MC Falling Into Infinity 03

Thunder rumbled overhead as the storm continued to pour down on Deling City. The body in the alley had already drained away all sense of life before Irvine leapt down into the fray. The assailant had fled the moment the cowboy aimed a rather large shotgun at him. If not for Quistis' intervention, he'd have given chase, but a hand on his shoulder and a soft voice ordered him not to. Reluctantly he lowered the firearm, glancing at her from over his shoulder. The rain had begun to flatten her golden hair against her face and throat already, but that did nothing to change the utter authority in her eyes. She expected to be obeyed.

Irvine disagreed, but he was still considered a citizen of Galbadia, technically, and knew how their justice systems worked. Kneeling next to the dead man, he felt for a pulse in vain. The rains were already cooling the corpse, leaving his skin ashen and lifeless. The briefcase he'd so valiantly defended was still clutched in one hand, so the cowboy reached for it, even as he heard Quistis huff out her breath in an irritated sigh.

"Come on Quisty, might as well see what the man died for. Could be important," Irvine said, not bothering to wait for her to respond as he flicked open the case. She didn't bother arguing further, leaning over the cowboy to peer at the contents herself. Though Quistis would never admit it, she was just as curious as he was.

Inside was a number of papers, and data transcript tapes. Irvine tilted the case a bit to keep rain from getting inside, cornflower blue eyes peering at the topmost paper to get the jist of it. Classified was clearly stamped on it in red ink. Quistis gasped, closing the case immediately, prying his fingers loose from the handle and snapping the clasps closed. Snatching it up, she looked almost gleeful as she gestured for the cowboy to follow her back around the front to the hotel entrance.

"Irvine, I could almost kiss you right now," she exclaimed almost excitedly as the two tracked water into the hotel room again. Without wasting time she set the case down on the table, flicking it open to start rifling through the papers. Tossing one of the data tapes to the cowboy she added, "Put that in the laptop and run it. I think we just hit paydirt."

The idea of kissing Quistis wasn't half bad to Irvine, but at the same time he grimaced at the mention of it. Quistis was nice and all, but he rather had his heart set on Selphie, even if he was attempting to deny that very fact. He'd calmed considerably since she'd come back into his life, the ladies man persona slowly fading away. If asked, he attributed it to his age, nearing eighteen, and the fact that SeeD needed to be responsible, though in truth he knew that was about as bogus a lie as saying the sky was pink. Catching the data tape as she tossed it to him, he inserted it into the laptop, hitting the appropriate keys to run it. Quistis rushed over to sit on the edge of the bed, both SeeDs now eagerly waiting for the program to begin.

On the screen appeared a white washed room, non-descript in appearance. It could be any room in nearly any basement. There was a chair set up, with a glass of water resting on a table next to it. Movement blocked the camera for a moment, someone walking in front of it. Both of them gasped in unison as the individual sat down, papers in his lap, cold jade eyes staring at the camera, the viewer, intensely.

Indeed, the former Sorceress's Knight and fallen Garden student occupied the seat before the camera. Dressed in his usual flashy way, he obviously had never abandoned the coat with the red crosses even after his exilement from his former school. Last the two had heard, he'd taken up residency at Fisherman's Horizon with Fuujin and Raijin. He'd ceased to be a threat to Garden, and to the rest of the world. Until now.

"So, you want to join the Galbadian Freedom Front," Seifer began, relaxing in his chair without slouching. He was always impeccable that way. The grin on his lips bordered on sneering, for the boy never could quite lose that condescending stance. Even humbled in front of Squall after the events of the Second Sorceress War hadn't tamed that arrogance of his one bit. Irvine still remembered watching the trial that followed, Squall setting Seifer free as an exile from Garden, never to be allowed inside again. The blonde had raged against the sentence, not for any real desire to be back at Garden. He wanted atonement, punishment, not exile. It made the cowboy come to respect him a little more. Then again, he hadn't known Seifer as the others had. His only memories of him were the orphanage days, and then his corruption at the hands of Ultimecia. So, what was he doing in the Galbadian Freedom Front now?

