Chapter 4

Wearily, she brushed her golden bangs back from her eyes and drew a deep breath as she approached the two men that stood, awaiting her presence on the bridge. The old cobblestone pattern clicked rhythmically beneath the heels of her shoes, and one by one, the street lamps blinked on in time with the lights of the city that towered on the other side of the small lake, signaling the end of another day. She had shed her pressed uniform in favor of civilian clothing. She couldn't chance being followed.

"Good evening," she greeted with a curt, professional nod. Her two companions, a man with long auburn hair pulled back off his shoulders, and the other a blonde with a distinctive marking along the side of his face, nodded back to her and waited for her to explain why she had called them there.

"As you know," she began, eyes darting around to make certain they were alone, "We have discovered that the Esthar Syndicate has infiltrated the government, specifically the intelligence department. There's no doubt in my mind that he is working to obtain information that will be useful to their plot of assassinating the president. We need their plan to succeed, though this is not to stop us from terminating any Esthar Syndicate members that prove to be a problem or hindrance to us. Should they start trouble... we are expected to finish it."

"Aside from the man you mentioned seeing in the palace, we found only one other syndicate member. He has been eliminated," the blonde man reported.

She nodded. "Above all else, it is important not to blow our cover. If they discover our presence here, our entire plan will be ruined. Keep this in mind while targeting members of their syndicate. How did the elimination proceed?"

"Pushed him in front of a train," the longhaired man replied with a slow drawl. "Looked like a total accident."

"Very good. You are to continue to carry out orders until further notice. As I said, be cautious. This mission is of the utmost importance to our survival."

With this, she turned and marched away, the briefing finished. She glanced around once more, and, finding nothing, felt her nerves were eased only slightly. Something felt slightly off...

"How nice of you to supply me with details," Seifer murmured from his place in the metal supports beneath the center of the bridge. Getting there hadn't been easy, but neither was following Quistis there in the first place.

It was hard not laugh as he sat there. She was so certain that Balamb's presence had gone undetected, even while he sat there and listened to them map out their plans. Was she just too cocky, or was she really that much of an amateur? Either way, it didn't matter, it all worked to their advantage.

Seifer climbed up from his spot onto the bridge after waiting for a good hour to assure that all three members had left the area. He began the long journey back to the city, and once he found a working pay phone, he left another message at the hotel for a little meeting of his own.

It was something border lining obsession, a kind of masochistic addiction he couldn't shake. In the solitude of darkness, hidden away from the masses of sound and fury that called themselves people, he would dig them out, piece by piece from the shadowed and dusty corners of his mind. Like the pages of a worn book that no one else had ever read, only he knew the words and story, line for line until he could repeat them with ease.

He couldn't say what it was that made him reach out for those painful moments of his life, couldn't say what demonic aura possessed him to relive each and every one until he became so desperately lost among them that he was caught drowning in thoughts and mistakes of the past, making his battle to return to the present a nearly impossible struggle. There were times he'd become so entranced in that world, the images, scents, sounds and emotions that had once been all he had known, that he would return to himself with a start, realizing that he'd forgotten to breathe.

When it was time to work, when there were others around him, the instincts that had been drilled into his head for years would sweep over him, and he would become alert, the most vigilant human being imaginable, so deeply ensnared in the world around him that almost nothing could escape his notice. He was the perfect machine for the syndicate, he knew he was nothing more than that to them, and yet, when the room around him would cease to be, and he would find himself once more in the body of a child, he no longer cared. The old sorrows and the grief, placed high upon a self in the innermost chambers of his subconscious would be removed, the dust of years passed wiped away, and the feelings would come rushing back again. He would remember then, exactly why he was in the position he found himself trapped in, and that feeling of blood lust that so often ignited the human soul but had evaded his capture until that point would burn to life within him.

So what story would he pick up with today? Since his arrival in Deling City, he'd been playing through them, mostly in chronological order, as though reviewing the steps taken to get here just as they had been lived was preparation for the ending which was so quickly approaching. There was an anxiousness building in him because of it, something he only ever felt when thinking of his final mission, or, strangely enough, whenever he was around her.

