One Good Deed
By Caelia
Chapter Two: taking out the trash
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Skyeli Paige tripped and fell at the end of the dorm corridor heading away from the central circle. Letting out sigh, she adjusted herself so she was kneeling and went about the process of gathering all her scattered belongings. Anyone who stumbled on her at that moment would have thought her as messy as any of her belongings strewn on the floor. Her dark brown hair was pulled in to a braid that had little frizzes sticky out all over the place. Her standard issue cadet uniform was wrinkled and there was a slight stain in the corner of her skirt.
It was the Friday before a long weekend and most of the students were planning on going home. Skyeli wouldn't be going home this weekend, and from the look of things, she figured it would be a while before she got back to her mother's small house outside of Deling City. Her roommate Reiko would just figure that she was going to spend the weekend studying for the SeeD exam the two were signed up for in two weeks.
Her parents had lived in Galbadia all their lives, growing up in and around Deling City. Skyeli had lived with them until the age of seven when she was sent to the Garden in Balamb. Although her parents were lifelong citizens of Galbadia, they saw the government change for the worst at the beginning of Dictator, er . . . President Deling's term. In an effort to keep their daughter from being influenced by her homeland and later inducted into its army, they sent her to a Garden a little further away.
And it was in that Garden that she was now crouched on the floor, leafing through the belongings she had dropped. Skyeli, who had just cleaned out here locker up on the second floor, was surprised to see how much crap at teenage girl can stuff into a small, rectangular box. Picking up a hairbrush and make-up compact and placing them into her bag, Skyeli uncovered a postcard she had received only yesterday. Her parents were vacationing in Fisherman's Horizon. They had called her a week earlier just before leaving. Just seeing the postcard allowed the conversation to slip back into her mind.
"Really mom, the shop will be fine. Joanah's been working there for how many years now?"
"Three," her mother replied reluctantly, "But I still worry, dear. And what about you, will you be okay?"
"Mom, honestly, I haven't lived at home for over ten years now. Not being able to come home one weekend isn't going to kill me."
"You're sure?"
"Please! You two work too hard anyway. You deserve the break, enjoy yourselves."
"I love you, dear."
"I love you too, mom."
She smiled sadly as she turned the post card over to reread the paragraph her mother had written in her fine, loopy cursive. She was so lost in thought she didn't even notice the approaching student.
"Hello sweetheart." Feeling her stomach turn, Skyeli braved a look up and winced.
"Hello, Caine."
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Seifer, Fujin and Raijin walked out of the training center looking no more tired then they had been when they'd entered.
"I'm tellin' ya, we need to upgrade those monsters, ya know?" Raijin complained.
"TOO EASY," Fujin agreed.
"Yeah, yeah, so we'll talk to Squall about it. He'll probably say no though. Can't have the beginners going up against high-level monsters like a Malboro or a Red Dragon. Most Garden members have enough trouble with T-Rexaur," Seifer pointed out.
"AFFIRMATIVE."
"Yeah, I guess . . ." Raijin gave in. "So what now? No need for a shower, didn't even break a sweat, ya know."
"We might as well change though. I don't know about you two, but when that T-Rexaur threw me, I landed in a frickin' mud puddle," Seifer mock-whined and Fujin smiled at his childish tones.
"So we change then we eat!" Raijin exclaimed.
"Sounds good to me, let's go."
With that the Discipline Committee set off towards the dorms at a leisurely pace.
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"Jerk! I don't have time for your bitter ex-boyfriend bullshit right now. Piss off Caine!" Skyeli shouted at the obstinate male.
"You're wrong. You didn't want to dump me. You were confused, but today's your lucky day, I'm giving you a second chance," he smiled. Skyeli broke.
"Let me get this straight: you . . . are giving me . . . a second chance . . ?" Caine nodded at her, glad that she finally comprehended what he was offering. "That's it! You belittled my every attempt to make you happy, you never supported me in anything I've wanted to do and to top it all off you were WAY too selfish in bed!"
With the attack on his sexual habits, Caine finally decided it was time to respond. Stooping down, he picked up the postcard Skyeli was just looking at and smiled at her evilly.
