Icicle Knight, Firey SeeD
Chapter 17
//\\
There had been no warning. He'd just been coming from a long session in the Training Center (one thing he liked about the holographic monsters compared to real ones, was that after several hours of slaughtering them, his clothes didn't creak with gore) when he'd been suddenly ambushed by the new Disciplinary Committee. He'd been just about to ask why, when one of them read out the accusation, one that took his breath away at the sheer audacity and level of the crime.
"Squall Leonhart, you are hereby accused of selling Garden secrets to persons outside of Balamb Garden. Under Garden regulation 246, section 12, paragraph 4, your SeeD status is hereby revoked for the duration of the investigation to follow, and you will surrender your weapon and weapon harness to us immediately. Failure to comply will result in permanent loss of status, even in the event you are found innocent. Do you understand the words I am speaking to you?"
No, he didn't understand. The accusation was ridiculous. Unless someone counted his actions during the War as selling Garden secrets to outsiders, but that had been nearly a full year ago, and it made no sense to wait that long before acting on a charge of that magnitude. After the War, there had been his probation to consider, and after that, the kidnapping fiasco. Dr. Kadowaki had only cleared him for active duty a few months ago. He'd had no contact with clients at all since the War, nor had he been assigned any missions that would take him outside Garden in all that time. The only thought that managed to penetrate the fog of confusion that permeated his mind, was that he was being framed for something. It was the only explanation.
But he also knew better than to argue at a time like this. Not when defiance might be the only reason they might be able to get the charge to stick. Reluctantly, he unbuckled his gunblade holster from around his thigh, handing it and Lionheart over, regretting the action almost immediately. He felt naked with out the reassuring weight on his leg, without the distinctive hilt within easy reach. Even during his probation he'd been allowed to keep the holster on his person, which had reassured him that eventually he would get his blade back, however long the probation lasted. Now it was gone, and he had no idea when, or if, he would get it back.
He put up with the through search of his person the Disciplinary Committee commenced, deliberately not reacting as the small knife he kept for emergencies, more of a throwing dagger than anything else, was found and confiscated from its hiding place in his boot, nor when the searching hands brushed way to close to his groin for any sort of comfort, merely gritting his teeth in disgust when more than one hand gave that area a deliberate squeeze, though he let none of it show on his face.
He was not going to give them the satisfaction of making him react. He was an expert in shutting down his emotions, his sense of shame, as long as it got the job done. He wasn't Seifer, who would have been throwing a huge fit at the indignity of being searched so thoroughly and in such a humiliating way in a public corridor, with what felt like a full half of Garden's population looking on. He would take it, and take the undignified treatment in such a way that Garden's legion of gossips would carry the tale throughout Garden, until word of this eventually reached Seifer's ear.
As he was led away to the cells, he was forced to admit to himself that he was actually hoping for the blond to intervene, for Seifer to do something that would get him out of this, even though he knew what Seifer could actually do was minimal at best. Not only was the Disciplinary Committee largely autonomous from the Garden command structure, and thus outside the majority of Seifer's direct authority, but the sheer nature of the crime meant that those investigating had to double and triple check all available data, keeping track of his every movement likely since Time Compression.
And no matter what Seifer said, in his favor or not, Squall's habit of disappearing from common view to brood or think things through would make it hard to ascertain his innocence. Even if the entire Garden was willing to say, under oath, that he couldn't have passed secrets to Garden outsiders (which he supremely doubted), if whoever was investigating couldn't clear him completely, then his career as a SeeD would be ruined, and he would be forced to leave Garden, the only place he had ever felt at home. If he had to leave, it would be almost the same as handing him a death sentence. What with the number of powerful enemies he had, he'd be lucky to last a week before someone with a grudge found him, and executed him as publicly and painfully as possible in revenge for the War.