"If you're watching this, then you've expressed an interest and don't be getting any ideas about jumping right in to help us. We have ways, you see, and you're going to stick to them or you're going to get dead, fast. We don't pussy foot around here."

"Typical Seifer," Quistis sighed as she rose from the bed. Leaving the cowboy to stare at the screen in a mixture of horror and fascination, she began to pace up and down the length of the room. This upped the stakes dramatically if Seifer were involved with, or even in charge of, the Freedom Front. The blonde could easily recognize both her and Irvine, and that would make the entire mission a complete failure, all for naught. It was fortunate they'd at least discovered this ahead of time. What if she'd accompanied Irvine tomorrow night only to end up learning this too late?

"Hey, Quisty, come back, you gotta see this," Irvine said, interrupting her thoughts. Rewinding some of the playback, he started the program again as she sat on the edge of the bed. It was the end of Seifer's little speech, the blonde getting up from his chair. Someone turned the camera slightly toward another wall, and just a sliver of a window was visible from the far right before the program ended and winked off.

"Pull that back up and enhance that window, Kinneas," Quistis ordered breathily, scooting a little closer to the cowboy then she meant to as she gestured to the screen. If there was anything to be seen through that window, they might not have to engage in any of these charades. Obeying as commanded, Irvine found the spot with the window shot, centering to the right, then enlarging and enhancing the picture till they found themselves staring at what appeared to be a street within Deling. One sign was half visible from a shop nearby. 'Something Red Eye'.

"Do you think that's a bar or something?" Quistis asked, wishing the sign wasn't blocked. The cowboy shrugged his shoulders, how would he know? Deling changed rapidly, even if he had spent part of his childhood in Galbadia, it was on a ranch, not within the city limits. Getting up again, she grabbed the nearest phone book to start searching through the directories. Indeed, she was nearly giddy, they were really onto something now. Though, how Seifer fit into the scheme of things was yet to be determined.

Selphie awoke with a throbbing pain in her skull. It took her a moment to adjust to her surroundings. Where was she? Where was Zell? She panicked suddenly, forcing her eyes open, finding herself bathed in darkness. A cell? There was a cot beneath her, and it smelled of sterile linens. It was not a slimey place, like out of the fairy tales she read as a young girl. Pristine, immaculate. Sitting up, she felt at the back of her head, wincing as her fingers found the knot there. It throbbed a little, possibly concussionary. How did she get here? Everything had been fine, until she and Zell went to the shopping arcade.

It had already been a day since escorting the Galbadian ship into Esthar's airspace. The repairs wouldn't be extensive, but it would mean two extra days in the city till their ship would be ready to fly again. It meant a little extra money for retaining SeeD escorts a bit longer, but Selphie quickly got bored with wandering around the city. The technology was fascinating, but Irvine wasn't there to share it with her. Zell wasn't a bad companion, but they were both chatterboxes and tended to talk over one another, which irked the girl. Irvine never talked over her, he always just listened and sometimes answered her questions, if she gave him a chance. As much as she was embarassed to admit it, she missed the cowboy. Oh she didn't miss his embarassing innuendos or his occasional attempts to flirt with her. He could really be such a pig at times, but when that sensitive side of him came out, it nearly made her swoon. If only he would always be like that, she mused. Then again, he just wouldn't be the same.

The second day in Esthar, she'd coaxed Zell into going to the shopping arcade with her. Irvine never protested going to any stores with her, so it irked her again that the martial artist was so reluctant. Zell, however, just wasn't interested in shopping, unless it was for a paticular comic he'd been looking for. And Selphie never seemed to want to go into the places he was interested in. Honestly he didn't have any idea how Irvine got along with her all the time. Once upon a time Zell thought she was kinda cute and had the slightest of crushes on her, but since the cowboy came into the picture, he'd backed off and it had given him a bit of a distance from which to see. Selphie just seemed terribly self centered to him, and a little on the wild side underneath that soft, happy-go-lucky exterior. Oh, he didn't like her any less, he'd just lost any last vestiges of that original crush and considered her more like a little sister, one that annoyed him often.