He shook his head at this, wondering what she would think of his morbid little hobby, and wondered immediately afterward why he should care. Leaning back on his bed, he shook thoughts of the mysterious girl out of his head. He didn't like to think about her. She caused so many unusual feelings, though not always unpleasant, that were beyond the simple, direct set of his emotional comprehension.

Instead of thinking about her, and the odd fluttering of his heart when she smiled, he picked out the next part to his ongoing story, and focused...

He stared out through the tinted windows of the vehicle at the crumbling gray stone ahead. A mansion of some sort, now fallen irreversibly to shambles in its abandon stood tall against the heavenly shade of azure sky, a sky that did not suit his emotions at the moment in the least.

At the back of his mind, images of the night before prickled, wishing release or at least recognition but he refused to give in. He couldn't bare to think about the cold and lonely hours spent waiting, lingering in some plan beyond both life and death where every breath of air drawn echoed into eternity until he couldn't be sure that he'd taken that breath at all. After some time, it had become impossible to continue feeding that anxiety and hope with. It drained away as if he were depleting the fuel that kept his life burning. Emptiness bled through his veins, and darkness fell over his mind with a numbing force. He couldn't think, he couldn't feel in the dirt and darkness, the silence of the seemingly endless night. The passage of days could not be counted as he barely registered the difference between sunlight and moonlight, and when another life form had finally strayed close to his hellish prison, he no longer could muster fear or hope, only a tingly, scorching sensation that that started at his finger tips and quickly invaded the rest of his body.

When she pried open the vent and reached inside, he lunged at her, eyes wide with a primal rage not at all befitting a child. He kicked and punched, and tried to bite, all the while shouting his pain and intent of revenge for the lives he didn't want to accept as being lost to him. Gripping him tightly, she finally restrained the trembling boy, and with the adrenalin that ran through his system now taking its toll, he no longer had the strength to fight her as she picked him up and carried him out to a sleek black car that was parked in the driveway of his home.

Sitting there now, having arrived at their intended destination, he finally chanced a look at the woman that had brought him here. She was a tall, slender woman with black hair that cascaded down her shoulders and ended at her waist. She had a kind look on her face as she opened his door and knelt down to his level, but even more poignant than the warmth there was a sadness, and he knew what she was going to tell him.

"They're gone, aren't they?" he asked before she had a chance to speak.

"As far as we know, yes," she admitted with a sigh. "We're still looking... we haven't lost hope. Oh, look at you... such a little man in the face of all this. You deserve to know the truth, I guess... You can handle it, I believe."

"What truth?"

"Do you know what your Daddy did for a living, Squall?" she asked gently.

"He used to be a businessman, Mommy said, but he retired."

"Well, that's true, in a way. Your father was a businessman, so to speak, but the business he dealt in... wasn't exactly legal."

"What's that mean?"

"It means he was doing things he could get arrested for. He headed a syndicate, you see. When your mother became pregnant he decided he should stop. He didn't want you or your sister to get hurt. But the syndicate he used to lead had enemies, and when they found out where he was, they began to chase after him and your family. Those enemies of his... they were really bad men."

Here, her voice broke off for a moment, wondering, next for the first time, over the morality of teaching such a young child that the syndicate's enemies were bad, when they weren't really any better themselves.

"My husband and I took over the syndicate in your father's absence. We were told that if anything ever happened, we should take you and your sister in. That's why you're here now. This is the safest place for you."

"What is it? What's a syndicate? And that big house there?"

She pressed her lips into a thin line across her face and clasped her hands in her lap. "I'll explain what a syndicate is when you're older. For now, all you need to know about this place is that it's safe. Other children stay here, and I watch over them, too. Now, come inside with me. My husband is here on a visit, and he would love to meet you."

He allowed her to help him out of the car, and pressed him face against the soft violet fabric of her dress as they approached the door, where a stern-faced man in a dark suit stood waiting. She handed the man the keys to her car, and he opened the door, holding it open for the two of them to enter.