He shook his head as a stray thought struck him. If they were accusing him of selling Garden secrets, what secrets could they mean? And where would he have gained them? The archives? His former status as a Sorceress knight meant that most of his studies since he'd regained the full use of the library, had been about Sorceresses and how their power behaved, given that he'd been trying to find some answers to just why Ultimecia had taken him for Her knight, most of which was in Esthar's public database that had been opened to the public after the formerly private country had reopened its borders after the Lunar Cry disaster. Seifer sure hadn't casually shared classified information with him during their talks in the Cafeteria; the idiot had more sense than that. Not to mention, even if he had wanted to, who would want to buy information from him of all people, as the kidnapping incident with General Caraway should demonstrate. If they wanted to kill him, and he'd heard rumors of at least 3 different attempts by various countries convince Seifer to turn him over to face their justice for his crimes (read: kill him), then they hardly would want to do business with him, now would they?
Not, he thought darkly, unless they intended to bring the transaction to light, after, of course, they had milked all the secrets he knew from his head.
Sighing softly to himself as he was slammed none to gently into a cell, he tried to stop himself from trying to speculate on exactly what secrets were being brought into question, and who he was supposed to have sold them to, or for how much. He'd learn that soon enough when the interrogation began, if only through hints dropped by what questions were asked. He had to save his strength for it, because considering whom he was, not to mention where he was, he was certain it would not be gentle in the least. Lying down on the threadbare cot provided, he had the brief thought that Dr. Kadowaki would not be pleased in the least if he needed her attention again, after finally recovering completely from his previous bout of torture.
With that, he slid into a light doze. There would be no point in winding himself into a mess of nerves for something he hadn't done, not when torture was more likely a possibility than not. Whatever came, he could deal with it, at least, he hoped that would be the case. There was no information he had to give, not to mention that he had real field experience in enduring torture, something that he suspected those who would be working on him lacked. After his experience in the former D-District prison, he doubted that anything amature interrogators could dish out would be enough to make him break. Add that to the fact that he knew himself to be innocent… well there was only one conclusion they could reach.
Or was there? With that uneasy thought, he settled down into a restless sleep.
//\\
"This is ridiculous, there is no way that Squall Leonhart of all people, could be selling Garden secrets to outsiders!" Seifer ranted as he paced up and down in his office, the one place he could be assured absolute privacy, his arms flailing as he vented his agitation. He was so caught up in his fury that he almost didn't notice Fujin and Raijin exchange wry glances. He did catch it though, and wasn't happy in the least about it.
"Don't tell me." He snarled at his posse, hands on hips, fingers inches from Hyperion's hilt, "You believe this, this…travesty, don't you?"
"INCORRECT." Fujin stated flatly. "CHARGE INVALID."
"You know us better than that Seifer, ya know?" Raijin entreated, clearly uncomfortable with his boss snapping at him. Instantly Seifer felt guilty, but not nearly guilty enough to drown the fury still boiling inside himself, bereft of a clear target.
Balling his hands into tight fists and turning his back to them, he ground out, "What can we do to help?" Ignoring the startled looks he could feel on his back, he explained, feeling (briefly) like he was talking to a pair of simpletons, who needed prodding to see something completely obvious. "We all know Squall didn't do it, so what can we do to help his case?" he turned to face them, one blond brow raised in a silent demand.
His posse knew well what that look meant. Both were silent for long minutes, thinking carefully. "RAIJIN, INVESTEGATE." Fujin finally announced, laying down the idea like it would happen, if only because she said so. Seifer raised the other brow, puzzled at her meaning.
"I'm no longer head of the Disciplinary Committee, deciding who runs the investigation is no longer in my complete control," he pointed out, not because he disapproved of her suggestion, but because he knew he'd encounter opposition if he did so.
"RAIJIN, EXPERIENCE. SEIFER, COMMANDER. APPOINT." A brief pause, then, "INSIST. PULL RANK."
Seifer was liking Fujin's suggestion more than ever. It was rare for her to push him to simply pull rank in the advent of a problem, and he did have some authority over the Disciplinary Committee, if only because his own rank was higher than an Instructor's, which was the equivalent SeeD rank the Disciplinary Committee's member's held. In fact, with the absence of Cid, his was the highest rank in all of Garden, so technically at least, what he said, went. It was only surprising to have Fujin suggest that solution, given that 9 times out of 10, she had slapped him down every time he had attempted to use rank to get his way since he had become Commander during the War.
