Chapter 25: Parting Ways

Cid smiled up at his wife as she sat down in the chair beside his bed, a steaming bowl of soup held between her delicate hands. Her painted nails tapped against the glass sides of the bowl, marking time to the slow curve of her lips as she smiled. Her dark hair was flowing straight down her back and looked more beautiful than Cid could ever remember it, as did the pale, heart-shaped face it framed.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"You didn't have to do this," Cid pointed out, loving her al the while for her infinite compassion.

She shrugged and set the bowl down on the red and yellow checkered tray stretched across his lap. "Yes I did," she replied. "Be careful. It's very hot."

"What kind?" he asked.

"Chicken noodle with homemade noodles." She stirred it and lifted some of the noodles out for him to see.

"That sounds…oh my God, so much better than hospital food." Edea's homemade noodles were among his favorite foods, but they took a lot of effort and preparation to make, so she usually reserved them for special occasions. It was a little odd to eat something he usually only ate around the holidays while in the hospital, but the mere idea that his wife had spent so much time and effort making this just to make him feel more at home warmed every inch of his so-sore heart.

She watched as he spooned the broth and noodles into his mouth. A small groan of satisfaction escaped him and he swallowed with deep appreciation.

"It's amazing," he assured her. He was sitting in the infirmary's private suite, still in bed but with several big, crunchy pillows propping him up. All things considered, this heart attack was not the worst thing to ever happen to him. He hadn't lived so much in the present in years.

Edea propped her chin in her hand and watched him eat. Cid knew what she wanted to say to him, but they both knew that it didn't need to be said. It was time for a new phase of their life together to begin. He'd always know that this moment would come. And now that it was here, he didn't mind it as much as he thought he would. They were finally coming back to one another.

Retirement. Hyne. He couldn't believe he was already so old.

"Full?" she asked when he finished the soup.

"Yeah. Thanks." He sighed and settled back down into bed, warmth radiating up from his stomach. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she replied and gently brushed her hand across his forehead.

0 0 0

Seifer braced himself as the vessel beached hard against the southern Centra shore. The thud under his feet pushed his stomach up into his throat and shoved his heart against his backbone. For a moment, it stayed there until physics pushed everything back into proper alignment again. Beside him, in the pilot's chair, Quistis blushed and apologized. He knew why she'd lost track of their approach (the dirty message he'd typed to her was still displayed at the bottom corner of his screen) but far behind them Aurelia was unaware.

"A little warning next time?" she barked. "If all your landings are that rough, you're not going to get me back to your damn Garden in one piece."

At the same time, Carson's voice came on the radio. "Are you guys okay? That looked rough even from back here!"

Quistis opened a channel to him. "We're fine. Just a small…equipment malfunction."

To make up for some of the trouble he'd caused, Seifer took care of shutting down the engines and getting the ship prepared for them to disembark. Bright sunlight streamed in through the opening when the seal hissed, broke, and the door opened to flop down against the soft Centran sand. The fresh air smelled good after so long locked inside the ship.

"Where are we?" Aurelia asked when Seifer bent down to release her hands from their bindings. She breathed an audible sigh of relief when he let her bring her hands in front of her and rub fresh blood back into her wrists and fingers. Her feet were uncertain when he pulled her up onto them, but she quickly regained her balance and her composure.

"We're on the far southern coast of Centra," he replied. "We'll be going back by air from here."

They climbed down the ramp and out into the blinding sun. Seifer had to shade his eyes before he spotted the Ragnarok up on the hillside. Aurelia grunted to make it clear that she was unimpressed. Squall was already walking toward them, his expression as impassive and dispassionate as ever. If he was glad to see that they were alive, he didn't show it. A detail of SeeDs were walking along with him.

"Good to have you back," he said when he got up to Quistis.

"Good to be back," she replied.

Behind them, the other ship beached. Adrian was the first one out, followed shortly by Kelly. Brecht lagged behind and when he finally did emerge, he did so with a cowed, sullen look. He'd committed a serious infraction against Garden to come and get them and he probably knew, at the very least, that he'd be losing his instructor's license. His face was pale when he saluted Squall. Miraculously, his uniform was pressed and perfect. There wasn't even a wrinkle in the pants. Seifer didn't know how the man had managed to spend several days on a tropical island and come out looking like he'd just come from the dry cleaners.

None of them had showered in days. Seifer was so rumpled and worn that he wasn't sure how long it would take him to get clean again. He was really looking forward to a long, blistering hot shower full of thick lather and billowing steam. And then a long nap in a soft bed. He'd had more than his fill of sleeping on the ground.

Of course, if the company were the same…he thought he could probably adjust.

