Disclaimer: Don't own FF8, Also some quotes from Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet in here. Don't own them either.
A/N: A lot of information is going to be given in this chapter and it's going to feel like it happened fast and that a bunch was missed. don't worry, there is a reason it's going that way, a lot will be revealed in flashbacks later...
Part VI
The weeks leading up to Caraway's celebration went by faster than anyone expected. Quistis sighed, drumming her fingers onto her desk. They had not come any closer to identifying the threat to Rinoa. While they knew Delegate Herzog was involved, they did not know who his hired goons were. At least they had Mia and Seifer planted on the inside.
They knew that someone named Brutus was going to be involved in the actual kidnapping process, but in terms of identifying him, they were no closer than they were 3 weeks ago. They also knew that Herzog planned on taking Rinoa to a winter cabin he owned near the mountains of Trabia and executing her there with Mia close by, ensuring the transfer of her powers to the other woman. With Mia as Sorceress, he could take control of the League and eventually the world.
Or so Herzog thought. Keeping Herzog under the belief that Mia was on his side was critical. Even if they failed to prevent the kidnapping, at least they had someone on the inside who could get Rinoa out. Quistis sincerely hoped it didn't come to that.
To maintain trust with Herzog, Mia had left the Garden shortly after the unfortunate mission in Balamb. There was a sigh of relief with her absence that was generally felt among the walls, but it sure made life more dull. Quistis hadn't heard a peep from her and she wasn't surprised... that's where Seifer came in anyway.
Mia had brought Seifer with her back to Deling advertising him as an independent mercenary with a taste for blood that could be a useful ally. Most of that was true, anyway. Apparently it had gone over well, because Quistis had seen newspaper clippings with photos of Herzog giving speeches and she would notice Seifer in the mass of people behind him.
Per usual, Mia had managed to cause a huge tidal wave in Garden and then bailed before the clean up. Some of her effect was good and some was bad. She tended to be pretty polarizing in general.
Selphie had not spoken to Irvine in weeks despite his desperate pleas. Irvine had done just about everything, even bought her a rare Trabian puppy, he spent an hour every day just waiting by her door, hoping she would let him in. Selphie had been brooding and quiet and very un-Selphie like. Part of it was because of Irvine, but it was clear that Selphie was deeply concerned about Mia. Mia was like a sister to Selphie and realizing the downward spiral she was on in terms of her addiction must have been difficult to watch. She figured that the entire situation was making her unreasonably stubborn with Irvine and unable to even process information.
With Selphie in a sour mood it cast a dark cloud over the entirety of Garden, bringing every one down with her. It was worse than the week when Rinoa had visited Caraway a few months ago, refusing to let Squall come with her and them having a huge fight as she left, it had resulted in Squall's temper being taken out on the rest of them at Garden. There was even an entire day where no one was aloud to speak, at ALL or risk suspension. That week was NOTHING compared to dark-cloud Selphie.
Zell on the other hand had done well. He had a new found determination in focusing on his studies, and had already mastered Galbadian in the course of 3 weeks. He decided he needed to become a linguistics expert in addition to his fighting. The guy was a genius. Who knew?
Rinoa had been sad to see Mia leave, but it was bittersweet. Finding out she had a sister had gone better than any of them had expected. She was eager to get to know the girl and bond with her. Rinoa and Mia had parted on good terms. Rinoa, however, was burdened with the knowledge of her father's behavior. It's not like Rinoa was the biggest fan of Caraway to begin with, but it had caused an already strained relationship to become unfixable. It hurt Rinoa, whether she showed it or not.
Squall was... Squall. Who knew what he was thinking. One thing she did notice is that he seemed to have a bit more spring in his step recently, whether it was a result of his new closeness to Rinoa or the fact that he didn't have to deal with Mia anymore, she wasn't sure. It was probably a bit of both. It was blatantly obvious that the two of them were completely enamored with each other and clearly something in Rinoa and Squall's relationship had changed. She couldn't quite place her finger on it. Whenever they looked at each other it was like they were exchanging a brilliant secret that no one else was in on.
