Running to You
Chapter Five
Nights could be so beautiful. A time to rest, and a time to reflect, nights were a sanctuary from the harshness of the day, as well as a time to celebrate what had been achieved under the glare of the sun. Such was this night: the night when the new heroes of the world returned home, safe and victorious.
The whole of Garden had turned out to the impromptu ball that had been prepared to welcome the young SeeDs, who had risked and suffered so much for them, as well as the rest of humanity. Everyone was having a good time, whether they were dancing like there was no tomorrow, or mingling with everyone that they could find, sharing the relief and joy of being alive, or, as a certain couple did, just stood together on the balcony, staring at the stars and savouring the company of the one they loved.
However, Ariana wasn't doing any of those things. Instead, she stood near the entrance of the huge hall, waiting and watching, occasionally tugging at her short Garden uniform skirt in vexation. She regretted not having a ball gown, but at this moment what weighed heaviest on her mind was that Zell was forty-five minutes late for a party that had been thrown partially for him.
She let out a sigh; an annoyed hiss of air through her teeth. Where is he?
Trying to distract herself from her irrational worrying, she watched the other Garden students partying away. She allowed herself a small smile. Everyone looked so happy. They had all realised that they were so very, very lucky to be alive, and that they owed the six now legendary SeeDs so much. As for the six, they had been so humble as everyone thanked them. There weren't any people more deserving of the honour than them. Ariana once again felt the stirring of pride deep in her heart that she had felt for Zell, when he had bashfully shaken everyone's hands, and had said very sincerely that what he had helped in doing was nothing that anyone else wouldn't have done.
Suddenly, Ariana heard the sound of running down the hallway. Spinning around, she saw the sight she had been waiting for an unacceptable amount of time for: Zell speeding towards her, flushed with exertion as well as embarrassment. She felt a smile trying to break through on her face, but she forced it back and concentrated on being annoyed.
Zell had seen her waiting for him as he had torn through the hallway, and he felt his already formidable anxiety growing at the sight. She had looked annoyed, and from his short time at being hers, as well as the practical eternity that he had spent watching her, he knew that was not a good thing. Still, he pasted a smile on his face, hoping at least to stall her anger.
He stopped as he got close to her, but not entirely consciously. She just looked so beautiful that it amazed him, even though she was wearing the uniform that he had seen her wearing every day for so long. He came up very close to her, and gave her a soft peck on the cheek. Ariana turned away, vexation on her features, however a soft blush growing on her cheeks.
Zell sighed. "I'm really sorry Ariana." He said softly.
She turned around to look at him in the face. As always, he had sounded so sincere. His eyes look so sorry as well; they're so much like a puppy's, all soft and warm…suddenly, she found herself giggling. She smiled widely as she saw the most adorable look of relief pass through his eyes. "It's all right," she said warmly, "but where were you?"
"I…" He looked about this way and that, clearly nervous, until he spotted the refreshments table. "Oh yeah! Are those hotdogs?" He exclaimed, hurrying over to the table.
Ariana's eyes widened, then narrowed, as he seemed to totally disregard her. Why hadn't he answered the question? Was he up to something? However, she focused back on him at the table, joyfully filling his plate with as many hotdogs as he could without them tumbling off. He turned, and met her eyes with a shy smile as he signalled to her to meet him at a table nearby. Her eyes softened as she followed him, shaking her head slightly. The Lady forbid he ever finds out how much power he has over me, she thought to herself, only partly humorously.
Zell set down his platter, and then quickly pulled out a chair for her, blushing slightly. She smiled lovingly at him before she sat down, causing his blush to increase in intensity. "Would you like me to get you something to eat as well?" He asked her. She shook her head, however she noted that he was lightly shifting his weight from one foot to the other: a nervous habit of his. What was making him so nervous?
Ariana was once again unable to get an answer from him as he started tearing into the hotdogs as if they might disappear at any moment. She leaned over a bit closer to him, her head resting in her hand. "Zell," she said softly, "would you tell me now where you were?"
