Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Until the End of Eternity, and Longer ❯ Chapter Thirty-two ( Chapter 33 )

Thanks once again to my reviewers. Well, trying to figure out what to say in this story and what to say in the next one is too much of a pain in the arse, so I've decided Jynx is officially a main character now! (yes I know, she's been a main char for a while, sorta, but…that was unofficial-uhm, don't try to follow my logic, sometimes I even confuse myself) What does that get you? It gets you some actual character development and Jynx's whole story in one neat little package called "Until the End of Eternity, and Longer" is what it gets you. I think I'll still borrow her for other stories though, because I like her. *winks* She's my official FF8 OC.

So, disclaimers still apply, and Hikaru no Go manga is coming to Shonen Jump in January! *gushes* Ah, manga, ah ff8…is this heaven?

Lunatic Pandora1: wow, that was a mouthful, but I know what you mean, I think, so yay! (only had to read it…slowly…three times) We'll just have to see what happens with Seif's "story" though. Gotta remain true to Jynx-ness, ya know, but she has more levels than I let on earlier in the story, which I think is starting to become obvious now.

Ariennye: Thanks so much, always good to have positive feedback from new people, keeps Xav inspired and me busy! Glad you're curious about Jynx, since she sorta fell from "cameo char" to "major role" in this story. Ah well, she'd be happy about that…if she did happy, that is.

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"Until the End of Eternity, and Longer"

By: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Thirty-Two

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They stayed over in Winhill for one night. It was pointless to stay any longer, it wasn't helping, and it was making Laguna depressed, which was trying on Squall and Irvine. After all, when Laguna got depressed, he got annoying-well, more annoying than usual, that is. And Squall was not known for his patience.

They thought they might have more luck in Bella Maure, talking to someone he knew, someone who remembered him might help. And Kennedy was there. But Laguna had been the one who knew it's exact location, and he couldn't remember it now. They thought they'd be able to find it, having been there before, and having the Ragnarok to work with, but the desert sands had hidden the town once again, and the winds were so rough, that without a reckless, yet somehow genius pilot like Selphie at the helm, it was far too dangerous to stay. "It isn't worth our lives Irvine, pull back. We'll go back to Esthar, get exact coordinates, and come back. We'll bring Selphie. Even Laguna agrees with me on this one. Let's get out of here."

"Damn it all to Hell!" Irvine cursed under his breath before turning away from the massive sandstorm.

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It would have been easy to just shrug her off to being Jynx, if she had said nothing, but she remembered the exact words she said on that day. "Don't be fond of me. Don't attatch your life to me in any way. If we meet again, treat me, always, as a stranger. Life will be kinder to you that way." The fact that she remembered proved to Seifer that it was true, he was right, she cared. She may not want to care, may not want it to matter at all, but it did. It mattered. In fact, he was now more convinced than ever, that it might just be the only thing that did.

"That was about seven years ago," Seifer told her. "You were fourteen. When you arrived in Balamb, Xu and Ruvie were waiting for you at the docks."

"Why do you insist on telling me things that I already know?" Jynx asked flatly, giving nothing away. "It's hardly a productive way to pass the time."

"Like beating the crap out of yourself in a dark, dank cell is?"

"That's different. That's training."

"Fine, so you tell me the story, I'm sure there's something your sister left out." He had said it purposely, your sister, because it seemed to be the only thing that got a reaction out of her, however minimal.

Jynx sat silently, hands now folded in her lap and away from Seifer's prying eyes, staring at the wall past Seifer's left ear, but the blonde was as undaunted as usual. "That's what I thought," he said. "Man, all these interruptions, I keep forgetting where I was. I may have to start from the beginning again."

'If he does that, it could take all week,' Jynx's mind muttered. 'I like you, Almsay, but not that much.' "Docks. Balamb," she said, a little less than pleased to be encouraging him.

"Ah! Right, so you want me to go on after all! See! I told you you'd like my story!"

Jynx stared at him. 'Damn, those eyes could freeze lava,' he thought. "I am merely encouraging you to get this pointless trip down memory lane over with, since you are so insistent upon giving me a history lesson, complete with facts that I already know."

"Anyway, you sort of expected Xu to, you know, not listen, since she never did, right? But I'll bet having a nine year old Ruvie plow into your hip caught you off guard. After all, she'd only been four years old when you left."

He was right, at that time, it had surprised her, not that she showed it. A slight tightness at the corner of the mouth, a slight narrowing of the eyes, just an instant, a barely-there furrow of the brow, but Xu had always noticed those things about her better than anyone else.

