Be Mine- Chapter 1: "Ask Me"

By Matoko Shizaki

Disclaimer: I don't own Zell or any of the other characters. Squaresoft owns them. I did make up the personality and name, etc of one of the characters because they never tell anything about her. That's about it…

Notes: This is great. You know you're going insane when you title all your chapters after candy hearts.

I was hoping to maybe have had this done at Valentines but it's extremely doubtful now. For the most part, this is to make up for the wonderful Kurama/Hiei fic I was writing that my computer took with it when it crashed… ::sigh:: Oh well!

Ultimecia had been defeated and with her left the danger that had loomed over the world. Spring slowly gave way to summer, days of visiting the tiny, run down cottage where they had grown up, days by the sea remembering. That summer pasted quickly, faster than any of them wished it to. Summer left taking Rinoa back to Timber with the promise to visit often. With autumn came those promised visits, new SeeDs, and new missions. It was no wonder that all breathed a sigh of relief when it was over with. Winter came on, colder than ever. But it was Christmas that rejuvenated the spirits of the students at the Garden. Relatives, friends, parties. That, too, had to end. Slowly winter was ebbing away.

And now it was February.

A week before Valentine's Day the Garden Festival Committee organized decorations. The hallways that were once calm blues, greens, and grays were now stunning pinks, reds, and whites. You couldn't go anywhere without running into heart cut outs, braided streamers, and what Zell disliked the most… posters for the Valentine's Day dance.

Sure, he could have any girl if he felt the need to have one… which he did.

'Alright, admit it Dincht, you just can't get a girlfriend!' Zell thought grudgingly as he passed another poster trying to pretend it wasn't there. For the most part, it was true.

After the whole 'save-the-world' thing, he'd gotten a fair amount of attention from a good portion of the opposite sex in the Garden. Not the girls he'd wanted to notice him, but that was beside the point. Only a few weeks after Ultimecia's defeat, they had forgotten all about him.

At that point, he had decided to take matters into his own hands… and go to Irvine.

Cursing under his breath, Zell recalled the whole ordeal.

"Sure I'll help ya pal!" Irvine had said, clapping him on the back. "Just watch. With me to help ya, you'll have to pry the girls off ya."

And with those words, Zell launched into a series of awful dates. Thin girls, fat girls, shy girls, horny girls… he'd seen them all. In the end, he got sick of it and told Irvine.

"Geez, Zell, why don't you just become gay?" Irvine had asked him in exasperation. Right about now it didn't seem like a bad idea…

Trying to get his mind off his impending dilemma, Zell thought about what the rest of the week would bring.

'Rinoa should be here tomorrow, classes'll get easier, probably start making valentines in class instead of learning tactics, betcha a bunch of girls will spread those stupid love rumors, Irvine'll try and put the moves on Selphie again, and I'll be alone…'

Somehow, his thoughts had returned to one depressing fact: he was one of the only people that would be lonely on Valentine's Day.

He passed the cafeteria, his head hung. For once, he wasn't hungry for one of Balamb's famous hot dogs. Personally, he wanted to go back to his dorm, fall asleep, and not wake up until the week was over.

Around the corner a few girls were talking and giggling, about the dance Zell had no doubt. He tried to ignore them but to no avail.

"Who're your going with?"

"Oh I don't know… I have three guys asking me."

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes you!"

"I'm going with Wayne."

"Ohmigod! That's gross!"

"No it's not!"

Their giggles rang in his ears, almost mocking him. Now he really just wanted to sleep through the week. He turned the corner, hurried passed them, and prayed that he was in his dorm.

The dorms were silent at this time of day; everyone was at lunch or out doing things this afternoon. Unafraid of being seen by someone, Zell punched the wall with all his might.

"God dammnit! I hate Valentine's Day!"

A right hook.

"Every year, the same old thing!"

A high kick.

"I'm just the loser in the background!"

Panting, Zell fell back on the opposite wall. He must look like a freak! Spazzing out about this kind of thing was something only a little kid would do…

He straightened himself out, took one cautious look back down the hallway to the main hall, and headed on to his dorm.

