Disclaimer: Every character belongs to me, myself, and Squaresoft.
Author's Note: Every time I write a chapter, it seems I get less and less reviews. Kinda sad :-(
BTW, for all those who objected to me killing Quistis: If I killed her, this wouldn't develop into a Queifer / Seiftis, now would it??? But, she COULD die after they hook up, mwuaha*snort*ahaha
Chapter Five: Sweet to the Ears
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A splendid warmth spread throughout her body. It was the first thing she felt when her body returned itself to a conscious state. Faintly in the distance, she heard a low beep that slowly repeated itself. She took note that she felt a hand resting on top of her right hand. A smile crept gently across her face. All seemed right in the world.
A violent image of her plummeting through the air and landing on broken metal ripped through her mind. The smile vanished from her face and became a twisted grimace as she remembered the searing pain that shot through her body. Now, the warmth was gone. Now, she felt the pain emerge from its hiding to torture her some more. She jerked brutally in the bed in which she was lying, and she felt the only comfort left to her, the hand on hers, slip away from her. She heard the faint beeping begin to quicken its pace.
Her body and mind relived the horrid memory of her falling two stories onto the crumpled elevator over and over. Desperately, she tried to open her eyes to relieve herself of such anguish but found it was impossible to do. She let out a miserable whimper.
"Quistis?" came a tired yet sturdy male voice.
She tried to scream, to move, to catch herself from falling as the memory played like a movie repeatedly in her mind. She twitched again as her pitiful attempts to move became a greater struggle.
"...pain..." she managed to whisper.
"It's okay, my love," said the male voice again.
The hand slipped into hers and tightly squeezed it. The simple action erased the horrific memory from her brain. She sighed dreamily as she felt the hand in hers. The hand fit perfectly with hers, like two pieces of a puzzle. It felt so right to her. She didn't know who gripped her hand so tightly, yet she didn't need to know. Once more, warmth filled her battered body and everything was taintless. The beeping slowed its pace once more. She forgot of slipping from Seifer's grasp and falling into what she thought was certain death. She forgot of everything. She just was. She was at peace.
She was peace.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The Ultimicia hero's were all there, sitting in the hospital room in Deling City roughly after ten that night. Zell Dincht was pacing across the room, his hands on his lower back, his head lowered to stare at the cold marble floor. Irvine Kinneas sat in a chair in the corner as he flipped nervously through a "Homes and Gardens" magazine. He had no idea what magazine it was. Squall Leonhart sat in a chair in the middle, leaning forward so his arms rested on his legs, his longish hair covering his eyes. Rinoa Heartilly sat in the chair next to Squall, leaning close to him but not too close.
Everyone looked exhausted.
And the only one of the group to be missing, besides Quistis Trepe, was Selphie Tilmitt. The last anyone had heard from Selphie was when she and Quistis left Balamb Garden together on their mission. Everyone was a wreck as they searched for Selphie, and they were a wreck as they feared for Quistis' survival.
Just short of three months ago, Quistis took the devastating fall in the elevator shaft. Word had it that Seifer Almasy had saved her life. How it was done, nobody was sure. He refused to explain it to anyone. He had taken her to Deling City hospital and stayed with Quistis until the doctors told him to go home and rest. He called Cid and Edea in Balamb Garden and told them Quistis laid in Deling City hospital, then instantly hung up the phone. He knew he was a wanted man. After the call, he disappeared from Deling City and hadn't been heard of since.
Quistis had woken up long enough to whisper "pain" before she slipped back into the serious world of the coma. That had been 23 hours ago. She had been waiting up often ever sense. She would look the doctor in the eye before passing out once more. Twenty-four hours ago, doctors thought she would never awaken. Now they had high hopes and waited for her to waken again to snap her out of the dreamless realm. The group waited patiently for news.
Just after the twenty-fifth hour, a bald-headed doctor emerged from the hallway into the waiting room. Instantly, Zell stopped pacing and the rest looked up expectantly at the doctor.
He breathed, "she's awake."
Sighs of relief filled the heavy-aired room.
"She's been awake for an hour now," the good man continued.
Zell jumped in, "Why didn't you tell us!?"
The doctor raised a hand to silence the petite blonde man. "We had to hydrate her and take tests. Its safe for you to see her now. You know the room. Please, only one or two at a time."
