The Angelic Imp

Chapter 4

As ordered by Mr. Dollet, Seifer did return to the hotel though not necessarily to bid his dues, rather, to see her again. He entered the doorway and immediately saw what he came for. Quistis was looking to his direction when he got in, but it seemed as though she was seeing right through him, not making any recognizing gesture that might acknowledge his presence. He did not understand why she didn't see him. He had been in her dream too much that she didn't know, he wasn't a dream.

"Hey..." he held her wrist to tell her he was very real.

Her reverie broke, and she saw him looking at her with those beautiful wild eyes of his. This time she knew he was as real as he could get. "I'm sorry...I was just on my way to get some coffee. I'm presently half-awake, so I thought you were a dream."

"So you do fantasize about me." He kidded trailing her all the way to the café.

"You flatter yourself way too much. Now come on, Mr. Dollet is waiting in the coffee bar."

They entered the café and was immediately greeted by the old man he recognized as Quistis' boss. He could see serious looking documents tucked under the man's wrinkled hand. Although he didn't looked angry, he didn't look happy at all either. Seifer could only greet him in an unusually unflappable hushed, respectful tone—the very same low frequency voice he used when speaking to his matron. Quistis had to pinch herself from laughing at how gay it sounded.

"I'm sure you both know by now the dire offense you have brought upon me and my darling Gabrielle. Hyne bless her soul." Duke gruffly muttered to break the icy silence. He took a white kerchief and sneezed, as to stray the two when he realized he couldn't produce tears at the mention of his late wife's name.

"Bless you..." Quistis whispered in awkward fashion, while Seifer chose to look up the ceiling and swallow his giggle. Both knew the intention.

"Thank you," he said, taking in a breath of air. He cleared his throat and dived in to the subject of the matter at hand, "Truth be told, I couldn't sleep last night thinking about what had happened. And I'm not simply talking about the soul of my late wife haunting me, but also of the punishment that must strictly be enforced not simply by mere moral ethics, but also as protocol to the law that this institution lives by." The statement sounded overly implied, but they knew all too well that his words were no way less serious that how it sounded. "I did a little math last night, and as it turns out your debt will be paid in approximately 137 years, four months and three days."

Although it sounded more exact than an approximation, he had a quick seizure before reacting. "Are you fucking me? How the hell did that thing worth THAT much?" Seifer's composure turned to anger as financial issues never fails to tamper with his nerves. Quistis had to hold him down to avoid another possible mishap, breaking a man's neck worth billions in particular.

"Considering that I'm not charging you the emotional damages and mental stress you've given me, I think that's a fair price to pay." He stressed his compassion by showing them the summation of his equation written on his expensive leather notebook, and indeed at the bottom of the neatly stacked 8-digit numbers, just above the grandest total were the words: emotional stress and mental stress, crossed out.

"But there's just no way that damn urn could cost THIS much!" he quipped slamming his hand on the precious notebook. The word respect, quickly forgotten.

"Then allow me to educate you Mr. Almasy...that urn you broke is the one and only remaining burial jar preserved by the Centra civilization, passed down between kings for over twenty-two generations, right before they were wiped out in history over eighty years ago. It was a relic, specially moulded with the rarest of materials to hold the remains of their great emperor. It's over two-thousand years old, that was the only one of its kind...and now it's gone."

"Then it should've been encased in some museum and out of arms reach from ignorant citizens like me and Quis!" he barked, while she had to slap herself for that.

"Yes...but it was my choice to take it out of the Dollet's Ancient Arts Museum just so I can be with my wife even after she had passed away...I placed it in my office where no one is allowed but the people I permit to enter. Now, you Mr. Almasy should consider that no one has ever touched it for half a decade until you came into the picture."

"And you just didn't see me comin' now, did ya?"

That comment made Quistis gulp down a large breath of air, as it was no doubt embarrassing on her part—for her boss to know that she has a friend such as Seifer. She sulked in her seat and had to keep herself from committing murder that morning. With her clutching his wrist, engraving crescent marks with her nails, she asked Duke, "Then what is it that you are proposing us to do to amend for the trouble we've caused?"

