'No smile is as beautiful as the one that struggles through tears . . .'
Zell had little to no trouble in frog-marching the three girls back to the Garden, once Irvine had hurried off to catch the last ship over to Dollet hospital. The eerie silence had unnerved the small blonde more than once, for he had a ridiculous paranoia that somehow, the bullies were communicating through telepathy. At one instance, Celia had torn away from Zells harsh grip and attempted to speed off down the dark streets of Balamb. Not being able to let go of his other two captives, he had aimed a low level thunder spell at the heel of her left foot, sending her tumbling to the cobbled ground with quite a thump, and leaving him an ample chance to catch up with the blonde.
Knowing it was well past curfew, Zell hoped in desperation that all the girls would keep quiet, and also hoped that Quistis would still be up at this late hour.
"Where are you taking us, Dincht?"
"Shut up."
His gloved hand hovered tentatively in the air before giving two sharp knocks to the door in front of him, which had the standard SeeD nameplate initials on. Just about to go in for another knock, the entrance to Quistis' room opened gently. The blonde instructor seemed to be fully awake, and had her glasses perched on the rim of her nose, indicating that she was probably marking essay papers; if not that, then busy to say the least.
She didn't say anything, yet opened the door wider, giving Zell (and his three captives) entry to her dorm. Once they were all inside, she walked over to a small workspace off to the right and began shuffling and tidying scattered files. By now, Zell had roughly shoved the girls, letting go of them. He wondered why Quistis wasn't firing questions at him, but then again, she always had been the reserved one. Once again, finding the silence almost unbearable, the martial artist spoke up.
"Aren't you going to ask why I'm here?"
"I know why you're here. Irvine called me around five minutes ago. He had an inkling you might come to me . . ."
Stacking the last of the work on her overcrowded bureau, she turned to face her friend. A smile showed in her clear blue eyes, yet not upon her lips. She was keeping up her Instructor attitude in front of the enemies, who were skulking like hyenas behind Zells figure. Picking up a sleek, black cell phone from the desk, Quistis delicately punched in Rinoa's number and waited patiently for an answer, whilst Zell looked on, bemused.
"Hello, Rinoa? . . . Yes I'm aware of the time . . . Please come down to my room straight away . . . . . No, I'll tell you when you get here."
Putting the device back down upon the desk, she pulled out a nearby chair and placed herself upon it. "Zell, you can leave now."
"Huh? Bu-,"
"Zell . . . Please go. I'll catch up with you later"
"Fine," He turned to Celia, "You'd better not try anythin'. . ."
Quistis watched her companion leave her room, and then, sitting perfectly poised with an air of confidence emanating from her, she looked at each of the three girls in turn.
"Now all we have to do . . . is wait."
……………………………………………………..
Irvine barely waited for the ship to dock before he hurled himself down the landing ramp and set off into a fast run down the lit up street, keeping his head low. Swinging his legs out in front of him one after the other, fists balled and pumping, he felt like he'd never ran as fast in his life. Never had cause to, but now it was as if every single second that ticked by mattered. Fate would pounce on every moment lost. Barely waiting for the automated hospital doors to open, the sharpshooter burst into the reception and turned sharply to the left, in the direction of the ward that Selphie was situated. Ignoring an anxious shout of "No running, sir!" he continued to speed down the vast corridor, passing a few startled looking staff and visitors along the way. Irvine stopped briefly at the door to Selphies assigned room, before placing his warm palm on the handle and turning it abruptly, causing it to swing inwards with quite a force.
He saw the small, pale form of Selphie Tilmitt stretched out on her back, still under the covers, her tiny hands lay interlaced resting on her ribcage. A fragile shell of her former self. Something was wrong. Irvine noticed the missing whirring of the machine which used to reside next to her, monitoring her heart. There was no longer a drip administering clear, concentrated liquid into a vein in her arm. Everything seemed . . . dead.
Dead?
Irvine was just about to walk over to Selphie and look for the steady rise and fall of her chest, when Doctor Lauder walked in and signaled him out to the familiar private waiting room. The auburn haired teen shut his eyes wanting to reopen them and find that none of this had happened at all. He opened them only to find the ones of a solemn looking Doctor staring back at him. Irvine feared the worst.
"Mr. Kinneas. I am sorry-"
No!
"-of the late hour I called. But I thought you'd want to be the first to know-"
Don't say it!
"-that Miss Tilmitt awoke from her comatose state somewhat earlier."
Irvine tried to swallow down a constricting, painful lump that had suddenly formed in his throat, before he attempted to stutter out a response.
"She . . . She's okay? Awake?"
The middle-aged practitioner cracked a small smile upon his thin lips, yet only for a second, followed by a slow, professional nod of his head.
"But . . . I . . . when I walked in, she looked . . ."
