Author's Note: (Author begins to blab about story line so far, which is almost non-existent. That will be partially fixed in this chapter. Just a sec. Nope, author's still talking. This will take a while folks. Just be patient. And… now.) I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1. Ditto.
Later, at Merlin's house, (Wow, who would have guessed?) the Restoration Committee were all watching as Zell ate ravenously, some in shocked surprise, some with disgust, some with approval, and one with disinterest. This last one was Leon, who had already seen the display of big-mouthery and hollow-leggedness several times before. A stunned Cloud leaned over to ask Leon a question.
"Does he always eat like this?" he asked. Nodding, Leon answered.
"This is nothing. You should see him around hotdogs. You get used to it eventually, though."
Meanwhile, Zell was finishing his meal. Taking a last deep swig (Swig? What is he, a pirate?) out of the cup he had been drinking from, he let out a large, deep belch. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Cid began to clap.
"Whoowhee!" (or whatever it is he says) he exclaimed. "This boy sure knows how to hold his grub. Where'd you find this kid, Leon?"
"He and I used to live on the same world," was all Leon gave for an answer.
"A couple of friends of ours and us saved it a few years back," Zell added proudly. Leon rolled his eyes.
"What did you save it from?" Yuffie asked.
"We had to kill a sorceress," Leon said bluntly.
"Actually, we had to kill three," Zell continued for him. "Edea, Adel, and that last one who dressed like a slut whose name I can never remember. What was it now? Oh, yeah, it was Ultimecia."
"Enough, Zell. I don't brag about it, why should you?"
"It's not bragging. It's the truth. Besides, I think we've earned a few bragging rights."
"Why did you come looking for Leon?" Aerith asked Zell.
"Because the Headmaster needs him."
"So he sent you after me?" Leon said.
"Not really, though I did request to be assigned to the party he sent out searching for you. Rinoa did too, but we were denied. They said something about us being to close to the mission, and how our emotions would get in the way. So we snuck out of the Garden instead."
"Why does the Headmaster want me?"
"There's a new sorceress, and she wants revenge for her predecessors. With Garden in the state it's in, she's been having a pretty easy time of it, too."
"Wait, if you weren't allowed to come, how'd you get here?"
"Oh," Zell said, obviously not prepared for this question. "Um… Rinoa and I sort of commandeered the Ragnarok." (Is that spelled right?)
"You what?" Leon asked incredulously.
"We commandeered the Ragnarok." Zell answered somewhat sheepishly.
"Zell, out of all the stupid things you've done, this one tops the list!" Leon shouted.
"What are you yelling at me for? It was her idea!" Zell yelled back.
"You should have stopped her!"
"If I hadn't gone with her, she'd have gone by herself! I did it to protect her! You know how lousy a fighter she is!"
"You should have told the Headmaster!"
"Oh, yeah, and have her bite my head off?"
'It's better than having me do it instead!"
"At least I can fight back if it's you!"
"Is that a challenge?" Leon asked, reaching for his gunblade.
"Do you want it to be?" Zell responded, raising his fists.
"Enough!" Merlin shouted, forcing them both back into their seats with a wave of his wand. "Both of you need to calm down!" The two fighters glared at each other, then huffed and sat back.
"Who's Rinoa?" Sora asked.
"Squall's girlfriend," Zell answered.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Leon roared.
"Temper, temper, Squall. If you don't calm down, Merlin's going to have to ask you to leave," Zell sarcastically responded to his friend's outrage.
"That's it!" Leon shouted as he stood up so quickly that his chair fell over. "I had to put up with this at the Garden! There's no way I'm going to put up with it here!" he finished, storming out of the house.
Amazed at Leon's sudden outburst, the rest of the Restoration Committee watched him stomp off into the distance. The only sound made was Cid's stunned whistle. Then, Yuffie broke the silence.
"That was amazing" she exclaimed to Zell, who was looking pleased with himself. "How'd you get such a rise out of him? I've been trying to do that for a year!"
"You just have to know how to get under his skin," the blonde martial artist answered.
"Why did you make him so angry? I thought you were his friend," Aerith said.
"I am his friend. That's why I did it. If I didn't piss him off, no one else would." Seeing the confused looks on their faces, Zell continued.
"When I first met Squall, it was at the orphanage where everyone in our group lived when they were younger. Back then, he wasn't as stoic with his emotions as he is now, but his only true friend was an older girl who he called 'Big Sis'. A few years later, everyone except for Squall had been adopted. That's when I'm guessing he started bottling his emotions up. I didn't see him again until I was eighteen, when we were both studying at Balamb Garden to become members of SeeD." He stopped when he saw more looks of confusion.
"SeeD is the elite military branch of mine and Squall's world," he explained.
"You mean like SOLDIER?" Cloud asked.
"Um, sure. Let's go with that. Anyways, by the time I saw Squall again, he was a loner who never showed any emotion.
"For our final exam before becoming SeeD's, we were assigned to the same team. The leader of that team was a stupid asshole who hated us both. When I was being my normal smart-assy self to the leader, Squall got so fed up with my sarcastic comments that he punched me. The asshole of a leader we had started to laugh, which made me so angry that I punched them both. After our scuffle, our 'leader' was unconscious, and Squall had finally showed some emotion. Whilst our leader was out cold, Squall and I talked, truly becoming friends. It turns out that his emotions had been bottled up so long, he needed to get pissed off before he would show any. He looked overdue for a good pissing off, so I provided him with one. He's gonna be somewhere, brooding, but when he comes back, he'll be more amiable.
"I did something like this to him all the time when we were saving our world. It was actually Rinoa's idea, but I was the only one was enough of a jack-ass to do it."
"Who is this Rinoa. You've mentioned her several times, and there's obviously something going on between her and Leon, but you've never really told us who she is," Tifa inquired.
"Oh crap!" Zell exclaimed "I forgot that I was supposed to call her when I had searched the area." He pulled a phone from his pocket and turned it on. After pushing a few buttons, he held the phone to his ear and waited for the other person to pick up.
"Hey Rinoa. Just checking in," he said when she answered.
"It's about time!" a female voice angrily responded. "What happened, did you find some more floozies?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Um, if you consider Squall a floozy, then yes."
"You found him?" Rinoa asked, all traces of anger gone.
"Yep. You want to come down? He's got a few friends who'd like to meet you."
"No, I'll stay up here. You sleeping down there?"
"Yeah. Who knows, maybe I'll find a couple of floozies," Zell answered with a grin.
"Asshole," was all Rinoa said in reply before hanging up.
"Love you too," Zell responded to the deadline. Then he put the phone up. "that answer your question?" he asked Tifa.
"Yeah, pretty much," she answered.
"Now, if none of you have anymore questions, I'm going to go find Squall," Zell said, standing up. "It always help to uncork his emotions if I apologized before he finished his brooding," he finished, walking out the door.
Author's End Notes: (Author begins to blab about the chapter. Why are you trying to listen to the author? The author has no life. I, however do. Listen to me. I promise I'll keep you entertained. Where are you going? You're choosing him? How rude! After all the boredom I've saved you from, this is how you repay me? Fine, go to your precious author. I don't care.) See you next update.