I know it's been long " But man, between now and my last update on Tear Stained Heart, I've had three computer crashes. I had two more chapters ready on that story too -- Am I really the one to blame?
This is my first attempt on a songfic. I'm not too clear on why I chose Damien Rice's Cannonball to use in this fanfic but it just seemed to fit the situation. Anyways, please enjoy and as always, R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own SquareEnix or any of their characters. I also do not own Damien Rice's song, "CannonBall" or Damien Rice himself.
Legend:
Italics - Thoughts
Bold Italics – Song lyrics
Cannonball
Soft waves caressed the never-ending shore. Sounds of seagulls and airships from afar drifted closer as the breeze grew stronger. A number of children had cast shadows on the sandy shore as the sun drew nearer to the horizon.
A blonde haired man looked onto the peaceful ocean. It was quite uncommon of him to see such rare sights anymore. After he finally became a SeeD when the whole Ultimecia ordeal had ended, he had traveled to many different places; many of such that did not have such a beautiful and calm setting to it. Taking a nearby wooden stick in his hands, the blonde figure carved several drawings in the sand. The man worked so intensely on his drawings that he did not notice a figure loom behind him.
"Seifer."
He turned around.
"Instructor." He replied with a nod. It was no surprise to him that she would be there. This was her favorite place.
"Never knew you were the ocean type." She said while sitting herself down next to him.
"Well, I surprise even myself sometimes." He added with his infamous smirk, gaze still fixed on the setting sun.
Still a little bit of your taste, in my mouth
Chuckling, the blonde woman tucked her tresses behind her ears. Her hair had been in its usual state again, trapped behind the red clip that she had worn everyday since she had bought it on that one fateful day in a gift shop at Balamb. She had replaced her former peach clip and had worn the new one ever since.
"Do you ever take that clip off?" He asked in curiosity.
"Only when I shower." She replied in a manner-of-fact way. "Why do you care?" She added with more raw emotion than she had intended.
A little hurt by her unexpected response, Seifer turned his gaze back to the sun. Why shouldn't I care? The day that we bought it was just one of the most important days of my life.
Still a little bit of you laced, with my doubt
"Damn thing's never gonna set huh?" She said, trying to lighten up his mood. Dammit Quistis, why do you have to sound so mean sometimes? He just asked you a question.
She tried again, "Sometimes it's good to let yourself go, you know?"
"You mean like what you're doing right now?" He rebutted. His emerald eyes never faltered from the sight. He was trying hard not to meet her gaze. She would never show her weakness. It was never fair. He would give himself over and over again and he would never receive anything back. Then again hasn't it always been this way?
You step a little closer each day
"I'm just trying to lighten your mood."
"Oh my dear instructor, I'm so thankful. Please continue." He said in a mocking way. Why do we always have to be like this?
Still I can't say what's going on
"Seifer, why do you always have to be like this?" She said, voice already signaling her increasing loss of patience for him.
"Be like what, insensitive? Cold? It's nothing you've never shown me before Instructor!" Seifer hissed.
"If anyone's being cold, it's definitely you!" The blue-eyed woman spat back.
"Maybe I should have picked a different spot on the beach, a spot without an Ice Queen breathing down my neck." You never had patience for me anyways, ever since that day in the giftshop.
Stones taught me to fly
"Argh! You're impossible! I don't know why I even try to be friendly to you!" With that, she gets up and starts to leave. He was always so cruel.
"Wait! There's something I have to know!" The blonde man exclaims. He grabs her wrist, a little harder than he intends to. He knew she never liked to be touched. However, reason dawned on him that it was an action that had to be taken. He would not lose her again.
"What do you want Seifer! Why do you have to play such cruel games with me all the time!" She screamed at him. The once serene sapphire pools were now transformed into pools of anger, resentment, and curiosity.
"I just want to know why you're different to me now. Did the day at the gift shop mean nothing to you?" He said. Fear and desire now filled his eyes like burning embers. He had torn down his walls. Now it was just time to see whether she would, hers.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied flatly.
Love taught me to lie
Hurt and cut deeply by her words, a part of him could not accept the fact that the day had meant nothing to her. How could it not?
"One year ago, before the Ultimecia incident, we went to Balamb and bought that red clip of yours together. You had said that you needed a new one so we—."
"Stop it! I don't want to hear it anymore!" She screamed.
"Did our kiss mean nothing to you!" By now Seifer had lost his composure. The embers of his passion had spilled over the edge now. Instead of it warming Seifer and Quistis with its flame, it burned them instead.
"Seifer, the kiss—no, not just that, the whole day had been wonderful. But like you said, it was only one day. It was one year ago."
"Just because it was one year ago doesn't mean it didn't happen, Quistis."
"What are you trying to do Seifer? Tell me that we should be together? That we should have a family and live happily every after! It was one kiss Seifer, that's all. You of all people should know that we're not right for each other. Look at how we act! Look at our personalities! We can't even sit together without fighting!" Quistis cried.
"So it was a mistake to you all along." Seifer replied, voice still carrying his last hope.
"We all make mistakes sometimes." She replied. And with that, she turned and left him standing on the shore.
And life taught me to die
Seifer sat down on the sandy beach once again. However, the children's laughter had disappeared and the gull noises had stopped altogether. The sun also had finally set and the peaceful, calm ocean before had now turned into a sea of growing, menacing waves. Her favorite spot no longer gave him the peace and comfort that he had previously felt. Instead, it was now desolate, lonely and cold, just like him.
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannonball
----
From a little spot not too far away, a little girl stumbled upon remnants of a picture drawn in the sand. From the limited amount of light that the moon had offered that night, she, fortunately, could still make out the picture. In the picture, there were two drawn figures; one was a man wearing a poorly drawn long coat holding out one of his hands to the other figure. The other figure was holding a whip.
Fin
P.S. Sorry to make Quisty sound so mean. It's just that in every serious Seiftis one-shot, I've noticed that it's always Seifer that's the mean one. I just thought I'd make mine a little different from others.