Chapter 2 - Unbidden Memories

Seifer woke in the morning to an empty space next to him. He wasn't surprised though. She'd told him she would leave early. It's not like he blamed her, he knew the last thing she wanted to do was be found in Seifer Almasy's bed! She was Quistis Trepe, co saver of the world! Why would she want to admit she was sleeping with the most evil man in the world?

He'd always thought this, and always thought of it as being fine and accepted it as the way their relationship was. This morning though, it put him in a bad mood. He had wild ideas of running round Garden, yelling the truth about them. It didn't help his mood.

In the end, he decided he was in such a bad mood because he was hungry and stomped off in search of something to eat. On his way to the cafeteria, while dodging the boo's and the sneers, and the terrified, angry and annoyed looks of other Balamb Garden members, he noticed a wildly grinning face who was charging towards him.

"Hey, Seifer, it's good to see you at last, ya know." He was greeted warmly.

"Hi, Raj, how's it going?" It was strange to see Rajin. Strange to be so pleased to see someone from his past.

"Fine! Me and Rebecca are getting married in a months time, ya know!"

"Really? Great! Who's Rebecca?" Seifer suddenly remembered that he hadn't even heard the name Rebecca before.

"You wouldn't have met Rebecca before. She's the new librarian at Balamb Garden. I got to know her because I kept forgetting to return my library books. She kept having to chase after me!" At this, Rajin grinned broadly at the memory, "Yo, Seif, what you been doing for the last 6 months, ya know?"

"Um...well.." Seifer began slowly as if unsure of what to say. Suddenly, unbidden memories started flashing in front of his eyes.

*

It was windy, cold and cruel outside. The seas were being tossed around, splashing up onto the old, weathered pier. In the cosy little tavern though, all was warm and safe.

She had been lucky to get the singing job, it had been by chance that she had got lost and ended up in this little harbour town. She had sought refuge in the little inn and had stayed for several days trying to figure out what to do next. When the singing job came up she used it as an excuse to stay. She was starting to realise that this little town was exactly what she needed. So different from Garden. Nobody knew her. Nobody thought of her as the great hero who helped save the world from Ultemecia. Nobody called her 'Instructor', she was just Quistis.

A month after the defeat of Ultemecia everything was really quiet. Squall and Rinoa we're happily together, Selphie had Irvine, Zell had his hotdogs....they we're all happy. But Quistis wasn't and decided she needed a break. She needed to travel for a while. She slipped away in the middle of the night and didn't tell anyone.

She had been at the inn for a month now and all the locals knew her. They were her friends. She felt like she really fitted in. For almost the first time in her life she was completely happy. Tonight though every thing was about to change...

Quistis was halfway through her second number when the stranger walked in, or to be more precise, was blown in by the ferocious wind.

It was usual for strangers to enter the inn of course. Still, it was always interesting to find out who they were and what they were like.

She could see the raindrops running down the back of his trench coat. Something was bothering her; something was nagging at the back of her mind. It wasn't until the stranger turned, running his gloved hands through his drenched, blond hair, that she realised he wasn't as much of stranger as she thought he was.

Quistis was so shocked that she stopped singing and just stood, staring at him. When he noticed the singer had stopped abruptly in the middle of a word he turned to look at her.

Quistis was the last person Seifer had ever expected to see in an inn in the middle of nowhere. His whole world seemed to suddenly stop as he stared into Quistis' blue eyes, widened in shock.

Quistis never would have never dreamed that Seifer would turn up here, at the inn. She never even expected to see him again. As she stared into his blue eyes all the memories she had of him suddenly resurfaced. The pub was completely forgotten as scenes of Seifer when he was small, Seifer mercilessly teasing Zell into tears at the orphanage, flashed before her eyes. She saw him the day of the SeeD test in Dollet, "Save it for a bad student who needs it" he had said, always confident, yet always failing.

Suddenly hundreds of images of Seifer swam through her head and she realised just how hard it must be to be Seifer. Seifer falling, Seifer collapsed, Seifer defeated. Always defeated. For a moment she felt sorry for him, until she remembered all the terrible things he had done. He had tortured Squall, thrown Rinoa to the mercy of Adel, tried to kill her uncountable times. There was no way she was going to forgive him. In fact, she was going to ignore him.

Seifer watched as Quistis' eyes gained a faraway look. He continued to stare into her eyes as he saw thousands of images, all blurred together, but all of Quistis. Quistis the strong one, always the one helping others at the orphanage, stopping him from teasing Chicken-Wuss and Puberty boy. Then he saw Quistis getting her instructor license. He could almost feel how proud she was, then he felt her sadness as she packed her bags to leave Balamb.

Suddenly, as quick as lightening, a whole montage of images flashed before his eyes, Quistis fighting him, beating him. Seifer didn't know where the images came from. He couldn't remember them. But they hurt.

At exactly the same moment as Quistis' eyes hardened, so did Seifer's.

Quistis started to sing again and Seifer went to the bar.

The customers settled back down to watch the show. They all knew Quistis pretty well, so there were no loud complaints at the interruption. However, everyone had seen her reaction to the young, blond man and they were all curious. They knew hardly anything about Quistis. Maybe this man could tell them.

At the very back of the pub in a darkened corner a person mumbled to themself, "This is going to be harder than I thought."

As Seifer sat down on a bar stool and ordered a beer, the barman took his chance. "So, you know Quistis, do you?"

"What's it to you?" Came the gruff reply.

"Nothing really, just curious. What's your name, anyway?"

"Seifer" he answered cautiously, waiting for a reaction.

"Seifer, hmm. Unusual name. We haven't met before have we? Seem to remember the name Seifer." The old man scratched his head in thought; Seifer swallowed a couple of mouthfuls quickly, then changed the subject.

"Do you do rooms here?"

"Sure, 30gil a night"

"Okay, here you go. I'll be staying for a week, but if I decide to leave before then, do I get my money back?" The fact that Quistis was here made him uneasy. He had chosen this remote town because he had thought it would know nothing of his involvement with Ultemecia, and had no connections with Garden. Wrong on at least one point.

"Sure, you get your money back." The amiable pub manager replied, "Here, I'll show you to your room. Any luggage?"

"Nope." Seifer replied shortly. He didn't have anything left anymore. No family, no friends, even Rajin and Fujin had left him.

"Here, this is your room. Bit small, but it's about the only room left. I've put you next to Quistis, as you seem to know her."

"Thanks for you consideration." Seifer answered in a sarcastic tone, thinking the pub manager wouldn't notice it. He did though.

"How long have you known Quistis?"

"Long enough." Seifer replied brusquely.

"Nice girl, that Quistis. Quiet though, and sad for some reason. You'd think that having saved the world, she'd be happy. But no. Don't tell her I know about her being the famous Quistis Trepe. I think she wants to forget her past."

Seifer's head had snapped up from inspecting the floor at that point, "Don't we all," Seifer said quietly, feeling a sudden kin with Quistis.

The pub manager gave Seifer a knowing look with his wizened old face that Seifer didn't catch. The old man was wise, he could easily see the pain and loneliness behind the tough exterior.

"By the way," he called as he left the room, "Call me Benny."