Part II: Building Bridges
Author's note: These Characters still don't belong to me, in case you didn't already get that. Sorry this part took so long but I've been swamp by college work. For those of you who are worried this will become a Squall/Seifer fic, it won't. Trust me it's Squall/Rinoa all the way although I will warn you…I'm into Quifer…
Rinoa Heartilly sat quietly at the bar. The whole party was actually too young to drink. Irvine had managed to sweet talk the female bartender when she had been on duty, but now the owner had taken over at the bar and he had been giving them all funny looks for the past hour. The rest of the group seemed to be having a good time but Rinoa missed Squall to much to enjoy herself
She wondered what he was doing, right that minute. He was probably staying in Balamb Hotel in his usual room. Was he alone?
'Don't be so stupid, of course he's alone.' Rinoa scolded herself for even thinking something so stupid. She trusted Squall completely, didn't she? Of course she did. Goddess, this time apart from him really had made her paranoid. Squall would never cheat on her, she knew that in her heart and soul. Never.
She closed her eyes trying to picture his face exactly. His stubbornly wild chestnut colored hair, delicate but strong features, his stern expression. No, instead of his usual frown Rinoa choose to imagine his smile. That sweet shy smile she had caught a glimpse of the night of the party after the defeat of Ultimecia. The one that lit up his stormy grey-blue eyes.
She loved his eyes, his eyes were like the ocean, she thought she could drown in the those eyes given half the chance. And if she were to drown she wondered if she would ever want to be saved. But one thing about his eyes made her sad, the sorrow she saw in their depths when she looked into them. There was a hole in the heart of Squall Leonhart, one she hoped she could fill. With her love and compassion for him, she prayed she had the power to close that gape within him left by…who?
His mother perhaps? Rinoa had never heard Squall speak much about Raine Leonhart. But she saw the way his eyes lit up with something like longing when her name was mentioned. She knew from Laguna that she had died shortly after Squall's birth, but that was all. Squall's father also avoided the subject. Rinoa thought it hurt him to speak of Raine, even after seventeen years. He must have really loved her.
Rinoa wonder what that was like, to love someone that deeply, then to lose them. She hoped she would never have to experience it. But then Laguna Loire had loved Rinoa's mother too. The beautiful and famous Julia Heartilly who had written her biggest hit 'Eyes On Me' about the love she felt for the soldier.
Rinoa had grown up listening to that song, her mother had sang it to her many nights when she had had trouble sleeping and Rinoa had fallen asleep trying to picture the man in song, sitting there in the corner tiny little bar with his gentle eyes on the stage. What a strange twist of fate that she, Julia's daughter, would end up falling in love with the son of the very man her Mother had written that first song about.
It was funny now when Rinoa listened to that song she saw Squall, somehow it had became their song. Rinoa knew this would have pleased her Mother.
She realised suddenly how hard it must have been for Laguna to hear of her mother's death. She was, after all, his first love.
'Like Seifer was my first love.' Rinoa thought absently and for a moment wondered where Seifer was right now, what he was doing. She knew it upset Squall to hear her talk about Seifer, but she couldn't help it sometimes. She had loved him once, that was not something she could forget. She wondered if he had forgotten it.
Seifer had done wrong, that was true. He had injured a lot of people herself included but she knew within her soul that this wasn't totally his fault. The Seifer she knew would never have done these things in his right mind. She knew how it felt to be controlled by Ultimecia.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Rinoa snapped out of her daze and looked up to see Quistis Trepe regarding her, a bemused look on her beautiful face.
"You were thinking of Squall, huh?" She asked pushing a stray wisp of her golden hair from her eyes as she spoke.
Rinoa nodded. Not wanting to say it had been Seifer that had been on her mind at that second.
"How could you tell?" She asked motioning for Quistis to take a seat.
"He has the same expression on his face when he's daydreaming about you." Quistis smiled sitting down.
"Squall daydreams about me?" Rinoa asked almost laughing in her shock. It was hard to imagine the ever-practical Squall Leonhart daydreaming, but then he did tend to think a lot.
"Yes, he does." Quistis told her.
"Well how do you know it's me he's thinking of?" Rinoa asked teasingly.
"True." Quistis tilted her head, a mischievous smile coming to her crimson lips. "It could be Zell Squall's thinking about when he stares off into the middle distance."
