Chapter 03
"I cannot fucking believe this," Nida muttered under his breath, eyes angrily scanning the third page of Balamb Town's morning paper, shaking it at Irvine. They were getting on the ferry, off to their first assignment as partners; a racketeering ring in South Timber. "She told me that she couldn't go out with me because of Xu, but it was really so she could go out partying all night with Seifer Almasy."
Irvine cast a look to the small article, which was mostly a picture of Seifer and Quistis, dressed nicely and looking quite dashing, coming out of a trendy after-hours club. They were both smiling and laughing and oblivious that their picture had just been taken. "They were probably just hanging out. I think Rinoa planned some kind of dinner and they probably just went there afterwards." They stopped at two empty seats on the upper deck, under the already hot morning sunshine. "They're just friends." Irvine slouched in his seat, tilting his hat so it shielded his eyes from the sun. "Besides, I'd bet my entire collection of dirty magazines that he's gay."
Nida had been rather absorbed in the picture, halfway between fuming that Quistis had gone out on a date with someone other than him, and looking longingly at how beautiful she looked with her hair cascading around her shoulders. "Huh?" He snapped his head up, not sure that he'd heard Irvine correctly. "What... he told you this?" Nida felt a little hope rise in him. There was no way he could compete with someone like Seifer Almasy over a woman, but if he were gay...
"Nah. I'm just a good observer of people." His tone darkened a little. "Something else that people tend not to notice about me."
"Well, what makes you think that?"
Irvine shrugged. "I guess I'm just tuned into anything involving sexuality of any kind. It does come in handy sometimes."
"Did anyone ever tell you you're a pig?" Nida said with a laugh, quickly finding out that most of Irvine's comments were meant jokingly.
"A day's not complete unless someone does. Oh-ho, speak of the devil." Irvine raised his arm and waved.
Nida turned around to see Seifer coming over to where they were. "Were you and Quistis on a date last night?" Nida demanded as soon as the other man was in earshot.
Seifer frowned, lowering his tall frame into a chair beside Irvine. "Nice to see you too, Nida. Hi, Irvine."
"Heading back to Galbadia, huh?"
"Yeah..." Seifer trailed off, still frowning at how severely Nida was glowering at him. "What date?" He asked. "You don't mean that disaster Rinoa tried to set up last night, do you?"
"This!" Nida snapped, shoving the newspaper in Seifer's face.
Seifer snorted. "God, doesn't Balamb ever have any real news?"
"Are you and Quistis seeing each other?"
"Can I call my lawyer first, officer?" Seifer shook his head. "You mean, you really don't know? I figured Rinoa would have told Selphie, who would have blabbed the whole mess all over Garden."
"What are you talking about?" Nida demanded.
"You know, you're not making your intentions very secret, here."
"I don't care if everyone knows how I feel about Quistis."
"Including Xu?" Seifer asked in an off-hand manner.
"My feelings for Xu are platonic only. And, it's not going to change."
"Well, that's what I told Quistis, but you know how noble she is." Seifer shrugged. "And, I am not dating her. Believe me."
A ringing suddenly came from within Irvine's clothes. He patted his jacket, searching his pockets to find which one the phone was tucked into. He pulled it out and checked the caller ID, mouthing 'Selphie'. He put the phone on speaker, and even before he could finish saying 'hello', she started off.
"Oh Hyne, Irvine! You will not believe what I just found out! Rinoa told me this morning after you left and I just had to call you because this is beyond news! It's huge, utterly mind-blowing! So, the other night Rinoa wanted to set up Seifer and Quistis on a blind date, and double with her and Squall, right? She thought they would make a really awesome couple, but then when they all got to the restaurant, Seifer told them he was gay! I mean, can you believe it? Seifer's gay? I totally busted a gut! I mean, everyone's shocked as hell. I totally didn'tthinkthatheofallpeoplewouldbegayandnoweveryone'stalkingaboutit!"
Irvine raised his eyebrows and looked at Seifer, who seemed to be blushing a little. Irvine put the phone on his lap, and stretched his arms over his head at she continued on, scarce needing a breath. Nida's shoulders relaxed visibly, and then he gave Irvine a look of wonder. "The Master of Sexuality..." He trailed off, laughing.
Selphie's ongoing string of words stopped. "Irvine, who was that? Am I on speakerphone? You know I hate it when you do that! Take me off speakerphone."
"Yes, dear." He put the phone to his ear, slumping in his chair so his face was hidden under the shadow of his hat's brim. He didn't say anything more, but probably couldn't get any kind of word edgewise into Selphie's continuous stream.
"So, I guess you can stop giving me the glare of doom now, yeah?" Seifer asked with a cocked eyebrow, leaning back in his chair.
"It still doesn't solve my problem, though..." Nida muttered. "Pining after someone that I can't have. How pathetic."
"Yeah..." Seifer trailed off bitterly, looking out to the horizon as Garden's shadowy silhouette got smaller and smaller. "Pathetic."
---
Rinoa couldn't help but beam as she and Squall walked through the uber-futuristic halls of the Esthar Presidential Palace. It felt really nice to have some alone, romantic time with Squall, especially with him always gone on missions. She leaned into his side and squeezed his hand, smiling even wider when his blue eyes met her own gaze. Things had been perfect so far. He'd reserved them a private table at a romantic restaurant. They'd gone on a long walk together and talked. Talked for the first time in what seemed like months. Squall smiled back, but not as brightly as his girlfriend.
Rinoa checked her watch and made a tsk-ing noise. "We were gone a long time. Laguna said that supper would be set out for six. We better hurry."
"We wouldn't want him to start pouting," Squall muttered under his breath.
Rinoa smacked him in the arm. "Be nice."
They went to Laguna's office, where the desk was awash with papers that Laguna was supposed to be signing, but was neglecting. Kiros kept nudging them towards him, but he was too busy talking to Ellone and her steady boyfriend, and would gesticulate as he spoke and send a few papers flying. Kiros could only roll his dark eyes and set the papers in front of his long-time friend once more.
"Squall!" Ellone greeted, rushing over to him and giving him a hug. Rinoa watched with a small measure of jealousy as Squall smiled and hugged her back more freely than he would hug her in front of a bunch of other people.
"Laguna, you really have to sign these," Kiros chastised playfully. He was too calm a man to get upset by Laguna's procrastination.
"Fine." Laguna took them, taking a moment to look at Squall and smile, even though his son wasn't paying attention to him.
"Guess what?" Ellone exclaimed, barely able to contain herself. She was normally very reserved, so it piqued Squall's interest to see her so excited. She held up her left hand, where a diamond ring glittered. "Roberto and I are getting married!"
"Really? Congratulations, Sis." He hugged her again, and then reached out to shake Roberto's hand. He was a very tall and stately man who was very nice, but also very, very quiet. He made Squall look like quite the chatterbox.
Laguna beamed at Ellone and Squall, acting like the siblings they were, though they weren't blood related. He then looked at the forms that Kiros was nudging under his nose. "Okay, okay." He reached up to the breast pocket of his rumpled charcoal grey shirt, and then started tapping his chest, then the top of his head. Big and silent Ward shook his head, a small grin on his scarred face.
"Looking for something?" Kiros asked.
"Huh?" Laguna bit his lip.
"You look just like Squall when you do that," Rinoa commented fondly. "He bites his lip just like that when he's thinking really hard."
Laguna scratched his head, and patted his pockets again.
"You lost your glasses again, didn't you?"
"Noooo," Laguna ground out. "They're just in my... office...?" He trailed off. He squinted at the papers, and held them far out at arm's length, holding them at different angles to see if the words would become less blurry without his bifocals.
Kiros just sighed, his eyes dancing as he pulled a pair of black-framed spectacles out of his pocket and handed them to Laguna.
"Well, how am I supposed to find them if you stole them?" Laguna demanded hotly, snatching the glasses from Kiros's hand. Ward grinned over the top of Laguna's head.
Squall just shook his head. He had the distinct impression that Kiros had a large stash of spare reading glasses since Laguna was always misplacing them. Laguna mashed the glasses on his face and scanned the papers.
"I had to keep Uncle Laguna from telling you," Ellone murmured quietly as they both watched him. He had a glazed, bored look come across his eyes as he read over the documents. "You know how he is."
Squall's response was to cock an eyebrow. "When's the wedding?" He asked as Rinoa hugged Ellone again. She almost seemed more excited than the actual bride-to-be.
