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When Things Go Wrong

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A sunset, washing over the young mans form as he cupped her head in his hands.

A caring look, a kiss, and then she leapt joyfully into his arms and he swung her around in a semi-circle.

Eyes never leaving one another.

Never leaving……

Hands holding on, not wanting to let go.

Hastened breaths, laughs, just talking.

Never leaving…… not wanting to let go……

Loving. That's all they seemed to want to do, just love one another.

-

Rinoa woke with tears in her eyes, dreams never seemed so heavy, normally. Never seemed so real. At least they weren't nightmares, like earlier.

She sighed and leniently swept a thick strand of hair from her eyes, glancing around the room.

To the empty bed.

Light crept in between the thin, see-through curtains in the corner of the room near the bed and she found herself in her usual morning daze.

Yet, thoughts finally pulled together from her subconscious and suddenly it clicked inside of her.

'Squall?' she chirped, whipping her head around sharply.

Nothing, the only other place he could be was the bathroom. She softly got to her feet, reaching for her blue trench coat which sat across from her on a chair. She had thankfully been wearing it when she had been kidnapped... It was an item of clothing she practically lived in. But then, she pulled back.

No, she didn't need it right now, her black tank top and shorts were good enough.

She crept over to the bathroom, stopping just before pushing the door open.

'What if he is using it? Or… doing something else?' she thought, blushing slightly as she did so.

'Squall?' she knocked unsurely on the door, pressing her body slightly up against it.

Nothing.

'Squall?' another tap, another step.

Again, nothing but silence.

Eventually she grew tired with it, realizing that if he weren't even inside she would feel completely stupid.

Irritably she shoved the door open, coming to think she was fully prepared for anything.

'Oh God?!'

Although, never prepared enough.

He would notice the little things at first.

How she would flick her hair to the side, lick her lips before speaking, or even giggling, and how whenever she looked at him it would take her moments to realize it before smiling.

She was captivating, so lively and utterly un-intimidating.

So why couldn't he open his mouth now. Why couldn't he?! It seemed like it was glued shut.

The train ride had been torture, she had kept giving him looks over dinner, inviting him to come and sit with her. Then, every time she had said something, trying to get anything out of him he had simply brushed her off, but what could be done?! What if the subject of where he had come from came up again?

That could lead to bad results.

No, catastrophic results.

This was SeeD he was dealing with.

'S-Selphie?' - he screamed in his mind, where had that stutter came from?!

'Yeah?' she answered, kind of solemnly but he couldn't blame her after the pretty much silent train ride.

'Uhh, you think we're gettin' close?' the girl nodded and shuffled her feet in the snow for a few moments.

'Do you think the others are doing okay?' Selphie asked, shivering slightly even in the waist-length, purple jacket that she had brought along.

Her legs looked cold.

Irvine cocked a brow. Idea? Why yes, he had one.

'Selphie, you look freezing! Here, no! I insist!' and just like that Selphie Tilmitt was wearing his trench coat, smiling sheepishly at him as he looked on with accomplishment.

That had to have scored points with her.

Yes, he was feeling quite accomplished now, and…… a bit chilly.

'Uhm, Irvine, you wanna' wear mine?'

It was like a big glowing glob, a bulging, massive vortex of intensely bright, neon-purple.

And he had to admit, it looked rather good on him.

'You found anything yet?'

The blonde shook her head at Seifer, still too nervous to say anything. She had figured that there had been some history between the two, Seifer and whoever this 'Squall' seemed to be. But, murdering his whole family?

How are you supposed to respond after that? What kinds of conversation are you supposed to make?

Quistis wouldn't know. She had never had family, probably never would, knowing her luck with men. Losing someone, to her, meant a name, nothing but a number, a mass of Seed's mourning, or pretending to be upset for a person that they had hardly known. Most people in her line of work were lucky to even get the chance to become good friends with one person. She knew that the only person she would ever cry for would be Selphie, since they had shared so much together. The SeeD exam, near-death experiences, and when one of Selphies friends hadn't come back from a mission, she had helped her through it.

