When she falls...

She heard an angry knock at her hotel room door and leant over to look at the clock.

"3.00 in the morning, where's the fire?"

She sat up slowly and grabbed her dressing gown from her bedside chair. She put it on over the black Chocobo pyjamas that Zell had bought her a few Christmases before.

Selphie walked across the room. The knocking got louder and came in measured thumps

"Hang on"

She opened the door suspiciously leaving the chain attached to the doorframe. A hand forced itself through the small gap and Selphie jumped back to avoid its grip.

"I just want to talk to you messenger girl"

"Seify, is that you?"

"Yes, Selphie" He sounded like he was making an effort to keep calm.

Once upon a time, she would have been ecstatic that he called her by her name, but the way he said it was sinister.

"You can tell me from there." Her voice wavering

"Open the fucking door."

"I don't think I will."

She pulled the door shut, slamming Seifer's hand in the door. She heard cursing, but turned and went back to bed.

The knocking continued, Selphie stared at the ceiling and wondered why no-one had called security. She put a pillow over her head and tried to ignore the continuous banging. After what felt like seconds, she gazed over at the hotel issue bedside clock. 4.15. The noise had stopped.

She got out of bed and gingerly padded across the room in bare feet and opened the door.

She spotted him sitting on the floor of the hallway, holding his injured hand.

"What do you want" He snapped

"Now you've had a chance to calm down, would you like a beer? I can take a look at your hand." She said the words in the best Quistis voice she could. He got up and sloped after her into the room and shut the door.

"You are either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid."

She shrugged and opened the minibar, removing two bottles of beer and pouring them into the hotel issue cups from the bathroom, not trusting the hopefully reformed homicidal maniac with a bottle and not wanting him to think think that she was suspicious of him. She rooted around in her ruck sack for the small first aid kit that had saved her more than once on her journey. He sat down on the chair by the small desk in the corner.

Pulling out a roll of bandages, knelt down in front of him, gently took his hand and squeezed his fingers. He grimaced and a sly smile graced her features.

"They're not broken"

He rolled his eyes, then flexed his fingers slowly.

"I know"

"Fine, I won't bother then" She put the bandages back in the box.

Selphie kicked him off the chair, watching him land on his injured fingers. Grabbing her beer she sank onto the bed, liquid sloshing around in the thin blue plastic.

"So, what do you want?"

He got up and loomed over her.

"I don't accept charity."

"What are you on about?"

"Hyperion." He snapped

"Think of it as a gift."

"I don't accept gifts either. I don't accept anything from anyone. Then I would owe something."

"You don't owe me anything."

Selphie sipped her beer and he sat next to her. The plastic tainting every mouthful. She'd forgotten how stubborn he was.

"I like to be on my own."

"Fine" She said running out of patience "Pawn the weapon that makes you who you are. It was how you were able to protect others in the beginning. It wasn't the Gunblade that killed those people, that was you."

She reached over and poked him in the chest with her finger. "And from what I've seen. You're not that person anymore"

"What if I use it and become that person again?"

The conversation was starting to sound like an alcoholics anonymous meeting.

"Just have some self control. You didn't hurt me, that's a start."

"Suppose so"

He waved his hand dismissively, downed his beer and got up.

"See you around messenger girl."

The door slammed, then he was gone.

Selphie revved the engine of the rental car. The sun wasn't even up and she was sat outside the 'Last Resort' in a red convertible, hoping that Seifer's work ethic had got him into work early.

She hadn't seen him since the night at the hotel, in fact it had been weeks. A very unfamiliar ache in her heart had taken over, an ache she hadn't felt for years. It felt quite odd.

She sounded the horn a few times. The bleary eyed blonde in his usual jeans and t-shirt virtually crawled up the steps and glared at the car. Only a faded yellow bruise on his cheekbone evidence of his second occupation.

"What do you want?"

"Get in" she shouted over the roar of the engine

He opened the passenger side door and got in, eyeing her suspiciously. She screeched off into the countryside.

"Where the hell did you learn to drive?"

She scowled at him and sped up, smashing through the shrubbery in her wake and kicking up dust on the country road.

The landscape started to look unfamiliar to him, the farther they traveled from the city.

There had been reasons why he hadn't left for years. It was all her fault. Ruining his plans.

Selphie parked the car on a grassy hill and got out.

"You coming or not?"

He followed her onto the sand and up another hill. She stopped at the top and smiled at him.

"Why did you bring me up here?"

"Galbadia is in the East, Winhill is in the South and Ethar is still across the ocean."

"What's your point?"

"What happened to you?. That fire you had has burnt out." She said, pointing at him accusingly. "I know you felt alone and afraid, but that's ok"

The scowl changed to a glare.

"Fine, you understand me. What next? Are you going to tell me my fortune? What makes you right?"

How dare she bring him out here.

"Personal experience" She said, turning back towards the car. She shut the door, started the car and left him alone on the sand.

"Goddamn cryptic." he shouted at the retreating car. Taking a cigarette out of the packet in his pocket, he lit it and started the long walk back to the city.

"Bitch" He said under his breath. He smiled to himself as he got to the outskirts. "At least she did it with style" he muttered.

He was really beginning to like her. No-one had cared this much for a long time