Author's Note: First off, like usual, I'd like to thank my reviewers...
without you guys, there wouldn't be this chapter! ^-^ Thanks a bunch! I
love you all! =) Secondly I'm terribly sorry it took me so long for this
chapter... my bad... sorry!
Hotaru9 - I'm not too sure about the humour... because I usually just write what I first think of... lol.
Vegakeep - I'm glad you found last chappy funny ^-^ I try my best to make each and every chapter interesting!
Setobsessed - I agree! Selphie is such a sweet person! She is so kewl and cute too! The reason Quistis is so mean in this fic is because (I know I said this last chapter somewhere) she lost her Instructor's License and can't get it back, and she also lost Squall to Rinoa. If I were in her position, I'd be pretty darn pissed off... so I figured that I should make her seem mean to be more realistic.
The Omega Weapon - After waiting so damn long for me to write this chapter, you'll finally read what Selphie has on her mind! ^-^ At long last! And thanks for reading my little blurbs ... glad to know it's not there for no reason! ^-^ Thanks for reviewing!
Quistis88 - Well, here it is! Chapter three! I'm not sure if this chapter will be as funny... but I hope you like it!
Satanic-Purple-Onion - Of course I remember METATTEM!! I'm so, so, so sorry! I never knew you had this name too! . My bad! So very, so sorry!! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing my fics! Really, appreciate it! And also, thanks for reading my little, near-to-pointless blurbs! Once again, truly, deeply, very sorry! Thanks for reviewing!
Quisty Almasy - Thank you! ^-^ Selphie seems like that kind of person to understand everyone... I hope I have her in character tho!
Rose - I'm definitely continuing this fic! I'm hoping that there won't be too many chapters... but each chapter would be longer... so it may take me a while to finish this... Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Lady Aliena - I'm impressed that I wrote this much too! Usually I procrastinate so much... it's not even funny ( One day I'll suffer the consequences... right...? I'm extremely glad that you can see Selphie fitting the role she has... I try and hope that each of my characters fit their part. Thanks for reviewing!
DarkBlueHated - Well, maybe you're right that not a lot of fics start with Quistis being the only one that thinks Seifer is innocent... but I have read many Seiftis' lately... so I wouldn't really know. I guess you have to wait to read how I will 'salvage what little... anything... that Quistis and Seifer can have' ^-^ It's not nearly as impossible as you think... lol But then again, I am the author... so I have to power to change things! Muahahaha! Okay... I sound like a psychotic freak... so I'll just shut up.
Jennifer - What's Selphie gonna do? Well, now you can find out! =) btw, thanks for reviewing!
*Phew* okay. With all that done... shall we continue? Last chapter left off with Quistis and Rinoa teasing Seifer... Selphie couldn't stand it and goes after him. He wants to get Quistis back for all the trouble she's making him go through, and Selphie has a 'brilliant' plan... but we don't know what the plan is... or if it is all that 'brilliant' ...
* * * * * * * * * *
(Irvine)
The moment we stepped into this hyne-forsaken place, we knew something was terribly wrong. Even for such a new and small town, there wasn't a single soul wandering around in the streets. The fact that it was mid-afternoon didn't calm this situation either. I was beginning to wonder about the de-railing of our train... maybe it wasn't an 'accident' after all. It almost seemed like someone was trying to stop us from coming to this place.
"I don't like the looks of this place..." Zell started. He lost his energetic tone on the second day we were left wandering the plains around Galbadia after our train mysteriously de-railed. "This place looks so gloomy... I mean, look at it!"
Zell was right. Even though the sun was shining fiercely just seconds ago, this place received little of it. It was as if the sun feared to enter this place. Something strange amiss.
Huge stonewalls surrounded the whole town. The only way in and out of this place was through the large iron gates at the front. Actually, they were more like huge doors with few peek holes. Every building in the town was made of stone, dark gray stones. They were all lined up perfectly, side-by-side. Each house was symmetrical to the one beside in every single aspect. The only building that looked remotely different was the one straight ahead. It was larger than the rest, but other than that there was no other difference.
Almost all of the houses had a sign hanging from its roof. The words printed upon the wooden signs were basic, normal, bolded letters. Not only that, but each had only a single word on it. Items. Weapons. Restaurant. Café. Theatre. So plain... so alike.
"Ugh..." A voice behind me grumbled.
I turned around to face my squad team. It consisted of five people. Zell, two other A class SeeDs, a B class SeeD, and myself. Mark and Tony, the two A class SeeDs were holding up Gerad, the B class SeeD. Gerad was wounded after our train got wrecked. It wasn't because he was inexperienced, but because he dodged an attack for Tony. Mark was a short blonde man. He was 23, but looked more like 18. Tony was a tall Asian guy. He was 17, but looked a lot older. Gerad looked somewhat like Squall. Although he was a little shorter, and had auburn hair.
"We better get him to the inn and heal up." Zell stated. I nodded my head in agreement.
"Alright. We'll head to the inn first and I'll give more mission details there. Now which way is it to the inn?" I turned around and began walking down the road. This place was so linear.
"That's odd..." Zell began. "How come most of these places are closed?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, turning to look at the door of the Weapons shop. Nailed upon the door was a sign with huge black letters. 'Closed Forever'. I turned my head to look at the other shops. The only one that seemed to be 'open' was the small restaurant, even then, it didn't look to welcoming.
"There's the inn!" Zell pointed straight ahead to the taller building.
It wasn't long before we were pushing the wooden door to the inn open. Inside, it wasn't too decorative. A few chairs and tables sat on the right side of the door, the stairway up was straight ahead, and the receptionist was to the right.
I walked to the receptionist and leaned on the desk. I tilted my hat slightly and gave her a warm smile.
"Hey there..." I began, but she immediately cut me off.
"500 gil for one room, one night." Her voice was a bit shaky, something seemed wrong about this place.
"We'll take two." Zell said from behind me.
"Here." She tossed two sets of keys to Zell. I handed her the money, still smiling at her, but wondering what was up.
"Let's go." Zell pulled on my sleeve.
We continued up the stairs and easily found our room. Both rooms were small and cramped. There were two beds in each room and a small little window that barely let any sunlight in... not like there was much anyway.
Mark and Tony laid Gerad on one of the beds. Tony began tending his wounds. I closed the door and locked it. The rest of us began searching the room for any bugs/devices that might be hidden. Without any luck, we concluded that there was none.
"Okay, this is a secret mission..." I began as I pulled out the folder Headmaster Cid had given to me earlier. "We go in as aliases. Zell, you are now Lance Thompson. Mark, you are Kris Parker. Tony, Yemenen Suzake. And I am Edgar Samson."
"What's up with all these weird names?" Mark asked as he took out his laptop. He was our computer genius.
"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out Mark..." A grin crept on my face. Mark was usually the first one to decipher a code.
"Hey, I don't get it either. Did Headmaster just make up these names from his bald little head??" Zell blurted out, slightly offended.
I laughed. "Zell, if you didn't get it, then it's alright. We figured you were a little slow to these things..." I joked. Everyone laughed while Zell playfully tackled me.
"Mr. Dincht, what Mr. Kinneas meant was that since Mark's the computer whiz here, he should have figured out the code hidden within our names." Tony replied.
"Oh! I get it now!" Mark suddenly blurted out. "They start with the last letters of our name! Zell has 'l' as the last letter, so his name begins with 'L'!"
"Well done Mark. So if any of you ever forget whose name is whose, remember that little code there. Okay. I'll continue de-briefing you. What headmaster didn't say before, was that... we have pretty much zero clues on what is going on here. I'm sure you've all noticed that something is wrong here. Considering there was nobody on the streets, most of the stores are closed and that receptionist was very shaky. The only thing we do know is that a 'Mr. Withers' clued us into about this place. However, we're not even sure if this 'Mr. Withers' is a real person." I whispered, careful to make sure no one else heard this. [Or if he is helping us...]
"How are we going to accomplish this then? I mean, it's damn near impossible!" Tony whispered harshly.
"We're only here to find out what is wrong. Once we do, we're off the mission. Mark anything?" I turned my head to face Mark who was hacking off on his computer.
"Well, there's no security cameras or security at all in this inn. And I looked up 'Mr. Withers'. There is no one in the town by that name."
"You don't suppose this is a trap do you?!" Zell cried out loud.
"If it is... then there is definitely something going on here." I whispered back, afraid to know the truth myself.
"Sir..." Mark whispered out.
"What..." I said the word slowly.
"I think there is something going on here."
"What do you mean?" I took a step towards Mark. His eyes were glued on his laptop screen. I was afraid of what he saw on it.
"Well... according to this... there have been 23 deaths during the past three days." He whispered, his eyes finally peeled off the screen and looked at me.
"What if we're next...?" Zell whispered.
* * * (Seifer)
(Saturday)
"I am definitely not doing that!" I shouted at the petite girl sitting on my bed.
"Why not? It'll be fun!" She pouted like a little child. She began bouncing on my bed and I watched her brunette flip-outs bounce up and down.
"That is worse than hell for me." I replied, while sitting on the chair by my desk. I looked at the clock 12:01am. If Selphie was going to stay here any longer, I probably wouldn't get any sleep at all. But thank hyne I didn't have to see Miss Bitch tomorrow... actually more like today AND tomorrow.
"I thought you wanted to get her back!" Selphie stopped bouncing and crossed her arms. She gave me a slight glare.
"I do... but I am not approaching it that way!"
"Why not?!"
"No. Just no."
Selphie gave out a loud sigh. "You just don't get it! You see, if you listen and do every single thing Quistis tells you to, then she'll go crazy!"
"Selphie, that doesn't make sense. Little miss mediocre Instructor does not go crazy over something as simple as that. Besides, if I do give in to her, she'll know that she has won."
"I know it'll work! I've known her long enough to know this! Hear me out first! See, if you listen to every single thing Quistis tells you to do, and without getting her back for it, she'll go crazy! First, she'll think that she won the little game between you two. So she may tease you more, BUT, if you keep it up, Quistis will begin to think something is up. She'll believe that you have something REALLY big planned up for her! Then she'll became all paranoid! Because, every little thing you do, she'll think there's something that comes with it!" Selphie laughed.
