Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Like a Bracelet ❯ Puppet on a string ( Chapter 15 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Bailey was positive he was not going to make it to his next class. 'Feels like I've been electrocuted.' He groaned. Rolling over on the bed, he looked at another cadet who was resting peacefully after their injection. 'Wish I could sleep it off.' He swallowed back another wave of nausea. 'Where's Quistis when I need her?'

"Nurse," he groaned.

"I'm a doctor, cadet Eldron." Kadowaki informed him as she stepped in. "What's the problem?"

"Can I make a phone call?" He felt cold and clammy.

"This isn't a prison. You're free to use your phone." She checked his vitals after giving a nod to the device beside his bed.

"Thank you." He called Quistis's phone. He took the cup of water handed to him by the doctor, thanking her again. "Quistis, where are you? Pick up, please."

Kadowaki wondered if he knew that the former instructor was not just readily available for his beck-and-call. She and the other cadets have assignments, jobs within the school, classes, or they're simply resting in their free-time.

"What could she be doing?" He pondered.

"My guess… studying." She replied to the rhetorical question.

"She can study here. I need her comfort."

The doctor side-eyed him then walked out of the room. "You're free to rest in your own room, if you'd like." She wrote something on a slip of paper. "Your instructors know you're getting treatments, but the hall monitors might try to pull you aside. Just show them this." She handed it to him when he sat up.

"Thank you."

"So many "thanks" and it's not even a holiday." She commented. "Just be sure to take it easy."

"I'll try."

"Do." She pointed her glasses at him as a warning. "Do not try casting spells either until the treatments are complete."

"Yes, ma'am." He grunted as he slid from the bed.

"Would you like a wheelchair, crutches?" The offer was presented.

"A chair. Thanks."

Kadowaki grabbed a chair and opened it up for him, helping him sit.

"Does it always hurt this much after once?" He asked.

Kadowaki thought about it. She wouldn't know. She's never taken it. "It varies. Some cadets take it in stride.. Others simply quit, while the rest settle for not using G.F.s and but accessing magic through Odine bangles." Pressing a call button she asked for aid. "Felicity, can you please escort Mr. Eldron to his dorm?"

"I'd rather have it be Quistis."

"Well you can't reach her, so, Felicity it is."

A red haired girl walked out of a room from the back of the infirmary. She smiled politely. Grabbing the back of the chair, she shoved him to move the wheels, taking him to his room.

"Do.. you wouldn't happen to know where Quistis Trepe is, would you?" He asked when they were out of earshot of the doctor who seemed to want to keep him from his girlfriend.

"Instrutor Trepe?" She wondered.

"Former, from what I understand." He corrected.

Felicity merely hummed a response. She used to take her classes but sometimes it's hard to switch-off how you address someone for a long time. "I think she's in social studies. I don't usually see her on Wednesdays; I have duties in the infirmary."

"Oh." He checked his phone. He read the text: Busy. Get one of the nurses to assist you. I'll see you when I can. 'What the hell?'

"How are you liking Garden so far?"

"Huh?"

"Are you ok attending school here?" She asked again. "Is everyone being kind to you?"

"Yeah. Everyone's great." He frowned. 'Everyone except my girlfriend, who can't seem to be around when I need her.'

"Good." She sniffed the lovely scent in the hall. "Smells like Rita came through here. She went a little overkill with the perfume today."

"It's pretty."

"Yeah."

'Moving on.' He texted Quistis again. Nothing. Not even read. Dammit!

Felicity wheeled him into the dormitory. "Which room?"

"19."

"There's a get-together in the quad tonight. A listening and reading gathering."

"Reading?" He looked over his shoulder but quickly returned his gaze forward when he saw where he was eye-level.

She chuckled. "Yeah, some of us are awful with reading class, so we read to each other out loud. Works like a charm, too, a lot of cadets got their grade up."

He made a sound of "Oh". They came to a stop and he punched in his code. He thanked the nurse's assistant then rolled himself into the room. He wondered if he was supposed to return the chair to the infirmary? He couldn't ask because Felicity was gone. Trying again, he waited but still nothing. What was she doing? Or who?

With that thought in mind, he got out of the chair and limped his way over to the door. He'd look like a chump rolling around the school looking for his girlfriend. He walked carefully out of the wall into the hall. It felt like he was turning to stone and poorly fighting it.

'Was the hall always this long?' He paused just at the exit. He sighed. This was a bad idea.

"I thought that was you." Selphie said from behind him.

"Could you..?"

"Huh? Oh sure!" She placed her arm around his waist and set his arm over her shoulder. "I'm sorry." She said to his groan. "Oh! Did you get your first treatment?"

"Yeah."

"Where's your chair? You shouldn't be moving around if it hurts this much." She walked him over to a bench and helped him sit. "Want me to get you a chair?"

"I have one in my room."

"Be back in a second."

"No, Selphie, wait." He grabbed her wrist. "I just really need to get in contact with Quistis. Do you know where she is?"

"Umm, no." Removing her phone from her pocket, she called her. "Hey, you busy? Someone is looking for you." She said then said. "No."

"I know. I got his texts," Quistis was saying when her friend kindly alerted her that she's not on speaker. "What does he want?"

"Here." She handed the phone to Bailey.

"Quistis, where are you? I need you."

"I'm just getting out of class. I'm about to go to the headmaster's office." She informed him. "What do you need?"

"I just want you by my side because I'm in so much pain."

"Bailey, you were supposed to be resting in the infirmary."

"I got lonely and bored." He said with as much sadness as he could muster.

