"The Boy From Balamb: Zell's Story" is:*a fanfic by Sorcha Zell
*edited by Harper
*based on the world of ff8, which
is owned by Squaresoft
Gella and her family are: *Harper's *borrowed for this story with permission
Evan's parents were staying with the Dinchts for the week; true to Zell's prediction, his grandpa and grandma had wanted to take the first opportunity to come visit. Etta was just asking Senzo if she could fix him something to eat when the phone rang.
"Dincht residence." Etta wasn't sure who would be calling her at this time of day. Maybe it was Mabel? After all, three out of four Shym kids were currently at the Dincht household. In fact, Kassidy, Gella's three-month- old sister was presently cradled in Etta's arms, which forced Etta to hold the phone awkwardly between her shoulder and her ear.
"Hey, honey." Etta was pleasantly surprised to find that it was Evan's voice on the other end of the telephone line.
"Evan! So, what's going on?" It was unusual for Evan to call so early in the day; it was only noon. For a minute, Etta was concerned there was something wrong.
"Well, work finished up a little earlier than I expected, so I was thinking maybe we could get together and have lunch at the hotel's restaurant?" Evan sounded exceptionally cheerful, work must have gone well that day.
"Well... I'd love to-"
"Great!" Etta laughed a bit at Evan's enthusiasm.
"Hold on, there's a 'but'," She admitted ruefully.
"Aw, there can't be a 'but'. Please come?" Evan said in cajoling voice. He must have had a really good day; it wasn't all that often that Evan was in such a silly mood.
"Well, I would, except that the but is: 'but what about Zelly, Gella, Dylan, and Kass?'" Zell and the Shym kids certainly weren't old enough to stay by themselves yet, and Etta was currently in the middle of baby- sitting them.
"My parents would love to watch them, I'm sure of it. Here, I'll ask them, could you put one of them on the phone?" Etta raised her eyebrows and gave the phone a look that Evan couldn't see, but did as he had asked. Feeling like she would be intruding if she stayed in the room, Etta decided to take Kassidy and see what the other kids were doing.
"We're gonna go check on your brother and sister and Zelly, oh yes we are," Etta said to Kassidy, rocking her a little as they walked.
The all-too-hyper shrieks she heard as she neared the living room made Etta increase her speed. Renny, Zell's grandma, was temporarily supervising the children, but to be honest she could be a pushover. The brighter side of that, though, was how Renny's easygoing personality nicely balanced out Senzo's gruffness. As Etta stood in the doorway, she tried to make sense of the picture before her. Renny was sitting in a chair holding Dylan, the near two-year-old of the Shym children, while Zell and Gella were playing some type of game. What game could possibly involve one kid throwing beanbags while the other ducked and darted, Etta wasn't sure, but it looked like the kind of game that threatened to break quite a few items in the house.
"Renny, do you think maybe they could play something less. . . destructive? " Etta didn't want to offend the women- Renny was such a sweet person -but Etta couldn't stand there and watch the kids tear up the house, either. Renny gave her an woeful look.
"Sorry. Do they have coloring books, or something else you'd rather they do? Building blocks maybe?" Renny asked, still looking apologetic.
"Ha!" Came a booming voice from behind Etta. "I've got something much more entertaining than ink on paper and pieces of wood." Senzo said with absolute confidence. Zell and Gella paused their game to look up at him inquisitively. Even Dylan looked interested
"Better than coloring books?" Gella asked, awestruck at the possibility.
"Better than blocks?" Zell added, equally awestruck.
"I didn't know you brought along a new toy for Zell-kins," Renny said, in the dark as to what Senzo was talking about.
"Not a toy, Renny," Senzo corrected, "a tale. How do you feel about stories? Zell? Gella? Dylan?" Gella and Zell's faces immediately lit up at the idea, and Dylan nodded approvingly . The two older children raced up to Zell's room as fast as their short little legs could carry them. They were intent on grabbing as many pillows as possible to create their own little story-den in the living room.
