The Ironic Things in Life

Disclaimer: I don't know Final Fantasy 8 or anything associated with it (oh, how I've missed saying this)

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Thump. Thump. Thump.

Zell Dincht glanced up with a start.

"Oh, please not again," he pleaded.

The thumping continued despite Zell's appeal for it to stop.

"Sef!" Zell whined as he got up from the couch and walked over to where Selphie Tilmitt was hitting her tied up feet against the wall. Selphie's arms were tied behind her back and her mouth was gagged but she still wasn't giving up.

Zell knelt down and took the gag off her mouth.

"What is it, Sef?" he asked.

Selphie took a deep breath.

"LET ME OUTTA HERE NOW!" she roared at the top of her voice.

Zell covered up his ears.

"Sef, I wish I could but Squall said not yet," he explained gently.

"ZELL DINCHT IF YOU DON"T LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW, I'LL…"

But Zell didn't wait to hear the rest of her threatening sentence. Instead he quickly gagged her again and stood up.

"I wish I didn't have to do this, Sef but you have to understand that there's no way out of it now."

Selphie began banging the wall again and Zell started panicking in fear of someone coming up to check what the source of the noise was. Zell had to do some quick thinking.

"Sef, if you're good I'll let you watch 'Chocobo World' tonight."

The banging instantly ceased and Zell let out a sigh of relief. That fateful night that Selphie had heard him on the phone to Squall had almost been the downfall of Squall's plans. Selphie hadn't heard much but she had heard enough to damage Zell and Squall's mission and Zell couldn't have let that happen under any circumstances. Even though he had a soft spot for the girls, he was still loyal to Squall and yet he couldn't do any harm to Selphie. Instead he had bundled her up and brought her along to the southern end of Galbadia.

Zell's stomach growled and he realised that he hadn't eaten in a while. Motel food was expensive and at this particular motel he doubted the cleanliness of the food and staff.

"Oh, jeez…" he mumbled as his stomach growled hungrily again.

-----

"I really don't understand what's going on," Quistis Trepe said as Irvine Kinneas and Seifer Almasy looked at eachother.

"It's very simple, Quistis," Seifer began, "Zell and Squall know eachother from Garden."

"But then why were they pretending not to know eachother?"

"See, that's what I couldn't figure out. I mean, I recognised Zell straight away but I could see that he and Squall were acting oblivious to eachother's existence. Then I recalled that Zell had graduated as a private investigator and it all dawned on me. Squall has an obsession…."

"An obsession?" Quistis echoed.

Seifer nodded.

"He's obsessed with his past and I think he hired Zell to investigate something related to his father and another woman."

"But what does this have to do with Rinoa?" Quistis asked.

Seifer's brow creased.

"To be honest, I really didn't know but I know she's right in the middle of it and that Zell was spying on her for Squall."

Quistis nodded thoughtfully as she remembered the night that she'd caught Zell sneaking out of Rinoa's room.

"But what does this have to do with Selphie?" Irvine cried.

Seifer looked at Irvine sternly. He knew that Irvine was immensely stressed as he had to worry about restoring Squall's public image and also the disappearance of his insanely bubbly girlfriend.

"Quistis, you said that Selphie wanted to tell you something just before she left?" Seifer enquired looking over at her again.

"Yes, but she left before she could tell me."

"I reckon she found something out about Squall and Zell…"

"Do you think they'd do anything to her?' Quistis asked looking worried.

Seifer shrugged, brushing his blonde hair out of his eyes.

"With those two, I really don't know."

Irvine gulped and Quistis looked ready to burst into tears.

-----

Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly sat beside eachother awkwardly. Now that they were alone together they didn't know what to say to eachother. Their entire acquaintance had previously been based on yelling insults at eachother. However, on this occasion it didn't seem fitting.

Rinoa glanced over at Squall carefully to admire his handsome features and chuckled to herself as she saw a bit of bandage stuck over his nose.

'I wonder how that happened…' she thought to herself. Squall didn't really seem like the sort of person to get into fights.

"Um…so what does it feel like being so famous?' she asked, as this was the only thing she could think of to say.

Squall shrugged.

"It's annoying."

Rinoa chuckled at his curt response.

"Oh, I see, and what's it like to be the son of the President of Esthar?"

Squall's eyes darkened and he didn't say anything.

"Squall?"

"…"

"Oopsie, it looks like I hit a soft spot. Would you like a hugsie? It'll make you feel better," Rinoa said with a small laugh.

Squall's head snapped up and he looked into Rinoa's familiar dark eyes.

"A…hugsie…?"

"My mother always used to give me a hugsie when I got upset," Rinoa said with a sad smile.

Rinoa wrapped her arms around Squall.

"It's ok, whatever's bothering you will be alright," she comforted.

Squall felt a sharp pang in his chest. Rinoa's words had really affected him but he didn't quite know how or why. Whatever she had just said sounded so familiar but right now he couldn't remember from where. What was important was that he got back on track and figured out the connection between Laguna and Rinoa's mother.

"…uh…what about your family?' Squall asked.

"Well, there's my doggie Angelo who I love so much…and my sister of course…" Rinoa explained.

