Chapter Nine

The raven beauty stopped dead in her tracks, not entirely sure if what her ears had heard was what was really said. Selphie stood cringing before Rinoa, refusing to turn around and acknowledge what her big fat mouth had just shouted. Seifer is alive… what was I thinking… I'm so stupid.

She synched her eyes closed tightly, hoping and preying that maybe it was just another one of those frequent nightmares. Please, oh please, oh please let this be a bad dream!!!

She slowly relaxed one of her eyelids and opened that eye to the realization that she was still in the hallway with a very perplexed Rinoa standing behind her. DAMN!

Selphie still hadn't turned around to face Rinoa, she was halfway tempted to glance back and check to see if Rinoa was still standing there. Selphie took a small peek over her shoulder, there her sickly green eyes met with two arms folded and a grimace worn on the pale face of her best friend. Rinoa let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Look Selphie, if you don't want to tell me what's going on with you and Irvine that's fine, its probably none of my business anyway, but that's a real sick joke… to make up a lie about something that serious just to take the heat off yourself." Rinoa threw a harsh glare at Selphie and strode past her toward the dorms. She stopped to spit some more bitter words at Selphie when Rinoa noticed Selphie's demeanor.

She stood defeated, brows furrowed, arms limp at her sides, and a longing in those deep green eyes. Like a wave the realization hit Rinoa. Selphie wasn't lying. Rinoa clasped her hand at her mouth, wishing back the hostile word vomit, wishing away the sadness that had consumed her friend. Then Rinoa had a quick idea of how to help her friend, how to right the wrong. There was one thing in this world that could make Selphie feel better at that moment. Hell it would make any girl feel better.

"Selph, do you wanna go shopping?" A weak smile appeared on Selphie's face as she nodded.

"Thanks Rinoa."

"Hey no problem, I needed to get some new dress shoes for the ball tomorrow night." Then Selphie's half smile melted as her eyes grew large. Rinoa chuckled at her expression. "You forgot about the ball didn't you?" Selphie gave an embarrassed nod.

She had been so stressed lately with juggling her studies for her instructorship, as well as trying to update Garden's webpage, and to top it all off she was trying to find time to tutor some underclassmen knowing it would look good on her application to become an instructor. November came and went, and here she was smack dab in the middle of December, Christmas ball the following evening.

"Tell ya what," Rinoa glanced down at her watch, "its almost 11:00 so I should probably head back and get showered before my class at 1:00, I think Garden is supposed to touch down around 4:00, we could rent a car and head over to Deling to do our shopping, they have some real snazzy stores I'd like to check out. I'll call ya later." Rinoa smiled at Selphie and then waved as she sauntered off to the dorms.

Why didn't she ask? Selphie was pretty uncertain and couldn't understand why Rinoa didn't ask her about the confession. Seifer is alive.. To her it didn't make sense, had Rinoa revealed something that heavy to her she would've likely poked and prodded until she got an answer out. Selphie let out a deep sigh, she knew she'd have to explain things to Rinoa later, but she figured in the meantime she would get some work done on the Garden's webpage.

What had originally started as a hobby of hers, a simple website with some of the articles she had acquired by Laguna, had caught the attention of Commander Squall who asked Selphie to help out with the redesigning of Balamb Garden's webpage. He was concerned that it was a little outdated and not as efficient as it could be. To Selphie it sounded like fun, so she answered with a loud 'yes sir' and no thought at all to the task at hand, which she had soon come to regret.

Selphie had a natural knack for computers and all things internet, but as Squall had previously mentioned the program was pretty dated. Dated? The thing was Jurassic!

The whole website needed a complete overhaul but Selphie took the task head on. Then halfway through her task Squall came knocking again, only this time he had a much bigger favor to ask. He had had some meetings with some of the head haunchoes from the other gardens and it was agreed that one central website with links and features to the other gardens was a better idea. Selphie was more than tempted to say no, but of course didn't. She chuckled at the memory. Squall was the closest to begging she had ever seen (he said please twice), and after promising her a group to help her, there was no way Selphie could say no to that.

Selphie plopped down on her bed with her laptop and the machine hummed as she turned it on. She munched on a sandwich while she waited for the device to wake up. Once the screen lit up and she was at her page she let her fingers dance on the keyboard. She typed in codes, numbers, and data to be used. After a fast two hours she grew bored and decided to serf around the message boards a little to see what her fellow mercenaries were up to.

As she browsed the topics one particular topic caught her eye, the topic's name was harmless enough, "Mega Phoenix," but Selphie found it rather odd that there would be a lock only allowing certain members to enter. Selphie's curious nature prompted her to do a little investigating. She clicked on the topic and the password box popped up, she punched in a few codes and she was in. Selphie shrugged, she might not have known the actual password but she did know a code or two that would override it.

Her eyes scanned the screen as she read some of the messages that seemed to be between three people: Diablos24, Blackstaff, and TheRingMaster… she assumed this character was the 'ringleader', not only from his screen name but from the way it appeared as though the other two were reporting to him.

Another thing that struck Selphie as oddly suspicious was how normal the messages seemed. Why put a lock on a topic so you can just b.s. with your friends? Her eyes focused on every word, nothing added up and Selphie made a note to bring this up with Commander Squall and get his opinion on it.

Gurggle-gurggle

Selphie glanced down at her stomach. "Oh you shut up."

Gurggle-gurggle

"I fed you already!"

Gurggle-gurggle

Selphie sighed, if there was a battle in this world she knew she could never win it was the one against her hunger. Her room began to shake and rumble and Selphie recognized the motion, Garden had anchored and none too soon. Just as Selphie was picking up her phone to call Rinoa it began buzzing in her hands, she answered to hear Rinoa's cheery voice on the other end.

