MC Something Happens 06

Quistis linked her fingers together and popped them once before hitting the Enter key on her laptop. She sat back in her desk chair with a quiet sigh. The day was finally coming to a close with her emailing and the like done. Outside her window, the sun had just set over the Western horizon, bringing behind it a rain storm. Her half-eaten pasta dinner sat beside her in a take out carton. The chicken alfredo had been Zell’s birthday present to her, simple as it was. She thought it plenty enough for him to run out to Esthar to get it for her, and all for the sake of not having to suffer through organic cafeteria food.

She managed to get in a few more bites when two unexpected knocks sounded at her door. Curious, Quistis put down her dinner and rose to answer.

Shaking her head, Quistis pushed the little green button next to the door panel and leaned casually against the wall as it opened smoothly to reveal Irvine’s familiar figure.

“Traded it for the hat,” he answered, smiling. She waited for him to say more but when he remained standing there, silent as a statue, she shifted footing.

“I can change that,” Irvine said, strolling past her into her room. Bewildered, the blonde turned, dropping her crossed arms.

“Come on in,” she said sarcastically. He had already made it to her closet and was rummaging through her clothes hangers when she walked up behind him. “What are you doing?” she asked irritably, though she made no attempt to stop him.

“It’s a little chilly out tonight,” he answered, selecting her leather jacket. “Wouldn’t want you to catch cold, would we?”

Silently, he draped her jacket around her shoulders, grinning when she obediently stuck her arms in the sleeves. “Are we going somewhere?”

“Well… I couldn’t actually gift-wrap your present so I just have to take you there,” he answered, considering it safe.

She couldn’t help but wonder what the impostor in front of her had done with the real Irvine Kinneas. He was being very secretive and reserved for once. “What is it, exactly?” she questioned warily, thinking the worst of his schemes.

Quistis stared at him as his question hung thickly in the air. His eyes betrayed no joking manner, no wisecrack nature-just an interested stare in how she would answer. She looked up at him and felt the least bit intimidated by his towering height. Nonetheless, she found herself putting her hand in his.

Irvine smiled, leading the way out of her room and procuring an umbrella seemingly from nowhere. The gatekeeper was waving them off a few minutes later when they finally reached open air. Together, they skipped down the stone steps leading out of Garden, and it was then Quistis noticed the car waiting for them.

“Oh, I hoped for it,” he returned charmingly, some of the familiar Irvine coming back to him. He opened the passenger door for her. She thanked him and was ready to settle in the seat when she felt his hand on her arm.

“I almost forgot,” he said, reaching into his pocket. Curious, she watched as he pulled out a solid red bandanna and folded it to form a narrow strip. “Do you still trust me?” he asked, grinning now.

Quistis looked from the bandanna to him. “Yes,” she answered again, completely unaware of where all this trust was coming from. Maybe it was another emotion…

He seemed surprised by her quick answer. So far, things were going far better than what he’d imagined or had even hoped for.

“All right then,” he said eventually, stepping around her and placing the bandanna over her eyes. She held the umbrella as he tied it in place and came back around to look at her. “Can you see anything?”

Irvine smiled. “Okay, here’s the car door,” he said, guiding her into the seat. “Watch your head-okay, that’s good.” He closed the door and quickly ran around to the driver’s side. The blindfolded blonde beside him laughed a little.

The cowboy buckled his seat belt. “Oh, I think I’ll surprise you this time, Quisty. It’ll only be about five minutes.”

Vaguely, Quistis heard the ignition start up and a few moments later she felt the movement of the car. “Are we going to Esthar?” she couldn’t help asking. It seemed the only logical explanation for Irvine’s actions—it was the only city within five minutes of where Garden had landed. And she had already been there once that day.

She sighed, figuring she wouldn’t get much more out of him tonight. He was doing a good job of keeping her curiosity level at its highest. She leaned back in her seat, breathing in the “new car” smell of interior. The blindfold over her eyes obscured her vision completely, even keeping her from peeking through the little slits of light that sometimes appeared near the bottom.

Quistis smiled. “It’s just… I’ve always seen those movies where the guy blindfolds the girl and surprises her with some great idea for a date, but I never thought it happened in real life, much less to me.”

