Seifer to the rescue!
Sorry this part took so long, ppl. I promise another will be on the way very very soon!
**
Seifer?
No, he's not Seifer. His hair is darker – even though this place seems to be full of fog, I can see that his eyes are blue-violet, not jade green like Seifer's. What was the last thing I saw? I don't remember fog, mist and darkness. Are we lost? Are we travellers in the Antarctic? This place looks of broken windows, smells of broken hearts.
I can see, yet I cannot take in, move, or speak. The room is rectangular, office-like. There is a faint beam of moonlight falling through one of the windows. The floor is parquet, the chairs plush and black in their leather. The man is sitting in the chair opposite me. His murderous hands are doing something to mine. Something is jerking at my wrists, scraping and chafing. Rope? String? Who knows? Some veil draws a film over my eyes. I try to draw a breath but the effort hurts me. Something hurts at my throat. I can still feel the pressure there. I look down with an effort and see cuts and scratches on my arms. Bruises, too. How did I get them?
Please let this be a dream.
It all seems so quiet, here in my head, yet I know someone is shouting, here in this room. I can see feet moving, fists moving, groans, shouts, tears, but I cannot respond. Seifer is shouting for me, shouting, but I cannot move.
What is wrong with me?
Please let this be a dream. Please let this be a dream. Please let…please let…dream…
"QUISTY! PLEASE! WAKE UP!"
Quistis' eyes finally snapped open. So it had been a dream! The fog cleared and she shook her head, expecting to see her own dear bedroom, and Seifer shaking her awake. Instead, she saw Seifer being held roughly with his back to her, a gun pressed against the leather of his jacket.
"Quistis…please don't be dead…"
"I'm fine." She reassured him, knowing that, although she couldn't see his face, tears were coursing down his cheeks. Pure Almasy style, she thought, the one time he cries and his face is turned.
The man sitting opposite her smiled silkily at her. She recognised him as the man who had knocked her unconscious. Yes, the blue flame twisting in his eyes was unmistakeable. She couldn't understand why they wanted her. Her, of all people…
"Why do you want me? Why were you spying on me, and why do you need Seifer?"
"Well, what we're trying to get out of him…" said the man conversationally. "See, Canon wasn't too honest with us, Quistis. He was in the drugs business, the smuggling business, any business that seems dishonest. Very dishonest fellow, implicating fellows left and right. Now he had a very important package. And, of course, he gave this package to his partner in crime. Now this partner in crime, when questioned, gave a false name regarding the person who had the package. You, namely. And now, having gotten this information from the said partner in crime, we are going to proceed to find out where the package REALLY is. Oh, by the way, my name's Jeff", he added as an afterthought.
Quistis glared at him, her mind spinning. "Yes, but what does this partner in crime have to do with now, with us? And how did he know me? Who would implicate me in a drugs ring?"
"My, my, you are slow on the uptake. Who would betray you, endanger your life, and lie to you, better than your good friend Seifer Almasy? He needed some information out of you. I admit he did a good job, romancing it out of your pretty little mouth."
Seifer?
Quistis stared at his lean form. It was rigid, trembling. Silent. He had never uttered a word. "That's preposterous." She said shakily. "Seifer wouldn't do that. He – he – he cares about me…"
"Go on then" said Jeff amusedly. He finds us funny, thought Quistis. He's playing a game. I don't believe a word of anything he says…it isn't true, its it? It can't be true. All those things Seifer said, they were genuine. They must have been…
"Tell her, Seifer. Tell her the truth."
Oh, god…
"Seifer, it's not true…"
He never uttered a word. He stood there, his body shaking uncontrollably. If she could have seen his face, she would have seen a forlorn, lost, tortured expression, the tears marring the white, white skin.
"Oh, god…"
Quistis felt the tears coursing down her own cheeks. A stray wisp of gold hair fell into her eyes, but she could not lift her arms from where they were bound on her chair to brush it away. Everything he'd said and done, was a lie…
"No time for sentimentalities now, I'm sure" interrupted Jeff brusquely. He got up from his armchair and put a hand on Quistis' shoulder. She flinched at his touch, but all he did was entwine his fingers in her blonde hair. She tried to pull away, but she found that he'd cut no corners when tying her securely.
