Disclaimer: I still do not own Final Fantasy VIII.
A/N: Hello all. It's been...about five years since I updated. I know, horrible. I found this chapter laying around my computer, and with a lot of urging from my brother, decided to try to finish this story. I probably won't go back and edit chapters, so you'll just have to bear with the old, terrible grammar and any changes in style. For anyone who waited it out: thank you, it's more than I deserve. For you newcomers: welcome, and I hope I don't disappoint.
Chapter Six: Trust Me
"…Seifer?" Zell repeated, dumbstruck. Fujin ignored him. She had told them the truth, she didn't owe them anything else. She simply stared straight ahead, hoping that even someone as dense as Zell would take that as a signal to shut up and leave her alone.
Zell looked helplessly back at his teammates. Selphie shrugged pathetically while Quistis stared at the ground, her blue eyes empty-looking. He looked back to Fujin. There was no use in trying to get her to say anything else, her mouth was reduced to a stubborn line again.
Zell had never liked Fujin. In fact, when he was younger, he was sure that he downright hated her for her cruelty and fierce attachment to Seifer. But there was something wrong, very wrong about the way she retreated into herself. Not knowing what else to do, he turned his back on her.
He slid down the wall and once again took his place between Selphie and Quistis. Quistis seemed to regain her composure a bit, and Selphie ventured to start the awkward conversation.
"So, what do we do?" she asked quietly.
"I'm…I'm not sure." Quistis replied, that far-off look still in her eyes. "I never thought…"
"If anyone but Fujin had said it, I don't think I'd believe it," Zell said, shaking his head.
"He was the one that was supposed to be executed, right?" Selphie asked. "I didn't see him last night."
"We didn't have a really good view of the parade, from where we were," Quistis said. "And there were a lot of people."
"Hey, maybe we shouldn't talk about this right now," Zell suggested, glancing back at Fujin. She hadn't moved. For all he knew, she hadn't blinked. "For now we gotta figure out how we're gonna bust outta here and find Squall and stupid Kinneas."
AAA
"I cannot believe this, you are insane, you know that?"
"Shut up and keep driving,"
Irvine glanced sideways at Rinoa, who was strapped into the passenger seat and staring ahead with all the determination of either a war officer or spoiled brat, he hadn't decided which one she was just yet. He huffed from his mouth, letting all of his irritation go with it. He had known Rinoa for all of two days, and somehow she had managed to make him escort her back to Galbadia Garden, steal an official car and force him to drive through a hot, bland desert to the prison he himself had just barely avoided going to.
If it weren't for his chivalry and her good looks, she would have gotten the boot by now.
"You have that GF Squall gave you?" Rinoa asked.
"The Brothers? Yeah, not junctioned though," he replied.
"Well, you should junction them before we get there," Rinoa ordered. "There's going to be a lot of guards." He raised an eyebrow.
"And what about you?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, staring at him with genuine curiosity.
"Do you have a GF to distract hoards of guards with?" he elaborated. The look on her face gave her answer away, and he heaved a sigh that was almost a groan.
"I had to un-junction the one Squall loaned me before you guys decided to do that man's mission," she answered defensively.
Irvine pursed his lips and stared straight ahead. Of course. She was going to make him do all the driving, then all the shooting, and maybe even all the dying. It would have been bad enough looking out for himself in a desert prison, but now he'd have to protect her pretty little butt, too.
Rinoa seemed to realize that Irvine was not in the mood to be pestered, and wisely decided to keep her comments to herself. She leaned against her seat-belt and stared out the window. She drilled it into her head over and over again, that if her SeeDs were taken to a prison, it probably meant a trial or interrogation was awaiting them, not instant death. She kept repeating the thought like a mantra, trying not to let less-optimistic thoughts seep into her brain.
But they did anyway. She kept seeing visions of Quistis and Selphie harassed and tormented by lecherous guards, Quistis quiet and broken and Selphie's small frame shaking with sobs. Zell would be beaten to a bloody pulp, either for mouthing off or trying to help one of his friends. And Fujin would probably have the worst of Quistis, Selphie and Zell's punishments combined, being a pretty but fierce woman. And all the while Squall would sit chained in the corner, his soul wasting away in his own body as he kept his head bent low. He would have been set in thinking that there was nothing he could do. Rinoa's gaze softened with worry as she looked out to the horizon.
