Disclaimer. Squaresoft owns all these guys and places. I don't mean to infringe you guys so........ just chill, eh???
You have no idea how friggin hard it is to write each word of these last few chapters, so forgive me if my style slips only I'm dreading finishing this story... And yes I meant this chapter to be shock tactics. Leave me alone it's after three am and I have work in the morning.




The Longest Road.

"I'd rather be a lion for one day than a sheep for the rest of my life."
- Elizabeth Kenny.



ONE YEAR LATER


Chapter twenty six; Justice.





The swirl of a floor-length black leather coat and the flash of nutmeg hair beneath the brim of a black Stetson, all the people who he passed on the street could only remember that.

The required effect had been achieved.

The rumours were rife in Galbadia, concerning this new gun for hire. Some of them had been started by his friends, and some of them had sprouted from nowhere.

The rumour that he'd shot his own brother for the right price. False, he didn't even have a brother.

The rumour that he had gone four days without sleeping just to learn his targets habits. True, but not in the same context.

The rumour that his latest partner in crime had killed over a hundred men. False. It was probably much higher than that.

The rumour he was an ex-SeeD who Squall Leonhart himself had kicked out of garden. He glanced at himself in the mirror of a shop front and half-smiled.

If only they knew the truth.

He crossed the road and entered the Galbadian hotel, checking for messages before heading up to his room. Chewing his lip thoughtfully, he stared more deeply at his reflection in the mirror of the elevator wall.

'I wonder what they'd say if they really knew.' He thought.

A pain in his shoulder brought him back to reality, not a throbbing stab as it usually was just a dull ache to remind him of his place. Reaching into his pocket, he found a small square pill wrapped in paper and plastic so as to avoid detection in the clubs in the area that he was frequenting.

With the bitterness on his tongue already beginning to fade, he entered the room he and his 'partner' had hired.

"No one approached you yet?" The man asked without even bothering to turn around.

"No. It looks like we're gonna be here a little while longer."

"Oh well."

Shrugging off the black leather jacket to reveal black jeans and an armless black T-shirt with an ancient Centran symbol emblazoned on the breast, he dropped onto the bed. The hat was discarded and with one hand he loosened the tight knot of hair on the back of his head so that it fell around his ears. His free hand rubbed at his neck.

"That's better." His partner stated.

"Sometimes it's nice just to get back to being me." He whispered. "To being Squall Leonhart. I heard today that I kicked myself out of Garden. D'you think Selphie started that one or is it something that the locals decided."

"I have an awful feeling you have Selphie to thank. Any about me?"

"You killed seven men with your bare hands in a bar-room brawl."

"Cheeky fuckers. It was eight." Zell rolled his eyes and grinned. "And it was a SeeD mission."

"Okay, whatever. It's your turn to go walkabout now isn't it?"

"Yeah. I'll see you later."

"Bye."

Squall closed his eyes as Zell's footsteps receded and sighed loudly. At least the pain in his shoulder had gone now. He covered his face with his hands, fingers tracing his hidden scar and the faint lines starting to appear around his eyes then brushing the rough growth on his chin. He hadn't shaved in a couple of days to add to the effect of his character.

A knock on his door bought him back to himself. "Can I speak to you sir?" A male voice called. He dropped the hat on his head as he answered the door. "Your room-mate requested you sir. He and several gentlemen are in the bar downstairs."

"Thanks kid." Squall replied and dropped a five gil note into his hand. He turned to pick up the jacket he had discarded and made his way to the bar.






"What's up?" He growled as he took a seat next to the disguised Zell Dincht.

"This guy wants our... services." He said.

There were three others sitting at the table, two were obviously the hired muscles of the outfit. The man in the centre of them stood and offered his hand. Squall stared at it like it was a pile of dung and the man withdrew it quickly.

"Sir, I'm willing to pay you top gil for the job at hand."

"Which is?"

"I have reason to believe that I'm being watched by SeeD. I don't know who hired them but they're going to bust me and my business. I want you two to make sure that that doesn't happen. At any cost."

"What business is that?" He asked again.

"Recreation. I help people relax...."

"Fuck that." Squall stood and walked away from the table, Zell soon following him. His lover caught him by the arm swinging him round as they had rehearsed for just such an occasion.

"It's him." Zell mumbled. "He fits the description and he mentioned the right things. This is the guy who was selling all that shit to the G-Garden kids."

"Yeah." Squall whispered. Then raised his voice to continue the act. "You know I don't mess with SeeD anymore."

"We need the cash K. Okay?"

Squall glanced back toward the table. "How much?"

