Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Until the End of Eternity, and Longer ❯ Chapter Thirty-One ( Chapter 32 )

Disclaimers are, as always, inserted at random, and say nothing of value, other than I don't own ff8, I'll never own ff8, and I have a sneeze stuck in my nose that refuses to come out. I hate that.

A/N: Just a note. Arashi translates as "storm" in Japanese. Not really important to the story, but…something to think about. Ah, I love useless information.

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"Until the End of Eternity, and Longer"

by: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Thirty-One

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'One-hundred and thirty eight. One-hundred and thirty nine. One-hundred and forty. One-hundred and forty one…'

"How many more times are you going to hit that wall?" Max yawned as he listened to the thud-thud-thud of Jynx's hands against the cement. They weren't hard punches, not really. She seemed unlikely to do any serious damage to herself by hitting the wall that softly over and over and over and over again. It was just…getting annoying. He could feel the gentle hits shake the wall slightly each time she connected solidly.

"As many as it takes," she answered blandly through hits. One-hundred and forty-seven. One-hundred and forty-eight. "To get back the hands that I had…when I was…"One-hundred fifty-two. "…still an Arashi." 'One-hundred fifty-four. Hands that…one-hundred fifty-five…never failed me. One-hundred fifty-six. One-hundred fifty-seven. One-hundred fifty-eight.' A few reps more and she sat down against the wall, crossing her legs into a half-lotus position. She felt her knuckles, her palms, the spaces between her fingers. 'Two more days. It will be Tuesday in two more days. If I continue at this pace, that will be enough time to build up the proper callouses once again. I didn't realize the gauntlet had made my hand so frail. That simply won't do for the task ahead. I can't rely on that weapon any longer.'

Jynx leaned her head back and rested her eyes. 'The power to kill GF. And all I have to do is reunite him with his son? What aren't you telling me, Kinneas? I may be little more than a vengeful soul trapped in the body of a soldier, but I know there's more to this than you're saying. For that reason, I think it would be in my best interest for them to chase us around for a while. That will give me time to figure out what it is that you're trying to hide.'

The door opened. It was that young man again. "Miss Jynx. You've got a visitor."

Jynx gave a curt nod and stood up, moving to stand before the young man. And strangely, the thought that struck her man first was, 'he's a lot taller than me, but Seifer is still taller. I barely come up to his chest.' It was an idle thought with little meaning, but it caught her off guard. 'Why am I thinking about him now?'

"I'll have to cuff you, Miss Jynx."

"Do what you must," she said softly.

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Seifer had spent all night thinking about it, and most of the morning, as the information he and Quisits received from Xu that morning cycled through his brain. 'Xu's younger sister. Second of three girls, coming from a small Galbadian city located very near Galbadia Garden. Jynx Arashi. She was never very good with emotions, but that doesn't mean she didn't have them, Xu had said. I think sometimes, she felt things more deeply than anyone else, she just didn't know how to show it. It really hurt her, what happened to Ruvie. But…she's alive?" Xu had smiled sort of bittersweetly at the knowledge. "I'm glad."

"Mr. Almsay?" Jynx asked blandly as she sat down across from him at the table in the tiny room.

"It's okay, Oli," Seifer told the man. "You can leave us alone. Jynx and I…well, she wouldn't hurt me, and I can probably fend her off better than you could if she tried to anyway."

"Yes sir, Mr. Almsay," the young man said. "I'll be just outside the door, just knock when you're finished."

"Sure sure. So, Jynx," Seifer said slowly. "How are you?" He seemed to have made his mind up about something, but for the life of her, Jynx couldn't fathom what that something might be.

"What is it that you want, Mr. Almsay?" she asked frankly.

"Well, first off, I'd like you to call me Seifer, but after four years, I guess that's pretty much out of the question, huh?"

She just stared at him. 'Ah, the 'get to the point' face. Geez. Impatient much?' he thought.

"Well, I've made up my mind," he said, giving her a playful smirk from across the table. "You see, you dragged me halfway across the desert to Esthar a while back, even though you could have abandoned me. And then, every day for three years, you checked up on me, even if I was in a coma and couldn't really know whether I had a visitor or not. So, I've decided that I'm not going to abandon you either. And I'm going to come visit you every day, until you're out of here."

"What about SeeD?" she asked vaguely, trying to dissuade him, though her tone gave nothing away, as usual, not even the fact that his NOT returning to SeeD was something she would never have dared to hope for, until just this moment, or the fact that she couldn't fathom why she hoped for it at all. 'I don't want him to be my enemy,' she thought. That was all. She neither knew, nor understood why that was.

"Oh, you know, they can wait. Some things are more important than that. Like friends, you know, and family."

He could swear her brow creased slightly for a moment at the mention of family.

"You know, I didn't realize you were Xu's sister. We're not friends, really, me n' Xu, but I've known her for a long time."

