Hey! I Could Be A Messenger From Hyne, Ya Know!-
A Misadventurous Romance Story
Chapter Ten-Damn! I Thought It Was Somebody Important!
AN~Hiya!*waves* I'm SOOOOO sorry for the complete and utter lack of updates; school's been starting and I've been working like mad on my web comic(I don't have it posted yet, so don't ask about it), so I haven't really had the time to type. Anyways, ya'll can always find me on AIM, or on some form of Internet thingy. My E-mail is tiger_of_the_wind_07@hotmail.com, and my AIM screenname is tigerofthewind07. Tiger of the Wind being my fav character from this old anime named Monster Rancher(they took it off TV...*sniff*) and 07 standing for the Courageous Seven, the seven main characters in the show. Ah, hell! Those who've seen MR, good for you! Those who haven't, it's a shame. Anyways, not the point. The point is, I'm typing now. Don't expect anything new for....months and crap. Also, as per my custom, I wanna shout out a huge THANX to my 130 reviewers, and shamelessly dedicate this chapter to PinkStarz, Maerah(my 100th reviewer, by the way! W00T! You rock!) and Dreamcatcher! Thanx, you guys! Well, byes! ~tigerofthewind~*is in desperate need of Cherry Coke*
I was awakened by something(or someone, rather) whispering in my ear softly, and something brushing the side of my face. Not being overly concious, I had time to register the voice in my head before I did anything drastic, namely, punching whoever it was who was bothering me directly in the balls.
"Come on, Tilmitt, it's time to get up............ Ow! Dammit! Sonofa---"
"Mffftttttt........."I grunted and sat up, too tired and out-of-it to even laugh at Seifer tripping over something on the floor that was ultimately his fault in being there."Okay, okay........ I'm up, I'm up."
All I got was a cheesy grin in return."All right, all right. I get your point, I get your point."
"Is there a purpose to repeating all this, is there a purpose to repeating all this?"
"None at all, none at all."He shook his head, laughing a little to himself. Then again, he always was deranged."Anyway, now that you're up, let's go."
"Go where?"I frowned in a bemused sort of way. Who the hell was HE to think that he could wake me up at---WHAT?! 4AM!!!!!---and order me around?!"I'm not even dressed..........."
"So quit yappin' and get dressed, or go naked,"he said offhandedly, hurling my uniform at me. It smacked me in the face.
Still grumbling to myself, I popped into the bathroom, changed, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and popped out again, somehow still looking as bleary-eyed as I had before I got dressed. I wondered with more than a small amount of sleepiness what was going on. I hoped nothing was wrong.
When I emerged, Seifer was already standing at the door, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently and looking at the clock on the wall(I recalled him saying once that only fags like Zell wore a watch). Giving him a nasty glare and receiving one in return, I followed him wordlessly out into the hall.
Down the hall, and out to the directory. Past the directory, past the library, like we were heading for the parking lot. I wondered; were we going for another pyscho-drive again? No, we stopped. Where, you ask? In front of the training center.
Then I remembered. My gunblade training. Duh! I nearly smacked myself in the forehead, but it required too much energy for this time in the morning. This time?! Yeah! Hello?! Even our training with Vienna started at 6, instead of this unHynely hour of 4! Grr.........I really wanted to hit something. Well, at least my training would allow that.
"Good..........your face tells me that you know why we're here,"said Seifer, starting to walk again."Saves me time explainin'."
Feeling my head starting to pound from lack of sleep, I had no choice but to doggedly follow him, all the while focusing what little power I had left in me to conjure up the wonderful image of his head exploding on the spot.
We stopped at the end of the entrance hallway, and I looked around. Yup. Same old training center. In a daze, I junctioned myself properly to defend against any possible Malboro attacks. Man. Between them and the Mesmerizes, I was suprised that my hair hadn't turned gray already.
Without a single trace of fatigue on him, Seifer rounded up a Grat and cast Stop on it. While the thing was stuck in this weirdo form of suspended animation which would have made me laugh under different circumstances, I waited patiently for my lesson to begin. Or maybe, not so patiently. I mean, I was vaguely interested(VAGUELY, mind you, not a lot), but I really wanted to just get the dumb thing over with so I could go back to bed.
"Tilmitt."Seifer dropped a long, black leather case on the ground. I hadn't even noticed him carrying it."Yours."
Wondering if some Silly String or a mini-Malboro or some other horrible practical joke was going to come popping out at me, I opened it carefully, with more than a little trepidation.
It was a gunblade.
I am NOT kidding you. There it was inside that case, bullets and all. It wasn't quite like Squall's Revolver, nor like Seifer's Hyperion. Maybe that's why I fell in love with it on first sight. Maybe because it was something that was MINE, uniquely mine. It wasn't a broad blade, like Squall's, nor something narrow, like Seifer's. Mine. Halfway in between. The sides of the blades were blank and bare, unlike everyone else's. Squall's had the carving of Griever, Vienna's had a pair of angel wings, and of course, Seifer's had the fancy twirling letters that spelled 'Hyperion'. No, nothing was on the side of mine. But dangling from the end were several charms of a moon and stars, hanging from a single chain.
