"It's your turn." Seifer looked across the table, waiting for Quistis to play her hand. She was acting different tonight. Distracted.

"Hey. Your turn."

"Is it? Oh."

"Fuck, if you're gonna start this shit again, I'm going home."

"……….."

"Hey, Instructor. Hey!"

"Hmm?" Quistis stood from the table, sipping her whiskey as she swayed to the window. She couldn't play cards tonight, not when the city was so beautiful. The filthy concrete face of Dollet was hiding behind her midwinter mask of ice; occasionally winking when passing flurries obscured Quistis' view. Icicles and frozen water captured the warm lights from the encased buildings and trapped them, reflecting only warped golden ghosts of manmade radiance. And whiskey induced double vision made the illuminated urban landscape even more spectacular.

She hated herself.

"What the fuck is so fascinating?"

"Do you think the power will go out? The storm is getting worse." She hoped so. At that moment, Quistis wanted nothing more than to see Dollet in darkness and ice.

"Hell if I know." Seifer gave up, angrily tossing his cards on the table. There was no point in trying to get her to rejoin the game, not when the entire world was one big ice cube. He finished his bourbon, grimacing when he swallowed the fiery amber liquid too fast. "I'm getting out of here. We've still got a lot of work to do for the last of the carwash shops before we get paid for the job. And if the pipes have frozen, then we'll be out there all fucking day tomorrow." Seifer hated it when she ignored him. He shoved his arms into his worn coat and flipped up the collar. It was going to be a long, chilly walk back to his apartment. "Have fun staring at the fucking sidewalk all night."

"Seifer?"

"What the fuck do you want, Instructor?" He stood next to her, inhaling lavender and bourbon, glancing out the window at the thickening layer of ice and sleet. Yep. It was going to be a long, cold, treacherous, slippery walk home. "Looks slick as a motherfucker, doesn't it?"

"Yes. Very slick." Surprising him, she reached for his hand, squeezing tightly when he stepped away from the window. With any other woman, he would have expected the contact, but Quistis was not the clingy sort. And she very rarely ever got this drunk. Something was sinking, bringing her voice with it. "You're not leaving tonight. I'll make sure you get to work on time tomorrow, Seifer. Please."

"What the hell is the matter with you?"

"Nothing. Everything. Just don't go. Not tonight." She pulled him back to the window, pointing to the glassy reflections below. Her voice lost some of it's gravity when she gestured at the ice. "It's so pretty. Do you see how pretty it is, Seifer?"

"Yeah, real pretty." He would have rolled his eyes, he always felt like it when she did this shit, but the green orbs were frozen on her profile. She seemed younger and far sadder than he had ever seen her. "But it's gonna be hell to get around town in weather like this."

z-z-zip-silence

"Fuck. There went the power. Shiva must be pissed about something to make it storm like this. Got a flashlight?"

"No. But I want the lights off anyway. I've not seen real darkness since I moved here. When I was still at Garden, I used to sneak out and hide in the woods, just so I could see how much darkness I could stand before I would get frightened." Quistis set her glass on the table and slowly moved to her couch, careful to not bang her knees on the table or chairs. Sitting down, she looked back to the kitchen, barely able to make out Seifer's outline in the dark room. She grinned in the darkness, feeling rather impish. "I bet you didn't know that. What did the Disciplinary Committee do to those caught out after curfew, Seifer? I'm dying to know, since you were never good enough to catch me." She listened to the fabric rustle when he removed his coat and followed her into the living area. Unable to see in the darkness, she felt his weight on the couch when he sat next to her. Leaning closer, she smelled whiskey on his breath and knew that he could probably smell it on her as well. She truly hated herself sometimes.

He couldn't see her face, but he could hear the slight lift in her voice. She was full of herself tonight. "Mostly, we skinned 'em and tacked their hides onto the wall. Once I made a belt and a jacket from one of the repeat offenders."

She laughed. "I'm glad you never caught me then. I'm afraid I would have made a very poor belt." Quistis liked having him over when he was in these good moods. For the past two months, their card games alternated between his apartment and hers, ending in fewer and fewer arguments. The really good games ended with both of them panting on the floor or bed of one apartment or another. Wherever it happened, it happened. Seifer could be entertaining company when he wasn't acting like a dickhead. "Cid must have loved that." Quistis burrowed under Seifer's arm, laying her head on the muscles of his chest. He was warm and real and comforting and Quistis needed all three of these elements to keep her bearings in her frozen wonderland.

The power had only been out for a few minutes, but the shoddy insulation in the old building couldn't contain heat for very long at all. The temperature in the room was rapidly cooling, but it wasn't yet cold enough to do the old 'huddle together for warmth' trick. Seifer figured that Quistis must be completely wasted to willingly move so close. The Ice Queen was never this affectionate when she was sober. "He was always very fond of you, Seifer."