Just hold on for a little longer. We're coming.
AAA
Fujin had heard, but not listened to the conversation going on just a few feet away from where she huddled. She knew for certain that Seifer's name had been mentioned, but they didn't linger on that painful topic. It felt like there was a deep, gaping hole somewhere inside of her, but rather than crumble into the mess of feelings, Fujin ignored them just as she ignored the SeeDs, and was stuck in a mental limbo of sorts.
She was aware of everything, but not willing to do anything. She felt she simply wasn't part of their world. Like a ghost. She stared at the cold metal floor directly in beneath her feet, her eye fixed on a small speck of dirt.
"Hey…Fujin?" she didn't look up when Selphie hunched over to talk to her, but glared sideways at the hand that rested on her shoulder. "Zell's got a plan, but we have to hit the floor for it to work." Fujin shrugged out of Selphie's grasp and proceeded to sprawl out on the floor. Selphie and Quistis followed suit.
They had been still for all of two seconds before Zell started yelling.
"Guard! Open the door! GUARD!" he hollered, running over to the bars and trying to rattle them. When he found it didn't make much noise, he settled for whacking the bars with the metal on his gloves. One of the short-tempered guards jogged up.
"What's going on?" he spat, squinting at Zell.
"The women are unconscious, I-I think a snake bit 'em!" Zell said frantically, his voice even cracking at the end of his sentence. The guard gasped and the door was thrown open. He glared down at the fallen females, looking for a wound of some sort.
"What are you talking ab- OOF!" Zell's grin couldn't have been wider as he slammed his fist into the guard's stomach and watched him topple over. "Well, I'm off!" he waved and bolted from the cell.
"Yeah!" Selphie cheered, springing up. Quistis slowly sat up.
"I can't believe that worked," she muttered, staring at the door-frame Zell had just fled from.
"That…that little shit!" the guard cursed, shaking as he got up. He glared at the women in the room. "You, you'll all regret this!" he swore before scurrying away from them. Selphie laughed.
"What a baby," she commented.
It didn't take Zell long to return, and he was all smiles cradling their weapons like a slimmer, younger Santa Claus. Selphie cheered and Quistis smiled as he handed them back. They both gave their weapons a test run, as if they'd gotten rusty in the few hours they'd been separated. Zell walked over to Fujin and scratched the back of his head uncertainly. She was standing with her arms folded over her chest, regarding him impatiently.
"Uh, hey, Fujin? I uh…got your weapon." He held out the chakram for her to snatch just as crude voices made their way from the hallway.
"Ah, shit!" Zell cursed. He glanced at Fujin one more time before bouncing up and running ahead of her.
She looked down at her weapon and was suddenly reminded of that day years ago, when Seifer and Raijin had come into the infirmary with her polished chakram in the infirmary. It gleamed up at her just as it had on that day. She remembered Seifer casually touching her knee on the way out of the infirmary. She remembered his pledge that they would be there for her.
Lies. Just a bunch of lies.
Her body didn't want to acknowledge her mind anymore. All of her sadness and confusion flooded to the back of her head, fueling the only emotion she had ever been comfortable with.
Rage.
She gripped her chakram tightly in her hand and whipped it with deadly strength and accuracy. It sliced through a guard before twirling up and back to Fujin, who caught it easily. A few of the guards ran toward her, and she cast an Aero spell that sent them flying through the air before slamming back to the floor. She cut each of them with precision empowered by a dark, cold anger.
Slice. Thump. Slice. Thump.
By the time she looked up Quistis was finishing off the last guard. Fujin flicked the blood off of her weapon as she approached.
"Heh, glad you're on our side," Zell smiled at her, but her stoic expression must have reminded him that she didn't like him, because the smile fell and he cleared his throat before turning to Selphie. "So, uh, Squall." The brunette nodded with a sweet smile and opened her mouth to say something, but loud alarms and flashing red lights interrupted her.
"Crap!" Zell yelled as the warning went off.
"Warning! Escapee alert!"
"What do we do!?" Selphie yelled over the alarm's repeating message.
