"Lemme guess. She hung up." Selphie said dryly from her side of the room. She hadn't been too happy with him since he had fired Rinoa. ...Which was a good week ago, and she was still as angry as she had been when she had first heard the news.
Squall gave her a flat look before hanging up the phone. Forty three messages and later and she still wasn't picking up. "No, really?" He asked, sarcastically.
"Yeah really!" Someone in the other room yelled, giddily.
"No way!"
Squall groaned. He was surrounded by morons. That internet lingo should have died years ago.
"When are you going to ask for help, mister?" Selphie asked eyeing him, hands on her hips.
He stopped himself from saying when Cupid flies by with a legion of flying pigs declaring that hell has frozen over. "When you get out of my room." He said, massaging his eyes. The girl stuck her tongue out at him and made a noise before leaving and slamming the door shut.
He sighed, falling back onto the bed. This wasn't getting anywhere. Two weeks later and he didn't even know where the hell she was. Xu wasn't picking up the phone and neither was her school. She could have been on remote island closest to Hell for all he knew.
Suddenly, he blinked. And if the sudden oncoming of ideas were to hurt, he would have been dead to the world.
Her parents.
Brilliant, moron. His mind chided, take two weeks to come up with something a kindergarten student could have come up with in five minutes.
He sat up quickly. Bloody brilliant. He was brilliant. Grabbing the set of car keys from his desk he opened the door, and started for the parking lot.
Only to literally run head first into Rinoa.
Dammit, women were like magnets to him now days.
She blinked at him, and opened her mouth to say something but then thought better of it and shut it before starting again. "I just came up to pick up Angelo's bowl." She admitted quietly. "I'll go once I get it."
He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Where are you staying?" Nice, you cold hearted moron. Wait a whole week to ask her where's she been staying. Niiice.
She looked up quickly. "What?"
"Where. Are. You. Staying?"
The girl flushed slightly. "With Seifer. He's letting me stay. They're really nice over there! Even Fuujin's pretty nice when you get to know her."
He allowed himself a sigh of relief, thoughts of her living on the street slipping from his mind. Not that he cared, but you know. He sighed again, for a different reason this time. "Look, Rinoa..." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."
His brain and his mouth stopped in dead halt. Whoa. Hadn't seen that coming.
"If you still want your job.. you're still welcome here."
Rinoa smiled slowly, shaking her head. "No thanks." She looked down, still with the small smile. "You've been so nice to me... all these years. You're taken care of me, more than even my own father has, but... I think maybe it's time I moved on." A blush spread across her face. "I really love Seifer. He.. um, asked me to marry him. ..I said yes. The whole think about Angelo's bowl-" She stammered slightly. "I just wanted to tell Selphie-"
"Congratulations." He said quietly.
"Really?!" He nodded. "Thank you." She whispered. "…For everything." She took something out of her pocket and placed it in his hands, with a smile.
Squall nodded in silent understanding. "Selphie's upstairs."
The raven haired girl grinned. "Affirmative!" She laughed, reaching up and hugging him before dashing up the stairs, pausing at the top. "You know," She yelled down at him. "a little birdie told me a certain Ms. Trepe is still single! And that she might still be in love with some guy called Squall Leonhart!"
The man smiled slowly, walking to his car.
[ o [ o [ o
"I'm thinking of disconnecting my phone, what do you think?" Quistis asked lazily, flipping through essays.
"What if you get an important call?" Xu asked, from beside her.
"You mean like the one two weeks ago?" The blonde asked dryly.
Xu's head snapped up so quickly, just looking at her doing it made the other woman's neck hurt.
"What? I didn't know it was him, and I don't think you should." She lied quickly.
"Mhmm." The blonde said knowingly, after a moment she sighed. "What if I told you I was considering about going on a date with a guy who asked me out in Balamb?"
Xu made a choking sound for a moment, before bolting up. "What?!" She screeched. She calmed herself down for a moment. "Are you really ready to move on so fast?
The other woman gave her an odd look, and the brunette sighed. "Look, are you really going to just fall into the next guy that comes along arms? Just to forget him? Besides, that guy could be an idiot."
There was a moment of silence.
All men could be idiots, they both thought simultaneously.
"Look, what I really mean to say is... are you really sure you're over him? You were married to him." The brunette sighed. "Are you sure you're ready?"
No. "Xu, this whole thing has made me realize I want to have a real relationship with someone." She was lying, and they both knew it.
