Chapter 14
Thursday, December the Fourteenth
Final Fantasy VIII characters and locations from said game are owned by SquareSoft.
While the posse was out on various errands, Seifer was down in their makeshift home lying upon the floor sifting through the things he kept stowed beneath his bed. His fingers made contact with a smooth leather object, and after locating the handle he withdrew his private attaché case.
Without rising, Seifer set the combination lock to Quistis' measurements (36-24-36) and released the locks. After sifting around through the contents he finally located a large manila envelope marked 'Xu'. The prankster peered into the envelope with a broad smile on his face.
These are classic, mwahaha! Seifer thought. Oh man, I thought I was going to stop doing that. This is going to be more difficult than I first thought.
Seifer went to his computer, scanned the photographs and fiddled with the necessary details, such as resizing and improving the tint. After he was satisfied with the results, Seifer saved his work and connected his terminal with the Garden computer network. He typed in the password 'seedlingsRus' then picked up the telephone and dialed a number he knew well.
As Seifer waited for the page to load he spoke with the person who answered his call. "I'd like to make a very special request," the former knight said.
Seifer made his request as he logged into the Network as Squall and typed in the password 'aonir'...Squall was nothing if not predictable. After hanging up the phone, Seifer made quick work of changing the smiling picture of Xu in her nicest SeeD uniform on the welcome page to one from his special collection. There were actually several others of Cid's assistant and Seifer replaced those too.
Chuckling to himself, he thought, That'll get her for all those nasty things she said about me through the years. I only wish I could be there to watch the look on her face when she finds out about them.
With his tasks for the day completed, Seifer could now relax. He turned on the radio to listen for his request then began flipping through video surveillance images on a nearby monitor in search of his ex girlfriend. After locating Rinoa who was in Selphie's tiny office speaking intently with the Festival chairwoman, and that she-devil look-a-like friend of hers. Irvine was also there crouched down in a corner doing something that Seifer could not make out.
Wishing that the security cameras also supplied sound, the blond man leaned back in his chair and watched. He was surprised to note that Rinoa was dressed normally for once.
What Seifer could not hear was that the three women were discussing which tasks for the Winter Festival should be tackled immediately that day. Andrea had just suggested that they concentrate some on decorating the main atrium since nothing more had been done to that area since Rinoa's near fatal accident two days earlier.
"That's a good idea," Rinoa agreed, clutching a jumbo coffee in her right hand as though it was her very lifeblood itself. "Why don't I-."
"Oh Great Balls of Fire!" exclaimed Selphie who had been working on the Garden Festival web page. Before anyone could respond to Selphie's outburst, they were interrupted yet again by the sound of the intercom clicking on.
A smooth disc jockey voice intoned, "We have a holiday dedication going out from Squall Leonhart to Rinoa Heartilly and to me this song epitomizes the holidays."
There was silence for a second and then suddenly the song blared out, "Bark, bark, bark...Bark, bark, bark...Bark, bark, bark...Woof, woof." It was the dogs' Jingle Bells song! The longer the song played, the more people began to laugh throughout the Garden until it sounded as if the entire establishment was ringing with it.
Even Selphie and Andrea were hard pressed to hide the evidence of their smiles. Andrea was extremely worried that Rinoa was going to Angel Wing, but her friend was busy counting from ten to one over and over. Rinoa appeared so red with anger that Selphie thought she could fry an egg on her friend's forehead.
By the end of the song, Rinoa at least had managed to not Angel Wing although she still looked awfully angry and even more so when she stomped out of Selphie's office and all the SeeDs and upperclassmen in the immediate area burst into spontaneous applause.
"I'm gonna kill him," the angry sorceress vowed, spinning around to face her friends.
"Who? Seifer?" Andrea inquired.
"No, that wasn't Seifer," Rinoa answered. "Seifer is a ghost and that was no ghost. That was one Squall Leonhart and he's gonna pay!" All the onlookers grew quiet as they heard Rinoa's threat. The silence remained long after Rinoa had run off with Andrea following close behind.
Selphie shook her head, sighing, then turned back to her monitor. "I can't believe it," she mumbled.
