Chapter 4: Magic

Warning: Some minor sexual content in this chapter.

Matthew awoke and was moving. The open window behind him let in sunlight, a warm breeze, and salty ocean air. Quistis Trepe sat beside him where he laid, her legs crossed, her hands cradling her elbows in her lap. He sat up and turned around to look out the window, saw the ocean speeding by below the Garden. The instructor caught a small smile on his face. When he looked back to her, she was grinning a little. Matthew's face reddened.

"My father pulled me out of Galbadia before the Gardens became mobile," he said, looking up from his useless hands to Quistis's face.

She laughed. "You don't have to explain yourself. I was wondering if you'd ever smile, but I didn't expect to see one this morning."

The curse of the socially inept, he thought. Crack a smile and everyone notices, which entirely defeats the purpose of such a demeanor. It was nice to make the instructor laugh, though, even if it was unintentional. Matthew revered authority figures to a fault, searching others for the approval that his father had never given. But this was something different, he thought, cocking his head to the side a little as he gazed at Quistis. She was looking out the window, and he took the opportunity to study her features. He liked her best out of everyone he had met in Balamb – she was a graceful and distant woman, a perceptive observer, capable of both kindness and scorn when compelled to speak.

"Something wrong?" she asked, catching him again. Perceptive.

He blushed again, looked back down to his hands. Matthew ran his thumb along the gauze.

"No," he said. "The medication is messing with my head, that's all…" he trailed off. Which is probably true, he thought.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little sore."

She nodded. "I'm sorry about… About Squall."

The cadet shrugged. "He did the right thing," he said. "I was obstructing a criminal investigation."

"You were protecting your sister. It was a brave thing to do."

"It was a stupid thing to do." He wouldn't look at her now and Quistis sighed, knowing she had triggered his defenses by bringing up Rinoa. A bell sounded over their heads, and she stood up. Two minutes until the first class of the day began. Matthew had moved to the edge of the bed to stand as well, but she put her hands on his shoulders and gently sat him back down.

"Sorry," she said. "Dr. Kadowaki wants to keep you here today."

"Why?"

"To monitor your internal bleeding," Quistis said with a laugh, shaking her head. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but get some rest today, all right?"

She glanced to the doctor's desk, saw the doctor was still out of the room, then leaned forward and kissed the cadet on his cheek.

"And don't be afraid to smile," she said.

The instructor still had no answer for students like Seifer, but she had learned a lot from watching Rinoa change Squall. It killed her inside at the time, but she had learned. She had learned that one needed to be direct. A man who minds his own business won't pick up on subtle, half-hearted gestures, such as Quistis had made towards Squall, whom she had failed to reach both as a student (he was a natural; he didn't need her), and as a love interest (he never knew she loved him, and pushed her away when she poured her feelings out all at once). Matthew was not a gifted student or a talented soldier, but his strength, she knew, lay in his self-discipline and capacity for hard work, perhaps the only positive to come out of his upbringing.

For Squall, it had been the fear of abandonment that robbed him of a happy life – for Matthew Caraway, it was his father. The two of them were similar in so many ways, and she had initially wondered if that was the only reason she was attracted to the cadet. But the fundamental difference, she had found, was that while Squall was much stronger, Matthew was kinder and more aware of others – he was polite and selfless, made thoroughly modest by a severe lack of self-confidence. As a teacher and as a woman who was sick of being alone, she resolved to fill him with the confidence that would turn both of their lives around. All he had to do was allow her to.

Quistis believed he would.

She knew it wouldn't be easy (Quistis was not a natural at this sort of thing; she wasn't Rinoa), and perhaps she had already made a mistake (was a kiss on the cheek too direct?), but the most fulfilling endeavors were always hard work, were always a risk.

And what could be more fulfilling than love?

Rinoa tingled as she walked along the bridge that connected Fisherman's Horizon to the continent of Esthar. The noon sky was blue and cloudless, the sun shining warm on the back of her neck. She was out here to get away from the Garden for a while, to get away from Squall, the re-appointed commander joining Cid in a meeting with the Horizon's repair crews. Ironic, she thought, that only two days earlier she had complained about him avoiding her. Now here I am, she thought, on a path that leads all the way to Esthar, just to put some distance between us. The tingling in her grew stronger as she walked, spreading through her body. She closed her eyes and listened to the ocean slosh against the bridge supports beneath her.

When she opened them, the sky had turned to smoky shades of blue and purple. An orange sun was rising in the distance. She heard footsteps behind her, and then Squall walked by. As he passed, Rinoa saw herself, lifeless, with her arms around his neck and his hands supporting her legs.

He stopped and set her down gently, then sat down himself. Rinoa could tell from the way he hung his head that he was lost in thought.

"What do you think?" he asked aloud, turning to her unconscious form. "To tell you the truth… I worry too much about what others think of me."

