DISCLAIMER: Okay, we all know the drill, right? I don't own the characters, I'm not that lucky. Don't sue, I'm just a broke high school student saving up for a car. If I'm lucky.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is my first story I'm publishing out on the internet. PLEASE review! I posted the first chapter already, this is added on, though. I've added like 3 pages, so if you've already read it, please re-read. This is the complete first chapter. It's a Zell romance, just cause the poor guy hardly ever gets a good romance fanfic. Oh yeah, again, Lore isn't like...as in the word, "folklore". It's another way to spell the name Laura.
Something Like That
Well, I have no idea who'll be reading this, but I'm Zell Dincht. Selphie begged and pleaded with me to write this all down while it was still fresh in my mind, and finally bribed me with hot dogs. So here I am, and here's the story...Selphie's frowning right now at my introduction. She says if this is going to be on her web page, and she's going to give me hotdogs for this, I better take it seriously. Don't worry, I'm serious, baby! I guess I'm not supposed to swear a lot either, cause she'll have to edit it for her page or something. Well, I if it's for food, I guess it's worth it. We're in the library right now, and one of the student aides keeps looking at me. I wanted to start typing a kidnapping notice or something just to freak them out, but Selphie won't let me do that either. She's fighting me for the keyb-
Zell! You promised to do this, now would you start typing something serious? I'm not about to get thrown out of the library and reported to Cid cause some library nerd thinks we kidnapped someone! Now type, you spiky haired muskrat!
Okay, okay, settle down. I'll get started for real.
Booyaka!
Selphie, would you stop saying that? I'll bet you're running around yelling elephant in Polish or something and don't even know it. You might have just insulted my mother. Now, if you wanted me to get serious, leave the keyboard alone so I can.
Okay. Sorry about that. Here we go:
I should probably first tell you a little about me. So far you know I'm Zell, I like hotdogs, and Selphie called me a muskrat. She likes to call me a pig, too. If it wasn't for the hotdogs, I wouldn't be doing this for that brat. I have blue eyes and blond hair that kinda sticks up in the front, near my forehead. At first it was a pain, but then I just said screw it and styled it spiked in the front, so it doesn't always look like my hair is messed up. That would explain the spikey-haired thing, but I'm not sure why she called me a muskrat. I'm not the greatest looking guy, I just don't know why she said muskrat in particular. Maybe my eyes are too close together. I go to Balamb Garden and live there. I'm from Balamb, the town, which is right nearby the Garden. My dad died when I was younger, so it's just my mom living there. She's not my real mom, though. I was adopted when I was younger, and forgot I had lived in an orphanage till I met some people that had been in the orphanage with me when we were kids. I never told my mom I knew I was adopted, though. What good would it do?
I really can't think of much else to say about myself. I'm 17, and have been at Garden since I was 13. I just made Seed this year, and I'm a martial arts close combat specialist. In other words, I fight with my fists and kick a lot.
My little story here starts on a Tuesday, in the hall outside the training center. The training center is this place where they keep monsters for students to...well, kill, for practice. I was walking to go train, to kill some time till lunch. Walking down the hall, I noticed Selphie and a friend of hers walking towards me, about halfway down the hall.
"Hiya, Zell!" Selphie chirped cheerfully. "This here's Lore. We used to be roommates."
"Hello, girls," I answered as smoothly as possible. Honestly, I don't know a thing about sounding suave, but with Selphie's pretty friend in front of me, I was sure as hell gonna try. She was something else, too. Prettiest red hair, not the weird orangey kind. A dark, brownish-red, and long and thick. It was about halfway between her shoulder blades and waist. Her eyes were dark brown, all wide and soft looking. Spanish eyes. They were so dark, they almost looked black. Until you got right up to her face, you had a hard time seeing the pupils. Gorgeous. She was so damn little in front of me, it was adorable. I'm only 5'5", and I'm actually rather sensitive about it. I don't talk a lot about it, but I'd like to be taller. She couldn't have been more than 5'2, which was perfect. I know its old-fashioned and all, and I don't like being sexist, but I hate having to look up to girls, I really do.
