Cloud's POV:
As I watched the Turks leave, I felt highly disconcerted. After yesterday it would be nothing short of foolish not to expect retaliation from the morons. After all, for as long as I'd had the misfortune to know them, they always had been bad losers. Still, seeing the Turks assembled like that, warning us really set off warning bells. The Turks rarely felt compelled to meddle, no matter how much they knew. It'd have to take something rather sinister for them to actually take the time to warn someone. No matter what, I resolved to pay them back for their help over the last few years. As soon as they left, I opened the envelope and read the letter.
My eyes narrowed dangerously the more I read. By the time I had finished, the glare I had earlier was back with a vengeance… my eyes were now glowing with a blue flame. Wordlessly, I handed the letter to Selphie whose eyes also narrowed green flames matching my blue. When she finished, she handed it to Seifer in equal silence. He hadn't even finished reading when he roared in anger "THE FILTHY COWARDS!" and I nodded in assent. Wakka had decided that taking his anger out on me, Seifer and Sephiroth was a rather easy feat as it involved only one person.
Indeed he already had a prime target. One that they knew would undoubtedly infuriate the three of us far worse than words ever would. Squall was in danger, and not just by the football team. I'd previously been wondering why Kefka had been so quiet in his seemingly endless campaign against Squall this year considering that every year prior, he had actually gone out of his way to ruin Squall's life. Now I had the answer to my question and it brought precious little comfort. He had been waiting all year for the big hit to come and thanks to yesterday's events he had decided that the time was right for the Hockey team to join with the Football team for a little project of their own.
"They wouldn't even dare!" I hissed as I ran from Garden, heading straight for Sephiroth's normal haunt behind the art block. I had to skid to a halt upon arrival and I checked my watch. Having no clue as to what time Sephiroth usually arrived at school, I began pacing furiously in the confined space, though soon enough I heard a small noise of surprise and there they were, "the brotherhood" standing behind me. Without waiting to be asked what I was doing, I said with barely controlled anger "Sephiroth, I need to speak with you, alone if I may". Something in my voice must have hinted the urgency of the situation as he peered over his shoulder and nodded at the others, who promptly sat down, Squall following their lead.
Sephiroth followed me a short distance away, once I made sure we were out of earshot, I turned and faced him directly. "Here," I said holding Rufus' letter out for him to read. He took it out of my hands and began to read. As I already expected, his eyes gleamed almost psychotically by the time he'd finished. "How are they proposing they do this?" he asked, his voice was almost glacial in its iciness. "I do not know. I can't think of where they'd be able to get him away from you or me long enough to do something like this, but you know what Kefka is like, no doubt he'll figure a way"
Without further information we were at a loss as to how we could prevent it. Neither of us had the ability to think straight at the moment, as I was angrier than I could ever remember being and judging from the look on Sephiroth's face, so was he. We quickly exchanged phone numbers, promising that if anything looked as if it were about to happen we'd notify each other immediately. With nothing further for us to do, Sephiroth strode back to his friends and I headed back to Garden, passing Rinoa on the way.
"Gorgeous day isn't it?" she asked and I glared at her. "Touchy today are we? Right little ray of sunshine aren't we. Or are you supposed to be a storm Cloud today" she paused to giggle at her own feeble joke. "What the hell do you want?" I asked coldly, "I do not have time for airheads like you who think they're witty. Come to think of it, I just don't have time for trash period". The false smile practically slid off her face, to be replaced by cold fury. Still, it was nothing compared to the anger I felt.
"Alright then, Storm Cloud, we'll play your way. Tell Seifie, I told him I always get what I want and if it has to come to this, well, so be it. I bet they're getting that runt fag cousin of yours right now. Pity I can't be there to watch" for one sickening moment I wanted to slap that smug look off her face but was saved the effort as Selphie, Quistis and the others had chosen that moment to turn around the corner ahead of me. I don't know who got their first but within seconds, there were two sickening slapping noises and Rinoa stumbled under the force of the bitch-slaps from an angry Quistis and a positively murderous Selphie.
Sure enough, the red mark of one hand print stood out on either side of her face. Rinoa seemed momentarily stunned but retaliated almost immediately. Swinging out, she managed to scratch Selphie's arm, she tried to pull back, readying herself to hit Selphie properly but before she managed it, Quistis got another shot in. It wasn't a slap this time; it was a full forced punch. We watched as her head rebounded from the wall behind her and her eyelids fluttered closed before falling sideways and with a dull thud, her head hit the concrete.
