Xu stared with the same sort of unique detachment one can sometimes achieve so early in the morning at the Chief of Security. He retrieved the files she had retrieved for him silently, without aforethought. She continued to watch as though a dichotomy of influences captured her mind and warred over the ability to make use of it. Seifer noticed when he finally straightened the files and arranged them in an orderly fashion inside his briefcase and flashed her a sideways glance.
"So, something on your mind, or do you just see something you like?" His voice was filled with tired laughter and he snapped his case shut. Xu regained her attention at once, glaring at the invader in her office. "You don't have to hide your feelings about me, Sugar. I know you can't get enough of an eyeful." He winked.
"Hiding my feelings for you Almasy, has probably saved my job and your ass on a number of occasions." She spat out the words with her own vintage of undistilled venom.
Seifer stopped short of making his leave quite yet and turned around. "Well, you don't need to worry about that anymore: I've repealed the rules for intra and inter faculty relationships in Garden… I'll bet I can think of some better uses for that desk than a paperwork surface." He pointed to the aforementioned furniture piece.
"Don't make me gag, lap-dog. Shouldn't you be out ending the careers and destroying the dreams of some more undeserving heroes?" She made a shooing motion with her hands, just as though she was dealing with a despicable lower life form. He slowly shut the door and faced her with the same speed, an oppressive grimace showcased on his face.
The malice in his slow step that stalked in his forward angled and menacing path was just as evident as it was in his rasping voice. "Just what are you insinuating, Xu?" He came ever closer, form bearing down upon her with blinding anger that shadowed her. His steel plated boots finally came to a stop just a few inches from her bare feet, echoing impacts in the small room. Breathing deeply, he merely stood there in front of her while she masked whatever fear she may have possessed with a persistent scowl.
"Oh, forgive me. You're working on doing another one over again, just to add to the agony, I forgot." When she looked up to meet his gaze, she found it absent, and saw that the white-hot cross that was emblazoned to his chest was still burned into her retinas. The lock of blonde that fell over his eyes held them tightly shut as his staggering breaths burnt her. Xu kept frowning though, even as he whipped around so fast that his trench coat floated eerily behind him, stopping in midair to brush her balled fist. The quiet clicking of the shutting door startled her.
Having returned to the office, he found Dr. Kadowaki still perusing through the information he had left. Seifer sat back down and shifted through the expanded records he just obtained. When Fujin and Raijin came along to assist at about 0600 the subject thoroughly flooded their minds and with their combined strengths they were able to eliminate a certain number of causes not previously considered. The group continued to work until Kadowaki was forced by obligation to check up on her patients. She excused herself.
Seifer stopped his studies abruptly when she left and promptly downed the last of Raijin's drinks, growing still more exhausted with each passing minute. He turned to his friend and stated. "I want you to destroy the video."
Both Raijin and Fujin were taken aback by his words. "What d'ya mean boss? That's the only evidence we have on this guy." Fujin silently agreed.
"I know." He sighed. "But if there's any chance that she, or anyone else for that matter, could see it, I don't want it around." He didn't elaborate on his reasoning and they never asked him to do so. Seifer dismissed them, indicating that he was through with the case at least for the time being, and moved to lie down upon the hard waiting room chairs. Placing his forearm over his eyes, he made a vain attempt at sleep, for just before drifting off the doctor returned.
"She'd like to see you now." The doctor stated as Seifer brought himself back into a sitting position and slouched forward, facing the floor for a moment.
He didn't look up. "How's she doing?"
"She's almost fully recovered… But her memory shows no signs of returning. It could stay like this forever or come back tomorrow, but I think it's best if we leave the recollecting to her alone." Seifer nodded, then rose.
"What about her, uh… male reservations?"
"I don't know Mr. Almasy, I don't know. If her memory doesn't return, then we can attempt a type of therapy to help her feel more comfortable around men again, after about a week or so."
Standing up, he made his way down the hospital corridor, looking to the left and right for the room his instructor was placed in. When he saw a clipboard that read the name Quistis Trepe he rapped on the door lightly with the back of his knuckles. A voice bade him to enter.
Quistis lay upon the narrow infirmary bed, equipment monitoring her heart rate and blood pressure constantly. Some color had returned to her once exceedingly pallid features and she appeared more aware and cognizant than earlier. He met her still de-spectacled gaze at the doorway. Though she seemed to struggle to recognize his form, she gestured for him to have a seat at the bedside stool, and he respected her wish at a measurable distance. He cleared his drying throat.
"So, you feeling better?" He watched her intently. It was very strange to see fully her face without glasses and hair down. When she nodded her hair fell down over her eyes, frustrating her somewhat. Seifer smirked.
"Yes, I'm feeling quite a bit better…" She noticed his smirk and mistakes it for a much larger smile in her impaired eyesight. "What? Do you think I look better like this?" He laughed, much more richly than his current situation should have warranted or allowed and shook his head.
"No, I like your old style. It's… sexy, in a schoolmarmish kind of way." He attributed her lack of a blush to her low blood pressure not any lacking of thought about his comment. The rays of the rising sun were beginning to filter through the room's Venetian blinds, pin striping Seifer with bright light and shadow. It would both blind him and leave him in relief during the next few minutes.
She looked straight to him, gaze shifting between each of his eyes. "Tell me what happened. Why am I here?" Ah, the loaded question…She frowned gently in her confusion.
