Seifer splashed cold water on his face, hoping the icy water would rinse away some of his demons. It was to no avail as he found himself still staring at a haunted face.
Knock, knock.
"Seifer!" a sing song voice cut into his solitude. He stalked into the living room and glared at the door, willing his visitor to go away.
No such luck.
"I know you're in there, I heard you turn the water off!"
"Go away, Selphie," Seifer growled, scowling at the closed door. The last person he wanted to deal with right now was that hyperactive ball of annoying joy.
"Nope! Not until you talk to me."
"And why should I?"
"Because it's about Quistis!"
Seifer's scowl deepened, but his curiosity was piqued. Had Selphie somehow learned of the affair, too?"
Selphie was quite surprised when the door opened much sooner in the exchange then she'd anticipated, finding herself dragged into the room and placed before a glowering Seifer Almasy.
"Talk," he ordered, "and make it quick."
"Well, y'know how Quisty's been all mopey lately and she tried to tell you last night, but you ran off before she could and—"
"Selphie."
"What?"
"I already know."
Selphie blinked. "You do? Oh, that's great!"
"Great?!" he exclaimed. "You think it's great that your boyfriend is cheating on you with my girlfriend?"
"It's just that, she didn't want to—what?" Selphie gaped at him.
"Yeah. That's probably where they are right now, just like twenty minutes ago when I almost was dumb enough to apologize."
She continued to stare at him for several moments before bursting into laughter.
Seifer frowned. "What is your problem? What is so funny?"
"Oh, no, it's just…" Selphie wiped a tear from her eye. "Irvy's not cheating on me. I was there, too."
"What!" Seifer exploded. She held her hands up in defense. At that moment she noticed Hyperion sitting on the desk and figured she'd better explain quickly.
"No, no! What you heard was a tape!"
"Of Quistis shrieking 'oh, my god, Irvine!'?"
Selphie couldn't contain a giggle. "That was her reaction to the tape. We went to cheer her up 'cause she's really bummed, and meant to bring the tape of your graduation, but Irvy brought the wrong tape."
It all makes a twisted kind of sense, Seifer thought, closing his eyes. Wait a minute… "'Bummed'? Why?" His thoughts strayed to a small bottle sitting in his medicine cabinet.
"Because of you. She tried to tell you last night, but you didn't give her the chance, and now she's afraid to. She wants you to ask her to marry you."
Seifer sat down.
He could deal with roaming monsters, renegade spies, runaway trains, and a free range Chicken Wuss, but all this emotional turmoil was a bit much.
Selphie moved towards the door. "I'm gonna go now." She paused, then looked back at him. In a tone more serious than he had ever heard from her before, she spoke quietly. "Listen, Seifer. I'm not real fond of you. Yeah, you've done a lot to redeem yourself, but I still half expect you to turn on us any day. Still, I want to see you two back together, because you make Quistis happy."
Seifer stared at the door for many long moments after she left. Happy?
He got up and stalked to the bathroom. Opening up the medicine cabinet, he took out a small bottle. He ran his fingers over the label as he had a thousand times in the last two weeks, reading the name again.
Trepe, Quistis, S.R.24.I-14
"If I make you so happy, Quisty," he asked the empty room softly, "then what do you need these for?"
"Do I scare you, Quistis?"
The question seemed so unexpected and out of place where they stood, knee deep in mud, wrestling with the overturned cart. Quistis gave a shaky laugh.
"No, of course not."
"Oh?" Seifer moved closer to her, so close she could feel the heat he radiated even through the chilling rain. "Tell me the truth, now…"
She looked up at him, blinking through the rain at jade green eyes, taken a bit by surprise by the intensity she found in them. She believed she'd never seen Seifer so serious, or so earnest.
"I…yes. Yes, Seifer, you scare me."
Seifer smiled, a sad smile with only a touch of a remorseful smirk. "Why?"
"Because…I'm not afraid of you. You scare me because I'm not afraid of you, even though I should be. I should hate you, but I…"
Seifer searched her face for a long, hungry moment. "But?"
