Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, nor am I a part of Squaresoft. This fic is purely for entertainment purpose only, and a bit of matchmaking.

Authors Note: This is a fic about my favorite couple ever in FFVIII – Quistis and Seifer. This story also involves the characters, and places in the FFVIII world, however not all the events may be mentioned, and things are changed. Still, the story takes place after the whole Sorceress Wars.  

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Orphan At Heart

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Written By: Lixia

CHAPTER 1

          Sleep engulfed all of Balamb Garden that night. Everyone had enjoyed a busy day of working out, studying, and training for the SeeD exams that were to be held the following week. Sleep seemed to drone on everyone. Well, everyone except for Quistis. She had so much work that could not go un-noticed and the situation of Squall and Rinoa's wedding wasn't helping her either. She felt the need for a serious vacation.

At least, before Squall and Rinoa made their eternal vows. Rinoa had practically begged Quistis to be bridesmaid.

However, Quistis felt unsuited to be a bridesmaid. Her feelings for Squall long before hadn't disappeared totally, and she didn't think being a bridesmaid would help her.

And though she sometimes had a temptation for it, she didn't want to ruin their wedding. For the first time, Squall seemed to be genuinely happy. On the occasion, Quistis would even notice a weak but apparent smile on Squall's seemingly stone face. She was completely awed by the fact that Rinoa was the one capable of doing that in a short period of time, when she'd been trying for years.

To ruin that would make Squall unhappy, and that was the last thing she wanted. She wanted Squall to remember her for being a great friend, not a person who ruined his life.

So in the end she agreed, much to Rinoa's excitement and Selphie's enthusiasm. Selphie seemed to become increasingly giddy—if that was even possible.

They all seemed glad that Quistis agreed to the offer. Squall had come up to her and said that a wedding without her involved would seem incomplete. That made her smile.

But now that she agreed, her whole life at Balamb Garden was bound to the wedding. She was expected to show up to Selphie's 'Wedding Meetings', and listen to Zell practice his best man speech ideas.

They all felt Quistis knew everything there was to know about weddings when she probably knew less than they did. She never attended a wedding in her life. She never heard about how weddings were prepared, and the detail behind it all. She never knew her parents, and thus couldn't have known what weddings were like from her parents.

Worst of all, she'd never taken an initiative to do some research about it because after Squall proposed to Rinoa, she felt she never needed to look through any wedding catalogs for herself. Selphie would take care of that.

She came to a conclusion that she would be destined to remain alone.

It often depressed her to think that way, but she reminded herself that the truth could hurt. She checked her watch. It read 2:54 AM. She couldn't stay awake any longer, or she wouldn't get any sleep.

There was much to do for the upcoming week. Quietly, Quistis left the Secret Area she'd spent the whole evening in, and made her way back to the dormitories. Often she would just stay still in Balamb Garden's quiet halls, admiring its peace and quiet.

The fountains that surrounded the center elevator continued to spout water, sparkling in the pools, due to the scattered lights in the water basin.

Only the soft trickling of the water could be heard: both calming and romantic, despite it being a school.

Quistis shook her head. She was nothing but a hopeless romantic. She couldn't drown herself in emotions that were never hers to begin with. Immediately she went to her dorm room, without another thought on the fountain.

          By morning, Selphie was frantically knocking at Quistis' door.

"Quisty! Open up! I think I have the perfect dress for Rinoa. You've got to see it!" she exclaimed.

Quistis, in a groggy mood opened the door, just so Selphie would stop knocking.

"Morning Quisty!" she said, a big grin on her petite face. Her hair was in its usual style; the ends of her hair were turned upwards, brown and shiny.

She was also wearing her usual attire: a yellow short dress and her brown leather boots. Her smile was kind and giddy, and her eyes sparkled like a little girls on Christmas day, as she held out the wedding magazine towards Quistis.

Quistis on the other hand had her beautiful blonde hair all tousled from sleep. She had her blue towel-robe on, and she still seemed sleepy. In addition to that, she definitely was not in the mood for looking through wedding magazines. Of course, the look on Selphie's face made Quistis realize she couldn't let her friend down.

"Come in Selphie," Quistis said hiding the exasperation in her voice. Selphie nodded, and entered the room, oblivious to Quistis' bad mood.

"I'm so glad you're going to be Rinoa's bridesmaid! Do you know, I heard she was going to promote you to Maid of Honour! Isn't that great?"

Quistis, who had been taking out her usual outfit from the closet stopped suddenly. Her outfit fell to the floor.

