King's Heart (part 15 of 31)

Dinner and An Evening Late

“Take it easy now, ok?” Xu said as she led Quistis down the hall. “I can’t believe Dr. Kadowaki let you out so early.”

“Yeah well, I prodded her a little. I told her you could take plenty care of me.” She replied, leaning on her shoulder.

“Hey! That’ was uncalled for! You know I have work and so do you as soon as you recover.” Xu looked at her in disbelief.

“Oh…so that means that…you don’t love me as much as you do your job?” Quistis looked up with big doe eyes and Xu felt her resolve crumbling.

“Oh no, I’m not falling for that.” She said, closing her eyes and turning her head away. Quistis sniffed slightly and Xu was about to kill herself for being so responsive to such a dumb trick. She lasted until they got to her room and then the silence was just too much.

“Alright, alright. What do you want me to do?” She sighed caving in. Quistis giggled brightly, knowing how susceptible she was to her “charms.”

“That certainly took longer than usual. Maybe I’m just losing my skills.” She said.

“Trust me,” Xu reassured. “You aren’t.”

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my favorite instructor.” A chuckled came from near the corner.

“Seifer.” Xu hissed with all the contempt in the world.

“The one and only.” He stepped out and smirked. “Seems to me that you’ve been injured, what, pray tell, happened?”

“None of your business, Seifer. Where are the SeeD that are supposed to be guarding you?” Quistis snapped.

“Oh those pipsqueaks? I ditched them around the training center. Poor kids couldn’t handle a couple of T-Rexaurs. How do they expect to handle Ultimecia then when she arrives?” He shrugged. “But of course, she’ll have to get us both now won’t she?”

“Can you stand on your own?” Xu asked. Quistis nodded and let go before she realized that Xu had every intention on beating Seifer up and throwing him off a cliff.

“No, wait!” She said, holding on. “Seifer, how the hell do you know about me?”

“I did a little eavesdropping on the meeting. Didn’t hurt much, did it? Come on, shouldn’t people who are destined to share the same fate stick together?” He placed an arm on her shoulder. Xu resisted jump kicking him but she knocked his arm off and glared at him, promising a whole new world of pain if he did it again.

“Remember the last time we fought?” She hissed. Seifer cocked his head to one side and tried to remember. As soon as the memory came to him, he grimaced.

“Oh…right. I’ll be going now. Good evening, Quisty.” He tossed a kiss her way before walking away. Qusitis looked over at Xu, confused.

“You two fought before?”

“Caught him in my room trying to steal answers to a test. He got the wrong room and well, naturally took the opportunity to try and assault me. It was a bad move.”

“Is that why he was out for an entire week?” Quistis replied thoughtfully, remembering the condition Seifer once came back in. It looked like he had gotten squashed and clawed by a Behemoth.

“Yeah. That’s the one.” The moment’s reprieve was cut short by Quistis toppling over sideways into Xu who stumbled a few feet before regaining balance and pushing back.

“Phew, you’re heavy.” Xu remarked. Quistis gave her a look of utter shock and slapped her on the arm.

“You take that back you fiend!”

“Let’s get you to your room.” Xu laughed as Quistis fumed silently.

-

-

“You don’t think that she’s in love with Squall again, do you?” Rinoa asked.

“Stop worrying, Quistis wouldn’t do that!” Ayane snapped. “You’re both being much too nosy.” She dove right back into the book she was reading.

“You know, honestly I think this is the happiest I’ve ever seen Quistis. And after such a traumatic event too. Something’s up.”

“Here’s a theory, what if she heard from that Arik guy? What if he’s not really dead?” Rinoa offered.

“I doubt it.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Ayane said, finally showing some interest.

“Oh what would you care? You’re too busy being such a bookworm.” Selphie replied snootily, tossing her head to the side.

“Come on, this sounds like it could be reliable.” She pleaded.

“Should we tell her?” Selphie asked.

“Yeah!” Rinoa replied. “Only if I get to.” Selphie nodded and Rinoa began. “Well, you see, it’s like this, Quistis and this one guy, Arik Mesh, an Instructor here, were dating. She thinks that if he hadn’t gone away, they would’ve gotten married. But the thing is, he was shipped away to investigate the happenings at the Island of Hell or something and he, well, was killed.” Ayane looked thoughtfully for a moment.

“Something wrong?” Selphie questioned. Ayane bit her lip.

“I heard about that incident…the entire team was completely obliterated. But then there were rumors that not all of them died. It was like a government conspiracy thing, how instead of shipping them to the Island of Hell, they took them somewhere else and did horrible things to them or something.” She replied. Selphie blinked.

“What?”

“I read somewhere in the newspaper, well, it was a tabloid so I don’t know how reliable it is but it said that the Galbadian and Esthar government actually collaborated and tried to develop psychics.”

“Like the incident with Ellone!” Rinoa piped up.

“Yeah, but the things is, that project was abandoned, or so it was thought. The article said that it was illegally funded by the President of Galbadia to keep developing psychics and they decided that the best test subjects would be people who had an already developed sense of junctioning.”

“Aka the SeeDs, right?” Selphie leaned in as Ayane spoke quieter and quieter.

