Rating: PG-13
A/N: Okay, I've decided not to take this fic in the direction I had intended it to go. For those of you interested exactly where I might have taken it, I'm going to post an alternate ending when I'm done. This chapter, however, marks the point where the alternate ending will begin. Just for future reference...
Chapter 3: Morning Haze
Quistis rolled over in bed. Her muscles were loose and warm under the thick blankets, and she huddled down further into them. A low din rising up from the floorboards penetrated her lazy cocoon, causing her to roll over again in a foolish attempt to escape the sound. When it didn't go miraculously away, she cracked her eyes open.
Dim...even dismal...her little room loomed around her.
Figuring from the lack of light that the sun had yet to come up all the way, she pulled the covers up over her head.
"What do you mean it's not done?" A loud voice trailed by her door accompanied by footsteps and a tingling sensation in the back of Quistis' mind. The voice struck her as familiar somehow, but she couldn't put her finger on why. Sleepily, she pushed the thought out of her mind and tried to ignore the lingering feeling of deja vu.
Closing her eyes again, she let her mind drift away from the Trabian inn. She was back at Garden, dressed to kill in a little black number that highlighted just how golden blonde her hair was and sapphire blue her eyes. Naturally, the vision that she was, other women were giving her jealous stares as she walked by. The men allowed their jaws to drop in awe.
Grinning to herself, Quistis fell headlong into her makeshift dream.
There was one person on her mind this night -- yes, it was night...the stars shining above and a warm, fragrant spring breeze making its way through the dance floor. The man on the other side of the dance floor, near the balcony gently fingering a long, fake vine held her gaze. He was tall with dark hair and had clear hazel eyes. His broad shoulders filled out the SeeD uniform and made the tuck of his waist more noticeable. He was hot, burning strait through her, and he was the only thing she could see.
His name was Devin.
Her eyes fluttered open for a moment. Devin...she missed him. Even though she knew it was silly to miss him, she did. They had never really been anything other than friends, she was the only one who had really wanted to become more. Devin had the suave draw of Irvine without the cocky air, he was oblivious to his own physical attributes and never flaunted them.
She'd kissed him once. It had been wonderful, even when he lightly set her away from him. Devin had become an obsession, she'd thought about him day and night. She'd never been so wrapped up in another person, and her unrequited love for him brought out a whole new Quistis Trepe.
Tossing off the blankets, she leapt up out of bed. It was no more than a torment to sit around in bed day dreaming about things she couldn't have. Besides, the search for Seifer was not yet over. She'd have to leave early to catch up to him, and then....then she wasn't sure what would happen. There was part of her that looked forward to a brawl and another that hoped to find him resigned and ready to give himself up into her custody. Knowing Seifer, he wouldn't give up without a fight. Grudgingly, she supposed that could be an admirable quality.
She didn't remember him very clearly. There were things that she remembered, but she didn't really remember him. Seifer was as much a stranger to him as the man working the bar beneath her feet.
Reminded of him, she frowned and hurried to get dressed. She pulled on a heavy, colorful sweater and a pair of jeans over the insulation of some long underwear. She'd never worn anything under pants before, and it had taken some getting used to. The extra warmth was well worth the initial discomfort.
Pulling her hair back into a pert ponytail, she swung her door open and started down the stairs. The smell of pancakes hit her at the very top of them and her mouth was watering by the time she reached the bottom.
"Wow! That smells delicious!" she announced.
Two people looked up at her, both of which were people she had never seen before. The two men, both of whom she guessed were in their mid to upper thirties, stared steadily at her.
"Breakfast?" she asked, feeling a little foolish.
"Yep."
There was a moment of awkward silence, and Quistis made her way over to the window in order to somehow ease the tension. She was amazed to see nothing but snow when she looked outside. The storm had not yet stopped and the snow was quickly piling up.
"Whoa!" she stepped back in amazement.
"Snowed in," one of the men announced. "May as well get comfortable."
"Snowed in?" she spun around. "What do you mean snowed in?"