Then another thought occurred to him. "Even if I do pull rank, how do I get the appointment to stick? It's well known that Raijin's a knight, just as Squall was. He'd be out on his ass so fast he'd get whiplash."
Raijin spoke up. "Uh, Seifer? Could you not talk about me as if I'm not right here, ya know?" Seifer winced inwardly at the reminder, turning to face the last member of his posse. The quarterstaff user was looking thoughtful, the way he did when he was looking at a pattern no one else could see.
Raijin continued. "Ya know? I think I see Fuu's point. See, the way you have to spin it…" and he was off, laying out surprisingly detailed (to those who only saw his big and dumb exterior perhaps) plans and strategies that no one would ever see coming, plans such as the ones that had caught more than one ring of cadets smuggling illegal weapons and substances into Garden with their preverbal and literal pants down on more than one occasion. As he listened, Seifer felt a feral smile stretch his lips, teeth showing in a hungry grin.
Raijin's plans and reasoning were as follows. Seifer would appoint him as the investigator because it was well known that Seifer trusted him implicitly, and because it was known that he was a slow steady worker who could be guaranteed to find the truth in any matter set before him. It would stand because crimes of this magnitude were always investigated outside the normal channels of the Disciplinary Committee, a little known bit of Garden protocol that was enacted only in dire emergencies. Not even during the War had there been cause enough to enact it. The fact that Seifer would choose to enact it now, would be a sign that he was taking the accusation seriously, and taken as proof for those behind the accusation, that he believed it, if only a little bit.
Once he was appointed, Raijin would be in a position where he would have access to the resources to find out the truth of the accusation (not that there would be any to find, as he'd hastily assured Seifer) and to find out who exactly was behind it.
When Raijin finished, Seifer nodded his head in approval of the plan. It was risky to be sure, once appointed Raijin would have to tread carefully not only to avoid the impression of giving only a token investigation (which it would be in truth) before delivering the verdict Seifer wanted, but to keep any hint of sympathy he may have felt for Squall as a fellow knight, under the radar. It couldn't be any other way, not with the way they would push Raijin's candidacy as only a Sorceress knight could properly get to the bottom of another, if former, knight's actions.
It would also mean, that for the duration of the investigation, Raijin would be cut off almost entirely from Seifer's side, something he'd been loath to accept for more than short periods of time since the War. And while it had been Fujin not Raijin who had been cut off from him in one way or another for those few harrowing times during the War, the thought of not being able to at least contact a member of his posse at any time sat ill with him, and especially not since they didn't know just how long the investigation would take.
But it had to be done. With any luck, it would be taken as a measure of his determination to find the truth of the matter by Garden at large, and as a measure of how taken in he was by the deception by its instigators. There was no other choice: this had to work. It simply had to.
/\
It was very late when Seifer made his way down to Squall's cell. He didn't turn on the lights as he entered the restricted area, he'd been down here more times than he could count during his Disciplinary Committee days, and knew the way by heart, blindfolded, with a Confuse spell muddling his brain. Thus, it was a simple matter to find Squall's cell, it was the only one that was occupied.
For a long moment, Seifer wondered why in all of Ifrit's hells he was here. If word of this got out, it could jeopardize everything, Raijin's investigation, the part he had to play to get to the bottom of this, even, if the plot went high enough, his rank at Garden. And yet…
And yet, here he was, in the dark hours of the night, sneaking around to… what? He wasn't entirely sure why he was here, knowing only that he had to do it for some reason beyond his comprehension. It was almost enough to drive him away in disgust, but just as he turned to leave he noticed Squall's eyes were watching him, twilight pools looking nearly black in the gloom.
Caught, he straightened; acting for all the world like his pulse hadn't suddenly started inexplicably pounding at the sight of those dark, dark blue eyes. Acting like he meant to be where he was, as if he hadn't been just caught lurking in Garden's bowels in the dead of night. Even deep in shadow, he thought he saw the brunet's face twitch. Apparently his acting skills needed some real work, though it could just be that Squall had a sixth sense the way that Fujin did, when it came to his skills at deception. Then his jaw clenched in renewed anger: the brunet's visible skin, including his face, were covered in bruises, and Seifer had no doubt that Squall's clothing hid more such injuries.
