Author's note: Hey, it's finally up! I must apologize for keeping you all waiting. But it's finally here!

Maloire: Thank you for the reviews! You must have gone way back in pages to find my story. And thanks for the typos. When I get around to revising this (if ever) I will be sure to look at those notes.

ShadowMecha: Well, I've updated. Enjoy!

Verdanii: Glad it was so amusing.

psychobunny410: Yeah, I can see him riding a chandalier too.

Ashbear: So glad that you have enjoyed the story so far.

Ballroom Troubles: Part Two

"I hate this," muttered Zell as he hit his knee against the narrow shaft for the tenth time. Seifer hissed in annoyance.

"This isn't exactly a picnic for me either," he growled, crawling along. Then he stopped, and looked back. "Come on, chicken-wuss!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Zell said, and stopped holding his bruised knee. He crawled up to where Seifer was paused. "Why are we doing this again?"

"So everyone else can get free," Seifer explained, annoyance twisting his features.

"But that can't be why you're in here," Zell said. Seifer shrugged, then started crawling again.

"Well, there is that whole part where we were shoved in here, and the door was locked behind us. So we're kind of stuck in here."

"Well, this bites."

"It doesn't bite, chicken-wuss. It sucks." Zell didn't even dignify that with a responce. He just kept crawling along, hoping he would eventually find the otherside. Hopefully. He was going to try his hardest, because he sure didn't want to be stuck in here with Seifer. They crawled along in silence, avoiding conversation. That's why they heard it.

Crack

Zell looked around. "Seifer, did you hear that?"

"The crack? Yeah, I heard it. Let's just keep going."

"I don't know. It could be dangerous..."

"And we could be stuck together until dawn if we don't get out of here. Maybe even longer, because no one uses this room. I'm willing to risk the slight breaking of the shaft or your death to get out."

"How...wonderful..." murmured Zell, trying to control his anger. He started to crawl, then stopped. "Um, Seifer? We are travelling...downward, right?"

"You're the one that gave me the instructions. You tell me," Seifer retorted. Zell was silent a moment. "Goddamnit, you don't know where we are?"

"I do too know where we are! We're in Garden."

"Oh, I feel much better knowing that," grumbled Seifer. "That does it, I'm getting out of here."

"But what about the door?"

"I'll just push it in or something, I don't know! But I refuse to stay in this rat infested, rotten, cold, dark tunnel for another minute!"

"What's that part about rats?" Zell asked, trying to remain calm.

"A rat ran across my hand. So what?"

"A RAT!" Zell shrieked, jumping up and hitting his head on the tunnel. "I HATE RATS!" He started to pat himself down in a desperate attempt to get rid of the rats.

"Stop it!" Seifer protested, trying to grab Zell and knock him out. "The whole tunnel is starting to buckle!"

"Okay, okay, must remain calm... Yes, calm blue ocean... I am at - EEKK! It ran across my HAND! ARGH!" He started the desperate dance to rid himself of the rat once again.

"Zell, you're going to collapse the - " But he didn't get to complete his sentance as the floor beneath them gave way, and they tumbled into the darkness below.

"What was that?" asked Quistis as they heard shrieks.

"I have no idea," Selphie said.

"I hope they found a way out," grumbled Irvine. "I'm starting to really hate the darkness."

"It's more likey they're fighting," said a bored Squall. No one could see anything, but they all had a clear mental image of Squall leaning against what Garden had affectionately started calling 'Squall's Wall', the place where he always sat out (or leaned out) social events, an expression of annoyance on his features as he hoped that all this insanity would rectify itself soon, because there was nothing he could do.

There was a thump, and suddenly two voices broke out into the silence.

"Get your foot out of my kidney!" said an unmistakable cruel voice.

"Maybe when you politely remove your elbow from my spine!" retorted Zell.

"I'm nowhere near your spine."

"Then what's this sharp - OW! It's a vacuum."

"Told you wasn't my elbow."

"Help!" called a faint voice in desperation, not bothering to respond to that last comment.

"Zell? Is that you?" asked Rinoa.

"Yeah! I think we took the upper path, and fell down into the ballroom somewhere."

"Damn, we need a new plan," grumbled Irvine.

"Where are you?" said Selphie. "You must be on the other side of the room, because you sound really faint."

"Uh, I think we're in the...closet! That can't be right!" shouted Seifer. "Get me out of here!" They heard a banging on wood, then a curse as someone's fist connected with something that sounded very, very hard.

"What do you mean, you're in the closet?" asked Selphie.

