A/N: Hey y'all. What's up?
I know you'll be kinda disappointed by this chapter, but it's something that needs to be done from time to time, to keep a level of realism in the fic. The next chapter is ready, so I'll post it very soon. In a couple of days or so. Anyway, I tried to make this one somewhat enjoyable as well, even though nothing too important happens.
Last chapter summary: After escaping from D-District prison, our heroes split up into three teams: Selphie and Irvine head for the missile base, Squall, Rinoa and Zell go back to B-Garden, and Seifer… goes for Quistis.
~*A second chance*~
By: Sickness in Salvation
Chapter 16: A small break
*Oof* We'll have to stop for now Quisty… I'm pretty beat… And it's almost lunch time, everyone will start looking for us…
Stop?! Now?! But it's just starting to pick up!
I know honey, but I need to regain some strength, or I won't make it later on today.
*Sigh* I guess you're right…
Lemme just terminate the connection and we can talk normally.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Quistis blinked a few times, slowly fluttering her eyes open. She stood up on her elbows and little by little raised her torso up. She looked around her, vision still full of 'dots' and head spinning the slightest bit. Ellone was sitting on the lower side of the double bed, rubbing her sore temples, her eyes closed. Quistis sighed as she glanced around the four walls of the main room. She didn't want to admit it, but she'd missed that dorm. It seemed like forever that she and Ellone had began viewing her past. The first morning that she woke up next to Seifer seemed decades ago.
- "Are you alright Ellone?" Quistis asked her 'big sister'.
- "I'll be fine…" replied the brunette, opening up her black eyes, offering a warm smile to Quistis "I always get headaches after such… 'sessions'. All I need is an aspirin and I'll be fine."
- "Are you sure?" Quistis asked, sitting up "I really hate to be a burden to you with al this…"
- "Don't be ridiculous." replied Ellone, shooting Quistis a glare.
The older girl got up from the bed and stretched a bit, before sitting back down. Quistis got up and walked over to the bathroom 'I know I'd spotted a medicine cabinet somewhere around here…' she thought. And she was right; next to all the other cabinets, a smaller one, with a green cross painted upon it. Quistis opened it, looking around for some aspirin. She found the small white box quickly and removed a pill from it. Filling a glass with water, she returned to Ellone's side, offering her the water and aspirin.
- "Thanks." said the brunette, swallowing the pill and emptying the glass in one big gulp.
She handed the glass back to Quistis, who rested it on the nightstand.
- "So," spoke Ellone "What do you think so far?"
- "Well…" Quistis began, shrugging "It's more than obvious where things are heading towards…"
- "Meaning?"
- "Meaning, that… Apparently Seifer comes and 'rescues' me, we fall in love, and live happily ever after…" replied Quistis, somewhat bitterly.
- "Do I sense a hint of disappointment there?" Ellone asked, arching an eyebrow.
- "Well… It just makes me feel so… helpless. What am I? Some sort of incompetent, weak woman who's in need of her 'knight in shining armor' to come and rescue her? It just sounds nothing like me…" replied Quistis.
- "You're too quick to make deductions." Ellone said "First of all, I never said this is the end of the story. Who said that after Seifer rescues you the world turns rosy all of a sudden?"
- "But-"
- "Let me finish, Quisty…" Ellone interrupted her blonde sister "Receiving help from someone when you need it, does not make you incompetent or weak. You helped Seifer when he needed it and now he's helping you back."
- "I guess so…" Quistis said shrugging "Are you feeling better now?" she asked, after a small pause.
- "Yes, just fine." Ellone replied smiling "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll get back to my room and give Ethan a call. We'll continue later in the afternoon, alright?" she asked, getting up.
- "OK. And thanks again." Quistis replied, walking her to the door.
Ellone made a move to walk out, but turned back to face Quistis.
- "You know Quisty," she began "There's nothing wrong with having your own personal 'knight' as you called it. Everyone's life deserves to have a touch of magic, a touch of a fairy tale from time to time. It's only a matter of your point of view. You just have to fine-tune fairy tales to modern standards and be observational enough to notice that 'magic'." Quistis arched both eyebrows questioningly "For instance, knights in our times don't arrive on white horses and don't wield swords. They arrive on bikes and hold gunblades." Ellone finished, winking at Quistis. She received an even more puzzled look from her "You'll know what I mean in due time. I'll se you at lunch."
And with those words spoken, Ellone left the dorm and disappeared down the corridor, leaving Quistis more bewildered than ever.
