Chapter 3: Just a Flesh Wound
Mark sighed as he entered his dorm room.
That girl is gonna be trouble, he thought as he went to the bathroom to clean the blood off.
As he was removing his shirt and jacket, there was a knock at his door.
"Who is it?" He called out, his tone demanding the visitor leave.
"Mark, it's me man, hey let me in!" Zell said from the hallway.
Mark left the bathroom and opened the door for his friend.
"Hey man, I heard you ran into some Grendels and got hurt."
"And how would you hear that?" Mark asked as he closed the door behind Zell and folded his arms across his bare chest.
"I … uh … I overheard Rinoa and Selphie in the cafeteria, and knowing you, thought I could offer my help."
Mark sighed as he uncrossed his arms and returned to the bathroom, Zell following him.
"Damn!" Zell said when he saw the wound in the light; Mark generally kept his room dark like a tomb.
"It's not that bad Zell, the creature just stuck me with a claw, that's all."
"But that's a lot of blood, you've gonna need to replenish yourself, you know that right?"
Mark sighed as he thought ahead to what he must eventually do.
"Yeah, I know, now help me clean this blood off, it's starting to dry. You know how much dried blood itches."
So the two spent the next several minutes cleaning the drying blood from Mark's shoulder.
When they were done Mark looked at his shoulder and began to concentrate. Slowly, the tear in his pale flesh began to mend itself. The muscle tissue and veins merging together again as the skin around it became whole, leaving only a small scar.
"You know, as many time as I see that I will never get over it," Zell remarked as he handed Mark another shirt.
"Zell, could you please take those clothes to be repaired and cleaned? I need to take care of Selphie and Rinoa," he said as he moved towards the door, causing Zell to step forward in horror.
"Mark! You not gonna … you won't …" Zell stammered as he tried to phrase it right, but Mark interrupted him, saving him the trouble.
"Relax, I'm just going to make sure they don't start any rumors, my life would be more difficult if Rinoa realized how much blood I did lose. Don't worry, I won't kill them," he said with a smirk, "so, you want me to grab you a few hot dogs?"
"Yeah, I'd appreciate that," Zell said as he left the room carrying Mark's clothes to the laundry to be cleaned and repaired.
With another sigh, Mark left his room and headed towards the cafeteria where he knew Selphie and Rinoa would be.
Arriving in the somewhat crowded cafeteria, Mark looked around until he spotted Selphie in her yellow dress, sitting with Rinoa in her blue duster, black shirt and matching shorts.
Before he moved in their direction, he went to the lunch counter and asked for Zell's hot dogs, all he had to do was say 'they're for Zell' and he soon had a plate piled high with the young man's favorite food.
Mark walked over to Rinoa and Selphie and sat down, placing the hot dogs on the place beside him.
"Umm, hi Marky," Selphie said as she saw who had joined them, a smile tugging at her lips. He merely glanced at her, guaranteeing her silence.
"Are all those yours?" Rinoa asked as she stared wide-eyed at the plate beside him.
"No, they're for Zell, he'll be here any minute, I can't stand the things," he replied as he pushed the repulsive food further away from him.
"So, how's your shoulder?" Selphie asked, a knowing smile on her face as she tried to stir up the young man before her.
"Just fine, like I told Rinoa, it was just a flesh wound," he stated matter of factly. "It's almost healed already."
"Um, how did you know my name, I never told it to you?" Rinoa asked, surprised that the handsome young man before her knew who she was.
"Zell," was his only answer. As he said that, the person in question stepped through the doors and made his way to the table where they sat.
"Hey, thanks for getting the hot dogs, man," Zell began as he bit into the first one he could grab.
"No problem," Mark replied somewhat disgusted as Zell sprayed chewed hot dog bits on him.
"Hi Zell, WAIT! Don't talk, finish chewing!" Selphie commanded before he could spray her and Rinoa as well.
"Sorry," he managed to mumble, keeping all the bits in this time.
"So, Mark, why was there so much blood if it was only a flesh wound?" Selphie asked innocently. Mark just shot her a death glare that plainly said 'shut up'.
"The claw hit a vein, alright? Lots of blood, little damage," he replied with a tone that said drop it. "Most of it was the Grendels blood anyway, besides you should know that I'm made of sterner stuff than most"
"Are you in Ms. Bertram's history class?" Rinoa asked as she pushed her half-eaten 'mystery' meatloaf around her plate.
Mark only nodded, Zell mumbled something that sounded like yes.
"You're in that class too? I didn't see you there," Zell said as he washed down a hotdog with his Cola.
"I was there before you were, sitting all the way against the wall by the window," Rinoa explained before going on.
"What do you think of the topic, 'Vampires in History'?" Rinoa asked with emphasis on the topic, a smile gracing her face.
"Personally I think everything she's teaching is a bunch of …" he stopped as Zell elbowed him, preventing him from saying what he wanted to. "Inaccuracies."
He glared at for elbowing him, Zell only shrugged, knowing Mark wouldn't hurt him, he hoped.
