Be Mine- Chapter 3: "Kiss Me"
By Matoko Shizaki
Disclaimer: I don't own Zell or any of the other characters. Squaresoft owns them. Blah blah blah… damn this is boring…
Notes: Tomorrow I have SAT IIs bright and early… oh joy… anyway, I figured I should write because who am I to deprive an audience?
Anyhoo, with the candy heart thing, I'm going to maybe hand out candy hearts at Anime Boston 2005. At least, if I remember. You'll know which one I am. I'm the flamboyant redhead dressed as either Jecht (FFX), Marcus (FFIX), or someone from Digimon. -;; Yes, this is how I get my kicks…
By the way, I just got the Zell figure! I know, I know, big deal. Well, it'll at least encourage me to write! …and I shall try to refrain from reenacting yaoi fics between Zell and Irvine with my Zell and Irvine figures… Now if only I had Seifer and Quistis figures… hehehe..
And the reviewers column!
Jeanieh
SeiyaMatsuya
Angel Reid
Trio Wing
Selphie 108
Crack-Anne
Zell's Girl with a Pigtail
FF Fan
"Well… this is interesting."
"What the hell do you mean?" Zell asked, peering over the top of his T-Board Magazine. With both feet on the cafeteria table and his head buried in a magazine, he was quite alright with Rinoa doing all the thinking.
"Zell!" Rinoa snatched the magazine and threw it aside. "Pay attention! You're supposed to be the Romeo here!"
The blond sat up with a groan, removing his high top clad feet from the table. "What do you want me to do? I can't figure this out. C'mon Rinoa, her last clue was she watches me a lot. That's real helpful."
"So she's playing hard to get," Rinoa replied, returning to the love note Zell had almost died to obtain the night before. "It's more romantic that way."
"You girls and your sense of romance…" Zell grumbled, taking the volume of poetry from Rinoa.
"Want my help or not? Squall's personally a little mad that I'm tending to your love life instead of--"
"Having sex with him?" Zell offered.
"No!" Rinoa blushed furiously. "But it is almost Valentine's Day! I need to spend time with him!" She cleared her throat and turned back to the love letter. "Now, back to work."
"Whatever…"
"It looks like whoever chose their clues from here didn't want to make it very intellectual…" Rinoa commented grazing a finger over the neat print of the note.
"Either that or the author doesn't know what the hell she's doing." Zell said offhand. (It's true!!)
Rinoa slammed a hand on the table nearly knocking over her water. "Alright, that's it Zell! Since you won't quit screwing around, you can do this on your own." She stood up and grabbed her bag.
"W-wait! What do you mean I can do it alone?! Rinoa!!" When he reached out to grab her shoulder, she was already leaving the cafeteria… and not looking back.
"Geez…" Zell sunk back into his chair and grabbed up the love letter. "I am so screwed…"
"HEY ZELL!!!"
The blond must've rocketed of his seat and five feet into the air as the chair toppled over behind him. "HOLY SHIT!!" When he spun around, there stood Selphie, yellow clad and perky as ever.
"Good morning!" she said with a slight wave. The other hand was held behind her back giving her the appearance of mock innocence. Something was definitely up.
"Er, hi Selphie…" Zell picked up the chair cautiously. "Too much coffee?"
"No, it's just such a beautiful morning!" the brunette replied rocking back and forth on her heels.
Zell sighed. "Ok, what is it you want me to do?"
"So glad you asked!" Selphie chirped as she removed her hands from behind her back. "See, we need people to help out with decorating the ballroom fro the dance and… we're a little short handed." She scuffed the floor with her boot, adding more innocence to her facade. Damn, she was persuasive when she got like that.
"Lemme guess, you need my help?"
She nodded rapidly, her brunette curls bobbing up and down.
Zell sighed and closed the poetry book at his side, shoving the note back into his pocket. "Fine…"
Selphie jumped up and down excitedly. "That's great! Thanks so much, Zell!!!"
The blond scratched his head and muttered a hasty, "Don't mention it."
"Well, c'mon!" she laughed, seizing Zell by the wrist and jerking him towards the exit. Zell barely had time to gather up his things before Selphie was skipping out of the cafeteria, him in tow.
"Hey, Selphie?" Zell asked, stumbling as he tried to keep up with the hyperactive girl.
"Yeah?"
"Who all has been in the ballroom lately?"
"Why would you want to know that?" Selphie called over her shoulder.
"No reason…" Zell lied.