"Oh, we don't know." Ellone reached out a hand and clasped Roberto's, who smiled lovingly at her, but remained quiet. "I can picture a long, long engagement." She laughed, warm brown eyes shining with merriment. "The only thing I know is that I want the flowers to be white lilies."
Squall's serene smile wilted a little, as it always did whenever Ellone mentioned Raine, even in an off-hand manner. He loved hearing stories about the mother he would never get a chance to know, both from her and from Laguna, but at the same time, it filled him with sadness, and a bit of jealousy.
"So, we're having a little celebratory dinner!" Laguna exclaimed, shoving the papers back into Kiros's hands after signing them. The taller man started smoothing out the crumpled papers without batting an eye.
"Maybe we'll be having a celebratory dinner soon, huh?" Rinoa asked quietly as they all started to make their way to one of the Palace's dining rooms, Laguna walking beside Ellone and Roberto ahead of them, talking animatedly. Rinoa fiddled with the fringe on her hand-knitted scarf. The thing was quite misshapen, bumpy and not nearly as pretty as something Quistis could knit, but Rinoa was infinitely proud of it because it was the first thing she'd made, and wore it often. She squeezed his hand and looked up into his eyes. "When we get engaged."
"Is that a hint?" Squall asked, more than a little wary.
"Not today, silly!" She playfully swatted his arm. "But, maybe someday, huh?"
"Maybe..." He trailed off, mind wandering. He looked down at Rinoa, imagining what she'd look like in a wedding dress. She would look beautiful, of course, but the thought of marrying her didn't completely fill him with joy like it should have. He studied her profile carefully, her high cheekbones and silken, dark hair. The prettiness of her mouth and the way she smiled. And yet...
And yet... what? He asked himself. Maybe you're just looking for something wrong because you want to take the easy way out and fulfill your own sexual desires. You're being selfish.
But, what about Seifer? Another voice asked in his head. It was a valid argument, because his stomach swooped at the mere thought of his long-time rival. He hadn't seen him or spoken with him in almost three months, but that same intense whoosh came over him at the mere thought.
Rinoa felt the intensity of his gaze on the side of her face, and looked into his eyes. She smiled when she looked into his eyes, but it faded when she saw how serious he looked. She cocked her head, trying to read his expression, but she found it impossible. "Squall?"
It took him a moment to acknowledge her. "Hmm?"
"You look... concerned."
"It's nothing," he replied quietly, now looking straight ahead, his eyes still a stormy sea of inner thought.
"Tell me what you're thinking," Rinoa urged quietly.
Squall's jaw clenched briefly. "It's nothing," he repeated, this time his tone frosty.
"Squall..."
"Why do you have to know?" He demanded. He released her hand and started walking a little faster to keep up with Laguna and the others, leaving Rinoa standing on the spot, sad and bewildered.
"Because I love you," she murmured to his receding back. He couldn't hear her quiet words. "And, I wish you would let me in."
Squall stopped when he realized she wasn't walking beside him anymore. He looked over his shoulder and saw her standing there, looking so forlorn. He despised himself for not worshipping her like he should have. She looked down from their gaze at her feet, her hands fidgeting with her badly knitted scarf. He walked back towards her, collecting her in a hug. "I'm sorry," he apologized.
Rinoa stood stiffly in his arms, and then put her arms around him. She just wish she could understand him. She thought she'd been starting during the whole Ultimecia thing, but now that they were back into 'regular' life, he seemed to be so far away, so remote and unreachable.
"I'm sorry," he repeated into her hair when her hands clasped around his slender waist. "I've been... stressed out lately," he somewhat lied.
"Oh, me too." She shook her head and looked into his eyes. "I know you sometimes just like to be alone, and that you've got lots of stuff going on right now." She squeezed him as tight as she could. "You're getting more responsibility now. That's a lot to think about."
"Yeah," he muttered distastefully. More responsibility was the last thing he wanted.
"We shouldn't be arguing anyway. This is supposed to be Ellone's celebration." Rinoa squeezed him again "Right?"
"Yeah."
Rinoa smiled, but she still had a measure of discomfort as she took Squall's hand again and they went into the dining room. Squall sat down in the chair that Ellone had left empty for him beside her, further withdrawing into himself. Rinoa smiled and chatted with everyone, even though there was a gnawing worry growing in her. She looked at Ellone and Roberto, at Ward and his wife Karen - a plump, boisterous woman with an infectious laugh, and Kiros and his husband, Tiernan - a well-renowned magical doctor in Esthar, who also happened to be extremely gorgeous with his white-blonde hair and startling grey eyes that reminded Squall of Seifer. All these couples were like what she and Squall should have been like. It was such a fairy tale, the way they started out, so why did things seem to be so streaky? What was going wrong?
The dinner conversation was pleasant and had lots of laughs, mostly because of Laguna's seemingly endless well of stories where he did something stupid, and Kiros's well-timed zingers that got the whole table laughing, including Laguna. Even Squall had to crack a smile, even though this was the last place he really wanted to be. He was very happy for Ellone, and loved her dearly, but all the talk of marriage was putting him into a depressed stupor, coupled with the growing worry that Cid really was grooming him to maybe become Headmaster of Garden. He thought of the way Cid would sometimes nudge him and wink, or clap his shoulder after a successful mission and give him a hopeful smile. The whole thing was enough to practically send him into a panic attack. With shaking hands, he reached for the scotch decanter that sat in the middle of the table, and poured himself a glass, which he downed immediately. It calmed his nerves enough that he could actually pay attention to what Ellone was saying to him.
"I'm thinking I should have an official party, you know?" She was musing. "And, have a bunch of friends. Not that you're not friends, but you're family, so it's different. Matron and Cid could come, and Zell, Selphie, Irvine and Quistis. Some friends from Esthar, too." She ticked off fingers as she thought of a list. "I'd want to invite Seifer, too. Have you been in contact with him? Do you know how I could reach him?"
"Oh... err..." Squall took another long drink of scotch, feeling guilty even at the mention of Seifer's name.
"He's going to the University of Dollet now," Rinoa chimed in. "We saw him at Garden a few months ago, and he mentioned that."
"Really?" Ellone asked, interested. She leaned forward so she and Rinoa could talk across Squall. "I can't picture him going back to school."
Rinoa chuckled. "Well, I guess at a regular school, he wouldn't have to follow as many orders."
"I hear that," replied the older girl. "Matron couldn't get that kid to do anything! What a bull-headed little bastard," she murmured affectionately. "What's he studying?"
"Herpetology," Rinoa answered. "And, don't ask me what I thought it was before he told me it was studying reptiles."
"Was it something Laguna-esque?" Ellone joked.
"Huh?" Laguna asked, hearing his name. He'd been in a separate conversation with Ward, Karen, Tiernan and Kiros. "What?"
"Nothing, Uncle Laguna."
"What?" He demanded again. "What are you saying about me?"
"Nothing!" Ellone raised her eyebrows mischievously.
"C'mon! Tell me!"
Squall chased his scotch with a glass of very good red wine, biting the inside of his lip as Ellone and Rinoa continued to chat about Seifer. Was Seifer thinking about him right now, too? Or, did he even bother to think about Squall at all? Squall had been the one to instigate both of their embraces, and Seifer had kissed him back, but he was a man after all - how else was he supposed to react when someone was jamming their tongue into his mouth?
As he thought of Seifer, his eyes were drawn to Kiros and Tiernan, whose hands were joined on the table top. Could that have been him and Seifer if he'd just acted on these buried feelings a couple months earlier? The sheer thought of it made guilt painfully gnaw his insides, especially when Rinoa brushed up against his side, and his nose was filled with the roses smell of her hair.
"...and then her boyfriend started chasing me around with a big stick. I had to climb a tree to get away from the guy! It's not my fault his girlfriend decided to go skinny dipping where any old hiker could see her!"
"Whose fault is it that you were watching for ten minutes, hiding in the bushes?" Tiernan asked in his deep baritone, pale grey eyes dancing.
"It was not ten minutes. Okay... maybe it was more like two or three. And, hey! Shut up. You know, you're getting more and more like Kiros every day."
"Thank you."
"It wasn't a compliment."
"Maybe he can be the one to find your glasses every time you lose them, then," Kiros answered, completely deadpan.
"Laguna, you should just get a chain and wear them around your neck," Karen chided. "Like my grandmother when she does quilting." She laughed as Laguna made a face.