"Now, Seifer", said Jeff dangerously. "Where's that package?"
Seifer remained silent. How dare he? He wouldn't reveal anything to them, not after what had just happened. Quistis would never trust him again. But how could he tell her the truth in front of this maniac? No. Canon had been his friend, and he wouldn't betray him. He would never tell Jeff where the damn thing was. He hated it right now, with a vehemence even stronger than the contempt he felt for Jeff and the compassion he felt for Quistis…
"I won't tell you" he said in a clear voice, much more confident than he felt. "You can't make me." Although he couldn't see Jeff's face, he knew that the cogs were working underneath his skull. If he shot Seifer, he'd never find out where the package was. Seifer had him where he wanted him.
"Oh can't I?" Jeff sounded triumphant. Seifer's heart sank, and he shivered. He didn't like that voice…
With one fluid action, Jeff twisted Quistis' arm around, kneeing her in the stomach and never loosing his other hand from her hair where it wrenched painfully. Quistis swallowed a whimper of pain. She knew what he was trying to do to Seifer. If he heard her being hurt, he would tell Jeff everything. And, although Quistis had almost no idea what Seifer was hiding, she could guess that it was best for Jeff not to find out.
"What's going on?" asked Seifer through his teeth. Quistis could tell that his teeth were clenched tightly together.
"Well, Seifer. Unless you tell us soon, we're just going to have to…"
He beckoned to one of the men holding Seifer. In a flash, Seifer had been wheeled around roughly, with the gun pointing at his collarbone now, and she had been struck savagely across the face. Her arm was agony, twisting further and further…she tried to swallow the scream, tried to hold back the tears, but they came…
"STOP IT!"
Seifer's voice was hysterical, bewildered. He didn't know what to do, she thought dimly. How unlike him…
"I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything! Just…"
He swallowed and took a deep, shaky breath.
"Just stop hurting her."
Quistis felt the pressure lift from her arm and she clutched it instinctively. She was on the floor – she hadn't realised. She bit her lip. She'd let him down, so badly. She looked up at him, and he was suddenly small, fragile, his hair sticking up in ruffles like a baby seal's. You darling, she thought silently, but said nothing. His face was lined and weary. It occurred to her how much pride he had. She could trust him…
But of course, he had lied to her.
She looked again at the lined and fatigued face. You are so much older…
This happened in a split second, before she was roughly hauled off the floor and shoved into somebody's grasp. The touch of the cold fingers on her skin made her feel dirty. The unshed tears made her eyes burn, her lashes fluttering in pain and humiliation.
"So, Seifer. The package."
There was a split second in which Quistis' sapphire eyes met Seifer's emerald ones. Understanding flashed between them. The shred of doubt that had been fluttering, the little scraps of anguish between them, swirled into a gutter. She could trust him…she understood his pain…it was like they were one person. Did she…
Before she had time to explore what exactly it was she felt, Seifer thrust a hand deep into his gunblade case and drew out a small, thin, paper packet. Quistis strained her eyes to see what it was, but Jeff was blocking her view. In an instant, he snatched the packet away from Seifer and stared at it greedily. "Yes…" he muttered. "Oh, yes…"
"Will you let us go now?" Seifer asked through his teeth, looking at Quistis all the while.
"Of course not. You'll have to die."
What happened next, when Quistis looked back on it, was somewhat of a blur, even still. She remembered a struggle, scufflings and gunshots, and being trampled painfully onto the hard stone floor. Fragments of memories glared out at her – Seifer's warm weight on top of her, shielding her…a swish, ripping noises, and screams of pain. Warm and wet…blood on her hands and knees, whether it was hers she didn't know.
A dead weight, falling on top of her. Her hand, being grasped and her body being lifted away. Cold air, outside, wind and sunshine, pouring down on her face. She remembered opening her eyes and seeing dead bodies sprawled on the floor, blood seeping through their clothes. Seifer's arms had been strong and warm, the light pressure of his gunblade against her body gently reassuring.
Most of all, she remembered her hands, closing over a small, paper packet.
**
Please review with some constructive comments – they would be MUCH appreciated! Thank you for reading, and the next part will be better and longer, I promise.