Things Change
Chapter 15
by Mariye
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Disclaimer: I don't own FF8. And once again I don't own the line from the U2 song here.
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-{ A year later... }-
Zell sat in the infirmary, which had become a second home to him. He had his hands clasped in front of him. Aeron was sitting across from him in the chair next to Dr. Kadowaki's.
"Do you have any idea what the results are?" Zell asked calmly, almost coldly.
~I wish this would just get over with.~
Zell's hair was there, but sparce, and very thin. His face almost looked gaunt, and his black tattoo was in deep contrast with the color of his skin. He seemed to have gotten harder. His once carefree light blue eyes had turned dark, and had shadows behind them, hiding all the things he now knew and had experienced.
"Not a clue. Lheia wouldn't tell me. Besides, even if I did know, you know I couldn't tell you now man. We have to wait until your whole support group is here."
In the past month Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, Irvine, Selphie, and even Raijin had committed themselves to being there for Zell. Sure some other people along the way had helped, and even Seifer and Fujin had laid off him a little. But his support group was there the whole time. Selphie and Rinoa cooked for him. Quistis helped him keep up with school work. Squall, Irvine, and Raijin even shaved their heads when they thought Zell was going to loose all his hair. Zell never lost all his hair though, and so Squall, Irvine, and Raijin ended up walking around looking like cue-balls for a month.
~That did help improve my outlook.~ Zell smiled faintly remembering how each of them looked. He still had the blackmail pictures.
"I'm not sure if I want all of them here."
"Come on man, you owe it to them. They've been here for the whole ride, you can't just cut them off at the end."
"Yeah, but what if its bad news? It would kill them."
"But they'd still want to know. Excuse me. I have to go check on our permanent patient. I'll be back." Aeron walked towards one of the small closed off rooms.
Zell leaned forward in the chair and tapped his feet on the ground.
~12 months now... maybe more... It seems like so much longer. Like a lifetime longer...~ He sighed and studied his hands.
~Living from day to day. This infirmary is more of a home to me than my room.... The first few months I should have just moved in here. And now what if everything's okay? Then I'll just have to come for about a month or two more for treatment to get rid of any lingering cells... And if I'm not... well, I don't know if I could stand going through all this again. Maybe I'd just get a little shack by the sea. Take it easy.~
The door behind him hissed as it came to life. His friends filed in, silent, like they were a part of a funeral procession.
"Any word yet?" Squall spoke first, sitting in a chair next to Zell.
~Its funny, before the 2nd Sorceress War this guy couldn't stand me. After the war he put up with me, considered me a friend. Now he's my best friend. The one who understood me best out of all of them. He would take it so hard if the cancer is still here.~
"None yet. Soon though." Zell looked and nodded to the group. Raijin leaned against a wall, trying to make idle small talk with Irvine, who reached his arms back to tighten the lost ponytail, and when he realized that it was gone, folded his arms over his chest.
~He's just lost without that long hair. I guess its for the better. It almost made him look like a girl. It made him grow up too. I gues when he realized I could die, he started thinking about his own mortality. He slowed down and started treating Selphie right. Now I wonder who'll marry first, Rinoa and Squall or Selphie and Irvine.~
Quistis nervously kept glancing around the room. Never letting her eyes settle too long on one spot.
~She's gotten so edgy. She was fine for a while, great. But once this day came up she started getting more nervous and scared.~
Selphie and Rinoa were watching Aeron tend to the permanent patient in the ward. Selphie held her nose, trying to protect it from the antiseptic smell. Rinoa fingered one of the fake flowers in a vase on a shelf.
~This kind of made Rinoa grow up too. And Selphie's more committed to her work now. And those plays she started writing are really good. I hope when she turns 19 she goes out to the shows in Deiling with Irvine instead of staying here and becoming an instructor.~
The door hissed again and everyone turned, expecting the doctor. Instead Seifer and Fujin walked in, hand in hand.
"Wow, next thing you know you'll all be applauding our entrance. Carry on, as you were." Seifer said as he plopped down in one of the waiting room chairs. Fujin stood beside him.
"ANY WORD?"
"None." Quistis said, now examining each of her fingernails with nail polish chipping off. "But we should hear any time now."
Everything seemed dead silent, except for the sounds of the whispering between Irvine and Raijin.
Dr. Kadowaki slowly walked in, with Mrs. Dincht, Cid, and Edea following her. She sat down at her desk.
"Aeron, please lock the outside door for me." She said as she shuffled through some papers.
"Well, I know why all of you are here today. You want to know the status on Zell's cancer. I won't disappoint you. But before I tell you the results I just want to say how proud I am of all of you and your support for him in the past year. Also I want you to know Zell that you were always an ideal patient." She stopped and looked around.
"Please don't keep us in suspense..." Rinoa whispered.
Lheia smiled.