"Yes, Miss Tilmitt's sleeping at the moment. You wouldn't have thought she'd need the rest, but, tiresome things are comas. Feel free to spend the rest of the night with her."
Irvine smiled at Doctor Lauder, who didn't seem so condemning anymore, before making his way to the adjacent room. The sharpshooter felt like he was in a hazy dream world. His emotions had been thrown around so much in the past hour that he didn't know if he should laugh or cry. He shut out the world with closure of the door and walked over to the resting girl in the bed. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice told him he should phone the others and tell them the news. But he didn't want to. He wanted to be selfish and keep her for himself; he wanted to be the only one she saw when she opened those beautiful jade eyes of hers. Irvine sat down gently beside her on the bed and took hold of her hand, noting it was warm with a new energy. The small fingers lay slightly curled in sleep, as if she were still in that own little world of hers, one that no-one could reach.
She's back now . . .
As Irvine stroked her soft, flushed cheeks with one hand, he wondered why he'd ever been so foolish. Why he'd ever caused her so much unnecessary heartache, when it all just could've been solved with a simple kiss and an apology. A lump formed in the back of his throat again and his violet tinged eyes became moist with tears upon realizing the reoccurring thought that this was his entire fault.
Whilst Irvine was busy with self accusations, Selphies fingers twitched experimentally, slowly curling until they became tighter; palm pushing against palm until, finally, her slim digits laced together with his.
And she was holding his hand.
Holding it with all the might she could muster in her weak state, as if to tell him without words that everything would be okay. Irvine looked down at their entwined hands that lay on the white linen of the bed. He'd spent so many days and nights holding onto a flaccid hand, getting no response in return, and now, to finally get one made him lose all previous thoughts and concentrate solely on this simple reaction.
"Irvy . . ."
Almost inaudible, barely a whisper but he heard it, and it made his heart rise with joy and his head feel giddy with delight upon hearing that voice he'd missed for so long. He let his eyes drift from their clasped hands and wander up to her face, still pale in itself yet no longer deathly so. Weary forest green eyes sparkled from under heavy lids which blinked slowly, but she wouldn't take them off the man beside her for a single second, not even for the sleep that her body yearned from being in such a shell-like state only hours before.
Irvine squeezed her hand and leant over Selphie, lifting her up slightly from the bed, so he could wrap his arms around her in a well overdue embrace. He felt her slim arm reach up and rest around his neck, pulling him weakly closer with a sense of urgency in the gesture. Turning his head into her neck, the sharpshooter inhaled deeply and buried his face into the soft hair that was tickling his cheek.
"Selphie . . ."
Irvine pulled back a little as he felt her head turn. He wanted to look into her eyes, those precious eyes that had been shut for what seemed like an eternity. It was then that he noticed she was smiling; a smile that reached her eyes and made them crease up slightly in that endearing manner that he adored so much. Leaning down against the delicate girl once again, he placed his lips on hers and kissed her softly. Selphie shifted a little underneath him, tightening her grip around his neck before she parted her lips in an unvoiced welcome. Irvine slipped his tongue into her mouth and caressed hers with his, keeping hold of the passion that burned deep inside the pit of his soul. After a moment or two, Selphie wriggled under the confining, white bed sheets and withdrew. She looked up at Irvine, whose face appeared flushed, no doubt due to the kiss. As she brushed strands of sleek, auburn hair out of his eyes, she wondered why he looked so close to tears.
"Irv . . . what's wrong?"
"I've missed you so much. I was so worried, Selphie."
At his words, she appeared to sit up a little bit and look down at herself. Her green eyes didn't come back up; they stayed downcast as a gloomy wave of emotion washed over her.
"How . . . how long have I been here?"
". . . A little under three weeks . . ."
Selphie seemed to slump at his words, her rose coloured lips opened and closed as if she was going to say something, but couldn't quite find the words, so Irvine spoke instead.
"I've been here everyday, waiting for you to wake up."
The small brunette closed her eyes and took a deep breath, suddenly feeling constricted at the thought of herself having been vegetablised in the horribly vapid hospital room for 21 days. Irvine felt the fluctuation in her mood and placed a hand under her chin, lifting her head up.
"Hey, whats wrong?"
Crystalline emerald orbs focused on him from underneath worried brows.
"I . . . just wanna get out of here."
"Sefie, I don't know if you're allowed yet. They might want to keep you in, just to be on the safe side."
"But I'm fine. I hate hospitals you know I do."
"Shh, I know, but I'll be right here."
Selphie continued looking at him, whilst catching her bottom lip in between her jaws and chewing, an unshakeable habit which she'd picked up from Zell when they were both very young.
" . . . I'm tired . . ."
"Go to sleep, I'll stay right here."
