Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ I bet this fiddle of gold ❯ The club ( Chapter 1 )

Slow steps carried the slim woman towards the door of the club. A neon sign over the door declared it to be the "carpe noctem". 'Seize the Night' the woman thought as she walked right to the door not even giving the row of waiting people a look.

The bouncer stood in her way for a second and looked her up and down. What he saw seemed to please him. He waved her in without even asking for an ID or Cash. What he saw was a slim, well shaped woman with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. No older than 20. She wore a casual combination of black leather pants and boots and a silver tank top. A long black leather coat did not only cover her arms but also the well hidden whip on the back of her belt.

The inside of the club was mostly a loud cavernous room where night creatures danced and showed off to mark their rank in this territory. But Quistis did not care about them, she went straight to a small door in the back of the bar. The keeper just nodded at her as she pushed a six digit number into a code field and entered.

Silence hit her like a strike with a mallet after she closed that door. This was a private area, only for guests who knew the code. She entered a small dimly lit room and looked for her target. There he was, clothed in his usual garb of cowboy hat and trench coat.

She sat opposite Irvine, he looked at her and gave her a short smile. She returned it and reached for the bottle he had on the desk. It was a malt, Glenfarclass 35 years old, really good and really expensive. Not that money mattered for any of them, Garden paid more than well for the butchers work they did. And most of them would not live to see their thirties birthday so why not enjoy life?

She filled a glass with two fingers of the golden fluid, then she drank it, savoring the liquid for a few seconds before she swallowed it. The whiskey burned down her throat all the way to her stomach. A good feeling she had to admit. Irvine reached into a pocket and wordlessly offered her a cigarette and fire. Quistis hesitated for a second but then took it and lighted it herself. The smoke in her lungs gave her a short feeling of nausea but she knew that that was only the first inhale.

Irvine grinned as he took the cigarettes and lighter back and filled the glasses anew. "What brings you here?" he asked the blonde woman straight out.

"You have been gone for three days, I volunteered to look for you before the others sent a rescue force with blood hounds to find you." She answered in a casual tone. Irvine made a face and drank his drink.

"Squall should know that I check any messages I might get regularly." She drank out herself and answered: "Squall does but Selphie was worried so was Zell and Rinny."

Irvine sighted deeply and leant back on his chair. He closed his eyes and swallowed some cigarette smoke. "yeah, Selphie…" he let the name trail into the room.

"She cares deeply about you." Said Quistis after a short pause.

"I know but she cares to much. I am an adult and I know what I can carry on my shoulders." He answered with a pained tone.

"So it's not the fairytale relationship anyone in the garden sees?" Quistis asked in a serious tone of voice.

"We are friends, not an ounce less but also not an ounce more. I mean she is a nice and lively girl. Bright, charming and beautiful. And having sex with her would be as if you tried to hit on your own little sister."

Quistis nodded with great seriousness to that: "I can understand what you feel." She answered to him.

"Almost the same with you and Zell I guess." Said Irvine and filled up the glasses once again. Quistis nodded grimly and answered.

"Pretty much. I am too much the instructor and friend to him and he is not really the kind of man I would like as a lover." She admitted and lighted a new cigarette from the packet that Irvine had left on the table earlier.

For a while they both sat there in silence, sipping their drinks and staring into the thin air. A waiter came along, emptied the ashtray and left a bowl with salted peanuts on the table. Both reached simultaneously to the peanuts. Irvine stopped at the last moment before their hands collided and made a welcoming gesture to Quistis to take first.

She gave him a small smile as thank and took some nuts out of the bowl. "So," she asked: "What's your plan for the rest of the week?" Irvine shrugged and ate some nuts himself.

"Getting drunk and avoiding being dragged into some strangers bed." Quistis nodded, contrary to his notoriety that Irvine secretly enjoyed, he was not a ruthless womanizer that only looked for the next score.

Irvine grinned without humor and looked at her: "And you instructor? Drinking my whiskey and smoking my cigarettes?" he asked with a mocking tone. She saluted him and emptied the glass, feeling a bit lightheaded from the potent spirits: "Surely, a girl has to see what she gets." She answered in a matter of fact voice.

Both sat again for a while in silence. Then Irvine asked: "So Quistis, seeing anyone at the moment"

She grinned at him with a sly look: "Is that an invitation?"

Irvine thought for a second then answered:" Hmm no, wouldn't work out."

She answered: "No it wouldn't."

Irvine took another sip of the old malt and asked; "Why not?"

Quistis looked at her glass: " We are too different."

He snorted: "Yeah the macho womanizer and the puritan instructor…."

She looked up into his eyes: "Right, that's the point….."

They sat again in silence, Quistis smoked another cigarette, she already felt a metallic taste in her mouth and knew that she had enough but did not care.

"It could work out …?" she finally said.

"Yes, it could………" was his final answer.