'What's the problem?' She asked him, he shook his head. 'No come on tell me.' He shrugged.
'Zell's worried about Selphie.' Was all he had to say on the matter, he knew how Selphie would react if he tried to figure out what was wrong, he had done so once before and she had laughed at him. So he had told Zell to look after her.
'Any reason why?' Squall shrugged.
'Don't know, haven't seen Selphie much these past couple of weeks.' Rinoa nodded and smiled.
'She'll be fine. You know Selphie, she bounces back.' Squall smiled and Rinoa came across and sat on his lap. 'You can't worry about everyone you know.'
'It's not like I have a choice though, I'm more their dad than Ember and Brook's.' Rinoa laughed delightedly.
'You realize how much you've changed don't you?' She asked him, he shook his head ruefully.
'Yeah but it was a damn sight easier to only have to worry about myself.' He glanced at her. 'Not an easy change but a worthwhile one.' She giggled and kissed him.
It was at that point the trio walked in and Squall immediately tried to make Rinoa stand up, so she held herself in place even firmer. She watched the bright red move up his face and she threw back her head and laughed. She stood and waved at the trio. 'Whoa Selphie nice dress.' She said with a grin.
Selphie looked up in a sort of daze, then she shrugged. 'Whatever.' She said and flopped into a chair, Zell locked eyes with Squall and gave him a 'y'see' sort of expression. Irvine trundled in then and immediately took the chair next to Selphie, she didn't even acknowledge him. Squall frowned slightly at them and then cleared his throat.
'I asked you here because I have missions for you. I figure that we really need to bring the other two gardens closer to the standards that this garden sets, the students that are sent here for their final exam are falling badly short. Out of seven that went out on this last exam only two passed.' Selphie frowned.
'But four people passed the exam this term.' She said and Squall nodded.
'Yes, two were Balamb gardens' new SeeDs. But then again we only sent out three people.' Selphie nodded. 'Regardless, we need people to alter the standards they set and the attitude that goes with them. Selphie, Irvine, you two are from the two other gardens, I think that you would be the best people to oversee this reconstruction of the system.' Selphie's eyes went wide and she shook her head.
'Squall… I hate to remind you of this but…' Squall interrupted Irvine with a shake of his head.
'No I remember that you aren't a SeeD. You officially cannot make these changes, even with my authority, but Quistis can. That's why I am sending you two together. Selphie you can make these changes but Zell's going with you because it's good to have a sounding board for any ideas you might have, and let's face it what else is Zell good for?' The pair locked eyes and Zell gave him a withering stare.
'I'm going back to Trabia?' Selphie asked him quietly. He nodded. She broke into a broad grin and started bouncing around singing, 'I'm going to Trabia, I'm going to Trabia.' Over and over again.
'Don't sound too happy why not.' Irvine snapped and Selphie stopped mid-chant. She looked at him with dark eyes and then turned to Squall and saluted.
'Thank you for this wonderful opportunity Commander, I will do this task you set me to the best of my ability.' Her tone was strictly emotionless and she turned to Irvine. 'Better?' She asked, turned on her heal and walked out. Irvine eyes had gone wide in shock, without a word to the others he ran out of the door after her. The silence they left behind them was palpable. Zell was the first to speak.
'Anybody else just figured out what's wrong with Selphie?' He asked quietly. Three sets of eyes turned to him and Squall coughed.
'Zell, I kind of split them up on purpose.' Was all he was willing to say on the matter. It wasn't something he felt comfortable talking about and he didn't really think it was any of his business. The others, of course, felt differently. But he knew a way to keep them out of Selphie's affairs. 'Anyway we should get on to the ball, people will talk if we aren't there.'
*
Selphie had no idea where to go where he wouldn't find her, she already regretted her outburst, and she would probably have to explain it all to someone soon, probably Zell or Rinoa. She really wasn't in the mood for explanations or confrontations and it then hit her, she would go to the ball, nobody in their right minds would argue with her in front of so many people.
She moved the around to the garden doors of the great hall and looked in with a smile, this was the kind of party she had always wanted to throw, except with less posturing and showing off. She moved through the great crystal doors into the beautiful domed hall. Gold traced lines across the hall and up the glass above, white streamers were hung around the edge of the glass in low swinging loops, the walls were covered in billowing white muslin that were stamped with golden runes and single flowers were hung in glass test tubes at regular intervals around the hall. Selphie looked at this sight and breathed deeply as it soothed her, her hands stopped trembling as she stepped onto the white and grey marble, her borrowed heels clicking against it sharply. The new SeeDs were talking in an excited little huddle, she remembered her own ball, she had scared Zell away by asking him to join the Garden Festival Committee and she had watched Squall dance with Rinoa for the first time. She didn't have to wait long for the rest to come through the main doors, only Quistis noticed she was there at first but she quickly pointed the fact out to Rinoa and Zell, Squall was busy congratulating the new intake.