Nonetheless, the two of them marched into the arcade together, then promptly separated. Selphie really didn't want to, but Zell was fairly well determined to check out the comics shop and a few other places she wasn't interested in. So, off she went toward the dress shops, deciding perhaps a new outfit might whittle away some of her time here. And with a neat pair of gloves, maybe something fingerless like what Irvine wore. She paused then, stomping her foot. Oh stop thinking about Irvine! "I'm not in love with him, I'm just not!"

"Huh?" Selphie said as she whirled around. She didn't even get a chance to really look at the guy. The moment she'd turned, something really hard thunked her smack dab in the back of her skull. Darkness came rather swiftly after that.

And now she was waking up in some darkened cell. Didn't they at least have lights in these places? She really had no idea where she was, or how long she'd been out. Zell was no where to be seen either. Did they catch him too? Or had he somehow escaped? She hoped so, even crossed her fingers in her lap as she chewed at the underside of her lower lip.

Trying to stand, she found that her legs were a little wobbly, her stomach rather nauteous suddenly. Resisting the urge to evacuate her lunch, she slowly crept along, keeping herself against the wall. Reaching the door, she felt along it for any sort of doorknob or handle. None, of course. Not even the thin slitted bars that one finds on the sterotypical prison door. She pressed her ear to the cool metal, shivering at the cold contact. Outside seemed quiet, either that or the door was just too thick. Then, she caught the ring of bootheels against a hard surfaced floor. It was headed for her cell and she barely had time to step away from the door before the latch clicked open, flooding the darkened room with florescent lighting.

"If you'll just come with me, Miss Tilmitt," a baritone voice said as a hand reached in to grab her arm. Now, if this had just been girl Selphie, and not SeeD trained super pilot Selphie, then he might have stood a chance. But, the girl simply wasn't about to let this jerk touch her, let alone drag her anywhere. Who knew what he might do to her? He could be a pervert! So, the moment he reached out for her arm, she slide to the side, sort of like one of her piloting maneuvers, to evade his grasp. Since this caught him off guard, she struck him solidly in the gut with all the junctioned strength she possessed, followed immediately afterwards by a kneesocking to the groin. Needless to say, she left the man in a moaning puddle on the floor of the cell.

Still a little dizzy, thanks to the bump on her head, Selphie stumbled out of the cell and had to pause to right herself. It was that or fall over. The hallway was rather dreary, obviously a sub-level of some sort. The lighting was tracked, leading from one end to the other and had a faint orange glow to it, illuminating the white washed walls. Doors lined either end, presumably other cells, and there was a guard station far to her right. However, it appeared that the guard whose post it was happened to be the very same man she had just felled. Turning, she pushed him into the cell a little further, reaching over him to grab the keycard from his belt. She had to wrinkle her nose and make herself do it, for he reeked of bourbon, shaken and not stirred. Yuck.

Closing the cell door, she gleefully locked it with the keycard. Giggling, she wondered how he'd feel to be waking up in there now. Served him right! Bounding down the hallway, she paused at the guard station, looking at the computer there for a moment to see where exactly she was. She blinked repeatedly in disbelief at the display screen: Galbadian Correctional Facility. Deling City Branch. Galbadia? What the heck was she doing here? She was in Esthar not that long ago. Suddenly Selphie felt she'd been out a lot longer then she thought. And why would Galbadians kidnap her in the first place? She was hired to escort their diplomat!

Sulking at the strangeness of the situation, Selphie found a few uniforms in the locker room. Most of these guys didn't even lock them. Not that she minded, it only made it easier to find one close to her size. Someone was real short among them, though, as she managed to get into something that fit relatively close to her petite frame. The waist wasn't quite right, but with her wearing the dress under all of it, and putting a belt on, and tucking the uniform shirt in, she got close. Close enough, she hoped, not to be terribly obvious. Taking a deep breath, she paused at the stair well, thinking. Hey, if this was Galbadia, and Deling City even, that meant Quistis and Irvine were here somewhere!


