Hey everyone!
How's it going? Happy New Year to all of you and I hope you had a really merry Christmas!
As promised, it's time to post the sequel to 'Love Conquers All'. Those of you who have read that story, already know a bit of what's about to come. Now for the rest of you… 'Love Conquers All' (LCA) was a Seiftis Romance/Humor story. It was nothing too heavy, just a light story of how Quistis and Seifer got together after his return to Garden. I used the classic Quistis-tutors-Seifer-to-regain-her-license cliché, but I hope I gave it some twists to spice it up a bit. You don't really need to go back and read that story to understand this one. There wasn't much of a plot anyway ^_^ The only things you might not get, will be some possible references to the events on the prequel, although there is a part which had hints for the content of this story. Either way, if you want to have a hint on the basic plot of LCA, go find its link and read the Foreword which includes the summary.
Before I forget it, I'd like to introduce everyone to my muse, Salaam Dementia. She got pissed at me in my previous story for introducing her way down the story…
Now, where were we? Oh yes… This story, as you probably have read, is entitled 'The Beginning, is the End, is the Beginning'. I don't claim it to be mine, as it comes from the title of a song by Smashing Pumpkins. The title fitted to my story, some of the lyrics did as well, so I gratuitously 'stole' it. BTW, you might notice many rock music and movie references within the story, as I happen to be a great fan of both. The appropriate disclaimers will –of course- always be up…
I hope you guys will enjoy this story and if you do, please don't forget to review! Negative reviews are welcome as well, just as long as you're telling me what you don't like, so that I can improve. I'll just ignore flames. On a last note, I'd really like to thank Chris, my beta, who sacrificed his precious time in order to actually sit down and read my puny little story… You're the man Chris!
And of course:
DISCLAIMER FOR THE WHOLE STORY: I do not own the game, nor the characters (except for my original ones), nor the original plot. The only thing I DO own, is this measly new plot and a PC to type all this crap upon…
Peace out… ;-p
~*Crystal*~
A/N: The Prologue… Small, but the 1st chappy will be up soon. Normal updates will be about 4 days apart each. Enjoy!
~*The Beginning, is the End, is the Beginning*~
A sequel to 'Love Conquers All'
By: Sickness in Salvation
Prologue
A tall, red-haired woman walked down the Hall of Balamb Garden. She was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a black turtleneck sweater. Many students smiled at her warmly and waved at her as she passed by. She plainly nodded and smiled back at all of them. Quistis Trepe was a famous one in Balamb Garden. Probably the only Instructor to ever have a fan club, the notorious Trepies… Except maybe for Irvine Kinneas who seemed to be growing quite the fan base as well lately. Quistis continued to walk from the Dormitories towards the Cafeteria, in her usual serious, withheld, but very womanly walk. She looked around the Christmas decorations that had been put up around the Hall. Christmas had already passed, but there were still two days left until New Year's Eve. The Garden Festival Committee, head of which was none other than Selphie Tilmitt, one of her closest friends, had a great party in store for that occasion. Ever since Selphie had been put in charge of that position, each and every party in Garden was more than a success. She was by far the right person for the right job...
Quistis finally reached the Cafeteria corridor and walked through it. She stepped inside, looking around for her friends. She spotted them sitting in their usual table and walked towards them. On the table, six people were sitting. Zell Dincht, the hyper martial artist, Shizuka Ross, Zell's girlfriend and one of the library staff people, Selphie Tilmitt, the even more hyper aforementioned girl, Irvine Kinneas, the cowboy who stole the latter's heart and Rinoa Heartilly, the only living sorceress of their times. The last person sitting there, was a tall, blond, charming man; Seifer Almasy. At the sight of him, Quistis' heart fluttered and a broad smile appeared across her face. She finally reached her friends and spoke.
- "Sorry I'm late everyone… I had tons of tests to correct with the holiday and all…" she said sitting down, next to Seifer.
- "Missed ya kitten…" said Seifer, leaning in and giving a peck to his girlfriend.
- "When are you leaving?" asked Quistis with a small frown across her face.
- "In five minutes. The aircrafts are already waiting outside." replied Seifer.
- "Where's Squall?" asked Quistis.
- "Need you ask?" said Rinoa sarcastically "Buried under a pile of paperwork…"
- "I see…" said Quistis "How's the New Year's party coming along?" she asked Selphie.
- "It's going to be simply amazing! Just wait and you'll see!" said Selphie excitedly.
- "You will be able to make it, right?" Quistis asked Seifer.
- "I hope so…" replied the blond gunblade specialist "I don't think that I'll need more than two days…" he said "Anyway…" he added getting up "Gotta go."
Quistis got up as well and gave him a big hug. Seifer held her neck with one hand and brushed his lips upon hers softly at first. Quistis held him from the back of his hair and pressed her lips on his harder. They would have probably stopped after a long time, if Zell hadn't yelled at them to go 'Get a room'. The couple broke apart and Seifer, giving Zell an angry glare, picked up his suitcase from the floor.
- "Be careful baby." said Quistis smiling at her lover as he gave her one last peck and walked out of the Cafeteria.
Quistis sat back down to the table, looking gloomy.
- "Ahh… C'est l'amour…" said Irvine mockingly. Quistis just stuck her tongue out at him playfully and smiled.
- "Where is he going anyway?" asked Rinoa.
- "Deling City. Some business over at a ministry. I didn't ask him any details…" replied Quistis shrugging.
- "So…" began Selphie eyeing everyone "…we still need some help around the Ballroom for the party, and I thought…"
- "No can do! Busy at the library!" exclaimed Shizuka before Selphie could even finish.