"Well, just the people helping with the decorating… and the disciplinary committee!"
"Can't forget them…" the blond grumbled as they turned and headed down the open hallway towards the ballroom.
Through the double doors Selphie practically kicked open was the ballroom, no longer quiet and dark as Zell had seen it the night before. It was swarming with people, mostly girls, each of them armed with banners, tape, streamers, and balloons. Zell stared as Selphie pulled him into the room. One of the people in here had to be his secret admirer… but which one?
"Here Zell! You can help with balloons!" Selphie, dictator of the decorating chaos, proclaimed. She had led him over to a table where several students were sorting out balloons according to their colors and the messages written on them. Off to the side was a tank of helium and a set of ribbon for tying the balloons.
"Er, thanks Selphie…" Zell said, scratching the back of his head. The brunette hadn't heard, though, because she ran off in search of the glitter.
Stepping up to the table, Zell watches as several members of the Garden Festival Committee sorted and oversaw the work. It looked boring… deathly boring.
"Zell? What are you doing here?"
The blond turned to the sound of the voice and found himself face to face with former instructor and SeeD member, Quistis Trepe.
"Quistis?"
"Hello Zell." She said nodding. "Now, what are you doing here?" Quistis repeated, adjusting her glasses as she turned from tying strings on the balloons.
"Well, Selphie talked me into helping so…"
Quistis laughed, a melodious giggle that would've sent the Treppies swooning. "Almost too persuasive, isn't she? That's how I got into this mess."
"Oh." Zell commented. Slowly he began making a mental list of the people in the room, anyone who could've been the mysterious admirer.
"Zell?"
"Huh?"
"If you're going to be in here," Quistis said, placing a hand on her hip. "You might as well help out, right?"
"Oh, yeah, right. Sorry about that. I was just thinking."
"You'll have plenty of time to think while inflating balloons." Quistis assured him as she handed him a handful of pink balloons and shoved him towards the helium tank.
Two hours and five hundred balloons later, Zell found himself collapsed onto a bench in the main hall, gasping for breath. After about ten balloons the helium tank had run out and the other four hundred and ninety had to be blown up by mouth.
"What… the fuck… is up… with… this… day…?" Zell panted, laying his head back against the rail behind the bench.
As if on cue, things suddenly became worse.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
Zell's eyes shot open as he suddenly recognized the voice.
"Looks like a deflated chickenwuss."
Blue eyes sought to focus Zell's vision, focus on the former knight that towered in front of him, backed up by the faithful Fujin and Rajin, and focus on an escape route.
"What… do you want…?" Zell managed to gasp out.
"What do you think?" Seifer cracked his knuckles, a rhythmic crunch that sounded much like the breaking of bones. Zell's bones.
The blond sat up, swallowing hard and saying his prayers. It there was ever a time for a guardian angel, it was now.
"Piss off." Zell croaked, surprising himself. Bravado was the only thing keeping his body from collapsing after the most rigorous decorating session of his life.
Faster than Zell could blink, Seifer lunged forward, gripping the front of the blond martial artist's shirt. Zell was instantly lifted from the bench and to his feet, his only support being Seifer's tightly clenched fist.
"And what was that?" he hissed dangerously.
Zell realized, at a time when he really should've been fearing his own mortality's end, that he'd never been this close to Seifer. He looked older, meaner, more restless… and from the reports of what he'd been doing to other students, he must've been restless.
"Jeez, get a tic tac, man…" Zell groaned. He wasn't in the mood for this and suddenly didn't care that he was about to get pummeled.
"Why you…!"
Zell could already feel the burn of Seifer's knuckles on his face and waited for the impact… but it didn't come.
"Seifer!"
As the fist uncoiled from around his shirt, Zell opened his eyes. He was set back on his feet and Seifer had taken a step back. He looked even more tense than before. Zell turned towards the scolding voice to see Quistis standing there, he hands on her hips.
"Seifer, what do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like," Seifer then quickly added a sour, "Instructor. I'm teaching him a lesson."
Quistis came forward, her boots slapping the granite tile rhythmically. She stopped right in front of Seifer, looking him in the eyes although she was three inches shorter.
"I don't know who gave you the authority to teach discipline with physical brutality."
"And who said I couldn't?"
"I did! That's who!" Quistis turned to Zell and calmly smiled. "Zell, go get some rest. You need some sleep."
Nodding, Zell turned on one heel and began to hurry away. Whatever was about to happen between those two, it couldn't be good.
