Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Iron roses ❯ Down the hole ( Chapter 3 )

What's ahead?: Hetero lemon and probably a bit of yaoi (still have to think about it!)

Pairing: Mainly Quistis/Seifer

Disclaimer: I don't own and I really regret it :)

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Chapter 3: Down the hole

It was a rule at Balamb Garden to always have the day following a SeeD ball off for everyone. Definitely a good thing, Seifer thought as he crossed the path of several hangover students, some of them showing a nice greenish color matching their red eyes. Another very popular Garden rule was to "forget" the curfew rule a ball night. So the students would turn the "secret area" into an alcohol deposit and spend the rest of the night getting thoroughly wasted. At this early hour of the morning, some faculty members were still busy waking up the students who chose to sleep outside on the grass, or more likely passed out drunk while trying to reach their dorm room.

This morning definitely had a post-apocalyptic taste.

Especially in the cafeteria, where Seifer sat alone and bitterly depressed in front of a muffin and a cup of the darker coffee he could find. Around him other greenish people were trying to absorb a bit of solid food, some of them failing miserably and running to the bathroom to empty their stomach. Lallie was apparently one of those, althought her face had nearly returned to snow white when she crashed on the chair in front of him, a glass of water in a hand a a bottle of pills in the other. Her long dark hair only made her face look brighter white, just like she was glowing, radiating her own light. Seifer always felt a great tenderness for her.

"Slept well?" He asked her with a smirk.

"Fuck you...Schnapps is the torn on my side...right after you..."

"So...no dinner in your room?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhghhh no! Except if you're planning to take the vomit-cleaning 101 class..."

"Aw come on sweetie, I'm trying to eat." he motionned to the half-eaten muffin in front of him.

"Thanks Hyne you can eat something!" She claimed, cradling her cute pouty face in her hand, unruly braids falling over her blue eyes, marqued with insomnia. "You either don't look exactly like you had sweet dreams, you know."

"And who are you to judge?"

"Hey at least I had a good reason, you jerk! You went to bed at eleven like a mama's boy!"

"Aw nevermind..." Seifer replied icily. He never told her about Quistis and wasn't about to, even if she was the one and only reason he had just spent one of the shittier night in his whole life. And he sure as hell wasn't going to admit he'd been checking Balamb city's train arrivals all night from his computer terminal, scanning through the travelers' ID searching for her. None of her friends, except Seifer, seemed to remember Quistis held her promises on a very high pedestral, and never missed to honor them ever since childhood. She was one of the most trustable person in the whole world. The fact that she seemed depressed, or so Rinoa said, the day before her departure for FH scared the life out of him. For him FH seemed like the best place to commit suicide. Even worst, FH train station didn't allowed people to check travelers' IDs through the net, which they claimed was an attempt at their privacy.

" 'nyway, I'm gonna head for my room and try to get rid of my pathetic self for a couple hours." Lallie finally said, painfully pulling herself from the chair. "I know you don't give the slightliest fuck to what I say, but I suggest you do the same. G'day, Sei."

"Bye."

He watched Lallie struggle with her balance and disappear at the main entrance. Sighing, he finished his muffin, gulped down his coffee and decided to pay Squall a little visit in his dorm room.

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Quistis' eyes slowly opened, only meeting the deepest darkness. The place smelled like urine and humidity. At first she thought she'd been locked inside a closet, of a small basement, and instinctively reached for the nearest wall, realizing her hands were now securely tied in her back. Her legs, however, were free but so sore she could barely move them, yet she managed to move to a kneeling position, head spinning from general weakness and panic. A tiny spark of light sweeping from below her cheeks taught her she was not in a dark room, but blinfolded by a raw, scratchy material which was irritating her sensitive skin at the point of making the ithcing unbearable. The rope around her wrists was no gentlier. She could feel dried blood in her hands and scabs on her skins, showing without any doubts she had fought her agressors, althought she didn't have the faintest memories of what brought her in that unhappy position.

