“Okay, does anyone have a plan?” Quistis inquired
to the three other passengers on board the Ragnarok.
“Yes,” Selphie answered with a smile. “ We’re gonna
fly around and around ‘til we find Zell. It’ll be kinda like that time,
you know last summer, when Seifer and Squall got in that stupid argument
about god knows what!”
“Oh, I remember that!” Quistis giggled. “That’s when
Seifer threw Squall’s best gunblade out of the plane emergency hatch.”
“That was hell,” Irvine remarked, putting his two
cents in. “I had to fly the plane, while Squall ranted and raved over my
shoulder. Geez, he went on and on ‘bout how his gunblade is a very important,
not to mention expensive, weapon. Then, he even told me how Seifer was
gonna pay, and…..”
“Speaking of Seifer,” Ellone interrupted in hopes
of changing the subject to a more productive line of thought, “I didn’t
see him at Balamb, and whenever I’m in town, he usually stops by to see
me.”
“Really?” Quistis asked with a concerned note in her
voice. “That doesn’t seem like Seifer. I mean, when I saw him three or
four days ago, he was very excited about your visit. Whenever you come,
Seifer becomes happier, and even nicer. Why would he miss seeing you? It
doesn’t make any sense.”
“Three days ago?” questioned Selphie. “That’s when
SeeD sent out all those agents, including Zell…”
Quistis’s face brightened and she snapped her fingers
in joy as an idea came to her. “But Seifer WASN’T assigned to any mission
because he had taken a weeks vacation. He was going fishing with Raijin
the last time I saw him in a motor boat.”
“Yeeha, now we’re getting’ someplace!” Irvine whooped
as he typed bits of Quistis’s information into his laptop computer. “Aha!
I got it. One motorboat, number 11517, entrusted to one SeeD, by the name
of Seifer Almasy. Number of passengers: Two. Time of departure: 5:37:09
AM on Saturday, May 22nd. Time of arrival: ……hmmm……that’s funny…..”
“What?” Selphie asked excitedly. “What’s wrong?”
“Well,” Irvine continued, “according to this, Seifer
never came back to the Garden.”
“Then,” Ellone gulped as her eyes widened in worry,
“Seifer was out there, too, when that horrible storm hit.”
Irvine stared understandingly at Ellone, taking her
hand in his own. “Don’t worry, lil’ lady. After all, this here is a search
party and there’s nothin’ we do bedder than find missin’ persons.We
jus’ need to find out where Seifer was a headin’.”
“That’s right,” Selphie added, “all we need is a place
to start looking. Hey, Quisty, do you remember if Seifer said anything
to you about where he was going?”
“Umm…” Quistis leaned her chin on her hand. “He was
talking about how there would be tons of fish there, and that it was pretty
far away so he need to get a boat with a motor. Oh! And he wanted to catch
a Mannedorrin Sea Goblin as a present for Ello…oops…sorry, Ellone, it was
supposed to be a surprise.”
Ellone smiled, “That’s alright, Quisty. But tell me
about this Mannedorrin Sea Goblin. Is it, by any chance, rare?”
“Hell yeah!” Irvine yelled almost falling out of his
seat. “Those beauties can only be found hangin’ around the Serpent Islands.
It’s ‘cause the water there is soo warm! It’s been said that they favor
the outer coral reefs of Naoki and Beetle Islands. Actually, those two
islands are about 200 miles apart and the sea goblins like to live right
in between them.”
“So,” Selphie concluded, “if Seifer wanted to get
that fish for Ellone, he would have to go to Naoki or Beetle Island.”
Quistis nodded. “And that would make Seifer around
or even on the path that Zell was to take to get to Kempi Island.”
“Right,” Irvine agreed. “Now’s the time for that plan.”
“Okay, how about we break into two groups?” suggested
Quistis. “Elle and myself will look for them on Naoki Island, while Irvine
and Selphie try to locate them on Yali Island.”
They all nodded, waiting for Quistis to continue.
“For five hours, we’ll search our island, and after
that time has past, Irvine and Selphie will come to pick up Elle and I
in the Ragnarok. Then, if nobody finds anything, each party will take a
different island.” Quistis sighed, “It may take a while, but we’ll find
them eventually.”
“Sounds good to me!” Selphie jumped to her feet, ready
for action. “Let’s get started.”
“Alrighty then,” Irvine hesitated. “But before we
go, someone should call Squall, just to let him in on the plan.”
“I can’t right now,” Quistis explained as she half
ran out of the room, calling back to the others from the plane’s main computer
room, “I have to look up a few things about the island…research stuff.”
