One Good Deed
By Caelia
Chapter Five: breakfast club
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The collision was slightly more chaotic than Skyeli would have expected. She was certain that someone of her height and body mass would have simply been knocked to the ground when making the mistake of running into the 6'2" wall that is Seifer Almasy. She had no expectation of returning the favor by taking him down with her, but she did anyway. So there they sat, Skyeli struggling to regain her happiness and Seifer groping around after his rude awakening.
"Damn…" Skyeli muttered, starting to move away from the boy. "Ruined already." After she tugged her short skirt down to a slightly less revealing level, she offered her hand to help Seifer up. Even if he's an ass who thinks I'm crazy, I can be the bigger man… or woman, oh whatever.
If he had been even remotely aware of his surroundings, Seifer would have instantly brushed off her hand and gotten up on his own. But that was not the case this morning; Seifer hadn't slept at all thanks to this kid. And even after the vows he had made to himself this morning, somewhere inside of him, he felt relieved to see her alive. Seifer had been reaching for her hand, but then shook his head, remembered who he was and stood up without assistance.
"Hyne, kid, I knew you would want to see me again, but so soon?" Seifer gave her a condescending smile.
"Right, and I knew that this day was to good to be true. Why are you awake? Are you sure you're allowed out in the daytime? You know with all that deadly sunlight…" Skyeli continued to mumble at the superior ranking student.
"Ah, shut up. I couldn't sleep at all last night, so I don't exactly feel like having my nocturnal life attack by some certified psycho!" Seifer stopped, "Uh, I didn't mean…"
"Sure you did," the brunette replied easily enough. "If you didn't really believe it to be anything more than a general insult, you wouldn't have stuttered after saying it. So now you've got a 'certified psycho' on your hands," she pulled out her Glaive, "and she's armed. What do you do?" Skyeli winked and placed the tip of the weapon to his throat.
Seifer backed up, putting his hands up in front of him in mock defense. Grinning, he spoke smoothly, "Take her out to breakfast and pray that she doesn't poison my food?"
"Good enough," she replaced the weapon into its cosmic storage bin. Seifer made a sweeping gesture with his arms, allowing her to lead the way. After returning the favor with a deep curtsy of her own, Skyeli took off without a second glance back.
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The cafeteria was deserted. The cashier was probably no more than a student worker, although it was impossible to pinpoint an age for the slumbering body lying facedown on the counter. Even though breakfast opened at 6:30am, most students didn't show up until 8:55am. Five minutes before the first classes of the day began and just enough time to grab a muffin or a hot dog… (or not, that's a little gross).
Seifer nudged the woman behind the register back into reality, where she proceeded to accept money for his eggs and bacon with black coffee at a heavily discounted price. Her eyes roamed his body in such a way that he would have had to be blind in order to miss the offer. Skyeli gave an unladylike grunt, shoved Seifer out of the way and smiled at the girl. The girl sneered in return, charging full-price for her bran muffin and grapefruit juice. Seifer searched out a table in the back corner of the cafeteria in an effort to avoid the longing stares from the girl he had dumped last week. He was almost sure he saw recognition written on Skyeli's face, but owed it up to the two attending some of the same classes, rather than competition. Seifer chuckled at that thought.
"What's so funny?" his captor asked of him as they sat down.
"Nothing…"
"Really, cause I thought that maybe you were laughing at your cleverness. You know being able to avoid that statutory rape law…" Skyeli gave him a coy look from her down turned head.
Seifer nearly choked on his coffee, "What do you mean?" he exploded.
Skyeli picked her head up and rolled her eyes in response. "Are you serious? Seifer, that girl is in some of my classes. I mean, just look at her. Can't you tell she's only 15? … Judging by the look on your face, I guess not…" She allowed her voice to trail off, craning her neck to the side in an effort to get another look at the girl.
"Just stop. No, I couldn't tell. She's a little more endowed than most 15 year olds." Seifer gritted out through his teeth, concentrating thoroughly on his eggs. "So, you heard us talking last night?"
"Guess so. How did you know? I was very quiet and very, very still, " She said doing her best imitation of a mouse.
