Not So Simple Missions Chapter 3
Lost and Found
By Holly Clarke
Squall groaned and looked around. There was dust settling and piles of rubble as far as he could see. 'Great', he thought. 'Nobody around, nothing around to occupy myself with. Looks like I'm stuck with my own thoughts.' He chuckled sadistically to himself. 'Actually, that's what got me in this mess in the first place.'
He got his thoughts in order, trying to process what happened. He was thinking hard, as he always did, when some big force knocked him off his feet. He remembered being thrown to the east, and he remembered that he wasn't lifted all that far off the ground. In fact, he remembered landing on his side after his shallow fly and rolling for awhile before everything went black.
Squall sat up and tried to stand, but when he used his arms to keep himself steady, an acute pain shot up his right arm and forced him to sit back down.
"Dammit... I must have landed on this arm," Squall muttered to himself. He also noted that he got a pain in his chest every time he took a breath. Now all hecould do was sit and wait for people to find him. He hated having to depend on other people like that. Maybe if he rested for a while, the pain in his arm would dull a little.
Squall sighed, pissed off at his own body's weakness. He'd sit and wait. But as soon as it wasn't too painful to move, he was out of there.
.
Logan glanced at Paiten and shook his head. She was clearly scared and worried, but comforting people wasn't exactly his strong point. He could tell her he thought it would be okay, he already did, but what else could he do?
Logan wasn't shy, or really quiet either, nor was he overly talkative. Like Zell, he came from Balamb Garden and was trained in Martial Arts. Although Logan knew his ability wasn't near the extent of Zell's, he prided himself on having high self-discipline, something Zell definitely didn't have. He liked clothes and always wore his dark hair the same - he used gel to spike it slightly - but he was far from superficial. In fact, Logan had somewhat of a talent for looking into people's eyes and knowing what they were feeling. It was dealing with those feelings that he sometimes had trouble with.
Leigh, laying between them, was breathing steadily. She'd even stirred once, as if she was sleeping rather than knocked out cold by an explosion. Unfortunately, the bruise on her head and the scapes on her arms gave her away. Paiten wasn't breathing as steadily at all. Her breaths were quick and shaky, and Logan began to fear that she might start to hyperventilate.
"Paiten," he said slowly, "are you okay?"
"I am." She tucked loose strands of dark blonde hair back into her long, thick braid, only to have them fall loose again and for her to repeat the process. Logan watched, hypnotized by her rythmitic fidgeting, until she stopped abruptly and looked at him sharply, snapping him out of his trance. "Logan, do you really think... I mean, shouldn't the others be here by now?"
Logan smiled. "Don't be so nervous." He stood up, contemplating what he could say next. "The others are extremely skillful and talented in battles, and in strategy, too. Not only will they be here soon, they'll know exactly what to do with us when they get here."
Paiten looked like she still had questions but simply nodded and resumed her hair ritual. Logan shook his head to himself. He then stood up, walked around Leigh, who still looked as if she was sleeping peacefully, and sat next to Paiten. "If they don't get here soon," he said, looking at Leigh's still figure rather than at Paiten, "we'll know what to do."
"They're gonna want us to go back to Garden," Paiten stated.
"I'm not going back," Logan said, his voice hinting at emotion.
"What?" Paiten asked him incrediously. "You have to!"
"Paiten, I don't have to do anything. Neither do you. There's always a choice." Logan was surprised that he was sharing his personal words of wisdom to an almost complete stranger.
"Well, in that case," said Paiten, who seemed to have calmed considerably, "I'm staying, too." She caught his eye and they both smiled.
.
Zell watched everyone out of the corner of his eye. If his sense of direction was at all accurate, they would be at the explosion site soon. Selphie's hand was entwined with Irvine's, who was talking to Paige on his other side. Quistis was striding forward with a look of purpose on her face, as she always did with a task at hand. Riley was walking silently on the other side of Paige. Rinoa was lagging behind a little, walking on pure automation, her mind clearly somewhere else. Zell hung back until he was walking next to her.
"Hey... you alright?" He asked her. He was answered with a blank stare. "Sorry, stupid question. But you know, I am one hundred and one percent positive that he's okay."
"Yeah, I think deep down I know he's okay, too? Rinoa said, "But you know, you gotta wonder how he even manages to get in these situations in the first place." She smiled. It was a small smile but it was genuine.