* "Jyyyynnnnxxxx!!!!" the kid squealed as she all but tumbled face first into her hip. Ah, yes, Jynx remembered what this was, a punishment in awkwardness that Xu had inflicted upon her more than once. It was called a hug, it was considered a show of affection, though Xu had not been known to be this enthusiastic about it, and, unlike the youngest of the three siblings, when Jynx didn't respond in kind, Xu always let go. Ruvie, on the other hand, was clinging to her so tightly she felt as if she might have to drag the girl back to Balamb Garden attatched to her hip. 'I suppose it would be good training,' she thought dryly. But, frankly, she wasn't in the mood for training after almost twelve hours on a sticky, sweaty, foul-smelling, over-crowded boat. Xu had gone against her better judgement once again and now she was suffering for it. 'So much for being treated like a stranger.' Yes, suffering. What was she supposed to do about hugs again? She knew someone told her, that she was supposed to remember, but right now, with warm arms encircling her waist, she felt so strange and warm inside…obviously, this had to stop, even if prying the kid off of her was the only option that remained.

She pat Ruvie on the top of the head, awkwardly ruffling the girl's hair, and squeezed her shoulder gently. "Your grip is as tight as ever, I see," she dead-panned.

Ruvie just gave her a big smile, one of her front teeth missing, and said, "Lookit Jynxy! It's the ocean!"

How could Jynx possibly forget the ocean? She'd been riding on it all day. But turning her head over her shoulder, the orange flecks of fading sunlight dancing off the negligible waves, she did understand what Ruvie meant. Shin was built against the base of a mountain, the ocean was only a dream for the young girl back then, and not knowing how long the two girls had been in Balamb, Jynx could only assume that it still felt like that to Ruvie, a dream. And it did have it's own beauty, distant and untouchable as it was, even when it was right there.

She turned her face back ahead of her. "Xu," she said curtly in greeting.

Xu nodded her head, for Jynx to follow, and Ruvie ran circles around the both of them as the two girls fell into step with one another.

"Jynx," Xu greeted her back after a few moments. "You haven't changed much," she said. "You're still short."

Jynx rolled her eyes. "And you still dance around what you really mean to say," she returned. "But you've gotten quieter."

Xu gave her a bittersweet little smile and said. "Hmn. My ever-serious little sister. It's good to see you again. How long will you be staying?"

"As long as they tell me to."*

She just stared as he told her how Xu said she thought it was adorable, the way Ruvie danced around them the entire walk back to the car, chattering endlessly, neither realizing, nor caring, that essentially, the younger girl was having a conversation with herself. Didn't get any reaction when he accused her of secretly loving her little sister, deep down, more than anything. That led him to believe that one of two things was true. Possibility #1: Jynx was more Jynx than even he realized. Possibility #2: She'd simply zoned him out and wasn't paying attention anymore. Surely someone who could tune out Laguna's whining could tune out anything. But just when he was about to say something about it, she said, "you've stopped."

"Little kids are awfully talkative, huh?" Seifer asked idly, just trying to pull some words out of those lips of hers to get her focused on her story again.

"So are a few green-eyed men that I know," she returned, giving Seifer what could only be considered a pointed look.

"Oh my heart! I think it's broken!" Seifer said, pulling his hands to his chest and laying the melodrama on thick before smirking at her. "Anyway, what happened next? Oh, there was some more stuff about you being a prodigy…you know, that Xu has nothing but praise for you…and then…ah right! You and Ruvie went to the fire cavern!"

There it was, he definitely wasn't seeing things that time, Jynx tensed. It was just the barest stiffening of the shoulders and a tiny clamping of the jaw, but it was enough to convey the message to someone who knew her. And the message was: STOP. RIGHT. THERE. Complete with warning lights and obnoxious little whistles. Stop right there. Don't go any further. Don't say anything more. Just…don't. For the first time since he'd known her, Seifer realized that Xu was right, Jynx did feel things. 'Sometimes more intensely than anyone else,' the brunette woman's words echoed in his mind. Had he been so blind as to not see it before now? It wasn't that it wasn't there. He just…hadn't been looking. Whatever the case, the point, now, was obvious to him. She didn't want to go there. Not here. Not now. And not with Seifer.

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* "She hasn't changed at all!" the nine-year-old huffed at Xu once they'd gotten back to Garden. Jynx had "agreed" to meet them for supper, which basically translated as she hadn't flat out said "no" when given a time to meet them by Xu, who hadn't actually said "would you like to join us for dinner" as much as "we'll be having dinner at seven. I'll expect to see you there." In reality, what Jynx had said was "expect whatever you like," but Xu had translated it easily enough as "see you then" before the girl had headed off to her meeting with Headmaster Cid. Truth was, Jynx couldn't deny her sisters anything. She always caved in when it came to them, always-even if it never seemed as if she gave an inch.

