King's Heart (part 21 of 31)

Promises Are Meant to Be Broken

Quistis walked in and everyone gave a little sigh of relief. She sat herself down beside Squall and Zell and set down her tray, dressed in her SeeD uniform.

“Just where were you?” Irvine asked lewdly. “Because I do recall that you went off with Arik.” She turned her blue eyes to him coldly and everyone around her shivered a little at the cool gaze.

“Irvine, next time you mess with private affairs, I’ll show you a side of Quistis I’m sure you won’t like.” She said eerily calmly and turned back to the rest of them smiling sweetly before dipping her tea bag in her cup of hot water.

“Sorry ma’am, it’ll never happen again.” He mumbled. Although everyone was curious as to what he had done, no one said anything.

“But you still haven’t answered the question, where were you?” Selphie tried again. Zell shirked away from Quistis as she set down her cup.

“That’s none of your business.” She replied but she couldn’t resist winking. Selphie squealed a little with joy and sighed dreamily.

“I wonder what he’s like…?”

“Morning everyone!” Xu said, walking up the steps to greet them. Her timing had been so good, Aya sputtered, milk coming out of her nose. Zell shirked the opposite way, nearly flinging himself onto Quistis in an effort to get away.

“That was gross, Aya!” He said and then seemed to regain composure and his old self. “But it was awesome! Do it again!” Aya hit him with one hand as she clasped the other over her mouth and nose. Squall tossed some napkins her way without flinching. Xu eyed Aya warily and Aya looked up before renewing her sputtering.

“Ookk..”

“Come, sit down.” Quistis said, scooting closer to Irvine to make room for Xu. The brunette hesitated, unsure of whether or not it would seem suspicious before realizing that her hesitance was suspicious and took her place beside the Instructor.

“You wouldn’t happen to know who Quistis was with, right, Xu?” Selphie asked. Xu blanched.

“Uh…I…um…uh…er…” She stammered.

“She’s sworn to secrecy.” Quistis explained. Selphie pouted.

“Come oonn…” She whined. “That’s just not fair. Xu leaned closer to Quistis and muttered,

“You’ve doomed me Quisty. They’re going to be hounding me for the rest of the week.” Quistis leaned back, giggling.

“We could always tell them.” Irvine cocked his eyebrow at the two whispering.

“Hey now, friends don’t keep secrets from friends.” He said, nudging Quistis playfully.

“Might I remind you what you did?” Quistis responded coldly.

“No ma’am.” He said, hanging his head again and moving his eggs around the plate. Quistis finished her English muffin and stood up.

“I’m going to begin setting up for class. I’ll see you people later.” She said and turned to Xu. “I’m going to need your help.”

“But I’m not done…”

“Ok, I’ll take Irvine instead.” Xu stood up quickly.

“Coming.” She said and followed the blond out. Irvine watched them go with lust in his eyes.

“Damn…two girls in a classroom? Interesting…” He was interrupted by a sudden gagging noise followed by some coughs. Aya had apparently spit milk out of her nose again. “What is wrong with you woman!”

“That was awesome, Aya! You didn’t tell me you could do that! Man, that one must’ve gone what, three feet?” Zell said, patting her on the back. Squall threw napkins at her some more. Rinoa kept staring at the two girls as they turned the corner, perplexed.

“It’s Saturday…” She whispered.

-

-

As soon as Quistis entered the classroom, she took Xu’s hand and gently forced her onto the desk, their faces close.

“Hmm, you think they noticed anything?” Xu asked as Quistis went straight for her neck.

“Probably.” Quistis whispered against her skin. Xu trembled a little.

“Daaaammnn…” A voice behind them whispered low and huskily. The two of them yelped and stood at attention. Seifer stared at them with saucer pan wide eyes. “To think…all these years of me coming in late and this is the reward I get for coming in early?”

“SEIFER!” Xu shrieked while Quistis pushed her glasses back up, blushing bright red. She folded her arms across her chest and looked at the ground.

“Hey now, don’t stop on account of me, you hear?” He said with awe.

“I’m going to murder you!” Xu leapt at him but Quistis gently caught her arm and tugged her back.

“Seifer, we really don’t appreciate you spying on us like that.” Quistis replied.

“Spying? You’re the ones who came in and started putting on a show for me!”

“Yeah, well, the show’s been canceled, buddy. Leave through those doors.” Xu said angrily, pointing to the exit. Seifer pouted like a little puppy.

“I can’t stay and join you?” Xu glared dangerously and Seifer sighed, stood up and walked out the door.

“Lucky that was just Seifer.” Quistis commented, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. The two of them looked at each other and burst into giggles.

“That was too close.” Xu replied. “We’d better not…” Quistis apparently wasn’t listening as she turned to face her and draped her arms around her shoulders.

“Will Quistis Trepe please report to the bridge at once. Quistis Trepe, to the bridge.” Quistis gave an exasperated sigh sagging against Xu.

“Everyone’s out to stop us.” She mumbled and Xu laughed, gently pushing her away.

“We’ll have time later.” She kissed the blond on the cheek and Quistis pouted.

“You’d better keep that promise.” She said and strode out of the door. After she left, Xu loosened her collar and exhaled deeply. Quistis could do things to her no one else could…and it sometimes made her uncomfortable.

