Disclaimer: I dont own any character but the ones I created. if u dont know
which ones are mine, then you shouldn't be reading this story!
Author's Note: I'm trying to update as frequently as I can, so bear with me kids.
To CelesteSpring: I hate those kinda fics too. Like, in my other story Faded Destiny, Quistis and Seifer didn't offically hook up til chapter 16. :-P
To everyone else: Thank you sooo much for the kind reviews!!! They keep me working on this fic
Chapter Four: The Loudest Scream
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Quistis let her eyes slowly drag open. Her head was pounding something awful and her arms and legs ached as well. A soft moan escaped her throat as she waited for her blurry eyes to focus. The hotel room gradually became clear. She rolled her head to the other side and realized Seifer was no longer next to her on the bed. Her thoughts now unclouded, she was able to piece together what had happened the night before.
"Seifer," she called out in a cracked voice. She cleared her throat, wishing she had water. "Seifer, are you here?"
She went to sit up but momentarily forgot she was tied down. She let out an apathetic sigh and allowed her head to rest lazily on the bed.
About a half hour later, Quistis heard the hotel room door click and then Seifer strutted into the room. Quistis glared at him and he gave her a cruel smile in return.
"Water," she whispered hoarsely.
He chuckled at her passiveness. He was practically radiating with his enjoyment over the situation. He strolled into the bathroom and she briefly heard running water. He returned to the main room and walked to her side. He placed a plastic cup to her parched lips and tilted the cup slightly.
"Drink," was his one-word command. She hungrily swallowed the luke- warm water. It slid down her throat, giving her sudden comfort. Too soon the water was taken away from her.
"So," he said as he tossed off his trench coat and sat on the edge of the bed. "I was down in the lobby, and your little brunette friend bursts out of the elevator, all red in the face."
"Selphie," Quistis gasped.
He nodded at her. "She came right over to me and demanded to know what I had done to you. Smart little bitch, knew right away I captured you. Anyways, I told her I tricked you into thinking I was in Balamb town. I told her you left early this morning."
"Selphie wouldn't believe that," Quistis said, sure of herself. "She knows I would tell her first."
"She believed me," he said with a nod. "She squealed and packed her shit up and ran right out. Very amusing, let me tell you. You sure do have brilliant friends."
She rolled her eyes. At least, she thought, Selphie is out of harms way.
He tapped her left foot, his right hand on his chin. She looked up at him.
"Now tell me," he said. "Tell me this plan of yours."
"What plan?" Quistis briskly placed a look of pure innocence and confusion on her ashy face.
"Don't fuck with me, Trepe," he snarled, losing his patience. "I know you and Tilmitt were up to something. Tell me what it was, and maybe I'll let you live."
"I swear," Quistis said. She looked him straight in the eyes, trying to prove her sincerity. "Cid granted Selphie and I a vacation we'd been requesting. We wanted to escape from our lives, be different than our usual." She looked down at her Siren dress. "Hense my clothes."
He studied her hard but did not respond, so she continued: "Selphie told me to hit on the first guy in the bar here. And, ah, well, the first guy we happened to see was you. You're kinda hard to miss, Seifer."
It was such a bullshit lie. She didn't even sound like herself. But maybe, just maybe, he'd believe her.
He was as stupid as Selphie had just been. "If you're lying, I swear I'll..."
"Don't even finish that sentence," she said smartly. "Because, I'm not lying."
Without another word he placed his gloveless hands on her bare feet. Quickly he untied them. She waited patiently, and in a bit of shock, as he walked over to her hands and released them from their prison. She sat up cautiously, rubbing her sore wrists.
"Go," he told her. He was full of one-word commands that day.
That's it? I was sure he'd kill me.
She stood up hastily from the bed and briskly walked towards the door. As her one hand slid over the smooth metal that made up the hotel room, she paused and looked back at him. He was facing her, an emotionless look on his face. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
"Don't make me change my mind," he told her. Yet his words were weak.
Seifer Almasy suddenly looked old.
