FFVIII- Avenir

Chapter II – Chercher

Aka's Note: Well, I have two things before I go on with the story. First of all, I wanna dedicate "Avenir Part 2: Chercher" to my very good online friend, Emyli, because she's my #1 fan and supporter, and my personal motivation to keep going on with the story. Part Two would probably take a little while longer without her support! 3 you Emi-chan!

Secondly, you might sometimes see me as Scarlet, my true online name. Aka Rai is Scarlet. Get it? xP I have two online names. Thanks go to Ariane for coming up with the name "Aka Rai." 3 you too, Ariane!

Alrighty, now all that's said, let the story begin!

You seem to not notice I'm in love with you,

But then again, who does?

I'm heartless, hopeless…

But I love you.

Beneath the blonde hair, the cool exterior, and the tough-as-nails-skin that she often wore, Quistis Trepe was a wreck. Nothing was hers anymore.

She was fired from being a Balamb Garden instructor. Her job.

She lost the respect of the Trepies. Her fan club.

She lost the home at Garden. Her home.

It was her money that had kept her living in the dormitory. It was her money that put her own food on the table.

But it was also her fault that she was fired. Or, so she believed. She was convinced that it was her fault. Obviously Cid wasn't. After Quistis, along with Squall and company, defeated Ultemecia, the sorceress from the future, he offered to have her reinstated. So what possessed her to say no?

Quistis shook her head. No time to be thinking about the past. I'm a mercenary now. I must… move on.

She would rather fight Omega Weapon again then get out of bed and start her day. She couldn't sleep the previous night because she had been up thinking about today's mission. How would it affect her? How would she feel facing Seifer for the first time in three months, especially after what she did?

As Quistis lay in her small but cozy twin bed, the sunlight peered in through the nearest window. It blinded her; forcing her to close her eyes… did she fall asleep? What time was it?

She managed to roll onto her side to check the time. 7:44 a.m.

Shee-it.

Scrambling out of bed, she stumbled to the shower, dressed, and rushed out of the house, having no time to reflect on today's mission, and what it was going to be like. Sure, she had "diplomatic immunity" from Xu and her constant bickering, but Quistis Trepe never liked to be late for anything.

When she reached the parking lot, she was immediately greeted by Rinoa Heartilly. She was tapping her feet. She was shaking her head. She had her hands on her hips. Quistis thought that it was safe to say she was angry.

"Quistis! Where the hell were you? We're going to be late!"

Quistis blinked. "Excuse me? Weren't you supposed to wake me up?"

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "I thought you were a big girl," she sneered sarcastically. "I thought you could wake yourself up." She gave Quistis a look.

"Never mind that." Quistis walked so briskly to the car that Rinoa had a hard time keeping up. "Squall and the others are waiting, the Garden's about twenty minutes from here."

Rinoa's POV

The car ride to Balamb Garden was surprisingly silent. It's not that I was still mad at Quistis for being late; that's a really stupid reason to get mad. I guess we both had stuff on our minds. Seifer's caused so many problems, not only to our world, but to us, emotionally.

I remember… being in a relationship with him. It's funny, I don't remember how we met, but we did. Those were the days… when he was still caring. I remember kissing him and letting him kiss me back. What happened? I still can't remember why we stopped going out, but we did. I always cried, hoping that he would come back, and I could go back into his arms, where I felt the most comfortable. For a moment there, I was ready to pull the trigger and end it all. All my pain, all my suffering, and all my woe. Now that I look back at it, I can see that I was an idiot. I never really loved him, I guess. I couldn't move on. But I'm glad I did.

Squall's a wonderful person. It doesn't seem like it, doesn't it? But he gives me… the most comfort. More than Seifer ever has. More than any other person in this world ever has.

And for the first time in a very long time, I can finally say I'm happy.

I sat in the car for a little while. It was still silent. The only sound you could hear was the soft moaning of the old car, trying its best to drive us to the Garden.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Quistis turning on the radio. I couldn't hear what song it was, though. Probably a lame oldies song from the 1950's, but it was hard to tell.

"Rinoa, I'm sorry," Quistis spoke up out of the blue.

"For what?"

"You know… this morning. I guess I wasn't thinking," she said. "I had so much on my mind, and-"

"It's alright, Quisty," I assured her. Sometime Quistis could get so paranoid. She was very insecure.

More silence. Slowly I turned the dial to raise the volume so I could hear what song was playing.

It was my mother's.

Mother, I prayed softly in my head, I won't let you down…

I kind of liked it your way
How you shyly placed your eyes on me
Oh, did you ever know?
That I had mine on you

"And a good morning to everyone in Esthar! It's another beau-tee-ful day, with a high of..."

"Hyne…" the owner of the clock gave it a harsh tap. The clock stopped abruptly. He rolled over in his bed. There was absolutely no way he was getting up today.

Without hesitation, he closed his eyes, drifting away into a peaceful slumber…

"And the Esthar Blunts won the playoffs last night, beating the Balamb Lions at six-nothing! Whoa, Nellie! Rick, did you know that Esthar has not won a single--"

"Shut up!" He growled. This time, he managed to get up and pull the plug. The luminous clock slowly faded to a dim black.

"PETERS! ARE YOU UP?" The landlord, Mr. Lorne, cried from outside his door.

Daniel Peters, also known as Seifer Almasy, scowled. Ever since he moved to Esthar, he had been given hell by almost everyone around him. After all Seifer had done, he figured he deserved it anyway.

