WEDDING BELLS.
Squall and Rinoa had gotten married. She'd expected it to happen. Hell, they all had, but it didn't lessen the blow any more. Quistis had been head over heels for Squall. That hadn't been much of a secret either at Garden, so when Rinoa had announced the engagement, well, if Quistis heard one more "You'll find someone else" or "He isn't that much of a catch anyways", she'd go ballistic.
Sighing, she took a sip of her drink and glanced up at the happy couple. Rinoa was draped across Squall's arm, acting as an extendable limb while Squall was...well...as ecstatic looking as Squall could get, she supposed. They'd decided to get married in the same ballroom they'd first met in.
Quistis found it incredibly ridiculous because, at the time that they'd met, Rinoa was with Seifer and Squall was married to his gunblade. But, who was she to judge? The only thing that really annoyed her about the whole thing was that Seifer Almasy was sitting at her table, in all his arrogance.
Hyne forbid he took his feet of the table.
Quistis wasn't really sure as to why Seifer had even been invited to the event in the first place. He was Rinoa's ex-boyfriend and Squall's worst enemy, but there he was. She downed another drink and vaguely wondered how his signature white pimp trench coat would look with red wine stains splattered about it.
Unfortunately his pimp coat was not attending. Almasy wasn't the happiest in attendance, but the dirty glares were worth watching Leonheart get fed cake. Hi-fucking-larious. In some perverse way, Seifer was proud. Sure, it may seem like he got the short end of the stick, but in the end he had indirectly caused his rival to get saddled with Rinoa.
And what a saddle she was. No matter how pretty looking, she was a dead wait around poor Squall's neck. Gah. He needed to stop thinking like Kinneas, and using words like saddle in his thoughts. Okay, another entertaining though was Puberty Boy on his wedding night. Seifer chuckled, and brushed a stray hair out of his line of sight. He'd let it grow out some since the sorceress debacle.
A rebellion against organized militia's that he couldn't imagine he hadn't thought of before. Bah, this was his first time back at the Garden. What, you honestly expected the proud and tall Seifer Almasy to crawl back there? No-fucking-siree. He was actually doing quite well as a freelance mercenary. You'd be surprised at how many people are willing to hire a former enemy of the state.
That's what notoriety was. People paying a pretty Gil for someone they knew was that good.
Quistis winced as Rinoa's voice echoed around the room as she stood up with Squall and called for everyone's attention, Squall looking very, very, VERY, bored. Resisting the urge to cast silence on the girl as she continued to shout, Quistis took another sip of her drink.
Only to realize her wine glass was empty.
This left our dear Instructor in quite the predicament, because while there was no way she was going to make it through the annoying speeches sure to follow Rinoa's screeching without a drink, she couldn't very well get up and go get one without seeming rude, and while she normally wouldn't have cared for politeness in a situation like this, she'd promised Selphie she'd be good and while the younger girl may have seemed to be all rainbows and sunshine, her wrath was worse then Ultemicia's. And that was saying something.
In short, Quistis was screwed.
"Everyone, could you please listen up? I have something to say!" Rinoa called out, finally earning the interest of most of the room. Quistis just groaned quietly to herself.
"Effin yay." she muttered, rubbing her head.
"And it's that I'm an airhead and Squall's impotent!" Seifer's mind put in quietly. He took a sip from his champagne flute (heart shaped, something you know who would have picked out) swilled it. He'd have to make it last if he didn't want to have his ears bleeding by the end of this thing. He glanced across the room, seeing if there was anyone to commiserate with.
No one. Not even Raijin and Fuujin. Except...did his eyes deceive him? None other than Quistis Trepe (Instructor, a part of him still thought) had his gaze landed on. She looked like she were about to get up and leave. Of course, no one else would be able to see that. During his time under her tutelage, he had become very adept at reading her expressions, and causing different ones.
Smirking to himself, he tried to block out whatever the hell Edea was saying. Which was very hard considering he used to hang on her every word (a period of time he wanted to blot out entirely).
Quistis felt her patience wear thin, as yet another person got up to speak. She was tempted to stand up, attract everyone's attention, get a drink and sit back down without a word, just to spite everyone in the room. Looking around, her gaze fell on a certain ex-knight, who just happened to be smirking her way.
Could nothing go her way today?
