The Delinquent
Don't own it or anything else that I don't own… not sure if that makes sense.
About a week and a half after the "incident"
Squall cracked one eye open, he lifted his head up but quickly propelled it back down into his pillow. The sudden movement had made his head spin and feel as though he was about to throw up.
All of a sudden he noticed just how squashed he felt, he looked to his left to see Rinoa comfortable resting her head on his shoulder, beside her was Selphie. Selphie was spooning Rinoa in her sleep and there was a little amount of saliva on Rinoa's jacket from her.
Then, making things worse than they really had to be was Zell, sprawled out like he was the only one in the bed. His arm rested on the top of Selphie's head and he was making occasional snores that Squall was wondering how he managed to sleep through.
Memories of his Friday night started to come back into place, all that had happened and all the embarrassments that he had had. As per usual he had made a complete ass of himself.
He did like one thing that came out of it though, he got to have Rinoa resting on him as he woke up and he was going to enjoy the moment. She was making that purring sound that she had made when he'd seen her before and somehow still managed to remind Squall of a chocolate commercial.
He closed his eyes and took in some of her scent; although it was lined with the disgusting stench of stale alcohol, she still smelt sweet to him.
But as usually happened to Squall in moments like this, still having a small smile set upon his lips, in came Laguna.
"Good morning, good morning, good MORNING!" Laguna sang loudly.
Squall grimaced, his head pounding with the ever syllable. He felt Rinoa jerk out of her sleep; she looked around the room in a hung-over daze but soon came to the realisation of where she was.
It was then that Squall finally looked around the room himself, on the beanbag was Irvine, trying to curl back into a ball and go back to sleep. Seifer and Quistis lay together on the fold out couch, Seifer now glaring menacingly at Laguna while Quistis tried to bury herself under the blankets to get away from the noise.
Squall liked having the whole gang at his house; it gave him more to do when he finally got out of bed.
"… The sun is shining it's a beautiful day, good morning, good MORNING to you!" Laguna continued.
"Please just go." Squall said groggily.
Laguna walked up to the curtains and opened them swiftly, making the entire room hiss like the light burned into their flesh. Squall lifted the pillow out from under his head and hurled it at Laguna; it barely touched him, Squall not having the energy to really throw it that far.
Rinoa groaned and covered her head under Squall's shoulder.
"Uncle, leave them alone!" Ellone exclaimed from the doorway.
Laguna laughed loudly, slamming the door as he went out. He got immense satisfaction out of doing that, it really ticked everyone off.
"Ellone," Squall called out woozily.
She opened the door and stuck her head inside, her face shining out sympathy that Squall loved to get from her.
"Can you please close the curtains?" Squall muttered.
Ellone nodded, apologising to nearly everyone as she came in the room. Within seconds the curtains were closed, Ellone was gone and Squall was fast asleep.
Later that day
Squall had showered, dressed, eaten and drunk enough water for his hangover to nearly be gone. There was still a lingering sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and he was feeling very tired but nothing that he couldn't live through.
As they inevitably always do, everyone had gone back to their homes. They'd stayed for breakfast though (more like afternoon tea) and had bumbed around for quite some time before they eventually left.
Squall now sat in his room, idly flicking through the pages of a car magazine and listening to some Metallica on his stereo. His thoughts weren't on the cars in the mag or the half naked women that modelled in front of them, it had drifted onto memories that he had long since pushed aside.
He couldn't get that strange building out of his mind; it had just suddenly came to him. He'd pretty much forgotten its existence what with all the Lucas trouble that had been going on.
He started to remember the strange images that had been in his head, the bizarre things that he'd been doing or saying.
Usually in dreams and things of that sort you had some sort of control over what was going on but this was like being paralysed and watching your loved ones turning off your life support. You want to scream out, to beg them not to, something… but you just cant.
'I should go back there…'
The more Squall thought about it, the more he felt that he should. There was some sort of connection there with him. He didn't know if he was being paranoid or stupid but a mixture of both had got him in and out of trouble and this time would no doubt be no different.
