A/N: I was too late to update this time, I know… My sincere apologies…
WHEEEEEEEEEEE! 100 REVIEWS! Awww… You guys… I'm so moved… And it's only 8 chapters yet… *Sniff* Huge hugzies to all of you!
Mmmkay, now a small disclaimer for this chapter:
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the software Windows, that's all that lucky bastard Bill Gate's propertah… And I also do not own the anti-virus program Kaspersky.
That's about it. If the PC-dealing disclaimers don't make much sense now, I promise they will later on.
Last chapter summary: Zell and Selphie investigated the murder site in Connelly's holiday mansion and the clues they found there don't match Galbadia's story…
~*The Beginning, is the End, is the Beginning*~
A sequel to 'Love Conquers All'
By: Sickness in Salvation
Chapter 8: Family ties and promises
Laguna shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He crossed his legs and rested his cheek against his balled fist. He sighed and switched legs, resting his other cheek against his other fist. He sighed again and got up from his chair, moving over to the sofa. He sat down and crossed his legs again, folding his arms in front of his chest 'Too hostile…' he thought, and let his arms fall loose 'Too contradictive…' He lifted one leg above the other, uncrossing them and spread them slightly, resting his elbows on the sofa's back 'Way too casual…' He got up again and paced around the room nervously, resuming his sitting position on his chair after a couple of minutes. He crossed his legs and bit his fingernails in anxiety. He slouched himself onto the chair and uncrossed his legs, beginning to rock back and forth along with the chair.
Kiros glared at him through the corner of his eyes, drumming his fingernails impatiently onto the arm of the other leather couch he was sitting on.
Laguna kept swinging his chair retrogressively, the creaking sound reaching Kiros' eardrums, giving him a headache. The naturally tanned man rubbed his temples in an attempt to ease the soreness he felt piercing his head. And Laguna just wouldn't stop… After what was surely more than five minutes, the President suddenly lost balance and found himself falling back first onto the marble floor with a thud, the wooden chair accompanying him. Laguna sprang up almost instantly, grinning awkwardly and fixing the chair back in place. He recommenced his pacing along the room, only this time he chose to escort it with a fidgeting clicking sound he made with his tongue.
The vein that had threatened to pop on Kiros' temple long ago, eventually did. The man slapped his hand hard on the sofa's arm, making Laguna jolt up startled, and got up.
- "FOR HYNE'S SAKE! WILL YOU JUST CALM DOWN?!" he yelled furiously.
- "Well gee, sorry! I was only a bit anxious…" said Laguna, sounding somewhat hurt.
- "He's just your son! Don't make such a big deal out of it!"
- "You know what Squall's like… I just want to make a good impression…" said Laguna, trying to redeem himself, looking down at his shoes.
- "Well trust me, you're not going to make it if you keep-"
- "Ow, ow! Legcramplegcramplegcramp!" Laguna winced, hopping on one leg on the spot.
- "*Sigh* Just try to relax, and it'll go away…" Kiros advised him, letting him lean against his shoulder.
- "It hurts… It hurts…" he whimpered, clutching Kiros' shoulder hard.
- "Ahem…"
The two men turned around towards the doorway, where the sound of someone clearing his throat loudly had come from. Much to Laguna's dismay, his son was standing there, staring at him passively, surrounded by two sentries and Ward, who all shared the same bewildered expression.
- "Squall! Welcome!" Laguna spat out in what he hoped had come out casual, as he let go of Kiros and stood up on both feet. He stifled a moan of pain and grinned at his son.
- "Thank you Laguna." said Squall, sounding as cold as an ice pad.
Kiros walked over to the threshold, nodded politely at Squall who reciprocated and quietly left the room accompanied by Ward and the two guards. Laguna straightened his clothes and smiled at Squall, who was still standing by the threshold.
- "C-come in." stuttered Laguna.
Squall slowly walked inside the room, sitting down on the couch Laguna pointed at him. The elder man walked over to a small bar behind the two couches and opened the cabinet above, taking out two glasses. His hand trembled and one of them fell out of his grip and down on the floor, smashing into shards. Squall winced at the sound and rolled his eyes when Laguna grinned at him and rubbed the back of his hair. He took out another glass to replace that one.
- "I'll clean it up afterwards…" he mumbled "Would you like something to drink?"
