The reserve was a peaceful place, a slice of forest outlining the edge of the town. A creek bubbled through it, parallel to the track that had been built in to serve people with a soft spot for nature.
It was there that body had been found, approximately eight hours after the murder had taken place.
A morning jogger had been unfortunate to come across the deceased.
Cid Krammer was found half naked, face down, with the creek running over his back, the blood long drained from his wounds. The stab marks littered across his chest looked all the more gruesome without the cover of blood. The water had made Cid's skin look strangely flaccid and pale.
The police were called in, along with the other town doctor.
He checked for a pule half-heartedly, before zipping up the black body bag over Cid's frowning face, shaking his head sadly.
"... Oh dear."
(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)
It was a busy night at 'Ifrit's Tavern.' There was a never ending stream of customers, and the background buzz got progressively louder as the general crowd got drunker, making it hectic for the staff.
By 8 o'clock, 'Ifrit's' was nearly full. Friday normally brought many customers, but that particular Friday was simply ridiculous. A popular band dubbed 'The Kamikazes,' were entertaining that night, and many people had turned up just to see them perform.
Squall stood behind the bar, getting quite apprehensive. A couple of clearly drunk boys about his own age were the source of Squall's apprehension.
"Howdy ... hick ... my friend." said one boy, swaying dangerously.
"Do you know how drunk I am? Do YOU know how drunk I am!? Well you know what? ... I'm drunk ... ENOUGH. That's right. ENOUGH." said the boy, slapping the counter top with one hand. The effect was ruined when he tried to take a swig of beer, but missed his mouth.
"I'm telling you now-" -he squinted at Squall's name badge - "Square, this is lame-mo. Back in Galbadia the chicks are way hotter and way easier because ..." he stopped abruptly, seemingly having lost his train of thought. His friend sat giggling to himself.
"Get out of the way. Other people want to be served." stated Squall coldly.
"Sure thing man. You're a great guy. Isn't he a great guy?" said the boy to his mate,
"Sure, I'd tap that." he replied, still giggling. Squall rolled his eyes. He'd had enough.
"Next please." he said loudly over the two boys heads.
(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)
Ifrit's had a pretty lax environment. They weren't hard on uniform, and only gave Squall a black shirt with 'Ifrit's' printed on the back plus a name badge to wear. They told him to use whatever pants he wanted, (as long as they covered his ass) so he wore a of faded black jeans, torn through the knees, although in the dimly lit, smoky bar, you could hardly tell.
Squall frowned after glancing at the clock for what had to be the hundredth time that night, only to see that a minute had passed since he last looked. He was jolted out of his calculations by his manager,
"Hey, Squall or Irvine! While there's a lull in the traffic can you go out back and get another keg of Regen? We've nearly run out." yelled the manager, Xu, rushing past, mop and bucket in hand. It seemed that someone else had also already drunk too much. Squall gave a nod,
"Only for you sweetheart." said Irvine with a wink,
"Irvine, shut the hell up. Both of you, hurry up!" she yelled wildly, before disappearing between tables into the dim murmuring crowd.
"You go," said Irvine, "I'll handle the next customers." he said with a lazy smirk,
"Good evening ladies-"
Squall let himself out of the bar, and was immediately surrounded by the sounds of happily drunk people. Glasses clinked, and there was an undertone of chatter, punctuated every now and then by laughter. Squall skirted around the throng, dodging tables and people.
He was very grateful for an excuse to escape the service counter, he hated dealing with customers. He let himself into the room at the back, and came across the two security guards, Bigs and Wedge.
"Sup young blood." said Wedge. He was a rather strange fellow, and seemed to have a story for every occasion. Squall avoided him.
Bigs was quieter, but popped up unexpectedly, as if trying to catch out anyone who might be doing anything incriminating. Neither were intimidating looking. Both stood at about Squall's chest height, and Wedge was bald, while Biggs was quite plump.
It was a joke amongst the staff that if someone were to try and rob the pub, Wedge would get out his tin whistle, (presumably what he would use if he ran out of things to say, it was always in his pocket sticking out) while Wedge would pop up after the attack, with his giant torch. (Literally, a giant torch. It looked like a baseball bat with a bowl attached to the end, and light randomly shining out.)
Squall inclined his head in their direction, then quickly walked past into the stock room. He savored the quiet as he hunted around for the alcohol needed. Biggs's voice floated in from next door,
"So they asked me to watch the car. I said anything could be done, for a price. The kids turned up half an hour later, just as I thought. The only problem was that the-"
Finding the right keg, Squall rushed past Biggs and Wedge, ("-window broke and we all had to gap it-") then plunged back into the loudness of the crowd. He had barely taken a few steps when he bumped into something that tried to skirt around him, knocking it to the ground with a loud "Ow!"