"Promise?"
"Promise. Just make sure you wake up this time."
Selphie smiled at Irvines ability to make jokes at even the hardest times in life. She lay back down into the plump pillow and pulled the spotless, crisp sheets up around her neck, shifting around onto her side before finally shutting her eyes.
……………………………………………………………
Once Rinoa had arrived at Quistis' slightly larger dorm room, three wooden backed chairs had been set out and placed in the middle of the living area. The blonde instructor had ordered Celia and her followers to 'sit' and surprisingly so, they had done it with no fuss at all, all the while giving wary eyed looks to each other. Rinoa stood by the entrance to the room, dressed in a pair of black jeans and one of Squalls loose white t-shirts, having obviously come from his room. She kept her brown, doe eyes on the seated girls, her face unusually stern; delicate features set in stone. Celia looked at her and Rinoa was unable to stop herself from mouthing the word 'bitch' in her direction. The intimidating blonde contorted her face in anger and went to get up, only to be forced harshly down by a hand upon her shoulder.
"Stay."
Quistis nodded at Rinoa, who upon this signal reached over, flipping off the light switch to her right, leaving the room cloaked in darkness. Almost instantaneously, two naked bulbs each perched on a lamp base were flicked on and were placed in a position so that both shined directly onto the three girls sitting in the wooden seats. Amber flinched and raised her arm up to her face in an attempt to block out the blinding light, whilst Celia sat expressionless and Nichi tugged on her arm.
"Hands down by sides."
Rinoa watched as the weaker two did exactly what the blonde teacher said, wondering why, now, they were being so co-operational. All but one. Quistis suspected it was due to her being an Instructor and having gotten her 'strict voice' perfect for occasions such as these. The methods she was using here were tactical training techniques she had been taught in order to interrogate particularly vindictive enemies when out on missions.
"Get that damn light out of my face! What's all this about!"
Quistis walked up next to Celia and bent down to her level until they were eye to eye.
"Why don't you tell us?"
"You're crazy, I'm going. Come on, girls."
Celia went to stand up again, and again was pushed back down, but this time with much more force. Amber and Nichi stayed in their chairs, glaring.
Rinoa appeared behind Quistis and held up her hand. She seemed to be holding a line of hessian rope, obviously not hesitating in what had to be done. Walking around behind the three, the ebony haired girl crouched and grabbed Celia's hands, pulling them callously behind the wooden backing of the chair.
"Hey, bitch! Get off, you can't do this!"
After wrapping the rope tight around the ringleader's wrists, she tied a secure knot, before looping the rope through the backs of the chairs and tying the other two's hands in a similar fashion. All the while, Rinoa had ignored Celia's venomous tongue, which still proceeded to spit vicious insults at her. It was hard for her to keep control of her temper, knowing that this was the girl who had almost driven Selphie right over the edge with her brainless taunting.
"Untie me, you slut!Instructor Trepe, she can't do this to me! This is harassment!"
Quistis stood close in front of Celia and looked down her nose at her.
"I thought you'd be fairly familiar with harassment, Rosmund."
Celia despised being addressed only by her last name; she still believed she was far too important to be spoken to in such a childlike manner. Sneering up at Quistis, fully aware she could get in trouble for a lot of things at this point; she kicked out her heeled foot, striking the instructor with quite some force in the left shin. What she was not expecting back, however, was a sharp slap to her cheek, which sent her face flying sideways and stinging with the raw contact. She blinked her heavily eye-lined eyes a few times, staring at the lack of response by her two friends.
"Don't do that again, Rosmund . . ."
The supercilious bully was stunned at the fact that Quistis didn't even seem to flinch in pain after she delivered that rather firm kick her way. Unbeknownst to her, the fair haired tutor had junctioned all her defensive magic along with each of her guardian force's, making her twice as strong, which meant Celia's kick seemed more like a harsh tap. Off to her side, Amber appeared to be struggling with the bonds around her wrist. Rinoa bent down, taking the rope and pulling it into a tighter knot so it was visibly pressing agonizingly into the tanned girls' skin.
"Ow! You fucking bitch. Loosen it, it's hurting!"
"I'll only tighten it if you continue calling me horrid names like that."
"Why are you doing this!"
At this point Quistis stepped in, the intense light in the room casting eerie sharp, shadows upon her unyielding face.
"Perhaps you can answer that for yourself."
"What?"
"You know what I'm talking about. All of you do. Perhaps a certain girl laying in a coma will trigger your memory."
"We had nothing to do with that."
As Quistis continued trying to pry answers out of the three girls, Rinoa stood by the door with her arms hidden behind her back, fiddling with the small black object she held in her clasped hands. She thumbed the record button on the hand-held tape recorder just in case Celia was to blurt out any damning evidence.
