AN: Awwwwwwww, thank you soooo much Anime-freak-4life!!! You're the best! :D Sniff, well, after the much-appreciated support from Anime-freak-4life, and that fabulous idea, I've decided to... WRITE!!!!
So, lunch.
Let's just say that that was a little short of a disaster. Selphie and Rinoa started up the fiasco with their little whispering of an evil plan that ended with Quistis and Miranda having liberal amounts of mashed potato splattered on their faces. Squall choked on his juice, laughing. Irvine, who was trying to help Squall out, managed to get a faceful of the juice, and Zell, as usual, choked on his hotdogs.
"And you hang around with these people?" Miranda muttered, fixing Quistis with a glare.
"No, in fact, I don't."
"You'd think that with a maturity level like yours, your friends would be around the same, would they not?"
"Apparently not."
The two of them were in their shared bathroom, hovering over the sink, trying to get the mashed potato out of their hair.
"Argh! You know what, this is hopeless, I'm taking a shower!" Miranda growled in frustration. The mashed potato was not coming out, and it was rather unsightly to have bits of mushy white stuff in black hair.
Quistis laughed, before replying saucily, "Mind if I join you? Two of us could fit in that shower easily."
Miranda glared, though her eyes had a little amused twinkle in them. Her response to that was to shunt Quistis out the bathroom door.
"Fine, be mean!"
"You deserved it you little pervert. You're just as bad as your friends!"
Quistis, wanting to retort, was cut short as Miranda turned on the water, and had to settle with pounding Miranda's pillow into pulp. That's when she felt the hard cover of a hidden photo album which had been tucked underneath Miranda's pillow.
'Wonder what this is...'
Flipping to the first page of photos, Quistis' mouth dropped open.
A little girl stood, holding a wooden miniature of a Gunblade, laughing happily while a woman Quistis assumed was her mother stood behind her, making a rather amusing parody of her. The reason for Quistis' surprise was that the little girl looked oddly familiar. And very much so.
Three guesses on who the little girl might be.
The next photograph showed the little girl as a toddler, sitting on her mother's lap, pointing her little tiny finger up at the stars and her mouth open in laughter and amazement.
Quistis breezed through a couple of the other photographs, and they all showed the little girl, happily living her life as she grew older. Then, a sudden change occurred. Quistis gazed at one photograph of the little girl as a teen, as Miranda looked now, standing beside her mother, the two smiling happily into the camera. But the next. The next photograph showed Miranda, standing by herself, glaring at the camera. Something had happened, and Quistis had a gut feeling as to the exact event. Flipping through the previous photos, she noticed that Miranda's mother was with her for all of them. Yet in this one, the one with Miranda glaring, there was the acute absence of her mother.
'Wonder what happened to her...'
Quistis was just about to investigate further when she heard the lock of the bathroom door click. Miranda was coming out.
"Shit!" Quistis hissed. She was as sure as hell that Miranda wouldn't be happy if she saw Quistis with her photo album, especially if it was hidden away like that.
"Quis, what're you swearing about?" Miranda said, looking amusedly at Quistis.
Quistis whipped around, her face a perfect model of innocence.
"I was afraid of what you'd say if you saw the condition of your pillow."
Quistis stepped aside, careful to keep the photo album behind her back, only to reveal the pummelled pillow. Miranda let out a laugh.
"Quistis, what did you do? I'm taking your pillow for tonight!"
Miranda walked over to the bed, while Quistis carefully edged away from her, trying to look nonchalant whilst keeping her back away from Miranda. Reaching the bed, Miranda picked up her pillow and grabbed Quistis' to switch them in a swift movement that Quistis knew was to keep the album hidden, but Miranda stopped in mid-action.
"Quistis."
"Yes?"
Quistis, on her part, managed to keep her voice as carefree as possible.
"Where is it."
"Where's what?"
She'd been so close to adding "I don't know where it is, I have no idea what you're talking about." but knew that would tip Miranda off immediately.
"You know what I'm talking about Quistis. Where is it."
"I-"
"Quistis! Stop it! That thing's really important to me. Now. Where. Is. It."
Quistis could hear the dangerous metallic edge of anger seeping into Miranda voice. She knew now that Miranda'd be mad whether she gave it up or not, it was now a matter of which would madden her more. Sighing, Quistis gave in.
"Here," she held out the photo album from behind her back, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to look at it, I just sort of... Happened upon it."
Miranda briskly walked forward and snatched it away from Quistis, all without saying a word. Quistis winced, but she knew what she had to do.
"Look, Miranda, I mean, I know I was wrong in looking, but you keep hiding stuff from me. I know we agreed on not taking things so quickly, but I still don't know that much about you, and-"
A look from Miranda silenced Quistis.
