Author's Notes: I'm very unsure of this chapter. Get ready for hints of 'you-know-what', sappy trash, a disgustingly sweet Seifer and as always, a great deal of out of characterishness. Criticism friendly.

PART 8 Are You Leaving?

"I suggest that you change you mind," Cid said sternly. "I'm giving you until the end of the month to decide. So until then, it means that you must stay."

"I wanna leave right here, right now," Seifer replied.

"The whole thing is absurd! You just graduated and now you wish to leave the Garden?!"

"Yes."

"Ridiculous! I will not let you throw your future away like that!"

Seifer stood up and went for the door without saying a thing.

"You have until the end of the month, Seifer! Don't be a fool!" Cid called out. He sighed when the blonde young man left. 'That boy. He just graduated and now he wants to leave?! Oh well... Seifer will be Seifer... I think he'll make the right choice. At least...I hope he does...'

~*~*~*~

'Old geezer...' Seifer sat down on his bed. 'Why doesn't he just let me leave? Did he have to keep me here?! It would've been easier for me! Damn that old man...'

He laid down and shut his eyes. 'Sleep...that always did me good...'

His eyes shot open when there was a pounding at the door. 'Fuck! Who'd be up at this hour?! It's the middle of the night for crying out loud!'

He reluctantly got up and went to open the door, very much ready to beat the leaving hell out of whoever dared to disturb him. "What do you--" He stood there and stared at the person in front of him. "Quistis, what the hell are you doing here?!"

He stood there, gawking at her beauty. She looked absolutely divine, even more than he could imagine. Blonde hair cascading past her shoulder blades, a lovely lavender dress showing off all her curves... She looked just like an angel.

"Could I," she started, interrupting his thoughts, "come in?"

"Why are you here?" Seifer asked, ignoring her question. "I thought you left."

"I came for the wedding."

It all came back to him. Squall and Rinoa got married that day. It pained him to think about it. That was why he didn't attend.

'Great,' he thought exasperatedly. 'I completely erase them from my mind and now she tells me!'

"What do you want, anyway?!" Seifer asked.

Quistis pushed him back, closing the door behind her, and pushed him onto the bed.

"I want you to make love to me, Seifer," she whispered into his ear as seductively as she could.

Make love to Quistis? He would have killed for an opportunity like that. And now she was there, laying on top of him and demanding for him to take her. He would have started tearing off their clothes but there was something that bothered him...

She was drunk. He could sense it in her breath.

"I..." He slowly began to pry her off him. "I can't..." He couldn't possibly allow himself to take advantage over Quistis in the state she was in. Her head was messed up and if he did what she was asking for, she would probably regret it for the rest of her life. He knew she didn't really want that. He just had to take control of his desires, no matter how attractive Quistis was. She had enough to worry about.

She let out a half gasp, half sob. "You don't..." Her voice was trembly. "You think I'm ugly, don't you?"

"No! It isn't that..."

He could see her eyes shining with something. Tears?

She buried her face into his shoulder. "Yes, it is that!"

Seifer, not knowing what to do, patted her on the head. "Um...there, there..."

She grabbed the sheets in frustration. "I knew it! I should have gone to a Trepie!"

"So you'd rather have a random loser instead of me?" Seifer said, trying to lighten up her mood.

It didn't work. The young blonde woman was softly sobbing on his shoulder.

'Hyne...' He sighed and then rubbed her back.

"You don't think I'm good enough, don't you?" she said quietly. "Just like Squall..."

'What?!' He looked down at Quistis' crying figure. How could she not think that she wasn't good enough? She was practically perfect! Golden blonde hair, clear blue eyes, a child prodigy... Women would kill to be her and men would die to have her. Even him.

'Yeah...' He sighed. 'Even me. How can you think of yourself like that?! Not good enough?! You're more than enough! I mean, look at you! You're beautiful. And not only that but you're really smart. Everybody likes you. And me? Exactly the opposite...'

He felt her move away from him.

"I'm sorry, Seifer," she said. "I won't bother you anymore."

Seifer grabbed her by the wrist to prevent her from going.

"No," he replied. "It's okay."

To Seifer's surprise, Quistis threw her arms around him and he started to comfort her as a parent would to their child.

"Hyne!!!" she cried. "Why?! Why did he choose her over me?! I could've made him so happy! I would give everything I had for him! Hyne, I wish I were her!!!"

"Don't say that. You're good just the way you are. C'mon, don't make such a big deal over him. He's just an asshole. He couldn't tell the difference from a good thing and a bad thing if his life depended on it! Besides, you're too good for him anyway. You deserve better. You deserve someone...who cares about you..."

"Like who? Who would care for me?"

"Maybe someone like..." He paused. "Maybe someone like...me..."

He looked down at her to see her reaction. Her crying had stopped and her eyes were closed. She was asleep. 'Shit. What the hell is with me and this mushy crap?' He lay her on the bed and prepared to leave but stopped when there was a tugging on his hand.

"Seifer..." Quistis looked up at him through half-closed eyelids.

"What is it?"

She yawned. "Oh, nothing..."

Seifer got up and took a pillow. He threw the pillow on the floor and sat on the floor with a blanket in his hand.

"Seifer, what are you doing?" Quistis asked sleepily.

"I'm going to sleep," Seifer replied as he lay down and wrapped the blanket around himself.

"Seifer, sleep with me..."

Seifer felt himself get warmer as he turned his back to her. "Go to sleep, Quistis."

"Seifer, sleep with me!" she whined.

"GO TO SLEEP, QUISTIS."

