Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII and its characters are property of Squaresoft. This fic is not-for-profit, just for filling in plotholes.
Squall let out a sigh of relief. Finally the Timber Owls had left the "conference room," giving him a chance to get himself under control. He couldn't explain it, but something about being around that girl set him off. Around Rinoa Heartilly, all of Squall's carefully built emotional control blew to dust, and it was all he could do to keep from scoffing at the inanity of the resistance group's plan.
The only person who'd gotten this response out of him was Seifer Almasy. Thank Hyne at least he's not here, he thought, pinching the bridge of his nose. Zell and Selphie's bickering was enough. If Seifer had been here, especially considering that he and Rinoa had some kind of relationship, Squall would have seriously contemplated throwing himself in front of the Timber Owls' garishly yellow train.
Taking deep breaths, he calmed down, reconstructing his mental and emotional barriers. Maybe no one else had seen it, but during that farce of a briefing he'd been seething. Jump from train to train? Kiddie dummy cars? What kind of mission was this?
And then there was that nagging feeling, an uncomfortable knot in his stomach telling him this mission was desperately flawed. Not that that surprised Squall. It bothered him, though, that he couldn't pin down the feeling. If he knew where the mission was doomed to fail, he could try to prevent it. He was no great strategist, but still…
"Hey, Squall," Zell said.
"What?" Squall said, straightening from his slouch against the wall.
Zell, who'd been leaning over the model of the train tracks, glanced over at Watts. Squall rolled his eyes at the look of exasperation in Zell's face, though he could understand the fighter's feelings toward the resistance group, and walked over to stand next to Zell.
"Was the Headmaster kidding?" Zell asked, his voice a low whisper. "I mean, these guys don't have a clue what they're doing! There's no way this plan will work." He clenched his fists, his body shaking with suppressed outrage. Squall raised his eyebrows. So he can control himself sometimes. Well, that was good to know. Even if Squall agreed with Zell, a mission was a mission. Squall wasn't about to lose a rank in his new SeeD status because one of his teammates had a big mouth.
Selphie bounced over from her examination of the bulletin board. She leaned over the two men, resting her chin on Zell's shoulder. He rolled it with a scowl and a hastily muttered, "Get off." She pouted for a moment, then brightened up. "Whatcha guys talking about?"
Zell glared at her. "None of your—"
"Zell," Squall interjected, folding his arms across his chest. He wondered, not for the first time on this mission, if he'd done something horrible to the Headmaster to be assigned with these two. "She's our teammate. Anything you have to tell me she should hear as well."
A strange expression crossed Zell's face, but it disappeared before Squall could identify it.
Selphie giggled and stuck her tongue out at Zell. He just frowned at her. "Whatever you say, leader," he said, and Squall was surprised to find there wasn't a trace of sarcasm or anger in that remark.
Whatever I say goes, huh? I'm not sure I like this. Squall shifted his weight from one foot to the other, the sound of his belts clinking loudly over the roar of the train's movement. It hit him, then, that this was a mission, and he was the Squad Leader. Ultimately, he was responsible for Zell and Selphie. Such power didn't sit well with Squall. He didn't like having others rely on him, look up to him. Forcibly he dragged his thoughts back to the present situation. Thinking would only get him in trouble at this point.
"—ork is what I was saying," Zell said.
Selphie just shrugged, the curled ends of her hair bouncing at the motion. "I don't know. I'd rather just blow the train up, but it could work."
Zell just gave her an are you kidding? look.
Squall reached out, pushing one of the model cars along the track. "Well? Why won't it work?"
Zell threw his hands up in the air, stomping the metal floor at the same time. "Hyne, didn't either of you take physics?!"
In response they stared blankly at him.
"Uh, sirs, is anything wrong?"
Squall turned to see Watts behind them, peering at their group with the look of a frightened chocobo. He waved him off. "Just SeeD business, everything's fine."
Watts nodded and swallowed. "Right. Well, just let me know when you're ready, sir. We're nearly there."
Squall nodded at turned back to Zell. "You heard him. Make it quick."
Zell grabbed the model of Deling's train, moving it along the tracks toward the switch point. "Okay, so we decouple the back car, right? And then this train—" he moved the other model train toward the mock-up of Deling's, "is supposed to come in here. Then we decouple the last two cars, attach this train, decouple again and make off with the President's car, right?" He moved the cars around much as Rinoa had just a few minutes ago.