“I’m saying,” Quistis rushed in, good-naturedly annoyed, “that these kinds of things don’t usually happen to me.”

They were silent for the remainder of the trip. Irvine tensed just a little more with each passing minute. They seemed like an eternity and yet he anticipated them at the same time. Would she be thankful? Would it make things worse than before? Would she blame it on him if it didn’t work out? His palms were clammy the entire drive and he was sure he would have reeled off the road and straight into a tree if Quistis hadn’t been there. After all, he was responsible for her safety too.

Finally, after the predicted five or so minutes, she felt the car dip a little off onto the shoulder and then finally stop just a few moments later. She hadn’t noticed that it had stopped raining until the ignition was turned off.

“We’re lucky the rain’s just over Garden. Hold on just a second,” came Irvine’s voice before he got out of the car. He opened the back door first and then she heard a slight rustle of… something. Her curiosity heightened even more as he opened the passenger door. A cool rush of night air met her jacketed form. She felt Irvine’s hand grasp hers as he helped her slowly out of the car.

“Okay, you’ll need these,” he said, placing a bundle of something in her hands. Her fingers rolled the floppy stems back and forth in her hands. Then, with a sudden revelation, she lifted her right hand slightly as her fingers met with soft petals.

She could tell by the surrounding sounds that they weren’t in Esthar—quite the opposite, it seemed. Had they been in the city, she would have heard the chatter of people, the honking of cars and buses as they crowded the urban streets. Rather, she heard crickets every now and then, and the sound of the wind as it moved through the trees. Her best guess was a field of some sort.

They walked a short distance in silence, anticipation in both of them growing stronger with every step. Nervous and yes, eager, Quistis clutched the flowers in her hand a bit tighter. He had handed them to her with, “You’ll need these,” strangely enough. She realized he wasn’t giving them to her, rather, he was saying she would need it for something else… but what?

“Okay, stop right here,” he said suddenly, knocking her out of her thoughts. She paused mid-stride and regained her balance. Irvine placed his hands on her shoulders.

Quistis blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the light. Her vision blurred for a moment, but when she finally managed to focus on the sight in front of her, things became crystal clear.

Her initial thoughts dominated her mind. She was shocked to no end, silenced and speechless for the first time in her life. She didn’t have the ability to form any thought.

“That leaves why and who,” Irvine commented casually, as if he were discussing the weather or the meaning of life. He had come back around and now stood beside her, reading the epitaph silently.

Irvine cleared his throat, and she finally noticed the manila envelope in his hand. “I, uh…” he started, coughing again, “I went to Matron and asked her where you came from originally, since she was the only one that knew. She said they sent you to her from Esthar when you were one or two.” He pulled a packet of papers from the envelope before dropping the latter to the ground. “City Hall had record of only one Trepe family within the last 100 years, so that worked out real nice.”

Still speechless, she took the offered papers from him and scanned its contents. Her eyes hardly read the text and yet she knew she was reading about her… parents. The word was unfamiliar in her mind.

“And look here,” Irvine came in again after his comrade remained silent. He flipped a few pages before coming to a marriage certificate. “Your folks got married exactly one year before you were born, so their anniversary is your birthday too.”

“They, um, managed to tell me where they were buried too. We passed this graveyard every time we went on a mission to Esthar—bet you never thought twice about your parents being here.” Irvine tilted his head at her. Her blue eyes were skimming over the information before her, wide and inviting of everything. Her initial shock was still in full swing, and he wondered if she would ever form a coherent thought again.

Her head was shaking slightly from side to side and her lower lip was trembling with her inability to speak. Finally, he heard her exhale slowly, her eyes lifting to meet his. He almost stepped back in surprise when he saw the tears swimming in her blue orbs, threatening to fall at any given moment. To render the great Quistis Trepe speechless was one thing—to make her cry was another.

She took a shaky breath, blinking. It was the one action that sent her tears spilling down her cheeks. “Oh my god…” she managed to gasp out, wiping her cheek clean. “I can’t believe this…”

“Irvine, this…” she swallowed, composing herself. “This is… amazing,” she chose the first word that came to her. Had she the strength to smile, she would have. “No one has ever done anything like this for me.”

