---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- "The Boy From Balamb: Zell's Story" 1. is a fanfic by SorchaZell 2. is edited by Harper 3. is based on the world of ff8, which is owned by Squaresoft

Gella and her family 1. are Harper's and 2. are borrowed for this story with permission ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- "Cold-cold-cold!" Zell shrieked, hopping around in the shallow water and yanking at the buckle of his rather uncomfortable life-jacket. Etta Dincht laughed and scooped Zell up into her arms.

"Zellykins, that's part of learning to swim!" she reassured Zell, then set him back down a few feet away. "Now don't you go any further from me then that." Etta turned her gaze to Gella, who was standing a ways off from the shore looking apprehensively at the ocean. "What about you? Going to learn to swim, or just window shopping?"

".it's . . . scary," Gella finally replied, gazing nervously at the water. "Cold too!" she added, watching Zell still frantically hopping.

"Etta, is this such a good idea? I mean, if Gella doesn't want to, I can always take her back home," put in Mabel Shym, taking the orange water-wing she was blowing up out of her mouth long enough to comment. Zell stopped hopping and shot Gella a pleading look.

"I want to!" Gella protested, although it was with some trepidation. By now, Zell was sitting cross-legged in the water, half-soaked and closely scrutinizing the bright multicolored fish on his swim trunks.

"Up you go!" Etta lifted Zell from under his arms and set him down on dry sand. "Mabel? Got them all inflated?"

"I sure do!" Mabel replied cheerily, tossing two of the water-wings to Etta.

"Thank y- Zell! You have to wear them, no arguments!" Zell's arms were crossed stubbornly, and his face was an almost a musing portrayal of indignation.

"Don't wanna!" Now Zell stomped his foot to accentuate his point.

"Please, Zell?" Etta gave him a pleading glace; he'd been rebellious the entire week, something he seemed to have picked up from the orphanage.

"Don't wanna!" Etta sighed, Zell was unrelenting in arguments like this; it could go on all day if she didn't come up with a way to convince him. She wracked her brain for a solution, and finally came up with a brilliant idea.

"Alright, you don't have to wear the water-wings on one condition," She proposed. Zell tilted his head to the side, wondering what the catch was.

"What condition?" he asked suspiciously.

"Gella has to go back home," Etta responded matter-of-factly.

"Huh?!" Zell didn't understand how Gella being sent back home would relate to not wearing the water-wings.

"I'm sure Mabel wouldn't want her little girl hanging around someone who's a bad influence. Even I wouldn't want her hanging around you if you were going to have a bad effect on her." Etta looked pointedly at Mabel, silently willing her to chime in with agreement.

"Oh! Yes, I suppose we would have to go home if Zell was a bad influence, Gella." Mabel gave Etta a knowing smile.

"No! Ze-ell!" Now it was Gella's turn to shoot Zell a pleading look. "I wanna swim!" Zell pouted, but he caved quickly to the demands and the two children both accepted a pair of the water-wings; Zell more grudgingly than Gella.

Though Gella had been more reluctant to get in the water, she liked it better than Zell did once she was in. She spent quite a lot of time with her goggles underwater, trying to catch sight of a stray fish, or some underwater plant life. She didn't see much else underwater besides sand, but once she caught sight of something shimmering below the surface in the distance. It looked purplish . . . or was it just dark blue? Maybe it was just a deeper part of the water. Maybe it was even just floating litter; tourists in Balamb sometimes disrespected its beautiful ocean, throwing their garbage into it rather than taking the time to find a garbage can. It looked awfully big, though, and Gella looked above the surface to see if she could catch sight of whatever it was. She saw a flash of what could have been a tail and gulped. Maybe it was a monster. Overall though, Gella thought it was quite nice floating in the water. Zell wasn't having as good a time. He was rapidly discovering how much he didn't like water. It was too closed in; he was afraid with all that water surrounding him that it was going to swallow him up and carry him off. He looked enviously towards Gella. She was having a wonderful time in the water, gliding around as though she'd been swimming all her life. Gravity interrupted that thought as Zell slipped on something half-buried in the ocean's sandy floor and took an unexpected dip downwards. Thanks to the various floating devices he was clad in, he bobbed right back up, but it still threw him off balance and didn't help his already-increasing dislike of the ocean. He frowned and stuck his head underwater, trying to figure out what it was that he had stepped on. Yes, there was something there, faintly shining in the sun-lines that patterned the ocean bottom. The life- jacket and water-wings were interfering with his efforts to determine what exactly the object was. He huffed in frustration and decided to use a different technique than trying to dive underwater. He felt for the object with his feet and upon coming in contact with it, curled his toes around it. While floundering back towards the shore with his feet firmly clutching his treasure, curiosity got the better of him, and he pulled off the goggles he was wearing that were fogging up anyway. He howled; the salt water in his eyes burned! Etta came to the rescue, gently towing him the rest of the way to the shore.