"I bet you were so, no, I never noticed you last night. It was the way you reacted to me earlier. You didn't seem surprised by my knowledge; it was like you already accepted that fact. And we both know that only the student's teacher and the headmaster have access to such files. I could never see them until you involved in some sort of disciplinary skirmish, as you were yesterday. But it would have taken until dinner last night for Headmaster to finish with all the paper work and we had already left by then."
Skyeli nodded, taking in all that he had said. It made sense. But the problem still remained. "So… what do you think? I mean, you sounded convinced enough by your friends last night. Do you really think that I'm the one to blame?"
"They are my friends and they wouldn't lie to me, so I guess I believe them when they say Selphie made notes of you as a rather self-sustained student. That is true, isn't it?"
"Yes, that part is true. I guess you could say that I used to have a posse of my own. It consisted of my roommate Reiko and my boyfriend Caine. However, that didn't work out so well, when at the end of last semester the two of them sort of double-crossed me. I knew that Caine had been cheating, but when I caught him on my bed with Reiko that was a little much… As far as being delusional, that's the first I've heard of it."
"Right, so that explains that part, a little. Just one question, kid: if you're so closed off, why are you so open with me?" Seifer stared at the top of her head, willing her to look up and make some contact with him. She did.
Her initial response was to shrug and to reply "I don't know", but Seifer's withering glance caused her to stop after the "I don…" and try and different approach. "Okay, umm… Oh, I got it! I'm in the market for a new best friend!"
"And I'm lucky contestant number 3?" He questioned sarcastically.
"I don't know. I was just trying to come up with something for your sake. Look at it this way, you appear to be in the same situation that I am. Your two best friends suddenly aren't placing you in the center of their universe. We both saw them in front of the cell last night, Seifer. And even if I don't know much about them, I can tell they are going to be rather busy from now on." Skyeli concluded and looked up at the boy sitting in front of her.
He had been watching her intently throughout the entire conversation. She had been intently watching just about anything else and Seifer found that when her eyes lifted to meet his, he had to shift his gaze. But then he brought it back. Her eyes were gray this morning. How odd, he could have sworn they were blue last night. Must be contacts. Seifer quickly ran through the possibilities of an association with this girl. Obviously it would not help his popularity and he wasn't sure if he'd get any sexual favors, as much as he might like to, but still it had potential. He nodded, then said, "Alright, I'll make you a deal. I'll give you two days to prove me wrong about you and about Fujin and Raijin, and we will discuss this friendship thing."
Skyeli didn't even need to think about the offer to know it wasn't worth her time. "Nope, no deal. I've got more important things to do with my day." She gathered the muffin wrapper and stood to leave, but Seifer reached under the table and pushed down on her thigh, causing her to fall back into the chair. "What?"
He shrugged, "Then you set up the terms."
"Why does it matter so much?"
Because I don't want to be kept awake at night watching you die. Because there is a chance you will understand me. Because I'm tired of being alone. Because I want to keep you safe… No, he did not just think that. He would not admit that. "No reason. It doesn't matter."
"Fine then," Skyeli smiled and again moved to leave. Seifer again made his demand that she remain. Skyeli glared at him, and then taking a deep deal, she thought the situation through. "The deal is this, Seifer. When you can tell me why it is so important to you that we hang out, I'll consider this whole friendship thing. And you'd better hurry up, because time is ticking." And with that said, Skyeli was finally able to move away from the table. In her wake she left Seifer to weigh his options.
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Somewhere between the elevator and the Library, Skyeli gave up on going to the Training Center and decided on sleeping her Sunday away. As her door slid shut behind her, the door down the hallway to Selphie's single swished open softly revealing a groggy cowboy. The main force keeping him upright was his girlfriend's hands planted on his back and as she gently pushed him into the hallway, he crumpled due to lack of support.
"Irvy, come on… Wake-up…" Selphie whispered, while lightly shaking him.
"Mnf… don't wanna… ::snore::" was the only response Selphie could pull from Irvine. After several minutes of trying to sweetly point out his surroundings, she finally gave up.
With a spirited kick to Irvine's stomach, Selphie demanded in a hiss, "Wake-up this instant! Quistis is going to be here very soon to discuss the exam, and you are going to get us in trouble if you don't leave!"