He looked out to the sea that spread out endlessly around the bridge, the sun's reflection shimmering in the distant waters. "I hate that side of me… That's why I didn't want anyone to get to know me. I wanted to hide that side of myself. I hate it."

"Squall," he said bitterly, "is an unfriendly, introverted guy. It made it easy for me when people perceived me that way."

"That's a secret between you and me," he said after a moment, turning his head back to her. "Got that?"

He stood up and lifted her slowly onto his back. Squall began to walk again, looking over his shoulder where her head rested, his face close to hers. He spoke her name slowly, a trace of desperation in his voice, as if to say just wake up.

Rinoa sniffed, her face twisting into a grimace. She coughed and her eyelids fluttered opened. A dark hand held a dead fish in front of her face.

"Oh, gross!" she yelled, batting it away. It slid across the floor and she looked around for something to wipe her hand on; she had touched it. Raijin stood with his hands on his hips, laughing loudly.

"Hey, it's just a fish, ya know?" he said, walking over to pick it up. "Ain't even alive!"

Tossing it from one hand to another, he left the room. "Rinoa's awake," she heard him say.

"Did you stick that dead fish in her face?" a familiar voice said after a pause. Seifer?

"Well, we don't have any smelling salts, ya know." Rinoa heard a thump, and Raijin's voice boomed a long, wordless cry of pain.

"Hyne, Fujin, I thought you said you'd quit doing that!" He moaned. "Ya know?"

"And you said you'd quit being so stupid," a female voice snapped back, quiet and seething.

Then Seifer stepped into Rinoa's view. He saw her staring at her hand. "Oh," he said. "Did you touch it?" He dug through a laundry basket full of neatly folded clothes and pulled out a towel.

"Sorry about him," he said, jerking a thumb behind him over his shoulder. "He means well." Seifer tossed her the towel, which she caught in both hands and quickly made use of. She set the towel down after a moment and was sniffing her hand as he approached her slowly. She grimaced again. It's probably going to smell like that forever, she thought.

He sat down next to her on the couch. "Feel all right?" Seifer asked.

"Yes, thank you," she said, finally looking around the small room.

"Our home," he said, watching her eyes. He grinned. "Ain't it grand?"

"Seifer, how did I get here?"

"You were passed out on the bridge that leads to Esthar," he said. "We fish out there sometimes."

"Glad we did today. What happened?" Seifer asked. "What were you doing out there?"

"Just going for a walk. I don't know what happened." She rubbed her forehead with the hand that didn't smell like fish.

Seifer shrugged. "Well, as long as you're okay."

"What brings the Garden back here so soon?" He tried to ask the question with amused detachment, but Rinoa could hear genuine concern and a trace of eagerness in his voice.

"Squall and Headmaster Cid are planning renovations with some of the Horizon repair crew. Won't actually happen for a few weeks, but they're starting to plan now, I guess."

He nodded slowly. "So you're living there, huh?"

"Yes."

"Do you… Like living there?"

"I do, Seifer."

"What do you do?"

"I'm a music teacher," she said, sitting up straight. "Boys, girls, and mixed choir. And private voice lessons."

He lowered his head a little. "Sorry," he said. Then he looked up and smiled a little. "Sounds perfect for you."

"You sing better than anyone I've ever heard in my life," he said. "Hell, you could be a pop star."

Rinoa held her mother's ring where it hung around her neck. "Not now," she said. "Have you seen how they dress?"

He grinned. "Like I said… You could be a pop star."

She felt Squall's ring on the chain and looked away from Seifer. She stood up.

"I'm sorry," he said, following her as she walked to the door. "That was out of line, I didn't mean to…" He put a hand on her shoulder as she opened the door.

"Rinoa."

She stopped and turned to face him.

"Are you really going to be happy there? Do you really belong in a military academy? Look, I know this isn't much, but you could stay with us if you wanted—"

"I know where I belong, Seifer," she said, smiling as she looked up at him. "Thanks for taking care of me. Goodbye."

The men from Fisherman's Horizon filed out of the Garden, back to their homes beneath the setting sun. Squall and Cid exchanged parting words with them, and turned back inside. They passed silently through the lobby and into the elevator. As it ascended to the third floor, the smiling headmaster finally spoke up.

"So what do you think, now that you've got a taste of it?"

"A taste of what?"

"Your everyday duties as commander."

The elevator had stopped, and they walked into Cid's office. He gestured to his desk. "Paperwork, meetings, all that fun stuff."

"I'll adjust to it." He rubbed his eyes, which began to water as he held in a yawn. "Eventually."

"I know you will. See you in the morning, Squall. We'll have a work station set up for you in here until we can get you an office of your own."

