AS10
Another flawless meeting. Quistis put down her papers and yawned sleepily. She wasn't about to admit to anyone that last night she had been plagued by nightmares of getting caught and thrown into a capsule to be the next experiment on the list. Thank Hyne for Irvine, had he known how terrified she had been, surely he would have lost all his respect for her. Quistis Trepe scared? Never.
As they sauntered down the hall, surpassing shivers as they walked past the room with the hidden experiments, Quistis caught the frown on the cowboy's face and decided to ask him about it later. The man had surprising intuition and every now and then he'd mention something she had missed.
Michelle opted for a nap before they'd head for lunch, giving Quistis the opportunity she had wanted to knock on Irvine's door. He let her in wordlessly, used to such random visits.
"What's on your mind Kinneas?" Quistis asked, leaning up against the wall of his room,
"Worried about Selphie," He confessed, drawing raised eyebrows from her, "Oh I know, I'm an ass, but I still love her like a best friend,"
Quistis pursed her lips slightly and measured him. The pain was sincere, and she didn't really have to wonder if he meant it. Irvine cared quite vividly about people though he didn't always admit it.
"The mission she's on will take her thoughts off it," Quistis shrugged, "Selphie is a survivor, you know that. Nothing keeps her down for long."
Irvine sighed and flopped back on his bed, looking at the ceiling.
"I know, and I guess that worries me too. Selphie…you know, she doesn't really need anyone. You think Squall is cold and independent? Nah, not at all. Squall needs people, at least someone to affect him. Selphie? Hah. She generates her own happiness. She goes off in her own little world and only invites in people if she feels like it."
"So then she'll be fine, she's not going to cut you off, Irvine," Quistis sat down beside him and wrapped her arm around his waist, "She really loves you,"
"I hurt her so badly," He whispered, bangs hiding his eyes from her,
"You did. But Rinoa hurt Squall, and Squall's hurt me, and it happens, we get over it,"
"You over it?"
"Completely," and it wasn't a lie, Quistis felt nothing but a gentle affection for the commander now,
"You lookin' for someone new?" There, it was out.
Quistis looked at him from the corner of her eye and arched an eyebrow. He met that gaze, held it, but had to cave in after a few seconds of penetrating blue.
"Perhaps."
A slow smile curved across his lips and he was pleased to see it quirk up slightly on Quistis' generous mouth.
"We have a mission to do Kinneas. And we need to get our information fast." She stood up and exited like a cold winter breeze.
OoO
"It absorbs your energy and filters it into the air," Nida recited from his computer screen, "…I spoke to Kadowaki about the attack and she suggests that those entities might be eating the particles of energy, subatomic feeding, she said,"
"So that's why it came out the first time. When my ankle hurt I was expending more energy to keep myself up," Selphie shivered,
"Exactly, seems like it draws on pain, fury and ah, lust," Nida turned faintly pink,
"Lovely," Squall commented quietly.
Selphie sighed but forced a smile on to her face. They knew what they were up against now, at least.
"So! We've got our findings, can we go back to Balamb?"
"No," Nida echoed her sigh, "They want samples of the fruit, a chunk of the crystal, the leaves, everything they can get."
Squall looked miserable at the suggestion but Selphie was trying to work out a plan. There had been that one day when they had entered and nothing had been amiss. What had been different about that day? It was so hard to figure out since both times she had ended up being under the seduction of the nectar.
She brought up day-to-day reports of the area on her techtop and scanned them for any pattern. Temperatures had barely varied, no weird sightings, but then…suddenly the pattern was clear as day.
"Weather," She chirped happily, "The day we went in and nothing was wrong was the one sunny day we've had,"
"Think it makes a difference?" Nida asked sceptically,
"Yeah!" Squall looked enthused, "Remember, that cave is lit by phosphorescence, external light would just drown it out, but when it's raining and overcast, the cave is dark, the lights come on and reflect in the crystals and that's what triggers the plants and the perfume."
They all grinned in response and Selphie felt her heart lighten considerably.
"So we go in on a sunny day, bring some masks with us just in case, snip some plants, break some rocks and head on home! Whoo hoo!"
The grin Squall flashed her took her breath away and he even ruffled her hair affectionately, making her stick her tongue out at him and wink.
"So when is the next sunny day?" Nida asked,
"Um, let's see…ah… … in three days," Selphie winced.