Bella was stirring awake in my mind, clouding my vision for a brief moment.'So..........this was the purpose of Hyperion's visit to Esthar.'
It took some time to click, and when it did, MAN, must I have looked like an idiot! My jaw dropped open, my eyes popped out wide, and I probably looked like an advertisement for a bad Halloween costume. I was surprised that my hair wasn't sticking up in every direction or that my back wasn't arched like a black cat.
"In Esthar........"I squeaked, fully awake now,"this is what.........I mean, that was when you..........?"
Seifer nodded curtly, a single brief tilting of the head in assent."Name."
"Name?"Uh-oh. He was starting to sound too much like Fujin for my liking. I mean, I knew that they spent a lot of time together and stuff, her being the head of the disciplinary commitee and all, but if she was starting to rub off on him THAT MUCH.....? I started to get worried.
"Yeah, a name. The thing needs a name, don't it?"Oh. Duh."The guy I bought it from said he'd do an engraving on the side for free if you went down and saw him. Don't expect me to do it for you; I've done more than enough already, considering."
I considered. Yeah, he had. Stupid worthless lummox.
I couldn't stop thinking that as I engulfed him in a hug large enough to encompass the entire city of Esthar. As had been the case before, he looked most startled at first. A true picture moment. Then again, I had yet to talk to Mira about getting those pictures developed off of her camera. I mean, come ON. Moments like the ones I had caught on film just HAD to be recorded somewhere.
Before I broke away, I whispered something in his ear. He didn't say anything for a while, and when he finally did, it was just to ask if I'd picked a name yet.
I ran through my history, thinking of some cool name that pertained to history. Squall's names were boring; I'd always hated that. Nemeris, was of course, the underworld, and Hyperion was the name of an ancient sun god from back during the times of the Centra. I frowned, and the moon-and-stars charms dangling from the handle caught my eye.
"Chandrakanan,"I said quietly."It's name is Chandrakanan."
Seifer looked surprised at first, then, I'm happy to report, even a little impressed."Chandrakanan, hunh? Well, it suits it."
And we started my training, with Chandrakanan.
The name suited it, indeed. Chandrakanan, the Dragon of the Stars. That was what I called it.
And what I had whispered in Seifer's ear was..........
'..........Yes...............now we are even.'
**************************************************************************** **************
One day. We had one day, or else everything we knew was gone.
It was nighttime at Esthar Garden, and I was hurriedly sneaking into the cafeteria's terminals again, but for a different purpose than my first intent had been. The first time, I was a spy. And now......well, it seemed like with each day that passed, I was turning more and more into a member of Esthar Garden.
An electronic beep signified my logging on to the network. It was the International Garden Network, the IGN. It was generally how most SeeDs contacted their superiors when they were on missions particularly far away from their home Gardens.
Success! Someone from Balamb was on! I checked out the screename(AngelWingz) and guessed that it was Rinoa.
In a flash, I felt a sudden pang of homesickness. I mean, Mira and Vienna and Branton and all the rest had grown on me like a nasty(or maybe not so nasty) fungus, but they couldn't take the place of everyone I'd left behind. NOTHING could take the place of everyone I'd left behind.
Rinoa's and I's conversation went as thus:
BoOyaKaBooM!:Hey, Rin!
AngelWingz:SELPHIE!!!!!! OMIGOSH!!!! WHAT'S GOING ON?!?!?!
BoOyaKaBooM!:It's okay, Rin! Just hanging out, I guess. This job's boring, ya know.
AngelWingz:We were so worried about you! Squall was going to send out a search party or something if you didn't make a report soon!
BoOyaKaBooM!:Well, I'm okay. Tee-hee! It's just taking longer than I thought it would.
AngelWingz:It must be! Come on, Selph, it's been nearly two months already! You've GOT to have something else!
BoOyaKaBooM!:Well........as it turns out, Rin, you guys were completely off-base. From what I can tell, Esthar isn't really up to anything bad.
AngelWingz:REALLY?! Then, what about Seifer?
BoOyaKaBooM!:What about him? We can't arrest him for being an asshole; if we could, then he'd already be in prison for life.
AngelWingz:*laugh* Yeah, you're right. Still, Selphie, at the FIRST SIGN of anything freaky, let us know, okay?
BoOyaKaBooM!:Of course! But you know, I don't think anything WILL happen. I mean, it's been two months, like you said, and nothing's happened so far.
AngelWingz:You know, you're right. I should talk to Squall about letting you come off of this mission. I mean, the Garden Festival's COMPLETELY under way, but I wish you'd be back to see it.
BoOyaKaBooM!:Yeah, I wish I could see it, too.
AngelWingz:Hey, maybe you could! I'll talk to Squall! I'm sure he'll agree with me!
BoOyaKaBooM!:Actually, uh, Rin, that's okay. I mean, I don't want to take any chances.
AngelWingz:Hey, Selph, what's with this all of a sudden? I thought you couldn't WAIT to get out of there.
