Other Fan Fiction ❯ Lives in Choosing ❯ Round One ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Squaresoft rightfully owns all the characters from FFVIII.

*Well I finally took the time to sit down and write this chapter. Christmas and cookies gave me too much energy to stay still for too long. Teehee. So here's chapter 3....* Oh, and have a Happy New Year!

***************************************************************** ***********

 

Chapter 3: Round One

 

Pain split her senses and throbbed through her temples, causing her to wake up with a groan. All memories of the day before had escaped her and the surroundings were unfamiliar. Slowly, she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Ugh, where am I?" She mumbled to herself.

"In enemy captive," came a snappy answer not too far away.

Rinoa was startled from her previous grogginess and became fully alert. Memories returned in a flash of recognition and pain. She gasped out in surprise when it dawned on her she was in one of the tents she had been meaning to raid the previous night. A small fire was burning in the center of the tent, reflecting its glare onto the surrounding objects, despite the natural rays of the sun shining in through open tent flaps.

Across the way sat a small desk, occupied by a man- most likely the one who had just answered her. His hair was brown and at good length- bangs covering whatever part of his face the piles of papers hadn't. He sat there, not a moment's pause or hesitation to look up from his work. The pen he held scratched and clawed at the paper under his grasp, moving rhythmically back and forth.

To Rinoa's surprise she wasn't tied up or restrained from any movement. She took this advantage to cautiously creep closer to the man, trying to see past papers. She had nearly reached two strides worth from his desk when he snapped his head up, stopping her dead in her tracks. His eyes were livid and irritated, the odd shade of azure piercing her own eyes like shards of broken ice.

Rinoa held his gaze for only a moment before she looked away, embarrassed and a little dumfounded. She could still feel his eyes- raking at her from the inside and making her as uncomfortable as possible.

"What?" The word was hard and hurled at her. Rinoa didn't look up, but she heard the scribbling of the pen return, suggesting went back to his work to ignore her.

Tears swelled up in her eyes and she retreated back by the fire, huddling up into a ball of misery. Outside, her only possible escape, she watched as guards constantly passed in casual, uncaring paces. Looking back to the flames, watching as they licked the air and cracked in protest. In the center she envisioned her village and the people she knew. The world's most dangerous army- the smallest fraction of it here, in her homeland, to demolish and dominate. To sent all to their demise and burn life as this fire did the log.

The light shuffle of papers broke Rinoa from her thoughts. She was now conscious of the wetness around her eyes and the intense heat from the fire sitting dangerously close.

"You'd probably look better with hair," the young man had spoken, his expression gesturing to the flames.

Rinoa rolled over, away from the fire, and wiped the sweat and tears from her face. Her vision was blurred and she felt extremely light headed from the heat and the headache.

"There's dried beef in that chest," the man gestured to a corner as he rose from his seat and stretched leisurely.

Rinoa looked over to the corner filled with boxes and armor and clothes and plates and....

Heaving another aggravated sigh, the man strode over to the corner and pulled out two strips of dried beef. After tossing it to her, he took a step back and examined the girl bunched up on the ground. Her hair was jet, save for the red-blond streaks that graced her hair in a few spots, and would reached just about to her mid back if it wasn't for the tangle of knots. She tore at the beef ravenously, contrasting her actions to the lithe and slender body her soul hid within.

The brunette coughed nervously and looked away from her. "You're name?" He asked.

Rinoa looked up with wide brown eyes and a mouth full of food. She swallowed, but didn't answer- a look of suspicion crossed her features. "Why should I tell you? What's your name?"

The man was a little taken aback, having never been talked back to. His surprise was immediately replaced by a look of tensely controlled rage. "Commander Leonhart." Squall leaned forward and growled threateningly, "And you should tell me because I haven't slit your throat yet."

Rinoa seemed unaffected. "Well as long as I'm here, I am not addressing you as `Commander Leonhart.'" Rinoa mimicked the deeper tone of the man's voice in saying his own name. "Of course you can just call me `Commander Heartilly.' Whatever you prefer." She shrugged.

Frustration and spite contorted the brunette's features. "Squall."

Rinoa looked up with a grin of victory. "Rinoa."

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

"Seifer!!"