He had a feeling of trepidation about it though, he didn't know if he wanted to go back there alone but he didn't want to take anyone. He felt this was a personal thing and didn't want to get anyone else involved.
'I wouldn't want to hurt you Rin…' Squall thought, unavoidably turning his thoughts back to Rinoa.
He contemplated it for a couple more seconds, weighing up whether he really wanted to go or not.
"Fuck it." Squall said aloud.
He grabbed his car keys off his bedside table and switched his stereo off as he walked out the door.
"Where are you going?" Ellone enquired as Squall walked out the door.
"I don't have to tell you fucking everything!" Squall snapped.
He slammed the door and began walking down the cobble path towards his car, he turned slightly after taking a couple of steps, contemplating going back and apologising to Ellone but shook his head and kept walking. Ellone had taken more abuse from him over the years than that.
He was actually shocked at the amount that she had suffered and not done anything about. If it was him he probably would've slapped her by now but then again he always was a bit more aggressive than she was.
He got in his car and turned the key, Rollin by Limp Bizkit started blasting through his speakers and he swiftly turned it down a bit. He glanced in his rear mirror and noticed the curtains of Rinoa's home parted slightly.
The definite drawbacks of having someone you know living next door to you, you can't go anywhere without them knowing.
You even feel inclined to take them everywhere you go but before that familiar feeling of inclination came along he roared down the road.
It was then that he realised that he didn't actually have any idea where it was. He knew that it was quite far out of Balamb but didn't really know the exact location.
'Someone's gotta know…Looks like I get a passenger…'
"So tell me again why I'm coming?" Rinoa enquired.
"Because I can't remember where those ruins were. My big question is why Quistis is with us." Squall stated.
"Cause you two retards would no doubt fuck yourselves up." Seifer replied.
"Then why are you here?" Squall continued.
"I came for the drive." Seifer said.
Conversation ceased as Squall went over a particularly nasty pot hole. A few insults were thrown at him for that.
Squall was actually quite upset that he had to bring any of them. He felt this was his own job, something personal that he just had to do. He did feel more secure with them around though, there presence giving him a calm serenity that he wouldn't have if he was alone.
"There it is…" Rinoa breathed.
It really was breathtaking, the size of it made you feel somewhat insignificant. It still reminded Squall of a beehive though, or a melting ice-cream.
Squall parked his car and slowly got out of his car. Already feeling that eerie feeling that surrounded this place, it had the feeling that something terrible must have happened here it was a bad feeling that overshadowed any other.
"This place still creeps me out, aye." Rinoa sighed.
"I wanna check out inside." Squall stated.
"You can't go in there alone." Quistis advised. "I'll go with you."
"I'm off it; I'm just ganna hang here." Rinoa said.
Quistis looked over to Seifer, giving him a big cheesy smile that meant she was probably going to ask him something. It was that favour smile, the one that everyone uses.
"Can you stay with Rinoa?"
Seifer rolled his eyes and sat on the bonnet of the car, actually quite annoyed to be missing out on all the interesting fun, this meant he'd have to con Rinoa into coming for a mission.
Squall and Quistis walked towards the building with trepidation in their hearts and a ready to run at any moment. You had to be on your toes and this place just didn't feel right, not to mention the fact that last time they were here Squall got crushed.
"I'm not going up the stairs again." Squall stated.
"No I wouldn't think that too wise." Quistis chuckled.
She was trying to make light of the situation, usually Selphie or Zell would be doing that but they couldn't be paranoid and Squall wasn't going to be cracking any jokes any time soon.
They followed the bend to the right and passed one passage, it looked a bit too shabby to risk. They came to a second; this one looked a bit safer.
"Ladies first," Squall said, pushing her in front of him slightly.
"Fuck off! This is dangerous; the guy has to go first." Quistis retorted grabbing onto his arm and flinging him in front of her.
They walked warily over the rubble and down the dimly lit corridor. Once at the end of the hallway they saw a big steel door that lay bent and broken on the floor.