BoOyaKaBooM!:I know, I know, but.....well, what if something IS going on? I just wanna make sure.
AngelWingz:Sheez, nothin's gonna happen! You might as well come back in time to SEE the Garden Festival, even if you couldn't help make most of it. The FH guys were a huge help, by the way. I gave them their free tickets to the Festival, just like they asked. So come on, Selph! Some of them are REALLY cute! You should start looking for love again, instead of moping around over in Esthar!
BoOyaKaBooM!:No, thanks. Irvy was bad enough. I think I'll put my love life on hold, if you don't mind. Besides, I'm not 'wasting my time'. I'm not taking any chances that the same thing'll happen to Balamb that happened to Trabia.
AngelWingz:I know how you feel, Selph, but...........
AngelWingz:Please, come home. We all miss you. Please, Selph. Please.
BoOyaKaBooM!:I'm sorry, Rinoa! I can't! I just CAN'T!!!
And I had logged off then, barely seeing what I was doing through a flurry of tears. I was so homesick for Balamb that it hurt. I ran back towards the dormitories, feeling that if one more thing got dropped on me, I'd either collapse or explode. So much depended on what I did. Not just what I wanted, but what everyone else wanted, too.
The door was locked. Well, of course it was. It was always locked; Seifer would usually walk with me from my last class back to the rooms. So I sank down next to the door, drawing my knees up to my chest and burying my face in my hands. It was too much; it was all too much. Not only was homesickness eating at me like a Grendel, but there was the whole mission crisis going on with Esthar, the weight of my classes, and the whole thing with Allanna.
She was there, trying to comfort me.'Oh, Bella, I did not know I would trouble you such as this. I shall leave you to your peace at once, and whatever befalls me at the day of my judgement, I shall take it as it goes. You have done much for me, my young friend. I know now that my death has not been in vain.'
She left. It was hard to explain how it happened, but I knew she had gone. There was a hole where she had once been, an emptiness. I hadn't really wanted her to leave. But in my wretched state, I had made no move to stop her.
My sobs echoed brokenly through the empty hall, bouncing off the walls to taunt me again and again. This whole mission was a failure. It had sounded so simple when I had thought of it; so easy, like the other missions had been. I'd be able to do something good for Balamb, and conveniently get revenge against the one person I had truly hated at the same time. Where had everything gone wrong? When had things gotten so amiss?
I heard footsteps approaching, and I silently cursed whomever it was. Why couldn't they just leave me alone? I'd only cried a total of three times in my whole life; why not grant me this one more time?! And out of the pounding headache that had formed, I heard a surprising voice.
"Sir, I heard it over here---"Hunh? Vienna? What was Vienna doing back here?"There was this noise---I thought maybe an intruder---"
Damn! I thought it was somebody important!
"Alright, Loire. Head back to your dorm. I'll take care of this."Oh, great! The LAST person I wanted to see right now, just HAD to be here. I was beginning to think that Hyne really did hate me. Footsteps receding into the distance, and the Beast spoke again:"Hey! Whoever's down there! You've got until the count of three! One!"
Oh, Hyne! Why couldn't he just leave me alone?! Everything was turning out to be a disaster! Not to mention the fact that I was sitting in an abandoned hallway crying my eyes out, something that was never very becoming to anyone.
"Two!"
First was the fact that I got caught spying, and I was stuck in this unbelievably unbearable position. Then came the whole business with the executive party, Esthar, and my overload of classes. Next, Allanna Lionors Merielleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless. After that was Seifer's disappearance, and now, the missile crisis. And on top of that, I was so far away from home with no one to even care what was going on........
"Three---"I looked up, hair tangled and face blotchy. Seifer had been standing at the end of the hallway, not even in any form of battle stance, carrying the hard black case that held the Hyperion, all business-like and oppressive; but at the sight of me curled up into a ball sitting on the floor and crying, he dropped the case with a hard THUD! and positively ran over to me.
"Hey, Tilmitt, what's wrong?"he asked, shaking me by the shoulder."You're not, like............pregnant or anything, are you?"
"NO!"I cried, and gave him an odd look, before the thought made me burst out into tears again, convulsing in this really weird way, like a fish out of water.
"Well, that's a relief......... Uh, I mean, I'm sorry about bein' late and stuff. Come on, I didn't MEAN to lock you out, Tilmitt, and even if I did, it's nothin' to cry about! Sheez, just stop making that RACKET!"
I just wailed louder. And I was so thoroughly miserable, that it didn't even give me any joy to watch Seifer wince at the intensity of my voice, which had always been kinda loud.
"Damn! Come on, shut up, people are gonna hear......."
LET them hear! See if I care!
"Ah, shit!"And then, in a series of most embarrassing scenes for me, he stood up, unlocked his door, bent down and picked me up, walked in, and kicked the door shut behind us.
Stumbling around in the dark, he managed to successfully find my bed without tripping, falling, or stubbing a toe on any of the offending items that lay strewn across the floor. Instead, he sat down on the mattress with me sort of half-sitting, half-laying in his lap, and tried to pry me off of him with his fingers.