	Part 5: The Crimson Idol Thunder rumbled overhead as the storm continued to pour down on Deling City. The body in the alley had already drained away all sense of life before Irvine leapt down into the fray. The assailant had fled the moment the cowboy aimed a rather large shotgun at him. If not for Quistis' intervention, he'd have given chase, but a hand on his shoulder and a soft voice ordered him not to. Reluctantly he lowered the firearm, glancing at her from over his shoulder. The rain had begun to flatten her golden hair against her face and throat already, but that did nothing to change the utter authority in her eyes. She expected to be obeyed. "We have a job to do here, Irvine. Galbadia can handle their own justice systems." Irvine disagreed, but he was still considered a citizen of Galbadia, technically, and knew how their justice systems worked. Kneeling next to the dead man, he felt for a pulse in vain. The rains were already cooling the corpse, leaving his skin ashen and lifeless. The briefcase he'd so valiantly defended was still clutched in one hand, so the cowboy reached for it, even as he heard Quistis huff out her breath in an irritated sigh. "Come on Quisty, might as well see what the man died for. Could be important," Irvine said, not bothering to wait for her to respond as he flicked open the case. She didn't bother arguing further, leaning over the cowboy to peer at the contents herself. Though Quistis would never admit it, she was just as curious as he was. Inside was a number of papers, and data transcript tapes. Irvine tilted the case a bit to keep rain from getting inside, cornflower blue eyes peering at the topmost paper to get the jist of it. Classified was clearly stamped on it in red ink. Quistis gasped, closing the case immediately, prying his fingers loose from the handle and snapping the clasps closed. Snatching it up, she looked almost gleeful as she gestured for the cowboy to follow her back around the front to the hotel entrance. "Irvine, I could almost kiss you right now," she exclaimed almost excitedly as the two tracked water into the hotel room again. Without wasting time she set the case down on the table, flicking it open to start rifling through the papers. Tossing one of the data tapes to the cowboy she added, "Put that in the laptop and run it. I think we just hit paydirt." The idea of kissing Quistis wasn't half bad to Irvine, but at the same time he grimaced at the mention of it. Quistis was nice and all, but he rather had his heart set on Selphie, even if he was attempting to deny that very fact. He'd calmed considerably since she'd come back into his life, the ladies man persona slowly fading away. If asked, he attributed it to his age, nearing eighteen, and the fact that SeeD needed to be responsible, though in truth he knew that was about as bogus a lie as saying the sky was pink. Catching the data tape as she tossed it to him, he inserted it into the laptop, hitting the appropriate keys to run it. Quistis rushed over to sit on the edge of the bed, both SeeDs now eagerly waiting for the program to begin. On the screen appeared a white washed room, non-descript in appearance. It could be any room in nearly any basement. There was a chair set up, with a glass of water resting on a table next to it. Movement blocked the camera for a moment, someone walking in front of it. Both of them gasped in unison as the individual sat down, papers in his lap, cold jade eyes staring at the camera, the viewer, intensely. "Seifer." Indeed, the former Sorceress's Knight and fallen Garden student occupied the seat before the camera. Dressed in his usual flashy way, he obviously had never abandoned the coat with the red crosses even after his exilement from his former school. Last the two had heard, he'd taken up residency at Fisherman's Horizon with Fuujin and Raijin. He'd ceased to be a threat to Garden, and to the rest of the world. Until now. "So, you want to join the Galbadian Freedom Front," Seifer began, relaxing in his chair without slouching. He was always impeccable that way. The grin on his lips bordered on sneering, for the boy never could quite lose that condescending stance. Even humbled in front of Squall after the events of the Second Sorceress War hadn't tamed that arrogance of his one bit. Irvine still remembered watching the trial that followed, Squall setting Seifer free as an exile from Garden, never to be allowed inside again. The blonde had raged against the sentence, not for any real desire to be back at Garden. He wanted atonement, punishment, not exile. It made the cowboy come to respect him a little more. Then again, he hadn't known Seifer as the others had. His only memories of him were the orphanage days, and then his corruption at the hands of Ultimecia. So, what was he doing in the Galbadian Freedom Front now? "If you're watching this, then you've expressed an interest and don't be getting any