"What've you got there, Zelly?" she asked, noticing what he was still gripping with his feet. He looked towards the object.

"Stepped on it," he explained with a nod. For a brief instant Etta feared that the object was actually embedded in Zell's foot, but that fear was quickly dispelled when Zell uncurled his toes and stood up, sending the object rolling back towards the water. Zell made an impressive dive towards it to stop it before it became a part of the ocean floor again. Before it was completely lost to the sea again, he managed to grab it, and for the first time everyone got a clear look at what it was. It looked like a rock, except that its size, shape, and color weren't at all rock-like. It was perfectly spherical and it was about the size of a closed fist. The sphere was a greasy looking smokey-white color and it had a surprising glow to it. It was almost like there was something inside; something special, just waiting to be unlocked. Something that felt almost like the ocean. . .

Zell blinked. For the second when he'd touched the sphere, it had felt like being in the water again. He couldn't quite understand why, but it was that same feeling; a fearsome power with an unmistakable pull that felt surprisingly similar to the pull of the current. That same power that left him feeling cold and weak and very. . . lonely.

"A Water Crystal?" Etta looked faintly puzzled. "Well, if that doesn't just beat all- the chances of finding one of these in the sand? It's like the chances of finding a needle in a haystack. A really big haystack." Zell eyed the crystal dubiously, it didn't look all that impressive to him.

"What's so special 'bout it?" he asked doubtfully. Etta smiled- she'd asked almost the exact same question when she was a child. Water Crystals didn't look very remarkable, but inside they concealed a secret that many people didn't know about.

"If someone can get me a rock- a normal one!- I'll show you," Etta promised. Mabel gave her an equally as curious look as Gella and Zell did. Etta only grinned in return. "You'll see. . ." was the only further thing she said.

After Zell and Gella had run up and down the shore for awhile, Gella finally found a suitably sized rock half-hidden in the sand. She beamed as Etta thanked her for finding it.

"Now the magic begins," Etta said with an expectant grin. She took the rock and chiseled at the top of the crystal with it. Suddenly, the crystal made a high-pitched shattering noise and the top of it collapsed in on itself, turning the sphere into an upside-down dome. The three observers leaned closer, wondering what the 'magic' Etta talked about was- was it going to become whole again? "Look inside."

"Oh!" Mabel exclaimed.

"Oooh- neat!" Gella said, peering into the half-crystal.

"Awesome!" Zell was amazed at the clear blue water filling the inside of the crystal.

"There you have it, the Water Crystal's secret," Etta said, then unexpectedly took a sip of the water. "A stranded person's best friend, right there. Zelly- and Gella too -if ever you get lost and you don't have drinking water, your best bet is one of these things, if you're lucky enough to find one."

"You can drink that stuff?" Zell looked at his ma as if she was suddenly going to sprout gills and fins and swim away. Etta just laughed. "Of course. Did you see how clear that water was? It's probably safer to drink then the water in Balamb is!"

"Speaking of Balamb-water, shouldn't we get back to the swimming lesson?" Mabel raised her eyebrows and looked suggestively at her watch.

Gella raced to get back into the water, whereas Zell was slow to follow. The ocean was cold and dark- and had he mentioned that it was cold?

Zell was just about to ask when they were going to go home when he felt movement in the water, dangerously close to his foot. He froze, hoping desperately that it was some kind of fish and not a Fastitocalon. It was some kind of fish alright- Zell ventured a gaze underwater and managed to catch of glimpse of what looked part of a gigantic blue snake before he decided that screaming bloody murder was in order.

"Zell!" Suddenly Etta had a flashback to the day her sister had been taken by the ocean, the very same ocean her baby was screaming from now. She ran towards him, legs pounding slowly- too slowly!- though the water. She had to get there, she had to save him; the ocean wasn't going to take anymore of her family away from her. . .

Zell could see the creature curl in the water and suddenly it exploded, turning into a surge of water so strong that it washed the entire group back onto the shore, leaving them gasping and shivering.

"Could it be? Leviathan?" Mabel whispered in astonishment.

"Leviathan is just a legend!" Etta said, though not very convincingly. And though Etta claimed it was nothing more than a story and they shouldn't be afraid, it didn't stop any of them from quickly packing up and hurrying home.