Author's Note: Whatever.
Disclaimer: See the Prologue. 'Nuff said.
"What are you doing here?" Leon asked the stranger.
"Gee, I spend a year searching world after world after world for you, and all I get when I finally find you, all you can say is 'What are you doing here?' That's very bad manners, Squall. The least you could do is introduce me to your friend. Though in all actuality, I'd prefer a dinner invitation."
"Leon, who is this man and why is he calling you Squall?"
"Yes, Squall, who am I and why am I calling you Squall?"
"I see you're as annoying as ever, Zell," Leon said.
"It's nice to see you again too, Squall."
"Help me get Tifa back to our base of operations. She needs to be healed."
"Ooh! Base of operations. Sounds so sophisticated."
"Zell just shut up and help me move Tifa! She needs medical attention right now!"
"Why didn't you say so?" Zell turned to Tifa, focused for a bit, then thrust his hand in her direction. "Cure!" he shouted. Green sparks of magical energy shot from his hand and danced around Tifa's head, healing the several injuries she had sustained from the battle.
"Wait a minute," Leon said. Zell looked up from his "patient". "I thought you need a GF to use magic."
"So?"
"Aren't you worried about the memory loss?"
"Relax. I haven't summoned any yet. I only brought them just in case."
"Which ones did you bring?"
"I brought Shiva, because she's your favorite, Diablo, because he's mine, Carbuncle and Tonberry, because anything that's cute and useful at the same time cannot be denied, and Doomtrain, because it's frickin' awesome. Oh yeah, and um… Eden."
"You brought Eden with you? What are you, crazy? The last time we summoned it, it almost destroyed the Garden!" Leon exclaimed.
"Well, I said they were last ditch efforts, didn't I?" Zell responded.
"Who are you?" Tifa asked, confused.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Zell said, bowing low. "Zell Dincht, martial arts expert and all around awesome guy, at your service."
"And he's humble, too," Tifa laughed.
"Whoever told you that? Because they were lying," Zell responded with a smile.
"What's a GF?"
"It's short for Guardian Force. They're powerful beings we can summon from the spirit world to perform a deadly attack at the cost of a memory or two. So long as we don't summon anything too often, we usually get them back, though."
"What's the matter with this Eden thing?"
"It's the most powerful GF ever discovered. It's so powerful, in fact, that it takes seven people to control it."
" Why do you call Leon Squall?"
"Why do you call Squall Leon?"
"I asked you first."
"Finally, I got her to say something that wasn't a question!"
At the break in the conversation, Sora came running through the door, Keyblade at the ready.
"I'm here, Leon!" he called, looking around for his friends. Seeing a stranger standing over them, he assumed Zell was the Heartless that had attacked them and rushed at him.
Zell, seeing a kid running towards him, back flipped over the attack and swept his attacker's feet out from under him with a well placed kick. Before Sora could recover, Zell placed his foot on the young warrior's chest, effectively pinning him to the ground.
"What's with the squirt?" Zell asked Leon nonchalantly.
"Zell, meet the Keyblade master, Sora." Zell looked at Sora, sizing him up.
"Kinda scrawny. This is what you left the group for? A less cool (though somewhat hotter) female version of me and a kid who uses a giant key for a weapon? I must say, Squall, I am very deeply insulted."
"Scrawny!" Sora shouted angrily. "Let me up! I'll show you who's scrawny!"
"Shut up kid. The adults are talking," Zell responded.
"Let him up, Zell," Leon said.
Sighing, Zell lifted his foot. Sora immediately jumped up and tried to tackle Zell, who responded with a roundhouse kick to the back of the head, sending Sora sprawling forward.
"Enough," Leon said, stepping forward to help Sora up. "Don't attack him any more Sora."
"Who is he?" Sora asked.
"This is Zell. He's an old friend of mine."
"I'm not really all that old. Squall's just a pathological liar," Zell said.
"What's he doing her?"
"Ugh! Again with the questions!" Zell exclaimed, exasperated. "Listen, Squall. I'm only explaining this once, so if you have any more friends who are going to want to play twenty questions with me, let's go ahead and get it over with."
"Right. Come on, we're going back to Merlin's house. If I know you, Zell, you'll be hungry. We can have lunch there while you tell us all about why you're here," Leon said.
"Yes! Food! That's the first good thing I've heard you say today, Squall."
Author's End Note: Oh yeah! Don't I just rock? Feel free to shower me with adoration and praise. Review form will do nicely, though if you're a hot chick, you can do it in real life. I will also accept gifts (so long as they're nice). Flames will be tolerated, unless they give third degree burns. Then they shall be suffered through. See you next update.