Disclaimer: I don't own FF8
Part II
Quistis sighed and placed her forehead in the palm of her hand, "Mia, can you PLEASE not smoke in here? Honestly, you're worse than Squall."
"Aw, come on, Quisty," the person in question was leaning back in the Commander's chair with her feet propped up on his desk, "I am way more friendly than Squall and a heck of a lot more fun."
Quistis pursed her lips together suppressing a smile, "He is going to kill you when he gets here."
"Alright, alright..." Mia pulled her feet off the desk and turned up her heel so that she could press the cigarette to the bottom of her boot, tossing the butt in the trashcan, "I'll try not to outstay my welcome, I know he would be happy to find a reason to get me out of here."
Quistis leaned back in her chair propping her own feet on her desk, "It's not like that, and you know it. You just... you epitomize the opposite of everything he is so firm on."
"Yeah I know, 'undisciplined', right? Just 'cause I happen to think there is more than one way to skin a cat... but let's talk shop when our illustrious Commander joins us," she arched an eyebrow and looked over at the blonde woman at the desk opposite her, "So tell me Quisty... How's Almasy?"
"Wh..What? What are you... how did you...?" Quistis' feet fell off the desk in surprise and she almost stumbled out of her chair. Her current "relationship" with Seifer (and she used that term loosely) was not something she was even completely sure of yet, let alone something she was ready to gossip about.
"Quistis, Puh-LEASE. I know everything. Seifer owed me a favor from ages ago, when we met up the moron let it slip out that he had just been with you. If we're all being honest here, he was the one who helped me acquire the information I told you about last night."
Quistis mentally groaned, "Stupid GFs, I forgot you were his instructor too. No one else knows, do they?"
"I can keep a secret, from womb to tomb. But, I have to ask: why keep the secret at all? I mean, he's good enough to look at if that's what you're worried about... Sure, he can be a little dense, but I'm sure you could, ahem, whip him into shape," Mia leaned her chin against her hands as she leaned her elbows on the desk boring Quistis with mischievous eyes.
"MIA!" Quistis tossed a pen over in Mia's direction, "I didn't even know he was still in contact with you," she added trying to hastily change the subject from her love life.
"He was one of the best students I ever had. You were the one who recommended him to my field training class, remember? He would have been a brilliant SeeD, but instead he is a brilliant self-employed mercenary. A mercenary with nothing left to lose is the best kind," she winked at Quistis, "though I guess that's changed since you guys got, ah, reacquainted. He is starting to act like a man with an awful lot to lose."
She was about to continue when Squall strode into the office and she quickly snapped her mouth shut. He was clenching his jaw as he noticed Mia sitting at his desk, "Seriously, Mia?" He motioned his hand towards the boot stain on some of the papers, "I mean can't you at least TRY to act like you went to an elite military academy sometimes?"
Mia rolled her eyes and stood up from the chair, "You're one to talk. You're sleeping with the sorceress."
Squall didn't say anything, yanking the chair towards him and sitting down pointedly, trying to tidy up the mess Mia had made at his desk, "Were you smoking in here?"
"A-ha... A-HA!" she exclaimed, pointing her finger towards him accusingly.
"You're acting weird."
Mia put her hands on her hips triumphantly, "So you haven't slept with her yet... interesting play by Miss Heartilly," Mia brought her hand to her chin rubbing it thoughtfully, "I wonder... is it Rinoa that's waiting OR do you have some crazy Garden rule you are afraid to break," she paused and glanced at Squall for a reaction, but was received with silence and a straight face. Mia rolled her eyes, "You are so painfully easy to read. Don't worry, I'll talk to Rinoa for you, Commander."
Squall continued to ignore her, "Don't smoke in here again, I'm trying to quit," after he was satisfied things were in their proper place he crossed his arms and looked over at her, "and don't give advice to Rinoa about anything, ever. That's an order... now give me your report."