Selphie would have loved to give him privacy, but he was using her phone, so she turned away and pretended the moat was interesting.

"Couldn't you just do your office work in my room? I won't bother you."

Quistis sighed. She wanted to say "No", she should have said it, but instead she said. "I'll see."

"Thank you." He handed Selphie her phone.

"You good?" Selphie giggling receiving a groan. "Later." She took a seat. "Want anything from the cafeteria? Juice or a snack?"

"No. Thank you."

She shrugged her shoulder.

"Selphie, does everyone still see Quistis as an instructor?"

"I don't know." She paused then asked. "Does it matter? It's not like it's an insult."

"I was just curious. It seems kinda rude to call someone something that they were fired from."

"You're thinking too hard about it." She went to pat his knee but her hand froze in place and she instead patted the airspace over his knee.

Quistis arrived with a satchel over her shoulder. "Come on, let's get you to your room. Unless you think you'll be all right enough to sit in the library while I work?"

"I need to lie down." He leaned back when she began to push him towards his room.

"This really means a lot to me, thank you, love."

She blushed from both embarrassment and a fluttering in her chest. 'How can someone be so pleasing but frustrating at the same time?' She mused.

"Sorry about this." He stated in a saddened tone.

"No. I don't need to be on-site to sort through papers." She opened his door and they entered.

Bailey watched his girlfriend with a careful eye. When the door was shut, he moved over to the desk as Quistis set up her makeshift work-station. 'At least she kept the charm on her phone.' He thought.

Quistis finished removing the paperwork and her pen. "Before I begin, is there anything you need? Food, drink, a book?"

Bailey shrugged a shoulder.

She cast him a sly eye. "Well, you're not gonna sit here watching over me are you?" She took a seat, amused by the thought. Why would anyone wanna watch a person doing something as boring as this?

"I'm good with watching."

Quistis's brow furrowed, but she let it go. He was always saying she's beautiful when she's focusing; although, those times are often when they're engaged in something physical. He likes eye contact.

It was roughly ten minutes of silence between them before her boyfriend cleared his throat.

"Quisty, why'd didn't you answer my texts?" He asked in a clipped words. "I texted five times."

"And I saw them. I was in class," she replied keeping her attention on the sheets on the desk as her pen skimmed down the reports. "It wouldn't do to be on my phone. My instructor side would send me straight to disciplinary." She chuckled. "What a nightmare that would be having to deal with Seifer over something like that."

Bailey's eyes slit. What exactly did she mean by that? "You could have found a way."

"And, since I couldn't?" She finally looked over at him. "Bai', you're making too much out of this. I got your texts, I'm here with you now. So, let's just enjoy our time together."

"You answered to Selphie awfully quickly." His jaw clenched.

"She called me when class was over. I planned to reply to you, but my phone rang and I thought it might be important because she doesn't call me just out of the blue." She replied as calmly as she could but her snippet of a temper was gathering mass. "I knew what you wanted but I didn't know what she wanted."

"So you're saying I'm not a priority?"

"I'm not saying that at all. But what I will say is that we'd better drop this conversation and get back to enjoying each other's company."

Their gazes locked for 10 seconds as if daring one another to say anything wrong. Bailey caved first, not because he wanted to but because a knot of pain shot through him. Seeing this, Quistis got up from the chair.

"Do you need pain killer? I'l get you a drink, if you have pills."

"No." He shook his head. "I'm fine."

"You're not "fine", Bai'," She wheeled him over to the bed. "Why don't you lie down and rest your body. It's not easy for everyone when they start getting treatments." She helped him onto the bed and yelped when he pulled her down on top of him.

He kissed her deeply, pushing his hand down into the band of her skirt but she wriggled away.

"A kiss is one thing, but doing anything more would put a strain on your body. No."

He latched onto her wrist squeezing as hard as he could, nails teasing to dig into the flesh beneath them. "For you to be my girlfriend, you sure don't act like it."

"And for you to be my boyfriend, you sure act like there's nothing more to me than being pawed at." She tried to snatch her arm away but this time he did dig in his nails. "Let me go."

"I'm doing this all for you. So that we can be together instead of long-distance. Wasn't that awful for you? Or did you like it because I wasn't bothering you."

"You weren't bothering me, and up until now you aren't bothering. Now, let me go."

He released his grip. He sniffled. "All I ever do is miss you. I think this is the perfect way for me to be with you and to understand your world, and this happens. We're just fighting." He frowned and closed his eyes to hold back his tears. "I only wanted a little comfort and now I'm a creep."

"You're not a creep."

"Yes, I am." He wiped his dry eyes.

She sat on the bed. "I'm just looking out for you. You're not a creep." Quistis leaned over and kissed him on the nose then the lips. "As long as it's not that, we can kiss a little."

"What about…?" He glanced down. "Just with your hand…"

She really hated the idea of it. But agreed reluctantly and unbuckled his uniform pants. She doesn't like this, but if it'll make Bailey feel less pain from the treatments, she supposed it would be fine but no more after this.

It took her two hours to finish doing her work when normally it would have been roughly 37 minutes, maybe less depending on the reports and replacements needed. Bailey was asleep by the time she left his room.

When he heard the door close, he cracked an eye open and smirked before rolling over to grab an earbud from the built-in shelf on the bedframe. He closed his eyes listening to the sounds of Balamb Garden as Quistis passed through the halls. He felt the pain grow in his veins and decided to sleep. Pressing the record on his phone, he then drifted off. That charm was the best gift ever invented.

x x x

Commentary: Sorry for the long break. Thank you for reading.