Shoot the Messenger- Chapter 1
By Matoko Shizaki
Disclaimer: I don't own FF8, loo dee doo!
Notes: Okay, so I don't necessarily keep my deadlines… Ever… . ;; I'm really really sorry about that… Um, maybe this is a good Christmas present?
Thanks for the reviews so far! I'm so sorry I didn't update quick and thank you for waiting so long! I'll do my best to keep this rolling. Without further ado, here's the reviewer column!
Special thanks to:
Trio Wing
Eoko Formerly Known as Hicky
Yaoi4life
Miyo Yukimora
Syciara-Lynx
Dysis Raine
Obesophobia
Psycho
Red Stitches
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"Please don't go crazy if I tell you the truth
No, you don't know what happened
And you never will if
You don't listen to me while I talk to the wall
This blanket is freezing; it's been out in the hall
Where you've had me for hours
'Til I'm sure what I want
But, darling, I want the same thing that I wanted before
So, sweetheart, tell me what's up; I won't stop
No way…"
-- How to be Dead by Snow Patrol
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"Thank you for him bringing here."
"Couldn't leave him in the snow."
"No… I suppose you couldn't..." A smile colored the words.
A tense pause.
"…Still has a fever, huh?"
"Yes… but it shouldn't be long until it goes down. If you'd like I can stay with him until then. I'll let you know when the fever breaks."
Another pause.
"…Yeah, thanks."
"It's nothing."
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The infirmary was deathly still that morning, a kind of quite that soothed but bothered Quistis. It was a sign that most students were well… but also a sign that Zell still hadn't woken up. She lowered the book she was reading and gazed down into the sweating, sleeping face of the blond martial artist. He'd been brought in at one that morning, shaking and shivering with cold and fever. It was a wonder he didn't have frostbite! Dr. Kadowaki had estimated he'd been out there since ten, a totally of three hours in the snow.
"Zell…" Quistis sighed. She gently put a hand to his forehead to test his fever. It was still going strong. Slowly she removed her hand and sighed again. She'd heard the rumor going around and, from the look of things, it was true. Last night, Zell Dincht was indeed dumped by his girlfriend of one year.
The former teacher stood and strode to the window, treading on soft leather heels. Outside it was snowing heavily, and had been doing so since midnight. An hour before Zell was turned in to Dr. Kadowaki… She sighed and turned back to look at Zell.
"Zell, why do you do these things to yourself?" She shook her head. "Yes, she left you but…" Quistis paused. "She's not the only one who cares for you…" Quistis sat back down and continued. "You have friends, Zell, very dear ones. We can help you through this if you just let us…"
She looks away, back to the snowstorm that raged outside, and found that she could only hope for the best. Quistis had always been the big sister, at least ever since Elle left. She was always there to help, and in fact some of the least likely members of the old orphanage were taking her up on said help. Sometimes she could even get Squall to talk to her. But with Zell… He wanted to be strong. And being strong, in the mind of a man, meant doing it on your own. If he wants help bad enough, he'll ask. Quistis assured herself. You can't help everybody…
A cough in the bed to her side caught her attention. The bed shifted from the weight as the coughing patient sat up. Zell was finally awake.
"Shit…" he muttered hoarsely as he ran his hands through his sweaty blond hair. He looks up at the former teacher. "Quistis…? What're you doin' here?"
Quistis eased him back down onto the bed. "I've been here to make sure you don't get sicker. Your fever still hasn't gone down, so you should rest."
Zell laughed, a bitter, humorless laugh, and looked into her eyes. "Haven't been sick since I was ten… Good time to be sick though…" He looked away.
"…Zell, this is because Marina dumped you, isn't it?"
"Bull's eye…" Zell muttered as he snuggled deeper into his blankets. It was the last thing he wanted to talk about but something told him he was in for a Quistis interrogation session.
He heard her sigh and sit back down.
"One lost relationship isn't the end of the world." she said, her voice soothing. Although she was comforting to listen to, these were words Zell didn't want to hear.
"That's easy for you to say! You've had several relationships! This is it for me!" Zell paused to cough. "I… I only had her!"
