Chapter 18:

Rinoa: I was pretty out of it by the time the Iguanas (mascots of the Deling family crest; could they have chosen a less noble animal?) knocked me over. But I do remember trying reaching for my blaster edge, holding it folded in front of me. There were two iguanas, each at least thirty feet long, and my eight inch weapon didn't faze them. Something knocked me sideways and I dropped the blade, rolled twice, and stopped in the corner between the white wall and white floor. My blood left a smeared trail on the ceramic, and the iguanas sniffed at it, and then lapped it off the tiles. I remember trying to cast, and causing a few feeble flames to erupt from the closest iguana's dry scales. That got its attention; it retreated warily while the other one started licking the blood off my shoulder with a cool, tickling tongue. I lay as still as I could, eyes squeezed shut. The other iguana plodded over and licked at my forehead and face.

When they'd cleaned every last bit of blood off of me, they began scratching at my skin, gently at first, like a pawing cat. Then harder, and when they started to draw blood, they licked it off. My skin was burning. I'd pushed them away, only to have them push back through my arms and keep scratching and licking. I remembered fighting geezards with Selphie and forest monsters with Selphie and Squall and realized that I couldn't do it this time. I felt naked, helpless, and at the mercy of monsters that would keep licking and scratching until I died of blood loss…

Leviathan started whispering to me. He said, in some vague, archaic, way that I had to get up and fight back because, and I remember this exactly, I was not to be wasted.

Then the blood rushing in my ears drowned out Leviathan. I was all alone again and I curled up and waited to die. One of the iguanas made a warbling, crying noise, and I passed out.

Irvine woke me up, shaking me by the shoulders and thrusting something awful smelling in a tin tube under my nose. He pulled me up to an unsteady sitting position.

"Hey Rinoa, you okay? Okay good just uh…hang on."

I slumped back to the floor when Irvine dropped me, but I watched the fight through half-lidded eyes. Squall had thrown off his jacket, and was slashing wildly at one of the iguanas, making bright red, diagonal cuts in its scaly skin. His fighting, I reflected, was also like a dance. Like Seifers. He brought his gunblade down from overhead, slashing the iguana's flanks, jumped back from a retaliatory swipe of its tail, the whole time driving it further towards the speaking platform outside. The iguana kept trying to run away and hitting the walls, then changing his mind and attacking Squall instead. Irvine, still wearing his trench coat and crooked cowboy hat was jogging down the hallway, turning periodically and jogging backwards to fire at the pursuing second iguana. He missed twice, making me question the validity of his reputation, and then hit it in the shoulder with…a beam of light? I It wasn't until later that I learned it was some kind of plasma, slow enough to penetrate a monster's natural shield.

Squall made quick work of his iguana, backing it against a wall and driving his gunblade into the side of its neck. I closed my eyes at that point, but I could hear shouting, running and then a sickening hiss and the thud of another iguana hitting the floor. When I opened my eyes, Irvine was gesturing awkwardly, like the conductor of a funeral march. Wonderful cool air washed over my sweaty skin and concentrated tingling grew in my forehead, bruises, scratches, scraped knees. My pulse steadied. I hadn't realized it had been pounding. I wondered why I couldn't obey Leviathan.

"Sorry, I'm not such a…" Irvine turned away and mumbled "caster."

Squall re-sheathing his gunblade, came over and gave me a quick once over to see that I had all my limbs. The scratches had closed, and thanks to the quick cure spell, probably wouldn't scar, but my whole left side was smeared with blood.

I sat up, still shaking, and reached for his hand. I wished he would sit down with me, hold me close, or at least stop checking his watch.

"I was scared."

"It's over now. We have about twenty minutes to be on the carousel."

"I was really, really scared." My eyes started to sting. I wondered what was wrong with me. Eager to take on little geezards with Selphie to help me, but helpless left alone. It was shameful. I needed Squall to understand: I couldn't be alone; I was incompetent. Too scared to act.

"I haven't forgotten our contract. Just stay close to me."

I would have liked to take him literally and stay at his side for the rest of the night, but he had Irvine take me to find a bathroom and clean myself up. He went ahead to wait at the carousel. It felt sort of ridiculous to leave the two slaughtered iguanas, one sprawled on the threshold between the speaking platform and tile, the other mashed up against the wall at a gruesome angle. What would Edea's guards think when they found them?

Irvine stood politely facing a wall and talking to Quistis on a fold-up cellphone (It had Garden's yin-yang symbol on it, like the rest of their equipment) while I took off my duster and tank top and wiped off the blood as best I could with brown paper towels and tap water. The mark on my forehead where Edea had touched me, I realized, was shaped like a fingernail indent – a thin half-moon – though I remembered her hands as gloved, velvety black claws. Irvine's phone clicked as he closed it.

"So what were those things?"

I shrugged and turned on cold water to run the stains on my duster under. "Something the sorceress…summoned. Like GFs I guess; I know she brought them." I sounded quiet and defeated, even to myself.

"Nah, avatars don't die; they just change form. Besides, these came to life off of the central arc; avatars, they just appear in their physical-"

"They came off the central arc?"

