Disclaimer: I borrowed a few lines from The Little Prince (with some modifications) for the last few lines.

Damsel in Distress

Chapter 14

Rehearsals had ended and everyone has left the auditorium to rest. It was almost midnight. The lights had been shut, just the blue dim-lit neon lights spanning across the edge of the stage was left open to illuminate the auditorium. Only the stage's front part and the first few seats closest to its edge could be seen, the rest of the room was pitch-dark.

Seifer sat on the cool marble floor, his back resting on the stage's edge while Quistis sat right beside him, her knees bent and her back laid on the edge as well. They had been sitting for a long time, silent. Quistis could have happily left to sleep but Seifer asked her to stay claiming he had some important matters to… discuss with her.

They had been practicing for almost two months now and Quistis had been falling further and further in love with him. She had been keeping her feelings to herself for several weeks, but it was starting to become obvious to some. The way she looked at him on stage, her eyes would sparkle, and everyone would see it whenever they were left with the spotlight. Unconsciously, her eyes would smile, her gaze would be different and a sort of aura would illuminate her face; that in itself was testimony that there was something going on. Seifer, of all people had noticed it. Ignorant and foolish still, had been shoving off the idea. He couldn't confront it, he was reluctant to the whole concept of love...much more, falling in love.

Everything seemed too vague; obscured by pride and uncertainty, their relationship was becoming uncomfortably weird; bordered between indifference and physical attraction. Stolen glances and certain moments when a sense of fleeting infatuation would result to sudden odd feelings and goose bumps.

Could it really be love?

Or just some sort of romantic fling?

A phase when friendship becomes too close for comfort.

Something was becoming apparent, and love was becoming the visible answer.

From the ground, Seifer tilted his head and shifted his gaze at Quistis. She was quiet. It was another one of those weird moments for her. She had been avoiding his glances for she had developed a tendency of getting into a trace whenever his eyes would transfix with hers.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her ear, without anything which led up to it, as if the statement had been born of long and silent mediation, she heard him speak.

"You know, you still owe me an apology."

Shocked and distressed by his sudden claim, she quickly turned to him and unexpectedly saw him giving her a salient smile. Her heart throbbed at the sight and was unable to react. Instead, she just looked at him, lost in his spheres,

Again.

He sniggered at her reaction, but it was out of delight that she flushed at his glee.

He then took her hand and placed his thumb beneath her index finger, extending it into a point. Gently, he drew her hand closer, and, using the tip of her finger, brushed it on his temple, tracing his scar down to the bridge of his nose. She felt it rough still, even after a year had passed. It must have been a deep wound Squall inflicted for it to feel so coarse.

It must have hurt.

"I found it unfair how I got the scolding when Squall cut my face as well." He softly uttered releasing her hand, just a hint of frustration glimmered in his eyes.

"You must hold quite a grudge against me." It was a rather calm riposte, but she felt a bit embarrassed at his word. He was right, both of them cut each other's face, but it was only Seifer who took the beating. She rubbed her thumb against her finger. She still felt the tingle of his scar on her skin.

His deep green eyes confused her, then it occurred to her, "You're not jealous of the attention I gave Squall, are you?"

"You mean the attention you gave him since who knows when? Noooooo—heck why would I be jealous of HIM!"

"Because I always sided with him...because he always got my praises while you took the beating...because he always got my favor—"

"SHUT UP! Fine. I also wanted the attention. Happy?" He interrupted, flashing an aggravated stare at her.

"…I'm sorry...I wasn't being fair." She openly admitted frowning, with tint of guilt in her expression.

"That's it!" he grimaced, quickly picking up the mood. "I charge with interest you know, and lady, your debt is way overdue."

"What else do you want then? Beg on my knees!"

"Kiss me."

"Excuse me?"

"I said kiss me."

"This is a joke, right?"

"Only if you think it's funny." His tone was formal; he didn't seem to be joking. He shifted his weight and sat upright, turning his position to face Quistis. "Just one." He muttered in serious expression, his eyes intent.