(The author could make a very kinky comment in here but won't…)
Finally back in the safety of his own dorm, Zell kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the couch, book and note still in hand. Although exhausted, he was determined to figure out the note's riddle today. There were only three days until Valentine's Day.
He sat up with a groan and rested against the worn arm of the couch. Propped up and comfy, he unfolded the note again.
"Now what did Rinoa say about solving these? Oh right! Look for key words…" Zell opened the volume of poetry and rested it in his lap. "This shouldn't be too hard."
Taking the highlighter he had tucked in the book to keep his place, he looked to the note. Carefully reading, he began to highlight the keywords.
"Let's see… tall, slender, silken, soft, red, rose, thorns, pain… Yeah, that's it." Zell sat the highlighter aside and glanced down at the words now surrounded by a yellow glow. "What the…? Is this a place again? Aw crap!" He swung his feet around, planting them on the ground. "Am I really going to have to go and beg Rinoa?!"
"No way, Zell. You need to figure it out yourself!"
"Just the other day you were so eager to help me!" Zell shouted. He was immediately quieted by a library assistant who was replacing the return books on the shelves. "Why not now?" he continued, his voice lower.
"Because! I have better things to do if all you're going to do is goof off." She plucked a volume from the shelf, a boring book titled: "Balamb Garden: Inside and Out". "Her, take this." Rinoa handed it to him.
"…a book is supposed to be helpful?" Zell asked as he turned the book over in his hands. "Who in hell would write a book about the Garden anyway?"
"You figure that out, Einstein." Rinoa turned, heading out of the library.
"W-wait! Rinoa!"
The former rebel leader ignored him and stepped out of the library as the assistant sent another death glare his way. Trying to avoid the assistants gaze, Zell slinked back into the study area. He plunked down into a chair and opened the book.
"Lemme see… tall and slender…? What would…?" Zell caught sight of the picture index in the middle and flipped to it. Greeting his blue gaze was a beautiful picture of the Garden in the spring. Life was springing up everywhere in the form of flowers, rising with eagerness to obtain some of the soft, spring sun. He quickly read the caption to the picture.
'Some of the gardens in Balamb Garden. The flowers of choice include daffodils, daisies, roses, violets, bleeding hearts, lupine, irises--'
Zell paused and reread the caption carefully. "Roses…" he muttered. That had to be it! Quickly, he opened to the index in the back searching for the name of the flower. Finding a page in the directory, he flipped to a rather boring paragraph on the gardens.
'One of the more interesting gardens in Balamb Garden is the private garden of Headmaster Cid Kramer. Outside of his office on a broad ledge (accessible from only his office) are multiple rose bushes which he keeps in good shape.'
The blond snapped the book shut. This had to be it or he was a Moomba's uncle.
Clutching desperately to his T-Board, Zell propelled the board up closer to the ledge, one arm extended and searching for the note.
'If this doesn't kill me," he thought. 'Nothing will…' He glanced over his shoulder, the sight of the twenty foot drop to the pavement confirming his fears. If he fell it was a long way down… and if he was caught Cid would have his head. Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Zell turned back to the matter at hand.
Searching with keen eyes through the bushes, he saw no flash of white that might indicate a note… until he saw the last bush. Poking out of the bush was the note, pierced and held in place by a thorn. Zell grinned and reached, momentarily leaning off of his board.
Fingertips brushed the note and Zell felt that victory was at hand. Suddenly, his board lurched under him. The engine was giving out!
Eyes wide in fear, Zell leapt for the ledge as the board gave out and began its plunge towards the pavement. Instead of catching the ledge as planned, Zell barreled head on into a rose bush, thorns tearing at his jacket and bare skin as he landed. Despite the sharp sting, he much preferred it to the pavement.
With a yelp, Zell pulled his head free from the bush. Clutched in his hand was the note and the T-Board laid at the pavement below, the surface cracked and revealing the machinery within.
"Dammit!" Zell shouted. "Now I hafta get that things fixed!" He punched the bush sourly and tucked the note into his jacket. At least he came out in one piece.
Thorns ripped at him as he stood and he groaned. He was bleeding.
"Shit… this is just--"
Zell froze as a hand came down heavy on his shoulder.
"Zell, you should watch your language." a teasing voice greeted him.
The blond turned, coming face to face with Edea, the headmaster's wife and his former foster mother.
"M-Matron!!" Zell gasped.
