My Room, My Rules

Square/Enix (Squix?) owns all. Characters used without permission, yada, yada, yada. Plot mine though! Title nod to “The Delicate Taste of Marshmallows” by Tom Ligon, Analog, Feb’95.

Lang, M/M, Slash, Lang, Possible Rinoa-yuck


Chapter 7: The Delicate Taste of Carpet


As the doors opened and the Command Staff filed in, they were surprised to see two of their members already present. Seifer sprawled out across the long leather couch, his customary smirk in place. Zell paced behind the couch in his usual energetic manner. Squall sat behind his desk, his ‘Commander Face’ firmly in place. Xu and Rinoa sat down on the other couch, leaving a space between them, though fooling no one. All present knew they had been a couple for over three months.

The cowboy sauntered in next, an arm around Selphie but flirting with Quistis. When Quistis sat down on the far end of the couch from Seifer, Irvine sat next to her, still chatting her up and placing his hand on her bare knee. Selphie glared at the offending hand before giving a huff and marching over to sit between Xu and Rinoa. Squall met Zell’s gaze and hid a grin at the rolling of the electric blue eyes. Selphie was about done with the cowboy’s roving eye, and the only one who hadn’t figured that yet out was Irvine.

Squall cleared his throat noisily to get their attention, waiting until the chatter died down. Looking over his friends and colleagues, he was sadden to think that one of these people might actually be the Galbadian spy. Disappointment was life, and there would be more. Sighing inside, he felt the ice grow a little higher. Taking a deep breath, he started the meeting.

“As you know, there have been reports of Galbadia Garden arming itself in an effort to either take over Balamb Garden or at least to capture themselves a Sorceress. I have confirmed these reports. Galbadia is, indeed, becoming a threat. I will shortly be sending teams into their Garden for reconnaissance. We need to know how far along they are on their rebuilding, as well as trying to get a fix on their ability to deal with a Sorceress.”

“Waallllll, I’d be more than happy to volunteer for that little trip for ya, Commander,” drawled Irvine, smiling like he just won the lottery. “I can pop in and see some old friends and it’ll be all nice and friendly.”

Before Squall could agree or disagree to the suggestion, Selphie jumped up. “Irvine Kinneas! I cannot *believe* you just said that! What about our weekend in Esthar?!”

“Selphie, hon, we’ll just have to postpone it a little while ...”

“Postpone it! You can go by yourself!” The little pixie pulled the ring off her finger and threw it at the cowboy who caught it by reflex. “We’re through!”
They watched her stomp out the doors, tears running down her face. When Irvine would have followed, Squall stopped him. “Let her go. A break up between the two of you will seem a more plausible reason for you to suddenly go running back to Galbadia. And this way you can use your ...talents... without any guilt. You will undoubtedly pick up more in pillow talk than I would through channels. All yours, Irvine.”

Squall hit the intercom. “Nida?”

“Yes, Commander?”

“I want orders cut for Selphie to go to Trabia Garden and finish overseeing the reconstruction. I want you to hand deliver them to her immediately.”

“I’m on it, Commander.”

“Irvine, you can straighten out your personal relationship after you get back. I need you as a SeeD right now. That’s takes priority.”

“Sure, Squall, whatever you want.” The cowboy still looked stunned, shocked that Selphie would even think to leave him.

“As for the rest of you, I am raising the alert level of the Garden. Orders have already been issued. Garden may change position at a moments notice. If you get left behind, make your way to Esthar, Balamb, or the Shumi Village. Eventually, we will drop by.”

He rubbed his head and collected his thoughts. “Now, onto the Sorceress problem. Xu, Rin. Have you made any headway on identifying the unknown Sorceress here at Garden?”

“No, Commander,” Xu replied. “Are you sure Odine knows what he is talking about?”

Squall gestured for Seifer to answer as he watched Zell pace agitatedly. “Oh, yeah. I saw the readings myself. There is definitely a Sorceress here. I don’t know how powerful she’ll be, but she’s definitely here.”

“How can that be?” asked Quistis. “How can there be a Sorceress here that our own Sorceress and Knight can’t sense?”

