In The Cards

by turbomagnus

Post-game AU. It was just supposed to be a game of Triple Triad between the two best players in Balamb Garden... S/Q.

Summary: Post-game AU. It was just supposed to be a game of Triple Triad between the two best players in Balamb Garden... S/Q.

Disclaimer: The "Final Fantasy" game series, "Final Fantasy VIII", and all associated characters and situations are the property of Square Ltd. and are used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

-o0O0o-

"In The Cards"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

-o0O0o-

Some people joked, especially after the latest Sorceress War ended with the disappearance of Sorceress Edea - as only a few knew the truth of the war and how it ended - that since the card game Triple Triad was a global phenomenoa the different countries should just settle their differences with card tournaments instead of armies and wars. Others were quick to point out that any attempt at such would probably result in another war as the different regions started to argue over what rules to use. Except for the rules that had developed on Esthar's Lunar Base before its destruction; no one but former Lunar Base personnel wanted to use those particular rules. That, however, was considered minor in the proverbial 'grand scheme of things'.

A more important issue to many was the sudden explosion in the number of 'player' cards in the game; custom made cards personalised with the image of a Triple Triad player or someone close to them. Parents had cards made of their children - and vice-versa - or best friends had cards made of each other, siblings, friends, comrades-in-arms, the reasons behind them were as many as the people having them made. The difficulty came in with how the power of each card was set - many people wanted their 'player' card to be made the most powerful possible, something that most were talked down from in the end - and how they were traded as no matter what trade trends were few people liked to risk losing a special card like a 'player' card, but other players sought to claim them because while not all-A's, they were often still powerful cards. The problem went back to the same reason conflicts weren't settled by card tournaments; there was no neutral party to determine what rules were used where and when. The closest thing to a form of oversight was the so-called 'Queen of Cards', who traveled the world to 'monitor and enforce' the various card rules and had no real authority beyond the fact that her father had decades ago been the one to invent the game of Triple Triad in the first place and still hand-made many of the custom cards that existed.

Individual regions and locations did, however, have their own local forms of regulating Triple Triad in many cases. In Balamb Garden, the game was effectively overseen by the best players in the Garden, the Card Club Group, or CC Group; and they were well-aware of the redundant nature of their name. The CC Group's actual identities were kept secret until they challenged a Triple Triad player or retired and passed their position on to someone else, this was intended to keep them from being swamped by people wanting to challenge 'the best'. Each member of the CC Group, despite being a Triple Triad group, took the alias they used to hide their identity from a normal deck of playing cards, the four suits and the Joker, and ancient ranks of nobility; the knight, the princess, the jack or knave, the magician or court wizard, and of course the king and queen. From the lowest 'rank' of the Group up, they were Card Jack Club, Card Knight Spade, Card Princess Diamond, the 'Card Magician' Joker, the Card Queen Heart - not to be confused with the similarly named 'Queen of Cards', and the CC Group King. It had only been recently that they had added to the Group, placing a member above even the King and naming them the Card Champion Ace, the only person to ever have beaten every 'suite' of the CC Group, Joker and King - as well as the previous King while working their way through the members. Ace was also more casually known by those that knew them outside of Triple Triad as Squall Leonheart, overall Commander of the mercenary group SeeD, a defeater of the Sorceress, and estranged son of President Laguna Loire of Esthar.

And at the moment he was in what had once been the Headmaster's Office, before the Garden's transformation and the room becoming part of the bridge area, frowning in thought at the cards arranged on the table between himself and his opponent. That opponent was the CC Group King herself, Quistis Trepe, another member of SeeD and one of Squall's companions during the battles against the Sorceress, and she was currently winning their game, a game that both were playing with full hands of 'player' and 'Guardian Force' cards. At the moment, she couldn't help herself from smirking at how Squall had fallen for the Same/Plus Combo that had put her in the lead with him only having one card left to play. Not using the 'Open' rule, she didn't know what that last card was, but the idea of being able to claim some combination of Leviathan, Alexander, Squall's own card, Gilgamesh and whatever that last card was under the 'Difference' Trade Rule by which they were playing was enough in and of itself to make the coming victory welcome.