Her eyes widened and her heartbeat throbbed twice as hard. She looked down for a long moment, and then made the mistake of meeting his gaze. She drew back a bit, but could only stare as their faces inched in closer and closer. He wasn't kidding, and she began to panic. Unable to fathom the sudden turn of events, she closed her eyes and simply waited for his lips to press.

With that kiss, it would seal the deal.

Three…

Two…

One…

"HahahahaHAHAHA!"

She opened her eyes and saw Seifer crouched on the floor and laughing to his stomach. His body was trembling with giggle and his face red as a tomato.

"S-Seifer!" she exclaimed and backed away so he would see her glare.

"Hahahaha...haha..heh..." It took a while longer before he ceased from laughing and sat back up. He looked at her with eyes practically teary from laughter.

"YOU JERK! How dare you!" She punched the side of his shoulder with every strength she could gather, followed by several lesser punches.

"Owww! Oww!" Seifer complained as she kept on bombarding him with punches.

"You—big—dummy—don't—ever—do—that—AGAIN!" She punctuated every word with a corresponding blow to his chest.

"Enough! That's enough!"

Unable to stop her, he had no choice but to chain her arms through a bear hug. She was trembling with anger. She huffed and puffed heavily against his shoulders, ready to commit murder the moment he released her. He tightened his grip, not letting go until she calmed down.

Three minutes…

"Hey, you a'right now?" he whispered to her ear which rested close to his lip.

"I hate you." she muffled through his shoulder, hands reddened with the tight clutch on his coat.

"Don't be silly, you don't hate me."

"I do now..."

He giggled, then carefully stood up carrying her weight with him as he did. As soon as they stood upright, Quistis quickly released him from her grasp, his shirt ruffled by her firm grip.

"C'mon, let's hit the sack. Must be pass midnight." He said as he gently pushed her waist to lead her to the door.

"Don't touch me!" she warned, slapping his hand off her waist then briskly strode away from him.

"Oh c'mon! You can't hate me forever!" he yelled out from behind "Now how do you expect Beast to become Prince Charming when Belle acts all grumpy and immature!"

"Shut up! Monsters don't talk!" she turned back roaring.

"Right back at ya!" He chortled, but didn't insist to follow; he knew she needed some space, a space somewhere far away from him.

o O o

When Seifer reached his room he felt too weary that he simply decided to take off his socks and coat, omitting the idea of proper hygiene. Sitting on his bed, he bent down to remove his socks, but before he could take the other one off, a small shining object under his bed caught his eye. Curious and wondering to see what it was, he took the trouble of kneeling on the floor to grab the thing.

He pulled out his hand beneath the bed and saw himself holding a bottle of musk, the same musk Quistis had given him for passing as SeeD and the very one he had been looking for several days now. He didn't know how it got there, but was definitely glad he found it.

It was just a small 45mL bottle and not the most expensive brand, but it smelled like ocean mist, Seifer's preferred scent and had been using it on several occasions. Now that he found it, he thought of having the liberty of taking a whiff just before he hit the sack. He opened the cap and wasn't really sure if he suddenly got ten times stronger or if the bottle became ten times brittle, but it suddenly cracked causing the liquid to spill. Irritated by his sudden downturn of luck, he threw the musk on the corner which landed on his gloves and simply watched as the bottle emptied on his now ocean mist-smelling gloves. He gave a regretful sigh at the sight then grumbled is way to sleep.

Ten minutes later, he found himself beneath the gnarling roots of a darkened forest.

Lush vegetation grew wild, entwining around the fallen tree stumps. Threads of moonlight filtered through the closely indented foliage casted specks of silver illuminating the ground of carpeted moss.

Seifer began to trudge through the muddy footpath, his hands busily shoved off freefalling vines which blocked his way. The smell of wet grass below his feet, the distant echoes of crickets, all made him feel uneasy, yet went on a straight path which laid before him. Upon reaching a clearing where the moonlight made it through creating a small circle of light about a meter radius on the ground, a lone shadow stood in the figure of a woman.