He cleared his throat, placed his elbows on the table, rested his chin on his clasped hands, and mumbled through his moustache, "I took my time last night, thought about it, came up with this, and decided..." He took from his pocket a folded piece of paper, unfolded it, and handed it over to Quistis for he knew better that she knew better than the man who sat beside her.

Seifer raised an offensive brow at his gesture. Unable to take the blasphemy against his ego, he grabbed the piece of paper and slipped it off Quistis' hand. She could only manage to punch him on the shoulder with his incessant call for attention. She momentarily folded her arms to watch him read the paper, and after a brief self-controlled silence, she interrogated, "So, what is it?"

His pupils were dilated as he scanned the piece of paper for any relevant words, but then he briskly handed her the paper when he heard her ask. "Why don't you figure it out yourself!"

It only took her a second to figure things out, "You didn't understand a word you just read, did you?"

"It simply says we cough up the cash," he quickly blurted to cover-up his incompetence towards legal terms, but it was obvious, he had no idea.

She mockingly rolled her eyes at him before turning her attention to the piece of paper. Her facial expression turned from anxious, to terror, to surprise, and in the end she had a WTF look as her eyes reached the bottom of the paper. "I don't get it," she fretted gruffly turning to her boss.

"HA! It seems like I'm not the only one in this room who's incompetent to the matters of the law," Seifer immediately declared.

Quistis had to roll her eyes again, "Shut up Seifer! Of course I know what I just read...what I don't understand is why all the trouble?"

Duke laughed, "Because I'm getting older, and there's not much to do. I did my part in this lifetime to earn myself the right to mess with other people's lives."

It took her exactly five seconds, staring blankly in space before asking, "And IF it happens, does that mean the winner's debt will be lifted?"

"Of course, it's all written there."

"How long does this contract last?"

"I'll give you..." he paused, brushed his hand down his beard, looked at both parties and quickly figured, "exactly eighteen months starting today."

"That long?" she wondered aloud.

"Judging by the look of things, it won't be easy to nudge either one of you."

Her lip made the slightest beam because he was right, Seifer's tough...but she wasn't gonna give up a hundred-thirty-seven-plus-plus years and live to be the loser between Seifer and her. It's sacrilege! She looked to her left and saw him blanked out. Yep, she knew exactly what to do with him, sort of.

"Now, if you both do mind signing the contract as I have a business trip in Deling within two hours, and I best be on my way." Duke took the torn piece of paper where he wrote his terms, and on the bottom drew three horizontal lines, the last of which he signed his name on.

She took one last good look at the paper before scribbling her signature right above his.

Seifer simply looked pissed when she handed him the pen and the hand-written contract. "Do you seriously think I'm signing some shit agreement without an explanation whatsoever?"

"C'mon Seifer, you think I'd sign something that's going to jeopardize my own self?" Her tone seemed to mean as though she was labelling him as some sort of wuss.

She got him good, because he knew too well the circuits that ran through Quistis' mind, and he knew too well she was never that easy to figure out. Nonetheless, he wasn't a wuss, though not exactly the smartest one, that wasn't the point. He grabbed the pen and briskly scrawled his signature on.

"Good!" Duke jerked himself off his seat by clinging onto his cane and forcing his knees to straighten up. "I'll leave you two as I suppose you have much to discuss." He began to stride out the room by making his best possible effort to accomplish steps longer than a potato wedge. It was simply one foot after the other, lifting off the ground at the height of two inches.

"Wait," Seifer also stood up which only took a quarter of the time he spent to hurl his butt up, "You can't just walk out and not tell us what the fuck is really going on."

His only answer was a smirk. He had managed to go the distance of three meters, and he refused to make the journey back or even speak for that matter. All they could do was stare at him, the whole three-minute journey to the door. When the door made that clicky sound of being shut close, they snapped back from the sight of tumbleweeds rolling along with Mr. Dollet as he walked.

o O o

Immediately Seifer took a sip at his coffee and began a conversation to make up for the lost time they spent staring at a skinny old man walking across a room. "So, now that we have the table to ourselves, why don't ya tell me about what we just signed ourselves for?"

She leaned back on her seat and folded her arms, "Apparently got ourselves into a bit of an interesting situation."

