Quistis fingered the knife gently, catching the light with the sharpened blade. It was a rather small knife, with a six inch blade and an ornate handle shaped like a dragon with it's jaws opened, making it seem as if instead of flame, the dragon was breathing out the blade. Quistis had bought the knife years ago, for no particular reason other than she liked it.

But now the knife had a reason.

Quistis' life had somehow become.... meaningless. To her, anyway.

*Not meaningless* She corrected herself, testing the blade's sharpness, *just... repetitive. Dull. Automated*

After defeating the great sorceress, Squall and the rest of the small group of people had been hailed as heroes. Parades, parties, dinners in their honor, all lasted for weeks afterward. Squall was given the headmaster position of the Balamb Garden after Cid retired to help Edea with the orphanage. Quistis got her Teacher's License back. Life... had returned to normal.

*Not normal... things changed...* Quistis mused, drawing designs in the air with the knife. *I mean, how the hell do you top saving the planet from time compression?* It was a year after the disaster, and life had fallen into some sort of normality.

Rinoa's pregnancy came as a shock to everyone. Selphie's sole purpose in life became organizing the baby shower for the happy girl. Squall married Rinoa a few short months after the final battle, and they were already starting a family. Everybody was happy for them. Everybody, except Quistis.

Quistis somehow faded into the background. When she became an instructor again, her comrades talked to her less. And less. And less. Until they only exchanged pleasant formalities when they somehow wound up in an elevator, or bumped into each other on the streets. Everybody had moved on in his or her lives. Even Zell had moved on, his marriage to Selphie was planned in the fall. Quistis was just left behind.

She didn't know where to go. Teaching held no joy for her. She followed the exact lesson plans that SeeD distributed annually. It wasn't teaching really. Just drilling information into the heads of young people, cranking out machines, exact replicas of each other. No individuality. Just little tin soldiers for SeeD to play with. But teaching was all that was left for her. Quistis had no friends, no family to speak of, and nobody to love.

Quistis smiled to herself, tucking the knife in her back pocket and grabbing onto her backpack, setting out to the one place that held some amount of joy for her.

She thought that she was in love with Squall for a time. But Quistis realized after the war that she was in love with the idea of Squall, not the individual. She was in love with the mystery of him, the charisma. But Rinoa brought out the person he was trying to hide. His true self.

*And his true self is such a whipped little puppy, it's hardly funny.* Quistis thought with a frown. She walked down towards the dock, checking her watch. The boat taking her to her destination would be leaving soon. Quistis picked up the pace a little. This was, after all, the last boat she was ever going to take. ~~~~~

"Seifie! Slow down, will ya?" Quisty shouted, stopping to catch her breath. Well ahead of her, Seifie stopped to roll his eyes and look back at his friend.

"Well run a lil' faster an' maybe you could keep up!" Seifie shouted back. The little blonde boy sighed, and waited for Quisty to catch up. Quisty finally caught up to him, scowling the whole time about not being able to keep up.

"Are we gunna be there soon? Matron will notice we're gone! An' what if we run into a monster or somethin'?" Quisty asked with a frown.

"We're almost there Quisty. Just try to keep up, k?" Seifie said to his strawberry blonde friend. Her hair was falling out of the high ponytail, and she was still slightly out of breath. Seifie decided to slow the pace down. It wouldn't be fair to stay ahead of Quisty. She was, after all, just a girl.

The two little children jogged lightly down the beach. They had been friends ever since they could remember. Seifie told Quisty that he was gunna show her a special place that he found while exploring, and dragged her off to show her.

After a few minutes, Seifie stopped and pointed to a cave.

"We hav'ta go through there to get to the place." Seifie said, moving towards the cave.

"But Seifie! I'm scared of the dark!" Quisty said, shuffling her feet in the sand.

"It'll be alright, I'm here for you. Just hold onto my hand and everything will be ok!"

"Promise Seifie?"

"I promise." With that, Quisty grabbed hold of Seifie's hand and he led her into the cave. ~~~ The boat docked at Centra briefly; Quistis was the only person on the boat, so it didn't stay long. Making sure her whip was safely secured to her hip, she set off in the direction of the old Orphanage. The boat wasn't able to dock near the Orphanage, and so Quistis was forced to walk from one end of the island to where she needed to go.

With a small sigh, she began to hike. The original orphanage, the place Quistis grew up in, was abandoned by Cid and Matron, in favor of the white boat. There was nobody there, and even if somebody did decide to take up residence, they would have a serious building project in front of them. Due to years of neglect, the orphanage was in shambles.

*Kinda like me...* Quistis thought with a wry smile. *In fact exactly like me. After years of neglect, I fell apart. Now all I need is a bulldozer and a "For Sale" sign to put on the vacant lot that used to be me.*

Everybody was so happy. Wrapped up in their own little lives. Too wrapped up to take a look around them.

*With so much on their minds, I suppose it's no surprise that I slipped from their minds.* Quistis thought with a frown. *No surprise that they forgot all about the place they once called home. A place that everybody but me seems to have forgotten...* She dodged a large rock in her path and sighed, starting to wear out from all the walking. But she wasn't far now. Not far at all. ~~~

"Seifie... It's beautiful!" Quisty exclaimed, spinning around a few times to take it all in. Seifie sat back on his heels smugly; He knew that she'd be pleased.

Seifie had found a little cove, hidden by the cliffs that surrounded them. There was a small tropical forest full of flowers bordering it, with a small beach made entirely of milk-white sand. Centered in the hidden cove was a large pool of crystal clear water, being fed by a small stream leading from the ocean. The water was completely smooth, so smooth that you could see straight down to the very bottom. Quisty squealed in delight as she spotted a school of neon pink fish swimming around in the pool.

