Originally published on Wattpad ( MalloryMynatt): October 7th 2018
A/N: This takes place a year before the events of "Finding Nemo" and this this tacky and cliche as heck and I'm sorry! I just thought this was an interesting topic to write about!
It's a year before the events of Marlin traveling halfway across the world to find his son, Nemo. Gill has just been placed inside this lab where patients who are accused of having mental or physical diseases or just don't act or look normal are taken as patients for horrific surgeries to try and fix the problem. This lab of course is illegal but the government hasn't been able to catch them yet. He was tossed inside a large room, enough to fit eight patients with 4 bunk beds, a table and chairs, and a couple windows, one by the table that led to a hallway and another higher up by the forklift that led to a surgery room. There was also a lot of construction equipment, a large forklift standing out. This room must've still been in construction. Gill immediately ran towards the door and banged on it with all his might until a doctor finally yelled "SHUT UP IN THERE!" Gill sighed and stopped, approaching one of the beds. He just laid there with his hands in his face. You see, Gill was placed here because of suspicion. He looked menacing towards them, even though he had no evil motives and is actually a pretty caring guy. But that's not what the doctors thought. One day when Gill was resting at his hiding spot, smoking a cigarette, on the roof of an abandoned car in an alleyway near Sydney harbor, he got ambushed by some of the lab's workers. He tried to escape but they already caught up to him and took him to the lab. Thinking back to that only made Gill feel worse. He now knew how cruel and judgmental the world is, so he grew resentful towards other people. If others don't like him, why should he like them? Gill realized he still had his cigarettes and his guitar around his shoulder from before those doctors dragged him to this lab. He turned it over and tuned it before strumming a soft, mellow tune.
One day, Gill decided enough was enough, so he made plans on escaping. He checked his surroundings, seeing how he could do it. I could try the air ducts. He thought. But I wouldn't fit. He then noticed a loose bolt on the window that led to a hallway. This was his chance. Gill quickly went over to the door and quietly loosened the bolts with his guitar pick so no one could hear. Once he got half the window loose, he waited until the coast was clear and sneaked out of the room. He stealthed his way through the hall until he got to the front door. When he tried to open the door, an emergency alarm went off, signaling a patient's trying to escape. Gill instantly made a run for it, bursting through the parking lot. He thought he was almost free, nearly reaching the exit but he ends up tripping and falling face first onto some broken glass from a beer bottle on the pavement. The doctors finally caught back up to him and threw him back in the room. Gill slowly got up from the floor, his face hurting a lot. He saw a mirror on the wall by a sink and went over to it. He kept his eyes closed for a few seconds until opening them to see the damage on his face. The glass ended up causing not only a few cuts, but a big scar all across his right eye. Gill looked horrified, and quickly hid it with his long hair. I can't let anyone see this. They'll probably think I'm more intimidating than ever. He thought to himself.
Weeks later, the smaller cuts healed but the scar on his eye remained. His hair still hid it from plain sight. He sat on one of the beds, tuning his guitar until he heard some footsteps coming into towards the room. The door opened and instantly someone was tossed in, a female around his age. "And stay in!" One of the doctors shouted, shoving her against the floor and slamming the door shut. "Ow." She groaned, getting up to her knees and rubbing her head. He didn't know why, but Gill didn't seem to resent her at all. Normally he hated others but something about this woman was different. Gill immediately set his guitar down and went to help the woman out. "Are you alright?" Peach looked up at Gill, giving him a better look at her. She had dark brown eyes, short magenta hair, a light pink buttoned shirt with a star pin and dark pink jeans. Gill offered her his hand, making her blush and accept the offer, taking his hand and letting him pull her up. "Y-Yeah. I'm alright, thanks." She finally spoke. "You know a woman like you shouldn't be treated like that." Said Gill. Her cheeks burned as she slightly smiled and thanked him. He then noticed blood leaking through her jeans on her left leg. "What happened to your leg?" He asked. "Oh, as those doctors were taking me inside, I tried to escape but one of their guard dogs attacked me." She explained. "Hmm. Let me see if there's anything to patch your leg up." Gill searches the area and found a first aid kit by the mirror and sink. He took the woman with him over to the sink and let her sit in the stool that was by the mirror. Gill took a cotton ball with some rubbing alcohol and started dabbing the wound, making it sting her leg.