“Yeah, exactly. So they set up this entire thing to lure all sorts of SeeDs so that they could conduct these weird experiments.” She broke out into laughter. “But really, what a load of rubbish it is!” Selphie however, sank down in her seat, her eyes dark with thought. Rinoa turned to her.

“Selphie?”

“What if that article is right? Maybe we can find this Arik guy again for Quistis.”

“Are you kidding? Not only is the old stuff but it’s also tabloid! Hello!” Ayane waved a hand in front of her face. “Let’s think logically here.”

“No, I think we have something. I’m serious.” Selphie sat up. “Super sleuth Selphie is on the case!” She stood up and ran out of the library. Ayane and Rinoa looked at each other.

“What did you do?” Rinoa demanded. Ayane sighed and folded her arms over her head in anguish.

“I don’t know…”

-

-

Zell was completely unsure of what to do. He had been cornered and was about to be shot down in the prime of his game.

“Check mate.” Irvine said, moving his bishop forward.

“Aw come on man! You know I made that stupid move back there! Come on, can’t you give it to me? Please? I need the cash to by Aya a present!” Irvine chuckled and swept the gil off the table before Zell had a chance to dive for it.

“It’s not my fault you spent it all on the Ragnarok.” He replied.

“But…but…the Ragnarok was underfunded! Selphie and I poured all our cash into that baby to make it what it is! Can’t you show a little sympathy for a poor guy?”

“Pay check’s in a week.” Irvine noted.

“Aya’s birthday is in two days!” Zell followed him pitifully out of the library, trying his best to cut the cowboy off. “Please, man! I’ll take anything! I’ll take 50 gil! Come on, spare me something here!” Irvine kept walking. He cocked his head backwards.

“What do you plan on buying her anyway?” He asked.

“Well, I wanted to take her out to dinner and then take her for a ride on the Ragnarok, you know, watch the stars, cuddle. Play in the snows of Trabia or something. Something she’d like. Maybe a movie, shopping, what she wants to do. But the Ragnarok is running on fumes and I’ve got no money for any of those things! Please? I’ll pay you back!” Irvine scoffed and tossed his wallet back at Zell.

“You pay me back every single gil you hear me? It’s only because I’d want to do the same for Selphie’s birthday.” He ordered. Zell jumped in the air and cheered.

“SWEET! Thanks man! I owe you one!”

“Yeah…well hear me out then.” Irvine walked outside and sat down on the side. He sighed. “I’m worried about Quistis.”

“Quisty? I thought Kadowaki said she was fine. Oh…you mean the Ultimecia thing…” Zell nodded his head. “I’m worried too.”

“I just don’t want this to happen. We all know Ultimecia’s going to rise and going to get Quistis no matter what and it sickens me to try and come to terms with it.” He tilted his head upward to regard the sky. “There’s got to be something, anything. I mean, it may sound selfish and all but maybe we could transfer the power to someone else. Anyone but Quisty.” Zell folded his arms.

“Dr. Odine would know. He’s done it with Edea, remember?” He replied.

“If it were that simple. Quistis won’t approve of giving the burden to someone else. She’s like that, always putting pressure on herself so no one else has to go through with it. She wouldn’t give the powers away and have someone else suffer.” Irvine reminded him. Both of them heaved another sigh. Zell kicked a stone, sending it flying into the air.

“All of this sucks man. I hate Ultimecia.” He huffed. “I wish she’s just disappear out of our lives forever. We defeated her once, why does she insist on coming back!” Irvine leaned back and looked at the clouds. Zell was right, it did suck to have the witch come back after they had suffered to stop her once.

-

-

Quistis walked through the halls, leaning against the walls for support some of the time. She wanted to get to Xu’s room, to be near her but in her condition, it was a task to get out of bed. Sure, Xu had promised to return but she wondered what she was doing that was taking so long.

“Let’s see…123…124…here we go. 125.” She arrived at Xu’s door and knocked. There was a slight scuffle inside that sounded like someone inside had dropped a dozen or so dishes into the sink. The door opened.

“Quistis!” Xu exclaimed, stepping back in surprise.

“Hey, I wanted to see what you were doing.” She smiled.

“Uh…now’s not a good time. Now’s really not a good time.” She said, blocking the entrance when Quistis tried look inside.

“Why? What’s up?” Quistis stood on her tiptoes to try and peak over her shoulder.

“Come back in 15 minutes, ok?” She asked, refusing to let her see. Quistis frowned and crossed her arms.

“What are you hiding from me?” She demanded, tapping her foot. Xu laughed nervously and shook her head.

“If you put it that way, it sounds like you don’t trust me.” She stepped aside. “I was planning to surprise you but it turned out to be the other way around. Quistis walked in and her eyes widened in shock.

“Oh…oh my.”

“Well, you know, I did promise you that dinner.” Xu said sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck. The room glowed in the candle light set on the red satin covered table. Two glasses rested on either side of the small chestnut piece as well as two white china plates. In the kitchen, smells of chicken and vegetables wafted through the small apartment. Quistis looked at Xu, eyes shining.

“You planned this for me?”

“No, I planned to dine with Squall, what do you think?” Xu teased. “Come on, dinner and an evening late awaits.”