Balamb Garden's Yuletide Vacation
Chapter 18
Monday, December the Eighteenth
Cid and Edea set off for the town of Balamb in the former sorceress' sleek purple sports car. This was no pleasure drive and they both wore glum expressions. Cid had received a most disturbing phone call that afternoon and now they were both on their way to rectify the situation.
It wasn't hard to find Rinoa in the residential section of the town. All they had to do was follow the parade of gaudily bedecked houses. The young sorceress was busy at work wrapping number 1164 Morning Glory Circle in shiny green Mylar. Edea noticed that the residents of the house were fearfully peeking out their front window.
The married couple cautiously approached Rinoa, whom they had adopted as one of their children. When Rinoa saw them she waved briefly and resumed her decorating.
"Rinoa dear," said Edea, speaking first as they reached her side.
"Hello Matron!" Rinoa greeted. "Doesn't the town look so pretty now?"
Edea sighed. "Did these people give you permission to decorate their house?"
Rinoa continued tacking up the shiny metallic film with a staple gun. "Well, not exactly…"
Cid spoke up. "Didn't they in fact tell you NOT to decorate their house?"
Rinoa pursed her lips and gazed at the fatherly man. "Well, yes," she admitted, "but I know they didn't mean it."
"Now Rinoa, honey," Cid pressed, "why would you think that?"
"Who wouldn't want their house decorated for Solstice?"
Seeing Cid was getting nowhere with the situation, Edea took charge. "Come along now, Rinoa," she ordered, "It's time to go home."
"No."
"What?" Edea couldn't believe her ears, no one argued with her even though she was no longer a sorceress.
Rinoa crossed her arms and pouted. "I said NO!" she verily screamed.
"I said we are going, and we are going," Edea informed the young sorceress firmly. "Now come along."
Rinoa stomped her foot. "Uh-uh. I am not leaving until I have finished with every house on this street!"
Edea lacked the patience to argue further. Motioning to Cid, they each took one of Rinoa's arms and began to drag her to their car. The raven-haired teenager began to squeal, "Ah-oooh-eee!"
Smack!
Edea's slap shattered the air. "That'll be enough of that, young lady! These infantile shenanigans WILL stop and you will learn to control your power!"
Rinoa sniffled. "Yes, Matron," she said, rubbing Edea's handprint on her face and allowing herself to be led to the car.
After Rinoa was safely secured in the backseat, Edea directed, "Cid, go and tell those people we'll send someone to pick up Rinoa's belongings later. We must get her back to Garden immediately."
"Yes dear," he agreed.
When the trio returned to Garden, they passed by Quistis who smiled sadly at Rinoa. The instructor had heard about Rinoa's newest decorating exercise. Quistis was on her way up to try and talk some sense into Squall. Someone needed to intervene before Rinoa got herself into some real trouble.
Quistis stood outside of Squall's office emotionally girding her loins. She realized if Rinoa and Squall were to ever reunite that someone needed to beard the lion (or was that Leonhart?) in his den. It didn't appear to her as though anyone else was going to volunteer to undertake this highly risky venture so the responsibility fell to her.
"Come in," Squall invited in a neutral tone after Quistis knocked on his office door. Taking that to be a positive sign, Quistis entered the office with a forced spring to her step and was astonished to observe Squall's desk was almost completely bereft of paperwork.
Instead he was sitting back in his chair resting his black booted clad feet on his desk while reading from a book entitled I'm OK, You're Not OK. Glancing up from his reading, he asked, "What's wrong? Something I need to take care of?"
"No, not exactly. Well...maybe, I need to speak with you about relationships," Quistis answered.
"What about relationships?" Squall asked in a sharp tone. He quickly sat up in his chair while dropping his feet to the floor.
"May I sit down?" the blonde woman inquired submissively. She understood instinctively if she were to reach Squall she needed to take a non-threatening tack.