Mia flopped down on the couch in the office and extracted the cigarette she was about to light from her mouth and slid it behind her ear tossing her lighter on the table next to her in annoyance, "Fine. But it doesn't leave this room. No Cid Kramer. The three of us, Irvine, Selphie, that hyper blond kid you guys trust, Nida, Xu and maybe Rinoa. Got it?"
Squall shook his head, "No deal."
"Cid is not to be involved, or I'll do this by myself, Squall," Mia glared over at him.
"You won't make it a week."
"I don't care."
Squall had his reservations about how Mia conducted herself, and despite fact that she broke just about every rule Garden ever instated, she had remained clever enough to never do it within the walls of Garden itself, creating complicated loopholes that let her remain there. She eventually had made herself into an immeasurable asset which basically gave her a ticket to behave however she wanted. She hated Cid, and he was pretty sure Cid hated her, yet she had been in charge of Trabia Garden. Keep your enemies closer. Despite how Cid felt, Squall didn't see her as an enemy. Unpredictable, unprofessional, unstable, sure, but also loyal and trustworthy. And insanely deadly if you're on her bad side.He had witnessed that first hand as a cadet. Besides, Quistis trusted her without hesitation. If Quistis was on board, so was he.
Squall sighed, "fine. But we only tell minimal information to Rinoa, I don't want her to get worried, and she's not SeeD. She doesn't need to see all of this."
Quistis frowned, and decided it was time to step in before she wasted the next hour of her life watching the two of them bicker back and forth, "Squall, I don't know if that's a good idea. Rinoa has seen plenty and I wouldn't feel comfortable lying to her."
Mia waved her hand, "Quistis, it's fine. Rinoa will be on a need-to-know basis. I actually semi-agree with Squall here, there is plenty she would be better off not knowing, and quite frankly there is plenty that *I'm* not ready for her to know. Not yet anyway."
Squall visibly relaxed. He loved Rinoa and trusted her implicitly, but to him she was as pure as the wings that sprouted from her back when she evoked her powers. Sure, Rinoa had seen plenty with them while battling Ultimecia, and she had seen plenty on her own while helping Timber's revolution, but fighting monsters and plotting on a train car were very different than watching your boyfriend kill someone with his bare hands. Rinoa's hands, in essence, were clean, and he intended to keep it that way. He was her knight, it was his duty.
Mia cleared her throat and straightened her posture, military training kicking into effect as she began her story, "As you know, I've been under a contract with the League of Nations for some time."
"Your report is fairly sparse" Quistis commented.
"And I intend to keep it that way, Quisty. I can further de-brief you in person, there are things that many people would be upset if I put them on piece of paper," she stood up and strolled over to Quistis' desk, opening a manila folder and pulled some pictures out, "Delegate Herzog is currently under the impression that I am still his client, though as you know I am mainly working for the Chancellor. His Lordship doesn't trust Herzog, and for good reason."
"What about Caraway?" Squall walked over from his desk to look at the pictures Mia had brought.
"Haven't been under contract with him for years, and you know I won't work for him again," Mia pressed her finger down on his photo as if trying to squeeze the life out of the subject, covering General Caraway's eyes, his annoying green, familiar eyes.
"You won't work for Caraway but you are willing to protect his daughter?" Squall was about to continue when Quistis placed a hand on his shoulder, "let it go, Squall, there are sometimes things you don't need to understand. Please continue, Mia."
Mia snapped out of her trance, "Anyway, Herzog knows that if you kill a Sorceress she needs to transfer her powers. He intends on making sure those powers get transferred to someone he can control, thus giving him the power to take over the whole League. Same old story, right?"
"So, basically, Herzog plans on kidnapping Rinoa and then killing her in some sort of secluded place ensuring that her powers get transferred to the person of his choice?" Quistis placed on her glasses and looked at the file thoughtfully as she continued, "Any idea who it is? Or where they plan on doing this?"
Squall pounded his fist on the desk, "Dammit! Isn't it obvious?"