She saw him. His vicious grin broadened, and he made a motion with his glass similar to the toasts everyone else was performing, but it really was something only for Quistis. A message saying "Haha, I still have enough to get piss drunk and you do not my Lovely ex-Instructor."
Quistis glared at the blonde. If he were just a few seats closer, she'd steal his drink and wipe that smug grin right of his face. But she wasn't, and it'd be a cold day in hell before she actually went over to him and tried to start a conversation, or even just provoke some banter, despite how much she needed it.
Then Rinoa started to talk and she lost all self-restraint. Yeah, she was actually going to go over and converse civilly with Seifer Almasy.
Hyne help her.
Then something happened that Seifer did not anticipate. Quistis got up. In his profile of her, she was not the one to do something like. Look away, maybe scowl briefly. For a moment he was worried for her safety, but then remembered that this was Quistis Trepe we were talking about here. Even if she lost some of her inhibition, it would take a hell of a lot more to make her lose all of it.
And the, an idea for a wicked game came into his blonde (but certainly not dumb, try calculating) head. Let's try and make her lose all of it. It would be a favor, for having the sense to let Squall go and hang himself and marry Rinoa. Shifting in his seat a bit, he prepared for the evening events.
Quistis was almost considering throwing a chair at Almasy, for looking so damn cocky, as if he knew something she didn't, but resisted and instead moved over a couple chairs and sat down next to him.
"Before you make a comment that implies that I actually tolerate you, I would like to point out that it was either you, or Rinoa and Squall. And I should think that you of all people would know just how much fun conversing with those two is."
"It's a sad in hell when a girl prefers the company of a delinquent to two of her most trusted comrades." He sipped from his glass again, knowing full well he was skirting the line with Miss Trepe.
Quistis glared at him. "It's also a sad day in hell when a man comes to his ex's wedding without a date."
Looking up ever so slightly.
"Touché. Quistis Trepe, it's been quite a while hasn't it?"
She nodded and propped her chin up on her hand, eyeing the bar a little wistfully. "It has. How have thing's been going since the war?"
"As well as to be expected." He replied. On second thought, that was a lie. What was expected was Seifer to be a drug addict under some bridge.
"Strike that, it's been well enough that I have enough Gil to rent this suit. And dry clean my trench coat. How have you gotten along?"
Quistis shrugged ever so slightly. "Depends on what you mean. I've gotten my Instructor's license back. But on the other hand..." she cast a sideways look at the sorceress and her knight. "If one more person tells me there are other fish in the sea, I will not be responsible for any action my whip decides to take."
Seifer raised his eyebrows. "You just keep on surprising me this evening Trepe." He honestly hadn't expected her to be so frank. If she was going to continue like this, the game wouldn't be any fun. The toast dispersed, and apparently the couple's first dance just flew by. Now dancing were Rinoa and Caraway.
"Do you suppose the only reason she is making nice is because Dad's footing the bill?"
Quistis twirled a fork between her fingers absently as she watched the father and daughter dance. "Probably. Either that or she's afraid he'll try and lock her in a room somewhere again if she doesn't."
"It's in situations like those I'm glad I was never adopted. Things didn't work out for you so well in that department for you either as I remember? What ever happened to your phantom family?" His eyes flitted back to her face.
Quistis stopped twirling the fork and frowned slightly. She'd never really enjoyed talking about her old family, if she could even call them that. It was a touchy subject for her.
"They...I...I felt like a trophy when I was with them. They're this perfect couple, the wife's pretty and smart, the husband's a successful businessman, but they couldn't have kids. I felt like I was just there to fill in that blank space in front of them in a photograph. I felt like I was just there to complete the whole picture of perfection."
She sighed.
"Leaving was a lot easier then I thought it'd be."
Seifer snorted.
"So you left and went on to become the youngest graduate in SeeD history. Sounds like either you did complete the picture, or the Jones' left more of an impression on you than you thought." The blonde haired man said, offering an uncharacteristically deep comment.
"Or of course I'm wrong and these things just happened in synchronicity."
Synchronicity. There was a word that Seifer didn't remember learning. A burning in his gut told him it was one of the things the damn Witch had told him.
Quistis shrugged.
"Either way, I much prefer Garden to my adopted family. It doesn't matter if they're getting praised for raising such a 'fine' kid. As long as I'm not directly apart of it, I could care less."