Xu sighed, shaking her head. She didn't want to get married to that guy. She just wanted to get over him. "How do you know he's the one?"
"How do you know he isn't?"
Xu sighed, getting up and taking her paperwork with her. It was almost ten and she wanted some sleep and to avoid a nasty argument. She paused a moment at the door way. "How do you know Squall isn't?"
The blonde sighed, hearing the door shut behind the other woman.
"...I don't." She whispered quietly.
[ o [ o [ o
He shifted nervously as the sounds of shuffling came from behind the door. He was getting a sinking feeling this wasn't going to go well. At all. Whatsoever.
Finally (just as he made the resolution to bolt to back to his car), her mother opened the door.
And for a moment, it looked like dumb meets dumber. They stared at each other a moment, both on the edge of gaping. "Squall." Her mother said coldly.
This wasn't going to go well.
"Mrs. Trepe."
Cue the tumble weed to magically roll by.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
He swallowed, hard. "I came to speak to you."
Her mother cleared her throat, eyeing him wearily. "Are the things my daughter told me about you true?"
He sighed slowly. "Yes."
"Then would you care you to give me a reason why I should open my door for you?"
Touché. Squall slowly glanced up to meet her gaze. "I'm in love with her."
Her mother laughed, evidently amused. "Mr. Leonheart, I've heard that line since the first day of her classes in grade school. You're not the first man, and you won't be the last. I've had hundreds of love letters sent to her, thousands of phone calls and plenty of love confessions. So many men have tried to win her heart, and she's turned them all down."
The woman calmly met his gaze. "All except for you. I'm an old woman, Mr. Leonheart. I've seen plenty of heart breaks and plenty of people in love. Nothing I've seen can compare to what you have given her. I don't doubt that you love her. I don't doubt that all the men at my door step loved her. But I also don't doubt you broke her heart."
"They say that love makes you do some stupid things, Mr. Leonheart. I believe this is one of them."
He inwardly winced. "What makes you think you can prove to me how much you love when I've seen all she's had to suffer? What can you possibly say? I trusted you with my daughter. I believed you when you told me you loved her, when you told me you would protect her. I see now I was wrong. What I see now is a man who thinks of my daughter as another notch on his bed, as a trophy." She sighed, taking a stern look at him. "Are you willing to prove me wrong?"
"Yes."
The woman smiled. "Then go ahead, Mr. Leonheart. I'm asking you to prove me wrong. ...I hope you do."
"I made a mistake." He said quietly. "When we first were married I thought I could use for her publicity and... I did. I tried to make her fall in love with me so she would stay married to me because if we stayed married it would have brought my ratings up..." He trailed off. "I used her."
"At first I was so focused on making her fall in love with me for the ratings... but I forgot about them. I fell in love with her, not for the ratings, not for the money. I forgot about the all the publicity when I was with her, my ratings fell. I didn't spend nearly as much time at the press conferences and galas as I had before. But I was happier than I had ever been before."
"She made me happy." He met her gaze once again. "I wanted to ask her to marry me for real. I wanted to her to know I wanted her to be wife for real, I wanted her to remember the wedding this time. I want to be with her. I'd give up everything I have just to be with her."
Her mother looked up at him sharply. "How do I know you're not lying about all this?" She eyed him wearily.
"How do you know I am?"
The woman allowed herself a small smile. "I'm assuming you're going to ask me what you really came here for?"
"If she accepts me... may I have your daughter's hand in marriage?"
[ o [ o [ o
She wasn't having a good day. And a headache wasn't making it any better, or was Xu popping in and out of the room at un-Godly hours. All the news about a certain Leonheart not attending meetings and not showing up for conferences seems to always be ready to jump into her face and smack her in spite, wasn't making things the situation any painless.
She sighed into the pillow. She should have listened, she really should have. The date hadn't gone well to say the least. She really should have known it was too good to be true. Nice tall blonde, broad shouldered guys, loves kids, has a dog, the manifestation of the prefect man.
Too bad she was the other woman.
She groaned. Maybe this whole idealistic love thing just wasn't for her. Maybe she'd just be the odd one out and grow old with thirty some cats, and be one of the old ladies everyone pities but strives to avoid.
Things would have been a going a lot smoother if her mind didn't constantly insist going back to the subject of her ex-husband.