Quistis herself was worried. She knew that Mia's mind was fragile and basically being held up by prescriptions, alcohol, and duct tape. It was quite possible that it had already snapped and she was just good at hiding it. Your body may live past 25, but your mind won't... It wasn't just about the mission. Even if Mia had lost her mind, it didn't erase the machine inside her. When push came to shove, the machine would get turned on and she would be SeeD, and a SeeD won't fail. In that aspect, Quistis wasn't worried.
On a personal level, it was painful, not only because she watched someone she loved and respected descent to madness, but also because it was a reminder to all of them the side effects of their job. It also ran a little deeper, Mia suddenly had nothing to lose. A mercenary with nothing left to lose is the best kind... The most dangerous. The most deadly. When people were put in that position their behavior became less predictable. THAT made Quistis nervous.
Quistis sighed again, "Zell, can you please stop. That's really distracting." Zell had been punching into the air and pacing the office in circles as the group sat, trying to plan out their next move.
"Can YOU stop, Quisty?" Selphie looked over at her, arms folded. Grumpy Selphie was unbearable.
"Huh?" Quistis looked down at her hand, she hadn't realized that she had been drumming her fingers on the desk the whole time she was lost in her head, "Sorry..." she pulled her glasses off and chewed on the frame thoughtfully, "We need to decide if it's better to try to find out more about the attack, or just focus our attention on defense."
Irvine sighed, flipping the lighter in his hand on and off, "I think it's best to just focus on defense, right? Chances are, we're probably not gonna be gettin much more info at this point."
Selphie glared over in his direction, "I disagree. I think we should focus on recon, right, Squall?"
"Come on darlin' you're just saying that to disagree with me."
"No. I'm saying that because you're wrong!"
Quistis pinched her nose. This had been the overarching theme of any attempt at a group meeting. For the moment, Selphie could not be in the same room as Irvine and it was taking it's toll on everyone. The two either need to make up or get over it. But none of them could go on like this much longer.
They continued to squabble back and forth and Quistis could sense the ire in Squall growing by the second before he finally stood up, tossing his notebook down on the ground loudly, "That's ENOUGH."
The occupants of the room quieted, all eyes focused on him. Selphie's lip was trembling.
"Selphie, Irvine. You guys need to either make up and figure things out or I can't take either of you on the mission. It's too much of a liability." Squall looked at Irvine pointedly.
"But, Squall..." Selphie started.
Squall did not allow her to continue, "That's an order. In Deling, Rinoa will stay with me the whole time. We will stay at Caraways, there should be a certain level of protection there. Zell, you will stay at Caraway's too and keep an eye on the people working in the house. Quistis, you'll be in charge of setting up a perimeter directly around the mansion and protecting that area, you'll take Xu with you. Irvine, Selphie, you will be in charge of checking out the city and identifying threats an liabilities and eliminating them."
"For the actual celebration, Zell, Quistis and Selphie will be in charge of the building. Irvine, you and me will be inside with Rinoa. I'll stay with Rinoa and you, Irvine, keep an eye on Herzog. This all depends on all of us being able to work like we always used to. Irvine, Selphie, I'm talking to you. Get over whatever it is, there's too much at stake to bicker."
All of the SeeD stood up and saluted him. When Squall went into soldier mode he was a natural leader, it was impossible not to fall into step with him. Rinoa nodded in consent as she watched the scene unfold. After his speech, Squall walked briskly out of the room, grabbing Rinoa's hand and pulling her to a stand as he tugged her behind him, "Come on, Rin, we need to get ready."
As Squall dragged her out, she turned back to the rest of the group who was watching them with jaws dropped. She shrugged and mouthed 'I'm sorry' before the door shut behind her. It's not that the rest of them weren't used to Squall barking orders, it was that he clearly was nervous. He was good at hiding it, but the rest of them knew him too well to not see it. He performed well under pressure, but it was obvious he was worried about the outcome of this mission and worried about Rinoa. There were too many things outside of his control, the biggest one being Mia. An anxious Squall was a bossy and abrupt Squall. It was the Squall that they had known before Rinoa, and it was not pleasant to say the least.