Rinoa was down for the 's POV:
Seeing Cloud waiting behind the Arts block came as a small surprise to me and once I saw him there, I lowered my head and allowed my hair to obscure my face. Sephiroth followed him away some distance and when Loz placed a hand on my shoulder I looked up. He smiled and then turned to face the others. Following his lead I listened as Kadaj and Yazoo spoke to each other, wasting no time in asking the question which had crossed my mind already. "What do you suppose Cloud want's to talk to Sephiroth for?" I didn't know the answer but I wanted to find out.
Steeling furtive glances I eventually saw Cloud leaving and Sephiroth coming back. "What did Cloud want you for?" I asked Sephiroth the moment he returned. "Something is happening and he felt that I should know" he replied shortly and judging from the look in his eyes, I thought better than to press him for further details. Somehow I got the feeling that 'something' had a lot to do in concern to me. I looked in his eyes and saw anger flash across them for a moment but then they softened as he looked back. "Alright…" I mumbled, knowing that it hadn't gone unheard.
Sephiroth had placed a hand on my shoulder which I took to be a supporting gesture, bracing me for whatever happened next. "Big brother, we have to head to class soon." Yazoo said softly and Sephiroth nodded. Instead of waiting the remaining time, we separated and headed for our respective classes, for me, Geography and for the four of them, Biology. I can't even remember why I chose to do geography. Nobody I really liked took that class, Kuja and Yuna did but as they spent most of their time fawning over each other, I found sitting with them to be rather disturbing. Aside from them, it seemed to be a class full of the people I hated.
Since we had headed off to class early, I wasn't surprised to see that I was the first to arrive. I leant against the wall outside the class, waiting for the others to arrive. While I was waiting, I took out my book and began idly reading notes from the last lesson. I hadn't noticed that a few people had arrived. I only looked up into their faces when someone took the notebook out of my hands. I was now standing face to face with the two people I liked the least, Kefka and Wakka. Without a moment's hesitation, Kefka grabbed my arms, effortlessly pinning them behind my back while Wakka covered my mouth with a gag so I couldn't call out. Behind me, Kefka hissed "Make one noise and I'll be sure to cause you more pain than you are already in for".
I panicked though I kept quiet. The pair of them dragged me away from the class, throwing me into one of the toilets nearby and locked the door behind them. "I suppose it seems cosy in here. Why don't we wait a little for class to start before taking you to the others" Kefka said in my ear again and Wakka chuckled appreciatively. I was no longer panicking. Panicking was an understatement now, I was terrified and I was already feeling my legs begin to shake my stomach churn and my face perspire.
After several minutes of trying to compose myself to not be sick and asphyxiate on vomit something happened which made it all the harder to do. Kefka who still had my arms pinned was now making odd noises, almost like fits of giggles. They issued from his throat at irregular intervals and each time he giggled, his grip would tighten and push my arms further up, causing a searing pain in my shoulder. The pain in my arm was the only thing distracting me from losing it completely. Wakka was still standing in front of me and I noticed he had a manic glint in his eyes as he stared at me silently. It didn't take a genius to figure out that was in shit. I was going to suffer and I knew it.
When I heard the bell ring in the distance I quivered. The sound resounded within me like a death knell, signalling my own impending doom. I squirmed a little and Kefka laughed aloud this time, laughing at my attempts to get away. His hysterical laughter chilled me to my essence as it echoed off the cold tiles. As the minutes passed by, Wakka's face broke into a smile. It had been five minutes or more since the bell rang, he turned and began peering out of the door, as if to ensure the coast was clear. In all this time, I kept silently praying to whatever gods were out there that the three of us would be caught outside of class by a teacher. If that could happen, I would be saved and Wakka would most likely be suspended.
Sadly for me, my luck this morning was exceedingly poor. Despite my prayers, we were not contested by any teachers and no late students passed us. The halls were completely empty and still I couldn't shout for help owing to the filthy bandana which had been forced into my mouth. My eyes showed my terror and they must have known it as they laughed repeatedly.
Despite my best efforts at struggling, I was half dragged, half forced to walk down to the football field and underneath the bleachers. I saw ahead of me what I had feared was awaiting us to arrive. Assembled beneath the bleachers, were the football team and the hockey team. I heard their humourless laughter resounding as I was thrown unceremoniously to the ground. Losing it completely, I spat out the bandana and threw up. Distantly I heard derisive laughter, I was too afraid to raise my head as I heard the threats of those around me. I knew that my pleas would go on deaf ears so I readied myself for the blows to come as tears streamed silent down my face.