Oh. It gave her a sudden surprise. Ex-husband. She had never referred to him as the before. She had almost forgotten they were divorced. She sighed again, moving her hands to the pillow. Lighter, she noted. Her hand felt lighter. And when she went to look it was then she remembered the wedding band was gone again.
So much for happily ever after.
[ o [ o [ o
"If this plans takes a dive off the nearest cliff and commits suicide, I'm not taking responsibility for it." Xu said, tapping her fingers along the desk.
"I know. I'm not asking you to convince her to love me again, just get her to the place."
"Easy for you to say. Sounds like I have the hard job here. Do have any idea how much she panics when you put her in a car without telling her where you're going?"
"A lot."
Xu winced. Riiight. They had been married. Nice going.
"Alright, but I'm not making any guarantees." The woman sighed. "So what was the answer?"
"…Yes." "It's not going to be easy."
He sighed on the other line. "Life never is."Xu smiled.
"You better
keep your word, Leonhart."
"I'm not going to lose
her again, Xu."The woman smiled. That was exactly what
she wanted to hear.
[ o [ o [ o
It had taken her exactly three months, fours days, sixteen minutes and three seconds to come to a certain conclusion:
Life sucked.
Her day hadn't started out well. A headache in the morning, a petition paper from her students in the afternoon demanding that there wasn't a test; and now being dragged out for a 'supposed' good night on the town for her birthday.
Hah. As if she hadn't pulled enough pull nighters the last couple of weeks already. Her early birthday bash being one of the more notable ones. Who knew stuffy old teachers could get smashed so easily? She sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. She was just glad she had gone to her parent's that night before things had gotten too out of hand. Last she had heard about that was that a few teachers now had a track record of indecent exposure.
She shuddered at the thought.
"Ready?" Xu called from the doorway, tapping her foot impatiently.
No, actually, she thought deadpanned. If I'm going to get smashed for my birthday, which I don't want to do, but if I do, I'd rather do it in my own room, thank you. Technically, she should have quit drinking cold turkey after what had happened - She allowed the thought to die a horrible death before getting anywhere the mention of certain storms. It was in the past. It didn't matter anymore. She wasn't married anymore, she was single. She could go date, get engaged and married to someone she actually remembered meeting and falling in love with that wouldn't use her for money.
The fact still stung after such amount of time.
Screw it, her mind snapped. Go out there and find yourself a real man. Or get smashed. Whatever.
She wisely decided to ignore the outgoing part of her brain, and set a few guidelines for herself before going. 1 - No drinking 2 - No getting smashed (see number one) 3 - No getting smashed and sleeping and getting married to strangers (see one and two) 4 - Be gay. Save yourself a lot of trouble. She shook her head for a moment before scratching off number four. Bad idea.
Just get over him. He's not worth it. That's what she told herself at least. She sighed before checking her watch and adjusting the strap, as if it would solve all of her problems.
"Yeah. Let's go."
She had a bad feeling about it.
[ o [ o [ o
This wasn't good. One wasn't supposed to plan out how to win his ex-wife back and then GET STUCK IN TRAFFIC. He laid his hand on the horn, before looking out the window. Pouring rain. And traffic lined up to the Ice Pole. The brunette sighed before taking out his cell phone and hitting speed dial. "Xu?"
"Yeah?!" He made a face. The music in the background was booming, it was practically impossible to hear a sound unless he was the next superman in the forty millionth sequel.
He shook his head. "I can't hear you. The music's too loud."
"YEAH?!"
He sighed. "What's going on over there?"
"WHAT?!"
"WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE?" The people in the car next to him looked at him disgust.
"Teenagers these days." The man said, shaking his head.
Squall's jaw dropped. TEENAGER?!
"SHE HASN'T FIGURED OUT PLAN FOXHOLE 245 B."
"FOX HOLE WHAT?" He yelled into the phone.
"PLAN FOX HOLE 245-"
He gave an exasperated sigh as the phone became static and the signal died. There was no way in hell was going to get through this crowd in one piece. Until he saw it. His saving Grace.
He undid his seat belt and quickly got out of the car before running over to a man with a motorcycle. "Trade you for the car."
The man gave a him a weird look, and he sighed. "If you give me the bike I'll give you the car."
The man grinned.
[ o [ o [ o
"Isn't this place cool?" Xu yelled over the crowd, waving to random people.