- "I need a long, hot shower…" Quistis spoke out loud and headed towards the bathroom.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The warm spray of water that ran down Quistis's back, relaxed her tensed up muscles. Her slender fingers massaged her shampoo-filled scalp. She sighed and tilted her head down, under the tiny waterfall, rinsing off the raspberry scented product 'I wonder what Ellone meant… Knight in our times arrive in bikes and hold gunblades… *Scoff* I suppose 'I'll find out in due time'. Hyne…' the blonde thought 'All this information in one day… More like in a few hours… So let me get this all straight: Seifer made SeeD. On his first attempt. Damn, Hell has frozen over already. And then he made a move on me in the SeeD Ball. Horny little bastard… I'd only meant well… Anyway… Then he left for that camp -but I already knew that- and met Rinoa. That I did not know.'
Quistis grabbed the small blue sponge next to her, filling its pores with similarly scented shower-gel. She began rubbing it against her skin, sighing in pleasure as the creamy, fragrant foam slid down her body. She shuddered 'I also did not need to know when and how they had their first time together… Thank Hyne Ellone cut that off soon enough… On the other hand, the whole scene with Caraway was more than amusing…' she thought, giggling 'On the first opportunity presented, Seifer is sooo getting it… Alright… So then he came back to Garden and broke up with Rinoa. Squall passed, the whole incident with the 'Black Widow' never occurred, but we did get info on the Comm. Tower in Dollet.' Quistis applied some more shampoo on her hair 'And then there's that incident with Seifer and Rinoa at the next Ball… They broke up for good then… And the next day the mission in Timber came up again. Only this time, the way me and Seifer got involved became a bit more… interesting, I suppose…' The blonde blushed a bit, as she washed off her hair once again.
Sighing, she leaned against the tiles of the shower stall behind her. She shivered a bit at the cold sensation that ran down her spine and hissing softly, closed her eyes. Hyne… The way he'd held her that day… The way he'd kissed her… So… desperately, so demandingly. As if he'd been yearning to do so for ages. It probably meant nothing at the time but… Quistis traced her lips with her index and middle finger. She licked and bit her bottom lip, standing back up to finish that shower before more thoughts roamed around her mind again.
'*Sigh* So now the situation stands as such: I -foolishly- tried to help Seifer and got myself severely injured, the mission with Edea in Deling went like normal, only now I became an additional problem for the others to solve after they escaped the desert prison. And Seifer… offered, well… demanded to be the one to bring me back…Was he just trying to redeem himself or was it because…' Quistis shook her head in disbelief and ran the sponge along her skin one last time. She rinsed herself clean and turned the tap off.
Stepping out of the shower, she rubbed her hair damp with a small towel, which she later on wrapped around her head in a turban, then grabbed a bigger one, wiping her skin dry. She adjusted the towel onto her cleavage and wiped the steam off the mirror. She grabbed the red toothbrush from a small glass onto the counter that contained two, presuming that one was hers. The other one was green, so she guessed that one had to belong to Seifer. She brushed her teeth thoroughly, rinsing her mouth from the toothpaste and shot one last glance to the mirror before exiting.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seifer was sitting up on the double bed, checking out the screen of his laptop, typing from time to time. His clothes had been haphazardly thrown onto a chair, leaving him dressed in a pair of black boxers and a grey T-shirt. Hearing the slight creaking of the bathroom door, he turned his head and looked and Quistis walking inside, throwing her a smile.
- "Hey. Had a good shower?" he asked.
- "Yeah… I felt I needed one…" Quistis replied, feeling a bit exposed in her attire.
Seifer had turned his gaze back on the computer, as Quistis slowly walked over to him. And right then, she noticed something bizarre. Seifer was wearing glasses. A pair of thin-rimmed, sliver… Wait.
- "Yes, yes… I know…" Seifer spoke, as if reading her thoughts "I'll go see Dr. Kadowaki and get my own glasses. I just needed yours for a bit."
- "I didn't say anything." Quistis said, shrugging.
- "I know you were gonna." Seifer replied, looking at her meaningfully, as she sat down next to him on the bed "Bureaucracy just ain't my thing…" he added, shaking his head in disbelief "All this damned work has spoiled my precious eyes…" he said in a mock-dramatic tone.
Quistis rolled her eyes and rested her legs onto the bed. Seifer's gaze left the screen for a split second and traveled down her exposed legs. He turned and looked at her, pretending to be somewhat mad.
- "That's just plain mean, you know." he said, sounding serious "Trying to tempt me while I'm working…" he said, shaking his head in disbelief.
- "I'm not-" Quistis began, grinning.
- "Don't argue with me, woman." Seifer interrupted her, a tiny grin apparent on his lips.
Quistis groaned and removed the towel from her hair, laying it down to her lap. She opened the first drawer on the nightstand. Hadn't she seen a brush in there the other day, while looking around? Ah, there it was. She began combing her hair straight, shooting side-ways glances on Seifer's laptop.
