Zell stretched and cracked his knuckles while slowly making his way back into Balamb Garden, trying to get rid of the adrenalin still rushing through his system.
Dollet had been a hell of a test, and it would have been hard enough even without Seifer going all the way from really fucking annoying to Hey you know what? I'm just gonna storm of and endanger about everyone involved in this mission. Thank ya so much for that, Zell thought angrily. Not to mention this stupid robot spider…thing which just would not die!
Now that he thought about everything that had happened today in more detail he was glad being back in one piece! All thanks to Squall and Selfie. Together they had shown that piece of junk who was boss. "Who would have guessed that we would work this well together?" He wondered out loud, not really watching where exactly he was heading until a familiar voice caught his attention and he stopped in his tracks, annoyance clear on his face.
"Squall! D'you hear about the communication tower in Dollet? We would've been heroes if it weren't for that withdraw order." Seifer said coolly, grinning as always while Squall just stood there not answering, but the silence wasn't lasting for long as Xu and Quistis walked over, both similar angry with Seifer. "You were only looking for a fight." Quistis started, look serious and teeth clenched.
"My dear instructor, I'm hurt. Those are rather cruel words for an aspiring student. A mediocre instructor like you will never understand." Seifer sneered, smirk still in place. Zell was pissed almost immediately, wanting to punch that bastard in the face.
"Seifer, don't be so stuck on yourself. You'll take all responsibility for leaving the designated area." Xu countered, and Xell was nodding in agreement, though no one would actually notice him, for he was still standing a few feet away, barely in hearing range.
Seifer, still oh so full of himself, did not seem bothered by that at all. "Isn't it the captain's duty to take the best possible action?" Zell rolled his eyes at that statement, of course he would think what he did was the right thing. He was about to step in and say someting as well when Xu laughed sarcastically and said: "Seifer, you'll never be a SeeD. Calling yourself a captain is a joke." And with that she and Quistis walked of.
Silence.
'She should not have said that.' Zell thought as he watched the two of them walking past him, leaving a clearly upset Seifer with slumped shoulders and a frown on his face in the middle of the hallway. Those words had been a whole barrell of salt in an open wound. Zell turned back to the scene and saw that Squall was still standing nearby, silent and not caring. Zell could only guess if the so called ice prince took satisfaction in what he just witnessed or if he was as taken aback as Zell himself.
Zell bit his bottom lip, insecure about what to do next. Should he just leave? No one seemed to have noticed him until now, so it would probably be alright, though he did not feel alright. He was not used to seeing Seifer any other than with his trademark smirk in place and stupid insults coming out of his mouth at any time of the day and while he was no fan of that behavior, being his number one victim for mockery besides Squall and all that..., he was definitely not as pleased with Seifer being put in his place like he thought he would be.
Lost in his thoughts Zell almost missed Headmaster Cid walking past him and giving his point of view on the matter. "Seifer. You will be disciplined for your irresponsible behavior. You must follow orders exactly during combat. But I'm not entirely without sympathy for you. I don't want you all to become machines. I want you all to be able to think and act for yourselves. I am..." but then a member of the Garden Faculty stepped into action "Headmaster Cid, you have some business in your office..." Zell wondered what the headmaster had wanted to say next but he only mumbled "There are so many things at hand here." and walked of, as well as Squall and the Garden Faculty guy, leaving only him and the other, now also unbearable silent, gunblade-wielder.
Zell could have left as well, but something about this situation bugged him, more than it should probably but he didn't care. Still a little unsure about his next action he took a deep breath and stepped into Seifers field of view...or so he would have if the gaze of the other had not been glued to the ground. Zell opened his mouth and closed it again soon after, thinking about how to start this conversation. He decided on "Crappy day, huh?" and almost kicked himself for that.
"..." Was Seifers answer, without even granting Zell so much as a glance. The martial artist exhaled loudly, why was he doing this again? and then sunk to the bench which Seifer was standing next to, trying to look as casual as ever. "She should not have said that." He offered then, repeating his thoughts from earlier.
"What do you care, Chickenwuss?" snarled Seifer, now suddenly glaring at him with anger in his eyes and frustration in his voice. "I was just trying to be nice here!" Zell exclaimed, now startled and not believing he actually thought Seifer would deserve some words of encouragement from him. "I don't need sympathy from a little chicken." the older blonde replied with a sneer, looking more like himself already, which Zell totally missed out on. "Stop calling me that!" Zell growled in response, anger rising and fists clenching. "I'll call you all the things I want, Chocobo-brain." Zell shot up from his seat at that and yelled "That's it! Wanna fight? FINE!" He got into a fighting position, hands up and glare fixed on the other, ready to strike, but just in this moment an announcement from the Loudspeakers got in the way "All students who participated in today's field exam, report to the 2nd floor hallway. I repeat: All students who took the field exam, report to the 2nd floor hallway."
Seifer made a derogative sound at that."Yeah, right." Then he turned to leave, but paused one moment seeming like he wanted to add something, but deciding otherwise. "See you later, wuss."
Zell watched as he left, still puffed up at their little encounter but just dropped his hands to his sides, turning at once and then walking on to the elevator. 'Stupid Seifer with his stupid insults and stupid sneer and stupid... everything!' It went on in his head like that until he reached the 2nd floor being reminded by the sound of the automatic door why he was here in the first place and suddenly nervousness rose in him. His knees shook slightly while he was walking over the bridge to the hallway he was supposed to be waiting in, seeing that other recruits were already there.
