Two songs:
Noir - Chloe
End Of Evangelion – Turn Back Time
Incredibly sappy and romantic in fics like these, I advise everyone to them now. The first songfic of either shall receive cookies. ^_-
Sorry the update was so late today. I have to write my Personal Statement. University time is approaching. ;_;
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Fifty Days
Chapter 18: …Love
Quistis rested her face in her hands and stared out of the window at the seashore dreamily. The setting rays of the sun fragmented among the clouds and bathed her face in warm shades of red and oranges. She smiled.
"In all this time in Garden, I've never been here," she said wistfully.
The two sat at a table next to the window at Balamb Hotel's small café. Seifer leaned back in his seat and watched her as Quistis just looked out of the window with the same contented looked on her face, occasionally brushing a stray lock of golden hair out of her eyes. "We used to come here a lot when we first got here. Wasn't so sure whether they would welcome me back, but I figured what the hell."
Quistis turned back to him and smiled, and for a second, just one second, Seifer believed all that poetic garbage teachers had once tried to cram down his throat about inner beauty. As she sat there smiling at him gently, with the sunlight flowing across her paler-than-white skin, Quistis Trepe looked every inch the ethereal goddess.
Damnit, now she's turning me into a sappy idiot…
"'We'? You mean Fujin and Raijin?" she asked. She leaned forwards. "Where are they?" she asked, without any hint of demanding in her tone.
Seifer shrugged. "They didn't want to come back to Garden with me. Thought Cid might have turned them down. I told them e wouldn't do that, but they decided to go another path."
Quistis frowned slightly. "And you didn't mind?"
Seifer shook his head. "Sooner or later we all gotta go or own way." And they'd been following mine for too long…
Quistis nodded. "Good luck to them," she said.
Seifer nodded and raised his glass slightly. "My words exactly." He raised his own in a silent toast to his old friends and took a gulp of the dark red wine. He noticed Quistis do the same, but she put down her glass immediately afterwards after looking at the contents longingly. "Doctor's orders?" he asked lightly, but she just nodded.
Quistis sighed. "The hell with it," she proclaimed forcefully, and took a long sip. Seifer smiled, when her eyes widened and she dropped the glass with a clatter and coughed. Seifer reached across to grab her arm, but she shoved him back in his seat as she recovered.
"Maybe… doctor's orders have reasons," she said half-jokingly. She sighed again, a deeper one, filled with regret. "You never think about the things you have until they're gone," she said.
Seifer shivered involuntarily at this statement. "No, you don't," he agreed, staring meaningfully at her. Quistis looked up at hi eyes, and then laughed. Seifer frowned. "What's so funny," he said.
Quistis recovered her composure, and then shook her head in amusement. "This was not how I envisioned this would happen," she said.
Seifer smirked and leaned back. "Oh, so you envisioned this before, did you?"
Quistis glared at him. "Drop the cocky act, Almasy," she said, half-mockingly. Half.
"Sorry-"
"And again, with the unlikelihood."
"Hey!" Seifer exclaimed. He shrugged again. "People change," he said.
"yes, they seem to," Quistis said.
"Hey, you want to pay for the food, just keep at it like that."
Quistis raised an eyebrow. "You already ordered?" she asked.
Seifer smiled inwardly at her obvious pleasure. "Sure. You've never been here before, so I chose what I thought you'd like."
"How did you find out what I liked?" she asked quickly.
"Give me some credit. I only spent a few years with you around the place all the time."
"You asked Irvine, didn't you?"
"…Yes."
"And?"
"He… err… laughed in my face. And then told me. And then laughed again."
Quistis giggled. "I can see his face in my mind. Looks like your secret is out."
"My secret? You're the one who agreed to come here," he argued.
"Ah, but you dragged me here. That's kidnapping," she said serious.
Seifer's face drained of colour. "You're not serious?"
Quistis stared at him for a few seconds more, and then smiled. "No, but it's always fun watching you squirm."
"…You…"
Quistis giggled again and looked up as the waiter approached the table with their food. Her eyes widened when she saw what was on the plates. "Seifer, this must have cost-"
"Enough already. Eat," he said, and picked up his fork and dipped into his meal.
The time passed in silence with the occasionally comment about how good the food was, and Seifer looked up at her, and saw she had stopped, and was staring out of the window again, with tears in her eyes. "What is it?" he asked quietly, resting his hand over her arm.
She shivered slightly. "Why didn't we do this earlier?" she asked in a whisper.
Seifer leaned forward, and gently brushed the tears from her eyes. Think think think! "Don't think about things you can't change Quisty. Just enjoy it while it lasts."
Quistis laughed bitterly and stabbed down at her food with her fork. "Precious little time that is." She couldn't keep up the anger though, and her face collapsed back into despair again. "Why'd I have to wait so long?" she asked herself again.
