Disclaimer: Do not own Final Fantasy VIII.
Chapter Five: Find Your Way
Rinoa had woken up in her childhood room, a soft ray of sunlight on her face serving as her alarm clock. The moment her eyes snapped open she shot up in bed, wondering how she came to wake up in the house she so despised. Frowning, she tried to recall everything that had happened the night before. She'd been upset after Quistis' heated attack on her plan, and had been crying, not even caring that Fujin was in the room…
Fujin! She remembered, a crease forming between her eyebrows. She couldn't believe it. Sure, she and Fujin had never exactly hit it off but Rinoa didn't think Fujin disliked her that much! She punched the Queen-sized bed and got up angrily so she could storm her way out of Caraway's mansion.
Though she kept her eyes peeled for him, she didn't run into her father on the way out, which she thought he should be grateful for; she knew that he was the cause for her imprisonment, and she didn't have any kind words for him. She stalked along the streets of Deling, wondering where she could find her SeeDs.
It was cold outside, almost cold enough for Rinoa to turn right back around and grab one of her old jackets, but her stubborn pride wouldn't allow her to step foot in that house. Not again. Not ever again. A gust of chilly wind blew at her from behind, as if testing and she spit out a strand of hair that was blown in her mouth.
All right, she'd get the jacket, then never again step foot in Caraway's Mansion.
The streets were a lot less crowded than usual, and Rinoa noticed that many of Deling's shops were closed. All talk –if any at all- was done in whispers, and an unsettling feeling dropped in the pit of her stomach. What had happened last night while she slept?
She stopped by one of the few cafes still open, and a mounted newspaper by the cash register confirmed her worst fears: the SeeDs had been arrested for an attempted assassination on the Sorceress. Frowning, she purchased the newspaper along with a bagel and sat at a table for two next to a window, scanning the article for any important information.
Five mercenaries taken hostage. Of course they wouldn't list names, that would be too helpful…she thought, pursing her lips.Not knowing that Fujin was with them, Rinoa thought Irvine had been arrested, too, and jumped when she heard his voice not too far behind her.
"Thank you, ma'am, hope to see you at lunch?" Rinoa turned in time to see the cowboy flirting with the cashier, who was giggling as she handed him a breakfast tray.
"Irvine?" Rinoa called to get his attention. The cashier looked less than pleased, but Irvine grinned and nodded to her as he made his way to her table.
"Hey, Rachel." he greeted confidently, taking the seat across from her.
"It's Rinoa," she corrected him in a flat tone. "And just how did you escape?" she asked, pushing the newspaper closer to him.
"Keep your voice down, will ya?" Irvine replied, lowering his hat and glancing at his surroundings. "Are you tryin' to get me locked up?" Rinoa paid no heed to his concerns. There was a chance that Irvine might have gotten out of trouble honorably, but he'd looked so sleazy, flirting with a cashier while his cohorts were at the mercy of Galbadia's militia. Didn't he have any shame?
"Answer the question." she demanded, glaring at Irvine as she chomped on her bagel. Irvine sighed.
"Look, I happen to have some…connections, if you know what I'm sayin'." Irvine said, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else but next to Rinoa. Though her natural curiosity piqued at this bit of news she only nodded.
"So what happened to everyone else?"
"Well, you read it in the paper, didn't you?" Irvine asked, relieved enough to start cutting his eggs.
"And…Fujin?" Rinoa asked. "How did she get caught? What was she doing?"
"Now that part, I don't know." Irvine replied with a shrug. "She was supposed to stay at your place, not being a qualified SeeD and all that." He chewed thoughtfully for a second before adding: "The only thing that I can think of is that she might have gotten some bad ideas thinking about Seifer. Might have followed Quistis and the others out."
Rinoa nodded, trying to piece together her next course of action. She couldn't just let Squall and the others rot, she'd paid good money to hire them and…the thought of Squall helpless and dying would haunt her forever if she did nothing, she was sure of it.
Irvine, on the other hand, was regretting his decision to sit across from the raven-haired girl. He could tell by the look on her face that she was plotting something, and he wanted no part of it. He felt bad for the SeeDs facing the fate he'd gotten out of, but there was nothing he could do to help them. That was for their Headmaster to deal with.
