King's Heart (part 16 of 31)

Drunk on Coffee

Irvine walked through the door and the immediate thought that came into his mind was why it was so dark. All he could hear was the incessant clicking of keys and the dim light in the next room.

“Er…hello?” He asked, walking in. He didn’t think that anyone would be in his room, nor did he know how they got in. Just to be on the safe side, he decided to draw his gun. He peeked into the room. “Selphie!” He nearly dropped the gun when he saw her at his desk typing furiously on the computer.

“Hey Irvine.” She replied automatically.

“What are you doing here and how did you get in?” He demanded.

“Searching for Arik I had no computer, through the window, sorry I smashed it.” She droned on with absolutely no tone in her voice at all. Irvine took off his hat and scratched his head.

“Arik? Wait…you mean Instructor Arik?”

“Yup.” Same monotone voice.

“He’s dead.”

“Nope. Aya said something about government conspiracy; the SeeD that went missing might not be dead. So now I’m looking.” She bit her lip.

“Don’t you think that these matters should be left maybe untouched? We’re kinda stepping over our bounds you know…” He said nervously.

“You want to see Quistis happy, right? It wouldn’t hurt to try.” She snapped, finally showing some emotion.

“Yeah, sure I want to see Quisty happy but I’m not sure this is the correct…”

“Good, then it’s settled. Now, pull up a chair and take over, my eyes are about to fall out.” Selphie said, standing up and walking over the kitchen. “I’ll make us some coffee and cookies, it’s going to be a long night.” Irvine sighed and inched closer to the screen. It was hardly the romantic dinner that he had dreamed of.

-

-

On the other hand, Quistis and Xu shared a more romantic dinner than either of them could’ve predicted. They ate quietly, enjoying the comfort of each other’s presence. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but the getting used to of each other. The two would glance up every now and then shyly, almost as if they were back to secretly admiring each other.

“You know, one of us is bound to comment on exactly how burnt the chicken turned out, right?” Quistis teased. Xu flushed and pouted.

“It wasn’t my fault! You were supposed to tell me when you smelled smoke!”

“I was too busy trying to cook the vegetables just right to notice! It was your duty. It’s not my fault someone didn’t learn how to keep track of time, constantly dozing off in class way back in the day.” Quistis giggled. Xu got up and walked away. “What…hey…” At the last moment, Xu whirled around and locked her arms around the baffled instructor’s neck.

“Someone’s hungry for punishment.” She hissed in her ear. Quistis froze but managed to croak out,

“Better than burnt chicken anyway.” There was a tense moment before Xu got up again, smiling wickedly.

“Hm…maybe another time. We need to do dishes after all.” Quistis paused for a moment, trying to take in what just occurred. As Xu was just about to disappear into the kitchen, she decided there would be no more games. They had gone on teasing long enough and if either of them were scared, it was up to her to quell that fear.

“Xu?” She said, getting up. The brunette turned around just in time to meet Quistis in mid-kiss. They wrapped their arms around each other, no longer daring to let go for fear that it would never happen again. When they finally did break apart, they did it slowly, opening their eyes with caution.

“Now…” Quistis panted. “What do you think of that?”

“I’m certainly not going to tease you anymore…” Xu replied. The two smiled. “Quistis…is everything ok?”

“Are you talking about the voice?” She asked. The silence that followed was yes enough. “I can feel a little of its anger. But it’s only because he’s jealous. But this is our night. We can’t let it by like this.”

There came a sudden knocking on the door. The two stepped away, Xu muttering a sharp curse under her breath before going over to the door and pulling it open.

“WHAT!” She demanded. Zell shrunk back with a little “meep.” He could’ve sworn that if he had made eye contact, he would’ve burst into flames.

“Wondering…Quistis…whar…?” he babbled.

“I’m here Zell.” The martial artist heaved a sigh, good at least she would be friendly.

“Great Instru…” He was instantly cut off by an equally cold glare that floored him. He shrunk back, wondering when they were going to lop his head off and stick it on the Balamb Garden flagpole. What did he do wrong?

“Squall…wanted…you…bad.” The cold glare was instantly replaced with an awkward blush.

“Excuse me?” Quistis asked. Now that he was short one death glare, Zell began speaking normally again.

“I mean, that’s not what I meant. I meant he’s wondering when you’re going to be back with teaching and stuff. I mean, you’ve been out for a while and the substitute isn’t, how should you say, too educational?” He replied.