"Yeah. It was some kind of magic. There will be news reporters climbing those wooden beams to get to them so we should go around this circle-hall thing to get to the carousel. Quistis and Zell have been in contact with the general; some people think it's really powerful magic in the hands of a destructive sorceress, just like Adel."

Despite being tired and frightened, I smiled as I put on my damp shirt. "They'll Galbaldia will never stand for her to be president now. They'll be too scared of her."

"She's going to be vice president, and they probably will. There are already stories circulating about trained monsters, a surprise addition to the parade. Besides …a lot of young adults thing…the whole dark magic thing…that its cool."

I wished I could punch out the mirror. "It's not cool! She'll use it to hurt people! She tried to kill me! And she is going to be president because she already killed the president!"

"Hey hey hey, I hear you man. We're still going to try to take her out ton-she knocked off Deling?" I started crying in spite of myself and retreated into a bathroom stall to collect toilet paper to blow my nose. Irvine was very patient. He waited until I'd cried myself into a sort of exhausted calm, and then led me out of the bathroom. I decided Irvine was okay.

"Don't worry. I know this is…crazy. But things are gonna be okay. We'll get you home as soon as this is over. You look pretty wiped out, yeah?" I nodded. "Here, we aren't actually supposed to give these to civilians, but hey, I'm not a SeeD." He took a green pill the size of a hi-potion capsule out of his item pouch. "It's an elixir. It'll do more for those bruises than my crappy cure spell and keep you on your feet better than energy-pro." I bit the top off and drank the bitter, sticky serum inside.

"Does it have side-effects?"

"No, we're just not supposed to give it to people because it's expensive. You know most energy pills on the market these days, energy-pro and Niyla, they all use this stuff, only way diluted. Yup. Galbaldian army too, though they call it…"

I tuned out Irvine and focused on the waves of energy building in my arms, legs, face, ears. I could run, skip, take on the iguanas single handed! Something horrible occurred to me.

"Irvine, there's nothing funny in this…?" He looked more amused than insulted.

"No, this is the worst I have." He produced a flask from his trench coat and offered it to me. I declined. "Suit yourself."

"You can't drink that! You, you're on a job! You have to assassinate someone in like, ten minutes!"

Irvine took a long swig and sighed.

"Yeah. That's why I'm doing it."

Squall is waiting in the top of the carousel, Irvine's sniper rifle in hand. It's a horrible looking thing, almost as tall as Irvine, with a heavy gray base and some kind of two-foot metal rod in front. He takes it silently, walks around the metal, cylindrical structure in the middle of the room, settles himself on the side facing central arc, his hat pulled down over his eyes.

Squall sighs and sits resignedly on a waist high black bench running around the edge of the circular room. Rinoa sits on the opposite side where she can watch Irvine sneak another sip from his flask, but Squall is hidden by the structure in the middle. The dust-coated bench, she realizes, is not actually a bench but a circle of drum-shaped, covered lights, each several feet in diameter.

Rinoa leans back on her hands and kicks her legs out straight in front of her, moving her pointed toes up and down to blow off some of her new-found energy. She feels happy to be alive, but… (So much has changed so fast. Watts and Zone…what will things be like for Timber with the sorceress as president? Will she even be president? Someone will figure out…it's just too strange for Donovan and Deling to disappear in the same month. But…how much influence does the sorceress have in the military. Obviously not much over my father…)

"Rinoa…"

"W-…What?"

"Seifer's alive. He's in the parade with the sorceress."

(He's what? That isn't possible…he wouldn't help her. He must not know that she tried to kill me. I have to tell him. But isn't he with Garden? Garden is working against the sorceress. No, he isn't a student anymore…)

"I…may end up killing Seifer."

Rinoa drops her legs, draws her knees up to her chest.

"You're both...prepared, right? That's the kind of world you live in. You've had a lot of emotional training." Rinoa sighs and drops her legs back to the bench. "But...Of course, I'd rather it not happen..."

"……It's all up to Irvine…"

Irvine is taking another stealthy sip of his drink. Rinoa glares at him. As Squall rises, Irvine hastily replaces the flask, his hand shaking. Irvine stares wretchedly up at Squall, the dark circles in his eyes making a sickly contrast to his washed out skin.

"Don't tell me you're getting the jitters." Squall fails miserably at sounding off-hand.

"I can't do it."

"Irvine Kinneas…" he warns.

"I…I can't; I'm sorry. I can't do it. I always freeze like this…I try to act cool, joke around, but I just can't handle the pressure."

Rinoa raises her eyebrows. (So that's what the drinking is about. Can't handle the pressure? Didn't he compete nationally?)

The carousel creaks, and the roof retracts. Cold air pours into the room. Shivering, Rinoa slides off the black bench and onto the floor as the lights creak open and shoot beams into the air, projecting circles in the sky. (The parade finished it's lap of the city…she's going to come through the arch.) The circular floor slides up the pole in the middle until the walls disappear, and sits as if suspended in the air, bright, twisting lights in a circle around the trio, and a circle of holographic clown legs around that.