"Whatever." The commander sighed, waving his hand diffidently at the chair in front of his desk.
Quistis sank down gratefully. A sudden inspiration struck her and the blonde SeeD expressed, "Matt and I have been having a great deal of difficulty in getting along and I was wondering if there was some insight you might have to help us."
"Oh," Squall responded, surprise evident in his tone. "I really can't say because I haven't been around much lately."
"Yeah, so I noticed. Why is that, Squall?" Quistis asked shyly.
"Well, I strongly dislike the holidays and I just want them to be over and I know I was just making everyone else's holidays miserable; plus Rinoa's not speaking to me because of that stupid wreath and then she thinks I made that prank dedication. She should know I would never do anything like that."
"Squall, I think Rinoa first thought that, but I think she has come around to realizing that wasn't you," the blonde woman explained.
"Oh yeah?" he retorted. "Well, take a look at this," Squall requested while pulling a slip of paper from his jacket pocket and passing it to Quistis. "I found that next to the burning bag of crap outside my office."
The instructor recognized Seifer's thinly disguised handwriting immediately. "Squall, look at this closely and tell me you really think this is Rinoa's handwriting." She passed the paper back to the young commander.
Squall received the note back, looked at it closely for a few seconds and then pressed his hand into his forehead in his familiar gesture. He finally looked up and said, "What am I supposed to do now? Obviously this isn't Rinoa's handwriting and if I hadn't been so hell bent to think it was, I would have noticed that before."
"Well, since you asked me, I'll tell you what I would do, Squall," answered the devious young woman. "I would attempt to make an overture of peace with her, you know, just say hello and ask her how she is. I'm going to go, Squall. Thanks a lot. You really helped me."
As Quistis stood up to leave, Squall answered distractedly, "Oh...sure, no problem."
After the blonde woman had left his office, Squall looked up and thought, Helped her? With what?
I wonder how Rinoa is doing…
When Cid and Edea brought the highly upset Rinoa into the clinic, Dr. Kadowaki decided to only use a mild sedative on the young woman. She was uncertain how anything stronger could interact negatively with Rinoa's sorceress' power after she regained consciousness. The kindly doctor felt as though it was time she stepped in and had a serious heart to heart talk with the young woman before she did anything more serious to possibly harm herself.
The doctor assured Cid and Edea that she would do all she could do to help the young woman and then sent them on their way. Dr. Kadowaki then pulled up a stool next to Rinoa's bedside to await the young sorceress' return to consciousness. The doctor didn't have long to wait as thirty minutes later Rinoa opened her eyes.
"How do you feel?" Dr. Kadowaki gently asked.
"Okay," the young woman answered. "Am I free to go?"
"In a minute," the doctor explained. "I wish to speak with you for a minute."
"Oh?" Rinoa asked, distinctly arching her left eyebrow.
"What have you been attempting to accomplish, Rinoa?" the older woman asked.
"I'm trying to provide the happiest holidays possible for people," the dark-haired young woman answered.
"Is that what's been happening?" Dr. Kadowaki further questioned.
"Well, I don't know for certain," Rinoa answered flushing slightly. "I really can't speak for others you know."
"Okay, fair enough," the doctor conceded. "What about you? Have you been happy?"
Tears began to form in the corners of the young woman's eyes. "No, I haven't," the young woman murmured in a moment of honesty.
"Why not?"
"Well, all my friends are so unhappy and Squall's just been miserable to me and everybody else, and I just don't know what to do anymore," Rinoa admitted.
"So you attempted to control people's happiness by decorating?" the doctor conjectured.
Dr. Kadowaki felt gratified when she observed the sudden light of awareness enter the young sorceress' eyes. "Yes, you're absolutely right, that's exactly what I've been doing. And all the decorating in the world won't cause me or my friends to feel any happier, will it?"
The doctor gently shook her head no in agreement. "So what do you think you need to do?"
