King's Heart (part 1 of 31)

King’s Heart

An old dust filled room stood, the rest of the house completely gone except for that one. It was as if time wanted to preserve that one and that one alone. A shadow, almost nothing but a memory passed through the room, drifting to each part of it. It gently caressed the bed where so many a night was spent alone and then after, in the silent comfort of a partner who was willing to share a memory, a tear, a life. A room where passion once took place that boiled down to nothing but pure unlimited, undiluted love. A small red heart hung from the bedpost that said in blue crayon “From X to Q” A small bear sat in the middle of the bed, it’s age showing by the layer of dust on its fur and the wear and tear of its clothing. Flowers wilted on a desk, long lost to death. The memory caressed the paintings, faded but resilient. It came to rest on the chair, the place where the two had first shared their thoughts and their love to each other. Finally, it rested on two pictures. One of when they were little and smiling. One girl, a brunette with a grin wide enough to take up most of her face, had put bunny ears behind the other girl, a strawberry blond with a shy smile. So much pain would befall those young children. The memory looked over at the other picture, taken in secret. The two girls were wrapped in each other’s arms, foreheads together and eyes closed. They were cherishing the moment, silently suffering but not quite in pain. They had each other and the memory, the spirit, thought back…

…

…

…

Quistis sighed and leaned back against her chair. Cid was such a nice man, letting her have her job back and all. Being a SeeD was a better paying job but she’d much rather not see so much death. Then again, training children to kill wasn’t much better but at least she could try to teach them morals. It sickened her to think that another Seifer would spring out of her class. She placed her hand over her face in a movement signifying that she was tired. Being an Instructor wasn’t easy. She didn’t get the comforts that a SeeD had. Ever since Ultimecia had been killed, SeeDs had it easy. A few more had been dispatched recently to Timber to help liberate it further and the order had come from the big man himself; Squall. Quistis wondered if it wasn’t an emotional decision but either way, Squall paid for the troops himself. In a matter of days, Timber was free as the trains it ran. She gave another sigh and turned her attention to the foreboding pile of tests that she needed to grade. She cringed at the thought of seeing yet another answer that said something along the lines of, “The sorceress is dead, why do we need to take this test?” or even worse, little hearts with her name in them. She nearly whimpered.

“Hard day?” Quistis jumped at the voice. Xu walked in with two mugs of hot tea. Quistis smiled at her old friend and sat up straight.

“You could say that. I had one kid throw up all over the computer. Poor kid. On top of that, it was because of a hang over and I had to give him detention as well for underage drinking.” Xu scrunched up her nose in disgust.

“Ew…I’ll bet that was nasty.” She said. Quistis sipped her tea and kept staring at the papers. “So, whatcha thinking about?” Quistis leaned towards the papers.

“You will grade yourselves…” she said to the papers in a fake fortune tellers voice. “You will listen to me and grade yourselves…” Xu laughed.

“You can try as hard as you want but they’re not going to grade themselves. Besides, you’ve got all weekend, why grade them now?” Quistis pushed her glasses down her nose and looked at Xu, smirking.

“That’s precisely what makes me Quistis Trepe, excellent Instructor and object of affection to Trepies and you are simply Xu. I get things done early.” She said snootily. Xu batted at her playfully and sat down on the desk.

“You’re mean,” she pouted. “I wish I had a fan club.”

“No. No you don’t.” Quistis replied shaking her head and smiling. “They’re not a fan club. They’re a cult. They follow my footsteps, shower me with meaningless praises and swoon at everything I do. Trust me, it’s not fun.”

“Aw, why not?” Xu whined. “I mean, not even Squall has his own fan club!”

“That’s because he’s a recluse and Rinoa would be at anyone’s throat if they tried to worship Squall. And plus, I drew the line when they attempted to sneak into my room and auction my underwear.” Xu balked at the thought of it.

“What?!” Quistis laughed.

“Exactly. You do not want a fan club.”

“No wonder I saw some of the guys waving a thong around…” Quistis shoved her lightly.

“I do not wear anything of the sort!” she said loudly. Xu giggled, looking at her warily. “I don’t! It’s not like I’ve got anyone to impress or anything.”

“Ooooo, now I know there’s someone on your mind. I didn’t mention anything about impressing people. So, who is the person of your affections?” Quistis winced on the inside, a little hurt by the thought of loving someone ever again but she smiled on the outside and waved it away.

“There’s no one on my mind. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a mountain of papers to tackle and all of that needs to be done before I sleep.” She said, shooing Xu out of the room.

“That’s not fair, Quisty! You’re hiding something and I know it!” Quistis closed the door and set it to lock. She walked back to her desk and collapsed on the chair. She had no one to love. Who would love someone as cold as she was? She sighed and looked once again at the stack of papers. I should get straight to work, it ought to put my thoughts on hold for a while. She was a typical workaholic only because she needed something to stave her memories and thoughts. She worked to forget and she wished she could forget it all forever…

Quistis finished the papers but felt drained of any energy. She stood up and stretched, preparing for a good night’s sleep. When she exited the door, Xu was sitting there, legs folded and waiting.

“Xu!” she exclaimed with some surprise.

“Finally! I thought you would never come out!” she said, getting up and yawning. “It’s been two hours, Quistis…”

“You didn’t have to wait for me.”

“No I didn’t.” There was a strained silence after that and Quistis couldn’t bring herself to look Xu in the eye. Finally, she cleared her throat and spoke.

“So, you want to sleep over my place?” she asked.

“No problem. We haven’t had a sleep over in such a long time, Quisty.” Xu brightened and followed Quistis as she walked down the hallway towards the elevator.