Secret Passages – Chapter Five: Completely Oblivious
"Hey. It's about time you woke up." A familiar voice spoke out quietly, but sounded very cheerful. "You had us worried there."
Selphie opened her eyes to see Zell, accompanied by three boys and a girl, as well as Doctor Kadowaki.
"Zell, is there any particular reason as to why you brought your entire class on a field-trip to the infirmary? Dr. Kadowaki spoke from her seat at the side of the bed, looking at the clipboard in her arms and recording whatever information about Selphie's condition onto the charts.
"Since when do four students make up my whole class?" Zell glared at the doctor, as the half-hidden smile on her face betrayed her thought of how comical it was that his class was so small.
"Since there is only one class and only four students in it, maybe?" The tallest boy in the room smirked at Zell, who had turned to come back at him with something just as smart…
"Has my forehead stopped bleeding?" However, Selphie interrupted them and quickly caught the undivided attention from the other occupants of the room.
"Of course it has. What kind of a doctor do you take me for?" Dr. Kadowaki raised a brow at the question and shook her head before continuing. "Selphie, I need you to explain to me how you hit your head. I need it for the records. If you can do that, you're free to go."
"I remember sneezing." Selphie pushed herself into an upright sitting position on the bed. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the four unknown faces in the room, she lowered her head, sheepishly. "And I tried to back away from the sink, but I didn't push myself far enough from it… and I got myself pretty good, huh?" She looked up, from the sheets she had collected in her hands to occupy herself as she spoke, to see Dr. Kadowaki stifle a laugh.
However, Zell and two of the boys were not kind enough to keep their amusement inside themselves and were bursting with laughter. Selphie knew Zell would be one to laugh, it was only natural for him, but she had no idea who these kids were. Moreover, it did not help her first impression of them that two of them were laughing at her already.
"Okay, that's enough from you three," Dr. Kadowaki had recovered nicely and shook her head at them. "In any case, Selphie, these three boys carried you all the way over here from the dormitory hallway. You should thank them, even if two of them had a momentary lapse of knowledge about manners."
"Ah, she doesn't have to… We would have gotten yelled at if we didn't help her out anyway." The smallest of the three boys rubbed the back of his head nervously and grinned.
"Well… Thank you anyway. It was nice of you to even think about helping." Selphie smiled, ever cheerful. "What are your names, guys?"
"I'm Dale Cerulean." The tallest at the end of Selphie's bed with the lengthy black hair smiled and gave an airy wave.
"I'm Beau Haensly, Zell's best student." The shortest and smallest all together of the three pointed at himself and grinned an even more goofy grin than before.
"Tch…" Dale rolled his eyes at Beau, who apparently did not hear him and continued with his introduction.
"My brother here," he pointed at the sandy-brown haired boy standing next to him, "and I are from Deling City. Our mom knew Rinoa's mom, so we hung out a lot. We've heard a lot about—" Smack. Beau winced and began rubbing the back of his head, ruffling up his short dirty-blonde hair. "What was that for?" Beau cut his eyes at his taller brother. "Jeeze."
"You talk too much." Dale was happy to give the little brat an answer and grinned at the fact that the boy's old brother could keep him in line. Weak spot.
"My name is Brent Haensly and I am Beau's older brother. It's wonderful to finally meet you, Miss Selphie, even under the given circumstances." The last boy in the room bowed to Selphie. When he stood, he brushed aside the brown bangs that fell in front of his blue-green eyes and smiled.
"Charmed." Selphie could not help herself with the performance Brent had just made. It wasn't meant to be, but it certainly was entertaining to watch. It made her laugh, which was seemingly better to do at the moment.
"Hey." Zell was more than happy to interrupt Selphie's momentary fit of laughter to point out the girl that was also in the room.
"Oh! Yeah, what's your name?" Although she wanted to continue laughing at Brent, she held it in with a smile as she addressed the girl standing next to Zell.
"Danielle Laurel." She spoke softly and attempted a smile.
"Pretty name." Selphie would have smiled more, to make Danielle feel a little more comfortable, but that was impossible. She was already smiling as wide as she could.
"Okay, Selphie. You're free to go now." Dr. Kadowaki stood from her seat at the bedside and walked out of the small room, only to find Squall leaning against the wall near her desk. "You came close to giving me a start, Squall."