"And you, my dear, should be scurrying off to meet Evan, hm?" Senzo continued, turning to look at Etta. Etta made a face; she felt like meeting Evan for lunch would mean shirking on her baby-sitting responsibilities. "Now don't give me that look, we'll hold down the fort," Senzo assured. "Really, we will, it's no trouble. Senzo can keep the littles entertained and under control, and I can look into getting them something to snack on, okay?" Renny said, giving Etta a reassuring mother-to-mother smile.
"You're sure it's alright? Evan's not somehow forcing you to do this?" Etta asked, making sure one last time. Senzo gave her an annoyed look. He didn't like having to convince people of things that were obviously true. Catching his look, Etta handed Kassidy over to him and decided to make a hasty exist, taking time only to grab her purse and a light jacket before leaving.
"I almost feel bad for Etta, she's always so worried about everything," Renny said, adjusting the blanket Kass was wrapped in. A comment about the irony of that statement was gnawing at the back of Senzo's mind, but he said nothing, opting instead to go see what Gella and Zell were up to. Renny, equally as curious, followed him, stopping to watch from the doorway of the living room.
Gella and Zell were tottering down the stairs carrying what must have been every single pillow and blanket known to Zell's room. Trying to carry four fleece blankets and nearly half a dozen pillows of all sizes and patterns, Gella and Zell looked like a pair of walking bed-sets. If you used the term 'walking' loosely. Renny looked horrified; one of the kids could trip over a trailing edge of a blanket and fall down the steps- it was a disaster waiting to happen. Senzo solved the problem by handing Dylan to Renny, then scooping up Gella and Zell, blankets and all, and setting them down at the bottom of the steps.
"My goodness, you two have to be more careful on the steps, one of you could have gotten hurt!" Renny chided, still imagining everything that could have gone wrong.
"Calm down, Renny, neither one got hurt," Senzo said, taking two blankets and many more pillows from Gella and Zell in an attempt to make the rest easier for them to manage. Finally, after a bit more struggling, they were able to arrange the blankets and pillows on the floor in a way that everyone was happy with. "So," Senzo began, settling into a chair, "What story would you like me to tell?" Zell thought for a moment and then had an idea.
"Do you know a story about something called Leviathan?" he asked hopefully. Senzo grinned.
"Of course. Once, when the world began there was a god called Hyne. The world then was a mess of monsters, even more so than it is today."
"Really?" Zell asked, disbelievingly. There were so many monsters in the world already, it was hard for him to image a world with more monsters.
"Really and truly," Senzo said, nodding, "and the 'monsters' of that time were much more humanlike, not to mention much more intelligent. Hyne wanted to have total control, so-"
"Did he get rid of the smart monsters?" Zell interrupted. Gella looked puzzled.
"But then where'd the dumb monsters now come from?" she asked. Senzo gave both children a look that meant he wasn't exactly appreciative of the interruption.
"As I was saying, he didn't destroy the monsters, instead he fought and defeated them so they would do his bidding," Senzo continued. Now it was Zell's turned to be confused.
"Do his bidding?"
"It means they'd do what he said, sweetie," Renny answered, rocking Kassidy, who by now was almost asleep.
"Hyne was exhausted from fighting so many battles and had no more energy to put into creating the world he wanted. So he decided to make 'people' to do his work for him while he rested."
"I'd be tired, too," Gella put in. Senzo was now starting to doubt his patience for storytelling, but continued anyway.
"Before he went to sleep, he chose the fourteen strongest 'monsters' he'd defeated to supervise humans. Leviathan was one of these 'monsters' along with Quetzacotl, Shiva, Ifrit, Siren, Minotaur and Sacred, Diablos, Carbuncle, Leviathan, Pandemona, Cerberus, Alexander, Doomtrain, Bahamut, and Eden."
"That's a lot..." Zell said, amazed that there were more creatures like Leviathan out there.
"Definitely." Gella nodded emphatically.
