As you can see I changed the time as well as the POV in this part. (In Fact, there is no POV anymore. ^^) It has something to do with not planning this as a longer story and such. (It's my first multi-chapter fic ever and I'm not good at it.) So the first part would be some kind of prologue, I think.
Chapter IBy Kia
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Zidane sneezed.
Blank looked up from the book he was reading and saw him frown.
„I think I managed to catch a cold..." the blond noticed, a hint of disbelief as well as anger in his voice. Blank grimaced.
„Well, no surprise after you decided to spend the afternoon trying to become some kind of weather vane." he said dryly.
Marcus, who was sitting in an armchair a few meters away looked at him questioning but Zidane only stuck out his tongue before he stretched his arms up in the air and went over to the door.
„It's nice being here again." he stated, speaking of the fact that they had finally reached Lindblum two hours ago. „I'm gonna celebrate it at Lario's..."
„...hoping to get some free drinks, I guess." Marcus cut him off, smirking. Everyone knew that Lario's wife, who also worked at his bar thought that Zidane was the cutest being alive and was always willing to mix him every drink he wanted for free.
Zidane shrugged.
„Or maybe some more." he grinned and sneezed again. „Want to join me?"
Marcus shook his head and so did Blank. The redhead was tired and not in the mood to go out this evening, and even though he was still a little worried about his friend the younger boy had obviously gotten over his former depression and was finally up to his cheerful, hyperactive nature again. Or so it seemed. Blank was very well aware that most of his behaviour was probably only part of the mask he used to wear to distract his friends, but it was still better than him giving in to depression and this way Blank didn't have to worry about him jumping out of windows or something like that. Beside that he had noticed that Zidane didn't seem to be too disappointed about their refusal and probably wanted to go alone, to spend some time with people he didn't see every day. So Blank said something about wanting to finish his book before the person he had ‚borrowed' it from found out it was gone and took it back. Said person was Marcus anyway, some fact that the older one however didn't seem to notice.
So Zidane only waved goodbye, sneezed once more and left.
„I don't think he'll return before tomorrow afternoon." Marcus voiced what they were both thinking. „However, even if he's dead drunk, Lario will probably let him sleep under the table until he's able to walk straight again."
„And then comes his dear wife with a harmless good morning drink and everything starts anew." Blank agreed. They both laughed. „Better say he's not gonna return before next week."
„And when he finally comes back again Baku will kill him." Marcus grinned. Then he suddenly became serious. „Blank," he said. „Did you notice anything strange about Zidane lately?"
Blank frowned.
„What do you mean?" he asked, suddenly feeling uneasy. Marcus looked at him and grimaced.
„I think you know very well what I mean." he stated. „He's acting strange. For him, I mean." The older boy sighed. „He looks so sad sometimes and he hasn't eaten for days. You must've noticed that. Even Baku did."
Of course had he noticed that, but right now he didn't want to talk about it. After Blank had taken his friend away from the cold place at the window and to some warmer place a few hours ago Zidane had all of a sudden started to act normal again, and even though Blank knew that he had just put up his mask once more he had accepted the fact that the younger boy had no desire to talk about whatever was on his mind. At least not now and as far as Blank knew him probably never. So he himself also did not want to talk about Zidane's problem, especially not to Marcus. Right now he tried to forget that those problems even existed.
So he only shrugged and looked at his book again but failed to register anything he read.
„Do you think it has anything to do with his brother?" Marcus asked again after a few minutes of silence and his words stuck the redhead like a knife. He winced and turned to look at his friend. Marcus was frowning at him.
„So you do." he noticed without any surprise.
"So what? It's none of our busyness, anyway!" Damn, didn't that guy see that he was trying to avoid this topic? Well, either that or he had decided to ignore it because the next second he asked:
"Do you know how he died?"
"Of course not!" Blank shouted back. He was really losing his temper now and, god, he hated it! He didn't even know exactly why those words made him so angry. "Do you think Zidane would tell me anything about that? Do you think he has even mentioned Kuja's name since he came back? I don't know any more than you do: They disappeared for a few weeks, Zidane came back and Kuja's dead, and as fare as I care that's okay with me! May he rot in hell, that bastard!" He noticed suddenly that was almost screaming those words in Marcus face and tried to calm down a little. This wasn't good, why was he so upset about this?
Marcus only stared at him wide eyed.
"Blank?" he asked carefully. "Are you okay?"
Blank swallowed.
"Yes, of course." he said in a low voice. "Sorry."
"Doesn't matter." Luckily, the older one didn't seem to be angry at him. "Avoid that topic?"
"You got it!" Blank managed a tiny smile. Finally.
They fell silent again and Blank finally managed to concentrate on his book again which was, he noticed, pretty good at the moment. Marcus was writing something into his block, and whatever it was, it kept him busy. At least for some time. After a while he stopped writing and stared at Blank thoughtfully, as if trying to figure out what to write next.
"Say, Blank," he asked suddenly, suspicion in his voice. "What are you reading there, anyway?"
The redhead swallowed while at the same time he tried not to grin.
"Well…"
-tbc-
05.27.2002
Arg, I know it's bad and I know the characters are pretty OOC but it's all I can do right now… T_T
And if anyone is reading this at all, sorry the chapter is so short. I'll try to write the next part as soon as possible…