Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Unknown Ally ❯ Chapter 12: Mood Swings ( Chapter 12 )

Chapter 12: Mood Swings

 

Since that night, Vincent did not have any more dreams of Hellfire and it agitated him. What did she mean that that night would be their last? Why was she so desperate for him to trust the young scientist? It made no sense whatsoever. But he didn't heed her advice and it seemed the more Isolda tried to be friendly with him, the more suspicious he became of her. He now believed that the girl was a spy of some kind, but he couldn't be sure if Deep Ground would use that kind of means to get their information. But then again, since Shelke no longer worked with the army, they would be desperate for resources. But it still didn't ring true with Vincent that they would use a spy to collect data.

 

He growled in frustration and gripped his hair, which was now above the shoulders, as though he could tear the answers he desperately needed out of his head. The situation was now so horribly confusing that he felt like he would get a headache every time he tried to sift through his thoughts.

 

He could hear Isolda tapping away furiously at her keyboard as she continued with the report Rufus had assigned her. Even though she'd been promoted to Head of Biotechnology, she had opted to stay in her lab instead of moving to a different location. She'd told Vincent that she wouldn't feel right working in another sector. Vincent had only nodded, eyeing her in mistrust.

 

Vincent growled softly as he tried to think of ways to collect the information AVALANCHE needed, but the only thing he could think of doing was to continue as he was. Sighing in resignation, he rose to his feet and walked out of his room and into the lab where Isolda was working. She glanced up from her screen when she heard him come out.

 

`You've been in your room all day,' she remarked. `Are you all right?'

 

Vincent looked at her, trying to see if there were other meanings behind her question. Seeing none, he answered carefully. `Yes, I'm fine.'

 

`Having another bad day?' she asked, her tone dry but dripping with sarcasm. Vincent glared at her.

 

`Yes.'

 

`You could think up a better excuse,' she growled, not looking away from the screen. `You could say you have a headache or you're not feeling well. Or that you prefer to be left alone. I would've just left you to your privacy if you'd said that.'

 

Vincent looked at her. `I guess it's too late to say that now.'

 

`Far too late,' she growled. She suddenly stopped typing and turned to face him. Vincent looked at her with a frown.

 

`What?'

 

`What the hell is wrong with you?' she demanded. `You've been acting strange since the night you woke up from that nightmare.'

 

`It's nothing,' he said. `I'm just-`

 

`If you say you're having a bad day, I will tear your tongue out and use it for my posting stamps,' she snarled. Vincent was surprised that she could be so coarse.

 

`I try to help you and you push me away,' she said, her voice filled with hurt. `I heard you shout her name that night and I knew that whatever dream you were having had ended badly. I just want to help you, Hunter. That is what friends do for each other.'

 

You are not my friend, you are a spy and that makes you my enemy, Vincent longed to say, but he held his tongue and chose his words carefully.

 

`I don't like being helped,' he said. `I prefer to deal with things on my own.'

 

Isolda glared. `That may be how you work, but you can't shut yourself away in your room every time you have a problem,' she snapped. `I am here, you know. You can come to me to talk.'

 

Vincent returned her glare. `I can handle this alone,' he said coldly. `I don't need you to be my therapist.'

 

What happened next, he never could have contemplated.

 

Isolda snarled in frustration and leaped at Vincent, catching him off guard and hurling her body against him. Vincent landed hard on his back with the scientist on top of him and he struggled with her. Isolda made to slap him but he grabbed her wrist. She tried to wrench her arm out of his grasp but he was too strong. Vincent continued to hold her back as she fought him.

 

`Come on,' she urged him. `Show me your rage, Hunter. You know you want to.'

 

Vincent felt his anger bubbling below the surface but refused to rise to her bait. Isolda saw he wouldn't let loose and she kneed him in the stomach. Vincent grunted but retained his hold on her.

 

`Why won't you just feel something for once?' the silver-haired girl snarled. `You can't just be Mr. Stoic all the time.'

 

`What I feel is none of your concern,' gritted Vincent through his teeth. Isolda raised her free hand to strike him but he grabbed that wrist as well. She struggled to pry herself loose, but it was in vain.

 

`You can't hold back your rage forever, Hunter,' she growled. `You will give into it.'

 

`Never going to happen, Isolda.' Vincent pushed off the floor and pushed her against the wall, pinning her there with his weight. Isolda glared at her bodyguard while the disguised gunman returned her glare no less ardently. She struggled but couldn't break loose.

 

`Don't force me to do this,' she snarled. Vincent laughed harshly.

 

`You can't do anything while you're immobilised,' he growled. A malicious smile curved her lips.

 

`Correction: My hands are immobilised. But…..'

 

Without warning, she slammed her foot down hard. The spike of her heel was driven hard into the gunslinger's instep. Vincent snarled in pain.

 

`Hurts, doesn't it?' The smile turned bestial. `I bet you're pretty pissed right now. Why don't you show me just how much?'

 

Vincent gritted his teeth against the pain. He could feel his rage boiling in his blood, seducing him to lose control. But he pressed it down and glared at her. Isolda was not impressed.

 

`Are you so blind you can't see that you need to release it?' she growled. `Go on. Let it loose. Free the beast inside you!'

 

 

Vincent snarled and glared at her. He held her fast, stepping on her feet so she couldn't kick him. She snarled in pain.

 

`You son of a bitch!' she spat at him. She struggled but couldn't pull free.

 

`I am not going to let you go until you calm down,' he said firmly. `This isn't like you, Isolda.'

 

Isolda laughed, a sound that was nearly pitched to hysteria. `You have no idea what I'm like, Hunter. You're so holed up in your own world that you refuse to even go near me.'

 

Vincent was about to reply when the window to his far left exploded in a shower of glass. He grabbed her and threw her to the floor, shielding her as a hail of bullets hit the wall where they'd just been standing. He snarled slightly as pain shot through his foot, but ignored it.

 

They scrambled to their feet and Vincent looked at the scientist.

 

`Are you all right?' As much as he loathed protecting a possible spy, he couldn't let her know that he suspected her.

 

`Yeah.' Isolda nodded, brushing herself off. She seemed to have regained her composure as she looked at him. `What the hell's going on?'

 

Her question was answered by a familiar voice in the courtyard.