"Seifer, sleep with me! There's more than enough room up here!"

"..."

"Sei-fer!"

"Quistis, please just go to--"

He cut himself off when he heard a thud next to him and something cuddling up close.

"Well..." Quistis cuddled up closer to him and wrapped her arms around his stiff form. "If you won't come to me...I might as well...come to you..."

"Quistis..."

"Go to sleep, Seifer..."

Seifer let his muscles relax when he was sure that Quistis was fast asleep. 'Oh, what the hell. Just enjoy it while you can. Leave it be.'

He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

~*~*~*~

Quistis fluttered her eyes open and let out a yawn.

"Oww..." Her head was pounding. She rubbed her temples and looked around. 'Hm?'

Here's my special hangover cure. Hope you feel better.

P. S. Nothing happened last night, don't worry. And don't feel so self-conscious, that's really unattractive.

She smiled to herself. 'Seifer...' She drank the liquid. 'Now I remember...'

She stood up and sat on the bed. She looked around the room. It was practically empty. The only items in the room were the furniture.

'Where is he? He has to be around here somewhere!' She started to panic a little as she stood up. 'Don't tell me he left without me knowing!'

She headed over the door so she could go out to look for Seifer or at least learn of his whereabouts but stopped and turned around when she sensed his presence.

"You okay?" Seifer asked. "You look a little worried."

"S-Seifer...?" She stepped closer to him.

"You okay?" Seifer repeated.

"I thought that you were..."

"Gone?"

She nodded.

"No."

"So then...why is your room empty? Are you leaving?"

"No. No, not yet. Just packing."

"So you're...?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Quistis lowered her head. "Oh."

"Yeah..."

"So...uh...where to?"

"Oh, I dunno. Anywhere I can get some good money."

She tilted her head up a little to look at him. "Then if it's like that then why don't you just stay here?"

"I..." Seifer looked away. "I can't. I just...can't."

"But why? You just made it to SeeD and I'm sure that--"

"It's not that."

"Huh?"

"I know I just made it to SeeD. And I'm glad about that. But...some things just can't be helped."

"Like what?"

"Just 'things', okay?"

"U-Um...okay... Well, will you ever..."

"Come back? I don't know. I'm not planning to anytime soon."

"I see..."

"What? It's not like anyone's gonna miss me."

"Don't say that. I'm sure there's a lot of people who'll miss you."

"Oh, really? Like who? Rinoa? The only person she'll a damn about is her friggin' husband!"

Quistis was quite surprised at his sudden outburst but was ready to protect her friend. "S-She's not like that! Don't say that about Rinoa! I know she cares about you very much! She loved you, didn't she?"

Seifer hesitated to answer. "Well, that's the keyword, Quistis. She loved me. But the way she treats me now? It's like we were never in love. And you know what? That's the worst thing anyone could do to me! And you know what else? It really hurts!"

"I'm sorry, Seifer. I didn't know it was like that..."

"Well...now you do."

After a long, uncomfortable pause, Seifer went towards the bed and picked up the blanket and pillow from the floor. Quistis watched him as he fixed the bed.

"Did it work?" he asked while arranging the pillows.

"W-What? Huh? What worked?"

"The cure for your hangover. Did it work?"

"Oh, right. Yes, I do feel much better."

"That's good. It looked like you had a little too much to drink last night."

"I think I did. I'm in--" She gasped. "Oh Hyne! I'm in your room!"

"And it took you that long to figure that out?"

"Of course not! I must have...bothered you..."

Seifer cleared his throat. "Er...nothing to worry about."

"So...what did happen last night?"

Seifer stared at her. "Some things are better off unsaid."

"Was it really that bad?"

"Nothing happened."

"I just want to know what happened last night."

"I assure you, NOTHING HAPPENED."

"I have a right to know. I just want to know what happened."

"Fine!" Seifer turned away from her. "Then I'll tell you. Last night--"

{knock, knock, knock}

They looked up to the door.

{knock, knock, knock}

Seifer walked over to the door and opened it. He narrowed his eyes at the person there. "What do you want?"

Zell sighed. "Don't think I wanted to come here. We're looking for Quistis. She came back yesterday but when we looked in her room, she wasn't there. Someone said they saw her somewhere around here. Do you know where she is?"

"..."

"Zell, what're you..." Quistis quickly covered her mouth.

Zell pushed Seifer out of the way and stepped inside. "QUISTIS???!!!" he exclaimed as he stared at her in her wrinkly lavender dress. "W-What... WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE???!!!"

Quistis lowered her gaze.

"Don't tell me you..." Zell looked at Seifer and then back at Quistis. "A-And him..."

"N-No!" Quistis replied. "Nothing like that happened! I think I had a bit too much champagne to drink and I accidentally ended up here. But nothing happened!"

"Tch. Where'd ya hear that from?" Zell asked sarcastically.

"He told me."

"When did you believe everything he said?"

Quistis paused for a moment. "I...trust him..."

"Quistis, tell me you're kidding!"

"Zell... I trust Seifer."

"... Well, anyway..." Zell turned to leave. "After you get ready, Cid wants to see talk to you about something."

"Sure thing."

Zell walked past Seifer and stopped. "Cid wants to see you, too."

"I'll be there," Seifer said.

Zell took one last glance at Quistis and left. Seifer closed the door.

"Seifer, I'm really sor--"

"What's there to be sorry about?" Seifer replied. "I'm used to it."

"Well, I...guess I'd better be going..."

"Yeah, I guess you should, shouldn't you?"

The tone of his voice was cold and emotionless. Quistis stared at him for a moment then rushed out the door.