“… I don’t know what to say,” she said softly, looking up at him. A million emotions were flooding her at the moment-joy, sadness, finality… it was the last thing she had been expecting as his present. Everything that had been happening for the past month and a half had been so different. She felt like a little more of her bruised heart was lifted every morning when she woke up. She wasn’t Instructor Trepe anymore; she was a daycare volunteer who played with kids on the playgrounds of churches. She was a friend to five of the best friends she could have asked for.

Now, as she stood in front of her parents’ grave—her parents, the very two people she had wanted to know her entire life—her thoughts led from one to the next until they came to him. He stood beside her, had stood beside her the entire way… and she finally knew. She was more sure of it than anything else she had ever been sure of in her entire life.

As if from divine inspiration, Quistis finally realized she still held the small bouquet of wild flowers in her hand. Accordingly, she lay them across the lower slab of stone supporting the grave. A smile graced her features. “That’s clever, Irvine.”

“Well…” he answered, “I figured, you know, flowers for the parents,” he reached into his coat, “and a rose for the daughter.”

Quistis stared at the single red rose before her. Everything was coming together so perfectly; none of it seemed real. She reached out with a tentative hand and took the offered rose, smiling and laughing and crying all together. She looked again at the papers in her hand, still flipped to the marriage certificate of her parents. Her eyes close momentarily before she looked back up at him, her heart in her throat.

Irvine searched her eyes for something, anything to tell him she hadn’t just said those certain three words to him. It had to have been his imagination, it HAD to.

Quistis chattered right on incessantly after a pause, her hidden emotions finally pouring out. “I-I don’t even know when it happened, I don’t know how, but I know I do. And I know that I tried to deny it every time I saw you o-or talked to you, but we kept getting closer and closer. And what with volunteering, and Friendship Day, and the meteor shower, and now this--”

“Quistis,” he came in, much to her relief. “Please, don’t try to explain,” Irvine swallowed, afraid of the rabbit hole he was possibly about to freefall into. “Just say it again.”

The next moment was a blur as he encompassed her in his arms, and she went willingly, burying her head in his neck. Finally, finally, after so many years of doubt and uncertainty, he was right in front of her. Love wasn’t obvious at all. It was a sitting, creeping little thing that woke up and slapped its owner whenever it liked.

“That’s why I brought you out here,” he said, stepping away, yet keeping both her hands in his. “That’s why I did this for you.” He took a deep breath, psyching himself up for those terrible three little words. “I love you, Quistis.”

She smiled. It was music hearing those words. Wordlessly, she went into his arms again, resting her cheek against the rough material of his jacket just as Selphie had. Her eyes closed in content as she whispered,

Selphie stared at the letter before her, eyes transfixed on the familiar writing. The words choked her of any sound, rendering her speechless as she dropped unceremoniously to her bed and read over the words once again. Both Therise and Solan’s image flashed in her mind as she remembered the last time she had seen them. She was standing in the doorway of the train, waving them goodbye and watching as they smiled in spite of her leaving.

It would mean full commitment if she complied now. The decision was so easy and yet so hard… Determined, the brunette spotted her phone on the table and reached for it with a shaky hand.

She had slept through the night in complete happiness. The return trip from the “birthday present” had been silent—words hadn’t been needed any longer. And that night, when she climbed into bed, a permanent smile seemed to work itself into her features. The morning when she woke was pleasant as well, sun shining and rainstorm past. When she saw him again, walking toward her room just as she was coming out, she was prepared to smile and embrace him, but his expression stopped her cold.

He sputtered, explained things in a great haste, so much that she had to tell him to slow down. In the aftermath of confessing their love, the last thing that she had expected was a difficult situation. Yet, there they were, chasing down a certain sorceress for answers to which Quistis didn’t even fully know the questions.

The brunette paused in her tracks, tensing at the insistent voice behind her. She closed her eyes, forcing the promise back into her throat, preparing to throw it in the bastard’s face…

“What do you want, Irvine?” she said casually, turning around to face him. He stood a few feet behind her, a familiar blonde in similar fashion behind him.