He almost cringed when Rinoa's eyes locked with his. "So, where exactly is D-District Prison?"
AAA
"This really sucks," Zell muttered, his restless feet causing loud echoes off of the cold iron floor. Quistis and Selphie were sitting with their backs against the wall, watching him try to walk off his anxiety.
"Where do you think they took Fujin?" Selphie asked quietly. Zell shook his head and kept pacing. Quistis sighed.
"They probably wanted to interrogate her first, for whatever she did back in Deling," Quistis replied wearily. She still didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that Fujin hadn't told them what she'd done. Fujin's actions could be counted as an individual act, just like Seifer's had been in Timber. However, she didn't know what story Fujin would tell the guards, and didn't like thinking about what would happen if their stories didn't match up. Well, they're probably going to kill us anyway, if we don't find a way out of here.
"And…Squall?" Selphie added, eyes downcast. No one spoke, and Zell even stopped pacing.
"We have to accept the possibility that he might be dead," Quistis said after a few minutes, careful not to let a touch of emotion coat her words. Zell slid down the wall until he was sitting between the girls, and he grimaced at Quistis' words.
"We don't have to think about that just yet, if they kept us alive, they probably kept him alive, too." he replied. "Who knows, he might have escaped for all we know." he added with an attempt at optimism. Selphie gave him a small smile and nodded, placing her hand over his and giving it a small squeeze.
I hope Fujin's ok. She let out a small sigh and stared at the ceiling. They'd get out of this, some way, somehow.
AAA
Fujin herself had been led through a number of hallways that gradually got less drab as they ascended. There was air conditioning up there, and the floors were clean and carpeted. At the end of most hallways there was a painting, and it generally looked proper and more pleasant, not like a prison at all. Though she was scared she kept her chin up, not letting any fear show itself on her face or in her posture.
"You're lucky the Knight wanted to speak with you, girlie," a guard growled in Fujin's ear as he and shoved her through a door. To his dismay, she didn't fall to the floor, but kept her footing, her feet automatically planted in a defensive stance. She glared at him, and he sneered before shutting the door and locking it on his way out. Once she was sure he was gone, she took a good look around the room. It looked like a small living room, with a small, fat couch and coffee table sitting in the middle of it. There was a recliner perpendicular to the couch, and a counter with a coffee pot set up in back.
A Knight wanted to speak with her. It could only be the sorceress' Knight. And if he wanted to talk with Fujin, it wouldn't end well. She remembered that Knights were said to pledge fealty to their sorceress, and though they weren't forced to uphold it, history had not yet seen a Knight who defied his sorceress. She took a deep breath. If he wanted her dead, she doubted that he'd kill her in a lounge room. But what would he want?
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end when the doorknob fumbled. Her heartbeat raced in her throat, and when she tried to swallow she found her mouth suddenly dry. She heard whoever was on the other side work the key in the lock, and a few seconds later, the door was opened. She was speechless at the sight that greeted her.
Seifer stood in the doorframe, grabbing the key from the lock and closing it behind him. For a split second, Fujin thought that he had somehow made it out of Timber alive, escaped from his cell and had come to rescue her. But then he smiled at her, and she knew that that wasn't the case.
In stories people always said that they could tell something was off about someone by the look in their eyes. But it wasn't just his eyes. It was him. He was wrong, there was no other way to explain it. She was frozen to the spot, staring at this Seifer who was not Seifer. He laughed at the look on her face.
"Crap, Fuu, that's no way to greet a friend." he took a step toward her and she jumped, but he held up a small key, raising an eyebrow as if to say 'relax'. His voice, his tone, all the same as the Seifer he remembered, yet entirely different, somehow. He walked behind her and fitted the key in the lock, releasing her from the handcuffs and circling to face her again.
She rubbed her sore wrists and looked up at him warily. What happened to him? "…How?" she asked weakly. Seifer laughed.