Mia looked over at him hesitantly, "Part of it, yes, but we still need more information. And confirmation."
"What about the Chancellor, can he help?" Qustis asked while quickly scanning over the man's file.
Squall snorted at Quistis' comment, eliciting a small chuckle from Mia, "Quistis, get real, the Chancellor dislikes Rinoa just as much as Herzog does, except instead of trying to control her powers, the Chancellor wants to freeze her in Esthar. Caraway and Lagu- I mean, President Loire, are the only ones preventing that from happening right now."
Squall sighed. Laguna. A decent ally, but a total doofus. Squall doubted his ability to dress himself in the morning let alone run a country and continue to convince the government to leave Rinoa alone, "So what else do we need, Mia?"
"We need to be in Dollet in 3 days," Mia shuffled through the papers again and pulled up a few sheets of paper with a photo attached, "him, we need this guy. He should have lists of all of Herzog's political financial records it should give us an idea of who is in his corner that we may not be aware of."
"Affirmative. We'll leave the tomorrow and be back in time for the Fall Festival." because if I missed it, Rinoa would kill me, and Selphie would bring me back to life just to kill me again, "Quistis, you'll come with us too."
Quistis nodded, "Got it. Squall, don't you think we should have someone guard Rinoa... just in case?"
Squall went through a mental checklist of people he would entrust Rinoa's protection to: Selphie was too caught up planning the Fall Festival, and Irvine was dragged into helping her, Zell was in Balamb visiting Ma and Xu would have to run the Garden in their absence. There was no other choice, "Rinoa will come with us. Need-to-know only, right? The safest place she will be is with me."
"I agree," Mia shuffled up the papers and stuffed them into her bag unceremoniously, crumpling the papers audibly. Squall visibly flinched as she shoved them further down in order to fit, "well if there is nothing else..." Mia gave a half salute and headed towards the door.
"Mia," Squall's voice made her pause, "please... with Rinoa."
Mia nodded, she knew what he meant anyway. Don't mess with her head, don't screw her up, don't drag her into the gutter, don't get her involved, don't get blood on her hands. "Don't worry, Squall, I've got just as much invested as you do."
As she left, Squall glanced at Quistis in confusion. Mia's over-enthusiasm in the whole situation was strange, and from past experience he knew that she only tended to get involved with things she thought she could somehow use to her advantage later. Her interest in Rinoa made him uneasy. While he didn't suspect anything maleficent it certainly wasn't innocent, he felt like the answer was staring him in the face but he somehow couldn't grasp it. Squall noticed Quistis seemed to be purposefully avoiding his gaze which meant only one thing: she knew something. Squall knew better than to try to convince her to tell him, but maybe... "Quistis..."
Quistis closed the drawer in her desk a little more roughly than necessary, "It's her business, Squall, she'll tell you when she's ready. I would tell you if you needed to know. So just don't go there."
"I know. It's not about that. Quistis, look at me," he looked over at her and met her eyes, "did you check her cigarette case?"
Quistis held his gaze, replying earnestly, "I never got the chance. She was clean today, I'm pretty sure."
"For now at least," Squall mumbled under his breath, praying to Hyne that Mia wasn't holed up in Garden somewhere with a needle in her arm. Your body may live past 25, but your mind won't..., "No shit, Mia. Why didn't you just use the GFs."
Squall hadn't realized he had mumbled that part out loud until Quistis answered quietly, "She can't forgive herself. This is her penance. She won't fail." All her past can be forgiven if she can protect Rinoa. Squall hoped for all of their lives that Quistis was right.
"So, what is it exactly that we're doing?" Rinoa skipped in step to keep up with Squall's long and rapid stride from the train station outside of Dollet to the main part of town, "I'm just surprised you brought me, not that I'm complaining."
Squall slowed his pace slightly to let Rinoa catch up, "I don't have all the details on the mission other than the target. Quistis is going to debrief us more when we get into Dollet and Mia is going to meet us at the hotel," he paused and reached out to grab her hand, squeezing it gently, "Just, stay close to me."