He raised a brow, "how?"

"It's simple really...we just have to trick each other into falling in love...and the first person to confess his love pays for the urn." It's funny how outlandish words are when congregated to form a piece of contract in the purpose of intimidating the reader to signing his name on the blank space, but not her.

She thought he'd laugh at the situation they're in, but it made him restless instead, "We're under a contract of not falling in love with each other?"

"Not exactly...we just have to not say a particular statement composing of three words and eight letters as long as possible."

"And why the hell is that?"

"Because it means you're in love...and you're not supposed to."

"Are you fucking serious? Or are you just playin' with me?"

"Of course I am...read the contract if you don't believe me."

"Then why the damn did we sign ourselves up for this?"

"Because we have a debt that needs to be paid...and I don't see any problem with losing to you," she cockily said, "why, do you have a problem with the whole idea?"

He opened his mouth about to say something stupid, but he closed them again, opened them again and instead said, "Not when I'm..." He was going for the confession of saying he never got over her and that he was still a little bit in love thing, but he swallowed his words and said something more vague in a denial-sort-of-way, "We never got the chance to resolve things..."

"What things?"

"Ya know...c-closure." He choked on his own spit.

She stared at him for a long time, watching his every gesture and analyzing it like he was some criminal in an interrogation room, less the special light effect. His hands were still and not sweating a drop, his eyes weren't dilating—they were fixated at hers, his cheeks glowing—because he was fucking blushing! That realization took her aback. "What closure?" she quickly grumbled without her knowing that she had suddenly asked.

He also jerked back shocked when she asked. "Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you? Did you hit yourself or somethin'?"

The conversation was getting vaguer by the minute, so she composed herself and countered his question with a question of her own. "Can you quit it with the questions and just tell me what in the world is going on with you?"

He looked at her—really looked at her, and found something unfamiliar with her face...something strangely foreign. It was as if she was looking at him for the first time; like some stranger she just met. She looked as clueless as she was when they met for the first time in Balamb Garden, back when they were zit-generating teens. She seemed to know nothing of a common romantic past—and it wasn't brought about by ignorance either, it felt more like she was innocent of the whole situation. He decided to speak, about what was, and what it was she should've known when he asked her why—which was good, because if he really looked into her eyes, he'd see a girl who wanted nothing more than to reach forward, grab him by the hair, drag a dirty and not particularly a sharp butter knife across his throat before hurling a cup particularly full of hot caramel macchiato. If the fucking thing was as hot as it was when it burned her tongue, then he would have to drown himself in a bucket of ice. She had been on the edge ever since they broke the impossibly expensive urn, and she wasn't taking any more of his ridiculous self-serving words if he didn't explain himself right that instant.

He began his story with the exchange of I love yous on stage, followed by the kiss in front of the crowd, down to year-long relationship they had as lovers...and even his own opinion why things didn't turn out the way it did, when it should've been more...permanent.

When all was said and done, she felt like she was just dipped in the Trabian Sea...the thought of her and Seifer being so in love sent chills down her spine and back up to her eye sockets. She bent down, momentarily covered her face with her palms, and took a moment to just sit still and think of nothing but the face of Seifer...he was sort of there, but then it occurred to her, "Why should I believe that what you're saying is true?"

"Because you know me, I'm not a liar."

"Funny how much I can't remember you when we were supposed to more than just friends."

"Then what can you remember?"

She thought hard, "Honestly?" she was a bit blundering at that point when she came up with an answer, "I guess it would be the night we were supposed to drink Aurora's potion."

"Well, that's pathetic!" he scoffed, "That makes you clueless about everything."

"No, you were always this vague figure in my memory. I never really imagined that would be you, and you know...us."

"And you never bothered to ask anyone about this handsome guy who wouldn't get out of your head?"

"No one really had an answer...no...everyone refused to answer, so I just kept quiet."

She was about to create a very unforgettable memory of Seifer with what transpired after she said those words. He grabbed both her hands wrapping it into his, and knocked his temple upon their balled hands. Lowering his head to gaze at the table, he couldn't stare her straight in the face as he uttered words with a cracking voice, "What happened to you?"

