Shot in the Dark

Seifer’s POV
“So… What’s the deal with Martine?” I hope to Hyne he wasn’t going to go on to another rant. No wonder Squall never talks, Laguna must’ve sucked it all out of him when he was a baby.
“Well, I’m not exactly sure.” Laguna says simply. He reclines in one of the chairs in my new office. It looks just like Cid’s office… I mean Squall’s office. They made it a smaller; brightly colored copy, looks like that bimbo Rinoa designed the whole things. Well, it is a little fancier than Balamb; I swear Squall did it just to piss me off.
“That’s it?” All this time he can’t stop talking, but when I need info he’s silent. I start rubbing my forehead irritated. I think I’m gonna snap. When are Fuj and Raj getting here?
“Seifer, relax. Fujin and Rajin will be here tomorrow, along with your things.” Quitis says shifting her glasses again. In that uniform, she’s got this sexy librarian vibe going. “Seifer.” Damn she can still tell what I’m thinking. “Martine has not made any contact for the past two months. No representatives from either Balamb or Tibia have been able to step foot in Galbadia since.” She’s in instructor mode. She and Squall are two of a kind. They’re both Ice Princesses. She raises her eyebrow, I think she heard that. Damn Blue Magic.
“Commander?” She says with a slight smirk. I can see her running her hand over Save the Queen.
“Yeah?”
“Are you paying attention?”
“Yeah, yeah, just get to the point.” I say, trying not to fidget, I hate waiting. Laguna just sits peacefully. He’s so slim and dainty; I can see where Squall gets it.
“Martine had a hard time taking orders from Squall. He thought him too young and unqualified.”
“What! He saved the whole fucking planet!” I shouted pounding my fist on the table.
“Martine didn’t believe it was possible.” Laguna says softly.
“Yes, Martine has been difficult to deal with since we denied his requests to transfer Irvine back to Galbadia. And when he heard who Squall intended to make Esthar Garden’s Commander…”
“Me? … This is about me?” Fucking puberty boy, what was he thinking? I’m not worth all this trouble.
“Martine didn’t like the idea of the last sorceress’ knight being commander of Garden. He objected to making Xu Tibia’s Commander as well.” She says opening up some files she brought with her. “He was witnessed making contact with General Carraway. They were the chief objectors when Squall held talks in Balamb last winter about the liberation of Timber.”
“What the hell was he thinking? Of course they won’t give up their territory.”
“Yes, well Rinoa insisted. He did offer to pay for the territory but they declined the offer.”
“Oh the Sorceress.” I grumble. I can’t stand that attention whore. I mean we were only together for a couple of weeks, but that’s all it took to get her in bed. She wasn’t even good. I can’t believe Squall of all people got sucked in by her damsel in distress act. She’s better off with a wimpy little shit like Zone, but not Squall. She’s too needy for him too demanding. Man I hate her.
“Rinoa is a nice girl.” Laguna says with a smile. “She may have power, but she doesn’t mean any harm. Beside Elle’s a sorceress too, and you don’t have a problem with that do you?”
“Ellone’s… she’s sis. She’s different. I don’t hate Rinoa because she’s a Sorceress; I hate her because she’s SL—” Save the Queen snapped across the table, slapping across my side. That’s gonna bruise. Laguna snickers, and falls into a burst of uncontrollable laughter. When he finally calms down he clears his throat and his aquamarine eyes focus on me. Wow, they both feel like water. “But anyways… Ellone’s wonderful; she’s so sweet she could never be evil.” And she’ll never be a brainless, sluty wannabe-princess
“Yes she is wonderful.” Laguna beams. He must be really proud of her. I guess he’s okay, I mean anybody who could make Squall and protect Sis must be worth respecting, even if he is a loud-mouthed goof-ball. At least he doesn’t talk as much as Chickie.
“Boys!” Quitis says, clearing her throat. “Honestly, you’re worse than first year cadets.”
“Sorry instructor Trepe.” I say with a grin, for a minute I think she’s going to whip me again, but she just looks down at her papers. “So our dear Ice Princess was making enemies?” I ask. Laguna tries to glare at me but fails miserably. “It slipped.”
“Under Caraway’s instruction the Deiling and Galbadia armies closed in on Dollet, Timber and Winhill.”
“Why Winhill? There’s nothing there.”
“He wanted to stick it to both me and Squall,” Laguna said simply. I wish he wouldn’t just get serious like that out of nowhere.
“We caught word of plans to move on the city of Balamb and Tibia Garden.”
“The chief of Shumi village contacted me when Carraway tried to organize weapons upgrades for Galbadia, and get a hold of plans for tanks. It’s a good thing that Squall and I have been friends with the Shumi for years. Otherwise we would already be fighting them off.” Laguna said grimly.
“There must be more to it.” I said finally. “This can’t be as simple as a power struggle.”
“It may not be, but we don’t have all the details.” Quitis explained stiffly. “Cid advised us to honor our on-going contract with Timber, and we also accepted contracts form Dollet and Winhill to deal with Martine and Carraway.”
“Deal with them… so is this another Garden war?”
“We don’t know. Martine doesn’t seem to know how to control Galbadia as an airship, so we seem to be safe for the time being. Our first contract was to an underground faction in Deiling City, and the mayor of Winhill to eliminate General Carraway.”
“Wait, isn’t Carraway Rinoa’s father?”
“Irvine was sent to Deiling city twenty-one days ago. His mission was completed at 0100 hours yesterday.”
Irvine, the sniper? Squall sent him to deal with Carraway…
“Oh!”