"Two hundred thousand Gil. For one week protecting my home." The red haired man in black glasses said.

"Make it two fifty and you got a deal."

"What's your name?" He asked Squall, eyes squinting behind the lenses of his glasses trying to see better.

"Kris Dane."

"I'm Gary Martin. You got a deal Mr Dane."





(Five days later.)


"Come in Selphie." Squall, also known as Kris Dane whispered into the tiny microphone he had been supplied.

"I'm here..... Kris." She giggled into his ear piece.

"Do we have enough evidence? To press charges against the cohorts?"

"Yeah. And we're ready to move in any time you want."

"They're all going to be here tonight, so we can get this over and done with after midnight. Okay?"

"Okay. I'll see you then."

Squall straightened and his hand moved to check the twin pistols at his hips. He longed for the familiarity of the Gunblade but that would have been a little too obvious given the rumours Selphie and the others had been throwing around.

A little too many rumours.

He closed his eyes for a moment to remind himself of the reason he was doing this, so far from his own Garden and all it's familiarities. He would remember as long as he lived the image presented by that black and white photograph of a boy, around thirteen years old on a mortuary slab. His life cut so tragically short by Gary Martin's supply of high concentration drugs to the more gullible G-garden students. And he would never forget the boy's devastated mother and father at his funeral, or his headmistress, Fuujin, crying for him. He had to make Martin pay.

He wondered where Zell, or Tony Roberts, was before he felt a lump of wood shaped like a baseball bat strike the back of his head.

Crumpling to the ground, Squall drew the first of his pistols firing blindly at his attacker, rolling away from the next whistling swing of the bat. A booted foot kicked his midsection and the bat struck him squarely across the back.

Someone pulled him up and struck him back down with a fist enclosed by s knuckle duster, before another pulled him up again only to drive him to the floor with a fist to the gut and a strike to his cheek. Martin's men stood above him laughing. "A spy?" One of them said. "And I bet Tony doesn't even know. He's one of us. I always knew there was something strange about you Kris." With a grunt of effort he kicked Squall again, catching his shoulder and wrenching it back. It popped loudly and Squall was sure it had been dislocated. He curled into a tiny ball, and hoped that they'd finish quickly.

"We'll lock him in one of the guest rooms until tonight is over and done with and dispose of him in the morning." Some other said and relieved him of his empty pistol and radio microphone, without bothering to check to see if he had any more weapons.

As they carried him away, Squall blacked out.






He awoke an hour later with his shoulder on fire, his left arm hanging uselessly by his side. Desperate for freedom he searched the room to find every escape locked and the room on the fourth floor. He had no way out.

In the wardrobe he did find a robe and with the memory of his field first aid course managed to fashion a sling with the belt before transferring his remaining gun to his right side. A clock on the wall told him it was ten thirty-four.

And with a heavy sigh Squall sat back on the bed and waited for his Radio contact from Selphie even though he had no way of answering.



(Time 12:23.)

"Come in Squall. Please. I need to confirm the move."

Selphie sounded desperate in his earpiece, she'd been trying to contact him with no answer for five minutes already.

The lion of Balamb Garden was pacing back and forth wondering where Zell was and how he was going to get out of this one. He had no magic, his left arm was useless, his only GF was Shiva and he only had six bullets and the knife in his boot left.

If he'd had his gunblade, or Zell, he wouldn't have cared.

In fact, if he'd had either of those he might have enjoyed the odds.

"Look at it this way Squall." He said to himself aloud. "For all you know they might have found Zell."

"FUCKING HELL SQUALL LEONHART." Selphie screamed in his ear. "IF YOU DON'T ANSWER RIGHT NOW I'M COMING IN THERE TO GET YOU MYSELF ANYWAY." A short pause.... "RIGHT YOU BASTARD, I'M COMING TO BEAT THE CRAP OUTTA YOU WHETHER ZELL LIKES IT OR NOT!"

"Okay... I'm now in twice as much danger as Zell." He shrugged and drew the pistol from it's holster and shot the lock. "Might as well get this over with."

An army of SeeDs from G, T and B Gardens descended on the mansion in the north of Former Deling City. When one of their own was hurt, they went all out to hurt someone back. As Squall started down the stairs towards the main dining room he heard an earplitting crash as Cerberus slammed straight into the front doors.

"YEEEEEEEHAH!" A woman's voice shouted. "KRIS WHERE THE FUCK ARE YA?"

Squall skidded to a halt and made his way toward the entrance hall to see Selphie Kinneas riding the GF. "Selphie, be careful you'll hurt yourself!"

"There you are, why I oughta..... Oh shit! What happened to you?"