- "Sure. Some scotch will be fine, thanks." Squall replied.
- "OK, how do you drink it?" asked Laguna.
- "No soda, just a bit of ice."
- "Hey, just like I do!" said Laguna delighted. Squall forced out a grin.
He watched Laguna fix their drinks, then walk over to the sofas, sitting right across him. He handed him his drink and sat down.
- "Cheers." said Laguna cheerfully, raising his glass.
- "Cheers." mumbled Squall, taking a sip from his drink.
- "So how have you been?" asked Laguna, trying to make idle conversation.
- "I've been OK…" Squall replied casually, shrugging.
- "How's work?"
- "Not as interesting as I though it would be when I agreed to take this position… All I do is paperwork…" replied Squall.
- "Would you prefer that you'd have trouble going on so that you'd have more real work to do?" Laguna asked, only half-joking.
- "Sometimes yes." replied Squall earnestly.
- "Be careful what you wish for. You might actually get it." said Laguna grinning, taking a sip of whisky.
- "I guess so…" replied Squall, his lips upturning the slightest.
- "And how's Rinoa?" asked Laguna, his face lightening up.
- "She's good…" replied Squall, blushing a bit "She got a job at the Infirmary and is getting quite good at it."
- "Glad to hear it. Send her my very warm regards."
- "I will." Squall replied. Laguna bit his lip and looked at Squall mischievously.
- "So when are you two planning on getting hitched? I'd like to see some grandchildren before I shut my eyes for ever…" he blurted out.
Squall's eyes widened saucer-like and the drink quickly abandoned his mouth through mouth and nose in a snort. Laguna laughed heartily.
- "I was only kidding!" he said smiling broadly "You're both too young to get married and I'm certainly too young to start thinking about dying, right?"
- "Don't count on it…" Squall spat at him venomously, wiping his mouth and nose clean.
Laguna ignored his spiteful remark and laughed again. Squall set his glass down on the coffee table in front of him and straightened out his clothes.
- "We're here to talk about business, right?" Squall said sternly, trying to change the subject.
- "Of course, of course…" agreed Laguna, stopping laughing and clearing his throat "I'm listening."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The sound of his boots clattering against the concrete floor pierced through the eerie silence of the corridor. He ran a gloved hand through his short blond locks and brushed away a couple of stray hairs that had fallen on the shoulders of his black uniform. He reached the double oak doors and twisted the handle, without even knocking. He walked inside the great living room looking around. His eyes fell on the lonely female figure, sprawled across the lavish couch, engrossed into a book. The woman's concentration was broken by the creaking of the double doors and her gaze turned upon him.
- "Can I help you Tidus?" she asked politely, although the hint of sarcasm was evident in her voice.
- "Did I interrupt your reading Miss Chang?" Tidus asked smirking.
- "Obviously." said the woman, getting up from the sofa, walking over to a mini-bar cart, located near her. She grabbed a bottle of Absolut with her bandaged hand and poured some into her glass "You didn't answer my question though; can I help you with something?"
- "I was looking for Mr. Robinson and I guessed I'd find him here with you. Where is he?" asked Tidus.
- "He has retired to his room upstairs." replied the woman, taking a long sip of vodka.
- "How come you haven't joined him yet? It's already past 1 a.m." Tidus asked, his voice dripping with disdain.
- "What I do or not do, is none of your business Tidus." spat back the woman venomously "You may go now."
- "I thing we haven't made things very clear around here…" said Tidus ominously, walking over to her "We don't take orders from anyone. Anyone." he hissed, grabbing a handful of her long blond hair "Especially not from insolent sluts like you who should watch their tongue if they know what's good for them."
The woman's eyes shined in fury, but she didn't dare move. Tidus let go of her hair and strode back towards the doorway. He turned around once before leaving and spoke.
- "Now why don't you act like the nice little whore you are and go 'entertain' Mr. Robinson?" he suggested smirking and closed the doors behind him.
