Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds

Chapter 12 - At Opposite Ends Of A Spectrum

By: Fat Zombie

I can't get to sleep,

I think about the implications,

Of diving in too deep,

And possibly the complications.

Especially at night,

I worry over situations,

I know I'll be alright,

It's just overkill.

Taken from Colin Hay - Overkill

Despite the fact that she'd been told to get some rest, Quistis couldn't sleep. There was something she had to do. As much as she felt she would suffer for it, she was going to thank Seifer. Currently heading down the corridor to his dorm, she was still debating whether it was worth going through with it. He wouldn't care if she said thank you or if she didn't, would he? But not saying sorry would be rude. Besides, she was there now.

Quistis stood outside the door to Seifer's room. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. She listened hard but couldn't hear anything inside. She knocked again, this time a little harder. She heard a loud thud from inside, then footsteps towards the door. Eventually the door opened. Seifer stood on the other side, dressed in his pants and blue vest. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked, looking only half-awake.

"Something like that" replied Quistis. She stood in silence, waiting to be asked in by Seifer. Just when she thought he wasn't going to, Seifer turned around and walked back into his room.

"You might as well come in" he said.

Quistis followed him in and looked around herself. His room didn't look much different from the generic setup of a new SeeD's room. Though that wasn't exactly surprising. It's not like he had had the time to decorate the place a little more to his tastes since he'd arrived back at Garden. Quistis didn't suspect he had a love of interior design anyway. The room was adequately functional, and that seemed to fit Seifer. "So" Seifer said, sitting down on his bed. "Anything in particular you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yeah, sort of" Quistis answered.

"Would have to be really, wouldn't it?" Seifer said.

"What do you mean?" Quistis asked.

"Well, out of all the people you know here" Seifer explained. "I'd least expect you to be knocking at my door in the early hours of the morning".

"I see" Quistis said, briefly looking away. She turned back to him. "Well like you said, there is something in particular".

"Go on" Seifer urged.

"I" Quistis began. She faltered for a moment.

"Yes?" Seifer urged again.

"I wanted" Quistis faltered once more. This was more difficult than she had imagined it would be.

"Look, am I gonna have to coax this out of you one word at a time, 'cos I really am quite tired" Seifer asked sarcastically.

"This isn't easy" Quistis snapped.

"Ooh, fiery" Seifer said with an infuriating grin. "So that's how you get when you're drunk".

"Be quiet will you?" said Quistis. "And I'm not drunk" she added. Seifer nodded in that 'I believe you' kind of way. "I'm trying to say thank you for what you did today".

"I see" said Seifer. He seemed slightly shocked. "You're welcome, but I'm not so sure what it is I'm being thanked for". Seifer stood up and walked past Quistis towards a small space at the side of his room. It would have resembled a kitchen if it wasn't so small. However, it did have a couple cupboards, a sink and a small refrigerator. Seifer bent down and opened the fridge, picking out a can of some type of soda. He turned to face Quistis and lifted the can up. "Want one?" he asked.

"No" Quistis answered, slightly annoyed at the fact that Seifer didn't seem to be taking her too seriously. "Thank you" she was sure to add.

"Fair enough" said Seifer, closing the fridge and cracking open the can. "To what act of extreme heroism do I owe this unique gesture?" Seifer asked.

"I'd be grateful if you took this a little more seriously" said Quistis.

"Okay, okay" Seifer conceded. "But in all honesty, what did I do today?"

"I think you know, really" said Quistis.

"I do, huh?" asked Seifer. "Why don't you go ahead and explain it for my benefit anyway" he instructed.

"When you pushed me out of the way when we were attacked tonight" Quistis explained. "You took that bullet for me".

"I was just trying to get into cover" Seifer explained. "You just happened to be in the way" he added with a smirk.

"Right" said Quistis. She drew the word out, making it obvious that she didn't believe Seifer. "So you dived in front of me, effectively shielding me when you had just as much opportunity to dive behind me instead?"

Seifer thought for a moment. Eventually he gave in. "Alright, so I saw it coming" he said. "I didn't want you to get hurt".

"Oh?" said Quistis. "And why is that?" she asked with a grin, stepping slightly closer to Seifer.

Seifer noticed a change in her attitude. He wondered if she were still under the influence of their earlier indulgences. "You mean a lot to people around here" he explained. "They wouldn't want to see anything happen to you".