"Well—"
"Quistis?" Dr. Kadowaki's voice stopped Quistis before she'd even gotten started. "I'm sorry, but Zell needs more rest and shouldn't be aggravated."
"Yes, of course." Quistis stood, picking up her book. "I'm sorry, Dr. Kadowaki." She spared a glance towards Zell. "We'll talk later, ok? Just keep your chin up in the meantime."
Zell snorted. Very easy for you to say…
His silence was accepted with another sign. Quistis hadn't expected an answer. "I'll be back in a few hours. Take it easy, Zell." she said more gently. The only response she got this time was a terse nod. Without another word, Quistis stepped out.
Quistis might have left, but Zell still had the boisterous Dr. Kadowaki to deal with. Something bitter and nagging in the back of his mind told him that he was in for many more lectures today.
" Zell Dincht…" the doctor started.
Yes, today was truly not his day; it had passed from a sinking feeling to an official fact. And, he noted, another thing was now official: Valentine's Day was now Zell Dincht's most hated holiday ever. With a groan, Zell curled the blankets over his head and pinned them below his body, determined to cocoon himself away in them for the rest of his miserable life.
"Go awaaaaaay…!" he moaned from below the covers. "I don't need this right now, doc!"
Doctor Kadawaki huffed and ripped the covers off of Zell's head with one strong jerk. Rattled by the sudden yank that only reminded him of the pounding in his head, Zell groaned and lay back on the pillow. Suddenly he felt too weak to fight back.
"I'll tell you what you don't need now: self-pity! Pity has never cured a fever of 103 degrees! And neither has whining for that matter! You're a SeeD, so act like it!" Briskly, the doctor set to pulling the covers back up on Zell and tucking them in under his chin. "You do, however, need to listen to what I and Quistis tell you to do." She turned to the nightstand and picked up the bottle of cough medicine and a container of aspirin she had set there earlier. "Now, I have some medicine for you."
Zell groaned again and sat up again. "You're kidding… Not that cherry crap…"
Doctor Kadawaki held the nurse's cap to her eye level and filled it with a steady hand. "Do you want to get better or not?"
"Will I die if I don't?" Zell replied sourly,
The doctor didn't answer. Instead, she thrust the cap full of medicine under Zell's nose.
"Drink."
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"She whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!"
Quistis clapped her hands over her ears to block out the squeal that issued forth from Selphie as she bounced up and down in her chair excitedly. Irvine, who was sitting to his girlfriend's immediate left, leaned away a bit. It was amazing, Quistis thought with a glance to Squall, sitting calmly on Selphie's right, that the SeeD commander could sit through Selphie's tirade without so much as flinching. A side effect of all his extensive battle training, Quistis decided.
"Calm down, baby…" he drawled, carefully patting her shoulder.
"Calm down? Calm down?! Irvy, didn't you hear what the girl did to Zell!! She's driving him to an early grave!!"
"That's a little too dramatic, Selphie…" Quistis explained, removing her hands from her ears. "He's just sick… He'll probably spend another day in the infirmary and then be released."
"But still!" The brunette stood up so suddenly that her chair would have toppled over behind her had it not been for a swift catch on Squall's part. Quistis sighed with relief and opened her mouth to speak, but Selphie swiftly cut her off.
"How can she just do that?! Who breaks up with someone on their one year anniversary anyway?!"
"Someone who's been lying about their feelings."
Selphie halted and looked over at Squall who had spoken for the first time that morning. The commander looked up at her from under his mess of brown hair with piercing blue eyes. His expression was calm and rigid as usual, but a sense of worry permeated his façade.
"It's clear," Squall continued. "That Marina has been falling out of love with Zell for weeks. It doesn't take one week to decide to end a long relationship, especially one with someone so affectionate as Zell. Unless there was another man…" The group regarded him with tense silence as the idea settled in. "But," Squall added. "Knowing Marina, that seems highly unlikely."
Selphie finally sat down with a pout. "Well then, she shouldn't have done this on Valentine's Day at least!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "If I see her again—" With one quick, deft movement, Selphie lashed her arms out to the sides, fists balled. "WHAM!"
Squall ducked out of the way with practiced skill but Irvine was not so lucky.
As Selphie helped the fallen Irvine to his feet, pressing a napkin to his bleeding nose and apologized fervently, Quistis excused herself from the table. She still had other people to talk with.
