A/N: Wheeeee! I'm back!
I dunno if any of you watch animes, but the title of this chapter's kinda 'stolen'. I was at a friend's place (btw 'my Seifer' was there too… *sighs*) and someone brought this anime called 'The triangle'. We later on found out that it was actually hentai ^_^ We laughed our asses off; it was really ridiculous. Anyway, I named this chapter 'The triangle' because I thought it fitted with the whole Seifer-Quistis-Nida thing. He, he… ;-) BTW I don't really think I presented Nida the way he should be, but I thought he was more fun that way!
Enjoy the new chappy btw…
Chapter 13: The triangle
The next morning, inside Cid's office there were many people gathered. Except for Cid, Squall and Lucius Wallace, all the participants of the mission were there. Except for one…
Quistis ran through the Dormitory hallway, trying to fix her hair at the same time. By the time she had succeeded in putting her hair up in her clip, she was sprinting up the stairs towards the elevator. She pushed the button and waited impatiently for the elevator to come down. She looked at her watch. 12:10 a.m. 'Oh, Hyne… How could I fall asleep like that? Why today?' she thought hurrying into the elevator. She pushed the button to the 3rd floor and straightened out her uniform. When she got there, she hurried over to the door of Cid's office and knocked.
- "Come in…" said Cid.
- "I'm terribly sorry sir…" said Quistis walking inside. "An old student caught up with me and…"
- "That's OK my dear…" said Lucius Wallace rushing over to her before Cid had the chance to say anything. He grabbed her hand and kissed it tenderly; Quistis smiled awkwardly. She caught Seifer's eye looking at Wallace in a really dangerous sort of way. Then he looked at her and quickly looked away. "Please have a seat…" said Wallace. Quistis walked over to the armchairs where her co-workers were sitting and sat next to Xu.
- "OK… Now that we're finally all here…" began Cid making Quistis blush profusely "…we can begin with the briefing. As you all know, Mr. Lucius Wallace is the Minister of National Defense in Galbadia. He will be throwing a party for charitable purposes in his mansion in two days."
- "'Charitable' my ass…" whispered Zell to Nida and they both snickered quietly.
- "Your job…" went on Cid a bit more loudly "…will be to protect him during that particular party."
- "What about your bodyguards?" Peter Bennington asked Wallace "Aren't you going to use them?"
- "Mr. Wallace has many enemies from rival political groups, but due to the charitable appeal of the party, he doesn't wish to appear heavily guarded. Therefore, the protection must be under-cover. His own personal bodyguards can easily be recognized by rivals, as they have been seen with him on countless occasions. Hence, the people protecting him must be non-recognizable." said Cid.
- "The papers have been roaming with pictures of the six mercenaries that fought Ultimecia. Zell and Quistis are among them. Don't you think they'll be at the far least recognizable?" said Seifer almost mockingly.
- "Mr. Dincht will appear as my guard, he'll be the only one not to be 'playing a role'. So even if he is recognized no harm done…" said Wallace calmly.
- "And what about Quistis?" asked Seifer crossing his arms. Quistis shot him a sideways glace. The she turned to look at Wallace.
- "Well…" said Wallace looking at Quistis. "I was hoping that Miss Trepe would agree to be my escort for that night…" he added smiling. Quistis looked thunderstruck 'Hyne, please don't let Seifer do or say anything stupid…' she thought. Seifer grasped the fabric of his armchair so tightly, that a small ripping sound was heard "What do you say Miss Trepe?" asked Wallace.
- "Oh… I… I don't know… Maybe I'm not the appropriate one…" said Quistis, feeling her cheeks burn.
- "Of course she agrees!" piped in Cid "That way you can keep a really close eye on Mr. Wallace, right Quistis?" he asked.
- "Yes sir…" mumbled Quistis.
- "Excellent!" said Cid "Now on everyone else's position… Zell, you will be the only one guarding Mr. Wallace in the open as your skills in hand-to-hand combat are essential here."