“Well, she’s not exactly in fit condition you know, especially after the ordeal. Is Squall really all that heartless?” Xu demanded.

“No…he’s really concerned…”

“When does he want me back?” Quistis asked, stepping in.

“Soon as possible.” Zell answered.

“How does three days sound?” Zell nodded.

“I’ll tell him that, ok?” He waved and walked off down the hall but he couldn’t help feeling that Xu was going to jump him at any moment. But it wasn’t him that Xu wanted to jump.

“Three days!” Xu exclaimed. “You’re going to kill yourself! Damn it Quistis…”

“Xu, I don’t want to hear your complaining. I should be ok in three days, it wasn’t anything serious.”

“Oh, right, so nearly getting killed and being weak on your feet is nothing serious, eh? Quistis, by Hyne…”

“I just don’t think it’s fair to this year’s students if they don’t pass this year’s exam because I was negligent.”
“Negligent! NEGLIGENT! YOU NEARLY DIED! HOW IS THAT NEGLIGENT!” Qusitis frowned.

“You’re acting like I don’t know what’s good for me.”

“I really do believe that you don’t know what’s good for you. If you get seriously hurt or sick because you are a workaholic, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“You’re being selfish, Xu. I’m not placed in this world solely to make you happy. And I don’t want to argue with you. Not now.” She pulled Xu close and as much as Xu worried, she couldn’t help but forget just a little that there was a day after that night. She lost herself to Quistis’s gentle kisses again.

-

-

“Squall, we never go out anymore…” Rinoa whined, leaning on her chair. Squall groaned, his entire office covered with paperwork.

“You don’t say…” He replied, gesturing to all the mountains of paper around him. Rinoa stood up and draped an arm around her.

“You know, Xu and Quistis go out more than we do.” She whispered.

“Isn’t that great for them?” Squall said in return. Rinoa pouted.

“Do you even know what tomorrow is?” She demanded.

“Anniversary. Ours. Been a year since we started dating, a year, three months and two days since we met.” He replied. Rinoa blinked and moved away.

“Oh…well…that’s good that you know then.” Squall looked up and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“I have reservations, don’t worry.” He whispered, bringing her close. Rinoa raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Well then…that’s interesting.” She brushed his hair back and saw an angry red cut. “Uh…Squall, where’d you get this?” He sighed.

“A rock flew out of nowhere and nearly killed me.” He replied. “Now, you’d better leave me alone until tomorrow, I’ve got to clear this all.” He let her go. Rinoa jumped in the air for joy and planted a kiss on Squall’s cheek before skipping out of there, giddy as could be. Squall waited a moment before shoving a giant pile of papers to the side with violent aggression to grab his phone.

“Irvine. I need your help. Yeah, you have connections with that fancy restaurant guy in Deling, right? …I don’t care which one! Just hook me up with one!”

-

-

Quistis dried her eyes after the movie had ended. No matter how many times she saw it, just seeing Jenna running away from the final battle, waiting until the smoke cleared to see if Walter had survived was a tearjerker. She stayed there for a good two days, doing nothing but waiting for him to walk out of the smoke. But sadly…he wouldn’t. But she waited until she withered away and died and the final scene of the movie was her drifting off into death, and just as she died, she saw the outline of a man walking out of the smoke.

“Xu…Xu pass me the tissue box…” She sniffed. No response. “Xu?” She looked over to see a snoring Xu. She grabbed a pillow and bashed her over the head with it.

“WAH?” She woke up with a start, jumping into a ready battle stance. Seeing Quistis lapse into a fit of giggles made her drop her arms and stare. “What was that for?”

“You!” Quistis grew serious. “You missed the greatest and most emotional movie there ever was. How could you?”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep! I just kinda did!” She said. “If you hadn’t been so busy crying your eyes out, you would’ve seen how bored I was. That movie was horrible.”
“You have horrible taste!” Quistis retorted. “I’ll have you know it won 10 Oskars!”

“Gee, with a title of ‘Smoking the Past’ I never would’ve guessed.”

“Ok, so the titled sucked. But it’s a really good movie that I swear I’m going to make you see one day.” Quistis yawned and stretched, looking over at the clock. It was already one.

“Lucky I don’t have desk duty tomorrow.” Xu sighed.

“I’d best be getting back.” Quistis said, popping the tape out of the video player. But before she had a chance to even turn around, her legs gave in and Xu rushed in to catch her.