"You look like shit, Leonhart." He spoke bluntly, his words the absolute truth, and designed to cover his embarrassment and growing rage at the sight before him. Squall did indeed look like hell. It looked as if Garden's Interrogation class had just used the brunet for target practice, though Seifer hoped the actual damage was less than it looked like, even if he knew it wasn't likely. Looking anywhere but at the battered brunet, he tried to ignore the cold rage clawing at his insides, bereft of a target. He hated feeling helpless, of arriving after the damage had happened, too late to prevent it from occurring or to take revenge for it. From the look of Squall's bruises, they were several hours old at least, and there was nothing to be done.
Squall's lips twitched at Seifer's tight expression. "Nothing that serious. A few heavy healing spells, and it will be mostly healed. It looks worse than it actually feels." Despite the brunet's words, Seifer could see the level of the injuries from the way Squall struggled to sit up. Nonchalant words aside, they were bad. Dr. Kadowaki should have taken a look at him, just to be sure that nothing vital had been damaged. Almost before he could stop himself, the pale green light of a Cure spell flowed out of him and surrounded Squall, glowing briefly before sinking into the brunet's skin. Squall glared acidly at Seifer, though the blond could see he was moving better after the spell did its work. He noticed to that the usual strength of Squall's usual glare was slightly tempered in wordless thanks.
"What in Shiva's name was that for?" the brunet hissed at Seifer, all gratitude aside. "And why are you even down here, talking with me like we're in the Cafeteria, you should be avoiding me like I have the plague given what I've been charged with-"
Seifer cut him off. "Did you do it?" he asked seriously, all trace of his usual humor gone, his voice and face cold. "If you didn't do it, I'll do everything in my power to get you off and to find and punish the ones responsible. If you did…" his voice trailed off meaningfully.
Squall glared at Seifer like he'd lost his mind. "Did you have a cup of stupid in your morning coffee?" the brunet demanded acidly. Seifer didn't speak, only stared fixedly at Squall until the brunet sighed and looked away.
"No," the former knight admitted slowly, "I still don't even know what secrets I supposedly stole, or whom I supposedly sold them to." He gestured eloquently at his colorful bruising, the marks so dark they were nearly black in several places. "The ones who did this, didn't stick around long enough to even hint, not t mention that they hardly even gave me the chance to even answer their questions between blows.
"For that matter" the brunet burst out, "The last time I had contact of any kind with someone outside Garden, he seemed more interested in killing me slowly than picking my brain for the latest codes, which I didn't even have at the time!" Seifer scowled at the indirect mention of the kidnapping fiasco, he hated to even think about those days. If
Raijin could prove that that was the last time Squall had come into contact with someone outside Garden, his case that the brunet was innocent would be allot stronger than it was. Maybe the long-term stratagest of his posse could put his efforts into tracking the movements of Garden's visitors, and maybe Squall's computer records as well, they could prove that there was no way for information from Squall to reach outside scources.
Seifer frowned at this information that the interrogators working on Squall were being so hasty to bloody and brutalize the ex-knight. Where had he heard something like this before… he knew it had come from somewhere… then it came to him. Dr. Kadowaki's report of what she'd heard from Squall upon the brunet's awakening from the coma he'd been in after the…the kidnapping experience. Squall had told her that the late General Caraway had never asked him a single question, making the electrical torture into not an interrogation, but punishment, torture to revenge the general on what had happened to his country under Edea/Ultimecia's iron fist.
While not completely the same, what Squall reported now, bore too many similarities to that first torture experience the ex-knight had gone through after the War for Seifer to completely dismiss the comparison. This time they had asked questions, but just for the show of it, not giving him a chance to answer before they either struck him again, or fired yet another question at him, with the result being that it had been virtually the same, in that the primary purpose of interrogation, to gain information, being nearly completely forgotten.