"I see" Quistis said, again taking a step closer to Seifer. "Is that all?"

"And, well" Seifer said. "I didn't want to see you get hurt either".

"Why's that?" asked Quistis.

"I dunno" said Seifer. This was all getting a bit too in depth for Seifer's liking. Though he wasn't quite sure how out get out of it.

"Well" Quistis pressured.

Seifer decided to give up trying to get out the situation and just go for broke. "You've always been straight up with me" Seifer explained. "Always been very good to me, even when I didn't deserve it".

"You can say that again" said Quistis.

"Yeah, well" said Seifer. "I guess I like that" he explained. He scratched the back of his head. "And anyway". He dismissed the silence. "It's a SeeD's duty to protect his teammates".

"Well" said Quistis, again moving towards Seifer. She was practically stood on his toes. "It was very brave" she said. Putting her arms around Seifer's neck, she pulled herself up to his ear. "And I like that" she whispered, just before pulling him down into a kiss.

While Quistis closed her eyes, Seifer's shot wide open, his posture tightening up. Momentarily confused and dazed, he eventually worked out what was happening. Hesitating slightly longer than he needed to, he eventually pulled himself away from Quistis. She looked up at him, a confused grin across her features. "That was unexpected" said Seifer. Quistis laughed quietly and leaned forward to kiss him again. Seifer grabbed her shoulders and held her back. Quistis frowned at him, questioning him through the look on her face. "Now I know you're drunk" said Seifer. "You don't really want to be doing this" he said. Trust him to choose now to be a decent person, he thought.

"That's why you think I'm doing this?" asked Quistis.

"No" Seifer answered. "That is why you're doing this".

Quistis looked up and smiled at him. "Trust me" she said quietly. "It's not" she added before pulling him into another kiss.

* * * *

The four sat round the table in the Intelligence Centre, the room only barely lit. While Squall leant his head in his hands, Laguna fidgeted in his chair uneasily. Nida looked briefly from Squall to Laguna, then back to Squall. He frowned, obviously thinking about something. Lain looked at a large red digital clock above an oversized flat-screen at the front of the room. He looked back to the other three men sat round the table. "It looks increasingly unlikely that the good General is going to grace us with his presence" he said. "What do we do if Galbadia doesn't respond?"

"And when do we tell the others?" asked Nida.

"We'll tell them in the morning, when they're more likely to remember it" answered Squall. "But for now, we still wait".

"I told you he didn't like me" Laguna added with a bored sighed. Squall looked up out of his hands to Laguna, frowning sternly. As he opened his mouth to speak, the flat-screen flickered and an image appeared. I man with grey, swept-back hair wearing a military uniform adorned with medals sat looking at the group sat round the table.

"Gentlemen" the grey haired man said. "President Loire" he added.

"Good evening President Caraway" Laguna said, nodding.

"It was, until I was woken up by my secretary" Caraway said. "What's this all about?"

"Well, I assume you've looked at the files I had sent to you" said Laguna. Nida noticed that Laguna had suddenly taken on a far more professional approach to the proceedings.

"I have" Caraway confirmed.

"Then you'll know of the terrorist organization operating out of the south of your country" said Laguna.

"We do now" said Caraway. "I must admit that we weren't aware of this faction before now though".

"Oh?" said Laguna.

"We thank you for notifying us" Caraway said.

"Esthar is always willing to help it's allies" said Laguna.

"I see" said Caraway. He nodded thoughtfully. "Tell me, does Esthar always have it's intelligence monitor all it's allies as well?" he asked sharply. "Or just Galbadia?"

"President Caraway" Laguna began.

"Because it occurs to me that this could be misconstrued as a lack of confidence in those allies" said Caraway.

"Can you honestly say that you haven't got exactly the same programs in operation focused on Esthar?" asked Laguna. Caraway remained silent. "I didn't think so" Laguna said. "Now look Caraway, we can think what we do of each other but the fact remains that this situation must be dealt with immediately"

"I agree" said Caraway. "But I'm caught in a difficult political situation".

"What kind of situation?" asked Squall.

"Ah" said Caraway. "Commander Leonhart speaks" he joked. "I trust you're taking care of my daughter".

"She's fine" said Squall. "What kind of situation?" he repeated.

