A/N: Okay, so maybe i've made you guys wait a bit longer for this chapter, but it wasn't intentional. Hope it was worth the wait . . .
"Where you used to be there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in daytime, and falling into at night."
Selphie unlocked the door to her room and stepped inside.
Everything was just as it had been the last time she saw it. She had a paranoid feeling in the hospital that someone would go through her stuff for 'incriminating evidence' as to why she felt the way she did.
Not that there was any 'evidence'. All that led her to do as she did was in her mind. All the feelings, the anger and the hurt. In the end, they all just swirled into one big emotion and tormented her every waking moment.
Selphie sat down on the edge of the bed, the old mattress springs groaning as if in pain under her light weight. She squinted her eyes down at her one bandaged wrist and wondered how people have the guts and strength to slit both of them once they've done one.
It's not about guts . . . it's about how much you hurt and how badly you want things to go away . . .
Her lids became heavy with sleep, so she lay back on her bed and willingly gave in to the sleep that encased her.
---------------------------------------
The training centre was rather empty around evening time. Most people were either studying for upcoming tests, out clubbing or getting ready for dates.
That was the main reason Zell always went at the same time every other night. He liked to unwind by killing the various beasts that dwelled in the vicinity, imagining that each one was someone he hated, mainly Seifer.
As he layed a double punch and a single drop kick into yet another grat, he wondered how many demons Selphie must be fighting in the hidden depths of her mind.
His combating became automatic as three bite bugs hissed in approach and formed a shaky circle, trying to close him in.
Zell began to think back to when he found Selphie slumped outside his room. He'd been shocked a great deal. It was so unexpected.
Heh, Selphie always did have that element of surprise goin' on.
Before going to sprawl out on the floor due to exhaustion from punching and kicking, Zell looked around to see if there were any more creatures moving towards him.
Seeing none, he dropped down to the ground; sitting with his legs spread out in front of him, and wiped his brow free from sweat.
I still never expected her to do something so . . . drastic. I wonder if she really wanted to die.
Off to the right and slightly behind him, some of the leafy overgrowth near the 'secret make-out room' began to rustle.
Zell sprang to his feet in one swift movement, bringing his fists out in front of him, ready to encounter whatever was coming his way.
However, he didn't expect the monster that emerged.
It was Celia.
"Dincht! I've been looking for you!"
"In the bushes?" Zell said, nonchalantly.
"Shut up!" she spat with hatred. "What have you been saying to Irvine about me?"
Zell puts his fists down by his side and answered coolly, "Oh just that, y'know, he might catch something if he keeps goin' with a slut like you."
Celia's mouth dropped open, as if catching flies, before she snapped.
"I fucking hate you Dincht! You better not even talk to Irvy anymore or else I'll-,"
"You'll what?" Zell interrupted her, getting rather fired up. "You're all talk Celia. Just about all you can do is spread rumours, gossip and ruin people's lives. You're even goin' about ruinin' people's eyesight with that hideous face of yours."
Celia took a leggy step towards Zell and stopped in front of him, with her hands low down on her hips.
"You really are a short lil' thing aren't you? It's rather pitiful."
Zell hated people commenting on his size, so this remark made him particularly angry.
"Get lost Celia," he said through gritted teeth, telling himself to stay calm.
"Aww, have I upset you? Sooo sorry," Celia brimmed with sarcasm.
Running a hand through his spiky blonde mane, Zell forced himself to put his back to her and walk out. After managing to get a few steps from Celia, she said with a spite filled voice, "Are you goin' back to your dorm so you can slit your wrists like your loser girlfriend?"
Zell stopped dead in his tracks and spun around again, fists clenched tightly together by his sides.
"She's not my girlfriend, and she's NOT a loser, you bitch!"
Celia smiled with the satisfaction of finally getting to him.
"Oh, of course not. Poor, poor Selphie Tilmitt, we must look after her and treat her like porcelain. You never know when she might try and kill herself again. Ha, she couldn't even get that right!"
"Shut up, you heartless cow!!"
Naturally, the more Zell responded like this, the more Celia was likely to say things.
But, this time, she said nothing. Instead she slipped a red marker pen out of her tight jean pocket and proceeded to draw a red line across her wrist.
"Look Zell! I'm Selphie!"