"Ready to go shopping?"

"Can we eat first? I'm STARVED!"

"Yeah yeah, we can eat first. Meet you at the garage in 10 minutes." Selphie threw on some dark jeans and a yellow sweater. She tucked her jeans into her boots, snagged a coat, and was out the door.

The car ride to Deling was a little too quiet for Selphie's liking. She knew Rinoa desperately wanted to ask about the whole Seifer thing. There was a pit in Selphie's stomach, she felt like she had betrayed Seifer. She knew he had never asked her not to tell anyone, but she knew better. Seifer wouldn't have asked me anyway. She sighed, aiming to get the whole thing over with.

"Rinoa?" Rinoa glanced over at Selphie from the passenger seat.

"Yeah?"

"He was in Dollet…" And so began her tale. She told of how she was out late one night and accosted by a bum when an unknown rescuer had saved her. She told of how her savior had been badly wounded in the battle and how she took him back to her room to care for him, only discovering his identity when he spoke. Selphie found that once she had started telling the story it became easier to tell with each and every word. Of course she left out their little poker game. Rinoa doesn't need to hear that detail.

The rest of the night Rinoa seemed in awe. Selphie couldn't blame her, even when she had Seifer standing right in front of her she couldn't believe it. Dinner didn't distract Rinoa's thoughts any and Selphie silently hoped that just maybe the shopping would. She heard a loud squeal as they passed a window.

"Ooo! Look at this shop! I have to try those on!" A small bell sounded as Rinoa dashed into the boutique. Selphie smiled inwardly. I knew shopping would wake her up.

Selphie felt so stupid for forgetting the ball, all Rinoa needed were some shoes, but Selphie needed a dress, shoes, and whatever accessories. The shop looked promising once Selphie passed through the doorway herself, small bell ringing once again. She hoped she could knock off all items on her list in one fowl swoop. Rinoa had scurried off somewhere in the back to the nearest sales clerk for help with the shoes in the window, while Selphie had spotted a nearby rack with formal dresses on it. She fanned through the gowns, not really sure what she was looking for when she thumbed a hot red number. Rinoa appeared modeling some fancy shoes.

"You like?"

"Oooo, I more than like! You had better get them, because if you don't I will!"

"Oh I'm getting them, I just wanted to make sure you approved."

"Well I approve," and Selphie gave a nod. As Rinoa turned to wave down the sales clerk Selphie stopped her. "Hey Rinoa, what color is your dress?"

"Its midnight blue, why?" Selphie beamed.

"Because I didn't want to get this red dress if you were going to wear red," she said as she held the gown up. Rinoa's chocolate brown eyes grew huge with delight.

"Selphie that's gorgeous! Try it on! Try it on!" Rinoa sang as she clapped her hands. Selphie gave it a quick thought and shook her head.

"Nah, its my size. I'll just get it. Let's go grab some shoes and ear rings and head back to Garden, I wanted to talk to the Commander about something I found earlier." Rinoa rolled her eyes, she wasn't a fan of people referring to honey bunny as 'the commander.' She always argued that it made him sound like some sort of celebrity or God.

When Squall was first given the position by Cid Selphie used to call him Commander just to tease him and push his buttons. Now it was more. She could see the sense of order he was bringing to Garden, how hard he worked, and how seriously he took his position. It was no longer a joke to regard him with a salute and a 'yes sir.' At his young age of 19 he had legions of people who respected and looked up to him, trusting him with their lives. To Selphie it just felt right, he was their leader, he was their Commander.

After finding some sparking ear rings and some fancy shoes that went with her dress, the two made their purchases and then merrily drove back to the stationed Balamb Garden. They hugged each other before heading to their dorm rooms. Selphie felt so relieved that she no longer had to worry about what to wear to the ball, she just wanted to drop her things off in her room before heading up to see if Commander Squall was in his office.

She slid her card through the lock and as the door to her room flashed open Selphie's muscles tightened, hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Something wasn't right. She cautiously eyed her room as she reluctantly flicked the light on. Nothing seemed out of place as she examined the small quarters, it all appeared as she had left it earlier. Just to air on the side of caution she decided to check her bathroom before zipping off to the Commander's office when she noticed something out of place, or rather something that didn't belong. There in the center of her pillow was something she hadn't remembered being there. She laid her things on a nearby chair and moved over to her bed and snatched up the object on her pillow. A small green rock in the form of a misshapen heart lay there in the palm of her hand as a gruff voice rumbled, "so we meet again Messenger girl…"

AN: I bet you guys were all just anxious to know when Seifer was coming back right? Anywho, I would like to leave special thanks here for one of my fans, Stephanie. I wrote this chapter and hated it and I knew I needed to rewrite it and come at it from another angle. I figured I would just wait around for something to hit me when I found I had a new review, from you (the second one you left for chapter 8)! It was so encouraging and made me feel so special, I had been reading a few other fictions and was beginning to doubt my own, your review was just what I needed to quit being a baby! I racked my brain for a way to approach this chapter and this is what came to me. I hope you enjoyed it since you more or less inspired me to write it.

Also I would like to send a shout out to a new fan MissNeC, a fellow Selpher fanfiction writer of 'A Sponsorship Deal' you guys should check it out if you haven't already.

Sorry this AN is so long, I usually try to keep them short and sweet, but I just want to thank all my fans, especially those that leave reviews. It means a lot and it really helps me keep going. Here's to hoping I can get another chapter going soon!