Rinoa diverted her attention to the water filling the bottom of the main lobby, battling her conscience. She had promised Selphie. She mustn’t forget that one simple little fact…

‘Oh screw the promise. She’s leaving the man she loves!’ Rinoa screamed to herself, facing Irvine once more. “… I-I couldn’t stop her…”

He stepped closer, using intimidation to his advantage. He was never one to brag about his size or stature, but it was well understood by every woman anyhow. “Where?” he said quietly, coldly composed.

Rinoa averted her gaze. “Northside. Train leaves at noon—Irvine!” she cut off, calling after him when he turned and walked away from her, most likely heading for the Garden cars. His hasty walk returned Rinoa’s gaze to the blonde who had stood behind him the entire time. Now, as the two women looked at each other across the space of mere feet, a silence hung dense between them, the air becoming stale. Perhaps something kin to sorrow flashed in Quistis’s eyes, but it was gone the next instant, replaced by only a knit brow and an expression of apology. She had finally begun to understand.

“Selphie!!” Irvine called out over the hustle of passengers in Esthar’s busiest train station. So many girls had brown heads of hair—how was he supposed to find her in this mess? Beside him, Quistis stood on tiptoe, looking out over the crowd. She patted his shoulder lightly.

Irvine nodded, looking in the windows of the train. All the while, he kept one eye on the crowd, calling her name every now and then. He was almost to the first passenger entrance door when he saw her, sitting in her seat, head hung low. Stopping, he momentarily hit the window, not to get her attention, but as a measure of success in finding her before she left.

Selphie turned at the sound, emerald eyes widening when she met the brown eyes of her best friend. What was he doing there? He shouldn’t have been there, not now. Hastily, she wiped her nose, red from crying. Irvine could be a persistent one. She saw him hop on the stationary train a moment later, barely five seats from her. His expression was unreadable as he walked up to her, and for the first time ever, she felt intimidated by him.

The brunette stood, absently grabbing her carry-on bag in the seat. “Irvine,” she acknowledged, not meeting his eyes. Was that a sniffle that escaped her?

Selphie closed her eyes. The story had to come out now that he was there, and had obviously heard only half of it from Rinoa. The Trabian took a deep breath, sniffling as if she had a cold. “I, uh, had foster parents after the orphanage was destroyed,” she started, trying to speak indifferently. “Mom wrote yesterday, and my dad’s just had a stroke…”

“Are you crazy?” he cut into her solemn story, taking the bag from her hands. “You’re going to leave in the middle of the term?”

“Irvine, please,” she said quietly, reaching for her bag. Other passengers were already beginning to shoot wary looks at the pair.

Sighing, the brunette finally lifted her eyes, staring at him the way she had the evening before, when he confessed his love to Quistis. And not her.

“No, you have to understand, Sel,” he interrupted her. “You’re leaving right in the middle of the semester and you think it’s okay? Come on, you’re getting off this train right now.”

The brunette snapped to attention at his words, shocked that he would go as far as to stop her from leaving. “W-what? No, Irvine,” she followed him down the aisle as he made his way to the door. “Irvine, I have to go.” She made a second attempt to grab her bag from him.

Selphie stopped behind him at the door. Just before he stepped off, her voice cut into his determination. “… Irvine, I wouldn’t come back even if I waited until Christmas.”

The bag in his hand suddenly weighed a ton of bricks. Form noticeably stiffening, he placed a hand on the seat closest to the door and turned slowly to face his best friend. The silent question was in his eyes, and she could have answered just as silently, but she needed to say it. It would remind her, give her the strength to walk away from him.

Her words pierced the very center of his heart as he stared at her, eyes hinting at no other emotion than betrayal. Selphie’s eyes filled with fresh tears as she watched his reaction to her decision.

“… So that’s it,” he said finally, coldly quiet. “You’re quitting Garden… you’re leaving me.” His hand balled into a fist around her bag. “And you didn’t even tell me.”

Oh no, he was NOT going to turn the tables on her. He was NOT going to make her look like the one at fault; not now that she was leaving him. “Irvine…” she trailed off, heart twisting at the hurt in his eyes.

And without so much as a glance, he turned his back on her and stepped off the train, never once looking back. Selphie knit her brow, confused and yet so knowing at the same time. She stepped in the doorway, calling after him. He couldn’t leave it like this. She couldn’t leave it on bad terms—how would she live life knowing she had pushed away the one person she cared for the most? Not telling him in the first place had been easier. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, but now that he knew her decision, she wished she hadn’t been so quick to jump to conclusions.

