Chapter 37
Sifan Leonhart yawned, watching the digits on the small travel clock show 11:00 P.M.
[Where the hell is she...?]
He threw himself off his bed and almost immediately, his stomach began to make quaking noises. Sifan flinched. Trex and Marlene were both exhausted from the day's travel and they had immediately dozed off in their rooms after dinner. Sifan however hadn't joined them for dinner despite the fact that he hadn't eaten three times straight. He had spent the previous night inside a jail cell without dinner. He was too busy sleeping in the morning to eat. The afternoon, he had simply sat on his bed, reading magazines although the only one he had found interesting was the one about Orion. But as he stood there gazing at the clock, his stomach had given up waiting. It was rumbling louder than an active volcano, sending painful peristaltic vibrations all over his body.
Sifan walked out of his room and was about to close the door when he saw Phillona come up the stairs, a mixed expression on her face. When she saw Sifan, she quickly turned to her door. She grew even more frustrated when the door refused to open. She was too caught up with something in her mind to notice she was turning the key in the wrong direction.
Sifan walked up to her but the moment he came a few feet nearer, she let out a feverish scowl, "SIFAN! Stay AWAY!"
[What's with HER?]
"Something wrong?" Sifan asked as he watched Phillona trying to open the door, apparently too nervous to turn the key the right way.
"Nothings wrong..." she muttered to him, without looking up from the door.
"Let me help you with that..." Sifan said and walked over to her. She took a large step back when Sifan came near her. He gently turned the key and pushed open her door.
She smiled nervously and rushed past Sifan. She stormed into her room, turned around immediately and almost banged the door shut on Sifan's face when Sifan interrupted, "Hey...you ok?"
"I am fine..." she said watching the ground with restless eyes.
"Well you don't look so-"
"I SAID I AM FINE DAMMIT!" came the irate reply, "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Are you su-"
"I AM FINE FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Phillona snapped, "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?"
"Er..." Sifan rubbed the back of his neck, "Well ...uh...I am going out to the restaurant across the street for dinner...and ...uh..."
"NO I AM NOT COMING WITH YOU!" She reacted almost immediately.
"Geez, relax..." Sifan said calmly, "I wasn't inviting you either-"
"ARGH!" she screamed and slammed the door shut on his face. Sifan stared at her door for a while, scratching his head.
[Sigh...Women...]
Deciding he would tell Phillona about Trex and Marlene's arrival later, he walked away to the inn's exit, hoping he would find a restaurant that can make his growling stomach shut up.
*************************
The door in Professor Lorenz's office slid open and Relafen Almasy lethargically walked in. Lorenz eyed him through his glasses for a while and stood up. He did his best to stay composed but failed miserably.
"You idiot..." Lorenz spat in Relafen's face, "Do you frickin' realize...what you did when you lost that container..."
"Let's see..." Relafen hummed, "I cost you some lousy money you looted from the people anyway..."
Lorenz snickered, more out of anger than out of pleasure, "You think your frickin' funny, dontcha commander?"
Relafen didn't reply, he just grit his teeth. It was bad enough Phillona threw everything back in his face, and now Lorenz was mad at him for losing the container.
Lorenz cleared his throat, "Where did it happen...?"
"Somewhere over Gondola village..." Relafen replied.
"At what altitude...?"
"Not very high...I'd say about 100 feet above ground level..."
"Well, good..." Lorenz replied, "I don't care how you do it but yer bringing it back...in a couple of days..."
"What if I don't Lorenz...?" Relafen said calmly.
"Then you can kiss your post goodbye..." Lorenz said turning his back to Relafen, "I am the only guy around here who knew you helped that Mideel Resistance leader get away in the golden saucer, pushed one of our own men into prison, and when you got the resistance twerps back to Mideel, you were actually one of the Reasons why Shin-RA couldn't take Mideel without blowing it up ...If I tell the president about this 'helping hand' of yours...you're as good as gone, commander..."
Relafen's fist tightened. His anger shot up fueled by hurt...all the things he did for Phillona were now working against him. And how did it actually matter? It never did...She didn't even want to SPEAK of a relationship with him.
"Have a cigar commander..." Lorenz said handing him a gold-ringed cigar.
Relafen slapped it out of his head and marched out of the door.
