SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Disclaimer: I don't own them.
I'll rise before the clouded skies,
Though fear holds my heart inside,
I'll rise to laugh and have force to cry,
The sound will dry every last tear.
15. A dance of truths.
Seifer and Quistis walked out into the street, the nightlife atmosphere of the big city overtook the city in their eyes. The glow of the streetlight yellowish reflections in the technologically advanced walkways was placid. Seifer had a small smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth, which Quistis saw and mimicked helplessly. He could tell that she was thinking, despite his efforts to have a conversation about anything, Seifer found it extremely difficult as Quistis would trail off into thought. At the car rental, he got a convertible and opened the door for her to get in. Reluctantly she let him drive.
"Quistis....what are you thinking about?" he asked after they had spent a good ten minutes going around the city to the harbor area.
"Nothing. Anyway Seifer I wouldn't know why you would care." she told him bitterly.
"Do you really think so little of me?" he asked with a hint of sadness and anger in his tone.
"Never mind." she answered. Seifer had had enough, he had been around her for three days, she had been nice and then in seconds a total bitch. Tired of this, he stopped her and stood before her.
"I can't be Squall; I can't be quiet all the time. I can't be chicken wuss, and stuff myself with hotdogs and grin. I'm not the cowboy and sure as hell ain't the lapdog from the war Quistis. If you can't stand to be next to me without that bitterness maybe I should just leave you alone. You don't care about anything I do or say to prove that I'm not a bad person. That's not my fault. Good bye Quistis, I'm sorry you hate me; that I bring out such bitterness. I'll leave."
Quistis stood her ground, that's right. That's what I should have made him do in the first place; I can't ......her brain stopped thinking after that and she had walked up to a bench and sat down. The mascara ran onto her fingers as she rubbed her eyes and placed her head in her hands. He had been so wrong right then, she thought with a resigned exhale of breathe. She mulled over his words as she sat, listening to the crickets and grasshoppers and thinking about why she had to be so bitter. She was just angry, and she took it out on him; hate you? She asked herself.
"Seifer I don't hate you......I love you." she whispered in the direction that he had went, afraid to tell him, yet willing to let it out in the calm aired silence of nature. She hadn't realized they had made it to the farm area of Esthar. (Yes it has one, well in the story it does!) We would have had to walk to the pier to get to the boardwalk and then to the restaurant, she guessed.
Seifer stepped to the bench, and sat down next to her, his heart was in his throat and his throat was dry. Quistis didn't know if he had heard her, but guessed he didn't due to the fact that he showed no change in character. Seifer's mind processed everything in fine print; she loved you, his mind screamed at him. Yet how could he know it was true, if everything she portrayed was the opposite of what she had said.
"Quistis. . .I. . ." and he didn't know how to respond, she was pregnant, and she was alone and he didn't know how to make it better. Inside her head she was alone he reasoned, because I guess she figures that once things get complicated no one will stick around, he thought as he observed her.
"Please, I'm sorry. I've been taking out my anger out on you. I shouldn't have." she stated simply and stood to walk away.
Seifer frowned, not sure of how to approach this creature dressed in the hue of her blood. They were in a little opening between farms, the road split and there was a little park, the benches spread out and the exit was a long narrow clearing it led to the boardwalk. In this light, with the moon, Seifer thought she looked like something from out of a book, as she became a distant blur and then disappeared all together into the nightlife. Seifer fought with his pride and arrogance to get up and go after her.
In the end his heart killed all other battles and he ran out in the direction that she had gone a bit earlier. Seifer had been dazed, at first, when she had unwillingly told him that she loved him. He had sat there in that same daze, debating his course; when he going to tell her he loved her? Seifer himself was not sure.
He hoped that she hadn't had a chance to catch a transportation pod out of the harbor yet. His eyes burned and his throat was closed up, but as he saw the familiar blonde getting up to get on one of the pods he sprinted as fast as possible. He voice left him and he grunted as he felt his throat rip when he tried to speak.
Quistis pressed some buttons on the screen and then felt the air shift beneath her as she was about to zip out into the tube, Seifer jumped in front of the pod. His throat still dry yet he gathered some saliva to speak. The pod jerked rapidly fast to a stop and Quistis' body jolted forward. Seifer looked up and smiled weakly at her, his voice still not there yet, he moved around to the side of the pod and offered his hand to help her down. She hesitated slightly put slowly placed her hand inside his.
"I would be ravished if you would have dinner with me." he stated as she stepped down.
Quistis was weary of Seifer, afraid that if she let him become a part of her life he would hurt her, like a many others had in the past. Quistis like a lot of students in garden had a home before attending; she had left the orphanage and found a family to call her own, where inside of that family a few dark secrets lie, buried with the past and the soil of the dead. Most of her memories are gone, thanks to the G.Fs and their merciful moving into her psyche; though most memories are gone, some dream-like memories surface and scare her.