"Just…forget it. Just shoot."

"No. My bullet…the sorceress…I'll go down in history. I'd change the history of Galbaldia…of the world! It's too much."

(Poor guy, he's still shaking. Squall isn't good at this kind of interpersonal thing…I should step in…I'll give him a chance…C'mon Squall, try to alleviate some pressure; don't add to it by freaking out…)

"Irvine! Just Shoot!" (Good job…)

"I can't do it, dammit!"

An elaborate float, flaked by neat rows of dancers and lined with screaming, flag waving spectators rolls slowly around the corner, heading towards the arc.

"Irvine, calm down. Everyone's waiting on you. I don't care if you miss. Whatever happens, just leave the rest to us. Just think of it as a signal. A sign for us to make out move."

"Just a signal…" He crawls towards the edge of the carousel floor. As the float gets closer, the holographic clowns flicker and disappear, replaced with decorative animals emerging from under the circular floor. Rinoa can hear the grinding gears of the animals circling below them.

"Just a sign." Irvine steadies his rifle between two of the black lights, and turns it carefully to aim at the central arc. Squall taps Rinoa's elbow lightly. She leans down and Squall says quietly,

"When he shoots, you get down and stay down. Irvine is going to take you back to your house. He knows the route, no shortcuts. When you get there, stay there."

The gates around the arc slam shut, enclosing the float. Edea, from here only an hourglass-shaped silhouette, stands up and looks around. Several of the dancers have been shut inside, but none of the security trailing the parade in yellow military trucks bearing Galbaldian flags.

"If he misses you're gonna…"

"I'll be fine."

Irvine licks his lips, leans over the rifle. Time stops for a minute as he shoots. There's a flash of blue on the float, and Irvine and Squall unfreeze. Irvine pulls a plastic pack of baby wipes out of a coat pocket and begins wiping down the rifle. Squall zips up his jacket and tucks the legs of his plants into his boots.

"Wait, what happened? Did he hit her? Did you hit her?"

"Take care of Rinoa." Squall says to Irvine, before vaulting over the edge of the carousel.

"She blocked the shot. You were right. Get down." Rinoa drops to her heels. Finished wiping down the rifle, Irvine picks it up with baby wipes and carries it to the edge of the carousel.

"There's a dumpster down there." The rifle lands with a dull thump. "Perfect drop." He says ironically. "Carraway's guys will get it. Hyne, I can't believe you were right."

"Right about what?" Irvine lowers himself carefully into the middle of the circular floor.

"C'mon, there's a ladder." The ladder leads down through the cylinder the carousel had come up on. The gears spinning the animals make talk impossible for the climb down, but when they reach the bottom (a room full of motionless machinery at the back of the ground floor) Rinoa asks again,

"Irvine, what was I right about? What happened?" Rinoa jogs to keep up with Irvine's quick walk.

"She blocked my shot - blue magic shield with a range like Adel's, just like you said. Quistis told me." Out of the machinery room, into an empty hall. Rinoa walks on her toes to keep her footsteps from echoing around the high ceiling.

"But I was just guessing. It was just a movie I saw…" Across the hall, out the locked door Rinoa had tried to get through earlier in the evening, though it felt like years ago. "Does that mean Squall's gone to…?"

"Yeah, he's on his way to central arc." Irvine stops abruptly at a street corner – Ruby Light Avenue and Telegraph. Home is right, central arc straight ahead of them. "So like…can you get back from here?"

"Where are you going?"

Irvine laughs humorlessly. "To redeem myself. Can you get back?"

"No, I'm coming with you!"

Irvine shakes his head and starts off towards central arc. "Sorry." Rinoa follows at a trot.

"I can help! You need a caster." Irvine stumbles into a jog.

"I know you're good, but you're inexperienced. I mean, you're a great girl; don't do this."

"What?"

"This is…a suicide mission. We…we're trying to kill the sorceress before her security can catch us."

(So that's why Squall has been so serious. Or…more so than usual.)

"Then why are you…pant…going!" Running and talking at the same time is starting to wear Rinoa out. Central arc looms in front of them. Rinoa can make out Squall's outline, fighting another figure…Seifer?

"Because…that's what SeeD is about; we follow orders."

"You aren't a SeeD!" They're close enough now to see Edea, watching the fight calmly from her seat on the float.

Irvine stops suddenly, about a block from the arc. "Rinoa, listen, if you go in there, and live through it, you'll go to prison. Probably for life. This isn't worth risking your life for."

"I already have; I'm a resistance member." Rinoa feels heat rising in her cheeks, though that might be from the jog over. "Hyne, who are you to tell me what's worth it; it's my life."

The gates are surrounded by soldiers, helpless to get inside. (Edea should have gotten local security who'd know their way around.) She runs towards the side entrance to the arc. Glancing up, she sees the two stone iguanas really are gone. (Wow…) Irvine catches up to her, opens the side door with a key stuffed in a breast pocket (How many pockets does that thing have?) she wonders as she follows him up a dark staircase into the center of the arc. (What am I doing?)