Disclaimer: the disclaimer is back from its vacation and is disclaiming FF9...just so I don't get sued.
Never Again: Chapter 16
Blank was starting to drift off when the boy finally started to stir. Blank snapped out of his sleeping spell and leaned over the boy to get a closer look. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder and started to shake him. "Hey kid, wake up," Blank said softly to the sleeping figure before yelling over his shoulder to his brothers. "Hey guys, I think he's starting to come to!"
Baku walked over and stood over Blank with a sleepy Cinna and Marcus following him. "Wow...look at that bump," Marcus yawned. "Nice goin', boss."
"Well, is he gonna wake up or not?" a grumpy Cinna mumbled.
"I think so," Blank answered while he continued to nudge the boy out of his slumber. "Come on, kid. Wake up!"
"Well this is all very excitin', boys, but a man's gotta sleep," Baku said groggily. "You have fun tryin' to wake him up. I'm gonna turn in for the night."
"You should be the one watchin' him, Baku. You're the one who put him out in the first place," Cinna argued.
"Hmph...If it were up to me, we'd all be sleepin' instead of babysittin' some kid. Besides...we had a deal. It's Blank's job to babysit." Baku answered while Blank shot him a dirty look. He ignored it and attempted to step over the only sleeping boy in the room. However, because of his drowsiness, his footing was a little off, and he stepped on the boy's tail, waking him instantly with a yelp.
"Baku!" the three younger boys yelled all at once when they heard the yelp.
"Oops...sorry," Baku laughed.
"Jees, haven't you done enough to the poor kid?" Blank added angrily before directing his attention back to the boy. He was finally sitting upright, but was holding his injured tail with his eyes shut tight from the pain. When they blinked open again, they were wide with shock. He sprung up instantly in an attempt to run away, but was caught just as fast by Baku.
"Hey! Calm down, kid," Baku said, his voice rising a little bit more as the boy continued to struggle out of his grasp. "Calm down! We're not gonna hurt ya..."
"I think you're only making it worse, boss," Marcus laughed at Baku's parenting skills.
"You can laugh at me, or you can try to help me!" Baku struggled to say over the boy's squirming. "Arg! That's it! Sit!" Baku yelled while forcing the boy down to a sitting position.
"Calm down, kid. Nobody's gonna hurt you. Trust us. Just calm down," Marcus tried to coax the boy while Baku held him down.
"I know Baku's kinda...really ugly, but he won't hurt you," Blank laughed, contributing to the coaxing.
"Hey! Not as ugly as yer little-"
"Wut's goin' on in here!" Everyone, including the captive boy, turned around to see a half-asleep Ruby standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips in irritation. "Wut are ya'll doin' to the poor feller? Ya'll tryin' to scare 'im half to death? Yer doin' a pretty good job!"
"We're just tryin' to calm him down!" Cinna yelled back defensively. Ruby rolled her eyes and stepped out of the doorway toward the group. Some of them backed out of the way as Ruby was giving them death glares for disrupting her sleep. She finally stopped when she was standing in front of the overly frightened boy.
"It's gonna be ok, sweety," Ruby said calmly as she started smoothing the boy's ruffled blond hair. His fighting gradually lessened because of Ruby's motherly touch and soothing voice (even with the accent). When the struggling stopped completely, he looked up at her with big blue eyes. "Aw...I think he's kinda cute."
"Um...who-" the boy started until he was cut of by Cinna.
"Wait a minute...How did she do that?"
Ruby rolled her eyes once more. "...Men."
"Where am-" they boy tried again but was cut off again by Baku.
"Look at me, kid..." Baku said while waving a finger in front of his face. Noticing that the boy followed the movement, he went on to the next test. He pulled out a small flashlight and shined it into each the boy's eyes. "Ok, that seems to work...Now, how many fingers am I holding up?" Baku continued while the boy tried to blink back the little white dots the flashlight left.
"Three...but, who are-"
"Now, say your name..."Baku interrupted yet again.
The boy gave Baku a confused look after a few seconds of thinking. "Umm...I don't really know right now, but...could you tell me who you-"
"Good goin', boss! You gave him amnesia!" Blank argued
"Poor thing..." Ruby said quietly while giving the boy another pat on the head.
"Yer actin' like I hit him on purpose!" Baku argued back while looking around past Ruby to catch a glance at Blank.
"Who are you people!?" the boy finally yelled over all the fighting. Everyone sans the boy stopped their arguing and turned to look at him. "Should I know who you are 'cause if I should, I'm sorry. I don't even know who I am or where I am."
Everyone looked to the leader for explanation. Baku glared back at them before starting. "Umm...well...ya see...Yer not really supposed to know us. We just met."
"Oh, and your name's Zidane," Blank blurted out, remembering the note they found in his pocket.
"How do you know my name if we've never met?"
"We-" Baku tried to explain before Marcus cut him off.
"You told us before you passed out." Baku raised his eyebrow at Marcus in confusion. Marcus answered back with a look that said "You weren't going to tell him that his parents left him, and by doing so, possibly traumatize him forever, were you?"
"Ok...now could you tell me where I am?" Zidane said slowly, trying to understand every bit of information given to him.
"You're at your new home!" Cinna said proudly. Proud because he was mocking Baku, who didn't want to take care of another stray child.
"Here, these are yours," Blank said while sliding the pile of things they found on Zidane, except the note that Baku still had, to him.
"You must've been a pretty good thief to get such a nice collection," Cinna said, grinning at Baku. "That's why you're joining Tantalus and living with all of us. We could use an extra pair of hands."
"Yeah, and we should probably introduce ourselves, since you're gonna be living with us," Marcus said before Baku had a chance to argue again about not wanting another kid. "I'm Marcus," he said, offering his hand to Zidane. Zidane took it and Marcus continued with the introductions. "The redhead's name is Blank and the chubby kid is Cinna," he said, pointing to each one of them.
"Nice to meetcha, Zidane," Blank answered as politely as possible for a 6 year old thief.
"Same here," Cinna said with the same courtesy. "What was that about bein' chubby, Marcus?"
"Never mind," Marcus said quickly. "The girl's Ruby and the big guy's Baku."
"Pleasure," Ruby said while continuing to play with Zidane's hair.
"You can call me boss..." Baku grumbled while still glaring at Cinna.
"You can call him Baku," Cinna laughed.
"No he can't!"
Zidane gave Baku and unsure smile. "Well...umm...it's nice to meet you all. I'm Zidane...I think."
Author's Note: Yay! I'm done! And I'm in pain! I just got my wisdom teeth pulled out. It hurts. And if this chapter is a little weird in some way shape or form, blame all the painkillers I've been taking. They're making me all dopey. Oh, and about the last chapter...I said that Zidane heard swearing, but I still tried to make it as pg 13 as Baku's mouth goes...Yeah...Actually, those words sound pretty good right now...Sorry...drugs talking.
-Insomniac-