"I think Kiros and Ward just purposely misplace them on me so I'll look foolish." Kiros opened his mouth to reply, but Laguna said "shut up" before he could get a word out. They all laughed, and Laguna's eyes casually cast over the table to where Rinoa and Ellone were talking excitedly, Squall between them. Laguna's brow furrowed when he noticed that Squall had already gone through half the scotch decanter. Though Squall was a lot more reserved and distant than Raine had been, their faces were so similar that Laguna could make accurate guesses at his son's moods. And, he did not look happy.
As the dinner broke up, Kiros gestured for Squall to come over. "We need to discuss a matter of business."
"That can wait until later," Laguna protested. "Besides, we should probably discuss that with Cid."
"No, it's fine." Squall's voice wasn't quite as crisp as it normally was, and as he walked over to them, he was a little unsteady.
"We've already sent an official letter to Cid about it, but I figured you'd want to know about the senate vote about letting Garden set up in Esthar."
Squall raised an interested eyebrow, though he was pretty drunk so it was taking all his concentration to pay attention to the conversation. "The answer's no, correct?"
"Yes," Kiros replied. "The people of Esthar just don't want Garden here. They barely tolerate the army as it is, let alone a separate military school. Even if you're the son of the President."
"I'm sorry," Laguna apologized. "But, Esthar is a democracy."
"Whatever. It's fine," Squall answered, the words blurring together. "I never cared either way about it."
"I'm glad of it, if you want my honest opinion."
"Kiros!" Laguna hissed, elbowing him.
"It's fine," Squall repeated. He left them to go over to Ellone. He stumbled a little, but Laguna was quite surprised he could even walk after all the booze he'd inhaled. As he walked past Tiernan, Kiros distinctly caught Squall looking at him in a less than innocent manner. This wasn't the first time, either. He wondered if that was part of the reason every time they seemed to see Squall, he was always drinking. He wondered if he should say something to Laguna, or even approach Squall himself.
"Rinoa!" Laguna called gently to her. "Can I... can I ask you something?"
"Well, sure!"
"About Squall."
She cocked her head, noticing how he'd lowered his voice, and the concern in his eyes. "What's wrong?" She asked, putting a worried hand on Laguna's arm.
"I just... Well... does he drink this much often?"
"Oh, um... just in social situations. Not a big deal," she answered, though the way she pursed her lips told Laguna that she was more concerned that she was letting on. "I've never seen him drink otherwise. He just hates parties and that kind of stuff."
"Right..."
Rinoa squeezed his arm, then went to join her boyfriend. He watched as she took Squall's hand. He looked over to her and gave her a small smile before turning back to his conversation with Ellone. He was smiling and chatting casually with her, and everything did seem to be fine. Laguna bit his lip, hoping it was just a matter of him going overboard at parties.
"How's Quistis doing?" Ellone asked during a lull in the conversation.
"Fine."
"When she emailed me last, she said there was a guy at Garden she liked but couldn't make a move towards him. How's that going?" Ellone asked, full of big-sister concern.
Squall shrugged. "Xu likes him, too. Quistis would never betray her friendship for a man."
"That's very noble..."
"And, very Quisty-like," Squall finished with affection. "She'll just throw herself into work to keep her company."
"She's got you to keep her company, though."
"Yeah, we're quite the fun pair," was his sarcastic reply.
Rinoa pursed her lips just a little. Sometimes, she would get jealous over Squall and Quistis's close relationship. Quistis often got to spend more time with Squall than Rinoa did. After all, Quistis was so smart and fierce and beautiful. How could Squall not be tempted by her?
"I always thought that Quistis and Seifer would have made a good couple, but I guess I was wrong there!" Ellone laughed. Some recent tabloid headlines read 'Ultimecia's Knight Comes Out!' or 'Seifer Almasy Gay Shocker!'. It actually pushed Squall and Rinoa off the front page for a few weeks.
"I thought the same thing!" Rinoa chirped. "I even set them up on a blind date, and it was a complete disaster." Rinoa laughed, but she still blushed at her own foolishness.
"How's he doing?" Ellone asked, all big-sister once again. "I can't imagine him enjoying having such a private part of his life paraded around in the papers."
Squall shrugged, not trusting his voice.
"I guess he feels the same way you do whenever a camera is shoved in your face, huh?" Ellone patted Squall's cheek.
"I think Edea is secretly relieved," Rinoa answered when Squall didn't. "Now some of the media attention's taken off her and she can concentrate on running the Orphanage without having to give interviews every day."
Squall tuned out the rest of the conversation, his mind going to so many other places. To Seifer, and not just sexually, but knowing how he must have felt, seeing himself plastered all over the papers. He thought of himself and Rinoa, how their private life was barely their own anymore. How he had all this pressure growing on him from Garden and Cid. Not just him, but Quistis too. How she seemed to thrive on it, while it just made him want to throw up. How he had this whole new life. He had a father now. A man who was still a little bit of a stranger to him.
He snapped out of his mental maelstrom when he felt Rinoa tugging on his arm. The dining room had started to empty out, people going off to do their own thing, or go to bed for early mornings. He must have been staring off into space, because Laguna was standing in front of him with his arm around Ellone's shoulders. "Where did you go?" He asked.
"Oh, never mind him. He does that all the time," Rinoa answered with a roll of her eyes that was part playfully affectionate, and part exasperated.
"Just wanted to say goodnight. I have an early meeting with the prefecture mayors, but we can have lunch tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, we're not going back until the evening," Rinoa answered.
"Okay, cool. See you later, then." Laguna moved forward to hug Squall, but stopped himself and stuck his hand out instead. Squall shook it, and Laguna reached up and touched the side of his face, searching Squall's eyes with his own, as if he were going to go blind tomorrow, and wanted to memorize every detail of Squall's appearance. Squall craned away from the touch a little, his cheeks already starting to turn pink from more than just his drunkenness.
"I'm really happy for Ellone," Rinoa answered when they'd gotten back to their room and she'd changed out of her dinner dress into a silky cream-coloured nightie. It definitely wasn't the first thing she'd wanted to say, but she didn't know how to ask Squall if he might have a growing drinking problem.
"Mmm," Squall grunted, bumping into a dresser on his way to the bathroom.
"Squall...?" Rinoa called as she heard the water running.
"What?"
"Don't you...?"
"Don't I what?" He asked when she didn't continue, coming out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth. "Don't I what?" He repeated tersely when she just stared at him.
She brought her knees up to her chest as she sat on the bed. "Don't you think you should let Laguna hug you? You know he really wants to," she answered. She just couldn't do it. After all, they were at a party. People drank at parties. And, Squall hated going to parties.
"I'm not ready yet," he mumbled around his toothbrush.
"Squall?" She asked again, putting her chin on her knees.
"What?" He asked again from the bathroom, getting annoyed.
"Don't you think you drank too much tonight?" She blurted out before she could talk herself out of it.
"So what?" He scoffed, a little defensively. "It's not like I passed out into my soup. I can still walk and talk."
"Barely," Rinoa muttered under her breath.
"Whatever," he snapped.
"I'm just worried about you!"
Squall sat on the edge of the bed, back to her. "You don't need to be."
"I think I do! Especially when you don't tell me what you're feeling. Tell me what you're thinking!" She urged, crawling across the bed.
Squall's shoulders stiffened at that phrase, but relaxed again when he felt Rinoa's soft hands come to rest on them. He could feel the distant magic thrum in her touch from her dormant well of Sorcery. "I just had a few drinks," he answered wearily. "I got carried away." He looked over his shoulder at her, and the worry filling her deep brown eyes.
"You sure?" She asked, uncertain.
"Yes."
"Well, okay..." She agreed, even though she wasn't totally convinced. She was surprised when Squall reached up and touched her hair, brushing a lock off her cheek. It was such a gentle gesture that it froze her.
"I really do love you, you know?" He murmured, filled with love for her, warring with his intense guilt at the fact that maybe... No. He couldn't go there. He couldn't let him wonder things about Seifer.
"I know," she murmured, though she treasured such the rare declaration. "I love you too." She opened her mouth to add something like 'I'm just worried about you, that's all', or 'I wish you felt like you could talk to me', or 'why can't you let me in there, Squall?', but she kept it to herself. He leaned in and kissed her, which made her heart flutter, even though his lips tasted strongly of alcohol. He wrapped his arms around her, his hands roaming her torso, leaning them back as he cupped her breasts through the cream silk of her lingerie. Her body was pressed between his weight and the mattress, and while they were so close physically, they were emotionally miles apart.
