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Tribulations of Love

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I was astonished when we had first entered the chambers of the Estharian Presidential Residency. I have never seen anything like it before. It resembles a 'crystal palace'.

I gaze through the transparent walls, enthralled by the sight before me. An enormous city, vibrant and alive and glowing brilliantly at night. I have never seen anything like itbefore either. So large and high-tech, even Gardens technology cannot compare to this.

This beauty.

'Man, I really wish they'd hurry it up! I'm dying here!' I glance over to Irvine and sigh.

He really needs to settle down, both him and Selphie…

Selphie, as I have presently noticed, is just as jittery as Irvine, standing off to the corner of the entrance hall and fiddling with her nunchaku. I had expected her to be adoring the scenery as well.

And Seifer… where is Seifer?

'It's stunning, isn't it?'

I jump and glance to my side, only to find the answer to my question.

'Uh, yes, quite,' I manage to mumble, and turn back to the captivating sight.

'It makes me angry…' he recites eerily and stays focused on the glass. Then suddenly in the glass, I see his eyes quirk to the side, his gaze fixing on my own reflection.

'Why, why does it make you angry?' I say typically, but he looks at me like his statement had been obvious. Like I am a fool for not knowing what he had meant.

'Beauty is reality seen through naïve eyes… it's existent, but never eternal. Does that make sense to you?'

I cross my arms and turn to him, watching my own reflection from the corner of my eye.

'So you hate it because you worry about its end?'

This is an odd conversation, I did not even know that he felt this way, or had such insight…

'I don't 'worry' about it's end. It's end is inevitable. I just despise how life gives you everything you never knew you dreamed of, then rips it away…' he turns to me, his eyes intense, strong body movements.

Just by this I can tell he is talking about something important to him.

'Do you know what it feels like to live with guilt? A guilt more intense then any other feeling? Scent, vision…' he moves towards me and subconsciously I draw back letting my arms fall to my sides.

What is he getting at?

'More intense then touch,' he reaches out for me, his arm grabbing my own gently and then tugging harder and harder, I glare into his eyes as his face pulls in so close to mine that now he is whispering, 'more intense then that intoxicating high when two people caress each other, kiss,'-'What is it you want to say, Seifer?'

I snapped, he only lets go of my arm and backs away. His eyes never leave mine but I can tell he is not fully concentrated on me, he is not seeing me.

'I never acknowledged what I had,' he states and stumbles back some more.

I only watch dumbfounded and uncomfortably fold my arms once more.

Then, I try to catch my breath as he finally looks at me. His eyes are penetrating and make me tremble to my very core.

'Seifer?' I whisper to him but he turns and walks away.

Hey…

'Are you all the SeeDs that Cid sent?'

I turn sharply to face where Irvine and Selphie are standing and where now a tall, thin, black man is as well. His hair is braided and pulled back, his face is worn and his lips are tight and he is adorned in what has come to be the familiar Estharian attire. Long dress-like gowns with shoulder pads that hang down to waists-length with inscriptions written on them in their language, I presume.

'Yes, we have come to speak with the president, I believe-'-'Of course, we have been informed about the situation by Cid… please, follow me'.

'Why is it taking her so long?' I hear myself hiss after the sentence as I push up against the toilet seat and try to stand for the umpteenth time since she had left.

'Oh well, can't say I didn't see this coming…'

I crawl to the doorway of the bathroom and-Shit!-since when did the bed get so far away?

I can smell it. I can smell my own blood, feel every slim, blade-like laceration on my body. I'm permanently scarred, and it's all her fault. Or, is it mine for staying that long?

I never would have left had she not ordered me-

'Squall!' I do my best to turn my head to the side, and I'm not surprised to find the raven-haired girl running towards me. Why does she always look so worried about me? Why does she care?

'What?' I say back then realize how moronic that is.

'What do you mean, what?! I went and got that Zell guy for you!'

'Zell…?'