Irvine jumped to his feet, kissed his love sweetly and took off towards the male dorms. Unfortunately being around Selphie too much had caused him to loose awareness of his surroundings, so he really never saw the muscular blonde man until he was on top of him.
"Mornin', Seifer," the younger man drawled.
"Second fucking time today!" Seifer called out as he shoved the over-grown cowboy off his chest.
"Uh… anything you'd like to share with the class?" Irvine asked as he regained his equilibrium.
"Nothing you would understand, slick," he mocked as he gracefully removed himself from the ground yet again and proceeded to brush himself off.
Irvine mimicked Seifer's movements, as he too took the standing position and began adjusting his clothes accordingly. "You never know, ace. I'm pretty well informed especially when it comes to women and guns. But why would Seifer Almasy need help with women from lil' ol' me?" Irvine finished his rhetorical question with a smile.
Seifer hesitated before answering, "Yeah, why would I…?" But even so brief of a pause, Irvine quickly picked up on.
"Well shoot," he said, giving a short crack of laughter. Then, seriously he commanded, "Spill it."
Seifer motioned for Irvine to follow him and began moving towards his own room. He had to admit that even during those months when he returned, Irvine was the one person who wasn't cold to him like the others. In fact, Seifer was convinced that the cowboy had been battling for him behind the scenes. He respected him for it. He couldn't imagine how much it would drain a person to fight that loosing battle everyday with his five best friends. Insisting that the group try to remember Seifer as he was before Ultimicia and when that had failed, before the Garden. Seifer shook his head and decided that neither was a very good image.
Irvine stopped and waited behind Seifer as he punched in the code to open his door. If anyone knows what is going on with this girl, the cowboy has got to be the one because I sure as hell don't. The green light flashed once on the panel and was followed quickly by the door sliding open. The two men marched inside to Seifer's bedroom. But, not before Seifer noticed that Raijin wasn't around.
"So… gonna tell me what's up now?" Irvine prodded.
Seifer fixed him with a hard gaze. "Tell a soul about this and I will kill you." When Irvine merely nodded in understanding, Seifer relaxed and sat down, motioning for his guest to do the same.
"Does this have anything to do with the girl that you rescued yesterday? Rinoa mentioned that you were taking her out last night…" That ought to get him going, Irvine thought.
"Figures," he mumbled. "Anyway, last night was cool and I wouldn't mind having her for my new girl," especially since I just found out about that last one. "But it's weird. She doesn't seem to care if we hang out or not…"
"Loosing some of that magic touch, Seifer?" Irvine chuckled.
"Shut up. I knew you wouldn't understand. I feel like if I'm not her friend and if I'm not there for her, she's going to hurt herself." Seifer finished miserably.
"Whoa, did she say that to you, because Selphie has told me about this one. If you do decide to get close to her, find out what she was like before the Second Sorceress War. Might be interesting…"
Seifer nodded, reminding himself mentally to find out what Irvine meant by that. "So, what do you think?"
Irvine sighed. "You think she's a cool person to hang out with?" A nod in response. "And you want to find out more about her?" Another nod. "And you seriously believe her to be a danger to herself, consciously or not, unless someone intervenes?" A final nod. "Then by all means, do it man!"
"What do I tell her?" Seifer asked quietly.
"Just what you told me. Or if that won't work, make something up. I don't know, but I think I've done pretty well on only three hours of sleep. So I'm off." Irvine tilted his hat to Seifer and left to the room in hope of finding peaceful sleep. Meanwhile down the hallway, Quistis and Selphie were disputing er… important matters…
"Long hair is better!" Selphie shrieked, causing Quistis to wince away from the shorter girl.
"Okay, fine Selphie. Calm down, you win," Quistis said waving her hand at her friend. Although she muttered under breath, "I STILL prefer short and spiky."
"What was that?"
"Nothing, let's get on with this. We're almost done setting up the groups," Quistis said, ever ready to remind her of the task at hand.
"Yeah, the only problem should be pairing off this one: Paige, Skyeli. Whatever you do, Quistis, let's just keep her away from that Morningstar kid." Selphie suggested.
"I think you're wrong there. Don't make that face, I know you taught her, but think about it. She needs to learn to work with people she doesn't get along with. Didn't you mention she had once close friend?" she asked.
