Meeting Love, Finding Despair

By

Quis

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy and its respective characters and locations are copyright of Squaresoft and we have no affiliation with them.

Seluna Armanti was not one to be kept waiting. Tapping her foot impatiently as she waited outside Laguna Loire's office, she looked very annoyed. To be blunt; Seluna was not what one would call pretty, but she had a wholesome air about her that reminded the president very much of his dead wife, Raine.

"Ms. Armanti?" Kiros asked as he bowed deferentially to the woman, "Laguna is free now, please follow me."

Seluna smiled warmly at Kiros as she followed him into Laguna's cluttered office. In all hopes, she hoped to have the backing of the Esthar Army should there be a war that Timber was plunged into. She had won the election after Quistis's resignation as Timber President.

"Laguna, I trust that you are well," Seluna said as she greeted the aging man.

Laguna was in his fifties but he did not look a day over forty. One of the good things that being the president of Esthar entitled him to was the free medical treatment by Odine, the crazy scientist who had developed so many of the gadgets he relied on.

He smiled as he saw Seluna enter. "I am," he said, as he pecked her cheek in a polite greeting. "Kiros, would you be so kind as to show Ms. Armanti the plans?"

Kiros nodded, winking only slightly at Seluna, who blushed momentarily as he left the room to retrieve the files.

~In Quistis's Office~

Quistis smiled gingerly at Seifer, as yet unsure as to if she could trust the rogue that insisted on being a knight. He did not wear what she had expected him, but seeing that there had been a space of ten years since they had met; she had assumed he would have changed.

"Is everything ok, Quistis?" Seifer asked cautiously, knowing from experience that the smile on her face meant that she did not quite trust him yet. "I'm unarmed, I'm not about to kill you."

"Seifer…You just waltz into my life ten years later without an explanation as to why you were able to gain access to my office," she said with a puckered mouth.

Seifer sighed. Quistis was the ice-queen he remembered well. Pity he had changed his views on the woman he stood in front of so quickly.

"What do you want me to say?" Seifer asked, trying to refrain from yelling at her out of frustration, "I'm sorry, I tried to kill you and your friends ten years ago?"

Quistis flinched at the steel in his voice. "It's still sudden for you to show up the day you're released from prison," she said quietly, looking at his features with a studied gaze.

He was handsomer than she remembered. His hair, still the colour of ripe straw, was several centimetres below his shoulders; his eyes were sharper, too.

"So? Don't you remember anything?" Seifer was at a point where he could no longer contain his rage. "Quistis, the only reason I became a knight was to show you what you'd missed out on, when you broke it off with me."

Quistis started to cry. "I'm sorry, Seifer," she said softly through her tears. "I hadn't realized you'd taken it that hard."

Seifer just held her close, allowing her to cry.

~In another place~

Seluna hesitated as she bent to sign the treaty. A part of her wondered if Timber would lose its country-town appeal if she signed over to the protection of Esthar.

"I can't do this," she whispered, tears rapidly welling. "I don't want Timber to lose its appeal."

She rushed out of the office, down the hallway into her guest suite inside the palace. She walked calmly to her bed, lying down on the covers.

You're being a fool, Seluna Armanti, her mind told her, there's no reason for you to feel threatened.

A knock on the door forced the black woman up from her bed. A small smile forced itself onto her lips as she walked to the door to open it.

Her shoulder-length platinum blonde hair was piled high up on her head in an array of curls that fell subtly onto her face. She had warm honey-brown eyes with full, pouting lips.

Kiros Seagull stood smiling at her when she opened the door. "I hope I am not disturbing anything, Seluna?" he asked kindly.

"No, nothing…Please, do come in." Seluna said with a half-smile.

Kiros took her offer, and walked in. With his six-foot-six frame towering over Seluna's normally tall five foot nine inches, it was comical to see the giant man comforting her.

"What are you worried about?" Kiros asked softly, noting the crumpled bed linen as he walked towards the table.

"I'm scared, Kiros…Really scared. I'm scared that Timber will become what it used to be before Quistis took charge." Seluna said.

Kiros nodded, as he took Seluna's hand.  "Seluna…Look at me," he said, "Everything will work out fine, I promise you this."

He smiled at her. The beauty of the woman he was sitting in front of smiled back, nervously. Kiros took a look at her deep brown eyes, knowing he could lose himself looking into them.

Leaning forwards slightly, Kiros brushed his lips over Seluna's.

A/N.. Be warned, the next chapter will be a lemon, written by the ever-talented Malice Shaw, as a favour to me, so I will have to up the rating to R.