God this hurts. So, Zell's here?

'Hey, whoa buddy, you don't look so good! Here-'

Normally I would get up and completely ignore his attempt to help me. Right now, however, that hand is looking pretty good to me.

I take it and breath out a sigh of relief once I'm finally resting on the bed, laying back with my arms to my sides.

'I think… Edea is doing this to me'.

I watch from the corner of my eye, Zell's expression, and the girls…

Zell doesn't seem too surprised, just curious about what I mean. I can't help but notice he seems different then usual… not like himself. And the girl, Rinoa, she still looks confused and anxious. Completely lost. I guess that's mostly my fault.

'What do you mean, Squall?' I hear the blonde ask, 'I mean, since Edea gave me some of her powers… she can hurt me as well'.

Emotionless. I can't help but realize how emotionless I am, even as it seems that I'm so close to bleeding to death, in a grimy old hotel room, in the middle of nowhere.

Oh well, if this is the end, then this is the end. You can't stand up against fate.

'Well, can you help him?' Rinoa questions, I can tell she's trying to restrain herself from yelling or crying, or whatever little princesses do in stressful situations, situations out of their control.

'Yeah, I think so,' I hear Zell mumble, obviously deep in thought.

Why is it so hard to keep my eyes open all of a sudden? I think… I'll just rest my eyes…

'I know what to do, just help me lift him'.

'A-alright…'

… Good night…

'Please, come in'.

Quistis couldn't help but notice how different this room seemed from all the others. It was just as beautiful, with a transparent floor and the back of the room like one large window with the perfect view of the whole city. It just felt different to her. More solemn and dull.

The SeeDs all took their seats except for Seifer, who was resorting to standing off in the farthest corner of the room as possible, arms crossed and legs folded, leaning against the wall.

The president found this little display quite amusing, but Quistis sure as hell didn't.

'Seifer, come have a seat here, there is enough room,'

'I'm fine here,' he snapped back and the blonde decided to give up on the arrogant man.

'He is supposed to be Rinoa's knight? I can see how she got kidnapped…'

'Now, you are all here on the basis of your missing princess, am I correct?'

'Uh, yes, nearly. We were actually hoping that you would have some information on her kidnapper, at least, that was what we were told'.

The blonde glanced over at the other two with her. Selphie looked intent on making it appear that she was listening, but Quistis knew that most of the things going through that girls mind were 'blowing things up' and possibly their newest recruit, Irvine. In fact, now that she thought about it, Quistis couldn't remember for the life of her when Irvine had come to Garden… the first time she remembered seeing him had been at the train station…

She eyed the man suspiciously, who noticed after a while and winked at her quite swiftly and in a practiced manner.

Quistis couldn't help her first reaction, which was to glare.

'Excuse me?' the blonde suddenly snapped out of it, hearing the presidents worried voice.

'Uh, yes? Oh sorry, I am so sorry, what were you saying?'

The man only laughed at her light-heartedly and smiled. She noticed how young he still looked even though she had been informed that he was in his late forty to early fifties. The only visible wrinkles on the whole mans face appeared to be his rather deep laugh lines, which didn't surprise Quistis much, after all, he did seem to be a rather happy man, or at least he tried to appear that way.

'I was just asking you to verify the name, Squall Leonhart, am I correct?'

Quistis nodded fervently, trying to make up for her earlier mishap of disregarding him and becoming too wrapped up in her thoughts.

'Alright, one moment please,'

'Yes, of course'.

She also noticed his long, black hair and dark eyes, such wistful eyes, and yet, with a hint of exuberance shining through. The eyes of a man who had been through a hell of a lot in his lifetime but refuses to give up. Quistis did not doubt that his determination which was so evident, just in his look, had played a large role in him becoming the President of Esthar.