Across the table, Squall knew that falling for that Combo set-up meant he didn't have a chance to win the game. He still had one card left to play, however; both metaphorically and literally, and there was no telling how everything would end up. If he was lucky, if he believed in luck, he wouldn't end up on the receiving end of a Shockwave Pulsar - he'd experienced enough of those during the final battle against Ultimecia. If he wasn't lucky, then that result could be the least dangerous possibility. It made him suddenly wish he had thought to cast Auto-Life on himself before starting the game. That thought, that sudden wish, couldn't stop him from playing the card he had, however, so looking his opponent straight in the eyes, he laid it down on the table and waited for her reaction.

He didn't have to wait more than a few seconds before she broke eye contact and turned her attention to the playing surface and her reaction was everything which he had been expecting. Strangely enough, it wasn't entirely different than how he had reacted during a game against Laguna. Maybe it was a common reaction to being confronted with a 'player' card of oneself that you didn't even know existed.

Quistis looked at the card that Squall had just played in a mixture of anger and horror, her eyes wide as she demanded information, "Where did you get that?"

"I won it."

"From whom..." Quistis demanded with blazing eyes.

"...The Trepies."

"Damn them," Quistis grimaced. She knew of the group's existence and she hated it. Quite honestly, the whole thing freaked her out more than just a little; especially the hero worship-slash-unrequited feelings that led to them doing things like keeping track of how many monsters she personally defeated.

"It could be worse."

Quistis wasn't sure which was more amusing; Squall trying to sound comforting or the sheer amount of talking, for him, that he was doing in the process, but it was warring fiercely with her need to be angry, "Oh?"

"They could be Selphie."

The idea of the Trepies' habits combined with their nunchuck-wielding friend's exuberance and stubbornness made the former instructor shudder, momentary horror overwhelming anger, "Okay, that would be worse."

"Don't tell Selphie," Squall added after a moment, causing Quistis some faint amusement that had managed its way through the cracks in her anger to show itself.

"Okay, I won't tell Selphie; but only because you asked so nicely," Quistis teased, then her expression turned back to a frown. "Now, about the Trepies..."

The Gunblade Specialist just looked at her and didn't respond, which the blonde took as an indication to keep talking.

"I'd use my whip on them, but I'm actually afraid that they'd enjoy it," Quistis shook her head. Then a thought entered her head and, despite the slightly warped nature of it, she had to go with it, "Can I get you to beat them up for me instead, Squall?"

"..." Silence came from the SeeD Commander.

"I'm serious here," Quistis huffed slightly. "Just the fact that I'd be involved would probably be enough for those idiots to have sick fantasies about it, so I obviously can't be the one to deal with this..."

The blonde reached out and tapped the card with her face on it and continued, "I just hope they don't decide to have a replacement made instead of just trying to win it back..."

"Honestly? When I won this one, I warned them that if I ever learned they had another, they'd be expelled from Garden... and I may have also mentioned something about trying to outrun a Renzokuken," Squall commented with his usual flat tone, despite the sheer wordiness of the statement.

Quistis leaned to the side and rested her cheek against a fist, "Really?"

"I may also have invited Doctor Kadowaki to give them a lecture on privacy and bounderies," the SeeD Commander admitted, causing Quistis to move her hand to cover her mouth and hide a bout of laughter that she hadn't been able to control; the lectures of Balamb Garden's resident doctor were feared for a reason.

"That's more believable than the idea that you threatened them with a Limit Break; after all, it would take you more than ten words to threaten someone, I'm sure," Quistis teased through dying laughter.

Squall's answer was merely to give her a flat, unamused look; people who liked to talk rarely realised just how much someone could say in only a few well-chosen words.

"You won," he reminded her, tapping the table that was between them. "Difference rule... pick four."

Just glancing down and seeing the card with her face on it was enough to turn her anger back up to its original level, the reminder of its source, and she quickly snapped up it, Squall's card, Alexander and Gilgamesh along with her own cards. Jamming them into the small hard plastic case that held her deck, she stood up and clipped it to her belt.