He moved to Esthar because he needed a place to lay low. SeeDs were searching for him. Galbadia now wants him dead. He changed his identity from Seifer Almasy to Daniel Peters for quite obvious reasons. His once golden blond hair was now a dull brown and it had grown a couple of inches. He didn't feel like a proud disciplinarian anymore, he felt more like a criminal. The disciplined. Heck, he'd kill to at least have Fujin and Raijin here now. But he had to keep his head out of the clouds and he'd have to turn and face reality. There was no one to save his ass now. He'd have to suck it up and hope his cover wasn't blown.

"God damn it, Lorne! I'm up!" he called from the kitchen.

"You gonna talk to yer boss like that?" Not only was Joe Lorne the landlord of the apartment, but he owned a burger joint that Seifer worked at. Wonder how a slob like him owned something like that.

After Seifer took a quick shower, dressed, and gulped down his breakfast in two fast, but pathetic gulps, he opened the door to face his boss. "I don't take orders from you."

"Yer lucky I don' fire ya," Mr. Lorned said.

"Good. You know I need the job, to keep myself living here. Hyne, who knows? I could be out on the street right now. I mean, hey, I can't help the fact that my mother couldn't be bothered with me and threw me out on the streets." Seifer even tried to fake-cry once when he told Mr. Lorne this.

For a second Mr. Lorne almost looked sympathetic, and then his face clouded. "Jes' get t'work, alright?"

"Will do, sir," said Seifer and closed the door. He grinned. It was all a big fat lie. A bad lie, yes, but a lie nevertheless. He was still surprised that a man like Mr. Lorne, always on your ass, would fall for a lie like that. His mother was dead, but he knew from what Cid and Edea said that she did care for him. He felt bad that he had to say this about his mother, but he couldn't tell Lorne that he was on the run from SeeDs who want to put him in jail and Galbadians that want to kill him…

Quistis Trepe was not in love. So why did she have so many thoughts about Seifer? She liked Squall, remember? She's supposed to be mad at Rinoa for being with Squall, but she couldn't bring herself to feel this way.

Hell, she almost missed Seifer's quirky antics. But as a friend, as a friend, goddamn it, she assured herself. Not even a friend…

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Zell Dincht pace around restlessly. It was 8:23 a.m. and they were ready to depart. Even Squall had a hard time keeping his cool. His hand trembled as he smoothed Rinoa's hair; she had wrapped her arms around him.

"So… you think this is gonna be it?" Irvine piped up.

Silence. No one wanted to answer the question, not even Irvine himself. Beneath his cool composure, Irvine Kinneas couldn't keep is cool. He never could. Even two months ago, he couldn't bring himself to shoot Edea while she was still under Ultimecia's spell.

Zell finally opened his mouth, faltered, and then spoke in a surprisingly timid voice. "I dunno. I guess we'll find out once we get there."

"So like… if Seifer's actually there," said Irvine, "what would you do?"

Squall was ready for this one. "I'd probably slug him, maybe give him another scar if I could."

"I'd be pissed off," said Zell, "I say, let's put his ass in jail as soon as we can!"

"Let's just play it by ear, guys," said Quistis. "We have no clue what's going to happen."

Zell smirked. "Sure we do. We find him, kick the crap outta him, and throw his ass in jail 'till he rots!"

"He needs to be tried first, genius," Selphie gave Zell a look.

"Yeah, well, he's going to be guilty," said Irvine knowingly. "It'd be mega-stupid to let him go free."

"I don't know… he could have been under Ultimecia's spell…" Quistis thought aloud.

"Yeah," Zell said, "but Quistis! Come on! He wanted to be a sorceress' knight in the first place."

"We don't know what's going to happen, Zell! Let it go!" Quistis shouted.

Zell blinked. "Hyne, Quistis! Stop trying to protect Seifer!"

The room suddenly became silent. Zell clapped a hand over his mouth. Quistis' eyes widened; her eyes full of tears. She turned to face the wall, her arms wrapped around herself. She didn't want people to see her… crying.

Zell opened his mouth to say something, but Squall intervened. "Let it go, Zell," he spoke softly. "Leave her alone."

All of a sudden, the door flung open. Headmaster Cid Kramer, and the Garden's pilot, Nida, stepped into the silent room. Their footsteps echoed throughout the room, giving shivers to even Squall's spine.

"Ahem... Well, here we all are!" Cid looked around the room cheerfully. "About to embark on a very important mission! How are we all feeling?"

"Is it okay to say 'crappy,' sir?" asked Zell.

"Yes it is, Zell," said the Headmaster with a smile.

"Then crappy it is, sir," Zell said gloomily.

"Now, it's natural to feel the way you do. I understand. Seifer's done a lot to all of us. But we must not let our emotions get the better of us, understand? We must stay strong in order to succeed." Cid turned to Nida, who was stationed in the Garden's 'cockpit.' "Let's go, Nida."

Nida nodded. "Sir."

At full speed, the Garden made its way to Deling City, the capital of the Galbadian continent. Under Squall's feet, he could feel the Garden vibrate softly as it moved. Obviously everyone was used to this, as it happed quite frequently.

Zell paced around faster than he had before, not saying a word in fear that he might offend someone else. He didn't mean to make Quistis cry. She's just too sensitive. But Zell couldn't help but wonder: was Quistis actually defending Seifer? Why?

Suddenly the Garden shook abruptly. They were at Deling City at last. As the door to the outside opened, everyone held their breath. Then, one by one, they stepped outside to begin their search for Seifer Almasy…

Aka's note: "Chercher" is French for "to look." We know a bit more about Seifer and what's been going on with him to date, and the tension between Zell and Quistis. Rinoa seems to be feeling better about this, too. And about the guy who got killed in Part One, you'll find out who it was in Part Three, which, I promise, will be longer. Stay tuned for Avenir, Part Three, entitled "Trouver." )