Squall looked down to see Rinoa, of all people. Their gazes met, both clearly surprised. Rinoa was the first to recover.
"Jeez Squall. It's not good to knock out your customers." she said, pushing herself up to standing.
"You ran in front of me ..." stated Squall.
"I was fishing for a 'sorry' Squall. I even would have settled for an 'Are you okay?' or a 'be more careful Rinoa.'"
Squall would have liked to shrug, but the keg was preventing him from doing so. He instead gave a noncommittal head jerk.
"So ... you work here huh?" said Rinoa. Squall nodded, then started to walk away.
"Hey, hey, hey. Squall, wait a moment." said Rinoa, catching his arm, "You aren't getting away from me that easily. Its a good thing I ran into you here. I tried calling you before, and all I got was a message saying that the phone number I dialed wasn't connected. I have a funny feeling that you knew it wasn't connected, and you were trying to avoid me." said Rinoa with a slight edge to her voice.
"You're probably right." replied Squall. Rinoa's frown deepened.
"Listen here pal, I am not failing because my partner is a sulky immature little boy! We will do this properly, and you will just have to stand my presence until we finish this. Got that?"
"Are you finished?" said Squall. Rinoa clenched her fist.
"No I am not." she said hotly. "When are we doing this?" Squall sighed.
"I have to get back to work." he said, turning away and walking back to the bar. Rinoa groaned.
"You are impossible!" she said, tailing him to the bar. He dumped the crate on the bench, as Rinoa took a calming breath. She took something out of her hand bag, and stood still for a moment. Squall glanced at her, then started walking back.
He'd only gone a few steps when a small hand slipped into his, pulling him gently to a stop.
"Think about it." breathed Rinoa in his ear, then she was gone, leaving behind a faint trace of strawberries in the air. Squall stood still for a moment, then looked down.
He was holding a crumpled piece of paper. Smoothing out the creases, Squall looked down at it thoughtfully for a moment. His pocketed it frowning slightly, and nearly walked into a gob-smacked Irvine.
"What?" said Squall irritably. Irvine shook his head disappointedly.
"I can't believe you got that chicks number without even trying." Squall gave Irvine a look.
"Well, I'd tap that. She was good looking! You just don't appreciate women like I do." said Irvine. He sighed, "What a waste."
(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)
Rinoa stormed back her table in a bad mood, and had plonked into her seat before realizing she had forgotten what she got up for.
"Uh, Rinoa? Where are the drinks?" asked Selphie.
"Huh? Oh sorry I forgot them." said Rinoa. There was silence for a few moments.
"Well ... aren't you going to go back over and get some!?" said Selphie.
"I'm not in the mood. You go get them." said Rinoa grumpily.
"Jeez Rinoa, you were perfectly happy before. Is it that tine of the month already?"
"Sorry Selphie, I just ran into my dear partner for that assignment." Rinoa made a face, "This is going to be painful. I thought people were exaggerating when they said what a grouch he was."
"That new kid? What's his name ... Sq-something. Is it Squinn?
"No, its Squall."
"Right. The good looking one that transferred here and beat up someone at his old school which is why he has to come to ours now?" said Selphie in one breath.
"... Say that again but slower. Try breathing."
"You've heard the rumors right? The Library girl told me that he chucked a chair at a teacher and threatened his Lit class with a machete. They had to shoot him with a tranquilizer to calm him down." Rinoa laughed.
"I reckon getting him un-calm in the first place would be more difficult than shooting him with a tranquilizer. He doesn't look easily riled up. Besides, how can you claim to know all that when you can't even remember his name?" Selphie ignored the last comment and continued.
"Apparently some kid said stuff about his mother and he went ballistic."
"'Apparently' being the operative word. It's only 'apparent,' not absolutely certain. Remember when everyone thought you had bird flu?"
"Good point ... but that was just stupid and I denied it. Squall isn't denying anything!"
"Of course, that's a sure sight of guilt. If he isn't running round the school proclaiming his innocence, he must be guilty." said Rinoa sarcastically.
"Oh Rinoa. You're making it sound like I said he killed someone! You have a soft spot for him don't you?"
"What? I-" but Rinoa was cut off,
"Rinoa has a crush on Squall! Squall and Rinoa up a tree-" sang Selphie.
"Oh shut up and get us some drinks." said Rinoa irritably. Selphie grinned.
"Sure thing!" She got up and practically skipped over to the bar. Rinoa watched her progress, and couldn't help but laugh. She was served by the other guy at the bar, the one with long hair tied back in a ponytail.
