"Where could he be?" Quistis wondered aloud, looking around the cafeteria as he if was there and she had just missed seeing him. Another look around revealed that the first six times she had checked had been correct – he wasn't in the cafeteria…or the training center, the infirmary, his dorm, the Quad, the library, they had even checked Squall's office. Seifer was nowhere to be found.
After they had searched all of Garden but the classrooms (Seifer had rarely gone to class as a student – now that he didn't have to go, they figured that there was no way he would be in a classroom) Rinoa had led the increasingly worried Quistis back to the cafeteria for coffee, hoping to calm her friend down.
They had run into Zell in the hotdog line and the martial artist had agreed to help the girls in their searching, if only to curb Quistis' wrath against him for his earlier fight with Seifer. Selphie and Irvine came in shortly after the girls arrived and both agreed to help search as well.
After it became clear that Quistis was not going to calm down until they found Seifer, they split up, determined to find the missing knight.
A bright light directed at his eyes, coupled with being shaken, dragged Seifer awake. His eyes were no longer covered by the blindfold and he could dimly make out the silhouettes of his tormentors as they paced in front him. He lifted his head, squinting against the bright light.
"So, you're finally awake," the Trepie leader said, glaring down at the bound man who was seated against the wall. Seifer didn't answer, just glared up at his captor.
"Not gonna talk?" the cadet sneered, unwittingly leaning down. Seifer used his bound hands to push himself away from the wall, lunging upwards, the top of his head colliding hard with the Trepie's face. Blood gushed from the younger man's nose and he yelled in surprise. Quickly two other Trepies moved to restrain Seifer, pressing down on his shoulders to keep him from repeating his trick.
Seeing the cadet holding a tissue up to his nose, with blood dripping off his fingers caused Seifer to smirk and he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.
The cadet noticed and pouted. "What are you laughing at?" he asked petulantly, the blood in his nose making his voice sound stuffed up, as if he had a head cold.
"That was a stupid mistake," Seifer said. "You should have never gotten close enough to me for me to reach you," he advised.
"I'll remember that," the cadet acknowledged, nudging Seifer's foot with his own. Seifer jerked his leg and laughed when the cadet sprung back as if struck.
"Now you're learning," Seifer laughed. "Though, if you had actually paid attention in Instructor Trepe's class instead of just staring at her, you would have known that and you wouldn't have a bloody nose right now," he continued, smirking up at the boy.
"You shut up about her," the cadet ordered with sudden surprising passion in his voice. "You don't deserve her, traitor," he said under his breath.
"I was a cadet once too, kid," Seifer reminded his captors. "I remember exactly what it was like to pay more attention to the teacher than what she was teaching. That's part of what got me into that mess with the sorceress."
"Don't you blame Instructor Trepe for your mistake!" the Trepie commanded angrily. "It wasn't her fault," he almost shouted.
"I never said it was. I said it was my fault for not listening and learning from her," Seifer shot back. "She's a very wise person and someday you'll regret not paying more attention to her."
"You don't talk about her," the cadet ordered again. "Gag him if he talks about Instructor Trepe again," he ordered the boys that were holding Seifer down. They nodded and Seifer rolled his eyes. He was about tired of dealing with these presumptuous little punks. The Trepie leader turned away and began whispering to others that were out of Seifer's vision.
If they seriously thought they could keep him here, bound and gagged, then they had another thing coming. He was Seifer Almasy for crying out loud! A whole nation had been under his control and this little group of cadets thought they could keep him captive? Not a chance in hell.
Getting desperate, Quistis decided to try something crazy. Instead of scouring the whole Garden looking for him, she would call him and let him come to her. Making up her mind, she rode the elevator up to the third floor and knocked on Squall's door.
"Yeah?" he called through the door.
"Squall, its Quistis."
"Come on in Quis," he said, looking up from a paper on his desk as she entered. She moved to stand in front of the desk quickly, anxiousness to find Seifer making her jumpy.
"I think I have an idea on how to find Seifer," she said. Squall didn't say anything but gestured for her to continue. "Call him to the office," she said, stating her idea in the simplest terms.
"That's it?" he asked, almost surprised.
She nodded. "Even if he's mad at me and Rinoa, he'll still come to the office to see you if he thinks it's for a mission." Squall nodded as he thought over her logic.
"That's makes sense. Give me a second and I'll call him," he said, pointing at the paper he had been reading when she entered.