"What?" asked Irvine who was just then standing up from his task of stringing popcorn to decorate the trees and shrubbery in the Quad.
"Close the door," she ordered.
Irvine quickly obeyed then asked, "Well, what is it?"
"A picture of Xu in the shower," she muttered to herself.
"What?!" screeched Irvine. "Get out of the way! Let me see," Irvine demanded.
Selphie quickly clicked off the computer. "No," she declared. "See - that's exactly what's wrong with you. One minute you're begging me to forgive you, and the next minute you're trying to go through me to look at a picture of another woman."
"But Selphie," Irvine pleaded.
"No buts," she retorted while taking out her cell phone and putting through an immediate call to Xu. Selphie hoped that they would be able to rectify the situation quickly enough to keep anyone else from discovering this latest prank.
Unfortunately, this was not to be the case.
Up on the next floor Instructor Trepe had just dismissed her class a few minutes before lunch would be served. She had called up three brand new students to her desk, two fifteen year old males and one fifteen year old female. They had all just transferred from a prep school in Winhill.
"Since there's still a few minutes before lunch will be served, I want you all to go back and look at some of the information on the computer for new students," Quistis suggested.
"Where should we begin?" a round-faced boy named Charlie asked.
"Start with the welcome message," the blonde woman instructed. "I have to do some things before lunch so I will see you all this afternoon to answer more of your questions."
"Thank you Ms. Trepe," they all rang out in unison. Quistis smiled, nodded and left the room. It would seem these three would be ripe candidates for the Trepies, she thought facetiously.
The three students returned to one of the back desks and Charlie sat down. The other two, Linus and Lucy, stood behind him and looked over his shoulder as he turned on the computer and did the necessary machinations to call up the 'Welcome to Garden' screen.
Charlie blushed heavily but could not tear his eyes away from the screen that held a sight he had never before witnessed.
Linus exclaimed, "Wow! This place is sure a lot different than our school back in Winhill."
"Oh my, could this be right?" Lucy murmured.
"No way," answered Charlie.
"Who cares?" asked Linus, as he took out his personal handheld pocket computer and plugged it into the main computer.
"What are you doing?" demanded the round-faced boy.
"I'm downloading this so I can study it back in the dorm at night," Linus said.
"You're nothing but a perv," Lucy accused.
"Well, yeah," was the answer. "I'm supposed to be a perv. I'm only fifteen."
"Oh, I guess you're right," Lucy said. "I'd better download it too. No telling what I might be able to use this for."
"I can't believe you two, that's disgusting!" protested Charlie.
"Oh, Charlie, get a life!" Linus retorted. "You know you want to download it too."
"No, I do not," he insisted, chuckling. "I want to move on to see if there's any other pictures. I can download mine off yours this evening."
Quistis blushed deeply as she perused the non-members area of the Chicks of Balamb website. With her classes done for the day, Quistis had finally found the time to do some investigating into the obscene email mystery that seemed to be growing worse by the day. After finding a nude picture of a woman that was most likely Rinoa basking in the steam room, Quistis felt she had all the evidence she needed to determine that this was indeed the source of the offending electronic mail.
Come to think of it, Quistis pondered, where is Rinoa? I haven't seen her all day. For that matter she hadn't seen Nicole, Selphie or Andrea since the previous night. Deciding they must all be off somewhere exploring their newfound faith, Quistis let her mind wander back to the mysteries at hand. She knew that both Rinoa and Selphie tended to get obsessed with any new ideas that came along and would quickly bail out as soon as the novelty wore off. This situation was nothing new.
What was important now was to determine who the culprit behind the malicious pornography site was. Seifer was the first suspect, but Nida was just as likely to do something such as this. Quistis had never liked the ex-pilot, and the news of his dismissal from SeeD and the circumstances surrounding the scandal had come as no surprise to the instructor.
Emitting a yawn, Quistis stretched backward in her desk chair. It was then that her eyes perceived something odd about the ceiling panel directly above her desk. Pulling a small flashlight from a drawer, Quistis climbed upon her desk to investigate the strangeness more closely.