The good-natured side of Quistis kicked in and she wanted to ask what was wrong with the ex-knight, but she had to bite her lip and refuse to speak. Any words now could result in a sudden rush from Seifer and a slitting of her tender throat.
I want to keep my life's blood inside me, thank you.
With that thought in her head, Quistis fumbled for the handle and pushed it open. The hallway welcomed her, and she quickly but quietly closed Seifer's hotel room door behind her.
"Objective one completed," she whispered outloud.
It was true; she had finished the first part of her mission. Seifer let her go and didn't kill her. Next objective: befriend the beast.
She raced across the hallway to her room. Her hand slipped onto the doorknob and she tried to open it but the handle refused to move.
"Damnit," she swore under her breath. The key.
Her face drained of all color when she remembered where she left the room key. On the beautiful canopy bed was where the silver and gold key lay.
Hitting one fist lightly on the door, she turned around and pressed her back on it. She sighed, extremely frustrated, and let her body slide down the door and onto the cheap carpeted floor. She laid her head gently onto the door and let her azure eyes slip close. She was still extremely tired from the night prior- she had gotten but only an hour of sleep.
She could only imagine going back to Garden and seeing the disappointed look that Cid would have on his face. She could practically hear Squall's annoyed sigh when he found of her mission failure.
She buried her face into her knees. She hated to disappoint anyone; especially Squall Leonhart. She hated the way he shook his head at her. She hated the way he refused to look at her. She hated how all he cared about was Rinoa.
Quistis buried her face deeper into her legs, crushing her eyes into her knees. Her head still ached from when she first woke up.
She heard a door from across the hallway open. She lifted her head sluggishly and saw Seifer stick his head out and glance at her.
"Havin' some trouble," he said as a statement in a deep voice. "Need some help?"
She looked up at him. "I... left my key in my room."
He stepped out of his room and placed his hands firmly on his hips. "Just go to the front desk. They'll get in or give you a new one."
She blinked at his tone of voice. He sounded like he was actually trying to help her. He never sounded like that before. Not once.
"Thank you..." she whispered, not moving from her spot.
"You okay?" he asked, lowering his head to get a better look at her.
She stared at him, her eyes widening in disbelief. Was he that asinine? Did he not remember hitting her across the face, and leaving her tied down for the night?
Ignoring his question, she climbed to her wobbly feet and pushed past him in the hall. She took long strides over to the elevator and pressed the down button. She didn't have to wait long before she was inside the warm interior of the elevator. As she went to press the button down the lobby, Seifer appeared and forced his way in.
"Take the stairs," Quistis said coldly.
His eyes were like fire. "Be nice, Trepe. Its only an elevator ride. You can handle it for a few seconds."
The doors closed. The elevator descended. Neither spoke and they only faced forward, their shoulders touching slightly.
The elevator shook and then came to an abrupt stop. Quistis and Seifer both staggered forward. Quistis' arms instinctively flung themselves outwards to grab a hold of something and her right hand closed on Seifer's trench coat. When she regained her balance, she released him.
"What the hell!?" Seifer demanded.
The lights in the elevator flickered a moment before going out all together. After a moment in pitch blackness, a dark yellow-toned light shined on them from over heard. Both of them glanced up, and Quistis was surprised to see that the ceiling of the elevator was one giant mirror. She looked at both of their bodies standing there, close together. The dim yellow light sat in the middle of the mirror.
Quistis looked around the tiny space for a moment before stepping over to the button panel. She pressed the round button that read 'Call'. Then she waited. All that could be heard was both of their heavy breathing.
Nobody responded to the her call for help. As she went to press it again, Seifer shot his left arm out and grabbed her to top her.
"Don't bother," Seifer said softly. A loud groaning of cables came from above them. Seifer raised his eyes upwards. He released her arm and said sternly, "don't move."
She nodded once and watched as Seifer scanned the floor then the ceiling. The cables groaned again as he moved to the far left side of the elevator. He turned and looked at her.
"There's a way out," he told her. He pointed directly above him. "See the lines in the mirror here? It's a door. Come over here."