Squall pushed himself from his propped position on the wall and walked to the door.
"Is there something you wanted to talk about?" Dr. Kadowaki would have continued in her stride to the chair behind her desk, but Squall's abrupt movement to leave stopped her.
Squall paused. Shook his head. Then left the infirmary.
"I wonder what's troubling him now…"
"I told you already! I can beat you any day! Any time! Any place!" Beau was yelling rather loudly at the dark haired boy leaving the small room in which Selphie and the rest of them were confined. However loud the boy seemed to be, Dale played it cool and walked out of the infirmary with his hands in his pockets, blowing Beau off without so much as a word. Yet, Beau, being the infuriated and hotheaded boy he is, followed Dale out of the infirmary. As soon as the door closed behind him, a loud screech of pain was heard and Beau darted back into the infirmary, his left hand cupped over his bleeding nose. This made Brent laugh, which had appeared in the main room of the infirmary within seconds of the yelp from Beau.
"Serves you right." Brent patted Beau on the top of his head before leaving the infirmary himself. Dr. Kadowaki gave Beau a few tissues and instructed him to go lay down in one of the beds. Since Selphie had made her way out into the main room herself, followed by Zell and Danielle, Beau had chosen the bed she had been in, since it was still warm. Even with the heat in Garden, the Infirmary was like an iceberg.
"He's… very strange." Selphie spoke to Zell as they walked down the infirmary hallway, towards the main circulatory hallway. Danielle was following close behind them. "Oh! I wanted to work on the banners today. What time is it?"
Zell lifted his right arm to look at his watch.
"A little before two— scratch that. The battery in my watch is dead." Zell rolled his eyes. "Damn. I forgot to change it."
"It's actually a quarter-past four." Danielle spoke up from behind the taller teens. They turned around and looked at her, as if they had forgotten she was there all together. "…Eh."
"Thanks Danielle." Selphie smiled and moved to her left to make room for the small girl between herself and Zell. "Don't hang out in the back like that, join us up here. We'll make a moving barricade and make the people coming in the opposite direction angry because we won't share the hallway." Selphie giggled… evilly. Which, strangely, made Danielle feel a little more comfortable and she joined the moving barricade.
Selphie didn't look away from Danielle, as if she was expecting her to speak or something. Danielle blushed, feeling rather embarrassed.
"Is something on my face, Miss Selphie?" She spoke timidly, brushing away the loose locks of blonde hair from in front of her eyes, and tucking them behind her ears.
"Come on, Dani. She's all of three years older than you are. There's no reason why you should call her anything other than her name…" Zell paused, grinning at Selphie. "Which just so happens to be Messen-"
"CoughChickenWussCough." Selphie interrupted Zell, faking her coughs and wishing she were standing next to him so that it would be easier to inflict pain upon the spiky blonde without Danielle noticing. "Anyhow… Let's go work on those banners. You can help if you want, Dani. It's loads of fun." Selphie chirped and tried to keep from jumping, as she was excited that she might have another student in the Garden Festival Committee.
"Tch…" Zell cut his eyes at Selphie and put his hands in his back pockets. "Since it's half-past one, that means it's time for food."
"Well then go get some. While you're at it, get us all some." Selphie grinned and linked her arm around one of Danielle's. "We shall be in the Quad." With that said, she turned and began their march down the Quad hallway. Danielle didn't seem to mind being lead to the Quad, but she looked back at Zell, wondering if he would agree with such a plan.
Zell had turned to glare at Selphie, which made Danielle grin at how angry he looked. She thought he looked funny, until he shot a glare her way as well.
"Yeah, whatever…" Zell spoke to himself as he continued his walk down the circulatory hallway, toward the Cafeteria.
:akuru:
The train stopped, causing Rinoa to stir in the small bunk, which was attached to the wall. Someone tapped her arm and she rolled over to face him or her, half-expecting it to be Squall. However, it was not the face of that certain man, but the face of Watts, who smiled widely.
"Sleep well, Princess?" Standing up straight, Watts held out his hand towards Rinoa. She sat up and took his hand thankfully, and he stepped back to pull her to her feet.
"That mattress is like a board." Rinoa took back her hand and rubbed the small of her back. "But I feel like I've been asleep for days. What time is it?"