Unsure of what else to do, he nodded decisively to Squall, then fled. As he climbed the stares out of the cellblock, he ran the information he had over in his head. He'd already announced Raijin's appointment to Garden, citing the authority both Fujin and Raijin and pointed out for him. While Garden had accepted it, it was clear that they had several reservations with the appointment, which meant that he had to be very, very careful if he wanted to pass any information to the brawny member of his posse without anyone accusing him of trying to unduly influence the result of said investigation. But that didn't mean he was stymied in how to pass on the information. It just meant that he'd have to be more devious than usual...
It was strange, but he couldn't find himself enjoying the opportunity to indulge the more wicked side of his personality, that part of himself that had once been indulging in various kinds of plots and devious plans at least once a month, at least, before the War, and his strange attraction to Squall.
He shook his head. It was stupid, but he had no idea of exactly what had changed since then, or even if he regretted the change or not. One thing he did know for certain. Squall Leonhart was worthy of his trust, had proved his worth to Seifer a thousand times over, even before the War. What he'd seen of his former rival after the War, had impressed him even more than what he'd known of the brunet when they had simply been cadets fighting constantly with fists, words and blades whenever they'd encountered each other. Squall had saved him from being Ultimecia's knight back in the Timber broadcast station, by taking that burden onto his own shoulders. Trusting Squall was the least Seifer could do to make up for that. At least, that's what he told himself.
//\\
It was subtle, Raijin acknowledged as he carefully went over the documentation supposedly supporting the accusation that Squall Leonhart had been discovered selling Garden secrets, so subtle that no one could prove with any degree of certainty that the charges were false, except for the fact that Leonhart avoided clients when they came to Garden like the plague that was, and vice versa. So subtle that they could almost be accepted as fact by even an experienced investigator. But not subtle enough for Raijin's eye.
Though most of Garden considered him to be merely the dumb muscle of the posse (something that was truly ridiculous, Seifer wouldn't be able to tolerate such a follower for more than 2 hours before attempting to disembowel the idiot out of sheer irritation), and while he might not have Fujin's razor sharp mind or Seifer's tactical genius, Raijin was smart. Smart enough to see patterns in the data, patterns that might be exploited enough to reveal their authorship, patterns that most people wouldn't see, because they were hidden in plain sight.
Like seeing that this incident wasn't the first such example of ill-feeling against the former knight. Even Seifer knew it, even if the majority of the pattern was hidden from the blond's eyes. The extremely harsh probation had been the first clue, even if Raijin hadn't recognized it as such at the time. Following that, someone would have had to helped the late General Caraway locate Leonhart in Garden's maze of corridors, not to mention supply him with Sleep spells to keep the brunet subdued. Given that the General had never Junctioned in his life (something that was well known from is service record), there was no way he would have been able to acquire the appropriate spells, someone in Garden would have had to collect them for the General, and passed them on to him, or to an aide for use.
And smart enough to see other things too, even if he wasn't supposed to see it. If Seifer wanted to keep his new relationship with Leonhart quiet, Raijin thought of his boss with a touch of asperity, he should stop sneaking of to the cafeteria or the Training Center at odd hours of the day or night, or at least stop silently mooning about the brunet ex-knight whenever he had a few minutes free of paperwork. To be fair, the only two people who had uninterrupted access to Seifer's office and were thus able to catch him mooning about like a lovesick girl were himself and Fujin, everyone else had to make an appointment with Fujin, and thus gave advance warning of their approach no matter if they wanted to or not.
Personally, Raijin had no problem with Seifer spending more time with the brunet, not when he understood Squall a little more than before, at least since the end of the War, and Fujin selecting him as her knight. Things had changed for him in that instant, the true extent of which he was still unaware. While he had harbored feelings for Fuu before and during the War (he still hated to think about the time when they hadn't known if she were dead or alive after Garden narrowly escaped the missile attack, or about the time she had spent over two whole months in a coma) but they had become, if that were possible, even more intense than usual.