***************************
Sifan Leonhart's stomach had calmed down after a few large bites of the burger. When a few people looked at him strangely, he shot a drop-dead look at them and carried on with his burger. However, he felt his appetite almost disappear when he saw Setzin appear at the doorway. Their last encounter at the omega caves wasn't very friendly, and Sifan only knew that too well. Setzin, as usual, with his one eye, surveyed the room and took a table at the far shadowy end of the restaurant.
[Not very social, is he? ... Not that I have any right to talk anyway...]
Setzin didn't see him and after a waiter hesitantly approached him, he ordered something and sat back, thinking of something. Sifan turned his attention back to his burger. He lifted it to his mouth and was about to take another bite, when he saw Phillona walk in through the door.
[Setzin, and then Phillona, great...it just keeps on getting better...]
She saw Sifan at his table though he did his best to hide behind his burger. Unfortunately, most of the burger was inside his stomach and hence, it wasn't that much of a hiding place. Phillona walked down to his table.
She sat down, not looking all that happy.
"DON'T ASK ME WHY I CAME!" She snapped.
Sifan didn't bother trying to understand Phillona. He continued nibbling on his burger.
"ARENT YOU GONNA ASK ME WHY I CAME!?" She babbled.
Sifan nodded, "Hungry?"
Phillona rubbed the back of her neck, "Uh...OF COURSE NOT...I CAME TO TELL YOU THAT YOU ARE SUCH A...SUCH AN.... IDIOT, SIFAN LEONHART! AND I REALLY HATE YOU!!!"
Sifan snickered, "I still think you're hungry..."
She sunk her head into her hands, "Damn you Sifan Leonhart...."
Sifan whistled, "So what do you want...a drink maybe?"
She nodded reluctantly.
"So tell me..." Sifan said after making the order, "How was Relafen...?"
"Uh...RELAFEN WAS CHARMING!" She shot up again, "I think I am in Love...er...with him...."
"Really?" Sifan said as the waiter placed Phillona's drink on the table, "Wow...that means you two can date for a while, get to know each other, get married, have kids, and-"
"SHUT UP!" She flared up again, "I AM GONNA KNOCK YOU OUT RIGHT HERE, SIFAN LEONHART!"
[Man...she's all fired up today...]
"I don't mind it but..." Sifan said wiping his mouth with a tissue, "...if you keep shouting like that, they're gonna chuck you out...its closing time anyway..."
Phillona muttered something that sounded like curses and hexes aimed at Sifan.
[Hmmm...something tells me her date didn't go out too well...]
{It's called common sense, you idiot...}
Sifan dug his pockets for some money and placed it on the bill the waiter had brought. He watched Phillona trying her best not to look up from her drink into Sifan's eyes. After a few minutes, eventually, Phillona finished her drink and shot up, "Goodnight, I'll be off now..."
She stormed off to the exit and left the restaurant. As Sifan lazily strolled to the exit, he saw Setzin glare at him. Sifan wasn't very sleepy. He inched his way to Setzin's table.
"Poachy..." Sifan hummed, "How ya doin...?"
"Get lost kid..." Setzin muttered taking a draught of the wine on his table, "I am drunk...believe me, you don't wanna piss me off..."
Sifan sighed.
[Ah well...better leave him alone...]
He shrugged to Setzin and sauntered to the exit. Outside, he saw a trembling Phillona hugging herself, "G-Geez...it's cold out here..."
Sifan remembered reading in the magazine that Aquadia used large Slits on the dome to blast out cold air, which stimulated natural wind-movement almost perfectly. Mostly because a large number of people enjoyed cold winds.
Sifan saw Phillona and smiled...
[...I don't think SHE'S enjoying it though...]
"I thought you were going back to the inn..." he said as he walked up to her.
"DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, I LL DO WHAT I WANT..." She snapped as the two of them walked away to their inn.
After a few minutes of only the cold wind howling and making them shiver, Phillona said something with a trembling voice, "IHY HATBE BYOU..."
Sifan removed the coat he was wearing and wrapped it around Phillona's tender shoulders. She looked back at him but didn't say anything.
"You were telling...?"
"Uh..." Phillona mumbled rubbing her hands and pulling Sifan's coat around her for warmth, "Er...well...you really must feel I hate you or something huh...?"
"Not really..." Sifan said as the wind whistled loudly.
"Damn..." she muttered under her breath. She had failed. She had failed at her attempt to hate him and destroy any of the feelings inside her that told her she liked Sifan in a special way. Instead, it only made it feel even more obvious that Sifan was becoming someone special to her. But she didn't want to tell him any of it, at least not yet. She wanted to know Sifan deep inside...she wanted to travel the depths of his mind and see the place where he stored all this thoughts, feelings and emotions...