Upon closer inspection she could see that there was a small keyhole ingeniously disguised by a knothole in the wood of the ceiling panel. On a hunch, Quistis tried the key Matron had given her. The lock clicked and the panel slid away to reveal a crawlspace above her room. Without thinking further, Quistis hoisted herself into the gloom above.
A half hour later the blonde woman was still wandering through the tangle of hallways within the walls of the Garden. She had found many doors that apparently led to the public areas of Garden and into every single dorm. Quistis was certain Cid had knowledge of these secrets, how else could Edea have the key that apparently opened each door? What bothered Quistis was why he hadn't admitted this knowledge in the first place.
As she meandered, Quistis suddenly became aware of the fact that she was hopelessly lost. Sure, she could easily use her key to exit out into the hallway, or whatever was on the other side of the door she stood next to. But that would mean everyone would become aware of the secret she had discovered. Feeling suddenly selfish, Quistis simply wasn't ready to share. Besides, she'd promised Matron that she'd try and help Seifer. Having his presence exposed so blatantly which would ultimately lead to his arrest would certainly not help her former student in any way.
Quistis continued exploring the narrow passageways in hopes of eventually finding her way back to her room. The sound of voices and the scent of food led the blonde sleuth to a narrow corridor that she assumed adjoined the cafeteria. Quistis stood where the voices were the loudest hoping to catch a snippet of some conversation.
"Well, well, well," came a voice from behind her. Quistis turned abruptly to face Seifer whose form was illuminated by the light filtering in through the cracks in the walls.
"Seifer..."
"None other." He bowed dramatically.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, getting right to the point.
Seifer smiled at her, though in the gloom she could not tell if that smile was malevolent. "I could ask you the same," he remarked.
"I live here."
"As do I."
"But I am allowed to live here, you aren't."
Seifer leaned against the wall and looked down at her. "Where else could I go?"
Quistis didn't know what to say as she suddenly found herself feeling sympathetic toward her old orphanage comrade. "Matron gave me a key," she explained.
"Why?"
"She asked me to help you."
Seifer chuckled ruefully. "I am beyond help." He turned and began walking away from her and as he did, he said, "I suppose this means you'll be having me arrested for trespassing."
"No."
Seifer paused. "No?" he asked incredulously.
"Seifer, I want to help you."
"For Matron?"
Clearing her throat, Quistis responded, "Well...yes."
The handsome ex-knight resumed walking. "Oh please, Quistis, spare me your do-goodingness."
She began to follow Seifer deeper into the labyrinthine tunnels. They walked on for a while, neither saying a word until finally Quistis could bear the sound of their echoing footsteps no longer. "Well, if you won't let me help you will you at least stop these foolish pranks you've been pulling?"
Seifer stopped and turned around to look deep into Quistis' eyes causing her heart to skip a beat. "No," he said simply and began to descend a ladder that Quistis had not seen until then. She hurriedly followed him down.
After what seemed like a lifetime Quistis finally reached the bottom and found herself in a larger corridor that was lit by a few dim burning lights that cast a yellowish haze. The acrid smell of petroleum hung faintly in the air and Quistis realized they must be somewhere near the MD level. Seifer appeared to have waited for her and was leaning against a wall smoking a cigarette.
"Why are you following me?" He raked his free hand through his slightly overgrown blond spikes.
After catching her breath Quistis responded, "I have things I want to ask you."
"So...ask."
"Why are you pulling these pranks?"
Seifer smiled. "Because I want to...next question?"
Quistis tried to think of something else to ask, but her mind would not work the way she wanted it to. Seifer was very near and beneath the bitterness of the cigarette smoke she could smell his own natural scent. It was making her feel a bit dizzy, or maybe it was the second hand high from the cigarette he was smoking. Either way, Quistis couldn't think of anything to inquire.
"When did you start smoking?" she finally blurted out lamely.
Seifer snorted and flicked the butt to the concrete floor. Stomping it out with his boot, he took a few steps closer to Quistis. "You came all the way down here to ask me that?" He was so close Quistis could feel his body heat. "Come on, Quistis, what's the real reason you've been pursuing me?"
"I- umm..."
"It's not like you to beat around the bush like this, Quisty," he said softly.