"Well we're not going back to the cell! C'mon!" Zell ordered, waving for them to follow him up the stairs. Fujin followed them up the stairs automatically, but fear spread like ice in her veins at the thought of Seifer blocking their way.
"Monsters will be let loose on each floor-"
Seifer…I don't know what I'm going to do if I run into you again.
"-you have permission to kill!"
You would kill me, wouldn't you? I couldn't kill you. We're still posse…
"the barrier will be lifted-"
I just don't know what I'd do…
Fujin had to skid to a stop to avoid crashing into Quistis, who had suddenly stopped. She swallowed hard to fight down the feelings that tried to creep up her throat. She didn't have time to feel. Only to act. She had just missed whatever Zell had had to say, but she was sure it wasn't positive based on the way he was shaking his head.
"Should we try somewhere else?" Quistis suggested.
"Let's just force it open!" Selphie argued. Zell grinned at her.
"All right, let's do it!" he hollered. Quistis rolled her eyes and Fujin couldn't blame her; it was a classic case of the blind leading the blind. Zell began to kick at the door, and the banging sound resonated throughout the prison.
"There they are!" Fujin fell into a defensive stance as a wave of guards came barreling up the stairs.
"Of course!" Zell threw up his hands in irritation before leaving the door and joining in the fight.
Fujin wasn't frustrated or scared. On the contrary, she was almost grateful for the interruption. The fight kept her mind off of Seifer while her body was able to work off the high amounts of stress she'd accumulated in such a short amount of time.
Slice. Thump. Slice. Thump.
"Hey!" Selphie shouted excitedly. She had delivered a hard blow to a low-ranked guard, and a set of keys had flown from his hand. Everyone stopped fighting and watched as the keys sailed through the air, glinting in the dim light before clattering to the floor.
"Get it!" Zell yelled, punching a guard away from the keys. Quistis snapped her whip at a pair of guards who tried to get the keys, and Selphie dove for the prize.
"I don't think -" Fujin elbowed a guard that was about to launch himself at Selphie, and he toppled over.
"Got it!" the bouncy brunette declared, holding up the keys proudly. She kicked the guard that landed near her. "Let's finish 'em!"
Fujin and the SeeDs were quick to comply. No guard was able to escape them, and soon the floor was covered with their limp bodies. Zell grinned and nodded at Selphie.
"You wanna do the honors?" he asked, and she beamed as she slid the key into place.
"Stay close," Zell commanded as he led the way in. The room was dark, but the light seeping from the hallway was enough to see the outline of Zell's hand as it groped for a light switch. "Aand…got it!"
The intense light was too perfectly horrible for the scene that awaited them. Squall was lying on the cold floor, sprawled out exactly as a rag doll would have been if it were dropped from the ceiling. He was pale and unmoving. A few of those weird, orange cat-creatures had gathered around to pick at him, but they cautiously dispersed when the prisoners barged in. Fujin stayed where she was as Zell, Quistis and Selphie ran forward.
"Oh my god, Squall!" Zell shouted. He practically fell down next to the unconscious SeeD, his knees banging hard against the cold floor.
"Curaga!" Quistis watched with eyes that were too bright, too wide as the magic seeped into his body. His mouth twitched in a grimace, and Fujin looked away.
"Squall, wake up!" Selphie pleaded.
Fujin thought she heard one of the little monsters whispering sadly about a lagoon.
"Come on, Squall," Quistis' voice was just above a whisper, and it cracked at the end of her sentence.
A weak groan answered their pleas, and the tension seemed to lift from the air. By the time Fujin could bring herself to glance in their direction, Squall was starting to sit up. Fujin didn't like looking at his white lips, his shaking arms or his dead eyes, and she was quick to look away again.
"Hey, man, you okay?" Zell asked nervously.
"…hell…" he rasped, and the sound of his voice sent a shiver of horror straight down to Fujin's core. The cat-creatures, on the other hand, were jumping up and down with joy, all chanting: "Laguna!"
"Hey…come on, we gotta get outta here," Zell said. He passed Squall a potion, and when he finished drinking it some color had returned to his face. The slight frown had also taken place at his mouth, and he nodded for Zell to hand over his gunblade. As he got up he gazed at the room, and he looked at Fujin in confusion for a mere second before shaking his head and straightening up.