"What? Me? But…ugh…that's just peachy."

Selphie nodded happily. Clapping her hands together she giggled, "Rinoa said you're really nice, and she knows how you and Squall used to be close. She thought it was only right if you were the Maid of Honour. I thought that was a great idea!"

Quistis said nothing. Maid of Honour…her? There was no way that she would be Maid of Honour. If Rinoa knew how close she'd been with Squall, she wouldn't even invite her to the wedding, let alone give her such an important role. Suddenly she felt sick. Sick with guilt.

She quickly changed and took a look through Selphie's magazine.

"There's a really nice dress that I think Rinoa would look absolutely gorgeous in. Here, let me find it…" Selphie said, taking the magazine from Quistis' hands. She began shuffling through the pages, her eyebrows knit in a frown.

"I know it was in here somewhere…" she muttered.

Quistis sighed. This whole wedding and the feeling of being without any type of fulfillment was starting to become increasingly depressing. Somehow she felt empty. She thought Squall would make her feel complete, but he went and met Rinoa. Now they were getting married, and she was left to stand in the rain…

"Quisty? Quistis! Hey! I found it, you know!" Selphie said, waving her hand in Quistis' face.

"I need a break…" Quistis said exasperated.

Selphie looked at her blankly, then gathered her magazines, "Oh...well...I could always come back this afternoon! I'll bookmark this page, and---"

"No, I mean a vacation. A week or something away from here…" Quistis explained.

Selphie shook her head, her expression suddenly more serious. She dropped her magazines, and kneeled beside Quistis.

"Are you all right, Quistis?"

Quistis shrugged, "Honestly Selphie, I don't know…"

Selphie seemed to be in deep thought. "If there's something wrong, you know you could tell me," Selphie offered, suddenly feeling bad for her friend.

Quistis shook her head, "No, I think I just need a bit of time to myself to sort things out."

Selphie nodded in understanding. "You could talk to Headmaster Cid about it…" she suggested.

"Yes, that's a good idea. I think I will…you won't tell anyone about this, will you? I don't want everyone to know about it…especially not Rinoa or Squall."

"Of course not Quisty. Your secret is safe with me!" Selphie said cheerily. She then picked up her scattered magazines and headed to the door. "Take care, Quistis," she said, before she opened the door, and left.

"You too," Quistis replied quietly. A break was everything Quistis wanted right now. She felt it would definitely give her an opportunity to sort out all her tangled feelings out.

She went to her mirror, grabbed her brush and began to run it through her golden hair. Stroke after stroke the gold became increasingly shinier until Quistis felt it nice enough to pull it into the usual style. She left to parts to hang about her face then tied the rest behind her. She put pins and tied her hair before she looked at herself for final inspection.

She hoped Cid would let her have a week off. On her way to Cid's office, she met Xu.

"Instructor what brings you to Cid's office?" Xu asked, in her professional politeness. Quistis didn't want to tell Xu she was planning a break…in case of later conflicts.

"Just discussing some matters with the Headmaster," Quistis replied, which was in part, true.

"And you?"

Xu smiled, "Just the same, Instructor. I hope he isn't busy."

Quistis nodded in agreement. Luckily for the both of them, Cid was having his morning coffee, having woken up less than an hour ago.

"Yes?" he asked, when he saw the two women. Quistis allowed Xu to talk with the Headmaster first. She felt that she needed more privacy with Cid, rather than have Xu overhear.

It seemed like an eternity while Quistis waited outside Cid's office. Slightly nervous now, she wrung her hand and rehearsed what she would say in her mind. She didn't know how exactly to bring the issue up without sounding desperate or unhappy, though she was. Especially sine Balamb Garden was undergoing exams, Quistis felt it would be more difficult to discuss the matter of vacation.

She just hoped Cid would have some sympathy. He always did seem to be an understanding man.

When Xu finally came out from his office, Quistis stood up, a big shaky and entered.
"Ah…Instructor Trepe, what brings you in here today?" Cid asked, standing in front of his desk, his hands behind his back.

Quistis tried to smile. But it slightly faltered. All of a sudden she felt like breaking down and crying. A very shameful thing to do.

"Is something the matter, Instructor?" he asked again.

Quistis shook her head. Then slowly nodded. She felt like such a child.

"Sir, I … I've come here because…I think I need a break from all of it…" she started.


Cid moved towards the chair behind his desk, picked up his coffee and sipped it. "Go on…"

Quistis explained the lost-ness she was feeling, and the need for sorting out all her emotions. She didn't know how else to put it.