Indifference was something Quistis had learned to fake very well.
"When it comes straight down to it, the only thing we can know as parents, aside from Sweet Rinny-Poo and Puberty Boy, are Cid and...The Kramers."
He abruptly stopped before saying the second parties' name. As an afterthought, he added what she had really been to them.
"Matron."
Quistis nodded slowly.
"Yeah, but, for a while, most of us didn't even remember Matron from the orphanage, because of the whole GF amnesia epidemic. So really, all some of us had known was Cid..."
There was a pause in their conversation, as the two observed the only adults they had a chance to model themselves after, one dancing with the bride, and one dancing with the groom respectively.
Quistis tapped her nails against the table in time to the music. Watching everyone dance was making her realize just how single and very, very, very, alone she was. It was also reminding her that she could now go get another drink.
But before she could skedaddle over and order another hard on the rocks, the person she just happened to be being alone with picked up her glass and absconded with it.
Well, less abscond then wander over in the general direction of the bartender.
Truly a surreal moment when Seifer Almasy goes off to fetch you a beverage without cyanide in it.
Quistis almost gaped at the blonde's behavior. I say almost because Quistis was a very refined person and knew better to gape like a goldfish at the erratic behavioral patterns of the ex-knight.
That didn't keep her from staring after him wide eyed though.
When he did return to the wide-eyed Trepe, he gave her one of his ever so patented 'what are you crazy' looks, combined with that smirk we all known and love. Handing her a glass, he said,
"Did you realize you forgot to wear panties or something?"
Quistis almost stabbed him with her fork for that one.
"No, I'm just in shock over how quickly you've become a somewhat civilized human being..."
She paused for a moment.
"At least, I was, until you made that little comment."
Quick to defend his (a skewed) honor Seifer replied.
"Hey, it's a valid concern. If I just realized I'd forgot my cummerbund or something I would look the same way."
"And since when am I not a civilized human being?"
Quistis gave him a look.
"Since when have you ever been a civilized human being?"
She stared down at her drink suspiciously, silently wondering if there was something in it besides alcohol that was going to make her act like an idiot.
"I use utensils, don't make bodily noises in public, and hold doors open for women children, and the elderly. That was the definition of civilized you taught me in Etiquette 101 Instructor." Seifer replied, not with an even tone, but with one slightly clipped.
Quistis resisted the (mildly immature) urge to roll her eyes.
"Number one, I'm not your Instructor anymore, so stop calling me that and secondly, there's more to being civilized then proper etiquette, Seifer."
She took a cautious sip of her drink, then, when nothing happened, took another one. It was much easier for her to commune in social situations when she was just a little incapacitated.
'Inebriated', said Seifer's mind for no reason, but he pushed that thought away since he had enough sense to know that mentioning the possibility of Quistis having a drinking problem, would get him so much father away from his goal (what was that again?) and the rest of the evening would be like he had been slapped with a fish.
Besides, he was drinking just as much as her.
Quistis felt herself flinch as Rinoa's high pitched laughter echoed throughout the room while her and 'Squallie-kins', as he'd been so affectionately nicknamed (Zell had almost died laughing when he'd heard her say it for the first time), danced around. Squall remained as stoic as usual and Quistis felt a tinge of pity for him.
"That man is either going to be deaf, suicidal, or both before he hits thirty." she muttered, more to herself then anyone else as she took another sip of wine.
"And that I'll drink to, taking a break from my usual civilized demeanor." Said Seifer in agreement, holding his flute up.
"To Squall and Rinoa; may they have many happy days, and may the world be deaf to them."
Quistis held her own flute up as well.
"Hyne, I hope so."
END
A/N (+disclaim): WE DON'T OWN ANYTHING. Please don't sue us. Lawyers scare me. This was originally an RP between myself and Lin-Hikaru-7, and since this account was dead to the world, we decided to post it here, after much editing. Reviews are loved, as are locations in which we might be able to find and kidnap Rufus ShinRa.
A/N II: Haha. Ichi (ninja-butterfliie) is so straightforward. Anyway, this was a roleplay, with Ichi as Quistis and me as Seifer. I hope you will find it refreshing. Ichi also did the formatting and editing (I worked the spellcheck though) and for that I am enternally grateful. I did the final proofread though. Kudos to Rufus who we also don't own (oh how we wish we di).