"So, what now?" Selphie asked when they had exited Squall's cold, electric hell.
"We should head down," Zell suggested. "If I remember correctly, there's not gonna be a way out if we keep going up."
"But how?" Quistis asked. "If we run down, there's only going to be more guards." She glanced over at Squall, who still wasn't looking his best. Selphie peered over the edge of the rails.
"Hey, if we just jump all the way down, looks like we can get to the bottom!" she exclaimed.
"Go right ahead, Selphie, I'm sure you'll make a cute pancake," Quistis said in a deadpan tone. Selphie pulled a face and muttered something about joking before walking away from the railing.
"I was moved here…somehow," Squall said softly, looking back at the cell. They noticed for the first time that it was an individual block and looked like it didn't belong. Just as Fujin began looking for something that could lift a room that size, Zell broke the silence.
"Oh! OH! I remember now!" he said, face brightening with the sudden recollection. "Ward-" he stopped and glanced suspiciously at Fujin, amended something in his head, and continued: "We can operate the crane, but there's two parts to it. See, the panel's right there, someone just needs to stay…" Zell let his sentence die when Selphie and Quistis each placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Me!?" he whined, but Selphie and Quistis only grinned. "Fine, I'll direct you from upstairs. Go on, get inside." Squall, Selphie and Quistis walked into the room, but Fujin stayed behind.
"Aren't you coming, Fujin?" Selphie asked. She shook her head.
"Guards," she answered wearily. She jerked her head toward Zell. "Help." She didn't know if they could understand what she meant or not, but they'd get it sooner or later. Squall frowned as he looked directly at her for the first time, and at Fujin wondered why he was staring at her bad eye. Wasn't he used to it by now?
His brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to say something, but thankfully, Selphie cut in. "Well, if you're sure." Fujin nodded and pressed the button that would replace Squall's confused face with a door.
Fujin walked over to the stairs, and for once, Zell didn't seem to have anything to say as he ascended to the room. She took out her chakram and glared. She could hear the loud sounds of Zell's voice along with Squall's static reply. A low hum shook the floor as the cell was lowered, but even after the machine stopped the rumbling continued. Fujin bit her lip and gripped her Chakram a little tighter.
AAA
"…Wait," Squall commanded, holding out an arm to stop Selphie and Quistis from talking. He tilted his head toward the floors that spiraled upward, listening. The unmistakable boom of gunfire could be heard, and all three SeeDs paled.
"Zell! Fujin!" Quistis and Selphie yelled at almost the exact same time. Squall was a good ten steps ahead of them, bolting back into the lift as quickly as his rubbery legs would allow him to.
AAA
Zell and Fujin were running for all they were worth, the constant barrage of bullets a deadly incentive to run faster. The guards seemed to materialize from nowhere, emerging from any crack and crevice the prison had. They had managed to take down every guard that ran up the stairs, but it was like fighting the hydra; for every one they killed, another two sprang up.
Slice, thump. Slice, thump. Zell finished his soldiers before Fujin and ran up ahead. Fujin wasn't far behind.
"Argh!"
Fujin was swift and silent as she glided up the stairs, and she lingered in the shadow of the doorframe to see what had caused Zell to scream. Blood gushed from his head and the fighter grit his teeth, glaring up at the pot-bellied man that struck him down. His lardy arm was raised with an already bloody stick, preparing to finish Zell off. Glaring, Fujin flung her chakram at his head and he fell over as suddenly as Zell had before him, a steady pool of blood spreading on the dirty floor.
Slice, thump.
Zell cast a curing spell on his forehead and watched, amazed as Fujin ruthlessly pulled her bloodied weapon from the guard's flesh. As she turned she was roughly grabbed and her eye widened as she wondered how she'd use her weapon with her arms pinned to her sides.
"Oh my god, Fujin! Thank you SO much!" Zell cried, clinging onto the girl as if his life were still in danger. She was dumbstruck and unable to move, except to rock back and forth with Zell's restless movements.
Someone cleared their throat, and Fujin glanced over to see Squall, Selphie and Quistis watching them, the women with something dangerously close to amusement on their faces. Zell didn't seem to notice them.
"Glad to see you're both okay," Quistis observed with a sly smirk.