His use of her childhood nickname shocked her. "I want to know..." Her voice gave out on her.
Seifer touched the tendril of hair that always escaped from her bun. "Yes? You want to know..."
Shivering, she continued, "Why...before all this happened...in the disciplinary room...you, um..." Frustrated and blushing furiously, Quistis closed her mouth and tried to step away from Seifer, but he caught her arm.
"Why what?" He took her wrist gently in his hand and raised it to his lips. "Why did I do this?" He kissed her wrist ever so gently, and inhaled the faded fragrance of her honeysuckle perfume.
Quistis' stomach fluttered madly and she inhaled sharply attempting to pull away, but Seifer's grip on her wrist prevented her. Instead he pulled her even closer. The flustered woman felt so mixed up and weak she didn't have the wherewithal to resist him.
"Oh, wait, maybe it was this..." Seifer leaned in and brushed his lips across the velvet folds of her neck. "Mmmm...sweet..." he murmured in a hoarse whisper.
"Oh Hyne," Quistis whispered. When she felt his lips touch that sensitive part of her neck again she jumped and managed to escape his clutches. "I have a boyfriend... stop!" she hissed.
Seifer's demeanor turned cool once again and with a brusque nod turned away. "Go away Quistis."
"I... can't," she told him.
"Why? Because of your little promise to Matron?" he asked mockingly, gesturing dramatically with his hand.
"No, because I don't know how to get back," she admitted, embarrassed.
"No, because I don't know how to get back," she admitted, embarrassed.
Seifer made a growling sound from deep in his throat. Then, pulling out a folded up paper, he shoved it into her hands. "Here's a map," he told her. "Stick to the areas marked with blue otherwise you'll run into monsters." He turned on his heel and stalked down the corridor, leaving Quistis alone and shivering.
After hearing a noise that sounded too much like a guttural voice whispering, "Precioussss," Quistis bolted up the ladder. Just because Seifer was not a ghost did not mean that Garden was not haunted.
Selphie, Irvine, Nicole, Zell, Quistis, Matt, and Andrea had pushed two tables together in the second room of the cafeteria to accommodate all of them in order to sit together while they ate their dinner. They had, of course, discussed the Xu fiasco and how fortunate it had been that Selphie had tumbled to it almost immediately after it had been uploaded.
Irvine, of course, didn't fool anyone when he claimed to be delighted about it being discovered so quickly that he didn't get a good look. Unfortunately it was practically impossible to tell who might have seen it although Xu was presently going through the list of all the people who had logged in since early morning. Surprisingly one of them had been Squall and no one could explain that satisfactorily, unless Rinoa's behavior had caused his mind to finally snap.
Of course most of them wondered who could have perpetuated the Xu prank and they totally ignored Quistis' accusation that it had been Seifer. Finally conversation had worked itself around to the prank holiday song dedication and how poorly Rinoa had reacted to it.
"Well, I'm not sure how any of you would have reacted to it either," Nicole spoke in defense of Rinoa.
"Yeah, and I'm kinda of worried about her," said Andrea. "I haven't seen her for a few hours and I'm wondering why she isn't here for dinner."
"That's a good point," agreed Selphie. "It's not like Rinoa to miss a meal."
The table talk moved on to other items of conversation, such as the Winter Festival and had anyone seen Squall as of late. After a few more minutes had passed, Rinoa entered the dining room her friends were occupying.
Selphie's heart sank when she observed her good friend was dressed in a long flowing semi-translucent robe and was carrying The Book of Hyne open in her hands. On the other hand, Irvine's interest picked up because it appeared to him that Rinoa wasn't wearing anything beneath the robe. He instinctively realized for once that it would behoove him to remain mum on the subject because of Selphie's continued displeasure with him.
Nicole happily greeted her friend. "Rinoa, how good to see you're okay. That robe looks fabulous on you by the way." The pigtailed girl was delighted to see how the young sorceress had taken so readily to the beliefs of Mystic Hyneism.
Rinoa nodded at her friend's compliment, but solemnly read, "Life is full and overflowing with the new. But it is necessary to empty out the old to make room for the new to enter."