"Just so you know," Quistis remarked, pointing a finger at Squall, "I'm letting you off easy for actually using that card instead of handing it over to me in the first place."

Squall looked at her and didn't say anything in response.

"I mean it, Squall; I should hit you with a Ray Bomb or something just on general principle," Quistis stated emphatically.

Raising an eyebrow, Squall tapped the ring he wore on a chain around his neck, causing Quistis to grimace. Being hit by a Ray Bomb likely wouldn't be beyond survival, especially when one took into account that it had only been a few months ago that Squall had been on the recieving end of multiple Angel Wings from Rinoa during the disagreement and resulting fight that had marked the end of the SeeD Commander's relationship with the Sorceress and he'd managed to make it through without needing more than an Elixir.

"Oh. Yeah... that..." Quistis knew she should feel bad about it, but she'd never bought into the whole 'true love' thing between Squall and Rinoa like Selphie and the others had.

The worst part about the relationship between the two falling through had been the way that a strong part of her had rejoiced when she'd heard about it. It had taken some time after the defeat of Ultimecia, but with that time to think about it, Quistis had realised that whatever sisterly feelings she might have had for Squall when they were both younger and still living at the Orphanage had faded away and been replaced with the feelings of a woman for a man.

Squall shrugged, "Happily ever afters are for fairy tales; let Seifer worry about those."

The new shot in the two Gunblade Specialists' rivalry and reference to Seifer's fondness for stories of knights and princesses or Sorceresses managed to bring a hint of a smile back to Quistis' face.

"Saying something like that when he's not here to defend himself?" Quistis remarked, only to get a silent shrug in response. "Don't worry, I won't tell him. It's not like you two need an actual reason to have another 'sparring session' anyway. Think I'll call it a night."

Squall shook his head, "Paperwork to finish."

The whip-wielder shook her head, "You should have done that before challenging me to a game, Squall."

Standing up, Squall answered, "Had been. Needed a break."

She looked at him in surprise, "And you took one? Willingly? Are you another GeroGero and where's the real Squall?"

Unamused, Squall flicked a hand towards the other SeeD; had he been about two feet closer, she might have actually needed to avoid it, but the message was clear that he didn't want to discuss the matter further. Some things never changed.

"Good night, Squall," Quistis said with a little wave, causing him to roll his eyes. On that note, she turned and walked for the elevator. She didn't know why, maybe it was thinking about him having her 'player' card, but a sudden naughty thought came to the woman's mind and midway to the elevator she started to put an extra sway in her hips for the rest of the walk. Once through the elevator doors, she turned around to catch a glimpse of Squall still standing there, staring at her, as they shut. Pressing the button for the Garden's first floor, Quistis' other hand drifted to her card case as the thought that she'd had became more detailed, almost enough to call it the beginning of a plan.

-o0o-

It was a few hours later as Squall tiredly entered his room. Despite the best efforts of certain people to the contrary, Squall had point-blank shot down any attempt to get him to move out of his dormitory single into quarters 'more befitting his status as SeeD Commander'. The dormitory single was fine as far as he was concerned; it wasn't as though anyone but himself had any reason to be in his room and he didn't have any reason for a larger or more elaborate one. He was actually tired enough that, after shedding his jacket and hanging it over the back of his chair, he moved to lay down without even bothering to take off the rest of his clothes.

He stopped before touching the bed, though, when he noticed something laying on his bedside table that he didn't remember being there when he'd left that morning. Carefully, Squall moved over to get a better look at it and saw that it was a Triple Triad card laying there face-down. After a moment's consideration of the possibility of a trap - or worse, knowing some people, a prank - he decided to risk it and reached down to pick up the card. Seeing nothing on the back but the standard design of a Triple Triad card, he flipped it around and his eyes shot wide open, all thought of sleep or tiredness vanishing in an instant. It was Quistis' 'player' card, but there had been a rather notable change made to it since he'd lost it to the woman herself earlier that night; it now had a lipstick print in one of the bottom corners and a notation was handwritten on it - 'with love - Quisty'. It was then that Squall did something he rarely did, something that would have terrified any of his friends if they had been there to see it...

Squall Leonheart looked at the card in his hand and smiled.