But the most embarrassing thing was, I couldn't seem to let go of him!
I don't mean in the sense that we were somehow glued together like the junior classmen had done to me that day in class, but in the sense that his presence was so oddly reassuring that I couldn't STAND to let go of him!
"Come on, Tilmitt, leggo.........."I stuck to him like white on rice, believe you me. I really missed everyone back at Balamb right now.
After an extended period of time, Seifer finally gave up trying to remove me and instead settled down with something I took to be a rather resigned sigh. Tee-hee. That small victory cheered me a little.
"Fine,"he said, in typical Seifer fashion."Why don't you just sit here and bawl like a wuss and bore me to death by telling me your crappy insignificant problems?"
I sniffled; why couldn't I seem to run out of bodily fluids and just dehydrate already?"In other words, you want me to tell you what's on my mind?"
"Basically, I suppose."
The thought of everything that had happened made me cry some more. I swear, it was just five years of pent-up tears spilling themselves out all over my face. Well, at least my makeup wouldn't run; I was wearing any.
Burying my face in Seifer's chest so that my words came out as this muffled sort of stuffed-up-nose voice, I took a deep breath and began."Well, it all started a couple of months ago when I first started working here............"
And from that point on, I told him the story. The WHOLE story. About the spying(which he already knew about, anyway), the pressure of running all my classes, the missile threat from Galbadia, and my homesickness for Balamb.
The last thing I told him about was Allanna.
Surprisingly enough, he took it all in stride. I mean, there was the definite wide-eyed surprise when I first mentioned her inside of my head, then that definite look of angry pain(not yet perfected by anyone save him, by the way) when I told him the history of his parents and of Dollet, and finally, as I closed up my long, long, ramble, a blank, pensive look.
I didn't say anything; I suddenly felt a little better about getting all that off my chest. Instead, I waited for Seifer to say something.
"So you've been using your only free period to tutor students who are no longer in your combat classes?"
Well, that was unexpected."Y-Yeah."
"Of course then, that's gotta stop. And if you want to go back to Balamb that bad, then just go. I ain't gonna stop you."
Once again, that was unexpected. I considered the prospect. Forget the mission, forget Esthar, be back with my friends............
I considered, but that was all."..................No."
"No?"Once again, that undercurrent of surprise.
"That's right, no. I'm too involved, now. And we'll just leave it at that."
I couldn't see him, but I felt him shrug."Fine by me."A pause."And............you knew my mother."
"Yeah, in a sense."
"At least better than I did."I didn't know what to say to that, so I waited for him to go on."She wasn't so bad then, Mother? And now she's gone off to face her judgement and be sent to Nemeris? Because of me?"
I tightened my hold on him in what I hoped was a reassuring sort of way."You know, both Allanna and I thought it was worth it. We learned a lot from each other. We didn't have any regrets. Especially Allanna. She NEVER had any regrets."
Seifer didn't say anything, just moved his arms from around me before moving them back, dropping something into my hand. I didn't quite break away from him, but I moved just the slightest bit so I could see what it was.
A necklace. HIS necklace. And not really a necklace, per se, more like a collar or dog tags or something of the sort. The thin links of chain, with the broad silver band in the center. And I noticed now something I had never noticed about it before.
On the back, engraved in the metal, was a message.
'To my son,
Never forget who you are.
Hyperion Lionors Merelleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless Almasy, '01 SGA'
I went to hand it back to him, but he took my hand and closed my fingers over it."You keep it. I think I'm tired of knowing who I am."And with that, he lifted up the hair from the back of my head and slipped the collar through, fastening it around my neck. With it came this bizarre comfort, despite the chill from the metal.
There was a bit of an uncomfortable pause, which I broke."Erm..................I'm sorry about your mother."
A longer pause on his part."Me, too."More silence, but not exactly awkward. Then---"Go on, go to sleep Tilmitt, your cryin's givin' me a huge headache, anyway---"and he wasn't really making any attempts at moving but then again, neither was I. And I really was tired from all that crying and Seifer's necklace hung down my neck because it was a little too big on me and I was drifting off to sleep............
I breathed in the nice smell that was coming from all around me; this combination of soap and shampoo and aftershave and laundry detergent, not to mention this other odor I couldn't quite pick out...............
"What about the missile base..........tomorrow............?"I asked sleepily, and I felt a hand idly stroking my hair.
"Don't worry about it, Tilmitt................we'll get what's gotta be done, done."
And before I finally succumbed to the irresistible call of sleep, Seifer's next words echoed in my mind.
"...................Trust in me."
And I was surprised to find that I could.
AN~Well, upon popular demand, this is finished! I mean, I was going to make it longer, but oh well. I know how much everyone's been wanting me to update. So, here it is! Too cute, and like......not funny. But this was mainly filler, so I could deal with it. But if the next chapter's not funny, I'll strangle myself. Oh, a refreshing change in the next half of chapters to come! What is it? Shit if I'll tell you! Mweh heh heh. And 'Trust In Me' is the name of a soundtrack thingy in FF8, just so you know.... Well, I gotta go post this! Byes! ~tiger~*is yawning and suffering from a nasty cold*
Chapter Ten-Damn! I Thought It Was Somebody Important!
