Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, any characters within or placed involved. Original characters and places are my own.
Chapter IV: A Long Awaited Lead
Two days later they weren't any closer to figuring it out. Selphie seemed like she was back to her cheery self whenever she was in public but Seifer could sometimes hear her crying at night. He was absolutely baffled on what he could do for her.
Besides kill Irvine.
Seifer couldn't believe that Irvine would cheat on Selphie when she was so completely loyal to him. Loyalty could move mountains in Seifer's opinion. Seifer even discreetly asked Quistis to find out whom Irvine was cheating on Selphie with. It was no secret that Selphie and Irvine had been dating for over a year and any girl that would willingly start something up with Irvine obviously didn't have any respect for honour.
Leon mumbled something to Selphie as they read over a report they had gotten that day. It was about the goings on of the suspects. Three of the new students had proven alibis during the murders and so did one of the new staff. There were still five other people on the suspect list however that weren't new to Garden. Three were SeeDs and two were students that were working on a rebellious reputation to rival Seifer's.
But they'd never be able to match his, he thought with a chuckle. No one ever would.
"Hey Almasy," Called Leon. "You have enough time to trial Denman?" Denman was one of the Seifer-wannabes.
"Yeah, when?" Seifer and Leon were starting to get used to being around each other now. Leon understood Seifer's inability to take orders and had given up; instead he had Seifer do his own part and kept out of his business mostly. Seifer thought Leon was a little like himself, he smelled the same rebellion on him. Leon never said anything about himself personally and preferred not to socialize with him. Seifer knew that Leon had had his rough times too; the little scars that only came from knife fighting, the gruff voice, the way he always watched his back, and the way he could focus himself. Seifer and Leon still had their stand-offs now and again but were learning to cope.
"Tomorrow." Leon never let anything through in his facial expressions, unless it came to his disgust about the victims. "He has leave to go to Deling City, I want you to see where he goes and who he visits."
"Easy enough." Seifer shrugged his shoulders like it was the simplest task in the world. He had done- unofficial- missions like this before when he was working as a mercenary after the event last year. He would done a disguise and tail Denman, watching his every move. Most likely he would go to bars, unless he was out killing, as the report on him stated. Apparently Denman liked a good bar fight- even if it was with instructors.
* * *
Selphie was making her way back to her room after supper when a female student approached her. Her eyes were red and she looked supremely sorrowful.
"Ms. Tilmitt," The student said with a shaky voice. "Can I talk to you please? Ms. Heartilly isn't here and I didn't know who else I could talk to."
"Yeah, sure. Call me Selphie." She replied. Selphie always liked to help people and this girl looked like she needed help. She sat the girl down on the elevation that kept students from falling into the water at the bottom of Garden.
"The girl that just died, she was my best friend." The girl was talking about Xing Lao, the fourth victim. Her eyes glittered as a thought came to her. "And I just wanted you to know that I'd help you out with anything. I knew her best so maybe I could help you with the profile of the killer, or something."
That would save us from having to do a background check on Xing. Selphie thought. "That would be very helpful." If the girl felt like she was making herself useful, the grief wouldn't be as painful. "So what's your name?"
"Myena." She replied. "Xing had just gotten dumped by her boyfriend a week before her death and," She sniffled a little, "I don't think I was a good enough friend to her. If you let me help, I'll feel better. Better a friend too late than never." Myena cried a little and Selphie comforted her, taking her own comfort from helping out another.
It was the only way she knew how to comfort herself.
* * *
That night Seifer sat in the cafeteria by himself, as he usually did. The meal was simple but thankfully not those damn hotdogs. How could Zell stuff himself with those hideous things day after day? Seifer hadn't seen Zell since he had come back to Garden but thought vaguely that he'd raise a little hell when he did see the chicken-wuss again.
Just a little though.
"Lonely?" Quitis' voice interrupted Seifer's thoughts as she sat herself down at his table, holding a food tray.
"No." Seifer said blankly. Quistis had accepted his presence at Garden almost as quickly as Selphie had. It was good to know that he had a couple people on his side.
"Oh well." She sighed melodramatically and began eating. After a few mouthfuls she got to the point. "I found out the names of the girls."