---
"Well, if Esthar doesn't want it, they don't want it," Quistis replied with a shrug, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with Squall down one of the hallways of the upper levels of Garden. She wore the skimpiest clothes she could while still being business-like, because it was a scorcher in Balamb. She had on a thin tank top in bright pink, and a lightweight pair of white linen pants. Squall, of course, wore full pants, gloves and a leather jacket. She'd only ever seen Squall show any kind of skin in semi-public during hard work-outs, and even then, it was always a modest t-shirt and pants.
"Was Xu mad?"
"Maybe just a little disappointed. What does it say, anyway?" She looked over Squall's shoulder as he opened the large envelope he was carrying. They'd just come from a roundtable meeting where the various SeeD teams on active duty would choose available missions. Squall had grabbed one of the envelopes before Quistis had gotten the chance to put in any input.
Squall pulled out the papers, and his step faltered. " ...chasing some escaped convict."
"That escaped from Dollet jurisdiction," Quistis finished, raising her eyebrows, gripping Squall's upper arm so he'd stop walking, hard enough that his leather mid-length trench coat creaked under her hand. "Dollet?" She asked questioningly.
"I didn't pick it on purpose."
"Uh huh." Her disbelief was evident in her tone.
"I didn't!" Squall insisted quietly. "It's just... a happy coincidence."
"Happy for who?" Quistis asked darkly, now crossing her arms. "Rinoa? You said things were going fine between the two of you."
"It's completely innocent. The ferry leaves in two hours, so we should get our prep work done fast," he rambled, wanting to desperately change the subject. Balamb Garden had a small number of super-fast small ferry ships docked in Balamb Town they could deploy when SeeD needed to get to places faster than public transit could take them.
"Don't bullshit me, Squall. I'm sure your libido jumped up the second..."
"Shut up!" He hissed, nudging her as he saw Cid coming towards them up the hallway, trailed closely behind by Xu.
"Hello, Headmaster!" Quistis greeted jovially after shooting Squall a peeved sidelong look. "What's up?"
"Oh, just on my way to a meeting," Cid answered with his usual pleasant countenance. Xu had some bursting binders and folders cradled in her arms. "Listen, I know you've got to start getting ready for your next mission, but when you guys get back, I want to talk to you both about your positions in the future of Garden."
"Future?" Quistis asked. "It's unfortunate about Esthar..."
"Oh, it's not that. It's just I can't be Headmaster forever, you know?" He gave them both a wink. Quistis chuckled, while Squall was stonily silent as usual. "You two are the face of Garden's future." He clapped Squall on the shoulder. "Well, can't keep everyone waiting forever."
He kept walking up the hallway, though Xu didn't follow right behind. She stood in place, paperwork clutched to her breast, looking as if someone had just swung a giant anvil into her face. Squall had kept going in the other direction, his mood immediately soured at the sheer mention of more responsibility, but Quistis stayed behind, looking at her best friend with mounting concern. Xu was actually swaying a little bit, like she was going to faint. A few papers came fluttering out of the bundle, but she didn't notice.
"Xu...?" Quistis asked, gingerly touching the other woman on the shoulder.
Xu jerked and took a giant gulp of air, looking at Quistis like she'd forgotten the blonde woman was even there at all. "Oh... Quisty."
"You okay?"
"Huh?"
"You kind of... drifted off there. Very Squall-like." She crouched and picked up the papers off the carpet. "Here."
"Thanks." Xu took them, still looking vaguely ill. "Just distracted, I guess..."
"Are you sure that's all?"
"Yeah!" Xu's aura brightened, but Quistis could still see something uneasy in the depths of her black eyes. "Hey, listen I'm thinking of asking Nida out today!" She crossed her fingers while balancing her paperwork.
"Oh, good luck!" Quistis put on a brave face, completely masking her disappointment. In the few short months since Nida had asked her for that coffee date, she'd tried to avoid him. Sometimes it was easy, because she and Squall would be away on missions, and Nida would be gone with Irvine for the same thing, but other times, it was near impossible. Because she was trying to avoid him, they seemed to keep running into each other all over Garden, and things were always awkward because there was a high level of sexual tension between them. Nida had asked her a couple of times if she'd changed her mind about the coffee date, and she'd be on the verge of accepting him, but said no at the last minute, and always despised herself for it. It's not like she had a bunch of other men asking her out. The only guys she talked to on a regular basis were Squall, Zell, Irvine and Seifer, whom she would call on the phone much to Squall's jealousy and chagrin. And, none of them were potential boyfriends, even though Irvine did flirt shamelessly with her, and every other woman he laid his eyes on.
"You're sure you're okay? You're not coming down with anything, are you?"
"I'm fine," Xu muttered, suddenly frosty. "See you later."
Quistis nodded, watching Xu's back as she walked down the hall. It wasn't like Xu to keep things from her, so Quistis became very worried. She trotted after Squall, and found him already setting up in one of the old classrooms that had been refurbished into a computer lab SeeD could use for researching missions. Selphie waved at them from a terminal she was sharing with her partner Ida, and offered them some candy from the bag she was eating from, which Quistis waved away.
"What are you guys working on?" She called across the lab, voice booming.
"Escaped convict that left Dollet jurisdiction." Quistis called as Squall started pulling up articles from Dollet's newspapers.
"Boooorrrinng!" Selphie teased. "We have a guy that stole a truck of bombs en route between Timber and Fisherman's Horizon."
"Why don't you go over there and talk to her, instead of shouting in my fucking ear?" Squall snapped.
Quistis's eyebrows shot up. "Well, who pissed in your cereal?"
Squall just ignored her, and jabbed the keyboard harder than necessary, the mouse skidding off its pad in his fervour.
"You and Rinoa get in a fight or something before she left?" She asked quietly. Rinoa had gone to Centra for a few days so she could study with Edea at the Orphanage.
"...Whatever."
"I'll take that as a yes."
"When are we not fighting? Sometimes I hate her."
"No, you don't."
"I just want to... pop her head off like a bottle cap."
"No, you don't," Quistis repeated evenly. Squall often ranted to her like this when he was mad with his girlfriend. She checked her watch. "We should hurry. The ferry will be leaving soon."
"And, who says I want to be Headmaster, anyway?" He whispered hotly.
"Yeah, well at least you don't have to stand back and grin and bear it like everything's fine while Zell asks her out on a date," she muttered, crossing her arms.
"He can have her."
"You don't mean that."
"You should just say yes to him," Squall said, scrolling through various newspapers, looking for relevant articles. "Nida's going to turn Xu down, no matter what you do. You shouldn't suspend your own happiness for what other people might think."
"Maybe that's something you should be directing at yourself," Quistis muttered under her breath. "What did this guy do, anyway?" She asked sulkily, wanting to change the subject so she could take her mind off Nida and his wonderfully warm brown eyes. She pulled out some more papers from their envelope. "Dominik Berrhaven. Serial rapist who graduated to murder. Six women so far. Charming."
"There you go. The perfect man for you."
"Squall, come on..." Quistis tapped the face of her watch. "Get this stuff printed off. I'll grab your travel bag when I get mine, and I'll meet you at the garage."
Squall didn't reply as he took papers as the printer spit them out. Most SeeD kept bags packed for when they had to leave quickly in just these situations, and Quistis knew exactly where Squall kept his.
"So, what makes the Dollet police think that this guy won't be on a train to Esthar by now?" Quistis asked in the car to Balamb Town.
"A couple of girls went missing from Abal Township, near the border with Galbadia." Squall handed Quistis the folder of papers he'd printed as he drove down the highway. "Two weeks apart. They think he's moving towards Deling City."
"We have to stop him before he gets there," Quistis muttered. "Once he gets there, we'd never find him." Deling was so densely populated, that anyone could disappear forever among the throngs of the city's underbelly.
"He's stopping along the way, so we'll catch him," Squall said with certainty. "There's a new missing person case in Vinziertown, just happened today."
"Hmm," Quistis read the files. "He'll probably keep her around for a couple days to rape and torture her, and then kill her. Let's hope Berrhaven stays with that pattern. Hyne, what an awful thing to say."
Since Squall drove too fast, they arrived in Balamb Town in record time, and were on their way to Dollet via sea within the hour. Whenever they were gearing up for a mission, Squall and Quistis reverted into themselves, and concentrated on getting into the right mindset for their task at hand. These kinds of missions were always hard, since they were often called in when time was almost up, and the fugitive was almost through local law enforcement's fingers.