It still felt strange. He wasn't the sort of person who got into serious relationships. Ever since Rinoa, he hadn't really seen the point. Why risk it? Besides, he knew what kind of person he was: hot-headed, stupid, and cheap. He played. He teased. But he didn't love. Now, all of the sudden, all that was changing. It was strange. But good.

Squall was talking to Brecht. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to need to confiscate your ID."

"You can't be serious," Quistis objected and ran over to tug on Squall's arm. "I know he broke the rules, but he did it to save our lives, Squall. You did the same thing for Rinoa. And without him, the mission would have been a total loss. He won this one for Garden."

"It's not my decision," Squall replied with a shrug.

"What about Cid?" she persisted, following him back up toward the Ragnarok. Keeping a tight hold on Aurelia, Seifer followed them. "Can't he do anything?" Quistis continued. "He can call the board, have a meeting. I'll explain everything."

"The headmaster can't do anything." Squall forked one hand through his hair. "He's ill."

"Ill?" Quistis's features blanched. "Is he okay? What happened?"

0 0 0

"Headmaster." Quistis saluted respectfully, her elbow hitting a rack full of medical supplies.

He stared back at her from the infirmary bed. All around her, the infirmary was bustling as the prisoners from their coup were still being processed and given proper medical attention. Their return and the huge influx of people had done a little to staunch the wild rumors flying around Garden as to Cid's condition. There was one that held he'd been attacked while working late at night and that Xu had been injured as well while fending off the would-be assassin. Another claimed that Cid had contracted a rare but deadly disease (although no consensus had been formed on which disease he had).

Despite the sudden heart attack and the hospital bed he was sitting in, he looked good.

"I'm glad to see you," he said. "I wasn't sure for a while there that was going ever going to again."

"It was certainly a close call, sir," she replied.

"I don't think we've handled this many political prisoners since the time Galbadia Garden attacked us." He motioned around. "So tell me, what exactly is this we've stumbled across here? I thought you went looking for monsters."

"We did. These people were all living on the island," Quistis explained, then relayed the whole story that Aurelia had told them about the refugees from Centra and the shadow cats that they'd manufactured to protect them.

"Why make it vulnerable to water?" Cid asked.

Quistis shrugged. "They needed some way to control it, I suppose."

"But it's not exactly something we wouldn't have figured out if they'd tried to use it against us. Every SeeD carries water magic."

"Aurelia gave us only sketchy details, and we couldn't get her to talk about any of the technical aspects of the shadow cats," Quistis explained. "It could be that they weren't finished with them yet. Maybe the water vulnerability was something they were still trying to weed out. We did overhear enough while we were there to suggest they were working on an improved generation of monsters."

"Were is this woman now?"

"Separate from the others. She's being held in high security detention."

"And how about the body?" Cid asked. "How did that fit into all of this."

"Sascha Maurden. We still don't really know for certain, sir. He was recruited by the group to live and work on the island. He did for several years. But we still don't have the exact details of his death. It could have been an accident. Or they could have fed him to the monsters to get rid of him. We might never know."

"I take it these monsters were just as threatening as they seemed."

"More so." Quistis stepped out of the way as a nurse came into the room, took Cid's vitals, and then left. "We were attacked by one within minutes of arriving on the island. There's still several of them there. Are we going to be sending down a team to round them up?"

"Eventually. But for right now, we're just going to keep this under wraps." Breaking out of their military relationship for a moment, Cid reached out and touched Quistis's arm. "I know you've requested a hearing to get Carson's instructorship reinstated."

"He doesn't deserve to have his position taken away on account of me."

Cid nodded, then continued. "I know how you feel. For that matter, I know how Carson felt, too. If it had been up to me, he wouldn't have been put in that position. But no one here can ignore the fact that he stole the ship, the Ragnarok, that he defied orders, and encouraged other people to defy orders, too. We've decided not to punish the student he convinced to tag along as a pilot. But we are going to dock Kelly one semester's worth of credits. And we can't let Carson continue on as an instructor."

"I understand." They couldn't have someone at Garden enforcing the rules who wasn't subject to them himself. It would set a bad example, make him a bad leader. Garden instructors were the cream of the crop. There were any number of well-qualified people in the wings waiting for a position to open up.

"Before you go, there's one more thing I want to tell you." Cid looked around to make sure no one else was within earshot. "I've decided to retire. Not right away…I'm going to serve out the rest of this term. But once that's done, I'm going to be moving in with Edea at the orphanage."

Quistis couldn't quite hide her surprise. "I see," she said softly. "You'll certainly be missed here, sir. Can I ask…have you chosen a replacement?"

"Yes." He smiled. "Xu."

"I think she's a great choice," Quistis replied with a flush of warmth for her friend. Xu was nothing if not dedicated. She'd worked harder than anyone in Garden for the past several years and deserved the promotion more than anyone else Quistis could think of.