- "Yeah and I'm helping her out!" added Zell quickly, putting his arm around her shoulder. Selphie raised an eyebrow. Her glance turned over at Quistis.
- "Just told you. Tests and tests everywhere…" said Quistis. Selphie turned to look over at Rinoa.
- "Infirmary!" said the raven haired sorceress, almost choking on her coffee by the look Selphie shot her.
- "Irvy?" said Selphie looking at her boyfriend, crossing her arms. Irvine scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
- "Umm… I've got… tests… to… correct…?" he said hesitantly. Selphie shook her head in an I'm-not-buying-it manner "*Sigh* Fine…"
- "That's my Irvy Kinne-poo!" said Selphie cheerfully, blowing him a kiss.
- "Ahh… C'est l'amour…" repeated Quistis mockingly. This time, it was Irvine's turn to stick out his tongue at her…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seifer was walking down the hallway towards the entrance of Garden, when his cell-phone rang. He dug his hand into his right coat pocket and retrieved the phone, answering the call.
- "Yes?" he spoke.
- "Seifer? It's Edea." replied the woman on the other end of the line.
- "Oh, hi Matron. Where are you?" asked the tall blond.
- "I'm still at Centra. I'll be coming over for New Year's tomorrow." she said.
- "Damn… Sorry I had you running back to Centra during the holiday…" Seifer apologized.
- "Don't be ridiculous child… Either way, I found them!" she said cheerfully.
- "You did?!" exclaimed Seifer excitedly.
- "I told you I would…" said Edea "Their graves are here, like we expected they would be."
- "Oh, Matron… I can't thank you enough…" said Seifer, feeling touched.
- "We'll talk about it when I get back in Balamb, alright? I'll bring their files over to you."
- "I was thinking maybe I could catch a flight over to Centra after my mission and pay them a quick visit…" suggested Seifer.
- "If you do, you'll never be able to make it in time for New Year's and Quisty will have your head…" said Edea, laughing slightly.
- "Heh… I guess you're right…" said Seifer, grinning.
- "I promise we'll visit them together as soon as possible Seifer. I can understand your eagerness, but just be a little patient my son."
- "OK Matron… I'll see you at New Year's. Goodbye and once again, thank you." said Seifer.
- "Goodbye Seifer." said Edea, hanging up.
The blond SeeD put his cell-phone back in his pocket. A broad smile spread across his face. He'd found them…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Quistis was lying on the big double bed of her and Seifer's dorm. The time was already past midnight, but Quistis was still up. She was dressed in her long white nightgown and was slowly sipping some gin. The big room seemed so empty when she was the only one filling it. The couple's dorm consisted of a big main room one came across as soon as entering the dorm and a bathroom. The main room had the double bed on the upper left corner, right next to the window. A small nightstand with drawers stood next to the outer (right) side of the bed. Right across the bed, on the down left corner stood a big wardrobe for the two of them. On the right wall, a big desk was located, with two laptops (one for each of the two) resting on top of it, as well as a coffee machine and a couple of chairs for them to sit on. On the wall, hung a few cupboards and cabinets for storage and a small portable fridge lay on a single self right next to the cupboards. A big blue armchair lay over by the desk on the right side. The bathroom door was located on the upper right corner of the main room. Inside, the bathroom had a set of counters covering the right side, with a pair of sinks and a few cabinets. On the left side of the bathroom, there was a big shower with a door and finally, a toilet seat was located on the down left corner of the room.
As Quistis studied the interior of the dorm, she felt lonely. She missed Seifer very much and he was only gone for a few hours. It was tough for them now that he was a top-ranked SeeD. The missions were harder, more demanding and took away a lot of their precious time together. Quistis only hoped that Seifer would consider trying to get a job like Squall's which involved more office work 'I'm just being selfish here…' she thought 'Seifer loves going out to missions. Besides, he's damn good at it…' She sighed and took another sip from her almost empty glass. Her mind trailed off to her blond significant other. She wondered what he was doing right now… He hadn't even called all day. Not that she was really worried about him, but he always called… And she couldn't try to reach him; he could be already working on his mission. She sighed once again, more deeply, and finished the remainder of her drink, resting the now empty glass on the nightstand. She glanced at her watch and saw it was drawing close to 12:30. She decided it was time to get some sleep, so she turned off the light on the nightstand and covered herself underneath the sleek black covers.
Just when she was about to surrender her mind to Morpheus, her cell-phone rang. Grunting and internally cursing anyone who had the ingenious idea of calling her at this time, she picked up the small black Nokia from the nightstand. Mechanically, she checked the number that appeared on the small colored screen. Her blue eyes grew wide with joy as she saw the name 'My Bunny Rabbit' appearing on the screen. She quickly pressed the small green phone button and answered the call.
- "Hey!" she exclaimed "I was getting worried about you! Why didn't you call earlier?"
- "Sorry kitten…" said Seifer "My cell battery was dead. I just got to recharge it and thought I'd call you. Did I wake you up?"
- "Actually I just got ready to sleep." she replied "*Sigh* I wish I could have you here next to me…"
- "Me too babe… But it's only two days…" said Seifer gloomily.
- "Yeah… We've had worse…" she replied.
- "Anyway, I'd better get some sleep. I've got a full day ahead of me tomorrow… Good night kitten…" said Seifer.
- "Good night bunny. I love you…" said Quistis,
- "Love you too…" replied Seifer and sent her a kiss, terminating the call.
Quistis put the phone back in place on the nightstand and tucked herself under the covers again. She closed her eyes and smiled lightly, as the image of Seifer stayed in her mind until she fell asleep…
ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF 'THE BEGINNING, IS THE END, IS THE BEGINNING':
Seifer's mission…