After he had become a knight, the slightest possibility of disobeying Fujin had nearly evaporated from his mind the instant she had taken him into the fold of her power. Raijin knew better than most that it was ridiculous in the extreme to blame Leonhart for anything that had happened during the War; if what the brunet had experienced was anything like what he felt now, then any possibility of disobeying Ultimecia had been further from the ex-knight's mind than the stars. And given how controlling Ultimecia had appeared to him, even from the fringes of the fights against Her that he'd experienced, he suspected that Leonhart's compulsion of obedience had been at least 10 times stronger than his own devotion to Fujin was.
But, back to the pattern that was slowly starting to emerge around the ex-knight. For the most part, so long as Leonhart had been under probation, prohibited from carrying his gunblade in the corridors and restricted in his information access, it had been barely there, nothing more than unfriendly eyes in the Cafeteria, or an unkind whisper in the corridors. Easily brushed aside. Then had come the kidnapping, and Seifer's grand speech that Leonhart deserved to come back to Garden, and that he'd been mostly blameless for any actions during the Sorceress War. At the time, Raijin had cheered the speech, but now he suspected that it hadn't done that much good. That all it had done, in the end, was force those who resented the brunet's presence in Garden underground, making them harder to identify and deal with appropriately while they plotted their next gambit.
Raijin had to admire the planning that had gone into this, no matter how much he deplored the result. The charge, was one virtually guaranteed to turn away any allies the former knight might have been able to gather. By isolating him like they had, any and all support Leonhart had managed to gather through all of Seifer's efforts and of the few others who had supported the ex-knight on his return to Garden (Selphie Tillmit was one name that came to mind) during the year since the War, had evaporated as if it had never been.
For a moment, the scenario of what would happen if Leonhart's innocence was not proved to the entire Garden beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt. Even if Seifer proclaimed the ex-knight's innocence, resentment would build against the brunet, eventually moving beyond hurtful gossip and stares in the corridors, to random acts of sabotage or outright violence. From what Raijin had seen of Leonhart's encounters with Seifer, the brunet would ignore words, and would keep his reaction to any vandalism to his property to himself, but if some idiot physically attacked him, and they would in time, Leonhart would fight back. And if someone was stupid enough to jump him, they wouldn't back off without at least blood, or if they were fairly good and extremely stupid, a death. And not even Seifer could protect Leonhart from the outcry that would ensure then.
Not that Seifer wouldn't try; Raijin knew well how stubborn his boss could be at times when he'd dug his heels in something. Just look at what happened during the War? Half the reason they'd survived was because Seifer had refused to give up hope; had refused to accept a situation that had become hopeless.
The quarterstaff user remembered a particular scene that had happened during the siege of Galbadia Garden. Raijin had been helping a group of cadets on one balcony, when he'd heard another wave of Galbadian troops moving in. His tiny force nearly overwhelmed as it was, Raijin had watched helplessly as the new wave moved in, only for Seifer to appear, spitting curses, Hyperion flashing like a signal flare as he waded into the fray. Though Raijin would have said at the time that the addition of one more fighter wouldn't have made that much of a difference, it had, and not only had they defeated with ease that batch of troops, they'd been able to handle the next as well, even after Seifer had moved on. It was only due to Seifer's stubborn will, that no Galbadian Soldier had breached Garden's lines that day, even with the large gaps in some of the defenders skill levels compared to their attackers.
Seifer would treat the emerging situation the same way he'd done that incident on the balcony, plunging in with no thought to the consequences, never once even considering that he was fighting a loosing battle.
If Seifer got involved, things would start to fall apart, Garden discipline and protocol falling apart as the inhabitances of Garden took sides. By the time blood was first shed, it would have been far too late to do anything to stop the slow disintegration of everything Garden stood for. Not even Leonhart's death would have been able to stop it.
He owed both Seifer and Leonhart better than that. And he owed it to Garden, to the facility that had taken him in after his village had been wiped out by soldiers when he'd been six, the only reason he hadn't died with his family because a SeeD returning to Garden from a mission had found and taken pity on him, protecting him from the soldiers and sponsored his cadet application to Garden. Two years later the SeeD was dead, killed in a stupid accident in the Training Center, but by then, Raijin's path was set. Not long after, a blond cadet a year younger than him had helped him out of a similar spot that had taken his mentor, and Raijin's loyalty was sold for all time. And even now, with his focus tuned more to Fujin than anyone else, and he knew that Seifer could see and was hurt by it (though the blond would never show or speak of it) he owed the blond far too much to let him mess this up prematurely.