For a few more minutes, she sat with the headmaster, quietly discussing the more personal details of Cid's health. When she finally got up to leave, the infirmary was so full of people that she had a difficult time getting out the door of Cid's private suite. All of the people sitting on the exam room beds were people Quistis had brought back from the island. As she walked through the lobby, Dr. Kadowaki caught her by the arm and complimented her on the healing work she'd done in the field.

"Really top notch," she said. "I saw the work you did on Mr. Almasy earlier. Very impressive."

Nodding her thanks, Quistis continued out the door. Finally, the heavy responsibility for the mission, her team, and the boatload of prisoners sloughed off her shoulders, leaving her to sigh and shudder with relief.

There was only one issue left to resolve.

Her boots clacked against the Garden's tile floor as she walked, her stride purposeful and strong, full of renewed energy. She'd put this off long enough. On her first day back, rather than deal with anything, she'd indulged in a long shower and an even longer nap that had lasted into the next day. Now she wished that she'd just gotten this over with.

Sooner than she would have liked, Quistis found herself standing in front of Carson Brecht's door. With a steadying breath, she knocked, the too-firm rap making her knuckles sting. She waited for a moment, repeating the speech she'd rehearsed in her head, until the door slid open.

"Hey!" He grinned and waved her in. "I'm glad you're here. I've got great news!"

"You do?" Thrown, she followed him in. Had he not heard yet that his instructor's license had been revoked? Hyne. She really didn't want to be the one to deliver that news, too.

"I wrote this article a while back about illegal poaching of the speckled pygmy owl," he explained and pulled out the chair at his desk so she could sit down. Glad for it, she did. "I sent it off to Timber Maniacs, and while I was away, I got a letter from them in the mail. They're going to publish it! Can you believe it? They're going to pay me two hundred gil, too."

"Um…congratulations," Quistis replied, dumbfounded.

"You know what this makes me?" he asked.

She couldn't even guess. "What?"

"A professional." He grabbed what she guessed was the letter off his desk and clutched it to his chest. "I've been dreaming of this moment my entire life. I know it probably doesn't seem like much…but this is just the first step. I've got a resume now, so the book I'm writing about Centra is that much closer to hitting the shelves. Right? And Timber Maniacs could even decide to take me on as a regular contributor. I've already got another article prepared to submit. If this works out…" He shook his head. "I can finally quit SeeD."

"Quit?"

He looked surprised. "Yeah. You know…move someplace nice like Timber or Winhill and have a regular life."

"A regular life," Quistis repeated. "You mean have a wife, two-point-five kids, and a house in the suburbs?"

"Yeah. Sure."

She frowned, their conversation bolstering her resolve to end this relationship before she ended up barefoot and pregnant, stuffing a turkey in some picture perfect blue and white kitchen.

For once, he noticed her unease. "Don't tell me you want to be a mercenary for the rest of your life," he said and sat down. "Quistis, you do realize that most SeeDs don't live past twenty-five, don't you? I would have thought this last mission would have made you realize that this isn't an occupation you can grow old in."

"Maybe. But it's who I am."

Carson looked like he was seeing her for the first time. And she thought that maybe he was. She'd been raised from infancy to be a SeeD. Garden was the only world and the only life she'd ever known. It was the only place she belonged.

"This isn't going to work," she said.

"No. It's okay. If Garden's that important to you, I'll stay here."

She shook her head. "That's not what I meant."

As realization dawned, Carson's blue eyes turned liquid. "You're breaking up with me."

"Yeah," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. "You're a good guy, Carson. And it sounds like you've really got something going here with your writing. You should go after it…live the dream. You and me, we're just not right for each other."

Still in shock, he shook his head. "Relationships aren't supposed to be easy. They take work, and—"

"No," Quistis interrupted. "No amount of working at it is going to change this. I'm sorry."

Slowly, he was beginning to process what she was saying. He got up and began pacing, and though it pained Quistis to watch him really begin to feel the sting of her rejection, she waited until he stopped, his arms crossed.

"This is about Seifer. Isn't it?" he asked, heartache making his words ring sharp.

The least she could do was be honest with him. "Not entirely. I've been thinking about this for a while. But…the mission did make me realize that it wasn't fair to either of us to hang onto a relationship that wasn't going to work."

He nodded, turned his back on her, and gestured toward the door. "I…um…guess I'll see you later then."

As she walked out, Quistis stopped to put one hand on his shoulder — a gesture filled with more genuine physical affection than in any of the kisses they'd shared. "Galbadia is beautiful this time of year," she said and squeezed. "Good luck. Timber Maniacs would be lucky to have you."

"Yeah…thanks." His voice trailed after her to the door, heavy with sadness as he let her go. "Goodbye, Quistis."