Before he knew entirely what he was doing, Zell lunged for Celia.
Normally, he wouldn't hit a girl, he wouldn't even do anything to make them cry, but Celia wasn't even human in his eyes.
She wasn't quick enough to block out his first hit, which landed against her right shoulder. Yelping in pain, she turned her attention to Zell, snarling with anger.
Celia was trained in a few weapons, mainly the crescent wish, but not to the full extent of most people. Hand to hand combat was her weakest method. She never studied any of her weapons properly, so never really knew how to get the most out of them.
Zell did a half turn, brought his leg up and landed a sharp kick in Celia's stomach; not hard enough to knock out her air, but hard enough to make her fall over.
She fell backwards onto her behind with a hard thump. Whilst down on the floor, she kicked off her Manolo Blahnik high heels (which were by no means suitable to fight in) and got back up onto her feet.
Zell had stood there shadowboxing and watching what Celia was doing.
"So, you wanna fight, Dincht? Let's see how well you do with dirty fighting."
Upon speaking this last word, she shot her leg out, aiming for Zell's crotch.
With a few seconds to spare, he back stepped lithely out of the way of Celia's impending heel and offered her a cheeky grin.
"Bastard!"
"Really?" Zell raced in towards her, pretending to go for her face. Naturally, she raised her hands to block, but Zell punched her again in the stomach and hooked his foot around her ankle, causing her to go crashing to the ground.
Zell was well aware that he could get suspended or even expelled for this kind of fighting, but Celia had pushed him to the edge with all of her nasty comments.
She had it comin'
Celia was now on her hands and knees, not facing her fighting partner's direction. Of course she was too stupid to realise that this was a bad mistake if there ever was one.
Zell rolled one of his sleeves back up, which had fallen down sometime during his scuffle with the blonde bully, and advanced towards her without any hurry.
Celia was still on her hands and knees, her straight blonde hair falling over her face.
Zell stood behind her and placed one foot lightly on her rump.
This made her turn her head around and spit out, "What the hell are you doing Dincht?!"
He just looked at her and pushed his foot, making her fall forward onto her front and into the training centre soil, which was littered with Grat and Bite Bug faeces.
"Ergh! You . . . you wanker!"
Celia slowly pushed herself up onto her haunches and looked down at her dress, which was now stained brown and yellow in some places.
She looked utterly horrified when she saw this.
"NO!! Look what you've done!! This dress is a Christian Dior!!"
Zell stood looking blankly down at her.
"That means absolutely nothin' to me."
With that, he turned and walked out of the training centre, but not before picking up Celia's high heels and throwing them back at her.
"Ow! Dincht, you freak!"
----------------------------------------------------
After Zell had gone back to his dorm, taken a shower and put on some clean clothes, he went across to Selphies room.
He tapped his knuckles twice against the wooden door and waited for a reply.
"Yo, Sef, it's me. Open up."
From inside he heard a groan and what sounded like the creaking of bed springs.
"It's already open."
Zell turned the door knob and found it was indeed unlocked.
Selphie was lying on her side on the bed, facing away from her friend.
He approached her and asked if she was okay.
Selphie sighed, not meaning for it to be so loud. She quickly covered it up by replying, "Er . . . had a few nightmares . . . I'm okay."
Zell absentmindedly got hold of one of Selphies small hands and began playing with her fingers.
"Wanna go somewhere for a bite?"
"Hnn."
"What's 'Hnnn' s'pose to mean?"
"Uh, don't know. Who else is going?"
"Just Rin and Squall . . . and erm . . . Irvine wanted to come along . . . but if you don't wanna go now, then that's okay, we'll just buy some food and bring it back here, then you wont have to see him, unless of course you want to in which case-,"
"Zell . . . you're waffling."
He brought his free hand up to the back of his neck and rubbed, somewhat embarrassed about his tendency to talk a whole load of nothing.
"Right. So . . . you comin'?"
"Just let me go make myself look presentable."
As Selphie attempted to get out of her bed, the sunshine yellow sheets had her feet and legs tangled up down towards the bottom of the mattress.
Zell found this particularly funny as he watched her try and free herself.
Hearing his stifled laughter, Selphie shot him an evil look, tinged with the slightest bit of mischief in her green eyes.
"Some help would be nice!"