The woman merely smiled, a smile that lit up her face. Despite the fact that she was nearing her early forties, Edea still looked only thirty. She still dressed the same, a black shirt, black spaghetti strap shirt, and black heels with black hair flowing down her back. Although Zell had many happy childhood memories of her that were slowly returning, he still hadn't gotten over the thought of her as Sorceress Edea.
"Look at you, you're a mess." Edea sighed, indicating Zell's torn jacket, shorts, and cut up face, arms, and legs. "Well, let's get you into the office."
"Ah, wait!" Zell pleaded as Edea pulled him towards the door into the office. "Will Headmaster Cid hear about the rosebushes?" Cid had once been a sidelines father for the orphans, "Uncle Cid" as they had affectionately called him, but now was their headmaster and the only disciplinarian they needed to fear besides Seifer.
Edea shook her head, black hair whipping across her back. "No, besides," She smiled. "They're my bushes, not his."
"Oh…" Zell finally allowed himself to be pulled into the now silent office and into a side room where the Kramer couple resided when Edea wasn't off with the White SeeD. It was a small area like a dorm room with a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. The kitchen, the room he'd been taken to and seated in, was a calm lilac with several old tea sets lining the top of the cabinets for decoration. It was immaculately clean like the rest of the headmaster's area and reminded Zell of home.
"Now," Edea said, sitting down next to Zell at the kitchen table. "Let's take a look at your wounds." She reached out and turned his head to the left, the right as she inspected the scrapes on his face. Edea lifted his arms to her eye level, checked his knees, and then smiled.
"Not too worse for wear." She stood and opened up a cabinet to her right. "If it had been a younger you, you'd have been in tears."
"…don't remind me…" Zell muttered.
Edea laughed again, a musical, wonderful laugh. She turned back to him, a first aid kit now in hand. "You were a perfect child, Zell. Innocent, lovable, adorable… but you probably down want to here the ramblings of an old woman." Edea sat back down and opened the kit, going right for the disinfectant and the Band-aids.
"I… I don't mind." Zell admitted. "Being a kid is a lot easier than being a teenager."
"Well, it is a difficult time in everyone's life…" Edea agreed. She poured some rubbing alcohol onto a cotton ball and began to dab at Zell's cheeks. He yelped in protest and Edea recoiled a little. "I'm sorry!" she said before going back to cleaning his scratches.
"That stings…" Zell complained through clenched teeth.
"Then you shouldn't do such dangerous things." Edea chided. "Exactly what were you doing up there?"
"…just… looking for something. That's all…" Zell muttered, turning his head down. Edea lifted his head back up so he faced her and continued cleaning.
"It mustn't be 'just something' for you to have risked life and limb for." She opened a Band-aid and placed it on his cheek. "What is it?"
"A note…"
"Oh! A love note!" Edea's face lit up. "How wonderful, Zell!"
"I just don't know who it's from. They keep hiding it. Rinoa says she's, if it is a she, is trying to play hard to get."
"Romantic!" Edea placed another Band-aid on his, this time his elbow. "Just in time for Valentine's Day. You're a lucky boy Zell." Another Band-aid. "The girls must love you."
"Not really…"
Edea didn't hear. She was packing up the first aid kit and rising to her feet.
"Matron, do you think I could go get my T-Board now?"
"I'm afraid it'll have to be confiscated, Zell." a new voice said.
Zell turned and was surprised by Cid's sudden appearance in the doorway. "H-Headmaster?"
"Oh, again, dear?" Edea asked of her husband.
Cid nodded. "This is the tenth time, Zell. You're a SeeD now. You need to learn a little responsibility."
"…so I can't have my board back?"
"No."
"Dammit!" Zell kicked open the door to his dorm and walked sullenly to his room. "What a shitty day! If it wasn't for this damn note…" In his pocket, Zell felts his hand curl around the slip of paper.
'In the end it'll be worth it, Zell. Just keep telling yourself.'
He closed the door to his room, sat the note on his nightstand, and stripped away his now torn jacket and shirt. It stung as he pulled the shirt over his face but he ignored the pain and reached for the note.
"I help out the school often because I need seem to have anything else to do. That's when I see you the most.
Across the room, her knight,
Ashamed of battle scars,
Stands alone in solitude,
Sword shining like a star"
Zell kissed the note and sat it back on the nightstand.
"I hope to God this girl's a keeper."
By the way, the Zell figure did help! …must…resist…yaoi…! ACH!!