“Irvine! Irvine, I’m not joking,” she said desperately, not daring to step off the train. She would never step back on if she touched the same ground as him.

“I’m leaving, Irvine,” she said through the glistening in her eyes, needing to get through to him and yet not having the same effect any longer.

He hardly noticed walking right by Quistis. The blonde stood just a few feet from the door, watching the two as they said their last words to each other. What she had expected to be a heartfelt plea had turned out to be a cold, dismissive command. She had come to the front to tell him she couldn’t find Selphie anywhere, but apparently, he already knew her location. And they’d obviously had a conversation in her absence.

Quistis looked at Irvine as he walked past her, not even acknowledging her presence. Her eyes were fixated on his stiff form as he tried his hardest to walk away from Selphie without looking back. She knew how much he was really hurting, though all the pain was hidden under a bitter shell of anger.

Quistis swallowed, looking back and forth between the two. They knew, they knew they wanted to turn and embrace each other—why didn’t they? Understanding shining in her eyes, the blonde lifted her gaze to Selphie just as the lass looked back at her. And she knew. She finally knew.

And regardless of the heartbreak, the tears, the shattered hopes, Selphie only looked at her older sister figure with a genuine smile. It would be the last time she would smile at Quistis.

All three heard the harsh train whistle. Irvine stopped suddenly, the sound jolting him out of his anger-driven state. Reality seemed to settle in again as the whistle blew a second time. Metal parts screeched and churned, pushing the train forward. And finally, the constant thunk of the wheels echoed as they met with the track, bar after bar.

Irvine turned to face her, and met her eyes instantly—she was looking at him. She was slowly beginning to drift from him. Irvine mentally kicked himself, sweeping aside his pride and chasing after her. “Selphie!”

Quistis raised one hand to rid her face of the single tear that had fallen. She watched him run after his best friend, hands fisted together against her heart.

“Selphie!” Irvine said, reaching the doorway and holding onto the metal guard bar. He ran alongside the still slowly moving train as his best friend looked down at her from her higher position on the few steps. “Selphie, why do you have to go?”

Selphie’s heart twisted even more, clawing at the fact that he did need her. She was his best friend, and he, hers. Shaking her head, Selphie gestured vaguely with one hand. “You’ve annoyed me enough, Irvine. Now go bother Quistis,” she said, laughing through her tears.

“Selphie, please…” he seemed like a lost little boy, running after his one stronghold. “I already lost you once…”

If her heart didn’t break in two at that very moment, it did when the train picked up speed. She was running out of time. Breathing hard, she shook her head at him. “Wasn’t meant to be,” she told him. Her gaze momentarily wandered down. “And stop chasing after those stupid girls, you hear me?” she scolded him good-naturedly, knowing perfectly well that he would never have eyes for any girl other than Quistis.

“But,” he began, and then stopped suddenly as he slowed, the train accelerating more with each passing moment. “But I’ll miss you!” he called to her disappearing form.

He stopped completely, helpless as he watched the endless depths of her shining emerald eyes. She was getting farther and farther away. It was an eternity and yet just a moment before the last car passed him and Selphie, his Selphie, disappeared from his sight. He stood still, breathing hard from the run, and watching in the last moment before she vanished as the wind blew her hair from its clipped confines.

Quistis closed her eyes, head bowing as she walked up behind him… her love. Her hands were still clenched against her heart, a look of revelation in her eyes…

That day I realized, perhaps I had come between your father and Selphie. And not only their friendship, but their love for each other that they would never know what Fate had plans for if not for me. Selphie’s silence told me everything, and that day, I was sure she loved your father. Perhaps even I couldn’t love him as much. Selphie never called or wrote… she had walked out of our lives, out of your father’s life… forever.

Your father used to say that love is friendship. Yes, I was his friend, but I could never be his best friend. Because of this, I could never hold the place of his true love. And maybe then, he would have realized that Selphie was the one for him.

They were best friends, and deep down, first and true loves. Marriage, children, and circumstance aside, this is the one thing that will never change. Find Selphie, and return her to your father. They are meant to be together; this is the truth, and this is my last request.