"You have a sister?" Squall asked, surprised that Zell hadn't found anything out about her.

Rinoa nodded brightly.

"Yep, my big sister, Elly. She's away in Timber right now."

"…and your parents?" Squall questioned.

"Both are dead to me," Rinoa said bitterly.

Squall raised an eyebrow. He had never heard such coldness in Rinoa's voice before.

Rinoa heaved a sigh.

"I'm staying with my father right now. He's a General in the army and I hate him. He's always preferred Elly over me. It's like I'm not even his daughter….and my mother died when I was 5."

"I'm sorry," Squall tried to say in a comforting tone.

Rinoa smiled slowly.

"It's ok, Squall."

"So when will you be heading back to North Galbadia?" Squall asked.

"Well, I'm only here for a weekend so I should be going back home soon. Plus, I have work…oh, by the way, when is this movie premiere of yours?"

"In three days."

"What? Three days? Ack, I don't have much time to put an outfit together!"

Squall smiled at her sudden outburst.

"It's ok, I'll pay for anything you need."

Rinoa blushed.

"It's fine, I have enough money," she answered.

Squall slightly flushed at her polite refusal and went quiet out of embarrassment.

"I should go now," Rinoa realised, "I have a meeting with my father and I should start preparing things for the premiere. I'll get in touch with you when I get back to my apartment."

Squall nodded and stood up as Rinoa did so.

"Bye, Squall," Rinoa said softly.

"Bye."

Squall watched as Rinoa quickly walked away and breathed a sigh of relief as he felt more in control of the direction that his plan was heading in.

'What to do now? Yes, I'll call him, that's what I'll do.'

Squall took out his cell phone and punched in a few numbers.

-----

"So what do we do now?" Quistis asked.

Irvine's phone rang to the tune of 'Sexy Back' and he hurriedly answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Irvine, it's Squall."

"Sq-squall…hey!"

Irvine looked uncertainly at Seifer who glared at him to stay casual.

"Where are you?"

"Um…I'm at…uh…a friend's place…"

"Ok, well I have some good news."

"Ok…"

"…I have a date for the premiere…Rinoa Heartilly…"

Squall couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice.

"What? Really? How?"

Irvine was gob smacked and looked around at Seifer and Quistis in shock.

"I apologised, then I asked her and she said yes."

"That's great…uh…when are you getting back?"

"Today, some time in the afternoon."

"Awright, see ya then."

Irvine hung up the phone and was met by a questioning silence from Quistis and Seifer.

"Well, what happened, you idiot?" Seifer finally demanded to which Quistis gave him a disapproving look.

"Squall and Rinoa are going out!" Irvine exclaimed.

-----

Squall retrieved the key to the hotel room from his jacket pocket and quickly opened the door. He walked inside to find pizza boxes and soft drink bottles littered across the floor and Zell and Selphie sitting on the moth eaten couch.

"What's going on here?" Squall demanded.

Zell and Selphie both looked up. Selphie's mouth wasn't gagged and her arms and legs were untied.

Zell smiled guiltily.

"Selphie wanted pizza for brunch."

Squall shook his head and massaged his temples.

"Why isn't Selphie tied up, Zell?"

"…Uh…"

"Because I was tired and hungry!" Selphie exclaimed with a hand on her hip as she stood up.

Squall had heard about Selphie's infamous outbursts and really wasn't in the mood to be harassed by Irvine's 5 foot tall girlfriend.

"Look, Selphie just cooperate with us and you won't get hurt," Squall reasoned.

Selphie raised an eyebrow.

"Do you really think that I'm worried you two are gonna do something to me?"

"…"

"I just wanna go home…and when I do I'll tell everyone that you two are up to something!"

"Selphie, sit down…we have a lot to tell you," Squall said as he realised that the only way to get Selphie to stay quiet was to get her on their side.

Selphie frowned but did what Squall told her to.

-----

Rinoa glided into her room and spun around before collapsing onto her bed and out of breath.

"Wow! Squall and I are going out…well, I think it counts as a date. Oh my gosh!"

Rinoa wriggled around until she was comfortable and finally settled down. She couldn't wait until she went back home and told Selphie and Quistis of her news.

-----

Selphie Tilmitt's mouth was slightly open as she heard Squall finish off his story. She wasn't too sure on how much to believe but she could tell by the serious expression on both Squall and Zell's face that they weren't joking around.

"So are you willing to help us Selphie?" Squall enquired wringing his hands behind his back.

Selphie paused as a hundred thoughts entered her mind but she squeezed her eyes shut and quietly nodded.

A/N: Believe it or not but I haven't had my internet since last year October...I only got it back about a month ago but a little lost on how to carry on this story. Firt of all I will be updating much quicker and if any of my readers are still out there then I sincerely apologise and hope that you haven't gotten tired of me. I really am very sorry.

Ok, the next chapter will be a bit longer and will have many new ideas so that you lovely people may be able to guess what Squall is really up to. I hope you all read and review and once again, I'm very sorry for the lateness. :)

Thank you to these reviewers :)

Cerulean Crystal

CristalBlueRose

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