Selphie awoke to the sound of urgent pounding on her door. "Miss Tilmitt?" came a female voice. It was Roberta, a SeeD candidate who assisted Dr. Kadowaki in the infirmary. She climbed out of bed and jogged to the door, still shaking off her slumber.
She opened the door and peered out at the candidate's urgent face. Roberta was dressed in her work clothes. Selphie looked back at her alarm clock. It was one a.m. What was going on?
She voiced the question to Roberta, who was practically bouncing on her toes. "Mr. Kinneas has been hurt. He's in the infirmary."
"Irvine?" she blurted. She shut the door for a moment, finding a pair of warm-up pants and her running shoes. She hurried into the clothes and yanked the door open. "Let's go," she ordered.
As they ran, Selphie asked, "What happened?"
Roberta shook her head. "Cliff, one of the younger candidates, found him in the parking garage. He'd been shot twice, once in the shoulder and once in the abdomen."
"Shot?" Selphie's voice broke with surprise. "How in the hell did he get shot? It's against regulations for weapons to be used outside of the Training Center!"
Roberta shrugged jerkily. "I don't know, ma'am. All I know is how they found him. Dr. Kadowaki sent me to get you."
They reached the infirmary a few moments later. Dr. Kadowaki was standing over Irvine, working on the wound in his abdomen. Selphie approached the doorway apprehensively. Dr. Kadowaki finished her work and looked up at Selphie. She smiled tiredly and walked over.
"How is he?" Selphie asked, biting her lip. She was shaking all over, and wished that Dr. Kadowaki would just pinch her so that she could wake up in her own bed, and Irvine would be all right again.
Dr. Kadowaki shook her head. "I'm not going to lie to you, Selphie. Irvine is in pretty bad shape. The bullets that were used were designed to do maximum damage on soft tissue. They operate like a spinning blade once they hit their target-" She trailed off. "I'm sorry. The point is, I've removed the bullets and sewn up the wounds, but the Regen spell I used on his internal injuries will take some time to work, if it even will at all."
"I don't understand," Selphie pressed. "Why wouldn't it work?"
Dr. Kadowaki sighed. "These bullets were made by Odine Manufacturing. They were designed to have a resistance to magic spells, thus reducing the effectiveness of healing magic."
Selphie's eyes teared up. "But, isn't there anything else we can try?" she stammered.
Dr. Kadowaki again shook her head. "I assure you, Selphie, I will do all I can to help Irvine, but the next few days will be very critical in determining his fate. Perhaps it would help if you stayed with him. I've heard that the physical presence of those that a person cares about can often help to improve their chances of recovery."
Selphie nodded, walking slowly into the room where Irvine was laying. He had been stripped of his clothes, and was covered by a blanket. His head looked so bare without his hat. The face that Selphie looked upon this early morning was drawn and haggard, as though he had been battling for hours against an unseen foe. His flesh was pale, his complexion wan. He seemed to be two steps from the grave.
No, Selphie thought fiercely. Don't think that way.
She sat down on the stool beside the bed and reached down to touch Irvine's hand. It was so cold. She laced her fingers between his and squeezed, trying to will some of her strength into him. At length, she lowered her head to his shoulder and allowed some of the tears she had been fighting to flow down her cheeks.
Squall squeezed Rinoa more tightly as they walked up the steps to the entrance of Balamb Garden. His mood had lightened considerably as they walked back from Balamb. The thought of actually finding his father had seemed more and more concrete as they talked of it during the journey. He started thinking forward to a vision of himself walking down some street somewhere, his father pointing out the building where he had been born and showing him around the native city he had never gotten to know.
Where was it, he wondered? Was it Timber, or Dollet, or maybe even Balamb? He chuckled at that thought. He couldn't fathom the depth of the irony of that concept. Standing on the balcony of the Balamb Hotel, looking out over the ocean, walking through the streets of Balamb, wishing to find his hometown-only to find out that he had just left it? Inconceivable.
Squall spotted Xu standing at the gates, and his face fell. Rinoa felt his body tense beneath her touch, and she looked up from her own reverie. "What's the matter?" she asked.