'Here,' he said as he dropped a folder on top of his desk after finding it in his drawer 'It is a file which includes every crime that he has committed, or at least all those noted…'

The gloomy look in the mans eyes seemed to intensify ten-fold as he said those last words. Quistis wanted to ask if somehow, he had been hurt by this man before too. What if his family had been taken away by this 'Squall' person too?

In stead, the blonde silently took the folder off the presidents desk and flipped it open cautiously, unsure of what she was about to see.

Date: 06/17

'Hey, who is this girl?' Selphie commented making Quistis jump slightly, having missed the fact that Selphie had decided to lean over her shoulder to get a better look at the information as well.

'Ellone, she lived in Winhill, a quiet town, hardly noticeable on the map,'

'And you think this Squall kidnapped her?' Quistis questioned.

'He was reported spotted, yes,'

'Hmm…'

The blonde looked down again at the photograph, taking in the fluent lines of the girls face and the smile that seemed like it could light up a room.

'Hey, look Quisty! She looks Rinoa's age,'

'Yes, she does'.

Quistis set the picture aside, surprised to be faced with… a family photo? The woman looked a lot like the young girl had in the other picture, except older. Her mother perhaps? And the man on the left side of the picture with his arm around her… wasn't that the president?

'Sir? Is this, you?' the blonde asked, holding up the small photo.

'Uh, yes,' he responded, and held his hand out. Quistis handed it over and watched him intently as his own eyes scanned over the image before him, before he handed it back to her almost indifferently.

'And how is that relevant to whoever this Squall guy is?' Quistis had almost forgotten Irvine's presence in the room a moment ago, but now acknowledged his question, as did the president.

'You see that baby in the picture?' he asked, tilting his head to the side somewhat, making long strands of his jet black hair fall across his face.

'Yes,' Quistis said, somewhat taken aback by this mans good looks.

'That's him'.

A huff came from the corner of the room, where Seifer was standing.

All the SeeDs and the president looked over quickly and then back to the picture.

'So then, who is that woman?'

'Heyyy! Look at this!' Selphie yelled, pulling out a photo from underneath some papers (reports Quistis guessed) and holding it straight up.

'Wow, I never knew that Galabadia Garden got damaged like that!'

Quistis took the picture from Selphie with force, her eyes scanning over it frantically. It showed Galabadia Garden, small fires littering the entrance way and being put out by some of the SeeDs and cadets, and pieces of the Garden had been completely destroyed. Squall couldn't have done this all alone, could he?

'He, did this?'

The president nodded once again.

'But… how?' Quistis pleaded to know, dropping the picture to her lap.

'SeeDs aren't the only one's who can learn magic,'

'But, we are trained, are you saying that he used to be a SeeD?'

'No, there would have been a record of that,' Irvine chimed in, and all Quistis wanted to do was make him stay quiet, to keep his smart remarks to himself.

'My feeling is, he got his powers from somebody,' he stopped, considering all of the confused faces now staring back at him, 'from a sorceress'.

'A sorceress?' Selphie questioned impatiently, growing quite interested in the conversation.

The president nodded.

'Wait, it says here that many people were hurt or killed in this attack. Sixteen casualties?! One man could not possibly do that, not in a Garden!' Quistis couldn't restrain herself any longer, then the thought hit her.

'Did Seifer not transfer from Galabadia?'

'Seifer… this is…?' the blonde whispered, holding the picture up again and trembling. The president was speechless, not understanding the sudden change of topic.

'Yeah…' came the slow reply from the darkened corner.

'Hey, what are you guys talking about?' Selphie asked, in an actually timid manner.

'This was when… that Squall person murdered Seifer's wife,'

Quistis looked up from the picture to the desk, and then behind the desk to the president, suddenly feeling bad for straying so far off the topic. This was business after all, personal matters should be left out of it.

'What?!' the blonde heard Selphie cry, and heard the cowboy only mutter a surprised, 'Whoa…'

'I don't believe it was him,'

'What?' Quistis asked this time, staring straight into the presidents eyes now. They seemed bitter and angry.

