I am totally aware that my FFVIII fics include much Quistis-torture.
Live or die?
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Fifty Days
Chapter 17: It Must Be...
He woke up the next morning, and immediately thought he must have been dreaming, or something. He turned his head, expecting to find himself back alone in his dorm, but no, he hadn't been. Quistis was sleeping peacefully next to him, curled up against his side, and he just watched her silently as she did so.
As if noticing his gaze, she opened one eye and smiled at him. "What are you staring at?" she asked sleepily.
"You."
"Well stop it, I need to get up," she said, and pushed him away from her. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What day is it?" she asked. Seifer told her and she groaned. "You need to work harder," she said shortly. She raised a hand to stem any complaints. "Remember what I said. You are going to graduate."
Seifer shook his head and smiled cockily. "What do you think I was doing when I was watching you, just pining?" He gestured with his hand, and Quistis leant around the door to the living room and saw a small pile of books piled next to the sofa. She glared at him. "When did those get there?" And then, "Fine, but you better have been working on them."
Seifer smiled at her as she got up and went to get changed. Looking at her again, he couldn't help but notice how pale and thin she looked. He felt a surge of protectiveness as she gripped the walls as she walked. He got up with a yawn and walked through into the living room, sitting down on the sofa and grabbing a book from he pile. He stared at it for a few seconds, and then shut it in frustration. My brain is melting. It had enough figures and facts crammed into it to make it expand t twice its size.
He heard a knock at the door and went to answer it, grateful of any distraction. He was less so when he saw who it was.
"…Seifer?" Xu asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Quistis asked me to stay," he replied bluntly. So take that you stuck-up little tyrant.
Xu blinked, and then recovered her composure. "I came to check on Quistis," she said coolly.
Seifer resisted the urge to smile. "She's fine. I'm watching out for her," he said.
Xu glared at him. "Are you sure you're up to it?" she asked.
"Totally."
To his surprise, Xu's eyes softened slightly. "You better," she said simply. "Tell her I said hi-"
At that moment, Quistis came out from the bedroom and noticed Xu standing there. "Xu! Come in," she said warmly.
Seifer moved aside as Xu walked into the apartment and sat down on the sofa. "You OK?" she asked, and Seifer noticed the familiar note of concern that seemed to creep into people's voices when they talked to her. It was starting to seriously annoy him, like she was suddenly made out of glass.
Quistis, however, just smiled. "I'm fine. I have Seifer to look after me," she said without a trace of humour. The expression on Xu's face told him exactly what she thought of Seifer guarding anything more important than a toothpick. "Don't worry about me," Quistis said again. As if fate had been tempted enough she immediately started to cough. She waved them both back as they went to help her. "I said… I'll… be fine." She turned to Seifer. "You; go work."
Seifer opened his mouth to complain, but Quistis glared at him and put her hands on her hips, and he raised his hands in surrender and walked out. Xu followed, and the two walked along the corridor.
"Almasy?"
"Yes?" Seifer replied. Here we go.
"I would never have expected you to be the one."
Seifer stopped to look at her. "What?"
Xu smiled at him. "Seifer, I've known Quistis all my life, and she couldn't hide anything from me if she tried."
"So?" Seifer asked sullenly.
Xu looked at him with deliberating eyes. "Do you feel the same?" she asked. Seifer nodded. "Make sure you do," Xu said seriously. The two parted ways as Xu took the elevator to the top floor and Seifer went to the Training Centre.
What the hell is that woman thinking? Xu asked herself as the elevator slowly made it's way up to the 3rd floor. It's Almasy for crying out loud! Xu remembered the last time Quistis and Seifer had met. He had been standing in front of Adel in Lunatic Pandora and she had been trying to kill him. How the hell could they go from that to… to… what?
You saw the look on her face. So what if she might love him. She deserves so much more than she'll ever get.
Goddamn it Seifer, if you do anything to hurt her any more I swear I'll kill you.
She put on a smile as the door opened and Squall nodded to her as she sat down. She debated telling him about it, but she could see he had enough to deal with as it was without telling him about his dying childhood friend's love life.
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Quistis swallowed dryly and tried to clear the fuzzy feeling from her mouth as she walked out of the door of her dorm a few minutes after Seifer had to head for the infirmary. The pains were getting worse again, and it took all she had not to cringe or collapse as she walked.
"Instructor Trepe!"
Quistis turned as a voice rang out from the other end of the corridor, and saw Brea running towards her and smiling. She smiled wanly. "Yes?"
"Are you OK? We heard you were in the infirmary and Xu took over lessons and then someone said you quit and were really really ill and-"
"Brea!"
"Sorry."
Quistis laughed. "That's OK. Yes, I was in the infirmary, yes, I'm no longer an instructor, and no, I am not really, really ill." She smiled. "I just… can't teach anymore."
"But why not? You were the coolest teacher! Xu was bor-"
"Go carefully with that. She hears her name in a five-mile radius."
"Sorry." Brea paused for a second before continuing. "So… you're not gonna teach us again?" she asked sadly.
Quistis shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't. You'll have a new Instructor assigned to you soon, OK?"