"You totally saved my life!" Zell continued. Finally regaining her temper, Fujin squirmed.
"OFF!" she shouted, and Zell let go of her as if he'd been shocked. He looked ready to apologize for his behavior, but he tackled her down again as bullets clanged against the far wall. Thankfully he backed off before anyone else could crouch to their level, preventing any further humiliation on Fujin's part. Selphie squealed and duck-walked over to them, covering her ears with her hands.
"Man, there's no way we're getting out of here!" Zell yelled just as the gunfire ceased. Two loud gunshots mixed in the air with two death cries, the natural and unnatural noises echoing off the walls. Selphie looked back towards the staircase, an awestruck smile lighting her face.
"No way…" she murmured in disbelief. Waltzing down the stairs as if he owned the place, Irvine blew the smoke from his gun, grinning widely as he did so. Rinoa, looking irritated behind him, kicked him down the stairs.
"Stop trying to act so cool!" she reprimanded as he tumbled to the ground. He started to say something along the lines of "coulda broken my dang neck!" but Rinoa was oblivious to anything but Squall.
"Squall!" she exclaimed, eyes lighting up. Squall himself looked confused while Fujin internally groaned; they'd been doing just fine without her.
"How did you guys…?" Zell trailed off, looking from Irvine to Rinoa as if they weren't entirely real.
"Irvine somehow managed to sneak out of punishment, and he was just going to leave you all here, can you believe that?" she said. Irvine turned red under the unbelieving and angry stares directed at him as he stood up.
"Oh come on, I'm here now," he said pathetically.
"After I scratched you to death," Rinoa muttered moodily.
"Uh…Anyway, now is our chance to get out of here," Irvine tried to change the subject.
"The basement door is buried in sand," Squall reported in a monotone, apparently pleased that this topic didn't require feelings.
"Of course it is, this place is buried underground," Irvine replied.
"Buried?" Squall asked, waiting for an elaboration.
"That's right, this prison is-" Irvine stopped and pulled out his gun, firing shots before the guards on the other side could start. Everyone else crouched down again.
"Squall! Take, uh…" Irvine glanced back at everyone for a brief second, never stopping his constant barrage of bullets as he spoke. "Take Rinoa and Quistis and head on up! I'll hold 'em here!"
"Wait, up?" he asked as he glanced at his designated teammates. If it occurred to him that he should pick his own team, he didn't mention it. Irvine groaned.
"Don't have time to explain it right now! The exit's up there, trust me!" Squall sighed heavily, but nodded.
"Ok."
"I think I know the way!" Rinoa announced, staying close to Squall. Quistis frowned ever-so-slightly as she followed them up.
"My turn to boogie now," Irvine mumbled solemnly. Fujin peeked over the wall, trying to gauge the distance between her and the guards. When she deemed it unsafe to throw her chakram, she stood and assisted Irvine with her wind magic.
"Ah man, this is endless," Irvine commented after a few minutes. Fujin didn't reply, just continued sending guards into the air.
"Hey, can't we use the lift to get up there?" Selphie called over to them. "I think Squall's team would have reached the top by now!" Irvine smiled.
"Good thinking,"
"But they gotta operate it from that room upstairs," Zell pointed out.
"Leave that to me! All right, let's head to the floor where the arm's stopped." Fujin cast one final spell out of malice for the guards more than anything else before running down the stairs and finally into the lift.
"Perfect," Irvine smiled as he walked over to a far wall, pressing a button. Zell closed the door behind them. "Hey! Hey you guys! Can you hear me?" He asked, talking in a loud, clear voice.
"Ah man, what if they've already gone ahead!?" Zell asked, fidgeting. A button clicked on the other side.
"I can hear you," Squall answered, slightly out of breath. Irvine turned to Zell.
"See, told you we'd be all right! Squall, go ahead and operate the arm," he instructed as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
"How?" Squall asked.
"Oh! You just gotta push the yellow button on your upper right hand side," Zell replied, excited to be able to help. The room lurched as it slowly started to ascend.
"Alrighty! We'll be there in a sec. Wait right there," Irvine them. Zell still looked uneasy.
"Is it supposed to move this slow?" he asked. Irvine shrugged.
"What's the rush?"
More muffled conversation could be heard on Squall's end, and then silence.