As the doctor walked away, and before any of them had a chance to stand, Zell was sprinting from the waiting room for Quistis' room. While Rinoa and Squall opted to wait, Irvine nodded and followed the impatient Zell.
Quistis' room was on the floor directly above the waiting room. Irvine took his time reaching her chamber, deciding it would be best to give Zell just a little time with the fragile blonde. Room 376 had a label on the door that read QUISTIS TREPE. Irvine was going to wait a moment to give Zell even more time, but staring at the name made him long to see his childhood friend more and more.
He gently pushed the door open and peered nervously in at them. Quistis was sitting up in the small white bed, a delicate smile on her extremely pale face. The lighting in the single-roomed bed was poor, but Irvine could make out enough of the important details. Zell sat in the chair next to her, his back facing the door.
"Knock knock," Irvine said cheerfully, his voice causing Quistis to look up and Zell to turn his head.
"Irvine," she said in an exhausted tone, yet her voice let his name sound sweet to the ears. "Hey Quisty," Irvine said as he entered, closing the door softly behind him. "You're finally awake. We've been worried sick about you."
She nodded. "That's what Zell told me, too."
"Irvine," Zell said quickly as Irvine began to walk over. "I need to speak with ya for a minute, okay?"
"Sure, whatever," Irvine said with a shrug. He waited for Zell to stand and walk over to him.
"The doctor stopped me on the way to her room," Zell whispered so Quistis could not hear. "Well, he said that Quistis can't--"
"Oh please," Irvine said loudly, ignoring Zell's silent plea for him to quiet down. "You know, I've been like reading a lot of books recently. I swear that in like each one, someone gets amnesia. Gets annoying after a while. Is she like that too?"
"Keep your damn voice down!" Zell yelled at him.
Both eighteen year olds looked over at Quistis, who was busy listening to them.
"Too late now," Irvine said with a shrug.
"Tch, fine," Zell said with a roll of his eyes. He pranced over and took his seat next to Quistis. Irvine sat on the edge of the bed and took Quistis' hand in his.
"Can you remember much?" he asked her. "Do you know who you are?"
She nodded, "everything. I know who I am. I just... can't remember why I'm here. I don't remember the 'accident'. Last I remember, I was in an elevator, going to the lobby of the hotel with Seifer..."
Both men exchanged looks.
"Well, when you were in the--" Irvine started.
"Shhh!" Zell said, tossing his arms into the air in a frantic attempt to silence Irvine. "The doc told me not to tell Quistis. That she should try and remember on her own."
"And you didn't want Quistis to overhear you say that?" Irvine questioned, annoyed. He turned his attention back on the center character in the room. "How do you feel, Quisty?"
She smiled again, but he knew it was forced. "I'm alright. Slightly thirsty."
"You don't like hurt or anything do you?" Irvine asked.
"No," she said. It was obvious she hurt like hell, however, because when she uttered the word, she tried to hold back a grimace of pain.
A light knock sounded on the door.
Looks as if the better half of our gang is here, Irvine thought as he stood. He released Quistis' hand after a gentle squeeze. "You take care, babe," he told her. "Don't strain too much, 'cause when you get outta here, we're goin on a date. You hear me?"
She chuckled, but clutched her side as she did. "Yes! Ow, don't make me laugh!"
"And don't do that Siren thing again," Irvine commanded as he stroked her remarkably messy blonde hair. "You're mine, nobody else's. Got it?"
"Oh, sure," she said with a smirk. "Just yours."
"Get some rest," Zell said as he stood and gave her a spunky wave. "You need it, yo."
The light tap of a knock sounded again, and both men said goodbye one last time and Zell opened the door revealing, of course, Squall and Rinoa.
Rinoa brushed past them and practically enhaled the bedridden Quistis in a long hug. "Oh, Quistis, I sure was worried about you!"
Squall slowly pushed his way into the room with a casual nod in his male friends direction. Irvine and Zell decided to take their leave.
As they left, and the door closed behind them, they heard Quistis ask, "What happened to Almasy?"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Seifer Almasy stared into the enormous, cold ocean. His jaded eyes were narrowed, mostly because of the setting sun that tried to squeeze itself into his head. He hugged his knees tightly to his chest, not wanting to move. It was peaceful enough however; the only noises present was the crashing waves onto the shore.
