Rating: PG-13
A/N: Blah...this chapter sucks. I keep talking to people as I write, and it doesn't help that I've been reading a TON of thrillers lately...my dialogue is kind of empty...sorry.
Chapter 4: Captivity
She looked different than he remembered her. Seifer sat on the floor and watched her pace back and forth in front of him. After she'd informed the other two men staying at the tavern that he was a criminal and she was a SeeD sent from Garden to bring him in, they had been more than happy to help her restrain him. Not that much effort had really gone into controlling him. As much as he was inclined to fight tooth and nail from being taken back, he knew that there really was nothing she could do until the snow melted or someone was able to dig them out. That could take a while, and it gave him enough time to devise some way out of the mess he'd fallen into.
Still, he couldn't get over how much she had changed. She used to have that innocent, intelligent look. She no longer wore her little wire rimmed reading glasses. The fish tail was gone, as were the long golden tresses that hung over her shoulders. She'd cut her hair short, how short he couldn't tell because she'd pulled it back into a pony tail.
She wasn't wearing a dress. He couldn't specifically remember seeing her in pants before. She didn't look quite as innocent as she'd used to either, she wasn't a girl anymore. Quistis Trepe, who had been a woman in mind for years, had finally become one in body. It wasn't even so much that she was filled out, she'd always been filled out, but she had an air to her that spoke of experience.
"I don't know where you think I'm going to go," he grumbled, pulling at the bindings on his hands. "I'm just as stuck here as you are."
"Seifer, shut up and just let me think for a second," she bit out, narrowing her eyes with blatant hostility.
"You've been thinking for the past few hours," he replied. "I haven't eaten yet, and I'd like to at some point."
"You're a prisoner," she reminded him. "Best you don't complain too much."
He couldn't believe that they'd sent Quistis after him, off all the people in Garden she was one of the last ones he'd expected. He'd thought maybe Zell, or even Squall...but Quistis? Hell, at one point they'd even been distantly friendly toward one another. She was his concerned instructor back then, although she'd been distracted and all-together more concerned about Squall.
"Prisoner for what?" he asked. "What are you detaining me for?"
"War crimes," she replied, pausing as she did so. "Don't tell me you don't remember."
"I remember you telling me I wasn't your favorite student anymore," he answered, sending her a teasing smile.
"Don't taunt me, Seifer. I'm not the Quistis you remember."
"So I noticed."
She definitely grown a little harder. He wondered why, if something had happened to her or if she'd just grown stiffer over time. She was still bossy, at least that much had remained the same.
"I'll have someone bring you up something to eat," she informed him, tucking her fingers in her belt loops.
"Why, where will you be?" he asked.
"Right here."
"Doing what?"
"Keeping an eye on you."
"Dammit...where the hell do you think I'm going to go?" he demanded angrily. "Have you looked outside lately?"
"I'm not worried about you going anywhere," she replied, gripping her whip firmly in her right hand. Her knuckles were white and every muscle in her body was stiff with apprehension. Seifer didn't follow at first what she meant, and it only dawned on him when she sat down across from him.
She was worried that he would attack her. That he would simply do away with her rather than allow her to take him back. It wasn't really a bad idea, and he supposed that if he was that sort of person it would be a good plan. But, however much he hated the thought of going back, he didn't think he could really bring himself to murder Quistis. They'd known each other since they were children, she'd practically been his sister. There were all sorts of things Seifer would do, indeed all sorts of awful things that he had done, but there was a line that even he wouldn't cross.
Of course, he had to look at it all from her perspective. As far as she was concerned, he'd tried to kill her before. What was there to stop him from trying again?
Sighing, he slumped against the wall and watched her. If she thought so badly of him, there wasn't much he could do to change her mind.
"So then I just have to sit here until the blizzard's over and the snow melts?" he asked.
"That's the plan."
"You really want to sit here and watch me that long?" He was looking for the perfect string to pull, and wasn't having very much luck. There had to be something that would allow Quistis to give him back his freedom, or relative freedom at least.
"No, quite honestly," she shrugged. "But I don't have much choice."
"Oh, I think you do."
"Seifer..." she leaned back a little and rolled her eyes. "You're not going to sweet talk your way out of this. Do you have any idea how long I've been searching for you? I've been all over the world twice over trying to find you, and I'm not about to just let you go now that I've finally got you."
"Why'd they choose you anyway?" he asked. The question was on his mind anyway, so he figured he had the perfect opportunity to ask. He hoped her answer would provide him some way out. Maybe she was being forced to look for him and only really wanted to go back.
"I volunteered."
He stared at her, hardly believing that was her answer. She'd volunteered. Garden had been looking for a bounty hunter, and Quistis had taken up the challenge. She was after his head, or the money...probably both. He couldn't really blame her, he figured he'd make one hell of a bounty hunter himself, but he couldn't help feeling distantly betrayed and more than a little angry. Fuming, he turned his gaze away from her.