Zell gave her his trademark huge smile in return. At least he was getting somewhere. He wasn't really worried about Squall. He was worried about what was happening, but not about Squall. In fact, in some corner of his mind, he was a little jealous of him right now. Because even though Zell knew if he was in Squall's place his friends would be worried about him, but he wouldn't have a great girl like Rinoa waiting for him when he got back. A girl to jump into his arms and cry because she was so happy he was safe. Zell had always been too busy being himself for a girlfriend, stuffing his face with hot dogs and fighting Grats in the Training Centre. But seeing his friends, minus Quistis of course, paired up made him want someone of his own. His life felt very empty at times, especially times like this when he got to thinking. He had a chance with a girl at one time, that girl in the library with the pigtail, but he had been too nervous around her to make it work so he just gave up. Zell always assumed that if the person was right he would feel totally comfortable with them. But where was this 'right person?'
Zell was starting to wonder if she even existed.
.
Rinoa saw three figures in the distance. Everyone broke into a run. For the sake of not getting left behind, Rinoa ran as well.
What she said to Zell was true. She did know somewhere inside that Squall would be just fine. Squall always got himself into scrapes and then got himself out of them. She just wished this was one of these times.
"How's Leigh?" she heard Quistis asking when they reached Logan and Paiten.
"Breathing, and resting peacefully," Logan replied, a trace of a smile on his lips.
"Yeah, she seems more like she's having a nap than knocked out cold," Paiten added, giggling nervously.
"So you guys should head back to Balamb now," Quistis said. "Remy and Logan, you - "
"I'm not going back to Garden," Logan said. He motioned towards Paiten. "We're not going back." Paiten nodded with a fervor to back up his statement.
Quistis threw her hands in the air, obviously frustrated. "First Riley and Paige, now you two..." Rinoa placed an arm around her shoulders.
"Quistis, I can sort of understand why they would want to stay. Maybe you should just let them."
Quistis looked at Rinoa in surprise. It was the first time she'd spoken in quite a while. "Fine. Remy, you still want to go back?"
Remy nodded. "I can bring Leigh.? He looked at Quistis, who looked doubtful. "Really. I can handle it." To demonstrate his point, he carefully lifted Leigh onto his back and walked off. "I'll bring her to the infirmary when I get to Garden," he called over his shoulder. "Be careful."
"Doesn't say much, does he?" Zell asked.
"I think he was kinda anxious to get back," Rinoa replied. She was talking more now, feeling much better now that she was could start looking for Squall. She paused when she saw all the rubble. "Wow." It was the kind of scene that made you think of a place just after there was a war - dust everywhere, nothing tangible still in one piece. Rinoa was in awe of her surroundings, all the more reasons for her to want to find Squall as soon as she could.
.
"So, like... what happened?" Irvine asked after everyone had taken a long look around. There was silence for five minutes and he was anxious to break it. "I mean, it's obvious there was an explosion, but... why?"
Quistis shook her head. "I really don't know. But first I think we should find Squall. I'm going to split you all into groups and hand radios to each group. In case we lose contact, meet back here in 2 hours. We may have to camp here for the night, so we're going to need people to stay here and look after the equipment as well."
"I'll stay," Selphie offered.
"Okay, I will, too," Paige said. Irvine glanced at her and saw that she was watching him. He looked at her, bewildered. She looked like she was up to something. He knew Paige well enough to know that everything she did was for a specific purpose.
Paige smiled at him, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. When Irvine broke the gaze, he noticed that Selphie was looking back and forth between them, as if trying to assess their exact relationship.
There wasn't much to tell, really. Paige was just a cute chick with awesome deep purple hair and great violet eyes that he happened to meet a few months ago in the cafeteria. They'd gotten to talking, and Irvine admired her strong will. He got the impression that she usually got whatever she wanted. They'd met up a few times after that in random places, wherever they happened to run into each other - the training centre, the library, whatever - until they became pretty good friends and started dropping by each other's dorms every now and then to hang out.
Selphie obviously thought something was happening between he and Paige, though. Which could be useful. He never did test to see exactly what he could do without making Selphie jealous. Maybe it was time to see just how far he could push it.
.
Selphie looked at the others leave. Rinoa, Zell, and Riley headed in one direction, and Quistis, Irvine, Logan, and Paiten headed in the other. So she was stuck with Paige, whom she vaguely remembered from showing up at Irvine's door just the night before. And the way Paige kept looking at her didn't help. The same way a cat looked at a mouse before it hunted it down and killed it just for the fun of killing it.
"So..." Selphie began, trying desperately to think of a conversation-starter.
"So..." Paige mimicked her, smirking.
"Ummm, so, like, how long have you and Irvine known each other?" Selphie asked. Dangerous territory, she knew, but besides Irvine she couldn't think of anything they had in common.