The inside of the house seemed to match the outside perfectly with its disheveled appearance. The foyer was coated with dust and cobwebs and there was a spot where the roof had caved in. Sunlight streamed in upon the dingy marble floor and the chunks of stone and plaster scattered about the room. Close to the center, a glass chandelier lay in a heap of ruin, the shattered remnants catching the light and sparkling like it was new and whole once more. She led him carefully through all of this and passed the door, which stood open and crooked upon its hinges, to the main hall, which lay in equal disarray.

"I need to talk to my husband alone for a bit, then I'll bring you in to speak with him... in the meantime, there are some people I would like you to meet."

She led him down a dark, narrow hallway and down a wooden staircase that creaked and moaned threateningly beneath their slight weight. At the bottom was a single wooden door, which she opened quietly before ushering him in. Inside, dozens of children played and laughed happily in a huge room painted with bright and happy colors. Toys of all kinds imaginable were strewn about, and cheerful sunlight poured in through small window panels high up on the walls. It looked like every child's paradise.

"You'll stay here for a while, Squall, with the rest of the children. They're just like you... they lost their families also. But I take good care of them here, and I'll do the same for you. I'm Edea, and I'll always be here when you need me." She squeezed his shoulders from behind, then urged him on a few steps away from her. "Go on, I promise I won't be away long. Go meet the other children. We're all one big family here, Squall. Go meet your new brothers and sisters."

She turned, and was heading for the door, when a tug on her skirt stopped her. Squall stood, turned toward her, hands fisted in the soft and worn garment as he stared up at her with that same, wild and wide-eyed look.

"No!" he murmured, quietly at first. "I don't want a new family. I want... I want my family back!" His voice rose into an anguished cry, and her eyes began to tear at the sound of it. "They can't replace them! I want them back! I'll find him! I'll the man who took them from me. I'll... I'll kill him! I'll kill him and get them back!"

The phone screamed out at him from its place on the hook, and he quickly snatched it up, slightly angered that he'd been disturbed once more. "What?"

"Mr. Lee, you have a message from a Mr. Green," the receptionist's voice answered from the other end of the line. "He says he needs you to meet him at the café so the two of you can go over your recent stock investments."

"Yes, thank you," he replied before slamming the phone back down.

Rubbing his forehead, Squall sighed. Whenever Seifer called, there was always a problem. "The man just attracts trouble," he mumbled, yawning. He glanced quickly at the clock and sighed again. He'd miss Rinoa's performance tonight...

"We're only here to get information... Keep that in mind," Squall whispered from his place crouched on a broken and twisted fire escape.

Slipping easily through the hole in the shattered window, Seifer kneeled down next to him, squinting against the darkness at the building across from them. "That place looks like it's been abandoned for a while now. Pretty shabby for a base of operations."

"Seifer, did you hear me?" Squall asked with a sigh. "There will be no shooting from you of any sort unless you're returning fire. We don't want them to know that we know about them."

"Don't worry. Wouldn't wanna hurt that pretty blonde of theirs, anyway."

Squall turned to him with a reprimanding glare. "You've been following her around a lot lately."

Seifer held his hands up, fingers spread in a gesture of innocence. "Chill out. I'm not planning on dating the girl or anything. Just want to add her to my list before we drive them out, you know."

"Your list?"

"Yeah, you know... my list of conquests."

Shaking his head, Squall stood abruptly and with the stealth of a street weary feline made his way up the rusted scrap of metal without a single sound escaping into the air. When he found himself at the right angle to peer down into the window of the second story floor in the next building, he seated himself carefully on the fragile step of the staircase. The room revealed by the window was dimly lit by an oil lamp placed on a table in the center of the room. Around the table sat two men, a blonde and brunette with a ponytail. Squall fixed his earpiece into his ear and listened intently as voice came through the static.

"It all seems a bit far fetched," one of them was saying. "I mean, at the rate we're going there won't be anyone to take the President's place. First the President himself, then the vice president... And if Esthar retaliates and takes our man out, too..."

He almost laughed at how easy it was. So that was their plan, to assassinate the Vice President, after he killed President Caraway. The Vice President was affiliated with the Esthar Syndicate, and had promised them full control of Deling City, and thus, of Galbadia, should they get him into office.