Squall tugged Rinoa down the hallway, gripping her hand almost painfully. She almost had to trot to keep up with his rapid pace, "Squall, stop. Slow down."
He seemed to not have heard her, so she buried her feet into the ground, grabbing his arm with both of her hands, trying to stop him. The change of pressure on his arm caused him to pause and turn around. His intense gaze softened as he looked back at her, "I'm sorry, Rin, I'm really distracted." Squall pulled her towards him gently and wrapped his arms around her, "That's no excuse though. I... I can't let anything happen to you. I WON'T let anything happen to you."
Rinoa nodded into his chest, curling her arms around his trim waist, "I'm not worried as long as you're by my side, Squall. When this is over, we can start out fresh, just like we talked about."
Squall's mouth turned into the closest thing to a smile that had graced his face since they had agreed on their plan two weeks before. They would steal away from Deling after Caraway's celebration. Squall already had documents giving them false identities. A husband and wife from Winhill that were relocating to Fisherman's Horizon.
A few weeks later a press release would be issued that Esthar had 'subdued' the Sorceress and had managed to freeze her, and in the process her knight had been killed. While it naturally wasn't the most ideal plan, it was the only way to live in peace. As long as Rinoa was a Sorceress, they would always be sleeping with one eye open. Rinoa deserved a life and Squall wanted to give it to her. Squall was perfectly content working as a fisherman for the rest of his life as long as it meant waking up to her every day.
It meant probably never being able to see their friends again, which was a hard pill to swallow. They had been surprisingly supportive. Of course they wanted to see Squall and Rinoa together and happy, and they all knew Rinoa's free spirit was slowly being crushed by the weight of being a Sorceress and being semi-trapped in Garden.
Quistis, Irvine and Zell would concoct a story that the Sorceress and Knight had gone rouge, the brave remaining SeeD would have a battle to the death, tragically having to kill their own Commander and their dear friend Rinoa, both of which had lost their minds. Then President Laguna would freeze the Sorceress in the memorial. Doing it himself to make sure that it was done correctly.
As Laguna said, it was the least he could do for Squall. Laguna was eager at the change to give him a the possibility at a normal life with the love of his life. Laguna was willing to help even if it meant he would never see Squall again. Squall was shocked at how agreeable Laguna had been and he even felt a pang of guilt at knowing they would never really be able to have a relationship once Rinoa and him were "dead" so to speak. The whole thing was bittersweet, but the people who mattered would know the truth, and Squall and Rinoa would be together. In the end, it was good enough.
Rinoa had been very insistent on telling Mia the plan to disappear as well. They had not told her yet as they hadn't seen her in weeks. Mia was someone Squall wasn't so keen on involving, but Rinoa swore to him that it was safe, having seen into the girls mind. She had just found her sister, Rinoa did not want Mia to think she had failed Rinoa. Thinking that Rinoa had been frozen in Esthar would have killed what was left of Mia's mind. That much was true at least.
Interestingly enough, Mia had the need to disappear herself anyway. There were enough people who wanted her dead, and once she no longer had Herzog's protection she was pretty much a walking target. She would understand the need to disappear, and she would keep their secret. Squall was more worried about Mia not letting them go through with it.
They had briefly entertained the idea of having a very small wedding ceremony with their friends, taking place before Caraway's celebration and before the kidnapping was supposed to take place. Getting married before they disappeared so that their friends could be present. He liked the idea and hoped they would have the opportunity. He wanted to marry her as Squall Leonhart and her, Rinoa Heartilly, even if it was for a night. She could be Rinoa Leonhart, before both of them became Lev and Hime Fields. Rinoa had said it didn't matter to her as long as they were together, but he knew that saying those vows in front of their friends would mean a lot to her.
What was it she had said? A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. Shakespeare or something. When she mentioned Shakespeare she had also mentioned that Brutus was a character in Julius Caesar. Brutus being the code name of the man who was supposed to kidnap her.
