The Delinquent

"What's he in?" Squall enquired as he edged his way pasted Rinoa.

He didn't really know how to consol her and being in his current state he didn't really want to. All he wanted was to see Lucas's nuts dangling off the branch of a tree.

"I dunno, like a blue car with a grey interior. I remember it's got a pine tree air-freshener hanging from the rear vision…" Rinoa said as calmly as she could muster.

"That's enough," Squall interrupted.

He looked over to his comrades, his fierce glare still engraved into his usually nonchalant face.

"I'm going." He stated.

"Fuck yea man, let's do this." Zell exclaimed.

Squall was glad to have his friends by his side for this, at least then he knew it didn't matter if he went a little psycho, they'd stop him if he went too far.

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Squall car was abnormally silent; the usually upbeat teenagers' whole focus was going towards finding Lucas. They'd driven around all the houses in the immediate area, now they were searching around the docks, next was going to be the middle of town.

"We gotta think. Where would he go?" Irvine finally burst out.

After looking for about twenty minutes he was starting to get a bit restless. Things were beginning to seem a hopeless, what were the chances of actually finding him?

"Well he's not fucking here is he!" Squall snapped before planting his foot down on the accelerator, startling everyone in the car.

Squall's journey took him into town; he slowed down as they passed various cars parked on the road. Two sets of eyes were on either side of the street, looking for something, mainly searching for the air freshener though. It was the only feature that they had that sounded remotely plausible enough to actually go check it out.

"There, THERE." Seifer shouted, pointing vigorously towards a car parked on the side of the road.

Squall could barely believe his eyes, what were the chances? The reality of actually finding had started to set in and he was beginning to think that he should just go back to his house.

Without as much as a second thought he promptly parked in a free car park about six cars away from Lucas'.

He dived out of his convertible, adrenaline pulsing through his veins and fury buried deep into his heart. His pale blue eyes hunted the area; every face was briefly scanned for at least half a second.

"Well where the fuck is he?" Zell exclaimed.

Seifer rolled his eyes, a witty comeback already brewing in his scheming little brain. Under normal circumstances he would've had great joy in pointing out the stupidity of Zell's comment but these weren't exactly what he would call "normal circumstances".

"This was a stupid idea!" Squall ranted.

"Don't say that, we've just gotta wait." Irvine reasoned.

"Wait? Oh wake up Irvine. That could be any other rented car!" Squall retorted.

"Maybe but what else have we got to go on?" Zell cried, throwing himself right in the middle of the impending argument.

"NOTHING!" Squall raged.

The people passing by stopped in there tracks and stared at him for a few seconds, he didn't say much more for a couple of seconds. He just breathed heavily and tried with all his might to calm himself down.

"But standing here waiting for nothing isn't helping Rinoa either."

The audience had now gone back to their daily business, ignoring the commotion that the teenagers were causing.

Squall breathed heavily, confusion racked through his brain. He didn't know what to do, it wasn't like this sort of thing happened on a regular basis. All of a sudden his life had just gone all fucked up and he didn't know how to fix it.

Life had been so simple before, he'd been in control of everything. Now what was he in control of? What could he honestly say that he knew for sure anymore? Even if he did get his vindication, would that mean that Rinoa would suddenly be fine and everything would be alright again?

Not knowing the answers to any of these questions was driving him insane. Every passing second just seemed to make the whole situation seen worse. So far he'd relied on his instincts and straight up luck. It had kept him both alive and out of trouble so far and by the looks of things it just might be the same this time.

Squall looked upon the faces of his comrades, reading there body language almost like a professional. When you go through so much history with people you soon learn just what most things meant.

Seifer had stood a little taller, his eyes flaring with excitement; it was the same look he always got when he saw someone that he wanted to harm. Zell pushed his body away from the car that he had been casually leaning against.

His nostrils also flared a little, the way they always did when he was suddenly feeling a surge of anger. Irvine's mouth went slightly agape, his face perplexed in disbelief. It was his face that told Squall just who must be in eyesight.

He turned quickly, his eyes narrowing in on Lucas nearly immediately. He had two brown paper bags in his arms, filled with provisions from the grocery store that he was walking out of.