"I'm looking pretty good, huh? All thanks to The Sorceress, of course," Seifer said, spreading his arms wide and grinning. Seeing the confusion on Fujin's face, he continued. "The Sorceress, she took care of me, offered me a position I couldn't refuse," his eyes twinkled fondly with the memory. "Fujin, she made my dreams come true. You're lookin' at The Sorceress' Knight." he said proudly, his chest swelling with pride.
Fujin was speechless. Had he seriously forgotten that his main reason for rushing down to Timber was to save Rinoa? Where was his honor? His pride? She felt a little sick.
"…SeeD? Rinoa?" she asked, and his smile vanished.
"They oppose The Sorceress. They're enemies, a threat to society." Seifer snarled in disgust.
"Balamb-"
"They don't matter, Fuu. I'm alive, and you're safe now." he said, some of his old warmth returning to his voice. He took a step toward her, and she took a step back. "Join me, Fujin. Fight by my side." he insisted. She kept backing away from him, shaking her head and trying to maneuver away from him. Her back hit the wall. Terrified, she looked up at him.
"Come on, Fujin. We're a posse, remember? Don't you have my back?" he asked, his face starting to harden.
"Seifer…" How was she supposed to answer that question? She would fight for Seifer, she would always have his back. But she couldn't fight for The Sorceress, that was insane.
"Well?" he barked, just inches away from her.
"CAN'T!" she yelled, and before she could even try to block it Seifer's fist slammed into her cheek. She bounced against the wall and her knees buckled, but she managed to catch herself before she could hit the floor. Breath rattling in her chest she shook, staring down at the red carpet as her vision blurred and swayed. She stayed like that, looking and feeling like a cowed animal on her hands and knees, head bent low to avoid looking at her assailant.
Seifer stared down at her, breathing heavily.
An ugly, tense silence killed any apologies or bad decisions that might have been made. The world seemed to pass in a slow, pained blur, but somewhere between slamming doors and being harshly pushed around, Fujin found herself literally thrown into a jail cell.
She didn't know what to do or what she wanted to do. Her mind was completely blank; she couldn't feel or think. It felt like she was falling into herself, her pain, her misery, everything that didn't make any sense and everything that shouldn't be the way it was.
"…Fujin?"
Ironically, it was the sound of Zell's voice that grounded her. She carefully picked herself up and looked toward the sound of his voice. Zell, Selphie and Quistis stared back at her, their expressions ranging from pure shock to quiet horror.
"Fujin, what happened to you?" the way Quistis asked, it sounded more like a demand to answer than a question. She shook her head and brought her knees up to her chest, curling into a ball and trying to pretend that they weren't there.
It didn't work very well. Zell walked over, and, forgetting any of his past judgments he held against Fujin, kneeled next to her. He squinted at her face.
"Who hit you?" he asked. She tried to ignore both Zell and the sharp pain swelling the left side of her face, but neither proved easy to ignore.
At that point, it would have been very easy for Fujin to reply with: "Guard", and Zell would probably accept that answer and leave her alone. They were probably going to die in there, anyway. They could die thinking that they were joining Seifer.
But if they lived…they'd find out sooner or later. She looked up at them. They were all just kids, just as scared as she was.
"Seifer." she replied.
AAA
Seifer stormed down the stairs, only fury processing correctly in his distorted mind. The room he entered was much darker than the room he'd come from, and he appeared and disappeared from sight in the rare beams of light that flickered down in the basement level.
A slow, pained breathing reached his ears before he could see Squall, but seconds later the young SeeD became visible, crucified against the wall. Seifer shoved a greasy little man away from a simple control system and pulled down on the lever. The entire room lit up with the blinding bolts of electricity that sparked along Squall's body. Squall screamed, screamed as if his voice could drown out the pain and the horror of what was happening. Seifer shut off the electricity, and Squall slumped from where he hung, shaking in cold sweat.
"I'm in a bad fucking mood, Leonhart," Seifer snarled. "So let's skip the games and get straight to the part where you break and tell me everything."
End Chapter
A/N: Sorry for not updating sooner (think I mentioned something about a quick update) this chapter proved to be a lot trickier to write than I thought it would. Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope it was at least interesting.
