It was a moment before Squall could bring himself to speak. Not only was his mind caught without words, but his body seemed to have entered a state of rebellion. He was trembling, and his chest felt so tight that he could hardly breathe. However, ultimately an unconscious element of the self-control he had been taught as a SeeD began to assert itself, and Squall just barely regained the ability to assemble coherent thoughts.
"What have you done to her?" he demanded, fighting to keep his voice level and generally failing.
"We're examining the manner in which her physiology and mental patterns differ from those of ordinary humans," the doctor replied cooly, stepping into the room and permitting the door to close. "It's a groundbreaking study, and the first time a Sorceress has been subjected to such investigation. Our results so far have been quite enlightening."
"Let her go," Squall ordered, advancing toward him in a fiercely menacing manner. "Let her go right now."
"I'm afraid that removal of the subject would have rather negative ramifications for our research," replied the doctor with the same level, detached tone of voice. "Therefore, I'm afraid I'll have to refuse. Perhaps my government might consider that option once the study is complete, though she faces a long list of charges for crimes against the state, so I can't make any guarantees."
Squall paused for a moment, his mind attempting to take him in a dozen different directions at once; then he violently shook his head to get his thoughts back on track. "I don't care about that. Let her go. I'm not leaving without her."
The doctor shook his head. "Again, that's simply not an acceptable solution to this issue. Indeed, I think the best thing for both of us would be for you to return to your quarters and remain there as ordered."
"Don't tell me what to do!" Squall snapped.
Still unfazed, the doctor raised his eyebrows. "Considering you seem to suffer no such restraint with your commands to me —"
"Shut up!" Squall charged a few more steps toward the man, barely reining in the urge to tackle him.
"Consider your situation for a moment," said the doctor, his persistent calm beginning to wear on Squall's already mangled nerves. "My assistant has already sounded an alarm; a contingent of guards will be here in moments to apprehend you simply for seeing foot in this section of the facility. That offense will certainly be compounded should you assault a Galbadian citizen. And I doubt that even a SeeD of your abilities would be able to fight off the whole of the Galbadian guard contingent without even a weapon. And even if you could, think of the ramifications your actions would hold if, as a representative of Garden, you were to act against us here."
The small part of Squall's mind that was still devoted to thinking rationally informed him that the scientist's assessment was correct. Unable to contain the storm of emotion conflicting within him, but also restrained from taking it out on the most obvious target, he slammed his fist into the table with an exclamation of frustrated rage. Turning away from the doctor's impassive form, he paced in a short circle, his right hand pressed to his forehead so hard that it would have certainly caused him a throbbing headache had one not already been present.
Think, he told himself. Be in control. Don't let this bastard play you like this.
"How can you do this?" he demanded. "She's a human being! Don't you have any conscience?"
"Conscience is often more bothersome than useful," the man replied. "I deal with matters of science, not ethics. My orders are to examine the Sorceress, and I endeavor to comply."
"Examine?" Squall repeated. "This is torture! How can you possibly justify that?"
"My methods," he said, "are the only means by which conclusions can be reached regarding the nature of the Sorceress's power." He fixed Squall with an appraising look. "Certainly you are sufficiently well versed in history to understand what a danger that power can pose? You have lived through one of the most potent examples."
"That's no excuse!" insisted Squall. "She's a human being, not some lab rat you can do with as you please!"
The doctor raised an eyebrow. "I've observed that the level of significance a person places on another's humanity is quite arbitrary. Tell me — when you took the lives of Galbadian soldiers on the battlefield, what consideration did you give to their status as human beings?" A slight edge crept into the doctor's voice with this question.
Squall shook his head. "She's not a soldier," he insisted. "You aren't on a battlefield. Don't compare that to what I have to do."
"Why not?" the doctor pressed. "She is a soldier, should she wear a uniform or not. Dozens of Galbadian soldiers have been killed attempting to prevent her acts of terrorism, and if we do not devise a means to contain her powers, there will be many more deaths in the future. You know this to be true, but you don't consider it relevant because you are only concerned with the suffering of those whom you personally know." He fixed Squall with a harsh, piercing glare. "Your claim to ethical superiority is false. It's simply a question of whose life you value more."