Girls? That scumbag. Seifer had been expecting only one. He prompted her to continue speaking with his fork.
"Eliza Bone, Amanda Smith, Lorile Rent and," She blushed a little. One of the names had been very familiar but the next name banished the thought. "Diamond G-String." Seifer chocked on his forkful of food then. Irvine was even cheating on Selphie with strippers? Now he really wanted to beat Irvine pretty face into oblivion. He knew Diamond was a regular at the 'Golden Corset,' a high-class strip bar.
Not that he'd know anything about strip bars.
"Thanks." Seifer praised when he dislodged the food from his throat. Quistis was the only person he told, as the impending break up wasn't public knowledge. Selphie was too heartbroken to be able to say anything to Irvine and Irvine seemed too busy to talk to her.
"She's my friend too, isn't she?" It was a statement rather than a question. Quistis was just as shocked as Seifer had been when she found out but hadn't said anything to Selphie yet. She knew Selphie would come to her in due time.
"Still." Seifer finished his food then stood up. "See ya around." And with that he left, leaving Quistis to ponder.
* * *
Selphie was currently on her third hour of television when Seifer entered their dorm. When she wasn't working she was descending into grief. She would have been able to understand if Irvine had just said that he wanted to see other people but he hadn't. He just went and did it. That hurt, that he couldn't just tell her the truth. Hadn't she always been honest with him?
"Hey." For once Seifer initiated the conversation.
Selphie turned blank eyes to him. "Hey. Whatcha up to?" Even though she was overflowing with grief, she still cared about everyone else.
"Nothing," His voice trailed off as he eyed her up for a moment.
Selphie got goosebumps on her arms. He saved her from any embarrassing moments by going to his room. Selphie thought about how lonely her Friday night was, usually she would go out with friends or at least do something, anything. Quistis had called her earlier and asked if she wanted to go bar hopping with her and Rinoa but she declined. She was sure that Quistis and Rinoa didn't want a Selphie that was only half there.
A knock came at the door and Selphie felt dread grip her. She knew who it was, and there was no way in hell she was ready for this. She hoped, in a panic, that Seifer would open the door and surprisingly Seifer emerged from his room and did just so. Though Selphie couldn't see who was at the door from where she was sitting, she knew because Seifer's body went rigid and his hand clenched.
"What do you want?" She could hear Seifer say through gritted teeth. Seifer had mercifully not said anything to anyone about Irvine, if anyone had shown pity for her she knew she would've broke.
"You seem to forget that you're living with my girl." Irvine drawled. One of them anyway, Selphie thought bitterly.
"She's busy." Seifer growled. Selphie felt a little flush of thankfulness for Seifer run through her.
"She's never too busy for me." Irvine pushed past Seifer and looked at Selphie with a bunch of flowers in his hands. She vaguely thought that she must look like hell to him. "How are you doing cutie?" Irvine turned on the charm, completely ignoring the fuming Seifer behind him. He acted like nothing was wrong-
When everything was. Selphie opened her mouth to say something but couldn't. All she wanted to do was to yell at him, and vent her anger and feelings of betrayal as best she could. Maybe even beat him to death with those damn flowers. Her emotions however, had her in such a tight grip that she couldn't do anything.
"What's wrong, sweetness?" Irvine asked.
He knew what was wrong, even if he didn't know that she knew. "You…You…" Selphie was so close to yelling.
"I told you, she's busy." Seifer loomed behind Irvine, seething anger.
"I wasn't asking you." Irvine walked over to where Selphie was sitting and offered her the flowers. Selphie knew she couldn't hide the look of shock in her face. She was so mad at him and there he was, flowers in hand, acting like he was the perfect boyfriend. The betrayal hit her as hard as it could then, and Selphie retaliated-
-Flowers went flying across the room in every direction. Selphie stood up and began to scream at Irvine. "What's wrong? What's wrong!?" She nearly slapped him in her anger. "You know what's fucking wrong." Selphie noticed indirectly that Seifer's eyebrows flew up in surprise at her swearing. "How could you do that to me."