By Matoko Shizaki
Disclaimer: I don't own Zell or any of the other characters. Squaresoft owns them. Blah blah blah… damn this is boring…
Notes: Tomorrow I have SAT IIs bright and early… oh joy… anyway, I figured I should write because who am I to deprive an audience?
Anyhoo, with the candy heart thing, I'm going to maybe hand out candy hearts at Anime Boston 2005. At least, if I remember. You'll know which one I am. I'm the flamboyant redhead dressed as either Jecht (FFX), Marcus (FFIX), or someone from Digimon. -;; Yes, this is how I get my kicks…
By the way, I just got the Zell figure! I know, I know, big deal. Well, it'll at least encourage me to write! …and I shall try to refrain from reenacting yaoi fics between Zell and Irvine with my Zell and Irvine figures… Now if only I had Seifer and Quistis figures… hehehe..
And the reviewers column!
Jeanieh
SeiyaMatsuya
Angel Reid
Trio Wing
Selphie 108
Crack-Anne
Zell's Girl with a Pigtail
FF Fan
"Well… this is interesting."
"What the hell do you mean?" Zell asked, peering over the top of his T-Board Magazine. With both feet on the cafeteria table and his head buried in a magazine, he was quite alright with Rinoa doing all the thinking.
"Zell!" Rinoa snatched the magazine and threw it aside. "Pay attention! You're supposed to be the Romeo here!"
The blond sat up with a groan, removing his high top clad feet from the table. "What do you want me to do? I can't figure this out. C'mon Rinoa, her last clue was she watches me a lot. That's real helpful."
"So she's playing hard to get," Rinoa replied, returning to the love note Zell had almost died to obtain the night before. "It's more romantic that way."
"You girls and your sense of romance…" Zell grumbled, taking the volume of poetry from Rinoa.
"Want my help or not? Squall's personally a little mad that I'm tending to your love life instead of--"
"Having sex with him?" Zell offered.
"No!" Rinoa blushed furiously. "But it is almost Valentine's Day! I need to spend time with him!" She cleared her throat and turned back to the love letter. "Now, back to work."
"Whatever…"
"It looks like whoever chose their clues from here didn't want to make it very intellectual…" Rinoa commented grazing a finger over the neat print of the note.
"Either that or the author doesn't know what the hell she's doing." Zell said offhand. (It's true!!)
Rinoa slammed a hand on the table nearly knocking over her water. "Alright, that's it Zell! Since you won't quit screwing around, you can do this on your own." She stood up and grabbed her bag.
"W-wait! What do you mean I can do it alone?! Rinoa!!" When he reached out to grab her shoulder, she was already leaving the cafeteria… and not looking back.
"Geez…" Zell sunk back into his chair and grabbed up the love letter. "I am so screwed…"
"HEY ZELL!!!"
The blond must've rocketed of his seat and five feet into the air as the chair toppled over behind him. "HOLY SHIT!!" When he spun around, there stood Selphie, yellow clad and perky as ever.
"Good morning!" she said with a slight wave. The other hand was held behind her back giving her the appearance of mock innocence. Something was definitely up.
"Er, hi Selphie…" Zell picked up the chair cautiously. "Too much coffee?"
"No, it's just such a beautiful morning!" the brunette replied rocking back and forth on her heels.
Zell sighed. "Ok, what is it you want me to do?"
"So glad you asked!" Selphie chirped as she removed her hands from behind her back. "See, we need people to help out with decorating the ballroom fro the dance and… we're a little short handed." She scuffed the floor with her boot, adding more innocence to her facade. Damn, she was persuasive when she got like that.
"Lemme guess, you need my help?"
She nodded rapidly, her brunette curls bobbing up and down.
Zell sighed and closed the poetry book at his side, shoving the note back into his pocket. "Fine…"
Selphie jumped up and down excitedly. "That's great! Thanks so much, Zell!!!"
The blond scratched his head and muttered a hasty, "Don't mention it."
"Well, c'mon!" she laughed, seizing Zell by the wrist and jerking him towards the exit. Zell barely had time to gather up his things before Selphie was skipping out of the cafeteria, him in tow.
"Hey, Selphie?" Zell asked, stumbling as he tried to keep up with the hyperactive girl.
"Yeah?"
"Who all has been in the ballroom lately?"
"Why would you want to know that?" Selphie called over her shoulder.
"No reason…" Zell lied.