As she walked over to him, she could feel the elevator shift and tremble beneath her feet with another groan. He held his right hand out to her, and after hesitating for a split second she took it.
"I'm going to hoist you up there," he told her as he began to sweat. It was getting damn hot in the disfunctioning elevator.
Seifer pulled Quistis close to him. She felt uncomfortable in his embrace but ignored it. He bent down slightly and clasped his hands together, palms upwards. She knew what to do. Lifting her long Siren dress up slightly so she could move easier, she used his hands as a step. He let out a soft grunt as he lifted her up. With her arms raised above her head, she hit the doored mirror hard. The mirror popped out with ease. She gripped two sides of the doorway with both hands and lifted herself up. Seifer released her foot as she pulled herself out of the tiny elevator.
She sat there for a moment, on top of the elevator, as she caught her breath. Glancing above her, she saw blackness filled with cables and wires.
"Can you reach a floor?" she heard Seifer call up to her.
The nearest floor was too far above her. Yet their was, however, a cable that hung down in reach of Quistis. It seemed to have been connected to the elevator car at one point. Maybe that was why it stopped; the cable snapped.
"No," she told him as she looked down. "But their is a cable we can climb up on!"
She lowered herself onto her stomach. Hanging herself over the door, she dropped her hands down to him. "Grab on," she commanded loudly as the elevator shook more roughly than before. She heard the one remaining cable attached to the car begin to snap as well. "Hurry!"
His hands enclosed around hers and he stepped up onto the handrails in the elevator. She helped pull him up, her muscles straining just as the cable was. When he was also on top of the elevator, they both took a deep breath together before he released her hands.
"Thanks," he told her, his fiery eyes meeting her icy eyes. The fire melted the ice, and Quistis felt the radiance between them.
Before she could reply, the elevator jerked roughly under them and lowered a good two feet. Both leapt to their feet. But now Quistis could no longer reach the cable. Seifer jumped up and managed to interlock the thick cable between his two hands. Quickly he pulled himself up the cable until he was able to wrap his legs around it as well. With that, he let go of the cable with his hands and let himself fall backwards, but kept his legs wrapped tightly around the cable. He reached down for her.
"Grab on!" he shouted above the wails of the cable.
She stood on her tippy toes and her fingers glazed across his.
The elevator let out a final groan, and then the last cable holding the elevator car up snapped.
Just before the car plummeted, Quistis jumped up as high as she could and clutched his hands tightly. Her feet dangled below her.
The car hit the ground about two stories below, and the metal crumpled and exploded.
"Seifer," she gasped out, knowing what a exertion this would be on his back.
"Try and grab the cable," he replied, sounding like he was in pain.
She released one hand and made a frantic grab for the cable. But it was still too far above her head. Instantly her hand found his again.
"I can't do it," she cried out. Her hands slipped dangerously from his.
"Try again!" he shouted back.
I can't believe Seifer Almasy is trying to save my life, Quistis thought despite the deadly situation.
She grabbed for the cable again and once again missed. But as she tried to reach for his hand again, her one hand that still clasped his slipped...
She felt herself plunge for the ground below. Despite her better wants, she let out a loud scream. Her hands fished the air for his, despite the fact that they were growing increasingly further apart.
"Quistis!" she heard him call out her name in fear.
Her hair flew up around her face as she continued to scream her loudest scream. Her body twisted in the air as if she was laying down to sleep. She couldn't see the crumbled metal that was close to her body. All she could see was Seifer still reaching down for her, his hands stretched wide, and she could see the panic on his usually calm, cruel face.
Pain ripped through her as she hit the ground and bent metal. Her screams were abruptly shut off as she laid motionless on the twisted ground, her body in complete shock. She glanced down at her body and saw a piece of the elevator metal had been shoved through her lower left side. She went to speak, to move, to scream, but found she couldn't. A dull howl filled her ears but quickly became a earsplitting roar. Her vision completely filled up with black.
And then darkness was all Quistis Trepe knew.