Once in the city, a pre-arranged rental car was waiting for them, and Squall once again got behind the wheel without asking Quistis if she wanted to drive. Vinziertown was just across the Galbadian border from the former grand Dollet Empire, and about an hour's drive.
"They gave us the girl's address," Quistis informed him, opening a file left in the car by Dollet's police. She shook her head at the photograph. "Cute girl," she commented sadly. The woman wasn't much younger than Quistis and Squall, and had a very pretty smile with straight white teeth, and a dimple in her left chin. She had beautifully curly light brown hair, and Quistis tried not to think of what she could look like once this maniac was through with her.
"He'd have to take her somewhere secluded, or else everyone would hear her screaming. But, nearby because he knows people are looking for him."
"The local sheriff would have already talked to the family, so we should just scour the area to look for spots. His victims in Dollet were all found in shallow bodies of water. Ravines, creeks, reservoirs. We could start there."
"Let's stop here." Squall pulled their rented car into the parking lot of a small diner that was still open. "They'd probably know where to find anything like that."
They entered the diner, and Quistis went up to the woman behind the cash register while Squall hung back near the door. His arms wound up crossing over his chest, and his body language became closed and guarded as some of the diner's patrons took notice of him, and recognized his face. Nobody approached him for an autograph, but they did murmur behind their hands, and watch him intently, making him feel like some sort of zoo exhibit. He suddenly wanted a drink very badly.
"Okay, she said that there's an old paper mill just outside town that we should check out."
"Wouldn't the cops have already done it?" Squall asked once out in the parking lot. He couldn't help but cast a look back through the large windows of the diner, and saw that people were still gawking at him. Many of them quickly huddled together, mouths moving rapidly.
"It doesn't hurt to check again," Quistis said wearily, holding up a napkin with her handwriting on it. "I got directions."
"Fine." Squall got behind the wheel, and followed Quistis's directions as she read them out to him.
"This must be it up here." Quistis pointed to a large four-story building. There were a few county sheriff cars parked out front.
"Are you the local sheriff?" Quistis asked one of the uniformed women who was talking on her car's radio.
"Yes, miss. How can I help you?" The stout woman asked briskly. "Wait... do I know you?"
"My name is Quistis Trepe, and this is Squall Leonhart. We're with SeeD."
The sheriff's dark eyebrows raised in recognition when she saw Squall, but she was polite enough not to make a scene over it. "Were you called in by the Dollet police?"
"Yes, officer. Do you have any leads on Berrhaven's whereabouts?"
"We had a description of the car he'd stolen from a used dealership in Dollet, but we found it abandoned just over the Galbadian border. The victim was taken as she was walking home from her job at a local produce store, and there are no witnesses to it. Nobody would have thought walking home at night around here would be dangerous."
"Are there any shallow bodies of water around this mill?" Quistis asked as Squall went up ahead, walking very slowly and quietly.
"A couple of old cesspools for the water waste run-off. Only half the mill is currently operational," the sheriff informed, tucking a lock of her greying black hair behind her ear. She looked exhausted. This was probably the first case like this she'd ever had to deal with. Quistis sympathized. "So, it's taking us a long time to go through all the old rooms, especially while it's so dark out. The place is falling apart, and those sections were scheduled to be condemned, anyway."
"We'll help, ma'am. Are there any officers in there now?"
"Two of them in the lower levels, and the usual security guards along with two more officers in the working parts of the mill. The higher floors are more dangerous..." She sighed. "We don't even normally carry guns around here."
"This is the kind of stuff we're trained for."
"I know Cathie," the sheriff murmured sadly. "My sons went to school with her all their lives."
"We'll find her," Quistis assured. "She says there's two officers in the lower levels of the condemned areas, and a couple of cesspools. Probably out back."
When they got closer to the old parts of the building, it really did look dangerous. "I don't know that we should split up. We might fall through the floor or something."
Squall nodded.
"Has anyone been upstairs yet?" Quistis asked when they found the two sheriffs, flashing them her SeeD badge.
"Not yet, ma'am. It's too hard to navigate at night."
"Allow us. Do you have radios?"
One of the officers handed her a walkie-talkie. "Be careful," he told her.
She nodded, and gestured for Squall to follow. They started to climb the stairs to the second floor as quietly as they could, but the rickety steps creaked loudly under their weight. Squall once more pulled out his pistol, and Quistis did the same with a gun that had been concealed at the small of her back. Both also readied magic. The second floor was much darker than the main level, so both pulled out small flashlights, moving slowly through the abandoned rooms. There were gaping holes in the floors that they had to avoid, and almost stepped in on a few occasions. Squall nearly walked right into one, and would have fallen if it hadn't been for Quistis grabbing his arm and pulling him back.
"Thanks," he whispered to her.
She just nodded, and they moved on. Squall held up a hand to stop his partner when he noticed some marks in the dust that caked the floor. It looked like something had been dragged through it. They'd passed quite a few discarded beer bottles, cigarette butts and discarded condom packages, so it could have been teenagers had recently been in here to party, but neither was taking any chance. They had to step over some collapsed beams and bypass a massive hole in the floor, following the drag marks on the ground.
Quistis suddenly gripped Squall from behind and pointed to some blood droplets mingled with the grime. They came to what had probably been some kind of hallway that branched into three rooms. The roof of one had completely collapsed, so it was impossible for anyone to get it there, especially if they were dragging around someone's dead weight. The second room was completely empty save an overturned chair and a rat scurrying away when Quistis shone her flashlight past it, and in the third room, Quistis's breath caught in her throat when she saw some legs sticking out from behind a dust-covered desk. She kept a lookout as Squall crept into the room. He rolled on the floor around the desk, aiming his gun at the legs, but the weapon clattered from his hands when he was looking at the corpse of Berrhaven, a huge hole in his head from what looked like a gunshot wound. The girl, Cathie, was pinned under his body, eyes open and glassy. Squall saw with relief that she was breathing, her mouth under some duct tape.
"Quisty!" He shouted, pushing Berrhaven off Cathie's legs. She was tied up tightly and breathing very heavily. She didn't make a move when Squall approached her and pulled the tape off her mouth and loosened her bonds. She was looking beyond him, and breathing heavily enough that Squall thought she might be in shock. Berrhaven's blood was all over her.
"Officer?!" Quistis called into the radio.
"Miss Trepe?" His voice crackled.
"We found the girl. She's alive, but needs a doctor. We think she's in shock."
"She's alive!" They heard the officer exclaim to his partner. "Right away!"
"I'll meet you at the top of the stairs and lead the paramedics here." She severed the radio connection and crouched beside Squall. "Will you be okay with her alone?"
"I have some cure magic in case she gets worse" Squall now looked at Berrhaven. Cathie obviously hadn't been the one to shoot him, since she'd been so thoroughly incapacitated. But then who?
"Cathie?" Squall asked, looking into her wide eyes. "Is that your name?"
She didn't reply, and just kept panting and staring into nothing. Squall couldn't be sure if she was injured, since there was a lot of Berrhaven's blood on her, perhaps masking some of her own injuries. And, he didn't want to start examining her because he wouldn't know what to look for.
"Cathie? My name is Squall. We're here to help you."
She gave no acknowledgement that she heard him.
Squall waited with her and awkwardly held her hand until Quistis came back with the paramedics, who immediately took to examining the poor girl. The SeeD stood back and let the team do their jobs, and started to examine how Berrhaven wound up dead.
"It looks like he was shot from over here" Squall got up and stepped backwards, following the possible trajectory of the bullet. It took him to a glassless window with a badly dilapidated frame. There were some deep scars in the rotting wood that Squall ran his gloved fingers over.
Quistis joined him, and splayed her fingers across the marks for a rough measurement. "You think a grappling hook?"
He nodded. "The police here wouldn't have grappling hooks," he whispered to her.
"Then... who...?"
Squall leaned out the window and looked down. "Might be some prints down there from whoever came jumping back down."
Quistis scuttled along the dusty floor, and looked at the soles of Berrhaven's and Cathie's shoes, then examined the floor, snapping some pictures with a mini-camera from within one of her pockets. "Most of these prints look like Berrhaven's. He must have been dragging Cathie, and she made those long marks. The other prints look like our shoes."
"No bullet casings, either."
Quistis kneeled fully on the ground. "You're thinking it was a professional job too, huh?"