Seifer took her other arm in under his hand. "Look, don't think about it, 'kay? Are you finished?" And then before he could answer he stood and walked over to the reception, said a few words to the man at the desk, and walked back over.
She stood, frowning in confusion slightly. "Where are we going now?"
Seifer turned back and smiled. "Where else?"
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"Seifer, I'm freezing."
Seifer took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders as they sat on the beach. She nodded and drew it in tight around herself. "Thank you," she said, her breath crystallising on the air, "now why are we here."
Seifer chuckled. "I didn't just ask Irvine what food you liked," he said. He checked his watch. "One moment."
"What are we waiting for?" she asked, puzzled.
"Look," he said, and pointed at the sky. Quistis looked up, and gasped. The clouds that were usually gathered around Balamb at night had suddenly moved aside, as if shoved aside by some invisible force, and the moon lit up the sky above them. Quistis raised a hand to the massive shining orb in the sky and watched as moonlight filtered through it to fall on her face.
"It's beautiful," she said quietly.
Seifer leaned back against the sand on Rinauld coast. "Closest point of approach in a dozen years. Luckily Irvine has a better memory than you do."
Quistis laughed, still staring up at the moon. "I remember… when I was younger- This- the moon was brighter then. We used to stare up at it from the beach." She turned to look at him. "Irvine, huh?" she said.
Seifer shrugged. "I asked him to switch on the Garden Rings for a few seconds. Guess he did."
Quistis smiled and fell against his side. Seifer wrapped an arm around her, and she looked up at him from under his shoulder. "Remind me to thank him when we get back," she said
"What, don't I get any thanks?" he asked.
In reply, Quistis sat back up, and leaned forward, and kissed him. Seifer's eyes widened in surprise, and she drew back quickly, turning away and blushing. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done tha-"
Gently, Seifer turned her back to face him again, and he kissed her. She closed her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her, and for she didn't know how long it went on for, but when he finally let go she was smiling.
"Quisty…"
"Shush. Don't say anything. Let me just engrave that in my head," she said with her eyes still closed.
Seifer smirked. "Why bother when you can have the real thing?" he asked, and kissed her again, as they sat under the moonlit sky lost in each other's embrace.
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The two walked back into Garden a few hours later talking quietly at each other, ignoring the stares from the few Garden faculty members still awake.
"Instructor!"
They turned their head as a familiar voice rang out, and saw Irvine leaning against the small wall on the fountain. Standing there with an insufferably smug look on his face, Seifer ha the urge to shove him into the water.
"Fun night out?" the cowboy asked.
Seifer opened his mouth to speak, but Quistis kicked him with her heel and smiled at him. "Yes, thank you," she said.
Irvine bowed and turned back to Seifer. "You owe me one for that," he said, and winked dramatically at Quistis, who rolled her eyes and went to walk past him.
"He gets seriously on my nerves sometimes," Seifer said as they walked out of sight.
"Oh be quiet." She tried to stifle a yawn and failed. "I need to get to sleep," she said. She staggered slightly, and Seifer steadied her with a hand. She smiled. "Thank- Hey!" she exclaimed, as Seifer picked her up. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" he replied.
"You… You…"
"Me what?"
"Never mind," she said, and rested her head against his chest.
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The door slid open soundlessly as she slid her card through it, and Seifer stepped inside and lowered her to the ground.
"People are going to talk," she said as she walked over to the bedroom and collapsed on the bed.
"Let them," Seifer replied simply, sitting down next to her.
"Whatever am I going to do with you?" she asked.
"You could just throw me out again," he said.
Quistis burrowed deeper into the sheets. "Nah… 'wouldn't do that now," she said sleepily. She stared up at him for a second. "Seifer?"
"Yes?" he asked, brushing a few hairs out of her face.
"'Love you," she said quietly.
Seifer stopped for a second, and then smiled.
"What?"
Seifer shook his head. "Nothing. I love you too," he said.
Quistis smiled at him. "I know." She moved across, and Seifer removed his jacket and slipped in next to her. "Promise me something," she said.
"Anything."
"Stay with me until the end," she said, grabbing his hand under the covers.
"The end isn't gonna come for a long time," he replied uncertainly.
"Promise me, please?" she asked again a small note of pleading in her voice.
He nodded. "Of course."
Quistis smiled at him, and then closed her eyes. For a second Seifer's heart raced, and then she started breathing in the normal rhythms of sleep. He stared at her for a few seconds before trying to get some rest himself. He thought of her just-spoken words, and smiled as he fell asleep.
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Ack. More Seiftis goodness for you all! ^__^
I typed this up in less than an hour, and now my fingers are gnarled claws. The things I do for my readers. ^_-