So this Lore was just great. She was quite short, and very slender. Petite, I guess, is the word. I'd be surprised if she broke 100 pounds. Really, she could have passed for a 12 year old, if she wasn't so damn hot. She looked delicate in a way, something kind of unusual at Garden. She was pale, and so little, she almost looked fragile.
Now, I want to say something right now. I don't want you to think I'm some kind of leering skirt chaser. I'm not, honestly. But even I'm starting to wonder if I sound too much like that dumb ass Kinneas right now. Don't get all upset over the name calling. I like Irvine, I really do. It's just how I am, running around calling people dumbasses for no reason. Once I asked Squall if he had been kicked in the head by a butterfly as an infant. And Irvine's not really any worse than I am. He pretends about chasing girls, but I think it's more for attention than testosterone issues. He's actually more of a gentlemen than most guys I can think of here at Garden. But I'm totally off-track. I just wanted to tell you I'm not aching to bed every girl I meet or anything. This girl just caught my attention. End of news brief.
Anyways, so back to my story. Selphie, halfway down the hallway greets me and introduces the vision beside her as Lore. Lore, that's such a nice name, it really is. Selphie and this goddess are walking closer, and I say, "Hello girls," trying to sound cool. They walk closer, I'm eyeing Lore, and stop just in front of me. I held my hand out to shake hands with Lore. As soon as we touched hands, that butterfly that was kicking Squall in the head suddenly appeared in my stomach and exploded into 100 little butterflies. I began wondering how impressed she would be if I hurled.
"Lore? T-that's a, uh, nice n-name.." I rambled. I wanted to start smacking my face against the wall. Conversational skills, 10. I mean, nice name?! Why not talk about the weather and bingo?
"Thank you...excuse me," she added, looking sheepish. "Who are you again?"
"Zell." In my mind I was running through a list of all the bathrooms in Garden, trying to decide where the closest one was. She didn't seem like the kind who'd like to see me throw up. Selphie could just tell her about it later. That would be humiliating enough.
"Zell...that's uh, interesting." I nodded. There was an awkward silence. For once in her goddam life, Selphie keeps her mouth shut, and it just may kill me of embarrasment.
"So..," I finally said. "It's a nice day. The sun's out." Inwardly I groaned. Oh fer chrissake, Zell, you just keep wowing her. I fervently hoped I didn't hurl on her shoes. She looked at me kinda funny, and I couldn't blame her. If I was some great looking person, and someone came up to my stuttering about the weather, I'd walk as fast as possible outta there. She just kinda nodded. Then finally she said, "Uh, Zell, are you eating enough? You look kinda..pale. Are you eating enough?"
Selphie giggled. "Eating enough? He probably ate five minutes ago."
I shot her a Glare of Death. "I'm a, uh, pretty healthy eater. I don't think I ate anything bad, I had cereal at breakfast and a hamburger yesterday for dinner." Okay, so I had 2 bowls of cereal, 3 donuts, fruit, 2 containers of milk, and orange juice for breakfast, and ate just as well at dinner. She didn't need to know everything.
She raised an eyebrow. "Hamburger? No hotdog? I thought everyone loved the hotdogs." Inwardly I sighed with relief. At least one of us had better conversational skills than a mushroom.
"None left again!" I complained. "Everyone does love the hotdogs, that's the problem. I can never get any!"
She smiled knowingly. "You just have to know the right people, that's all." The three of us began walking over to a bench outside the training center. We all sat down, but it was a pretty close fit with all of us on the same bench, so I put my arms up on the back of the bench, and more importantly, one arm draped over Lore's shoulders.
"So, are you and Selphie old friends?" I asked.
"Lore and I used to be roommates till I made SeeD," Selphie announced.