"Well, The Book of Hyne teaches that happiness must come from the inside of a person, not the outside, so I must work first on being happy with myself."
Dr. Kadowaki nodded her affirmation and sat back well satisfied. "Well, you are free to go Rinoa, if you feel up to it.
"You know… I'm feeling kinda sleepy," said Rinoa, not ready to face her friends, "is it okay if I nap some more?"
"Of course," answered the doctor, "Take as long as you need."
~*~
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," Quistis addressed her class after collecting the papers from the pop quiz, "I want you to read the new chapter on the care of GFs while I grade these." She sat down and immediately set about her task.
A few moments later the instructor looked up sharply at a group of students who were whispering and giggling amongst themselves. Quistis had woken up with a headache that morning and was not in the best of moods. "Mr. Strife!" She singled out the student she knew to be the instigator. "How many times have I told you not to speak out of turn?"
"Uhhh…" stammered the spiky-haired blond boy, "I –I forget…"
Quistis shook her head slowly in frustration. "I am growing weary of this convenient amnesia of yours. Perhaps an afternoon spent in work detail will improve your memory?"
The boy flushed in embarrassment. "Yes, Instructor Trepe," he mumbled, going back to his reading.
Quistis finished grading the quiz before her and then turned to the next one. The name 'Amanda Huggenkiss' attracted her attention. She's a student of mine? wondered the perplexed teacher as she looked over her class in a search for the mysterious Amanda. Her eyes fell upon a familiar red-haired female sitting at the back. The 'woman's' green eyes peered back at Quistis boldly.
"Amanda," said Quistis, holding back laughter as she noticed her pseudo-student had a very distinct five-o'clock shadow, "will you please come up here?"
The redhead smiled mischievously and stood slowly, 'her' eyes never wavering from the instructor's. It was then that Quistis noticed the red-buttoned remote control in 'Amanda's' hands and Quistis braced herself for whatever was coming next.
As soon as said button was depressed, the air conditioning system clicked on and began shooting out artificial snow. Quistis' class was a scene of bedlam as many of the students panicked and began jumping out of their seats crashing into one another.
"Everyone out!" Quistis instructed, "Class dismissed!" The mob moved quickly out the door leaving Quistis alone with the red-wigged figure. The artificial snowstorm blew around them as Quistis reached up and yanked off the wig.
Seifer grinned wickedly at her.
"You know, Seifer, red hair just does not become you. Well, at least you wore pants this time."
He laughed in response, winking at her.
"And what, may I ask," she continued, "was the purpose of this mess?"
"I wanted to see you alone," he explained.
Quistis couldn't help but to smile, as she was secretly flattered. Putting her hands to her hips the blonde woman asked, "You couldn't wait until my class was over?"
"Nope."
Quistis sighed. "Oh, Seifer, what am I going to do with you?"
"I can think of a few things," he retorted. Without warning, Seifer picked Quistis up by the waist and swung her around. They both laughed loudly as they twirled through the snow together.
After Seifer returned Quistis to her feet she asked, "Amanda Huggenkiss, huh?" finally getting the joke.
"I thought you could use one," he explained, "And who better than this one?" He bent down and kissed her deeply. Then he darted out into the hallway leaving his love interest swooning against her desk.
Quistis' students, having wasted no time in escaping from class, had departed, leaving the corridor empty. As Seifer exited the classroom, Nicole had just rounded the bend from the hallway that led to the elevator. She had her arms piled high with books that she was delivering at the request of Instructor Aki.
Seeing Seifer, Nicole screeched, "Ekkkkk!" She grew ashen as Seifer stood there gazing at her in amusement. "It's Sei- sei- sei-."
"Seifer!" he finished for her, leaning toward her and making claws out of his hands in a menacing fashion. "Mwahahaha!" he cackled as evilly as he could.