“Umm…” Selphie turned her head towards the ground,
pretending to be interested with something on the floor.
“Well,” Irvine said at a loss, “I am definitely NOT
callin’ him!! He’ll bite my head off, so….Elle?”
Irvine looked at Ellone wearing an expression, which
could be clearly read as ‘pretty please’.
“Oh, how’s a girl to refuse that face,” she responded as she playfully pinched Irvine’s cheek.
There was no electricity in the recently constructed
mess they called an office. This meant that there was no air conditioning
and no fans. In fact, the “office” didn’t even have a roof. The sun had
free rein, and it took advantage of every minute of it, dawn until dust.
The hot rays beat down mercilessly on every object in the room; making
it impossible to touch anything without receiving a minor, but pain aching,
burn.
But to all these things, Squall took no notice. His hair was soaked in perspiration and sweat was slowly dripping down his forehead. Still, Squall’s hand was steady, his mind undaunted. He filled out form after form and checked report after report.
Workers from the harvest team came in to leave their
paperwork with him, explaining their progress and further information about
the Phlemnesium Herb, but Squall paid no attention to them. He simple worked
nonstop as if he were incapable of feeling, like a robot.
Suddenly, for the first time since his arrival to
the Kempi Island piece of crap office, the phone began to ring.
“Huh?” Squall looked up from his never-ending forms
and stared, bewildered, at the phone. Finally, after three rings, his senses
came back to him and he picked up the phone.
“H-hello,” he stuttered in a raspy, dry voice that
had no been used from the time when he had entered the office. “This is
Squall Leonhart.”
“Squall?” asked the person on the opposite line.
“Elle!” Squall yelled excitedly as he recognized her
voice. “What’s the matter? Are you all right? Did you find Zell? Are you…”
“Slow down there,” Ellone laughed, “Please, let me
just take one question at a time before you continue. First, there’s NOTHING
the matter. I’m fine and so is everyone else. No, I’m sorry to say that
we didn’t find any sign of Zell on the route to Kempi.”
Squall sighed.
“Don’t worry,” Ellone said in the hopes of brightening
his feelings, “We did find out that Seifer was out in these parts too when..”
“SEIFER!” Squall exclaimed as he bolted straight up
in his seat in alarm. “What do you mean? Did he intercept Zell and cause
trouble? What happened to..”
“I’m not going to tell you anything if you don’t stop
interrupting me.” Ellone told him teasingly.
Squall took a deep breath. “Your right. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Ellone responded. “Now, back to what
I was saying. Seifer is also trapped out here somewhere, and there’s a
possibility that Zell met up with him at some point so if we find Seifer,
we may get a lead on Zell. Anyway, we can’t just leave anyone stranded
out on a tropical island..”
Squall began to dispute Ellone’s last statement, but
she immediately cut in, not giving him a chance to even get out his first
syllable.
“I thought you weren’t going to interrupt?” Ellone
questioned jokingly. “Ehem, so Irvine and Selphie are going to Yali Island,
and Quistis and I are going to go to Naoki Island. We’ll send you a satellite
as soon as we find something.”
“Great,” Squall said encouragingly. “I’m sure I’ll
hear from you soon, and I mean you. What? Was Irvine to scared to call
me himself?”
Ellone laughed, “I’ll make sure he calls next time.”
“Sure,” Squall remarked good naturedly, “I’m positive
that he’ll be thrilled when you suggest it.”
“Yeah,” Ellone said cheerily, “but there is something
else. I was wondering how Rinoa was doing.”
Squall, who had just started to relax again after
the mention of Seifer, sprang up in his seat. “She’s fine…why do you ask?”
“Oh, well it was just that,” Ellone hesitated, “she
seemed kind of…emotional. It was nothing really. I’m sure she’s alright.”
“Hmm..” Squall thought to himself. He had noticed
Rinoa’s moodiness, her weak stomach, and now Elle had observed her being
‘kind of emotional’. “I think she’s just upset about Zell, but I’m going
to call Cid anyway and ask him to come out to the island. That way we can
switch positions: Cid supervising the harvest, and me running the Garden.
It’s funny, Rinoa has suddenly developed a fear of flying so I couldn’t
get her to come out here with me, but if I go back to Balamb, I’ll be able
to spend some time with her.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Ellone replied.
“Yeah,” Squall sighed, “I have a feeling that everything’s
going to work out.”
“I love that feeling,” Ellone whispered into the phone.
“I hope your right….”
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