Seifer just shrugged and looked at Rinoa. “Don’t know. How accurate is that radar of yours, sweet cheeks?”

The dark headed girl flushed, but answered defiantly, “If there is a Sorceress here, I should be able to sense them, no matter what!” Seifer narrowed his eyes and contemplated her answer, remembering a summer long past and similar hedgings in her manner. Rinoa’s gaze darted about the room before landing on Zell’s pacing form. “What’s wrong with him, any way?” she asked shrilly as she gestured at the fighter.

All eyes turned to the pacing martial artist. Squall had noticed the stocky blonde’s increasing agitation. He had gone from mere pacing, to pacing and shadow boxing, to pacing and throwing in a few wheel kicks at the end of each circuit. Constantly flexing his hands into fists, his eyes darted about the room, seeking out a threat that only he could distantly feel.

Seifer too was starting to become more active, cracking his knuckles and shifting his weight on the couch. Squall had felt something was wrong with Seifer’s “little Commando”, but could not pinpoint what the disturbance was, even when he reached out with his Knight’s senses. Meeting with Zell at the end of the couch, he easily ducked the roundhouse kick thrown his way and grabbed the fighter’s wrist, ignoring Seifer’s growl.

Immediately, the world fell away. Lightning licked over his skin, though he *knew* Zell wasn’t currently junctioned to Quetzalcoatl. The Commander looked down in surprise, seeing his own form dimly glowing steely blue. His gaze traveled down his arm to where he held the blonde’s wrist. Soft bluish-grey covered bright cyan, and Squall wondered why the fighter’s aura was more brilliant than his own. After all, *he* was the Knight. Sensing another presence, he glanced over at the couch to an emerald green torch of energy. Well, that explains that.

For comparison, he turned to the other couch ... and saw nothing. Shocked, he started to cross the room, only to be stopped by the stocky blonde, who had reversed the grip and was now holding on to Squall desperately. Meeting that brilliant gaze, he could read the questions there, the uncertainty of what was happening to him, and the knowledge that there was a threat to all those in the room.

Using the Commando’s senses, Squall reached outside of himself, then outside of the Garden, searching for the threat. Taking Zell with him, he showed him how to read the magic and the energies pulsing through the air. The Commando saw it first, a Doppler effect in energy, a push coming over the horizon. Recognizing it, the brunette broke the link and hit the intercom.

“Raijin, move! All personnel! The Garden is under attack! Incoming missiles! Head for the safe areas. Repeat, All personnel - we are under missile attack! Evacuate to the safe areas.”

Everyone lurched in unison as the Garden started moving with all the finesse of a popped clutch. Raijin had been told to be on standby at all times, and he showed his readiness now. Though the doctor would be busy for days to come with injuries from falls and whiplash, the Garden was moving out of the target zone.

Zell was already moving, flying over the couch and grabbing Seifer and Irvine mid flight to pull them to the relative safety of the floor away from the windows. Seifer grunted as Zell landed on his raw back. Trying to shift out and away only got him a mouthful of carpet and a hissed “Stay fucking *down*!” He managed to turn his head enough to see Squall throw Xu and Rinoa to the floor after using the intercom. Quistis looked bemused for a moment, then hiked up her skirt and got down on the floor with the others.

Everyone’s nerves were stretched tight as they waited for the impact. Zell lay over the top of Seifer’s head and chest, watching as Squall snaked around to his desk and pulled his laptop down. Keying in the security codes, he pulled up the external views of the Garden, looking for the incoming missiles. The Commando held tight to bigger blonde. He closed his eyes, looking for the missiles in his own way.

“... fourteen, thirteen, ...” the stocky blonde began counting down.

The brunette looked at him for only a moment before keying into the intercom system. Everyone but the Commando and the Commander were startled as the Balamb AI began echoing the countdown.

“... nine, eight, ...”

Squall typed again and heavy steel shutters fell into place, protecting the windows from the oncoming blast. As the last one clanged into place, they began to glow with the energies of the Protect, Shell, and Reflect that were imbued in them.