"Yeah, for about two days," Lore said with a laugh. My heart sank. Lore wasn't a SeeD? She wasn't one of those girls (and don't get me wrong, guys do it, too) that came to Garden and just killed time till they were 20 and got thrown out, without ever trying to become a SeeD...was she? That would bring her down about 20 levels in my eyes. To me, SeeD had meant a lot. Before the final exam, I studied like mad. Making SeeD became my life. I could never respect someone who acted like all this was a joke.
"You-you're...not a SeeD?" I asked, trying to sound casual.
"No. Last year was the first year I could take the test, and I had to go home to Deling. I'm only 16."
Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief. 'Of course, she's younger than me, that's all,' I thought. Talk about getting carried away.
"You had to go home? Sickness in the family?"
She hesitated. "Something like that."
Selphie changed the subject abruptly. "Zell became a SeeD last year when I did. He's the one I went on my first mission with, him and Squall."
I noticed Lore looking at my gloves. She looked up and met my eyes. "I was just...curious. So you're a martial arts close combat specialist?"
Now this caught my attention. I mean, for one thing, no one calls it that. Most people go, "So you like...punch and stuff, right?" She obviously knew a little something about what she was talking about. Which was pretty interesting, because most girls at Garden fight with a whip or nunchuku. I'm not being sexist or anything, it's just girls do tend to be smaller than guys, and it's a lot easier for even the lightest people to inflict some decent damage with a nunchuku. Using nothing but yourself as a weapon takes a little more force.
"What weapon do you use?" I questioned.
"Right now, a whip" she replied with a wry smile. As I expected. Then, she began rolling up her left sleeve, revealing a cast. "I used to use gloves." she commented dryly. "I hated having to switch to a whip, but it's the best I can do, with having one good hand. At least it's only temporary."
My eyes went wide in surprise. She looked at my expression and started laughing. Then, the warning bell that sounds every half an hour went off. She jumped up, rolling down her sleeve, and explained in a rush that she was about to be late for class. She hurried off, and Selphie and I both stood up. Selphie left to go to the cafeteria and "socialize", her way of saying gossip.
I stood there in the hallway for about 20 minutes to remember where the hell I had been heading in the first place.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is my first story I'm publishing out on the internet. PLEASE review! I posted the first chapter already, this is added on, though. I've added like 3 pages, so if you've already read it, please re-read. This is the complete first chapter. It's a Zell romance, just cause the poor guy hardly ever gets a good romance fanfic. Oh yeah, again, Lore isn't like...as in the word, "folklore". It's another way to spell the name Laura.
Something Like That
Well, I have no idea who'll be reading this, but I'm Zell Dincht. Selphie begged and pleaded with me to write this all down while it was still fresh in my mind, and finally bribed me with hot dogs. So here I am, and here's the story...Selphie's frowning right now at my introduction. She says if this is going to be on her web page, and she's going to give me hotdogs for this, I better take it seriously. Don't worry, I'm serious, baby! I guess I'm not supposed to swear a lot either, cause she'll have to edit it for her page or something. Well, I if it's for food, I guess it's worth it. We're in the library right now, and one of the student aides keeps looking at me. I wanted to start typing a kidnapping notice or something just to freak them out, but Selphie won't let me do that either. She's fighting me for the keyb-
Zell! You promised to do this, now would you start typing something serious? I'm not about to get thrown out of the library and reported to Cid cause some library nerd thinks we kidnapped someone! Now type, you spiky haired muskrat!
Okay, okay, settle down. I'll get started for real.
Booyaka!
Selphie, would you stop saying that? I'll bet you're running around yelling elephant in Polish or something and don't even know it. You might have just insulted my mother. Now, if you wanted me to get serious, leave the keyboard alone so I can.
