cigarette pack and took out a lighter. He lit his cigarette and puffed a moment, then asked, "Who are we protecting?"

"The daughter of the CEO of Defiance Industries" Irvine offered Squall one of the three folders.

"Squall puffed the cigarette as he perused the contents of the folder. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. We're going to layover in...."

"SQUALL! EXTINGUISH THAT CIGARETTE NOW!!!" Dr Kadowaki came stomping into the room with murder written on her face. "This is a medical bay, not a drinking tavern! You will extinguish that cigarette right now or else your next physical will have extra shots!"

Dr Kadowaki knew that Squall hated needles, and knew this would get his response very quickly. Squall stared at the Doctor for a moment, then pressed the lit end of the cigarette onto the skin on the bottom side of his left arm. A hiss was audible as the cigarette was extinguished. Dr Kadowaki's expression turned from anger to disbelief as Squall flicked the remains of the cigarette across the room.

Irvine and Zell stared at each other for a moment, before Dr Kadowaki got a hold of herself. "Squall, if you don't stop this sort of behavior right now, I am going to call Cid and tell him you are medically unfit for duty, and that I'm keeping you in isolation until you improve." Dr Kadowaki walked over to the table and pulled out some alcohol and a cotton swab. As she cleaned off the wound, she continued "I don't know what kind of problem you still have, but if it doesn't end right now, you aren't going on this mission of yours. I mean it boy!"

Squall waved his hand "...Whatever. You know that once assigned a mission, the commander of the mission can refuse any order from the chain of command if he feels it endangers his mission. This has been the case ever since the beginning of SeeD, to prevent people from threatening Garden to try to recall SeeDs working against them."

Irvine and Zell stared at each other for a moment. Then Irvine nodded towards Squall. Zell held up his hands "Nu uh! I'm not doing it. It's your job."

Squall glared at Irvine and Zell "What?"

Irvine sighed "I'm commanding the mission."

Squall barked a single laugh "I'm the SeeD commander, its my prerogative and duty to take command of a mission that I'm assigned."

Irvine and Zell looked at each other again, and Irvine swallowed slightly. Squall's voice got slightly louder and definitely more forceful "What?"

Irvine blew his breath out for a moment trying to calm his twisting stomach. "Cid relieved you of duty as SeeD Commander 15 minutes ago."

Squall's face contorted with rage "WHAT?!"

"He doesn't feel that you are fit for duty as commander anymore. Your drunken rots and hospitalizations have finally pushed him into relieving you of duty. Besides, I thought you hated the job anyway."

"...Whatever. I'm a higher ranked SeeD than you."

"That might be, but Cid gave us an ultimatum. Either I command the mission, or you don't go. He feels your quote 'self destructive behavior' will 'endanger the mission, our lives, and Garden's reputation' and that someone else should command the mission."

Squall stared lighting bolts at Irvine "Fine... Whatever" Squall got up and started to leave the room, but Dr Kadowaki grabbed his arm roughly. "Not so fast! We still need to take care of that burn."

Dr Kadowaki applied a cream to the cigarette burn, then a bandage. "There. If you ever do that again, I'll make sure to find a reason to give you multiple shots."

Squall glared at her for a second then stormed off towards the dormitories. Irvine and Zell stared at each other for a moment and started to leave, before Dr Kadowaki stepped in front of them. "You two, keep an eye on him. He is going through a serious bout of depression, and it could land him dead. If nothing else, it could adversely effect your mission performance."

Irvine spoke up immediately "Doctor, we both care about Squall, and will make sure he doesn't kill or maim himself, if we can at all help it. Now if you will excuse me, I need to shower. Must present my usual charming self ya know."

Irvine flashed the doctor his signature smile and walked out.