He nodded once.
"The Solar System?" They started walking back downstairs so they could check out where Berrhaven's killer would have landed when jumping from the window.
"They are apparently from Galbadia," Squall murmured. The parking lot was now illuminated by the flashing lights atop the ambulance.
"But, why would professional assassins go after a runaway rapist?" Quistis asked.
They crouched below the window, looking up at it. "Whoever it was would have slid down their grappling line, so wouldn't have left much in the way of a deep shoe print." Squall flashed his light along the ground, where there was a very slight indentation. "I'd say it was a man." He put his own foot next to the print for comparison. It was quite a bit longer than his own.
"Or, a rather gigantic female. We could be looking for an Adel impersonator!" Quistis joked.
Squall rolled his eyes, but did appreciate her breaking the tension. "There aren't even really any tread marks."
"Looks like whoever it was scuffed up the prints on purpose. That's not something an amateur does."
They searched around for more clues. More footprints, tire tracks, an abandoned vehicle, anything. But, there was absolutely no sign.
"Now what?" Quistis asked, highly frustrated after a night of searching for Berrhaven's killer and coming up with nothing. They'd reported their findings to the local police, who said they'd call with information about Berrhaven's demise.
"We did what we came to do," Squall replied. It was already evening by the time they came out of Dollet's police headquarters and had made arrangements for a hotel room, since the last ferry to Balamb had already left.
"You just want to let Berrhaven's killer go?" She asked.
"What can we do?" He asked, making a left-hand turn. "The trail's gone cold, and it's looking more and more like a professional hit, so there probably isn't even any trail to follow. Besides, whoever he is did us a favour, the way I see it."
"We could look at who would hire an assassin to kill Berrhaven."
"It's outside our contract obligations."
Quistis opened her mouth to argue, but he did have a really valid point. She then noticed their surroundings. "Squall, I think you made a wrong turn. I don't think this is the way to the harbour." She'd been to Dollet quite a few times, but didn't recognize this area. After a bit, she noticed there were a lot of young men and women their own age milling about or walking across manicured lawns, carrying books and backpacks. "Squall, where are we?" She asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Huh?"
She could only shake her head when she recognized some of the more famous landmarks of the prestigious University of Dollet. "Squall... You know, this borders on stalking. I take that back," she muttered as he pulled into a student parking lot. "This is stalking."
He pulled out his cell phone, with Quistis's sapphire eyes burning into the side of his face as he dialled Seifer's number.
"Speed dial?!" Quistis hissed incredulously.
Seifer was in a school library with books piled up around him, covering pages and pages of his notebook with small handwriting.
"You're starting to come onto my side, ya know?!" Raijin chastised, pushing aside a small stack of books about lizards so he could open one of his own books about filmmaking, his own major. He had a portable DVD player with him, and was watching films with headphones, taking notes on camera angles and lighting.
Seifer muttered a pseudo-apology under his breath as he flipped back a few pages, going over something he'd written down earlier. He then jerked when he felt vibration in his pants. He pulled out his phone as Raijin started writing furiously, making small noises of appreciation at some particularly interesting camera angles in the suspense thriller he was studying. He frowned at the phone, expecting to have seen Fujin's number come up, but it was Squall's. He thought for a few moments on whether he should even bother answering, the phone still vibrating in his hand. His willpower and his emotions warred, and his willpower lost as he flipped open his phone.
"Hello," Seifer greeted blandly. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Hi," Squall replied quietly, in a way that made Seifer's heart beat a little faster, and his insides squirm. "What are you doing?" Squall was quite sure he sounded pathetic and desperate, but he honestly didn't care. If this had been a call to anyone else, he probably would have hung up as soon as they'd answered the phone, but things between him and Seifer had always been different, even before that day in Squall's office.
"Why?"
"I just... maybe you would... want to come to dinner with us," he mumbled.
"Oh, I don't know..." Seifer trailed off as Raijin listened intently. By his friend's body language and the tone of his voice, Raijin was pretty sure it was Squall on the other end.
"Bring Raijin and Fujin!" Quistis called into the phone, for which Squall glared mightily at her.
Seifer could hear some sort of hissed argument going on between them. "Do you want to go eat with Squall and Quistis?"
Raijin paused, his dark eyes showing his deep thought. "Okay. I guess that's cool, ya know?"
Seifer talked to Squall for a little while more, and made arrangements where they would meet up. As he talked, Raijin's eyes narrowed, until they were mere slits. Seifer had told him the whole business with Squall, and while Raijin's top concern was Seifer's happiness, he didn't think he would find such a thing in this particular circumstance. Sure, Squall and Seifer were compatible on so many levels - Squall was probably the only person that Seifer Almasy could be compatible with, but there was also the matter that Squall had a girlfriend he wasn't in much of a hurry to break up with.
Half an hour later, they were all sitting down at a table in a casual coffeehouse just off campus. Squall's mood was deeply soured when someone came up to him and asked for a picture, then asked why Rinoa wasn't with him and Quistis was instead. Squall stormed past when they started to ask if he was dating Quistis now instead of Rinoa. It took Raijin longer to reach the table than anyone because he kept stopping when someone shouted hello to him. Fujin got there first, because she just ploughed her way through the crowd like a bull.
"SQUALL. QUISTIS." She greeted in her usual stiff, stilted manner.
"You look really nice!" Quistis commented, taken aback to see Fujin so gussied up in a very nicely tailored suit. She actually looked quite... beautiful. But, she was sure if she said something to the other woman, she'd get her head bitten off.
"What have you been doing?" Seifer asked as he sat down, conveniently beside Squall. He gestured to the grass stains on Quistis's white pants.
"Huh? Oh. I crawled around on some grass."
"Heh heh heh." Raijin snapped a piece of paper in his hand, then put it in his pocket for safe keeping. "Tia gave me her phone number, ya know?" He sat back, full of masculine smugness. "Hey, Quistis. You look great."
"Aww." She mockingly fluffed her hair.
"Squall," Raijin greeted, his tone immediately like a Trabian winter.
He furrowed his brow. Raijin had always been very friendly to him, so this cold shoulder was a little disconcerting.
"Who's Tia?" Quistis asked keenly as Seifer gestured to a server for a couple pitchers of beer.
"This girl I met at the gym. She always wears this hot white lace leotard..."
"Girl?" Squall echoed. "But... you and Fujin...?"
"What? Me and Fujin, ya know?!" He started laughing hard, which earned him a swift kick under the table, rattling the whole thing. "Ouch, that hurt!"
"GROSS," Fujin said, giving Raijin an unflattering sweep with her eye.
"Well, Tia doesn't think I'm gross."
"I wasn't the only one who thought it," Squall muttered into his chest, a flush coming to his cheeks.
Seifer couldn't help but chuckle. "You're so socially awkward," he said, half of him teasing, half of him finding it adorable.
"Oh, Hyne!" A voice screeched, practically right in Squall's ear. He jerked and looked up with any icy stare at the waitress who plunked the beer on their table. "You're Squall Leonhart, aren't you? Oh god, this is insane! Can I totally have your autograph?"
Squall continued to glare at her, but she was completely oblivious to his growing fury, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"You and Rinoa Heartilly make such a good couple!" She breathed. "Where is she? Is she as nice as she seems when she does interviews? It must be so hard for her to be a Sorceress, but she has Sorceress Edea to help her, right? And, your dad is still so handsome!" She searched her apron and pulled out her waitress pad, which had a coffee stain on the top corner. "So, can I have an autograph, please?"
Squall just continued to stare at her, like an ice sculpture, frozen in incredulous disgust. It was a solid minute before the waitress seemed to realize that she'd pissed him off. "Oh, um... I'm sorry." She scurried away, her face getting redder by the second.
"Squall, you really should be more gracious about that kind of thing," Quistis chided as Squall poured himself a mug of beer. "You know, you are famous now."
Squall muttered something illegible and contemptuous into his drink.
"So, why are you here?" Seifer asked. "You seem to have conveniently dodged that question."
Quistis pursed her full lips. "Garden mission."
"Can you talk about it?"
"Well..." She trailed off. "I don't know..."
"We were sent to go after Dominik Berrhaven."
"Squall!"
"REALLY?" Fujin asked, voice completely deadpan even when she was interested in something.
"I guess you caught him if you're able to sit here with us," replied Seifer.
"I wouldn't exactly say that," Squall answered, looking at Seifer and finding that the other man was actually looking at him now. When their gazes met, a thrilling whoosh went up Squall's spine.