In the last painful moments of consciousness, I thought of Cloud, Selphie and Se…
Quistis' POV:
"That felt so good" I said before realising it. Rinoa had fallen over, and slid down the wall completely unconscious and her face already seemed to be bruising from the force of my punch. "WAY TO GO!" I heard from several people, snapping me back to reality from the reverie I'd been in. I realised that the congratulations had come from Selphie, Seifer, Roxas and Axel. Cloud merely smiled. "Serves the bitch right for what she did the other day" Seifer said venomously. "Not what she did the other day… What she's done since" Selphie corrected and I nodded grimly. "So where is Squall going to be first up?" Roxas asked and both Cloud and Selphie chimed "Geography" in perfect unison.
"We'd best go there then…" Axel suggested and all eyes were turned to him. "We…?" Cloud asked calmly. "I have to go but there's no reason you guys should get in trouble for skipping class and if something IS up and there's a fight, it won't look good to be caught fighting so soon after starting here" predictably, Seifer strode forward, squaring his shoulders and jaw, looking once more like the jock he was in Galbadia.
"I'm going. I don't care if we're fighting, I still care for Squall and I am not going to stay behind." he said curtly and Cloud, who could find no argument, only nodded in answer. "Well that settles that" Roxas said brightly "we're all going – lead the way" another look of incredulity but time was wasting. Who knew when Squall may get hurt? Ignoring the bell signalling the beginning of class, we all ran to Squall's geography classroom. Outside, we saw Kuja holding Yuna closely. Upon seeing Cloud, they separated and Kuja walked forward "Hey man, how are you?" he asked jovially, but Cloud cut him off.
"HAVE YOU SEEN SQUALL" he demanded. "Uh not this morning… why?" Kuja asked the confusion etched on his face was obvious as Cloud turned and walked back the way we came, tugging his phone out of his pocket and calling Sephiroth. No doubt there was an answer as within seconds he spoke into the receiver "Hey, it's me. Squall didn't show up for Geography" a few moments silence but then we heard the response, though we couldn't make out the words, only Cloud's answer. "Meet us outside the library. Bring the others if they'll come we need to find him!"
The six of us ran to the library and waited with baited breath. If we were caught by a teacher, we would all be in serious trouble and may as well have signed Squall's death warrant ourselves. Thankfully, the wait was short. Only two minutes later we heard the telltale signs of students running towards us. Sephiroth, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo were flying down a corridor with anxious looks on their faces. We didn't need to hear Kadaj shout out "RUN" because we saw that they were being pursued by Mrs Kramer, who was hot on their heels.
It didn't take any of us a second telling before we dashed as well. Cloud seemed to be instinctively running to a destination that only he could see.
Cloud's POV:
"RUN!" Kadaj's voice echoed in my ears and I obeyed immediately. Mrs Kramer was giving chase, I bolted along another corridor, the sounds of the others following behind me as we heard Mrs Kramer's vain attempts to stop us. There was no way in hell I was going to stop, even if I had to charge through a barricade of teachers, I was determined to keep going. I was glad that I was blessed with a rather overabundance of luck because as we ran down a flight of stairs, Mr Barrett had opened his classroom door to investigate the noise, just as the last of us had passed by and in doing so, he effectively blocked Mrs Kramer's attempt at catching us. Even though she had been detained, none of us slowed our pace.
"Where are we going?!" I heard Axel ask from behind. I knew they'd all be wondering that as they were only following me blindly as I ran to where my gut instincts told me. Luckily I was spared having to answer by Sephiroth who called out "Football field, where else?" over his shoulder. I knew that they would go there; it was out of the way, tucked in the back corner of the school and offered quite a few places to hide from prying eyes. Just as Sephiroth had said where else would they go? I heard Selphie and Quistis' breathing becoming laboured but no complaint left their lips as we continued our flight to the field.
Dashing along the last corridor and through the gate, we were finally in sight of the field. Sure enough, Sephiroth and I weren't disappointed as we heard raucous laughter coming from below the far bleachers. I sped up and Sephiroth along with me, running desperately as if the pair of us were being hunted by death itself. Soon we had outrun the others and arrived. Running to the opposite side of the field and under the bleachers to where the source of the noise was, revealed a sight which made my blood boil over. Huddled in the ground was Squall, a small figure swallowed by the twenty four people circling him almost predatorily.
Unable to contain our rage any more, Sephiroth and I charged in blindly, attacking anything which posed any hindrance. My sole purpose had now become to get to Squall and within moments, I had pushed my way to the centre of the ring. In front of me stood Kefka, his face twisted in savage pleasure as his laughs penetrated me like knives. I threw all my weight into a punch which snapped his jaw and sent him flying until he hit one of the tiers of the bleacher and fell to the ground unconscious. Further away I saw the unconscious bodies of two members of the hockey team piled around Sephiroth. He was already doing his work well.