Authors Note: Ohhh noo!! Quistis!!!
Author's Note: I'm trying to update as frequently as I can, so bear with me kids.
To CelesteSpring: I hate those kinda fics too. Like, in my other story Faded Destiny, Quistis and Seifer didn't offically hook up til chapter 16. :-P
To everyone else: Thank you sooo much for the kind reviews!!! They keep me working on this fic
Chapter Four: The Loudest Scream
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Quistis let her eyes slowly drag open. Her head was pounding something awful and her arms and legs ached as well. A soft moan escaped her throat as she waited for her blurry eyes to focus. The hotel room gradually became clear. She rolled her head to the other side and realized Seifer was no longer next to her on the bed. Her thoughts now unclouded, she was able to piece together what had happened the night before.
"Seifer," she called out in a cracked voice. She cleared her throat, wishing she had water. "Seifer, are you here?"
She went to sit up but momentarily forgot she was tied down. She let out an apathetic sigh and allowed her head to rest lazily on the bed.
About a half hour later, Quistis heard the hotel room door click and then Seifer strutted into the room. Quistis glared at him and he gave her a cruel smile in return.
"Water," she whispered hoarsely.
He chuckled at her passiveness. He was practically radiating with his enjoyment over the situation. He strolled into the bathroom and she briefly heard running water. He returned to the main room and walked to her side. He placed a plastic cup to her parched lips and tilted the cup slightly.
"Drink," was his one-word command. She hungrily swallowed the luke- warm water. It slid down her throat, giving her sudden comfort. Too soon the water was taken away from her.
"So," he said as he tossed off his trench coat and sat on the edge of the bed. "I was down in the lobby, and your little brunette friend bursts out of the elevator, all red in the face."
"Selphie," Quistis gasped.
He nodded at her. "She came right over to me and demanded to know what I had done to you. Smart little bitch, knew right away I captured you. Anyways, I told her I tricked you into thinking I was in Balamb town. I told her you left early this morning."
"Selphie wouldn't believe that," Quistis said, sure of herself. "She knows I would tell her first."
"She believed me," he said with a nod. "She squealed and packed her shit up and ran right out. Very amusing, let me tell you. You sure do have brilliant friends."
She rolled her eyes. At least, she thought, Selphie is out of harms way.
He tapped her left foot, his right hand on his chin. She looked up at him.
"Now tell me," he said. "Tell me this plan of yours."
"What plan?" Quistis briskly placed a look of pure innocence and confusion on her ashy face.
"Don't fuck with me, Trepe," he snarled, losing his patience. "I know you and Tilmitt were up to something. Tell me what it was, and maybe I'll let you live."
"I swear," Quistis said. She looked him straight in the eyes, trying to prove her sincerity. "Cid granted Selphie and I a vacation we'd been requesting. We wanted to escape from our lives, be different than our usual." She looked down at her Siren dress. "Hense my clothes."
He studied her hard but did not respond, so she continued: "Selphie told me to hit on the first guy in the bar here. And, ah, well, the first guy we happened to see was you. You're kinda hard to miss, Seifer."
It was such a bullshit lie. She didn't even sound like herself. But maybe, just maybe, he'd believe her.
He was as stupid as Selphie had just been. "If you're lying, I swear I'll..."
"Don't even finish that sentence," she said smartly. "Because, I'm not lying."
Without another word he placed his gloveless hands on her bare feet. Quickly he untied them. She waited patiently, and in a bit of shock, as he walked over to her hands and released them from their prison. She sat up cautiously, rubbing her sore wrists.
"Go," he told her. He was full of one-word commands that day.
That's it? I was sure he'd kill me.
She stood up hastily from the bed and briskly walked towards the door. As her one hand slid over the smooth metal that made up the hotel room, she paused and looked back at him. He was facing her, an emotionless look on his face. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
"Don't make me change my mind," he told her. Yet his words were weak.
Seifer Almasy suddenly looked old.