"That's none of your concern, Almsay," she said flatly, but not as silkily as she normally spoke. Yeah, he'd hit a nerve. She'd dropped the Mr. that she had always put in front of his last name. "She told us…about Ruvie, and…Shin. You don't need to keep pretending, you know…that you don't care."

Then, for the first time, he saw an actual expression on her face, it was slight, but…she frowned at him. "It's none of your concern," she informed him in that factual way she had, but her eyes all but dared him to pry any further. 'Is she…annoyed?' Well, Seifer couldn't really help but pry. And seeing her with some sort of reaction, all he could think was, 'finally.' He felt like he was finally getting through that thick skin of apathy she wore. "I'm your friend, Jynx. Maybe the only one you've got. Why won't you let me in?" he sighed, resting his chin in his hand when he noticed her own hands. Pale, chafed, cut and swollen. "Shit! What the hell've you been doing to yourself?!?" he demanded, grabbing the left hand and inspecting the bruises.

Jynx's eyes shot up in alarm, surprise, but he didn't see it, since he was otherwise occupied. "Training," she answered flatly. At least he hadn't caught her off-guard enough that her voice sounded abnormal.

And Seifer got the sinking feeling that their one-sided conversation was starting to go around in circles.

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Winhill. It was just as Squall remembered it, but small differences made it not the place he left behind four years ago, and so, it was definitely not the place Laguna left behind some twenty years ago. Was there anyone here, alive, that still remembered Laguna? That still remembered Raine? He didn't know, and just the locale was not enough to resurrect much for the older man. He was trying.

"It's…so familiar, but…I can't place it, Squall. I'm sorry."

Laguna sighed. This was really hard. He knew this place. There was something about it that made him feel…warm and sad at the same time…but there was something blocking the memory, something buried, something that he didn't want to remember. He didn't know what it was, only that, whatever it was, it hurt. It hurt so much that even feeling it creeping up on him was almost too much to bear. He'd been through the entire town, Squall and Irvine going as far as taking him down the road the way he used to patrol every day, but it didn't help. It was…so familiar, but…

Laguna curled up in the tiny bed that Squall told him used to be his own, and frowned. "It feels like coming home again, Squall," he whispered sadly, "but I still don't know why it feels like that." He flopped over onto his back like a stubborn child. "This isn't working."

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Xu opened her jewelry box and pulled out the small hunk of jade with the kanji carving in it. 'Shin. Core. Heart. Center.' She wrapped her hand tightly around it and held it close to her chest, closing her eyes to the fast disappearing sun and letting memory flood in.

Ruvie, her little pigtails bouncing, held up the half-polished hunk of jade to her oldest sister and said, "Xuxu! Lookit! I got you a present!" She had hardly been three at the time.

Xu put her hand out and used a handkerchief to polish off the rest of the stone, and smiled. "It's lovely Ruvie. Thank you. Isn't it pretty, Jynx?" she asked, holding open her palm to show the large gemstone to the serious eight-year old who sat indian style on a flat rock nearby, carving something into the surface with no particular purpose in mind.

Jynx glanced up at the rock. "It's broken," she said softly before turning her eyes back to what she had been doing a moment ago.

Ruvie sniffled. Jynx always managed to make the youngest girl so sad, with her matter-of-fact ways, but Xu understood, a lie often hurt more than the truth, but that didn't mean having to constantly soften the girl's blows was any fun for her.

"It's just a small chip," Xu told Jynx. "I'm sure you can use that knife of yours and fix it for me," she said, wrapping slender fingers around the stone.

"I might screw up," Jynx said flatly. "So don't be mad if I make it even uglier."

"It's okay. I trust you. You've got strong, steady hands, sis. If anyone can fix it, it's you."

"Have it your way."

Ten minutes later, the girl was handing her back a smooth, chunk of jade with the carving of a word in the surface where the scratch had been. 'Shin'. It was the name of their hometown, but it meant so much more than that too. "I'll shape it for you later," she had said, meaning that she would cut away the excess, smooth out the stone, make it into a shape that she would be able to wear, probably even put in on a nice cord or chain for her. Jynx was just like that. She didn't do things half way, but she never got around to it. That was really, one of the last memories Xu had of the three of them, all together. She opened her eyes and held the rugged jade to her chest. 'Jynx. I miss you and Ruvie so much. Please come home.' But she knew, that was sort of the problem. They didn't have a home to go to, not anymore. "Shin," she said aloud, a few tears falling silently from her eyes.

She was startled when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Xu?"

"Oh. Hey Nida. What's up?" she asked, wiping her sleeve across her face and collecting herself as well as she could.

"You're troubled," he said softly, sitting down beside her on the lonely bench in the Quad. "You've been troubled all day. Ever since Quistis called."

"Did you and I ever talk about family, Nida?" she asked, easing into the subject.

"No. I don't believe so," he said. "Something happened to your family?" he asked.