Nodding anxiously, Quistis tried to calm down and sat in a chair to wait but was almost instantly on her feet, pacing in front of Squall's desk.
With a sigh, Squall put his pen down and almost smiled. "On second thought, I'll call him now."
Quistis blushed and sat down in a chair quietly.
Squinting against the light, he followed the pole of the lamp with his eyes, trying to determine how far away from him it was. He gradually made out the line on the floor that was the cord of the lamp. If he laid flat on his back, he could almost reach the wire with his feet.
Slowly he began wiggling his shoulders a little in the grips of the two cadets holding him down. He slid a few inches down the wall, the shoulders of his trench bunching up a little as he started to slide out of it. The cadets, not looking down at him, just tightened their grips on the fabric of his coat. Smirking, he slid down another little bit. He stretched his legs out in front of him again, getting that much closer to his goal. He had to stop momentarily as the Trepie leader began speaking to him again.
"We brought you here for a reason."
Seifer sighed. "Oh yeah, and what reason is that?"
"We want you to break up with Instructor Trepe," the Trepie said simply. Seifer's jaw dropped.
"Are you out of your mind?" he demanded. "I'm not doing that."
"Oh yes you will," the cadet insisted.
"You're crazy. You can't make me do that," Seifer stated, starting to get angry. He cautiously slid a little further down the wall. Now only his shoulders were still against the wall, the rest of his body was stretched out in front of him.
Before the cadet could argue further, a bell sounded from a speaker in the ceiling and all of the Trepies instinctively looked up as Squall's voice spoke over the intercom.
Would Seifer Almasy please report to my office?
While the cadets were distracted Seifer slid the rest of the way onto his back, hooking his boot under the wire and jerking it sharply towards him as he folded his knee up onto his chest. The lamp began to topple forward and he rolled quickly out of the way. Once he was on his stomach, he awkwardly used his knees to get to his feet without his hands and shook his leg free of the wire. The cadets were gaping at him and he spared a moment to laugh at the looks of shock and surprise that were on their faces.
Shrugging his shoulders back into his coat, he smirked at them. "Ya'll had better get this cleaned up," he said smugly, gesturing with his foot to the broken glass of the lamp. "If you'll excuse me, I have to be going to the commander's office," he grinned as he nudged the locking pad next to the door with his elbow, causing it to slide open behind him. He walked out backwards and let the door slide closed in front of him before he turned to walk away.
Squall and Quistis heard the bell that announced the arrival of the elevator and Quistis shot to her feet. They heard the doors slide open and Xu's voice greeting someone. The intercom on Squall's desk beeped and he pushed the button quickly.
"Yes?"
"Sir, Seifer Almasy is here to see you," Xu said, her voice sounding strained for some reason.
"Let him in."
The doors opened and Seifer entered, his hands behind his back. Quistis ran to him, throwing her arms around him.
"I'm glad we found you. I'm sorry for laughing earlier. I didn't mean it," she said in a rush, pressing her cheek into his chest.
"It's okay Quistis, don't worry about it," he assured her. She pulled back a little and kissed him. Squall promptly cleared his throat and she broke away, blushing like crazy. Seifer smirked and laughed.
"You called?" he asked Squall. The commander just nodded, pointing wordlessly at Quistis.
"So, I'm free to go?" Seifer asked in clarification. Squall nodded again. "Well then, I just have one question," he paused. "Can one of you guys untie me?" he asked, turning around to display his bound hands.
Outside, in the lobby of Squall's office, they could hear Xu's cackles of laughter.
The group was sitting in the cafeteria at dinner, all of them eating without speaking while Seifer regaled them with the story of his capture and escape from the Trepies. Quistis and Rinoa were both still stunned that he had been right about them stalking him.
"And they wanted me to break up with Quistis," he said as he told his friends about his conversations with the Trepie leader.
The woman in question gasped the loudest of all of them and a scowl was instantly on her face.
"Did you see any of them?" she asked him angrily. He just shook his head. "Damn," she said, frustrated.
"Why?" Selphie asked curiously.
"I was going to put them all in detention until they graduated," she declared, still scowling.
AN: I've given ya'll plenty to review...go on... - I have to apologize for the wait for this chapter - it shouldn't happen again. If this story stays according to plan there should only be two or three more chapters. Sniff, that makes me sad...this was the first story I ever wrote...hope it doesn't turn out too bad :-P