'He wouldn't do that, Squall didn't commit these crimes, it wasn't him,'

'There was nobody else,' Seifer said all of a sudden, finally moving out of the shadows and towards the bitter man behind the desk.

'Believe me, it wasn't him,' Quistis winced at the harsh sound of his words, and found herself looking back at Seifer now, waiting for his retort.

'Oh yeah? And what makes you such a fuckin' expert?!' the strawberry blonde shouted, moving forward even more and slamming an angered fist down on the presidents desk.

'Seifer, please…' the blonde woman insisted weakly, only to be ignored.

'He is my son, that's what'.

'Ah, where am I?'

'So, you are finally awake, huh?' Squall looked around for the tender voice, recognizing the pale womans charming face and midnight black hair immidietly.

'…yeah,' he mumbled back to her while pushing himself up into a sitting position. He was taken off guard by a sudden bump of the cart that they seemed to be in.

'What is this?' the stoic man questioned, while holding a hand to his throbbing head.

'A wagon, Zell's –mother I think?- let us borrow it, say, are you feeling alright? You looked like you were in a lot of pain back there…'

'Why do you care?' Squall barked irritably, his arms now wrapped around his aching abdomen.

'Hey, I was just wondering!' Rinoa yelled, frustrated with the dispassion of this man.

Squall grunted and just by the look on his face Rinoa could see that he was in a bad mood.

'Zell?'

'Yeah?!' came the boisterous yell from the front of the wagon, Squall had now managed to half-turn himself towards the source of his voice.

'Where… are we going?' he struggled out, and Rinoa worried about whether or not his wounds were still hurting him. Although, she didn't want it to show.

'Esthar…' the blonde responded and Squall could hardly hear his voice although he did understand what he had said.

'Esthar? Why Esthar?'

As if sensing the building question within his friend Zell decided to add, 'I know a guy there who can help you! He can extract the powers from you so that Edea can't hurt you anymore! Listen, I don't know how all this dumb sorceress stuff works, Squall, but I'm going to at least try to help you out!'

Squall winced at the idea of having to accept other peoples help. Why did he have to get emotional and leave? Why hadn't he listened to himself before letting another person who would just abandon him… leave him again, in?

'Hey, by the way, how's Elle?' Zell asked in such a tone so that he wasn't yelling anymore but he could still be heard over the rigid wheels of the wagon.

'Ellone…'

'She's…'

'Who is 'Elle'?' Squall glared in Rinoa's direction. She seemed so innocent sitting there but for some reason he hated the sound of her name coming out of the girls mouth, even if it was just a nickname.

It put him in an even worse mood.

Zell, obviously having heard the black haired girls question decided to take the liberty of answering.

'She's Squall's girlfriend!'

'Shut up, Zell!' Squall started, actually trying to get the blonde to be quiet for once in his life. The last thing he needed now was to get into a conversation about her.

'Girlfriend?' Rinoa uttered, not believing her ears.

'Squall… has a girlfriend? Wait, why am I even upset about this?'

'No it is okay, you can answer him!' she stated, trying to sound as happy as she possible could in that moment.

Smiling and tilting her head to the side playfully.

'I don't want to'.

'What is with him? Maybe he just does not want to talk about it because I am here? Maybe he is one of those guys who tries to sleep with any woman he can and is upset because Zell has ruined it for him with me? Although.. he does not come across as that type…'

'Hey, come on Squall! Just tell me! How is she?' Zell ordered from the front again, not understanding his friends hesitation.

'She's dead… Edea, killed her…'

Post author notes; Okay, I know that in the game some might argue that Ellone and Squall are related, so for them to have been connected in an intimate way is wrong. I agree with this, therefore, in this story they're not. Just so that I don't get any flames about how disgusting I am and blah blah blah. And sorry for the relative shortness of this chapter. Please review and tell me your thoughts, thanks!