And he owed Leonhart, as a fellow Sorceress knight to make things as easier for the brunet as possible. He knew just how heavy the burden of his service to Fujin laid on him, knew just how much it cost, and knew, knew that as heavy as his own burden was, Leonhart's had been so much worse that there was almost no comparison. As Sorceresses went, Fujin was positively mild-mannered, compared to Adel and Ultimecia at least. In empathy for what the ex-knight had gone through, he would see this through.
Turning away from his thoughts, Raijin studied the various reports in front of him, trying again to make sense of them. There was something there, he could almost taste it, but the exact nature of what he was up against still eluded him. What was he missing…?
Something hit his mind like a jolt, making him sit bolt upright in his chair. The kidnapping episode hadn't triggered this new wave of subtle hostility; it had been an interruption in it. Before it, Leonhart had been nearly crippled by the punishing probation, hamstrung in such a way that it had almost been guaranteed that he would try and resist, resist, and be punished severely. The training that went into a SeeD went deep; the deliberate paranoia bred so deeply into them until cadets and SeeDs regarded their weapons as part of their bodies, and would fight surrendering them with everything in them. But Leonhart hadn't fought, coping with the restriction by spending nearly all his waking hours in the Training Center, the one place in Garden where he was still allowed the use of his gunblade. While it had continued, those behind it must have held their breaths, waiting for him to mess up, contenting themselves with the knowledge of how vulnerable, his current status had made the former knight.
The kidnapping was the natural progression from the probation, Raijin now saw. Now that he did see it, he kicked himself thoroughly for not seeing it in time to prevent it, for all that it was over six months ago. Ultimecia had scorched a broad swath in her search for Ellone, and had ruined many formerly prosperous nations. It had only been a matter of time before someone came to Garden with a prospective contract had felt the urge to take some revenge on the one who had carried out Her orders. Raijin saw now that it was nearly a miracle that it had taken as long as it had before it had actually taken place.
The kidnapping, the accusation and subsequent imprisonment, and the probation were all starting to add up to a picture that Raijin didn't like. It was starting to look as if there had been, and still was, a conspiracy to make, at the very least, Squall Leonhart feel unwelcome at Garden, and at worst, to either drive him away or kill him outright. And given that there was no way to be absolutely sure who was behind all of it, it looked as if they would get away with it. And without that information, there didn't look like there was all that much he could do, knowing what was going on or not.
Or was there…? Nearly reflexively he shook his head in denial of the thought, but eventually slowed and stopped as the logic of it penetrated his mind. Fujin had written up the conditions of Leonhart's probation, Fujin who Raijin well knew would do anything to protect Seifer. If she got it in her head that Leonhart was a threat… well, he could just imagine what measures she might put in place.
But, even still, even if Fujin had written up the harsh terms of the probation, she had given her permission for Seifer to talk with Leonhart to resolve the blond's confusion over some of the events that had occurred during Time Compression, something that he might have doubted if she hadn't done it within his own hearing. Not to mention she had once allowed the brunet into Seifer's office alone, something that was a far more eloquent gesture of her trust than anything else. And she had recommended himself to this post. So, she couldn't be a part of the conspiracy, at least, he hoped not.
His instincts told him no, she wasn't a part of it, but that didn't mean that she wasn't in contact with those who were, even if she didn't know it. That meant that he would have to be very careful with what information he allowed her to see, even if even that tiny hint of deception toward his Lady caused all his knight instincts to rise up in a fury. The part of him that was a trained SeeD, and a member of the old Disciplinary Committee kept an iron grip on the part of himself that was a knight. If he carelessly told Fujin too much, and the conspiracy learned of it, his SeeD instincts warned, then they would be alerted, and go even deeper underground where not even he could find them.
