A/N: First of all I want to thank all of you who reviewed my work so far! It means a whole lot to me and gives me incentive to go on. I'd like to thank: Tash3, FantasyWolf, PrincessMercury and Angelus-Zion.
Anyway, back to the story now… This one has a little bit of violence and some mild swearing at some point, but I think the PG-13 rating covers it. Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Nosferatu
The next morning…
Quistis was waiting by the Dormitory entrance, leaning onto the wall, with her back resting on it. She was tapping her foot impatiently on the floor. She took a look at her watch. 8:15 a.m. Furious, she strode back to the Dormitory corridor, towards room '173'. When she got there, she knocked hard on the door. No answer. She banged harder. Still nothing. This time she banged and kicked. She heard a groan coming from the room and after what seemed like ages, the door opened. Standing there, was a very scruffy looking Seifer. He was wearing a pair of black long pajama pants… Only. His hair looked terribly messy and -despite her anger- Quistis noticed that they were a bit longer now. Still short though. His face had a look of extreme tiredness and his eyes were barely open. He rubbed them with his fists and took a look at a very angry Quistis.
- "Instructor?" he said rubbing the back of his head. "Am I late? What time is it?" he asked.
- "TIME TO GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT OF HERE!! DO YOU REALIZE THAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU FOR FIFTEEN WHOLE MINUTES?!" she yelled. Seifer found Quistis' shouts far more effective to wake him up than a strong cup of coffee.
- "Sorry 'bout that…" he said yawning and stretching. "No need to yell…"
- "Be – out – here –in – FIVE – minutes…" she said out of breath, slamming the door on Seifer's face.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After what was ten -and not five- minutes, Seifer came out of his dorm. He was wearing his usual attire; Black pants, blue T-shirt with a white cross and of course… the trademark grey trench coat with a red cross emblazoned on the sleeve. His hair were kinda spiky, which was a new thing on his appearance. He was just putting his gunblade, the Hyperion, through his belt as he came out of the door. Quistis didn't speak, just led the way down the corridor. Seifer was the one to break the silence.
- "Sorry it took so long… My hair just wouldn't obey my gel…" he grinned.
- "Very funny Seifer…" said Quistis trying to remain calm; her hands were shaking from anger.
- "No, really! And I see you went with the ponytail. Looks good on you…" he commented.
- "Alright, listen to me here…" said Quistis stopping and pushing Seifer against a wall, grabbing his T-shirt. "Sucking me up, won't get you out of this one! You were…" she said checking her watch "… half an hour late, so we'll just make that an hour of extra practice, shall we?"
- "Y'know what happened?" he said chuckling "I was still set on that nine o' clock thing… I thought you were joking when you changed it…"
- "Seifer…" she said exasperated, putting her hands on her head.
- "I was just joking!"
- "Just… just walk!" she said continuing to stride down the hallway.
- "And I wasn't sucking you up..."
After the groan Quistis let out at that last remark, Seifer decided to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the walk to the Library.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
- "… So if you want to fight monsters weak in Status ailing magic, just junction that magic on your Status Attack." said Quistis, thus ending her tutorial on Status junction. "Got it?" she asked a very bored-looking Seifer. He was sitting heavily on a chair in the Study Hall, supporting his head with his palm to avoid falling asleep on the desk.
- "Of course I did… Instructor, I already know this stuff…" he said burying his head in his crossed arms.
- "You also know I'm obliged to remind you all this… 'stuff'." said Quistis, who was sitting across him. She glanced at her watch and spoke. "Right… I see the hour is almost over, so enough with the theory. Let's get over to the Training Center." she said getting up.
- "Finally!" said Seifer springing up from his chair. "Some action!"
- "Come on…" said Quistis smiling, happy that her student was showing enthusiasm. "By the way, how's you stock of magic?" she asked, as they walked out of the library.
- "Not much…" he said checking his magic status. "A hundred Meltdowns, Drains and Regens, these are for my HP Junction… Just ten or so Auras, almost max Curas, a few Blinds and Pains, a handful of Firas, Blizzaras and Thundaras… And some Aeros. That's it."
- "That's pretty good… I see you've got medium level magic there… So your level's more than thirty?" asked Quistis.
- "Thirty-seven." replied Seifer.
- "I'm impressed…" she said.
- "Well I did get a lot of training as a Knight…" he said giving her a weird glare.
- "I see…" she said looking at him as well. "Here we are." she added, entering the Training Center. She walked over to the two doors securing the center. She turned around to face Seifer and opened up her arms wide, motioning towards the two doors. "Choose you destiny…" she said smiling.
- "The left one."
