Disclaimer: Nothing's changed since the first chapter, I still don't own ff8 or any of the characters/ideas/concepts belonging
to the game. Darn. Oh, August 20 is officially "Thank your Beta Reader" day, as per declaration of me.
True to her word, Edea had come back for Zell when supper was ready, to find him still curled up on his bed, asleep. She'd smiled at seeing how Zell was quietly snoring as he slept, and had patted the top of his head gently. Moving the suitcases off the bed, she'd been especially cautious not to wake Zell. She'd set them quietly at the foot of the bed, then even more carefully picked Zell up with one arm, and pulled back the covers of his small bunk. Setting Zell back down on the bed, Edea had lightly tugged off his shoes and placed them next to his suitcases. She'd then tucked the covers around Zell and left him to sleep, going back upstairs to prepare him a plate of food for when he woke up.
A week or so had passed since Zell's first night at the orphanage, and he grew more used to his settings with each passing day. That first night had been the hardest, Zell had slept through supper, waking up to eat much later than everyone else, so he hadn't been tired that night and had been awake surrounded by unfamiliar rustling, mumbling and snoring. Zell had been on his back, staring up at the low ceiling, listening to the boy on his right, Squall, breathe heavily in the semi-darkness. The boy to his left, Seifer, was snoring, making a half-choked sort of noise that made Zell want check and making sure Seifer could still breathe. Zell'd been awake like this for most of the night, barely moving or breathing, until finally sheer exhaustion forced his eyes closed and caused him to fall asleep.
"Did you sleep well, Zell?" Edea had questioned kindly the next morning.
"...Yes..." Zell had responded. He didn't want to make Edea feel bad, it wasn't her fault he couldn't sleep.
The mornings after that went much the same way, Edea or Cid asking the children how they were, what their plans were for that day, or some other polite question. This morning was no different.
"And how is everyone feeling this morning?" Cid asked cheerfully. The children all made indistinct responses of the "Fine," "Good," variety.
"That's excellent. Edea and I have a special treat for you today, we're all going down near the beach!" Cid informed them, wrapping an arm around Edea as she came into the room. The pair looked oddly matched, Edea being pale and thin, while Cid was a healthy reddish color and far from being slender. Zell looked around at the other children; Quistis looked happy to be going to the beach, Selphie looked excited, and Seifer looked smug. Irvine looked pleased and Ellone looked enthusiastic as well, the only other child that appeared nervous besides Zell was Squall. He had a faint frown on his face and seemed uncertain. After the children had finished their breakfasts, some faster than others- Selphie had eaten her's so quickly that Zell was amazed she hadn't made herself sick- they had taken turns changing into swimsuits. Etta had packed a swimsuit for Zell. Even though he didn't know how to swim, he could still play on the beach. Neither Edea nor Cid wore a swimsuit, and Zell would have been surprised if they had.
"Slow down, Seifer!" Cid called, as the group made it's way down the rocky path to the beach. The blonde wearing navy blue swim-trunks had raced ahead and disappeared around a corner.
"Hurry up, yoo guys are slow!" Seifer yelled, from somewhere further along the way. Zell sighed and clenched his fist a little tighter. He'd brought the wooden fish along with him, and his fingers were tightly wrapped around it. He opened his hand to glance at it, and Squall who was padding silently along next to Zell caught sight of it out of the corner of his eye.
"Whatcha got?" Squall asked, curiously.
"Wood Fish," Zell explained. "My parents an' Gella gave 'im to me." Squall nodded knowingly, even though he didn't know who Gella was.
"I got Griever," Squall proclaimed proudly, pulling a necklace out from under his shirt. A ring with an engraving of a winged lion dangled from a silver colored chain.
"Cool!" Zell exclaimed, wide eyed. The necklace obviously meant a lot to Squall, and Zell felt a bit of pride that Squall was willing to share it with him.
"Please speed up a little, back there!" Edea requested, half turning to give each boy an emphatic look. Squall and Zell's conversation broke off then, as the two hurried to catch up with the group. Once they had made their way down the rocky path to the beach, each child was fitted with a life-jacket, and Zell was so engrossed in examining the buckles of his own red and blue life-jacket that he didn't notice his hold on the wooden fish had loosened until it slipped out of his hand to fall to the warm sand. Zell quickly snatched it up from the ground and shoved it into the pocket of his swim trunks, but not before Seifer observed the object with a calculating and malicious look that looked much too old for the five year old's face. Seifer was impatient, but he was also intelligent, and he decided to wait for the right moment to carry out his plan, .
Finally the time came. Edea was supervising the girls construction efforts on a sandcastle, an occupation that took all of her attention, because Quistis and Selphie had drastically different visions of what the castle should look like, and Cid was leading a game of catch between himself, Squall, and Irvine. Zell was trying to come up with a good way to ask if he could join in the game when Seifer spotted his moment and tapped Zell on the shoulder.
"Wanna play?" Seifer tilted his head to the side waiting for Zell's answer. Zell's eyes widened in surprise- the harsh blonde asking someone to play?
"Okay!" Zell chirped happily. Seifer just grinned. "Whatcha wanna play?"
"Hows about tag?" Seifer suggested.
"With two people?" Zell wrinkled his nose. "Okay..."
"I'll be it." Seifer informed Zell. "Yoo got five seconds ta run." Zell laughed, and took off down the beach, and merely ten seconds later, the taller boy caught up with Zell. A moment later, before Zell even knew what had happened, he was down on the ground, having tripped over Seifer's outstretched foot. Before Zell could get up, Seifer bent down and grabbed the wooden fish which had fallen out of Zell's pocket when he fell.
"Lessee if it can swim!" Seifer yelled, with a quick glance to see if the adults were watching. He drew out the moment, pretending to contemplate the situation, then with as much strength as a five year old could manage, Seifer threw the wooden fish into the ocean. Zell froze, then cried out as the fish made cheery 'plop!' into the water.
"NOOO!" Zell started sobbing without bothering to get up from the sand. Edea looked up and came running towards them, holding her dress off the ground with one hand.
"What happened here?" She asked, fearing the worst. Zell was still bawling too hard to be understood.
"He lemme see this wood fish he's got, and it fell in the water," Seifer explained, with an innocent expression.
"Oh, Zell, I'm sorry to hear that..." Edea comforted, going to the crying boy and hugging him. "But there isn't anything I can do..."
The thoughtful eyes of a brunette boy watching the exchange from afar didn't betray that he had seen through Seifer's lie.
The day at the beach came to an sudden end after that, and the group that trekked back up the sloping pathway was much more gloomy than they had been on the trip down. Zell was inconsolable, the tears wouldn't stop coursing down his face and for once, Zell didn't speak the rest of the day. He was still crying as he climbed into bed that night, glad for the night's blackness, but seething to be next to Seifer. He had no security object now, nothing to clutch in the night. He shifted uncomfortably, reaching to adjust his pillow.
Zell's hand met cold metal. Confused, Zell pulled out an object from under his pillow, and squinted at it. A ring engraved with a winged lion was dangling from a silver colored chain.