Selphie was always good like that, talkative, and easily making friends. However, the blonde knew one thing that she was exceptional at, jealousy.

She always felt it, that emotion in her gut.

She'd been working her butt off since she couldn't remember when, not sparring a moment for herself just in order to achieve her goals and impress her superiors. And all for what?

No social life?

Nobody to talk to?

Built up jealousy towards those that actually could speak to other people so care-freely?

That was why she had been surprised. Surprised at how she had felt when she had heard about Rinoa. Actually scared for her.

When they had been younger, Rinoa and her hadn't exactly been on good terms to begin with. Rinoa had been loud, busy, always striving to be the center of attention. And Quistis would stand on the sides, telling Rinoa to calm down, spreading rumors about her to improve her reputation every time the raven haired girl would do something to reduce her popularity.

Which was often.

And again, all for what?

No social life?

She was just tired of it, tired of working for other people, and yet, it was the only thing she knew how to do. That had been the only reason SeeD had seemed like such a good idea for her.

She had excepted it. Excepted the thought that some people aren't meant for the spotlight, are only meant to be on the sides.

Unnoticed.

Disregarded.

Completely and utterly ignored.

'Hello? Earth to Quistis Trepe?!'

'Ahh!' she squealed, jumping after suddenly realizing the young mans face was in hers.

'Do not do that, Seifer!'

The man only thrust a creepy smile in her direction. Quistis could do nothing but wonder if he got some sort of pleasure out of her fear.

'Have-you-found-anything-yet?' he said, sounding like he was repeating it for the one millionth time.

'Oh, uh-uh, no, sorry……'

'Okay then, that's all you had to say' he shook his head at the suddenly quiet woman, and she wrapped her arms around herself, curling up even more into her navy-blue jacket with forest green trim.

Expensive looking, as it had been. She looked like a queen wandering through the cold, desolate plains of ice.

A kingdom that might just as well suit her, perfectly.

'Hey, come on! What're you standing there for? We have to go see this President!'

The blondes head shot up, she caught glimpses of emerald before the man turned his back on her again.

'Y-yes, coming'.

And once more, she was surprised by what she was feeling.

Rinoa didn't know what to do. What had Squall told her again? To go get a blonde man… spiky hair?

She panicked, what had the name been again, what had it been?!

Oh, Zell… Zell Dincht, she remembered now. Although, she was quite nervous, Squall had seemed a… little less then hesitant to direct her to him.

She shuddered, remembering how scared she had been.

Hell, she was still scared out of her mind right now, she wanted to know, for once in the time that she had been with him, what exactly was going on!

'Mama Dincht Warehouse, east road, follow that up two streets, turn south, then take one last turn west…… east, two streets up, south, west…'

She couldn't afford to forget. She couldn't. Failure wasn't an option.

For once in her life Rinoa Heartilly was doing something she really did not want to do.

She knew, how before when she had complained about how many events she had to attend and how many people she had to meet with when she really hadn't felt like it, she was simply being spoiled.

A brat.

Selfish.

But now she wasn't, and it felt rejuvenating.

Felt like, for once, she was listening to herself more then ever before.

Because for once she wasn't doing this for herself but for the sake of somebody else's wellbeing.

Possibly for his life.

Tick.

Stillness.

Tock.

Stillness.

Tick.

Stillness all for the clock and the movement of his pen across the paper.

Etching its way across contract to contract, accord to never-ending accord.

But he took it in stride. The tall, thin man with the jet black, shoulder-length hair and confident smile.

Yes, he took it in stride.

Just like any other person has their way to deal with their troubles, confusion, loneliness…… he would just smile.

And laugh.

Even so, he always felt that something was wrong. Something was off within his calm and quiet office-life as President of Esthar.

Something was missing… and he knew what it was, and he had never bothered to go and search for it.

He wondered but he never looked.

Why?

Fear? Ignorance? Unwillingness to change?

