Chapter 6: Lost Faith

The cafeteria was deserted this time of day. Students were either holed up in the Library, involved with their respective committees or in the Training Centre. A group near the entrance gathered around two students in the middle of a triple triad sharpshooter and Sorceress managed to pass by unnoticed.

"What did the DNA results say?" Irvine asked when they sat down, careful to keep his voice low and light.

Rinoa shook her head. "They haven't finished comparing yet."

Confused, he leaned back. "Then how do ya know who attacked Quistis?"

She looked down and mumbled something under her breath that he missed. When he asked her to repeat herself she looked back up at him. "Squall had scratches on his left arm."

"So? Mebbe he had 'em all along and nobody-"

"He didn't." Her eyes were watery. "While I was loitering I saw his arm was wrapped up. When I asked the doctor, she said she'd thought it was weird that they showed up out of the blue. That's when I realized he attacked Quistis."

"But it couldn't a been him. He was attacked before Quistis was."

"I know that! But then how do you explain the marks?"

Irvine didn't have an answer.

Rinoa squeezed her eyes shut and dropped her head into her hands. Her shoulders shuddered as she muffled, "They're gonna think he did this, that he's faking his condition to avoid suspicion. He's not, I know he's not, but how're we gonna prove it if we don't even know what's going on?"

"Somehow we're being targeted," he said, convinced more than ever. "Whatever's causing this wants ta throw up a smokescreen but we're not gonna let 'em."

Before he could say more he heard chairs scrape across the floor. He looked up to see the card players split in a hurry. When they were out of sight, he saw a lone figure scowling with arms folded across her chest. He tugged at Rinoa's sleeve and she swallowed thickly at who he gestured at.

"You two," Xu snarled. "With me. Now."

When they arrived Xu circled around her desk and settled behind a stack of papers that took up the majority of space. She reached under her desk and a sharp click sounded that made them jump. Just like that they were locked inside. Rinoa backed up against the wall, hands held behind her back as she stared at the floor like a child in trouble. Tear tracks still ran down her face.

As Xu leaned back in her chair, her arms remained folded. "Someone start talking."

"This is all my fault."

Before he could continue Rinoa cut in. "No it was mine." Her voice shook, still choked with emotion. "Irvine was dead set against investigating but I pulled him back into it."

"If I hadn't been stickin' mah nose in where it didn't belong..."

"There's no way to know for sure that without the initial interference..."

"Shut. Up." Both obeyed instantly. Xu glared at the pair through angled eyes as she said, "Right now I'm not interested in whose fault this is, or who wants to fall on their sword for the other. I have four comatoseSeeDs with no explanation and you both have been running around behind my back for the last week. It. Stops. Now. Am I understood?"

"I'm stayin' outta it," Irvine agreed. "You've got mah word on that this time."

Xu laughed, bitter and mirthless. "Kinneas, right now your word means shit to me." He winced and her glare shifted to Rinoa. "You're not a member of Garden. You're not affiliated with SeeD and yet we allow you to stay both in gratitude for your efforts during the war and because both Squall and the Headmaster vouched for you. This is the thanks we get?"

Rinoa's gaze remained pointed at the floor. She sniffled back tears and said nothing.

"Normally I'd have both of your asses in a sling for this, but you're lucky that I don't have the time to waste. At least not right this minute. There will be reparations, believe you me, but for now I want to know everything and I mean everything you have pooled together, so start talking."

When both Irvine and Rinoa were about to speak, the Lieutenant-Commander raised her hand. "One. At. A. Time."

Rinoa stepped forward and dropped Squall's journal on the desk. "I went snooping for clues in Squall's dorm after he collapsed. The last pages are references for books he looked through and the information he gathered."

Xu opened it and sifted through the pages. Her eyes narrowed. "They're just numbers."

"We know," Irvine added. "They were meant as a guide for him. He probably didn't expect anyone ta rummage through it for clues. We can't make head or tail of it."

"His short-hand for reference," Xu explained as she set the book aside. "SeeDs are encouraged to utilize their own short-hand for quick reference and note taking. Usually it's ends up being like a personal signature."

"Can ya crack it?"

"Only if we have a sample source with its meaning, but that could take a while. Weeks if not months. Without Squall to translate them himself we're looking at a time sink."

His heart fell at the news. It was not the answer he'd hoped for.

"So why the DNA tests on Squall and Selphie?" Xu asked.

"Zell's theory involved body-doubles," Rinoa explained. "He thought maybe they had been switched out for look-a-likes. Quistis didn't think it would hurt to check, just to be safe."

"She was humouring him," Irvine added.

Xu looked equally dubious. "And?"

"Tha test came back and identified 'em as who we knew they were."

"Zell still wouldn't rule out his theory," Rinoa added.

"Though he did come up with anotha one," Irvine admitted. "He thought that maybe tha Sorceress had plotted revenge and only just unleashed it now."

"But Ultimecia's dead, isn't she?"

"Yeah but I reckon he mighta been onta sumthan. Everyone who's collapsed was on tha team that travelled through Time Compression ta face her. We're all linked in that way, but aside from that we ain't got much in common. I doubt it's tha Sorceress, but its definitely someone who knows about us."

"What about the orphanage?" Xu asked. "You all had that, didn't you?"

"Zell was gonna reach out ta Matron ta see if she knew anythan'. He didn't get tha chance."

"So you don't have much more to go on than we do. The surveillance team's searching for footage of Quistis's attack so we'll know something soon, but you've both given me plenty to think about."

She stopped as Irvine and Rinoa exchanged glances and her gaze became hard once more. "What?"

Rinoa swallowed thickly but said nothing. Irvine gave the raven-haired girl a meaningful look but she shook her head.

"What are you hiding now?" Xu demanded.

Noting Rinoa's resistance and reluctance, Irvine decided that full disclosure was in order. It was the only way to win back Xu's trust. "Squall attacked Quistis."

"What?" The confession caught the Lieutenant-Commander off guard and for a moment she sputtered. "How? He was-"

"Incapacitated before Quistis was, we know. We're not sure how either." Rinoa shot him a look filled with disbelief and betrayal. It stung but he forced himself to ignore it. "But Rinoa says tha Doc told her 'bout some scratches she found on his arm. They weren't there before tha attack."

"He's not faking!" Rinoa declared. "He really is in the same position as the others. When Zell was attacked, I was in the infirmary and Squall was still there. There has to be another explanation."

"The teams are already looking into that night so we'll know for sure soon enough," Xu suggested. "But if the Commander is the one responsible for the attack, I won't be able to ignore it. Everything he's done will come into scrutiny for the safety of Garden and its occupants. He'll have to be detained as well." Xu sounded unhappy yet resigned. "And I'm sorry but I can't rule out the possibility – however remote – that he's faking. Squall's a SeeD and he's been trained as such. He would know how to play possum."

"But for this long?"

"I never said I thought he was faking. But we can't rule it out until we know for sure."

"Then Rinoa and I'll have a look at tha tapes." Xu's features turned incredulous. If it had been under normal circumstances, Irvine would have taken a picture for posterity. Even Rinoa stared at him in surprise. "Ya said ya needed ta comb through surveillance tapes. Let us do it. We can repay ya fer sneakin' 'round on our own and watch through Squall's actions over tha last coupla weeks. Anythan comes up, we'll call ya."

"What makes you think you can find something that a fully capable surveillance team can't?"

"Nuthin'. But I reckon ya'd rather know what we were doin' than havin' ta find out about it later. It'd be easier to keep an eye on us if ya'd let us work with ya instead of sidelinin' us. And with tha progress we made on our own, who knows what we'll accomplish if we work tagetha."