~~ "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." ~~
He rubbed his hand across his face, feeling tired. He wondered if Quistis had been telling the truth. Was she just trying to flirt with him? Or was she in a plan against him? She sounded so damn convincing in the hotel room. Then he thought to himself, fucker. They all hate you. Trying to be more flirtatious or not, Quistis normally would kill you on site. She was lying to you... and you bite into the bait. Fucker.
Despite the anger and hatred he felt growing inside his once-beating heart, he wondered briefly how his old instructor was doing. He wondered if she was dead.
Hyne, he hoped so.
He licked his dry lips, picturing the medics rushing around Quistis as the heart monitor went flatline. He pictured them pulling a blanket over her ashen face and shaking their heads sadly.
Yet he could not deny the radiance he felt pass between them in the few calm moments before she fell far from his reach. Something had passed between them, and he didn't know what it was.
Seifer stood, wiping the cool sand from his shorts. He had changed into the shorts and a white T-shirt the moment he had arrived. And here he planned to stay for a while, until Raijin and Fujin came for him in three months time.
He turned around, no longer facing the beautiful ocean. He stared at his new home, his new palace.
With that, he made his way back into Edea's Orphanage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's note: This chappie was semi-short. But I reallllllyyy liked it!!! I'm impressed with myself, I hope you guys liked it too. Oh, and did you catch my slight slight fanfiction dissing in the middle of the chapter? ((hint: irvine said it)) :-P I wasn't tryin to be mean, I 3 those kinda fics.
Anime-Diva: Thanks, love! :-) :-) hope to talk to u more soon!
frost: thank ye for the sweet comments, and taking note of Seifer's personality change!!
chocolat: if she died this early, i wouldn't like me either LOL
CelesteSpring: Cliffhangers rock my world, yo :) Hypocrite, hmm.. I'll make sure to see if you really are soon!!
Angelus: thanks for the comments, yo. I try to update frequently
Cherry6124: I like to surprise people LOL. thank you for the nice comments
Quistis88: cable-hanger ahahahaha!!! too great
punkygal: geez, i see ure reviews on like all my fics. thank ye lots!!!
**if i forgot u im totally sorry**
Author's Note: Every time I write a chapter, it seems I get less and less reviews. Kinda sad :-(
BTW, for all those who objected to me killing Quistis: If I killed her, this wouldn't develop into a Queifer / Seiftis, now would it??? But, she COULD die after they hook up, mwuaha*snort*ahaha
Chapter Five: Sweet to the Ears
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A splendid warmth spread throughout her body. It was the first thing she felt when her body returned itself to a conscious state. Faintly in the distance, she heard a low beep that slowly repeated itself. She took note that she felt a hand resting on top of her right hand. A smile crept gently across her face. All seemed right in the world.
A violent image of her plummeting through the air and landing on broken metal ripped through her mind. The smile vanished from her face and became a twisted grimace as she remembered the searing pain that shot through her body. Now, the warmth was gone. Now, she felt the pain emerge from its hiding to torture her some more. She jerked brutally in the bed in which she was lying, and she felt the only comfort left to her, the hand on hers, slip away from her. She heard the faint beeping begin to quicken its pace.
Her body and mind relived the horrid memory of her falling two stories onto the crumpled elevator over and over. Desperately, she tried to open her eyes to relieve herself of such anguish but found it was impossible to do. She let out a miserable whimper.
"Quistis?" came a tired yet sturdy male voice.
She tried to scream, to move, to catch herself from falling as the memory played like a movie repeatedly in her mind. She twitched again as her pitiful attempts to move became a greater struggle.
"...pain..." she managed to whisper.
"It's okay, my love," said the male voice again.
The hand slipped into hers and tightly squeezed it. The simple action erased the horrific memory from her brain. She sighed dreamily as she felt the hand in hers. The hand fit perfectly with hers, like two pieces of a puzzle. It felt so right to her. She didn't know who gripped her hand so tightly, yet she didn't need to know. Once more, warmth filled her battered body and everything was taintless. The beeping slowed its pace once more. She forgot of slipping from Seifer's grasp and falling into what she thought was certain death. She forgot of everything. She just was. She was at peace.