"Are you going to admit to bullying Selphie Tilmitt?"
Silence.
"Was it or was it not you who beat her unconscious on the night of the dance?"
More silence. Quistis could see that she was getting nowhere particularly fast, so she shut her eyes and connected with that dark space deep inside her mind, scanning for a low level poison magic. As she lifted her hand and held it in front of the bitchy blondes face, she mumbled the word 'bio', inflicting her with the slow working toxin. Celia coughed and doubled over as much as one could when tied to a chair; she knew what Quistis had done and realized how foolish she herself had been to un-equip all her defense magic before she went out for the night.
From her position at the side, Rinoa found herself watching Nichi carefully. Her oddly pale blue eyes had taken on a glazed look, which informed the dark haired girl that she was searching for a cure or esuna inside her head. Closing her eyes, just as her friend had done, the sorceress cast silence on both Amber and Nichi, ensuring they wouldn't foil the plan by helping their uncaring friend out.
Celia coughed again but sat back in the seat and struggled to hold herself upright. A light sheen of sweat had started up upon her bronzed skin, showing just how hard it was to keep herself from breaking. She could feel herself becoming nauseous and faint as the toxin ran its way through her veins and into her system. Being poisoned was not a pleasant experience, as she knew from previous encounters with the spell, yet she tried not to look bothered as she attempted to look her Instructor in the eye without faltering. She kept it up for a full five minutes before weakening and slouching forward in the same position as before. Meanwhile, Quistis kept on staring and Rinoa kept the tape recording. The silence in the room was broken by Celia heaving in gasps of air. She was shaking uncontrollably now and feeling as if her insides were being shifted upside down and turned inside out. She knew the spell would wear out in fifteen minutes, but she had little faith she could hold out that long.
"P . . . please . . ."
Quistis folded her arms across her chest and looked down upon the hunched girl.
"Please what?"
"Esuna . . . I need . . ."
"Not until you tell us what you did, Celia Rosmund-," the Instructor turned her gaze on Amber and Nichi, "- and you two as well."
Celia still kept silent, not particularly keen on admitting what she had done. Her vision was going slightly blurred, taking on an underwater effect, as had her sound recognition, so she didn't hear Quistis command another Bio on her. She felt it though. Crippling pain spun through her body until she was almost sure she was going to die; and this scared her more than any confession ever would.
" . . . I . . . We . . . put her in . . . a coma . . ."
"Loud and Clear now, Miss Rosmund."
"WE put Selphie . . . in a coma "
"And?"
"Please . . . It hurts . . ."
"AND?"
"And . . . we beat her up . . . a lot. And teased her . . ."
"What about you two, were you involved thoroughly?"
Amber and Nichi both said yes without any wavering, watching their friend in agony petrified them; they certainly didn't want that to become of them. Quistis nodded to Rinoa, who shut her eyes and cast Esuna on Celia, allowing the magic to seep from her mind, before pressing the stop button on the tape behind her back.
Amber held her head up, still looking scared but holding a smug tone in her high voice.
"You can't prove anything, this whole thing was fruitless."
The dark haired sorceress kept her hands behind her and walked towards the three chairs in the centre of the room.
"That's where you're wrong . . ."
Slowly, she brought the small, portable recorder out from its hidden confines and shook it gently in the air, as if proving a point.
"We have it all on this little thing here, and guess what? Cid's getting it as soon as the sun rises in the morning."
All three girls' heads turned to look at Quistis, waiting for her to confirm this.
"It's true."
Rinoa smiled and hopped a little as she felt butterflies start up in her stomach for her friend.
"Looks like justice has been served after all, girls."
Quistis flicked open her penknife and cut the bullies free from the rope binds, before ordering them to get up and pushing them one by one out of the door, none to gently.
Just as they had gone, the pager in Rinoa's pocket set off a vibrating alarm, signaling a received message.
Rin, just got call from Irv. Sef's awake! Meet at front in 5 mins.
Zell.
The fair skinned girl braced herself against the wall, keeping one hand on it for leverage. She read the message again and again and smiled to herself, breathing numerous sighs of relief, hardly being able to believe to good news.
Sef's awake! Selphies awake!
"Rinoa? Are you quite alright?"
Quistis' voice broke through her thoughts and she looked up into two worried looking cerulean eyes lined with long, dark lashes. She found herself so happy that it was hard for her to get her voice immediately.
"Rinoa?"
"Selphie . . . she's awake! She's gonna be fine!"
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A/N: Okay, so I know half of you were hoping that something extremely terrible happened to Celia and her group, but . . . ultra violence just didn't seem to fit. I think I'm too much of a soppy writer . . . I've said this before, but only a few more chapters left to go, folks. Really. Thanks for all your reviews, my ego is ever growing