- "What's that you're working on?" she asked him.
- "Laguna brought over some documents and receipts from the E-Garden they're building in Esthar. I'm just checking to see if everything's in order…" Seifer replied, rubbing his chin "And adding whatever I think is necessary."
- "Shouldn't you be doing that with Squall?" Quistis asked, wincing while disentangling a small knot in her hair.
- "We split it up in half." Seifer said, typing.
Quistis smiled inwardly. Not in her wildest dreams would she have imagined Seifer to act so professional. Especially in a job like this. Just like he'd said before, bureaucracy wasn't suited for him. And from the looks of it, he was bored out of his mind doing this job. She could recall many a time when Squall had complained about how different he expected the Commander position to be. Now that the war was over, SeeDs weren't left with much 'action' in their hands, so paperwork had been his daily concern. It was dull enough for Squall; she couldn't imagine what it felt like for Seifer…
Combing the last strands of hair straight, Quistis wrapped the fallen hairs in the towel, resting it on the nightstand. She leaned a bit closer to Seifer's shoulder, checking out his work. A couple of minutes later, Seifer saved all changes in the documents and turned the laptop off, rubbing his sore temples. Leaving the computer to the side, he grinned at Quistis and lay down on the bed, resting his head on her stomach. Without realizing it, her fingers went automatically to his hair, gently stroking it.
- "Tough day?" she asked.
- "Not tough… Just plain boring…" replied Seifer, closing his eyes. He let out a small moan of pleasure and he felt Quistis's fingers rake his strands of hair "Thank Hyne Ethan was there, or else I'd have to take it all out on 'Puberty-Boy' out of boredom…"
- "When will you stop calling him that?" Quistis asked, grinning "He's got a name you know…"
- "Yeah, but it's no fun that way…"
- "So… Did you catch up with Ethan?" Quistis asked again.
- "Yup… He's doing very well in that law-firm he works for. And he's doing great with Ellone…" Seifer replied, running his finger down one of Quistis's thighs.
The blonde shivered inwardly and hoped that Seifer wouldn't notice her blush. Dammit… Even at the slightest touch, she had to… Dammit…
- "Wanna go get some lunch?" Quistis asked.
- "We're going out with everyone. We made reservations for…" Seifer checked his watch "Two thirty. So we still got about an hour."
- "Where are we going?"
- "The 'Kitchen Bar'." Seifer replied "Y'know, that nice seafood place."
- "OK…" Quistis said, resting her head against the wall behind the bed.
She went on fiddling with Seifer's hair, as he stroked her leg gently, saying nothing. Quistis bit her bottom lip gently, before drawing out the courage to say what she was about to.
- "Seifer?" she said.
- "Mmm?" he hummed in response.
- "Do you… remember… that day when… you came for me, in G-Garden?" she asked. Seifer raised his head up to look at her "After you escaped from D-District prison?" she added.
- "Of course I do. Why?" he asked, puzzled.
- "Did you… Did you come after me because you just wanted to redeem yourself, or did you…have feelings for me?" she asked.
Seifer smiled and sat up on his knees above her, stroking her cheek affectionately.
- "A bit of both I guess…" he replied, grinning "Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"
- "Ellone and I were talking a bit… Reminiscing… And I just happened to remember that…" Quistis replied shrugging "Umm… Anyway…" she said, looking down "It was… It was really sweet of you to offer at any rate…" she added, looking up to him, shyly.
Seifer chuckled and kissed her on the forehead.
- "You're acting all weird these days, you know that?" he asked, cupping her face in his palms.
Quistis simply shrugged and grinned back at him. Parting her lips to say something, she stopped, as she noticed Seifer's green eyes looking back at her. It all came back in mind then. They way he hugged her when he'd passed the SeeD test, his constant boyish taunts, the feel of his hands on her at the SeeD Ball, their childish fight in the Disciplinary room and the train, the feel of his lips on hers in that bar in Timber… And the urge to have that sensation fill her once more, pushed her to bring her hands on his and pull him towards her.
She gently pressed her lips on his, closing her eyes. As he reciprocated, heat filled her insides, polling up into her fluttering stomach and groin. It felt completely different from the one they'd shared in Timber, but Hyne… The sensation was even better… Her hungry lips craved for more, as she slid har arms around his neck and parted her lips wider for him. She felt his arms encasing her deeper, feeling warmth such as she'd never experienced. When they pulled away, Seifer ran his fingers through her damp locks and gave her a peck on the lips. Trying to compose herself again, Quistis sighed and spoke.