Rinoa smiled at his words and let go of his grasp, only to loop her arm around his. Deep down she wondered if he even remembered having said those to her before, "yessir, Commander," she winked up at him eliciting an eye roll from Squall, though it was accompanied by the faintest hint of a blush.
They walked arm in arm the rest of the walk in silence, Squalls eyes scanning the area for any possible threat with every step and Rinoa blissfully unaware of how much danger she might be in. Quistis met them near the fountain to inform them she had already checked into the hotel and the three headed there together. Walking into one of the rooms, Rinoa and Squall dumped their equipment on the floor and turned to Quistis expectantly.
Quistis was glancing over her shoulder uncomfortably, "Ok, Mia should be here soon. She's been on recon," Quistis handed a hotel key to Squall, "Um...we have two rooms, I don't know where you want everyone to sleep..." she was thankfully saved from finishing that awkward statement by pounding on the door.
Quistis glanced through the peephole and opened the door. Mia entered briskly, wiggling a data card between her fingers, "Okay, got it," she announced triumphantly.
"What do you mean 'got it'? We just got here," Squall said as he snatched the card from her hand.
"Jeez, why don't you say, 'hey, thanks for getting all the work done and giving us a free vacation, Mia'. Or maybe 'hey thanks for this sweet hotel on Garden's dime, Mia. Thanks for getting all the dirty work done, Mia'," Mia rolled her eyes and pulled her gun out of its holster, unloading the clip and placing it on the table, "Had I KNOWN it would have been that easy, obviously I would have gone alone."
Squall pulled out his laptop and clicked the card into the port, loading data into his hard drive, "So.. it's all here? Any clean up I have to worry about or assault complaints Garden will be hearing about?"
"I'll take that as a 'thank you', Squall. It's all on the damn card."
Quistis glanced over Squall's shoulder, quickly scanning the data provided, "How did you get this?"
Mia smiled and looked over at Rinoa, who had been rifling through the mini-bar, catching her gaze. She winked at Rinoa and turned her gaze to Quistis, her eyes sparkling, "our target? Turns out, I know what he likes."
A sweatdrop formed on Rinoa's forehead as she opened her can of soda loudly.
"By the way, Quistis," Mia reached into her bag and extracted Quistis' beloved whip, 'Save the Queen', "I borrowed this, I hope you don't mind."
Rinoa spit out the drink she had just started sipping giving Squall and his laptop a syrupy shower. Squall flicked a drop of cola from his hair and shook his head, burying his face in his hands this has to just be a bad dream.
Quistis' eye was twitching as she glared at Mia from across the room though there was the faintest hint of a humor on her face, "You had better clean that."
Mia laughed and uncoiled the whip, snapping into the air loudly, "Come on, Quisty, I'm not that thoughtless. I'm not gonna ruin your favorite toy."
Between Squall and Quistis' reaction, Squall being covered in cola and the whole absurdity of the fact that this was allegedly a serious mission Rinoa found herself almost to the point of tears she was laughing so hard, "Ah.. she's...right, Quistis, haha, I'm sure your, heehee BOYFRIEND would.. ahahah" she couldn't even finish the comment gripping her stomach and trying to control her laughter.
"You TOLD HER?" Quistis groaned. If Rinoa knew about Seifer, it meant that Selphie eventually would, and at that point she may as well have screamed it into the Garden loudspeaker.
Rinoa's laughter subsided enough for her to form a sentence, "She didn't tell me anything. I suspected, but you reaction just confirmed it.. I.." she started laughing uncontrollably once more. Her pleasant laughter was contagious and eventually all three women were in fits. Had they been able to see Squall's face from behind it's place buried behind his hands, they would have seen a very faint smile in response to the sound of Rinoa's laughter. His small joys aside however, they were on a mission and he knew that if he didn't pull everyone back on task now, things would snowball quickly.