"Well, just the people helping with the decorating… and the disciplinary committee!"
"Can't forget them…" the blond grumbled as they turned and headed down the open hallway towards the ballroom.
Through the double doors Selphie practically kicked open was the ballroom, no longer quiet and dark as Zell had seen it the night before. It was swarming with people, mostly girls, each of them armed with banners, tape, streamers, and balloons. Zell stared as Selphie pulled him into the room. One of the people in here had to be his secret admirer… but which one?
"Here Zell! You can help with balloons!" Selphie, dictator of the decorating chaos, proclaimed. She had led him over to a table where several students were sorting out balloons according to their colors and the messages written on them. Off to the side was a tank of helium and a set of ribbon for tying the balloons.
"Er, thanks Selphie…" Zell said, scratching the back of his head. The brunette hadn't heard, though, because she ran off in search of the glitter.
Stepping up to the table, Zell watches as several members of the Garden Festival Committee sorted and oversaw the work. It looked boring… deathly boring.
"Zell? What are you doing here?"
The blond turned to the sound of the voice and found himself face to face with former instructor and SeeD member, Quistis Trepe.
"Quistis?"
"Hello Zell." She said nodding. "Now, what are you doing here?" Quistis repeated, adjusting her glasses as she turned from tying strings on the balloons.
"Well, Selphie talked me into helping so…"
Quistis laughed, a melodious giggle that would've sent the Treppies swooning. "Almost too persuasive, isn't she? That's how I got into this mess."
"Oh." Zell commented. Slowly he began making a mental list of the people in the room, anyone who could've been the mysterious admirer.
"Zell?"
"Huh?"
"If you're going to be in here," Quistis said, placing a hand on her hip. "You might as well help out, right?"
"Oh, yeah, right. Sorry about that. I was just thinking."
"You'll have plenty of time to think while inflating balloons." Quistis assured him as she handed him a handful of pink balloons and shoved him towards the helium tank.
Two hours and five hundred balloons later, Zell found himself collapsed onto a bench in the main hall, gasping for breath. After about ten balloons the helium tank had run out and the other four hundred and ninety had to be blown up by mouth.
"What… the fuck… is up… with… this… day…?" Zell panted, laying his head back against the rail behind the bench.
As if on cue, things suddenly became worse.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
Zell's eyes shot open as he suddenly recognized the voice.
"Looks like a deflated chickenwuss."
Blue eyes sought to focus Zell's vision, focus on the former knight that towered in front of him, backed up by the faithful Fujin and Rajin, and focus on an escape route.
"What… do you want…?" Zell managed to gasp out.
"What do you think?" Seifer cracked his knuckles, a rhythmic crunch that sounded much like the breaking of bones. Zell's bones.
The blond sat up, swallowing hard and saying his prayers. It there was ever a time for a guardian angel, it was now.
"Piss off." Zell croaked, surprising himself. Bravado was the only thing keeping his body from collapsing after the most rigorous decorating session of his life.
Faster than Zell could blink, Seifer lunged forward, gripping the front of the blond martial artist's shirt. Zell was instantly lifted from the bench and to his feet, his only support being Seifer's tightly clenched fist.
"And what was that?" he hissed dangerously.
Zell realized, at a time when he really should've been fearing his own mortality's end, that he'd never been this close to Seifer. He looked older, meaner, more restless… and from the reports of what he'd been doing to other students, he must've been restless.
"Jeez, get a tic tac, man…" Zell groaned. He wasn't in the mood for this and suddenly didn't care that he was about to get pummeled.
"Why you…!"
Zell could already feel the burn of Seifer's knuckles on his face and waited for the impact… but it didn't come.
"Seifer!"
As the fist uncoiled from around his shirt, Zell opened his eyes. He was set back on his feet and Seifer had taken a step back. He looked even more tense than before. Zell turned towards the scolding voice to see Quistis standing there, he hands on her hips.
"Seifer, what do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like," Seifer then quickly added a sour, "Instructor. I'm teaching him a lesson."
Quistis came forward, her boots slapping the granite tile rhythmically. She stopped right in front of Seifer, looking him in the eyes although she was three inches shorter.
"I don't know who gave you the authority to teach discipline with physical brutality."
"And who said I couldn't?"
"I did! That's who!" Quistis turned to Zell and calmly smiled. "Zell, go get some rest. You need some sleep."
Nodding, Zell turned on one heel and began to hurry away. Whatever was about to happen between those two, it couldn't be good.