The key turned in the lock, a small the indication that the door was open. He sighed, went inside, and shut the door behind him.

His first thought was of his room… his bed… if he could help it, he didn't want to leave this dorm until the mushy week had passed him by like a bad dream. With all that was on his mind he barely notice what was lying at his feet.

Zell's high tops curled over a small something, clearly plastic or glass from the way it cracked with his weight forced upon it. He quickly recoiled the damaging foot and looked down.

Lying on the carpet was a plastic heart case, the one that usually had candy hearts in it. On the top in gold, fancy lettering was "To My Valentine" with a large crack driven through it from his misstep. Framing the gold and the crack was a red background. He scooped it up and held it in his palm for a moment.

"Must've come in through the mail slot…" Zell muttered as he turned it over in his hand. Inside something rattled and, with curious fingers, Zell opened in.

Inside was a scrap of paper, something jotted on it in red ink. Zell unfolded the scrap and held it up to the light. With a shaking voice, he read it aloud.

"Zell,

I have loved you for some time now, even before your involvement with SeeD and the sorceress. You probably don't notice me but I see you every day. But to the point… I would like you to be my valentine. If you aren't interested, forget you ever got this. But, if by chance you are, their will be more of these letters you may search for. In each of those letters are the locations of the next letter and clues to who I may be. Good luck if you choose to search.

You're first clue: FICBURTON1134"

At the bottom it was merely signed with a heart.

"Holy… shit…" Zell muttered. He was shaking all over. This was just some crazy dream… or was it? Placing the letter back in the case, he looked for the source of the rattling. In the bottom was a white candy heart, "Ask me" written on it in pink lettering.

"Ask you, huh?" Zell said, a small smile creeping its way onto his young features. "I'll do more than ask you. Right now I'd practically marry you!"

With a laugh, he sat the plastic heart, love letter and all, on the counter. Him… a wanted, single guy? It was too good to be true.

"But who would send this?" Zell found himself asking out loud. There was no reply, but Zell hadn't really expected nor craved one.

"I… I gotta tell the others!" he finally decided, smacking his fist into an open palm. Quickly, he pocketed the heart and hurried to the cafeteria in search of the others.

Things were actually starting to look up. And now for a hotdog.

Quistis peered over the top of her book, watching Squall as he stared lazily out the window. Before she could ask the SeeD commander what was wrong, Selphie piped up.

"Hey, Squall, what's up? You're even more quiet than normal!" the brunette chirped as she stirred more sugar into her iced tea. When Squall didn't reply, Irvine followed up the conversation.

"Aw, leave him be, Sephie. He's probably thinking of Rinoa…" Irvine shot Squall a great big grin that Squall happened to see out of the corner of his eye.

"It's not like that…" Squall muttered, barely turning to look at the Galbadian cowboy.

"Then what?" Selphie urged, leaning forward.

Squall opened his mouth to reply, but was cut short as Zell made his grand entrance.

"Guy, guy guys! Guess what?! Guess what I got?!"

"A brain…?" Irvine suggested, trying to mop up the soda he had spilt across the table.

"Hahaha, very funny, Kinneas. I have a brain thanks."

Squall could've commented on this statement, but decided to keep his peace.

"I found this!" Zell reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a plastic candy heart.

"…That's it?" Selphie asked, a little disappointed.

"Sorry to say this, Zell, but those are all over this time of year." Quistis said, sitting her novel in the safety of her lap and away from the soda lake Irvine had make.

"Just open it." the blond urged, handing it over to the former instructor.

Quistis turned the container over, studying it from all angles. Then, she raised the cracked lid and peered it. Suddenly intrigued, she fished the candy heart out and read it aloud.

"Ask me?"

"Mm hm!" Zell said proudly. "Now look a the letter."

Irvine was the one to pull the letter out. His eyes scrolled across the crumpled letter for a minute, Selphie reading anxiously over his shoulder. "A love letter?" Irvine finally asked.

"A love letter!" Selphie clapped her hands. "Aw, this is so romantic Zell! Who sent it!"

Zell took the letter and heart container back from Irvine, putting them back in his pocket. "I don't know. But there's a clue to where I can find the next letter."