Rinoa glanced over at Squall, only to meet his gaze head on. They had a silent staring contest for a couple of seconds, then he looked away first to serve a customer. A thought occurred to her,
'He has very pretty eyes."
Selphie skipped back over with two glasses filled with Amber liquid. She settled the paler one in front of Rinoa,
"Here's your apple juice." She then seated herself and took a long draught from her own frothy mug.
"Ah that's the good stuff. You don't know what you're missing Rinoa." Rinoa rolled her eyes.
"I'm not missing much, which reminds me, I expect petrol money. Your house is in the opposite direction to mine" Selphie ignored this comment. She had very good selective hearing.
"You get drunk stupidly easily Rinoa. It shouldn't take two beers to have you retching in the bathroom." said Selphie. Rinoa shrugged.
"Maybe I'm allergic."
"That would suck. You'd be like that exchange student who's allergic to chocolate, only with alcohol!" Rinoa laughed.
"Shut up. I think the band's starting to play."
(o.o.o.o.o.o.o)
As the last customers left Squall breathed a sigh of relief. All he had left to do was clean up then he was free to go. While he and Irvine busied themselves, their manager was chatting to the band, who were also packing up.
Squall glanced over to see Xu smiling in earnest. One of the band members handed over a signed copy of their CD to her. They'd been giving out free copies after their performance.
"So Squall ... you never told me what your girlfriend's name was?" said Irvine conversationally, Squall shrugged.
"Touchy subject huh?" said Irvine.
"That's none of your business." said Squall tonelessly.
"So, this girl. She seemed pretty pissed off. What'd you do?" Irvine waited a minute. Squall didn't answer. He sighed.
"You know what? You really need to get laid Squall. That should loosen you up a bit." Squall chucked and shook his head at this.
"You're 'loose' enough for the both of us."
(o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o)
'Seventeen years and she's got a reputation, for adding to the burden of overpopulation-'
The CD they're been given had quickly been put into Rinoa's stacker, and turned up to full blast as they drove home.
"They were pretty good weren't they?" said Selphie, raising her voice above the music.
'There'll come a day, you wait and see, he'll step up and he'll just let her be, but she don't want a fuss, and she don't want a fight, she don't want him back but she knows she just might change her mind-'
"Yeah they were really good. You know what Selphie? You should ask them if they'd play at the school festival."
'Somewhere in the big old city, there's a girl and she looks so pretty, I wish that I could take her home tonight-"
"That's a really good idea actually! I was thinking of putting a band together with kids from school, but so far everyone I've auditioned has sucked. A lot."
"But she's lost her faith in modern men, she's bent on getting back at them, and everybody tells me that she bites-'
"Heh, I know. I was there remember?"
"Oh, right. Too bad we can't just have you on the piano. That'd fix everything." Rinoa shrugged.
'She bites...'
Rinoa pulled over next to Selphie's house. Her house had a very distinguishing feature that set it apart and made it very easy to find - it was a bright lime green colour that could even be seen brightly in the dark. Selphie jumped out.
"Thanks Rinoa! We should have girls nights more often. Zell's a doll, but there are somethings that can't be said with male ears around. Even with one as unmanly as Zell." Rinoa laughed.
"Poor boy. By the time he settles down to get married he'll be such an obedient husband. We have him well trained." said Rinoa,
"Heh, so true. See you tomorrow Rinoa." said Selphie with a wave, then she was gone.
Rinoa drove back home carefully, humming along to the music. She passed the bar, and laughed out loud to herself when she realized that she had forgotten to collect her petrol money owed by Selphie.
She was passing through a business district when something peculiar happened. She rounded a particularly sharp corner, then accelerated. She had an impression of a pair of large amber eyes lying in the road, then she was slamming on the breaks.
It was futile. The car skidded sideways with a tremendous screeching sound, over the blank Amber eyes, and into the curb. Rinoa quickly turned off the car as it came to a halt. In a trance, she opened the door and stepped out of the car.
The lights were still on, flooding the road. 'Crap I've killed a cat or something ...' thought Rinoa desperately willing herself to believe it.
Rinoa walked round the back of the car to assess the damage on the other side. It was mostly to avoid the front, to avoid looking at what she'd hit. The front tire was flat, probably from the impact of hitting the curb.
There was a movement in the corner of her eye. Rinoa span round.
"Who's there?" she called nervously into the darkness. Rinoa caught a flash of white, then whatever it was disappeared behind a building. Rinoa felt a strange prickling sensation in her stomach. Something wasn't right, and she was scared as hell. She turned back around, forcing herself to look at what she'd hit.
Rinoa saw a splattering of red across the road, illuminated by the light from the car. Then she saw a human hand.
"Oh crap ..."