(The author could make a very kinky comment in here but won't…)
Finally back in the safety of his own dorm, Zell kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the couch, book and note still in hand. Although exhausted, he was determined to figure out the note's riddle today. There were only three days until Valentine's Day.
He sat up with a groan and rested against the worn arm of the couch. Propped up and comfy, he unfolded the note again.
"Now what did Rinoa say about solving these? Oh right! Look for key words…" Zell opened the volume of poetry and rested it in his lap. "This shouldn't be too hard."
Taking the highlighter he had tucked in the book to keep his place, he looked to the note. Carefully reading, he began to highlight the keywords.
"Let's see… tall, slender, silken, soft, red, rose, thorns, pain… Yeah, that's it." Zell sat the highlighter aside and glanced down at the words now surrounded by a yellow glow. "What the…? Is this a place again? Aw crap!" He swung his feet around, planting them on the ground. "Am I really going to have to go and beg Rinoa?!"
"No way, Zell. You need to figure it out yourself!"
"Just the other day you were so eager to help me!" Zell shouted. He was immediately quieted by a library assistant who was replacing the return books on the shelves. "Why not now?" he continued, his voice lower.
"Because! I have better things to do if all you're going to do is goof off." She plucked a volume from the shelf, a boring book titled: "Balamb Garden: Inside and Out". "Her, take this." Rinoa handed it to him.
"…a book is supposed to be helpful?" Zell asked as he turned the book over in his hands. "Who in hell would write a book about the Garden anyway?"
"You figure that out, Einstein." Rinoa turned, heading out of the library.
"W-wait! Rinoa!"
The former rebel leader ignored him and stepped out of the library as the assistant sent another death glare his way. Trying to avoid the assistants gaze, Zell slinked back into the study area. He plunked down into a chair and opened the book.
"Lemme see… tall and slender…? What would…?" Zell caught sight of the picture index in the middle and flipped to it. Greeting his blue gaze was a beautiful picture of the Garden in the spring. Life was springing up everywhere in the form of flowers, rising with eagerness to obtain some of the soft, spring sun. He quickly read the caption to the picture.
'Some of the gardens in Balamb Garden. The flowers of choice include daffodils, daisies, roses, violets, bleeding hearts, lupine, irises--'
Zell paused and reread the caption carefully. "Roses…" he muttered. That had to be it! Quickly, he opened to the index in the back searching for the name of the flower. Finding a page in the directory, he flipped to a rather boring paragraph on the gardens.
'One of the more interesting gardens in Balamb Garden is the private garden of Headmaster Cid Kramer. Outside of his office on a broad ledge (accessible from only his office) are multiple rose bushes which he keeps in good shape.'
The blond snapped the book shut. This had to be it or he was a Moomba's uncle.
Clutching desperately to his T-Board, Zell propelled the board up closer to the ledge, one arm extended and searching for the note.
'If this doesn't kill me," he thought. 'Nothing will…' He glanced over his shoulder, the sight of the twenty foot drop to the pavement confirming his fears. If he fell it was a long way down… and if he was caught Cid would have his head. Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Zell turned back to the matter at hand.
Searching with keen eyes through the bushes, he saw no flash of white that might indicate a note… until he saw the last bush. Poking out of the bush was the note, pierced and held in place by a thorn. Zell grinned and reached, momentarily leaning off of his board.
Fingertips brushed the note and Zell felt that victory was at hand. Suddenly, his board lurched under him. The engine was giving out!
Eyes wide in fear, Zell leapt for the ledge as the board gave out and began its plunge towards the pavement. Instead of catching the ledge as planned, Zell barreled head on into a rose bush, thorns tearing at his jacket and bare skin as he landed. Despite the sharp sting, he much preferred it to the pavement.
With a yelp, Zell pulled his head free from the bush. Clutched in his hand was the note and the T-Board laid at the pavement below, the surface cracked and revealing the machinery within.
"Dammit!" Zell shouted. "Now I hafta get that things fixed!" He punched the bush sourly and tucked the note into his jacket. At least he came out in one piece.
Thorns ripped at him as he stood and he groaned. He was bleeding.
"Shit… this is just--"
Zell froze as a hand came down heavy on his shoulder.
"Zell, you should watch your language." a teasing voice greeted him.
The blond turned, coming face to face with Edea, the headmaster's wife and his former foster mother.
"M-Matron!!" Zell gasped.
