The Return Of Ultimecia
Author: SoulOfFlame
Chapter Three: Lies and Deceit
A/N: Back again! This Chapter will hopefully move the plot along just a little bit more than the previous two chapters. I would appreciate any reviews left behind for me, if you can find the time to leave one, and thank to you all of my reviewers. Maybe I'll try to do something nice for all of my reviewers since you guys are nice enough to help me make this story better. Well, enough incessant ranting, on with the story!
Disclaimer: I figured it should go in all the chapters so here it is: I don't own anything except the idea. Everything else belongs to Squaresoft and its related people. I am merely a fan who kidnapped Seifer and shoved him under my bed. :)
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Quistis gaped at Rinoa, her cerulean eyes wide open in shock. She fumbled for her words but her mouth didn't seem to want to obey. Her friend smirked at her in a knowing way which bothered Quistis somehow. Did people find joy in making her uncomfortable with stupid accusations? Was this fun for them somehow?
"Rinoa ... I don't think ... You see you're just ..." Quistis let her voice trail off and tried in vain to explain just how wrong her friend was.
"You do don't you? You have feelings for Seifer Almasy!" Rinoa squealed excitedly at having uncovered this news. Quistis cringed, finding Rinoa's statement to be much louder than it actually was. She nervously looked around her, expecting everyone to be staring at her. Fortunately, they weren't.
"I really don't know Rinoa. I mean, I don't believe I do and I would know wouldn't I?" The blonde reminded her friend.
"You're lying again, I can tell. You know the answer you're just afraid I'll tell. I would like to remind you, Quistis, that I am NOT Selphie. You CAN trust me." Rinoa folded her slender arms in front of her chest and smiled at her friend.
"Rinoa please just drop it." Pleaded Quistis.
"Not a chance! Figure it out already Quistis! It may relieve some stress." She replied smiling.
"I guess ... I do. But you can't let anyone know that Rinoa!" Quistis gave in to her friend's wishes and admitted it, praying to Hyne she would leave well enough alone now that she knew.
"This is funny ... and he barely knows you even exist!" Rinoa said laughing slightly. Quistis looked at the ground, embarrassed.
"What else is knew?" Asked Quistis rhetorically. She had already figured that much out and Rinoa's humorous attitude towards her problems wasn't exactly helping.
"Hmmm.... where'd Squall go? I need to go find him." Said Rinoa noticing for the first time that Squall had left. Quistis began to open her mouth to protest but Rinoa silenced her with a wave of her hand. "Oh don't worry Quisty, you're secret's safe with me. I just need to talk to him." She reassured her friend. She turned to go but was refrained as she felt Quistis gently place her hand on her arm.
"Thank you for making sure I was okay Rinoa. I think because you asked, I was. You really did help me too so thank you." She said earnestly.
Squall stalked back inside Garden where he had left Rinoa and Quistis. He had followed Seifer in an attempt to get him to talk to him but it was to no avail. The stubborn blonde had stalked off and refused to speak to him. He had pressed to get him to talk and nearly been attacked by Seifer before he backed off.
"What if he was telling the truth? What am I saying, I can't trust Seifer! And besides, she would never do that to me." He said walking onward lost in his thoughts.
"Anything for a friend!" Rinoa called to Quistis as she ran over and hugged Squall. She looked up at him having heard the last part of his comments. "Who would never do what to you?" She asked smiling mischievously.
Squall's head shot up as Rinoa took him into her embrace. "What? Oh nothing Rinoa." He smiled and attempted to change the subject. "Is Quistis all right?" He asked.
Quistis stood where Rinoa had left her and watched the happy couple with a smile on her face. She was no longer bitter that Squall had chosen Rinoa over her. In fact, she was happy for them. "Maybe someday I'll be lucky enough to have something like that." She said softly to herself. She quietly turned and walked to her dorm.
"Oh she's fine! But really, tell me who you were talking about. Please tell me?" She clasped her hands together hopefully and looked at Squall with her puppy dog eyes. Squall panicked.
"I was talking about ... Quistis!" He said using the first name that came to mind. He knew very well Rinoa would not have cared if he had told her the truth, and he didn't know why he was lying. He felt strange, an odd feeling he didn't like.
"I still don't believe you." The smiled on her face faded. "You were talking about me weren't you? What wouldn't I do to you?" She was being unusually rude to him and didn't know why. A strange feeling was coming over her and she was slightly confused. She felt angry, for no apparent reason.
"No, I meant Quistis! I meant that she would never take Seifer's side if she had to choose which one of us to help." Squall lied. He didn't know why he said this because he knew Rinoa wouldn't buy into it. He felt like his words were being chosen for him.
"If you don't trust me then say so but don't you dare lie to my face Squall Leonhart!" Rinoa had started tapping her foot impatiently and now she stomped on it and turned on her hell, taking off towards the dorms.
"Rinoa wait!" he caught her by the arm and turned her to face him. "I'm telling you the truth!" He said. His mind whirled with questions and a voice inside of him reprimanded him for this behavior.
"I want to believe you Squall, honestly I do! Something is just stopping me from doing so." She said looking at him sadly. She suddenly found herself back in control of her emotions after her brief and unexplainable anger.
"Rinoa I ..." He sighed and suddenly the awkward feeling lessen. "Seifer just said that... I didn't want to hurt you." He said struggling to fight this strange slavery.
"What did he say Squall? You know I won't care!" Rinoa said.
"He said that ... well he alluded to the fact that you acted differently when I wasn't around. I was angry and trying to calm down so I was reminding myself of all of the reasons why I knew it wasn't true." Said Squall finally shaking off the terrible feeling.
"The good thing is that you didn't believe him. If you had ... I wouldn't be standing here right now. But know this Squall Leonhart! I love you, not Seifer Almasy, and I always will." She leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips. "And that is one thing you can be sure of."
"I'm sorry I lied to you Rinoa, I don't know what came over me." Said Squall more honestly than Rinoa could appreciate.
Quistis walked towards the dorms and stopped, deciding to go outside and think. She felt distracted since her little conversation with Rinoa. Her mind was swimming with thoughts and silent confessions. Why had she confided in Rinoa? She never would have done anything like that normally. She headed to the bridge on the second floor of Garden and leaned against the balcony. She gazed out at the horizon, wrapped in her own thoughts.
"I have a lot of thinking to do." She said quietly, sighing softly to herself. She took a deep breath of the cool early evening air and let herself relax. "At least no one here will bother me." She thought aloud.
In the shadows behind her, someone was watching her. Two deep and menacing eyes watched the slender blonde, plotting their next move. The wind rustled faintly as the figure loomed there, with Quistis unaware of the danger this figure was preparing to give her. The figure let out a chuckle as it watched Quistis and heard her last comment. The poor naive fool was completely unaware of what was about to happen.
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A/N: Okay well there it is! Chapter three is done! So? What do you think? I tried to make it interesting and somewhat of a cliffhanger. Hopefully that was somewhat achieved. I am so happy with this chapter! But be forewarned that this story will probably get very long because I am like, totally psyched to have this thing going now! Please don't forget to R&R if you can find the time, it's just that little button that reads: Go. I know you can do it. No, no, the other button. On your left..... Your OTHER left! (*cheesy grin*)
~~SoulOfFlame~~