Irvine, noting Quistis's swift exit, waved Selphie's hand away and looked to Squall. "What do you suppose she left for?"
Squall shrugged, but smiled slightly. Quistis was doing it again: looking out for all the orphans.
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"…So, how's he doing?"
"Alright. At least, as good as could be expected. He's crushed."
"And the stunt with the snow bank didn't help much either."
"His fever is breaking from what I hear."
"Hmph, at least something good… What about her?"
"She left this morning to visit family."
"Covering her ass."
"Come on, that's hardly fair… she must be having a hard time as well. She needs space to think about it… Perhaps… well, maybe she'll even retract her words."
"…"
"It would make him happy you know."
"…"
"… You should go visit him. He needs a good talking to right about now."
"No way, no how!"
"It was just a suggestion…"
"…I'm going to be late. I'll see you later."
"…Bye."
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Fourteen down. Name for the formula F k(q1 x q2)/r2.
"Who. Gives. A. Rat's. Ass?"
Zell sighed and threw aside the crossword puzzle he was attempting to do. He'd been in the infirmary for two days already and, although his fever had broken, Doctor Kadawaki made sure that he stayed bedridden. 'For observance reasons.' she had told him.
"Observance…" Zell snorted and crosses his arms. "I'm not as little kid! And dammit, I can take care of myself!"
He threw his arms out, exasperated, and knocked the stack of magazines and books on his side table to the ground with a crash.
"Apparently not."
Zell looked up, nursing a sore hand and scowling at the newcomer. His attitude changed quickly when he recognized his command leaning coolly in the doorway.
"Squall!"
The SeeD nodded, pushed off of the doorframe, and entered.
"If you're up to it, we have a new mission." He handed Zell a folder which the blond eagerly began browsing. Squall smiled inwardly. If there was something to take Zell's mind off of his relationship problems, it was a mission.
"Timber?" Zell looked up, his eyes bright for the first time in days.
"The President maybe be dead, but Galbadia has passed to another dangerous leader."
Zell quirked an eyebrow curiously.
"His niece."
"Aw hell… More of that damn family…"
Squall pulled up a chair and straddled it, leaning against what was supposed to be the back of the chair as he talked.
"She's a talented politician in her own right. Apparently she was a leading member of the parliament when her uncle was killed. His twisted martyrdom rallied support to her and she won the election two months ago."
Zell nodded a little. He remembered there was a new president of Galbadia, but politics had never interested him. Now he was starting to regret that a little.
"So, more helping the resistance? I could go for that right now." Zell smirked a tad. "After all, no one's as hopeless with girls as Zone. Makes you feel a little bit better about yourself, huh?" The smirk turned into a weak grin.
Squall smiled a bit and shook his head in response before standing up and returning the chair to its original position.
"There will be a briefing tomorrow. I'd like to have you there if Doctor Kadawaki will let you go."
"She'd better! I've been stuck here too damn long!" For emphasis, he seized two fist-fulls of blanket and made like he would tear it apart.
"I'll speak with her. After all, the second in command should be at the briefing."
Zell paused and released the blanket. "Wh-what did you say?"
Squall smirked and picked the folder back up off Zell's covers. "You're going to be the second in command for this mission."
"You mean it, man?! No joke?!"
"No joke."
It took all Squall's self control not to laugh out loud at the blond. The idea of being second in command had him squirming like an excited little kid at Christmas.
"I won't let you down, Squall! I promise!" Zell grinned and pumped a fist.
Squall nodded briefly. "Rest then, you'll need it."
"You got it!" Zell settled back into the bed, grinning in satisfaction.
Squall patted Zell's shoulder gently and headed to the door.
"Um… Squall?"
The commander paused and looked back over at his shoulder. Zell was smiling softly, his excitement having cooled a little.
"Thanks. I mean it."
Squall smiled back and nodded. "Tomorrow, Zell." He waved briskly and left.
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Woohoo!! I finally have something for all of you. - I'm sorry it's taken for-freakin'-ever. This is definitely a Christmas present for you guys for a. put up with me and b. waiting so long for an update. Let's hope I'm better with the next one. -;;