Rinoa told him that Brutus betrayed Caesar in order to save Rome. He is the great patriot, she said. As fire drives out fire, so pity, pity. Brutus had to drive out Caesar with force for the sake of stabilization of Rome. If code names held any meaning, it would stand to chance that someone close would betray them. Someone who thought that getting rid of the Sorceress would be better for the world. Someone who was close and liked Rinoa, but saw saw her demise as 'for the greater good'.
With those criteria, pretty much anyone in Garden except for a select few would be suspect. Cid was precariously close to the top of that list. Cid was aching to get rid of the Sorceress, he wasn't quite as eager when the Sorceress was his wife, but now that Edea was no longer a target he seemed hell bent on keeping Garden towards its 'Real Mission'. The other person high on the suspect list would be Seifer, though Quistis had sworn to her life as to his loyalty. Squall was surprised when Rinoa had supported Quistis' faith and Seifer's allegiance. Despite what they said though, he was keeping his eyes peeled.
The bottom line was, in order for any of this to work, they had to get through the next week in Deling. Get through Herzog's kidnapping attempt, get through Caraway's celebration. Then, they could disappear. Until that time, Squall was on edge, to say the least. Even after, he doubted that it would be a quick transition to no longer constantly looking over his shoulder.
Determined to make the last of their time with their friends not marked by threats, secrets and good-byes, he had inlisted Selphie's help in planning a small wedding. He would suprise Rinoa with it before Caraway's celebration. Laguna was bringing him Raine's wedding ring. Planning the small affair had been the only thing keeping Selphie from not slumping completely into depression, which was an added bonus. Rinoa and Squall's future was hardly the thing that little girls dream of, but he would do everything in his power to continue to protect Rinoa, keep those beautiful ivory hands of her clean, and not make her have to feel the venom of those who feared her powers. While that may not be what Rinoa dreamed of when she was little, that devotion and adoration was worth so much more.
Squall pulled Rinoa away from him so he could kiss her forehead softly, "We'll be okay." For the first time in weeks, he believed it.
Zell closed the door after Squall and Rinoa, turning the lock, causing it to set in with a loud clunk. The noise caused both Irvine and Selphie to jump from their seats, both darting towards the exit.
"Sit down," Quistis' voice had gone into Instructor mode, and it was scary. Selphie often mused that she would have made a good Catholic School Nun. Irvine and Selphie began to both sit back down obediently, but Quistis' hand on Selphie's arm prevented her from sinking into her chair, "No, sit down, TOGETHER."
Selphie hmphed and dragged her feet to the couch where Irvine was sitting, plopping herself down as far away from him as possible, crossing her legs away from him and dramatically placing her chin in her hand, shaking her leg up and down impatiently.
Zell cracked his knuckles, "May as well get comfy, guys, we aren't leaving until this thing is settled."
Quistis pulled a chair in front of the couch to face them, pulling a legal pad out and adjusting her glasses on her nose, "I really don't want to play therapist with you guys, but you have left Zell and me with no choice. This has gotten absurd and this is an intervention."
Irvine raised an eyebrow but remained quiet, eagerly anticipating Selphie's reaction. Selphie crossed her arms and turned her head away from Quistis, "Nothing to intervene on, Quisty."
Zell marched over to Selphie, lifting her up as she remained rigid in her position, and turning her body to face Quistis. Quistis sighed, "Selphie, we know what happened, but Irvine and you clearly love each other and I don't see that anything was permanantly damaged. The man has suffered enough."
"Thank you, Quisty!" Irvine smiled at the blonde woman.
"I'm not finished." Quistis held up a finger towards Irvine, "Selphie, Irvine made a mistake in not telling the truth, but you forgave Mia and you should forgive him. As for you, Irvine," she turned her body in the chair to face him, folding her hands in her lap, "Irvine, you took an easy way out and lied. There is no other word for what you did. Omitting the truth is the same as a lie. Worse yet, you tried to blackmail your way out of it. Selphie has every right to be furious with you..."
"Thank you!" Selphie managed a small smile towards Quistis.
"I'm not finished..." Quistis frowned in her direction, "That being said - I do believe that you are genuinely remorseful for what happened and will not repeat your mistake again. While your intentions weren't completely altruistic, you did truly not want to see Selphie hurt."