"It's 16:18, Princess. You slept through the entire trip." Watts stood still, hardly moving at all while he spoke to Rinoa. "We're back in Deling City now."
Rinoa gave a weak smile and nodded her head in thanks. There was a silence throughout the room, as Rinoa did not really feel up to talking and Watts was afraid of asking anything of her, as it might hurt to tell. Just when Rinoa went to speak, the cabin door opened and Zone came storming inside.
"Rinoa! Oh, I'm so happy to see you." As soon as he stepped inside, he had Rinoa in a bear hug. When he released her a moment later, Rinoa's smile was very wide and came naturally. "I'm sorry that I didn't go with Watts to FH and pick you up, but I got really bad stomach pains and had to stay in bed."
"It's fine. I'm just glad you guys agreed to help me out." She grabbed the light blue suitcase from the bunk she had previously been sleeping in, but Watts took it from her.
"I'll carry this." He smiled when she let go of it and nodded.
"Okay then, let's go. We have a lot to do if you're not going to stay in Timber with us." Zone, for once, was actually willing to do something productive. It must have been because he would only have the best for Rinoa.
The three members of the old 'Forest Owls' group were once again reunited. Everything would be perfect and go back to the way things were before, only Timber now had its long awaited freedom. The new president of Galbadia was more than happy to grant the request of Rinoa and all the other resistance group leaders in Timber. Rinoa was so happy, yet deep inside she felt so much pain.
:akuru:
Zell made his way out of the cafeteria safely. After being one of the first five people in line for the freshly cooked hotdogs, he actually managed to get a few for once. Not only that, but while he was in line, many people would come up and ask him to buy their hotdogs too, since he was so close to the counter. He blew them off, of course, because no one would buy him hotdogs when he had asked. Screw them. They need to get in line.
Therefore, we find Zell making his way into the main circulatory hallway. His left arm held a decent sized paper bag against his chest, most likely filled with as many hotdogs as it could hold. Both hands carried white Styrofoam cups and his right arm held another while Styrofoam cup against his chest. At the look of him, his arms were full and one would think that he needed help, but Zell had it under control. At least, as far as he knew, he did.
Until the bag of hotdogs slipped from the grip of his arm and began its fall to the floor. He tried to catch it with his knee, but failed miserably as it only kicked the bag away from him. It felt as if Zell was watching his hour and a half wait go down the drain in slow motion. When the bag was just about to hit the floor, three feet away from him, Zell felt someone rush past him. They snatched up the bag and turned to look at the Martial Arts Instructor with a grin.
"Oh, thank Hyne! Dale, I could kiss you." Zell opened his left arm to hug the small dark haired boy, but received a push instead.
"Let's not and say we didn't. Okay? Good." Dale looked at his older friend as if he were insane, and then shook his head. "Anyway, why do you have so much food? Meeting your girlfriend in the Quad?"
"Girlfr- What?" Zell laughed. "Never. But yeah, I'm going to the Quad. Wanna come? I think I have an extra hot dog or two."
"Tch… I guess." Dale began to follow Zell, as he set off down the Quad hallway. "Since there's nothing else better to do."
:akuru:
Quistis sat behind her large desk in her second floor classroom. She had placed the Griever ring that Rinoa had requested she return for her. She leaned back in her chair; hands clasped together on her lap. Quistis examined the ring before her, contemplating how she would approach Squall and what she would even say to him. After all, the love of his life did leave without so much of a word to him.
"They love each other so much, and yet they can't say it out loud to one another." Quistis spoke quietly to herself, as if saying it aloud would will it into happening.
Quistis sat up from her chair and propped her elbows on the desk in front of her. She placed her chin on the backside of her hands and glared at the ring that lay motionless on her clean desk. Thinking about the entire thing made her head and heartache. Yet she promised no to say anything to Squall about why Rinoa left. It wasn't even her place to say anything at all, but all she was expected to do was return the ring to Squall. Moreover, how was she supposed to do that?
"Having a major dilemma, Instructor?" As soon as Quistis heard his voice, she snatched the ring off the desk and looked up at the man standing on the opposite side of her desk.
"Seifer… I didn't hear you come in." She tried to play off her uncertainty with a smile.
"Could it be… because I've been in here since before you came in?" Seifer was always sarcastic, we know this, but for some reason… he lightened up with Quistis since he returned to Garden. But only when 'Chickenwuss', 'Messenger Girl' and 'Puberty Boy' weren't around to witness. "Come on, what's on your mind that's troubling you?"