AN~Hiya!*waves* I'm SOOOOO sorry for the complete and utter lack of updates; school's been starting and I've been working like mad on my web comic(I don't have it posted yet, so don't ask about it), so I haven't really had the time to type. Anyways, ya'll can always find me on AIM, or on some form of Internet thingy. My E-mail is tiger_of_the_wind_07@hotmail.com, and my AIM screenname is tigerofthewind07. Tiger of the Wind being my fav character from this old anime named Monster Rancher(they took it off TV...*sniff*) and 07 standing for the Courageous Seven, the seven main characters in the show. Ah, hell! Those who've seen MR, good for you! Those who haven't, it's a shame. Anyways, not the point. The point is, I'm typing now. Don't expect anything new for....months and crap. Also, as per my custom, I wanna shout out a huge THANX to my 130 reviewers, and shamelessly dedicate this chapter to PinkStarz, Maerah(my 100th reviewer, by the way! W00T! You rock!) and Dreamcatcher! Thanx, you guys! Well, byes! ~tigerofthewind~*is in desperate need of Cherry Coke*
I was awakened by something(or someone, rather) whispering in my ear softly, and something brushing the side of my face. Not being overly concious, I had time to register the voice in my head before I did anything drastic, namely, punching whoever it was who was bothering me directly in the balls.
"Come on, Tilmitt, it's time to get up............ Ow! Dammit! Sonofa---"
"Mffftttttt........."I grunted and sat up, too tired and out-of-it to even laugh at Seifer tripping over something on the floor that was ultimately his fault in being there."Okay, okay........ I'm up, I'm up."
All I got was a cheesy grin in return."All right, all right. I get your point, I get your point."
"Is there a purpose to repeating all this, is there a purpose to repeating all this?"
"None at all, none at all."He shook his head, laughing a little to himself. Then again, he always was deranged."Anyway, now that you're up, let's go."
"Go where?"I frowned in a bemused sort of way. Who the hell was HE to think that he could wake me up at---WHAT?! 4AM!!!!!---and order me around?!"I'm not even dressed..........."
"So quit yappin' and get dressed, or go naked,"he said offhandedly, hurling my uniform at me. It smacked me in the face.
Still grumbling to myself, I popped into the bathroom, changed, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and popped out again, somehow still looking as bleary-eyed as I had before I got dressed. I wondered with more than a small amount of sleepiness what was going on. I hoped nothing was wrong.
When I emerged, Seifer was already standing at the door, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently and looking at the clock on the wall(I recalled him saying once that only fags like Zell wore a watch). Giving him a nasty glare and receiving one in return, I followed him wordlessly out into the hall.
Down the hall, and out to the directory. Past the directory, past the library, like we were heading for the parking lot. I wondered; were we going for another pyscho-drive again? No, we stopped. Where, you ask? In front of the training center.
Then I remembered. My gunblade training. Duh! I nearly smacked myself in the forehead, but it required too much energy for this time in the morning. This time?! Yeah! Hello?! Even our training with Vienna started at 6, instead of this unHynely hour of 4! Grr.........I really wanted to hit something. Well, at least my training would allow that.
"Good..........your face tells me that you know why we're here,"said Seifer, starting to walk again."Saves me time explainin'."
Feeling my head starting to pound from lack of sleep, I had no choice but to doggedly follow him, all the while focusing what little power I had left in me to conjure up the wonderful image of his head exploding on the spot.
We stopped at the end of the entrance hallway, and I looked around. Yup. Same old training center. In a daze, I junctioned myself properly to defend against any possible Malboro attacks. Man. Between them and the Mesmerizes, I was suprised that my hair hadn't turned gray already.
Without a single trace of fatigue on him, Seifer rounded up a Grat and cast Stop on it. While the thing was stuck in this weirdo form of suspended animation which would have made me laugh under different circumstances, I waited patiently for my lesson to begin. Or maybe, not so patiently. I mean, I was vaguely interested(VAGUELY, mind you, not a lot), but I really wanted to just get the dumb thing over with so I could go back to bed.
"Tilmitt."Seifer dropped a long, black leather case on the ground. I hadn't even noticed him carrying it."Yours."
Wondering if some Silly String or a mini-Malboro or some other horrible practical joke was going to come popping out at me, I opened it carefully, with more than a little trepidation.
It was a gunblade.
I am NOT kidding you. There it was inside that case, bullets and all. It wasn't quite like Squall's Revolver, nor like Seifer's Hyperion. Maybe that's why I fell in love with it on first sight. Maybe because it was something that was MINE, uniquely mine. It wasn't a broad blade, like Squall's, nor something narrow, like Seifer's. Mine. Halfway in between. The sides of the blades were blank and bare, unlike everyone else's. Squall's had the carving of Griever, Vienna's had a pair of angel wings, and of course, Seifer's had the fancy twirling letters that spelled 'Hyperion'. No, nothing was on the side of mine. But dangling from the end were several charms of a moon and stars, hanging from a single chain.
