Chapter 8.
"Squall?"
"…How'd you know?"
"Good guess"
"Oh…well, anyway"
"You guys wanna meet up right?"
"Another good guess, you at your dads?"
"Yeah…"
"Fine, we'll be swinging by later"
"Rough time?"
"When we get there."
"Typical Squall Leonhart response, well, ill see you later then"
"Yeah, cya"
Squall pressed his hand to his hand to his head in disbelief after folding up his phone and putting it in his back pocket.
"Alright, so that's done, if you wanna go anywhere, do it now. I'm heading back to the cars for a bit, maybe buy some clothes…"
The group stopped and stared at Squalls last four words. Squall picked up on the stare.
"What?"
"Oh, uh…nothing, listen, you want the spare keys to the van just in case?" Zell asked, reaching into his pocket, Squalls response was a simple nod and he caught the keys that were tossed over to him.
"I'll see you back at the cars when you're ready" Squall said, placing the key in his jacket pocket and walked away.
After heading to a shop and buying a blue shirt with wave patterns on it, a pair of black jeans with flames printed on, hair gel and some polish for his boots, Squall started walking back to the cars to get changed. Most of the way back he couldn't get the thought of what he had set himself up for off his mind.
Once he got back to the car park he got into the back of the Garden Car and put on the clothes he had just purchased, making sure to leave the first 3 buttons of the shirt undone to reveal his griever necklace hanging over his chest.
Upon getting out of the van he found the rest of the group approaching, already dressed in the attire they planned to wear for the night.
Selphie might aswell have not been wearing anything as she was wearing a short yellow skirt, tight yellow top with a diamond cut out in the chest to reveal her more than adequate chest and yellow knee-high furry boots. She also had her hair straight, free flowing over her shoulders as opposed to tucked up to the sides just above her shoulders.
Zell was dressed up in black jeans with ice patterns up the sides, a shirt with flame patterns on each side of the chest, a gelled spike at the front of his hair and the rest gelled down flat with UV reactive highlighting and UV reactive marker patterns drawn on each arm.
Irvine didn't really believe in dressing up to go to clubs, so he was dressed in his usual clothing, blue muscle shirt, baige jeans and cowboy boots of the same color on the front, but black on the heel.
Quistis had chosen to go for a more official approach, wearing a long ruby-red dress with red sequined shoes, hair free-flowing down her back with two spikes hanging over the side of her face and she also had UV reactive marker patterns drawn on her shoulders and arms.
Squall just stopped, dead in his tracks at how much effort the party had put into their look for the night, and the party were also staring at him, up until Zell broke the silence.
"Wow, it suits ya Squall, you want your hair gelled to complete the look?"
"As it is, I do, but I don't want it done fancy, I want it gelled so it stays the way it looks now"
"No problem came Zells response as he started to walk to the van. He and Squall got in and Zell gelled Squalls hair exactly how he had asked. They both got out, the rest of the party left their weapons in the van then walked to General Caraways mansion, stopping at a hotel on the way to get some rooms for the night. Zell and Quistis agreed to stay in the same room, same for Irvine and Selphie, and Squall would take the third room, on his own seeming as it was the only room that had a double bed. After buying rooms, the party headed straight to Caraways Mansion to get Rinoa.
Nothing had changed about Caraways mansion, same building, same roads, same walkways and guard station on the front gate, complete with 2 galbadian soldiers.
"We're here to pick up Rinoa" Squall boldly said to the Soldier on the right of the gate.
"And you are?"
"Squall Leonhart, Irvine Kinneas, Zell Dincht, Selphie Tilmitt, Quistis Trepe, SeeDs on vacation"
"Wait here"
The soldier walked into the guards station said a few words into the radio, received a response and waved the party in, they walked in through the gate onto the all familiar pathway leading up to the front door of the mansion, which was already ajar for them to just walk in.
"Well, there's a face I never thought I'd see again, how are ya son" came the familiar voice of General Caraway as Squall walked into the mansion.
"Pretty good General, how goes the military?" said Squall, reaching out a hand
"Oh, just fine, just fine, how about SeeD?" the General replied, taking Squalls hand and shaking.
"Ah, ya know…same as always really, say, is she here?"
"Yeah sure, let me go get her for you" he said, walking up the stairs "Rinoa, your friends are here"
"Coming" she replied, her voice getting audibly closer before bursting through the double doors on the landing of the double-stairway. Squall blinked then his eyes widened as he realised that she was wearing the exact same dress she was wearing the first time they met, but she had seemed to have put on a little bit of weight since the last time he saw her wearing it.
"Hi guys" she said, waving cutely from the landing "Ready to partay?"
An audible wolf-whistle eminated from Irvine before quickly silencing as Selphie elbowed him in the chest.
"Yeah, good to see you too Irvine" she said, starting to walk down the stairway towards her father, causing smiles to break on everybody's faces. She placed a quick kiss on her dads cheek then elegantly sauntered down the stairway toward the rest of the group.
"So, whats the plan Mr.Leader?" Squall looked at the rest of the group.
"Don't ask me, ask them" Zell instinctively pressed his fingers in his ears before Selphie squealed-
"Lets hit that PAAAAR-TAY!" before jumping in the air hi-fiving the air and running out the door of the mansion.
"I'll be home either tonight or tomorrow dad"
"Alright, hey, uh, Squall? Can I talk to you for a second"
"Uh sure General, uhh…Zell, Quistis, Irvine, Rinny, ill see you all outside." The rest of the team nodded and walked out of the door after Selphie onto the front lawn of the mansion.
"What can I do for you General?"
"Well Squall, its primarily about Rinoa, can you sort of….Oh, I really shouldn't be asking this of a SeeD…it's in their nature…"
"Whatever it is, I'll do it General"
"Look after my daughter Squall…See that no harm comes to her, in any shape or form"
Squall was mentally beating himself up after listening to the Generals last comment.
"Of course General" he replied before firmly shaking hands with Caraway and exiting to the front lawn through the double doors. The rest of the party was sitting casually on the front steps admiring the lawn.
Squall decided it best not to speak up in this moment of tranquillity, something he wouldn't see or hear for the next few hours. He reached out his left arm, placed it on the wall of the arch, then placed his weight on it with his head pitched slightly downward, glancing at the patterns on Quistis' shoulders. Zell was the first to glance back and actually notice Squall leaning against the wall, Squall noticed the look on Zells face that asked one question, he gave him a solitary nod and applied pressure to the wall that threw him out of his lean and gave him total balance before he walked down the two steps, past the rest of the team and down the pathway to the front gate. This prompted the rest of the group to stand up and walk towards the front gate, stepping almost in unison with each other.