FFVIII: Fugitive (4)

[edenbound]

Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Pairing: Seifer/Squall
Warnings: None
Chapter: Four
Rating: G
Summary: Seifer is on the run, and meets his lover only once every few months. For multi-chapter fics, warnings and pairings are chapter specific.


“Squall,” Kiros whispered, shaking my shoulder. I was awake straight away, reaching straight for Lionheart. Kiros, being a smart guy, had already removed it and he handed it to me as soon as I realised it was him there. “We've had news about Seifer.”

I was fully awake and half dressed before he'd even finished the sentence. Normally, it takes me a while to wriggle into my leather pants, to get the belts done up. I was already in my pants and starting on my second belt when he went to the door to wait for me. I cast quick glances at him as I got ready, running a hand over my face and deciding I wouldn't need a shave yet. He was calm, and his face gave away nothing.

My heart was hammering, my stomach was twisting, and there was almost a sick feeling at the back of my throat.

Kiros was quiet. In fact, he barely said a word to me, and I had none to spare for him. I just followed him, all the way through the corridors to Laguna's office. I hoped my father was up and it wouldn't just be Kiros. I didn't know what I'd do if it was bad news and there was only Kiros. He was fine, but...

But I'd got used to relying on my father when emotion overtook me.

Laguna was there, sat behind his desk looking over something on his laptop. He looked up and smiled at me cheerily. “You okay, Squall? I'm sorry to wake you, but we thought that you'd probably want to see this.”

“See what?” I asked, ignoring the stupidity of his need to voice that he'd made an assumption. The assumption had been quite correct.

“First, you must promise me that you won't do anything rash,” Laguna cautioned, but he didn't wait for my answer before he turned the laptop round to let me see the screen. Maybe he realised that I was likely to break a promise not to be rash if something really pissed me off. Probably not. I went to sit down and Kiros leaned over my shoulder, hitting a few buttons.

“Watch,” he said, calmly.

I watched. I watched as they panned the camera over an unconscious Seifer. As one of them kicked him awake and he looked up at the camera, almost desperate. There was no audio.

I watched it all. Then I stood, bubbling over with rage. “They have no right!”

“Squall, calm down!” Kiros said, quickly, and put a hand on my shoulder to force me down. “Explain what you think is happening.”

“It's obvious,” I said, barely able to contain my anger, “they're luring all the authorities in. They have Seifer and they want reward money for him. For his capture. Damn it, why did he stop running...? I'd need help from Garden to trace this before anyone else, a team... damn it...”

“Estharian technology is the best,” Kiros pointed out gently. He leaned over to pick up the laptop, batting Laguna's hands away as he tried to help gather up the cable. “I'll get a team on it right away. We'll beat everyone to it, except maybe Garden.”

“Garden might not even care,” I said, frowning slightly. We hadn't been particularly interested in capturing Seifer, partially thanks to my leadership, but mainly because no one was paying us to do it, so it wasn't in our best interests.

“I'll work on it,” Kiros said, and went out, shutting the door to leave me and Laguna alone.

“You can't just charge on in there alone,” he said, softly, looking up at me.

“I wasn't thinking of – ” I started, but then I had to stop, my cheeks burning as I realised that that pretty much was what I'd been planning. Looking at him there in that video clip, all I'd thought was 'I have to go to him'.

“You know the Estharian army will help you, if you need help,” Laguna said, softly, and I nodded.

But I had a better idea.

I had a perfect team, already assembled, if I could only play my cards right.

------

I took a deep breath, dialed the number. I needed to be quick, if the person I was hoping for didn't answer. I didn't want the call to be traced and I really didn't need to be identified by the wrong people. “I need to speak to the acting commander.”

The familiar voice was a relief, even though it was curt. “Speaking.”

“Quistis? Is this a private line?”

She sounded busy. I heard paper rustling in the background and a pen rolling off her desk. “Who is this?”

“Answer my question, please.”

“Yes, it is.” She sighed softly and I heard the scribble of a pen against paper. “It's a business line, so it has to be confidential, and calls can't be recorded for security reasons. Who is speaking? If you have a reasonable offer for Garden, I'm sure I can consider any request you have, no matter what it is or how secret you want it kept... if you pay well enough.”

“Quistis. It's Squall.”

It took her a moment. Finally, I heard her sharp intake of breath. “Squall?! You've been missing – ”

“I know,” I said, softly. I'd prepared my next line carefully. I made sure to keep an edge of wariness in my voice, as if I was unsure about something or just on my guard. Really, I knew that if a Garden line was secure, it was secure, and there was nothing else to fear, safe within the Presidential Palace. “I'm on a mission, highly classified.”

“...That explains why you've been gone,” she said, slowly.

“I need your help,” I said, quickly, to make sure she didn't try to think too much about it. “I've been hired by a... powerful client. I need to capture Seifer Almasy. I need you, Zell, Selphie and Irvine to come to meet me somewhere. Somewhere inconspicuous.”

“Winhill,” Quistis said, after a moment. She sounded reluctant, but I couldn't afford to dwell on it.

“In three days time,” I said, simply, and put the phone down. I hoped the call wouldn't have been long enough to trace. I wanted to keep everything as vague as possible – no clues at all available for her. It was a top secret mission, to her, and I wanted to make it seem like that, preferably without having to think up any complex explanations.

I walked out of the office and Kiros looked up at me.

“Did it work?”

“I think so.”