She was peace.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The Ultimicia hero's were all there, sitting in the hospital room in Deling City roughly after ten that night. Zell Dincht was pacing across the room, his hands on his lower back, his head lowered to stare at the cold marble floor. Irvine Kinneas sat in a chair in the corner as he flipped nervously through a "Homes and Gardens" magazine. He had no idea what magazine it was. Squall Leonhart sat in a chair in the middle, leaning forward so his arms rested on his legs, his longish hair covering his eyes. Rinoa Heartilly sat in the chair next to Squall, leaning close to him but not too close.
Everyone looked exhausted.
And the only one of the group to be missing, besides Quistis Trepe, was Selphie Tilmitt. The last anyone had heard from Selphie was when she and Quistis left Balamb Garden together on their mission. Everyone was a wreck as they searched for Selphie, and they were a wreck as they feared for Quistis' survival.
Just short of three months ago, Quistis took the devastating fall in the elevator shaft. Word had it that Seifer Almasy had saved her life. How it was done, nobody was sure. He refused to explain it to anyone. He had taken her to Deling City hospital and stayed with Quistis until the doctors told him to go home and rest. He called Cid and Edea in Balamb Garden and told them Quistis laid in Deling City hospital, then instantly hung up the phone. He knew he was a wanted man. After the call, he disappeared from Deling City and hadn't been heard of since.
Quistis had woken up long enough to whisper "pain" before she slipped back into the serious world of the coma. That had been 23 hours ago. She had been waiting up often ever sense. She would look the doctor in the eye before passing out once more. Twenty-four hours ago, doctors thought she would never awaken. Now they had high hopes and waited for her to waken again to snap her out of the dreamless realm. The group waited patiently for news.
Just after the twenty-fifth hour, a bald-headed doctor emerged from the hallway into the waiting room. Instantly, Zell stopped pacing and the rest looked up expectantly at the doctor.
He breathed, "she's awake."
Sighs of relief filled the heavy-aired room.
"She's been awake for an hour now," the good man continued.
Zell jumped in, "Why didn't you tell us!?"
The doctor raised a hand to silence the petite blonde man. "We had to hydrate her and take tests. Its safe for you to see her now. You know the room. Please, only one or two at a time."
As the doctor walked away, and before any of them had a chance to stand, Zell was sprinting from the waiting room for Quistis' room. While Rinoa and Squall opted to wait, Irvine nodded and followed the impatient Zell.
Quistis' room was on the floor directly above the waiting room. Irvine took his time reaching her chamber, deciding it would be best to give Zell just a little time with the fragile blonde. Room 376 had a label on the door that read QUISTIS TREPE. Irvine was going to wait a moment to give Zell even more time, but staring at the name made him long to see his childhood friend more and more.
He gently pushed the door open and peered nervously in at them. Quistis was sitting up in the small white bed, a delicate smile on her extremely pale face. The lighting in the single-roomed bed was poor, but Irvine could make out enough of the important details. Zell sat in the chair next to her, his back facing the door.
"Knock knock," Irvine said cheerfully, his voice causing Quistis to look up and Zell to turn his head.
"Irvine," she said in an exhausted tone, yet her voice let his name sound sweet to the ears. "Hey Quisty," Irvine said as he entered, closing the door softly behind him. "You're finally awake. We've been worried sick about you."
She nodded. "That's what Zell told me, too."
"Irvine," Zell said quickly as Irvine began to walk over. "I need to speak with ya for a minute, okay?"
"Sure, whatever," Irvine said with a shrug. He waited for Zell to stand and walk over to him.
"The doctor stopped me on the way to her room," Zell whispered so Quistis could not hear. "Well, he said that Quistis can't--"
"Oh please," Irvine said loudly, ignoring Zell's silent plea for him to quiet down. "You know, I've been like reading a lot of books recently. I swear that in like each one, someone gets amnesia. Gets annoying after a while. Is she like that too?"
"Keep your damn voice down!" Zell yelled at him.
Both eighteen year olds looked over at Quistis, who was busy listening to them.
"Too late now," Irvine said with a shrug.
"Tch, fine," Zell said with a roll of his eyes. He pranced over and took his seat next to Quistis. Irvine sat on the edge of the bed and took Quistis' hand in his.
"Can you remember much?" he asked her. "Do you know who you are?"