- "Alright…" she said pushing the left door. "We'll just train on a few Grats to warm up and you can stock up the Sleeps you'll need for the T-Rexaur. You up for it?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
- "A T-Rex? Ha! Piece of cake!"
- "OK… You have your GF junctioned, right?"
- "Yep. Nosferatu…" he said with a smile full of pride.
- "Nosferatu? I've heard of that one…" said Quistis "It's a vampire right?"
- "Uh-huh…" said Seifer taking out his Hyperion, swishing it around.
- "What does it do?" she asked with interest.
- "You'll see…" he said smirking.
- "Alright then…" Quistis said taking out her whip, the glorious Save the Queen model. She gave it a few swings and then spoke. "Let's go."
The Grats were far too easy enemies, but they had a really useful stock of Sleeps and Silences to draw from. Seifer and Quistis took the opportunity to max out their stocks on these two spells. When after two hours they had, Quistis supervised Seifer as he junctioned them on his Status Attack. Quistis noticed that Seifer's skills had improved a lot since the last time she had seen him battle. Before, he just depended on his Strength stats -which were by the way extraordinarily high- . Now, he had learned to combine his physical attacks and his magic in a very satisfying way. He had learned to attack at the right moment and to hold his strength for when it was really needed. It wasn't long before they heard a loud roar and came face to face with a towering T-Rex.
- "This is it Seifer. Are you ready?" asked Quistis.
- "I was born ready Instructor!" shouted Seifer as he ran towards the monster, slashing his gunblade through its skin. The Sleep spell worked effectively; within seconds, the dinosaur was in deep sleep.
- "Well done!" said Quistis. "The T-Rex has many Firas and Thundaras. Get the chance to max them out. I'll summon Shiva to reduce some of its HP."
Quistis quickly summoned Shiva, the Ice GF as Seifer began his drawing. After a while, he was ready to begin to attack again. Just in time as well. The dinosaur had just woken up, but a quick slash from Quistis' whip send it back to Morpheus' realm. "Watch this Instructor!" said Seifer then. Quistis watched as he summoned his secret GF. Nosferatu was indeed impressive.
When Seifer cast his spell, a tall, dark-hooded entity appeared. It was wearing a long black cape, deep red clothes and black shiny boots. It walked towards the monster in a calm, confident, but menacing way. When it was just a few feet away from the T-Rex it lowered the hood. A charming man appeared, with long jet-black hair, a pale face and black eyes. His mouth seemed odd, and Quistis guessed that fangs were lurking underneath his pale lips. He raised his arm and instantly, the dinosaur found itself floating in the air. Nosferatu clenched his hand into a fist and a black aura emerged from the T-Rexaur's insides, floating right into Nosferatu's chest. The monster fell hard onto the ground; it had become really weak. On the other hand, Nosferatu seemed much stronger now. He levitated onto the air, his eyes closed and his black cape wrapped tightly around his body. When he had gone over twelve feet high, his cape flung open as a strong wind blew towards him. His long hair floated around and his eyes shot open. They were now red and glistening and they looked as if blood was dripping from them. The wind turned into a whirlwind and Nosferatu spun around wildly in it. Then suddenly, he rushed down towards the weak T-Rexaur to perform his special move, the 'Vampire's kiss', sinking his sharp teeth, deep into its skin. The T-Rex howled in pain, but only when the Nosferatu had satisfied his hunger for blood did he back off.
Nosferatu inflicted a tremendous amount of 8000+ HP on the dinosaur. That attack, along with the physical ones and Shiva's attacks, knocked out the T-Rex. It fell on the ground unconscious and victory was theirs. Seifer gave a few flings of his gunblade onto the air to let off the excess steam and then slid it back through his belt. He stretched around and rubbed his sore neck. Quistis stretched her arms and swung her whip back into place.
- "So uh… That was quite something…" said Quistis. "What level is he?" she asked.
- "Nosferatu?" he said looking at her "Twenty-five…"
- "Impossible!" said Quistis.
- "Why?"
- "Because no GF can cause this amount of damage in such a low level."
- "Not Nosferatu…" he smirked "If you don't believe me, check out his status." Quistis immediately did so and saw that he was telling the truth.
- "Where did you get him?" she asked.
- "You've obviously never been to the Esthar Grandidi forests Instructor…" he said mockingly. "Or at least you haven't searched them thoroughly enough…"
- "And I suppose you have?" asked Quistis raising an eyebrow.
- "When you're out on the run, you've got to find a place to hide…" he said bitterly.
- "So he was just there? Running in the forest?"
- "He only came out at night, to look for something to feed on… And then he found me…"
- " 'Found' you?"
- "I was pretty weak... I was easy prey…"
- "So… What happened?" asked Quistis crossing her arms.