I gave her a puzzled look. "Aren't you her friend?"
"Yes." She smiled brightly at me.
"Then why do you want to help me make her paranoid...?" Suspicion crept to me.
"Well, you know, she's gone way past that line in teasing you... she should get what she deserves." Selphie said it out all too quickly, which made me wonder if something else might be up. "So you wanna do it that way?"
I bit my lower lip. "I guess you have a good reasoning..." [This is going to be hell.]
* * * (Selphie)
I woke up as the first rays from the sun beamed into my room. I never used my alarm clock. I prefer waking up the 'natural' way... if that's what you call it. I peeled off my blanket and looked at my calendar. Twelve more days till my birthday! I beamed with joy and jumped off my bed.
"I wonder what they're going to do for me this year..." I said a loud as I pictured what my friends would do for me on my birthday. Last year, Irvine made them pretend they forgot my birthday, and at night, when I sadly returned to my room, they all jumped out at me. It was one of the best birthdays ever!
I skipped to the bathroom and grabbed my yellow toothbrush. I slipped some toothpaste on it and vigorously began brushing my teeth. Afterwards, I pulled off my cute yellow bunny pyjamas and jumped into the shower. After a short shower, I quickly slipped on another yellow outfit and took out my curling iron. I dried most of my hair and began curling the tips like I usually did.
After a short while, I skipped out my dorm room and towards Seifer's dorm. It was still quite early in the morning, and there were few people wandering the halls.
Once I was at Seifer's door, I quietly knocked on it. I didn't want to wake anyone else up, but I was really excited. One because it was almost my birthday and the two because I was going to cut Seifer's hair! He didn't know it yet, but I was going too. It was too long anyway. I personally thought he looked better with shorter hair.
"Seifer! Seifer! Seifer!" Each time I said his name, I said it louder.
"What?!" A voice growled from behind the door.
"It's me Selphie! Lemme in!" I continued to knock on his door. Suddenly, the door slid open revealing a really disheveled Seifer.
I pushed past him and he closed the door, all the while yawning.
"Why are you up so early?" He asked as he crawled back into his bed. "Didn't you just leave 10 minutes ago?"
I quickly pulled his blanket off him. He growled slightly and pulled the blanket back. He was a lot stronger than I and managed to get it back.
"Wake up sleepy head! Wake up! And besides, I left 7 hours ago." I began poking him on the side to wake him up.
"Stop it." He moved away from me slightly. "Stop it!" I continued to poke him. "STOP IT!" He sat up straight and glared at me.
"Took you long enough to wake up. Now go shower! Go, go, go!" I pulled on his arm towards his bathroom, but he wouldn't budge. "Please Seify?"
"I told you not to call me that." A low growl could be heard.
"Okay, I won't, but only if you get up now!"
He groaned slightly. "Why do you want me up anyway?"
"Because! Now go shower! Hurry! Please?"
Very reluctantly, he got up from his bed and walked into his bathroom. He closed and locked the door behind him. While he showered, I made his bed and took out a pair of scissors.
It wasn't long until Seifer came out of the bathroom. He was dressed in his usual ensemble. His hair was still wet, and he didn't bother to slick it back like he did before. I held out the scissors and opened and closed them.
"What are you doing...?" A tone of wonder in his voice.
"I'm gonna cut your hair!" I exclaimed happily.
* * * (Quistis)
I woke up with a piercing headache. After Selphie left, Rinoa and I began laughing and joking and drinking. I never drank much before. But we managed to finish all the cans Seifer had brought us.
"Ugh... never am I going to drink that much again." I popped some aspirin into my mouth and swallowed them dry. Ever so slowing, I crawled out of bed and into the shower.
It wasn't long until I was fully dressed, out the door, and walking towards the cafeteria to be greeted by Squall. It was strange, because he was all alone. No Selphie. No Rinoa. [No Rinoa? Maybe still sleeping...]
"Morning." I took a seat across from him. "Where's Rinoa?"
"Still sleeping. You guys must have partied all night." He replied in his monotone voice. Sometimes I wonder if he can speak with a different pitch.
"Sorta. But it was only Rinoa and I. Selphie left the party early." I didn't want to mention that it was because of Seifer.
"Hmm. I'm going to the Training Center for a while." Squall got up and left.
I sighed. Strange. Most of the times when I was talking just with him, I only think him as a friend, but when there are other people, I always want him to myself. I just don't know what I want anymore. Maybe it was a sign that I was getting over him. Sometimes I hope it is.
* * *
(Seifer)
"Come on! Come on! Hurry up! You're wasting valuable shopping time!" Selphie tugged on the sleeve of my trench coat.
"Why did you have to drag me along with you?" I hesitated.
After Selphie barged my room to cut my hair -- -- which I must admit she did a good job -- -- she forced me to come to Balamb and go shopping with her. What a nightmare. I easily pulled her back and sat down on one of the benches.
"Seifer! You're no fun!! I want to go over there!" She pointed to a costume store. "I need an outfit for next week! Pretty please?"
"Why don't you just make you own outfit? I'm sure you could make something better than what that store has." I was getting really annoyed and grumpy.
"Aww! That's so sweet of you to think that!" She smiled brightly at me. Truth was, I wasn't actually saying that because I thought she could, but rather I just wanted to go back to my dorm and sleep some more. "But I don't have time!! Hurry! Hurry! I have a class to sub for soon!! SEIFER!" She practically screamed which made everyone nearby to turn and face us, wondering what all the commotion was.
"Fine. But this is the last store and then we go back."
"Okay!" A little grin formed on her face. What I didn't know was what she was planning for me. What a nightmare.
* * *
(Monday - 6:00am - Training Centre)
(Quistis)
I flipped through the neatly typed pages that Seifer handed me. The title read, "The Importance of Obeying Instructions". I silently chuckled in my head as I remember his expression when I told him to write me this 10 page, typed essay yesterday.
I looked up from the papers to face him, he turned his head away from me to avoid any eye contact.
"Well Seifer, hope your wound has healed. Now, it's Monday which means today you will have physical training." I tucked the papers into my bag and pulled out my whip. "Later today, the garden will be landing soon. We will be hunting for some Ruby Dragons with Instructor Lee's class. Until then, we'll train here. Understood?" I cracked my whip for a little more effect.
"Yes Instructor." He replied in a monotone voice.
[That's odd... I was expecting some kind of snide remark from him... maybe he's realized that he can't outsmart me].
We walked around the training area about three times before we found our first enemy. The big bad T-Rexaur.
"Seifer, I don't want you to use any magic spells against this. I'll back you up when you need it."
"Yes Instructor." Again, no rude comment.
I stood away from the battle and watched Seifer fight the immense beast. I don't know why I hadn't noticed Seifer's fighting style before, nor do I know why I was noticing now, but every move he made was a swift, fluid motion. Almost ghostlike. Something seemed different about him, but I didn't know what. I didn't know what was going on, but it seemed like I had opened my eyes a little wider. My perspective of him was different than when he first came back. Maybe it was when I caught him with Selphie yesterday. I saw something different in his eyes. Almost like he was happy, truly happy.
My thoughts were interrupted when Seifer came flying towards my feet.
"Need help there?"
"No." He replied coldly, like Squall used to do to me. "I've handled worse." I heard him whisper.
"I bet you have." I said to him, hoping to embarrass him, but it didn't work. He ignored me.
"Die." He whispered as he gave one final blow to the monstrous beast. It fell on its side with a loud thud. The ground trembled in fear below and around it.
"Well done Seifer." I was expecting some kind of remark, but he gave me none.
After a short while of searching, a Snow Lion crept up to us.
"Alright Seifer, this is the last fight in here. Only use magic based attacks."
The Snow Lion when down faster than I expected, but I didn't really care. We were off hunting Ruby Dragons now. We bother headed off to the front to meet up with Kianne and her class. We walked in silence there which gave me the creeps. [I know, I just know Seifer's planning something against me]
"Quistis! How nice of you to join us." Kianne waved at me as we neared her group.
Her class only consisted of 8 people. Of course, this was only one of her 3 classes. These were the group of people Seifer would be with on his SeeD exam. Her class was already in groups of four. Two girls and two guys in a group. Her students were quietly talking amongst themselves. So well behaved.
"Kianne, I want you to meet Seifer. Seifer, this is Instructor Lee. You will be sent on your SeeD exam with her class." I motioned at the students.
"Pleased to meet you!" She stuck out her hand with a warm, welcoming smile.
Seifer didn't return her greeting with a handshake, but rather just a nod. She seemed slightly shocked by his rude gesture, but continued on.
"Well then, the three of us will be a group. Okay class!" She clapped her hand twice to get their attention. What shocked me was that when she did that, they all lined up in a line facing her. Posture straight, all eyes on her. "Now, we all know that Ruby Dragons are tough, but remember, this is just training, so don't sweat over it! You're all your groups. Remember we'll meet back here in 4 hours, so let's head out, and kick some dragon ass!" All the students shouted with joy and headed out.
"Kianne, you know you're not suppose to use that kind of language." I tried to lecture her. I would have never said something like that. Maybe if Headmaster knew about this, he might think that I was a better instructor.
"Quistis, don't be so naïve. You and I both know that these students swear all the time." She laughed slightly.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Seifer expression change slightly. Had he grown a liking to this woman?
* * *
"So how's training coming along for you Seifer?" Kianne asked as she shot down another Ruby Dragon.
I had never trained with her before, but now that I have, I started envy her. She was so skilled with her double handguns. I never knew anyone else who fought like her. She knew how to fight single handedly and with guns. Pretty, smart, and skilled. How I wish I could be like her.
"Average." Seifer replied while wiping the blood off his gunblade. We've been training for an hour, and Kianne was the only one trying to make conversation.
"Is it hard to use a gunblade? I heard those things are damn heavy! I'm surprised your arm isn't bulging with muscle! I mean, lifting that weight on one arm all the time... your right arm should be bulging and your left should be puny!" She laughed. Strange thing was she was able to make Seifer chuckle slightly. "Hey, you wouldn't mind if I try using your gunblade would you? I'll switch you weapons for the next battle."