Quistis stared at Squall, her eyebrows raised and her lips pierced together in a tight lipped scowl.
"What do you suppose that was holding in, Squall?" Quistis enquired.
"I dunno; let's hope its dead now though."
Quistis knelt down and rummaged through her bag, soon she found her desired object. A brass knuckleduster sat wrapped around her fingers, it was her seventeenth birthday present from Seifer.
"If an angry Grat comes out how much damage do you plan to do with that thing?" Squall laughed.
It was a well known fact that although Quistis was an excellent fighter and was definitely not one to be fucked with, she hit like a girl big-time.
"Well do you see anything lying around we can use to protect ourselves?" Quistis jeered.
Squall rolled his eyes and turned back to the path ahead of him. Once they passed the metal doors they found themselves in a lush forest type place. The whole compound was overgrown with plants, vines and things of that nature but this place was just breathtaking.
You could hear the various animals scurrying around in the bushes and the path veered off in two directions. One led to a door that was closed, the same steel doors standing tall as the ones that had been on the ground.
"What do you think happened here?" Quistis breathed.
Squall contemplated the question; it was obvious that it was something bad, something that stained the place forever.
"I dunno…" he trailed off.
He began walking towards the only door that looked as if he could squeeze through. It wasn't open that wide, in fact it was mainly open at the top and still holding on at the bottom.
"You're not seriously going to go in there are you?" Quistis burst out.
"C'mon Quisty, you know you want to." Squall grinned.
Quistis stood firm though, her face giving off a mixture of disapproval and shame at his actions.
"Your curiosities ganna get the better of you anyway, you might as well come now when at least you've got someone to go with." Squall continued.
She let out a frustrated growl and began climbing on top of a small tree to get through the doors.
After about two minutes of trying they were both finally inside the complex.
As soon as Quistis took one step inside she wished she hadn't and Squall was definitely having his doubts now.
As they look around the trees parted and a loud thumping could be heard. Squall bit his bottom lip while Quistis clenched her eyes together tightly.
Squall slowly turned, nearly crying when he saw the huge, red, snarling beast standing about ten metres away from them. Its mouth was ajar and white saliva could be seen dripping from its hungry mouth.
"Quistis, whatever you do, don't move." Squall whispered.
"I wasn't intending to." Quistis muttered back.
Squall heard a loud screeching sound that could only be compared to metal scraping against metal and the monster took off.
"I hope whatever that was isn't worse." Squall said offhandedly.
"Don't you try to make this seem like nothing! You nearly got me eaten by some prehistoric dinosaur!" Quistis shrieked.
"Fuck up! It might still be around."
"I don't like this Squall." Quistis said downheartedly.
"Alright," Squall sighed.
Squall looked around his surroundings, looking for an easier way out than how they got in. he spotted a small bridge and then a door not too far ahead from them.
He grabbed Quistis by the forearm and started running for it, praying that whatever that monster was it wasn't planning on coming back anytime soon.
Squall kicked in the door and it opened surprisingly easy. Squall was expecting there to be some sort of lock or something but sometimes you just expect too much.
"Why the hell did I have to come? Why the hell do I always have to come?" Quistis kept repeating.
"Shhhh, you're supposed to be the poised one not me!" Squall exclaimed.
"I'm sorry Squall, its not every day that I get dragged half way across the country to go see some stupid ruins infested with monsters!"
Once they'd gotten over the initial shock of the dinosaur looking thing they looked around there surroundings and found themselves in quite a nice little setting.
Squall felt an unfamiliar feeling of uncertainty and hopelessness engulf him. It was the most surreal feeling, like he was drowning in a pit of despair.
"Something terrible happened here…" Squall stated.
"I know… we should bring Ellone out here." Quistis suggested.
"Why would we want to do a thing like that?" Squall cried.
"Well she's all spiritual, she knows about these sorts of things."
Squall gave her an incredulous look, why would he want to bring Ellone here? You wouldn't even get her in the door.
"She knows more than us anyway." Quistis finally burst out.