He could never answer these things for himself, and honestly, he rather not. His life at present was not miserable, actually, it always seemed like he was blessed by some sort of angel. No man should have such luck as he.

Lately though, lately his blessing had began to torment him.

Too much calm, peace, stillness. Too much because he had conquered everything, his life now was slow and stagnant, and he found, gave him too much time to think.

He'd conquered everything in his life that had mattered up until now, but that one act kept coming back to haunt him. Not a little one, either. It had always nagged at him.

Was it worth it? Giving up a chance at a family for his prestige? A name, to make his people happy?

If they had known…… then what would have become of him? Only his loyal friends, Kiros and Ward had ever known... about her, and his son.

He was depressed, thinking about it all, all that he had given up and doubt started swarming him. Harassing him.

The nagging piece of him that he thought would numb over time, it only grew bigger, more prominent.

He realized then, in that quiet little office which he had lived in for the majority of his life, his hand paused in mid-signature and the irritating noise of the clock telling him that too much time had passed.

He realized it.

He wanted to see his son again.

'Rinoa Heartilly, I have come here to see a Zell Dincht?'

Her voice seemed hurried but she didn't care. Her heart needed to stop racing, she wanted it to, but it wouldn't.

'Sorry, hun, he isn't here!'

'Please! Squall!'

Behind the counter in the small building, the fat woman paused. Mama Dincht Warehouse… it hadn't seemed like a warehouse from the outside, and inside, it looked just like a… bookstore.

'Squall needs help…' Rinoa elaborated, as the woman was now staring at her strangely.

'Squall needs help?' her jolly voice seemed unsuited to be tainted with such deeply-felt emotion.

She cared about him, it was evident in her tone. Rinoa found herself very curious now, how this woman and this 'Zell' were connected to her kidnapper.

Why am I even helping him?

'Come with me'.

It was an order, but she was getting used to following them.

She followed her. Down a fleet of stairs she hadn't known was there, behind the wide woman. She was shaking terribly, miserable and anxious. Had she ever cared so much about another person before? This was strange for her…

Why am I even helping him?

'Ay, you've got a visitor!'

The dark-haired girl stopped behind the woman, and when she moved to the side Rinoa could see inside the enormous room. It was like many of the rooms she had lived in at home, in her castle. The enormous fire place and large, mahogany table. The plush red carpet beneath her feet.

Then she noticed the man sitting stiffly at the table. Charts scrolled out in front of him, astrology charts.

Rinoa found this strange, another thing she found quite noticeably 'different' about this man was the odd tattoo he had on the side of his face. When he turned she took notice even more to his spiked-blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She immidietly thought of Squall, although, this mans eyes were more lively and less smoky and… mystifying.

'Yeah?' he asked bluntly of her, not even bothering to stand.

'Uhm-I-I have come here to ask you for help,'

She didn't like the look he was giving her, especially when he gave her the once over and inquired about 'what kind of help?'

'You know Squall, do you not?'

'Leonhart?'

Rinoa shrugged her shoulders, Squall Leonhart? Leonhart? That is his last name?

'Oh, well, why? What's wrong?' he stood now.

'This morning… I- I found him in the washroom, he was on the floor and it looked like he was in quite a bit of pain… he just told me to come and find you, so…'

'Whoa, he's got you whipped!' Zell chuckled and moved in on her even more. Rinoa felt uneasy, especially after finding that the heavier woman had currently left the premises.

'He does not have me… 'whipped'! I am just concerned about him! He was in pain, it is the right thing for me to do, to help him!'

The blonde man moved around behind her, chewing loudly on some sort of hard candy. She could smell the strawberry flavoring.

'And who are you, even? Why do you want to help him so much?'

'I…' Rinoa paused, grabbing at her chest and pulling at the fabrics there, 'Does that even matter now? Look, are you not his friend? A good friend would help him now! They would not be asking questions and wasting time!'

'You've got a lively one here!' came the fat womans voice from behind her and Rinoa jumped, her feet nearly leaving the ground.

