Quistis walked down the streets of Deling. Eight years had passed since the sorceress incident and Quistis was now 26. She had left GARDEN only to become what? A librarian. It didn't even pay well. But it was enough for the small apartment she rented. She hadn't fought in so long, and she longed for the front lines of battle... But nothing. Everything was boring. The former instructor looked up at the night sky. She could see hardly any stars, due to the bright lights of the city. She continued on her way, and passed through a dark alley. It was a shortcut to her apartment. It had been fairly safe, so Quistis didn't mind taking it... Until that night. A black gloved-hand was placed over her mouth. She tried to kick and scream. She could do nothing. The man was clad in a darkly colored trenchcoat, and looked as if he had blonde hair.

"Shh!" He muttered as he injected something into her arm. Everything went black.

When Quistis woke up, she was in a foreign apartment. There was the man in a trenchcoat sitting by her, grinning slyly.

"Hah, looks like you finally came to." Quistis stared into the man's green eyes. She thought she recognized him from somewhere, but couldn't remember. "Well, heh, lets see... Quistis Trepe. Nice to see you again."

"Who the hell are you?!" She said, standing up and heading for the door.

"Hey, you leave here, you'll be sorry."

"Oh?! Why is that?"

"You'll die."

"Hah. Yes, and should I stay here, what happens?"

"...." He paused. Quistis cocked an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" Quistis edged backwards towards the door, and placed her hand on the doorknob.

"Locked" He said. "Instructor...have a seat." The way he said "Instructor" set off alarms in her mind. She sat on the bed where she once lay.

"Seifer...?" He spread his arms out and rested them on the back of the green sofa he sat on.

"Guilty."

"What the hell are you doing, Seifer?!"

"Well, looks like they're out to getcha." He smiled evilly.

"Seifer, would you mind explaining? Or I'm leaving!"

"Be my guest, die if you want. It's not like I care in the least. Just thought ya might want fair warning."

"... Look, just tell me what in Hyne's name is going on, and I'll leave you alone." He smiled, as if Quistis had said what he wanted; expected.

"Squall, he is killing everyone who knows Rinoa is a sorceress, unless they got a job at GARDEN, like Selphie and Zell."

"That doesn't sound like Squall...! What are you trying to do, Seifer? And where's Irvine?"

"Gone. I tried to warn him, but that asshole wouldn't trust me. He ended up dead. Like you will." Quistis looked at the floor sadly.

"Seifer, I don't believe you. I'm sorry." Quistis walked to the door, unlocked it, and Seifer looked up. 'Fine, she'll die, just like Irvine. Not my problem, I tried to warn her. But no, she's just a stuck up, stubborn-"

"Seifer!" Quistis walked back in. "There is someone outside. He tried to shoot me."

"Hah! I told you."

"Oh, you're happy about this?"

"Somewhat." Quistis gave him a look and Seifer smiled sheepishly.

"Well, they know where I am. I have to go." Seifer pulled on his trenchcoat.

"Where are you going?"

"I can't very well let them find me." He opened the door and prepared to exit.

"Wait! Seifer. Bring me... with you?"

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe I'll feel less alone."

"Fine." The two walked out of the building and boarded a train bound to Esthar.

"Seifer... How did you find out about this... Squall?"

"Easy. I'm me, aren't I?" He laughed a little, but Quistis' question was still not answered.

"Seifer?"

"Dammit. We've been spotted. Come on, Quistis, we gotta get outta here!" Quistis followed Seifer to the back of the train, and dove out of the train, this did not catch the eyes of the advancing SeeDs.

"Ugh!" They landed on the ground with a thud, and Seifer rolled professionally, as if he'd done this many times before-but Quistis however groaned in pain.

"Uh....dammit. One day, I'm librarian and now, I'm a fugitive. Life couldn't get much worse..."

"Hah. You'd be surprised." Seifer motioned to Quistis' arm, which had been skinned pretty badly, because the train was going so fast, and the fact that she was wearing her normal, sleeveless attire didn't help much either.

"..." She hadn't noticed that. She just thought she had skinned it a bit. She looked at Seifer, hoping he'd have Cure, Cura or Curaga on him, but he just stood up.