He looked down at himself looking a little worse for wear and lifted his good hand to touch his face, finding it bruised and covered in dried blood. "Sorry I couldn't answer Selphie, they took the transmitter." She dismounted and he felt the cold sterility of a Curaga wash over him. "Thanks, but be more careful next time okay? Irvine would really kill me if anything happened to you and the bump."

The bump was the affectionate term for Selphie's advancing pregnancy. "Where's the blonde?" She asked and Squall instantly spun and ran to the dining room where the meeting had been taking place.

The doors swung open to reveal chaos. SeeDs were battling with various foes throughout the room. Zell was in the thick of it as usual, directing a small group of SeeD towards a secret staircase at the back of the room up which Gary Martin had just escaped. They disappeared from view and Squall gave chase.

"Hey, LEONHART!" Someone called and Naki Keza stepped in his way. "Thought ya might need this." And she threw a gleaming blue object towards him. The gunblade slipped into his grasp like a lover into a familiar embrace.

"Thanks Keza."

"My pleasure sir."


Near the top of the stairs he discovered a SeeD lying across his path, dead from a shotgun wound in the chest. The others were pinned against the walls trying to escape the fire. One of them glanced back and saw him waiting there. "Sir!" He saluted.

The still disguised Zell Dincht, his hair slicked back against his head, gasped as he too saw his commanding officer. "Who the fuck? What the fuck?"

"To cut a long story short. My stupid mistake, I got seven shades of shit beaten out of me with a baseball bat and several pais of steel toecaps. Hey," He spoke to a young SeeD trembling beside him. "You have any Fire magic on you?"

The girl nodded and transferred him five Fira's.

"That will do nicely."

He cast them in quick succession. The first licked at the tapestry hiding Martin. The second encouraged it to burst into flame, driving the man back. The final three scorched his clothing and caused the shells in his shotgun to explode prematurely. Squall dashed forwards and knocked the gun from his grasp with a sweep of the Lionheart. Then the weeping man fell to his knees to plead for his life.

"You made a big mistake when you went to garden." Squall whispered, shaking his hair free of the knot and discarded the contact lenses that had turned his eyes to a rich brown. Then the man was treated to a full unadulterated Leonhart stare. "When you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us."

"That's solidarity for you." Zell stepped up behind his lover as he tried to fix his hair and wiped away the makeup that covered his tribal tattoo.

"You two?" Gary Martin stammered. "You're the l-l-l-lion and the w-w-warrior?"

"Zell Dincht is my name." The blonde bowed. "And this is none other than Squall Leonhart himself. Isn't that right baby?"

"Mmmm." He nodded. "But don't worry Mr Martin. We won't turn you over to the police."

"You won't?" He brightened briefly.

"No. I'm going to take care of you, you bastard." Squall growled, eyes narrowing to slits. He handed Zell the lionheart and pulled the knife from his boot, then leant forward avoiding Gary's kicking to bury it in the dealer's thigh, just nicking the femoral artery. "You have somewhere between three and five minutes left before your heart stops pumping. Hope you make them worthwhile." Then he turned and kicked away a sofa and table, breaking the table in half in the process.

"What are you doing?" The dying man croaked.

"Well, when the authorities get here, they'll ask what happened and this way we can say it was self defence." Zell offered.

"But they'll tell the truth!" Martin exclaimed from the pool of his own blood, pointing at the SeeDs at the doorway.

"What happened?" Zell asked them.

"The man we were trying to capture ran at the commander meaning to kill him with the shotgun and Squall had no choice but to defend himself. In the struggle the knife fell from Squall's belt as he was knocked to the floor and he used it only as a last resort." The chorused in unison.

Martin's movements slowed as he moved closer to death. "No..." He sobbed.

"His name was David Walsall." Squall said as he made his way to the door, his shoulder now screaming in agony.

"Who?"

"The boy who OD'd on your supply." Zell said. "He was a student at G-Garden. And we always take revenge when one of our own is taken. Remember his name."

The sound of the death-rattle was sickening as Gary Martin finally died.

"Five minutes and seven seconds." One man in the hall checked his watch and turned to another SeeD. "You win. I buy the drinks tonight."

As Zell took up his familiar place beside Squall, he asked; "You gonna tell me what happened then?"

Squall caught him by the shoulder and shook his head. And promptly passed out again.





Authors notes.

Cue Beavis and Butt head laugh. Heh ehh heh heh heh. Sleep sucks.

Okay. I think I better go to sleep before I writ anym ore as 1m making stuuupid mitsakes won. noodg1ght. cee ewe nxt Chaptre.

He he he he ta ra