- "At your orders sir!" said Zell enthusiastically, while getting up and saluting Cid.
- "Quistis, you'll be his escort…" continued Cid "Xu, you will be the one doing the presentation of the party."
- "Yes sir!" said Xu, feeling a bit anxious.
- "The rest of you will be disguised as waiters and waitresses and you'll make sure that at least one of you is close to Mr. Wallace at all times. Quistis I'd assign you squad leader, but your position doesn't leave much freedom for that, so it has to be someone else. Seifer, you up for it?" asked Cid, turning to look at Seifer.
- "What am I, last minute resort?" asked Seifer feeling somewhat offended. Cid lowered his glasses, giving him an angry glare "Of course I'm up for it…" said Seifer exasperated, crossing his arms.
- "Good… More details will be given to all of you, once you get to Mr. Wallace's mansion. You'll be all staying there. You leave tomorrow morning at 600 hours. Be at the Front Gate at that specific time. I suggest you all go pack and have a lot of rest. You'll need all the energy you can preserve. Dismissed." said Cid.
All of them walked outside Cid's office. Seifer was the first one to storm out. Quistis saw him and tried to catch up with him, but when she got out he'd already taken the elevator down.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seifer had just reached the first floor when he saw Selphie walking up the stairs.
- "Morning Seify!" she said cheerfully.
- "Morning…" he said moodily, trying hard to overlook 'Seify'.
- "Hey, I was just going upstairs to find out who's going to the mission. Is the meeting over?"
- "Yeah…"
- "And…?" she asked eagerly.
- "And what?"
- "Who's in?!" she asked exasperated.
- "Oh… It's me, Quistis, Xu, a girl named Svetlana something, Nida, Zell and some Peter guy." he replied.
Just then Quistis along with Nida came down with the elevator. Selphie shot them a weird look, which Seifer happened to notice. Nida recalled all the Rinoa-Selphie incidents and decided it would be best if he left to go pack.
- "What was that?!" asked Selphie when he was gone.
- "What was what?" asked Quistis puzzled.
- "Y'know… You and Nida coming down the elevator… alone!" she said crossing her arms. Seifer raised an eyebrow "I thought you were through with him…" Seifer's eyes shot wide open.
- "Selphie!" yelled Quistis.
- "Oh, sorry…" she said taking a swift look at Seifer "You won't tell anyone, will you Seifer? It's supposed to be a secret…" said Selphie rubbing the back of her head.
- "Don't worry…" he said shooting Quistis an angry look "My lips are sealed…" Quistis buried her face in her hands "Now if you'll just excuse me, I've got to go pack my stuff…" he added turning his heel and leaving towards the dorms.
- "Thanks a lot Selphie!" said Quistis furiously, running after him.
- "What? What did I do?" asked Selphie, but Quistis was already gone.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seifer was heading towards his room. He felt incredibly stupid. He thought he'd be the one to fool Quistis, but it was actually him who got to be the fool. He didn't know exactly what this feeling in the pit of his stomach was, but he dreaded it was hurt.
- "Seifer wait!" yelled Quistis behind him.
- "What do you want? Why aren't you with Nida?" he asked narrowing his eyes.
- "The whole thing with Nida was just a cover-up. Selphie and Rinoa suspected I had something going on with a guy, so I had to make something up." Quistis explained.
- "And you expect me to buy that?" he asked crossing his arms.
- "It's the truth… What did you want me to tell them? That I'm with you?" she whispered.
Seifer looked around and saw that some students were approaching the Dormitory corridor.
- "Let's go inside. Someone's bound to hear us." he said opening the door.
The couple walked inside Seifer's dorm. Quistis sat down on Seifer's bed, while he stood up against the door with his back leaning on it.
- "You were saying?" asked Seifer.
- "You don't really believe that I'd get involved with Nida, do you?" she asked exasperated "Honestly…"
- "Why wouldn't I?" he asked.
- "Because I'm with you!"