"Well, while you were helping your student, he decided to drug you." He answered simply. She latched onto her bottom lip and faced forward, as though she was facing a reprimand that she herself was used to giving.
"How?"
Seifer exhaled sharply. "He put an overdose of an undetectable sedative in your coffee."
The light was making him narrow his eyes again when she looked up. "Oh. Where'd he find it? Where is he?"
"We don't know where he bought it or found it… Right now he's down the hall a ways. Still unconscious." He shrugged and looked away from the light.
"Unconscious? Why is he unconscious?"
"I almost killed the bastard." Seifer's answer was almost as dry as his throat.
Her eyes widened with sudden realization under her wrinkled forehead. "Wait. How did you know what happened to me? Who the student was?" He could only face directly forward for quite some time.
"Raijin saw what was happening on the camera I ordered installed in your suite… Then I came inside to see if you were all right and I beat the son of a bitch."
Dead silence. The air in the room was just as sterile as the surfaces. Quistis took her gaze over to the opposite side of her bed and Seifer to his palms. "How long have you been spying on me?"
"A few days. Look, I couldn't tell you before, but this is all for a mission I was given. After I found out about the Trepies I knew that I needed to keep an eye on you at virtually all times…" He couldn't see her face. She wouldn't see his.
Quistis loosed a deep sigh. "I don't need to be baby-sat." She did not sound as angry as she may have been. It was more of a resigned protest.
"Are you saying I was wrong then? Were you completely safe this whole time? You could have fooled me, Trepe, because I think that if it weren't for me you'd be in much worse shape right now." Seifer's return was cold and without emotion. She settled further into her pillow, words becoming clearer and yet more muffled as she did.
She breathed deeply for a while, watching the rhythm of her beating heart, and seeing her pressure rise. "Cid… Must have little trust in me to send you to 'watch over me.' I've already lost the respect of my students no matter what you try to make it sound like… What's next? The faculty? My friends?" He looked on as she choked back further words or maybe a silent sob. "…And you... You still probably think I'm still the same 'mediocre instructor' that you used to, don't you?" Her words now made the air particularly bitter.
His eyebrows folded together in confusion and concern. "Is that what this is about? Respect? Well don't worry, o Almighty Queen, who happened to be saved by her most lowly and errant student in a time of false need; no one will know of your little secret, not even Cid. The doctor and I are bound to confidentiality. So don't worry your pretty little head that if not for 'you' would not still be attached to your body… I, we, always thought better of you than to live like this…"
"You mean living for others? Of course you wouldn't understand. Being selfless in - "
" – Living only for the esteem of others isn't selfless; it's selfish. You only live for yourself." He spat. "I can understand when people choose to place honor before their lives, marking them as martyrs or nobles, but what you value more than your life marks you nothing more than a fool." Seifer stopped. "You're still my favorite instructor though, just because you can teach by what example not to follow."
Her eyes finally turned to meet his again, blue but rimmed with marring red. "Get out." She stated simply and he stood to open the door.
"You're welcome, by the way. Pleasure saving your life." Seifer's voice was sugar sweet when he turned to speak one last time.
"Get out!" He shut the door behind him on his way back into the hall.
The heavy footfalls of his steel plated boots sent echoes that reverberated down the corridor. These actions caused them to land heavily on his shoulders, weighing down on his mind.
When Seifer reached his office again he found Fujin and Raijin waiting for him. They had all of the materials ready for the meeting scheduled for a half-hour later. Seifer sat at his empty desk and turned to his refrigerator, extracting a bottle of gin and three small low-ball glasses. He poured them full and gave two to his friends. "I know I'm going to need it… Did you destroy the video?"
"AFFIRMATIVE." Seifer nodded when he lifted his glass and the Posse followed suit, quickly downing the contents of their drinks. Raijin stared outside one of the large windows at the rising sun.
"Have we gone over everything that we need to, ya know?" He started to shift through the files again.
"Yes." Seifer started. "The problem is strictly student related and immediate steps need to be taken to remove the problematic ones. Quistis is a fine teacher, and her students in few ways, reflect on her abilities. That's our story. Let's go." They all rose and started for the basement floor, refurbished as a meeting hall for the faculty and board of trustees. Walking lamely, wearily, they found the elevator. Not her fault… Not her fault… Not her fault…
When they stepped off of the elevator, they found the trustees and the Headmaster seated and waiting for them. Cid motioned for them to be seated. "Alright everyone. I think we can get this started a little early since everyone is present." Cid cleared his throat as the Posse organized all of the files and statistics, doctor's reports and diagnoses, case studies and records on the table efficiently. "Concerning the instructorship of number 14 Quistis Trepe, what do you recommend?"
Seifer stood and delivered his verdict. "Concerning the instructorship of number 14 Quistis Trepe, it is the recommendation of this council that she be relieved of all duties pertaining to her current position as faculty." He was prepared to go on further, but Cid stopped him.
"The council's recommendation is so noted, Chief Almasy, but if you'll pardon my doing so I'm going to postpone the revealing of the council's reasoning as the subject will be restricted to the infirmary through tomorrow and that the council looks nearly as comatose as she." The headmaster smiled in understanding and unspoken thanks. "This meeting will resume tomorrow at 0700. Dismissed."
"Yes sir." Came a chorus of salutes and goodbyes. Everyone gathered their materials and returned from whence they came.