It's Okay To Cry 4

Together Again

Disclaimer, because I haven't done one on this fic, naughty me!
I do not own Quistis, Seifer or any of the FFVIII characters unfortunately. Feelings are my own, and that's about it. This fic not affiliated with Square Inc in any way, shape or form.

Since the night he had seen Quistis on the beach, she had hardly left Seifer's thoughts. He had loved her when they were kids, because he knew he could never have her. She only had eyes for Squall, who probably wouldn't notice if she had grown an extra head. Seifer's lip curled up in a sneer, out of the habit of associating Squall with his own failure, but there was hardly any malice in it now. Seifer just couldn't pretend to be angry any more, there was no point to it now. He looked out of the shop window, glancing at the grey sky. To his surprise, a few white flakes fell out of the clouds and settled on the worn cobbles. It hardly ever snowed in Balamb, it had been cold enough recently, but no one had expected it. He smiled glumly and turned away, remembering when it had snowed when he and the rest of the fun gang were small. It had only ever snowed three times in his twenty-one years of life, but he could remember one time better than the rest. He went through the motions of serving another indecisive customer, not quite believing that it had been three years since he had been kicked out of Garden. As the afternoon passed slowly by, he risked another look into the street. Little kids were playing in the snow that was still falling, making a perfect winter's scene. It would be spring soon, so the children were making the most of the snow while it lasted, before it turned into grey slush. The most vivid memory of snow had her in it too; he just couldn't seem to shake Quistis Trepe out of his head. A perfect, cute little princess had grown into a beautiful ice-queen, a thought which had been making him sigh. His horrible boss, Zeke, snapped his head up from the horse-racing paper he had clutched in his pudgy hand.

"You sickening for somethin', boy? Ya can go out and play in it if ya want?", Zeke muttered through his bristles. Seifer raised an eyebrow, but his heart leapt.

"Is that sarcasm, Zeke?", he asked, leaning up from where he had been lounging against the far wall. The old man eyed him suspiciously and wiggled a finger in his nose industriously.

"Naw, you wanna play in the snow, go. Trade is slow today, and the sight of ya makes me sick right now", the ancient troll of a man said, but without his usual venom. Seifer smiled and reached for his coat, almost knocking the hatstand over in his eagerness to be outside.

"Thanks Zeke, you're not such a jerk after all", Seifer said, his old cocky smile returning and playing across his unshaven face like sunlight. The old man just snorted and busied himself in picking a winner in the afternoon's big race.

Quistis Trepe sighed, looking out of the window at the snow. She shivered, pulling her brown cardigan tighter around her and felt the radiator a little way from her desk. Surprise, surprise, the heating was off. Getting to her feet, she put her black coat on and grabbed her scarf from the bed. With the intention of going to Squall to bewail her lack of heating, she was surprised to see a crowd of people; students, SeeDs and faculty outside his office door, attempting to do just that. She squeezed her way through the members of the crowd who would let her, and looked through a gap to see quite an amusing sight. Squall was standing on his upturned waste paper basket, with his leather jacket on, trying to placate the crowd. She could just make out what he was saying over the murmur of distaste that was passing around the mass of people. At least it's warm in the middle of this many people, she mused to herself.

"Most of Garden's heating pipes have frozen. That's why it's so cold in here, but we still have power in the cafeteria. Therefore, I suggest a full evacuation of the Garden students to there", he said hopefully, shooting Quistis a meaningful glance that was quite lost on her.

"What about us?", one of the SeeDs Quistis herself had trained asked the commander.

"SeeDs will collect blankets and so forth and bring them to the cafeteria, where you will be assigned a party of students to take care of", Squall answered smoothly, barely batting an eyelid.

"With respect, sir", the SeeD continued, "We're trained mercenaries, not babysitters", he finished, looking slightly flustered. Squall's face froze into an angry grin.

"No questions, no insubordination. Faculty, join me in my office please", he said, nearly falling off his precarious pedestal and hurrying into his office. Quistis rolled her eyes and turned away. Technically she was faculty, but noone would miss her if she went out to play in the snow. No, not play, reconnoitre, she reminded herself, but indulged in a little giggle anyway.

Without knowing quite what had driven her to go there, Quistis arrived at the beach. With a shy smile to herself, she remembered that this was where Seifer had gathered her up into a hug not so long ago. Seifer, the sorceress' knight, the bully, the kid who always mashed up her snowmen as a child. Always with the same excuse too, she remembered.

"I'm gonna be a knight Quisty, I have to save the beautiful pwincess from the bad guys", she could hear his voice in her head even now. She had cried back then, and Seifer had gotten a scolding from Matron, but when she looked back on it, it was quite sweet really. Not caring what anyone else thought, Quistis Trepe, twenty-one year old instructor first class, pulled on her gloves and set about making a sandy snowman. She smiled as she piled the snow up, listening to the hiss that the snowflakes made as they fell into the cold blue sea. Time passed, and the grey clouds didn't relent in their deluge of snow. Quistis was so absorbed in making her snowman, she didn't hear footsteps behind her.

Seifer Almasy, trying to fight the urge to push her down had crept up on her. What the hell, how much harm could it do? She couldn't hate him any more than she probably did. With a big grin, he reached, grabbed her hips and pushed as hard as he could. With more of a snarl than the scream he expected, Quistis fell headfirst into the huge pile of snow she'd made. Shaking her head from side to side, trying to get snow out of her face, she looked up at him.

"Seifer Almasy, grow up", she said, dusting her coat off. Noticing that she had made no move to get to her feet, Seifer bent down in front of her.

"I'm not the one making a snowman at twenty-one, Instructor", he said airily, with a flash of his cocky smile. The same smile that Quistis was ashamed to say made her heart pound. She smiled sweetly and pushed her soaked gold hair back. Quick as a rattlesnake strike, she pulled him into the snow by his lapels. Before he'd had a chance to ward her off, she had stuffed handfuls of snow down his black turtleneck. He pushed up, managing to move her off of his chest. Both laughing, they tried to get snow off of eachother. Seifer pushed a stray strand of hair back from her now rosy cheek and left his hand on the side of her head. Quistis smiled nervously but inside her heart was pounding.

"Missed a bit", Seifer said, ducking his head and kissing her full on the lips. Even if Quistis had had time to protest, she wouldn't have.