From where he was, only the silhouette was seen, unmoving, haunting. He came closer for he seemed to have heard the lady weeping. He stopped for a second look when his foot touched the tip of the shadow cast by the woman. As he reached out his hand to touch her shoulders, at about an inch of distance, the woman suddenly turned back at him, her face pale, almost bluish. Her stare was melancholic, as if helpless and pleading.

"Seifer...h-help me." she moaned, her voice cracked as she reached out her bloody hand to Seifer.

It was Quistis.

Aghast to what he was seeing, his vision suddenly became blurred, seeing only the bright light emitted by the Garden behind her at a distance. He couldn't take the horror and yelled out her name. Awakened by his own voice, his eyes flung open. He quickly sat up in shock, eyes eagerly gazed around to see if she was still present. Cold sweat ran down his forehead while his breathing was fast paced and short. Gathering fragmented memories of his nightmare, he felt it too real to be just a dream. He laid back down massaging his head. Unable to come into terms with his uneasiness, he felt too bothered to sleep. At a sudden struck of a heartbeat, he was sure he heard Quistis' voice called out his name.

He quickly got up and grabbed his coat on the way out. Rushing through the emptied hallway, he felt his name being called over and over again. His tension began to increase.

o O o

Upon reaching Quistis' bedroom door, he knocked hard several times hoping for it to open, but it simply wasn't the case. Recalling a sudden flashback, he realized the place where Quistis stood in his dream was somewhere in the outskirts of Balamb Garden. Taking note of the familiar landscape and tall willow trees, it could only be Alcauld Forest.

Mechanically, Seifer ran out of the dorm and into the parking lot. Mounting on the first motorcycle which reached his grasps, he quickly wrapped his fingers around the clutch then slammed his foot down on the pedal just as quick. It made a short ripping sound. At the roar of the engine, he lifted his foot off the ground and shifted his weight to balance the bike.

With all wit and might, he raised the bike's front tire and with luck at his side, succeeded in leaping off the barricaded gate. When he landed on the paved road, he shifted the gear which quickly built up speed spraying a trail of sand and smoke behind. Jet black with satin grey streaking across both sides of the vehicle, it jut pass the velvet grassland.

He leaned his head low over the handlebars, his shiny hair whipped against the back of his neck as he built up speed of over 80 kph within a few meters from the Garden. Clasping hard to steer left and right, trees raced pass him blurring into a wall of green. He narrowed his eyes giving the effort to see through the limited path emitted by the bike's front light. His thoughts could only haunt him as he left a trail of wheel tracks beneath the motor's smoky fume.

At a not so distant horizon, dark clouds with flashes and thunder claps began to gather in great multitude. The wind began to stir slapping Seifer on the face with violent whirls. It wasn't a good sign, rain always meant bad luck and to what he was seeing it wasn't going to be just a drizzle.

He felt his blood run cold when he suddenly heard a shrieking sound emitted somewhere within the forest.

o O o

Upon reaching the forest's edge he hit hard the brakes and turned off the engine. Large stumps blocked his bike from going any further; he had to on take the search by foot.

It was dejavu.

He trudged along the misty forest and leaped across the enormous roots creeping all over the forest floor. Seifer, keen on his senses, searched with his head, glancing left and right at every step, probing his eyes and ears through the towering trees surrounding him.

It took another thirty minutes before he heard a faint moping mingle with the light rustle of leaves from behind a fallen tree trunk. It was a huge trunk covered in moss which made it impossible to see the other side. Cautiously, Seifer made his way around the trunk guided by his ear.

When he finally caught sight of the figure, at once he knew it could only be Quistis.

She was so pale and motionless that if it had not been for her flowing tears and her hair moved in the breeze, he would have taken her for a marble statue. For a moment he stood glued on the spot, astonished and doubting in thought that he was mistaken, but it was her—no doubt. He was glad he found her safe though not all right.