Then, without so much as a silent growl, Miranda stormed out of the room, but not before grabbing her Gunblade.
Much, much later, Miranda, after having let out some steam in the Training Centre, quietly opened the door to her and Quistis' dorm. The rest of the Garden was down in the cafeteria, eating dinner, so Miranda expected to be alone when she came back, but she still wanted to remain as quiet as possible, just in case.
Sniff.
Miranda froze. So Quistis was still in here. Shouldn't she be eating dinner? And why was she sniffling?
'You still wonder why she's sniffling.'
'Why not? I'm not psychic.' Miranda countered to her own conscience.
'You were so harsh before. There's sniffling. Put two and two together, would you?'
It hit Miranda rather hard, really. She was a smart girl, but it never really occurred to her that what she'd done was really that mean. After all, with all the suffering she'd gone through, her being mean really wasn't something she thought of.
The curtains were drawn in front of the window, stopping whatever moonlight from shining through, but with a small flutter of the wind, the curtains were brushed aside momentarily, and the pale figure of Quistis lying in bed was illuminated by the moon. Curled up atop the covers, it was plain to see that Quistis wasn't sleeping.
Padding over to the side of the bed as quietly as she could, Miranda bit her lower lip. She felt really guilty as she heard another sniff, saw another tear reflect the minimal moonlight as it trailed down Quistis' cheek.
"Quis?" Miranda whispered, afraid that anything louder would shatter her.
Quistis looked up, and Miranda's heart wrenched painfully at the tortured, lifeless look that shone from Quistis' face.
'Oh my God. What the fuck did I do?'
"Quis? Are..."
Quistis rolled away from Miranda, leaving Miranda to stare at her back, but Miranda would have none of that. She placed a tentative hand on Quistis' shoulder, but it was shrugged off. Not one to give up easily, she tried again, this time gripping Quistis' shoulder harder. Quistis' hand came up this time to push Miranda's off.
"Quis, come on, talk to me."
This time, Quistis chose to answer.
"What for? You never tell me anything anyways. Talking won't do much."
The tiredness, the sorrow, the loss, all of that was evident in Quistis' cracked voice.
So this was the real Quistis. The Quistis underneath the stern, teacher- mask, the Quistis underneath the pretend humour and levity. This was Quistis.
Quistis sat up, and turned to look at Miranda over her shoulder. The cold glare that she gave Miranda made Miranda rethink whether she really wanted to persist in talking to Quistis.
'If talking doesn't work, then maybe actions would serve better...'
Miranda, albeit with a moment of hesitation, sat down on the bed, close to Quistis' turned back. Quistis had turned her head to stare at the wall opposite her, and she felt Miranda sit down, but didn't make a move to get away. Slowly, so as to not shock Quistis, Miranda wrapped her arms around Quistis' waist. Miranda could feel Quistis' body stiffen, but did not try to loosen her grip. Instead, she tightened her hold on Quistis' waist.
"Get away from me." Quistis hissed after several moments' of silence.
"Do you really want me to do that?"
Silence.
"Do you Quistis?"
Silence again.
"Just give me the word, I will. Do you-"
"SHUT UP!"
Quistis flung Miranda's arms away and stood up, fury rolling off in waves from her.
"Just SHUT UP! What's your fucking problem?! First it's 'I don't really care' then it's 'I love you too Quis' then it's 'Fuck you for touching my fucking photo album!' then it's 'I know you want me here'. You're fucking conceited, d'you know that?! Fucking conceited! Fucking self-centred bitch!"
Miranda could only stare up at Quistis in shock.
"I tried my best. I just wanted to get to know you better. If you couldn't tell me exactly, then couldn't I just find out for myself? I apologized too, and what did you do? You gave me a fucking ugly look and walked out!"
"I-"
"Shut up!"
Miranda knew her anger was bubbling up from somewhere within her, but her shock was winning so far.
"Just shut up!!"
But Miranda could see that Quistis' anger was fading fast, and tears were streaming down her cheeks again. Bracing herself, Miranda got up, and opened her arms to wrap them around Quistis, but Quistis pushed her away. More like tried. Miranda still pushed forwards, and finally managed to get Quistis into her arms, but Quistis struggled as hard as she could to get out. Several moments of silent struggle later, Quistis was sobbing into Miranda's shoulder.
"I'm sorry Quis, I really am." Miranda whispered into Quistis' ear, stroking her hair softly.
Miranda knew what she had to do. But could she do it? If Quistis really wanted to know that much, maybe it'd be best if Miranda told her.
Maybe it would be best.
AN: Haha, I know, I know, Anime-freak-4life, you probably wanted to have the info in this chap, right? But you see, I usually only write an average of 3 pgs (MS Word) per chap, and this one's 5. So I split the thing into 2 chaps. I'm workin' on the 2nd chap, which'll probably be up, latest, tomorrow night. For now, waitin' for reviews!!