She nodded, "everything. I know who I am. I just... can't remember why I'm here. I don't remember the 'accident'. Last I remember, I was in an elevator, going to the lobby of the hotel with Seifer..."
Both men exchanged looks.
"Well, when you were in the--" Irvine started.
"Shhh!" Zell said, tossing his arms into the air in a frantic attempt to silence Irvine. "The doc told me not to tell Quistis. That she should try and remember on her own."
"And you didn't want Quistis to overhear you say that?" Irvine questioned, annoyed. He turned his attention back on the center character in the room. "How do you feel, Quisty?"
She smiled again, but he knew it was forced. "I'm alright. Slightly thirsty."
"You don't like hurt or anything do you?" Irvine asked.
"No," she said. It was obvious she hurt like hell, however, because when she uttered the word, she tried to hold back a grimace of pain.
A light knock sounded on the door.
Looks as if the better half of our gang is here, Irvine thought as he stood. He released Quistis' hand after a gentle squeeze. "You take care, babe," he told her. "Don't strain too much, 'cause when you get outta here, we're goin on a date. You hear me?"
She chuckled, but clutched her side as she did. "Yes! Ow, don't make me laugh!"
"And don't do that Siren thing again," Irvine commanded as he stroked her remarkably messy blonde hair. "You're mine, nobody else's. Got it?"
"Oh, sure," she said with a smirk. "Just yours."
"Get some rest," Zell said as he stood and gave her a spunky wave. "You need it, yo."
The light tap of a knock sounded again, and both men said goodbye one last time and Zell opened the door revealing, of course, Squall and Rinoa.
Rinoa brushed past them and practically enhaled the bedridden Quistis in a long hug. "Oh, Quistis, I sure was worried about you!"
Squall slowly pushed his way into the room with a casual nod in his male friends direction. Irvine and Zell decided to take their leave.
As they left, and the door closed behind them, they heard Quistis ask, "What happened to Almasy?"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Seifer Almasy stared into the enormous, cold ocean. His jaded eyes were narrowed, mostly because of the setting sun that tried to squeeze itself into his head. He hugged his knees tightly to his chest, not wanting to move. It was peaceful enough however; the only noises present was the crashing waves onto the shore.
~~ "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." ~~
He rubbed his hand across his face, feeling tired. He wondered if Quistis had been telling the truth. Was she just trying to flirt with him? Or was she in a plan against him? She sounded so damn convincing in the hotel room. Then he thought to himself, fucker. They all hate you. Trying to be more flirtatious or not, Quistis normally would kill you on site. She was lying to you... and you bite into the bait. Fucker.
Despite the anger and hatred he felt growing inside his once-beating heart, he wondered briefly how his old instructor was doing. He wondered if she was dead.
Hyne, he hoped so.
He licked his dry lips, picturing the medics rushing around Quistis as the heart monitor went flatline. He pictured them pulling a blanket over her ashen face and shaking their heads sadly.
Yet he could not deny the radiance he felt pass between them in the few calm moments before she fell far from his reach. Something had passed between them, and he didn't know what it was.
Seifer stood, wiping the cool sand from his shorts. He had changed into the shorts and a white T-shirt the moment he had arrived. And here he planned to stay for a while, until Raijin and Fujin came for him in three months time.
He turned around, no longer facing the beautiful ocean. He stared at his new home, his new palace.
With that, he made his way back into Edea's Orphanage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's note: This chappie was semi-short. But I reallllllyyy liked it!!! I'm impressed with myself, I hope you guys liked it too. Oh, and did you catch my slight slight fanfiction dissing in the middle of the chapter? ((hint: irvine said it)) :-P I wasn't tryin to be mean, I 3 those kinda fics.
Anime-Diva: Thanks, love! :-) :-) hope to talk to u more soon!
frost: thank ye for the sweet comments, and taking note of Seifer's personality change!!
chocolat: if she died this early, i wouldn't like me either LOL
CelesteSpring: Cliffhangers rock my world, yo :) Hypocrite, hmm.. I'll make sure to see if you really are soon!!
Angelus: thanks for the comments, yo. I try to update frequently
Cherry6124: I like to surprise people LOL. thank you for the nice comments
Quistis88: cable-hanger ahahahaha!!! too great
punkygal: geez, i see ure reviews on like all my fics. thank ye lots!!!
**if i forgot u im totally sorry**