For a moment, she reminded her of Selphie- She shook her head looking around the place, only barely catching the clock out of the corner of her eye. 1:08 am. The blonde frowned. It couldn't be one in the morning. It was only nine when they left.
She shook her head again. No one else seemed to notice though, so she ignored it. Maybe it was just her. Maybe it was just lack of sleep. Xu was out of sight now, and sighed. Some friend. Drag her here and then ditch her.
"Hey, babe. Want to dance?" Someone beside her asked, she looked up to a tall burly man.
She shook her head. "No thank you. I'll be leaving soon."
The man frowned and stalked off in the other direction trying to find some other unlucky woman. Stupid Xu. She pushed through the crowd tying to look for her, interrupting several dancing partner dancing to the live music in the background.
She felt like banging her head against the wall. First she gets ditched, then the clocks go psycho on her. A tapping on her shoulder made her snap around, nearly elbowing the people behind her in the gut. This was all leading up to some crazy axe murderer ending, she knew it.
Oh, c'mon. Not again.
But this time, it was a different man, and this man was relatively good looking. "Want to dance?"
Don't say yes. Don't say yes. It'll it make you a hypocrite. You tell your students not to judge books by the cover - That was the ration side of her brain.
Do as I say, not as I do. Besides, men are different than books. You judge by the -
She cut that thought off quite quickly before it got even hotter in her than she though it actually was. Her brain took it as a chance to take some initiative to bounce back into the dating thing most women her age should be doing. After all, the maternal clock was ticking.
"Sure." Stupid! Oh, you'd better hope that big burly guy isn't watching.
The man bowed to her before taking her hand and leading her onto the dance floor.
See? This is what actual gentlemen do, her mind snapped.
You never minded it when Sq-
Okay, whoa, whoa. Back up there. No talking-about-he-who-shall-not-be-named tonight. Tonight, you have an actual nice guy. Enjoy it.
You still love him.
Don't go there.
The man placed her hand on his waist.
Oh no. She couldn't do this. She swallowed hard, trying to regain her thoughts. Stop thinking about him! He hasn't called, bothered to talk to you -
You unconnected your phone, for God's sake! There's a reason he hasn't contacted you!
…
Point taken.
[ o [ o [ o
He was well aware that it was against the law to go around cars on a motorcycle. He also, to be quite frank, didn't care. Adjusting the visor, he slowed down for the red light at the intersection before checking his watch. He was late. Damn.
The author sighed, leaning the motorcycle to the side as he put a foot down to keep it balanced. This sucked, and he still had a good twenty minutes to get to the bar. "Come on, come on." He muttered, glaring at the light.
Finally, it turned green and he sped off. The people in the car beside him blinked, before hitting the gas pedal. "Was that…?"
The girl beside her swooned. "Yeah."
Squall sighed, gunning the gas. He was going to keep his promise.
He wasn't going to lose her again.
[ o [ o [ o
And according to Fox hole plan- what was it again? Rinoa pursed her lips. Seriously. What an unnecessarily long name. "See her yet?"
The fact that Selphie was squinting wasn't making her feel any better about this. "Nope- wait, wait! I think - heey!"
"You see her?!" Okay. That was a little too loud, and she knew it.
"They've got karaoke!"
"Selphie." Deadpanned voice. "We're here to get Quis, remember?"
"I know, I know! Whoa." The petite brunette paused a moment, before her hands flew to her mouth. "Rinny!" She didn't wait for the other girl to reply and instead grabbed her arm and turned her in the right direction. "We have a problem."
"Hey, that guy's kind of cute - Wait! Is that Quistis?! Okay, well obviously it is, but-" Rinoa didn't know much about sports. Playing them, anyways. But she did know this required some sort of football move. Some sort of interception was needed here.
And now.
"Selphie, do you know the tango?"
[ o [ o [ o
The man smiled at her and she forced a smile back.
You still love him! What are you doing?!
This is great. You're having an inner debate with your self while dancing with a some hunk of a man. Is something wrong here? NO. Stop thinking and dance. Act your age. You're not 67, you're 21. It's your birthday, live a little. Get with times.
…But you still love-
"Awrgh!" She looked back to her dance partner that had somehow ended up sprawled out on the floor. What the- When had the song suddenly switched to the tango? And that couple behind them was apparently very bad. Or at least badly coordinated.
"Are you alright?" The blonde offered him her hand, catching a distinctive shade of yellow in the crowd.