After another minute of the ongoing cycle between moments when one of the women would try to speak and fail, leading to another fit nonstop laughter, he began to tap his foot on the floor impatiently. When Rinoa started laughing while she was trying to drink her offending cola again and ended up nearly choking, coughing and laughing so hard she fell to the floor, his patience finally cracked, "SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO DO A JOB HERE," he stood up, knocking the chair back from the desk his voice dropping to a normal volume, "Some of us at least pretend to be professional," he paused and looked down at Rinoa from her position on the floor, laughter gone, "though, Rinoa I.. I'm pretty impressed by your sneakiness."
The room had became deadly silent at his outburst. After his secondary comment, the four occupants of the room glanced from one to another and all started laughing again, Squall even allowing himself to find the humor in the evening and actually laughing audibly.
After composing herself and gasping for air, Quistis managed to speak, "Okay, okay, Squall, we'll be good, seriously,"
Squall rolled his eyes and sat down yeah right. As the tone of the room shifted he couldn't help the words that slipped from his mouth, "Mia, can you get through one mission without having to do anyone any 'favors'?"
To an outside observer, they may have viewed Squall's comment as callous, but Rinoa knew him well enough to read between the lines. It wasn't just a matter of protocol and rules; he felt sad for her. It was like a young child who made fun of another child who wets the bed when they are older. The children make fun of each other because what they see is a possibility in themselves. Fear. If I hate it and make fun of it, it can never happen to me. You are afraid of what you maybe are or may become. Something clicked in Rinoa's mind Mia must always feel alone.Just like Squall.
Thankfully for Squall, Rinoa had entered his life, saving him from a fate of eventually having a heart that was incapable of intimacy. Rinoa glanced over at Mia, though she did not see any pain in her face from Squall's harsh comment, she still she felt the need to comfort her, "Mia, he didn't mean it like that."
"I know. I know what he meant," Mia waved her hand dismissively, "Squall, not all of us are as lucky as you. Sex is a valuable currency in this world. But one you can only use if you don't let your emotions get involved. Honestly, it doesn't even phase me, for me it's about just as mundane as it is for you to work on papers at your desk."
"That might be one of the most depressing things I've ever heard," Rinoa said honestly searching the girls face for any hints of exaggeration or regret or fear. She found nothing.
"Rinoa, I'm damn good at my job, even Squall will admit that. SeeD comes with a price, we pay it in different ways. I'm older, I've been around longer, and when I was a cadet things were a bit different. I mean, look at Xu, same class as me, she is like the model of discipline and I'm sure has never done what I've done, but have you ever seen her with a boyfriend?"
Rinoa shook her head, "No.. I guess not."
"Exactly. We are both alone and it has nothing to do with how we might go about doing our job. Fact of the matter is, at some point we SeeD become machines. You can't fit in an emotional life, a love life... any of that, it doesn't compute when you spend your life surviving on auto pilot and instinct. If something doesn't fit into our program, it can't exist. We wouldn't even know how to function. So trust me when I say, you guys are lucky."
No one responded, and quite frankly Mia hadn't expected them to, deciding it was best to attempt to change the tone of the room she spoke again, "that goes for you too by the way, Ms. Trepe, or should I say the future Mrs. Alm-" Mia was cut off as a pen hit her squarely in the nose.
Mia rubbed her nose where the offending pen had hit her and turned to Quistis, "Okay, I deserved that. Come on, Queen, let's you and me take the other room and give these two love-birds some privacy," she pulled out the 'Save the Queen' again, whooshing it dangerously close to Quistis' feet.
"Ack! You are seriously bleaching that thing!" It was said in laughter, as Quistis grabbed her things together and followed Mia out of the room, shutting the door behind them. From behind the closed door, another whip crack was heard followed by two voices laughing.
Rinoa smiled as they left and turned towards Squall, "sooooo um, that was nice of them to give us some privacy," she leaned against the desk so that she could face him and shuffled her feet on the ground nervously.