"Why not, ya know?!"
"He was already dead when we got to him. Murdered."
"Can't say I feel sorry for him," Seifer muttered. "Things were especially tense around here. The girls in school with breathe a lot easier now."
"MURDERED?"
"They said in the paper that he'd kidnapped a girl in Vinziertown, ya know?! Did she kill him and get away?" Raijin leaned in, interested enough that he'd forgotten to be frosty to Squall.
"No," Quistis answered. "She was alive, but still tied up. It looks like he was... assassinated," she finished, lowering her voice dramatically on the last word.
"Assassinated?" Raijin echoed with a sceptical raise of his pierced eyebrow. "It's not like the guy was a drug lord."
"He kept getting off on technicalities," Seifer pointed out, finally breaking his gaze from Squall's. "When justice failed, maybe a victim's family member wanted vengeance."
"Maybe it was the Solar System," Squall suggested, pouring another glass of beer, since he'd already finished his first.
"You really think they exist?" Seifer asked, meeting Squall's eyes once more. He could have stared into Squall's eyes forever...
"You don't?" Quistis asked.
Seifer shrugged, not breaking eye contact with Squall. Hyne, how he wished he could have just put his arm around Squall's shoulders right then, and just feel the warmth of Squall's side pressed against his own. Like they were actually a couple. Like Squall was his lover. It was something he'd probably wanted for as long as he could remember, but he'd been so arrogant and selfish and lost that it took Ultimecia for him to really look into himself and see what it is he really wanted out of life.
"Seifer?" Quistis asked when he didn't answer.
"It could just be a ploy by the Galbadian army to hide whatever sneaky things they're doing, or it could be some front by organized criminals."
"Garden's taking them very seriously," Squall murmured, feeling like he weighed nothing as he looked into the pale green of Seifer's eyes.
"Hey, Seifer... what's up?" A man greeted, sliding up to their table, a beer in his hand.
Seifer regretfully looked away from Squall's face. "Hello," he greeted stiffly. "Squall, Quistis... this is Evan Phaighn, a guy in my advanced biology class."
"Yeah, hi," he said to Squall, not even looking at him. Evan's dark eyes were glued to Quistis, who looked up, and then looked away again under the intense scrutiny. "Mind if I pull up a chair?"
"Actually, I do..." Seifer trailed off with an angry sigh as Evan pulled one up anyway.
"So, Quistis I've seen you in the papers a few times, but you're much prettier in real life."
She laughed. "Wow, did you really just say that?"
"Why, did it sound really pathetic?" Evan asked with a laugh.
"Just a little." Quistis bit her lip as he looked at her again in that way. Nida was the only other man in recent memory to look at her in that way. And, it's not like she could have Nida, no matter how much she may have wanted to go out with him.
"So, you really don't think the Solar System exists?" Squall asked, turning his body in his chair so he could talk to Seifer more directly. When their eyes met again, Squall just wanted to slither into his lap.
"There isn't any evidence."
"So, do you like being a common student?" Squall asked, his tone become more seductive.
"I'm not a common anything, Squall."
"No, you really aren't."
"Are you actually flirting with me?" Seifer whispered, oblivious that there were other people at the table. "Squall Leonhart, flirting? It's a day in history."
"You don't like it?"
"I didn't say that," replied Seifer so quietly that only Squall could hear him.
"Are you flirting with me now?" Squall whispered back, leaning in, his hand giving Seifer's thigh a very gentle yet very suggestive touch.
"If you want me to." Seifer also leaned in, so their chests were almost pressed together.
"I want you to do more than that," Squall breathed, leaning in further, so their lips were getting closer together. "A lot more." His breath was now mingling with Seifer's.
Seifer gave his trademark grin, arm reaching up to touch the side of Squall's face, but he froze when he felt a sharp, intense pain in his leg when Fujin swiftly kicked him under the table, completely breaking the mood.
"Ouch," Seifer grit out through clenched teeth, glaring daggers at her. "What are you doing?"
She just shook her head at him. But, she'd been successful in her aim, which was to break up what had almost been yet another kiss between them. Squall realized what almost happened, and turned himself away from Seifer. They were in public. All it would have taken was one photograph to expose his actions to Rinoa, and destroy their relationship.
Isn't that what you want, though? A tiny voice asked in his mind.
I love Rinoa, he argued mentally.
But, don't you love Seifer, too?
Squall looked down at the table, his heart lurching. He felt like the world had been turned upside down with that realization, and he immediately reached for the alcohol, wrapping his shaking gloved hands around the mug. Was he really in love with Seifer, too? Seifer had started talking with Raijin about some school thing, but it just became white noise in Squall's ears, mashed together with the buzz of Quistis and Evan's conversation, which seemed to be getting a little more intimate.
Seifer continued to talk to Raijin about classes, his face feeling hot. He looked sidelong at Squall, who was hunched over his drink, emptying and refilling the glass faster than what was normal. Both times he'd seen Squall since he'd left Garden, he'd been drowning himself in booze.
Squall stood abruptly, almost knocking over one of the beer pitchers, which were now near empty thanks to him and him alone. "I'm going to go back to the hotel room," he muttered, stumbling away from the table. "You coming?"
"I'll catch up later," Quistis murmured, waving her hand without looking away from Evan, who was quite the interesting conversationalist. It was like talking with Irvine, but without the brotherly vibe.
Seifer opened his mouth to protest as Squall weaved through the crowd, but what could he say? Instead he just slumped in his chair, glaring at Fujin across the table because his leg still hurt from her kick. He wanted to just run after Squall and... fight for him. Tell him that they were meant to be together, and that he should leave Rinoa. That Seifer wanted to be with him.
So, why don't you? He asked himself angrily.
And, he honestly didn't have a response.
---
Squall lay awake, staring at the ceiling. It was well into the middle of the night, and even though he'd completely emptied the mini-bar of alcohol, he was wide awake. Thinking about Seifer. Thinking about Rinoa. Thinking about Quistis and wondering where the hell she was. It wasn't like her to stay out past three in the morning partying. But, if she was with Seifer, Squall had nothing to worry about. Seifer would never let anything happen to her. He reached across the bed for a discarded bottle of brandy, but when he went to take a swig, it was already empty. He found he was next reaching for his phone. He stopped himself halfway through dialling Seifer's number. What would he say? "I'm drunk. Come over and take advantage of me"?
He heard the door's lock clicking, and he sat up when it opened, bathing the dark room in the light from the hallway, silhouetting Quistis as she tried to tiptoe in. He had to move slowly, because he was so drunk that the room was spinning.
"Where were you?" He asked, waiting until she'd closed the door and was creeping to her bed before speaking.
She gasped. "Hyne, Squall! You scared me!"
"Were you out with Seifer all this time?" He asked, trying hard not to sound like a jealous girlfriend. But, even though he was stinking drunk, he knew he'd failed in that attempt.
"No," she answered. He could hear her boots hitting the carpet. "And, it fucking reeks in here. How much did you drink?" She turned on the nightstand lamp, causing Squall to have to fling his arm over his eyes. She could only shake her head and sigh "Oh, Squall" when she saw all the empty alcohol bottles.
"So, where were you then?"
"Just... out."
"With that guy?"
"...maybe." She slipped under the covers.
"Did you have sex with him?"
Quistis was silent for a while. "Would you say it was wrong if I answered 'yes'?" She asked.
Squall didn't answer because he'd passed out.
Quistis curled up under the thick duvet on her bed after she'd taken off her over clothes. She and Squall were at the point in their relationship that she really didn't mind if he saw her in her bra and panties, because there was nothing sexual to it at all. She started to feel a little guilty, thinking about Evan, and then thinking about Nida. But, she couldn't have sex with Nida, and it had been so long since any man had touched her. She started trying to rationalize her actions to herself, telling herself that she was allowed to have sex. She was single, right? Xu liked Nida, so he was off-limits, right? She told herself that she would not start to beat herself up over wanting companionship, and continued this argument with her conscience right until she fell asleep.
---
"I'm sure it's nothing serious," Quistis assured, starting to get a little exasperated with Squall. They were walking shoulder-to-shoulder down one of Garden's hallways as they always did, deep in conversation. If things were different, Quistis would have been really happy that Squall was so enamoured with Seifer and any little tidbit of information about him, and would have thought it was intensely cute. But, the whole fact that he still had a girlfriend that he claimed to love made her just want to wash her hands of the entire situation. She really wanted Rinoa to know the truth, but could never betray Squall and tell the woman herself.