-

-

“What’s the situation?” Quistis said as she walked to the bridge.

“We’re receiving a distress signal from Winhill. Someone or something is attacking the townspeople.” Nida replied.

“We sent troops there, didn’t we? To establish the peace there?” Quistis asked.

“No word from them. They paged in just a few minutes ago…here’s the replay.” Quistis and the others listened as Nida replayed the audio tape.

“FFzzzz…fzzz…Balamb Garden! Balamb! We need reinforcements! We nee…ffzz Winhill is being attacked…ffzz…townsperson…” What followed was an explosion and bone chilling screams. The audio tape ended with a faint click. The group looked on in silence.

“Those were…high ranking SeeD…weren’t they?” Selphie asked meekly. Squall sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Squall?”

“What about the other three? Have you been able to contact any of them?” He asked Nida. Nida shook his head.

“No response from any of them.”

“Then we’ll have to presume that they’re dead or unconscious.” Squall replied. “We’ll split up into three groups. Quistis, you take Irvine and Selphie and you three will cover the outskirts, I will take Rinoa and Zell and we’ll head straight for the town center. Nida, plot course for Winhill immediately. Everyone assemble all equipment and prepare. Meet back here when called.” Everyone saluted and marched into the elevator.

Xu waited for the elevator to return to the first floor. When it did, Quistis and the other stepped out.

“Oh!” She exclaimed in surprise. Everyone filed out except Quistis, who hung behind. “What’s going on?”

“Four SeeD that we dispatched three months ago to Winhill just paged in saying Winhill was in distress.” Quistis replied. Xu started to worry. “All four are presumed dead. Squall is sending us out to see what the situation is and hopefully find out if the four are alive.” Xu touched Quistis’s arm gently as they walked down the hall to Quistis’s room.

“Should I go too?”
“No.” Quistis replied, entering her room with Xu following.

“Well, is there anyway I can help?” Quistis turned around and smiled.

“You can be safe.” She whispered and kissed her on the cheek. “I couldn’t possibly ask you to risk yourself. Besides, it shouldn’t be anything more than we can handle.” Xu pouted, wondering exactly what she could do to help. She walked over to the bed and hopped on, curling herself into a ball. Quistis stepped out, still zippering up her peach colored top. “Xu, sweetie, what’s wrong?” She walked over and sat down beside her, gently stroking her head.

“You’d laugh.” Xu thought. “I just want to protect you so that nothing happens. How many sleepless nights did I have when you and the others were off on missions? How many times did I nearly have nervous breakdowns wondering if you were going to come back safe from fighting Edea, or Adel or anyone?”

“Xu, I promise, I’m going to come back safe, ok? And when I do, we’ll find a day that we can spend alone, just us. I’ll take a day off if I need to, ok? We’ll take a trip to Esthar or something and go shopping there. Or we’ll go to Deling and head out to a few nightclubs.” Xu sat up and sighed.

“I’m acting like such a worrywart. Just come back safe, mmk? Nothing else matters.” Quistis kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear,

“I promise.”

-

-

Selphie stood in the hallways, swinging her Strange Vision to and fro as a warm up. Irvine walked up quietly behind her.

“Boo!” Selphie shrieked and turned around, flailing her Strange Vision that normally would’ve taken off anyone’s head but Irvine expertly ducked and laughed.

“IRVINE!” Selphie yelled.

“Don’t be so uptight before a mission, you’ll wear yourself out.” He chuckled.

“Oh, you’re one to talk you big meany.” She stuck out her tongue. Irvine scratched his head as Selphie turned back around to continue with her warm up.

“Say…Sephy…” He began.

“What?” She barked angrily, not turning to face him.

“How about you and I go out for dinner after this mission?” Selphie stopped and turned around, her eye quizzical.

“What? Are you asking me out?” She asked in disbelief.

“Sure sounded that way.” Selphie shrieked again and almost tackled Irvine with a hug.

“Of course!” She replied with glee.

We are approaching Winhill. Will Rinoa, Irvine, Zell, Quistis, and Selphie please report to the bridge, I repeat, we are approaching Winhill.

Selphie looked up at the speakers.

“Looks like we’re here.” She said seriously. Irvine nodded and the two of them walked quietly to the elevator.

-

-

Quistis was in no hurry to leave. She gently held Xu’s hand, trying to stay with her for as long as possible.

“You’d better go.” Xu said, pulling her hand away. Quistis nodded, stood up and walked out the door. Xu sighed and shook her head. Why was it that it was easier to handle an entire Garden in chaos and be completely unnerved by her girlfriend leaving for one mission?

-

-

Squall stood stoically as they approached the small town of Winhill, his birthplace.

“Remember the plan. Team A will secure the outskirts, make sure no one suspicious enters or leaves. When the outskirts are secure, meet Team B, who will head straight for the center of town where the SeeD were last traced to. If there’s any opposition, take them down quickly. Once we locate a suspicious character, contact the other team and they’ll rush there immediately.” Squall ordered. Suddenly, the Balamb Garden lurched to a stop and the Squall looked at the team, nodded his head and the group filed out of the Garden.