"It's great, isn't it?" Seifie asked, taking a look around himself. "And no one knows about it Quisty. Just you and me."

"Really?" Quisty asked, eyes going wide. "You mean it's a secret place? OUR secret place?"

"Yup!" Seifie said, emphasizing it by nodding his head vigorously. "But you can't tell no one, understand? It has to stay OURS. The second someone else finds out, it goes from ours to everybody's secret place, and then it ain't a secret no more!"

Quisty digested this information, chewing on her bottom lip. "We have to swear never to tell, Seifie."

"I already thought of that, see." Seifie said. "We's gunna make a blood pact!"

"A blood pact?" Quisty asked, frowning at the word 'blood.'

"Yup." Seifie said, pulling out a small penknife.

"Seifie! Where'd you get that??? We're not supposed to have knives you know!" Quisty said sternly.

"Well, I needed it, you see. How else are we gunna make a blood pact?" Seifie replied, exasperated. Quisty continued to frown, but nodded her head.

Seifie opened the knife, and made a small cut in the middle of his right palm. Blood immediately began to well up, and Quisty swallowed hard. Seifie passed the knife to Quisty. "Now you do it!" he instructed.

Squinting her eyes, Quisty took the knife, and yelped in pain as she cut her left palm.

"Good! Now here, give me your hand!" Seifie said. Quisty held out her left hand, blood dripping down and staining the white sand red. Seifie put his hand over hers, and interlocked his fingers. "Now, swear that you'll never tell a soul, swear it, or else have all of your blood boil and your eyeballs turn into frogs!"

"Ew Seifie that's gross! I don' want frog eyes!" Quisty said, wrinkling her nose.

"Then just swear you'll never tell."

"Ok, I swear it!" Quisty said with a grin.

"Good. Now swear we'll be friends for ever and ever."

"I swear we'll be friends!" Quisty said, nodding her head.

"For ever and ever?" Seifie asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Yup!" Quisty said, nodding her head.

"Good!" Seifie said, withdrawing his hand. Both of their small hands were covered in blood, and the mix of their blood dripped onto the sand.

"Seifie, do you have a band aide? I don' want to bleed to death?" Quisty said, frowning at her small palm.

Seifie blinked. "I sorta forgot that part..." he said, scratching his head. "Come on, let's wash out hands in the ocean to keep tiny buggies from gettin' in."

"I don't want tiny bugs in me!"

"Then let's go wash out hands!"

And together, the two children washed their hands in the ocean. ~~~

Quistis rubbed the cracked stone pillar, tears threatening to spill. The orphanage was on its last legs. Reaching into her pack, Quistis brought out a picture of the orphanage when it was still together, so many years ago. She propped the picture up on the remainder of the porch, then headed off to the beach. She was going back to the secret place.

She smiled to herself, a secret smile, the first time she had really smiled in a long, long time. She and Seifer had gotten into so much trouble. Not only did Matron notice their absence, but she also noticed the cuts on both of their hands. Little Seifer had gotten into more trouble than she had, since Seifer was always a troublemaker and it was Quistis' first offence to Matron knowledge. But it was well worth it.

Quistis walked, and thought to herself. Fighting Seifer was one of the most traumatizing experiences of her life. The last battle was certainly the worst. For, shortly before, Quistis had regained more of her childhood memories. And she remembered the friendship she once shared with the blonde man. And, as she dealt the final blow that had beaten Seifer for the last time, her promise flashed through her mind.

~"I swear we'll be friends!" Quisty said, nodding her head.

~"For ever and ever?" Seifie asked, cocking his head to the side.

~"Yup!" Quisty said, nodding her head.

And then it was over. Seifer had been defeated. There was, of course, no time to sit and brood, for they had to face more obstacles. It wasn't until after the battle when Quistis had to deal with her emotions. And, as her friends one by one left her, she was left with nobody to support her in her time of need. Nobody to comfort her. Her friends didn't seem to remember her and Seifer as friends during childhood. But Quistis had long since stopped junctioning her GF. And so memories seeped back into her, one by one.

Quistis briefly wondered what had happened to Seifer. He was not charged for war crimes, and last she had heard he was in Deiling City. SeeD was keeping tabs on him, to make sure he will not be a threat.

*And yet they're unable to keep track of him... Incompetent people...* Quistis thought with a frown. She stopped in front of the cave. Making sure the knife was still in her pocket, she ventured through the dark cave.

When she emerged, she smiled. A big smile of relief. She felt like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The 'secret place' hadn't changed. Not a bit. There was even a school of neon pink fish swimming around. Quistis sighed and dropped her pack on the ground. It was time.

She unzipped her pack and pulled out a blood red dress. She quickly stripped down and changed into the dress. It was made of the finest of silk, sleeveless, with a tight bodice that flowed down into a wide skirt. It looked like something one would wear to a fancy ball, something special that should only be brought out when it was of the up most importance. Quistis quietly slipped on black heels, and tied a gold chain choker with a gold, heart shaped locket around her sculpted, pale neck. She then released her hair from its customary bun, letting it fall free in loose waves down her back.

The sun was setting as Quistis finished getting ready, neatly folding her things and placing them under a palm tree the was growing nearby. Quistis held the knife firmly in her left hand, smiling at the sun's colors playing with the water's surface. She then brought the knife up and slashed her wrists. Blood spurted out onto the milk-white sand, as it had so many years ago with Seifer. With a smile still on her face, Quistis fell over, slipping into the blissful unconsciousness, for what she hoped was forever.