Squall looked over when he saw a junior cadet and his friend whispering behind their hands, pointing at Squall. In the past week, he got that wherever he went in Garden. On Saturday night they'd had the graduation ball for the newest batch of SeeD, and Squall had gotten pretty hammered, and made a bit of an ass of himself. Of course, even people who weren't at the ball knew the entire story of him nearly passing out on the dance floor, and getting in a big shouting match with not only Rinoa, but a couple of new graduates. And, then he'd apparently thrown up into a planter according to rumour, but couldn't remember any of it.
"Don't you kids have anything better to do?" She asked, shooing them with her hands.
They just looked at Quistis and laughed, like they knew something funny they weren't telling her. She furrowed her brow as they ran down the hallway, looking behind them and laughing some more. "Squall, don't you think that you should... get some help?" Squall was quickly going from the most respected SeeD ever to the butt of people's jokes.
"For what?" He asked, crossing his arms as they walked. A SeeD pasting them wolf-whistled at Quistis, and his friend murmured something under his breath, that while Quistis couldn't hear it, she knew wasn't flattering.
"Oh, I don't know..." She trailed off, smacking his shoulder. "You can't remember making a complete asshole of yourself in a public place, completely sloshed out of your mind? Where's the Squall that would have despised anyone seeing even the smallest crack in his professionalism?"
"Hard to be professional when your face is on the front of every damn tabloid paper around," he hissed. The latest story was wondering if Squall and Quistis were having an affair. A few pictures had been taken of them on missions, claiming they were off on some clandestine rendezvous.
"Hey, Quistis! If I take you out, will you show me a good time?!" Someone shouted.
Quistis turned around, but couldn't see who the voice had come from. Some people milling about started laughing.
"Is there some practical joke going on?" She asked as they headed towards her office.
Squall shrugged. "Have you heard from him?"
"No!" Quistis snapped after she heard another wolf-whistle. "What is going on?! And, it hasn't been very long. Seifer's just really busy. He pulls a lot of all-nighters. Or, maybe he doesn't want to talk to you after what happened in the coffee shop."
"Nothing happened..."
"Oh, please!" She reached out her hands, desperately wanting to throttle him. "You two were eye-fucking each other the entire time!" She stopped and put her hands on her hips. "Maybe he doesn't want to have something dangled in front of him that he can't have, hmm?"
"Hey, Quistis! Come to my room tonight! I know you love it dirty!" A SeeD candidate taunted as he walked past, giving her a degrading once-over. "Hey, it's the boozer and the slut!" He called, turning down a hallway, making mock-retching noises.
"I love it dirty...?" Quistis echoed, completely at a loss.
When they finally got to Quistis's office, they found Irvine leaning against the wall, obviously waiting for them.
"Oh, hi Irvine. What's up?" Quistis asked, pulling out her key ring.
Irvine's brow was furrowed, and he didn't smile or greet her with lots of flirtation like he normally did. "Quisty... have you seen this?" He held up his hand, which was closed around a magazine.
"Seen what?" She opened the door to her office.
"Hi, Squall."
Squall just nodded, cocking his head and standing in the back of the room as Irvine approached Quistis gingerly, like one would do if they were about to try and diffuse a bomb.
"This copy of the Deling Enquirer."
"I don't read that garbage." She sat down at her desk.
Irvine pursed his lips and unfurled the magazine. Emblazoned on the cover was a photo of what looked like Quistis and Evan Phaighn in his bedroom, taken by a hidden camera. Quistis's jaw dropped and she forgot how to breathe as the letters on the cover burned into her eyes. The loud red headline screamed "My Hot One-Night Stand With Quistis Trepe!!" She slumped in her chair, unable to stand any longer.
Squall snatched the magazine from Irvine's hands, eyes narrowing as he looked at it. "Where did you get this?"
"There are hundreds of copies all over Garden. Quistis... is it true?"
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She could feel tears of humiliation growing.
"Who is this guy, anyway?"
Squall could only shake his head angrily when he opened the magazine to the article, and saw sub-headlines like 'How does Squall feel about this?' and 'Miss Prim and Proper likes it dirty!'.
"He... goes to school with Seifer..." she answered, her voice not sounding like her own.
Squall closed the magazine in disgust. Inside were raunchy pictures of Evan and Quistis having sex, with genitals and breasts blurred out.
"Well, I guess I know what everyone was laughing at now," she whispered, voice wobbling.
"Quistis..." Irvine trailed off.
"Can I be alone right now?"
"Oh, sure!" Irvine patted her on the shoulder and made a quick exit, looking over his shoulder at her in concern as he did.
"You going to be okay?" Squall whispered.
She just stared at the cover of the magazine, fingering the edges. He then did something he'd never done before. He bowed down and kissed her cheek. As he left, she slumped at her desk with her head in her hands, and dissolved into tears.
---
"Look, I don't have all day, all right?" Dolero Pfeiffer chomped on the end of his cigar as he rolled down the electric window on his car. His driver got out and opened his door, and he stepped out with his wool trench coat billowing around him in the wind coming off the Dollet Sea. "My wife is waiting for me. We have reservations, and she can be a real cunt when I miss dinner reservations."
"I'm sure she'll forgive you for this." Mr. Shibiro held up a black briefcase. Pfeiffer and Shibiro were meeting in the parking lot of a car parts shop in Dollet's Industrial park. The lot was empty because it was after hours, and the flooring warehouse next door shielded them from the bulk of street traffic. He snapped open the case on the hood of Pfeiffer's car, and inside were hundreds of glittering diamonds the size of walnuts.
Pfeiffer's eyebrows raised as smoke billowed around him from his cigar. "How much?"
"Now now, Mr. Pfeiffer. For quality stones like this, you'll have to expect to pay big gil."
"25."
"You jest, I'm sure." Shibiro snapped the case shut again. "Particularly when this particular transaction should be going to Zimmer right about now."
Pfeiffer's eyes were now slits. Zimmer was his major competition in Dollet's underground diamond smuggling ring. To steal some rocks right out from under his nose would be so sweet. "40."
"Now you're talking, Mr. Pfeiffer. A cashier's cheque can be forwarded to me through the Dollet National Bank, and the diamonds will be yours."
"They better be. I don't like double-crossers."
"For 40 million gil? That will make me pretty loyal to you." Shibiro tipped his hat to Pfeiffer. "I'll expect that cheque within three business days." He turned to go towards his own car, when his head suddenly exploded, the briefcase falling from his hand and clattering to the ground. Shibiro landed on top of it, blood spraying all over the parking lot.
"Shit, the cops!" Pfeiffer began to reach into his trench coat for his pistol, but a bullet caught him in the chest, blowing a fist-sized hole in it. Pfeiffer's driver looked around wildly for the source of the gunfire, and he too met with a quick, silent end.
On the roof of a window manufacturer across the street, a figure in black was unscrewing his sniper rifle, picking up the bullet casings. He moved with agile speed, like a noiseless shadow as he put the rifle in the fake bottom of a gym duffel bag, a couple of towels and a set of work-out clothes and sneakers over top of it. He cut across the lawns of some of the Industrial Park's businesses, not noticed by anyone until he melded seamlessly into the crowd, and got on a nearby bus. As he sat near the back on the way to a local gym, away from the other passengers, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, and dialled a very private and secure number, entering an access code that only he and the owner of that number knew.
"I'm done," he murmured.
"Pretty quick," replied the mechanically disguised voice of Sol, the head of the Solar System. "Did you leave the briefcase at the scene?" It was impossible to tell if Sol was male or female, young or old.
"Yes."
"Where?" Sol asked their assassin.
"It's under one of them."
"Good. The funds are being wired to your account. Pluto will be in touch when I need you again, Jupiter." Sol severed their connection, leaving a dead line.
Jupiter sighed as he snapped his phone shut and put it back in his pocket. He watched Dollet's streets go by, waiting for his stop. He pulled the cord when he got near the gym, and hopped off with a few other passengers. He just hoped their wasn't a big crowd for the treadmill today.
"Oh, hey Seifer!" A girl from one of his classes called, wearing tennis whites and looking like she'd just had a long, sweaty match. She waved as he approached her. "You working out today?"
"Hopefully," he replied in passing, waving to her as he went into the men's locker room, the pieces of the sniper rifle pressing against his leg from within the gym bag.