It couldn't be- But. It looked just like-
"Selphie!" Rinoa hissed, glancing behind them. "He's getting up again!"
"What do you want me to do, bulldoze him?!"
"Yes!" Yanking on the other girl's hand, she dragged her back to the dance floor. "Think of something! We have to get them apart!"
"Um! Wait, I've got an idea!"
The man was just starting to get over his disorientation when the couple came charging over for more. The blonde furrowed her eyebrow at the sight before rolling her eyes. "Selphie, Rinoa, what are you doing here?"
They paused mid step, dumbstruck looks on their faces. Selphie shrugged innocently.
"…The tango?"
[ o [ o [ o
Xu meanwhile, was having her own problems. With Rinoa caught in the 'I am not amused' lecture, it was kind of hard to follow through with the plan. Especially when the other girl was currently was unable to talk. Luckily, they had a backup plan.
Blinking.
Scribbling down on a piece of paper, Xu manoeuvred herself in the blonde's blind spot. She just hoped Rinoa's eye sight was as good as she said it was.
'IS SQUALL HERE YET?' The writing was as neat as she could muster, and in capitals. Now, she just needed a response. One blink for yes, two for no.
Watching the other woman, Xu stared stupid. One blink. Alright. He was here. Wait, that's two. So now.
…What the hell was three blinks?
Xu massaged her temples. It was going to be a long night.
[ o [ o [ o
"-and for you two to sneak in here, without even considering my feel-"
The room went silence, and she trailed off from her lecture. Turning around, her breath caught in her throat.
And it felt like time had stopped.
He was in the crowd, at the very back watching her. And she felt her heart stop.
This wasn't Cinderella, here people - and dignity wasn't an issue. She bolted for the door, pushing through the crowd like a mad man.
And as the people looked at her, not even bothering to protest when she pushed them aside she realized they looked the somewhat familiar. "Xu? Xu!"
She gave up after a few tries. She wasn't waiting for her, she was getting out of there as fast as she could. She wasn't emotionally stable for another encounter with him.
Fate had different plans for her.
She only made it to about halfway through the floor before she was held back by a hand over her wrist. Dryly, she noted it probably wasn't the guy who she had been dancing with before.
"Why are you here, Squall?"
The room, conveniently went silent.
"Because you told me to turn back time."
And suddenly, it all clicked. The clocks, the people, the bar, Xu - everything! She whipped around at him, suddenly furious. A year later, and in the exact same situation that had started the whole thing.
"I told you I never wanted to see you again! You didn't respect my wishes, you didn't respect me! Are you here to gloat? Why?!" She yelled at him, clenching her fists.
"Because I love you!" He snapped back at her.
She turned away for a moment. "You don't love me." She said quietly before turning to him again. "You never loved me. You love yourself. You love your money, you love your career! You can't love anymore."
"Then why am I here? To make an idiot out of myself? To get yelled at? Maybe I'm here to try to talk you? What about that?" He yelled back , evidently angry. "Then why did I sign the divorce papers?! We could have stayed married, but I let you go."
"Why did you sign them then?" She asked quietly, somewhat aware that they were the center of attention.
"Because I thought I could get over you." He said, running his fingers through his hair. "But I can't. I still love you."
I wish you did. She shook her head. "I can't... I can't believe you." She turned away.
"If I didn't love you then why do I have this?"
Don't turn around, for God's sake don't turn around.
She turned around. If he was the box, she was Pandora.
He held an engagement ring in his hand. "If I didn't love you, why would I have this?"
She breath caught in her throat and tears stung her eyes.
"If I wanted to use you for the money, why didn't I take the job? Why didn't I go to Esthar?"
Her mind raced. The job, the job in the paper, the one he hadn't taken because of personal reasons.
Because of her. He hadn't taken the job because of her.
Oh God.
She covered her mouth with her hands. "Because you can't express your feelings, because you can't get along with people."
Ouch. He inwardly winced. Okay, fine he deserved that.
"Because you're an idiot. Because you have the social skills of a bloody brick wall!" She snapped before trailing off with a sigh. She looked up at him after a moment of silence. "I tried so hard to convince myself I could get over you. But in the end, it turns out I couldn't. …I still love you."
"Ask me." She whispered after a moment of nerve wracking silence.
"About the divorce papers?" He asked, confused.
She let out a small laugh. "No. Ask me for real this time."
