To Love the Enemy
Chapter 1
"Will Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht and Irvine Kinneas report to my office. I repeat, will Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht and Irvine Kinneas report to my office, immediately." Squall sighed as the PA system crackled and died once more.
"Why does this always happen when I'm busy?" he thought to himself, ruefully, as he swung his Lionheart gunblade above his head and brought it crashing down upon the knee of the T-Rexaur that he was currently locked in battle with. The creature let out an almighty roar from the pain of his wound, and stumbled, before crashing to the ground just in front of Squall's feet. However, it was not giving up just yet. The T-Rexaur gathered all of its energy for one last lunge at its tormentor. Thankfully for Squall, he leapt out of its path just in time, the snapping jaws of the creature passing just inches from his face. Squall, realising that he needed to finish this fight quickly, put the beast out of its misery by drawing his gunblade forcefully across the throat.
Several seconds of silence followed whilst Squall caught his breath, after which the sound of applause could be heard echoing throughout the training centre. In the heat of the battle, Squall was so focussed that he hadn't noticed the number of students, and even some instructors, who had rushed to see Squall fighting, watching his every move intently. It was a very rare sight in Garden, to see a T-Rexaur defeated. They were mainly kept in the training centre so that students would realise that there are times when standing and fighting is foolish, and running away really is the best option. As such, most of the students, especially the younger ones, were overawed by Squall's presence and his abilities.
Squall, however, ignored the substantial audience that had formed and strode right past them, slinging his gunblade over his shoulder as he left.
"You asked to see me, Sir," Squall announced, stepping into Headmaster Cid's office. He had found that the door had been left open, and the desk was in its usual state of disarray. Behind the desk was a flustered man with his glasses sat half way down his nose. He was frantically leafing through an unfeasibly large stack of papers, before he evidently found what he was looking for. "Erm, Sir?" The Headmaster looked up and saw the figure standing in the doorway.
"Oh, Squall. Come in, take a seat." Squall obliged and took the only free seat in the office, the other two already being occupied by Zell and Irvine. "I do apologise, I was just searching for your mission briefing. I can never find a thing in this office," he explained. "I do apologise, all of you, he continued. I really do hope I didn't interrupt anything."
"With all due respect, Sir, can we drop the pleasantries and get on with this?" Squall asked, trying not to sound too harsh. He disliked interruptions, especially during his training, which he treated almost religiously.
"Business-like as usual," Cid chuckled. He had expected this kind of serious reaction from Squall, and wasn't offended in the least. Squall could certainly be difficult to work with, but Cid had learned long ago that this didn't stem from a problem with authority. In fact, he now considered Squall to be the best SeeD in Garden as he always got the job done. Sometimes, though, he wished that Squall would open up a little. He didn't want to train a whole army of emotionless, morally deficient drones, and encouraged people to talk about their feelings, even when it concerned their missions.
"Geez, man. You should really lighten up. Relax a little," Zell began. "You need to learn to let your hair down or you'll have a coronary by the time you're thirty." Squall shot him a look of pure disdain, persuading Zell that firmly shutting his mouth would be by far his best option.
"Great," Squall thought to himself. "A mission with these two. Will I get any peace?"
"Let's get back to the subject, Zell," Cid reprimanded. "I need you to go to Timber and meet up with Instructor Trepe and Selphie Tilmitt. Three months ago, they were sent to infiltrate a rebel organisation, The Forest Owls, who are fighting Galbadian occupation in Timber. The leader of this organisation is Rinoa Heartilly," Cid continued, holding out a file towards the three SeeDs sat opposite him. Squall quickly snatched this from his hand before either Zell or Irvine could get hold of it, and began to study the contents. Surprisingly, all that was contained within was one very grainy surveillance photograph and a summary of the Forest Owls' activities.
"Sir, where's the rest of the file?" Squall asked, puzzled. Prior to a mission, they were usually bombarded by information about the people involved.
"That's it, I'm afraid, Squall. We couldn't find any information about Heartilly. All we could get was that one picture," he explained.
"Hey, give me a look at that picture, will you Squall?" Irvine whispered, nudging him in the process. "This chick could be hot." Squall ignored this last comment, and kept a firm grasp of the picture.
"Isn't that a little, well…odd?" Zell asked. "I mean, she exists, so shouldn't we be able to find out something about her?"
"That's just it. It's as if she doesn't exist on our computers. There're no records of her anywhere."
"Then, why are we taking this mission, Sir?" Squall enquired.
"I was requested to undertake this mission by General Caraway. Over the years, he has been one of our best clients, I felt that I had a duty to accept this, even though I did have my doubts originally. He is a good, honest man, who has never let me down in the past." Squall could sense that there was something more to this than Cid wanted to reveal.
"Money," Squall thought grimly to himself. "He must be offering a great deal of money." Squall knew that money was often at the top of Cid's list of troubles. He always wanted to offer his help to the smaller clients whose cause he believed in, but it was very rare that these organisations were able to pay well. In order for SeeD to continue being dispatched to smaller outfits, Cid was obliged to accept missions from very rich, very powerful organisations that can afford to pay vast sums of money, no questions asked. Caraway was one of these clients.
"Trepe and Tilmitt will give you information regarding the leader of The Forest Owls and her schedule for the next week." Cid continued the briefing as quickly as possible, not wanting to dwell on his reasons for accepting this mission. "You are required to kidnap Miss Heartilly and deliver her, safe and unharmed, to Caraway's mansion in Deling City."
"What does Caraway want with her?" questioned Irvine.
"It doesn't matter," Squall answered, preparing to leave the briefing.
"You're not even the least bit interested?" he asked, amazed.
"Why should I be?"
"See, what did I tell you?" Zell chipped in. "He needs to lighten up."
"No, what he needs is a girlfriend," said Irvine. "You know, if you want, I could set you up with someone," he offered. Squall clenched his fist tightly, trying to suppress his anger. Cid picked up on this, and rescued the situation.
"Now, remember, under no circumstances is Miss Heartilly to be harmed. General Caraway was adamant about this. As such, I am going to outfit you with a specially modified sniper rifle. Irvine, this will be your part in this mission. As a last resort, you will be required to fire a tranquilliser dart at her. Do not miss, Kinneas, failure is not an option."
"Failure is not a word in my dictionary, Sir," he replied, cockily. Cid ignored this comment.
"Here are your train tickets to Timber." He handed the slips of paper to Squall. "Leonhart will be the squad leader, and you will rendezvous with Trepe and Tilmitt at the station. They will lead you to a train we have specially commissioned for your use in this mission. You will be completely alone on this train, and it will serve as your base." He paused for a few seconds. "Good luck. You are dismissed."
A/N When I looked back on these first few chapters, I just cringed, so I've decided to re-write them and make them a lot longer. I hope this is worthwhile. Please tell me what you think.