-1Chapter Two: Obsession

That was weird. Quistis thought. She had sat frozen for a few hours, hand still clutching the journal she meant to put away. Her thoughts alternated between the absurdity of the statement, Seifer, and whether or not she should log it down. In the end, she decided against it; she didn't want to remember random moments of insanity. Her stomach growled, and she hastily shelved her journal back in its proper place before going to lunch.

"Where's Squall and Rinoa?" She asked, sitting next to Selphie with her tray.

"Rinoa had one of her appointments with Odine." Irvine explained.

So that's why he was so anxious to train this morning. Quistis took a bite of her sandwich. Those appointments were basically set up to make sure that Rinoa's sorceress powers were under control, but if they thought she was getting too strong, there was no telling what would happen to her.

"She'll be fine." Zell assured his friends between shoving hotdogs into his mouth. "Ultimecia's dead, so Rinoa's not going to go all possessed and try to destroy the world. End of story." He continued to shovel hotdogs into his mouth as if to establish closure.

"So, how was your appointment?" Selphie asked, leaning towards Quistis.

"What?"

"Cid…?" Selphie motioned for Quistis to pick up from there.

"Oh, he was busy." That was a half truth, anyways.

"So you spent the day alone!?" Selphie cried in awe. Quistis could see that it had been one of Selphie's goals to make sure she was included. Feeling both irritated and touched, she rolled her eyes.

"Selphie, it's not going to kill me to be alone for a few hours. What do you think I was doing when you guys went to Timber without me?" Quistis told her.

"Sulking." Zell piped up, but immediately shut his mouth at the look Quistis gave him.

"You're the one to talk." Irvine teased him. "How long do you have to wait now before your little Library Girl gets off duty?"

"Amy gets off in an hour." Zell retorted.

"Counting down the seconds?" Irvine mocked.

"Irvy, stop it." Selphie whacked him across the chest. There was a few minutes of silence as everyone ate, until Quistis spoke up.

"When will they get back?"

"Hm, they couldn't take the Ragnarok, so they're coming home tomorrow." Zell answered before glancing at his watch. Irvine smirked.

This time, Quistis finished first, telling her friends she had some errands to run in town. They readily let her go alone, as Selphie and Irvine were still working on the Garden Festival Committee, and Zell was going to loiter around the Library.

She was almost hoping that she'd run into Seifer at the front gates again, but that would be just too good, she sighed, starting her lonely journey to Balamb.

Where should I go? She asked herself when she entered the town. She didn't really need anything, and Balamb was not known for its wide selection of clothing. Maybe she should have gone to Esthar with Squall and Rinoa, at least they could have dropped her off outside of the shopping center on the way there. She thought about going to Ma Dincht's house to gossip when she heard familiar voices around the corner.

"CID?" a rough but distinctly female voice asked.

"He's trying, but they're not making it easy for him." Seifer's voice answered. Quistis knew there was a bench right around the turn, and she guessed that Seifer and his posse were stationed there. She didn't want to eavesdrop, but curiosity got the better of her, and she remained where she was.

"Whaddya mean?" Raijin pressed for details. Seifer let out a slow breath.

"A lot of people want our asses dead." He told them. "Some people know that I was being controlled, kinda like Rinoa, but they're saying that you two weren't."

"But we turned ourselves in to the President of Esthar, ya know?" Raijin said.

"I know, which is why you guys are safe, for the most part."

"POINT." Fujin ordered.

"The point is," Seifer said in a slightly frustrated voice. "They think I wasn't mind controlled."

"But that's stupid!" Raijin protested.

"They don't care, no, just listen." He cut off their opinions. "They don't know what it's like to be controlled, they wouldn't know…" It was quiet for a few moments, until Seifer continued. "You're not you when she controls you. You catch small pieces of what's going on, but basically you feel your dream coming true, and that feeling spurs you through everything.

"Anyways, I didn't know the whole situation, but I knew that me being a Knight was no longer possible; I could feel the accomplishment fading. So I went for the next best thing; stealing Puberty Boy's spotlight as the Hero. I blurted out something about wanting the glory."

