Final Fantasy 8
Whenever You Need Me

Genre: action/adventure and romance
Couple(s): Seifer Almasy/Quistis Trepe

---ko says---
A few words, so I can clear things up for some readers. Also…sorry it's so late!!!!

SoulOfFlame--Save your work (Save As…) as a Text file (.txt) or an HTML Document (.html) and Document Manager will be able to upload it no problem. At least…it SHOULD be able to upload it no problem…

ArashiKishu: Please read the chapter entitled "Maybe Friends". I don't exactly write it, but many readers have figured out that after the unfortunate T-Rexaur incident, Seifer and Quistis have become *gasp!* friends. And flashbacks are pre-posse, meaning no Fujin and Raijin yet!

If there is anything else that befuddles you, readers, never hesitate to ask in your reviews or in your emails. Signing out, ---ko---.


Chapter 20: The End and the Beginning
Quistis yawned widely as she stretched in her chair. The pretty woman was patiently awaiting her student in the nearly-empty Balamb Garden cafeteria, staring down blankly at the cup of coffee that was quickly cooling. Bemusedly, Quistis stared down at her reflection in the black liquid, dreams of last night flooding her thoughts. |The memories are so real,| Quistis thought, raising her eyes from her coffee and staring into space. |Almost as if I was living everything over again…|

"Dorian…" she murmured, lips barely moving. |And Seifer…they took the field test with me…long ago…|

Her long lashes fell over her tired, clouded eyes, and she remembered.




"Hey…Quistis?"

"…You came." A young Quistis furiously rubbed at her tear-filled eyes before she turned to face Seifer.

"Of course." Seifer's brows knitted together in a worried frown as he studied her. "You've been crying a lot."

She sniffled, shook her head. "I know. Sorry." She hung her head, feeling her vision blur.

Then she felt surprisingly gentle fingers lightly touch her cheek, wiping away her tears. Seifer kindly forced her to look up at him, into unreadable eyes. "Are you still crying because of that guy?" he asked quietly. "Dorian?"

Quistis started, blinking, and shook her head. "No…not just that. I heard…you didn't make it."

Seifer shrugged indifferently. "That's alright. I wasn't expecting to, anyway."

She looked up at him. "You should've made it. Trying to go back in there to see if Dorian was…was…" she swallowed hard and continued, "…alive, it was a good thing. You did a good thing. You shouldn't have failed for that. I'm so sorry…!"

"Hey, it's not your fault." Seifer smiled slightly. "Cheer up, now. Don't worry. I'll work hard. Next time I get a shot at that test, I'll pass it. We'll be SeeDs together."

"…But what if--?" Quistis began.

"Hey, I've got competition in the next test. Leonhart's taking it next year. I'll beat him. Bad."

"How do you know for sure?"

Seifer thought for a moment. "Well, maybe if you'll pull a couple of strings with the Headmaster, make the test a little easier on me…" He winked at her. "What do you say, Quistis? It's not cheating, it's helping a struggling SeeD trainee!"

Quistis stared at him with wide eyes. "I couldn't possibly…!" she breathed. "Seifer, that's violation--"

Seifer cut her off, "Of code something-somethin' section blah-blah paragraph yeah. I know. Feel better?"

She nodded slowly. "Yeah…thanks…"

"…No problem--"




"Quis!"

Quistis jumped, blinked, and stared into eyes of a deep green, with gold flecks. "Huh?"

Seifer raised a brow in confusion. "I've been chanting your name for the past five minutes. Has the Golden Girl of Balamb Garden finally snapped? Where have you been off to, eh, Quis?" He settled into the seat opposite Quistis and took her coffee, draining it in one gulp. "Ahh, nothing like cold coffee."

The girl blinked furiously. "I--I'm sorry, I must've drifted off…"

Seifer nodded slowly. "Yes, Quistis, you WERE drifting off," he said in calm tones, as if speaking to a child. "And the sun is hot."

She swatted his shoulder lightly. "Hey, shut up!"

He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. "So?"

"So what?"

"What strange, disturbing thoughts have been running through that head of yours while I was waving my hand energetically in front of your face for five minutes?" Seifer suddenly made a face. "I hope you weren't remembering the locker room incident…"

"No, still on my field test--what locker room incident?!" she suddenly asked.

"Oh…nothing." Seifer's tone clearly conveyed that whatever it was, was not 'nothing'.

"I swear, if you have perverted thoughts of me in the locker room…" the blonde woman threatened.

Seifer simply smiled calmly, infuriatingly. "So, Miss Quis, how about we hit the books?"

"Does this mean you won't tell me?!"

"What do you think?"

Quistis growled deep within her throat, making Seifer blink. "Did you just…growl?"

"What do you think?" Quistis mimicked. "Now come on, let's get this study session over with."

Seifer jumped to his feet and hurried after Quistis. "What, are you pissed off now, Quis?"

She merely scowled at him and kept walking.

"I'll take that as a yes. I was just kidding, Quistis! Come on, be nice."

"I don't have to."

"Quis…hey, we were friends, remember that."

Quistis' eyes widened, and she suddenly stopped walking. Seifer, kept going a few more steps before he, too, stopped, and looked back at her. Her brows were furrowed together, and she was apparently in deep thought. "That is true," Quistis murmured. She raised her gaze to Seifer. "What happened between us?"