But she knew that he had built a steel barrier near the bottom of his heart. Even if he DID FEEL anything from the bottom of his heart, he never showed it...only because the barrier prevented it from surfacing... Phillona wanted be break that barrier...she wanted to be that someone who can touch that deep, undisturbed part of him...
Soon, Sifan and Phillona found themselves in front of Phillona's room. She opened the door properly this time, and turned around to Sifan.
"Uh..." Sifan said, forgetting to tell Phillona about Trex and Marlene's arrival, "So we'll leave to Lichita hills in the morning?"
"Yeah..." she replied.
The both of them stayed silent for a while, staring at each other's eyes.
Sifan looked away first, pretending he had seen a cat.
"Seef...?" She said quietly.
"Hmmm?"
"I am not in love with Relafen...I was lying..."
"You're not...?"
Phillona shook her head.
(I am in love with you...)
**********************
_-------------------------------------------------------------
From the author: oh by the way () means Phillona's thoughts...[] is Sifan's and {} is Lyris talking...
Sorry for the short chap.... don't worry I am not going to rant and rave like I usually do.... well.... cudnt make this the Lichita hills chapter as I have another attack of writers block (you guessed it)...so I can write only fluffy and funny stuff if I have writers block...WHICH I cant DO when I DON'T have writers block...so you can jus say I am taking...advantage of the...er...situation.
So well...remember 8 revs...flame me if u want jus get 8 or more revs out there...I got 15 for the last chap (wow)...anyway....please do that...and next few chapters are gonna knock you out...believe me....
And ah blue strife... **tosses cigar* "Enjoy..."
And the Araken_Halen dude: Hey...I carried out my end of the deal...it's your turn....
And Aki Kitsune: yeah we can be friends if you want ^_^
Well jus one small favor: please give my fic a rating out of 10... please judge on 3 things. 1:characters, 2:Plot, 3:conversations...
oh by the way: i got a pic of Phillona up...she looks a lot like Tifa...but heck..shes supposed to...
Thank ya guys.... next chap coming up reely soon...cheers till then....
Hey Whaddaya know,....I DID END up ranting and raving like I usually do...
Sifan Leonhart yawned, watching the digits on the small travel clock show 11:00 P.M.
[Where the hell is she...?]
He threw himself off his bed and almost immediately, his stomach began to make quaking noises. Sifan flinched. Trex and Marlene were both exhausted from the day's travel and they had immediately dozed off in their rooms after dinner. Sifan however hadn't joined them for dinner despite the fact that he hadn't eaten three times straight. He had spent the previous night inside a jail cell without dinner. He was too busy sleeping in the morning to eat. The afternoon, he had simply sat on his bed, reading magazines although the only one he had found interesting was the one about Orion. But as he stood there gazing at the clock, his stomach had given up waiting. It was rumbling louder than an active volcano, sending painful peristaltic vibrations all over his body.
Sifan walked out of his room and was about to close the door when he saw Phillona come up the stairs, a mixed expression on her face. When she saw Sifan, she quickly turned to her door. She grew even more frustrated when the door refused to open. She was too caught up with something in her mind to notice she was turning the key in the wrong direction.
Sifan walked up to her but the moment he came a few feet nearer, she let out a feverish scowl, "SIFAN! Stay AWAY!"
[What's with HER?]
"Something wrong?" Sifan asked as he watched Phillona trying to open the door, apparently too nervous to turn the key the right way.
"Nothings wrong..." she muttered to him, without looking up from the door.
"Let me help you with that..." Sifan said and walked over to her. She took a large step back when Sifan came near her. He gently turned the key and pushed open her door.
She smiled nervously and rushed past Sifan. She stormed into her room, turned around immediately and almost banged the door shut on Sifan's face when Sifan interrupted, "Hey...you ok?"
"I am fine..." she said watching the ground with restless eyes.
"Well you don't look so-"
"I SAID I AM FINE DAMMIT!" came the irate reply, "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Are you su-"
"I AM FINE FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Phillona snapped, "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?"
"Er..." Sifan rubbed the back of his neck, "Well ...uh...I am going out to the restaurant across the street for dinner...and ...uh..."
"NO I AM NOT COMING WITH YOU!" She reacted almost immediately.
"Geez, relax..." Sifan said calmly, "I wasn't inviting you either-"
"ARGH!" she screamed and slammed the door shut on his face. Sifan stared at her door for a while, scratching his head.