Zell sat on the arm of the couch near Selphie, placing a hand on her back reassuringly, "Guys, life is too short. We don't have much time left with Rinny and Squall and... we don't know how much time any of us have, or something... right?"
Irvine nodded and dared to scoot on the couch closer to Selphie. At least this time she didn't move away, though she didn't turn to face him either, "Selph, Quisty is right. I am sorry, honestly, it was stupid and I didn't want to see you hurt. I'm a different man, Selphie. I don't want to go at it, without ya. And even if you don't forgive me now, or say you won't give me another chance, I'll wait forever... just to show you I changed, I'll wait as long as it takes."
Selphie turned towards Irvine, her eyes watery, "I...I KNOW!" She blurted out, launching herself in his arms, "I was... sometimes its..(hic) and..." she was reduced to a blubbering mess and her explanation was muffled into Irvine's now soaking shirt.
Quistis opened her mouth to speak, when Zell interrupted her, "Quisty, if I may. Selphie, I think the reason you were upset with Irvine and not Mia is 'cause you felt like Mia wasn't telling you the truth to protect YOU not for her, whereas Irvine's intentions were about protecting HIM. But... it's like, Irvine was thinkin' the same as Mia. He loves you, doesn't want you hurt and didn't wanna lose you... so, yeah." Mia also tended to get a carte blanche with most of their friends because while she tended to be incredibly destructive, it was never her intention, that and she was an extremely scary enemy.
Irvine looked up from the sobbing Selphie towards Zell, "When did you grow brains, dude?"
Zell shrugged and Quistis cleared her throat, "I understand what Zell is saying. All of it happened in the past, right? So, are we settled here?"
Selphie nodded into Irvine's shirt, drawing in breath raggedly, "Th-Thanks, Quisty... Zell." She wiped her fingers under her eyes, "We're okay." She said, looking up at Irvine, :Sorry for being..."
Irvine hushed her kindly, "Come now, darlin', no apologies. It's me who needs to apologize. Let's just focus on you and me, and doing a good job in Deling protectin' Rinoa, hm?"
Selphie shot up suddenly, her head hitting Irvine in the chin. Irvine moaned and rubbed his jaw painfully as Selphie jumped to her feet, "I FORGOT! It's PERFECT!" She giggled like a little girl presented with a puppy.
"She sure recovers quickly..." Zell mumbled.
"THE WEDDING!" Selphie jabbed her hand in the air triumphantly, "You guys can help me plan the wedding now! BOOYAKA!"
Irvine, still rubbing his jaw, suddenly started to feel extremely hot and instinctively began to loosen his shirt collar nervously, "Um.. I love ya, Selph, but we just reconciled..." It wasn't that he didn't want to marry Selphie EVENTUALLY, but they weren't even 20 yet.
Selphie shook her head and began to bounce up and down in place, Irvine considering changing his mind about marriage as he watched her bouncing chest, "NO, Silly. Squall and Rinny! It will be my greatest accomplishment yet!"
Quistis cocked her head to the side, "You mean before they..." While all of the group knew about Squall and Rinoa's plans to become Hime and Lev Fields, they hadn't really talked about it together. They had all agreed to help them, and even reluctantly agreed to make up a story about having to battle them, but it was too painful to discuss. While they had agreed to help, it didn't mean they were thrilled about the idea, and all of them secretly hoped Squall and Rinoa would change their minds. But the only way that would happen is if the world no longer feared Rinoa, and it didn't seem like that would happen anytime soon.
Selphie nodded and hushed her voice motioning for everyone to come closer, "So.. here's the plan..."
Seifer found Mia gazing out the window of the Deling hotel, lost in thought, "Be prepared to be amazed." He smirked, pulling out the crystal glass from the bar in the room and pouring himself a glass of scotch, "Geez, Mia, you live it up with Herzog, I've never stayed in a hotel room this nice."
Mia mentally rolled her eyes as she turned her gaze towards him, "I guess. I'm sure if you were a quarter as good in bed as I am he might get you a studio."