Okay. Sorry about that. Here we go:
I should probably first tell you a little about me. So far you know I'm Zell, I like hotdogs, and Selphie called me a muskrat. She likes to call me a pig, too. If it wasn't for the hotdogs, I wouldn't be doing this for that brat. I have blue eyes and blond hair that kinda sticks up in the front, near my forehead. At first it was a pain, but then I just said screw it and styled it spiked in the front, so it doesn't always look like my hair is messed up. That would explain the spikey-haired thing, but I'm not sure why she called me a muskrat. I'm not the greatest looking guy, I just don't know why she said muskrat in particular. Maybe my eyes are too close together. I go to Balamb Garden and live there. I'm from Balamb, the town, which is right nearby the Garden. My dad died when I was younger, so it's just my mom living there. She's not my real mom, though. I was adopted when I was younger, and forgot I had lived in an orphanage till I met some people that had been in the orphanage with me when we were kids. I never told my mom I knew I was adopted, though. What good would it do?
I really can't think of much else to say about myself. I'm 17, and have been at Garden since I was 13. I just made Seed this year, and I'm a martial arts close combat specialist. In other words, I fight with my fists and kick a lot.
My little story here starts on a Tuesday, in the hall outside the training center. The training center is this place where they keep monsters for students to...well, kill, for practice. I was walking to go train, to kill some time till lunch. Walking down the hall, I noticed Selphie and a friend of hers walking towards me, about halfway down the hall.
"Hiya, Zell!" Selphie chirped cheerfully. "This here's Lore. We used to be roommates."
"Hello, girls," I answered as smoothly as possible. Honestly, I don't know a thing about sounding suave, but with Selphie's pretty friend in front of me, I was sure as hell gonna try. She was something else, too. Prettiest red hair, not the weird orangey kind. A dark, brownish-red, and long and thick. It was about halfway between her shoulder blades and waist. Her eyes were dark brown, all wide and soft looking. Spanish eyes. They were so dark, they almost looked black. Until you got right up to her face, you had a hard time seeing the pupils. Gorgeous. She was so damn little in front of me, it was adorable. I'm only 5'5", and I'm actually rather sensitive about it. I don't talk a lot about it, but I'd like to be taller. She couldn't have been more than 5'2, which was perfect. I know its old-fashioned and all, and I don't like being sexist, but I hate having to look up to girls, I really do.
So this Lore was just great. She was quite short, and very slender. Petite, I guess, is the word. I'd be surprised if she broke 100 pounds. Really, she could have passed for a 12 year old, if she wasn't so damn hot. She looked delicate in a way, something kind of unusual at Garden. She was pale, and so little, she almost looked fragile.
Now, I want to say something right now. I don't want you to think I'm some kind of leering skirt chaser. I'm not, honestly. But even I'm starting to wonder if I sound too much like that dumb ass Kinneas right now. Don't get all upset over the name calling. I like Irvine, I really do. It's just how I am, running around calling people dumbasses for no reason. Once I asked Squall if he had been kicked in the head by a butterfly as an infant. And Irvine's not really any worse than I am. He pretends about chasing girls, but I think it's more for attention than testosterone issues. He's actually more of a gentlemen than most guys I can think of here at Garden. But I'm totally off-track. I just wanted to tell you I'm not aching to bed every girl I meet or anything. This girl just caught my attention. End of news brief.
Anyways, so back to my story. Selphie, halfway down the hallway greets me and introduces the vision beside her as Lore. Lore, that's such a nice name, it really is. Selphie and this goddess are walking closer, and I say, "Hello girls," trying to sound cool. They walk closer, I'm eyeing Lore, and stop just in front of me. I held my hand out to shake hands with Lore. As soon as we touched hands, that butterfly that was kicking Squall in the head suddenly appeared in my stomach and exploded into 100 little butterflies. I began wondering how impressed she would be if I hurled.
"Lore? T-that's a, uh, nice n-name.." I rambled. I wanted to start smacking my face against the wall. Conversational skills, 10. I mean, nice name?! Why not talk about the weather and bingo?
"Thank you...excuse me," she added, looking sheepish. "Who are you again?"
"Zell." In my mind I was running through a list of all the bathrooms in Garden, trying to decide where the closest one was. She didn't seem like the kind who'd like to see me throw up. Selphie could just tell her about it later. That would be humiliating enough.