Squall looked up and smiled at her, reaching out to grab her hips and pull her onto his lap, "It was. I should work but, this data can wait until we get back to Garden, I guess," he mumbled while placing a kiss on her neck, causing a shiver to run along Rinoa's spine.
Rinoa turned her head to face him, catching his lips and curving her body towards his and shifting on his lap, causing Squall's arms to wrap more tightly around her. Maybe... just maybe. His hands wrapped around her neck and combed through her hair as he kissed her and Rinoa felt burning along her senses. Every inch of her skin felt like her nerve endings were on overdrive, and every place Squall touched was excruciatingly and almost uncomfortably wonderful. Her whole body was alive and she swore she could smell things more sharply, hear things more clearly. On top of the information provided Squall was providing verbally, she was patently aware of all the things flashing rapidly in his head, running at such a fast pace she could barely tell them apart. The overarching theme was obvious though, he was clearly utterly and hopelessly in love with her.
Squall paused and pulled back slightly to look into Rinoa's eyes. At some point, Rinoa wasn't even sure when, he had carried her onto the bed in the hotel room and had was now leaning over her, piercing her with his gaze. His eyes mirrored all of the things she had felt and heard from his mind, and something else she hadn't. Something painfully obvious: he wanted her. Completely. And by Hyne, so did she.
He smiled at the unspoken consent her eyes and lips held and leaned down bury his face against her neck.
I love you.
"I know," Rinoa responded out loud, unaware his words had not been spoken, "I love you too."
Squall pulled back and looked at her again curiously, then shook his head, smiling, "I.. never mind." Surprisingly, the mind reading didn't bother him. He placed a small kiss on her lips and then turned his attention to her neck again as his hands tentatively began to roam uncharted territory. His heart was pounding and echoing in his ears so loudly he was sure Rinoa must have been able to hear it. He was finally beginning to get past his nerves, get past his insecurity that she might not enjoy things or maybe she wasn't ready; as he was starting to allow himself to accept the fact that this was happening and just enjoy it, the sound of maniacal laughter pierced through the wall along with the unmistakable sound of Quistis squealing.
Squall pulled back from Rinoa and flopped onto his back with a loud groan. The walls are thin, great. There was no way he could now, not with an audience. He groaned again thunked his forehead with the heel of his palm repeatedly, "great. fucking great..." he muttered and looked over at Rinoa.
She was smiling a disappointed smile, "I know..." she turned onto her side and looked at him, "But, you know.. um, kissing won't make that much noise, right?"
Squall laughed and pulled her into his arms, rolling her on top of him, "No.. guess not," he mumbled against her lips.
It was some time later when they both were awoken by a loud noise from the other room. Rinoa sat up quickly, her eyes darting around the room wildly as she instinctively pulled the bed covers around her tightly. Squall had flown out of the bed and already had his hand on the hilt of his gunblade when they heard another noise. A sound that was unmistakably a gunshot coming from the adjoining room.
Squall grabbed Rinoa somewhat roughly and pulled her out of the bed, "we need to go now, hurry..." he whispered, dragging her to the balcony and peering down, as she tried to shake the sleep from her brain. He was glancing around, trying to figure out the best way to get down from the 4th floor landing they were currently on when he spotted a gutter snaking down the building, "This is it then," as he said it, he realized Rinoa was no longer next to him and he suddenly panicked. He was about to scream her name when she dashed back from the room, two pairs of boots and computer in tow and the data card that Mia had procured sticking out of her mouth.
"This way," he nodded towards the gutter and swung himself over the railing, carefully positioning himself so he could scale down the wall.
Rinoa had not-so-gently tossed their boots and the computer over the balcony, destroying it with an audibly crash, effectively destroying any valuable evidence an intruder might be after. She winked down at Squall before daintily sliding onto the gutter herself.
"You're amazing, you know that?" he whispered as he looked up at her as she scaled down above him.