"Sorry," the blonde said, whilst still laughing.
He reached out and unwrapped Selphies feet from the confinements of the blankets.
"Maybe if you didn't have such massive feet, Sef . . ."
"I do NOT have massive feet!"
Selphie picked up her soft feather pillow and whacked it around Zells head, then when he freed her feet, she kicked him lightly on the thigh.
"That's for laughing at me."
She smiled at him before bouncing off the bed and heading towards her wardrobe.
Selphie then remembered something and turned around, her face slightly downcast.
"Um, Zell, could you do me a favour?"
"Yup, what is it?"
"Oh, no, it doesn't matter, it's gross. I'll do it myself." Selphie turned back around and continued looking through her clothes.
"Hey, what is it?"
Zell got up off of Selphies bed and walked over to her, resting his chin on her shoulder and looking up at her with puppy dog eyes.
"Tell meee."
Selphie stayed in the same position she was in as Zell removed himself from her and leaned against the side of the wardrobe.
"I . . . er, I was just wondering if . . . you'd change my bandage because I don't wanna look at what's underneath it, but then again, I don't suppose you would either, so . . . don't worry."
"I'll do it for ya."
Selphie turned around in his general direction, but looked at the floor instead of her friend.
"You're only saying that to be nice. You're really thinking, 'Urgh I don't wanna go near that'."
Zell laughed. "Nah. Where do you keep your bandages and stuff?"
"In the bathroom. It'd probably be easier to go in there."
Zell opened the door knob to her bathroom before she even finished what she was saying.
Mmm, smells like Selphie in here . . . Shut up you weirdo . . .
Leaning down and unhooking the latch on the bathroom cabinet, he reached in and brought out some fluffy white bandages along with some liquid the doctor had given Selphie to apply daily.
As Zell was going to shut the latch, a silver tin fell out and clattered to the floor.
He picked it up and looked at it.
"Don't open that! Give me it."
Zell had already begun to open the tin up, so it was too late. His inquisitive nature always did get him in trouble, especially back in the orphanage.
Inside were about four razors, each of different size, layed out next to each other on a slightly bloodied tissue.
He looked up at Selphie with a forlorn expression on his face. She simply looked to the floor.
"Selphie, I thought you'd stopped."
"Well . . . I . . . er . . . fuck off!!"
She immediately felt bad for saying that to the one friend who probably cared the most for her, but she didn't apologise. Instead she turned and ran out the bathroom and flung herself onto her bed.
Zell walked out after her, putting the tin back where he found it. After all, it wasn't his place to throw them away or hide them.
Damn, I've made her cry . . .
"Sef . . ."
He placed a hand on her quaking back.
"Look, I'm not gonna say anything. If you feel the need to do it, then who am I to stop you."
Selphie turned around and sat up into Zell's arms. He gave her a friendly squeeze.
"Come on, don't cry, you'll make me start."
She laughed and wiped her eyes dry.
"Sorry I told you to . . . you know."
"Ah, that's okay. Feel free to tell me to F' off anytime you want. Can I put this fresh bandage on you now?"
"You sound almost eager."
"Well, I don't want it to go rotten. Your hand might turn green, decompose and fall off."
"Gross. Why do you have to be so visual?"
"Comes in handy."
"Typical guy."
Zell unwrapped Selphies old bandage carefully and dabbed at her wrist gently with the prescribed liquid antiseptic. She flinched a little, so he stopped and re-applied the new bandage.
"There we go."
Selphie half smiled at him, "Thanks Zell."
"S'okay. Now go and get your ass into whatever you're wearing, or else we'll be late."
The brunette walked back over to her wardrobe, picked out something casual and went to change in the bathroom. Whilst in there, she re-applied her mascara.
When she was done, she stepped out.
"Okay, ready to go now."
"Lookin' good."
"Oh shush."
Selphie had put on a bright yellow t-shirt top, which clung in all the right places and had a v neck, along with some stonewash denims, which were tight at the top and massively flared at the knees downwards.
"Irvines gonna get sprung when he see's you."
"What?! Zell! Don't be so crude. Plus these are my casual clothes. I didn't dress up to impress anyone."
Zell rolled his eyes and followed his friend out of the door.
A/N: More Celia smashing to come. . . if you want more that is.