The good-natured side of Quistis kicked in and she wanted to ask what was wrong with the ex-knight, but she had to bite her lip and refuse to speak. Any words now could result in a sudden rush from Seifer and a slitting of her tender throat.
I want to keep my life's blood inside me, thank you.
With that thought in her head, Quistis fumbled for the handle and pushed it open. The hallway welcomed her, and she quickly but quietly closed Seifer's hotel room door behind her.
"Objective one completed," she whispered outloud.
It was true; she had finished the first part of her mission. Seifer let her go and didn't kill her. Next objective: befriend the beast.
She raced across the hallway to her room. Her hand slipped onto the doorknob and she tried to open it but the handle refused to move.
"Damnit," she swore under her breath. The key.
Her face drained of all color when she remembered where she left the room key. On the beautiful canopy bed was where the silver and gold key lay.
Hitting one fist lightly on the door, she turned around and pressed her back on it. She sighed, extremely frustrated, and let her body slide down the door and onto the cheap carpeted floor. She laid her head gently onto the door and let her azure eyes slip close. She was still extremely tired from the night prior- she had gotten but only an hour of sleep.
She could only imagine going back to Garden and seeing the disappointed look that Cid would have on his face. She could practically hear Squall's annoyed sigh when he found of her mission failure.
She buried her face into her knees. She hated to disappoint anyone; especially Squall Leonhart. She hated the way he shook his head at her. She hated the way he refused to look at her. She hated how all he cared about was Rinoa.
Quistis buried her face deeper into her legs, crushing her eyes into her knees. Her head still ached from when she first woke up.
She heard a door from across the hallway open. She lifted her head sluggishly and saw Seifer stick his head out and glance at her.
"Havin' some trouble," he said as a statement in a deep voice. "Need some help?"
She looked up at him. "I... left my key in my room."
He stepped out of his room and placed his hands firmly on his hips. "Just go to the front desk. They'll get in or give you a new one."
She blinked at his tone of voice. He sounded like he was actually trying to help her. He never sounded like that before. Not once.
"Thank you..." she whispered, not moving from her spot.
"You okay?" he asked, lowering his head to get a better look at her.
She stared at him, her eyes widening in disbelief. Was he that asinine? Did he not remember hitting her across the face, and leaving her tied down for the night?
Ignoring his question, she climbed to her wobbly feet and pushed past him in the hall. She took long strides over to the elevator and pressed the down button. She didn't have to wait long before she was inside the warm interior of the elevator. As she went to press the button down the lobby, Seifer appeared and forced his way in.
"Take the stairs," Quistis said coldly.
His eyes were like fire. "Be nice, Trepe. Its only an elevator ride. You can handle it for a few seconds."
The doors closed. The elevator descended. Neither spoke and they only faced forward, their shoulders touching slightly.
The elevator shook and then came to an abrupt stop. Quistis and Seifer both staggered forward. Quistis' arms instinctively flung themselves outwards to grab a hold of something and her right hand closed on Seifer's trench coat. When she regained her balance, she released him.
"What the hell!?" Seifer demanded.
The lights in the elevator flickered a moment before going out all together. After a moment in pitch blackness, a dark yellow-toned light shined on them from over heard. Both of them glanced up, and Quistis was surprised to see that the ceiling of the elevator was one giant mirror. She looked at both of their bodies standing there, close together. The dim yellow light sat in the middle of the mirror.
Quistis looked around the tiny space for a moment before stepping over to the button panel. She pressed the round button that read 'Call'. Then she waited. All that could be heard was both of their heavy breathing.
Nobody responded to the her call for help. As she went to press it again, Seifer shot his left arm out and grabbed her to top her.
"Don't bother," Seifer said softly. A loud groaning of cables came from above them. Seifer raised his eyes upwards. He released her arm and said sternly, "don't move."
She nodded once and watched as Seifer scanned the floor then the ceiling. The cables groaned again as he moved to the far left side of the elevator. He turned and looked at her.
"There's a way out," he told her. He pointed directly above him. "See the lines in the mirror here? It's a door. Come over here."