"Actually," Senzo added, "there were two 'monsters' even stronger than those fourteen, so strong that Hyne didn't have enough energy left to control them. They were Odin and Tiamat. Now, after Hyne had rested, he decided to take a look at the world that was supposed to have been formed while he was asleep. But he was surprised at the number of people; many more people than there had been at the beginning. The plan Hyne had to lessen the number of people in the world was to get rid of the children, because they weren't able to do as much work anyway." Zell exchanged a frightened look with Gella and gulped. They were children.
"Oh, no worries, this all happened tons of years ago," Renny reassured them.
"Yes, it was a very long time ago. Anyway, the world had changed while Hyne was sleeping. The supervising monsters had grown to resent Hyne, and instead of protecting him like he had expected, the 'monsters' sided with the humans, and aided them in their quest to stop him from taking away the children. Finally the humans cornered him."
"So we won?" Zell asked his grandpa, brightening at that thought.
"Actually, Hyne tricked the humans. He gave half of himself up, and the other half ran off while the people were distracted."
"But. . . that's kind of winning though," Gella reasoned, hesitantly.
"Ah, but the half Hyne gave up was the weaker half, the wicked half," Senzo said, wagging a finger, "while the Hyne that ran away was the half with the stronger magic. When the captured half of Hyne disappeared, the corrupt magic was absorbed by a young girl."
"Like me?" Gella asked.
"Well... I suppose. Anyway, Hyne was the one who started the succession of power. The people who inherit Hyne's power are called descendants of Hyne. You probably know them as Sorceresses." Senzo answered.
"Could I end up a Sorceress someday?" It would be interesting, Gella had to admit.
"It's not something you'd want to happen. The chances of that are minuscule, too," Senzo told her, while Renny nodded, further supporting his point. Zell thought about what would happen if his best friend was ever one of the legendary, but feared, Sorceresses.
"Don't worry, Gella, 'cause I'd always be your friend, even if you were a Sorceress," he promised.
But five minutes later, the thought had left both of their minds as Senzo began the story of how he'd won his medal during the Sorceress War.
Gella and her family are: *Harper's *borrowed for this story with permission
Evan's parents were staying with the Dinchts for the week; true to Zell's prediction, his grandpa and grandma had wanted to take the first opportunity to come visit. Etta was just asking Senzo if she could fix him something to eat when the phone rang.
"Dincht residence." Etta wasn't sure who would be calling her at this time of day. Maybe it was Mabel? After all, three out of four Shym kids were currently at the Dincht household. In fact, Kassidy, Gella's three-month- old sister was presently cradled in Etta's arms, which forced Etta to hold the phone awkwardly between her shoulder and her ear.
"Hey, honey." Etta was pleasantly surprised to find that it was Evan's voice on the other end of the telephone line.
"Evan! So, what's going on?" It was unusual for Evan to call so early in the day; it was only noon. For a minute, Etta was concerned there was something wrong.
"Well, work finished up a little earlier than I expected, so I was thinking maybe we could get together and have lunch at the hotel's restaurant?" Evan sounded exceptionally cheerful, work must have gone well that day.
"Well... I'd love to-"
"Great!" Etta laughed a bit at Evan's enthusiasm.
"Hold on, there's a 'but'," She admitted ruefully.
"Aw, there can't be a 'but'. Please come?" Evan said in cajoling voice. He must have had a really good day; it wasn't all that often that Evan was in such a silly mood.
"Well, I would, except that the but is: 'but what about Zelly, Gella, Dylan, and Kass?'" Zell and the Shym kids certainly weren't old enough to stay by themselves yet, and Etta was currently in the middle of baby- sitting them.
"My parents would love to watch them, I'm sure of it. Here, I'll ask them, could you put one of them on the phone?" Etta raised her eyebrows and gave the phone a look that Evan couldn't see, but did as he had asked. Feeling like she would be intruding if she stayed in the room, Etta decided to take Kassidy and see what the other kids were doing.