Irvine feigned innocence. "I'm sorry I haven't had much time lately…"
Selphie cut him off, "Don't lie to me dammit! I know about your other girlfriends!"
Irvine went white with shock and shame. "They aren't girlfriends, just sex buddies." He didn't mean to say that. Selphie punched him in the face with all the pent up emotions and anger that was spiraling around her heart.
Hard.
Irvine went flying back into Seifer's waiting arms and straight out the door, only to go tumbling ungracefully down the hallway. Seifer slammed the door behind Irvine's gawky exit. Selphie's eyes were pinpointed on the ground, not realizing that blood was dripping down her fingers and dropping to the floor. She was in a killing frenzy and was thinking about following Irvine and beating the shit right out of him. This was the first time in her life when she had gotten so utterly angry and it disgusted her a little.
But Irvine disgusted her more. She started to make her way to the door, unaware that Seifer blocked the way. She snapped out of her frenzy when he hefted her up on his shoulder and lugged her into his room. He threw her on the bed and Selphie didn't know what to do. She was trapped there, half propping herself up on her arms, glaring at Seifer. Tempting him to do anything that would lead to a fight.
Instead he calmly picked up a small box from underneath his bed and dropped it unceremoniously beside her. It had the little medic cross on it.
"Look at your hand." Seifer said bluntly. Selphie ripped her eyes from him and stared unbelievingly at her bleeding hand. When she had punched Irvine she managed to bust her skin as well as his face. Now the tears began. Seifer said nothing, just opened the box and got out alcohol and bandages. Selphie gasped when he poured the alcohol on her hand. Damn, that stung. Without a single word of reprimand, he bandaged her up.
"Thank you." Selphie said when he finished. She wasn't angry anymore and could understand that Seifer was only trying to help. She was a little embarrassed about her behaviour just a few minutes ago, she never acted like that. But Irvine…
Irvine.
"It's time for more alcohol." Seifer helped her stand up. Selphie cringed at the thought of having more alcohol run over her opened skin. "Get dressed." And he pushed her into her room.
"Oh." That kind of alcohol.
* * *
A half an hour later they were in a smoke and body filled bar. The general mood in here was of cheerfulness and celebration. Seifer noticed that Selphie's mood had lightened a little since they entered the bar. This was one bar where the high spirits were nearly impossible to escape. Maybe that's why it was called "High Spirits." That or the vicious alcohol they served. Good, but vicious. The crowd stirred a little when they realized the band would be on soon, a mosh pit was already starting on the dance floor. Seifer ordered two shots of tequila with salt and lime for himself and Selphie. He was going to make her forget about Irvine, even if it was just for the night.
Seifer also wanted to forget about Irvine. It took all his self-control to stop himself from finishing off Irvine when Selphie punched him. Thing was, he figured he would have killed Irvine. He remembered now why one of the four names Quists had given him was familiar, one was a victim. Which put Irvine on the suspect list. Selphie turned from watching the people when the clink of glasses hit the bar. She went for hers but Seifer stopped her.
"No, no." He shook his head with good humour. "You got to do it the right way. First lick your hand right here," He showed her where to lick her hand. "Then you put salt on it," he shook salt onto her hand as his, "Now you suck on your hand, take the shot, then bite the lime." He downed his fast and waited for Selphie to do the same. And she certainly sucked it back.
Too bad for her she wasn't used to drinking hard stuff. Her face contorted in a sour look when she felt the tequila burn down her throat. Seifer chuckled and Selphie gave him a fake angry look.
"That burns!" She managed to cough out once she regained breathing. "I want another." Seifer really laughed then, this would be a good night. He ordered another two when the band came on stage. This was the second time Seifer had seen this band and he filled with pride. There were five people in the band, a hard rock band called 'The Thunder Boom." One of them was Raijin.
"Hey, isn't that Raijin?" Selphie asked, concentrating on the lead guitarist and singer.
"Yeah." Seifer leaned on the bar and took his second shot. Selphie followed suit. "They're pretty good."
"If you don't mind me asking but why did you break away from Raijin and Fujin?" Selphie asked delicately. Seifer realized that she wasn't trying to be rude and answered.
