A/N: I wrote this a long, long time ago (like, a whole month). I had it on my mom's computer which doesn't do the internet very well, so I never put it up. Well, my mom recently sent it to me attached to an e-mail, but she failed to realize it was saved as a file I can't open on my dad's computer. Well, I e-mailed it back to her so she could save it as something else, but she realized the software it was written in (Microsoft Word) had been deleted cause she's re-formatting her hard-drive. *sigh* So, I decided to same myself any more headache by typing it up on my daddy's computer. So here it is. Enjoy. =)
Another A/N: I wrote this kind of on a dare. I told a friend that I could write a story based on a title - any title- that someone handed me. So, she told me to write a story titled "The Squeaker." So, I did. And here it is. =)
Zell Dincht woke up in the middle of the night to the warkings of his baby chocobo, or chicobo, named Mog.
He sat up in a sleepy haze, rubbing his face and muttering about his dreams. As he opened his eyes, he noticed Mog running around the room aimlessly, warking until it sounded to Zell as if he'd wark up his lungs.
"What it is, boy?" Zell asked curiously, beckoning to the small chocobo. Mog waddled over to Zell, looking at him with pleading eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"Wark!"
Zell sat back a bit, whincing at the smell of Mog's breath.
"Do you want a Tic Tac? Is that it, boy?" Zell got up and fumbled around with the stuff piled high on his dresser until he located a small package of Tic Tacs. He gave one to Mog, who ate it graciously, but still continued to wark.
"Hmm . . . I wonder what's wrong." Zell stood in the middle of his room, scratching the back of his head in wonder.
Then he realized it. What was standing right there in plain view, or, rather, was wasn't there.
"Hey, boy, where's your squeaker?"
"Wark!" Mog warked again piteously, and it dawned on Zell.
Mog's squeaker was missing.
"Hmm. This is an interesting mystery. What happened to your squeaker toy?" Zell asked Mog.
Mog couldn't say.
"I wonder who would've taken it?"
Mog was unable to comment.
"Well, boy, there's only one way to find out!" Zell began to rummage around his room for decent clothing as he spoke over his shoulder to Mog. "We gotta to find it!"
Zell knocked lightly on the door to Irvine's room and waited patiently as he listened to the shuffling within. He had a slight nagging feeling who else might be in the room with Irvine, but he elected instead not to think about it.
The door opened and Zell was greeted with Irvine, completely decked out in the whole cowboy shebang at 1:30 in the morning.
"Dang, Irvine, do you ever wash those clothes?" Zell commented idly as he looked him up and down.
Irvine let out a snort as he pulled out a cigarette and tucked it between his lips.
"Of course," he muttered around the cigarette as he pulled out a lighter and lit it. He took a quick drag as he put the lighter away and raised his eyebrows. "So, what can I do for you?" he asked, looking at Zell curiously. After all, Zell never seemed like the type for a quick homosexual jaunt in the middle of the night.
Zell realized what Irvine was thinking and quickly began talking before he got the wrong idea. "Well, Mog has lost his squeaker and I was wondering if you'd seen it."
"Mog . . ." Irvine said the name, sounding slightly disappointed. "That's your chocobo, right?"
"Yea," Zell leaned against the doorframe and looked hopefully at Irvine.
Irvine took another drag before shaking his head and sighing out the smoke.
"Nope, sorry shorty," Irvine gave him an apologetic smile. "No can do."
"Oh, well, thanks, I'll keep looking."
"Good luck shorty," Irvine waved as Zell wandered off down the hall.
Zell made his way down the hall, locating Quistis' room and knocking on the door. It was opened a short while later by the instructor as she yawned loudly.
"Hey, Quisty, I was wondering if you'd seen Mog's squeaker toy."
"Hmm . . ." Quistis yawned and glanced at her clock. "Zell, it's 2:15 in the morning. Why can't this wait until after the sun rises?"
"Cause he's warking up a storm. I'm afraid he'll wark out his lungs or something. He really misses it."
"Well, um, geez, I dunno . . ." Quistis yawned again and sighed. "Selphie might know. She seems to know everything that goes on around here."
"Thanks, Quisty," Zell smiled as he turned to leave. "Oh, and sorry for waking you up."
Quistis waved lightly as she yawned again before closing her door and stumbling back into bed.
Zell once again wandered off down the hall in search of the answer to the mystery of Mog's squeaker toy.
"Mog's squeaker toy?" Selphie shook her head and smiled sadly. "Nah, I haven't seen it lately. That's sad, though, Zell. I know Mog loved it."
"Yea," Zell shrugged. "He's warking like aliens are coming or something."
Selphie laughed. "Well, go ask Squall. He's the headmaster. He might know. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you."
"Alright, Selphie, thanks. I'll go ask."
'Be careful waking him, though. Rinoa says he's definitely not a morning person."
"Okay, thanks."
"No problem," Selphie replied as she waved Zell down the hall.
Zell tapped lightly on Squall's door and waited patiently, praying that he wouldn't get docked SeeD level cause he was waking the headmaster up in the middle of the night.
The door opened and Squall stuck his head out, yawning. "Yes, Zell?"
"Hey, Squall, I was wondering if you'd seen Mog's squeaker toy. He's lost it. Either that, or someone's taken it. I dunno which."
"Well, I've been listening to the squeaking coming from Rinoa's room all night . . . why don't you go ask her?"
Zell paused for a minute, and heard the squeaking.
"Wow, thanks, Squall!" With that, Zell ran off down the hall to Rinoa's room. He knocked loudly to be heard over the squeaking and the door opened momentairly.
"Oh, hey, Zell." Rinoa smiled. "What's wrong?"
"What's that squeaking?"
"Oh, Angelo found a squeaker toy and he's playing with it."
"WHAT? THAT DAMNED DOG HAS MOG'S SQUEAKER TOY?" Zell screamed in her face. He shoved past her into the room, where he discovered Angelo on the floor of Rinoa's room, chewing heartily on a small squeaker toy. Mog's squeaker toy.
"DAMN YOU, DOG!" Zell raun up to the door and promptly threw the canine out the window. Rinoa shreiked in protest before running off to find her dog as Zell picked up the squeaker toy triumphantly.
"I'm comin', Mog," Zell whispered before running off to his room.
When Zell walked into his room, he found Mog lying on the floor, with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, warking softly.
"NO!!!" Zell dove in slow motion across his room to his ailing chicobo, squeaker toy in hand. He landed next to the bird and shoved the squeaker toy into Mog's mouth.
The chicobo paused for a moment, slightly closing his mouth. A soft squeak eminated from the toy.
Mog let out a happy wark before sitting up, chewing on the door, causing various squeaks to emerge. Zell let out a long sigh, lying down heavily on the floor. He watched Mog stand up and wander out the door, squeaking all the way.
It never crossed his mind that the squeaks might annoy others, as long as his chicobo was happy.