Rinoa started over to her but Selphie quickly snagged a passing Nida and got him to dance, the music was already playing and it was the best defence she could muster in such a short time. She got herself passed from SeeD to SeeD in a desperate attempt to play keep-away with the others, she knew either Zell or Squall would eventually snag her for a dance and then the explanations would start, she was just lucky it was Squall that got to her first she just looked in his eyes and knew that he already felt awkward.
'Feeling okay?' He asked her and she nodded politely. 'Care to tell me what's on your mind?' He tried again.
'No.' He gave her a sharp look.
'You know as your Commander I can order you to tell me what's wrong.' He said looking up at the ceiling.
'You wouldn't be asking me as a commander you'd be asking as a friend and I'm not obliged to tell you anything as a friend.' She gave him a bright fake smile and he frowned.
'I can if it affects your work.'
'It won't, my work means more to me than anything.' She stated calmly. He raised his eyebrow at her.
'More than even Irvine.' She gave him that bright fake smile again and leaned close to him.
'More than anything.' She whispered harshly and it was at that moment the song finished. She stepped back and curtseyed to him. Then she left.
'Man, you didn't handle that well at all.' Squall turned at Zell's voice. 'She knows you well enough to know how to play you now. Be afraid.' He looked at Selphie's retreating back. 'Be petrified, man.' They walked back to the refreshments table and found Rinoa waiting for them. When the questioning look she sent Squall was answered by a negative flick of the eyebrow she shrugged and turned to the punch. Zell smiled, wishing he could find someone to share that kind of connection with. Then he saw the danger over by the main doors, an extremely angry and dirty, 'Irvine alert!' He said sharply and twisted his head to find Selphie, they spotted her at the same time, but Irvine was closer and reached her before Zell could even think enough to move. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her round to face him.
*
Irvine pulled Selphie round to face him in anger, her eyes when she looked up at him were a mixture of guilt and fear. They stood for a moment, locked into a frozen tableau while one of them tried to think of something to say. The longer he stood staring at her the more his anger melted away. He had to say something quickly, his anger was the only thing that was keeping him going right now.
'You humiliated me.' He said in a low voice, Selphie stared into his wide brown eyes and swallowed.
'You humiliated yourself.' She said and she seemed to regain a little of her poise. She yanked her arm away from him. 'You don't own me Irvine. You can't control what I get happy or excited about, I want to go back to Trabia.' She broke eye contact.
'I don't understand why we have to be apart for you to do that.' She shook her head.
'Trabia is mine. Galbadia is yours. You don't belong there, I don't want you there.' She looked up and shrugged quietly. 'I love what I do, Irvine. I adore being a SeeD.' Irvine frowned at her.
'Is that why you won't marry me? Because of your job?' She frowned.
'It's part of it.' She admitted. 'I love it too much to give it up to become a wife and mother. I'd rather slip into a coma.' At that he took hold of her shoulder and turned her towards their friends. She nearly laughed, the shock on their faces when they turned around was highly comical, they quickly looked away and tried to make it seem that they weren't staring. Irvine pointed to Squall and Rinoa.
'Look at them, they are so happy now they are married. Rinoa isn't a SeeD. Yet Squall gets to still be a SeeD, you don't have to give up anything.' At those words Selphie did laugh. She turned away from her friends.
'Oh please. Say we did get married, and that we had kids. Would you let me go on a mission whilst I was pregnant? Who would have to look after them, it wouldn't be you would it? I'd have to give up everything. You're too old fashioned for me to do otherwise.' She glanced over at Squall and sighed. 'Besides Squall and Rinoa were happy before they got married, it just cemented what they already had. Right now Irvine, I'm not happy. I love you, but I'm not sure I like you very much right now. I can't have one without the other. I think it's best we do our assignment now and see where we stand later on, we have been given something really important and I'm not going to mess it up.' Irvine snorted, he heard the unspoken because of you.
'Important? Give me a break!'
'You don't understand…' He interrupted her with a snort of laughter.
'I don't understand? Why? Because I'm not a SeeD? You know that excuse is getting old, find a new one, change the record.' He stepped back and stared at her with a sneer. 'You're pitiful.' Selphie winced in pain. She felt as though she had been stabbed and she drew her arms across her body in an unconscious defensive motion. Irvine looked at her for a second, she couldn't tell what the emotion that hung on his face was, but he turned on his heel and headed towards the door, much as she had this evening. Seeing how much he had just hurt her had made him regretful for a second, just a second. But she had deserved it, hadn't she. He began muttering under his breath in consternation. After tonight she would be back at her precious Trabia and he wouldn't have to deal with her manipulative ways again… if he didn't want to.