"Hey, they ditched us!" Selphie yelled.
"We shoulda been there by now," Irvine noted. "Unless…well shit."
"What?" Zell asked, worried.
"This prison's in submerge mode!" he realized.
"What the hell does that mean?" Zell yelled back.
"It means, this whole thing's goin underground to make sure we don't escape!"
"We gotta get out of here!" Selphie piped up. "What floor are we on?" Irvine glanced up.
"I dunno, I think we're almost there, though," he said. "Now listen, when we get to the very top, we're gonna wait for the thing to sink almost all the way down, then we're gonna jump for it."
"How close to the ground can we be?" Zell asked nervously.
"Not too close, or we'll get sucked in," Irvine said grimly. "We'll jump when I say go, got it?" he looked around at everyone else in the room. They all nodded back at him.
The lift finally made it up to the top floor, and the whole building was shaking as it slowly started to sink into the ground. Dust made it impossible to see too far past an arm's length, but the mercenaries approached the railings anyway.
"All right, get ready," Irvine ordered.
"I can't see anything!" Selphie squealed.
"Just trust me!" Irvine shouted. Fujin wasn't sure how he was supposed to see any better than any of them (even with her blind spot), and in any other situation, she would have said "CRAZY", and walked right back where she came from.
But it wasn't any other situation. They were in prison, and the choice was between trusting Irvine or seeing Seifer again.
Fujin climbed on top of the railing first.
"That's the spirit," Irvine said, one knee on the top bar. He grabbed Selphie's hand and held out the other for Fujin's. She turned and decided she'd take her chances with the air, but Irvine and Zell grabbed either of her hands. "All right ready…GO!"
They leapt through the air, Selphie Whooping, Irvine Yahoo-ing and Zell Booya-ing the whole way down. Grains of sand forced Fujin's eye into a squint most of the time, but what she saw didn't look promising.
"We jumped too soon!" Zell screamed over the howling winds and humming prison. For once, Fujin decided he was right; even with the dust, they should have been able to perceive some sort of landing. Fujin closed her eye and focused on the inner power that powered her attacks, that whimsical and capricious element known as the wind.
An almost unnoticeable burst of wind cradled them as they fell for a few seconds, absorbing most of the impact. They still hit the ground with a surprising amount of force, but they somehow managed to stay out of the prison's range. Fujin was quick to snatch her hands back, and she turned to watch as the prison (with Seifer cased within) disappeared into the sand. Zell laughed.
"We're alive!" he said gratefully, jumping up and punching the air. Fujin wondered why he wasn't hugging Irvine for saving his life.
"Hey, if I remember correctly, that there's a garage," Irvine said, pointing to a building not too far off. "If Squall and the girls got away, they'd have headed over there."
As it turned out, Squall and the girls were alive. They'd been anxiously waiting for any sign of the other group, and immediately fell to talking when they arrived. Fujin wasn't paying much attention to their conversation, and she wasn't alone; Selphie was eyeing out the only yellow car in the garage, an impish smile lighting up her face. She had the manners to wait until Squall announced that they should leave before calling: "I wanna ride the yellow one!"
"I'll take that one, too," Quistis said in an almost sisterly tone.
"Okay, me too," Rinoa chirped. That settled it for Fujin, she immediately walked to stand by the black car. Irvine laughed.
"Hey, hey, hey, ladies," he started in a seductive tone. Quistis pressed the automatic lock button as Zell dragged him toward the black car.
"Come on, Irvine," he said, only half-playful.
"All right, but I ain't driving. Had to drive all the way here," he muttered, mood spoiled by rejection.
"Aw, but I'm tired." Zell whined. Squall sighed.
"Guess I'll…" Fujin got into the driver's seat and started poking around for the key. She found it in the glove compartment and shoved it into the ignition. For a moment the males just stared at her, but when she started up the car, they were quick to pile in.
Fujin was tired, too, as it turned out. Being slapped around, shot at, jumping off of a building and expending some energy on wind magic that may or may not have helped them took a lot out of her, but she was no worse than anyone else. She kept one hand on the wheel while the other fumbled, shaking as it searched the middle compartment for a stashed potion.
