FFVIII: Fugitive (5)

[edenbound]

Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Pairing: Seifer/Squall
Warnings: Squall POV, angst
Chapter: Five
Rating: PG
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.


Quistis was waiting there in Winhill, wrapped in a big coat and looking cold. I'd been careful not to let her see me arrive in Esthar's airship and so all she knew was that I arrived. Could've been by car, on foot... anything. That was the way I wanted it, well, needed it, to keep up the illusion that I was on a mission. She smiled slightly at me when she saw me walking towards her.

“Squall,” she said softly, and we hugged. More her than me, but I did hug her, pleased to see her. And not only, though mostly, because she was going to help me find Seifer. She looked me over carefully, pushing me back at arms length. “You look tired. How is your mission going?”

“Hasn't been going anywhere, found out where he is but I've been waiting for you guys to come and help,” I said, with just the slightest sigh. No need to over act. She'd see through that immediately. “Where're the others?”

“Waiting close by,” she said, smiling slightly. “I wouldn't let you down, you know that, Squall.”

I nodded slightly. “Take me to them?”

“Of course.”

She led me into a small house and there they were, Selphie and Zell and Irvine, Selphie perched on Irvine's lap, his cowboy hat on her head. She grinned at me and flung herself from Irvine's lap into my arms. “Squall! We've been worried about you! Next time you have a top secret mission, let us in on the secret, okay? Or we'll worry about you!”

“Sorry,” I said, returning the hug. I was glad that Irvine and Zell weren't the hugging type. I'd had quite enough hugs for one day.

“So, what can we do for you?” Irvine asked, lazy, stealing his hat back and putting it on his head, tipping it back a little to give me the full effect of his questioning look.

“I need your help in getting to Seifer Almasy,” I said. I pulled the folded up map out of my pocket, throwing it towards them. “The circled square is his location. I need to get there, and I need you guys to help me get in, and out, with Seifer.”

Selphie looked at it. “Does it involve explosives?” she asked, half hopeful, half joking.

“No. At least not until we're out of there,” I said, and smiled.

“Yay!” she punched the air. “Shall we go?”

I was pleased. They trusted me. They were going to help. Of course, we couldn't go right then. There was still planning – and talking, catching up – to do, and we needed to be fully ready. But they would back me.

I felt a little guilty for lying to them, but I wasn't sure how they would react to the idea of freeing Seifer if someone had finally got their hands on him, and I was sure the truth would come out at the right moment and everything would be okay.

------

It was stupidly easy to get in there. I sent the others circling around the building, and Quistis found an unlocked entrance within minutes. Once we were all ready, in we went.

“What can we do now?” Selphie asked, looking around and frowning.

“We'll have to search the area for him. We need to go up a floor,” I said, consulting a little map that Kiros had provided. “Here. All of you take a look at this. Memorise the position of the exits.”

Quistis took it first, but she barely glanced at it before passing it to Selphie, Zell and Irvine. They crowded around it together, taking a little longer, and I waited as patiently as I could. I was maybe minutes away from Seifer. In just a few minutes I could see him again, touch him again... in just a few minutes he'd be with me and I wouldn't have to worry any more.

I tried to be patient, I really did, but before long I took the map off them. “Let's go.”

“Right.”

We all split up as soon as we got up the stairs. I went in one direction and the others all dispersed as well. It was a tangle of corridors and I briefly wished I'd thought of bringing walkie talkies. That would teach me to start missions in such a hurry. I was worried for a while, as I checked through the rooms, that when one of us found Seifer the others wouldn't know, or wouldn't be able to get there.

There were so many things about that mission I could have thought through better.

“Here, guys!” Zell called, and I admit that I ran to him, following the sound of his voice and running to the door he was looking through. It was easy enough to find him, despite my fears. Selphie joined me, bobbing up on her tiptoes to see into the room. Irvine followed her, slowly, as if there was all the time in the world.

“Where's Quistis?” she asked as Irvine joined her, but she didn't bother thinking too much on the matter. Quistis could look after herself. All three of us knew that the mission had to be a simple 'in-and-out-again' operation to suceed. Quistis could take care of herself.

“I'll have the door open in a tick,” Zell promised, and got to work on that while me and Selphie checked around for any guards. He didn't take long, the door was open in about two minutes, and he opened it with a flourish, like a magician presenting a trick.

Seifer was chained, ankles and wrists, just enough so that he was effectively hobbled and couldn't pick the lock. He raised his head and met my eyes, looking glad to see me, even if the words wouldn't ever come out of his mouth. He wasn't gagged, but he didn't say a word, waiting to see what I said, what was going on, whether they knew what was really going on or not.

“Squall...?” Selphie asked, suddenly sensing, perhaps, that something wasn't quite right. “Shall we take him? I mean, I don't see why we need to capture him... these guys seem to have done quite well.”

“We'll take him,” I said, but I hadn't taken even another step towards him when another voice made me turn.

“Don't take another step.”