Seifer's eyebrow rose slightly. My eyes widened slightly. What was this girl thinking? She had never used a gunblade before! She would surely lose any fight using that. And besides, what were the odds of Seifer letting her use his weapon!
"I'd rather not." Seifer regained his composure after the little shock.
"Oh come on! Please?" She gave him a little puppy dog look which strangely reminded me so much of Selphie.
Seifer hesitated for a while. "Just one battle."
I was shocked. Never would I have ever thought Seifer would let anyone, much less a girl he met an hour ago, use his weapon. He must be out of his mind. Seifer handed her Hyperion and she tossed him her handguns.
"Wow. This is heavy!"
A slight feeling of jealousy crept into my soul.
* * *
(Seifer)
"There better not be a scratch on it when I get it back." I stated. I don't know why I just let her use my own Hyperion. But that look she gave me. It reminded me so much of Selphie. Maybe if Selphie had asked me, I would have let her used it as well.
"Don't worry, I'll treat it like my own baby." Kianne stroke the blade.
Immediately after she said that, a Ruby Dragon roared at us.
"This is gonna be fun!" Kianne raised Hyperion.
It was strange. Because what she had said earlier, it was as if she never seen a gunblade before, but here, she held it like she was an expert at it. The weight of it didn't seem to bother her that much.
"Sweet! Let's kick some ass!" Kianne was the first attack it. With one swift motion of the gunblade, she managed to make the beast holler in pain. "This is awesome! I gotta get me one of these soon!"
"Damn..." I heard Quistis mumble in amazement.
[Damn is right. She's good!] Quistis was next to attack, she cracked her whip at the monster. She left a long bruise along the torso of its thick skin. The Ruby Dragon whipped its tail at Kianne, which caused her to fly backwards a few feet.
"Oh, you are going to pay for that!" She shouted as she got up, her thigh was bleeding, but she didn't seem to mind it.
I shot a few rounds with the guns, it was different to use them, but it was fun shooting simultaneously one round after another. No wonder Kianne chose these weapons, it suits her personality quite well. Kianne pointed the gunblade at the monster threatenly.
"Any last words?" The beast roared loudly. "No? Okay, meet your doom, bastard!" She shot one last bullet from my Hyperion, but what amazed me most was the bullet became ice. It pierced into the Ruby Dragon. The dragon stood there a moment, before ice began forming all over it. Soon it was encase in ice and fell over on its side. When it crashed onto the earth, the ice shattered in shards and flew everywhere around it. Luckily, none flew to us.
"Shit..." Quistis muttered under her breath.
"Wow. That was fun! Wasn't it?" She turned to us, but we only gave her a shocked expression.
Quistis was the first to say anything after that. "Curaga!" A blue light flowed from her delicate hands towards Kianne's bleeding leg.
"Thanks!" She smiled warmly at Quistis who gave her one back.
"Here Seifer!" She tossed me back my weapon and took hers back. I was still shocked.
* * *
(Tuesday)
(Cid)
I was rubbing my temples. It was early in the morning and I had little sleep for the past 5 days... ever since I sent Irvine and Zell to Galbadia. This was just a headache. For 5 days, I've been trying to contact them, but with no luck. Our communication was cut. And I couldn't think of another way to get a hold of them without going to the town they were in. Something could have happened. And I didn't want to know what might have.
"Cid, you should rest. You've had no sleep lately. There dark circles forming under your eyes." Edea's sweet voice soothed my headache.
"But dear, I can't sleep. I still haven't gotten a hold of them. How do you expect me to sleep? I've sent two of my finest students onto a mission I thought they could easily accomplish, but now I fear the worse... Edea, please tell me what I can do?"
"Cid, I'm sure they're alright. I just know it. They are in a way my children. I can sense it. They're still alive." She reassured me. But I could tell there was a sense of uncertainty in her voice.
"I hope they are. I really do."
Just then, Xu burst in.
"Headmaster! It's Irvine! I just received his contact on the communicator! Come quick!" She rushed back out. Edea immediately ran out after. I got quickly and followed.
Xu rushed behind her desk and pushed the communicator button. Sure enough Irvine's voice was calling out.
"Headmaster! Headmaster!" He seemed to be shouting with an exhausted voice between static from the communicator.
"Irvine!" Edea shouted into the box, but the line went dead. She began shaking the little box. "Irvine! Irvine! Come back!"
Xu looked up to me and gave me a horrified voice. Maybe something terrible happened to them. I began breathing loudly. [Irvine... Zell...Tony... Mark... Gerald... please be alright]
* * *
(Zell)
"Dammit!" Irvine shouted. "Lost communication again!"
"Maybe the communicator's busted. Just try again later." I replied, trying to calm him down. His hair was a complete mess from all the stress we've been having lately. Since we came here, we found no clues. Nobody was helping us either. Every person we asked (basically just three people. The receptionist downstairs, the manager of the restaurant and his daughter) didn't give us any clues. Nobody seemed to know who 'Mr. Withers' was, or they just didn't want to talk to us.
"Try again later?! TRY AGAIN LATER?! That's what the hell I've been trying to do for the past million days!!!" He began banging his head on the wall.
"Whoa! Calm down! You know what you need? A little food! Food always makes me feel better!" [Except if the situation includes Seifer...] "Come on! Let's go to that restaurant again! Damn, that place serves awesome food!"
Without letting him answer, I dragged him out the door.
* * *
"Anything new, Mark?" I asked as we sat down at the table Jana lead us too. Mark pulled out his laptop like usual.
"No, nothing still."
"The usual? Or something new today, Lance?" Jana smiled at me.
"The usual please and thanks." I smiled back at her.
As she walked away, Gerald leaned towards me and whispered, "She totally likes you!"
Gerald. Class B student. Top of his class. Expert with picks and locks. My term for him, thief. Basically he was our thief for the mission.
"Shut up Ger, she totally has it for me!" Tony elbowed him.
Tony. Class A student. Excellent with magic. Sorta of a ladies man. Something like Irvine, only better. He can actually get the girls. He's the magic user and healer of the team.
"Really? I haven't noticed." I looked at Jana and her retreating form as she entered into the kitchen. I looked around the small restaurant and noticed something different. There was actually someone else in here today. The person was dressed in a black cloak... as if they were hiding something. Their identity, or possibly a secret. I didn't like the idea that much.
"Oh shit!" Mark swore under his breath.
"What?! What?! What is it?!" Irvine whispered harshly.
"Look here." Mark turned his computer screen towards us. There was a picture on the screen. It was a building. On top of the picture where big bold words. Glencoe Academy School. Strange thing was, it was located in Glencoe. A town. We were in.
"I've never seen this building before." Gerald whispered.
"Who cares about that now, read, read!" He scrolled down slightly to a bunch of text. Irvine began reading it aloud for us.
"Glencoe Academy School. The best and only school in Glencoe. Send your children here to study academics... blah... blah... blah." Irvine scrolled down even more and continued reading. "May 17. Glencoe Academy School has been temporarily shut down due to recent disturbances in our beloved town."
"Disturbances?" Tony asked.
"I'm guessing it's talking about the mysterious deaths and disappearances of the townsfolk." Mark replied.
Irvine continued reading. "July 2. Glencoe Academy School officially shut down. That's odd. Why was it officially shut down? And how come we've never seen this building before?" He scrolled back up to the picture of the school. It was brightly colored and seemed like a happy place. It would have stood out if it were in this town.
"Gentlemen, your food." Jana came back with our food.
"Excuse me, do you know about this?" Irvine pointed to the picture on the screen.
"Oh. That." Her tone changed into a sad, tragic one.
"You know something about this?" I asked.
"Ya. Anyone here would know about it."
"What can you tell us about it?" Irvine egged on.
"My little brother used to go there. It used to be such a wonderful place. He loved it there! Same with all the other children who went there."
"Children? There are actually children in this town?" Gerald accidentally blurted out.
"Ya. This town, used to be so lively. There used to be so many people here..." Irvine interrupted.
"Where are they now?"
"Hey! Man, that's rude! Let her finish telling her story before interrupting like that!" I shot at him.
"They died. I'd rather not talk about it." Jana hurried away. I saw a tear fall from her eyes.
"They died." Irvine whispered. "I think we're getting closer."
In the corner of my eye, I saw the cloaked figure look up at us. Something about the person was scaring me a lot.
* * *
"Man... that's good food there. I have to admit... it's better than hotdogs." I rubbed my stomach as I was slumped down on the chair. After eating, we all came back to the inn. Mark was probably hacking away at his laptop in his room. Tony was probably trying to hit on the receptionist again, who knows what Gerald was doing, and Irvine was taking a shower.
"Can't wait to get back to that restaurant and eat there again." Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
I got up and walked to the door. "Who is it?"
"Room service." The person on the other side said.
"Hey Irvine, did we order and room service?" I called out as I unlocked the door.
"They have room service here?" Irvine replied.
"Oh shit..." The doorknob turned from other side.
* * *
(Wednesday)
(Selphie)
"I am not wearing this." Seifer stated flatly.
"Why not?" I pouted.
"Okay, first Quistis makes me rewrite that fukkin' essay by hand and now you're making me where this tomorrow? No. I've had enough!"
"Puh-leze! It'll be fun!"
"No. I'll just where my trench coat."
"And who are you dressing up as?" I continued to pout.
"Myself."
"No, no, no! I want you to wear this! Come on! Try it on!! NOW!!!" I pushed him into my little bathroom along with the outfit that I had gotten him.
"Selphie! Not a chance!"
"Just try it on so I can see! Please?" I gave him my puppy dog face. Seifer swore under his breath. "Thank you!"
After a short while, and a string of curses from Seifer, he came out dress in his costume.
"See! Not bad. Not bad at all!" I walked around him to see how it looked.
"I look like an idiot." He replied from under the helmet.
"No, you look fine! I knew this would be the perfect size for you!"
"Why do I have to dress like this?" He took of the helmet and held it to the side. I must admit, he looked pretty damn hot in that position.