"What?" Seifer stood before a panicked and out of breath Selphie.

"Rinoa's gone! I've checked everywhere- the whole village! Nobody's seen her either! I think she's left!"

"That's nonsense," Seifer tried to hide his fear. "Are you sure? Remember the last time you made a big fuss about her missing. It was just that, `Oh yeah, I forgot to check her house' ordeal."

"Shut up! I mean it this time. And what if she really is back at her house? After that big deal she made about the village yesterday, its a possibility! Seifer, we have to do something."

"Geez, that girl's more trouble than she's worth. C'mon, help me gather supplies."

"What for? Where are we going?"

"You just asked me to do something didn't you?! We're going after her."

"Yeah, but what's the supplies for?"

The blond sighed and gave the clueless girl a sympathetic glance. "We probably won't be back for a long time."

 

 

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

 

The encampment was folded, packed, and loaded onto wagons before noon struck. Clouds of grey gathered along the horizon and winds promised rain by evening.

"Sir, what's our plan of action?" Zell inquired Squall at the head of the wagons.

"Well, what are our choices?" Squall retorted.

"Scouts returned this morning and reported no other civilizations within a 3 mile diameter. Currently we're located on the northern most continent, but its more like an island than an actual continent. South east of here is another nice chunk of land, but we'll have to cross a small sea in about a day, depending on the weather, sir."

"What's there?" Squall crossed his arms, bored by such formality.

"Uh, Trabia I believe. Its pretty much deserted, as well are all other places up here, but its a major landmark. An easy take, if you ask me, sir. I could call central base for more troops and we could set up a new base there, if you like."

Squall opened his mouth but was stopped short by a rustling behind him. Rinoa stood up from where she was sitting, a look of disgust on her face. "So is that all you people do? Just go around acting all big taking over everything, when all you're really doing is marking your territory on defenseless cities? You Galbadians really are sick animals aren't you?" Rinoa struggled against the bonds that were now strapped around her wrists and tied back to the wagon.

Zell watched her and smirked. "Shall I hit her over the head again, sir?"

"That was you?!" Rinoa bared her teeth maliciously and strained as much as the ropes allowed her.

Squall watched them both in exasperation and ran a hand through his hair. "Well when you two are done, we'll depart for Trabia."

 

 

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\

 

Rain fell horizontally in the thrashing winds. Galbadia set up camp under the awning of pine trees, but the branches did little to stop the downpour. Posts were few and the usual guards were released from duty during the storm.

Rinoa sat miserably by the fire in drenched clothes with touchy attitude. "You know," she raised her voice for Squall to hear across the tent, "I really don't appreciate being tied up like a dog. And you know as well as I do that I'd freeze to death if I attempted escape."

No response.

"Its not like I have anywhere to go!"

Squall walked over in a new pair of dry clothes and sat down across from her. In his hand he held a flip booklet and occasionally wrote down a note or two. "Yes, you may know that, but I don't really know how close your people are. They could be in the trees for all I know." His tone was bitter and sarcastic.

"Is that why I'm tied up like this? Do you think me and my people are untame animals who live in trees?!"

"No. I just suggested they were in the trees. You were the one who just said they lived in trees." He darted one of his piercing glances at her from behind wet bangs before returning to what he was doing.

Rinoa rolled her eyes and lied down on mat she was given. In her daze of exhaustion she watched Squall as he wrote. She watched the way his eyes darted back and forth over each page. She watched the way the corner of his lips tugged down and the way his eyebrows constantly furrowed together. She watched how he wrote with his hands and how he occasionally rubbed them together from a cramp.

"Squall?" She piped, but he continued to write. "Squall, how old are you?" This time he did stop. He looked up at her with the same irritated eyes and the same frown. But this time he looked a bit perplexed.

"What?" Was his only response.

"You heard me."

"22," he went back to writing.

"Really?" She yawned. "That's fairly young to be commander, don't you think?" He ignored her. "Too much stress is what I see. You'll have a head of grey by the time you're 26 or 27. Too bad, too, I like the way your hair looks now." This time Squall looked up at her, but she was already turned the other way, slipping into sleep.

 

 

***************************************************************** ***********

Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This stories a bit difficult to write, pretty much making it up as I go sorta thing. ^_A R+R please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!