"Come on. We have to walk from here." He started walking away, and Quistis wanted to scream at him for not caring. But she didn't. She just clutched her upper arm and followed him silently.

"Seifer, we should stop at Timber... get on another train. We'll never make it from here." Quistis suggested after walking 4 miles.

"What? You think I have the Gil for that?!"

"I do..."

"I don't need your gil. I can take care of myself, take a train if you want."

"Seifer..." He continued walking, and Quistis followed him. It was around three when Quistis noticed him starting to stagger tiredly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just tired." He continued walking, silently. They hitched a ride on a fisherman's boat to the neighboring continent.

"How much sleep have you been getting...?" Seifer wasn't ready to admit that he hadn't slept for four days, because he was searching for Quistis, to save her, warn her... something.

"...I dunno." Quistis stayed silent, and then around 4, Seifer collapsed onto the ground, outside of the Centra Ruins. He obviously had an awful sense of direction... Why was Quistis trusting Seifer, a former enemy? She had trusted him without thinking twice, which wasn't like her at all.

Quistis jogged up to him and knelt down on the ground beside him. Her arm had stopped bleeding, it was covered in blood, as was the hand that had been clutching it to stop the bleeding. She was afraid to get his smooth, golden skin dirty.

"Seifer... Seifer... Come on, Seifer. Lets just get you inside of the ruins..." He grunted, and his eyes closed. "Seifer! You can't sleep out here, we'll get attacked or something, and I haven't fought in years... So, please?!" She shook him, but he was dead asleep. "Dammit, Seifer, get up!" She kicked him.

"What the hell are you doing!?" She looked away, trying to keep composure.

"Let's go inside, before you fall asleep during a battle or something." He followed her inside the ruins and plopped on the throne, where he fell asleep immediatley. Quistis walked outside, and over towards the ocean. She washed her hand of the dried, red liquid, and around the wound... She wondered why Seifer didn't care... Well, of course he didn't care, he was Seifer, he didn't care about anything. The wound was large, and would leave a scar. When she rubbed the cool water over it gently, it bled a little more, but not much. She cleaned off her hands and headed back towards the ruins. She was attacked by a Forbidden on the way. She took out her "Save the Queen" and whipped it around in the air. She had no magic, or items on her, nevermind GF's. She knew the Forbidden could cast DeathBlow, and there was no one around except for Seifer, and he was...sleeping. So helpful. She attacked. She took out around 2250 damage. Not enough. The Forbidden attacked her, taking out 1234 HP. She attacked again, and this song and dance continued for awhile. She seen it concentrating... to cast a spell...Deathblow? It attacked. She felt light-headed then fell to the ground.

Quistis woke up to see Seifer sitting on Odin's throne, sharpening and shining his Hyperion.

"Ah, so, you've finally come to." She stood up, and felt an immediate pain in her wounded arm. She stepped back, a little dizzy.

"Seifer... I was K.Oed..."

"Yeah, gotta save these Life spells for something." Quistis didn't have alot of HP on her. Now she only had 678/9999. She felt sick, and tired. "You don't look so good. I got a Hi-Potion after finishing up that Forbidden. I'll use it on you, but ya have to keep your HP up after that."

"Uh huh." Quistis felt a bit of renewed strength but not much. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened when Seifer seen the Forbidden cast DeathBlow... wasn't he sleeping?

"Seifer, I thought you said we were going to Esthar, not Centra..."

"Whatever. We are gonna stay here for awhile. It seems safe..."

"Sure. Real safe." She glanced at her arm. It looked awful, and she wished she had a sweater to cover it up.

"Hey! You're in no position to talk. You hardly qualify for fighting anymore. Of course its not gonna be safe for ya! But you chose to come, so don't complain to me." She sighed and walked up the stairs to the statue at the top of the ruins. She sat there, thinking of where she would go... if this was ever over. She hadn't seen Seifer for years... And she couldn't believe that Squall would do this to the people he grew up with. But love does weird things to you...

