Chapter 5

Chapter 5

By Silver Dolphin

"May the dead forever rest in peace." At that solemn pronouncement, Squall pried open one smoky eye to find Seifer standing over his bed, smirking down at him.

He shot the blond his customary Squall Leonhart scowl and rolled over, using the pillow to block out Seifer's face. "To wake up this early in the morning and see your face, I don't think that statement applies to me."

"If that's the way you feel about your best friend, I don't even want to know how you regard your enemies."

Squall tossed the pillow at the incorrigible blond and sat up, wincing as the sunlight stabbed into his eyes. "Since when did the sun rise so early in Balamb?"

"If you call eleven o'clock early, then it always did."

Squall blinked, and the throbbing in his head worsened. No wonder Seifer had come looking for him. He groaned aloud as another spear of pain shot through his head. Seifer grinned and shoved a cup of something into his hand.

"What the hell is this?"

"Don't worry, it's not a love potion for you and Quistis or something. It's something to clear that thick head of yours."

Squall glared at Seifer. The tall blond raised his shoulders in a half shrug. "What? You two were pretty obvious last night."

The SeeD commander downed the contents of the cup in one swallow. It tasted awful, but it wasn't as bad as Seifer's words. He grimaced slightly.

"Something tells me you two are having problems." The smirk was gone from Seifer's face and voice, and the dark emerald eyes were dead serious.

"None of your business."

"Maybe. But Quisty is a rare jewel, and I'd hate to see her get hurt."

"You?" Squall's eyebrow shot up.

"I loved her once, you know. But then I realized she had eyes for no one but you, so I let her go."

"I asked her to wait, and she agreed. While I…"

"Rinoa? Come on, she's been dead for a year now. You want to remain celibate for the rest of your life?" Then, as he received another murderous glance, "You're wasting your loyalty on a dead person, while you hurt the living."

"That's harsh."

"Well, it's true!" the blond defended himself. "Hey, I don't mean to diss Rinny or anything, but you can't spend the rest of your life loving the dead, you know."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"Go talk to Quisty. Fall for her charms – before you break her heart."

"Too late, Seifer." Helplessness marred Squall's smooth timbre. "I already have – fallen for her charms and broken her heart."

"Why the sudden visit to Winhill?" Quistis asked, as she watched the surrounding landscape whiz past from the window of the Ragnarok.

"Ellone asked me to visit her and Laguna. Apparently they're on holiday." He cast her a quick look, before returning his attention to piloting the craft. "You didn't have to accompany me, you know. You could have gone on home first."

Quistis waved the half-apology aside. "It's on the way back from Timber, anyway. I could do with a short holiday myself, after all these diplomacy missions one after another."

"Hn."

"I wonder how Sis is doing." When Squall didn't answer her, she let her breath out in a slow, disappointed rush and turned back to the window. She supposed she couldn't expect him to open up to her just like that – it would have to come slowly and naturally.

"Squall!" Ellone opened the door to the renovated Pub in delight. "I didn't think you'd come down so soon – Quisty!" she reached out impulsively to pull the younger girl into a hug, then hustled them into the house and into the sitting room. Since Raine's death, the Pub had ceased exist, and on Ellone's return she'd turned the place into a living room, dining room and kitchen. With a promise to "be back soon" she hurried on upstairs to prepare their bedrooms.

It was by sheer coincidence that Ellone returned with Laguna in tow just as Quistis was giving Squall one of those massages he so coveted. Both stood in the doorway, studying the couple on the couch, before Laguna broke the silence with his honeyed voice.

"Well, now, what's been going on between you children since Elle left to prepare the beds?"

Quistis and Squall looked up, startled. Laguna and Ellone both wore identical knowing looks, and Quistis blushed faintly, realizing how they must look to the older pair. Squall stripped to the waist, and she almost leaning on him as her hands roamed his bare back…

"Maybe I should have only prepared one bed, hmmm?" The dark haired girl exchanged a smirk with Laguna.

"Ellone!" Quistis exclaimed. "It was nothing like that!"

"No?" she grinned as Laguna offered them all drinks.

"Quit teasing her, Sis." Squall sat up next to Quistis, and almost instinctively she leaned against him.

"Whatever you say," Ellone agreed. "How can I keep bullying her, when her knight in shining armor is here to protect her?"

"How long have you and Squall been together, Quisty?" Ellone asked as she sampled the soup they were making for dinner. Since Quistis's culinary skills were seriously limited, she mostly stayed away from the stove and concerned herself with the family cat.

"What makes you think we're together?" Quistis replied, as she sat down and patted her lap. "Here, kitty." The cat jumped onto her lap and purred as she stroked the silky head.

"Aren't you? From what I saw…"

"No. I wish we were, though." Quistis knew she was revealing more than she normally would have, but Ellone was like her big sister and she trusted her enough to share her secrets. A bitter note crept into her voice. "I just wonder how long I'd have to wait, that's all."

"That strikes me as strange," Ellone remarked, whirling around to face the blonde. She pointed the ladle at Quistis. "As children you two were very close. I always thought you'd be lovers in future." She smiled enigmatically at the younger girl. "You are, aren't you? You can fool an eternal innocent like Uncle Laguna, but I know the look in your eyes. I used to see it in Aunt Raine's.