Xu smiled softly at Ruvie, who was stomping around her room like a thing possessed. Ruvie and Jynx were really so different, when Xu thought about it, the youngest of their family was so emotional; she ran around Garden some days like an armondo on speed, plowing over everything and anything that got in her way, tumbling over, and yelling "sorry" as she rocketed past some unsuspecting target or other. And Jynx, well, Xu was certain that something more had happened to Jynx in their youth than she, herself, knew, something that the other girl had no intention of sharing. "She's still a big jerk!" Ruvie complained. "Five years and what do I get? You're grip is as strong as ever! Comeon sis! Is that the best she could do? Pat me on the head, give me a lollypop and hope I just go away?!? Oooo. She makes me so mad!"

"Is that why you still keep the figurines she made for you so long ago?" Xu asked softly, causing the kid to bite her lower lip, coming down off of her wave of anger before saying quietly, "she didn't make them for me. She just made them, because making things is what Jynx does."

Xu shook her head softly. "She made them for you," she whispered. "Just because she never said she made them for you, or that they were a gift, or that they were yours, doesn't mean she didn't make them for you. She's your sister, so learn to read between the lines."

That was all it took for Ruvie to fall into Xu's embrace and start crying against her eldest sister's stomach. "What happened to her, Xuxu? The Jynx who made figurines and caught the biggest fish and sat on the roof to watch the sunset and always took the blame and got herself grounded every time one of us did something wrong even though it was almost never her fault, and the Jynx who just stood there, chin held high, when all the kids threw rocks at her, but who beat up that boy who broke your bracelet, and who watched over us, no matter what?" Ruvie sobbed for a few minutes as Xu soothed her, rubbing her back, before sniffling back the tears and saying again. "What happened to the Jynx who always protected us, sis? Where did she go?"

Xu leaned down to kiss her baby sister's forehead and said, "she's still watching, Ruvie. You'll see her, if you figure out where to look."

Ruvie sniffled and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "It's almost seven," she said, voice a little hoarse from crying, "she's probably waiting for us, right?"

Xu nodded. "Go wash your face. She'll still be waiting when you're finished." *

"Was she…you know…waiting?" Nida asked softly when Xu fell silent for nearly two minutes.

The brunette nodded up at Nida. "Of course she was waiting. She loved the two of us more than anything else in the whole world."

"If that's the case, then I guess there's only one thing for you to do," Nida said, sounding more confident than she'd ever heard him. She searched his face for it, the thing that made him so confident, but he just smiled down on her. "Go to her," he said softly. "I'll be fine here on my own for a few days. I'll get Fujin and Raijin to help me out if I need it."

"But…"

"It's a family thing, Xu. Just go. I promise I won't do anything stupid like crash Garden into an unsuspecting town or anything. That was Squall."

Xu put her hand over her mouth and snickered. "And I'm sure he would love to have you remind him about that."

Nida shrugged. "I do it all the time. Well, when he starts getting on my nerves, anyway. He's really pretty harmless, and deep down, I think he finds it funny…just a little."

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"How is he?"

"Asleep, finally," Squall said with a slight exhalation of breath as he dropped into the seat nearest the door of Ragnarok's bridge. "He's really stressed out."

"We all are, I think," Irvine said. "Sorry for snapping at you before. It was just…we were so close. It was like I could practially see her standing there, all courage and stone. If Winhill didn't make him remember Raine, if Bella Maure can't make him remember my mom, Squall, what are we going to do?"

Squall, what are we going to do? How many times had he heard that now, or something like it. He didn't know the answers any more now than he had then, but even then, somehow, he'd found a way to pull through. He wouldn't have been able to do it alone though, he knew that as well as anyone.

'I don't know!' his mind seethed, tired of always having to come up with answers for everyone, but he couldn't tell Irvine that. If it was anyone else, maybe. He would have been able to get away with an "I don't know" for Zell, and Rinoa, hell, probably even Selphie, but Irvine had never let him off that easy. He always reminded him. 'Cid chose you to be Commander for a reason, Squall. You're the one best suited to it. I know it's a lot of responsibility, but…are you planning to run away?' Yeah, Irvine Kinneas was one hell of a pep-talker. Right. Actually, he always managed to make Squall more depressed and determined to do better in the same vapid instant. And feeling like that made Squall feel like a total space cadet. So, instead of saying 'I don't know' to try to get Irvine to leave him to sulk in peace, which would likely only result in another one of the cowboy's beloved "pep talks", he went for the middle ground between decision and outright refusal to decide. "If that's the case," he said after a pregnant pause, "then we'll think of something."

Irvine just chuckled a little hollowly. "You're right. I'm getting ahead of myself again, huh?"

"A bit, but I suppose one of us ought to, and it's better you than me."