And it was as simple as that. Squall had talked to Cid in the morning, and was immediately reinstated as commander. The headmaster had made an announcement so everyone knew, and Squall was thrust into an eight hour meeting with the Fisherman's Horizon repair crew concerning Garden renovations. Most of the population of the Horizon took great pride in their chosen occupation, and their engineers and mechanics were no exception. They had talked at great length and had asked a great many questions; the meeting lasted nearly eight hours, and was conducted not only in the actual meeting room, but in every section of the Garden that would be affected by the proposed renovations. His joints ached with inactivity. Squall took the elevator down to the first floor and grabbed his gunblade from the dorm he shared with Irvine. He was walking into the training center as Rinoa was leaving the library.

"Squall!" she called out with a wave and jogged to him. "Would you hold on a minute while I go get my weapon? Would you mind if I came? I really need to talk to you."

He shook his head and hung the gunblade at his belt. "Forget the training center," he said. "Let's just walk."

"You sure? You probably didn't have a very exciting day…"

"Not at all," he agreed. "But I don't need to fight. Just as long as I can move."

But I don't need to fight. Rinoa knew he referred only to his indifference towards slaughtering grats, but she smiled at the statement all the same as they walked through the quiet halls. One step a time, she thought.

"You had a rough day yesterday," she said.

"Not as rough as it was on your brother. Rinoa, I'm—"

"You don't have to apologize again, Squall. What I wanted to say is that I don't…blame you, for what you did. You were put into an awful situation. It's hard for me to understand your job, but I thought about what I would have done, if I was in your place. And I realized that you were looking out for everyone here and that in the end… You can't just think about one person. You have to think about everyone."

Squall nodded, and she saw in his eyes that he'd realized this sad, bitter truth long before she had.

"I don't know if I could do that," Rinoa said. "And even though you had to do something terrible last night, I think it takes a lot of strength. More than I'll ever have. Even if what you have to do hurts me… Don't ever apologize for it, Squall, because I love that about you. The world needs people like you."

"Stop it, Rinoa."

He shook his head. "Stop it. Don't justify what I did yesterday. Don't tell yourself it was the right thing to do. Just because there was no other solution, that doesn't make it right. Do you know why he wouldn't tell us who did that to him?"

"No," she said. "I talked to him this morning, but I didn't want to bring it up."

"Because they threatened to kill you if he did. He was trying to protect you. And I tortured him for it."

"Squall…"

They walked on, neither speaking, into the lobby.

Every once in a while, magic happens. It doesn't happen often, but it can happen anywhere, and at any time. Magic can be a good thing – two people meet each other at just the right time in their lives and it's perfect. Magic could bring people together. But like everything in life, magic had a dark side – it could bring people together. In the lobby of Balamb Garden, in the evening, magic brought people together.

When Squall and Rinoa walked into the lobby, they immediately noticed Seifer Almasy, who stood talking with Cid at the directory. When Matthew Caraway descended from the second floor elevator and stepped out into the lobby, he also noticed Seifer Almasy.

The large room was silent for a moment, though it seemed to crackle with electricity. Finally, lightning struck, and in the unexpected form of Matthew Caraway.

"What the hell are you doing here, Almasy?"

"Matt, please," Rinoa pleaded. "Don't…"

"I don't need to remind you, Matthew, that Seifer was possessed by Ultimecia," Cid began.

Seifer held up a hand and shook his head before the headmaster could continue. "We've met before," he said quietly.

Rinoa took Squall's hand. He looked over and saw tears in her eyes. Matthew had come down the stairs and stood a few feet away from Seifer.

"What's going on here?" Cid asked slowly.

It was Rinoa who spoke up. "The last time I saw Matt, Seifer and I were…"

Squall waited for her continue, and realization dawned on him when she couldn't. His eyes widened.

"Rinoa… You… You fucked him?"

"Not exactly," Seifer said.

Matthew stepped past the night guard in front of his father's house, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. It was late, so he had shut the door quietly and stepped lightly as he made his way to General Caraway's office. He had come home from Galbadia Garden for his father's birthday, and carried a small box, a birthday present, under his arm. His father wouldn't be back until morning, so Matthew had decided to leave it on the general's desk to find when he began his work the next day.

At the end of the hallway, he could see the light on in his father's office. Maybe he got home early, Matthew thought, and simply had work to do. But as he came closer, he knew the man behind the general's desk was not the general, but a young blonde man. Matthew hadn't seen him before. His eyes were closed, and he leaned back in General Caraway's chair, his face turned upward. He smiled deliriously.

"Who the hell are you?" Matthew said from the doorway.

The blonde man cried out in surprise and jumped in his seat.

"Oww, Seifer!" an unseen female voice said.

Matthew instantly recognized the voice. No, he thought, no, no, no…

Rinoa's head appeared above the desk. "What was that for? You didn't even—"

She followed Seifer's eyes to the doorway, where her brother stood. The next day, Rinoa would leave Deling City for Timber. The next time she saw her brother, he would be a student at Balamb Garden, and she would be a sorceress.

Notes:

The scene with Squall and Rinoa on the bridge was taken directly from the game. I also keep forgetting to mention that the title of the story was taken from a great album by a now-defunct band called Mineral. Thanks for reading!