For his part, he helplessly motioned to his full mouth, however he kept stuffing it at an incredible rate. Ariana sighed deeply, and looked away for a while, vexed. Why won't he tell her where he was? She didn't think that it was such a hard thing to do for him to tell her why he was late. Besides, she had been waiting for him, feeling so alone…he owed her an explanation at least!
She saw movement out the corner of her eye then. Focusing, she saw that it was the exchange student from Trabia, Selphie Tilmitt and Instructor Trepe. They were both giggling at his voracious eating habits. Ariana gave them both an uncertain smile, then leaned closer to Zell. "Zell...." she whispered, trying to warn him of his audience.
All of a sudden, she saw the Galbadian SeeD cadet; Irvine Kinneas sweep up to them, with camera in tow. She saw him try to hide a grin as he focused on the still oblivious Zell, as he continued with his monologue into the microphone. "…And here, we have the species known as the Zell Dincht, or otherwise known as the Messious Eaterious. If you see any of these in the wild, remember to stay well away from them; they could get dangerous, especially if you stand in the way of it and a hotdog…"
At that moment, Zell noticed his audience, and swallowed a piece of hotdog the wrong way. He doubled over, gasping for breath and looking for something to wash down the offending piece. There wasn't anything to drink.
Ariana panicked, and rushed to help him, as did Instructor Trepe and Selphie. The three of them started pounding his back, and Ariana willed herself to stay calm. Irvine, however, began to laugh softly as he zoomed in to get a close up of Zell choking on his hotdogs.
Zell felt the piece of hotdog stuck in his throat dislodge itself, and he felt the air enter his lungs much easier. He took a few deep breaths, and then stayed very still for a moment, still doubled over. He suddenly heard Quistis and Selphie giggling again.
That's it! Zell took a menacing step towards the two girls, who fled, but were now laughing hard. He then noticed Irvine, taping away, his shoulders shaking with mirth. Zell picked up a hotdog and threw it at the camera.
"Hey Zell! Do you mind?" Irvine yelled at him, as he cleaned the lens of the camera.
"Mind what? That I was choking and all you did was stand there like an idiot and tape it? Well yeah, I do actually! You have a problem with that, cowboy?" Zell retorted; his hands balled into fists.
"Well okay, but do you mind that you scared your girlfriend away?" Irvine answered smugly, still fiddling with the camera.
"Huh?" Already forgetting the hotdog incident, Zell scanned the hall to see where Ariana had gotten to. He spotted her in a corner, away from everyone, her back turned to him.
He made his way through the crowd, until he finally came to her. He stopped then suddenly. I made a complete fool of myself in front of her, he thought, groaning. She turned around to look at him then, her eyes serious and rebuking. He felt his heart sinking. I did make her ashamed of me after all. All of a sudden however, she doubled over and started giggling. Zell felt relief wash over him, but annoyance as well as Ariana continued to laugh at him so hard that she looked like she was in pain. Zell rolled his eyes as he waited for her to calm down.
Ariana stood straight again, meeting his warm blue eyes, which were now ridiculously serious. She wiped away the tears of mirth from her eyes. "I'm sorry Zell," she said, trying to swallow down the rest of her giggles, "but you just looked so…so…" and she began to laugh again, but this time, already drunk with mirth, she tripped on her own feet somehow and fell narrowly into Zell's arms. That sobered her up immediately. However, she felt him shaking as he still held her. Breaking away, she saw that he was laughing silently.
Ariana suddenly felt very miffed. "That wasn't funny Zell." She said, serious. However, the only effect her rebuke had on him was to make him laugh even harder.
"You should've seen the look on your face…" Zell gasped out, leaning on the wall to stop himself from falling from laughing too much.
Ariana watched him angrily. First he comes late, and now he laughs at her for nearly falling down on a marble floor? Look at him, she thought to herself, leaning on the wall, laughing so hard that his whole muscular, well-toned frame shook, even though his strong arms were crossed over his broad chest. She noticed his eyes then, full of warm mirth, exactly the colour of the midday sky…because she had tripped into his arms. Well, I guess the look on my face must have been funny, she thought, and he looks so adorable laughing like that…
"Ariana?" Zell's voice came to her and shook her out of her reverie. She felt a hot blush invade her cheeks at the thoughts that she had been having. She looked up at him. "You're not…angry at me, are you?" He asked, now sober, a concerned look on his face.
