Rinoa rested her head on Selphie’s cotton
clad knees, dark eyes red and puffy, still dripping tears every now and then.
She snuffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. In response, Selphie
stroked the ebony hair and made soothing noises in the back of her throat, her
own brunette head resting on Quistis’ flat tummy. All three girls had joined
hands, for comfort, for assurance, for support, to make sure the others were
there alive and well. Edea called them a ring of
power with that knowing smile of hers.
The young sorceress stared at the
yellow chocobo clock on Selphie’s wall blankly,
watching the second hand tick by without really watching it. She felt horrible.
The hurt and shock in Squall’s wintry eyes when she’d slapped him ate away at
her heart, tormented her. When she closed her eyes, Rinoa still saw the
disbelief above the red mark on his cheek. She saw the same thing when she
opened them. And felt lower than dirt.
“I slapped him,” Rinoa murmured,
eyes welling up again. The grips on hands tightened. “I hurt him,” she choked
out.
“No, Squall’s tough, Rin,” Selphie replied quietly. “A slap wouldn’t hurt him.
He’s taken worse. I mean, he’s gotten an ice spear through the chest. Don’t
worry.”
“It’s not the slap, Selph,” Rinoa shut her eyes tightly.
“No, I know,” the sprite smiled
crookedly, green eyes riveted on her ceiling. “Squall’s very hard to hurt
physically. But…”
“Emotionally,” Quistis sighed. “So easy to hurt people emotionally.”
“Quis…” At
the nickname that was only used during tough times, Quistis squeezed Rinoa’s hand. “I don’t know what to do.”
Go talk to a wall, Quistis’ mind
came up with and she felt a pang of something that she quickly pushed away. Now
was not the time to feel unneeded jealousy, especially when it no longer
mattered. Everyone came such a long way. The image of a gorgeous blonde with
piercing green eyes and a devil-may-care smirk posed in her vision and she
couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on her face. Everyone.
“Talk to him. He’ll understand.”
Quistis let her own eyes drift close. “He loves you.” Amazing how that didn’t
hurt anymore, all thanks to the presence of one person.
“I just…”
Selphie piped up. “Rin, talk to him. Be happy he’s alive to talk to. Squall’ll recover. You make him smile…We all make each
other smile.” In answer, matching grateful smiles flickered to a tiny life on
their faces.
It faded as soon as Quistis thought
of Lex and Zell. “Is it wrong of me to be happy with
Seifer? I’m…happy that it wasn’t him who died. And I feel so horrible.”
“No, Quis!”
Selphie shook her head against the muscles of Quistis’ stomach. “No…we all feel
like that.” The green eyes shut. “I don’t know what I’d do if it were
“I-I almost lost Squall in Time
Compression and…when I saw him lying so still, my heart just split in half. But
he was okay. And Lex…She’s not…” The tears began to
fall again.
Lex.
That one name erased any doubt in
Quistis’ mind. She knew what she had to do. Seifer wouldn’t smile. He’d kill
her. She winced. Well not kill her, but he certainly would yell an awful lot.
Not that it would make any difference at the time. “We should go find them,”
she suggested softly. “Tell them how much we love them.” The suggestion was met
with silent agreement, and the girls rose to their feet simultaneously.
“Selph,”
Rinoa said with a half-laugh, half-sob as she wiped away a tear. “There’s a
bright yellow chocobo on your wall.” All three of
them laughed, grateful for the change of subject.
“Yeah, I almost bought the Moomba,” the brunette grinned back.
“A Moomba?” Rinoa’s eyes lit
up. “How cute! Where?!”
“Deling
City, they had everything.”
Quistis trailed behind the two
chattering brunettes, the clock face emblazoned in her mind.
Soon.
* * *
Lila poked her head into the
infirmary, and crept in when she realized no one was there. Slowly she headed
to Zell’s bed, and pulled the curtain shut behind
her. Carefully she sank onto another bed and set her package next to her.
“Zell, I don’t if you can hear me,
but…I think Lex would do this, and I’m not trying to
take her place, but…” Lila choked back a sob and forced herself to continue.
“But I thought this would help. And if not, just, please, tell me…”
So saying, Lila opened the package
and retrieved the item on top. Reverently she opened the book, tracing the
letters of the title. Just as carefully, she turned to the first chapter and
cleared her throat. “’There was a danger in the land. A danger that wasn’t
apparent to anyone but those looking for it, and thus, known to no one, because
what sane person chose to look for danger? Well, luckily, I’m not sane. I am
one of-‘” Lila broke off as she stared down at the page. Lex’s favorite novel.
Vaguely she wondered if Zell had ever read it, or if he would recognize it.
A touch on her hand had her looking
up to meet a pair of sky blue eyes and her own hazel ones widened. “Zell.”
“Don’t stop,” he murmured, one lone
tear escaping down his cheek. “Please don’t stop reading…”
Swallowing the lump in her throat,
Lila nodded and took Zell and herself into another land where reality
disappeared. And with reality, pain.
* * *
“Joseph Olinet.”
Paige held her breath, fingers
twitching at her side as the Garden Faculty announced the names of the new SeeDs in a monotonous and very boring voice. Please, oh
please, Hyne, she prayed, nodding slightly as Joe sent her a thumbs-up sign and
disappeared down the hall.
“Bronwyn Gester.”
A cute blonde with two buns on top
of her head and deep brown eyes gave a little skip and followed Joe. Paige
watched her go, eyes narrowed. Bronwyn had been on her squad during the fairly
easy field exam, and was too weak to be of any use at all. Her magic spells did
close to nothing and her physical attacks did less than that. She had whined
and complained the entire time about having to postpone her plans for the day
because of the rescheduled exam. Why had it been rescheduled anyway? Paige
pushed that aside, returning to her musings as the Garden member droned on.
When all the complaining had become too much, Paige calmly told her to spend
her next free days training so she could help out in a real fight. Bronwyn
retaliated by refusing to heal Paige. That was petty! How could she have made
it? The redhead’s eyes fixed on the hidden face of the Garden faculty and then
widened as he declared,
“That is all,” and turned to retreat
back down the hall.
Even as the other disappointed
cadets dispersed, some with moaning, some with crying, Paige stood there,
unmoving. Her mouth worked, before she walked stiffly to the elevator and
headed for her dorm. Once there, she tossed the cadet uniform on the bed and
pulled on her combat gear, sheathing the knives on her arm guard. With a glance
around the room, Paige marched out the door, out the lobby, and out the front
gate.
“Congratulations Joe!” she shouted
as tears stung her eyes. She turned to face a hovering Bite Bug and quickly
drew her knives, attacking the obnoxious insect with a fury and still attacking
long after it was dead. When she realized that it no longer flew, simply
remained in the air because of her continuous blows, she stopped and sank to
her knees. A roar from the nearby forest grabbed her attention and Paige raised
her head, turning her gray gaze in the direction of the noise. T-Rexaur. Eight levels above her. Almost certain suicide.
Resolutely she rose, squared her
shoulders and strode toward the beckoning T-Rexaur.
It turned to face her and she
flicked the knives out into fan shape and took an offensive stance. In response
to the challenge, the T-Rexaur roared and swung its
tail threateningly.
“Time to dance,” she mockingly
saluted, and with a shout, charged.