Oh. He took her hand and slowly got down on one knee. "Quistis Trepe, will you marry me?"
"Yes."
He slid the ring onto her finger before taking her in his arms and spinning her around before putting her down.
The crowd cheered. Then she slapped him.
"That was for being a complete and total prick." She said sternly, straight faced. He gave her an incredulous look.
Fine. Maybe he did deserve it.
"I swear to Hyne though, Squall, if you do anything like that again-"
Selphie and Rinoa winced inwardly at the oncoming lecture. "That's gonna be one heck of honeymoon if she keeps that up--"
"Selphie."
'What?" The girl asked innocently.
"That's way too much information."
[ o [ o [ o
"You may now kiss the bride."
Squall sighed, relieved. The twenty minute ceremony he hadn't paid attention to was officially worthwhile. He lifted the veil before kissing his bride.
"May I present to you Mr. And Mrs. Leonheart." The priest paused a moment before adding, "Again. Let's hope the third time is the last." He sighed, before flipping the book shut. "I'm getting tired of performing the same ceremony three times." He muttered under his breath. With a wave of unenthusiastic hand, he sighed. "Go throw the bouquet or party. Whatever."
Irvine grinned, tipping his hat. "You heard the man. Throw the bouquet."
Squall raised an eyebrow. "…Hoping for someone to catch it?"
The cowboy continued to grin, leaning back further in his chair. "Maybe."
"Over here! Over here, here, here! Here, dammit!"
The bride sighed, her back facing the crowd. "Can you please tell the fortune teller to stop yelling?"
Her husband shrugged, "Just throw it."
She rolled her eyes before throwing it, listening to the scrambling noises in the background before turning around. "Who caught it?"
"RAGE!"
Everyone stared at the albino bodyguard who managed to have the bouquet land in the middle of her drink. She sighed, before handing it to a squealing Selphie. "USELESS."
"Whoo-hoo! I caught the bouquet!"
"Well, technically, babe-" Irvine trailed off when the girl glared at him. "Okay, sure, doll. You caught it." He sighed, resigning his cowboy hat over too when she stole it and proudly wore it. "So baby doll, speaking of weddings…"
"-Speaking of weddings, Irvy! Guess what I got just for this? A new video camera! Isn't it cool? Booyaka!"
Irvine sighed, shaking his head with a smile.
Rinoa sighed happily, admiring happy couples before wandering off to the punch bowl and putting her hands on her hips. "Don't you owe me a drink, mister?"
Seifer handed over a drink before sighing. "We need to talk."
The ex-maid froze, before looking away. He was breaking up with her? But they just got engaged? Was it something she did? Maybe he didn't like the bows she put on the furniture - "…R-Really?"
"Yeah. Your mutt takes up all the room in the bed. Can't you teach it to sleep on the floor or something? I'm gonna get fleas."
She smiled. "I'm sure we can come to something." The raven haired girl trailed off watching a fortune teller stroll through the crowd.
"Fortunes, fortunes. Tell your fortune!"
"Oh, tell mine!" Laguna said, waving the woman over.
"Ward says that it's going to bad." Kiros muttered, gesturing to the silent man.
"What?! The fool? Aw, come on…"
Squall raised an eyebrow at the elderly woman leaving his father's table to go walk around in the crowd. "…Was that the woman-"
"I honestly don't know how she got here."
"….Just talking to my father?"
"I still don't know how she got here, Squall."
"…I don't know how you couldn't miss the media."
The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me that isn't my Grandmother talking to her."
"…Alright. She's not talking to your Grandmother."
"That's not helping, Squall. Oh no. They're coming this way." The unspoken 'hide' in her voice was evident to him, but apparently old ladies could really walk fast if desired. Very fast.
"Oh dearies! Look who I found! My old friend Gertrude from school. We haven't seen each other in 53 years!"
"You know each other?" The bride asked after a moment. Somehow she wouldn't put it past either of them.
"Of course." Gertrude replied, shuffling a pack of conveniently placed tarot cards. "How do you think I knew exactly what stop to find you in Deling?"
The blonde stared silently.
"Pick three cards?" Gertrude asked, hopefully. "Oh come on. Humour an old lady."
Squall watched the two bicker a moment before sighing and picking a card up. "…Call for a good time? - Mark." He stared at the card a moment before the elderly woman snatched it away.
"Wrong card. Pick another." The woman checked her hair for a moment before turning back to her old friend. "So Olive, what were you saying about these two on a table?"
