Chapter 11 Pathway to Resurrection

Author's Note: Thank you to all who have waited for me, I truly apologize for the long wait. For your information, I made a C2 community for Quall lovers, and if u want to be part of it, feel free to include your request in your review and I'll gladly add you! Happy reading!

CRASH!

Martine raised his eyes heavenwards and prayed that it wasn't the Ming vase. Dropping the duster in his hand, he hurried as well as he could to the stairs, feeling dismayed. And standing on the landing was a flustered-looking Rikku... and the remains of a very expensive Ming vase next to her. Martine tried not to sigh. "Miss Rikku, that is the second vase you walked into today. May I suggest a visit to the optimetrist?"

Rikku was torn between replying and her own thoughts, which were heading in the direction of Dr. Odine. The small man was in the process of climbing up the stairs on the opposite side. "Dr. Odine?"

The man noticed her and scowled. "Your sizter made me vake at six in ze morning and hauled me half across the globe to treat a single man! What iz so special about him that I muz be kidsnatched?!"

"You're hardly a child now doctor, you're almost fifty," Yuna appeared on the landing and smiled at the doctor. "And we need you because you're the very best."

"True, true, you von't find anyone better than me," Odine was still grumpy but let Yuna lead him.

Rikku scowled and proceeded to bound down the stairs, nearly knocking Martine over in the process. The butler shook his head in puzzlement. She will knock over every single ornament in this house if she keeps going like that.

Squall endured with distaste as the little man poked, prodded and pinched every inch of his sore body, muttering and grumbling all the while. Finally he looked up to Kiros, who was nevertheless looking very amused. "Wer did you get diz tramp? In the sewer?"

"Erm, maybe you should just tell us his conditions," Yuna suggested delicately, seeing that Squall was ready to throttle the physician. Odine sighed and began pacing the room, ticking off a list on his fingers. "A few minor zurgery to correct iz fingers, skin grafting to hide zat hideous – "

"I think the grafting is not necessary," Yuna interrupted, keeping an eye on Squall's expression. He wasn't pleased.

"Ah? Fine then, but ze larynx..." Odine thoughtfully smoothed his goatee. "I vill need a voice sample... if he haz any. Or elze I vill juz get a functioning larynx... but the voice..."

"We have a voice sample." Kiros replied. "A few, in fact." The sample came from several phone calls and a recoding made at the trial. He silently admired Quistis' hunch that it will come in handy (after five years).

"Exzellent," Odine nodded briskly. "Zen I vill arrange a schedule for him. And for Hyne's sake, cut hiz hair!"

Squall scowled as Yuna lead the doctor out. He looked at Kiros, who looked back at him. "What? He has a point you know." Kiros laughed and Squall glared before turning to the bookshelf and selecting a book. Kiros watched this with interest. It seems that the legendary assassin was well on his way to recovery. Already he looked a little like his former self; apparently a few days of good meals and sleep was enough to refresh him. The hair was still unruly, but that will be fixed soon. He scowled more too, Kiros noted. Perhaps he's restless.

"If you feel up to it, you can come to the training grounds tomorrow morning at seven," Kiros said after a while. Squall did not look up from his book. "If my guess is correct, Quistis will want to see you back in shape as soon as possible."

As Kiros closed the door behind him, Squall shut the book and stared at the table. Revenge.

"The Accused, do you plead guilty?"

"No."

Kiros tapped the bar again and the same conversation was replayed. Again and again, the judge and the accused. Again and again, the same answer.

"Don't we have anything else that has him saying at least a complete sentence?" Yuna sighed, looking at another disc.

"The recording of the trial only has him saying no, yes, whatever." Kiros muttered. "Try the telephone conversation after the Caraway kidnapping."

Yuna popped the disc into the PC and the visualization lines spiked.

"I returned Rinoa, as we promised. Why did you return her money?" Squall's voice was clear here.

"You returned her. I did not. I don't deserve the pay."

Silence.

"Then you should have killed me."

Click.

Yuna thoughtfully played the short conversation again. "Is it safe to give this to Odine? He might figure out our guest's identity."

Kiros listened to the conversation again. "We'll just extract his part of the conversation. Quistis' voice can be cut out."

Yuna nodded and proceeded to cut the recording short. "Kiros..."

The man glanced at her.

"...I'm afraid." Yuna buried her face in her hands. 'Every day, I have to see the face that has haunted me for years... when I think about it, I wonder why I'm still calm. Even Rikku has stayed away from me!"

"Rikku... she had a different scar from yours," Kiros said gently. "She witnessed her parents' death before her very eyes, and narrowly escaped hers by a hair's breadth. In the blink of an eye her life had been transformed. She should be happy in college right now instead of soiling her hands with the blood of others."

"I don't know... I don't know who or what to blame," Yuna raised her tear-streaked face. "Sometimes I think I hate him for what he has done to our lives, but when I think again... I can never be what I am right now, or achieve what I achieved if he had not destroyed my home..."

Kiros watched as Yuna finished her editing.

"Then you should have killed me."

Footnote: Sorry if it's too short, I'll make it longer next time :)