Squall nodded, frowning.
"That's the plan!" Selphie piped up.
"How," Zell asked, pulling the rear escort car away from the others and sliding it back on the train, "is this car supposed to catch up with the rest of the train then? And don't tell me Galbadia won't notice its missing and figure out what happened."
The knot in Squall's stomach began to tighten as he saw what Zell meant. "That's not all," Zell continued. "Because with all these cars gone, the engine's only going to have the weight of the first escort to pull. So it'll go a lot faster, meaning the rear car doesn't have a chance of catching up. And," Zell said, rocking back and forth on his heels. Squall quirked an eyebrow. He'd seen the fighter get upset plenty of times before, but getting upset over a… well, a physics problem? Something like a smile twitched on Squall's lips. What a weird guy.
"And," Zell continued, "this whole business of coupling and decoupling?" Selphie snickered at that, and Squall blinked, wondering what was so funny. Zell ignored her. "That's a lot of mass we're going to be moving around. Cars slamming into cars… I know Galbadian soldiers are stupid, but they can't be so stupid they'll just ignore a lot of sudden jolting and loud slams."
Selphie grinned, an evil glint in her green eyes. They reminded Squall eerily of Seifer's. "Sorta like your next-door neighbor couldn't ignore the slamming sounds in your room after the Grad Ball and had to kick your ass?"
Zell turned several shades of red at that, spluttering at the girl who examined her fingernails as if she'd said nothing out of place. Squall closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Hyne, but he really never needed to know that.
"So," Squall cut in, already desperately looking forward to returning to Garden, "there's a problem. What are we going to do about it?"
A slow grin crept over Zell's face. "Well," he said, baring his teeth at Selphie, "we did just get that new GF…"
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"Aww, man! I'm never going to get this untangled!" Selphie sat on the floor of the train car, futilely trying to comb her hair with her fingers. Squall knew he looked equally disheveled, but he had to admit it was pretty amusing looking at Selphie. From the wind whipping around them during the mission her hair had puffed up into a giant, knotted ball. It looked like that Hyne-forsaken hairstyle that'd been popular fifteen or so years ago.
"We did it, though," he said. He held out his standard-issue PDA, showing them the transmission from Garden. "And we've all gone up a rank."
"All right!" Zell jumped in the air, pumping his arms. His whole body vibrated with excitement. Squall hid a tiny smile behind his hand. The fighter would probably be impossible to deal with after this, but it was worth it. He let out a breath of relief. Until now he hadn't realized just how nervous he'd been, and how desperately he wanted this mission to succeed.
Selphie stood up, yelling "Booyaka!" Squall heard the Timber Owls approach them, curious at Zell and Selphie's yelling, but he ignored them. Let the two be loud and celebrate.
To Zell he said, "Overall, it was a good plan. The Headmaster will be pleased." After an appreciate thumbs-up from Zell, Squall turned toward Selphie. "That was good, with the lightning spell," he told her. A well-timed spell at the beginning of the mission had busted the Galbadians' sensors, making their jobs a lot easier.
She grinned widely. "Fear the might of Trabia's mages! We'll strike down any dumb soldiers! Though," she glanced at Zell, "you didn't have to waste your Haste spells. Now we're out."
Zell shrugged. "I just wanted to be sure. Next time you can do the math and we'll see if you don't overcompensate."
She snorted. Squall rolled his eyes. It'd been too much to hope they were through bickering.
Still, maybe the Headmaster hadn't been completely insane when he'd given them this mission. Contrary to what Squall had first thought, his teammates weren't a burden at all. He would have failed without them.
Huh. I might actually want to work with them again. He kept his thoughts buried, his expression carefully neutral. If they realized what he was thinking, they might actually start hanging around him. Squall wasn't in such a good mood that he could tolerate that idea.
He uncrossed his arms and took out his gunblade. "We're not done yet, guys."
Squall wondered if they realized just how alike they were as Selphie and Zell both grinned ferally at him, eager for battle. He felt the same excitement stirring his blood.
Zell punched one fist into another. "Time for 'diplomatic solutions'?"
"Diplomacy of wolves, baby," Selphie crowed.
Squall nodded. "Let's go." Team. He didn't say it, but it hung in the air. By the looks on their faces, they were thinking it, too.