Squall shook his head, trying to dislodge the doctor's words; but his mind seemed unwilling to let go, and the accusation continued to echo about his ears. The spell was finally broken when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight once again of the body that hung limp from the wall, barely identifiable as alive. This reminder provided him with all the clarity of thought he needed.
"Let her go, NOW!" he screamed, advancing toward the doctor once again.
For the first time, the doctor seemed surprised at the ferocity of Squall's outburst. Nonetheless, he remained unmoved. "No," he declared, calmly as ever.
The doors opened to admit a trio of Galbadian Elite Soldiers, who entered with their weapons aimed directly at Squall. "What's going on in here?" demanded one, apparently the leader.
"Commander Leonhart seems to have stumbled away from his post," Vaider explained. "See that he finds his way back to his quarters, if you please."
The soldier nodded to his two companions, who moved to flank the SeeD. "If you'll come with us, sir?" he said, not quite lowering his weapon.
Jaw clenched, Squall looked from the Galbadian soldiers to the doctor, to the prone form hanging from the wall. He knew that he could not fight off three armed soldiers without his gunblade, and certainly not the countless others who would stand between him and any escape if he tried. However, his objections to the action he knew he needed to take were enough to paralyze him for a long moment, before he nodded and surrendered to the guards.
With one leading in front and two behind him, the three soldiers took him back out of the lab. Before passing out of sight, however, the SeeD turned to direct a smoldering glare back at the Galbadian scientist, and to dedicate both his features and the room's location to memory.
The guard in the hall had been doubled, and now the door was locked to any who didn't possess a Galbadian keycard; the Galbadians had, of course, reclaimed the one Squall had taken from the guard. Both the room's other occupants were off somewhere, and Squall had been pacing back and forth across the room for the better part of an hour, his mind mimicking the path of his body as he paced along in the same circle over and over again.
She's here. She's alive. I know where she is. I can get there again. I can help her. I can get her out of this place, away from these bastards. I can save her.
I'm in the middle of the ocean, on a Galbadian base filled with Galbadian soldiers. They'll be on guard for any moves I make. I can't beat them all. They'll stop me. I'd be helpless against them.
They won't stop me. I can't let them stop me. She's so close; I can't just stand by! I have to act. I have to do something. Anything. I can't stay in here. I need out. Let me out!
It wasn't until he felt the blunt pain from his gloved fist striking the door that he realized he had been vocalizing at least the last part of his inner monologue. Bringing the hand to his forehead, he staggered back to his bunk and curled up on the mattress, his body shaking uncontrollably. Get a grip! he commanded himself. You're not going to help anybody like this!
Despite at least managing to rein in his thoughts, Squall was not quite able to slow down his heart or relax his nerves. His continued attempts toward these goals were interrupted some time later by the door. Emitting a harsh beep, it slid open to show a Galbadian soldier and Karenna standing outside. The latter figure entered the room as Squall jumped to his feet, and the door slid closed.
"What's with the extra security all of a sudden?" the younger SeeD asked. "Since when did we lose the clearance to go into our own rooms?"
Squall didn't reply, making a last-ditch effort to compose himself that met with partial success. However, the oddity of his behavior was clearly not lost on Karenna, though she didn't immediately comment on it.
"So is this the kind of job SeeD's commander usually gets sent out on?" she asked. "I'm only asking 'cause it kinda seems we could have sent the Galbadians nine Moombas in SeeD uniforms and it wouldn't really have made any difference, for all the really hard work we're getting put to."
Stop talking. Squall didn't find himself in a condition to carry on any sort of conversation; Karenna's interruption had derailed his train of thought, and his mind was now even more of a jumbled mess than before.
Having sat down on her bunk, Karenna was watching Squall as he cast about the room without clearly knowing what it was he was looking for. "Sorry," she said, "but I can't help but get this kind of bad feeling when I'm locked in a room with a guy who looks like he's being possessed. Are you okay?"
"Fine." Squall bit out the response without giving any other attention to the inquirer. His efforts to exert some degree of control over his body and mind were proving partially successful, and he lowered himself onto his own bunk with his eyes directed at the floor.