"What's the clue?" Selphie asked, squirming in her seat.

"Something really weird. Just a bunch of numbers."

Quistis thought for a moment. "Looks like a Dewey decimal code, like the one's at the library…"

"Yeah… now that I think about it…" Selphie replied hesitantly.

"Thanks guys!" Zell turned and hurried off without another word.

"And he didn't even eat?" Irvine muttered. As if on cue, Zell return to the table, seized the hotdog from Irvine's plate, and scuttled off with a quick, "Thanks again!"

Zell circled around the main hall, face buried in the love letter. "FICBURTON1134? What the…?" Without looking, he turned down the hall to the library.

He looked up when the door slide open to a quiet, smaller room. There were only a few people milling about, mostly what Zell liked to call losers.

'Honestly…' Zell thought tucking the paper back into his pocket. 'Reading on their lunch break? Whatever…' He approached the nearest bookshelf, eyes scrolling across the bindings. 'FICBURTON1134? Nope… not that one… where the hell is it?"

"Um… can I help you?" said a voice behind him.

Zell turned, locking eyes with one of the library assistants. He'd seen her around a lot, usually helping someone or putting up with that one obnoxious SeeD guy. She was the same one who helped him find a book last time, the girl with the ponytail.

"Oh, yeah. I'm looking for a book. It's…" Zell paused, fighting to try and remember what Quistis had called it. "Doohickey… decimal…"

"Dewey decimal number?" the girl suggested.

"Yeah, that's it! We'll it's Dewey decimal number is FICBURTON1134."

"Fiction? Okay, that's over here…" Lost in thought, she led Zell to one of the back bookshelves near the study area. "Any Burton is the author?"

Zell nodded and the girl got to work scrolling down the bookshelf.

"Barry, Bartlet, Beck, Binks, Bottomley, here it is! Burton. Mary Burton." She plucked a small, burgundy volume from the shelf. "A book of love poems?"

"Er… for my… er… girlfriend." Zell explained nervously.

"Oh, I see. Here you go." She handed the volume over to Zell. "If you need anything else, let me know." That's when she flashed him a quick smile.

Before now, he'd never realized how cute she was… for a bookworm that is. Zell shook his head, sorted out his thoughts, and thanked her. With a nod, she took her leave and went back over to the counter.

He crossed into the study area and plopped down into a chair next to a mousy boy with large glasses. Noticing the boy was watching him, he looked over.

"Yo, what's up?"

The boy muttered a nervous reply and went back to his book. Satisfied, Zell turned back to his.

Burgundy and worn, the book has certainly seen a few years. The corners of the bindings were worn, the cover peeling up. Scrawled across the cover in gold letter was the title: "From the Heart: Love Poems by Marie Burton". Zell flipped open the cover to the table of contents and read down the list.

All of the poem titles were mushy, related to love, marriage, dating. 'But no sex. Figures…' Finally there was a title that caught his eye. It was called "Glass Fairytale" and written next to it in the table of contents was a heart and the words, "Right here." Zell dug the letter from his pocket, opened it, and held it over to the note in the book. The handwriting was the same.

'Bingo.'

Zell opened to the poem and began to read:

A fairytale setting

With elegant poise

Glass slippers upon polished floor

Buried beneath party noise

A tall, slender, young maiden

With silken, soft skin

Red like a rose

With thorns concealing pain within

Across the room, her knight,

Ashamed of battle scars,

Stands alone in solitude,

Sword shining like a star

In the silent courtyard

Their lonely eyes meet,

Hearts palpitating

To the waltz's soft beat

He takes her hand in his

True love dare not fail

Both glad it didn't shatter:

Their glass fairytale

'…what the hell is that supposed to mean?' Zell wondered. He read it over again, but realized nothing new. With a sigh, Zell closed the book. 'So much for true love.'

Hope you liked that! Just something new that I stumbled across when I went back and started updating fics. There should be at least three more chapters to it, so I'll get started right away.

By the way, I wrote that poem in about twenty minutes in math class so it really sucks. Sorry about that!

Reviews appreciated! Criticism accepted! Flames extinguished!