Bella was stirring awake in my mind, clouding my vision for a brief moment.'So..........this was the purpose of Hyperion's visit to Esthar.'
It took some time to click, and when it did, MAN, must I have looked like an idiot! My jaw dropped open, my eyes popped out wide, and I probably looked like an advertisement for a bad Halloween costume. I was surprised that my hair wasn't sticking up in every direction or that my back wasn't arched like a black cat.
"In Esthar........"I squeaked, fully awake now,"this is what.........I mean, that was when you..........?"
Seifer nodded curtly, a single brief tilting of the head in assent."Name."
"Name?"Uh-oh. He was starting to sound too much like Fujin for my liking. I mean, I knew that they spent a lot of time together and stuff, her being the head of the disciplinary commitee and all, but if she was starting to rub off on him THAT MUCH.....? I started to get worried.
"Yeah, a name. The thing needs a name, don't it?"Oh. Duh."The guy I bought it from said he'd do an engraving on the side for free if you went down and saw him. Don't expect me to do it for you; I've done more than enough already, considering."
I considered. Yeah, he had. Stupid worthless lummox.
I couldn't stop thinking that as I engulfed him in a hug large enough to encompass the entire city of Esthar. As had been the case before, he looked most startled at first. A true picture moment. Then again, I had yet to talk to Mira about getting those pictures developed off of her camera. I mean, come ON. Moments like the ones I had caught on film just HAD to be recorded somewhere.
Before I broke away, I whispered something in his ear. He didn't say anything for a while, and when he finally did, it was just to ask if I'd picked a name yet.
I ran through my history, thinking of some cool name that pertained to history. Squall's names were boring; I'd always hated that. Nemeris, was of course, the underworld, and Hyperion was the name of an ancient sun god from back during the times of the Centra. I frowned, and the moon-and-stars charms dangling from the handle caught my eye.
"Chandrakanan,"I said quietly."It's name is Chandrakanan."
Seifer looked surprised at first, then, I'm happy to report, even a little impressed."Chandrakanan, hunh? Well, it suits it."
And we started my training, with Chandrakanan.
The name suited it, indeed. Chandrakanan, the Dragon of the Stars. That was what I called it.
And what I had whispered in Seifer's ear was..........
'..........Yes...............now we are even.'
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One day. We had one day, or else everything we knew was gone.
It was nighttime at Esthar Garden, and I was hurriedly sneaking into the cafeteria's terminals again, but for a different purpose than my first intent had been. The first time, I was a spy. And now......well, it seemed like with each day that passed, I was turning more and more into a member of Esthar Garden.
An electronic beep signified my logging on to the network. It was the International Garden Network, the IGN. It was generally how most SeeDs contacted their superiors when they were on missions particularly far away from their home Gardens.
Success! Someone from Balamb was on! I checked out the screename(AngelWingz) and guessed that it was Rinoa.
In a flash, I felt a sudden pang of homesickness. I mean, Mira and Vienna and Branton and all the rest had grown on me like a nasty(or maybe not so nasty) fungus, but they couldn't take the place of everyone I'd left behind. NOTHING could take the place of everyone I'd left behind.
Rinoa's and I's conversation went as thus:
BoOyaKaBooM!:Hey, Rin!
AngelWingz:SELPHIE!!!!!! OMIGOSH!!!! WHAT'S GOING ON?!?!?!
BoOyaKaBooM!:It's okay, Rin! Just hanging out, I guess. This job's boring, ya know.
AngelWingz:We were so worried about you! Squall was going to send out a search party or something if you didn't make a report soon!
BoOyaKaBooM!:Well, I'm okay. Tee-hee! It's just taking longer than I thought it would.
AngelWingz:It must be! Come on, Selph, it's been nearly two months already! You've GOT to have something else!
BoOyaKaBooM!:Well........as it turns out, Rin, you guys were completely off-base. From what I can tell, Esthar isn't really up to anything bad.
AngelWingz:REALLY?! Then, what about Seifer?
BoOyaKaBooM!:What about him? We can't arrest him for being an asshole; if we could, then he'd already be in prison for life.
AngelWingz:*laugh* Yeah, you're right. Still, Selphie, at the FIRST SIGN of anything freaky, let us know, okay?
BoOyaKaBooM!:Of course! But you know, I don't think anything WILL happen. I mean, it's been two months, like you said, and nothing's happened so far.
AngelWingz:You know, you're right. I should talk to Squall about letting you come off of this mission. I mean, the Garden Festival's COMPLETELY under way, but I wish you'd be back to see it.
BoOyaKaBooM!:Yeah, I wish I could see it, too.
AngelWingz:Hey, maybe you could! I'll talk to Squall! I'm sure he'll agree with me!
BoOyaKaBooM!:Actually, uh, Rin, that's okay. I mean, I don't want to take any chances.
AngelWingz:Hey, Selph, what's with this all of a sudden? I thought you couldn't WAIT to get out of there.
BoOyaKaBooM!:I know, I know, but.....well, what if something IS going on? I just wanna make sure.