Quistis' azure eyes gazed at Seifer's jade. After tossing the thought of Seifer once 'dating' Rinoa in her mind a few times over, she once again leaned back in her chair and spoke with grace.
"It's about Rinoa."
:akuru:
"How long have you known Zell?" Selphie looked up from the large sheet of butcher paper spread across the table and directed her eyes at Danielle, who sat opposite from her. The small girl was in the middle of putting her hair back into the ponytail she had earlier, holding her blue hair tie in her mouth. Selphie giggled at the responsive expression across Danielle's face.
"You make a lot of funny faces, you know that?" She smiled at Danielle as the girl shrugged and finished with fixing her hair.
"For a long time… He and Dale used to pick on me, but there would be times where Zell would stand up for me because I was the only girl that would hang out with them." Danielle smiled weakly. "But now Dale doesn't really talk to me anymore and Zell can't remember all the fun the three of us used to have together."
"The Guardian Forces." Selphie quickly replied, which didn't make any sense to Danielle, and looked back at the symbol she was painted on the paper in front of her.
"What about them?" Danielle didn't understand how Selphie got 'The Guardian Forces' out of all that she had said.
"They are the reason why he doesn't really remember anything." Selphie continued, still painting the symbol. "I've told him to keep a journal."
Danielle still didn't quite understand, but didn't get the chance to inquire any further as she was interrupted by Zell's loud voice.
"Hey, Selph!" Zell was had finally arrived, along with Dale, food and all. "We need a place to eat, so move all that crap."
"It's not crap, you jerk." Selphie tossed the paintbrush into the jar of murky colored water. She acted angry, but couldn't hide her smile.
"Whatever, just move it." Zell sat down next to Danielle and handed her one of the three cups he carried.
"Let's not act like Squall now." Selphie stood from the picnic table, grabbing the jug of paint and the jar with the paintbrush in it.
"I'm not."
"Listen to yourself." After setting the jar and jug on the ground, Selphie walked back to the table and pulled the butcher paper away carefully.
"Shut up and move the stuff, Selphie."
"If you shut up, maybe you'll see that that's what I am doing!"
"HEY!" Both Dale and Danielle had yelled out at Selphie and Zell, halting the argument. Selphie and Zell looked at them both, as if they hadn't noticed they had been arguing.
"What?" They spoke in unison. Dale and Danielle glanced at each other before looking back at Zell and Selphie.
"I have food here." Dale sat down across from Danielle and dropped the brown paper bag onto the table. "Why don't you guys use your mouths for eating, instead of making my ears bleed?"
"What yourself. You're only getting some because I'm sharing with you, Dale." Zell grinned, placing one of the two cups in his hand across the table from him and put his own cup in front of him. He took the bag from the middle of the table to sort it all out.
"How about we remember that you dropped it and the food would still be laying on the Main hallway's floor if it weren't for me." Dale looked over at Selphie as she returned to the table and sat next to him. "Why don't you sit over there?" He pointed across the table.
Selphie looked over at the space between Danielle and Zell. There was enough room for at least two people, if they each moved just enough, but it gave more space for Selphie to sit on the side with Dale. She smiled at Danielle and looked back at Dale.
"Well, since you brought it up, why don't you go sit over there?" She picked up her drink and looked around the table. "Zell… Where're the straws?"
"Oh, yeah… I forgot those." Zell pulled the last two hotdogs from the bag and tossed them to Dale, who caught them from falling to the ground behind him. "Nice catch."
"Tch…" Dale shook his head and looked down at the hotdog on the table in front of him, causing his black hair to fall in front of his face.
"Do you need a hair tie?" Selphie opened one of her hotdog packs and took a bite. She eyed Dale, as he didn't move his head at all. Zell however, laughed at this question and made his own crack about Dale's hair.
"Yeah, you look girly over there with all that hair in your face, bud." He was already finishing off his third hotdog and took a swig from his now lidless cup.
Danielle reached in her pocket, not really thinking anything of it, and pulled out a red hair tie. She offered it to Dale, reaching across the table.