- "Better start getting ready if we don't want to miss that dinner…"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
- "…And I'm telling you, that little wench won't come out of my hands alive is she keeps stalling with the screen I asked for the New Year's party!" Selphie exclaimed, making everyone around the table burst into laughter.
- "That's… my girl…" said Irvine grinning, placing his hand on Selphie's shoulder, as she fed his a forkful of lobster.
- "So you're sticking around for New Year's as well, right?" Selphie asked.
- "We'll see about that, Selphie." Ellone replied "Uncle Laguna has a lot of pressing business back in Esthar. And Ethan has a lot of work over at the law firm…"
- "Aw, c'mon!" Rinoa piped in "You should stay over. Selphie's parties are always the greatest…" she commented, smiling at her friend, who beamed.
- "Let's just focus on Christmas for the time being, and then we can talk about New Year's." Ethan said smiling, taking a sip of white whine.
Zell's eyes rested on Laguna, who had been struggling to hammer his crab open for the past ten minutes. A terrible feeling of upcoming trouble rushed through him as the older man, pouted his lips and frowned, grasping the hammer harder, bringing it down the shell with force. The shell refused to break open once again, and the small wooden hammer slipped out of Laguna's greased up palm and flew off. Zell gasped and opened his mouth to warn everyone, but it was too late. The hammer flew above a few heads, then conveniently landed hard upon the one head it shouldn't have.
- "YEWOUCH!" Squall yelled, causing every head in the restaurant to turn around towards their table.
Laguna bit his bottom lip apologetically and cowered in his seat. Oh, he wasn't going to hear the end of it… Squall shot his father his very special 'death glare', rubbing his sore head, within suppressed chuckles and –in Seifer's case- loud snorts.
- "Sorry, Squall…" Laguna whimpered.
Squall gritted his teeth and was about to retort something pretty nasty, when he felt Rinoa gently squeeze his hand underneath the table. He didn't even have to turn around to look at her face; he knew that she'd be pleading him not to hurt Laguna's feelings. Sighing inwardly, he spoke.
- "It's alright, Laguna." was all he spat out, a tiny bit of sincerity apparent in his voice.
Laguna exhaled in relief audibly and smiled, as Rinoa handed him his hammer back. Seifer was still snorting, although somewhat less loudly, almost choking on his food. Quistis smacked him in the back of the head.
- "Stop it!" she hissed at him.
- "Oh, c'mon! Don't tell me you don't feel like cracking a grin at this!" Seifer whispered at her, swallowing his mouthful. Quistis simply rolled her eyes "Y'know…" Seifer began again, after a small pause, as the rest of the table indulged into a conversation about the upcoming Christmas party "I forgot to tell you before, but I've been having this… 'weird' sensation all day at work…" Quistis raised an eyebrow.
- "What do you mean?" she asked.
- "Dunno… It was as if… someone was… 'watching' me all day… Kinda freaky…" said Seifer, shrugging 'Oh that's right… When we went into Laguna's consciousness in the past, he'd mentioned having this weird feeling. He called it the 'faeries'…' Quistis thought.
- "I'm sure it's nothing." Quistis reassured him "You're probably stressing yourself too much at work."
- "Probably…" Seifer agreed shrugging.
- "Just… make sure to get lots of rest now in the holidays." Quistis added, running her finger on his palm.
- "You worried about me?" Seifer asked, smirking.
- "You wish…" Quistis replied, grinning, giving him a peck on the cheek, returning to her food.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Quistis paced back and forth in her room, hands tied behind her back. She almost jumped up to the ceiling when she heard the gentle knock on her door. Rushing to it, she was really glad to find Ellone standing on the other side.
- "Did Seifer leave for the office?" Ellone asked, whispering.
- "Yeah, come on in." Quistis replied eagerly, letting her friend in.
- "Aren't the others suspecting anything yet?" Ellone asked, walking over to the bed.
- "Rinoa and Selphie asked me where I'd disappeared all morning," Quistis began, following Ellone "But I told them that I'm swamped with trying to find a good gift for Seifer's birthday. Thank Hyne I didn't get him anything yet. Selphie's swamped with the party, so she doesn't have free time either and Rinoa's helping her out a lot. I feel kind of guilty for not helping out, but…" Quistis trailed off, grinning.
- "Alright then, want to get started?" Ellone asked, sitting down on the bed.
- "Yes, yes…" Quistis said, lying down on the bed again.
- "Eager, aren't we?" she asked, grinning.
- "Well you left me hanging! How can I not be?" Quistis replied.
- "Alright, alright…" Ellone said, closing her eyes "Ready?"
A/N: And once again, I'll say that the next chapter will be posted very soon. I ask for your patience :-)
ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF 'A SECOND CHANCE':
The chapter you're all waiting for…
Seifer rescues Quis from G-Garden.