The woman merely smiled, a smile that lit up her face. Despite the fact that she was nearing her early forties, Edea still looked only thirty. She still dressed the same, a black shirt, black spaghetti strap shirt, and black heels with black hair flowing down her back. Although Zell had many happy childhood memories of her that were slowly returning, he still hadn't gotten over the thought of her as Sorceress Edea.
"Look at you, you're a mess." Edea sighed, indicating Zell's torn jacket, shorts, and cut up face, arms, and legs. "Well, let's get you into the office."
"Ah, wait!" Zell pleaded as Edea pulled him towards the door into the office. "Will Headmaster Cid hear about the rosebushes?" Cid had once been a sidelines father for the orphans, "Uncle Cid" as they had affectionately called him, but now was their headmaster and the only disciplinarian they needed to fear besides Seifer.
Edea shook her head, black hair whipping across her back. "No, besides," She smiled. "They're my bushes, not his."
"Oh…" Zell finally allowed himself to be pulled into the now silent office and into a side room where the Kramer couple resided when Edea wasn't off with the White SeeD. It was a small area like a dorm room with a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. The kitchen, the room he'd been taken to and seated in, was a calm lilac with several old tea sets lining the top of the cabinets for decoration. It was immaculately clean like the rest of the headmaster's area and reminded Zell of home.
"Now," Edea said, sitting down next to Zell at the kitchen table. "Let's take a look at your wounds." She reached out and turned his head to the left, the right as she inspected the scrapes on his face. Edea lifted his arms to her eye level, checked his knees, and then smiled.
"Not too worse for wear." She stood and opened up a cabinet to her right. "If it had been a younger you, you'd have been in tears."
"…don't remind me…" Zell muttered.
Edea laughed again, a musical, wonderful laugh. She turned back to him, a first aid kit now in hand. "You were a perfect child, Zell. Innocent, lovable, adorable… but you probably down want to here the ramblings of an old woman." Edea sat back down and opened the kit, going right for the disinfectant and the Band-aids.
"I… I don't mind." Zell admitted. "Being a kid is a lot easier than being a teenager."
"Well, it is a difficult time in everyone's life…" Edea agreed. She poured some rubbing alcohol onto a cotton ball and began to dab at Zell's cheeks. He yelped in protest and Edea recoiled a little. "I'm sorry!" she said before going back to cleaning his scratches.
"That stings…" Zell complained through clenched teeth.
"Then you shouldn't do such dangerous things." Edea chided. "Exactly what were you doing up there?"
"…just… looking for something. That's all…" Zell muttered, turning his head down. Edea lifted his head back up so he faced her and continued cleaning.
"It mustn't be 'just something' for you to have risked life and limb for." She opened a Band-aid and placed it on his cheek. "What is it?"
"A note…"
"Oh! A love note!" Edea's face lit up. "How wonderful, Zell!"
"I just don't know who it's from. They keep hiding it. Rinoa says she's, if it is a she, is trying to play hard to get."
"Romantic!" Edea placed another Band-aid on his, this time his elbow. "Just in time for Valentine's Day. You're a lucky boy Zell." Another Band-aid. "The girls must love you."
"Not really…"
Edea didn't hear. She was packing up the first aid kit and rising to her feet.
"Matron, do you think I could go get my T-Board now?"
"I'm afraid it'll have to be confiscated, Zell." a new voice said.
Zell turned and was surprised by Cid's sudden appearance in the doorway. "H-Headmaster?"
"Oh, again, dear?" Edea asked of her husband.
Cid nodded. "This is the tenth time, Zell. You're a SeeD now. You need to learn a little responsibility."
"…so I can't have my board back?"
"No."
"Dammit!" Zell kicked open the door to his dorm and walked sullenly to his room. "What a shitty day! If it wasn't for this damn note…" In his pocket, Zell felts his hand curl around the slip of paper.
'In the end it'll be worth it, Zell. Just keep telling yourself.'
He closed the door to his room, sat the note on his nightstand, and stripped away his now torn jacket and shirt. It stung as he pulled the shirt over his face but he ignored the pain and reached for the note.
"I help out the school often because I need seem to have anything else to do. That's when I see you the most.
Across the room, her knight,
Ashamed of battle scars,
Stands alone in solitude,
Sword shining like a star"
Zell kissed the note and sat it back on the nightstand.
"I hope to God this girl's a keeper."
By the way, the Zell figure did help! …must…resist…yaoi…! ACH!!