"Well, I went to get my purse-" The grandmother paused a minute before looking back to the couple. "And -"
"Couples to the dance floor, please!" Both women watched as the couple sped walk to the dance floor eagerly in an effort to avoid a potentially blackmailable story.
"Dammit." The other elderly woman sighed. "Forgot to get her to pay."
The grandmother sighed. "Oh Gertrude, they'll need the money all the grandchildren they're going to give me. I'm gonna be a great grannie before you know it!"
Kiros looked at Laguna and sighed. "Are you crying?"
The president sniffled. "No. I just love weddings. I mean, come on, free food…"
"…Ward says you're a horrible liar. And to get a Kleenex."
Irvine tapped the video camera with a sigh. "…And this is their wedding! But you know they ended up getting divorced again twice, before getting remarried-"
"IRVY!" Selphie screeched, giving him a pull on the pony tail before turning back to the camera. "No they didn't! They stayed married, thank you very much! Are you getting all this, Rinny?"
The camera bobbed up and down in a nod.
The petite girl grinned in approval. "And that's how your mommy and daddy met! Well, I mean you're not born yet so I guess you won't understand, but you know."
"You're probably gonna get conceived right after this." Seifer muttered under his breath with a smirk, before getting his foot stomped on by Rinoa.
"Anyways! Auntie Selphie and Auntie Rinny will show you this when you're older- Oh, look Rinny, Rinny! Look, look! To right!"
The camera panned to the left.
"No, Rinny! Right, right! That way!"
The camera panned to the right after a moment before turning towards the ground, then to Selphie. "Hey, Selphie. This blinking icon… thing. What does it mean?"
The brunette whipped around. "Irvy! You didn't charge it like I told you too! Now we're gonna miss the good parts!"
"Babe, you know it's illegal to sneak into someone's hotel room. You can't tape the wedding night-"
"PERVERT!" Both girls screeched in unison.
The camera lingered on Selphie's rant for a moment before turning the camera to the married couple. "It's shutting off!" Rinoa whined. "No!"
A barely managed zoom in on the married couple just seconds from kissing was the last thing the camera recorded with a small voice over from the Grandmother.
"That's my girl! Show him Trepes are fiery in bed!"
The whole dance floor went into an awkward silence before the camera finally shut off.
[ o [ o [ o
"What do you say, third time's the charm?" She asked with a laugh.
Her husband smiled at her. "Yeah. Is it." He brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "I love you, Quistis Leonheart-Trepe."
The blonde raised an eyebrow at him. "Trepe or Leonheart. Not both."
"What?"
She sighed. "Squall, who is their right mind going to take the last name Leonheart-Trepe seriously? That's like mixing our names and coming up with 'Quall'. I mean, what kind of name is Quall?"
He sighed, debating it for a moment. "Leonheart it is."
"Fine." The blonde wrapped her arms around his neck, before pulling him down for a kiss. "I love you too, Squall Leonheart. Actually, I should correct myself. We love you. You're going to be a father."
Seifer balked from the dance floor. "Can I gag yet?… Hey, did puberty boy just faint?"
Selphie smacked him, totally disregarding the second question. "Only if I can say the End! Can I? Okay, okay! They lived happily ever after! The end! The ennnnd! Oh, that sounds so cool! The ennnnnddd. Awesome! The end! The end!"
"Yo, Tilmett -"
"The ennnnd!"
"- I think you had a few too many drinks there."
"Oh, live a little! The eeeennnnnndddd! Who-hooo!"
"…You're gonna be so hung over in the morning…"
"The ennnddddddddd. Hey, wait whaddya mean Squall fainted? What's going on?! Holy Hyne, Quisty's pregnant?! Who didn't tell me? C'mon guys! We need to share the gossip--"
"END." Fuujin finally cut in, exasperated.
THE END.
SERIOUSLY.
Author's End Notes.
Seriously though. Thank you all so much for putting up with my sarcastic humour, typos and incredibly long waits for new chapters. I appreciate every single person who gave this story a shot, even if they didn't like it. It really does mean a lot to me, and I hope if I haven't sworn everyone here off Quall by now, you might perhaps stick around another for one if my fics if another one per chance, debuts.
Thanks.
PS: Told you I would finish the story before the year was over! It's 11:44 on New Year's Eve. I'm cutting it close.