ideas about jumping right in to help us. We have ways, you see, and you're going to stick to them or you're going to get dead, fast. We don't pussy foot around here." "Typical Seifer," Quistis sighed as she rose from the bed. Leaving the cowboy to stare at the screen in a mixture of horror and fascination, she began to pace up and down the length of the room. This upped the stakes dramatically if Seifer were involved with, or even in charge of, the Freedom Front. The blonde could easily recognize both her and Irvine, and that would make the entire mission a complete failure, all for naught. It was fortunate they'd at least discovered this ahead of time. What if she'd accompanied Irvine tomorrow night only to end up learning this too late? "Hey, Quisty, come back, you gotta see this," Irvine said, interrupting her thoughts. Rewinding some of the playback, he started the program again as she sat on the edge of the bed. It was the end of Seifer's little speech, the blonde getting up from his chair. Someone turned the camera slightly toward another wall, and just a sliver of a window was visible from the far right before the program ended and winked off. "Pull that back up and enhance that window, Kinneas," Quistis ordered breathily, scooting a little closer to the cowboy then she meant to as she gestured to the screen. If there was anything to be seen through that window, they might not have to engage in any of these charades. Obeying as commanded, Irvine found the spot with the window shot, centering to the right, then enlarging and enhancing the picture till they found themselves staring at what appeared to be a street within Deling. One sign was half visible from a shop nearby. 'Something Red Eye'. "Do you think that's a bar or something?" Quistis asked, wishing the sign wasn't blocked. The cowboy shrugged his shoulders, how would he know? Deling changed rapidly, even if he had spent part of his childhood in Galbadia, it was on a ranch, not within the city limits. Getting up again, she grabbed the nearest phone book to start searching through the directories. Indeed, she was nearly giddy, they were really onto something now. Though, how Seifer fit into the scheme of things was yet to be determined. Part 6: It's Coming Down Selphie awoke with a throbbing pain in her skull. It took her a moment to adjust to her surroundings. Where was she? Where was Zell? She panicked suddenly, forcing her eyes open, finding herself bathed in darkness. A cell? There was a cot beneath her, and it smelled of sterile linens. It was not a slimey place, like out of the fairy tales she read as a young girl. Pristine, immaculate. Sitting up, she felt at the back of her head, wincing as her fingers found the knot there. It throbbed a little, possibly concussionary. How did she get here? Everything had been fine, until she and Zell went to the shopping arcade. It had already been a day since escorting the Galbadian ship into Esthar's airspace. The repairs wouldn't be extensive, but it would mean two extra days in the city till their ship would be ready to fly again. It meant a little extra money for retaining SeeD escorts a bit longer, but Selphie quickly got bored with wandering around the city. The technology was fascinating, but Irvine wasn't there to share it with her. Zell wasn't a bad companion, but they were both chatterboxes and tended to talk over one another, which irked the girl. Irvine never talked over her, he always just listened and sometimes answered her questions, if she gave him a chance. As much as she was embarassed to admit it, she missed the cowboy. Oh she didn't miss his embarassing innuendos or his occasional attempts to flirt with her. He could really be such a pig at times, but when that sensitive side of him came out, it nearly made her swoon. If only he would always be like that, she mused. Then again, he just wouldn't be the same. The second day in Esthar, she'd coaxed Zell into going to the shopping arcade with her. Irvine never protested going to any stores with her, so it irked her again that the martial artist was so reluctant. Zell, however, just wasn't interested in shopping, unless it was for a paticular comic he'd been looking for. And Selphie never seemed to want to go into the places he was interested in. Honestly he didn't have any idea how Irvine got along with her all the time. Once upon a time Zell thought she was kinda cute and had the slightest of crushes on her, but since the cowboy came into the picture, he'd backed off and it had given him a bit of a distance from which to see. Selphie just seemed terribly self centered to him, and a little on the wild side underneath that soft, happy-go-lucky exterior. Oh, he didn't like her any less, he'd just lost any last vestiges of that original crush and considered her more like a little sister, one that annoyed him often. Nonetheless, the two of them marched into the arcade together, then