Chapter XI:

Roxy, or what little was left of him, lay in the bed, most of his body still covered by the sheet. He was riddled with bullet holes, many of them through the sheet, which caused the wounds to bleed through liberally. He lay silently, his eyes still closed. He was killed in his sleep.

Zell tried to back away, but the world decided to spin uncontrollably and all he could do was make sure he fell straight down, and not forward onto the bed.

He hyperventilated uncontrollably, never taking his eyes off the dead body on the bed. Flashes of thoughts went through his head as he tried to make sense of it all. "They must have used a machine gun, with all those bullet holes..." His mind said, before jumping wildly to another topic. "Why did they kill Roxy? Did they know he planned to help me?"

Zell's eyes came back into focus, and the first thing his saw was Roxy's blond hair. The answer came right away. "They killed him becuase they thought he was me...he was in my bed when they broke in, and they probably opened the bedroom door, saw a sleeping figure, and just pulled the trigger..."

Irvine hadn't planned on letting Zell off the hook after all.

It was too much, it was too horrible. Zell leaned over and vomited quietly. He was too stunned to even scream. His head was swimming.

Zell laid back and stared at the floor. In the commotion, his backpack had fallen to the floor, and the contents of it spilled. His eyes focused on the pile of gil lying in front of him. The wheels in his mind began turning.

He was invisible now. Everyone would know Zell Dincht is dead. No one would notice Roxy was gone; he was a whore, the only people who would know he was missing would be his johns, and there was little chance that married men, whom were the gist of them, would come forward and admit they bought sex just for the sake of a missing whore. Zell had been successfully wiped off the grid.

And all his debts had been wiped off with his life.

A train ticket to Timber was 250 gil.

A wave of guilt tried to overcome Zell, but his mind pushed it aside. Was it immoral and disrespectful to allow Roxy to be buried under his name? He couldn't say it was. Sure, people stop caring about heroes after a while, but there is no greater a comeback than death. No matter how long you've been thrown aside, if you were once important, you'd be given a hero's funeral and you'd be beloved once more. Roxy would get the kind of funeral he truly deserved; not the dismissive one of a whore.

Zell slowly sat up. He looked at Roxy's body with tears in his eyes. Roxy was always more than the other miserable beings in this environment...he was a light in the darkness, shining fiercely in defiance at the world that kept trying to drag him down. Had Zell been killed, he would've gladly allowed people to think it was Roxy who was dead so that Roxy could escape to a better life. And modesty tried to make Zell to think otherwise, but Zell knew that Roxy would feel the same about Zell. He would want at least some good to come of his wasted and unnecessary death.

Zell struggled to his feet, and grabbed the money. He made his way to the bathroom and stood over the sink. He washed his face clean, clean of the dirt and the grime, clean of the life he'd been forced to stoop to. He knew now that the world wasn't perfect, but the exact opposite. The worst of the worst run the world, while only the innocent are forced to suffer. Zell vowed then and there not to take Roxy's sacrifice for granted; he was going to make something of his life.

But did he have the strength to escape this squalor, could he truly leave it all behind and live a happy life in a clean place, far away from this degredation? He'd done nothing but run away his whole life; did he have the strength to do it one last time?

Zell looked at his reflection in the mirror. He leaned his head against it and sighed. He did have the strength.

"Sometimes you have to make your own happy ending..." He said softly, and with that he left the apartment with nothing but the clothes on his back and the money in his pocket.

Zell purposely hid his face from the few faces he saw on the street, determined to hide himself. He'd bought his train ticket, which would leave in an hour and a half. And, despite not wanting to, he knew he had to go to Seifer's house and tell him what was going on. Even though he knew he would truly have to leave now, he wanted to Seifer to know he was alive.

No one answered for some time when Zell buzzed, but it was Rinoa who finally opened the door to her apartment.

"Yes?" She asked brashly.

"Rinoa..." Zell said softly. "I...is Seifer home?"

Rinoa put her hands on her hip and sighed in irritation. "No, he's out drinking. He was upset about something."

"Oh, I see..." Zell said with guilt as he looked down. "Do you know which bar he's at?"

Rinoa scoffed in annoyance. "It's not my job to babysit him! You'll have to come back later!" She spat, and then paused. "On second thought, don't bother doing that either." She began to shut the door.

"Wait!" Zell cried, stepping forward to prevent Rinoa from shutting the door. "Please, just give him a message for me. A friend of mine was just killed and everyone is going to think that it was me who got killed. Just, please tell him that I'm alive, but I'm going away...forever." He said, emotion overcoming him as he began to feel desperate. "Please, I'm never going to speak to him again, I promise I'll leave you two alone forever...just please tell him that, and that I'm sorry."

Rinoa paused for a moment as she looked into Zell's eyes. "I...I'll tell him." She said softly.

"Thank you..." Zell said in relief. He turned around and walked out. He had a train to catch in an hour.

Seifer came home 20 minutes later, a little drunk but still confused and depressed. Rinoa was waiting for him with open arms. She hugged him tightly, but he didn't return the affection.

"Hi honey, would you like something to eat?" She asked sweetly.

"No..." Seifer said dully, making his way over to the couch where he plopped down.

He stared at his fiancé for a long while as he tried to think of a way to best ask the question he wanted to.

"Honey...did...Zell come over by any chance?" He asked, deciding not to dance around the issue. He braced for impact.

But surprisingly, she sounded very calm. "No dear, not since I've been home...were you expecting him or something?"

She cooed lovingly.

"No..." He said turning away. It wasn't like Rinoa to act so casual about Zell..

Well, I'm going to bed..." Rinoa said with a false yawn. Seifer nodded in acknowledgment. As she began to make her way to the bedroom, she heard Seifer flick the TV on behind her.

"This just in, a horrible murder has taken place..." The news anchor started, but was cut off by Rinoa shutting the bedroom door behind her. She couldn't help but smile a little. She couldn't tell him about Zell...if she'd done that, he'd go and try to find him, and run off with him.

The very thought infuriated Rinoa. The little whore...what right did he have to break up what she had spent so long building up?

Meanwhile, she heard the muffled sound of the TV set. That murder was on the news...now Seifer would think Zell was dead, and she would have him all to herself.