"It's a costume party! Of course you have to dress up for it!" I smiled at him. "Besides, you'll have to be my date for tomorrow night! You wouldn't want me to be all alone at a party with so many people now do you?"
"You could have plenty of dates. I don't want to go."
"SEIFER!!! I really want you to go!" My eyes were watering slightly. Something I learned to do when I was with Irvine. Most guys can't stand it when girls cry. I was hoping Seifer would be the same.
"Ugh... fine. Fine! Just don't cry."
"Tank ywoo mister!" I gave him a tight hug.
* * *
(Thursday)
(Seifer)
"Okay, Seifer, today we'll be helping Selphie with the finishing touches for the party." Quistis said standing in her firm posture. Lately she's been telling me to do such stupid things. Tuesday she made me scrub the bathrooms with a toothbrush, and she told me to write another 10 page essay for Wednesday. Yesterday, I handed her my assignment, which she threw in the recycling bin without even looking it over. She also made me kill the monsters roaming near the front and build a fence so that the students could come out tonight without any worries of monsters attacking.
"Yes Instructor."
"Seifer stop that. I know you're only doing this to piss me off. Well let me tell you something. You're wrong. It's not working!"
[Oh, but it is. You're already getting annoyed. But it's been hell for me. Maybe Selphie is right. She is started to get a little paranoid]
"Come." She motioned me to follow her... like a master would to a dog. I gave her a dirty look behind her back, but obediently followed her.
* * *
"Quisty! Seifer! Thanks for coming! There's just a bit more to do! But with you're guys' help, I'll be able to finish just on time!" Selphie shouted to us as she was putting up some banners.
Selphie was already dressed in her costume... and damn, she looked fine. She was dressed as a jester, and wore a jester's hat with the bells on it. Her half black and half white costume clung to her body nicely which showed off all her womanly curves. Her back was towards us, and I couldn't help but look down at her ass.
"Seifer, stop drooling." Quistis remarked quietly to me and walked to help Selphie.
[You're just jealous it's not you that I'm looking at]. How I desperately wanted to get her back, but I bit my tongue and held it back.
"Need some help?" Quistis helped her hold up the banner.
"Oh, thanks a bunch! Seifer, could you start blowing up some balloons? And don't draw anything on them this time!"
[Aww, don't you like my drawings?] I wanted to reply, but I also didn't want Miss Bitch to know I had a soft spot. I walked up to the helium pump and pulled out a balloon from the many bags. It wasn't long before Selphie was standing beside me. I'd blow up the balloons, she'd tie them and Miss Bitch would tie the ribbons on them.
Selphie leaned towards me and whispered, "Don't forget, you're wearing the costume and you're my date! Don't stand me up!"
"Stand you up? Never!" I whispered back. [Damn, did she read my mind?]
"Hey Quisty, you have a date tonight?" Selphie leaned back.
"Uh... I don't think I can make it..."
[Why not? No puberty boy to go with you? Awww, my poor mediocre Instructor!]
"Quisty! Why not?!"
"I have... some things... to do. And besides I have no costume." I could tell she was lying. She never could lie good.
"What could you possibly have to do? And don't worry about the costume... I have plenty that you can choose from! You gotta come! It'll be so fun!"
"I'll think about it..."
[You just don't want to go and see Puberty boy with Rinoa... but I don't blame you... I don't either]
* * *
Eight o'clock. The party started an hour ago. I have been dressed in my costume an hour ago. I didn't want to go, but I did promise Selphie that I would... Suddenly there was a knock on my door, probably Selphie wondering why I hadn't come yet. Another knock.
"Coming." I pushed the 'open' button and the door slid open. It wasn't Selphie.
"Do you want to go with me?" Kianne asked just as she noticed I was already dressed for the party.
She was dressed as a witch. She had fake spider webs in her hair and wore dark make-up to match. Her outfit was dark and on the front had a huge black widow spider on the chest area. Her stomach was showing through a diamond cut hole and the sleeves were long, sorta witchlike, just like the bottom of her outfit. It dragged along the floor. Despite the gloomy look, she was gorgeous.
"Uh... sorry, I sorta already have a date."
"Oh, well you weren't at the party, so I thought you didn't have a date."
An awkward silence.
"Here, I'll walk with you there." I offered.
"Sure." She smiled and turned around waiting for me. [Hmm, backless too] I thought, referring to the outfit.
Once we got to the party, we went our separate ways. She went to her friends while I looked for Selphie. However, Selphie was the one who found me.
"You're LATE!" She had her hands on her hips and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently, as if waiting for an excuse. But I gave her none. "Oh well! Who cares! You're here now! And that's all that matters." She smiled brightly at me. " I wanna dance! Let's dance!" She pulled me onto the dance floor. "Hey, how come you're not wearing your helmet?" She asked.
"I didn't like it."
"Hey! You're not dancing!"
"I don't want to dance."
"You were late! So now you have to listen to me! Everything I say, you must do. Got it?"
"Am I to grovel before you if you say so then?"
"I'm not that mean!" She laughed.
The song ended soon and became a slow song. Selphie placed her hands on my shoulder, but someone came and whispered something into her ear.
"Oh! I'm so sorry Seifer! But I have to do something really quick. I'll be back soon!"
"So you leave your date all alone?" I joked.
She laughed. "I'll be back! Don't you worry!"
* * *
The song was nearing to an end before she came back.
"Look, I'm very, truly sorry Seifer! But there's some stuff I have to handle... but I'll be back." She turned her head around as if looking for someone. "Quisty! Come here!"
Quistis walked towards us. She was dressed as a cat. In tight black clothes. Even though I dislike her a lot, I must admit she looked pretty hot in the outfit.
"Here, Quisty, take over for me. I'll be back." Selphie quickly placed her hands on my shoulders and mine on her waist and ran off.
"Selphie!" Quistis shouted out, but her voice didn't travel far because of all the noise around us. I was about to pull my hands away, but a familiar song started to play. Beethoven's Love Story. This was the song Rinoa and I used to dance to. It was Our song. Once the song started I pulled Quistis close to me and wrapped my arms around her. She was probably surprised, but I didn't care. I was only thinking of Rinoa. I closed my eyes and held her closer. It brought back memories. Memories when Rinoa and I used to be together. Halfway through the song, Quistis moved back away from me. I opened my eyes and saw Kianne tapping her out.
"May I?" She smiled sweetly.
Quistis moved away and walked off. Kianne wrapped her arms around me and moved close to me. I wrapped my arms around her, hoping to relive my memories of Rinoa.
"I love this song." She whispered to me. "My fiancée and I used to always dance to this song. It was Our song." She paused momentarily. "But now he's gone... he's been gone for two years. He died." She whimpered slightly.
"I'm so sorry." Was all the comforting I knew how to give.
"No. It's not your fault. My fiancée... he was a wonderful person. He cared for me a lot. Even though sometimes he would never show it. I loved him a lot." She laughed a little. "I remember when I first me him. He seemed like a rude, arrogant, cocky bastard. I hated him. He would insult me a lot. I was like his favourite person to tease. Probably because he knew I would either cry or get upset over it. I would always try to get him back, but he would always throw them back into my face. Eventually I got to know him better. I learned he was only like this because of a troubled childhood. I tried helping him. Somehow along the way, I fell for him. At first, I thought, 'This would never work. He'd never fall for me...' but... I was wrong."
I felt some tears fall onto my neck and shoulder.
"Sorry..." She sniffed. "You know, you look a lot like him. When I first say you, I thought you were him..."
The song ended.
"Excuse me..." She pulled away from me and rushed off. Probably towards the bathroom.
[He sure sounds like me...]
* * *
(Friday)
(Quistis - 1300 hours)
I stretched my arms and yawned. I haven't slept so peacefully in days! Seifer has probably waited for me for hours by now! But I didn't care. I got up from my bed and took my time getting ready before arriving at the Training Center. Just in time to see Seifer knock down a Wendigo. He noticed me and walked up towards me.
"You're late Instructor." He said while wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Oh!" I held my hand in front of my mouth as if I had forgotten something. "I must have forgotten to tell you that I cancelled today's classes! My bad! You must have been here for hours!"
Seifer's expression changed. I could tell he was pissed off with me.
"Here, I'll make it up to you. Have you eaten anything yet?"
"No."
"Okay, my treat." I gave him a sweet and innocent smile.
I led him to the cafeteria and bought him some food, all the while still smiling sweetly.
"Seifer, did you have fun yesterday?"
"That's none of your business, Instructor." No stretch in words. No sarcasm. Just monotone.
"You were holding me pretty close, maybe you like holding me..." I leaned towards him. "Or maybe you were thinking of something... perhaps a memory of your past?"
A short pause.
"What if I told you it was the first one you said?" He forked some friends into his mouth.
"I'd say you were lying to me." I stopped leaning towards him. "Besides, you haven't given up on Rinoa yet." [And you haven't given up on your precious Puberty boy] I mimicked him in my head.
He didn't say anything to me, so I figured that I was right and hit a nerve. [Seifer, have you had enough torture yet? Can't you just leave Balamb and give us our peace back again?]
"So I was right? Ha! I knew it!"
He stopped eating and dropped his fork. He finally lifted his head to face me. Something was different about this gesture, because he looked me right in the eyes. I looked into his pools of emeralds and saw only seriousness in them. I wanted to look away, but his eyes were so alluring. It captivated me. If those eyes didn't belong to Seifer, they would have captured my soul.
"No Quistis," He began. He didn't call me 'Instructor', 'mediocre', or even 'Miss Bitch'. He had called me by my name. Something he rarely ever did... except when he was dead serious. It made me afraid. "It's because I like you."
My mouth dropped open.
* * * * * * * * * *
Okay, this took me one heck of a long time to write. My bad! I'm so, so, so sorry! I know apologizing won't help, but I really, truly hope that none of my loyal reviewers are mad at me. I still love you guys! Please don't be mad! So I'll promise you this... (and hope to keep it) The next chappy will come out sooner okay? Anyway, whether you want to comment on my story, or yell at me for the lateness, reviews are always welcome! And if you really want, you can email me! Thanks a bunch! (Don't worry, this fic isn't dead yet...)
