Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Beneath the Mistletoe ❯ Trepies Decorations ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

'Twas a few days before Christmas, and all in the classroom. Not a
creature was stirring...well, except for the entire Trepie fanclub.
The group composed mostly of male students were decorating the fairly
bare class, claiming that it would brighten Quistis's Christmas cheer,
and there was nothing they wanted to do more than to make her happy.
So, the instructor was seated comfortably on the seat, stacks of
papers beside her. It seemed that these things were perpetual, and the
moment she thought she was done grading, a new stack just magically
appeared. Maybe it was all just meant to drive her insane.
Nonetheless, she kept herself busy with this newfound work.

The Trepies were being fairly mindful to keep silence so that she
could concentrate, though they all seemed to hold a silent bitterness
toward the next one, being rather competitive for the teacher's
affections. When Trepie #1 and Trepie #15 nearly broke out in a fist
fight over the way the holly should be hung to accent Instructor
Trepe's beauty, that was when Quistis decided she couldn't take
anymore. With much protest, she left the papers on the desk and exited
from the room. The best thing for her at the moment would be to get
fresh air, and so, she made her way down the hall...slipping out the
door to the balcony.

Much to her surprise, however, she was not alone. It seemed that day
no matter where they went, they were going to run into each
other...and Seifer stood amazingly by himself at the bannister. His
trench coat swayed a bit as the breeze picked up, and that caused
Quistis to rub her hands up and down those arms for warmth. After what
had happened between them a few hours earlier, she wasn't sure if she
should even start up a conversation, but she decided to advance and
see how exactly Seifer would react. A few clicks of those heels hit
the floor and Seifer tensed up in surprise it seemed. (Quistis didn't
dare say anything about that for fear of making the former sorceress'
knight lose his tough-guy reputation.)

"Hey, Fujin? That you? You guys get tired of hanging around the others
now...?"

"No, actually, Seifer. It's me..." Quistis moved beside him, sparing a
glance over at his face.

Seifer, again, appeared surprised, but quickly masked it. Those eyes
narrowed somewhat, "Yeah? What do -you- want, Instructor?"

"I just came out to clear my head. I had no idea you would be here..."

"Yeah, well, I am. Got a problem with it?"

"Why are you always so defensive?" She tilted her head, turning to
study him. If anything, she could use her skills she learned in
psychology to analyze just why Seifer was the way he was. Perhaps, she
could even gain a friend out of him. Quite frankly, she had been
feeling lonely lately. Especially after seeing Squall and Rinoa
together so often.

"Why do you care?" He quickly retorted.

"Seifer, that's a silly question. We grew up together. I care about
you. Everyone here in Garden does..."

That remark seemed to catch him off guard for a moment, and he shifted
uncomfortably as though searching the silence for some witty remark.
When nothing could be found, he just pretended as though he didn't
hear her, "Why don't you buzz off? I'm sure the all-mighty Instructor
Trepe can't be bothered with a

rebellious student such as myself."

"You really want to be alone? You're never alone. Fujin and Raijin are
often with you. Where are they now?"

Seifer's lips curled for a typical Seifer look, "They're at the Quad.
Raijin wanted to watch them decorate the trees or something. He said
it was a reminder to being home or some stupid crap like that. Fujin
followed along to make sure he didn't get into any trouble. Like
Raijin tends to do."

"I see. Why didn't you go...?"

"Because I hate Christmas! It's a stupid holiday where everyone tries
to make you blow your gil on crappy presents and get in a cheerful
mood because after all it's all about giving..." He snorted.

Quistis for a moment expected him to say some classic thing such as
'bah humbug,' but once that didn't come out she brought one hand to
her lips to muffle a laugh, "So, Seifer Almasy hates Christmas. Is
that why you've been so hard on all the people in the halls?"

"It's not funny!" Seifer scowled.

"All right, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. In all honesty, I'm
finding it hard to get in the Christmas spirit myself..."

"Oh? Instructor Trepe actually can't be happy and la-dee-da with the
rest of the damn gang of heroes?"

"Not exactly. It's hard...to spend all that time watching everyone
together, so happy and cheerful, when I don't really have anyone to be
happy and cheerful with. I loved Squall all this time. In a way, I
still do love him. It's hard to see him and Rinoa together...stealing
kisses beneath the mistletoe, or feeding each other Santa-shaped sugar
cookies..."

Seifer looked toward her for a long moment, before he glanced away and
furrowed his brows, "What do you expect me to do about it? I'm not
gonna pat you on the back and say, 'it'll be okay.' Because quite
frankly, I don't care."

"I know you don't. Just like Squall didn't care when I unburdened my
problems to him. At least you're more responsive than him..." She
looked toward him and offered a smile.

"Don't ever compare me to -him- again..." Seifer spoke through gritted
teeth, avoiding her pleasant gaze.

"Seifer..." Quistis frowned somewhat. "Please...at least...try to
cheer up somewhat. It would do everyone a whole lot of good to know
that you're happy here in Balamb again."

With her words, she turned on her heel and walked back inside Garden
again. Seifer raised his attention toward her, and then back toward
the horizon. His chin lowered on his forearms and he stared out
absently across the distance. Trying to cheer up at Balamb would be
easy if he was actually happy there. By acting as though nothing had
changed, Seifer was trying to make everyone think that it was all
okay--that he was the same old unruly student; no one could understand
the guilt he felt on the inside. Well, possibly no one. He looked over
his shoulder again where Quistis had disappeared, before he shoved
those hands in his pockets and followed along.

* * *

"SNOW! IT'S SNOWING!" The megaphone echo of Selphie's voice could be
heard all throughout the garden, probably only rivaling the roar of
the T-Rexaurs in the Training Center.