"I mean that unless ya want to burrow through the snow, ya gotta stick around."
"You're kidding!" She turned back to the window, realizing for the first time that it wasn't early morning and that the darkness was due to the snow and the storm. "I can't stay here! How long is this going to last?"
"Dunno."
"How can you not know?" she demanded. "You live here, don't you? You should know how long these things take."
The two shrugged, and she let out a long breath. Tapping one foot impatiently, she crossed her arms across the front of her chest. If she was snowed in, Seifer probably was as well. Unless he'd been able to make it over the mountains, in which case she'd probably never find him. Letting out a long groan of frustration, she walked up to the bar and sat down on one of the stools, resting her chin in her hands.
"Where's the guy who runs this place anyway?" she asked, dreading having to spend the next few hours, let alone days, in his company. He wasn't a bad man, was really quite generous and friendly, but he felt a little too friendly toward her.
"Does the Duchess need something?" He came out of a back room behind the bar as if by magic, a pan in his hand, inside were a pair of still hot pancakes.
"Something to eat would be nice," she smiled, flushing for the second time that morning. He curled up his nose at her but retrieved a plate and tossed the two pancakes onto it.
"Butter and syrup's over there if you need it," he announced gruffly, gesturing in the direction of the other two men. "Gonna go broke if I keep feeding everyone on the planet like this..." he grumbled under his breath as he walked away again.
"Not a morning person?" the quieter of the two men asked when she snatched a bottle of maple syrup from their table.
"Actually, I like mornings just fine," she replied.
They didn't say anything else, and she finished off her first pancake in relative peace. The sound of footsteps on the stairs interrupted her first bite of the second one and instinctively she turned to see who was coming down.
She froze and her fork fell from her hand to clatter against the plate. He had a similar reaction, his muscles visible tensing, and for a long moment they both stared at one another, their blood rushing and neither sure what to do. Neither of them were armed, Quistis had left her whip with the rest of her things, and Seifer didn't have his gunblade hanging at his waist.
"Seifer..." she choked out, completely caught off guard. He looked different than she remembered. His hair was slightly longer and there was the shadow of a beard spattered across his jaw. He was still tall and muscular, but now he was lean and taunt, thin and corded.
He seemed just as unsure of what to do as she was, this certainly wasn't how she'd anticipated their meeting. She hadn't expected him to look so...haggard. He had the look of someone who hadn't been well treated for a while, the look of a person who was always on edge.
When the shock began to drain out of her system, she launched off the stool. He darted in the opposite direction, back up the stairs. She knew what he was going for, and she couldn't let him get to it or she wouldn't stand a chance against him.
She threw herself at him, using all of the leverage she had to bring him down by the waist. They both crashed to the ground at the top of the stairs, Quistis hitting both of her knees painfully. He turned in her grip, trying to throw her off of him.
"Damn it, get off of me!" He wrenched her away from him, giving her a shove that almost sent her back down the staircase.
"Stop!" Quistis, rusty from not having been in a real fight for a while, fumbled for something to cast against him. The first thing she came up with was a simple, easy thunder spell. It was enough to get his attention, and it certainly paused him as the electricity made his muscles contract involuntarily. Back on her feet again, she leapt at him, knocking him over.
"Quistis..." he was on his stomach and had to crane his neck to look at her. "You? You're the bounty hunter?"
"I'm not a bounty hunter," she insisted, sitting on top of him and trying her best to keep him down. "I'm on a mission from Garden."
Suddenly, he stopped struggling, and rested his forehead against the hallway floor.
"And what exactly do you plan to do with me?" he asked, the sound of his voice muffled. "We're stuck here."
Reminded of that fact, she had to admit that she didn't have the slightest idea what she was going to do with him, she only knew that she couldn't allow him to get away from her. He much stronger than her and could easily over power her. He wasn't...why wasn't he? She looked down at the back of his head, and then shook hers firmly.
"Stuck here or not," she announced. "I'm taking you back."