Hotaru9 - I'm not too sure about the humour... because I usually just write what I first think of... lol.
Vegakeep - I'm glad you found last chappy funny ^-^ I try my best to make each and every chapter interesting!
Setobsessed - I agree! Selphie is such a sweet person! She is so kewl and cute too! The reason Quistis is so mean in this fic is because (I know I said this last chapter somewhere) she lost her Instructor's License and can't get it back, and she also lost Squall to Rinoa. If I were in her position, I'd be pretty darn pissed off... so I figured that I should make her seem mean to be more realistic.
The Omega Weapon - After waiting so damn long for me to write this chapter, you'll finally read what Selphie has on her mind! ^-^ At long last! And thanks for reading my little blurbs ... glad to know it's not there for no reason! ^-^ Thanks for reviewing!
Quistis88 - Well, here it is! Chapter three! I'm not sure if this chapter will be as funny... but I hope you like it!
Satanic-Purple-Onion - Of course I remember METATTEM!! I'm so, so, so sorry! I never knew you had this name too! . My bad! So very, so sorry!! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing my fics! Really, appreciate it! And also, thanks for reading my little, near-to-pointless blurbs! Once again, truly, deeply, very sorry! Thanks for reviewing!
Quisty Almasy - Thank you! ^-^ Selphie seems like that kind of person to understand everyone... I hope I have her in character tho!
Rose - I'm definitely continuing this fic! I'm hoping that there won't be too many chapters... but each chapter would be longer... so it may take me a while to finish this... Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Lady Aliena - I'm impressed that I wrote this much too! Usually I procrastinate so much... it's not even funny ( One day I'll suffer the consequences... right...? I'm extremely glad that you can see Selphie fitting the role she has... I try and hope that each of my characters fit their part. Thanks for reviewing!
DarkBlueHated - Well, maybe you're right that not a lot of fics start with Quistis being the only one that thinks Seifer is innocent... but I have read many Seiftis' lately... so I wouldn't really know. I guess you have to wait to read how I will 'salvage what little... anything... that Quistis and Seifer can have' ^-^ It's not nearly as impossible as you think... lol But then again, I am the author... so I have to power to change things! Muahahaha! Okay... I sound like a psychotic freak... so I'll just shut up.
Jennifer - What's Selphie gonna do? Well, now you can find out! =) btw, thanks for reviewing!
*Phew* okay. With all that done... shall we continue? Last chapter left off with Quistis and Rinoa teasing Seifer... Selphie couldn't stand it and goes after him. He wants to get Quistis back for all the trouble she's making him go through, and Selphie has a 'brilliant' plan... but we don't know what the plan is... or if it is all that 'brilliant' ...
* * * * * * * * * *
(Irvine)
The moment we stepped into this hyne-forsaken place, we knew something was terribly wrong. Even for such a new and small town, there wasn't a single soul wandering around in the streets. The fact that it was mid-afternoon didn't calm this situation either. I was beginning to wonder about the de-railing of our train... maybe it wasn't an 'accident' after all. It almost seemed like someone was trying to stop us from coming to this place.
"I don't like the looks of this place..." Zell started. He lost his energetic tone on the second day we were left wandering the plains around Galbadia after our train mysteriously de-railed. "This place looks so gloomy... I mean, look at it!"
Zell was right. Even though the sun was shining fiercely just seconds ago, this place received little of it. It was as if the sun feared to enter this place. Something strange amiss.
Huge stonewalls surrounded the whole town. The only way in and out of this place was through the large iron gates at the front. Actually, they were more like huge doors with few peek holes. Every building in the town was made of stone, dark gray stones. They were all lined up perfectly, side-by-side. Each house was symmetrical to the one beside in every single aspect. The only building that looked remotely different was the one straight ahead. It was larger than the rest, but other than that there was no other difference.
Almost all of the houses had a sign hanging from its roof. The words printed upon the wooden signs were basic, normal, bolded letters. Not only that, but each had only a single word on it. Items. Weapons. Restaurant. Café. Theatre. So plain... so alike.
"Ugh..." A voice behind me grumbled.
I turned around to face my squad team. It consisted of five people. Zell, two other A class SeeDs, a B class SeeD, and myself. Mark and Tony, the two A class SeeDs were holding up Gerad, the B class SeeD. Gerad was wounded after our train got wrecked. It wasn't because he was inexperienced, but because he dodged an attack for Tony. Mark was a short blonde man. He was 23, but looked more like 18. Tony was a tall Asian guy. He was 17, but looked a lot older. Gerad looked somewhat like Squall. Although he was a little shorter, and had auburn hair.
"We better get him to the inn and heal up." Zell stated. I nodded my head in agreement.
"Alright. We'll head to the inn first and I'll give more mission details there. Now which way is it to the inn?" I turned around and began walking down the road. This place was so linear.
"That's odd..." Zell began. "How come most of these places are closed?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, turning to look at the door of the Weapons shop. Nailed upon the door was a sign with huge black letters. 'Closed Forever'. I turned my head to look at the other shops. The only one that seemed to be 'open' was the small restaurant, even then, it didn't look to welcoming.
"There's the inn!" Zell pointed straight ahead to the taller building.
It wasn't long before we were pushing the wooden door to the inn open. Inside, it wasn't too decorative. A few chairs and tables sat on the right side of the door, the stairway up was straight ahead, and the receptionist was to the right.
I walked to the receptionist and leaned on the desk. I tilted my hat slightly and gave her a warm smile.
"Hey there..." I began, but she immediately cut me off.
"500 gil for one room, one night." Her voice was a bit shaky, something seemed wrong about this place.
"We'll take two." Zell said from behind me.
"Here." She tossed two sets of keys to Zell. I handed her the money, still smiling at her, but wondering what was up.
"Let's go." Zell pulled on my sleeve.
We continued up the stairs and easily found our room. Both rooms were small and cramped. There were two beds in each room and a small little window that barely let any sunlight in... not like there was much anyway.
Mark and Tony laid Gerad on one of the beds. Tony began tending his wounds. I closed the door and locked it. The rest of us began searching the room for any bugs/devices that might be hidden. Without any luck, we concluded that there was none.
"Okay, this is a secret mission..." I began as I pulled out the folder Headmaster Cid had given to me earlier. "We go in as aliases. Zell, you are now Lance Thompson. Mark, you are Kris Parker. Tony, Yemenen Suzake. And I am Edgar Samson."
"What's up with all these weird names?" Mark asked as he took out his laptop. He was our computer genius.
"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out Mark..." A grin crept on my face. Mark was usually the first one to decipher a code.
"Hey, I don't get it either. Did Headmaster just make up these names from his bald little head??" Zell blurted out, slightly offended.
I laughed. "Zell, if you didn't get it, then it's alright. We figured you were a little slow to these things..." I joked. Everyone laughed while Zell playfully tackled me.
"Mr. Dincht, what Mr. Kinneas meant was that since Mark's the computer whiz here, he should have figured out the code hidden within our names." Tony replied.
"Oh! I get it now!" Mark suddenly blurted out. "They start with the last letters of our name! Zell has 'l' as the last letter, so his name begins with 'L'!"
"Well done Mark. So if any of you ever forget whose name is whose, remember that little code there. Okay. I'll continue de-briefing you. What headmaster didn't say before, was that... we have pretty much zero clues on what is going on here. I'm sure you've all noticed that something is wrong here. Considering there was nobody on the streets, most of the stores are closed and that receptionist was very shaky. The only thing we do know is that a 'Mr. Withers' clued us into about this place. However, we're not even sure if this 'Mr. Withers' is a real person." I whispered, careful to make sure no one else heard this. [Or if he is helping us...]
"How are we going to accomplish this then? I mean, it's damn near impossible!" Tony whispered harshly.
"We're only here to find out what is wrong. Once we do, we're off the mission. Mark anything?" I turned my head to face Mark who was hacking off on his computer.
"Well, there's no security cameras or security at all in this inn. And I looked up 'Mr. Withers'. There is no one in the town by that name."
"You don't suppose this is a trap do you?!" Zell cried out loud.
"If it is... then there is definitely something going on here." I whispered back, afraid to know the truth myself.
"Sir..." Mark whispered out.
"What..." I said the word slowly.
"I think there is something going on here."
"What do you mean?" I took a step towards Mark. His eyes were glued on his laptop screen. I was afraid of what he saw on it.
"Well... according to this... there have been 23 deaths during the past three days." He whispered, his eyes finally peeled off the screen and looked at me.
"What if we're next...?" Zell whispered.
* * * (Seifer)
(Saturday)
"I am definitely not doing that!" I shouted at the petite girl sitting on my bed.
"Why not? It'll be fun!" She pouted like a little child. She began bouncing on my bed and I watched her brunette flip-outs bounce up and down.
"That is worse than hell for me." I replied, while sitting on the chair by my desk. I looked at the clock 12:01am. If Selphie was going to stay here any longer, I probably wouldn't get any sleep at all. But thank hyne I didn't have to see Miss Bitch tomorrow... actually more like today AND tomorrow.
"I thought you wanted to get her back!" Selphie stopped bouncing and crossed her arms. She gave me a slight glare.
"I do... but I am not approaching it that way!"
"Why not?!"
"No. Just no."
Selphie gave out a loud sigh. "You just don't get it! You see, if you listen and do every single thing Quistis tells you to, then she'll go crazy!"
"Selphie, that doesn't make sense. Little miss mediocre Instructor does not go crazy over something as simple as that. Besides, if I do give in to her, she'll know that she has won."
"I know it'll work! I've known her long enough to know this! Hear me out first! See, if you listen to every single thing Quistis tells you to do, and without getting her back for it, she'll go crazy! First, she'll think that she won the little game between you two. So she may tease you more, BUT, if you keep it up, Quistis will begin to think something is up. She'll believe that you have something REALLY big planned up for her! Then she'll became all paranoid! Because, every little thing you do, she'll think there's something that comes with it!" Selphie laughed.