"Zell, I want to say that Aeron and I enjoyed having you in the infirmary all this time, but we have to give you tour walking papers now and kick you out. You're in remission. You beat it!"
"WOO HOO!" Selphie screamed out. She threw her arms around Zell. "I knew you could do it!"
"Thats great news, ya know? So this means I don't have to shave my head again?" Raijin said smiling.
"This is great news! We couldn't lose one of our Orphanage Gang!" Irvine said, wrapping his arms around Selphie.
Quistis kissed Zell on the cheek and hugged him, and Rinoa rubbed her hand on his head.
"This is the best news... I'm so happy!" Rinoa smiled and wiped tears from her eyes.
"We couldn't have dealt with loosing you." Quistis said.
Squall rose and extended his hand. He smiled at Zell. Zell shook it.
"Alright, now don't get comfortable Chicken-Wuss. This means the DC is gonna have to go back to usual. No more special treatment." Seifer said, while smiling a sad smile. Fujin also grinned widely.
"Its the best I could have hoped for." Zell said, faintly smiling.
"So, we need to have a celebration!" Cid said. "Mrs. Kramer and Mrs. Dincht have agreed to cook a special dinner feast for everyone tonight!"
"First lets go out and do something though! See a movie! Go through a mall." Selphie said, while bouncing up and down.
"Whatever." Squall said with a smile.
Zell noticed Seifer slipping into the side room.
"How about we meet for that outing at the front gate in an hour. I have some business..." Zell pushed through the crowd and followed Seifer into the isolated room.
Aeron was inside, bustling around the body of a still woman. He was checking machines, but when he saw Zell and Seifer, he headed out.
"Seifer?" Zell asked, walking in.
"I wanted to tell her. She couldn't be in the room to hear with the rest of us... so I thought I should come in and let her know what happened." Seifer reached for the sleeping girls hand and gently touched it. He looked around at Aeron, who was still standing in the doorway. Zell turned also.
"No change at all today. All her vitals are good and strong though. She's in perfect health... She just can't wake up." Aeron walked out the door. Zell walked around to the other side of the cot and took her other hand.
"I should be the one to tell her." Zell said softly.
Seifer shook his head and dropped her hand.
"Maybe we shouldn't even bother. Its not like she can hear us. If she could, she would have woken up by now." Seifer said angrily, dropping her hand.
"I think she can... I just think that she somehow can't get back somehow. Maybe she forgot. Besides, if you think she can't hear, then why do you come here?"
Seifer shook his head and walked out.
"Foolish hope. The foolish hope she always tried to get me to believe in..." He walked out.
Zell looked at Sionna and brushed a strand of her now longer hair out of her face. He sat down on a chair next to the bed.
"Its over. You don't have to worry about me. According to Lheia I'm not going anywhere."
He kissed her hand and then let it rest back against her side on the bed. The door to the room hissed open again and he heard footsteps again.
~It can't be Seifer. The footsteps aren't heavy enough.~
Zell turned around to see Matron standing at the foot of the bed, looking at the two of them.
"Its good Seifer and you visit her. She always hated being truely isolated, despite her fascination with being alone in a crowd. I'm glad for you Zell. Now I won't lose one of my children."
She watched as he went back to watching Sionna.
"Its almost ironic. When she was little she adored the tales of princesses in peril. Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel... and she would always ask me endless questions when I read to her. Could she be a princess... How could she find a prince... Did bad things like that really happen... Did a princess have to experience hardship in order for her prince charming to come... I think she honestly wished she was a princess. And now in a way she's become Sleeping Beauty."
"Except she won't wake up." Zell leaned back and looked at Matron.
"She will. One day. Maybe when her prince charming is near one day she'll suddenly awake like nothing was ever wrong."
"I can wait." He said.
Matron nodded and walked out of the room.
"I wonder what's gonna happen to you..." He whispered as he put a stuffed bear next to her.
~I wonder if you wonder what has happened to me...~
Zell stood up and pushed the chair on the side. He walked to the door.
"I'll be waiting for you."
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[the end]
{A note from the author…:}
So thats it!
My first... well... technically second long running series!
So who wants to see a sequel? LOL
Maybe with Sionna possibly waking up? Hmmm...
Also, its funny, when I wrote all this I had no true intention of ever having Zell and Sionna end up together. I just wanted them to be best friends at the most. And look what happens.
I guess I should have given the characters instructions on how to go through this. o^-^o
Now I know people are gonna say "MARIYE! You CAN'T let it end like this with Zell getting well and Sionna in a coma! You HAVE to have her wake up!"
The way I see it though, its a good place to end.
Zell has possibilities reopened to him now that he is cured, but despite the fact that once again his life will change as he tries to get things close to how they were before, he has made a promise. He has promised to wait for Sionna.
I think its sweet. Now excuse me I need another tissue.
(While I was writing the part where Seifer and Zell go into her room I was almost crying.)
Thanks for reading!