Everyone excitedly ran to the nearest window, hangar, balcony so that
they could see if Selphie's claims were true. Sure enough, they were.
The crystalline flakes were scurrying across the sky, and the ground
was nearly blanketed with pure, undisturbed white. Chattering rose up
amongst the student body, and people excitedly left so they could have
their first snowball fight. The group in the Quad were bundled up in
coats and gloves, some of them huddled around a portable stove where
they boiled up a kettle of water for hot chocolate.

Selphie was traipsing through the snowy ground, leaving her footprints
behind and she turned to everyone else with a grin, "This is
mega-awesome! We're gonna have fresh snow around here for the
Christmas Festival! It'll just so totally add to the scenery!"

"Yeah, baby! This totally kicks! I'll be able to use my snowboard!" An
overexcited Zell was kicking and punching at air to show his
enthusiasm.

"It sure is cold, though..." Rinoa shifted mindlessly beneath Squall's
jacket, and spared a glance back toward him.

Teeth chattering, Squall only nodded in response, completely unable to
speak.

"This so totally reminds me of how things used to be back at Trabia!
We like, had so much snow all the time. It was mega-great!" Selphie
beamed toward the three others.

"Yeap..." Irvine yawned, leaning forward from the place he was seated.
It was best to agree with Selphie if he ever wanted to get her to go
out on that date with him.

"So, anyway! We gotta get started! Christmas is in a couple days...and
this totally has to be done by then otherwise all our hard work will
be for nothing! Zell, Irvine...you two go over and string up the
lights. Rinoa, Squall...you guys go and make sure the bands are still
playing...and get more to sign up. Booyaka! I'll just stay around here
and supervise everything...okay?" Without even waiting to see if it
was, she skipped off to retrieve that megaphone.

After a few shouted orders, Irvine shook his head, "Damn, someone that
loud...shouldn't be allowed to use -anything- to make their
voice...louder."

"M-m-maybe t-t-th-the D-D-Disciplinary C-Comittee w-w-w-will t-take it
a-a-away f-fr-fr-from her..." Squall chattered out.

"One can only hope..." Irvine rolled his eyes and then moved off to
follow Zell.

"Booyaka! Where's Quisty?!" Selphie apparently just noticed they were
one hand short.

As if on cue, Quistis emerged in the doorway with a faint smile. One
hand cupped her lips in hopes to amplify her voice at all, "Sorry I'm
late! I had a few extra test scores to copy over!"

"Quisty!" Irvine spared a glance over toward her, tipping his hat in
greeting.

She gave him a weak wave, before she quickly ducked over to the side
of the stage near Selphie for safety, "So, what can I do?"

Selphie turned to Quistis immediately with the voice amplifier in
hand, and the instructor prepared to have her eardrums blown out,
until a voice behind her came as quite the surprise.

"Tilmitt! Someone as noisy as you shouldn't be around here making more
noise!"

Everyone turned to see Seifer standing in the doorway. A few people
appeared confused and some even cowered for fear that he would take
out his gunblade and start doing something...violent. Behind him,
Raijin was currently moving around in circles trying to catch flakes
of snow on his tongue, and Fujin, who was quite infuriated by his
childish behavior, turned to the fellow posse member and delivered a
swift kick to his shin.

"RAGE!"

Raijin yelped, and hopped around on one foot before he managed to
compose himself behind Seifer.

"Raijin, Fujin! Go and confiscate that thing from her!"

Selphie narrowed her eyes, and for just such an occasion, she whipped
out those nunchaku stretching them out menacingly, "Booyaka! This is
-my- Christmas Festival so you go on with your goons and leave us
alone!"

"Yeah...BABY!" Came one of the shouts from behind them, and no one
even had to guess who was responsible for it.

The goons spared wary glances toward each other, and then looked back
toward Seifer a bit pleadingly. After all, how many times could the
'posse' be defeated by those good guys and still manage to keep up a
threatening image. Seifer bared his teeth, and then motioned them
forward. Reluctantly, the two headed over toward the group. Fujin gave
a nod to Raijin, pointing for them to take opposite sides. Before
Selphie could even say 'Booyaka,' they lunged for her...ripping the
megaphone from her hands and then rather gleefully returning to
Seifer. He snatched that up and smirked toward everyone.

"There, now we won't have to hear Tilmitt's annoying mouth when we're
relaxing in our dormitories. Come on, guys...let's go..."

The three departed from there, and Selphie stomped around on the
stage, "This is totally not fair! It's a super duper mega bummer!
Booyaka!"

After seeing how upset Selphie was, no one really wanted to own up to
being relieved that she could no longer make them deaf. Irvine,
naturally, was there to comfort her in her time of need...somehow or
another managing to slip in things about how going on a date with him
would help, or that maybe just going somewhere private would help.
Quistis spared a thoughtful glance behind herself, before she looked
toward the devastated Selphie.

"I'll go and get it...I think I can talk some sense into Seifer..."

Everyone glanced toward the Instructor with bewildered
expressions...though Quistis would swear that Nida's was more like
pleading. As soon as those words were said, Selphie perked up to the
point of normal Selphie hyperness and she grinned, bringing one fist
in the air and hopping up and down excitedly.

"All right! Go, Quisty! You show him who's the boss around here!"

Squall, nonchalantly, cleared his throat after those words.

Quistis pretended not to notice, "Just wait here...I won't be gone
long..."

The teacher didn't really know what she was doing, or why. But, for
some reason she felt the need to reach out for the poor tortured soul
that was Seifer. Whether it got her in trouble or not with him and his
posse, she just hoped that things would go over well. Drawing in a
deep breath, Quistis departed from the Quad, and headed down to the
dormitories...that was where Seifer mentioned he would be after all.