"Curaga," Squall said quietly from the passenger seat next to her, and a soothing feeling spread over her. She nodded in silent thanks, and he surprisingly went on to say: "I don't know why no one healed that bruise earlier." Irvine and Zell didn't notice, they were already talking about something else in the back seat.
"…Thanks for driving," Squall said after a few minutes.
Fujin nodded again, staring ahead at the road. She wasn't doing it because she felt bad about whatever Squall had gone through in prison. She was doing it because she knew Squall was still weak, and she didn't feel like crashing if he suddenly collapsed at the wheel. She chanced a quick glance at him and noticed that the way he was sitting caused the sleeves of his jacket to ride up, revealing his arm. Burnt skin had formed a tattoo on his wrist, the red marks slightly raised against the pale, unmarred skin. Squall was staring out of the window, but he must have felt Fujin's eye on him, because he looked back down and placed a hand over the wrist before Irvine leaned into the space between them.
"Got some news we should go over. There's gonna be a crossroads up ahead in about twenty, you should flag down the girls so we can all talk it over," he insisted.
"What is it?" Zell asked.
"It's…pretty bad. I already told Rinoa, but the sorceress is planning to launch missiles at any Garden that isn't Galbadian," he said. A dreadful silence expanded in the car.
"What!?" Zell asked, scared.
"Look just…stay calm." Squall said, adjusting his sleeve as he spoke. Fujin drove a little faster.
AAA
Fujin sat in the car with the windows rolled down while the SeeDs talked it all over. She figured she didn't have much say in what went on; she wasn't supposed to be there at all, there was no doubt whatsoever that she was going back to Balamb. Her eye widened a little as the missiles destined for Trabia soared over head, but other than that she remained a statue. She listened as Selphie begged to go to the Missile Base while everyone else pressured Squall into making a decision. It looked like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world, and he put a hand to his forehead.
Fujin glanced at the SeeDs, deciding to play a morbid sort of game where she guessed which members Squall would take with him and which he'd send away. Selphie was already a given, she wouldn't accept any other path than the one that lead to the Missile Base. He would take Rinoa with him, she realized with irritation, because she wasn't a qualified SeeD, either. That left Quistis, Irvine and Zell. Squall was almost sure to send Irvine, since he had more familiarity with Galbadia, and on top of that wasn't one of Balamb's. Quistis and Zell would both want to go back to Garden, Zell for his mother and Quistis because of her sense of responsibility.
Who would Squall take?
"All right," Squall finally said in a soft voice. "Selphie, Irvine and Zell will go to the Missile Base. Quistis, Rinoa and Fujin are with me," Zell's mouth set in a thin line but he swallowed, nodded and walked over to stand with Irvine and Selphie. Selphie looked up at the other group and gave them a watery smile.
"I think if we take this Galbadian army vehicle, we should be able to make it inside the base. But…" she bit her lip. "That's about it. I'll have to think of the rest once we're inside. Do you think that'd be okay? I'm sorry…I mean, thanks." Selphie looked back up at Squall, flustered. "There isn't much time! You better hurry to Balamb Garden!" she said, a mockery of her usual cheerfulness pitched in her voice. Squall nodded, that tragic look in his eyes again.
"See you at Balamb Garden."
End Chapter
A/N: A few notes that might clear up any oddness about this chapter.
1. Fujin's weird wind magic as they're jumping off of D-District Prison is based on the fact that Fujin, Raijin and Seifer don't use the junction system (Although Fujin might start), they all train and use ki-based attacks, Seifer's being Fire, Raijin's being Thunder and Fujin's being Wind. I thought it might be fun to utilize.
2. Squall's a lot more beat up in this alternate version because Seifer was pissed about Fujin when he came down. Mix that up with Sorceress mind-fuckery and you get UBER PISSED RUTHLESS SEIFER. I think that about covers it.
3. It was very hard to decide if Squall would choose Quistis or Zell, and I actually ended up going back and forth, writing small alternate snippets of the next chapter! In the end I decided that he would take Quistis because I think he'd want her around as reassurance in case something went wrong.
I'm very sorry I haven't updated in a long time, part of the reason was that I was wondering whether or not I should kill off Squall. But he's safe. For now. XD
(Please note the above points were written years ago. I don't even remember writing those snippets and am appalled at myself for even thinking of killing off Squall D: )