So, lunch.
Let's just say that that was a little short of a disaster. Selphie and Rinoa started up the fiasco with their little whispering of an evil plan that ended with Quistis and Miranda having liberal amounts of mashed potato splattered on their faces. Squall choked on his juice, laughing. Irvine, who was trying to help Squall out, managed to get a faceful of the juice, and Zell, as usual, choked on his hotdogs.
"And you hang around with these people?" Miranda muttered, fixing Quistis with a glare.
"No, in fact, I don't."
"You'd think that with a maturity level like yours, your friends would be around the same, would they not?"
"Apparently not."
The two of them were in their shared bathroom, hovering over the sink, trying to get the mashed potato out of their hair.
"Argh! You know what, this is hopeless, I'm taking a shower!" Miranda growled in frustration. The mashed potato was not coming out, and it was rather unsightly to have bits of mushy white stuff in black hair.
Quistis laughed, before replying saucily, "Mind if I join you? Two of us could fit in that shower easily."
Miranda glared, though her eyes had a little amused twinkle in them. Her response to that was to shunt Quistis out the bathroom door.
"Fine, be mean!"
"You deserved it you little pervert. You're just as bad as your friends!"
Quistis, wanting to retort, was cut short as Miranda turned on the water, and had to settle with pounding Miranda's pillow into pulp. That's when she felt the hard cover of a hidden photo album which had been tucked underneath Miranda's pillow.
'Wonder what this is...'
Flipping to the first page of photos, Quistis' mouth dropped open.
A little girl stood, holding a wooden miniature of a Gunblade, laughing happily while a woman Quistis assumed was her mother stood behind her, making a rather amusing parody of her. The reason for Quistis' surprise was that the little girl looked oddly familiar. And very much so.
Three guesses on who the little girl might be.
The next photograph showed the little girl as a toddler, sitting on her mother's lap, pointing her little tiny finger up at the stars and her mouth open in laughter and amazement.
Quistis breezed through a couple of the other photographs, and they all showed the little girl, happily living her life as she grew older. Then, a sudden change occurred. Quistis gazed at one photograph of the little girl as a teen, as Miranda looked now, standing beside her mother, the two smiling happily into the camera. But the next. The next photograph showed Miranda, standing by herself, glaring at the camera. Something had happened, and Quistis had a gut feeling as to the exact event. Flipping through the previous photos, she noticed that Miranda's mother was with her for all of them. Yet in this one, the one with Miranda glaring, there was the acute absence of her mother.
'Wonder what happened to her...'
Quistis was just about to investigate further when she heard the lock of the bathroom door click. Miranda was coming out.
"Shit!" Quistis hissed. She was as sure as hell that Miranda wouldn't be happy if she saw Quistis with her photo album, especially if it was hidden away like that.
"Quis, what're you swearing about?" Miranda said, looking amusedly at Quistis.
Quistis whipped around, her face a perfect model of innocence.
"I was afraid of what you'd say if you saw the condition of your pillow."
Quistis stepped aside, careful to keep the photo album behind her back, only to reveal the pummelled pillow. Miranda let out a laugh.
"Quistis, what did you do? I'm taking your pillow for tonight!"
Miranda walked over to the bed, while Quistis carefully edged away from her, trying to look nonchalant whilst keeping her back away from Miranda. Reaching the bed, Miranda picked up her pillow and grabbed Quistis' to switch them in a swift movement that Quistis knew was to keep the album hidden, but Miranda stopped in mid-action.
"Quistis."
"Yes?"
Quistis, on her part, managed to keep her voice as carefree as possible.
"Where is it."
"Where's what?"
She'd been so close to adding "I don't know where it is, I have no idea what you're talking about." but knew that would tip Miranda off immediately.
"You know what I'm talking about Quistis. Where is it."
"I-"
"Quistis! Stop it! That thing's really important to me. Now. Where. Is. It."
Quistis could hear the dangerous metallic edge of anger seeping into Miranda voice. She knew now that Miranda'd be mad whether she gave it up or not, it was now a matter of which would madden her more. Sighing, Quistis gave in.
"Here," she held out the photo album from behind her back, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to look at it, I just sort of... Happened upon it."
Miranda briskly walked forward and snatched it away from Quistis, all without saying a word. Quistis winced, but she knew what she had to do.
"Look, Miranda, I mean, I know I was wrong in looking, but you keep hiding stuff from me. I know we agreed on not taking things so quickly, but I still don't know that much about you, and-"
A look from Miranda silenced Quistis.
Then, without so much as a silent growl, Miranda stormed out of the room, but not before grabbing her Gunblade.