"Always the good daughter, eh? Isn't that sweet, cherishing everything mommy and daddy say, right? Bet it was them that told you to break it off with me?" He gave a crack of laughter.
"Dude, how the hell did you get in here? I didn't think that psycho's were so readily admitted. Oh, or did you crack up afterwards. Pressure too much ass-munch?" she asked as innocently as possible. His gaze narrowed as he began calculating ways to hurt her.
"You'll regret that," he growled as he ripped the postcard to shreds. Skyeli looked as though she was going to cry, but was too shocked to get the tears out. Unfortunately she didn't regain her composure in time to block him from lunging at her. One of his hands clamped down on her arm while the other went for her throat, or, more specifically, her necklace. The locket was an oval almost an inch long. Her mother had given it to her that day before she left for the Garden.
Whoever's picture you put in this locket you'll be destined to marry, or so the legend goes. It has been in our family for four generations now. I put your father's picture in it when we fell in love for the luck it brings. Now it's your turn to guard it.
Thinking back on her mother, Skyeli focused all the more on removing Caine from her necklace. The pair was so intensely focused on each other that they didn't even notice the D.C. approaching.
"Hey!" Seifer called out, startling the quarreling duo. Caine gave Skyeli one final shove, knocking her to the ground, ripping the chain from her neck while crushing the locket in his hand.
"What's goin' on here, ya know!?" Raijin looked from one to the other in confusion. The girl was sprawled out on the floor, clutching her neck in despair, while the boy stood above her looking victorious. He dropped the broken charm to the floor.
Fujin walked over to the girl and helped her up. "TROUBLE," she said. She glared at the boy.
"Not exactly acting like a SeeD candidate should, ya know?" Raijin commented.
"No kidding," Seifer said grimly. "Why don't you two take him to the Disciplinary Room? We can hold him there until we come up with an appropriate punishment. Then go get changed and I'll meet you in the cafeteria."
"YOU?" Fujin gazed at him through her one working eye.
"I'll catch up," Seifer said. He was staring down at the girl who had slipped back to the floor despite Fujin helping her up. Her head was down so Seifer couldn't see her face, but he didn't need to see it to know what she was feeling. Every couple of seconds she would shiver as if crying and then force herself back under control.
Fujin watched Seifer, wondering why he cared what this student did. But then she shrugged any thought of that off as she noticed the boy inching slowly away from the whole scene. "DON'T MOVE," she warned as she walked over to take hold of his upper arm.
"Comin' with us, ya know?" Raijin said cheerfully enough as he and his partner led the kid off.
Seifer kneeled down next to her. She sat there like a fallen queen amidst her crumbling empire. She had obviously gathered her belongings into several neat piles, with only a few items knocked off each when she fell. But she didn't seem to care about any of that. Her gaze was trained on the broken locket that had landed on top of the remains of a postcard. It hadn't been ripped finely so Seifer could still make out Love, Mom and good time. He turned back to the girl sitting before him. He would wait until she noticed him.
"Who was he to you?" Seifer asked when she finally looked up.
"Just a little fucker. Doesn't matter," Skyeli wiped her tears away, and then decided to focus all her anger on the older student. "What's it to you?"
"Seeing as I'm the one who has to come up with some sort of punishment for the little bastard, I should know who he is and what he did. What if he didn't do shit? What if you attacked him and he was defending himself? And then what if I expel him? See, too much trouble," Seifer smiled. "I don't need Squall getting pissed at me now."
"Right, well then let me assure you, that is not what happened," Skyeli said a little bitterly.
"So . . . Who is he?" he tried again.
"His name is Caine Morningstar. He's one of the SeeD candidates here, and up until about two weeks ago my boyfriend. I dumped him; he refuses to accept it. End of story."
"So in his anger at you in tripped you, causing all your stuff to scatter and then destroyed your post card and locket. Am I close?" Seifer gave a small smirk as he asked this.
"Yeah… oh, almost. I'm a big girl now. Didn't need any help tripping and making an ass out of myself. Caine walked up while I was picking up and insisted that I had been wrong in dumping him, but I must see the error of my ways by now. He made me a little bit mad, so I pointed out where our relationship was lacking and then he jumped me," she said with a sly grin. Well, it could be considered constructive criticism by some . . . if you were a REALLY generous person.