When he finally raised his head, she could clearly see tears forming on its sides. She couldn't immediately react, moreover, she didn't know what to say because she didn't know the answer, she could only watch as he wiped off the tear that was about to fall down his lower lids.

"I...I'm sorry...I don't know either." It was the first time she had seen him so hopeless, and it was something she felt responsible but helpless about. For so many years, she had found herself as perfectly normal, but what he said, and by how he said it, it made her doubt herself...maybe there was something she didn't know. She stroked his face and held his chin to raise his head to eyelevel. "Can you answer your question for me?" She too was as curious as he was, because like him, she didn't know what was going on.

"Because Seifer's a jerk, and you almost ruined your life when he left you heartbroken."

Both turned to see the owner of the familiar voice who so managed to catch their attention. It was Xu, giving Seifer a burning stare.

"You got some balls to say that to my face Xu," he spat to acknowledge her presence. Exasperation quickly overshadowed his sorrow.

"Yeah, my parents cut them off when decided to raise me as a girl."

"Bad choice, you look more like a man."

"Fuck you!"

"Now why the hell are you here?"

"Because I know you're here, and I'm Quistis' best friend. I'm always in tuned to that secret besties frequency and the news somehow reached me. Think of Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious, facilitated by technology."

"By technology, you mean that metal plate embedded into your skull?"

"Jess called," she barked, showing him a dirty little finger.

"And who the hell is Jess?"

"Her sister," Quistis answered for her. It was the only time she managed to get into the conversation.

"Ahhh...I suppose she is. I haven't seen her, but I hate her already."

"Shut up!" she barked, then grabbed Quistis by the shoulders. "You, listen to me. You cannot be friends with someone you used to be madly in love with. Even if you are no longer romantically inclined toward them. They have no right to get over you. They have no right to be happy. After you, their lives can only be howling wilderness of pain and misery. Right now he's miserable, so slap him!"

"Xu, I can't just slap him." She refused with a very reasonable excuse: she had no reason to the extent of her knowledge.

"Give her a break Xu, she's clueless."

"Fine, I'll give her a clue by your word!" She aggressively examined and cross-examined, shrieking in downright outrage, while right beside her was Quistis quietly listening a past untold for five long years. And after a long discussion, she concluded by admitting, "And the thing is, I came here to stop Seifer. Something happened between you years ago, and you repressed your memory just to ease the hurt. Nothing went right in your relationship the first time, and I'm not gonna let you prove me right the second time."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she said in inexpressive disbelief.

"I just told you."

o O o

That night, she stirred out of bed at the stroke of midnight...for the last two or so hours, all she could do was look at the moon through her skylight ceiling and make a hard contemplation on what had been revealed to her that morning. No matter how hard she tried to think of anything else but him, her thoughts kept falling back to everything that happened between Seifer and her...which was more than a lot now that she took the time to think about it—but nothing about romance struck her head.

Turning to the picture on her table, she made it her decision to do something about the situation. With her guts decided and her resolution firm, she stood up, took her purse and put on her coat before striding out her room.

In the vast emptiness of the streets at midnight, she clung to her coat as the chilling breeze slapped her from head to toe. Stepping into the cobbled street felt like stepping into liquid nitrogen. Even with her coat on, it was friggin cold. She had to semi-run to the fountain when she spotted the lady cloaked in black velvet.

"Excuse me," she said tapping the woman's shoulder from the back.

"WHOA!" she jumped in terrifying shock, scaring Quistis away. By the time she turned back, the poor blonde was holding onto her heart four meters away. "What in darn tarnation' are ye doin' all the way back there? If you wanna do business at least have some respect and do it right!" she scolded, flapping her hand, signalling her to get closer.

She took precaution as she took baby steps towards the old woman.

"C'mon, c'mon, I haven't got all night! My grandmother walks faster than you!" Of course she was being sarcastic, as she looked like a great grandmum.

"Lady Aurora, is it?" she tried to confirm, in case she was just speaking to some loony woman who made it her habit to hang out in the street after dark.

"Who else would I be?" she nattered.

Perhaps she wasn't mistaken about the loony part. "I need to buy a potion."