"Well these terrorists are, in all likelihood, Galbadian citizens" Caraway explained. "And so far their attacks have only been focused on Balamb Garden, even when we look at the Dollet incident if we speak in terms of motivation".

"What's your point?" asked Squall.

"Anti-Garden sentiment is still pretty strong here in Galbadia" Caraway said. "A lot of Galbadian soldiers were either wounded or killed in the last sorceress incident, mostly in battles with Garden" Caraway paused. "There's even pressure on me to close Galbadia Garden and dispose of it".

"But it's still operational" said Nida.

"Yes" said Caraway. He frowned. "I don't believe we've met before".

"President Caraway" said Squall. "This is Balamb Garden's pilot and Senior SeeD, Lieutenant Nida Yahti".

"I see" he said. "It's nice to meet you Lieutenant".

"You too, President Caraway" Nida said.

"As you said, Galbadia Garden is still operational" said Caraway. "But that's only because I've went against public opinion in keeping it so" he explained. "In any case, with Balamb Garden now harbouring my daughter, the new Sorceress, Garden has fallen even more so in the public opinion of Galbadian citizens". Caraway paused. "They hear Sorceress and even now, the alarms still go off".

"So you won't do anything?" asked Lain.

"So many new faces" Caraway smiled.

"Lieutenant Lain Amarta, head of SeeD intelligence" Lain explained.

"Ah" said Caraway. "I'll do what I can" he answered. "But it all depends on how much the Galbadian people find out about this faction" he said. "If the people find out that this particular group is against Garden in anyway, then destroying them could well cause an uprising".

"It sounds as though you're walking a tight-rope over there" said Laguna.

"I hate to admit it" sighed Caraway. "Galbadia is tentatively balanced on the edge of chaos right now, and has been since Sorceress Edea's short reign".

"What do you intend to do?" asked Squall.

"My analysts believe that the largest of the four facilities is the likely headquarters of the group" said Caraway. "Agreed?"

Squall looked to Lain. "It's as good a guess as any" said Lain. "And it's all we have right now".

"Good" said Caraway. "I'll send a covert strike team there" he explained. "With any luck we can capture some of the higher-ups and figure out exactly what is going on".

"Very well" said Squall.

"We'll be in touch" said Caraway. The flat-screen flickered and turned black.

"What are the odds of this all working" Squall asked Lain.

"Going purely on the intelligence we have right now?" asked Lain. "I'd say fifty-fifty". Squall nodded, while Laguna raised his eyebrows and sighed. "And I'm being optimistic" Lain added.

Author's Note: - Yep. Quistis and Seifer. You all knew it was gonna happen at some point, didn't you? But what will be the ramifications? I tried to convey a sensual, sexy side of Quistis character in this chapter but I have the distinct feeling that I missed completely and ended up with 'Drunk and Clumsy'. Either works. I suppose you just have to play the whole scenario out in your head, and see what you come out with - Sensual and Alluring or Quisty with Beer Goggles!

And like I said, it's heating up! Next chapter will see the morning after the SeeD's eventful night out and the Galbadian task-force's mission!

Oh, and thank you Noacat, 'Masked Reviewer' and noctorro for reviewing the last couple chapters. I wasn't sure if anyone was taking any notice of Historical Bonds anymore. Its taken such a long time just to get to this point! But production on new chapters will speed up soon. I've just finished all my college exams and only have a tiny bit of work to complete, so after that I'm free to work on the story. Expect HB to take on a darker mood in upcoming chapters!

To 'Masked Reviewer' - The weapons changeover might not be quite as drastic as I had made it sound at first. The other weapons will still be in there. Having read a few other fics recently on FF.net, I'm coming to the opinion that keeping the original weapons would be better for the story. We'll see. And you're not supposed to know what is going on yet. That's the idea. All mystery and intrigue. Things may become a little more clear in the next few chapters, but events may not be fully explained until later.

To noctorro - The original character 'Nevaeh' was not really meant to look like Rinoa. But the more I read back through her introduction the more I realise how similar my description makes them sound. Though not mentioned in the story, I like to think of Nevaeh as having a much more East-Asian look than Rinoa. The inspiration for the look of her character came from a Japanese model that a buddy of mine knows. So, I hope that helps if your mental picture of the story and its characters!

C ya...