- "He attacked me… But I managed to get away. I had to fight…"
- "You said you were weak. How could you have possibly beat him?" she asked in disbelief.
- "You don't know much about vampires, do you Instructor?" he said smiling.
- "Obviously not…" she said "But please… enlighten me…" she added mockingly.
- "Vampires can't stand light. It kills them." said Seifer meaningfully "I happened to know that, so a few Flares did the trick. Fire and light together…" he said smiling.
- "I see…" Quistis said, still not fully believing him.
- "I can see you're still not buying it, so here you go…" he said handing her a card. It was Nosferatu's. "It came along with a hundred Drains after I defeated him.."
- "You could have gotten this from a simple Triple Triad game… Anyway, I believe you…" she said looking at the card "By the way, where did you get Flares? They're forbidden spells."
- "Being a Sorceress' Knight, comes with a lot of benefits… Such as powerful and forbidden magic. Flares, Meteors, Auras, Ultimas… Unfortunately, I had to use them all up protecting myself."
- "I see…" said Quistis looking down at her feet.
- "So… *Hwaaah* !" he yawned "Are we done yet?" he asked "I'm beat…" he added rubbing his shoulder.
- "I guess so… It's almost 12… From now on try not to be late and we'll keep our timetable in the designated time-limit…" she said smiling.
- "I'll try… But I can't promise anything…" he said. Quistis gave him a worn-out look. "I'm kidding Instructor! It won't happen again…"
- "Go get some rest. I'll be expecting you at 1800 hours at the Front Gate. We'll be going outside for practice."
- "Goody…" he said mockingly "Can I go now? I desperately need a shower…"
- "I'll walk you out… Wouldn't want my best student to get hurt by any chance…" she said smirking. Seifer grinned and walked in an oh-so-cocky manner, but suddenly stopped and looked at Quistis furious.
- "I'm your only student!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The rest of the day went by smoothly. The afternoon practice went fairly well. Seifer replenished his stock of spells and got some new ones at well. Seifer and Quistis returned to Garden only when it was past nine. They rescheduled their training for the next morning at eight o' clock sharp. Quistis headed to her dorm and went straight to bed. The training had been tough for her as well; she hadn't had any for weeks and she had been a bit out of shape. Seifer had to be ready for the SeeD test in a bit more than a month's time, so he had to train very hard every day. Seven hours of training though, had been too much for a first day, so Quistis fell asleep in less then a minute…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The time was 6:45 at the continent of Balamb. The morning breeze blew lightly, making the atmosphere chilly. Quistis was still in bed, sleeping heavily, covered underneath her sheets. A sudden firm knock on the door made her squirm around. The next one made her groan and change side. The third one woke her up. Lazily, she got out of bed and stumbling, she dragged her feet to the door. Hardly opening her eyes, she pushed the door open.
- "Morning! Not late this time, am I?" said a cheerful-looking Seifer.
- "Wha- ?" said Quistis sleepily, trying to open her eyes.
- "I got up early, so I thought I'd come and invite my instructor to breakfast."
- "W-what time is it?" she asked rubbing her hair.
- "Five to seven." he replied instantly.
- "Seifer… We don't begin till eight…" she said feeling exhausted.
- "That's right… Breakfast should be eaten at least an hour before any exercise." he said smiling.
- " *Sigh* Come in…" she said.
Seifer walked inside and took a look around Quistis' room. It was annoyingly tidy, everything was in order, except for her bed because she'd just woken up. Quistis made her way tripping to her wardrobe. Seifer sat down on the bed and eyed Quistis, raising an eyebrow. She was wearing long, deep blue pajama pants and a black, tight top with straps. Her hair were -of course- down, but messy, having just got off bed. He kept looking at her, as she went through her clothes, looking for something to wear. 'Hmm… Not bad…' he thought. 'Not bad at all…'.
- "Wait here. I won't be long…" she said taking her usual orange battle gear out of the closet.
- "What?" said Seifer who had fallen deep in thought. "Oh yeah, take your time…" he added.
Quistis walked inside the bathroom and closed the door. She turned the sink on and threw a handful of water on her face. 'I don't believe he did this…' she thought while putting her contacts on. 'Barging into my room, waking me up… Still… It was… nice of him to invite me for breakfast…'. She looked at herself in the mirror. 'Seifer? Being nice? Nah… He just wants to pass the test desperately…' she thought laughing. 'But then again… It was Cid and Edea who talked him into coming back here… *Sigh* No use thinking it over I guess…' . She undressed and started putting her gear on. She put her clip on her back hair and let some strands fall down in front. She swiftly put a little bit of make-up and mascara and walked out of the bathroom. When she walked back in the room, she saw that Seifer had made her bed and was sitting up straight, looking out of the window. 'The instructor should be an easy target…' he thought. 'Just enough to let me pass the stupid test… Besides, I wouldn't mind some of that ass…'. He smirked. When he heard her come in, he turned around.