Much, much later, Miranda, after having let out some steam in the Training Centre, quietly opened the door to her and Quistis' dorm. The rest of the Garden was down in the cafeteria, eating dinner, so Miranda expected to be alone when she came back, but she still wanted to remain as quiet as possible, just in case.
Sniff.
Miranda froze. So Quistis was still in here. Shouldn't she be eating dinner? And why was she sniffling?
'You still wonder why she's sniffling.'
'Why not? I'm not psychic.' Miranda countered to her own conscience.
'You were so harsh before. There's sniffling. Put two and two together, would you?'
It hit Miranda rather hard, really. She was a smart girl, but it never really occurred to her that what she'd done was really that mean. After all, with all the suffering she'd gone through, her being mean really wasn't something she thought of.
The curtains were drawn in front of the window, stopping whatever moonlight from shining through, but with a small flutter of the wind, the curtains were brushed aside momentarily, and the pale figure of Quistis lying in bed was illuminated by the moon. Curled up atop the covers, it was plain to see that Quistis wasn't sleeping.
Padding over to the side of the bed as quietly as she could, Miranda bit her lower lip. She felt really guilty as she heard another sniff, saw another tear reflect the minimal moonlight as it trailed down Quistis' cheek.
"Quis?" Miranda whispered, afraid that anything louder would shatter her.
Quistis looked up, and Miranda's heart wrenched painfully at the tortured, lifeless look that shone from Quistis' face.
'Oh my God. What the fuck did I do?'
"Quis? Are..."
Quistis rolled away from Miranda, leaving Miranda to stare at her back, but Miranda would have none of that. She placed a tentative hand on Quistis' shoulder, but it was shrugged off. Not one to give up easily, she tried again, this time gripping Quistis' shoulder harder. Quistis' hand came up this time to push Miranda's off.
"Quis, come on, talk to me."
This time, Quistis chose to answer.
"What for? You never tell me anything anyways. Talking won't do much."
The tiredness, the sorrow, the loss, all of that was evident in Quistis' cracked voice.
So this was the real Quistis. The Quistis underneath the stern, teacher- mask, the Quistis underneath the pretend humour and levity. This was Quistis.
Quistis sat up, and turned to look at Miranda over her shoulder. The cold glare that she gave Miranda made Miranda rethink whether she really wanted to persist in talking to Quistis.
'If talking doesn't work, then maybe actions would serve better...'
Miranda, albeit with a moment of hesitation, sat down on the bed, close to Quistis' turned back. Quistis had turned her head to stare at the wall opposite her, and she felt Miranda sit down, but didn't make a move to get away. Slowly, so as to not shock Quistis, Miranda wrapped her arms around Quistis' waist. Miranda could feel Quistis' body stiffen, but did not try to loosen her grip. Instead, she tightened her hold on Quistis' waist.
"Get away from me." Quistis hissed after several moments' of silence.
"Do you really want me to do that?"
Silence.
"Do you Quistis?"
Silence again.
"Just give me the word, I will. Do you-"
"SHUT UP!"
Quistis flung Miranda's arms away and stood up, fury rolling off in waves from her.
"Just SHUT UP! What's your fucking problem?! First it's 'I don't really care' then it's 'I love you too Quis' then it's 'Fuck you for touching my fucking photo album!' then it's 'I know you want me here'. You're fucking conceited, d'you know that?! Fucking conceited! Fucking self-centred bitch!"
Miranda could only stare up at Quistis in shock.
"I tried my best. I just wanted to get to know you better. If you couldn't tell me exactly, then couldn't I just find out for myself? I apologized too, and what did you do? You gave me a fucking ugly look and walked out!"
"I-"
"Shut up!"
Miranda knew her anger was bubbling up from somewhere within her, but her shock was winning so far.
"Just shut up!!"
But Miranda could see that Quistis' anger was fading fast, and tears were streaming down her cheeks again. Bracing herself, Miranda got up, and opened her arms to wrap them around Quistis, but Quistis pushed her away. More like tried. Miranda still pushed forwards, and finally managed to get Quistis into her arms, but Quistis struggled as hard as she could to get out. Several moments of silent struggle later, Quistis was sobbing into Miranda's shoulder.
"I'm sorry Quis, I really am." Miranda whispered into Quistis' ear, stroking her hair softly.
Miranda knew what she had to do. But could she do it? If Quistis really wanted to know that much, maybe it'd be best if Miranda told her.
Maybe it would be best.
AN: Haha, I know, I know, Anime-freak-4life, you probably wanted to have the info in this chap, right? But you see, I usually only write an average of 3 pgs (MS Word) per chap, and this one's 5. So I split the thing into 2 chaps. I'm workin' on the 2nd chap, which'll probably be up, latest, tomorrow night. For now, waitin' for reviews!!