Something beside her moved and slightly brushed her naked thight, drawing a surprised groan from her raw throat, immediatly muffled by a smooth, squishy thing stuck in her mouth. She soon learned that the ball-shaped instrument prevented her from trying to form words by sending a weak, yet very painful electric shock in her mouth each time she squished it with her teeth. She had to leave her jaw completely still to prevent the pain.The thing moved again, this time whispering something incoherent while a leg entangled with hers and violently drew her toward what seemed to be another human being - another muted and blinfolded victim, she soon discovered when a final erratic pull sent her crashing down on a female body, a very naked young, slender body that smelled strongly of sweat and mildew but has the comforting heat she craved for. The woman was apparently there for as longer than her, considering she was careful not to make any sound, and familiarly shoved Quistis' head under her, resting her chin against the SeeD's forehead as she did her best to settle their two bodies in a comfortable position. The room fell into silence again, but this time Quistis' mind was clear enough to notice others faint noises, rags scratching the rough material of the floor and whispers coming from all around her. She wondered how many bodies have been thrown down that smelly hole with her, and how many were still alive.

For now, none of her questions could be answered. She was alive, that was the basis. Cradled above the other woman's soft skin, listening to her calm heartbeat, she drifted back to unconscience.

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Squall groaned at the very persistent knocking at his door. At first he thought he was dreaming and didn't move, then, realizing they were real, he proceeded to play deaf and buried his face in Rinoa's sleep-scented skin. Now five minutes had passed and the little fucker on the other side of the door wouldn't leave him alone in his misery. Finally, the chocolate-haired man angrily threw the covers off his body and grabbed the bathrobe he kept near his bed in of an emergency occuring. He swiftly unlocked the two dead bolt and swung the door open, fighting back the urge to punch Seifer as his concerned face appeared in front of him.

"Almasy, it's seven in the morning and I'm hangover. It means you have exactly thirty seconds to tell me what you have to tell and get lost!"

"Squall, Quistis haven't returned yet."

"And?"

"Hyne, Squall, you know Quistis should be here for the SeeD ball! She never missed one! Rinoa told me she promised to be there, and she haven't showed up!"

Squall's anger rapidly turned to worries. Why hadn't Rinoa told him? She didn't even seemed worried that Quistis was missing. He turned to give an useless angry look at the sleeping form in his bed, his mind quickly organizing a plan, chosing the people who would team, the time they would have to make up a plan, where to look...

"Hey!" Seifer's call snapped him out of his trance.

"Sei, have you checked if she took the train for FH in Deling City?"

Seifer loudly slapped his forehead, cursing himself "Shit no! I've checked Balamb station all night, but I totally forgot she was supposed to board in Deling Station!"

"Let me get dressed and we'll go to your room check Deling station." Squall said, oblivious of the fact he had a terminal in his own room in his hurry to get away from Rinoa before he slaps her.

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Deling City being the world's second biggest city right after Esthar City, the travelers' data contained more than two million peoples per day. Seeking for Quistis in that human tide was litterally searching for a specific girl in Irvine's telephone book. Still, Seifer and Squall spent the following five hours checking each traveler's data, even the male ones in case an error occured. Seifer groaned, rubbing the back of his sore neck, and thanked Squall for the steaming cup of coffee he handed him. Squall let his body crash down on the bed, his tortured back refusing to take any more movements. The light coming from the only window of the room dicated noon, and they'd been litterally feeding on coffee.

"No Quis..." Seifer murmured, eyes still locked on the computer screen. "Where on earth have she gone? We've checked the whole week...she really did look depressed?"

"Well I couldn't tell back then...we were both very sick when we ended up in Deling City. But I remember she told me once she felt empty. I thought it was...well you know, we've been so close, all of us, for the time of the Ultimecia war. I thought in a way she missed it. And you know how she is, always running from a place to another, never stopping even for a meal...it was hard to her to pass from war to a hospital bed."

"Is it true she lost her teaching position just before the Ultimecia thing?"

"Yeah, that's true. She was very upset about it too. Damn, Seifer, now that I think about it, we shouldn't have let her go...we should have dragged her back to Garden."

"It's too late for regrets okay? We still don't know where she s and that means she could be anywhere, and alive."

"I'm gonna go to Headmaster Cid's office and ask fora proper mandatory. I have priority rights on the Ragnarok so it won't be a problem. We're going to head for Deling City tonight and start the investigations."

"Just the two of us?"

"I don't think they're going to allow us a team just to run after a lost SeeD...especially when that SeeD isn't officially missing except in our minds. We're meeting at the front gate at 4 o'clock, sharp."