'Ha, yeah,' Zell replied and smirked, glancing over her once again, 'I know'.

Rinoa scoffed but followed behind him up the stairs nonetheless, silently and somewhat uneasily.

'Alright, I don't need to know who you are, obviously whoever the hell you are, you're important to him, because normally Squall does everything in his power to stay away from traveling with others… Edea must have-'

'Wait… What? Edea?'

The blonde halted just as they reached the top of the stairs, in the small bookstore.

'Yeah… Squall works for her… although, Squall only comes here when he's in hiding. Do you have any idea who you guys are hiding from?'

Again, Rinoa didn't like the way this man was looking at her. His eyes were much too focused on her reaction and he seemed to not be himself, she could tell even though she had never met him before. Although he didn't seem at all nervous around her. 'What is it that he is hiding?' Rinoa found herself thinking, trying to find answers for his unexplained and rather unnatural behavior.

'No,' Rinoa said, looking up at him with two big, brown-confused eyes.

'Oh, well, anyways,' the man continued, leading her outside, 'I just want to know, are you his lover? Because I know he doesn't have any real friends, only business associates… or maybe you're just an order?'

'An order?' Rinoa snapped, not understanding and glaring at the blonde man.

'Yeah,'

'Well I am not his lover, and I am not his friend, and I am definitely not an order!!'

'Well then…… why are you helping him?'

Why am I even helping him? …… why?

'I do not… know,' she answered, staring to her feet and the sand-like-dirt beneath her boots.

She was seeing his face, hearing his voice.

'God! If I had known you'd be this annoying I would have kept you outside! I wouldn't have even tried to help you!'

'Why am I helping him?' Rinoa looked up to the blonde man, who had stopped to look back at her, wondering what was wrong.

'Is not the better question… why is he helping me?'

'Great Salt Lake… are you sure we're in the right place?'

'Yes! Cid told me that we were to come here! He said that this is the place!'

Seifer huffed, pools of ice-cold air hovering by his face before the heavy winds could sweep them away.

Quistis shook in her coat, looking around constantly.

She couldn't feel her cheeks anymore, or her toes, or her fingers, or her nose.

She could feel the nerve-racking eyes of her associate, and her kidnapped friends knight on her, however.

'I am going to call the others, we should come up with a plan… if we stay out here much longer then we will freeze'.

Seifer nodded, and strayed away from the woman while she set to calling the other two. Irvine, there seemed like there was something that man was hiding, and not well, either… and Selphie, that bright girl who seemed completely out-of-place in an army like SeeD. These people all seemed quite curious, but none as much so as the woman he was with.

Quistis Trepe. It didn't help that this woman looked nearly identical to his dead wife, but she was the complete opposite in personality. Usually, Seifer found himself being attracted to more bright and outgoing woman, more like Rinoa.

Rinoa?! Why was he even thinking about her? That little brat could get on every last one of his nerves without so much as uttering a word. Although, he had to admit how sexy she was. Those daring eyes, her graceful grip, and when she wasn't busy being a total airhead, her smile could completely captivate him. And that body...

Sure, he'd only known her for nearly two weeks, but she was the type of person who left an imprint on you.

So much unlike…

'Alright, I have called them,' the blonde woman said, coming up silently from behind.

'Oh!' he shouted in her face, suddenly growing angry at how subtly she had managed to catch up with him.

Although, when he looked at her, only slightly shaken by his outburst and shivering, he decided that he'd save his smart remarks, for now.

She looked so fragile to him, like she couldn't hurt a fly. Even so, she is the leader of an expert team of some of the most highly trained military combatants in the world? Sure, he had been a little surprised to find that out.

In fact, he didn't understand it at all.

'Hey,' he muttered in the womans direction and she turned to look at him, her exhaustion showing, 'Why did you become a SeeD?'

She sighed and tucked her head further into her collar, seeming to glare around at the bad weather.

'Well, why did you? In fact, how come I never saw you around Garden before Cid assigned you to this mission?'