"You're gonna have'ta be more specific than that honey, there are dozen of them types and I'm not gonna play yer guessing game." Aurora was blabbering about nonsense as she took out bottles of potion and laid them in rows for Quistis to be amazed—but she amazed herself more than Quistis.

"I need a potion that will prevent me from falling in love with a particular man."

"What? Why? Who?"

Quistis raised a brow, "I really can't answer that."

"HA! You think it's none of my business to know, is it? Well whatever...it's not like I'm interested in knowing your life anyway!" she said in offense.

She closed her eyes and held down her temper, "Can I just please have the potion I need."

"Well..." she rummaged through her bottles, making a lot of fuss and not minding the noise she was creating at midnight. Finally she grabbed hold of a special-looking bottle. "Ahhhh...here we go, the Forget About Him Potion."

"How does it work?"

"Well DUH! It is a potion that will constrain all your memories of the man. Everything—from your past up to the future memories you will create with him. It's as if he never exists in your life."

"Everything?"

"As in super-everything!"

"All of it?"

"Girl, when did the word everything ever mean not-everything?"

She hesitated. Was she ready to lose Seifer, permanently? She now knew that something happened between them in the past, and that a potion had made her forget of their affair, but not the Seifer Almasy she had known since she was five, and the Seifer Almasy she will someday know when she turns fifty. Still, he had terribly hurt her once, and if fate was playing its little games again, then she wasn't playing it because she couldn't take any more pain, the possibilities simply frightened her. She was now a realist, and no longer the hopeless romantic that she once was, she thought.

"How much is it?"

"It's initially 1500 Gil, but I'll charge an extra 20 Gil for pulling my nerve, and another 50 Gil for not knowing the meaning of everything."

She frowned. "But can I at least get a discount for waiting up until midnight for you and having to do business the middle of the freezing street?"

"Alright wise dame, I'll give you a 70 Gil discount, so that's 1500 Gil."

She let out a sighing groan. She waited long enough, might as well cough out 1500 Gil and call it a night. Besides, getting a bargain seemed impossible. She handed the old goth her 1500 Gil.

Before Lady Aurora gave her the potion, she just wanted to know...in other terms, wanted to mind other people's business and asked, "What's the man's name?"

"Seifer...Seifer Almasy," she unconsciously blurted as his face flashed in her head again.

Quistis only managed to feel the bottle on her fingertips when the woman suddenly drew the potion back. "OH NO YOU DON'T!"

Her eyes widened with shock. "Hey, I paid for that!"

Suddenly, it all came reeling back. "You!" the old woman declared, pointing her sharp nails at the flabbergasted Quistis. "You were that woman at Balamb whom I read that her destiny is to be with a Seifer Almasy! You were the one who that bitch raven-haired Xu told me about who believed in fairytales!"

"Yes...that was me." She didn't know whether to be flattered or scared.

Dramatic pause...

"The love potion didn't work fer ya, eh babe?"

She looked at the ground. Er..."We never drank the potion."

"But you DID fall in love!"

"I suppose, fell...but it's over now."

"Is it?"

"Yes, and it's never gonna happen again," she said in a low-cracking voice.

"Tell me...why?"

Silence. She didn't answer.

The old woman held her hand and asked again, "Why?"

Quistis didn't answer still.

"TELL ME WHY YOU BITCH!"

Okay—she was telling—either that, or she dies. "Because it didn't work out okay!" she finally screamed, but had to pinch herself to lower her voice, "He left me...and never came back...at least I was told."

"Where is he?"

"In the hotel," she said, pointing at the not-so-distant building.

"Man, you're a pretty stupid blonde aren't ya? Not only do you NOT know the word everything, but the term 'come back' as well," she scolded. She was the first to call the Quistis Trepe 'stupid'. Perhaps there is a first to everything. Aurora wanted to smack her in the back, but not before a lecture.

SMACK

"Ow!"

Okay, she had to smack her first before the lecture. "You know, some people ignore the signs until they get smacked right at the back of the head." Aurora smiled. Quistis had no argument, rather, she chose not to argue in order to save herself from another smacking. "Ya know, I may not know the guy except that he's HOT, but I can tell he's a guy who know what he wants, and that's why he's here, because it took him all these years to figure out and get what he REALLY wants."