"Here. I always have an extra one with me." Dale looked up, just barely, and glared at Zell and Selphie as he snatched the hair tie from Danielle's out stretched hand. This didn't seem to bother Danielle, but Zell and Selphie only prolonged their stares at the younger boy.
"How long are you two fools going to stare at me like that?" Dale demanded, tying back his black hair with Danielle's kind offer. "And don't you have detention, Zell?"
Zell turned his attention from Dale to Selphie. "What time is it?"
"How should I know? I always ask you." Selphie shook her head. "Idiot."
"It's ten minutes until six o'clock." Danielle spoke before Zell could replay to Selphie's insult.
"Shit. You aren't serious?" Zell looked as if he was ready to rip the watch off his wrist and let it burn in a bonfire. "Damn, I'll see ya later guys. I have to run." He snatched up his cup and last hotdog before jogging his way out of the Quad.
"I'm sorry, Selphie, but I have to go, too." Danielle stood from her seat across the picnic table and picked up her cup. "I just remembered that I had a few things to do before lights out."
"Oh… Okay then, you'll help out with the Garden Festival when you can, right?" Selphie smiled, hoping she would.
"Sure. It sounds like a lot of fun." Danielle looked at the hotdog she had left untouched and pointed at it. "You can have that Dale. I'm not taking it. See ya later, Selphie." Danielle gave a weak smile and walked away from the table, following the same path Zell took on his exit from the Quad.
"Goodnight, Dani!" Selphie waved, even though Danielle had her back turned. It felt like the right thing to do. She muttered back a goodnight before she was out of sight. Dale had watched silently as Danielle left the Quad and turned to look at Selphie when he could no longer see her, only to find the older female staring him down, her chin propped on her right hand.
"What?" He couldn't help the heat that rose to his cheeks.
"Why don't you talk to Danielle anymore?" Selphie asked smoothly, which made Dale a little annoyed that she could ask him such a personal question so easily.
"That doesn't concern you." He narrowed his eyes at her and stood from the table, taking hold of his two remaining hotdogs and drink and walking away to exit the Quad himself.
"If you like her, you should tell her. Don't keep quiet about it."
Dale was half way to the first set of steps when he suddenly stopped. Selphie could tell he wanted to turn around, most likely to yell at her, but chose not to and ran up the steps instead to get as far away from the prying woman as possible.
"I thought so." Selphie smiled as she watched the young boy disappear into the hallway that would lead him out of the Quad. Once he was out of sight, she turned and looked toward the open sea. Cerulean waves of the best shade of blue and foamy white crests filled the ocean that she saw for miles. Fisherman's Horizon was a great place to get away from reality. It's no wonder why Cid had Garden docked at the city. The sight of the ocean was outstanding and very relaxing to watch as the sun set on a not so outstanding and relaxing day.
"I just hope it's not so hot tomorrow…"
:akuru:
"That is a major dilemma you have on your shoulders, Instructor." Seifer leaned back in the uncomfortable seat behind one of the front study panels and laid his arms across the back of the seat.
"When will you stop calling me that?" Quistis stood from the chair behind her desk and grabbed the ring that lay on top of it.
"…When you say please." Seifer smirked, but Quistis did not seem to find it as amusing as he did. "Are you going to give that back to Puberty Boy?"
"Yes." Quistis didn't even bother with the 'nickname' Seifer had given Squall. "What does it matter?"
"Just asking. I'll wait here then."
Quistis propped a hand on her left hip and gave Seifer a curious expression. "Why?"
"Because there should be another full class of detention today and I want to help out Fujin and Raijin." Seifer sat up and pointed his finger at Quistis. "But you didn't hear that."
"My lips are sealed." Quistis turned to leave the classroom, but stopped when Seifer spoke again.
"…Wait a second."
:akuru:
"Hey, Doctor."
"Yes?" Doctor Kadowaki was sitting quietly behind her desk in the infirmary, writing on and sorting what looked like medical records. She looked up to see Brent standing in front of her desk. "What is it?"
"Do you know where Beau ran off to?" He sounded worried.
"He left the infirmary earlier in the hour." Dr. Kadowaki checked her watch and looked back at Brent. "He kept talking about that Dale boy. Maybe he's with him?"
"That's… not good." Brent darted to the door but stopped and turned to the doctor, giving her a rushed 'thank you' and bulleting out of the room, down the infirmary hall.
"I wonder what that is all about?"