The day wore on, and they sat in silence. Quistis read a book for a while, a romance novel judging from the curvy scrawl on the pink front. Seifer childishly refused to talk to her. He was angry yet, and he preferred instead to sit and simmer.
Frowning, she suddenly tossed the book down and groaned.
"That was awful."
"Then why'd you read it?"
"Well, I didn't think it was going to be when I picked it up," she rolled her eyes. "But seriously, I don't know what the author was thinking. I swear, she just stopped in the middle of everything and left about a million things unresolved."
"Maybe she's planning a sequel," he shrugged.
"I doubt it," Quistis snorted. "If she wrote it, no one would read it."
"You read the first one," he pointed out. "Finished it too...she obviously knows something you don't."
"That's not very likely."
"What's it about?" To hell with not talking, Seifer was bored out of his mind. Talking about a book was innocent enough, it didn't imply that he was any less angry than he was and it didn't invite any sort of discussion of personal matters.
"Why?" she arched an eyebrow suspiciously.
"Just wondering," he shrugged. "I'm bored, toss me a bone here."
"You want to read it?" she asked, sitting up a little straighter and a hint of a smile playing across her mouth.
"Not really," he replied defensively. "I've got my hands tied behind my back anyway."
"Right," she laughed. "I should probably feed you."
"That's for damn sure."
"Don't cuss, Seifer," she waved a finger at him. "It's not very becoming."
"God forbid."
Shaking her head, Quistis picked up her whip again and walked over to him, motioning for him to get up off the floor. Seifer's butt was thoroughly asleep and tingled painfully when he pushed himself up with his feet. Cringing, he pulled out of her grip when she grabbed his arm.
She escorted him down the stairs, holding firmly onto his sleeve as he went. He found himself wondering miserably if she was going to untie him to let him eat or feed it to him like a baby. He wouldn't put it past her to humiliate him on top of everything else. The least he felt that he should have coming toward him was a little respectful fear.
The three men looked over at them as they walked in. They seemed to fear Quistis more than they did him, and he couldn't really blame them. She had, after all, brought down a man bigger than them. Well, except for the Tavern keeper...Seifer couldn't remember his name...he was a big guy.
"Don't try anything," she whispered, pulling at the knot around his hands.
"I'll be good," he promised.
Quistis paid for lunch for the both of them and sat across from him as he ate. It was some kind of stew, he preferred not to guess what kind of meat was in it. The vegetables were good though, and he even had to admit that the mystery meat had a tangy, pleasant sort of taste. Most of all, he was relived to no longer be sitting on the floor in Quistis' room. She wasn't exactly good company, and he knew that if he had to sit there another day he was going to loose his mind and just kill himself.
His wrists were a little stiff, and he worked at them gently in between bites. The blood was just starting to flow back into his fingers and backside when Quistis finished her meal and turned her unwavering stare back to him. There was an especially unnerving quality to her look, but he couldn't put his finger on what exactly was bothering him about it.
He looked hard at her when she finally turned her gaze away, trying to peel away the layers to find the Quistis he had once known. This woman sitting in front of him was so different...he couldn't even imagine that she had once been the impish little blonde he used to chase on the beach. She always told on him, he never got away with anything around her. Whether he was defacing one of her dolls or pulling her hair, Matron always knew twenty seconds later and he received his just rewards.
Maybe, he thought, it wasn't so impossible that she'd been the one to volunteer to come after him. Telling on him...bringing trouble and punishment into his life...never letting him forget.
Forget what? He didn't really want to forget, but sometimes he remembered all too well.
They'd all seemed like monsters to him, trying to kill the very woman who had raised them. Coupled with the dreams, the whole experience had been like a long, drunken interlude from a movie. He remembered the dreams only vaguely, and he often wished that he could have them back.
"You done?" she asked.
"Yeah...I'm done," he replied.
Minutes later, he found himself back on the floor in her room. The day was going to be terribly long, and the next even longer. He supposed that they could be stuck for upwards of a week. If he had to spent every moment of it as he currently was, he might reconsider whether or not to kill Quistis.
He laughed as the thought crossed his mind, and he looked over at the oblivious Quistis. She reclaimed her place on the bed, not about to be uncomfortable herself.
"You could toss me a pillow to sit on or something, ya know."
"I could."
"But you won't? Figures."
The pillow flew across the room moments later, landing in front of him.
"Want the book too?" she asked, sneering back at him.
"No, that's okay..."
"Just checking."
Sighing, Seifer wriggled his way onto the pillow. It was a huge improvement to the bare floor. Come nightfall, he'd have to figure something out. He couldn't stay captive forever. There had to be some way to convince her that he was safe. He looked at the book, laying at the end of the bed, and fell into thought. She was a woman after all, he could try and sweet talk her a little...
He tossed that thought away, she'd never fall for something like that from him. Would she? All things considered, he supposed it was worth a try.