"I just realized that they had better things going for them than hanging around with me." A sardonic grin crossed his face. "Fujin is a romance writer now, she even got married. Her pen name is Nova France." Selphie blushed a little. "I take it you've read some of her novels?"
Selphie gave an embarrassed laugh, "Yeah." Nova France's novels were known for being, graphic. "Wanna mosh?" Selphie asked him, hope in her eyes. He shook his head in surprise, trying to figure out if Selphie had actually asked him that. Selphie wanted to mosh? "Please." She whined cutely. He couldn't possibly say no, so he grabbed her arm and brought her in the pit.
* * *
After the band got off stage and the next one came on, Selphie had gotten her moshing out of her system and plenty of alcohol in. She was now having a lot of fun and forgot her worries for the rest of the night. They were at the bar again when Raijin advanced to Seifer.
"What's up?!" Raijin gave Seifer a hearty pat on the back. "Haven't seen ya around much, ya know."
"Went back to Garden." Seifer raised his voice over the crowd and the band. Raijin looked surprised but kept his toothy smile.
"So you got out of the old life then." Raijin's tone became a little more somber.
"Yeah, I'm on the good side now." Seifer and Raijin shared a good laugh while Selphie sat mystified (and no little drunk).
"So who's this?" Raijin stuck out his hand in greeting to Selphie, not recognizing her.
"Selphie, you forgot all ready?" Selphie gripped his hand in a shake and laughed.
"Oh geez!" Raijin grabbed his head. "And I always thought you were the cute one too, ya know!" Seifer imposed his personality over Raijin and he stopped trying to come on to Selphie. "Anyway, why don't you come back stage? There's a great party going on back there, ya know." Selphie was more than ready for anything at the moment and Seifer thought, with amusement that he had to keep up with her.
* * *
Somewhere near six in the morning Seifer and Selphie stumbled back into Garden, holding each other up and singing drinking songs. A few of the students that were up that early in the morning, most running laps, gave them funny looks as they passed by in a drunken stagger. They didn't care though, nothing mattered at this point. Only trying to reach their dorm before Squall caught them being piss-drunk in front of the students.
When they reached the dorm Selphie hugged Seifer after he closed the door. "Thanks for takin' me out t'night." She slurred.
"No prob." Seifer replied, just as smashed. He was amused that she could keep up with his drinking as well as she did. She released him and started taking off her coat. Seifer went for his room, threw his coat off and crashed on his bed. He was relaxing very quickly until he realized he wasn't alone. "Selphie?" He tensed slightly as he felt her arm slide over his and rest on his chest.
"Who else?" She giggled. He turned to face her and was rewarded with a kiss. It wasn't until then that he recognized the need for Selphie that he had. Despite himself, he deepened the kiss and positioned himself on top of her. He wanted her very badly right now. The alcohol pushed his passion over the edge. She started unbuttoning his shirt and soon it was halfway across his room. She was just as willing as he was.
Seifer forced himself to pull away. "I can't do this." He told her with so much remorse.
"I doubt that." Selphie's hand went below the belt and Seifer flushed.
"No really," He managed to pull back a little more. "You're really drunk right now. And I don't want to take advantage-" Selphie kissed him again. He couldn't deny how much he wanted to be with her but now wasn't the right time.
Dammit.
"I have to go now, Selphie." In an act of absolute drunken grace he managed to throw himself off of Selphie and onto the ground. It was the only way to stop himself. "You just go to sleep now." That was the one good thing about drunken people; they usually listened to you. He threw a blanket over her and she mumbled something, quickly fading into sleep.
Seifer got another blanket and a pillow and found himself on the coach. Thinking to himself how stupid he was for letting the opportunity slip past him but still a little happy with himself none-the-less.
~* * *~
Notes: And there you have it, chapter IV. There are actually four leads in that one depending on who you think the killer is. I won't tell you which is the one that actually counts though, that would ruin the story. Many thanks to all those that review! And for Myena, I hope you're happy with your cameo, which was the only way I could put you into the story without adding in unneeded characters. And for those of you who are waiting for more serial killer action, it's coming in the next chapter.
Don't forget to review!
Jade_ice17@hotmail.com