He went over to the wall opposite of the entrance, planning on leaning against it while waiting for the results, but found himself wandering around nervously only seconds later. Squall showed up shortly after and with him a Garden Faculty member, who appeared kind of bored while reading over the sheet of paper in his hands. "Dincht..." he said and Zells heart almost skipped a beat out of excitement, had he really heard that right? "Zell Dincht." The man said again and Zell jumped. He did! "OHHHHH YEAHHHHH!" He exclaimed happily, with a punch into the air, yelling "See yaa!" to the others and then practically running over to the bridge once again, this time so happy his grin felt like it reached from one ear to another, all bad feelings from before forgotten as he stepped into the elevator once again and pressed the button for the 3rd floor.
Stepping outside, he continued to the door to Cid's office. As he pushed it open he heard the door of the elevator again and turned to see Squall stepping out of it. "So you made it, too." He grinned and received a nod in return. Together they entered the office and got in line with two other students being already there. Selphie was one of them and greeted them both with a huge smile, Zell gave her a thumps up and received one in return. The other person was a guy who seemed kinda introverted. Zell had seen him several times in the library or so, he did not really remember his name. 'Niwa? Or something like that?'
While Zell was thinking the Garden Faculty guy from before began to talk, "These are the 4 students that passed today's exam." The Headmaster smiled at that and began his speech, snapping Zell out of his thoughts. "First of all, congratulations. However...From now on, as a member of SeeD, you will be dispatched all over the world. We are proud to introduce SeeD, Balamb Garden's mercenary soldiers. SeeD soldiers are combat specialists. BUT... That is only one aspect of SeeD. When the time comes..."
Zell sighed silently and began to prepare himself for a loooong speech but then the Garden Faculty guy stepped in once again cutting Cid short. "Headmaster...It's almost time for the meeting. Please make this short."
Zell quirked an eyebrow at that. 'Strange guys...' he thought before the man turned to them and started speaking "SeeD is a valuable asset to Garden. Its reputation is solely dependant on each one of you. Handle your mission with care." He concluded, turned to Cid again and said "Is that what you wanted to say, sir?" Without waiting for a response he added, this time adressing the recruits again, "Here is your SeeD rank report!" Cid finally stepped back into action, leaving Xell wondering why the Garden's staff was acting so superior over Cid.
The headmaster passed on to him, after he had given Selphie and this other guy their report. Leaning forward he whispered into Zell's ear "Try to control your emotions a little." Zell nodded slowly, already wondering how Cid meant that. Had he heard of Seifer's and his encounter from before? He shook his head lightly, not wanting to think about Seifer yet again. 'Impossible, but an advice worth taking...I guess' he thought. He snapped out of his mind at the right time, so he could hear the Garden Faculty member say "This ends the SeeD inauguration. Dismissed!"
While walking out with the others Zell looked down at his mission report and nearly fell over at seeing his score. '550 out of 600? THAT'S AMAZING!' He beamed with joy at his sheet while going down to the 2nd floor with the others. "How many points did you get?" Selphie asked while walking with him over the bridge to the hallway. "550, You?" Selphie smiled and held up her report. "Me too! Wrecking that stupid robot thingy totally boosted the score. Thanks for that again." She winked and Zell grinned "Anytime, but ya did a pretty good job yourself, couldn't have done it without you." Selphie blushed slightly and bumped his shoulder. "Stop it, you!" Zell laughed and then he looked up, only to see Seifer and the rest of the Disciplinary Committee standing in front of them. 'Uh Oh...' he thought, readying himself for a fight.
Seifer approached them slowly, glared at Squall for a second, eyed Selphie up and down and then he looked Zell straight into the eyes. Zell tensed visibly and clenched the fist which wasn't holding his report, expecting everything but that what happened next... Seifer started clapping his hands, soon followed by Fuujin and Raijin and after that all of the others in the hallway. Zell could not believe his eyes and then his surprise changed to embarrassment as he put his free hand on the back of his head, smiling shyly at everyone standing there.
The clapping stopped and the crowd scattered soon after, everyone wanting to get ready for the party in the evening. Seifer passed Zell on his way out and stopped for a moment, standing shoulder to shoulder with him. "Good job, Chocoboy." he said and Zell was about to hit him for the nickname when suddenly the other raised a hand and patted him lightly on the shoulder, leaving Zell stunned whilst Seifer went on to the elevator, Raijin following quickly whereas Fuujin stayed one moment longer and gave him a suspicious look.
"What?" Zell frowned at the young woman, never sure what to think of her. "Congratulations." She said then, monosyllabically as ever, but Zell was almost sure that she was about to say something totally different at first. "Fuu, ya coming? Haven't got all day, y'know?" Raijin called from the elevator. Fuu only nodded and left. Zell watched as she went and shared one last look with Seifer before the door closed and the elevator went down.
"Brrr... that was frosty." A voice piped up from behind and Zell turned to face Selphie who had been talking to some other students in the hallway just a second ago. "Huh...? You mean Fuujin?" Selphie nodded "She's kinda creepy, don't you think?" Zell only shrugged, "Dunno..." he didn't really know her much and it wasn't his style judging people without having really spoken or...fought with them at least once, though speaking with Fuujin never seemed very easy in the first place. "Nevermind." Selphie started. "Gotta go get dressed and all that! My SeeD uniform is waiting for meeeee." And with that she was gone. Zell smiled slightly and looked down at his report once again. "I'm a SeeD now..." He clenched his fist. "Feels awesome."