"So basically, you insulted him," Seifer offered reading between the lines quite easily.
"Well . . . I wasn't doing to it to provoke him. He was being so thick. I couldn't help it. I thought it would make him going away and rethink his approach or something," she looked to the locket, then continued quietly, "Guess I was wrong, huh?"
"Yeah, I think so. Here, I'll help you carry your stuff back to your room," he said as he reached for a large, black duffle bag, grunting under the weight. "Damn, what's in this? Everything you own?"
"Hmm…. No, that one has all my weapons in it. I had problems settling and went through about five or six different weapons," she smiled sweetly, "Anyway, don't bother. I made it this far and only fell once. I figure I can get back to the dorm and still have a good forty feet before I'm due for another fall."
"Cute and convincing, but I'm heading that way anyway, so let's pretend I'm a nice little boy who rescues damsels in distress," insert cocky grin here, "So, come along Lady… eh, Lady what? Hey, what's your name anyway?"
Seifer had finally managed to get a true smile out of her. "Skyeli Paige. You want all my stats too, Sir Almasy?" Skyeli giggled and bent over, retrieving the rest of her fallen items. She never even saw him flinch at the nickname. No one had dared to call him that in almost two years. He shook his head and moved his gaze to the silver necklace on the floor.
"Yeah, sure, but first, do you want this locket and postcard?" he asked and immediately saw his mistake. The girl, Skyeli, stiffened again.
"Forget it, let's go," was all she said before turning and starting down the hallway towards the dorms.
Don't know about the postcard, but the necklace should be no problem to fix. Maybe Zell could… Seifer scooped the locket up, quickly admiring the cover. It was silver and decorated with the design of a flower. The primorchid. That plant only grew around Galbadia. She must be from there. He threw the necklace into his pocket and jogged to catch up.
"Ok, kid, so let's here those stats," Seifer tried to get her mind onto a lighter subject.
"Skyeli Paige of Scarsdale, outside of Deling City. Member of the Garden since age seven. Weapon of choice," she winked, "Glaive. Garden Level 65. SeeD candidacy test: Friday in two weeks. How's that?"
"Good enough for now. The Glaive, huh? That's about as rare of a choice as the Gunblade," he commented as they turned down another corridor heading towards the girls double dorms.
"Yeah, except there are two of you. The Gunblade was one of the weapons I tried. Nothing really fit. My Glaive works perfectly," she smiled again. Stopping in front of a door she, pushed the button on the side panel to open it. "This is it, thanks for helping me out."
"Hey, no problem," he looked her up and down. "Kid, how old are you?"
She glared at him. "I'm eighteen!"
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't get mad at me. You're just so short."
"Am not! I'm 5ft 1 and ½ inches!" she stated, exasperated.
"Awfully proud of that half inch, aren't we? I've got like a foot on you," he said in a cocky tone.
"You would be too if you had to view the world from down here," she sounded defeated.
"Hey, cheer-up! I'm about to make you an offer no body can refuse. You're going out with me tonight," he stated, obviously proud of this idea, although internally confused of its origins.
Great, another dense male. What am I? A fucking magnet? "Oh yeah, right," she said aloud, rolling her eyes.
"No, seriously. Are any of your friends here this weekend?" She shook her head. "And did you have anything else to do?" Another shake of the head. "See? I have to meet up with Fujin and Raijin and deal with your little friend, but after that I'm free. Come on, humor me." I'm begging, he thought, why?
"Alright. 7 o'clock, in front of the directory and this had better be good." She stepped inside the room and shut the door.
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A/N: Right, so there's chapter two. Again Read and Review. I know Seifer isn't in character. It's on purpose, I'm going to cover that in the next chapter. But let me know what you think of how he reacted, if you guys think its way to OOC, I can fix it. Anyway, thanks for reading.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight of everyone on FF.net for them. But I do own Skyeli Paige, Reiko and Caine Morningstar so please don't steal them. They're all a little nuts anyway . . .