[Sigh...Women...]
Deciding he would tell Phillona about Trex and Marlene's arrival later, he walked away to the inn's exit, hoping he would find a restaurant that can make his growling stomach shut up.
*************************
The door in Professor Lorenz's office slid open and Relafen Almasy lethargically walked in. Lorenz eyed him through his glasses for a while and stood up. He did his best to stay composed but failed miserably.
"You idiot..." Lorenz spat in Relafen's face, "Do you frickin' realize...what you did when you lost that container..."
"Let's see..." Relafen hummed, "I cost you some lousy money you looted from the people anyway..."
Lorenz snickered, more out of anger than out of pleasure, "You think your frickin' funny, dontcha commander?"
Relafen didn't reply, he just grit his teeth. It was bad enough Phillona threw everything back in his face, and now Lorenz was mad at him for losing the container.
Lorenz cleared his throat, "Where did it happen...?"
"Somewhere over Gondola village..." Relafen replied.
"At what altitude...?"
"Not very high...I'd say about 100 feet above ground level..."
"Well, good..." Lorenz replied, "I don't care how you do it but yer bringing it back...in a couple of days..."
"What if I don't Lorenz...?" Relafen said calmly.
"Then you can kiss your post goodbye..." Lorenz said turning his back to Relafen, "I am the only guy around here who knew you helped that Mideel Resistance leader get away in the golden saucer, pushed one of our own men into prison, and when you got the resistance twerps back to Mideel, you were actually one of the Reasons why Shin-RA couldn't take Mideel without blowing it up ...If I tell the president about this 'helping hand' of yours...you're as good as gone, commander..."
Relafen's fist tightened. His anger shot up fueled by hurt...all the things he did for Phillona were now working against him. And how did it actually matter? It never did...She didn't even want to SPEAK of a relationship with him.
"Have a cigar commander..." Lorenz said handing him a gold-ringed cigar.
Relafen slapped it out of his head and marched out of the door.
***************************
Sifan Leonhart's stomach had calmed down after a few large bites of the burger. When a few people looked at him strangely, he shot a drop-dead look at them and carried on with his burger. However, he felt his appetite almost disappear when he saw Setzin appear at the doorway. Their last encounter at the omega caves wasn't very friendly, and Sifan only knew that too well. Setzin, as usual, with his one eye, surveyed the room and took a table at the far shadowy end of the restaurant.
[Not very social, is he? ... Not that I have any right to talk anyway...]
Setzin didn't see him and after a waiter hesitantly approached him, he ordered something and sat back, thinking of something. Sifan turned his attention back to his burger. He lifted it to his mouth and was about to take another bite, when he saw Phillona walk in through the door.
[Setzin, and then Phillona, great...it just keeps on getting better...]
She saw Sifan at his table though he did his best to hide behind his burger. Unfortunately, most of the burger was inside his stomach and hence, it wasn't that much of a hiding place. Phillona walked down to his table.
She sat down, not looking all that happy.
"DON'T ASK ME WHY I CAME!" She snapped.
Sifan didn't bother trying to understand Phillona. He continued nibbling on his burger.
"ARENT YOU GONNA ASK ME WHY I CAME!?" She babbled.
Sifan nodded, "Hungry?"
Phillona rubbed the back of her neck, "Uh...OF COURSE NOT...I CAME TO TELL YOU THAT YOU ARE SUCH A...SUCH AN.... IDIOT, SIFAN LEONHART! AND I REALLY HATE YOU!!!"
Sifan snickered, "I still think you're hungry..."
She sunk her head into her hands, "Damn you Sifan Leonhart...."
Sifan whistled, "So what do you want...a drink maybe?"
She nodded reluctantly.
"So tell me..." Sifan said after making the order, "How was Relafen...?"
"Uh...RELAFEN WAS CHARMING!" She shot up again, "I think I am in Love...er...with him...."
"Really?" Sifan said as the waiter placed Phillona's drink on the table, "Wow...that means you two can date for a while, get to know each other, get married, have kids, and-"
"SHUT UP!" She flared up again, "I AM GONNA KNOCK YOU OUT RIGHT HERE, SIFAN LEONHART!"
[Man...she's all fired up today...]
"I don't mind it but..." Sifan said wiping his mouth with a tissue, "...if you keep shouting like that, they're gonna chuck you out...its closing time anyway..."