The woman glared at the closed doors. She ran a hand through her blond locks and tried to hold back a tear now forming into her eyes. She bit her bottom lip hard, stifling the moan clinging into her throat. She started breathing hard through clenched teeth, anger welling up inside her. Suddenly, she threw her glass at the door in exasperation. The crashing sound of the glass breaking and falling into shards down to the carpet, covered her long-dragged sob, as she fell down on her knees defeated…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seifer stirred around in bed. The bright morning light stung his eyes, making him wince and roll over. Blindly, he extended his arm towards the other side of the bed, expecting it to wrap around the sleeping form of Quistis, but instead it landed on an empty spot on the mattress. Puzzled, the blond cracked an eye open, only to find Quistis' side vacant. He rubbed his eyes lazily and raised his torso from the bed, looking around the room with eyes half open.
- "Quis?" he mumbled sleepily.
No response. He rolled over again, so that he was lying on his back and sat up on the bed. He sniffed and rubbed his eyes again, then slowly got up. His bare feet made contact with the cold floor underneath, sending shivers all over his body. He grabbed the T-shirt Quistis was wearing the previous night, which was now resting on the bottom board of the bed. He slipped it on and made his way out of the room. He walked down the short narrow corridor, looking around sluggishly. He was just passing by the small common room, when the sound of typing caught his attention. He stopped on his tracks and poked his head through the doorframe, finding Quistis lying on one of the couches there, typing on her laptop. She had her back turned at him and didn't see or hear him approaching her.
Seifer moved close to the couch, kneeled down and kissed her shoulder lightly. Quistis jumped up in surprise and turned around abruptly, only to find Seifer grinning at her. She gave him a scowl at first, then a soft peck on the lips.
- "Morning… What are you doing here?" Seifer asked.
- "Rinoa called earlier." Quistis replied "Squall went to Esthar last night and got the password for the on-line Library, so that we can do some research here."
- "I see… So what are you looking for?"
- "I thought I'd start with a bit of info on Deling. I'm reading an article about him right now."
- "We'll do it together later. Right now I need some breakfast." Seifer stated, closing the lid of her laptop shut.
- "Go ahead and have some, I'll read this article and-"
- "I want company." he interrupted her, pouting his bottom lip mincingly.
Quistis grabbed both his cheeks and kissed him, then got up from the sofa mumbling something that sounded an awful lot like 'Big baby'. Seifer held her hand, grinning, and walked down to the kitchen with her. They stepped inside the cozy, luminous room, finding Edea, Fujin and Raijin already there, drinking coffee and discussing.
- "Well look who decided to finally interrupt his beauty sleep…" said Fujin sarcastically.
- "Bite me Fuj…" Seifer retorted, grabbing a seat next to Edea.
- "She's right ya know? It's 11:35 already." added Raijin.
Seifer grabbed a piece of toast and began buttering it, glaring at Raijin ominously.
- "Coffee anyone?" Edea asked, smiling.
- "I'll have some Edea, thanks." said Quistis, getting up from her seat to get a mug from the cupboard.
- "None for me, I'll just have some milk… Fucking coffee makes me stay up all night…" replied Seifer, reaching out for the big carton on the table.
- "Seifer!" Edea scolded at his cursing.
- "Sorry Matron…" Seifer said apologetically. Fujin and Raijin stifled a snigger "What's so Hyne damn funny?" Seifer asked, squeezing the carton a bit harder than appropriate. Quistis resumed her seating position and mildly removed the carton from Seifer's grip.
- "Oh nothing…" Fujin replied, trying hard to keep a straight face. Next to her Raijin had gone scarlet-faced.
- "Stop it you two." Edea told them off gently, grinning "You haven't stopped teasing Seifer the moment you got here…"
- "I guess we've just missed spending time with him, ya know?" Raijin said, going serious all of a sudden.
Seifer seemed to be caught off guard at Raijin's reply and so did everyone else. Silence overtook them for a few minutes, until Quistis decided to break the ice.
- "Rinoa had some good news about Selphie and Zell's investigation…" she said cheerfully.
- "Really? What?" asked Seifer eagerly.
- "Well, they said that the supposed murder site seemed to have some 'flaws' that didn't add up to Galbadia's story." replied Quistis.
- "What I don't understand is, why lie about it in the first place? Why does it matter where he was killed in order to frame Seifer?" asked Edea.
- "That's something that has been bugging me as well." admitted Quistis "But the good news is that we're now certain they've got something to hide…"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seifer was lying on one of the couches in the common room, his chin resting on Quistis' shoulder and his arms wrapped around her waist. She had her back resting against his chest, sitting between his spread legs, her computer lying on her lap.