'Mission… it's more like babysitting!' he sneered, then looking at her curious face he continued, 'I was trained in Galabadia. Got transferred due to… inconsistencies in my listening skills. Your boy Cid realized that I'd be a nuisance to him at your Garden so he got me on the first suitable mission he that he could. One that he'd figure would get me off his back, quick, and for as long as possible'.

Seifer glanced back at the woman, whose mouth now hung open so wide it looked like she was trying to yawn.

'He did that?'

The blonde man laughed, 'Yeah, he did!'

Quistis kept looking shocked, then turned her gaze to the ground with a frown crossing her elegant features.

Then she laughed.

She laughed.

Seifer couldn't believe it, she was actually laughing.

'Haven't seen you laugh before,' he felt he should mention and she suddenly stopped, taking a moment to comprehend his words.

'Oh… well, I just-'

'You just need to lighten up… I mean, just cuz' you're a SeeD doesn't mean you have to stop living'.

Quistis pursed her lips, shivering.

Although this time, he thought, it wasn't so much because of the cold.

'I-I shall try,' she smiled squeamishly at him again and he nudged her playfully in the shoulder.

'So, SeeD? Why'd you join it?'

The wind got louder and the blonde woman staggered, nearly falling.

She smiled at him when he grabbed her arm, preventing her impact with the ice.

'Uh-thank you,' she said, brushing a thread of hair from her face and looking back up at him.

'I felt it was the best path for me to take,' she answered truthfully.

'And why was that?' Seifer questioned as soon as they had both regained their composure.

She huddled up into herself again, unsure of how to reply.

'Well, honestly, it was mostly because of Rinoa,'

'Rinoa?' he lifted his brows at her and squinted his eyes, trying to figure out what she was trying to say.

'We were childhood friends, I always looked out for her… eventually though, when I had turned fifteen I needed to get away, she always wanted attention… and got it. It was frustrating to no end. So, I came up with joining SeeD, I said that I would be coming back to protect her, that I was doing it to be a good friend, instead of saying how I actually felt… which was... trapped,' she stopped, looked up at the man and suddenly a heavy-blush set her cheeks.

'S-Sorry, I do not know why I am telling you this…'

'Yeah, I don't either,' he said, watching her carefully, 'But I don't mind'.

He didn't have a chance to catch her expression before Irvine and Selphie came romping up, something exceedingly entertaining clawing his eyes away from Quistis.

'What the hell are you wearing?!'

'Oh, this?' Irvine asked, after finally understanding what the blonde mans question was pertaining to.

Seifer nodded.

'Well, Selphies the one in the dress, I thought she could use my jacket more then I could!'

The blonde man looked sickened as he glared between the two.

'You really wanna get with her that badly? That's kind of pathetic, man…'

'Ahh…' Irvine froze and Seifer glanced between the two, who both started flushing red.

How come he was making everyone blush today?

'So have you, located anything?' Selphie cut in hurriedly.

Both Seifer and Quistis shook their heads in unison.

Then Quistis mentioned 'We were given these locaters because Cid told us they would locate any static nearby, he said this city, 'Esthar', should be hidden by some sort of barrier… although, it might be too cold, maybe the instruments are not working due to the weather?'

'Maybe-'

'Wait! I think I've got something!' Irvine shouted over Seifer, and they all gathered around him.

The locater blinked with red dots, indicating that there was heat or static nearby. Hesitantly, Seifer moved forward and stopped when he felt something strange.

In the midst of the blizzard his hand felt warm. Warm air.

He took another step forward and jumped.

Out of nowhere glass-like shingles started moving in front of him. His vision blurred and he turned away from the strange phenomenon towards the others, covering his eyes. Slowly, after all the noise had stopped he glanced up from behind his arms. Quistis, Irvine and Selphie all looked on with awe written all over their expressions, a strange glow reflecting on their faces.

He turned and gasped.

'I guess we are in the right place…'

Post-authors notes; Thank you for your support, I hope you liked this chapter!