He walked about three meters out of the store before he finally noticed Squall, his face distorting to a look of alarm as he took in the situation that he was in.

While he didn't know that Rinoa had freed herself, he felt a fierce vibe almost illuminating off them. Lucas found himself feeling afraid at that point and he knew that he had too much to lose at this point to blow everything by having some sort of confrontation.

Without a second thought he dropped his bags and bolted for his car, Squall taking off after him, pounding on the glass of the driver seat window as Lucas pulled out and took off.

Squall ran towards his own vehicle, skidding across the bonnet of the car beside him before diving in. he didn't wait for the others to get in before taking off after Lucas, a new determination pumping inside of him and adrenaline pulsing through him violently.

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Rinoa stared passively out the window, biting her nails anxiously as her eyes darted to look at every car. Her friends sat beside her, offering her comfort at times when she was about to start crying again and unsuccessfully trying to cheer her up or at least get out of her what happened.

"C'mon Rin, what did he do?" Selphie urged.

She'd been the one that had tried the hardest; Rinoa was slowly learning the hard way that they weren't the best people to go to for consolation.

Quistis seemed a little stiff, like she didn't really know what to do but was trying her best. It was obvious that they hadn't really had to do this too much in their lives.

Rinoa envied them for there simplicity, the fact that they could just role through life without a care. Doing what they wanted and somehow always managing to stay out of any serious trouble.

She'd only lived it for a short amount of time but in that time she'd learnt a freedom that she'd never known. Somehow she felt as though Lucas had taken that away from her, how could she ever be the same again?

What she went through wasn't just traumatic, it was emotionally scaring. She'd been so sure that she was going to die, that Lucas was just going to kill her and now that she was safe she couldn't say that she'd ever have the same untroubled freedom that she had experience before.

"He robbed me." Rinoa stated shortly.

That sentence summed up exactly what she thought as well, robbed.

"Oh Rin, c'mon," Ellone said.

Ellone stood and walked over to Rinoa, extending her hand out to her.

"You need a shower."

Rinoa finally cracked a half smile; she couldn't deny that, changing out of her clothes would be a treat as well.

"Me 'n' Quisty will go and get you some clothes." Selphie chimed after Ellone.

It was as if they'd read her mind. Friends were scary like that though, she would've thanked them had it not been for the fact that she was more than a little excited to be able to have a shower.

She hadn't really thought about it before but now that it was on her mind she could think of nothing better. To just get out of that dress and wash all the mud off her, rinse all the mud off… bliss.

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Squall could feel his heart beating against his chest as he drove as fast as he could down the busy streets of Balamb. It wasn't so much the traffic, there was fuck all of that, it was the people. They were everywhere and seeing as the speed limit was about 50 KM/H they thought it was alright to just walk out in front of you.

Squall was too worried about the speed limit at this point; he was concentrating a bit more on following Lucas's car. He could only just see it; Lucas's car was a bit faster than Squall's. It was times like this that he actually wished he owned a half decent car.

At this point Squall had to shake his head, it wasn't the cars fault at all, and he loved his car. He had way more good memories in it than bad. He'd brought it about two weeks after he crashed the previous love of his life. The one before had been a right shitter, but it had taken him to new and very exciting places.

Back to the matter at hand though. Squall ripped on his handbrake and slid to a 90 degree turn, followed by a burn out. He'd been a bit late turning you see so drastic measures had to be taken, plus he wasn't going to lose this fuck for nothing.

He had no idea what he was actually doing; all he knew was that at some point Lucas was going to have to stop and he was going to be there. He was going to be there to deal an awful amount of pain upon Lucas's body.

The absence of his friends hadn't even registered in his brain yet and the fact that he nearly lost his last encounter with Lucas was yet to set in as well. All he could think about was Rinoa's tear streaked face as she burst into his house, collapsing on the floor and making him realise the awful truth.

He couldn't protect her from anything, he'd thought the whole time he'd known her that no matter what he'd be able to shield her from anything terrible that may happen but he couldn't. He was responsible for this whole thing.