“... four, three, ...”

The Commander crawled over to Zell and threw himself on the pile covering Seifer. The ex-Knight umphed in complaint but was silenced by his Commando nuzzling his neck and whispering “I love you, Se-Fe,” as the missiles hit.

The room shook as the shock wave caught the airborne Garden. The trophies that the gang had collected for their Commander fell from their shelves as the room dipped and swayed. Glass shattered, and Irvine cussed heartily as a heavy statue fell across his legs. Xu squealed as the bookcase emptied on her and Rinoa.

Everyone grabbed at the floor and rode out the shockwaves that seemed to last forever. Squall was the first to recover, crawling back to his desk. Grabbing his laptop again, he began issuing orders for clean up as the others got up and dusted themselves off. Irvine’s legs were inspected and declared bruised but not broken, as were the impacts on the girls from the books.

Zell finally let Seifer off of the floor, checking him over until the ex-Knight growled in annoyance and took his former place on the couch. The fighter flushed at the gunbladist’s wince when his back once again came into contact with the cushions. “My Commando Chicken,” whispered the bigger blonde, making the blush deepen, but a satisfied smile quirked the corners of his mouth. Fortunately, no one noticed in the general confusion. Resuming his former place behind the couch as well, Zell waited, wanting to ask Squall in private about what had happened.

Others had no such restraint. The verbal barrage started the moment the Commander closed his laptop.

“What was that, Squally? Why did you throw me on the floor, then leave me? Why are you treating me like this, baby? You didn’t even ask how I was! I could have been hurt bad and you don’t care!” Rinoa was nearly hysterical.

The Commander leaned back in his chair and contemplated the cause of his latest migraine. If she just would have told him, a lot of this could have been avoided. But now, he was cleaning up Sorceress messes, yet again. His eyes deepened in silver, and Shiva sang in icy harmony to his mood.

Zell and Seifer saw the change and readied themselves, not certain what their fellow warrior needed, but ready to lend a hand. If the Balamb Lion needed help, his Pride would be there. Surreptitiously, the Commando placed his hand on the ex-Knight’s shoulder. Irvine and Xu looked at Rinoa like she was a spoiled little brat and that they just wanted to make sure none of her issue splashed onto them. Quistis, as always, watched patiently.

“Let’s take those points one at a time, shall we?” As Squall spoke, Seifer swore the temperature in the room dropped a whole twenty degrees. “First, what was that? I’m pretty sure that if you took a whole two seconds that you would realize ...*that*... was a series of missiles near impacting to the Garden. And since you cannot seem to care about anyone else, let me assure the rest of the staff that we seemed to have made it through the attack with minimal casualties, though not all sections have reported in. Luckily, we got underway in time. Not only did moving make the missiles miss us, but it drew them away from Balamb Town. Which means yes, Zell’s mother is fine, thank you for asking!”

Rinoa stood there opening and closing her mouth like a beached carp, stunned at the ferocity of the brunette’s attack. Unnoticed, Seifer put up his hand and squeezed the little blonde’s in support. Zell squeezed back and released, thankful for the comfort and thoughtfulness of his lover.

“What was the next point? Oh yeah, ‘Why did you throw me on the floor then leave me?’” he mimicked her in a high, whiny tone. “Pulling you down to the safety of the floor - blame it on old times and ingrained reflexes. As for leaving you there, I am responsible for this Garden. If there is anything further I can do to safeguard it, I will. I may not have wanted this job, but it is *mine* for the time being and I *will* do it to the best of my abilities.

“Now those last statements are the most important ones, and the most telling as well. ‘Why am I treating you like this? ... I don’t care about you.’” Squall came around the desk and stood directly in front of her. His eyes were so silver they were nearly white. Everyone in the room could feel Shiva standing next to the Commander though she wasn’t there physically.

Irvine slowly circled behind the couch and stood at Zell’s side, his lethal grace matching the blondes as he began playing with the safety strap on his gun. As Quistis watched, Xu shook her head and looked at Rinoa like she was the stupidest piece of shit on her shoe.