"Just one night, Sis. And then we realized it was a mistake."

"Why? He's not still hung up over Rinoa, is he? It's been so long now, and they never really struck me as a stable couple. It was as if something was bound to come between their love."

"Whatever his faults, you have to say Squalls' faithful, I suppose."

"No." The brunette fixed her with a mischievous smile, as she moved the pot off the stove. "Just stubborn, Quisty. And I plan to remedy that."

"Care to have a private chat with me, Squall?" Ellone asked as the foursome concluded their evening together. She shot Laguna an inquiring look.

He shrugged. "Fine by me, Elle, just don't stay up too late, okay? I know you can chat through the night once your tongue's started."

"It's my one failing. Good night, Uncle Laguna. Sweet dreams, Quisty." Her sly smile indicated just what those dreams should be.

"Si~s!"

Laguna laughed. So much for him being an eternal innocent. They headed off to bed, leaving the sitting room entirely to Squall and Ellone.

"What's going on between the two of you?" Ellone asked directly, nodding in the direction of the stairs. "One moment you seem so close, then the next…you're holding her at arm's length."

Why did everybody have to notice him and Quistis? "Nothing."

"Listen to me, Squall. I think everyone's pretty tired of your sulky attitude by now. You've really changed over the past year. I mean, sure, you used to be like that, but everything changed after you met Rinoa. And now it seems you've gone back to your old self again."

He shrugged. Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

Ellone speared him with a curiously predatory look. "You're denying, you know. You do love her, don't you?"

"No."

"Rinoa's gone, Squall. You loved her, and that's getting in the way of what you feel for Quisty. Just because you love Quisty, you think you're betraying Rinoa, and so you try to reject those feelings."

"Says who?"

"I can see, Squall. It's okay to love again after someone you loved dies. You have to carry on."

"Am I that palpable?"

"Yes. I know you love her, Squall. She loves you, she's waiting for you…why make her wait so long?"

"It's not that easy to do, Sis."

"I know." Her voice dropped. "Maybe you should go see Rinoa, Squall. Make peace with your conscience, with her ghost if you have to."

"Tomorrow."

"Sure. Let's go to bed, shall we? You can think till you drop off to sleep."

Quistis woke in the middle of the night with the feeling that something wasn't quite right. She wasn't sure why she did, though. This was Laguna and Ellone's residence, in what was probably the quietest, safest little town in the world. Why…?

The room was stifling. She really couldn't go back to bed again. It was in the middle of autumn – but no breeze blew through the open window, and when she put her head out into the open air she could feel how heavy and damp it was. Her camisole stuck to her sweaty back, and although she had pulled her hair back into a braid, some of the strands had escaped and now they clung to her damp forehead. And that nagging feeling at the back of her mind wasn't helping to get her back to sleep any.

She opened the door and stepped out into the darkened hallway. Pale moonlight poured in from the windows, illuminating a tall, lithely muscled figure standing before them. Naked to the waist, she could see how the muscles in his shoulders and back rippled with the slightest movement he made.

"What are you doing?" she asked softly, fingers brushing his shoulder with the faintest of touches. He turned to face her, the moonlight in his eyes, lighting his hair with silver gilt, making him look like a fallen angel from heaven.

"I couldn't sleep," he replied hoarsely. "It's so hot. And…empty."

"Lonely?" She asked.

He shrugged. She really wished he wouldn't do that – it was so distracting, the way his lean body moved so fluidly in the dark.

"Quisty?" his voice was barely above a whisper. To her imaginative mind, it sounded like the enticement of some fairy king, coaxing a mortal woman into his bed.

She shook off the fantastical thought. "Yes?"

"Will you lie with me tonight?"

"Oh, Squall…" she turned anguished eyes on him. "Don't you see it won't help? You'll just regret it in the morning." However much she wanted to comfort him, she couldn't. Not another loveless union.

"Does it help if I told you I love you?" she saw, once again, the desperation and confusion in his eyes.

"Do you?" A wild spark of hope ignited in her.

"Yes. Come to bed with me, Quisty. Please." He stretched out his hand, and she succumbed into his inviting arms. He drew her against his muscled warmth, lips nuzzling her temple gently. In her mind's eye she saw him all over again, lying hot and sweaty next to her, while he uttered Rinoa's name in her ear. She shuddered slightly, and pulled away.

"I can't, Squall. Not till you've put the past behind you."

He was wise enough not to touch her. "That's what Sis told me. She…she suggested I see Rinoa in the morning."

"I think so, too." Her voice was quiet behind him. Perhaps it would be difficult for him to visit his ex fiancée's grave, but he'd be able to clear things out once and for all. She put her hands on his shoulders, gently forcing him to turn around to face her. Slim hands slid up the back of his neck, entangling in his soft brown locks, urging his face down to hers for a tender good-night kiss.

"When you're ready, Squall…" she murmured into his ear, "I'll be here…always by your side."

- end chapter 5 -