Seifer shoved his gloved hands into the deep pockets of his trench and shrugged broad shoulders. "Things happen," he said. "I guess you don't remember, but…it was at our place. It wasn't that long ago, actually…" He cleared his throat. "So, shouldn't we get to studying?"

Quistis gasped. "Oh, I completely forgot!"

He nodded. "Yeah, let's go." Without thinking, he quickly grabbed Quistis' hand and began leading her to the library.

|Whaaa? Oh no, my face is getting all hot…and red!|




"So, you're applying for a teacher's license?"

"Yup. I've accomplished my first goal, and I'm trying to accomplish the second."

"…That's nice."

"You don't sound happy."

"How could you tell?"

Quistis shot Seifer a confused look. "Hey, what's wrong with you?"

Seifer's stare slid from the new moon above him to the slender girl sitting on the balcony railing. "Are you serious about this wanting to teach thing?" he asked quietly.

She nodded earnestly. "Of course!"

Seifer bowed his head. "…Okay…"

"Is something wrong? Are you upset with me?!" Quistis reached out and lightly touched Seifer's shoulder, but quickly pulled back when Seifer jerked away from her. "What--?"

"Heh…always knew you were such a nerd." Seifer turned away from her. "Fine, Trepe, chase that stupid little dream of yours. Good luck." The ice in his voice, and the formality of her last name, stunned Quistis into silence. Seifer chuckled mercilessly and began to walk away.

Quistis quickly regained her wits. "Seifer, what's wrong?!" she asked, starting after him. She grabbed the back of his shirt. He stopped.

"It's over."

"What?"

"…I don't think I want to be friends with you anymore, Trepe. I mean, how would my reputation look if my best friend is some geek? Bad for my image. So see ya around…teach."

He walked off, and it began to rain. Quistis' vision was suddenly blurry.

Maybe it was the rainwater.

…Maybe it was her tears.




Seifer was unexpectedly awakened by the insistent knocking on his dorm room. His roommate, a skinny, mousy-haired kid whose name Seifer didn't even bother to remember, snorted and simply turned on his side. Groggily, Seifer staggered to the door (in his usual sleepwear--sweatpants) and pulled it open. He squinted as the blaring white lights in the hallway cut through the fog in his brain. "Uh…Quistis?" he mumbled. He rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and blinked a few times, then looked down at her. "Yeah?"

Quistis was a wearing a heavy jacket over cotton, cream-colored pajamas. She was wearing nothing but socks on her feet, and her long blonde hair--Seifer had forgotten just how long it was when she wore it down--was tied into two braided pigtails. "I can't sleep," she whispered. "I dreamed about a T-Rexaur."

"Oh, that…sorry about that. Well, what do you want me to do? It's…uh, it's…"

"It's two in the morning."

"Are you fucking serious?" Seifer ran his fingers through his short blond hair. "You woke me up at two in the morning because of a fucking bad dream?"

|Shut up, Seifer,| said his brain. |You just had a pretty bad memory-dream yourself.|

"Ah, fuck off," Seifer muttered. Unfortunately, Quistis heard.

"Sorry, you're really sleepy, aren't you. I'll just talk to you tomorrow--"

Seifer caught her arm, and she turned back to him. "Let me get decent, and we'll talk. Our place."

She nodded mutely.




"Hey."

"Hm?" Quistis raised her head and she made herself comfortable on the balcony railing of Balamb Garden's 'secret area'.

"Be careful." Seifer leaned on the barrier, arms crossed. "You could fall off of that easy."

"…I know you're watching."

|Hey,| Seifer's brain suddenly said, |I've heard this somewhere before…|

|Shut UP, brain.|

"Seifer?"

He snapped back to reality, looked at Quistis. "Yeah?"

She smiled slightly. "Talk to me."

Seifer raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

Quistis shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know. Anything."

It began to rain, gentle, warm raindrops that pattered lightly on the stones and walls of Balamb Garden.

Seifer groaned. "Oh, jeez…"

Quistis giggled, tilted her head back. "I like the rain."

"It's wet, and slippery. What's to like?" Seifer asked disgustedly.

Quistis laughed, tilted her head farther back. One hand slipped from its place on the railing. |…!!!|

Out of the corner of his vision, Seifer saw her begin to fall. With reflexes honed by years of training, he quickly wheeled around, one hand shooting out to catch Quistis' wrist, pulling her to him, the other circling her waist to steady her.

She leaned against Seifer, wide-eyed and shaking. "Uh…umm…" She closed her eyes. "Thanks."

Seifer smiled to himself. "Told you you'd fall."

"I'm sorry…"

"It's alright."

The rain grew steady and heavy, drenching through Quistis' jacket, and Seifer's sweater. "Be careful next time," Seifer said quietly, looking down at her. "I won't always be around when you fall."

"…But…"

|……?|

"…you'll be watching," she whispered.

"Yeah," he replied. "I'll be watching you when you fall."

"If I…if I fall for you, will you catch me…?"

"…Sure." Seifer caught her gaze. "Why not?"

Then he quickly leaned down, touched his lips to hers.

It was a light, fleeting kiss, stolen from a princess by her wayward knight.

Or was it freely given?




---Dedication---

This chapter dedicated to Lottie and Quis, for making the process of writing it so much fun!