Quistis was immediately concerned with her friend's new persona. Oh this doesn't bode well for her and Squall's relationship. We need to get her back to her room and attempt to talk some sense into her.
The young sorceress read further staring directly at Quistis. "For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." Nicole wanted to bounce in her chair in glee and clap her hands in her happiness, but didn't out of fear of embarrassment.
Selphie, too, was concerned with Rinoa's guise and the strange looks she was attracting from other Garden personnel. "Expand in consciousness - be ready to accept anything now, at any time," Rinoa intoned.
"Oh, what are we going to do?" Selphie said under her breath. "Now Rinoa's become religiously psychotic."
"Why do you say that?" Matt whispered in surprise. "Just because now she has become mature enough to embrace the one true religion? Personally, as far as I'm concerned, she's preaching to the choir."
"Right on!" Nicole cried out. When everyone present turned to look at her, she sank down in her chair and muttered, "Sorry."
Quistis' heart sank. She had no idea Matt was a Mystic Hyneist. There's another strike against him... Her thoughts trailed away.
Deciding to take control of the situation as was her wont, Selphie quickly stood up from the table before Rinoa could sit down. Matt had already stood himself and pulled a chair out for the young sorceress to sit in. Hey! He doesn't do that for me, Quistis thought resentfully.
Grasping Rinoa by the arm, Selphie gazed pointedly at the three women still seated at the table and asserted, "Let's help Rinoa back to my room where we can speak with her about all of this."
"Good idea," Quistis agreed also standing up.
"Aw," Matt whined. "I wanted to hear her read some more."
"Matt! You can hear Rinoa anytime. Right now I want to talk with her," the brown-haired woman snapped.
"Selphie, your anger with me just rolls off me like water off a duck's back," said Matt.
"Quack! Quack!" Zell responded for no other reason than to be funny and because the immediate conversation had moved well beyond his comprehension.
Nicole, glancing irritably at her boyfriend, saw him suddenly transform into a duck right in front of her. He does kind of look like a duck. Well, if you walk like a duck and talk like a duck...Oh what am I thinking? This is Matt's territory, Nicole mused.
Nicole and Andrea quickly stood also and the four young women helped Rinoa leave the cafeteria on their way to Selphie's room. Irvine watched sorrowfully behind them as they left his sight. Matt, observing the look on the cowboy's face, explained, "That's water under the bridge now."
"Will you please just shut up?" the lonesome cowboy unpleasantly inquired.
Reaching Selphie's room without further incidence, the four young friends of Rinoa quickly gained a seat wherever they could which left the young dark-haired woman standing in the center of the room. This seemed to not bother Rinoa at all, as she began to read from The Book of Hyne once more. "What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind."
"Ooh, that's so deep," cooed Andrea who was completely enamored with her close friend's new role.
Quistis, hoping to begin to unravel the fabric of Rinoa's sudden change from demented holiday decorator to sublime priestess of Mystic Hyneism, pointed out to her the supposed hypocrisy of appearing spiritual and yet negating it by not wearing anything beneath her semi-transparent robe.
Selphie, noticing this for the first time, complained, "Oh, that is so tacky, Rinoa."
Nicole sat stunned not knowing what to say in her embarrassment when suddenly the sorceress exclaimed, "Well, how about this?" while she reached down to her feet and pulled the robe completely up to her face.
"Oh Rinoa! No!" Nicole cried out in embarrassment. The four women sat stunned not having any idea what to say next as they observed their friend was wearing a flesh colored body suit.
Rinoa burst out laughing at their expressions. "Hyne says," she intoned, "it is easier to proselytize the true word to young men after you have their attention. The rest will follow."
Nicole finally found her voice. "Rinoa, did Hyne really say that?"
"No," she laughed. "I did, but it's still true." Rinoa began to read once again, while Nicole and Andrea stared at her completely captivated, Selphie sat completely stunned, and Quistis sat with her forehead resting in her hand in a mannerism familiar to another SeeD.
Hyne help us all, she silently prayed.
A/N - The quotes said to have come from The Book of Hyne were actually drawn from A Guide for the Advanced Soul edited by Susan Hayward.