Returning back to his senses, he approached and sat right beside her. He looked at her with pitiful eyes as she glared fix and immovable on the ground, tears just kept flowing. Her hair was down and her clothes slightly torn with visible scratches and bruises underneath, an evident sign of struggle. Unable to fathom what he was seeing, he gently grabbed her, enfolding her in his arms. He placed his palm at the back of her head, lightly nudging it to rest on his shoulders.

It was when she felt his presence that reality sank in. She closed her eyes and tightly squeezed him in embrace, her hand held a firm grip on his back while her face nestled on his shoulder and pressed hard against his neck. She wept like she never wept before, it was all too much,

She was alive.

o O o

At that moment, out of the darkness came down a flash of bluish light and lit up the field as if it was broad daylight. Drop by drop, rain began to fall and in an instant, like meteor showers, water came pummelling down with such force that branches began to crack.

Instinctively, his impulse told him to run for shelter, for, to where they sat, out in the open, they were most likely to be struck by lightning. He swiftly lifted Quistis off the ground while she feebly clung onto him without hesitation. He carried her in his arms like a fragile treasure as she held onto him with her arm around his neck and her jaw resting on his shoulder.

A few yards away from the fallen trunk stood a gigantic willow tree which seemed sturdy enough to withstand the storm. Seifer looked no further and right away ran to hide beneath its mammoth stance. It was only when he stood below its shelter that he was struck with awe at the tree's magnificence. A thousand pendulum branches draped with clusters of deep green foliage hung loose on its massive trunk while below his feet crept roots of different proportions and stabbing the ground in decorative fashion. For a second he was stunned with amazement, but it quickly sank into worry when he felt Quistis' weight pulling him down.

"Right, sorry..." he muttered, bent over, and carefully laid Quistis between two large roots protruding out of the trunk, but before he could let go, he felt his coat being pulled over and realized Quistis refused to release him.

"Please...s-stay." her voice cracked as she spoke.

Left with no other option, he sighed a faint smile and lifted her back so he could sit behind her.

The roaring sound of thunder and the bolts of lightning continued to pierce through the sky one after the other. The wind howled as it swayed the big-long weeping branches effortlessly like reeds. Sitting on the squelching grass with Quistis resting on his arms, they silently sat, wet to the skin.

A few feet to where they sat were heavy torrents of raindrops impairing them to see beyond the haze. It was impossible to leave for the Garden at that situation; they had to wait until the weather became less furious. Here was nature in all its terrible beauty, majestic in the scale of its power, horrendous in the scale of its wrath.

"What happened?" he asked whispering, his words barely touched Quistis' ear. He pulled himself to rest his back against the trunk at the same time gave Quistis a much comfortable position.

"An E-Enloyle c-came...out of n-nowhere...I w-was at the q-quad...when it..." her words came out muted from the pounding of thunder. "I was so helpless...I-I thought I was gonna...d-die." Seifer tried eagerly to hear her but she could not say anything more, her words were choked by sobbing.

Seifer did not understand what she said and didn't know what else to say to her. He felt awkward and blundering; he could simply look at her and say nothing. He didn't know how to reach her, how to give added comfort besides his embrace; but in that silence and warm touch, she found peace.

Slowly he turned her face so the moonlight shone in her eyes. He watched her look at him with venus eyes, freezing by the shock of fear. Tears rimmed those pitiful orbs, and for the first time he saw who unbearably fragile she was when she was crying. He couldn't figure, and questions simply flooded his mind, but the words never seeped out his throat.

What frightened her?

Why was she frightened now?

What happened to the mercenary?

The woman he was looking at a few months ago was no longer the same cold-stiff and stuck-up woman he found himself mesmerized at that moment. There was warmth sparkling beneath her lashes, and a gentle caress to her cheek made her so human. In her eyes, he saw himself staring back, and found how distressing his face was looking at her. He hasn't looked at anyone or felt for anyone that way before.