Xu nodded, and began, her voice softer than usual. "About four years ago, just before the war, one of my sisters disappeared. Just…vanished. Nobody knew what happened. I didn't really think she died, like everyone said, not really, but, I didn't dare hope that she was alive, either. But…she's alive. She's alive and…she's all alone."

Not knowing what else he was supposed to do, being terrible with words, and flustered around women, pretty much in general, Nida put his arm awkwardly around Xu's shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. "It must be hard for you," he whispered, not knowing the story, not knowing how hard it must be.

Xu buried her head into his shoulder and sniffled a bit, trying so hard to collect herself, to stay strong. "She's not a bad person. It's just that nobody understands her. She just wants to be a part of something bigger than herself, that's all, a family. It was really hard on her, being forgotten, it made her feel like she wasn't important enough to be remembered."

Nida sighed slightly, Xu was jumping around so much he couldn't figure out what was going on. "Why don't you start from the beginning," he offered gently.

Xu nodded, wiping her eyes again and sitting up, she looked down at the stone in her hand for strength, and began. "When Jynx was born, she didn't cry. That is what started everything…"

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Seifer stared the young woman across from him down for almost five minutes, almost demanding her to speak. Of course, that was before he remembered Laguna whining over the intercom yesterday morning. 'This is getting me nowhere.'

"I want you to tell me about yourself," he finally said. "I want to know more about you, but I'd rather hear it from you, then from your big sister, who's more Quistis's friend then my own."

"You care too much about too many things," she said flatly.

"And I think you care more than you let on," he taunted. "Tell me about your sisters."

"What would you like me to say, Mr. Almsay. They were family. Ruvie was young and impetuous and determined to do things her way and make her own mistakes. Xu worked very hard to keep us all together, but in the end, she failed. Ruvie would have hated me, if it weren't for Xu. And our parents hated me in spite of Xu's efforts. Why does it matter so much to you? That was all a very long time ago."

"And it still haunts you, even now," Seifer said, giving her a knowing, and wry sort of half-smile. "You may think that you can hide behind that expressionless mask, Jynx, but your eyes tell me everything. I guess you know that, that's why you wear the shades yet, to keep up the front of being nothing more than a soldier. Right?"

"I am nothing more than a soldier, Mr. Almsay. There just isn't any place for me in this world outside of the battlefield. It would be in your best interest to stop dreaming and open your eyes. I am not what you think I am."

"You're only a human being, whatever way you slice it," he commented idly.

"You're wrong. I'm a demon who was born only to destroy. All children who are born as I was are demons who exist only to destroy. Will you make me destroy you as well, just to prove it?"

Seifer stared at her critically for a long time before speaking.

"Che. You're a terrible liar. Anyway, we're talking in circles, so, I think I'll tell you a little story. So just listen, okay, it's something somebody important to you told me not very long ago. I think you'll like it."

Her eyes hardened on him slightly, and if he was a little less reckless, he might have reconsidered, but Seifer figured, she needed to be reminded of just this sort of thing. "You were nine years old when Galbadia Garden recruited you. You signed up, leaving everything behind as if you didn't care, but you left behind these little wooden sculptures that Ruvie liked. That's why you left them, right? Of course, at that time, you said it was because they would be useless to you where you were going. You told Xu that she should…"

"…forget that I ever existed," Jynx whispered. "Don't be fond of me. Don't attatch your life to mine in any way. If we meet again, treat me, always, as a stranger. Life will be kinder to you that way. What's your point, Mr. Almsay, it was the truth. And it's not as if she listened anyway. The past is the past, it can't be changed. Why are you dwelling on it now?"

"Because, Jynx, the past is what makes us who we are. It's important. Much more important than you seem to want to admit."

"It doesn't matter. I don't care."

"Well, I like this story, so I'm going to tell it whether you like it or not. If you just sit there and listen, it'll go more quickly, but I've learned not to expect any one thing out of you, since you always manage to surprise me. Now, where was I? Ah! Right, you'd just left for Galbadia Garden, and it turned out you were quite the little prodigy of war. So much the prodigy, that by the time you were fourteen, they had decided to temporarily transfer you to Balamb Garden so you could learn how to use GF. You didn't know your sisters were there until you arrived, but they hadn't forgotten you…"

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ah, evil cliffies being what they are n'all…dun dun dun! But hey, this chapter's a bit longer than the last bunch, so yay! Not much, but still! And yes, I am well aware that I STILL haven't told you what went on with Ruvie and Shin n'all, be patient with me! I'll get there when I'm good and ready! Anyway, this felt like a good place to stop this. Not a helluva lot of the three stars of our little drama in this chapter, but…well, I think all this crap needs to get out too…so it was bound to happen that way. Well, no worries, hope you liked it anyway! R&R, and until next time,

Happy Haunting,

Banshee Puppet