"So they think that you were just trying to play double agent but failed, what's so bad about that?" Raijin asked.

"It's not that." Seifer answered, his voice impatient again. "It's that when I failed, I released Rinoa to Adel. They're saying that I was perfectly aware of what I was doing when I did that." He finished, and Quistis had to remind herself to breathe.

"How did they hear about all of that anyways, ya know?" Raijin wondered. Seifer gave a sarcastic snort.

"Let's not be stupid, Raijin. If Commander Puberty Boy was being questioned about my behavior, do you think he'd lie to them? Besides, we hate each other, why would he stick up for me?" The silence was broken by the sound of a slap.

"STUPID!" Quistis heard Fujin yell with something other than fury for once.

"Fujin!" She heard Raijin undoubtedly try to restrain her.

"Oh, and what would you have done!?" Seifer demanded. "You don't know anything about being controlled, so don't you go judging me." Quistis began to get nervous when she heard sounds of his departure, but he had gone the other way. She risked a peek around the corner.

Raijin was still holding on to the small woman, but it was more for comfort than restraint. Her jaw was clenched and her eye looked deadly, but she still looked sad, not angry. Quistis quickly ducked back against the wall.

"Stupid." Fujin repeated quietly.

"Yeah, I know. I'm worried about him too, ya know." Raijin said. "It's not a very good situation for him." There was a pause, and Quistis guessed that Fujin had communicated non-verbally. "Yeah, I hear what you're saying. It's like he's desperate to get to Garden, nowadays."

"RINOA?" Fujin asked.

"I hope not. I hope Ultimecia didn't scramble his brain or anything." Raijin responded. "I just hope he misses home."

"MEETING. US."

"Yeah, he should have told us about the meeting with Cid, we would have woken up to go with him. But, come on, let's have a little faith in him." That seemed to end their conversation, and Quistis quietly scrambled away before they could see her.

Seifer was going crazy. The thought numbed everything else around her as she walked along the quiet streets. But he had seemed so normal, and he hadn't even brought up Rinoa once. Maybe he did just miss Garden after all of his hardships.

Her meandering soon brought her to Balamb's pier, and she sat at the edge, watching the sun's reflection sparkle off of the sea.

And Squall had gone against Seifer. That fact burned angrily through her body, for some reason, and she both embraced it and loathed it. Why should she feel so protective over Seifer? How could Squall be so cold? Seifer hadn't caused any real damage, and he was deluded. Why couldn't they leave him alone?

She threw a pebble into the water, disrupting the calm tide for a few seconds. She watched the pebble sink until it was lost from sight, just trying to empty her mind. She tossed another pebble in. When she ran out of pebbles, she leaned over the edge, staring straight into the water. The small waves distorted her face, but it shouldn't have done it to such extremes. Her skin was much paler, her lips purple. She looked away from the reflection, choosing to gaze into the horizon instead.

Well, if Seifer is crazy, at least he's not alone. The bizarre thought made her grin, for some reason, and the thought of both of them being crazy opened up exciting new possibilities in her mind. Anything would be possible; they could go wherever they pleased, travel as self employed mercenaries, even destroy the world if they felt like it.

The grin dropped into a frown instantly. There was something wrong with her.

She knew, looking out at the clear blue sky, that the smart thing to do would be to stay away from Seifer. If what she had heard was the truth, then he was dangerous. Not to mention she hadn't been feeling like herself lately. They were not good for each other.

But she also knew that she could not resist him, and that he was a vital part of her, somehow. They would be together, and together they would answer that dark call of destiny that pulled both of them closer with each passing breath.

A/N: Whoa, I did not intend for this story to take such a crazy turn when I was plotting it out, but I guess writing will take on a life of it's own, and who am I to try to change it? Oh well, at least it's still following my outline. Next chapter should be interesting (unless my writing decides otherwise) in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, however choppy it might have come out. Review, please.