MY LIONHEART – CHAPTER 4
Doom
"It seems that you're fine." Dr. Kawadoki said after checking her up.
"Thank you." Rinoa said tiredly. She tried to get out of bed but Dr. Kawadoki pressed her down, nodding her head.
"You must rest, Rinoa. I'm going to get a psychologist here to see if you're mentally alright." She said.
Rinoa's eyes widened and she protested. "I'm fine! Look at me! I don't want a shrink! What, do you think I'm crazy? Do you?" she said as she hastily got up from her bed. Dr Kawadoki had her hands to Rinoa's wrist but Rinoa kept pushing her, trying to break free of her grasp.
"Let me go!" Rinoa said finally and managed to wriggle herself out of Dr. Kawadoki's grasp. She darted towards the front door and the door slid open. She ran towards it and Squall stood there, his face a bit shocked to see Rinoa dart towards him.
"Rin…?" He said as Rinoa accidentally bumped into him. He held her tightly, not letting her go.
"I don't want to see the shrink. I don't want to…" She kept muttering, almost at the verge of crying. "Let me go!"
"Listen to Dr. Kawadoki. You'll be fine." Squall said, lowering his voice so only she can hear.
"No, no, no, no…" she rambled on and she bit her lip.
"Rinoa! Please!" Squall shouted for the first time, gripping her arms. He looked at her straight in the eye, cold and serious. Rinoa kept quiet and stared straight at him.
Squall realized he shouted at her and he lowered his voice again, this time his voice sounded soft. "I just want to make sure that you're okay. I only want the best for you. Listen to Dr. Kawadoki, she took care of me as well."
They stood there for a while then Rinoa finally nodded her head. Squall sighed and accompanied her back to her bed. Then he heard the doors open and there was a commotion outside.
"Rin! Are you okay?" Squall heard a chirpy voice. He turned around and the whole gang was there. Selphie ran towards Rinoa first, followed by Zell. Irvine and Quistis looked white as they passed the door. Squall got up and walked towards them.
"Squall, I need to talk to you in private." Quistis whispered. Squall looked back at the other two who was comforting Rinoa. They seemed to do a better job at it. Squall hated himself right then and there.
"Squall." Quistis said as they got out of the infirmary. Irvine stood near them, looking around to see if anyone was eavesdropping on them. Then Quistis leaned towards Squall, too close for his taste.
"Squall… Seifer's missing." She said in a small voice.
"Missing?" Squall said in a fathomed tone.
"Missing. He's not in the school grounds." Quistis said. She turned around and leaned in even closer to him, so close that her nose was touching his cheek and she whispered into his ear, "The Doom machine prototype is missing too."
Squall took a step back and cursed so loud that the students who were walking in the hallway turned around and stared at him. Squall avoided their glance and stared hard at Quistis. "How the hell did this happen?"
"I don't know." Quistis said, almost at the verge of tears but she still stood strong, nodding her head. She folded her arms deep in thought. "No-one had the key card to the Doom machine."
"Did you lose it?" Squall said, knowing that there is something else she didn't say.
"…Squall, I'm so sorry. I didn't know what happened to it!" Quistis said, her face becoming redder.
"What!" Squall yelled.
"I'm so sorry! Look, I think it fell out of my purse when I was showing Rinoa to her room. I felt something slip but I thought it was my imagination. I guess when Seifer attacked her, he found the card and went missing with it."
"Whoa, calm down." Irvine said, breaking the fight. "Look, what happened, happened, alright? Now we just need a plan to find that –" and then he swore, causing more people to look at them. Squall gave them a cold hard stare and they bowed low, running down the hallway. "…and find that machine. Easy as that, right?"
The two exchanged glances. Easier said than done, Quistis thought. But the both of them silently agreed that they had to go for it.
"Err sorry if I ask." Irvine said, looking around to see if the coast was clear. "What's that Doom machine?"
"It's a prototype." Quistis whispered. "Balamb Garden wanted a real fighting machine, one capable of destroying a whole town the size of Dollet in five minutes. The one missing is a prototype and it has been kept underground because its powers were too much than expected. We kept it underground, not sure when we're going to tweak its power."
"Why didn't you?" Irvine asked.
"You make it sound so easy, Irvy. Learn electronics and tell me it's a piece of cake." Quistis snapped. Irvine backed down and touched his cowboy hat, a sign that meant 'sorry'.
"What are we going to do...?" Quistis said, almost to herself. "If that thing fell into the wrong hands, we're done for! He could destroy Balamb in under a minute, flat!"
"I'm sure we can –" Squall said but he was cut off by Quistis's cries. The two men stood there motionlessly, watching her cry.
None of them have seen the strong-hearted, risk-taking Quistis cry. Now Squall looked over her and saw that she's just like every 18 year-old girl, not a confident, elegant and intelligent lecturer and instructor. She seemed even more human, and Squall didn't think he liked that feeling.
"Quistis." Irvine said, trying to cheer her up. He held her arms and brought her closer to him. He hugged her as Quistis tried to calm herself down. She held her breath, trying to block out the cries that was escaping her lips. Irvine hushed her, both hands on her back and he stroked her gently and her cries turned into sobs. She felt better and she sniffed, saying thanks in between.
Squall stood there, deep in thought. If I was a perverted idiot with a megaton machine under me, where would I go?
Back in the infirmary, Zell was talking with Dr. Kawadoki at the other end of the room and Selphie was on Rinoa's bed, trying to cheer the poor girl up.
"Hey." Selphie said suddenly and it caught Rinoa's attention. "I just want to ask you something."
Rinoa stopped for a while but thought, What the heck.
"Sure. Shoot." She said confidently.
"Do you like Squall?" Selphie asked.
Rinoa's eyes widened. "Selph!"
"Whaat? Can't I ask you that?" Selphie said, bouncing on her bed.
"It's too soon to ask that question. I only knew him for two days!" Rinoa snapped, her face blushing hard.
"But I think he likes you. Talking to you? Offering you his room? Girl, you got through to him in less time than we did!"
"He's just being nice… That's all." Rinoa said in a small voice, trying hard not to show Selphie that she's blushing.
"Squall's never nice. He's never mean either but…" Selphie said, crossing her arms and thought of something. "But I've never seen him act like that around any girl! Not even me or Quistis!"
Rinoa didn't say anything, feeling flushed. "Shut up!" she said playfully and nudged Selphie a bit. Selphie giggled.
"You like him, don'tca?" Selphie said and winked at her. "I know you do! Come on, don't lie!"
"I…" Rinoa said but she caught herself. "I'm sure he likes some other girl. He's probably waiting for her, that why he's always alone and lonely."
"Ohh I think not." Selphie said, waving her finger in front of Rinoa's face. "Maybe you're the one he's been waiting for."
"Shut… up!" Rinoa said playfully and threw a small pillow at Selphie. Selphie dodged the pillow attack and grinned.
"You'll see. I can tell." Selphie said, still grinning. Then they heard the door open and Squall stepped in hastily. He walked over to Dr. Kawadoki and they engaged in a heated conversation. After that, he talked to Zell for a moment and went back out again. Zell turned towards the two with a funny look. Rinoa heard a small clank but thought about it nothing more.
"Where is he going?" Selphie asked.
Zell opened his mouth to answer but suddenly the whole Garden shook under a big explosion. All the lights flickered and dust and debris started to fall from the ceiling. Everyone got down on the floor in to time at all, their hands to their heads.
"Squall said that it's going to get a little rough in here!" Zellshouted over the roar of multiple explosionsand all the lights went out simultaneously.