AngelWingz:Sheez, nothin's gonna happen! You might as well come back in time to SEE the Garden Festival, even if you couldn't help make most of it. The FH guys were a huge help, by the way. I gave them their free tickets to the Festival, just like they asked. So come on, Selph! Some of them are REALLY cute! You should start looking for love again, instead of moping around over in Esthar!
BoOyaKaBooM!:No, thanks. Irvy was bad enough. I think I'll put my love life on hold, if you don't mind. Besides, I'm not 'wasting my time'. I'm not taking any chances that the same thing'll happen to Balamb that happened to Trabia.
AngelWingz:I know how you feel, Selph, but...........
AngelWingz:Please, come home. We all miss you. Please, Selph. Please.
BoOyaKaBooM!:I'm sorry, Rinoa! I can't! I just CAN'T!!!
And I had logged off then, barely seeing what I was doing through a flurry of tears. I was so homesick for Balamb that it hurt. I ran back towards the dormitories, feeling that if one more thing got dropped on me, I'd either collapse or explode. So much depended on what I did. Not just what I wanted, but what everyone else wanted, too.
The door was locked. Well, of course it was. It was always locked; Seifer would usually walk with me from my last class back to the rooms. So I sank down next to the door, drawing my knees up to my chest and burying my face in my hands. It was too much; it was all too much. Not only was homesickness eating at me like a Grendel, but there was the whole mission crisis going on with Esthar, the weight of my classes, and the whole thing with Allanna.
She was there, trying to comfort me.'Oh, Bella, I did not know I would trouble you such as this. I shall leave you to your peace at once, and whatever befalls me at the day of my judgement, I shall take it as it goes. You have done much for me, my young friend. I know now that my death has not been in vain.'
She left. It was hard to explain how it happened, but I knew she had gone. There was a hole where she had once been, an emptiness. I hadn't really wanted her to leave. But in my wretched state, I had made no move to stop her.
My sobs echoed brokenly through the empty hall, bouncing off the walls to taunt me again and again. This whole mission was a failure. It had sounded so simple when I had thought of it; so easy, like the other missions had been. I'd be able to do something good for Balamb, and conveniently get revenge against the one person I had truly hated at the same time. Where had everything gone wrong? When had things gotten so amiss?
I heard footsteps approaching, and I silently cursed whomever it was. Why couldn't they just leave me alone? I'd only cried a total of three times in my whole life; why not grant me this one more time?! And out of the pounding headache that had formed, I heard a surprising voice.
"Sir, I heard it over here---"Hunh? Vienna? What was Vienna doing back here?"There was this noise---I thought maybe an intruder---"
Damn! I thought it was somebody important!
"Alright, Loire. Head back to your dorm. I'll take care of this."Oh, great! The LAST person I wanted to see right now, just HAD to be here. I was beginning to think that Hyne really did hate me. Footsteps receding into the distance, and the Beast spoke again:"Hey! Whoever's down there! You've got until the count of three! One!"
Oh, Hyne! Why couldn't he just leave me alone?! Everything was turning out to be a disaster! Not to mention the fact that I was sitting in an abandoned hallway crying my eyes out, something that was never very becoming to anyone.
"Two!"
First was the fact that I got caught spying, and I was stuck in this unbelievably unbearable position. Then came the whole business with the executive party, Esthar, and my overload of classes. Next, Allanna Lionors Merielleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless. After that was Seifer's disappearance, and now, the missile crisis. And on top of that, I was so far away from home with no one to even care what was going on........
"Three---"I looked up, hair tangled and face blotchy. Seifer had been standing at the end of the hallway, not even in any form of battle stance, carrying the hard black case that held the Hyperion, all business-like and oppressive; but at the sight of me curled up into a ball sitting on the floor and crying, he dropped the case with a hard THUD! and positively ran over to me.
"Hey, Tilmitt, what's wrong?"he asked, shaking me by the shoulder."You're not, like............pregnant or anything, are you?"
"NO!"I cried, and gave him an odd look, before the thought made me burst out into tears again, convulsing in this really weird way, like a fish out of water.
"Well, that's a relief......... Uh, I mean, I'm sorry about bein' late and stuff. Come on, I didn't MEAN to lock you out, Tilmitt, and even if I did, it's nothin' to cry about! Sheez, just stop making that RACKET!"
I just wailed louder. And I was so thoroughly miserable, that it didn't even give me any joy to watch Seifer wince at the intensity of my voice, which had always been kinda loud.
"Damn! Come on, shut up, people are gonna hear......."
LET them hear! See if I care!
"Ah, shit!"And then, in a series of most embarrassing scenes for me, he stood up, unlocked his door, bent down and picked me up, walked in, and kicked the door shut behind us.
Stumbling around in the dark, he managed to successfully find my bed without tripping, falling, or stubbing a toe on any of the offending items that lay strewn across the floor. Instead, he sat down on the mattress with me sort of half-sitting, half-laying in his lap, and tried to pry me off of him with his fingers.
But the most embarrassing thing was, I couldn't seem to let go of him!