Those same instincts also told him that he'd need help, people who he could trust to ask questions in a manner that wouldn't arouse suspicions and keep their mouths shut about what they'd learned. Not to mention that he'd also have to choose people who didn't resent Leonhart for being Ultimecia's knight, but weren't so much his defender that none of the people he was trying to find would spot what they were doing and clam up in their presence. Add to the fact that he couldn't tell anyone what he suspected until he was sure of their loyalty…well, that was a whole different headache that he'd have to tackle sooner or later, though not now.
Now, he started to lay out the names anyone who he could think of that might be both prejudiced against Leonhart enough, and angry at Seifer enough to be willing to defy the might of Seifer's protection, that had been granted almost immediately after Time Compression nearly a full year ago, to head the conspiracy. The list was short, but none of those on the list were fools, and all of them resented both Seifer, and Leonhart in nearly equal amounts dating to during, after, and even before the War.
The former Instructor Xu for one, she and Seifer had been old enemies, not to mention after the War she had lost her class authority, Seifer had stripped it from her because he disapproved of her methods both in the classroom and on the field, not to mention that the loss of that authority, in practice if not name, had happened on the eve of Galbadia Garden's attack, which Leonhart had led. And she wasn't known for forgiving slights like that easily.
Another was Alana Richardson the Intelligence-class SeeD who'd shown such a lack of enthusiasm for the proposed mission and who Seifer had subsequently verbally ripped to pieces in public on the eve of Garden's rescue attempt. The cell to which she had been assigned had been eliminated by Ultimecia's agents, she was the only survivor, and the only reason she had escaped was because she had been in Balamb taking reports to Garden when Ultimecia assumed power in Galbadia and instituted a purge from which Garden Intelligence was still recovering from. Add that to the fact that Seifer had verbally ripped her into pieces making a point (her own fault, Raijin knew, having witnessed the entire confrontation) there was powerful anger from that quarter, directed at the twin targets of Seifer and Leonhart. She was definitely involved in one-way or another, even if only since the kidnapping and rescue.
Vincent Tremene, onetime Gunblade Instructor, demoted back down to regular SeeD status after first Seifer, then Leonhart had blown through his classes, outstripping his own level of expertise with the difficult weapon with embarrassing ease. It hadn't helped that he'd tried to hold them back, only for that to backfire on him when Cid got word of it, stripping him of his title, and adding a mark on his file that prevented him from ever regaining it as a punishment for trying to sabotage the careers of two of the most promising cadets Garden had ever seen. It wouldn't surprise Raijin in the least to learn if he'd nursed a hatred for the two since then.
There were four other names on the list that he added just to be sure he'd included all possibilities, but he was fairly confident that those three, at least, were the ringleaders, the ones he needed to keep a watch on. It would take time, he knew to both gather proof of Leonhart's innocence, and find proof of the conspiracy's presence (hopefully by doing one, he'd find the other, but he couldn't be too cautious.
He had to start somewhere. With a slight groan (the true peril of desk duty was in the stiffness and cramps that accumulated after spending any extended length of time seated and slowed reactions in a fight) he stood. It was time to talk to Fujin, discretely of course, and find out what she knew. Once he could clear her, he could move on to his list, and how he would approach them.
//\\
things are definitely heating up, aren't they? Ah, nothing like a little bit of turmoil to make our two favorite boys come closer together. And when Raijin figures out who exactly is behind the charge, well, Seifer is going to be rather pissed, isn't he?
Writing Raijin was fun, if only because he's the only member of Seifer's posse that I haven't really explored so far. Figuring out his role was cool, mostly because it really gave me a chance to really think about it. He has to be more than just dumb muscle, or Seifer wouldn't keep him around. Raijin needs time to put together a strategy, or to tease out hidden information, but just because his brain doesn't work at the same speed that Seifer and Fujin's does, doesn't mean he's dumb in the least.
I know I told you last chapter that it was late because about a full half of this chapter, the entire Raijin scene belonged in this one. that's the reason why this chapter is coming out so soon. But don't believe that because this chapter came out so fast that I don't care if you review my offerings, I do!! I want and I dream of reviews, so much so that they're the first thing I look for after I post a chapter
So review and stay tuned for chapter 18!!!