"I wouldn't really feel comfortable bringing her here." Squall sighed.
"I feel really loved right now." Quistis exclaimed.
"What?"
"You wouldn't bring her here but you'll bring all us!"
Squall didn't answer, not feeling that he should have to. He didn't have to look after them, they could all look after themselves pretty efficiently but Ellone was different.
She had an aura of innocence that followed her everywhere she went. It was sort of the same with Rinoa but Squall knew that he could protect her from anything; with her around him he knew that he could achieve all.
Ellone carried a different feeling though, it was the same purity just he took it in different ways. Ellone had always taken care of him when he needed her and now that he was older it was his turn to look after her.
Squall heard Quistis sigh and felt slightly bad for not giving her an explanation. Now they were pretty much stuck in this room, Squall doubted Quistis's want to go back outside again, and Quistis was pissed with him.
"What time is it…?"
Quistis barely had the words out of her mouth when suddenly Squall dropped to the floor. At first she thought he was only joking and told him to "cut his shit out" but upon closer inspection she found Squall out cold.
His eyes had rolled back in his head but his eyes remained open and he was mumbling something chronic.
"Squall, seriously not funny!" Quistis pleaded.
She bent down beside him and started furiously shaking his side, trying as hard as she could to rouse him from his slumber but to no avail.
Tears started to well up in her eyes but she didn't want to start crying over this, if Squall was just taking the Mickey out of her then she'd never live it down.
"Please Squall, cut it out!"
She began shaking him again, this time actually slapping him a couple of times. Finally realising that this was no joke she began to panic, not knowing what to do. She wanted to go get help but she didn't want to leave Squall in case some monsters got in.
So she did the only thing that she could think to do.
"HELP! Somebody please help!"
Elsewhere
"C'mon Rin, lets go explore." Seifer whined.
He'd been going on about it for about the last fifteen minutes and Rinoa still wasn't budging. She didn't like this place at all. It was too creepy for her liking.
"I'll tell you what, if something happens then we'll run straight back and steal Squall's car."
"Anytime I want?" Rinoa enquired.
"Anytime you want."
"Alright, but we don't go anywhere near the actual building."
"I can live with that."
Rinoa jumped off the bonnet of Squall's car and felt a cold chill run down her spin. This place had suddenly become worse, if that was possible.
"Did you feel that?" Rinoa asked.
Her eyes were wide and she was oozing anxiety. If it wasn't obvious before than now it should've been more obvious than dogs balls.
"You're losing it Rin." Seifer stated calmly as he began heading towards the wreckage.
"Why do I always manage to get stuck with you!" Rinoa spat out.
Her question was never answered, just ignored.
HELP! Somebody please help!
The words echoed off the walls of the compound and made there way into Seifer and Rinoa's ears.
Seifer glanced at Rinoa for barely a second before taking off in a spring towards the ruins, Rinoa at his heels the whole way.
'Oh my Hyne, oh my Hyne, oh my Hyne…' Kept repeated over and over again in Rinoa head.
"Quistis!" Seifer yelled.
Seifer HELP!
Seifer skidded to a stop and took off again in another direction. Rinoa had to admire his dedication to Quistis; it was really quite sweet if you thought about it.
It wasn't really the time to be thinking of such things but she started wishing that she had someone who would care about her like that again. She missed having someone constantly at her side when she needed them to be. The closest thing she to that was Squall and… well… that was just complicated.
Rinoa had a hard time keeping up with Seifer, he wasn't stopping for anything. He jumped over crumbled wreckage on the ground all the while never faltering for a second. He just kept following Quistis's voice.
'Why can't I hear Squall…?'
I'm leaving it there cause I have to go back to work now. Sorry about this one taking so long but I had a lot to do this week plus the fact that I got a mild writers block for a couple of days.
The next couple of chapters are going to mainly focus on the mystery of Balamb Garden and Squall's revenge. I've gotta get to the big climax and then wrap it all up. It's nearly over guys!
Anyway, what'd ya think?