"Zell...that's uh, interesting." I nodded. There was an awkward silence. For once in her goddam life, Selphie keeps her mouth shut, and it just may kill me of embarrasment.
"So..," I finally said. "It's a nice day. The sun's out." Inwardly I groaned. Oh fer chrissake, Zell, you just keep wowing her. I fervently hoped I didn't hurl on her shoes. She looked at me kinda funny, and I couldn't blame her. If I was some great looking person, and someone came up to my stuttering about the weather, I'd walk as fast as possible outta there. She just kinda nodded. Then finally she said, "Uh, Zell, are you eating enough? You look kinda..pale. Are you eating enough?"
Selphie giggled. "Eating enough? He probably ate five minutes ago."
I shot her a Glare of Death. "I'm a, uh, pretty healthy eater. I don't think I ate anything bad, I had cereal at breakfast and a hamburger yesterday for dinner." Okay, so I had 2 bowls of cereal, 3 donuts, fruit, 2 containers of milk, and orange juice for breakfast, and ate just as well at dinner. She didn't need to know everything.
She raised an eyebrow. "Hamburger? No hotdog? I thought everyone loved the hotdogs." Inwardly I sighed with relief. At least one of us had better conversational skills than a mushroom.
"None left again!" I complained. "Everyone does love the hotdogs, that's the problem. I can never get any!"
She smiled knowingly. "You just have to know the right people, that's all." The three of us began walking over to a bench outside the training center. We all sat down, but it was a pretty close fit with all of us on the same bench, so I put my arms up on the back of the bench, and more importantly, one arm draped over Lore's shoulders.
"So, are you and Selphie old friends?" I asked.
"Lore and I used to be roommates till I made SeeD," Selphie announced.
"Yeah, for about two days," Lore said with a laugh. My heart sank. Lore wasn't a SeeD? She wasn't one of those girls (and don't get me wrong, guys do it, too) that came to Garden and just killed time till they were 20 and got thrown out, without ever trying to become a SeeD...was she? That would bring her down about 20 levels in my eyes. To me, SeeD had meant a lot. Before the final exam, I studied like mad. Making SeeD became my life. I could never respect someone who acted like all this was a joke.
"You-you're...not a SeeD?" I asked, trying to sound casual.
"No. Last year was the first year I could take the test, and I had to go home to Deling. I'm only 16."
Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief. 'Of course, she's younger than me, that's all,' I thought. Talk about getting carried away.
"You had to go home? Sickness in the family?"
She hesitated. "Something like that."
Selphie changed the subject abruptly. "Zell became a SeeD last year when I did. He's the one I went on my first mission with, him and Squall."
I noticed Lore looking at my gloves. She looked up and met my eyes. "I was just...curious. So you're a martial arts close combat specialist?"
Now this caught my attention. I mean, for one thing, no one calls it that. Most people go, "So you like...punch and stuff, right?" She obviously knew a little something about what she was talking about. Which was pretty interesting, because most girls at Garden fight with a whip or nunchuku. I'm not being sexist or anything, it's just girls do tend to be smaller than guys, and it's a lot easier for even the lightest people to inflict some decent damage with a nunchuku. Using nothing but yourself as a weapon takes a little more force.
"What weapon do you use?" I questioned.
"Right now, a whip" she replied with a wry smile. As I expected. Then, she began rolling up her left sleeve, revealing a cast. "I used to use gloves." she commented dryly. "I hated having to switch to a whip, but it's the best I can do, with having one good hand. At least it's only temporary."
My eyes went wide in surprise. She looked at my expression and started laughing. Then, the warning bell that sounds every half an hour went off. She jumped up, rolling down her sleeve, and explained in a rush that she was about to be late for class. She hurried off, and Selphie and I both stood up. Selphie left to go to the cafeteria and "socialize", her way of saying gossip.
I stood there in the hallway for about 20 minutes to remember where the hell I had been heading in the first place.