- "Like it's difficult to be with two guys at the same time…" he said in disbelief.
- "Seifer, whenever I'm not with my friends I'm with you. How could I possibly have another relationship?"
- "How do I know you're with your friends at that time?"
- "We're always hanging by the cafeteria! You see us whenever you pass by!"
- "Fine…"
- "What do you mean 'fine'? Don't talk like you're doing me a favor believing me!"
- "I'm not saying it like that… Let's just forget about it…"
- "So…Do you believe me?" she asked.
- "Yeah, I guess so…" he said crossing his arms.
- "You guess so?" she said getting up "That's not good enough…" she added putting her hands on his chest, looking at him.
- "Is 'Yes' good enough?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
- "Better…" she said smiling, getting closer to him.
- "Definitely?" he asked leaning in.
- "Perfect…" she said kissing him deeply.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Quistis was lying with her back on Seifer's chest, on his bed covered underneath the black silky sheets. Seifer had one arm wrapped around her chest, while smoking with the other. From time to time, he gave Quistis a whiff or two.
- "If I ask you something, will you answer honestly?" she asked.
- "Depends on what you'll ask…" he said exhaling smoke.
- "I'll ask and if you want you'll answer. Promise you're going to be honest though."
- "I promise."
- "What happened last night? What did you see that scared you?" she asked turning her head to look at him. Seifer didn't reply. He just looked away and went on inhaling smoke "You don't want to answer?" asked Quistis.
- "Please let's not discuss this…" he replied looking into her eyes. Quistis could see that he was dead serious and it seemed that the subject really hurt him.
- "OK…" she said nodding.
- "Thanks… I appreciate it…" he said kissing her forehead.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Quistis was in her room, preparing her suitcase. It was already 9:30 and she had to go to bed early, because the aircrafts for the mission would be waiting by the front gate at exactly 6:00 a.m. She was just finishing up, when she heard a knock on the door 'Seifer…' she thought and smiled. She pulled the clip off her hair leaving it loose and went to open the door with a broad smile on her face.
- "Hey…" said the guy standing right in front of her. It wasn't Seifer…
- "Nida?" asked Quistis confused "Can I… help you with something?"
- "Can I come in?" he asked.
- "Sure." said Quistis moving away from the doorframe.
- "Nice room…" said Nida looking around Quistis' dorm.
- "Thanks…" she said "What can I do for you?"
- "Oh…" he said turning around to face her "I just wanted to talk to you about something…"
- "About what?" asked Quistis puzzled.
- "You see…" he said approaching her "…I had a talk with Rinoa about ten minutes ago…" 'Oh no…' thought Quistis.
- "And what does that have to do with me?" she asked, playing stupid.
- "Well… She didn't say much, but she let me understand that… you've taken a liking to me…" he said raising an eyebrow.
- "Look Nida, I've got to be honest. I…" she began, but he interrupted her.
- "Please don't say anything you'll regret. I must speak first… Don't get me wrong Quistis, you're a beautiful woman, but I'm already with someone else…" he said as if he pitied her.
- "Good for you, I…" tried Quistis to say, but she was once again interrupted.
- "Please don't hate me for this… We can still be friends… And if things don't work out for me with the girl I'm with now…" he said touching her chin "…we can always give it a shot…"
- "O – K…" said Quistis awkwardly.
- "Bye now… Take care…" he said giving her a wink and then leaving the room.
Quistis took some time to realize what had just happened. She first made a mental note to herself that Rinoa would be paying for that incident when she was back from the mission and then thought about Nida's behavior.
- "Since when did he become the 'Casanova' type?" she asked out loud raising an eyebrow.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Oh and can someone tell me what 'shounen-ai' means? I know it's got something to do with 'yaoi' because I see them together in summaries many times. Also if you know, what does 'AU' mean?
ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF 'LOVE CONQUERS ALL':
The mission begins and the seven SeeDs find themselves at Lucius Wallace's Mansion…