I gave her a puzzled look. "Aren't you her friend?"
"Yes." She smiled brightly at me.
"Then why do you want to help me make her paranoid...?" Suspicion crept to me.
"Well, you know, she's gone way past that line in teasing you... she should get what she deserves." Selphie said it out all too quickly, which made me wonder if something else might be up. "So you wanna do it that way?"
I bit my lower lip. "I guess you have a good reasoning..." [This is going to be hell.]
* * * (Selphie)
I woke up as the first rays from the sun beamed into my room. I never used my alarm clock. I prefer waking up the 'natural' way... if that's what you call it. I peeled off my blanket and looked at my calendar. Twelve more days till my birthday! I beamed with joy and jumped off my bed.
"I wonder what they're going to do for me this year..." I said a loud as I pictured what my friends would do for me on my birthday. Last year, Irvine made them pretend they forgot my birthday, and at night, when I sadly returned to my room, they all jumped out at me. It was one of the best birthdays ever!
I skipped to the bathroom and grabbed my yellow toothbrush. I slipped some toothpaste on it and vigorously began brushing my teeth. Afterwards, I pulled off my cute yellow bunny pyjamas and jumped into the shower. After a short shower, I quickly slipped on another yellow outfit and took out my curling iron. I dried most of my hair and began curling the tips like I usually did.
After a short while, I skipped out my dorm room and towards Seifer's dorm. It was still quite early in the morning, and there were few people wandering the halls.
Once I was at Seifer's door, I quietly knocked on it. I didn't want to wake anyone else up, but I was really excited. One because it was almost my birthday and the two because I was going to cut Seifer's hair! He didn't know it yet, but I was going too. It was too long anyway. I personally thought he looked better with shorter hair.
"Seifer! Seifer! Seifer!" Each time I said his name, I said it louder.
"What?!" A voice growled from behind the door.
"It's me Selphie! Lemme in!" I continued to knock on his door. Suddenly, the door slid open revealing a really disheveled Seifer.
I pushed past him and he closed the door, all the while yawning.
"Why are you up so early?" He asked as he crawled back into his bed. "Didn't you just leave 10 minutes ago?"
I quickly pulled his blanket off him. He growled slightly and pulled the blanket back. He was a lot stronger than I and managed to get it back.
"Wake up sleepy head! Wake up! And besides, I left 7 hours ago." I began poking him on the side to wake him up.
"Stop it." He moved away from me slightly. "Stop it!" I continued to poke him. "STOP IT!" He sat up straight and glared at me.
"Took you long enough to wake up. Now go shower! Go, go, go!" I pulled on his arm towards his bathroom, but he wouldn't budge. "Please Seify?"
"I told you not to call me that." A low growl could be heard.
"Okay, I won't, but only if you get up now!"
He groaned slightly. "Why do you want me up anyway?"
"Because! Now go shower! Hurry! Please?"
Very reluctantly, he got up from his bed and walked into his bathroom. He closed and locked the door behind him. While he showered, I made his bed and took out a pair of scissors.
It wasn't long until Seifer came out of the bathroom. He was dressed in his usual ensemble. His hair was still wet, and he didn't bother to slick it back like he did before. I held out the scissors and opened and closed them.
"What are you doing...?" A tone of wonder in his voice.
"I'm gonna cut your hair!" I exclaimed happily.
* * * (Quistis)
I woke up with a piercing headache. After Selphie left, Rinoa and I began laughing and joking and drinking. I never drank much before. But we managed to finish all the cans Seifer had brought us.
"Ugh... never am I going to drink that much again." I popped some aspirin into my mouth and swallowed them dry. Ever so slowing, I crawled out of bed and into the shower.
It wasn't long until I was fully dressed, out the door, and walking towards the cafeteria to be greeted by Squall. It was strange, because he was all alone. No Selphie. No Rinoa. [No Rinoa? Maybe still sleeping...]
"Morning." I took a seat across from him. "Where's Rinoa?"
"Still sleeping. You guys must have partied all night." He replied in his monotone voice. Sometimes I wonder if he can speak with a different pitch.
"Sorta. But it was only Rinoa and I. Selphie left the party early." I didn't want to mention that it was because of Seifer.
"Hmm. I'm going to the Training Center for a while." Squall got up and left.
I sighed. Strange. Most of the times when I was talking just with him, I only think him as a friend, but when there are other people, I always want him to myself. I just don't know what I want anymore. Maybe it was a sign that I was getting over him. Sometimes I hope it is.
* * *
(Seifer)
"Come on! Come on! Hurry up! You're wasting valuable shopping time!" Selphie tugged on the sleeve of my trench coat.
"Why did you have to drag me along with you?" I hesitated.
After Selphie barged my room to cut my hair -- -- which I must admit she did a good job -- -- she forced me to come to Balamb and go shopping with her. What a nightmare. I easily pulled her back and sat down on one of the benches.
"Seifer! You're no fun!! I want to go over there!" She pointed to a costume store. "I need an outfit for next week! Pretty please?"
"Why don't you just make you own outfit? I'm sure you could make something better than what that store has." I was getting really annoyed and grumpy.
"Aww! That's so sweet of you to think that!" She smiled brightly at me. Truth was, I wasn't actually saying that because I thought she could, but rather I just wanted to go back to my dorm and sleep some more. "But I don't have time!! Hurry! Hurry! I have a class to sub for soon!! SEIFER!" She practically screamed which made everyone nearby to turn and face us, wondering what all the commotion was.
"Fine. But this is the last store and then we go back."
"Okay!" A little grin formed on her face. What I didn't know was what she was planning for me. What a nightmare.
* * *
(Monday - 6:00am - Training Centre)
(Quistis)
I flipped through the neatly typed pages that Seifer handed me. The title read, "The Importance of Obeying Instructions". I silently chuckled in my head as I remember his expression when I told him to write me this 10 page, typed essay yesterday.
I looked up from the papers to face him, he turned his head away from me to avoid any eye contact.
"Well Seifer, hope your wound has healed. Now, it's Monday which means today you will have physical training." I tucked the papers into my bag and pulled out my whip. "Later today, the garden will be landing soon. We will be hunting for some Ruby Dragons with Instructor Lee's class. Until then, we'll train here. Understood?" I cracked my whip for a little more effect.
"Yes Instructor." He replied in a monotone voice.
[That's odd... I was expecting some kind of snide remark from him... maybe he's realized that he can't outsmart me].
We walked around the training area about three times before we found our first enemy. The big bad T-Rexaur.
"Seifer, I don't want you to use any magic spells against this. I'll back you up when you need it."
"Yes Instructor." Again, no rude comment.
I stood away from the battle and watched Seifer fight the immense beast. I don't know why I hadn't noticed Seifer's fighting style before, nor do I know why I was noticing now, but every move he made was a swift, fluid motion. Almost ghostlike. Something seemed different about him, but I didn't know what. I didn't know what was going on, but it seemed like I had opened my eyes a little wider. My perspective of him was different than when he first came back. Maybe it was when I caught him with Selphie yesterday. I saw something different in his eyes. Almost like he was happy, truly happy.
My thoughts were interrupted when Seifer came flying towards my feet.
"Need help there?"
"No." He replied coldly, like Squall used to do to me. "I've handled worse." I heard him whisper.
"I bet you have." I said to him, hoping to embarrass him, but it didn't work. He ignored me.
"Die." He whispered as he gave one final blow to the monstrous beast. It fell on its side with a loud thud. The ground trembled in fear below and around it.
"Well done Seifer." I was expecting some kind of remark, but he gave me none.
After a short while of searching, a Snow Lion crept up to us.
"Alright Seifer, this is the last fight in here. Only use magic based attacks."
The Snow Lion when down faster than I expected, but I didn't really care. We were off hunting Ruby Dragons now. We bother headed off to the front to meet up with Kianne and her class. We walked in silence there which gave me the creeps. [I know, I just know Seifer's planning something against me]
"Quistis! How nice of you to join us." Kianne waved at me as we neared her group.
Her class only consisted of 8 people. Of course, this was only one of her 3 classes. These were the group of people Seifer would be with on his SeeD exam. Her class was already in groups of four. Two girls and two guys in a group. Her students were quietly talking amongst themselves. So well behaved.
"Kianne, I want you to meet Seifer. Seifer, this is Instructor Lee. You will be sent on your SeeD exam with her class." I motioned at the students.
"Pleased to meet you!" She stuck out her hand with a warm, welcoming smile.
Seifer didn't return her greeting with a handshake, but rather just a nod. She seemed slightly shocked by his rude gesture, but continued on.
"Well then, the three of us will be a group. Okay class!" She clapped her hand twice to get their attention. What shocked me was that when she did that, they all lined up in a line facing her. Posture straight, all eyes on her. "Now, we all know that Ruby Dragons are tough, but remember, this is just training, so don't sweat over it! You're all your groups. Remember we'll meet back here in 4 hours, so let's head out, and kick some dragon ass!" All the students shouted with joy and headed out.
"Kianne, you know you're not suppose to use that kind of language." I tried to lecture her. I would have never said something like that. Maybe if Headmaster knew about this, he might think that I was a better instructor.
"Quistis, don't be so naïve. You and I both know that these students swear all the time." She laughed slightly.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Seifer expression change slightly. Had he grown a liking to this woman?
* * *
"So how's training coming along for you Seifer?" Kianne asked as she shot down another Ruby Dragon.
I had never trained with her before, but now that I have, I started envy her. She was so skilled with her double handguns. I never knew anyone else who fought like her. She knew how to fight single handedly and with guns. Pretty, smart, and skilled. How I wish I could be like her.
"Average." Seifer replied while wiping the blood off his gunblade. We've been training for an hour, and Kianne was the only one trying to make conversation.
"Is it hard to use a gunblade? I heard those things are damn heavy! I'm surprised your arm isn't bulging with muscle! I mean, lifting that weight on one arm all the time... your right arm should be bulging and your left should be puny!" She laughed. Strange thing was she was able to make Seifer chuckle slightly. "Hey, you wouldn't mind if I try using your gunblade would you? I'll switch you weapons for the next battle."