When she was done, Cid rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I had a feeling you were under stress like this…of all our Instructors, you seem to be the most tense. Never smiling, nor laughing lately…I'm glad actually, that you've come to suggest something like this, my dear. I will have arrangements to get a substitute Instructor while you're away…" he said. He approached Quistis and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Just get some rest, and sort things out."

Quistis nodded gratefully, "Thank you very much, Sir."

Leaving the Headmaster's office, Quistis returned to her dorm to begin packing. Cid told her she could leave tomorrow, since a taxi would be waiting for her. It was so generous and understanding of the Headmaster to do this for her. She almost thought of him as the father figure she never had but truth be told: he was just her boss.

Nevertheless, she was happy that her request was granted. She didn't know whether she should inform the others. She decided it was best not to…at least not to Rinoa and Squall who may get ideas from her request for disappearance.

Selphie knew…but she didn't know why, she was leaving. All of a sudden, Quistis felt alone. She didn't have anyone to completely share her secrets with. She couldn't possibly tell Selphie. She just wasn't the type of person she would trust her secrets to, though she was genuine.

While packing, Quistis wondered how she would go about relieving herself of all the feelings she was feeling. She had to forget the wedding, and all other love-related issues. She couldn't think of Squall on her vacation either. It would only make her more unhappy.

When she was done packing, she went to teach her last classes. She also had her last minute chats with her friends. Rinoa and Squall left early during dinner hour to the Secret Area, for what, Quistis didn't want to know.

Irvine sat back, sipping his drink, "So how was everyone's day? Mine was so…like, boring."

Selphie shrugged as she flipped through a magazine. It seemed she was the only one really serious about the wedding.

Zell grinned as he finished his hotdog from a pile of ten. "Mine was awesome. I don't think I've had a day as great as this in a long while. Though the best day of my life was the day we beat Ultimecia and saw Seifer run like a scared little boy." He began to laugh.

Quistis suddenly wondered what happened to Seifer. Or Raijin and Fujin for that matter…

"I wonder whatever happened to him…" Quistis muttered.

"Eh? Ya mean Seifer? Psh! Who cares! He's finally gone! I'm glad of it! Hope he never shows his back-stabbing face here again!" Zell said defiantly.

Quistis shrugged, "And Fujin? Raijin?"

Selphie closed her magazine, "Oh I don't know…they all seemed to have disappeared. Rumour has it that they died in the Sorceress Wars with Ultimecia. They all got sucked into a time portal or something. But I liked Raijin. He was the only nice one. Fujin didn't really like me, I could tell…" she sulked a bit. Irvine patted her back.

"Fujin was hard to get along with. Besides, it was hard to understand her one-word sentences anyway," he said, assuring his girlfriend.

"Well, I dunno about you, but I'm gonna get some sleep. I've got training first thing in the morning. Good night, y'all!" Zell rose from his seat and began his walk out of the cafeteria. Selphie nodded, but remained in her seat. Irvine stood up as well, and tipped his hat. "I better go too. Good night ladies,"  he said with a wink before leaving as well.

"Selphie?" Quistis said, turning to the younger girl.

"So did you talk to the Headmaster?" she asked. Quistis nodded. She didn't think Selphie would have cared much. But she did, and it made her feel accepted, and almost regretful.

"I leave tomorrow morning…"

"And you didn't tell them?" Selphie wondered.

"No," Quistis said, "I don't want them to be worried, or in a fuss about why I left. I love them all dearly, but I've got to find myself, and…I can't make my leave such a big deal. I'll be back in a week anyway…"

Selphie nodded. She got up from her seat and waited for Quistis to do the same. "Well Quisty, I do hope you find what you're looking for. And if ever you want to talk to someone, come straight to me, all right?"

Quistis smiled, "Sure." Selphie hugged her friend, and then the two left the emptying cafeteria.

When Quistis returned to her dorm, she closed her luggage and sat at the foot of her bed. It was strange…how all this was actually happening. She was loved by her friends. She knew that. But that wasn't all she was looking for now, and she realized that. She was just in need of space to sort out her feelings about Squall right?

She sighed, partly in exhaustion. It was all confusing and unknown territory to her. She felt so foreign and unsure of herself right now.

This vacation was going to help her out. She knew it would. She reassured herself as she laid down to bed. After listening to the rhythm of her breathing for a while, she began to fall asleep, the last thing on her mind was Squall and Rinoa, leaving the table earlier than needed.