I was still fighting furiously and soon had a sizeable collection of bodies surrounding me also though I was refusing to let up. Between the both of us, we had dispatched nine out of the twenty-four. I felt relief when I heard Seifer and Kadaj plunge in and aid us. The others stood beside the open wall, preventing the remaining scumbags from leaving…
Selphie's POV:
By the time we'd arrived, Sephiroth and Cloud were already fighting fiercely, trying to get to Squall. "How is it possible that neither of them have been hit considering how many guys there are?" Roxas asked, the surprise in his voice registering heavily. It only took them a moment, but Seifer and Kadaj both barged through the wall of bodies to join in the fray and as the crowd shifted around them, I saw Squall's body, seemingly huddled underneath the lowest row of chairs though part of me knew that he must have been kicked there.
In that brief moment I saw him, I was worried that he was dead. He wasn't moving and it certainly looked like he wasn't breathing. I saw the blood that was running freely from his nose, and I immediately feared that it was broken, his lip was split and was also oozing blood and finally he sported a nasty looking cut along his forehead which extended down the bridge of his nose, coming to rest below his eye.
I cried out in shock but soon the sight of him was swallowed once more by the people fighting before us. "I would never have imagined that Cloud would be this dangerous… He always seems so… calm" Axel said in awe. It was Yazoo who replied, "He is the same as big brother" though his response caused more confusion for Roxas and Axel. "There's only one thing that would drive Cloud to resort to doing something like this. That is for idiots like Wakka to hurt someone he cares about as much as he does for Squall" Quistis said in a small voice and for her accurate appraisal, she received a nod of agreement from Loz.
I nodded also, knowing that she understood just how fierce Cloud could be for those he loved. The line of Squall's attackers thinned as they were knocked out one after the other. During these brief glimpses I managed to catch sight of Squall again. His body was convulsing in a grotesque way as he coughed violently, copious amounts of blood spewing from his mouth. My vision became obscured as tears welled up in my eyes. How could they do something this to Squall, after all, what had he ever done to 's POV:
It was over; the fight for Squall had ended. Between the two of us, Sephiroth and I had taken down thirteen of the bastards. A further seven were taken down between Kadaj and Seifer. It was surprising that twenty people had been taken down in so short a time. Caught in the moment, none of us noticed the teachers assembled behind us, watching the fight between so many students in silent horror. Principal Kramer, his wife Mrs Kramer, Mr Barrett, Mr Loire, Mrs Heartilly and Mrs Adel.
These six teachers gazed thunderstruck at the violent scene before them, momentarily frozen in shock. "ENOUGH!" roared the principal and within seconds, the fighting ceased as we all turned to the newcomers; all of us were still poised to continue the fight at any moment but upon seeing the glares from so many teachers, we immediately lowered our fists and avoided their gaze. The anger that had been burning my insides was extinguished, leaving them completely hollow and I almost felt the urge to be sick.
"Follow me to my office, immediately" Principal Kramer said in a voice of forced calm though it was clear that he was anything but calm. "Leticia, could you please get Dr Kadowaki? I think we'll need medical assistance for some of these students" he continued and for a moment, I wondered who he was speaking to; I soon realised that he was speaking to Mrs. Adel as she nodded curtly a walked swiftly back to the school complex without a second glance.
Without question, all of us followed him immediately, though, Sephiroth gently lifted Squall's body off the ground and carried him along with us before conceding to the request. It wasn't until we were sitting in the meeting room off the principals office did Mr Kramer say anything more. The lecture that followed made it perfectly clear that Mr Kramer had been 'disgusted at such behaviour as it tarnished the name and reputation of our school' which was followed by threats of 'suspension for whoever started this' and continued on until he'd yelled himself hoarse.
I was not paying much attention to the furious diatribe at all since my thoughts kept straying to an unconscious Squall. He was slumped on the sofa against the wall, still bleeding heavily and I watched him breathe erratically. "All of you will wait here as I discuss the events with each of you in turn." He said, and much to my discomfort, I was the first student called into his office. He directed me to the chair opposite his and watched me as I sat down with a mixed look of anger and surprise at the situation.
"Cloud" Principal Kramer said. His voice no longer sounded angry (even though he still looked it), but each word was drenched in disappointment. "I called you in first because this is the first offence of this nature you have committed and thus far, you have been a model student. Could you please explain to me what happened to cause this behaviour in one of my best students?" I cringed at the disappointment in his voice but nonetheless explained what happened in immaculate detail.