- "Done?" Seifer asked her.
- "Yeah, I read it. Nothing much in here though. I don't think we'll find anything on him." Quistis replied, closing the window of the article on Zenton Deling.
- "Try that Robinson guy." suggested Seifer.
- "What's his full name?" asked Quistis.
- "Anton Robinson."
- "OK…" Quistis said, typing the name inside the search box. She hit 'search' and waited for a couple of seconds.
A quite big list of links presented itself almost immediately. The search had found about 50 results on Anton Robinson.
- "Most of them are probably newspaper clippings from the recent events." said Seifer "We're looking for older info on him…"
- "Obviously… But these links aren't categorized by date, right?" asked Quistis.
- "No, it's got to do with the tags in the website that the search engine-" began Seifer.
- "OK, OK I got it… I'll just try the first one." interrupted Quistis, annoyed that for the first time someone knew more than she did.
As expected, the first link was from a newspaper clipping about the recent release of Deling's faction from D-District prison. Quistis scrolled down the article, stopping at a picture of Robinson with a woman, right outside the Prison.
- "Is that him?" Quistis asked.
- "Yeah…" replied Seifer, his eyes narrowing.
- "That's the blonde woman we saw in the news, right?" asked Quistis. Seifer nodded "Who is she?"
- "Says right underneath the picture…" replied Seifer, leaning closer to the screen "'Anton Robinson hugging Faris Chang outside D-District prison.' Faris Chang."
- "Note that down somewhere. We'll look her up later." said Quistis, closing the window of that article.
- "I don't need to, I'll remember it." said Seifer.
- "It wouldn't hurt to write it down though, would it?" asked Quistis, glaring at him.
- "I said I'll remember it! FarisChangFarisChangFarisChangFarisChang-" began Seifer, irritating Quistis to the bone.
- "OK, fine!" she said exasperated, turning her attention to the list of links again.
Seifer grinned and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Quistis just ignored him and continued skimming through the links. Seifer kissed her again, lingering more that time, sucking on her cheek.
- "Stop it!" snapped Quistis, trying to sound aggravated, although Seifer noticed her lips upturning slightly.
- "You know you liked it." he said grinning.
- "We've got work to do…" Quistis said, changing the subject.
Seifer groaned and turned his attention back on the screen.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
- "…That was the last one." said Quistis, closing the window of the search page "So what do we have so far?"
- "Not much. We do know that he was the leader of Vinzer Deling's youth faction in his teens, fascist little bastard… That's it in a nutshell." replied Seifer.
- "Yeah… Well, I've got pretty much everything we might need saved in a folder on the desktop." said Quistis "OK, so we've done Deling, we've done Robinson… Anyone else worth looking up?"
- "No, not really. Those two are the heads of the group; I doubt any of the rest will be of any importance."
- "We should look them up though." said Quistis.
- "Well we've done a lot of work for today; we've been reading articles for almost four hours… We can look them up tomorrow."
- "I suppose you're right…" admitted Quistis, rubbing her sore eyes "Oh! I almost forgot! We said we'd look up Robinson's old girlfriend. We'll just do that and rest afterwards, OK?"
- "OK…" agreed Seifer yawning.
- "What was her name again?" asked Quistis, re-opening the search page.
- "Uhh… Wait… I think it was…" mumbled Seifer, rubbing the back of his hair. Quistis glared at him threateningly "I'm kidding! I told you I'd remember it. It's Faris Chang."
Quistis shook her head in disbelief and typed in the name, hitting 'Search'. It came up with only five results.
- "The first four are the same we found on Deling and Robinson. All from newspapers." said Seifer.
- "Yeah, you're right… I guess we only have one left then." Quistis said, squinting her eyes to make out the URL underneath the link "It says: 'www' dot 'Aidra' dot com." she added.
- "'Aidra'? What the hell is 'Aidra'?" asked Seifer.
- "Beats me." said Quistis shrugging, clicking on the link "Let's find out."
The link opened up a page in a sub-category of the main one, in which one could view Faris Chang's profile. There was a much younger picture of her there, some personal data on her, like date and location of birth, as well as another link on her 'activities'.