"We're gonna go check on your brother and sister and Zelly, oh yes we are," Etta said to Kassidy, rocking her a little as they walked.
The all-too-hyper shrieks she heard as she neared the living room made Etta increase her speed. Renny, Zell's grandma, was temporarily supervising the children, but to be honest she could be a pushover. The brighter side of that, though, was how Renny's easygoing personality nicely balanced out Senzo's gruffness. As Etta stood in the doorway, she tried to make sense of the picture before her. Renny was sitting in a chair holding Dylan, the near two-year-old of the Shym children, while Zell and Gella were playing some type of game. What game could possibly involve one kid throwing beanbags while the other ducked and darted, Etta wasn't sure, but it looked like the kind of game that threatened to break quite a few items in the house.
"Renny, do you think maybe they could play something less. . . destructive? " Etta didn't want to offend the women- Renny was such a sweet person -but Etta couldn't stand there and watch the kids tear up the house, either. Renny gave her an woeful look.
"Sorry. Do they have coloring books, or something else you'd rather they do? Building blocks maybe?" Renny asked, still looking apologetic.
"Ha!" Came a booming voice from behind Etta. "I've got something much more entertaining than ink on paper and pieces of wood." Senzo said with absolute confidence. Zell and Gella paused their game to look up at him inquisitively. Even Dylan looked interested
"Better than coloring books?" Gella asked, awestruck at the possibility.
"Better than blocks?" Zell added, equally awestruck.
"I didn't know you brought along a new toy for Zell-kins," Renny said, in the dark as to what Senzo was talking about.
"Not a toy, Renny," Senzo corrected, "a tale. How do you feel about stories? Zell? Gella? Dylan?" Gella and Zell's faces immediately lit up at the idea, and Dylan nodded approvingly . The two older children raced up to Zell's room as fast as their short little legs could carry them. They were intent on grabbing as many pillows as possible to create their own little story-den in the living room.
"And you, my dear, should be scurrying off to meet Evan, hm?" Senzo continued, turning to look at Etta. Etta made a face; she felt like meeting Evan for lunch would mean shirking on her baby-sitting responsibilities. "Now don't give me that look, we'll hold down the fort," Senzo assured. "Really, we will, it's no trouble. Senzo can keep the littles entertained and under control, and I can look into getting them something to snack on, okay?" Renny said, giving Etta a reassuring mother-to-mother smile.
"You're sure it's alright? Evan's not somehow forcing you to do this?" Etta asked, making sure one last time. Senzo gave her an annoyed look. He didn't like having to convince people of things that were obviously true. Catching his look, Etta handed Kassidy over to him and decided to make a hasty exist, taking time only to grab her purse and a light jacket before leaving.
"I almost feel bad for Etta, she's always so worried about everything," Renny said, adjusting the blanket Kass was wrapped in. A comment about the irony of that statement was gnawing at the back of Senzo's mind, but he said nothing, opting instead to go see what Gella and Zell were up to. Renny, equally as curious, followed him, stopping to watch from the doorway of the living room.
Gella and Zell were tottering down the stairs carrying what must have been every single pillow and blanket known to Zell's room. Trying to carry four fleece blankets and nearly half a dozen pillows of all sizes and patterns, Gella and Zell looked like a pair of walking bed-sets. If you used the term 'walking' loosely. Renny looked horrified; one of the kids could trip over a trailing edge of a blanket and fall down the steps- it was a disaster waiting to happen. Senzo solved the problem by handing Dylan to Renny, then scooping up Gella and Zell, blankets and all, and setting them down at the bottom of the steps.
"My goodness, you two have to be more careful on the steps, one of you could have gotten hurt!" Renny chided, still imagining everything that could have gone wrong.
"Calm down, Renny, neither one got hurt," Senzo said, taking two blankets and many more pillows from Gella and Zell in an attempt to make the rest easier for them to manage. Finally, after a bit more struggling, they were able to arrange the blankets and pillows on the floor in a way that everyone was happy with. "So," Senzo began, settling into a chair, "What story would you like me to tell?" Zell thought for a moment and then had an idea.