promptly separated. Selphie really didn't want to, but Zell was fairly well determined to check out the comics shop and a few other places she wasn't interested in. So, off she went toward the dress shops, deciding perhaps a new outfit might whittle away some of her time here. And with a neat pair of gloves, maybe something fingerless like what Irvine wore. She paused then, stomping her foot. Oh stop thinking about Irvine! "I'm not in love with him, I'm just not!" "You don't sound all that convinced of that," an unfamiliar voice replied to her. "Huh?" Selphie said as she whirled around. She didn't even get a chance to really look at the guy. The moment she'd turned, something really hard thunked her smack dab in the back of her skull. Darkness came rather swiftly after that. And now she was waking up in some darkened cell. Didn't they at least have lights in these places? She really had no idea where she was, or how long she'd been out. Zell was no where to be seen either. Did they catch him too? Or had he somehow escaped? She hoped so, even crossed her fingers in her lap as she chewed at the underside of her lower lip. Trying to stand, she found that her legs were a little wobbly, her stomach rather nauteous suddenly. Resisting the urge to evacuate her lunch, she slowly crept along, keeping herself against the wall. Reaching the door, she felt along it for any sort of doorknob or handle. None, of course. Not even the thin slitted bars that one finds on the sterotypical prison door. She pressed her ear to the cool metal, shivering at the cold contact. Outside seemed quiet, either that or the door was just too thick. Then, she caught the ring of bootheels against a hard surfaced floor. It was headed for her cell and she barely had time to step away from the door before the latch clicked open, flooding the darkened room with florescent lighting. "If you'll just come with me, Miss Tilmitt," a baritone voice said as a hand reached in to grab her arm. Now, if this had just been girl Selphie, and not SeeD trained super pilot Selphie, then he might have stood a chance. But, the girl simply wasn't about to let this jerk touch her, let alone drag her anywhere. Who knew what he might do to her? He could be a pervert! So, the moment he reached out for her arm, she slide to the side, sort of like one of her piloting maneuvers, to evade his grasp. Since this caught him off guard, she struck him solidly in the gut with all the junctioned strength she possessed, followed immediately afterwards by a kneesocking to the groin. Needless to say, she left the man in a moaning puddle on the floor of the cell. Still a little dizzy, thanks to the bump on her head, Selphie stumbled out of the cell and had to pause to right herself. It was that or fall over. The hallway was rather dreary, obviously a sub-level of some sort. The lighting was tracked, leading from one end to the other and had a faint orange glow to it, illuminating the white washed walls. Doors lined either end, presumably other cells, and there was a guard station far to her right. However, it appeared that the guard whose post it was happened to be the very same man she had just felled. Turning, she pushed him into the cell a little further, reaching over him to grab the keycard from his belt. She had to wrinkle her nose and make herself do it, for he reeked of bourbon, shaken and not stirred. Yuck. Closing the cell door, she gleefully locked it with the keycard. Giggling, she wondered how he'd feel to be waking up in there now. Served him right! Bounding down the hallway, she paused at the guard station, looking at the computer there for a moment to see where exactly she was. She blinked repeatedly in disbelief at the display screen: Galbadian Correctional Facility. Deling City Branch. Galbadia? What the heck was she doing here? She was in Esthar not that long ago. Suddenly Selphie felt she'd been out a lot longer then she thought. And why would Galbadians kidnap her in the first place? She was hired to escort their diplomat! Sulking at the strangeness of the situation, Selphie found a few uniforms in the locker room. Most of these guys didn't even lock them. Not that she minded, it only made it easier to find one close to her size. Someone was real short among them, though, as she managed to get into something that fit relatively close to her petite frame. The waist wasn't quite right, but with her wearing the dress under all of it, and putting a belt on, and tucking the uniform shirt in, she got close. Close enough, she hoped, not to be terribly obvious. Taking a deep breath, she paused at the stair well, thinking. Hey, if this was Galbadia, and Deling City even, that meant Quistis and Irvine were here somewhere! With that in mind, the petite SeeD raced up the stairs, only to catch herself and start trying to walk with some sort of official air as soon as she got to the higher levels. To be Continued.... NExT...