Everything was so quiet there. The wind blew her golden hair occasionally, but other than that... all was placid; still. After awhile, she noticed it was starting to get dark. She walked back downstairs, only to have a gunblade pressed to her throat.

"Seifer?!" She whispered hoarsely. A figure stepped out of the shadows who she classified as Squall.

"Not by a long shot, Quisty."

"Seifer!!!!!" She yelled.

"Oh, no, Qusitis, you shouldn't yell like that... You'll wake the dead."

"Seifer... you didnt!? You killed him?!" Squall smiled. "Squall, what are you doing?! Stop it. Surely Rinoa can be helped..."

"No, so no one has to know."

"Squall! This isn't you... We wouldn't tell a soul, Squall." Squall hesitated.

"I can't trust you, Quistis. I'm sorry."

"Leonhart." Quistis and Squall glanced over at Seifer, who was bleeding badly, he stepped out of a doorway.

"Seifer...!" Squall said in shock. Quistis had to do something... but what? She remembered junctioning the draw ability. Would Squall have any Curaga? It was worth the risk.Quistis kicked Squall foward, catching him off guard, and quickly drew Curaga. She chose to cast it on Seifer, who filled up halfway.

"Squall! Just leave! You killed Irvine... And now me and Seifer? We grew up together, Squall... Rinoa... We wouldn't tell anyone, Squall. Just leave. We'll live our own lives, go our seperate ways, forget about eachother. Squall, just go!" Quistis said. Quistis glanced at Seifer, who was preparing for his limit break on Squall. If she told him to stop, Squall would attack Seifer, if she let him go... Squall would get attacked. -Maybe he would die, Seifer's limit had always been very strong. Quistis didn't know what to do... Why trust Seifer? An enemy. But Squall grew up with you, been your friend forever, but now he's trying to kill you.

"Maybe...I'll just leave." Squall said.

"Hahah! No, ya won't!"

"Seifer! Stop it...!" The limit had been cast... "Nooo!" Quistis pushed Squall out of the way, praying she had enough HP to handle Fire Cross. Nope. She was K.Oed on the spot. Better than dead... Or was she dead? Squall stood up and looked down at his childhood friend in shock. Seifer's blood boiled.

"Squall, get the f*ck out of here! Ya hear me!?" Squall ran away as quickly as he could, afraid of what Seifer might do. Seifer had only let him go because then what Quistis had done would have been pointless. Seifer cast the one Full-Life he had on Quistis. She stirred abit, and got up, but immediatly fell back down, having only one Hit Point.

"Quisty?" He knelt down next to her.

"Seifer..." She leaned against him, trying to keep herself from falling back down again. "Seifer... do you have any...healing... material...?"

"No, Quistis..."

"Dammit, Seifer... Everything looks odd..."

"Quistis!? Don't do this."

"Oh, Seifer... who cares? I'm a damn librarian. Who is gonna miss me?"

"I am, Quistis. I didn't sleep for four days, lookin' for ya. Not ready ta let ya go."

"Quistis, I'm gonna give you some of my magic. Just hold on, okay?" He finished.

"All right..." He juctioned her magic, then gave her his. "Now what?"

"I gave ya some 'drain'. I want you to cast it on me until you're ok again..."

"Seifer..."

"Do it, dammit!" Quistis shakily stood up, and prepared to cast drain on Seifer as if he were an enemy. She remembered when she had to fight him..

"Drain!"

"Again!"

"Drain!"

"Again, Quistis!"

"Drain...!"

"Again...!"

"No, Seifer!"

"Do it, Quistis! Dammit! Listen to me!"

"Dr, Drain!"

"...More."

"No, Seifer. No more. I have 1020 HP... I'm fine."

"Just more, ya won't survive like that!"

"But, if I draw more, you won't, Seifer."

"...So?"

"Seifer!"

"...Fine, Quistis."

"Seifer, what happens about Squall?"

"I think ya knocked some sense into him...and me..."

"You? How so?"

"I think its time I start acting the way I feel, instead of just the oppisite... Don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna be the stuck-up, arrogant bastard that I am... but..."

"Heh heh. I know what you're saying, Seifer... I know..."

~The End.