Seifer's eyebrow rose slightly. My eyes widened slightly. What was this girl thinking? She had never used a gunblade before! She would surely lose any fight using that. And besides, what were the odds of Seifer letting her use his weapon!
"I'd rather not." Seifer regained his composure after the little shock.
"Oh come on! Please?" She gave him a little puppy dog look which strangely reminded me so much of Selphie.
Seifer hesitated for a while. "Just one battle."
I was shocked. Never would I have ever thought Seifer would let anyone, much less a girl he met an hour ago, use his weapon. He must be out of his mind. Seifer handed her Hyperion and she tossed him her handguns.
"Wow. This is heavy!"
A slight feeling of jealousy crept into my soul.
* * *
(Seifer)
"There better not be a scratch on it when I get it back." I stated. I don't know why I just let her use my own Hyperion. But that look she gave me. It reminded me so much of Selphie. Maybe if Selphie had asked me, I would have let her used it as well.
"Don't worry, I'll treat it like my own baby." Kianne stroke the blade.
Immediately after she said that, a Ruby Dragon roared at us.
"This is gonna be fun!" Kianne raised Hyperion.
It was strange. Because what she had said earlier, it was as if she never seen a gunblade before, but here, she held it like she was an expert at it. The weight of it didn't seem to bother her that much.
"Sweet! Let's kick some ass!" Kianne was the first attack it. With one swift motion of the gunblade, she managed to make the beast holler in pain. "This is awesome! I gotta get me one of these soon!"
"Damn..." I heard Quistis mumble in amazement.
[Damn is right. She's good!] Quistis was next to attack, she cracked her whip at the monster. She left a long bruise along the torso of its thick skin. The Ruby Dragon whipped its tail at Kianne, which caused her to fly backwards a few feet.
"Oh, you are going to pay for that!" She shouted as she got up, her thigh was bleeding, but she didn't seem to mind it.
I shot a few rounds with the guns, it was different to use them, but it was fun shooting simultaneously one round after another. No wonder Kianne chose these weapons, it suits her personality quite well. Kianne pointed the gunblade at the monster threatenly.
"Any last words?" The beast roared loudly. "No? Okay, meet your doom, bastard!" She shot one last bullet from my Hyperion, but what amazed me most was the bullet became ice. It pierced into the Ruby Dragon. The dragon stood there a moment, before ice began forming all over it. Soon it was encase in ice and fell over on its side. When it crashed onto the earth, the ice shattered in shards and flew everywhere around it. Luckily, none flew to us.
"Shit..." Quistis muttered under her breath.
"Wow. That was fun! Wasn't it?" She turned to us, but we only gave her a shocked expression.
Quistis was the first to say anything after that. "Curaga!" A blue light flowed from her delicate hands towards Kianne's bleeding leg.
"Thanks!" She smiled warmly at Quistis who gave her one back.
"Here Seifer!" She tossed me back my weapon and took hers back. I was still shocked.
* * *
(Tuesday)
(Cid)
I was rubbing my temples. It was early in the morning and I had little sleep for the past 5 days... ever since I sent Irvine and Zell to Galbadia. This was just a headache. For 5 days, I've been trying to contact them, but with no luck. Our communication was cut. And I couldn't think of another way to get a hold of them without going to the town they were in. Something could have happened. And I didn't want to know what might have.
"Cid, you should rest. You've had no sleep lately. There dark circles forming under your eyes." Edea's sweet voice soothed my headache.
"But dear, I can't sleep. I still haven't gotten a hold of them. How do you expect me to sleep? I've sent two of my finest students onto a mission I thought they could easily accomplish, but now I fear the worse... Edea, please tell me what I can do?"
"Cid, I'm sure they're alright. I just know it. They are in a way my children. I can sense it. They're still alive." She reassured me. But I could tell there was a sense of uncertainty in her voice.
"I hope they are. I really do."
Just then, Xu burst in.
"Headmaster! It's Irvine! I just received his contact on the communicator! Come quick!" She rushed back out. Edea immediately ran out after. I got quickly and followed.
Xu rushed behind her desk and pushed the communicator button. Sure enough Irvine's voice was calling out.
"Headmaster! Headmaster!" He seemed to be shouting with an exhausted voice between static from the communicator.
"Irvine!" Edea shouted into the box, but the line went dead. She began shaking the little box. "Irvine! Irvine! Come back!"
Xu looked up to me and gave me a horrified voice. Maybe something terrible happened to them. I began breathing loudly. [Irvine... Zell...Tony... Mark... Gerald... please be alright]
* * *
(Zell)
"Dammit!" Irvine shouted. "Lost communication again!"
"Maybe the communicator's busted. Just try again later." I replied, trying to calm him down. His hair was a complete mess from all the stress we've been having lately. Since we came here, we found no clues. Nobody was helping us either. Every person we asked (basically just three people. The receptionist downstairs, the manager of the restaurant and his daughter) didn't give us any clues. Nobody seemed to know who 'Mr. Withers' was, or they just didn't want to talk to us.
"Try again later?! TRY AGAIN LATER?! That's what the hell I've been trying to do for the past million days!!!" He began banging his head on the wall.
"Whoa! Calm down! You know what you need? A little food! Food always makes me feel better!" [Except if the situation includes Seifer...] "Come on! Let's go to that restaurant again! Damn, that place serves awesome food!"
Without letting him answer, I dragged him out the door.
* * *
"Anything new, Mark?" I asked as we sat down at the table Jana lead us too. Mark pulled out his laptop like usual.
"No, nothing still."
"The usual? Or something new today, Lance?" Jana smiled at me.
"The usual please and thanks." I smiled back at her.
As she walked away, Gerald leaned towards me and whispered, "She totally likes you!"
Gerald. Class B student. Top of his class. Expert with picks and locks. My term for him, thief. Basically he was our thief for the mission.
"Shut up Ger, she totally has it for me!" Tony elbowed him.
Tony. Class A student. Excellent with magic. Sorta of a ladies man. Something like Irvine, only better. He can actually get the girls. He's the magic user and healer of the team.
"Really? I haven't noticed." I looked at Jana and her retreating form as she entered into the kitchen. I looked around the small restaurant and noticed something different. There was actually someone else in here today. The person was dressed in a black cloak... as if they were hiding something. Their identity, or possibly a secret. I didn't like the idea that much.
"Oh shit!" Mark swore under his breath.
"What?! What?! What is it?!" Irvine whispered harshly.
"Look here." Mark turned his computer screen towards us. There was a picture on the screen. It was a building. On top of the picture where big bold words. Glencoe Academy School. Strange thing was, it was located in Glencoe. A town. We were in.
"I've never seen this building before." Gerald whispered.
"Who cares about that now, read, read!" He scrolled down slightly to a bunch of text. Irvine began reading it aloud for us.
"Glencoe Academy School. The best and only school in Glencoe. Send your children here to study academics... blah... blah... blah." Irvine scrolled down even more and continued reading. "May 17. Glencoe Academy School has been temporarily shut down due to recent disturbances in our beloved town."
"Disturbances?" Tony asked.
"I'm guessing it's talking about the mysterious deaths and disappearances of the townsfolk." Mark replied.
Irvine continued reading. "July 2. Glencoe Academy School officially shut down. That's odd. Why was it officially shut down? And how come we've never seen this building before?" He scrolled back up to the picture of the school. It was brightly colored and seemed like a happy place. It would have stood out if it were in this town.
"Gentlemen, your food." Jana came back with our food.
"Excuse me, do you know about this?" Irvine pointed to the picture on the screen.
"Oh. That." Her tone changed into a sad, tragic one.
"You know something about this?" I asked.
"Ya. Anyone here would know about it."
"What can you tell us about it?" Irvine egged on.
"My little brother used to go there. It used to be such a wonderful place. He loved it there! Same with all the other children who went there."
"Children? There are actually children in this town?" Gerald accidentally blurted out.
"Ya. This town, used to be so lively. There used to be so many people here..." Irvine interrupted.
"Where are they now?"
"Hey! Man, that's rude! Let her finish telling her story before interrupting like that!" I shot at him.
"They died. I'd rather not talk about it." Jana hurried away. I saw a tear fall from her eyes.
"They died." Irvine whispered. "I think we're getting closer."
In the corner of my eye, I saw the cloaked figure look up at us. Something about the person was scaring me a lot.
* * *
"Man... that's good food there. I have to admit... it's better than hotdogs." I rubbed my stomach as I was slumped down on the chair. After eating, we all came back to the inn. Mark was probably hacking away at his laptop in his room. Tony was probably trying to hit on the receptionist again, who knows what Gerald was doing, and Irvine was taking a shower.
"Can't wait to get back to that restaurant and eat there again." Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
I got up and walked to the door. "Who is it?"
"Room service." The person on the other side said.
"Hey Irvine, did we order and room service?" I called out as I unlocked the door.
"They have room service here?" Irvine replied.
"Oh shit..." The doorknob turned from other side.
* * *
(Wednesday)
(Selphie)
"I am not wearing this." Seifer stated flatly.
"Why not?" I pouted.
"Okay, first Quistis makes me rewrite that fukkin' essay by hand and now you're making me where this tomorrow? No. I've had enough!"
"Puh-leze! It'll be fun!"
"No. I'll just where my trench coat."
"And who are you dressing up as?" I continued to pout.
"Myself."
"No, no, no! I want you to wear this! Come on! Try it on!! NOW!!!" I pushed him into my little bathroom along with the outfit that I had gotten him.
"Selphie! Not a chance!"
"Just try it on so I can see! Please?" I gave him my puppy dog face. Seifer swore under his breath. "Thank you!"
After a short while, and a string of curses from Seifer, he came out dress in his costume.
"See! Not bad. Not bad at all!" I walked around him to see how it looked.
"I look like an idiot." He replied from under the helmet.
"No, you look fine! I knew this would be the perfect size for you!"
"Why do I have to dress like this?" He took of the helmet and held it to the side. I must admit, he looked pretty damn hot in that position.