- "'Activities'?" asked Quistis.
- "Looks like we've stumbled upon another group." Seifer guessed "Click it."
Quistis did so and waited for the page to load. They waited… and waited and waited… Seifer grew irritated at some point and made a move to hit the 'Refresh' button. To his surprise, the computer screen seemed to have frozen.
- "What the hell?" Quistis said puzzled and tried to close the window.
Nothing. The mouse cursor wouldn't even budge. Quistis hit Ctr+Alt+Del and restarted the computer through the Task Manager. She ran a hand through her hair as the computer loaded the software and sighed.
- "That was… weird…" said Seifer, looking at her.
- "It happens to computers all the time." replied Quistis casually.
- "Yeah, but it happened right when we clicked on that link." Seifer said suspiciously.
- "Don't be ridiculous. I'm sure it had noth-" Quistis began, but never finished her sentence.
Her laptop had just finished loading the software, when a window appeared, saying that the file 'System32.exe' could not be found. Quistis frowned. She opened the search program and ran a search on the supposedly missing file. The search returned no results.
- "But I didn't erase the file!" Quistis said exasperated, opening the explorer to locate it herself.
- "Quisty, do me a favor." Seifer piped in, interrupting her "Run your anti-virus program and scan your disks."
- "What for? You don't think-"
- "Just do it." Seifer insisted.
Quistis sighed and did as she was told. They waited for a couple of seconds until a new window popped up. Quistis read it.
- "File 'C:\My Documents\Garden\Class 4B\Class Schedule.doc' infected by 'Worm P2P'" she read.
- "Told ya."
Quistis looked at the screen in awe as more and more windows popped up, informing her of infected files.
File 'C:\Program Files\Kaspersky Lab\Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal Pro\Infected\Introduction.doc' infected by 'Worm P2P'
- "WHAT?!" exclaimed Quistis.
- "Aw shit… It's even infected the anti-virus program…" Seifer said.
- "How can it do that?!" asked Quistis bewildered.
- "It's a fucking 'worm'. It'll start easing its way through every last one of your files until there's no more to destroy…" said Seifer, looking concerned.
- "And I got it merely by clicking on that link?" Quistis asked flabbergasted.
- "Obviously 'someone' doesn't want that information revealed." replied Seifer "Shut the PC down, there's nothing we can do about it."
Quistis sighed, accepting defeat and closed down her computer.
- "Well there goes everything we discovered today…" she said disappointedly.
- "That's easy to recover. We'll just tell the others to cover it." said Seifer "The real issue here is how we'll be able to research that wench Chang with that virus lurking around…"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Shizuka was sitting behind the counter at the Library, reading a book, her cheek resting against her balled fist in boredom. She took a bite off her bagel; even her immensely slow chewing betrayed her ennui. Suddenly, her cell-phone rang, making her jolt up in surprise. She picked it up and answered the call.
- "Hello? *Pause* Oh hi Quistis! How are you? *Pause* Yeah, we're all good *Pause* Sure, I'll be glad to do it! Just gimme a second to write it down." said the young brunette, reaching into her bag for a notepad and a pen "OK, shoot *Pause* Zenton Deling and Anton Robinson…" she said, scribbling it all down "What was that? *Pause* OK, Faris Chang… Alright *Pause* Aidra… Uh-huh *Pause* Why not? *Pause* What?! Seriously?! *Pause* I see… *Pause* Yeah, I'll be careful *Pause* OK, bye."
Shizuka terminated the call and immediately grabbed the phone of the Library, dialing the number to Squall's office. After a few rings, Xu answered the phone.
- "Commander Squall Leonhart's office, how may I help you?"
- "Hello Miss Xu, I'd like to talk to the Commander. Tell him Shizuka from the library is calling." Zuka said.
- "I believe he's a bit busy right now, is this urgent?" asked Xu.
- "Yes. Tell him I'm calling about the matter we discussed about last night."
- "Alright, hold on…" said Xu. Shizuka waited to get connected to Squall's office, biting her nails in anxiety.
- "Shizuka?" came Squall's voice after a few seconds.
- "Hey Squall." replied the brunette "I just got a call from Quistis about the research she and Seifer did."
- "Anything interesting?"