Squall shook his head. "I don't know," he replied, "but something's wrong."
When they reached the gate, Xu greeted them. "You'd better come with me to the infirmary," she advised them.
As they walked, Squall asked, "What's happened?"
Xu was silent for a moment before replying. "We had an intruder in the Garden tonight. Irvine spotted him and tried to chase him down."
She paused a moment before concluding, "He was shot twice at close range. He's in critical condition."
Rinoa gasped, squeezing Squall tightly. Squall's jaw set tightly, his chin jutting out in an attempt to rein in his anger and grief. He nodded. "Take us to him."
Squall took in the scene with grim resignation. Irvine was still unconscious; fighting against demons only he could see. Selphie, having long since cried herself out of tears, was asleep on the stool, her head resting on the pillow beside Irvine's. Dr. Kadowaki had draped a blanket around her shoulders, and they hung like the drooping wings of a guardian angel. Selphie's hand was still clutching Irvine's resolutely.
Squall's head slumped in a sign of anguish and despair. He heard footsteps behind him, but didn't raise his head. A moment later, he felt Rinoa's arms wrap around his chest and squeeze him tightly. He looked up, averting his eyes from the body of his fallen comrade.
Rinoa stood on tiptoes, planting her chin on his shoulder. "There was nothing you could have done if you'd been here."
Squall turned, and she stepped back, her eyes twinkling with the faded light of distant tears. He peered at her cautiously. "How did you know I was thinking that?" he inquired.
She smiled slightly. "Because it's the first thought that runs through your head whenever any of us run into trouble. You have this idea that somehow you should be everyone's savior, and it's just not the case."
He turned away from her, his eyes stinging with tears of frustration. He rubbed them, willing back his pain, and his chin jutted forward.
Rinoa grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. He blinked in surprise, and she fixed him with a stern gaze. "You're not superhuman, Squall. If you'd been here, it would have been you in that bed instead of Irvine."
Her stare softened, and she looked away. "And that's more than I could bear," she whispered.
Squall reached out to her, and was about to reply, when more footsteps echoed from the main corridor. He and Rinoa turned to face the new arrivals, and Quistis and Zell entered. Zell walked over to Irvine's room and, seeing Selphie asleep, retreated to a safe distance to avoid waking her.
"Damn," Zell murmured. "What's the prognosis?"
Squall sighed. "The next few days are crucial. The bullets that hit him were Odine brand, so the wounds are resistant to Regen. He's got to rely on his own strength to help him pull through."
Zell nodded. "He's got a lot of that. He helped us take on Ultimecia, so we know he's no slouch."
The others nodded their agreement. A moment passed before anyone spoke again. Finally, Quistis cleared her throat. "Um, Squall?"
Squall turned to acknowledge Quistis, and she continued.
"I have some information on the break-in."
Squall crossed his arms over his chest, nodding.
"Whoever came in went to the computer center on the second floor," Quistis explained. "They were looking to hack into our mainframe in order to gain access to the network."
"And did they succeed?" Squall pressed.
Quistis shrugged apologetically. "I'm not sure yet. I have a team working on scanning the system for signs of hacking. It'll take a while to complete."
Squall nodded. "Let me know when you find something."
Quistis turned and walked out of the room. Zell sighed. "I wish there was something we could do for Irvine."
Squall shrugged. "Selphie seems to be taking good enough care of him," he observed.
Zell nodded. "True." After a moment, he shook his head. "I'm beat," he confessed. "I'm gonna hit the sack."
"Too much Triple Triad?" Squall called after him, a small smile playing across his face.
Zell nodded, waving him off as he left the infirmary.
Squall walked slowly down the corridor toward the infirmary. He had returned to his dorm for a short while to catch a few hours' sleep, but that goal had eluded him. He rubbed his burning eyes and fought back the weariness that had overtaken his body. He needed to be awake, just in case something happened to Irvine, or news broke about the intruder.
Hyne, Squall thought to himself. Maybe Rinoa's right. You seem to think you're everyone's savior. Maybe things can go on working when you're not around.