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Quistis' empty void of unconscience was roughly pulled out of her reach by one violent kick in her stomach. She instinctively curled up in a tight ball, trying to avoid the other kicks hitting her spine and head, biting hard into the electric ball in her mouth until the constant electric discharges had her almost unconscious. Strong hands then pulled her off the ground while others grabbed her legs and held them bent over her stomach in foetal position. She wasn't the only one moved out of the room: all around her, painful screams of pain and agony bursted from the other bodies. Quistis head the croaking of rusty hinges and then she was in the open air, or so she thought when the delicious smell of rain and wet grass filled her nostrils. She had been litterally living in her own dejections for the past few days, forced to relieve herself in her clothes since she couldn't move nor ask for help, and the horrible smell in the room had grown to utterly unbearable.

More than once she had wished to die, but Quistis was a fighter, and a survivor of the Ultimecia battle. Her sense of survival was way to strong to allow her to give up. That, and the fact she had been litterally fed off a pipe pushed down her throat once per day, preventing. The feeding moment was the most painful of the day, the moment they had their electric ball removed from their mouth. Useless pleas of mercy and cries of pure terror and despair would fill the room for the following ten minutes, then the silence again, and the waiting. The girl beside her when she first woke up, the one who pulled her against her naked body, had died the day before, probably catching a lung infection from the cold ground and general weakness. Her breathing, in her last moments, sounded like an horrible rattle, an she kept convulsing in her agony so her whole body was soon pushed on top of Quistis. Their "feeders" had briefly commented her "funny" way of breathing and laughed at her "grimaces", but made no move to help her, leaving her alone in her darkness to die a slow, painful death.

Quistis apparently had escaped that fate, althought she was still fully at their mercy and not habving a clue what would happen next. But, she figured, she'd already be dead if it was their first intention.

Much to her surprise, the next stop was a huge bathtub where herself and the other survivors were plounged. While a strong pair of masculine hands soaked her hair in the liquid, others were busy cutting off the clothes from her body with a sharp object, carefully removing them from her irritated skin. Then something cutted through the rope that held her wrists and her arms fell down, lifeless, reopening the wounds and sending sharp spikes of pain through her muscles. The ball was removed from her mouth, the time to brush her teeth and rince the blood and drool from her lips and face. Her whole body was thoroughly soaped and scrubbed, her hair washed three times, her finger and toe nails cutted. Finally removed from the tub, a warm towel was wrapped around her trembling frame while a brush was roughly passed throught her hair, painfully working on the huge knots. her hair was then pulled into a thick ponytail and a smooth dress passed over her naked body. Quistis tried to speak, to put in words the hundredquestions spinning through her head, but her voice was nothing but an inaudible croaking barely escaping her sore throat. For now, silence was the only thing left for her.

A callused hand seized her in a grip that allowed no hesitation. Quistis stood up and immediatly fell back, her legs too weak to support herself. Someone went behind her and held her waist, pushing her back on her feet.

"Brandon!" A female voice yelled. The body behind her stiffened.

"Yes madam?" The voice rumbled against her back.

"I've seen twelve corpse being transported out of the transition house. I thought I already told you your Mistress wanted them in good condition, and you're giving me dead bodies! I'm not going to take the blame you know, and you'll be the one in trouble is that happens again!"

"Yes madam, I'm sorry madam."

"Where is that one coming from?"

"Deling City, madam. Lord Oran said she will be very useful."

"If Lord Oran said it...bring her to my house. Make sure she's tied back, eh?"

"Yes madam."

The footsteps faded.

"Bitch." The man hissed behind her. "Let's go."

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"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE LEAVING??" Cid's voice bursted through the wooden doors and the secretary, sitting outside behind a small desk, stopped typing the report she was working on and listened.

"We believe it's an emergency, mister."

"We? We're only talking of you and Seifer. Squall, you're going to be responsible of this Garden, you' can't get lost in any minor issue like it was the most important thing in the world!"

"Minor?? But mister, Quistis Trepe is missing!"

"Or so you say! She's not even 24 hours late. I think you're over-reacting here. I'm gonna give the order for a rescue team to leave if she is still not back in, say, two days, starting right now."

"But Mister, I'm willing to leave right now. I-"

"But you can't leave, Squall, isn't it clear enough? The Garden needs you right now and you're not going anywhere. Understand me, Squall, I'm doing it for you. As a headmaster, you'll have to decide what is a priority and what have to wait."