Brea looked upset, and just nodded then turned and walked back down the corridor she had came from. A thought came into Quistis' head; what are the Trepes going to think, and she dismissed it quickly, and tried to think about something else. Her mind searched around, but not for long. Seifer.
She smiled softly. Who'd have guessed? They'd spent a good section of the last year or so trying to kill each other, and all of a sudden she found herself falling for him. Her smile widened. She would never admit it to anyone, not even Xu, but she envied Squall and Rinoa, Selphie and Irvine, for what they had with each other. Somehow she had always accepted that she would never have a relationship like that, and told herself she didn't need one, and then later, when she had discovered a time limit had been set on her life by a bitter dying sorceress, she had resigned herself to the fact that now she would never have the chance.
And now suddenly she did again. With Seifer of all people. It was worth a laugh all on it's own, but she didn't. She sighed instead.
I have to get out of here… She covered her mouth as she felt a cough rising up, and stood still until she feeling passed, leaving the feeling of weakness and dizziness she had grown familiar with over the last couple of weeks. A passing student asked whether she was OK, and she waved his inquiry aside with a smile and a forced 'yes-I'm-fine' she had been giving out a lot recently. She lowered her hand and avoided looking at it, with its stark whiteness. She was totally aware that people stared at her when she walked past, but she studiously ignored them and their whispers.
A hand was laid on her shoulder, and she turned to brush it off. "I'm fine, really," she said again as she turned to see who-"
"No, you're really not," Irvine said. "You shouldn't be walking around," the cowboy said. He held out his hand, and Quistis saw he had a small bottle in it. "Compliments of the good doctor, and she said you need to rest."
"Did she?"
"Actually she said 'and tell that stupid girl if I see her walking around then I'll kill her'. She's not very big on tact when she's pissed," he said apologetically.
Quistis laughed. "She cares." She took the painkillers from Irvine's palm. "Thank you."
"She's right you know, you really shouldn't be out here. People will wonder."
"People are wondering already."
"Quistis…"
She held up a hand to stop his counter-argument. "Irvine, I can't just stay in my room and wait, do you understand?"
Irvine thought about it for a second, and then smiled and nodded. He looked at her slyly. "Speaking of relationships-"
"We were?"
"-Xu told me Seifer stayed the night. Could this be the end of your Ice Queen reputation?"
"Irvine…"
"Aha! We knew it! Anything happen?"
"Irvine!"
Irvine grinned cockily and touched the brim of his hat. "Nice to know you still haven't lost your sense of humour," he said.
Quistis glared at him. Then her eyes softened and she crossed her arms. "And you want to know about my personal life why?" she asked.
Irvine shook his head and swivelled on his heel to walk away from her. "No reason, and I need to go and meet Selphie, so if you will excuse me." He smiled again, but this time his eyes were totally serious. "Take care of yourself Quisty."
Quistis watched as he strode off. You never change… she thought for the Hyne-knew-how-many time. She quickly pocketed the bottle Irvine had handed to her. She paused for a second, and then turned to go back the way she had came, smiling slightly.
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Seifer swung the Hyperion at the Grat and it fell apart into two pieces as he fired through it into the second one. The bullet caught it in the centre of mass, and it fell backwards, very dead. Seifer swung around to check for other threats, and saw…
"You haven't lost your touch I see," Quistis said with a smile.
Seifer bowed dramatically, not taking his eyes off her. She smiled slightly when he saw how pleased she looked. "I assume my combat form is up to scratch then?" he queried.
Quistis laughed, and Seifer noticed how… alive… she seemed when she looked at him, as if the last year of conflict between them had not happened, and the last week for her hadn't went the way it had.
Now there's an egotistical thought.
"You never had any complaints from me about your form," Quistis said.
Seifer blinked, and then laughed. "Now that sounded inappropriate," he said.
Quistis glared at him as if she didn't know what to say. "Fine. Be that way," she whispered, and turned to go off.
Seifer's eyes opened wide, and then he abandoned the rest of his training and ran to head off Quistis. He opened his mouth to explain that he hadn't meant it, when he saw Quistis was trying not to laugh.
"Gotcha."
Seifer growled. "You…"
Quistis giggled. "You should have seen your face. You looked heartbroken."
Seifer stared at her open-mouthed for a second. "And that just sounds out of character for the Ice Queen," he said. This time, Quistis' eyes did narrow, and he knew he'd gone too far. "Sorry. I-"
"No, that's OK. I know what most people say about me."
"I just- I didn't mean- I never called you that," he said, completely truthfully. He had called her a lot of things, but that particular insult had never been one of them. For all that was worth.
"I know, but recently I've just been thinking a lot, about everything," she said. Suddenly she stopped and put a hand to her forehead.
Seifer politely turned his head away as she withdrew the bottle and swallowed a lone pill, as if not seeing it would make it not happen. He looked up when the sound his feet made on the floor changed. They had walked out of the Training Centre entirely and to the front of the foyer. A thought came into mind, and he smiled at Quistis, not with his usual air of cockiness, but something much more benevolent. He grabbed her hand. "Come on," he said.
Quistis' eyes opened wide in surprise as he nearly dragged her out of the Garden. "Where are we going?" she asked.
Seifer looked back at her. "You'll see."
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And so will you. In one week's time.
MWAHAHAHAHAHA! ^___^