Both girls burst into fits of giggles at this thought and it was quite a while before they died down again.
"So." Rinoa said when the giggles had subsided. "Any new men in your life?"
She regretted the question as soon as it left her lips and wished she could snatch the words back from the air as she saw Quistis's sapphire eyes go dim.
"No. But then I'm not really looking right now." Quistis replied in a voice that was a little too offhand. "I mean I'm very busy…"
"Quisty." Rinoa interrupted. "Tell me the truth." She reached over and patted the older girl's shoulder. "I mean we are friends…aren't we?"
"Of course we are." Quistis was touched by Rinoa's concern. "It's just…" She paused trying to think of how best to express her feelings. "You have Squall, Selphie has Irvine, Zell has Ami…I just feel like I'm the only one who's alone."
Rinoa was over come with sympathy for Quistis. It was true, she was the only one in their circle without a partner. There had to be someone.
"What about Nida." She suggested. "He's not seeing anyone, is he?"
"Nida?" Quistis giggled. "No I'm not interested in Nida in that way, he's just a friend." As an after thought she leaned over and whispered. "I think Xu is though!"
"Xu?!?!" Rinoa almost squealed. "Really? Ooh, we have to get them together!"
"Get who together?" Selphie chipped in as she slid into a seat on the other side of Rinoa.
"Xu and Nida." Quistis was quick to fill her in.
Selphie's emerald green eyes lit up with excitement.
"Really. Oh Cool!" She rejoiced. "I love matchmaking!"
Just then Zell came stumbling over. Even before he spoke Rinoa could tell from his stance and the dopey grin on his face that he was very drunk.
"Hey girls." He said grinning. "How's…How's it goin' with yous?"
"Zell." Quistis said rolling her eyes. "What has Irvine been letting you drink?"
Zell smiled holding up a bottle of beer.
"This!" He announced proudly.
"And how many have you had?" Rinoa inquired.
Zell looked confused for a second then he held up the bottle once again.
"This!" He said.
"Irvy!" Selphie said pouting as Irvine sauntered over to join them. "How could you let Zell get drunk like that?"
"Me?" Irvine held up his hands in mock innocence. "Why do I get blame?"
"Maybe is 'cause you bought me the beer?" Zell suggested.
"Well I didn't know you'd get drunk on one did I?" Irvine replied.
Zell ran his fingers through his blond spikes making them stick up in every direction. His normally tanned skin had gone a definite shade of green
"I need to…need to sit down." He said before passing out in the middle of the bar.
"Guess he can't hold his drink." Irvine said bending to lift Zell's unconscious form.
"Well Ladies and Gentlemen." Quistis announced getting to her feet and smoothing her skirt. "On that note, I suggest we call it a night!"
* * *
"Hey, Seifer are you sure about this, ya know?" Raijin said worriedly as Seifer laid Squall onto the bed of their room in the Balamb Hotel. "Bringin' him here?"
Seifer looked down at Squall. Although the high potion had stopped the bleeding and healed up most of the wounds his face was still unusually pale. He still hadn't regain consciousness.
Seifer wondered for the first time why he was doing this. Taking care of Leonhart like this. They hated each other. So why save his life?
'Because I'm not like that. I would never leave anyone to die, not even a rival.' He thought. He convinced himself of this, telling himself that had to be it. There couldn't be any other reason.
"Do you have a better idea?" He snapped turning on Raijin. "He's lost a lot of blood and he needs to see a Doctor. He's also very heavy! So what to you suggest? I carry him around on my back 'til I find a doctor?!?" He didn't give Raijin a chance to reply before rushing on. "Don't be so stupid!!! I thought is I brought him back here-"
"WISE?" Fujin interrupted from the balcony.
Seifer turned towards her, his face filled with confusion.
"What?" He asked. Fujin's brief way of speaking made her difficult to understand sometimes. She sighed then said;
"Do you really think it's wise bringing him here? People might jump to the wrong conclusion. You and Squall have always been rivals, people might think you were the one that injured him."
"But…" Seifer ran his hand through his hair considering. "I get were you're coming from but I don't see what else we can do? We can't just abandon him, he'd die. And I don't know how to treat his injuries, do you?"
Fujin shook her head.