As she walked over to him, she could feel the elevator shift and tremble beneath her feet with another groan. He held his right hand out to her, and after hesitating for a split second she took it.
"I'm going to hoist you up there," he told her as he began to sweat. It was getting damn hot in the disfunctioning elevator.
Seifer pulled Quistis close to him. She felt uncomfortable in his embrace but ignored it. He bent down slightly and clasped his hands together, palms upwards. She knew what to do. Lifting her long Siren dress up slightly so she could move easier, she used his hands as a step. He let out a soft grunt as he lifted her up. With her arms raised above her head, she hit the doored mirror hard. The mirror popped out with ease. She gripped two sides of the doorway with both hands and lifted herself up. Seifer released her foot as she pulled herself out of the tiny elevator.
She sat there for a moment, on top of the elevator, as she caught her breath. Glancing above her, she saw blackness filled with cables and wires.
"Can you reach a floor?" she heard Seifer call up to her.
The nearest floor was too far above her. Yet their was, however, a cable that hung down in reach of Quistis. It seemed to have been connected to the elevator car at one point. Maybe that was why it stopped; the cable snapped.
"No," she told him as she looked down. "But their is a cable we can climb up on!"
She lowered herself onto her stomach. Hanging herself over the door, she dropped her hands down to him. "Grab on," she commanded loudly as the elevator shook more roughly than before. She heard the one remaining cable attached to the car begin to snap as well. "Hurry!"
His hands enclosed around hers and he stepped up onto the handrails in the elevator. She helped pull him up, her muscles straining just as the cable was. When he was also on top of the elevator, they both took a deep breath together before he released her hands.
"Thanks," he told her, his fiery eyes meeting her icy eyes. The fire melted the ice, and Quistis felt the radiance between them.
Before she could reply, the elevator jerked roughly under them and lowered a good two feet. Both leapt to their feet. But now Quistis could no longer reach the cable. Seifer jumped up and managed to interlock the thick cable between his two hands. Quickly he pulled himself up the cable until he was able to wrap his legs around it as well. With that, he let go of the cable with his hands and let himself fall backwards, but kept his legs wrapped tightly around the cable. He reached down for her.
"Grab on!" he shouted above the wails of the cable.
She stood on her tippy toes and her fingers glazed across his.
The elevator let out a final groan, and then the last cable holding the elevator car up snapped.
Just before the car plummeted, Quistis jumped up as high as she could and clutched his hands tightly. Her feet dangled below her.
The car hit the ground about two stories below, and the metal crumpled and exploded.
"Seifer," she gasped out, knowing what a exertion this would be on his back.
"Try and grab the cable," he replied, sounding like he was in pain.
She released one hand and made a frantic grab for the cable. But it was still too far above her head. Instantly her hand found his again.
"I can't do it," she cried out. Her hands slipped dangerously from his.
"Try again!" he shouted back.
I can't believe Seifer Almasy is trying to save my life, Quistis thought despite the deadly situation.
She grabbed for the cable again and once again missed. But as she tried to reach for his hand again, her one hand that still clasped his slipped...
She felt herself plunge for the ground below. Despite her better wants, she let out a loud scream. Her hands fished the air for his, despite the fact that they were growing increasingly further apart.
"Quistis!" she heard him call out her name in fear.
Her hair flew up around her face as she continued to scream her loudest scream. Her body twisted in the air as if she was laying down to sleep. She couldn't see the crumbled metal that was close to her body. All she could see was Seifer still reaching down for her, his hands stretched wide, and she could see the panic on his usually calm, cruel face.
Pain ripped through her as she hit the ground and bent metal. Her screams were abruptly shut off as she laid motionless on the twisted ground, her body in complete shock. She glanced down at her body and saw a piece of the elevator metal had been shoved through her lower left side. She went to speak, to move, to scream, but found she couldn't. A dull howl filled her ears but quickly became a earsplitting roar. Her vision completely filled up with black.
And then darkness was all Quistis Trepe knew.
Authors Note: Ohhh noo!! Quistis!!!