“When were you gonna tell me, Rin?” Squall’s voice came quiet and deadly.

“Tell you what?!? she cried defensively, her eyes filling with tears prettily.

“DON’T FUCK WITH ME!!! HOW LONG, YOU BITCH?” Frost began forming on the tips of the shaggy brunette hair as the Shiva’s energy stood it on end, forming a mane on the Balamb Lion. The Ice Queen sang in his blood, begging to come, to fix this upstart, once and for all.

“Mmmmphds,” she mumbled, cowed by the savage tone in his voice.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!”

“Three months, ok!” she finally sobbed. “I gave up my powers three months ago!”

Xu recoiled in shock as the men in the room narrowed their eyes at what this meant for the Garden.

“Xu, honey, don’t look at me like that. It’s what you wanted. I did it for you!” Rinoa whined. “You wanted it to be just us, remember? It couldn’t be just us if Squall had to hang around being my Knight! I did it for you, darling! I did it for us!”

Xu backed away, shaking her head. “Don’t blame this on me! I only wanted you to move out of his rooms. I never wanted you to give up your powers. And what about the search these past two months?!? How can you look for the new Sorceress if you don’t have your powers to ‘see’ her? And what about Squall? Did you even think what it would do to him if you gave up your powers? What happens to a Knight when his Sorceress is gone?”

“It ain’t pretty,” came Seifer’s deep voice, understating the issues.

“He would be fine!” she cried defensively, turning on the trio at the couch. “Cid was fine when Edea gave me her powers! He’s fine now!”

“Cid was Edea’s husband, not her Knight,” corrected Zell coldly.

“Matron didn’t have a Knight, so her release of powers affected no one but her,” added Irvine, the safety strap now gone, his hand caressing the smooth walnut stock of his gun.

“You could have killed Squall with your unthinking stunt,” said Seifer with brutal honesty. “Not even that bitch Ultimitia would do something so cruel and thoughtless to her Knight.” He snorted. “To me, even if I wasn’t a Bonded Knight. Power is linked to Balance for a reason. I only hope we can find the answer so we don’t lose him. I guaran-damn-tee you, little girl, that if we lose our Lion because of your bullshit, I will find you.” The ex-Knight’s eyes flared with Power as he made his vow. “And when I do, forensics won’t be able to identify what is left.”

“Get. Out.” Squall stalked back around his desk, putting distance between himself and his former Sorceress before he physically lashed out. “You are hereby banned from all Gardens. If I see you on Garden grounds again after today, I will not be held responsible. You have 2 hours to gather your things. Quistis, you will observe Miss Heartilly and escort her off the grounds when her time is up and we have made landfall. You will not leave her side in the meantime. Dismissed.”

Quistis and Rinoa left quietly, with Xu staring after them.

“I am so sorry, Commander. Had I known she would do something like this ...that she actually *did* it …” Her voice trailed off, uncertain.

“It’s not your fault the cunt is mental,” Seifer answered instead, sensing the Commander was in no shape to speak at that moment. “But I would go and supervise if I were you. Speaking from experience, if you aren’t there when she packs, your stuff ain’t there after she leaves. Or are you going with her?” he asked conversationally.

“I ... no.” Xu thought for a moment before answering. “If she would do this to the Commander, her Knight, what would she do to me? No, goodbye and good riddance.” She began backing for the door. “If you all would excuse me, I’ll take your advice, Seifer. I know how much she ‘liberated’ from the Commander when she left him. If I hurry, I may still have a bare mattress and a couple of milk crates.”

As she hurried out the door, Seifer looked back at Irvine. “Best get your gear together, Cowboy. We can drop you off for your mission as well. Better part of town, of course.”

Irvine nodded and headed out as well. A quiet calm descended on the room. Seifer patted the hand still on his shoulder, then as one, the blondes looked over at their Commander, ready to offer their aid in whatever he decided to do next. Squall slumped back into his chair, and met their gaze squarely, before asking the question that had truly been bugging him for the past half hour.

“So, Seifer. When were you going to tell me that you were the new Sorceress?”

TBC