- "She said they didn't find much on Deling and Robinson. Only a few articles on Robinson's early activities while in Vinzer Deling fascist faction. But, they did come across something very weird…"
- "What?" asked Squall intrigued.
- "Remember that blonde woman we saw on the news hugging Robinson the other day?" she asked.
- "Yeah, what about her?"
- "Her name is Faris Chang. Turns out she's an old girlfriend of Robinson's. They did some research on her, but when they came across some site about a group she was in during her late teens, their computer 'mysteriously' got infected by a virus." narrated Shizuka.
- "Really now? How convenient… Blame it on the Internet viruses…" said Squall.
- "Indeed. So now they pretty much lost everything they came across and asked me to retrieve it and see if I can try and find anything on Chang." said Shizuka.
- "I see… Well, start working as soon as you can then. And do me a favor; call the others and tell them to meet over for lunch. We have a lot to discuss." said Squall.
- "Alright, I'll see you at lunch then. Bye." said Shizuka.
- "Bye."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A few days later…
Quistis yawned and stretched as she walked down the corridor, towards the kitchen. She walked inside, finding Edea sitting there, sipping some coffee while reading a book.
- "Good morning Quisty." said Edea, smiling at her.
- "Good morning Matron." said Quistis, sitting across her on the table "Where is everyone? I woke up and Seifer wasn't there; I'm always the one waking up first and I didn't find Fujin and Raijin anywhere…"
- "Fujin and Raijin left back for Winhill this morning." replied Edea.
- "Aw, no… I wanted to say goodbye…" said Quistis disappointed.
- "I know dear, but they had to go. They shouldn't be gone for too long, or suspicions will arise around them." said Edea.
- "What about Seifer?" asked Quistis.
- "He woke up early to say goodbye to Fujin and Raijin and then went for a walk." replied the Matron.
- "A walk? Did he say where?" asked Quistis, sipping some juice she had just poured into her glass.
- "To the cemetery."
- "What? Why?"
- "It's not my place to say. Why don't you go keep him some company?" suggested Edea "I'm sure he needs it. He'll tell you all about it there."
- "Sure, OK… Where is the cemetery?" asked Quistis.
- "Just straight down to your right from the flower field. About a five-minute walk."
- "Alright. I'll go get dressed." said Quistis getting up.
- "Just make sure you dress warmly. It's cold outside." said Edea gingerly, turning her attention back to her book.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seifer wasn't aware how long he'd been staring at the two tombstones before him. The silence of the cemetery was almost ghostly. Small marble pillars emerged from the yellowy grass, standing grimly still. In contrast to the environment, Seifer's facial features weren't stiff, but mild and relaxed; almost smiling. The chilly breeze was whipping his bare cheeks mercilessly, making his face flush from the cold. The neckline of his black trench coat was pulled up and his hands were buried inside his pockets for warmth, even though he wore his leather gloves.
A sudden sound of steps against the crispy grass made him turn around abruptly. He saw Quistis approaching him wrapped tightly inside a long brown coat, a pink woolen scarf tied around her neck, her hair caught in a loose ponytail.
- "What are you doing out in the cold kitten?" Seifer asked in concern, once she approached him.
- "Edea told me I'd find you here." replied Quistis, wrapping her arm around his "Why are you here?" she asked.
Seifer didn't reply, just pointed at the two tombstones he'd been staring at for hours. Quistis turned her gaze towards what he was showing her. Her eyes widened.
Here lies Gabriel Almasy,
beloved husband and father
1960 – 1997
And right next to that…
Here lies Grace Almasy,
beloved wife and mother
1962 – 1997
Quistis didn't know what to say; she'd always been under the impression that Seifer had lost his parents in a car crash when he was only five and then came to the orphanage. But the dates didn't match. The tombstones said that his parents had died when he was… twelve?
- "But…" Quistis mumbled "I… I thought that…"
- "Yeah I know…" said Seifer calmly "You all knew that my parents had died in a car crash much earlier. I did too."
- "But, that means-"
- "That I wasn't raised by my real parents, yeah. Thank Hyne…" he said, chuckling nervously.