Both were silent for a few minutes.

"Seifer? Did you love them?"

"Who?"

"Cid and Edea. Did you love them?"

"What the fuck kind of question is that?"

"I just wondered." She moved closer, wrapping her arms around his chest. It was getting very cold in her living room. "It's strange. For years, I respected them, loved them, honored them…but…"

"Don't do that shit. I can't fucking stand it when people drop off in the middle of a sentence."

"Fine. I wish I could say that I still love them, but I don't. I hate them, Seifer. I love them, I hate them, I miss them, I never want to see them again…They've destroyed us both. Can you even remember just being a kid? Just, I don't know, climbing trees or swimming. Anything like that once you made it to Garden?"

"Well, I can, but I can see where you can't. You always acted like you were thirty-five going on sixty, even when we were growing up. You were a bitchy little kid." Seifer grinned, green cat eyes twinkling in the dark.

"No, Seifer. I mean, can you remember a time when we weren't being taught to kill? Sure, they took us in…fed us, clothed us, read to us. Zell and I were adopted, and at least his adoption worked out. But, then we were all shipped to Garden. Why were we not sent to a different place? A different kind of school? What is wrong with them? Why the fuck did they send a bunch of kids to a school to learn how to be killers? Why the hell was Garden even established? Cid swore it was to destroy the Sorceress, but why couldn't he have gone to the military to find troops for something like that? Why children? Why us?"

He shrugged his shoulders. Questions like these were part of the reason that he needed Quistis near him just to sleep, or failing that, very heavy sedatives on the nightstand. Questions like these were a part of what made it so easy for Ultimecia to seduce him, whispering her promises of glory and victory. "Fuck if I know, Instructor. Why are you so worried about them tonight? You sound like a child, you know. Why, why, why?"

Silence again for a few minutes.

"I just wondered what might have happened to us if they hadn't fucked up our worlds. Hell…if we hadn't fucked up our worlds. Always chasing our messed up dreams…God, I'm so unhappy, Seifer. I'm just so unhappy. They taught us to be the best. And we are the best, aren't we?"

She chuckled again, but her earlier mirth was gone. "You're the best at least. You were always better than the rest of us, you know. For God's sake, Almasy, you killed a fucking Guardian Force. A fuckin' demigod and you just…pow!" She laughed louder, giggling against Seifer's chest. Desperate and drunk laughter didn't suit her, especially when it seemed that she would burst into tears if he so much as breathed. No. That was wrong. She wouldn't burst into tears. She might cry and her heart might break, but she had far too much class to burst into tears. Quistis was the award-winning act to the rest of the world's tawdry soap opera tear-fest. "And let me tell you…that bugged the hell out of Squall. I think, Seifer, that you won that little competition between the two of you. And it drives him to distraction, knowing that he had to have a whole group of SeeDs to defeat you, when you never even graduated."

Seifer felt her head lift from his chest. With the sudden movement, her warmth was removed from his body, leaving him much colder than he realized. He wanted the lights to return, simply to see what made her lift her face away. The small part of him that still believed in fairy tales hoped that she was trying to see him through the thick darkness, but the larger resentful part knew that she was probably just tucking her hair behind her ear. Judging from her slight shifting motions and the scent of lavender, that must have been what she was doing. Her fingers moved to his leg, tracing aimless patterns on his knee, round and round, back and forth. Wondering if she was even aware that her hands were moving, he memorized the paths of her fingertips. Eyes open or closed, it didn't matter. The soft darkness stole his vision, leaving him blind, but able to feel every meandering caress. "Do you want to hear something funny? You were right about the power trips, you know, 'cause even when you were trying to kill me, I couldn't help but be proud of you. Hell, I was proud of myself, 'cause you were this beautiful shining force, and it seemed like nothing could stop you. You really did look like a knight from a fairy tale, so handsome and golden and so damned good. And I told myself, 'That is your student up there, Trepe. The one that isn't going to hesitate when the time comes for the killing blow…Yes. He's yours. But at least you'll know you died a death that will make the poets weep, cut down by the shimmering blade of a master. Good job, girl. You've taught him well.' You know, if I wasn't stuck so far up Squall's ass at the time and if I knew how Garden was going to fuck me over, I might have just hopped up there beside you. We might have ruled the world, Seifer. And now look at us. Drunk on my couch with no electricity! That, good sir, is the joke of the century. Funny as hell, isn't it?"

"Look, Trepe. You don't realize what the fuck you're saying. I'm almost as shit-faced as you and I can't deal with this right now." It was very true. Too much whiskey made shadows and night spin around his eyes, a dizzying combination of blindness and ocular fireworks.

