Till Death Do Us Part

As soon as the first beams of light touched the carpet in Selphie's room, the chocobo-alarm clock she got from Irvine for her birthday started cackling. After being late for the Ultimecia-knows-how-many'th time, Squall, Quistis, Irvine, Rinoa and Zell decided to throw her a surprise party, on which Irvine gave her the chocobo clock. "Here you go", he said, "so you'll never be late again now, right?".

Until recently, she had always thought Irvine was her one true love, that she could never be set apart from him by anything on the planet!

Never could she have guessed that it'd be something unearthly which made her feel differently...

Selphie's day started out like any other. She woke up, brushed her teeth, had some breakfast and a glass of milk, then brushed her teeth again, spent some time behind the mirror, after which (who-knows-why) she brushed her teeth again, and went out for class.

She always felt a little mixed about classes... On the one hand she thought they were totally boring, yet on the other she found them endlessly fascinating. So in the end, after class, she'd always be the happy-go-lucky kind of girl, differing little from how she was before class.

Usually, the group would go out to the Training Centre to slash some monsters and get their skills up, but lately nothing has become of it, because of the upcoming festival.

Walking through the brightly sun-lit hallways, everyone was talking about what they had experienced lately, normal chitter-chatter.

There's one person who seemed a little out of it though, even though this wasn't a very unusual thing for him.

"Hmm...", Squall mumbled.

"What is it?", Quistis asked of him. "Well", he began, "It's just that lately we haven't really taken the time to actually train. If we keep this up, our skills will go down the drain."

"Hey, now.. I can't join you, I gotta help out at the stage, you know that.", said Irvine. "Neither can I, though I really wanna, but I'm supposed to help and hang the ribbons and whatnot!", blurted Zell.

"...whatever.", Squall sighed.

Squall looked at Selphie and she nodded. "I think I have some time before I'm going to make 10 gallons of punch! I'll join you!", she said with an upbeat smile on her face. "Alright then, let's go.", he replied.

That being said, the both of them headed right of the staircase, and into the training centre. Walking through the damp atmosphere with the lush green vegetation of which half was alive and moving, they both became quiet. Squall because he was on his guard, for any kind of enemy that might come across his path; Selphie because she had a strange feeling coming from inside...

"Oh Squall, I remembered something. Quisty told me to gain some experience in solitary fighting, so we should go in different directions, ok?", said Selphie, a little suspiciously, but Squall thought nothing of it and nodded. And so, Selphie dashed off, on to a place where she'd be sure she couldn't be disturbed.

When she was finally alone, she concentrated hard, and in front of her appeared Shiva, breaking herself free upon which she naturally surprised to see no creature to battle with. She turned to Selphie, with a questioning look on her iced face. "Selphie", echoed her voice, "there is nothing to fight for. Is something wrong?"

Selphie then put her fingers together with a slight blush on her face.

"Well, um... i-it's just that... um...", Selphie stuttered. The air around her became colder as Shiva approached, "Master Selphie?", Shiva spoke. Selphie looked to the side, uncertain what to say and even more so about what Shiva would ever think of it.

"I-I just... I think you're very...", she continued as Shiva became increasingly curious, "..y-you're really attractive!", she finally said.

Shiva had a little trouble fathoming the concept. After all, she was a guardian spirit, not a romance expert. Selphie continued, "I think I love you, Shiva!", she shouted! A short pause which to Selphie felt like an eternity passed by slowly and anyone could tell that Shiva was thinking about what to say and about what's been said to her.

As cold as her element, so felt her words. "It cannot be so.", Shiva echoed again, "I am a guardian spirit. I should not engage myself in things of such trivial nature. I should not love.". Shiva then patiently awaited her Master's reaction, because even though she didn't know how to put it differently, she was able to tell that that was far from tactful. Selphie looked into those pale, blue eyes and saw that she meant no harm in what she said. She had just never spoken about something such as this.

Selphie then couldn't help herself and threw herself in the cold spirit's arms, not caring if she froze to death. Startled by her Master's behaviour, Shiva immediately warned her of the dangers.

"Master, please don't!", her voice boomed in fear of inflicting damage to her, "My body temperature is sub-zero, you shouldn't- "

Her call of fear was silenced by the softest kiss anyone could ever have felt. "I don't care..", Selphie softly whispered to her elemental romance, "if I can't be your love, Shiva, then freeze me right now. It doesn't matter then..." She held the spirit closer, her arms wrapped tightly around Shiva's waist. She really doesn't want to leave her love anymore, she needs to be with her!

Despite Shiva being completely unfamiliar with human emotions, she decided to try and comfort her Master, giving as gentle a cuddle as her powerful arms could. "Master, are you sure...?", Shiva inquired. Selphie kept silent, just holding her guardian close like that as a gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the surrounding plants and bushes. "Try, Shiva, please try!", Selphie cried, "Please try to love me back! I would give anything!" The small tears that rolled down her face almost froze before they had reached her chin.

"If that is truely what you desire," Shiva's voice echoed softly, "then I will gladly try, Master."

Selphie looked up, a faint smile adorning her face as she let out a sigh of relief and happiness. She moved her arms from Shiva's waist to her neck, moving in for a sweet, deep kiss. Shiva tried the best she could to give her that gentle kiss back, just before Selphie became increasingly quiet...

All sorts of thoughts shot through Shiva's head, naturally fearing the worst. Unable to control her fear, Shiva could only make things worse as that fear caused the area around her to freeze solid as her voice boomed, screaming out for help! Shiva is a guardian spirit, she is more than able to fend enemies off, however of healing she knows not.

Shortly after, Squall came running for whatever caused such noise, and found that a great part of the landscape was completely covered in snow and ice, which could only mean that Shiva was either angered or troubled; and the latter it was.

As soon as Squall arrived at the place where Shiva held Selphie in her arms, it was obvious to him what happened.

Shiva then decided to keep secret what had passed between her and Selphie, merely stating the raw facts. "Squall, forgive me!", her voice echoed with a sad tone, "She came too near, there's nothing I could've done!".

Squall rushed over to the both of them, but as soon as Squall approached, Shiva summoned a circular wall of ice, just too high to climb. "SHIVA!" Squall shouted.

Shiva held tight to the frozen body of her lover, as the magic walls of ice forged by love became eternal, together with the love that warmed her heart of ice.

Eternal love exists, few of us find it... Fewer even want to.

'till death do us part.

Aphroditan Banshee