Chapter 6: Realizing The Truth

“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 22^nd. 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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