"That's disgusting." Seifer dipped a glass in front of her, rattling the ice to get her attention, "But seriously, is this how it always is? I mean sure, he's old, but why not quit SeeD and just live it up, he doesn't seem to bug you that much."
Mia took the glass from him and took a grateful sip, "I guess. He lost more and more interest in me as I've gotten older. Doubt he would keep me around. Besides, the whole wanting to kill my family and take over the world thing is kind of a bummer."
Seifer shrugged, "Potatoes. PoTAToes."
Mia rolled her eyes, "So... I'm supposed to be amazed by you or something?"
Seifer leaned back on the plush bed, hooking his arm behind his head, while he rolled the scotch in his glass, "Herzog loves me. I'm totally in. He wants me to wait for Brutus after the ball and help get Rin to the Ski Lodge."
Mia finished off her glass, eliciting a look from Seifer. She stood up and refilled her glass, "Yeah, I know. He told me."
"So, come on, Instructor, be impressed, and uh, refill me, huh?" Seifer said reaching out his glass towards her.
Mia brought the decanter over, staring into his eyes as she poured, "He also told me to kill you once we were done." She winked.
Seifer flopped back into the pillows, scowling, "Well shit. That's a downer."
Mia smiled. She was happy D-Day was coming soon. Being stuck with Herzog and pretending to be his adoring fan was exhausting, and putting up with Seifer didn't help. While they got along fine, and actually had quite a bit in common, Seifer was very good at rubbing her sore spots. As he was with many people. She was eager for the entire thing to be over so she could go to Laguna, hopefully being welcome with open arms. Or die trying. If there was one person who could protect her other than Herzog, it was Laguna. If she became the Sorceress, she wouldn't need protection anyway, she could take care of Laguna, like he did for her years ago.
Mia had a sneaky suspicion that Herzog was only keeping her around to become the Sorceress anyway. Herzog grossly overestimated her loyalty to him. While she may have had Stockholm Syndrome towards him for ages and HAD been fiercely loyal, she had been snapped out of her trance. After she had gotten pregnant as a teenager with his baby, he had convinced her that Garden had forced her to get rid of it, she truly believed for a long time that Herzog loved her and was saving her... even though he would have her do missions that involved other men, including her interaction with Irvine years ago. At the time she didn't question the fact that he was almost 30 years older than her... all she knew was that she had been handed over by Caraway and she doubted he was naive towards the kind of guy Herzog was. For that, Caraway would pay.
"I wouldn't worry, Seifer, if you're nice I might let you live," she winked at him again, "We'll be fine, kay? Even if we somehow fail, which we won't, there is no way Squall will let her down." She tugged at the covers underneath him, "Now, can you leave? I want to go to bed."
Seifer pouted, "Come on... you're room is so much better than mine. Share with your favorite student?"
Mia attempted to push him off of the bed, "Unless you suddenly know what Herzog likes, get out of here... besides I really don't feel like explaining to Quistis that you were too much of a baby to sleep in a room with 3 other dudes because you wanted the delux suite."
"Meanie..." Seifer pulled himself off the bed, "I'm taking this..." He grabbed the decanter of scotch before heading towards the door, "Hope you're right 'bout everything Mia."
"Have I ever been wrong?"
Seifer didn't respond as he left the room, shutting the double doors behind him. Seifer had watched Mia slowly disappearing before his eyes. She spent most of her days in the room, drunk, high or both. The fire that was usually behind her eyes was dim and Seifer wasn't sure how much long she would last before she her mind was gone. Squall and Rinoa would be arriving the next day. They had a solid plan, but he had a horrible sense of dread as to the things that were to come. He had also tasted power again, and he hated to admit it to himself, but it tasted delicious.
A/N: Sorry this chapter sucked. Looking back I realize there is like barely any dialogue. But, had to set stuff up...
R&R pleassseee, let me know if this stinks if you have to :-P
I'm having the opposite of writers block. I'm currently working on another goofy story that you should be seeing soon. I also have another idea for a Squinoa fic if anyone is interested in co-authoring (hint hint)
Bebe: Thanks for the support, ;) and not TPing my house :-P