"Ekkkk!" the librarian screamed again as she dropped her cargo of reading materials. Nicole turned tail and ran as fast as she could to the elevator. Upon hearing hysterical laughter behind him, Seifer turned and flashed Quistis a wink before disappearing into one of the secret doors.
~*~
It was only mid-afternoon but it felt as though it had already been a full day to everyone present in the SeeD dayroom. Selphie, Nicole, Andrea, and Quistis sat quietly just enjoying the silence for a change. Selphie was curled up on one end of a couch, completely comfortable because of her diminutive size. She was half asleep with her head resting on the armrest.
Nicole and Andrea were sitting in the corner and sharing their concern and worry over Rinoa's latest debacle in the city of Balamb. They were both frightened she was going to end up locked up in the disciplinary room or worse her father, General Fury Caraway would be called from Deling City to come pick up his head strong and capricious daughter. He would have little patience with her foolishness as had been proven in the past. She would probably be placed in the Vinzer Deling State Mental Hospital, a place that was more commonly known as 'the snake pit.'
Quistis was sitting with her legs stretched out in front of her with her head thrown back in a very unlady-like fashion against the back of the couch she was sitting on. She was half asleep but had recently been ruminating on whether she had accomplished anything worthwhile in her talk with Squall. She emitted a deep sigh while supposing that time will tell.
Matt entered the dayroom rather hurriedly catching everyone by surprise. Quistis, who was more attuned to her boyfriend's moods than the others in the room, asked, "Something wrong, Matt?"
"Well, I was taking my trash down to the garbage room. You know, how I like to take my trash down every day and keep my room immaculate," Matt explained.
Quistis sighed but didn't say anything, not wishing to comment any further on what she considered to be Matt's obsessive-compulsive cleanliness problem.
"Well, what's the rest of it, Matt?" Selphie asked impatiently.
"Zell was down there and he looked pretty wild-eyed and crazy and he was throwing trash all over the place. He wouldn't talk to me when I asked him what was wrong," Matt complained.
"That's certainly hard to believe," Quistis commented dryly.
"Yeah, I know," Matt agreed. "I couldn't believe it either. That's when I decided something must be wrong and I'd better come up and tell you all."
Selphie giggled while glancing at Quistis and then declared, "Ok, don't fret your pretty head any longer, I'll go see what's wrong."
After Selphie had left to go help Zell with whatever his problem was and Matt had excused himself to go finish his cleaning, Andrea and Nicole held a short but intense conversation. Even though Quistis was trying to not eavesdrop, she did hear Nicole implore Andrea to please go check on Zell since she felt as though if she went herself she "would only make things worse." Andrea left soon after that.
As soon as Selphie arrived in the basement, she discovered that Matt had spoken the truth. Zell had strewn trash everywhere willy-nilly and he himself wasn't even visible for the moment since he had dove into the larger pile. The green-eyed SeeD only knew he was there because she could hear him muttering imprecations to himself.
"Zell!" Selphie called out. Zell soon worked his way back out of the huge pile looking like a seal coming out of a snowdrift. A banana peel hung from his hair, though he did not seem to notice.
"What?" he asked. Selphie noticed he did indeed look all wild-eyed and flushed.
"Just because Nicole is angry with you is no reason to throw yourself in the trash," the brown-haired young woman exclaimed.
Before the excitable young man could muster an answer to that suggestion, Andrea entered the basement trash room. She strode over to him and took him by the arm and pulled him from the trash pile.
"Now who threw this perfectly good white boy away?" she joked. "I'll take him if nobody else wants him," Andrea only halfway kidded.
Selphie inquired, "No really, Zell. What's up here? What are you doing?"
"It doesn't matter!" he cried out. "Nothing matters if I don't find it. But it's not here, I looked. I know, I'll go search the landfill," Zell declared. And then he ran from the trash area to the elevators to take him back up.
Andrea looked at Selphie completely bewildered and asked, "What in the world was that all about?"
"I don't have the slightest idea, but I know it's something terrible."