*
Selphie grabbed hold of a nearby column and moved behind it. The marble was cold and hard, like the look in his eyes had been. She stood with her back to the column pressing against it so hard it felt as though she was trying to push it through her back. She shivered and let go a shuddering breath, she hadn't realised she had been holding it until that moment. She breathed in hard and deep trying to steady her nerves and her hands. Then she took a tottering step towards the garden doors, the way she had came in. Her legs were trembling and she ascribed it to the damn shoes that Quistis had insisted she wear. Her shaking legs took her slowly across the hall, when she was halfway across she felt an arm slide across her shoulders and help her towards the doors. Once outside she bolted towards the nearest flowerbed and was sick into the roses.
'A novel way of dealing with stress.' Zell said as he rubbed her back. She gave him a sour look as she threw up again. When she was finished he suggested they move off a bit. 'Never be caught near the evidence.' Was all he said so they made their way to the fountain.
'Okay why were you the one they sent?' She asked him as she sat down and tried to get the foul taste out of her mouth. He shrugged.
'I've been assigned your personal assistant remember? I figured if you didn't need assisting now you never would.' He handed her a tissue and she took it dubiously. 'It's clean. Anyway Squall didn't want to deal with it and the girl's were far too eager to. So our gracious leader chose me.' She sighed.
'How badly did I embarrass myself in there?' She asked with a cringe.
'Not the right question, how badly did you embarrass each other would be better.' She gave a small laugh.
'You're a great help you know.' She said laconically, he smiled.
'I try, and anyway at least you're smiling. I'm not going to make you tell me everything that just happened, I'm sure I'll hear it all from the girls in due course.' He looked at her. 'It was Irvine that was bothering you this morning wasn't it?' He asked and she nodded. 'Well that's good, I'd hate to think there were two things I couldn't sort out stressing you. Now it's only one.' He stroked her hair gently and raised his eyebrows. 'Come on, you should be in bed, but first you really need to brush your teeth, sick breath doesn't suit you.' She gave a halfhearted laugh.
'Is Quistis with Irvine right now?' She asked him. Zell stared at her blankly for a moment.
'Oh…. Shit. You know I don't think anyone even thought about him.' He bit his lip and turned to look at the doorway, the ball was still going on. 'You think I should…?' Selphie shrugged and he frowned. 'Nah, they aren't that stupid are they? Surely they would have sent someone after him.' Selphie raised her eyebrows at him, the look on his face made her smile. He shook his head. 'No… yes, yes they would, what am I talking about of course they would. Come on lets get you home.' She shook her head.
'You know I think I can manage.' Zell's gave her a withering look.
'Selphie, when have you ever known me to take a chance on anything? Except the horses? And the chocobo races? And triple triad… you know what, let's forget I said anything.' Selphie gave a half hearted laugh as Zell helped her up and then caught her when she toppled over on those damn shoes. With one kick she sent one shoe flying into the dirt and the other into the flower bed.
'Now I feel better.' She said, Zell smiled and picked them up.
'Lead on.' He said and they walked to Selphie's room mocking each other.
*
Irvine wandered around the halls of Balamb biting his top lip as he always did when he was worried or thinking too hard. He really wanted to hurt someone right now, but picking a fight for no reason wasn't really his style... but it sure was tempting. He really wanted to talk to someone right now but of course he was mad at the person who he usually went and talked to. This wasn't right... not right at all. Selphie had been his rock for too long now for him to give her up, or for him to stay mad at her for any length of time. He wasn't used to apologizing to people, he generally didn't piss people off enough to have to. He made his desicion, he would go talk to Selphie, he would apologize, he tried not to admit it to himself but he would do anything for her.
He reached Selphie's corridor in record time, just in time to see Zell and Selphie reach her room. She was laughing, that cut him to the quick more than anything. He shook his head, it couldn't be what it looked like.
'Anyway I should be getting back to the ball, boring as it is going to be without you two there.' Selphie frowned.
'You could come in, we could watch TV for a bit, I'm sure it would be a damn sight more interesting for you then trying to explain what happened here tonight.' What happened here tonight...? Irvine swallowed hastily as Zell laughed. What exactly did happen here tonight? Was Selphie trying to play him for a fool?
'Tell me about it, sure anything good on?' Zell asked as he walked into Selphie's room. Irvine came around the corner and stared at the space where the pair had been standing moments before. His fists clenched involuntarily and he felt his heart do the same. The anger that he felt was no where near the anger he had felt when he confronted Selphie at the ball, it was sharper, more finely honed and it was all directed at Zell. Turning he marched off down the corridor, his eyes getting colder with every step.