"Yeah. Keyling, Reiko. They're all around the same level. Reiko is the strongest, while Caine is the weakest," Selphie answered.
"Alright, put the three of them together, and I'll find a suitable SeeD to back
them later. So have you picked the SeeD request that will be easiest to
accomplish with SeeD candidates?"
"Yep! Got it right here," Selphie went rustling through a large manila folder that had CONFIDENTIAL stamped across the front. "Here we go! There appears to be a large number of elemental monsters around the Tear's Point. Sir Laguna… I mean President Loire is asking for SeeD to come and clear some of it up."
"Sounds good. Send in a confirmation letter right away. I'll bring the other requests back to Squall and Headmaster Cid so they can fill them as they see fit." Quistis smiled and nodded to Selphie then got up to leave.
"Booyaka! I'm going to catch up on my Z's!" The little ball of energy sprang to her feet and was about to follow Quistis out of the room when the elder SeeD pointed out,
"Selphie, your bed is in there," Quistis explained slowly, while pointing at the door to her room.
"Right," she mumbled softly and walked back into her empty room.
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Time's up, Seifer.
Skyeli rolled slowly to the edge of her bed and lay out on her stomach. Reaching under the covers scrapping the floor, she closed her hand around a leather box. She smiled. Even though she had gone through so many different weapons, she never exactly returned them all. The dagger had been so beautiful she couldn't tolerate giving it up, even if it was never a good match with her. Her smile grew wider, then faded into nothing. Damn. There were so many ways to do this, but she figured she should be done with it quickly. She had waited until past eight o'clock at night and if she wasn't quick, her roommate would walk in. Not that she expected Reiko to save her, she just didn't want the interruption.
The old ways are the best ways.
The smile returned as she guided the blade along the delicate veins of her forearms.
The knock on the door was definitely unwanted. "How anti-climatic…" Skyeli murmured to herself. "Go away!" she shouted to the stranger behind the door.
Seifer stood on the other side. It had taken him all day to get this far, and she was not going to dismiss him that easily. "Skyeli, its Seifer. Let me in."
She was slightly surprised, but unbending. "Seifer, go away! Your time ran out a few minutes ago!" she called back, a little weaker this time. The blood that was draining onto her bedroom floor was taking her energy with it.
"Come on, kid! I want to talk to you its important!" Seifer figured he'd ease into the threats slowly.
"So is this," she said quietly in return. "No!" she cried out, barely loud enough for him to hear her.
Seifer was growing tired of the game. "Skyeli, I'm not kidding, if you don't open this door…" his voice trailed off as someone tapped him on the shoulder. He glanced back and then turned himself fully around to get a look of the girl before him. She was taller and thinner the Skyeli, missing Seifer's height by only half a foot. Her soft, blonde hair looked as though it came from a bottle and was cut just bellow her chin, giving her Garden uniform a very chic effect. Seifer just thought she was trying too hard to be classy.
She offered a cold smile that had a surprising invitation behind it. "Perhaps I could be of service," she purred. "I do live here, after all…"
Seifer returned her chilling smile with one of his own, "So you're Reiko? Yeah, I'd really appreciate it if you let me in."
Reiko moved in front of him, brushing her body up against his in hopes of a reaction. She received none. Slowly she punched the code into the wall panel then continued to block Seifer's path by standing just inside the doorway. "Whatever is that little psycho up to now?"
Skyeli didn't even need to lift her neck to know whose voice she was hearing. "Well damn…"
Seifer's head snapped in the direction of the sound, followed by his body shoving Reiko out of the way. Standing just inside the door of her bedroom, Seifer quickly leafed through a mental list of possible scenarios and settled on one when he saw the dagger. "Shit, Skyeli…" he whispered, still in awe of what he was seeing.
Reiko came up behind him and smirked.
"Took you long enough!"
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A/N: Oh, my little head case tried to kill herself! ^_^ I should really not be this abusive to my own characters. Anyway, kiddies, again reviews are loverly and fabulous and much appreciated and all that good stuff so please REVIEW!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own them and I'm not strong enough to fight off everyone on FF.net for them. Skyeli Paige, Caine Morningstar and Reiko Keyling belong to me, so please don't steal them. They're all a little nuts anyway. . .