"Now? Yes, now is the problem, isn't it? Not then, not when, not what might have been, but right now. But now…what are we supposed to do? I don't want to end up like Birdie, waiting tables just so I can afford my next pack of cigarettes and flirting with fat businessmen just to get better tips. But what else can I do? I can't exactly put 'Chain Whip and Blue Magic Specialist' on job applications, can I? And you. Someone with your skills and your abilities…working as a plumber? God, you're absolutely amazing, Seifer. You always have been, but you are wasted in a place like this. What are we to do now? What are we to…hmm. Now…"

Seifer didn't answer. He didn't know if he even had an answer for her. Thankfully, the whiskey proved to be too much for Quistis. She passed out, her head falling into his lap. He carefully pulled the clip from her hair, closing and opening it, using the tortoiseshell teeth to bite at the darkness, until the whiskey defeated him as well. He was wasted here, she was wasted here, and currently they were both too wasted to do anything about it. Meant for greater things…

Damn her for bringing this shit up again. Couldn't she let him rot in peace?

Now? Yes, now what? It was a good question. A very fucking good ques…

---------------------------------------------------

"Yes, honey. I'll be back in a couple more days. They did what? No, I'm sure they didn't mean to use super glue. And feathers? Where? Fuck me. No! But…You're right. Not appropriate at all. Okay. I'll handle it when I get back. Did you tell Xu? Uh huh. And what did she say? Four of them? Well, at least she's looking into it. No, I've not found her yet. Xu seemed really excited this time too. I know, honey. I'm ready to come home. Yeah, I love you too. Oh, and Rin? Make sure that you lock the door when you get home. If they did that to our car…you know what? Just stay with Selphie for a couple of nights. She's back now, right? Good. No, I'm not scared; I'd just feel better if you had someone there with you. And Rin? If anyone sends any more gifts to the door, make sure to call security. What? Tell her sorry for what? But you didn't do anything. Oh God…don't listen to Xu. She could make a chocobo feel guilty for breaking it's eggshell when it hatched. NO! Do not let her give you some guilt-trip! Are you crying? Is it something Xu said? No? Well, yes. I miss you too. I'll be back if this lead doesn't pan out. I just have to interview some waitress once I finally locate the right bar. Okay. Love you too. Bye."

Squall snapped his phone shut and collapsed on the bed. Fucking Trepies. Fucking Quistis needed her own damn school just to handle the goddamn Trepies. Why did she never have any problems with them? This was the third time in two months he had been to Dollet searching for Quistis and each time Rinoa called him with another horror story. This had to be it. For the sanity of everyone at Garden, she had to be here.

When Xu obtained the information from the old waitress, he felt sure that he would find her this time. The description recorded over the phone was too close; the feeling was just too right. Yeah, hon. I'm tellin' ya. I saw her on the news and just knew that my girl is the one ya'll been lookin' fer. Blonde hair, big blue eyes, and smart as a whip…that's our little Blondie. I always knew she was bigger'n and better'n this place. I can feel things like this, ya know. Her and that fella of hers. Neither one of 'em belongs here. His name? Seymour or Seigfreid, somethin' like that. Might have been Quincy or Morris. I can't remember exactly. What, him? Well, he sure has a purty little ass, I can tell ya that much. And eyes that make ya think things ya sure as hell wouldn't want yer mama to know that ya knew 'em. Yep, THAT kind of feller. Ya know the kind I mean, don't ya, Miss Zoo? Oh. I guess ya don't then, do ya? Oh well. Don't knock it til ya try it. That's my motto. Ya'll just send someone to fetch her before she drowns in this pit. A girl like that ain't meant to wait tables forever, ya know.

Something about that taped conversation bothered the young Commander. The brilliant Quistis Trepe, the Quistis Trepe whose beauty inspired a revolution, the Quistis Trepe that helped defeat the world's greatest menace…that Quistis Trepe, now just a waitress? It sure as hell hurt Xu. After the phone call, Xu sank into her chair and buried her face in her arms. Squall thought that news of Trepe's death would have disturbed her less than the news that Quistis was now simply mundane. For a brief moment, Squall felt sorry for Xu, until she tried to impale him with a commemorative fountain pen. Her narrowed eyes said it all. "You threw her out, now she's a fucking barmaid. Get her, get her now, or I'm going to prison for your murder. And I'll smile when they toss me in my cell. She's better than that, Leonhart. Don't you ever fucking forget it."

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Note: I've gone back and read through some of what I have here, and the whole 'get Q out of Garden just because Squall is dim and conceited' thing seems kind of silly to me. I'll finish what I have, but I want to go back through this and give the characters something more to actually DO. I'm making myself mad because this was meant to be a simple oneshot and I didn't really plan a story. So, I've a few more things I want Seifer and Quistis to say, a little more bitchin' for Xu (because Xu is fucking awesome), and then I'll go back and actually add a plot to this thing. I'm terrible about typing lines of dialogue with no plot. Please forgive me. I just don't like the silliness behind Squall's motives. Seems kind of daft. Next version should be an improvement.