Emerald Storms

Silverium

Squaresoft not Silver

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"Mission! Mission! Mission!"

"We're aware," Zell growled,

"Mission! It's been so long since I went on a M-I-S-S-I-O-N!" Selphie sang at the top of her lungs.

Squall sighed and shook his head as he stared down at the ground. Irvine was leaning up against the wall and a sleepy Quistis was leaning against him, staring off into space. Selphie was dancing now, and handing out their mission papers which only she had seen. Squall took his and for a moment he felt the world collapse.

"A ball?"

"We have to DANCE?!" Zell groaned,

"And no break dancing Zell," Xu announced as she came forward, "This is a masquerade, you will receive dance training in two hours, I suggest you all eat breakfast and change into the outfits provided for you over there."

She pointed to a closet on the other side of the briefing room and waited patiently for them to edge warily over to it. When the closet was opened Zell mock-died in horror, Squall flushed crimson, Irvine hooted and began to laugh as Selphie and Quistis both squealed at the same time.

"Pretty dresses!"

Even Xu had to smile as they both took out large bejewelled dresses and spun around holding them against themselves. Little masks were held on to the hangers and were decorated with sequins and feathers. Slowly the men of the group took out their costumes, old-fashioned shirts with billowing sleeves, deep V-necks and everything in exotic colours.

"Please no tights…" Zell whimpered, searching the closet,

"These…they…they're puffy…" Irvine looked in dismay at his "pants".

"Stop snickering!" Zell shouted at the girls who were doubled over looking at their male counterpart's costume.

"Tee hee!" Selphie's giggle was gasped out from behind her hand,

Quistis lost her breath and ended up kneeling on the floor crying with Selphie collapsing at her side. Xu shook her head, smiling, it was a rare sight to see Quistis so happy, she was usually very composed.

"All right ladies, that's enough, you even have the cowboy blushing now," Xu politely reminded them of their place, "Pairings for the dance are Squall and Selphie, Irvine and Quistis, Zell, you're with Michelle, she will be late this morning but for now you can work on the steps by yourself. All right, everyone get changed."

Quistis and Selphie scampered off happily, eager to get into their dresses while the boys dragged their feet and gave Xu wounded looks that she dismissed immediately.

"Zell stop crying, Squall you're a Commander, Commander's don't pout, Irvine, you are NOT wearing your trench coat over the tunic,"

"Dictator."

"Zell!"

~*~

Quistis' blue eyes settled into Irvine's violet orbs as they slowly walked around each other palm to palm. Her dress was a deep violet-red with black embroidery on the cuffs and swooping neckline that had tiny gold beads strung along like dew drops on a spider's web. The dress brushed the floor around her and made a quiet whisking sound at every movement that had Irvine's heart in a knot. He doubted he could have looked away if he tried.

He had liked Trepe for a while, but pursuing her was not as easy as it was for any other girl. Trepe could turn a man's hot blood into ice with one of her disarming gazes, and you couldn't just ask her on a date, Irvine had seen that scenario before. The poor SeeD had been victim to a blank stare and then Quistis simply turning away. Irvine was a cowboy, he was used to women, and he prided himself in thinking that his intuition was usually right, which it was. It had told him that over their relationship, him and Selphie were becoming more like siblings, and she had agreed. Intuition had told him the girl with pigtails in the library liked Zell back, and that had been right. Every girlfriend had been planned for Irvine, and he only had to look at a woman before he could sense little details about them.

And Quistis was broken.

This was a woman who didn't believe in love. It was impractical, it was foolhardy, and it took up unnecessary time. But she still wanted it. Irvine believed truly that Quistis just didn't know how to reach for it.

"Irvine?" Quistis asked suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts,

"Er…what?"

Quistis raised her eyebrows, "Xu said we could stop,"

"Oh…OH!" Irvine jerked to a standstill and stared wide-eyed at Quistis who only appraised him calmly.

Beyond Quistis, Squall and Selphie were staring at Irvine, both looking mildly confused. Squall's arms had slipped loosely around Selphie's waist and he didn't seem to notice. The little brunette was decked out in pale green dress with darker green trim and topaz stones for accents. Her emerald eyes were slightly glazed over, her cheeks stained a faint pink, but there was some clarity in those eyes of hers, and it told Irvine that she was well aware of what was up.

"Right, sorry," Irvine took a deep breath and quickly composed himself.

Xu, appearing not to notice, made them practice three other dances. Through these Irvine's fast foot work and Quistis' natural grace made them float over the floor and even receive applause from Xu and Nida who had come down to watch. When they slowed to a stop and Selphie and Squall gently parted Xu was beaming.

"Wonderful, you four will be perfect out there. Zell, Michelle's here, so you two can practice together now. Quistis, Squall, you're in charge of the reports. Selphie, Irvine, please go stock up the Ragnarok." Xu instructed.

They split up breathlessly and as soon as Selphie and Irvine turned the corner she jabbed him playfully. Irvine rolled his eyes but smiled and ruffled her hair.

"You look so sexy," Selphie remarked, teasingly,

"Please. Men do not belong in tights and puffy pants," Irvine groaned,

"Don't worry, you get a mask at the real thing," Selphie said brightly, "I'm excited. It's going to be fun,"

"Yep." Irvine agreed, his eyes gazing down the hallway as they walked.

"I don't usually like diplomatic meetings but this one will be a BLAST cause we get to dance and stuff. We're rightin' WRONGS be-tween FIGHT-ING NAAATIONS!" Selphie screeched, beginning to belt out a song as she twirled down the hallway.

Irvine cringed and quickly covered her tiny mouth with his larger hand and picked the brunette up. She hung in his arms like a puppet, legs swaying side to side as her eyes stared at him.

"Remember that talk we had about quiet time?"

She nodded.

"This is the time."

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Review Please.

Author's Corner:

^-^

Emrelle Elendal: I want this to be as realistic as possible relationship-wise. So taking it slow is a necessary

Sabacat: Lots of weird cloaky men. All the more fun ^-^

Melancholy Dreamer: I honestly don't think Rinoa would be intelligent enough to pull that sort of thing off. Don't worry about missing reviews, everyone is busy nowadays.

Selphie108: So many questions *^^* And yes, Balamb does have chemical researchers working on the poison.

Aramaring: Lass is such a quaint word. I use it a lot ^^;;

PackLeaderT: I like making Selphie a tech wiz, and I think Seifer wouldn't be so arrogant after his mishap with the sorceresses, and that Squall and Quistis would have a good relationship. Maybe I'm twisting the characters but I like it *^^*

Nikki: Dominatrix Quisty to go with the Dominatrix Selphie of the last fic!

Elvi-Rose: I hope this is a long fic, I enjoy writing them. Quistis definitely Seifer's gal, forever and always 3 and I love long reviews!

Well that's it for now! Thanks for reviewing!

~Silverium.