A crimson veil passed in front of Squall's vision. For a moment, he really considered stabbing the old man with his own letter-opener, or at least choke the bastard until he passed out. He had to clench and un-clench his fists a couple times before finding the strenght to keep his voice neutral as he asked:

"And what if I chose not to follow your order?"

Squall swore he had seen the exact moment the headmaster's eyes passed from stupidly compassionnate to death-wishing-cold.

"Refusing to follow a superior's order means trouble, Squall, and eventually an expelling order."

Squall's breath caught and all the blood in his body seemed to go up to his head causing a thunderous roar in his ears.

"I'll have to be hard on you Squall. You'll have to learn. And if it takes threats to put you in the right path, I'll do it."

"Thanks, mister." Squall's icy responsy cut throught the thick air. Careful to hide the newfound disgust he felt for his headmaster, the man he nearly considered a father through his studying years, Squall turned his back to him and walked out the door, hands clasped behind his back stained with droplets of blood.

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Seifer threw the last of his bag on his bed and sighed. Everything was in order, he was ready. Five minutes ago he had received the visit of a dearly concerned Rinoa looking for Squall who, she said, "fled off the room before she even had the time to wake up." Seifer innocently said he had seen Squall earlier in the cafeteria and let her resume the search of her lover. Seifer sighed and opened the computer's screen to check, one last time, the arrivals at Balamb Train Station. He was not surprised to see Quistis was not amongst the travelers. Sighing, he flipped the screen shut and rested his head in his hands, suddenly very, very tired.

Squall bursted in the room, slamming the door shut behind him and kicking the first thing near his feet-in that case, the trash can.

"HEY!" Seifer yelled at the flying tissues around the room.

"Cid's not gonna let me go. And he refuses to let a team go after Quistis before her disappearance is official, which means two more days."

"WHÂ??"

"Whââââ??" Squall sarcasticly repeated. "That means we can't go, Mr. Brain."

"Cid blocked us?"

"Blocked me and any team order. Even threatened to expel me."

"So...I'll have to leave alone?"

Squall sighed. "The order is for me and for you, Seifer, you can't leave either."

"Yes I can."

Seifer stood up and went to his wardrobe, pulled his uniform out and handed it to Squall. "You see the star on the right shoulder?"

"Yeah..."

"Ever heard of the Blue SeeDs?"

"....You mean you graduated as a Blue SeeD???"

"Squall, Hyne, why do you think I had such improvement in my school grades I eventually got a fucking medal? Why do you think they let me pass the SeeD test only two months after being re-admitted, when the Garden's law only allow it after six months?"

"I was kinda away, Seifer. And Kinda near-dead."

"Ok ok sorry."

"But how exactly far you think you can go without breaking you SeeD pledge?"

"Blue SeeDs are authorized to go to whatever mission they want, whenever they want, as long as they don't interfere with the designed leader. They are authorized to "enable" a mission on their own will, but they are required to go alone and to send a full report every three days. If the situation is serious enough, Garden will send a team but otherwise, the Blue SeeD is alone. We're considered as the highest-ranked SeeDs beside Lieutenant and Commander ranks. Most SeeDs call us watchdogs. We're watching dangerous situation until they necessite Garden's help."

"Shit Seifer, have you learned the whole book?"

"I...I'm proud of being a watchdog," Seifer replied, blushing a bit. "rather than a lapdog."

"Well, watchdog, I guess I have no choice but to let you go alone. I'll have to deal with that Cid bastard one day or another, better be soon."

"Oh, and Rinny was looking for you, said you ditched her while she was sleeping..."

"Fuck...."

"Go cope with your girlfriend, I'll go cope with the train tickets and stuff. I'll call you before leaving. And...you'll receive my report before the bastard. Promise."

"Thanks, Seifer. And, RINOA IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

Seifer frowned "No?"

"If I have a couple free days left, I'll tell you the whole story. Until then...just believe me okay?"

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Author's note: The Garden's alcohol consumption is purely fictive and in no way inspired by the writer's abuses althought she does have a way too soft spot for apricot brandy. Thanks. :)

Quistis88: I swear he'll be faithful to Quistis but eh, I can't monitor all he's doing when I'm not here to lead him! ^_^