If he hadn't showed her to her class on her first day, if he'd only stopped Zell from inviting her over that first day, if he hadn't let her come on her first mission… maybe none of this would've happened.

Rinoa would still be happy and he… he would still be the same person he was before.

Squall didn't want to admit it but she had affected him, she'd changed him. It may only be a subtle difference but it was still more than most people had done.

He liked to pride himself on being unmovable; apparently this was a lie, a façade, the very thing that he hated people for.

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"I have to go." Rinoa stated.

"No Rinny, we don't even know where they are." Selphie sighed.

"Well we can find them! Balamb isn't that big!" Rinoa exclaimed, finding a new determination that she'd thought Lucas had taken.

Quistis stared at Rinoa, surprised by her new resolve. She'd been, horrible to say I know, a bit pathetic since she'd gotten back. Quistis understood though, she'd gone through something emotionally scarring and couldn't be expected to just pick up her shit and move on.

"Rin's right, beside's I don't want to miss all the action. Why should we miss out?" Quistis grinned.

Rinoa smiled, it was only small but it was a smile nonetheless. She glanced at Ellone for a second, seeing the disapproving look on her face made Rinoa think for a couple of seconds. Was this really such a good idea? If she was there she might only get in the way rather than be of any help. What if she made Squall lose the fight?

"C'mon Rin, are we going?" Quistis urged already heading for the door.

Rinoa nodded, ignoring all her doubts and fears, deciding that for once her instinct might be a better thing to follow. Squall had always told her to just follow her instincts; he said that it could be a saviour. Hopefully today his theory would be proven right.

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Squall grinned menacingly as he finally saw Lucas's car come to a stop. It was about three blocks away from his own house, which was actually kinda convenient. He could get this over and done with and be back home in time for tea.

He swiftly parked behind Lucas, exiting the car seconds after it stopped.

Lucas waited, leaning against his car, a small smirk on his face. Squall narrowed his eyes and began walking speedily towards Lucas, not bothering to say anything to him.

"I'm ganna kill him." Squall muttered his emotions finally at their all time high and that's when it happened.

He saw what could only be described as a blinding light and was suddenly somewhere else.

He looked around to see Zell beside him and Quistis on the other side of Zell. They both stared at him solemnly and noticed an aura of something that he could only compare to despair in the cramped quarters.

"Wh-what the fuck is going on? Where the fucks Lucas?" Squall exclaimed.

"I'm so sorry Squall; the assassination of the sorceress was more than a great loss for us but for everyone in Balamb. Without her we're open for any kind of attack, we simply don't have the strength to defend ourselves without her." Quistis stated Squall could see the water behind her crystal blue eyes that refused to fall.

"Oh fuck, not now, NOT NOW!" Squall yelled as he realised that he was in another one of his 'dream world' moments.

"We know Squall, she was more than just the sorceress to all of us but Rinoa's dead." Zell whispered. "We have to start planning what we're going to do now."

"Zell's right Squall, the only course of action I can think of is retribution. We must retaliate before other continents start believing we are weak. We leave ourselves open for conquest if we don't." Quistis continued.

Squall put his head in his hands, not believing that this was happening again. And even if it had to happen, why now? What triggered it? Why hadn't it happened before?

All these questions and he didn't have one answer, he was starting to think that he was going insane, maybe none of this was real? Maybe this was real and his other life wasn't?

All he wanted was to go back to when things were perfect. It had only been a few hours ago but it seemed like it was a lifetime.

"What's happening to me?"

Before you start I am so sorry! It's been like two weeks and you haven't heard anything. There's nothing worse than when someone takes FOREVER to update and you lose interest in the story. This shouldn't happen again I just had a lot to deal with lately.

I also apologise for the climactic fight between Lucas and Squall, the one everyone's been waiting for since Lucas became a dickhead was sorta ruined. I had to spruce it up a bit though and the next chapter should be longer, the fight should happen and will be of better quality.

I didn't actually like this chapter too much but I had to do something before you all gave up on it. I'm not giving up on this story! I repeat I am not giving up on this story!

Ok I'm done, now it's your turn… what'd ya think?