"Oh no, I think Seifer's right," said Zell. "I feel all of this metal around me, and the only place in the ballroom with any sort of metal is the ladder, which Rinoa is currently next to, and the electrical equipment in the closet."

"Zell, all of that stuff is on the stage. I know, because I made you set all of it up."

"But it's pretty cramped in here," he complained.

"Hee hee," Selphie giggled.

"What's so funny?" asked Rinoa.

"They're trapped in a closet. Most people are only in closets if they're janitors, which they both aren't, or if they wanted to make out."

"EWWW!" shrieked two voices in unison. There was the sound of fists colliding with bodies as the two tried desperately to separate themselves.

"Get me out!" snapped Zell, panic starting to rise in his voice.

"At least this is a roomy closet. We're at least five feet from each other," Seifer said, although he also sounded annoyed. Selphie just laughed harder.

"You're not living this one down," she said, then started to laugh all over again. Rinoa and Irvine's soft chuckles could be heard amid Selphie's out right bellows of laughter.

"Oh hyne. I know where they are," said Quistis. "And you'll both be glad to know it's not the closet."

"Oh thank HYNE!" said Zell. "I'd do a dance, but I don't know where the ceiling is."

"So where are they?" questioned Squall.

"That they'll be less happy to know."

"Why?" asked Seifer.

"You did take the right path. No one uses those paths anymore, so they're in disrepair. You fell into the room underneath the ballroom."

"And what, pray tell, is that?" asked Seifer, and he tried with all of his might to keep his voice level.

"The boiler room."

"Oh damn it."

"For once, chicken-wuss, we agree."

Zell couldn't believe it. They were in the boiler room. The single most feared place in all of Garden.

"Seifer, I want out."

"I've said it once, and I'll say it again. This isn't exactly a picnic for me either," grumbled Seifer. He was silent a moment. "So, this is the infamous boiler room. Always wanted to see it, but I would have preferred seeing it through a photo, not from being trapped in it.

The boiler room looked like any boiler room - there was a boiler (hence the name), some other machines that no one knew what precisely they did, and some random pieces of equipment that had been left down here when everyone had started to avoid it like the plague, including the vacuum that had been recently lodged in Zell's back. But Seifer and Zell's dismay did not stem from that fact, nor did it stem from the children's stories about how the naughty child little Billy had been thrown in the boiler.

No, their dismay with the boiler room stemmed from the fact that it had it's own poltergeist. And a rather angry one at that.

"Okay, we have to remain calm. There's gotta be a door somewhere, right?" Seifer said. He started to move around, feeling for the door.

"Unless they blocked it up," Zell said.

"That would be stupid. Someone would need to come check up on the boiler once in a while, right?"

"True..." Zell said. He started to move around too, looking for the door. After all, what did he have to loose that he hadn't already lost? His dignity was gone, his pride shattered, and his trust in the school was currently gone. No, he had nothing left to loose.

His hands outstretched, he started to move around. After a few minutes of looking, his hand rammed into something wooden.

"I think I got it," he said, his hand closing around something sphere-shaped and metal. "Oh yeah, it's the door!"

"Get it open, quick!" said Seifer, slowly making his way over to where Zell stood. Zell used all of his strength, but it was no good.

"It won't open," he said.

"Damnit, let me try!" Seifer snapped, pushing him out of the way. He also used his strength on the knob, but it wouldn't move. "Shit."

"Uh, Seifer...?" said Zell, trying to avoid the panic that was creeping through his veins. He swatted, but there was nothing for his fist to connect with.

"Go away, I'm busy."

"Seifer..." Zell started to tug on his coat sleeve as words left him.

"Stop it, chickenwuss!"

"Turn around. Now," demanded Zell, still staring. Seifer sighed.

"This had better be good..." he said, turning. Then he stopped.

"So, what are we going to do?" asked Selphie.

"I think our first priority should be getting out of here," said Irvine. "We can worry about Seifer and Zell later."

"That's true," Selphie admitted. "Okay, so we've eliminated the door and the crawlspaces. What's left?"

"I guess the balcony," said Rinoa. "Although it's going to be hard to climb down the side of Garden, seeing as it's smooth."

"Well, we could find some hooks or something, I guess," Selphie said. "Or we could try and throw stuff at the windows above us and get some help that way."

"I think your second idea makes more sense," Quistis said.

"Okay, I'll grab some silverware, and everyone else - "

Her words were drowned out by two piercing screams from somewhere below them.

Well, I didn't mean to do it, but I have another cliffhanger. But I'll post part three quicker this time, I promise!