The Chocobo Whisperer

Chapter 4

Squall had been dragged (and a few times, unnecessarily dropped) by Seifer and Irvine to his dorm. He was still unconscious, Rinoa had gone to Dr Kadowaki to try and find if it was possible to have coffee inserted straight into the bloodstream.

Zell was in his dorm room, he sat on his bed, while Peep was in front of him.

"So, Peep."

An unblinking stare.

"Stop doin' that yeah??"

"Peep."

Zell scooped the small bird up and stood up. "I'm bored," he announced "Lets go out."

"Peep."

Zell walked outside and placed Peep down. Shoving his hands in his pockets he walked down the corridor, with Peep shuffling along behind.

"STUDENT NUMBER 01388370???" came a thundering summon.

Zell swung round quickly, fists up. A frightened Peep ran up his pant leg. Zell's eyes widened.

"Excuse me." Came the cold voice of the NORG representative. " But what exactly, is that?"

Zell thought swiftly.

"What?"

Zell tried to ignore the quivering lump in his trousers.

"Peep."

Zell cleared his throat "EEPAHEM, I don't what you mean." He gave a convincing smile.

He leaned against the railing and tried to look innocent.

The NORG representative shifted forward, his face still in shadow. "I'm watching you." He whispered suspiciously.

"PEEP!" It was the final straw for Peep, she ran out of Zell's trousers and darted around the NORG representative's feet. He lost his balance and his arms windmilled. The next part seemed to happen in slow-motion. If there had been a camera, it would have done a quick freeze shot, then circled the NORG representative. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunate for the unfortunate man in the unfortunate circumstances) He stumbled back. Zell watched in half guilty enjoyment as NORG representative flipped over the barrier and into Balamb Garden's famous fountains.

Zell tapped a finger on his chin and peered over. "You alright down there?? You lost your balance!"

Peep hopped up onto a bench and looked over "Peep." She looked up at Zell guiltily.

Zell gave her a covert pat.

The NORG representative was treading water, his soaked uniform must make that pretty difficult, thought Zell absently.

He had still managed to keep his hat on though.

"GET. ME . OUT. OF .HERE!!!!!"

The furious yell of the NORG rep echoed around B-Garden's main hall.

A crowd had gathered at this point.

Quistis shoved her way through to Zell. "Calm down everyone! You," she indicated a besotted looking Trepie who looked like Heaven had come early "Go get a life belt."

Zell looked vaguely disappointed.

After a few minutes of disorder, in which the NORG representative almost drowned, the man was out of the water.

He was shivering but he managed to make it over to Zell.

"I'll get you one day…oh yes…" he muttered and then began walking away.

Quistis and Zell watched him go wide-eyed.

"I think he may have issues." Commented Quistis.

"Peep."

"Peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peeeeeeeeeep."

Zell sighed and got up.

Peep had been, well, peeping, for at least an hour now.

Zell was getting a bit peep- pissed- off.

He clicked on the light, and Peep hopped onto his bed, her bright eyes shining in the light.

"Peep." she said again mournfully.

He picked her up and looked at her "What's wrong??" he demanded, frustrated.

The feathered body pressed closer to his hand and the eyes peered up at him fearfully.

"I'm sorry kiddo." Relented Zell, he stood up, still holding the bird.

"What should we do…?" Zell posed the question musingly.

Peep cheeped.

"Good but no…" replied Zell absently.

Peep peeped.

"That's it! I'll go ask Quistis!" As Quistis was a fount of knowledge in Zell's eyes, she would surely know.

So that's why, at one o'clock in the morning, there was a knock on Quistis's door.

She opened the door, attired in a beige dressing gown, her eyes half closed, adjusting to the harsh lights of the corridor.

"Zell…?" she inquired groggily.

"Hi…I'm sorry but…"

Quistis interrupted him.

"Zell, it is one in the morning, you have neglected to put on more than your underpants-"

Zell looked down and flushed.

"And I need sleep or I get grouchy, so please tell me the reason that you woke me up is nothing short of Armageddon."

Zell was pretty surprised that Quistis could come up with such an eloquent speech in the middle of the night.

Wordlessly he held up the small bird, who cheeped pathetically.

Behind the over-cute bird, he attempted an apologetic grin.

"Now, chicken-wuss, that is pathetic."

Seifer's low voice reached his ears, and they both looked up. Zell in a I'm-going-to-MURDER-you kind of way, Quistis was more surprised.

"Seifer?" she said, blinking at him. "What are you doing up?"

He stood slouched against the wall, a small smirk on his lips, yet there was a certain hardness in his eyes.

"I could ask the same of you two." He deadpanned.

Zell processed this information "Peep, idiot!" he brandished the small bird at the tall man.

Seifer seemed to relax and looked more amused. He walked over to them.

He looked down Peep. "What's the problem?"

Zell shifted, unused to Seifer being…not exactly nice, but cordial. "She won't stop cheeping."

Peep, to demonstrate this exactly, was being absolutely silent.

"….okay." Seifer sounded sceptical.

They stood in silence for another minute.

"…Can I go to back to bed?" asked Quistis suddenly.

Peep shuffled around and blinked "Cheep."

"That's a new one." Commented Zell unnecessarily.

"Cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep."

It continued.

For a while.

And showed no sign of stopping.

Making a decision, Quistis opened her door fully. "Come in." she said in a resigned voice.

Zell jogged in and set Peep down on the table, Seifer strolled over to sit on the bed, but thought better of it after catching sight of Quistis's dangerous expression. He nonchalantly veered away from the bed and seated himself in a dignified fashion on a nondescript chair.

Quistis heaved a world-weary sigh. "So, we'll think through why exactly Peep is- in distress- and how to solve it."

They sat in silence again.

Quistis possibly might have dozed off.

Zell looked enlightened after a few minutes. "Food!"

Seifer rose an eyebrow "You haven't fed her?"

"What do you feed chocobos with??"

"Uh…"

"Is Quistis asleep?"

Seifer got up cautiously and approached the woman.

After receiving a hefty thump he decided waking up Quistis by poking her was not a good idea.

Zell stood up suddenly "Gyshal greens!"

Seifer (who was nursing his soon-to-be black eye) and Quistis (fixing herself a coffee) both looked up.

Zell shoved his hand in his pocket and brought out a wilted leaf. Almost reverently, he laid it in front of Peep.

A second later, he came to know it intimately when it flopped into his face.

It was fair to assume that Peep did not want to three-month old leaf.

Quistis was looking vaguely stressed "I think you better go see chocoboy."

Seifer muffled some laughter.

"What?" snapped Quistis irritably.

"The arch nemesis of the Milkybar kid…CHOCOBOY…"

Quistis decided to go for the mature approach.

She ignored him.

Blame anything bad on the fact I'm back to school again…

And review!

Oh and….

::drumroll::

I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY….or for that matter the Milkaybar Kid. Any of them.