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Laguna stared at the ceiling. 'I wonder how Jynx is doing? Same as always, probably, but I still feel really bad that I had to do that.' Laguna laced his fingers behind his head, stared at the ceiling, and sighed. "I did the right thing, right?"

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"Ruvie wasn't supposed to go to the fire cavern yet, and you were supposed to go the next day, but she did things how and when she wanted to." Seifer said, in spite of concerns he was beginning to have for his own health. 'She needs this. And I'm going to keep telling myself that until we both believe it.'

"Remind you of anyone?" she interrupted blandly, with another "pointed look", which was really just the equivalent of looking into his eyes. Ah, when the silent treatment and the "I don't care" treatment fail, go for the "make abusive remarks and hope to insult the topic away" treatment begins.

Seifer gave off one of his deliberate sighs and said, "you really don't want to talk about this, huh? But I think you need to, Jynx. It's bad to keep stuff like this all locked up inside where it can fester. Trust me on that one, I know."

"Oh? And who do you share all your dirty little secrets with these days, Mr. Almsay?"

"Laguna."

She hadn't expected that, hadn't expected such a matter of fact answer with no hesitation.

"..we…understand one another," Seifer said. "Quistis and I talk sometimes too. I want to talk with you too, but you won't let me."

"You talk to me all the time," Jynx stated. 'What are you getting at, Seifer? Just say it the way you always do, with no regard for anyone's feelings. Damnit Xu! The way he's treating me now. I…because you told them… … …I hate it.'

"You're right, I do. I talk to you all the time. But you never talk back. You need someone to talk to too, you know."

'And now, I'm getting lectured by the one person in the entire world who's just as bad off as I am. Figures.' "And, so, you've deduced that it ought to be you?"

"Well, why not? You've known me a long time, right?"

'Seven years. Not that you remember that.' "The three years that you were unconscious don't count," she stated blandly.

"You're completely impossible, you know. But that's kind of why I like you, Jynx. I guess I'm a sucker for lost causes."

"You'll only end up disappointed that way."

"Maybe, but I guess we can't help what we are, huh?" Seifer leaned his head on his hand again, giving her a cocksure, sort of knowing smirk. "So, do you want to finish the story from here, or should I?"

"It's the past."

"It's your story. I'd still like to hear it from you. Come on Jynx, I know you're human underneath it all. Just this once? I'll never ask again."

Memories of that day flashed behind Jynx's eyes, bright flashes of red and gold, a smiling face, and then…and then…

"No."

Seifer frowned at her. "Jynx."

"I can't do that."

Seifer shook his head and stood moving around the table and leaning against it, looking down at the top of her head, as her gaze didn't move from where he had been sitting before, the wall just past his ear. To get her to look at him, he had to use his right hand to gently move her chin upwards.

"Yes?" she asked flatly. And the oddness of the situation was just bizarre enough that he had to fight down the chuckle, but was unable to fight off the amused grin. Her eyes looked at him, sort of, confused. "Being human," he said after a few seconds, "it's not so bad, you know."

"It is not what I desire."

They both knew that she had no intention of telling him what it was that she did desire, so he didn't bother asking. Letting go, he stood upright, giving her shoulder a gentle, affectionate squeeze. "Maybe tomorrow then," he said before going to the door, raising his hand to knock.

Jynx, stragely, felt as if there was something she should say at this point. This was the closest she'd been to anyone, other than Xu and Ruvie, when they were…very young. And he knew them-all of the important things-well, most.

'But what am I supposed to say? I've always sucked at this sort of thing.'

"… … …Seifer?" the name sounded so odd on her lips. She'd never called anyone by their first name before, other than her sisters. And when he turned around, he had the goofiest grin on his face. "… … … I'll see you tomorrow."

He gave her a nod, and said, "you bet you will! And you'd better not be such a pain tomorrow, or I'm staying longer," he scolded before clinking his knuckles against the door. "Time to go!" he said cheerily to Oli, who he knew was standing on the other side of the door, probably counting the tiles on the wall, if he remained true to form.

Oli opened the door, letting Seifer out and getting the cuffs out for Jynx, even though he obviously thought it was pointless to do so. Seifer winked at her as he disappeared around the corner and she put her hands behind her back for Oli to cuff her. '…thank you…for stopping by, Seifer. No one's ever done anything like that before. Even so…you're still a pretty strange person. But then again, I never did understand you.'

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Alrighty, well, there's another chapter down! And, tonight, I had a brainstorm at work! I know how this story is going to end! Woot! I have no idea how I'm going to get there…but…I plan on enjoying the journey! And I hope whoever's reading this is enjoying it right along with me. Cheers. And, until next time,

Happy Haunting,

~Banshee Puppet~