Quistis Trepe

She certainly had introduced to him new emotions to confront. She undoubtedly was somebody who could change him, and was fast turning to be somebody he could bother to change for. And that night, he felt himself seeming to change again, change in how he was looking at her. But before he could see anything more in those cerulean irises, she closed them.

The storm went on to torment the night for another hour. With flashes of lightning every now and then, memories of the war suddenly came reeling back into Seifer's dreary mind. His mind crowded with faces of people shrieking in agony. The wailing of innocent victims crept up moaning in his ear together with the thunder to stir up his conscience. It was a burden he had to bear for making a choice and it haunted him whenever he had to face moments like these. Even with a new sense dignity, it wasn't enough; a year was far too short for a memory to be forgotten, especially one that's full of regret.

Unable to take the thought, he knocked his head on the trunk behind him over and over until he felt the pain overpowered his playful imagination. Taking short-deep breaths, he held Quistis closer for he too needed her warmth and comfort; and though half-asleep, she felt his strong grip that she offered him her hand to hold his palm to return the favour.

o O o

By this time the rain had already turned into a drizzle. The heavy roaring had stopped, though flashes of light continued to appear to light up the forest shadows once in a while. The wind too had gotten tired of its restless whirling and slowed its pace into a zephyr which only tingled the skin.

Seifer was able to open his eyes after a few minutes of rest from the painful incident he had brought himself to endure. His breathing has returned to normal though he still felt the sting on his head. He looked at the freshened earth behind the light moving mist and felt Quistis had nodded off to sleep. He loosened his grip from her, placed his hand round her shoulder and gently, just so gently, in case she might wake, cradled her with his arms.

After a while, he felt his arms began to numb from the weight he had been carrying for too long. He carefully lifted her head and slanted his back a bit, reclining himself in a much comfortable position. When he had felt comfortable enough, he gently placed Quistis' head on his lap, this time allowing him to see the sleeping beauty.

Looking at her slightly parted lip which gave the impression of a half-smile, he felt deeply moved and stirred. For once, it seemed to him Quistis was no less fragile than any other nineteen-year-old girl; she too was a damsel in distress who needed a knight in shining armor to come in and rescue her from a fiery dragon. He didn't know if it was a sudden gush in the wind or just a spur of the moment, but for the first time he thought, he could actually fall in love with her. She had the qualities; and much more, that night, she gave him a sense of fulfilment for being her knight in shining armor which he so longed to happen.

It was a cue,

A moment he had been waiting for,

A moment when he realized how much she really needed him.

Beneath the shelter of curtain leaves which seemed to dance with the breeze, the moonlight peeked out of the darkened clouds to light up the night with its aureole. Though faint for a full moon, filtered to where they sat, it was enough for Seifer to see Quistis' illuminating face. His hand worked on her hair and brushed it back from her forehead. Silently he contemplated in admiration; her pale forehead, her rose-blushed cheeks, her plump lips, her long soft locks which trembled with the wind, it was all too beautiful...

He felt a sense of just wanting to be beside her...

Was he finally…starting to fall in love?

The thought could only linger for so long as he felt his eyes closing on its own from exhaustion.

Sneak Preview:

Cheers to Alcohol!

Chapter 15

"Seifer? You still there?" she groggily uttered on his lap.

"Yup...still here. You okay?" he replied wrapping his hand around her waist to hold her closer.

"Yeah...just feeling a little weird, that's all." She muttered through his coat as she began to snuggle him.

"You'll be fine, I promised to take care of you right?" he whispered, warming up themselves together.

"Seifer...?"

"Hmmm?"

"What's going on between us?"

A/N: I read from one of the books about creating fiction that it's important to have a silent part somewhere within a story...you know, no conversations, just describing the feelings and emotions of the character, setting a tone and a mood for the story without having to do a dialogue, I tried to achieve that here.