Phillona muttered something that sounded like curses and hexes aimed at Sifan.
[Hmmm...something tells me her date didn't go out too well...]
{It's called common sense, you idiot...}
Sifan dug his pockets for some money and placed it on the bill the waiter had brought. He watched Phillona trying her best not to look up from her drink into Sifan's eyes. After a few minutes, eventually, Phillona finished her drink and shot up, "Goodnight, I'll be off now..."
She stormed off to the exit and left the restaurant. As Sifan lazily strolled to the exit, he saw Setzin glare at him. Sifan wasn't very sleepy. He inched his way to Setzin's table.
"Poachy..." Sifan hummed, "How ya doin...?"
"Get lost kid..." Setzin muttered taking a draught of the wine on his table, "I am drunk...believe me, you don't wanna piss me off..."
Sifan sighed.
[Ah well...better leave him alone...]
He shrugged to Setzin and sauntered to the exit. Outside, he saw a trembling Phillona hugging herself, "G-Geez...it's cold out here..."
Sifan remembered reading in the magazine that Aquadia used large Slits on the dome to blast out cold air, which stimulated natural wind-movement almost perfectly. Mostly because a large number of people enjoyed cold winds.
Sifan saw Phillona and smiled...
[...I don't think SHE'S enjoying it though...]
"I thought you were going back to the inn..." he said as he walked up to her.
"DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, I LL DO WHAT I WANT..." She snapped as the two of them walked away to their inn.
After a few minutes of only the cold wind howling and making them shiver, Phillona said something with a trembling voice, "IHY HATBE BYOU..."
Sifan removed the coat he was wearing and wrapped it around Phillona's tender shoulders. She looked back at him but didn't say anything.
"You were telling...?"
"Uh..." Phillona mumbled rubbing her hands and pulling Sifan's coat around her for warmth, "Er...well...you really must feel I hate you or something huh...?"
"Not really..." Sifan said as the wind whistled loudly.
"Damn..." she muttered under her breath. She had failed. She had failed at her attempt to hate him and destroy any of the feelings inside her that told her she liked Sifan in a special way. Instead, it only made it feel even more obvious that Sifan was becoming someone special to her. But she didn't want to tell him any of it, at least not yet. She wanted to know Sifan deep inside...she wanted to travel the depths of his mind and see the place where he stored all this thoughts, feelings and emotions...
But she knew that he had built a steel barrier near the bottom of his heart. Even if he DID FEEL anything from the bottom of his heart, he never showed it...only because the barrier prevented it from surfacing... Phillona wanted be break that barrier...she wanted to be that someone who can touch that deep, undisturbed part of him...
Soon, Sifan and Phillona found themselves in front of Phillona's room. She opened the door properly this time, and turned around to Sifan.
"Uh..." Sifan said, forgetting to tell Phillona about Trex and Marlene's arrival, "So we'll leave to Lichita hills in the morning?"
"Yeah..." she replied.
The both of them stayed silent for a while, staring at each other's eyes.
Sifan looked away first, pretending he had seen a cat.
"Seef...?" She said quietly.
"Hmmm?"
"I am not in love with Relafen...I was lying..."
"You're not...?"
Phillona shook her head.
(I am in love with you...)
**********************
_-------------------------------------------------------------
From the author: oh by the way () means Phillona's thoughts...[] is Sifan's and {} is Lyris talking...
Sorry for the short chap.... don't worry I am not going to rant and rave like I usually do.... well.... cudnt make this the Lichita hills chapter as I have another attack of writers block (you guessed it)...so I can write only fluffy and funny stuff if I have writers block...WHICH I cant DO when I DON'T have writers block...so you can jus say I am taking...advantage of the...er...situation.
So well...remember 8 revs...flame me if u want jus get 8 or more revs out there...I got 15 for the last chap (wow)...anyway....please do that...and next few chapters are gonna knock you out...believe me....
And ah blue strife... **tosses cigar* "Enjoy..."
And the Araken_Halen dude: Hey...I carried out my end of the deal...it's your turn....
And Aki Kitsune: yeah we can be friends if you want ^_^
Well jus one small favor: please give my fic a rating out of 10... please judge on 3 things. 1:characters, 2:Plot, 3:conversations...
oh by the way: i got a pic of Phillona up...she looks a lot like Tifa...but heck..shes supposed to...
Thank ya guys.... next chap coming up reely soon...cheers till then....
Hey Whaddaya know,....I DID END up ranting and raving like I usually do...