"I don't know, maybe a month," Paige said. "You know, Irvine's a really great guy."
"Yeah... I know," Selphie replied. "That's why I'm with him."
Paige raised her eyebrows. Selphie exhaled sharply, blowing a puff of air at the bangs on her forehead. She shouldn't have sounded so defensive. Especially not this early in the conversation.
Paige looked at Selphie, eyes narrowed slightly, as if she were thinking of something very carefully. "I know a lot of girls who would love to see you out of the picture."
Selphie smiled. This comment didn't faze her at all. "Well, I'm in the picture, so they?re just gonna have to wait their turn."
Paige smiled. It was a cold smile that sent chills down Selphie's spine. "Well, Selphie, maybe your turn is almost over."
.
"Squall! Squa-a-a-a-a-l-l-l-l-l!? Quistis called. She didn't get an answer, nor did she actually expect one.
"Hey hey hey, Quistis, don't lose your voice, okay?" Irvine said lightly. Quistis looked at him, prepared to level him with a glare, but instead found herself smiling. She always found Irvine's light-hearted approach to things infectious. She could see why so many people found themselves attracted to him.
Logan and Paiten were walking just behind Quistis and Irvine. Besides Logan's occasional shouting out Squall's name, or Paiten's interval squealing it out, they walked silently.
All of a sudden, Paiten stopped dead in her tracks. "What is it?" Logan asked her. Quistis turned around along with Irvine.
Paiten pointed to a spot fairly far in front of them. "Is that a person?"
Quistis squinted. "Paiten, you must have extraordinary eyesight! I can't be sure. But we should definitely check it out." She took out her radio and established a connection. "Zell, Rinoa, Riley... Paiten sees something. We're going to go and check it out."
Rinoa's voice came through on the radio. "Where are you? I want to come too. Tell me where you are!" she shouted urgently.
Quistis sighed. "We're about a kilometer or so to the right of the site," she said. "And the mess is much worse over here."
"I'll - we'll be right there."
Quistis sighed again. She could understand Rinoa's anxiousness but she wasn't going to wait. They would be able to find them. Although Quistis wasn't in love with Squall anymore in the romantic sense, she still loved him, the same way a sister would love her younger brother. She still felt protective over him and desperately wanted to know if he was okay.
.
Squall tried, for the fourth time, to stand up. This time he was successful. He ignored the sharp pains shooting up and down his arm and the pangs in his chest and surveyed his surroundings. In the not-too-far distance he could see four figures. Was one of them Rinoa? He couldn't tell, but he was very worried. He hadn't thought about it until just minutes before, but it had occured to him that he might not have been the only one hit by the force of the explosion. The rest of his squadrant most definitely must have been. He was also dying of curiousity of what it could have been from.
"Squall!" he heard a female voice call out. Quistis.
"Yeah?" he tried to yell back but found that his voice didn't really work, and it came out more as a croak. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Quistis!"
The effort of yelling out her name caused a faint shot of pain in his chest. He took a few deep breaths and waited for them to come to him.
"Squall... are you alright?" Quistis asked him.
"Where's Rinoa?"
"She's on her way here...." Quistis' forehead creased in thought. "But are you okay? What happened to you? Can you walk?"
"It's nothing," Squall barked, staring at the ground. He was already getting annoyed at her mini-game of twenty questions and waved his arm in the air to cut her off. Unfortunately, doing so caused a sharp pain and he winced, so he gave in. "Okay, so maybe I need some rest."
The next thing her knew, Irvine and Logan were on either side of him and supporting him. "I don't need your help," Squall insisted. "I'm fine."
Irvine raised both his hands in a mock gesture of protection. "Don't jump all over me, man, I was just trying to help."
Squall looked at the people around him. "Paiten... and Logan... where's Leigh?"
"Unconscious," Logan answered gruffly. "But she should be in Garden's infirmary right now, and she should be fine." Squall nodded and resumed staring at the dirt.
"Squall! Thank God!"
Squall looked up just in time to see Rinoa running towards him and jumping into his arms. He tried not to cry out in pain.
"Rinoa... ow."
Rinoa pulled back, looking as if she were considering saying something huge. "I'm glad you're okay," she said instead.
"Yeah..." Squall replied. "But what happened??"
"Well," Quistis started, "We actually have no idea. But right now we're heading back to camp. Together, we should be able to come up with some ideas. There are ten of us and it's inevitible that we are going to have to stay out here overnight, it's almost dark now."
Squall nodded. He felt Rinoa's fingers entertwining with his and held her hand loosely as they all walked back to camp.
.