"Why?" Selphie and Rinoa asked together.
Mark sighed, he wasn't going to answer this one. He looked to Zell, who understood exactly what he wanted.
"Well, you see, Mark has been doing research on Vampires for years, I guess you could call it an obsession." Mark glared, Zell shrugged as he continued. "Most of what she's teaching is based off the horror movie genre. You see, like the horror movies, fictional Vampires have been romanticized. In more ways than one, you see their appearance is all wrong. Vampires aren't pale corpses. They actually look like everybody else, for all we know Mark could be one, or Rinoa, even Selphie could. The reason for them becoming Vampires is wrong as well, close, but still wrong. Yes, if you share blood with a Vampire you will become one as well. But not if they drink your blood. You have to drink their blood as well. And then there's …"
"Ok, thank you very much Mr. Dincht, a very educational lesson." Selphie said as she cut him off, "but much more than we wanted to know."
Zell shrugged as he went back to his hotdogs.
"So, how was your weekend Rinoa?" Selphie asked, noticing the 'change the conversation' vide emanating from Mark.
"Fine, I moved into my dorm, nothing big. How 'bout you Selphie?"
"Oh, I spent some time with Irvy in Galbadia. We went walking in the parks, it was very romantic. I was almost mugged, but some stranger stopped them. He left before I could thank him."
"So that's how you got those bruises, I was wondering what happened." Rinoa replied before going on. "You were mugged? Were you scared?"
"At first, then my knight in black leather came to my rescue, scaring the muggers away," he eyes glancing towards Mark who looked bored.
Rinoa noticed this and decided to get him to open up.
"Mark, aren't you going to eat lunch?" Rinoa asked as she turned her brown eyes onto the storm gray eyes of Mark. She had to remind herself to breathe as she felt herself falling into their stormy depths.
"They never have what I want here, I have a fridge in my dorm." He explained, glossing over the question. While he could eat regular food, he normally didn't. The cafeteria was only know for two things; their hotdogs, and the other food sucking. It seems the lunch ladies focused only on the hotdogs.
Deciding to change the conversation, Rinoa went back to their Vampire conversation.
"So, you've studied vampires?" she asked Mark as she propped her head in her hands, watching him.
Knowing that he couldn't get angry at her here, and knowing that he couldn't escape the conversation, he answered.
"Yes, what do you want to know?" he asked reluctantly.
"Wow, there's so much I want to know. Do vampires have souls? I've always wondered that, the movies really don't explain that."
With a long suffering sigh, Mark began 'teaching'.
"Yes, Vampires have a soul, sort of. Humans have a soul, as do all living things. Vampires have a soul as well, however, unlike a human soul it is corrupted, yet not corrupt enough to warrant going to hell. That's why Vampires roam the planet, they can't go to heaven and they can't go to hell. You see, Vampires are the descendants of Cain, the first murderer. Cain's choice to kill his brother severed his ties with God. It was a choice, that's what separates man from animal, the ability to choose. Cain's choice was to live without God, and his descendants were thus forced to live in the shadow of his decision. The Vampires not being seen in mirrors is a bunch of baloney too. They have a soul, however corrupted it may be, they still have one. That's what makes it so difficult to tell Vampires from normal humans."
"Wow, that's some explanation," Rinoa said as she sat back, Zell just grinned.
"Yeah, and that was the short version," He said as he reached for the last hotdog, "the long version takes over an hour to tell."
Mark looked up at the clock and sighed, time to go feed.
"Zell, I'm going into town to get some food," Mark said as he rose, Zell only nodded. "Feed Carbuncle for me, I'll get him some food while I'm out."
"Sure thing, catch ya later," Zell said as Mark walked away.
"Who's Carbuncle?" Rinoa asked as she watched him leave.
"His cat," Zell explained as he wiped the mustard from his lips.
"Wow, he must really trust you if he lets you take care of his cat," Rinoa replied, changing the mental picture she had of the young man, a cat didn't seem to fit the old image.
"I guess you could say I'm his best friend, actually, I'm his only friend. He doesn't make friends very easily, he tends to creep people out with his Goth like look and silence. I guess you could say I owe him my life."
"What do you mean?" Selphie asked, overjoyed to have found another person that owed Mark their life.
"Well, it all happened along time ago, when we were kids …" He began, settling back in his chair, his eyes glossing over as he remembered.
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(At last another chapter completed!)
Mark and Zell: About time!
(Leave me alone! I'm trying to write here!)
Zell: Well somebodys cranky, your almost as anti social as Mark is
Mark: I agree, you spend too much time on that computer, I'd be suprized if he even knows about girls yet!
( Hey! Now your going too far Mark! Keep this up and I'll pair you up a moogle instead of Rinoa.)
Mark: (pales slightly then runs away screaming)
Zell: Well that shut him up...
(Go away Zell or I'll have you killed off in the next chapter)
Zell: AAAAHHHH! (Zell runs away screaming too)
(At last I got rid of them and finally I can say...P.S send me long reviews)