"Do you know a story about something called Leviathan?" he asked hopefully. Senzo grinned.
"Of course. Once, when the world began there was a god called Hyne. The world then was a mess of monsters, even more so than it is today."
"Really?" Zell asked, disbelievingly. There were so many monsters in the world already, it was hard for him to image a world with more monsters.
"Really and truly," Senzo said, nodding, "and the 'monsters' of that time were much more humanlike, not to mention much more intelligent. Hyne wanted to have total control, so-"
"Did he get rid of the smart monsters?" Zell interrupted. Gella looked puzzled.
"But then where'd the dumb monsters now come from?" she asked. Senzo gave both children a look that meant he wasn't exactly appreciative of the interruption.
"As I was saying, he didn't destroy the monsters, instead he fought and defeated them so they would do his bidding," Senzo continued. Now it was Zell's turned to be confused.
"Do his bidding?"
"It means they'd do what he said, sweetie," Renny answered, rocking Kassidy, who by now was almost asleep.
"Hyne was exhausted from fighting so many battles and had no more energy to put into creating the world he wanted. So he decided to make 'people' to do his work for him while he rested."
"I'd be tired, too," Gella put in. Senzo was now starting to doubt his patience for storytelling, but continued anyway.
"Before he went to sleep, he chose the fourteen strongest 'monsters' he'd defeated to supervise humans. Leviathan was one of these 'monsters' along with Quetzacotl, Shiva, Ifrit, Siren, Minotaur and Sacred, Diablos, Carbuncle, Leviathan, Pandemona, Cerberus, Alexander, Doomtrain, Bahamut, and Eden."
"That's a lot..." Zell said, amazed that there were more creatures like Leviathan out there.
"Definitely." Gella nodded emphatically.
"Actually," Senzo added, "there were two 'monsters' even stronger than those fourteen, so strong that Hyne didn't have enough energy left to control them. They were Odin and Tiamat. Now, after Hyne had rested, he decided to take a look at the world that was supposed to have been formed while he was asleep. But he was surprised at the number of people; many more people than there had been at the beginning. The plan Hyne had to lessen the number of people in the world was to get rid of the children, because they weren't able to do as much work anyway." Zell exchanged a frightened look with Gella and gulped. They were children.
"Oh, no worries, this all happened tons of years ago," Renny reassured them.
"Yes, it was a very long time ago. Anyway, the world had changed while Hyne was sleeping. The supervising monsters had grown to resent Hyne, and instead of protecting him like he had expected, the 'monsters' sided with the humans, and aided them in their quest to stop him from taking away the children. Finally the humans cornered him."
"So we won?" Zell asked his grandpa, brightening at that thought.
"Actually, Hyne tricked the humans. He gave half of himself up, and the other half ran off while the people were distracted."
"But. . . that's kind of winning though," Gella reasoned, hesitantly.
"Ah, but the half Hyne gave up was the weaker half, the wicked half," Senzo said, wagging a finger, "while the Hyne that ran away was the half with the stronger magic. When the captured half of Hyne disappeared, the corrupt magic was absorbed by a young girl."
"Like me?" Gella asked.
"Well... I suppose. Anyway, Hyne was the one who started the succession of power. The people who inherit Hyne's power are called descendants of Hyne. You probably know them as Sorceresses." Senzo answered.
"Could I end up a Sorceress someday?" It would be interesting, Gella had to admit.
"It's not something you'd want to happen. The chances of that are minuscule, too," Senzo told her, while Renny nodded, further supporting his point. Zell thought about what would happen if his best friend was ever one of the legendary, but feared, Sorceresses.
"Don't worry, Gella, 'cause I'd always be your friend, even if you were a Sorceress," he promised.
But five minutes later, the thought had left both of their minds as Senzo began the story of how he'd won his medal during the Sorceress War.