Quistis tried to forget the idea of sealing yourself away as she walked with Seifer to the restaurant; this same idea is what attracted her to squall. Both sharing the same detachment sense when it came to others, though Quistis was more discreet about her intentions to keep others away and squall had been more open about keeping others away from him.
They walked from the pod station to the boardwalk area and the streets were covered in lights, the water glistened with its reflections. Seifer hadn't let go of Quistis' hand, and Quistis in turn didn't complain, they walked off into a bridge, a area where trees and plants furnished the front of the restaurant and they walked by the wooden path onto the porch; Christmas lights were sprinkled around the plants and trees, and the rook of the restaurant, its porch was filled with people enjoying their night.
Seifer got them a table by the end of the restaurant, outside by the pier, and the boats. The area was glowing in the colors of the boats. The sounds of people and the music from the restaurant mingled with the ocean and the lights gave it a orange tint, the tables outside were spread apart and given space. The deck was made to dance on, the tables stood in front of it and the ocean and natural sounds provided unheard music.
They were led to their table, and in silence they read the menus, Seifer got some water, and Quistis wanted some juice. She stole glances at him from the corner of her eye; Seifer looked at his menu thinking of what to talk about. They were supposed to be friends, yet they couldn't have a friendly dinner together? Great friends we are, he mocked to himself. After they ordered dinner, their waiter informed them that it would take ten to fifteen minutes to cook the meals. He brought breadsticks out and butter and for them to indulge in.
Quistis cut a thin slice and nibbled at it uselessly for a little bit, after a few bits she put it down. Wanting dinner not bread, Seifer on the other hand had been watching her nibble on her food, and then grabbed the bread and sliced off a regular sized piece and putting butter on it and stuffing it in his mouth. The action caused Quistis to laugh, controlling herself she saw that Seifer was smiling at her.
"What?" he asked.
"You just reminded me of something." she told him, Seifer nodded and went back to eating his bread, smiling she observed him shamelessly devour the bread.
"Don't you want to know what you reminded me of?" she asked after he finished.
"No, I know what you refer to and I'm sure everyone else at that table was dying to take that bread. They just didn't want to look like pigs." he told her teasingly as he pointed a finger.
"You remember that dinner?" she asked unbelieving that he had picked the scene from her brain.
"Of course. You had laughed at me when I picked up the bread then, and you laughed now." he said. Quistis shook her head lightly and smiled at the memory.
"So we still have about thirteen minutes until our foods ready, you want to dance?" he asked with a turn of his head.
"No, thank you. I'm a terrible dancer." she told him, with a nervous chuckle.
"No-oh?" he asked mockingly.
"Yes." she stated firmly, when he got up.
"Loosen up Trepe, come on, I've seen you dance, you're a wonderful dancer. Dance with me. Come on." he picked up her hand and tugged her lightly to her fight, reluctance failing her completely. Quistis breathed in as she was pulled into his arms, he wrapped his fingers around hers for the first time since they had been together.
His palms kissed hers and she felt his other arm wrap around her ribs and stomach, pulling her close. His steps were slow and he hummed a song neither knew the name to. She felt her eyes close in the unknown familiarity of his arms; the hum became less loud, only heard by them. Her nose was cuddled up in the crook of his neck, sunk in his neck; she felt the vibrations of his humming and exhaled in a total calmness she had never felt before. Seifer grinned as he felt her hands go soft and had stilled completely, and she nuzzled his neck area with her face gently when he had stopped humming, if only for a second, so she urged him to continue.
"Quis" he whispered gruffly, softly into her hair.
"Hm?"
And his heart beat faster than anything in this world right then, it beat from his chest to her heart. She felt him hesitate and on a unexplained impulse she pressed her lips to his skin, just below his jawbone. The drumming of his premeditated words in heart leapt to his lips then.
"I love you." he whispered into her ear.
"What?" she asked, her lips brushed against the same spot she had kissed seconds ago with her word.
"I've loved you before time was time." he admitted softly, she didn't speak, her voice lost; gone with his words.
He brushed away a tear that fell, and then kissed the other that followed and then engulfed her in his arms. Her tears spilt into his soul, and she felt his soft kisses to her head. She clutched his shirt and laughed, the sound was muffled and low and it warmed his heart, she felt it beat and kissed it. She grabbed his collar and brought him down to her eye level and kissed him softly on the lips it was a simple kiss and he smiled and she smiled at its shared brief bliss.
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That's it for now; we will see where this takes us. Hope you've enjoyed the chapter and that you will review for me. I love to read what people think. And I'd love to thank the reviewers, thugstra your review was great, thanks so much, and yeah V-day messes up with all your thoughts. ^ ^ chocolate .hmmmm! good. Quistis 88 thanks I'm glad that your enjoying these updates, and that everybody reading is liking the story, god bless (in the words of my reviewer) and thanks for reading. And my we all get valentines.damn, now I'm sad. :p