Chapter XIV: Things Fall Apart

The following morning, Balamb Chapel blazed with excitement. Rinoa's father had gone all out on decorating the church to look amazing. It appeared that he had spared no expense in giving his little girl the dream wedding she had always wanted. Flowers and candles were everywhere. Rinoa adored the set up, but to Seifer, it looked like a fire hazard.

As soon as they had arrived at the chapel, Rinoa was whisked off to start dressing and primping herself along with her bridesmaids. Seifer was scolded for seeing the bride before the wedding, as though it was solely his fault that the custom had been violated. Then he too was carted off to be stuffed into an uncomfortable tuxedo and wait for the ceremony to begin.

An unpleasant feeling was forming in the bottom of Seifer's stomach. He felt nervous, nauseous, like he wanted to throw up. Every time he mentioned to Raijin, his best man, that he did not feel well, Raijin merely brushed it off as wedding jitters. Seifer, however, knew otherwise.

He didn't want to be here. He wanted to run out of the chapel and as far away from this God forsaken city as possible. Zell gave his life some meaning, and with him dead, there was nothing left for Seifer to lose or gain. He just wanted to crawl away to die alone and forgotten.

No one mourns the wicked, after all, he thought bitterly. Goodness knows the wicked's lives are lonely. Goodness knows the wicked die alone…

"Well, Rinoa, today's the big day," the bride's maid of honor, Quistis, said cheerfully. "Are you nervous at all?"

"Not terribly, no."

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe you're getting married!" squealed another girl, Xu. "It's so exciting."

Rinoa smiled with false sincerity at her bridesmaids. "Isn't it wonderful? Who could imagine that I would find happiness with Seifer in the end?"

Fujin turned away from the girls and scowled. Why the hell was Seifer going through with this ceremony? Even if he didn't love someone else, she was still such an obnoxious person to be around, and she had terrible taste. As though for emphasis on this thought, she looked down at the puffy pink satin dress that she had been forced to wear, and frowned. The least he could have done was cancelled the wedding in order to save her the embarrassment of this ridiculous dress.

"I suppose Seifer is a good choice for you," Quistis said. "The rest of the world hates him, so there's no worry about … um, 'heartbreak'"…

"You mean him cheating on me?" Rinoa smiled again, her lips thinning. "Well, to tell the truth, I was a little worried recently about some of his recent activities."

"You mean he was cheating on you!" Xu looked horrified.

Fujin raised an eyebrow. Did Rinoa know about Seifer and Zell?

"No, not really," Rinoa said. "I was just a little worried about his faithfulness to me, but everything is all right now. I took care of things and there's nothing to worry about anymore."

…Took care of things? Fujin thought. I don't exactly like the sound of that.

There was a brief knock at the door and Rinoa's father appeared at the door. "Ladies, the ceremony is starting shortly."

"Okay, Daddy," Rinoa replied. "Girls, head on out. The next time we talk, I'll be a married woman."

Quistis and Xu left with Rinoa's father immediately, but Fujin remained in the room. She had a suspicious feeling, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. She crossed the room over to Rinoa.

"What do you want?" Rinoa certainly didn't feign friendliness to Fujin when others were around. Fujin knew Rinoa hated her and only put her in the wedding party because Seifer asked her to.

"YOU. ME. TALK. NOW." Fujin would never break out of her typical broken sentences for someone as repulsive to her as Rinoa.

"Well, we have a wedding ceremony," Rinoa retorted, "and I certainly don't want to talk to you."

"SEIFER."

"What about him?" Rinoa didn't look very pretty when she scowled.

"SEIFER. ZELL. YOU KNOW."

Rinoa's eyes widened, and Fujin took that as a confirmation of her suspicions.

"ZELL, DEAD. YOU. RESPONSIBLE---"

"That's a lie!" Rinoa yelled. "That little fag deserved to die, but I never did anything to him!"

"YOU KILLED HIM." Fujin accused her again.

"I never killed him," Rinoa said against, gritting her teeth together. "Don't you dare accuse me of that."

"SEIFER. MUST KNOW."

Fujin slowly backed toward the door. Rinoa screeched and tackled the silver-haired girl to the floor. Fujin was quite surprised by the strength of the shorter girl and found herself overpowered. Rinoa grabbed her by the hair and shoved her into a closet, locking the door so that Fujin was trapped. Fujin banged on the door.

"OUT!" She yelled.

"No fucking way, you bitch," Rinoa hissed. "You are not going to ruin my wedding. I'll tell everyone you got sick and had to leave."

"MURDERER! LIAR!"

"Zell isn't even dead!"

"WHAT!" Fujin stopped pounding on the door.

"You heard me!" Rinoa cried. "He showed up at my apartment after the murder and told me thatthese bums after him thoughthe was dead, so he was leaving town. He wanted me to tell Seifer, but I am not going to have my fiancé chasing after that drag queen wannabe, so I just left him to believe that Zell is dead."

"BITCH."

"Call me what you want, Fujin," Rinoa answered viciously, "but I am afraid that I will have to take care of you after the ceremony. I can't have you ruining my marriage after it's only just begun. I did know some of Irvine's friends. They'll be able to help me. Sorry Fujin, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Bye now."

Rinoa left the dressing room as Fujin continued shrieking and pounding against the door…