Beautiful…

"Oh my God!" cried Selphie as her horrified expression softened into tears. She buried her face into Irvine's arms. He looked down in complete shock. Zell was so horrified, all he could do was merely stare and swallow nervously. Rinoa gasped and covered her hands over her face as Squall finally arrived to the scene. At first he didn't know what was going on. Then Rinoa ran up and embraced him.

"Oh Squall!" she cried as he put his arms around her still confused. Then it finally hit him. There, sprawled out in the grass was the body of Cid Kramer. Squall looked down and his eyes widened in horror. Quickly he looked away and gasped, nauseated. He could barely breathe. Then he swallowed, waited a few seconds and finally regained control.

"What the hell happened here?" Squall said, almost inaudibly.

Irvine replied in a low whisper, "He-He's dead…"

"HOW?!" Squall fell to his knees for a closer look. "no...NOO!"

He closed his eyes, trying to block out the horrible reality.

Cid Kramer's body was completely still. His glazed over eyes lay open, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth After a much closer look, Squall still couldn't determine what was the cause of his death, the death of the only father he ever knew.

After finding a stray blanket in the back of the Garden car and covering Cid Kramer's body, Squall simply stared across the horizon of the descending sun. He swallowed.

"Squall…? Are you gonna be ok?" Rinoa said quietly, putting her hand on his shoulder. Squall didn't answer, nor turn to face her. Instead he blinked as his eyes narrowed…"Seifer," he breathed.

"What?"

"SEIFER!" Squall screamed as he quickly stood up.

"Seifer?" Rinoa's eyes widened. Every one turned to him. "You think Seifer could have done this?"

"Seifer must pay for this!" Squall exclaimed, his crystal eyes wild.

"Wait, wait, wait! Squall! Why would Seifer kill the person he'd get his ransom from?" Rinoa questioned, but Squall didn't hear. He didn't seem to listen to reason or seem to want to. Now he had a reason for taking his revenge on all the tormenting that Seifer had put him through! Cid's death must have triggered some kind of nerve inside of Squall's brain.

"Squall!" Irvine yelled. "What the hell are you doin' man?"

Squall didn't respond but seized the sniper rifle from Irvine's hands. Quickly he climbed into the car and started the engine, flooring it and screeching off into the horizon. "Seifer must die… Him and his little 'posse'."

"What was that!?" Zell exclaimed.

"Uhhh…I think Squall has finally gone off the deep end." Irvine observed, stunned.

"Oh my God…" Rinoa was close to tears. "Squall…Do you think he's gonna go kill him?"

"Kill who?" Selphie piped.

"Seifer!" Rinoa began to pace. "Nooo! If he does go to find him, Seifer will surely kill Quistis!"

Everyone gasped. "Ok…Here's the plan," Rinoa began making it up as she went along, "One of us go back to Balamb Garden with Cid's body to find out for sure what happened to him. The rest of us go find Squall, before it's too late!"

* * *

"You mean you've had it too?" Seifer questioned her. He was astounded to hear that she had had the same dream as he. He lifted himself from her and they sat against the wall, leaving his forgotten weapon on the floor. An hour passed as they talked about the mysterious dream.

"God, every time I had that dream, I wished I could have saved you, Quistis. But then as the dream progressed and I did save you…" Seifer trailed off, not knowing what to say. Quistis was still shocked at this amazing coincidence. That's when she really noticed Seifer Alamsy. His dirty blonde hair fell in his eyes. His beautiful azure eyes that she could get lost in forever. Siefer was not a bad guy, just mislead, misunderstood.

"Seifer was this really a coincidence?"

Seifer looked at her intently before answering. "I don't know. It's gotta mean something though."

"It helped you not commit suicide." Seifer turned to her his eyes filled with alarm.

"Quistis." Seifer looked down. "Please don't talk about that anymore. Don't tell Fujin and Rajin either. "

"Seifer…right." Quistis looked down remembering the mixed feelings that Seifer had stirred within her. She wanted to lie in his arms forever and ever…Instead she merely sat next to him, but the warmth she could feel emitting from him was enough for her. Wait, where were Fujin and Rajin any way?

* * *

"Well…uhhh." Why do you think Seifer wanted us to leave?" Rajin asked in his confused way. Fujin shrugged, then rolled her gray eyes.

"QUISTIS."

"Ohh…OHHH!" Rajin exclaimed and then rolled his own eyes. He sighed as they both continued to walk. As they made their way through the twisting, narrow, allies of Timber, they abruptly stopped sensing they were not alone. At the far side of the alley was a lone shadow.

"Is that…" Rajin squinted through the dark and the snow. "It is! It's Squall!"

"Where the HELL is Seifer!?" Squall bellowed menacingly as he drew out the sniper rifle. "Why the hell am I even to wasting my time with you RETARDS!?" This wasn't like the Squall they knew at all. This guy didn't only show his feelings, but couldn't seem to control his obvious rage. "That's IT! I've had enough of you IDIOTS."

Screaming at the top of his lungs, tears of rage in his crystal eyes, he aimed his weapon and fired two shots into the white night.

Squall stood there for who knows how long, revolted at his own actions. Reality had suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks as he became short of breath. He dropped the rifle to the ground, falling to his knees. He simply stared at the two bloodstained bodies across the alley. Innocent? He wasn't sure. Jesus, they were like puppies and Seifer was their master. It was their own fault. Squall tried with all his might to find a way to justify his actions. Try as he might, he couldn't . It was murder. In his eyes, he was a sinner. "Oh my God…What have I done?"

* * *

"Woah hey! Where the hell are those two any way?" Seifer said.

"I don't know…How long have they been gone?"

"About an hour I suppose…Well in any case we can't stay here. We gotta go back to my apartment to rest. Jesus! It freezing in here!" Seifer wrapped his arms around himself as Quistis hugged the Seifer-scented coat over her shoulders. "Fujin and Rajin know that if we're not here by the time they come back, we'll be at my place."

Quistis nodded and wondered if Seifer would ever stir those wonderful feelings again. She felt…loved, wanted when he kissed her before. Either way she knew that he wouldn't do any thing to hurt her again.

Outside the blistering cold hit them like ice.

"Follow me." Seifer said." It's not far from here."

They walked in awkward silence, except for the howling wind, there was no conversing between them. Every so often she'd turn to him to see him staring right back at her and she quickly looked away. Finally Seifer had admitted to himself that he did have some kind of feelings for this beautiful woman next him. She was beautiful, sexy even. The best thing was that she was beautiful on the inside too. Seifer gazed at her and smiled faintly, before he put his arms around her and embraced her. Quistis was in shock for a moment, but then she just let go of everything. She made herself forget about his past, and what he was doing to her, and just let herself be. Just be with him, in his strong arms. She closed her eyes and laid her head against his chest to hear his racing heart. If this was wrong, she didn't want to be right.

Finally, after arriving at his place and having some nourishment, Quistis closed her tired eyes as she sat on the dusty couch. Drowsily she reopened them to watch Seifer move about the kitchen, putting things away.

"Seifer…"

Seifer turned to her and gently smiled. He silently walked up to the couch and kneeled before her. She felt his warm fingers lightly brush stray hair from her eyes as he leaned in and met his lips with hers once again.