Quistis let out a loud sigh and gestured the fortuneteller to hand her the potion. Because although she made a point, she did not know the feeling of being crushed to a thousand pieces and be glued together only to be crushed again. "Then he'll have to do it the hard way."

The old woman 'tried' to un-purposely let the potion slip her grip. It fell. It smashed. And her regret wasn't as un-purpose.

"Oh dammit! And that was the LAST bottle!"

"I paid for that!" Quistis barked.

She laughed. "Oh don't worry, I have a synthetic spare for cases like these."

"I'm not drinking a synthetic potion!"

"Oh, what do you know about witch-sorcery-magic-potions-thingy? I just add water and tah-dah! A synthetic potion!"

She was talking to a crazed woman, but she had to play along because although it was hard to admit her potions do work, and she desperately needed one. "So does that mean forgetting him is only temporary?"

"Oh, who am I kidding! You just wasted your breath and the few brain cells you have left in figuring out something stupid."

Aurora was really getting on her nerves—ALL OF THEM.

She took out another bottle and showed it to her. "BUT! This is a special kind of potion—you know what it does!"

"Of course I don't!" she hissed.

Stupid blondie.

"What you're up to is not to eliminate him from your life, but not to fall in love with him, is it not?"

She nodded. Duh! Stupid old hag.

"Well missy, hear this out: this potion stops the term 'falling in love' from registering in the brain. Meaning, you can keep all your dirty memories of him naked in bed, and will continue to remember every new memory you will create with him. You can like him and curse him, but it prevents your emotions to go to the extremes—meaning, you can't hate him or love him—in other words, it will only be lust, so you can fantasize about him all you want, but not fall in love. Great potion, eh?"

That was quite a good potion she was talking about, but was it possible, and, "Are there any side-effects?"

"Just one...mental retardation."

"WHAT?"

"Okay, I may have overstated the word. I'll explain in a long sentence then: you will experience having some confused feelings with him. There will be times when you won't know where to place you feelings because it will always be neutral. So there will be times when you want to slap him or kiss him—every emotion you will have for him will always be bounded, that is, until the spell is broken."

"How do you break it?"

"I dunno!"

"WHAT?"

"HEY! I only make em, not try them out myself." She grumbled, and before Quistis could say anything more, Aurora threw at her the potion and scuttled away in frolic motion like some lunatic in the peak of getting high from a weed overdose.

Left on her own and without choice, she opened the vial and gulped down the whole thing. Eeek...it tasted like baby shampoo.

o 0 o

Sneak Preview:

Randomness and Serendipity

Chapter 5

"Seifer—what did you do!" Instead of telling him that she was wishing him good luck, she told him not to cry.

"That bad huh?"

At least she didn't scream…she simply laughed…boisterously, and at his face…which was worse.

"Give me that." She ordered the scissors to be placed on her hand. He didn't refuse. It couldn't possibly get any worse. She dragged him out of the bathroom and had him seated on the only stool in his living space. "Do you want to make this any shorter, or do I just level it to where you trimmed?"

That sounded like she knew what she was doing…that felt almost reassuring.

"As long as it looks good," he said, sounding rather relieved that she was there to save the day.

"Okay…I'll try."

Try!

At her word, she started working on his hair, snipping a bit here, and a bit there, trying to shape some order from the chaos he hacked out.

Snip, snip, snip…

Snip, snip, snip…

Snip, snip…

Snip

"How does it look?" He finally asked, after what seemed like ten minutes.

A/N: Okay, here's a question: do I owe you guys, who waited forever for this chapter and perhaps at one point thought that I was never gonna do an update, an apology? The answer is...I'm sorry! Many things happened and I just lost touch of the Seiftis fever for a moment there...but I got it back a few weeks ago, and it took me a few weeks to write this down because work can be a viscous thing on one's schedule. Anyway...I browsed what's up for my next chapter, and it seems more funny than story related. Hehe...don't lose hope! I'm gonna be finishing this fic! For now, please leave a review for me to know you're still there. :)