- "Ready to go?" he asked smiling.
- "Yeah… You made my bed?" she asked puzzled.
- "Thought it would save a bit of time…"
- "Thanks… I'll just grab my whip and we'll go…" she said.
- "Ooh… Feeling kinky today, are we?" he said smirking.
- "Watch it Almasy…" Quistis replied smiling.
She took her whip out of its case and walked out of the door with Seifer. There wasn't a single sound in the corridors, as almost no-one had woken up yet. They silently walked down the hallways to the cafeteria. When they got there, they saw that there were hardly any people inside, apart from the staff.
- "Go sit somewhere and I'll order. What'll you have?" Quistis asked Seifer.
- "Umm… Three muffins, a mixed toast, a doughnut and some coffee. Black, milk only." said Seifer. Quistis looked at him wide-eyed. "What?" he said. "I need a hefty amount of food. D'you know how much energy I consume?"
- "Really?" she asked in disbelief. "In what?"
- "Nocturnal activities…" replied Seifer raising an eyebrow. Quistis kept on looking at him in disbelief. "Have you ever tried to solve an entire crossword at night? It's exhausting!" he replied innocently.
- "A crossword?" she said suppressing a smile.
- "Of course instructor… What did you think I meant?" he asked smirking.
- "You're unbelievable… Go get us a table…" said Quistis laughing.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Quistis went over to sit, holding a tray full of food. She sat down across Seifer and laid the tray on the table. She handed Seifer his breakfast and took aside hers; a bagel and some coffee.
- "That's it? That's all you're gonna eat?" asked Seifer.
- "Well yes, I'm not the pig you are…" replied Quistis smiling. Seifer bowed his head as if saying 'Thank you.', while taking a huge bite from his doughnut.
- "But seriously, how do you survive?" he asked mockingly.
- "Eat you breakfast Seifer…" she said impatiently.
- "Tch, fine…" he said shrugging.
By the time Quistis had eaten half her bagel, Seifer had gulped down the doughnut, his toast and two of his muffins. Quistis looked at him sort of impressed and spoke.
- "You know, the only two people I've seen eat like that are you and Zell…" she said putting her finger on her chin.
- "What?! *Cough*" yelled Seifer choking. He quickly drank a bit of coffee and gently cleared his throat. "Me and Chicken-wuss have the same eating habits?"
- "Stop calling him that!"
- "But he is!"
- "Oh really? And how did you figure it out?"
- "Well… look at him!" said Seifer exasperated.
- "I don't believe this… You haven't changed a bit since…" said Quistis, but she stopped in mid-sentence.
- "Since the orphanage?" said Seifer catching her off-guard.
- "You… You remember?" she asked surprised.
- "Of course I do…" replied Seifer bowing down his head, looking at the table. "I haven't made much use of GFs… Not until recently that is…"
- "So… Exactly how much do you remember?" asked Quistis, interested.
- "Just about everything… I remember you used to like me…" he said looking at her, with a 'hurt' sort of expression.
- "Who says I don't now?" she asked blushing.
- "Well… Practically everyone likes to avoid me, from what I've noticed. Not that I really blame them of course…" he said laughing.
- "Seifer, just because I'm strict with you as an instructor, doesn't mean that I don't like you…" said Quistis honestly.
- "Sure, whatever…" he said, still looking down. "Hey it's almost eight. Are you done?" he asked changing the subject.
- "Yeah… Come on, we've got a lot of things to do today…"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: So old Seify is starting to eye our beloved instructor with bad intentions… We'll just have to wait and see how will Quistis handle it…
For encyclopedic purposes only: Nosferatu, for those who don't know, is a name used for Vampires in older times. It comes from the Greek noun Nosos ( = illness) and the also Greek verb Fero ( =to bring, to carry). Hence, Nosferatu = The one who carries the 'illness'. The suffix –atu is Slavic, since the myth of the Nosferatu began from Slavic countries, like Romania.
ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF 'LOVE CONQUERS ALL':
It becomes revealed that Seifer uses a bit of an unorthodox (for him) way to 'capture' his thoughts and vent out his frustrations. Could that play a significant role in the future?
Quistis becomes more and more confused, as Seifer starts to put his seduction plans in practice. Is she beginning to feel different about her student? Will she follow logic or let her senses guide her?
STAY TUNED FOR MORE! (and keep those reviews comin' ! )