"But I don't hate you."
Rinoa Heartilly sat typing away at a library computer terminal, working frantically on a term paper due the next morning. She was so absorbed in her work that she almost didn't notice the sulking shadow slip up behind her.
Almost.
"What do you want, Seifer," she asked. One of the benefits of her emerging sorceress powers was an ability to sense aura signatures, meaning she couldn't be snuck up on.
"A favor…."
Rinoa stopped typing and turned around to view her ex-boyfriend. His shoulders were slumped, and he was twiddling his thumb nervously, as if searching for the familiar feel of a gunblade trigger. "I'm listening."
"I, uh, well…I think I made a mess of things…Quistis—we had a fight, sort of. And it gave me time to think, and now I need your help…"
A sense of dread draped itself about Rinoa's small shoulders. Rumors had been flying like crazy today, and though she had tried to pass them off as nonsense, a few had stuck with her.
"Rinoa, I heard Seifer still has a thing for you."
"Yeah, that's why he broke up with Quistis."
"You guys are imagining things, he and I are so over."
"I don't know, Rin."
"I made a mistake, and now I need to fix it."
"Seifer, stop," Rinoa said, not willing to hear whatever he had to say next. "I don't know why you think I'm the one, but you've got to stop fooling yourself. Quisty really cares about you, and I'm not going to sit by and watch you hurt her, too."
For a very brief moment, Seifer's mask dropped to display an outraged gasp of surprise before a scowl took its place. "What are you talking about, Rinoa?"
She sighed. "Everyone's talking about you leaving Quistis. And I'm telling you that was the mistake."
Understanding crept its way across Seifer's face. "You think I left her for you?" He laughed, a short, harsh bark. "You're crazy."
Rinoa blinked. Relief flooded her heart. "You didn't?"
"No!" Seifer continued to chuckle, his nervous energy pouring itself into laughter. Rinoa frowned. He could see she was starting to get angry, and he couldn't resist the opportunity to push her. "You're so bloody self-centered, Rin. Grow up."
It had been a long day for Rinoa. Term papers, exams, endless practice and a grueling apprenticeship with Edea to learn to control her sorceress powers, all wrapped up with a relationship running rampant with issues had taken their toll on the normally level headed young woman.
And she was finished with the supreme attitude of one Seifer Almasy.
"You're right," she snapped, "I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sure you left Quisty because now you've got everything you wanted, and you don't need her anymore, you fucking heartless bastard."
"Heartless?" Seifer growled back. "I came in here to talk to you because of my damned heart."
"Sure you did. Seifer Almasy, always thinking with his heart. Following that romantic dream and all. What part of your heart were you following when you threw me in with Adel?"
"Very original, sorceress, bring that up. What about you?" Seifer was shouting now, and the librarian looked very unwilling to tell either of them to be quiet, choosing instead to slip out of the library.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. After all, you were the one that broke the seals on her tomb!"
Rinoa's mouth opened and closed a few times without any sound as she tried to vocalize her rage. "That wasn't me! I was possessed!"
"So was I!" Seifer roared back.
An eerie silence followed as Rinoa stared at him, feeling weak in the knees. All this time, she had always believed he'd done everything willingly. A Knight was supposed to be willing, wasn't he? He had returned to Garden under the pretense of rehabilitation. Never had anyone said he had not been in control of his actions. Certainly not him.
She understood. It hurt his pride, his sense of being, to think that he had been weak enough to be controlled. Perhaps that was why he had avoided her like the plague all this time.
"I'm sorry," she finally said meekly.
Seifer was tired, and he really didn't want to fight with Rinoa. "I'm sorry, too."
"Wow."
"What?"
"You really have changed, Seifer." Rinoa was studying him quietly now. Never before would Seifer have said he was sorry, even if he was. Quistis has been really good for you. "What did you want help with?"
Seifer smiled. "I need your help picking out a ring for Quistis."