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At
an Arm's Length
A Final Fantasy VIII Story
by
Aligator
Chapter 22 - Journeyman
I heard his voice. That can’t be. But I heard his voice, I saw him – I think – and then … “Trepe?” Hyne, no answer. “Quistis?”
Oh, Hyne. I can’t see. Quistis blinked in a dazed fashion as she felt her way back to the wall.
Irvine walked slowly toward where he had last heard his commanding officer. Where *was* she? Damn, night vision *seemed* like a good idea. Then he stumbled. A body. Not Quistis. Not Seifer. It’s the suspect. He knelt down. The creep still has a pulse, but he seems to be in shock.
Mechanically, he stood and reactivated his communicator. “This is Kinneas. Suspect down. I repeat, suspect down and unconscious. Send back-up and a paramedic. Over.” That blue light. Like when she apprehended the assassin in Timber.
Can’t breathe. So dark.
“Quistis, come on, babe. Where are you?” He enabled his night vision goggles, again. “Make some noise for me.” His eyes swept the green-tinted area, and he narrowed in on a darkened spot near the hallway’s dead end. “God, Quistis, you O.K.?”
Where’d he go?
“Come on, Q. Breathe for me.” Irvine flipped off the goggles and pulled them down around his neck. In an almost singular motion, he took a seat next to her on the floor, propping her up beside him and against the wall. “Come on. You’re the unflappable Quistis Trepe. You can do this.” He squeezed her hand, and she responded by returning the gesture. “I’m turning on my flashlight now. Close your eyes.”
He did the same and reopened them a second later. She looks like she’s seen a ghost. “What happened?”
“I don’t know … I think I saw Seifer, but he’s – he’s not here, is he?” she whispered breathlessly.
“He’s not, but Quistis, I need to know: Are you junctioned?”
“No.”
“Dang. Did you cast any –?”
“NO! No blue magic. I didn’t. At least, I didn’t intentionally. I heard his voice – warning me – and I saw him and then … I don’t know?” She rubbed her temple and looked Irvine in the eye.
“I don’t, either. I saw him and heard him, too.” A grim, but determined grin played upon his lips, as he tapped the goggles still around his neck. “You saw him. I saw him. And I recorded the whole thing.”
Her eyes widened. Leave it to the sniper.
“As far as everyone else needs to know, for now, you junctioned and used a GF. This damage kind of looks like Shiva’s work. O.K.?”
“O.K.,” she nodded.
“All right. We’ll figure this out,” he muttered to her urgently, as he pulled her to her feet. “They’re coming.”
*****
Seifer opened his front door to be greeted by brilliant sunshine and –
“CONGRATULATIONS!”
And
Fujin waving the early edition of the FH newspaper in his face. “What is this?”
“You’re CLEARED,” she smiled brightly. “It’s OVER.”
He scratched his head and motioned for her to enter his home. “Hate to rain on your parade, Fu,” he said, pulling out a chair for her at his kitchen table. He then smiled ruefully, “It will never be over.”
“Seifer,” she responded softly. “It’s a start. You can do anything. Now you don’t have any limits.” Other than the ones you place upon yourself.
He pushed away from the table and rose to put on some coffee. “So how’s my nephew doing this morning?”
Her eyes narrowed. “He slept through the night, but I can tell you’re trying to change the subject. Besides, there’s something else in the paper you should see.”
In two strides, he was looking over her shoulder. It was an article about attempted violence at the conference where they had voted to clear him. “So?”
“There was an assassination attempt. Three guesses as to who helped break it up.” She looked up at him. “The first two don’t count.”
“Quistis,” he murmured. And it happened at about the same time as my …
“It coincidently happened around when you had your nightmare.”
Seifer froze.
“They say she junctioned to take him down,” she added.
He shook his head, “That can’t be right. If I were Quistis, I’d be trying obsessively to get my memory back. And that –”
“Would destroy any progress?”
“Yes,” he answered tersely. “I need to –” He stopped himself, rolled his eyes at himself and shook his head again.
“Seifer, Rai and Shin and I – you’ll always have a place here with us. If it’s what you need to do, right now …” Fujin took a deep breath and exhaled, “You’ve got to do what you need to do.”
“I’ll leave tomorrow, then.”
She smiled slowly. “Where to? Quistis?”
“No. Maybe. Well … eventually?” A shadow of his once-familiar smirk broke across his face, and his eyes lit up for the first time in way too long. “I need to see if I can find some answers before that. I’m going to Centra.”
To be continued. . .
Next week: Chapter 23 — A Long and Winding Road
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