"It's a costume party! Of course you have to dress up for it!" I smiled at him. "Besides, you'll have to be my date for tomorrow night! You wouldn't want me to be all alone at a party with so many people now do you?"
"You could have plenty of dates. I don't want to go."
"SEIFER!!! I really want you to go!" My eyes were watering slightly. Something I learned to do when I was with Irvine. Most guys can't stand it when girls cry. I was hoping Seifer would be the same.
"Ugh... fine. Fine! Just don't cry."
"Tank ywoo mister!" I gave him a tight hug.
* * *
(Thursday)
(Seifer)
"Okay, Seifer, today we'll be helping Selphie with the finishing touches for the party." Quistis said standing in her firm posture. Lately she's been telling me to do such stupid things. Tuesday she made me scrub the bathrooms with a toothbrush, and she told me to write another 10 page essay for Wednesday. Yesterday, I handed her my assignment, which she threw in the recycling bin without even looking it over. She also made me kill the monsters roaming near the front and build a fence so that the students could come out tonight without any worries of monsters attacking.
"Yes Instructor."
"Seifer stop that. I know you're only doing this to piss me off. Well let me tell you something. You're wrong. It's not working!"
[Oh, but it is. You're already getting annoyed. But it's been hell for me. Maybe Selphie is right. She is started to get a little paranoid]
"Come." She motioned me to follow her... like a master would to a dog. I gave her a dirty look behind her back, but obediently followed her.
* * *
"Quisty! Seifer! Thanks for coming! There's just a bit more to do! But with you're guys' help, I'll be able to finish just on time!" Selphie shouted to us as she was putting up some banners.
Selphie was already dressed in her costume... and damn, she looked fine. She was dressed as a jester, and wore a jester's hat with the bells on it. Her half black and half white costume clung to her body nicely which showed off all her womanly curves. Her back was towards us, and I couldn't help but look down at her ass.
"Seifer, stop drooling." Quistis remarked quietly to me and walked to help Selphie.
[You're just jealous it's not you that I'm looking at]. How I desperately wanted to get her back, but I bit my tongue and held it back.
"Need some help?" Quistis helped her hold up the banner.
"Oh, thanks a bunch! Seifer, could you start blowing up some balloons? And don't draw anything on them this time!"
[Aww, don't you like my drawings?] I wanted to reply, but I also didn't want Miss Bitch to know I had a soft spot. I walked up to the helium pump and pulled out a balloon from the many bags. It wasn't long before Selphie was standing beside me. I'd blow up the balloons, she'd tie them and Miss Bitch would tie the ribbons on them.
Selphie leaned towards me and whispered, "Don't forget, you're wearing the costume and you're my date! Don't stand me up!"
"Stand you up? Never!" I whispered back. [Damn, did she read my mind?]
"Hey Quisty, you have a date tonight?" Selphie leaned back.
"Uh... I don't think I can make it..."
[Why not? No puberty boy to go with you? Awww, my poor mediocre Instructor!]
"Quisty! Why not?!"
"I have... some things... to do. And besides I have no costume." I could tell she was lying. She never could lie good.
"What could you possibly have to do? And don't worry about the costume... I have plenty that you can choose from! You gotta come! It'll be so fun!"
"I'll think about it..."
[You just don't want to go and see Puberty boy with Rinoa... but I don't blame you... I don't either]
* * *
Eight o'clock. The party started an hour ago. I have been dressed in my costume an hour ago. I didn't want to go, but I did promise Selphie that I would... Suddenly there was a knock on my door, probably Selphie wondering why I hadn't come yet. Another knock.
"Coming." I pushed the 'open' button and the door slid open. It wasn't Selphie.
"Do you want to go with me?" Kianne asked just as she noticed I was already dressed for the party.
She was dressed as a witch. She had fake spider webs in her hair and wore dark make-up to match. Her outfit was dark and on the front had a huge black widow spider on the chest area. Her stomach was showing through a diamond cut hole and the sleeves were long, sorta witchlike, just like the bottom of her outfit. It dragged along the floor. Despite the gloomy look, she was gorgeous.
"Uh... sorry, I sorta already have a date."
"Oh, well you weren't at the party, so I thought you didn't have a date."
An awkward silence.
"Here, I'll walk with you there." I offered.
"Sure." She smiled and turned around waiting for me. [Hmm, backless too] I thought, referring to the outfit.
Once we got to the party, we went our separate ways. She went to her friends while I looked for Selphie. However, Selphie was the one who found me.
"You're LATE!" She had her hands on her hips and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently, as if waiting for an excuse. But I gave her none. "Oh well! Who cares! You're here now! And that's all that matters." She smiled brightly at me. " I wanna dance! Let's dance!" She pulled me onto the dance floor. "Hey, how come you're not wearing your helmet?" She asked.
"I didn't like it."
"Hey! You're not dancing!"
"I don't want to dance."
"You were late! So now you have to listen to me! Everything I say, you must do. Got it?"
"Am I to grovel before you if you say so then?"
"I'm not that mean!" She laughed.
The song ended soon and became a slow song. Selphie placed her hands on my shoulder, but someone came and whispered something into her ear.
"Oh! I'm so sorry Seifer! But I have to do something really quick. I'll be back soon!"
"So you leave your date all alone?" I joked.
She laughed. "I'll be back! Don't you worry!"
* * *
The song was nearing to an end before she came back.
"Look, I'm very, truly sorry Seifer! But there's some stuff I have to handle... but I'll be back." She turned her head around as if looking for someone. "Quisty! Come here!"
Quistis walked towards us. She was dressed as a cat. In tight black clothes. Even though I dislike her a lot, I must admit she looked pretty hot in the outfit.
"Here, Quisty, take over for me. I'll be back." Selphie quickly placed her hands on my shoulders and mine on her waist and ran off.
"Selphie!" Quistis shouted out, but her voice didn't travel far because of all the noise around us. I was about to pull my hands away, but a familiar song started to play. Beethoven's Love Story. This was the song Rinoa and I used to dance to. It was Our song. Once the song started I pulled Quistis close to me and wrapped my arms around her. She was probably surprised, but I didn't care. I was only thinking of Rinoa. I closed my eyes and held her closer. It brought back memories. Memories when Rinoa and I used to be together. Halfway through the song, Quistis moved back away from me. I opened my eyes and saw Kianne tapping her out.
"May I?" She smiled sweetly.
Quistis moved away and walked off. Kianne wrapped her arms around me and moved close to me. I wrapped my arms around her, hoping to relive my memories of Rinoa.
"I love this song." She whispered to me. "My fiancée and I used to always dance to this song. It was Our song." She paused momentarily. "But now he's gone... he's been gone for two years. He died." She whimpered slightly.
"I'm so sorry." Was all the comforting I knew how to give.
"No. It's not your fault. My fiancée... he was a wonderful person. He cared for me a lot. Even though sometimes he would never show it. I loved him a lot." She laughed a little. "I remember when I first me him. He seemed like a rude, arrogant, cocky bastard. I hated him. He would insult me a lot. I was like his favourite person to tease. Probably because he knew I would either cry or get upset over it. I would always try to get him back, but he would always throw them back into my face. Eventually I got to know him better. I learned he was only like this because of a troubled childhood. I tried helping him. Somehow along the way, I fell for him. At first, I thought, 'This would never work. He'd never fall for me...' but... I was wrong."
I felt some tears fall onto my neck and shoulder.
"Sorry..." She sniffed. "You know, you look a lot like him. When I first say you, I thought you were him..."
The song ended.
"Excuse me..." She pulled away from me and rushed off. Probably towards the bathroom.
[He sure sounds like me...]
* * *
(Friday)
(Quistis - 1300 hours)
I stretched my arms and yawned. I haven't slept so peacefully in days! Seifer has probably waited for me for hours by now! But I didn't care. I got up from my bed and took my time getting ready before arriving at the Training Center. Just in time to see Seifer knock down a Wendigo. He noticed me and walked up towards me.
"You're late Instructor." He said while wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Oh!" I held my hand in front of my mouth as if I had forgotten something. "I must have forgotten to tell you that I cancelled today's classes! My bad! You must have been here for hours!"
Seifer's expression changed. I could tell he was pissed off with me.
"Here, I'll make it up to you. Have you eaten anything yet?"
"No."
"Okay, my treat." I gave him a sweet and innocent smile.
I led him to the cafeteria and bought him some food, all the while still smiling sweetly.
"Seifer, did you have fun yesterday?"
"That's none of your business, Instructor." No stretch in words. No sarcasm. Just monotone.
"You were holding me pretty close, maybe you like holding me..." I leaned towards him. "Or maybe you were thinking of something... perhaps a memory of your past?"
A short pause.
"What if I told you it was the first one you said?" He forked some friends into his mouth.
"I'd say you were lying to me." I stopped leaning towards him. "Besides, you haven't given up on Rinoa yet." [And you haven't given up on your precious Puberty boy] I mimicked him in my head.
He didn't say anything to me, so I figured that I was right and hit a nerve. [Seifer, have you had enough torture yet? Can't you just leave Balamb and give us our peace back again?]
"So I was right? Ha! I knew it!"
He stopped eating and dropped his fork. He finally lifted his head to face me. Something was different about this gesture, because he looked me right in the eyes. I looked into his pools of emeralds and saw only seriousness in them. I wanted to look away, but his eyes were so alluring. It captivated me. If those eyes didn't belong to Seifer, they would have captured my soul.
"No Quistis," He began. He didn't call me 'Instructor', 'mediocre', or even 'Miss Bitch'. He had called me by my name. Something he rarely ever did... except when he was dead serious. It made me afraid. "It's because I like you."
My mouth dropped open.
* * * * * * * * * *
Okay, this took me one heck of a long time to write. My bad! I'm so, so, so sorry! I know apologizing won't help, but I really, truly hope that none of my loyal reviewers are mad at me. I still love you guys! Please don't be mad! So I'll promise you this... (and hope to keep it) The next chappy will come out sooner okay? Anyway, whether you want to comment on my story, or yell at me for the lateness, reviews are always welcome! And if you really want, you can email me! Thanks a bunch! (Don't worry, this fic isn't dead yet...)