The two men both smacked their foreheads in exasperation at the news. Nida sat back and sighed, his brown eyes looking dismal.
"What do we do for 3 days?" he asked,
"Let's hunt mushrooms," Squall shrugged, "Waste time in the forest. The BioMech lab chose this area for a reason, there's got to be something else here."
OoO
Squall found her the next day throwing rocks into a river. The rain was sheeting down outside but because of the trees they didn't feel the brunt of it. Sitting on a huge boulder with her back against another, the little brunette had built a collection of pebbles beside her and was flicking them out to watch them splash further and further away from her.
He found a smooth-backed rock and expertly sent it skipping, making her turn and look at him in mild surprise. Climbing up to her he sat down, not disrupting the pebbles that rested between them, and nodded at her gently, sending water drops from his bangs trickling down his face.
The pile of pebbles was slowly disappearing. Selphie wasn't conscious of it until her fingers groped for one and encountered nothing. She had lost track of time again, musing in her past and present. The forest was every shade of grey and green, nothing else, all of it muted and coated with the slick sheen of water. It was both serene and depressing, but then, she had always favoured a life with colour.
"Are you okay Selphie?" Squall asked quietly, not looking at her, his sharp features facing forward into nothing,
"Yeah," she shrugged, feeling like a little girl as she crossed that narrow gap between them and felt his wet jacket brush up against her bare skin, "I'm okay."
Silence descended. It wasn't comfortable, it was suffocating. Selphie felt the burning desire to speak, to say anything. Her lips parted but she didn't know any words to voice. Her and Squall had nothing in common.
"I don't miss her," Squall whispered, breaking the tension, "I thought I might, I guess I did for a day. But you can't really miss Rinoa, she's not really a person yet."
Selphie let the words sink in and nodded quietly. It was true, Rinoa tried to be like someone else, she was unsure of where she stood. Her best feature was her desire to live, her determination to do so, even though currently her life held no form. It was that redeeming quality that had lured Squall in the first time.
"She's an amoeba," Selphie decided.
She wasn't prepared to have Squall burst into laughter at her proclamation. Her eyes widened as she stared at him, head tilted back and a brazen laugh echoing out. It was contagious and she giggled.
"I mean it! Don't you think so? She could become anything but she can't decide so she stays a blob!" She said earnestly, coaxing more laughter from the stoic man.
He shot her a wicked grin and pulled her close to him, keeping his arm around her and chuckling softly.
"Only you would compare the princess to a shapeless entity of goo,"
Selphie giggled again and rested her head on his shoulder. They were both soaked, neither cared though. It was the first time in a long time that she felt relaxed, and when she really thought about it, she couldn't even remember how many days it had been since Irvine left. Squall was distracting her and she had a feeling she was doing the same for him.
"You know…these past days I've been feeling a lot better," She said warmly, "Well, the days that I can actually remember,"
"Yes," He mused quietly, "I'll still be glad to go back to Balamb again,"
"Oh for sure!" Selphie exclaimed, "I'm going to plan a little 'yay everyone's back!' get together,"
He laughed softly, "I figured,"
"It's going to be so much fun though! Zell can tell me all about Trabia and how it's going and we can make fun of Irvine because we all know he sucks at diplomacy! Quistis can get to brag about how awesome she was, 'cause she's always awesome like that and we'll get to tell them all about our mushroom hunting, even though, so far, there have been no mushrooms. Oh, and well, I guess we can't reeeeally tell them everything because that'd be kinda bad but we can tell them a little. Yeah."
Squall laughed and shook his head at her, "That's the most Selphie-like you've been in ages,"
"Well you haven't laughed in just about as long," She countered impishly,
"I haven't had a reason to," He retorted, then he softened and his eyes rested on her for a moment, "I've missed you."
Tears threatened to build up. Squall had missed her? All this time she had dismissed him, thinking he cared for no one. How wrong had she been, how irritated she had been when she had seen him moody and depressed, and then how she had understood that, and now, embracing it,
Leaning forward she pressed her lips delicately to Squall's and was rewarded by the arms wrapping around her.
OoO
Oookay. So, I don't usually update if reviews have been scant or nonexistant, I can't tell if it's lagging or just disinterest. I was going to do two updates before I went home but with the lack of attention I think I'll just do the one and see if anyone surfaces. Merry Christmas guys!