“You’re not going anywhere. You’ve pushed yourself too hard today. If you’re going to get back to work in three days, you’d best stay here for the night.” She replied sternly. Quistis raised an eyebrow suggestively.

“So…what do you want from me?” Xu blinked in confusion before her cheeks turned flaming red.

“Not like that!” She quickly rejected the idea. “Good Hyne, Quisty…I’m saying you should rest, not overexert yourself…” Quistis looked around.

“So…I guess I’ll take the couch?” She tried to move but Xu wouldn’t let go.

“There’s enough room on the bed for the two of us.” Now it was the Instructor’s turn to blush heavily. “I’m serious…nothing like that. It would just be nice to know that you’re here and alive again.” Quistis leaned back against her and sighed softly. It had been such a long time since she felt any comfort.

“Agreed then.” The two of them changed into their pajamas and curled up in bed, Quistis tucked safe inside the arms of Xu. The two of them drifted without any thoughts, more peacefully than they had before.

-

-

Zell lay on his bed, trying to figure out what in Hyne’s name he did wrong. He sighed and rolled over, hugging his teddy bear. (A/N: …I had to…I just had to…) He could understand that the two were just patching up their friendship and that any interruption would be unwelcome but that was a totally extreme reaction.

“Zell? You in here?” Ayane’s voice came through the door. Moments later, she stepped in. Zell rolled over again and groaned into the pillow. “Hey, what’s wrong?” She asked, sitting down on the side of the bed. She placed her arm around his waist and looked down in concern.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just trying to think.”
“Well, that certainly is a change.” Ayane giggled, snatching the teddy bear away.

“Hey! Give that back!” He rose suddenly, tackling her. Ayane laughed, expecting him to kiss her but instead, he took the bear back and started kissing the bear. She frowned.

“You love that bear more than you do me.” She pouted. Zell gave her a puppy dog face before kissing her on the cheek shyly. “That’s better.”

“Everyone’s picking on me today…” he sighed. “Instructor Trepe and scary Xu yelled at me for disturbing their ‘girl moment.’”

“Well of course they yelled at you. They’re not exactly too happy about having their special night disturbed. I mean honestly, Quistis has just suffered through an ordeal and you go and deliver the news that Quistis is expected back at work as soon as possible.”

“It’s not my fault though! It’s Squall’s!” He insisted.

“That’s true. But they couldn’t vent on Squall since he wasn’t there.”

“That’s not fair…so they pick on me?” Ayane hugged him and smiled.

“It’s ok. They’ll return to their senses and remember just how cuddly you are.” She joked. He folded his arms, and tucked his bear even closer. She encircled her arms around his waist and put her chin onto his shoulder. He was so fun to tease sometimes, especially since his reactions resembled that of a 5 year old child. But she loved him nonetheless. He was her adorable martial artist. It was already late into the night and she was ready to fall asleep, regardless of whose room she was in. She yawned and closed her eyes. Zell said nothing until he felt her arms go loose and then he looked back.

“Aya?” He whispered. She was sleeping peacefully. He sighed and removed her arms, gently picking her up; not that it mattered. Ayane could sleep though the entire Balamb Garden shifting and crashing and not wake up. He set her down on his bed and drew the covers up, making sure she was warm. Great…couch again. He thought sadly before stumbling over to the lumpy uncomfortable piece of furniture.

-

-

Damn it…I need to find them…where could they be? I need to warn them. I need…I need to stop them before everything goes wrong. I just hope he hasn’t made contact yet…I just hope…A figure ran through the rain, trying to avoid any and all fights. Alone, the figure stumbled, trying to seek out the Balamb Garden.

-

-

“Edea…dear…what’s troubling you?” Cid asked as they sat on the white SeeD ship taking them to the orphanage. Edea stood on the deck, leaning against the rail with a troubled expression on her face. “Please don’t tell me you’re worried about Adel…she seems perfectly civilized and…”

“It’s not her. It’s Quistis that I fear for.” Edea sighed. “Quistis has had to suffer through so much in her entire lifetime. Yet she’s always managed to keep a straight face, never once crying too much or giving up. Despite all the trouble, she pushes herself hard and I fear too hard. Now…now that she has sorceress powers…I can only hope that she won’t deteriorate from all this pressure.”

“Like you’ve said, she’s strong. She’ll make it. Besides, she has wonderful friends to help her along the way.”

“More than that.” Edea smiled cryptically. “But let’s go inside, the air is getting chilly.” She walked past her flustered husband and down below where Adel slept peacefully like the child she looked like.