"gdlm slgo lokgid skfih," Rinoa replied, or at least attempted to, but her words were muffled by the data card she was holding onto with her teeth.
Once they reached the bottom, she pulled the data card out of her mouth and handed it to Squall smiling, "I meant.. you know you were calling me amazing while having a prime view under my nightie... which officially makes you worse than Irvine."
He pulled on his boots quickly and was about to retort when he saw a figure crash through the balcony doors of the room adjoining theirs, and back flip somewhat clumsily off the balcony, landing on the bridge above them. Squall raised his gunblade and stepped in front of Rinoa protectively, who was desperately trying to pull her own boots on.
"It's me," Mia's voice hissed, "you two get out of here..." Two figures burst out from the balcony she had just jumped from and peered down, Squall didn't have time to pull Rinoa into the shadows of the street below.
"THE SORCERESS! She's here!"
Gunfire erupted and Rinoa was dragged under the bridge for cover, Squall pushing her against the wall and pressing against her, shielding her. The gunfire quickly halted and Squall pressed a finger to her lips to request silence, mouthing, "wait here..." as he gingerly stepped out from under their cover. He peered upwards to see that Mia had quickly scaled her way up the wall had made her way onto the balcony and already had one assailant's body at her feet and her knife against the neck of the other shooter. Rinoa stumbled out behind Squall and the man Mia was holding fired his gun at Rinoa at the same time Mia's knife cleanly sliced his throat.
"PROTECT!" Rinoa shouted, and the bullet hovered in the air and then dropped inches from her shoulder. It wouldn't have been a fatal shot had it connected, but it certainly would have hurt. Mia flipped down from the balcony and landed much more gracefully than her previous attempt on the street below. She quickly wiped the blood off of her knife onto her shirt and nodded to the couple, tilting her head towards the east end of the narrow street.
Rinoa and Squall began to follow her when Rinoa paused, feeling a drop on her shoulder... It's raining? She glanced at her shirt and saw a perfectly round red stain where she had felt the drop. She looked up to see drops of blood gracefully dripping from the elegant hotel balcony like raindrops. It would have been artistic if it wasn't so morbid. She gulped and felt a wave of nausea. This was not the time, however. Shaking her head she squeezed Squall's hand for strength.
"Just stay close to me..." he heard him whisper to her as they hurried down the alley.
The figure in front of them skidded to a halt and put her hand up motioning for them to stop as well. Rinoa suddenly felt an excruciating pressure in her head, so overwhelming she almost screamed. Sucking in a sharp breath she tried to concentrate on the pounding, realizing it was undoubtedly Mia's voice chanting over and over in her brain, "Rinoa magic, ready, Rinoa magic, ready, Rinoa... ready ready soon, Rinoa..."
The booming voice became less painful and eventually stopped as the spell quickly formed within her fingers. She must have had good timing, for the second she began to form the Firaga, two armed shadows turned around the corner to face them. Rinoa hesitated, and that was all the time it took for one of the hooded figures to lift up its weapon pointing it at Rinoa. The weapon looked like a...
"SHIT"
BANG
Rinoa was sure this was the end and shut her eyes tightly as she heard the weapon discharge. She heard a high pitched zing near her ear and felt the warm splash of blood across her back before she was knocked down to the ground by a heavy object behind her.
Whatever had fallen on her was now trapping her to the ground. Before she could even register the fact that she was still alive or figure out what was going on, someone's hand was pulling her up from under her trap, "come on, we have to get out of here..."
"Quistis...?" Rinoa saw familiar blue eyes behind the hood of the person that had pulled her up. She looked over at her shooter and realized her first instinct as to the weapon he was holding was right, Hyperion was in his hand, the barrel smoking. She looked down to see what had knocked her to the ground, seeing the body of a man with a knife in his hand, heat quickly evaporating off him in the night air. Seifer had just saved her life.
Squall called out from the shadows, "Come on... this alley is clear now."