No longer feeling the need to stay, as the topic of their conversation had wandered to that of 'hot chicks in politics' he was just about to stand from his position when he caught the reflection of a female figure in the window he'd been looking through. Apparently she was playing look out from further up on the building. He backed himself against the wall instead, watching the reflection carefully as he edged his way to the stairs that would take him back down to Seifer and the broken window they'd come through. From there they could take the staircase down within the safety of the building and leave.

Just as he was reaching the rusted metal stairs the window he'd been watching through flew open and the echo of gunfire rang out. Deciding now wasn't the best time to worry about being sneaky, he scrambled down the stairs and jumped to the bottom, only to be met with an angry blonde that landed at the platform in front of him.

"Pitiful spy work, if I do say so myself," she commented, the barrel of her pistol aimed straight up at his face.

Squall's eyes darted around quickly, wondering where his back up was when the longhaired brunette came crawling up the fire escape behind him. Thinking quickly, he moved to the left and snagged her wrist in one fluid movement, jerking her arm back behind her and crushing her wrist until her hand opened to drop the weapon. He caught the gun before it clattered to the iron grating and held it against her head in threat.

The cowboy-wannabe in front of him made to take a step forward, and Squall put the slightest bit of pressure of the trigger. "I wouldn't if I were you."

"Irvine, there's more than one of them here!" a yell came from the pavement below, and when the man known as Irvine turned to stare back at the source of his interruption, Squall shoved the blonde forward until she collided with Irvine and the two nearly tumbled down the step in a heap.

Squall shot through the window and ran with all he had for the staircase, footsteps pounding against the brittle floorboards as he heard the two outside start to regain their bearings. He was almost to the staircase when the floor beneath him gave a terrible groaning creak, followed shortly by the loud, splintering crack and resounding boom as it caved in beneath him and crashed to the floor below. He could only sit there for a moment, dazed and a little bruised but miraculously unscathed before picking himself up out of the rubble.

"Of all the rotten..."

His voice was cut off as yet another crack sounded through the air. He scrambled over the follow beams of wood, nearly faltering when hot, leaden pain jammed into his shoulder and forced color dots into his line of vision. Managing to stumble only slightly before running for the door again, a barrage of bullets attacking the floor at his heels, he made it out of the building where Seifer stood, a taxi waiting at his side.

"What took you so long? I was getting bored out here waiting for you."

The smirking blonde stepped into the yellow vehicle and slid over to allow Squall in, who slammed the door shut just as a bullet imbedded itself into the trunk of the car. The driver slammed on the gas and tore down the road, causing Squall to slam his injured shoulder into the window.

"Son of bitch!" he hissed out, hands clutching at the wound. "Seifer, you're a dead man!"

"What?" Seifer wondered in mock innocence. "I did my job just fine. Look, I even got us the lovely get-away car." Squall shot a questioning look in the driver's direction, and Seifer shook his head once more. "You really do underestimate me. Do you think I'm that stupid. He's one of ours, Mr. Leader. And look at you, getting shot up like that. Tsk, tsk, very sloppy. We can't go to a hospital, you know that. They'll ask questions. Looks like I'll get to play surgeon tonight."

"Fuck you, I'll do it myself!" Squall growled, in no mood to put up with his subordinate's arrogance.

"Don't think so. Can't get the bullet out by yourself, now can you? And who else can you trust?"

Squall said nothing, turning his attention to the scenery as it flashed by. The thought entered his head, unbidden, of Rinoa's gentle hands upon him, carefully tending his wound and chiding him over his recklessness with genuine concern.

"Squall, did you hear me?" Seifer questioned, shaking him from his vision.

"Whatever, Seifer," he replied as the car pulled to a stop in front of his hotel. "I'll take care of it myself. I'm not in the mood."

With that he left the car, and stumbled back to his room, careful to keep his wound from sight of curious eyes. He cleaned and wrapped it up as best as he could before passing out on his bed in exhaustion, thoughts of a raven-haired woman still plaguing his mind.

A/N: I know, not much romance here, but the next chapter will be all about the romance, so no worries.