Squall shook his head, trying to talk himself into believing that fact-and into the idea that the attack on Irvine happening while he was in Balamb was just a coincidence. A moment later, he heard Rinoa's voice call out to him. He spun around and watched as she approached, a look of victory on her face.
"What is it, Rin?" he asked as she reached his side. She was clutching some papers close to her chest, and he resisted the urge to tear them out of her hands. She was obviously enjoying the suspense of the moment.
"Now, I know that with everything that's been going on lately, you haven't had much time to think about it," she began, "but I've been doing some research on your background."
It took Squall a moment to find his way through the murkiness of his scattered thoughts to recall what Rinoa was talking about. Finally, it clicked, and he nodded. "What did you find?" he asked.
Rinoa grinned. "I did some checks on birth records in various hospitals in all of the major cities. No luck there. So I tried the smaller towns. No record of a Squall Leonhart anywhere."
Squall suspected that she was enjoying torturing him with this information. He tapped his foot and folded his arms across his chest impatiently. "I know," he replied evenly. "My mother died in childbirth, and I wasn't named before I was sent to the orphanage. Matron named me Squall, because I arrived in the middle of a massive storm that was blowing in off the Cape."
Rinoa cocked an eyebrow at him. "Really? I thought it was your personality that was the deciding factor." Her lips quirked upward with amusement. Squall glared at her, and she looked down at the paper before continuing.
"So," she sighed after a moment, "knowing that Edea didn't keep adoption records-due to the nature of the orphanage-I figured that there would have to be some death certificates out there to go with these kids. It took me a while to go through them all, but I finally found one that struck me as interesting."
Squall could sense that she was going in for the kill, so he allowed her to build up the suspense for another moment before snatching the report from her hands. Rather than complaining, Rinoa simply stood there with a look of self-satisfaction plastered across her face.
Squall looked over the paperwork. "You've narrowed it down to a couple of different cities," he observed. "Timber, Galbadia...Winhill?"
Rinoa nodded. Squall squinted at her, then back at the paper. "What the hell is in Winhill?"
Rinoa pointed to an obituary for a forty year old man. His name was August Leonhart. Squall blinked. "OK, that's an interesting coincidence, but what does it prove?" he demanded.
Rinoa sighed. "You really are dense today, aren't you?"
Squall looked up at her defensively. "I am not." He looked back down at the obituary. "I just haven't slept in a while," he muttered under his breath.
Rinoa sighed a soft 'aw' of understanding and concern. "Let me help you out a little, then," she offered, pointing to a line further down in the column.
Squall peered at the line of text. "August Leonhart is survived by his young daughter, Raine." He let that sink in for a moment before nodding. "I remember Raine. I saw her in the Dream World. She's the one who adopted Sis." He paused. "So...so, she's my mother?"
Rinoa smiled, taking in Squall's reaction to the news. His eyes were starting to tear. His lip was quivering. She followed his gaze down to the paper in his hand, and saw that he was unconsciously running his index finger back and forth over Raine's name. It was almost as if he was caressing it, trying to reach out to the woman herself through the letters in her name.
Finally, he looked up again. The tears were welling up now. "But, my mother died in childbirth, so there must be a death certificate or something..."
Rinoa nodded. "I'm way ahead of you. I looked in the town records for a death certificate for Raine Leonhart. I couldn't find one. Now, from what I've learned about children orphaned at birth, when they deliver the baby to the orphanage, they refer to the child by their last name-Infant Dincht, Infant Leonhart, etc."
Squall's eyes narrowed. "I don't understand. If I was sent to the orphanage with the name of Leonhart, then why..."
Rinoa's heart thumped in her chest. She wasn't certain how he would take this news. "My guess is that whoever delivered you to the orphanage didn't know that Raine had been married."
Squall's eyes widened. "So, not only do we know who my mother was, we know my father from her last name! Is he still alive?"
Rinoa nodded. "Yeah," she sighed. "He's still alive. I even know where to find him."
Squall couldn't take the excitement any longer. "So...?"
Rinoa pulled one more piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Squall.
It was a copy of Raine's death certificate, with her married name listed.