Quistis' firm and comforting grip continued to pull Rinoa after her as Mia and Squall took the lead and Seifer took the rear. They slowly made their way through the back streets of Dollet and out of the city. Every once and a while, Rinoa would stumble over something on the street, and Quistis' strong hold would prevent her from completely falling. At one point she stumbled hard enough to get close enough to smell one of the obstacles in their path. She smelled the unmistakable metallic odor of flesh and didn't need to get a closer to know what she was walking over. She was entering a battle field that was being meticulously cleared out by the two people leading the group. Rinoa felt nauseated, the dizziness she felt earlier coming back and she couldn't shake it this time.
"Squall!" Quistis' voice, "I think she's.."
Strong arms lifted her and she smelled Squall's familiar and unique scent washed away the bitter taste in her mouth before she let unconsciousness take her.
She awoke to the sound of burning wood. She was lying down in a small clearing in the forest and her four companions were sitting around a fire and taking in hushed voices. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious, but she did not see any signs of a city close by. She pulled herself up slowly and the voices paused.
"Rin?" Squall stood up and walked over to her, crouching down, "are you... are you okay?" he asked softly as she dragged herself to a seating position.
"Yes.. I think I must have fainted," she looked up at him and furrowed her brow slightly, "what's going on?"
"Come on," he stood up and offered his hand down to her, helping her stand as well. Leading her over closer to the fire he sat down on a log. Rinoa made motions to sit down next to him, but instead he pulled her in between his legs, sitting her down in front of her and wrapping his arms around her, "I.. was worried. Are you sure you're okay?" he whispered again softly.
Rinoa nodded, "not injured anyway... why... seriously what is going on?" she said a little more forcefully.
Seifer, who was carefully cleaning his gunblade, looked up, "you may as well tell her, she'll annoy us all to death unless you don't."
"SEIFER!" Quistis' hissed over at him before looking at Rinoa softly, "We were here to gather some information regarding a plan to subdue the sorceress."
"You mean me," Rinoa offered.
"Yes," Quistis shifted uncomfortably, "um.. some help, guys?"
Squall's voice echoed from behind her, "Mia came to warn us of a plan within the League of Nations to kidnap you," he didn't feel it necessary to tell her that they planned on executing her and stealing her powers, getting worried about being kidnapped was bad enough, "we were following a lead to get more information. Had I known it would be this dangerous..."
Rinoa glanced over her shoulder to look up at him, "Squall...I'm a Sorceress, I can handle myself, you know. And I fought Ultimecia with you guys. I can help," she huffed and blew her bangs from her eyes in annoyance. Sometimes being around SeeD could make you feel so little. Like everyone else was in some secret club and you weren't invited. While she knew deep down she was just as much a member of her group of friends as anyone else, she couldn't help but always feel like she was left behind.
"Rinoa, we know," she was surprised when it was Seifer who offered words to comfort her, "but, no one should desire blood on their hands. Not when they don't have to."
Rinoa nodded and the group remained silent, the only sound the crackling of the fire in front of them. The night seemed to drag on for an eternity. What seemed like hours later, the silence was finally broken.
"Um, Squall?"
"What do you want, Seifer?"
"Um... you do know that you're not wearing a shirt right?"
"Shut up, Seifer."
"I'm just saying, you can borrow my coat, puberty boy."
"..."
Rinoa laughed and eventually the rest of them joined in her laughter. She had completely forgotten that they had dashed from the hotel wearing what they had slept in. At least she had remembered to grab their boots. Rinoa shivered and felt Squall's arms tighten around him as he leaned down closer to her. As she felt his skin against her bare arms, she wondered how on earth she hadn't realized he was shirtless before. Must have been adrenaline. The brief bought of laughter had done the trick of cutting the tension of the night and the group relaxed slightly. Eventually Rinoa found herself falling asleep once again against Squall's warm chest.
AN: Okay... plot is starting to pick up. I just move slowly I guess
Read and Review please... this is my first time :)