"Then we have to get a Doctor." She agreed. "But I'll go get one, you stay here, agreed?"
"Agreed." Seifer nodded. "Go now, okay? I don't think he's getting any better."
* * *
It was growing dark when Fujin finally returned with Doctor Lockhart from the town. It had taken a while to convince her that Seifer; a) Hadn't injured Squall, and b) wasn't going to attack her.
As she check Squall over Seifer left to stand on the balcony. His mind seemed to be racing. Usually the sight of the serene midnight blue sea lapping peacefully onto the golden sand helped relax him. The gentle sound of the tide calmed his nerves. Tonight it seemed to do the opposite.
He found his mind drifting to the last time he had seen his ex-comrades from Garden. After the defeat of Ultimecia, after he had suddenly been freed from her control he had returned to Balamb where he had found Fujin and Raijin waiting for him. Faithful as always.
A few days after that he had been walking in the town alone and there they'd been. All of them. The proud Commander, Squall, the Chicken Wuss, Zell, the little messenger girl, Selphie, the cowboy, Irvine and Instructor Quistis Trepe, her golden hair gleaming in the afternoon sun.
He'd found himself wishing for the days were he could have just sauntered over to them, familiar cocky smirk in place and exchange some idle insults. Just for the fun of seeing Squall's cool response, followed by Zell's display of fly swatting and ended with Instructor Trepe's disapproval. He had wondered why he had felt like this. He was missing them like friends…but they weren't friends, they had never been friends.
He had been about to walk over anyway. After all why should he, Seifer Almasy, be afraid of anything a bunch of twerps were going to say to him. But then SHE came out of the nearby jewellery shop.
Rinoa. Suddenly his nerve had gone. He couldn't speak to her. Not to her of all people.
Another flashback; He saw himself and Rinoa together the summer before, the long days they'd spent on the beach, playing in the water, having picnics and the long walks in the surf after dark. She had made him feel so alive, and when he looked into her beautiful dark eyes his dream had never seemed closer.
Another picture forced it's way into him mind, tearing apart the warm feeling reminiscing about the summer had created. The same chocolate brown eyes, but instead of being warm, they were wide with fear. And again Rinoa's frightened voice echoed through his mind;
"Seifer, please…don't do this…please…"
So he had slipped back into the shadows and watched as they left together. Together. A unit, the Orphanage Gang. They were like a family, a family he should have been part of. Had been part of, until he'd messed up.
Zell was acting out some amusing scene in a very animated fashion that had Selphie and Irvine in fits of laughter. Quistis had a smile on her pretty face, but it didn't quite reach her sapphire eyes. Squall slipped a loving arm around Rinoa's small shoulders, giving her a gentle squeeze before catching up with the others.
Rinoa alone held back. Even from where he stood in the shadows of the alleyway he had hidden in Seifer could see her dark eyes narrowed in thought. Then suddenly she turned and looked right at him. Seifer moved even further into the darkness. She couldn't possibly see him, but then she was a Sorceress. He wondered if she could sense him.
Seifer stiffened wondering what to do. But then Squall appeared again. He took Rinoa's had and asked her something Seifer couldn't make out. Rinoa smiled and shook her head, then she turned putting her arms around Squall and together they walked away. Rinoa looked back towards Seifer once more, and then she was gone…
"SEIFER!" Fujin's voice startled him out of his thoughts. He turned and went back into the hotel room. The Doctor look up at him as he entered.
"What did you say attacked him?" She asked, tucking a few strands of her dark hair behind he ear.
"A T-Rexaur." Seifer said a little defensively. "Do you know what's wrong with him yet?"
"My Medi-Scanner has detected a strange toxin in his blood." She said.
"A toxin?" Seifer asked, but she was going on.
"A Poison." She clarified. "A deadly poison."
"Deadly." Seifer whispered feeling numb. Behind him Fujin went still and even Raijin couldn't think of anything to say after Doctor Lockhart's next words.
"If he doesn't get the antidote in Forty-eight hours." She said. "He'll die."
Author's note.
Okay so now I've got a plot!! I hope people are still interested in reading this since it took so long. Do ya like my little cliff-hanger? Still not much Zell but he'll be in the next part more. Please, please, please review. I'll try to get the next part up as soon as possible.
Love Raven.