She smiled at him. "Of course not." She cast her eyes to the ground, her hands twisting together bashfully. "Are you…angry with me for laughing at you?"
He grinned at her, and shook his head. "I guess I must have looked kind of funny," he said, "but not as funny as you did! I mean, the look of shock…" he started chuckling.
"Well, you should have seen yourself, Mr. Let's-Eat-Fifty-Hotdogs-In-Thirty-Seconds! You looked like you were going to explode, and that was before you started choking!" Ariana retorted, but she had a broad smile on her face.
Zell smiled. "Yeah? And how about when I was choking?"
Ariana lowered her gaze, her smile gone. "I…I didn't really notice," she confessed, "I was too worried about you."
Zell's eyes filled suddenly with so much love Ariana felt dizzy gazing into them. Unexpectedly, he pulled her into a tight embrace, and Ariana returned the warmth that he gave her. She felt safe and content in his arms, but something was still troubling her.
However, this time she didn't need to ask about it; Zell brought it up himself. Now's the time, his mind told him firmly. Do this now or you won't have the courage to do it again.
"Ariana, you were asking why I was late, right?" He whispered into her hair. She nodded against his chest; she had been wondering about it at that very moment. "Well," he said, pulling away, "I was late because I was in Balamb Town…" he reached into his jeans pocket, "shopping for this." He pulled out a small package, and gave it to her.
Ariana smiled at him with so much love and gratitude that Zell felt his heart soar. She opened the small box carefully, and her eyes widened at the sight. "Oh my…" Her eyes filled with tears, and Zell got down quickly on one knee, holding one of her hands, as he had heard that Pa Dincht had when he had proposed to Ma Dincht.
"Ariana," he began, his voice trembling, "I know we haven't been seeing each other for very long, but…but I know that…that we have known each other for a long time. And all that time, I knew…I knew that I…I love you, Ariana. I love you very much. And I want to continue loving you forever." He chewed his lips nervously. "So…what I'm trying to say is um…well, I know we're really young but…I don't care because I love you so…will you marry me?"
Ariana stared at him for a while, tears streaming down her face. He took the image of him in, down on one knee, his eyes the colour of heaven, filled with love; so much love. She wanted this to be burned into her mind forever, the sweetest moment of her life.
"Yes I will Zell. I love you."
Zell exploded. Springing to his feet, he yelled "Oh Yeah!" as loud as he could, and did a little victory jig, before sweeping her off her feet, and spinning her around as she clung to his neck.
He set her down bashfully, and then took the ring and with a shaking hand, slipped it on her finger. It was a delicate thing; a thin band of rose gold inlaid with a huge diamond, mounted on what looked like two tiny dolphins. She looked at it for a while, and then threw her arms around his neck. "You didn't have to do this Zell," she whispered tenderly.
"No, I did." He whispered back. He looked at her with so much love; she was now truly his Ariana, the strong, beautiful woman who looked so delicate and vulnerable. He cupped her small chin in his hand and gently raised her lips to his, and planted a kiss of unbelievable sweetness and feeling upon her mouth, and she felt it permeate through her entire body, making her feel so warm, and so loved.
Just then, the band started the slow dance, and Ariana smiled up at him. "May the future Mrs. Dincht have this dance?"
"Of course." Laughing, Zell took her hand and twirled her onto the dance floor, as they took their positions, Ariana's arms linked around his neck, and Zell's arm curled around her waist. Both savoured the rhythm as they held each other close, drowning in their happiness.
She laid her head on his chest, his steady heartbeat in her ears. "We'll be like this forever, won't we?" She asked, her voice soft and wondering at the happiness she felt.
He squeezed her tighter to him. "I promise." He said simply.
End Notes: Well, that's the end of my first romance. Hmmm, I don't think this particular genre is my forte. Far too predictable, with OOC-ness galore…but it was fun to write. Thank you for making it to the very end, and I'd really appreciate it if you send me your thoughts on my fic. I will send you an e-mail if you do so, I promise! Oh yes, and thank you to all those people who reviewed my first fic. Look after yourselves!