TO THE GIRL WHO'S GOT IT ALL


Chapter. 7

Again, Zidane ran as quickly as he could.
He wondered if it would be easier if he
just kicked their butts right away, but
concidering that he didn't want to loose
the orb, and that he felt kind of responsible
for whatever might happen to Teema, he kept
running.

He wanted to tell the orb to make them fall
over, and he would've told it to do so too, if it
hadn't been for the fact that he no longer
knew, or even thought he knew, what the
orb really was. After all, he might as well
be selling his soul, or something, for each
wish! He had no idea what it was. All he knew
was that if Dagger didn't appreciate it
he might conscider leaving her...
Or maybe not.

"Who is these guys?!"
Teema panted. She was running next to him,
still rather shaky from her recently near-to-death
excperience.
"I have no idea," he admitted. They jumped
toghether over to the next roof-top and kept
running.
"Then why are they following you?"
"Not a clue!"
He wanted to tell her that they were after the
orb as well, but decided not to. The less she
knew, the better!

"You never told me what the orb was,"
he reminded her. His chest stinged with each
breath he took. This had NOT been his day!
Teema laughed that soft laugh he had come
to know, and said between her gasps for air,
"are you... sure you want to...to know..."
"Yes! I do! I do! I do!"
"You will...be slightly... disa-disapointed..!"
"I don't care! Just tell me what it is!"

Their pursuers were catching up. They might be
just rookies, but they could run! Again, Zidane felt
a strong urge to stop dead and fight them right
there. They were starting to get on his nerves!

Teema attempted to nod or something, which is
not something you should do while you're running.
So of course, she fell again. But this time, in
stead of rolling down towards the edge, she simply
fell straight trough the roof!

Avoiding the large hole in front of him, Zidane bent
down and poked his head into it. It was very, very
dark and he couldn't really see anything. But he
could hear Teema's faint moaning from somewhere down
there.

"Are you OK?"
he called down. A rather grumpy voice answered him,
"do you THINK I'm OK?!"
Zidane thought about this for a moment,
"well, no. Not really."
"Good thinking! I'm not!"
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Yes! Get me the hell out of here!"

Just as he was about to answer, someone grabbed him
from behind and locked his arms in a thight grip.
"Gotcha!"
It was the red-head. Zidane recognised his voice.
Well, this just kept getting better and better!
He had put the orb in his pocket, and couldn't reach
it with his arms behind his back. Seemed like there
was no other means of escape than the old fashion way....

Quickly, he spun around and jerked free from the grip.
Before the man could reach his katana, Zidane punched
him straight between the eyes and kicked his shin, causing
him to stumble and fall. The red-head grabbed onto a
chimney nearby to keep himself from rolling down like
Teema had done. Unlike Teema, this guy did cry for help.

During normal circumstances, Zidane would never've left
anyone like this. But he knew that there would be four
other guys there any time soon, and that they would
certainly help their friend. Therefor, Zidane turned
and ran.

But instead of running along the roof-tops, he jumped
down trough the hole. He was no wuss, and if Teema had
survived, so would he.

He couldn't see himself falling, but he could feel it.
Would've been a wonderful feeling if it wasn't for the
fact that he had no idea when or how he would connect with
the surface below. He found the answer to that a little
sooner than he liked....

CRASH!!!! An intense pain shot up trough his spine as he
landed perfectly on both feet in the middle of a large
circular bucket filled with some strange liquid which
smelled remarkably like beer...

"Hi, there you are. What took you so long?"
Teema asked from somewhere nearby. The bucket rolled over,
and a rather unhappy Zidane fell out. Soaking wet.
He sat up. Slowly, making sure every body part was where
it was supposed to be, before he wiped the beer-like
liquid out of his eyes. It was dripping from his face and
his hair, and he smelled awfully like he'd been
drinking. Oh, this was going to be sooo fun to explain
to Dagger...! Sheez, what a 'funny' day this had been!

"Are you OK?"
Teema asked. Still, he couldn't quite make out exactly
where in the room the voice was coming from.
"Oh yeah, sure. I'm fine! Never been better!"
he muttered sarcasticly.
"Well, someone's grumpy today... Can you walk?"
Zidane reached out and felt his fingers connect with
his legs.
"Umh... Yeah, I think so."
"Good. 'Cause I can't!"
"You want me to carry you?!"
"No, I want you to leave me here until someone finds
me laying here and-"
she broke herself off,
"of course I want you to carry me! How else am I
going to get out of here?"

Zidane scratched the back of his head. He had to help
her somehow.... But if he was caught wandering around
with a strange girl in his arms smelling of beer...
He might as well say bye-bye to Dagger!

"I'd love to help you. But if my girlfriend finds me-"
"Does your girlfriend usually wander around on the streets,
alone, in the middle of the night?"
Zidane shrugged,
"Well, ...no."
"Then carry me! Your brother did it, you can too."
Zidane shrugged again, "er... OK, I guess...?"
He got carefully to his feet, stumbled over several items
before he actually found her. She wasn't heavy at all.
He felt bad when he thought about Dagger....


[Authors note: I'm now going to start writing
in paragraphs. Hope you like it!]