I don't mean in the sense that we were somehow glued together like the junior classmen had done to me that day in class, but in the sense that his presence was so oddly reassuring that I couldn't STAND to let go of him!
"Come on, Tilmitt, leggo.........."I stuck to him like white on rice, believe you me. I really missed everyone back at Balamb right now.
After an extended period of time, Seifer finally gave up trying to remove me and instead settled down with something I took to be a rather resigned sigh. Tee-hee. That small victory cheered me a little.
"Fine,"he said, in typical Seifer fashion."Why don't you just sit here and bawl like a wuss and bore me to death by telling me your crappy insignificant problems?"
I sniffled; why couldn't I seem to run out of bodily fluids and just dehydrate already?"In other words, you want me to tell you what's on my mind?"
"Basically, I suppose."
The thought of everything that had happened made me cry some more. I swear, it was just five years of pent-up tears spilling themselves out all over my face. Well, at least my makeup wouldn't run; I was wearing any.
Burying my face in Seifer's chest so that my words came out as this muffled sort of stuffed-up-nose voice, I took a deep breath and began."Well, it all started a couple of months ago when I first started working here............"
And from that point on, I told him the story. The WHOLE story. About the spying(which he already knew about, anyway), the pressure of running all my classes, the missile threat from Galbadia, and my homesickness for Balamb.
The last thing I told him about was Allanna.
Surprisingly enough, he took it all in stride. I mean, there was the definite wide-eyed surprise when I first mentioned her inside of my head, then that definite look of angry pain(not yet perfected by anyone save him, by the way) when I told him the history of his parents and of Dollet, and finally, as I closed up my long, long, ramble, a blank, pensive look.
I didn't say anything; I suddenly felt a little better about getting all that off my chest. Instead, I waited for Seifer to say something.
"So you've been using your only free period to tutor students who are no longer in your combat classes?"
Well, that was unexpected."Y-Yeah."
"Of course then, that's gotta stop. And if you want to go back to Balamb that bad, then just go. I ain't gonna stop you."
Once again, that was unexpected. I considered the prospect. Forget the mission, forget Esthar, be back with my friends............
I considered, but that was all."..................No."
"No?"Once again, that undercurrent of surprise.
"That's right, no. I'm too involved, now. And we'll just leave it at that."
I couldn't see him, but I felt him shrug."Fine by me."A pause."And............you knew my mother."
"Yeah, in a sense."
"At least better than I did."I didn't know what to say to that, so I waited for him to go on."She wasn't so bad then, Mother? And now she's gone off to face her judgement and be sent to Nemeris? Because of me?"
I tightened my hold on him in what I hoped was a reassuring sort of way."You know, both Allanna and I thought it was worth it. We learned a lot from each other. We didn't have any regrets. Especially Allanna. She NEVER had any regrets."
Seifer didn't say anything, just moved his arms from around me before moving them back, dropping something into my hand. I didn't quite break away from him, but I moved just the slightest bit so I could see what it was.
A necklace. HIS necklace. And not really a necklace, per se, more like a collar or dog tags or something of the sort. The thin links of chain, with the broad silver band in the center. And I noticed now something I had never noticed about it before.
On the back, engraved in the metal, was a message.
'To my son,
Never forget who you are.
Hyperion Lionors Merelleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless Almasy, '01 SGA'
I went to hand it back to him, but he took my hand and closed my fingers over it."You keep it. I think I'm tired of knowing who I am."And with that, he lifted up the hair from the back of my head and slipped the collar through, fastening it around my neck. With it came this bizarre comfort, despite the chill from the metal.
There was a bit of an uncomfortable pause, which I broke."Erm..................I'm sorry about your mother."
A longer pause on his part."Me, too."More silence, but not exactly awkward. Then---"Go on, go to sleep Tilmitt, your cryin's givin' me a huge headache, anyway---"and he wasn't really making any attempts at moving but then again, neither was I. And I really was tired from all that crying and Seifer's necklace hung down my neck because it was a little too big on me and I was drifting off to sleep............
I breathed in the nice smell that was coming from all around me; this combination of soap and shampoo and aftershave and laundry detergent, not to mention this other odor I couldn't quite pick out...............
"What about the missile base..........tomorrow............?"I asked sleepily, and I felt a hand idly stroking my hair.
"Don't worry about it, Tilmitt................we'll get what's gotta be done, done."
And before I finally succumbed to the irresistible call of sleep, Seifer's next words echoed in my mind.
"...................Trust in me."
And I was surprised to find that I could.
AN~Well, upon popular demand, this is finished! I mean, I was going to make it longer, but oh well. I know how much everyone's been wanting me to update. So, here it is! Too cute, and like......not funny. But this was mainly filler, so I could deal with it. But if the next chapter's not funny, I'll strangle myself. Oh, a refreshing change in the next half of chapters to come! What is it? Shit if I'll tell you! Mweh heh heh. And 'Trust In Me' is the name of a soundtrack thingy in FF8, just so you know.... Well, I gotta go post this! Byes! ~tiger~*is yawning and suffering from a nasty cold*