Quistis tightened her grasp on Seifer's hand in comfort. After being together for some time, he had revealed to her that he had hated his parents. Or as it turned out the people he thought were his parents. His father was always drunk and his mother just didn't give a damn. She wasn't around much anyway. The day they both died she had told her husband she was leaving him to go live with someone else. Seifer had overheard her talking about it with him on the phone. When they went out together that evening, Seifer knew his father would come back alone. Or worse, they'd both come back and fight relentlessly like they always did. He was wrong though; none of them ever came back. Seifer always supposed that his father crashed the car –either purposely or by accident- while driving drunk out of his mind.
- "Edea told me the whole story…" Seifer said suddenly, his voice barely above a whisper "She didn't know at first either. Apparently, my real parents had to give me up when I was only a few months old because my father was involved in the war. They had to be on the run all the time and they didn't want to risk my life. They gave me up for adoption to my father's brother and the rest is, well… history."
- "But why didn't your step-parents tell you the truth?" asked Quistis softly.
- "I guess they wanted to protect my father. Probably the only good deed they ever did…"
- "So… how did your real parents die?" Quistis asked hesitantly.
- "Edea says they were captured a few years before the war ended and were kept imprisoned for years, until they tried to escape. They didn't make it too far…"
Quistis hugged Seifer's arm even tighter, resting her head onto his shoulder.
- "I feel terrible for saying this, but… I'm glad they died during the war." Seifer said.
- "Why?"
- "Well…" Seifer began, looking at the ground guiltily "When I came here, all of you were the orphans of war heroes. Your parents had either been forced to give you up, or they had died for a noble cause. And me… I was just this kid whose parents were scumbags that died drunk in a car crash. It made me so Hyne damn jealous… I hated it. And I always feared I'd end up becoming like my parents; a worthless loser who either drank or screwed anything that moved to pass the time…"
Quistis let go of Seifer's arm and hugged him tightly from the waist.
- "You're really stupid, you know that?" she said, half-furious, half-sad.
Seifer grinned awkwardly and wrapped his arms around her, resting his head against hers. He closed his eyes and sighed.
- "I feel like my life is finally piecing itself back in place… I'm getting 'reunited' with the people I love most…" he mumbled "Although I can't say I love my parents since I've practically never met them, it feels good to know they didn't want to give me up. Makes me like them at the very least…" he said chuckling. Quistis laughed as well "And then there's you…"
- "What do you mean 'me'?" Quistis asked raising her gaze up at him "You always had me."
- "True, but I didn't really have you until recently…" he said meaningfully.
- "But now you do…" she replied smiling at him.
- "Yeah I do… I have you…"
- "We have each other." she corrected him.
- "Yeah…" Seifer said, running his fingers through a stray lock that hung down her face "Tell you what; when all this is over we'll leave everything behind." he said suddenly.
- "And go where?" Quistis asked grinning.
- "I dunno, just away from it all. Only the two of us. Start a life together." he said. Quistis laughed.
- "And were do you suggest we go?"
- "I was thinking… a house by the sea, quiet, secluded… So that no-one bothers us and we can live in peace."
- "You think?" Quistis asked smiling; she didn't know if he was serious or joking around.
- "Yeah, it'd be great… Maybe a place outside Balamb, so you can see you annoying friends from time to time if you want to…" Seifer said smirking. Quistis laughed again.
- "My 'annoying friends'? I thought they were yours too…"
- "Sure, whatever… So… What do you say?" he asked.
- "Are you serious?"
- "Of course I am. What, you think I'd be messing with you for something like this?" he said, sounding a bit offended.
- "OK…" said Quistis nodding, not believing she was agreeing to this "Yeah, let's do it… Let's go away…"
- "You mean it?" Seifer asked smiling. Quistis nodded "Just like I dreamed it. Me… you… and the sunset…"
- "Promise?" asked Quistis. Seifer leaned close to her.
- "Promise." he whispered, brushing his lips against hers.
A/N: I wanna say a couple of things here too…
The whole virus thingy is completely based on a recent personal experience… Uh-huh… Damned worm forced me to do a frickin' format…
I know the last scene was on the mushy edge, but I thought it was really 'AW!' so I wrote it.
Last: The first person who can tell me where we can find the 'pairing' Gabriel-Grace (from which Seifer's parents' names came from) gets to appear as an extra on this story :-p
ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF 'THE BEGINNING, IS THE END, IS THE BEGINNING':
Selphie and Irvine interrogate witnesses in Deling…