After a few moments had passed and he had at least brought his body under control, he became aware that the other SeeD was watching him. At first he ignored her; however as time passed he became increasingly bothered by the treatment. Eventually, it came to the point where he almost wished she would actually say or do something, instead of simply staring at him.
"What?" he finally demanded, glaring back at her.
She shrugged. "It's no big deal."
Squall, having found something to focus on, continued to glare at her.
"Well, you asked." Karenna laid back in her bunk, staring up at the bunk above instead of at Squall. "You're really kind of larger than life back at Garden, you know? Ever since I came here, I've been hearing stories about you, and your campaign to beat Ultimecia and all that. Then I saw you for the first time, a couple weeks before the SeeD exam, when you were getting breakfast in the cafeteria. What got me was, aside from the fact that you were the only person in the room who had a whole table to yourself, you didn't really seem all that special. I mean, you acted just like any other guy I'd see walking around Garden. Really, if anything you acted more like someone stuck in a dark back alley than Garden's greatest hero."
She glanced back at Squall, whose thoughts, unable to decide on a reaction to her words, had decided to default on the activity altogether. "I guess it kind of got me thinking," she continued. "I mean, you're only a year older than I am, and we both graduated with the same SeeD rank. But some crazy turn of events on your first assignment made you the commander of Garden and the savior of the universe. I guess that would probably be enough to put me off in my own little world, too." Again, she looked at him, rising up to lean on one arm so as to extend the glance. "But that's not really it, is it? I mean, between the rumors at Garden and what Quistis has told me, I know there's something going on with you and the Sorceress."
Squall involuntarily tensed a the mention of "the Sorceress". Now, Karenna's monologue had gone from mildly annoying to disturbing, and he almost felt compelled to cut her off. It was mainly the fact that she paused for a moment after that particular comment and lost the opportunity that he did not.
"I came to Balamb from Trabia Garden, you know," she said, following the pause. "Transferred here last fall, once I knew T-Garden wouldn't be ready to reopen for this year. All my friends stayed to help rebuild the Garden, but I didn't want to wait another year before taking the SeeD exam." She shrugged. "I guess the reason was my brother. He was a few years older than me, and became a SeeD...oh, four years ago now." She paused again, closing her eyes and making a quiet sigh. "He died last year in the battle with Galbadia Garden. It was a tough thing to hear, especially after all the people I lost in the missile raid on Trabia. If it weren't for my friends, I don't know how I would've got through it."
Squall had now been the one to stare at her for quite some time, though he was not aware of a single coherent thought that had run through his head during that time.
"I guess the moral of the story is, we all lose people," Karenna said. "I just couldn't quite get why you losing someone gave you the basic personality of a Tonberry. Which is what I was thinking about when you asked me why I was staring at you." Flopping back on the bed, she fished around for a book and opened it up, apparently ready to consider the matter finished. "So, there you go."
Squall was still wondering what to make of the past two minutes when the door beeped, and slid open to reveal a Galbadian soldier. "Commander Leonhart," he said. "You're to follow me to your duty station, sir."
Nodding slowly, Squall rose, retrieved his gunblade and took a moment to see that his GF were properly equipped before he followed the guard out of the door. They walked the short distance down the hall, past the two other soldiers, and to the lift. Squall, his head still swimming in the jumble of thought and feeling, finally found a single thought to focus on.
I won't lose her.
The lift door slid open, and Squall stepped in with his escort. The doors slid closed. Than, the soldier withdrew his keycard to declare the destination, and Squall, with all the speed his training and his GF could give him, lashed out, retrieving the keycard in one quick motion and delivering a sharp blow to the man's head with the next. He didn't fall immediately, but another hard chop to the neck was enough to render him unconscious.
They aren't going to take her away from me, he thought. We've been through too much. I can't lose her now.
He inserted the keycard at Level Six, and the lift whirred into motion. The ride seemed bumpier this time, but he realized that there was a good chance that it was he, not the elevator, who was doing most of the shaking.
I'm coming, Rinoa, he silently pledged, tightly gripping the hilt of his gunblade. I'm coming.