"Ouch!" She yelped. "Sorry, I'm almost done. Don't worry." He assured. "Okay, I-I forgot to ask. What's your name?" "Oh, it's Gill. Gill Moorish." "Nice to meet you, Gill. I'm Peach. Peach Allison." Gill took a second to ponder over that name. "Peach Allison." He repeated. "Wonderful name." Peach blushed and thanked him. "And, done." Gill said after he bandaged Peach's leg. "Thank you, Gill." "You're welcome." Peach then noticed something on Gill's face that was hidden behind his long black hair. She wanted to asked but thought against it, since she just met him. As weeks went by, more people were placed into the room. Like Bubbles, a man who was obsessed with blowing bubbles. Gurgle, a germaphobic. Bloat, who had an anger issue. Deb who had schizophrenia and thought her reflection was her sister named Flo. And Jacques, a French man who had urges to clean anything and everything.
There were even some patients in the room that have come and gone, like Chuckles. A man around his early twenties who had a problem with uncontrollably laughing at everything. Even his own death. See, he was taken into one of the surgery rooms that was run by a infamous doctor named Darla, and the surgery wasn't a success and he passed away. None of Darla's surgeries on patients ever go right and always end with a horrible injury or death. She somehow isn't fired for it as the owner of the mental hospital is Darla's uncle, Phillip Sherman. The seven even met a friend who would visit the hospital for inspections. His name is Nigel who was around his mid-fifties and is a war veteran. He was a fighter pilot and still uses some of his old planes to travel around instead of a car like anyone else. Every so often, he'd talk to the lab gang when Phillip wasn't looking and they'd mostly discuss previous and current surgeries that are going on. But at times Nigel's visits would be cut short due to Phillip having to enforce the "no talking to patients" rule.
Pretty soon, the seven patients decided to dub themselves as The Lab Gang with Gill as their leader. The more time passed by, the more Gill and Peach became closer. Gill started becoming more open with Peach, telling her how he ended up in this lab, going to her for advice, and even playing her some songs on his guitar, Peach in return doing the same, giving him advice, and even occasionally singing along to his music. The two were sitting on the forklift one night while the others were asleep, as they were staring at the room from above. "You know, I wish I could go back out into the real world so we could be looking up at the stars instead of a dirty ceiling." Said Peach, making Gill chuckle. "Yeah, I promise you. One day I'll get us out of here, I'll get everyone in this room out of here and we'll escape together." Peach grinned at the thought, before realizing something. What would they do after? "Gill?" She asked. "Hmm?" "Could we still be together like this? When we're out of this place?" Gill set a hand on her shoulder. "Of course, we all will. We'll all still stay together." He assured, her sighing in relief. She then leaned closer and hugged Gill, nuzzling into his chest.
When they let go, Peach gasped and saw that the hair that was covering part of Gill's face was moved so that it revealed a huge scar that was drawn all the way down his right eye. Gill immediately noticed that she was staring at his scar and he quickly covered it back up with his hair. "Gill, h-how long have you had that?" "It's nothing." He lied, facing away from Peach. "Well it clearly is something if you were willing to hide it for so long." Peach debates. "I just said it's nothing." "Please, just tell me." She begged. "No." Peach was heartbroken. Normally, Gill would tell her anything that was wrong. Why was he hiding this? "Why not?" "Because I didn't want to scare you away!" Gill finally snapped, waking the others up. "Huh? What was that?" Deb tiredly asked. "Nothing guys, go back to sleep." Gill ordered, before lowering the forklift. He said nothing to Peach and headed to his bed. She just stood there, shocked and heartbroken. Peach climbed up to her bed that was over Gill's and started softly sobbing into her knees. Gill could hear her crying overhead and guilt washed over his face. What has he done? He didn't wanna scare her off but look at what he did. He laid down, a few tears falling down his cheeks as well before he fell asleep.
The next morning, Bloat, Gurgle & Bubbles wanted to talk with him alone. They talked by the table while the others were by the beds. "We heard from Peach about what happened." Gurgle started making Gill sigh. "And we're really worried about you, Gill." Added Bubbles. "Gill," Bloat set a hand on Gill's shoulder. "We're not gonna ask how or why. All we're asking is for you to go and apologize to her." Gill turned over to where Peach, Deb and Jacques were talking and stared at Peach for a moment, before turning back around. "She probably thinks I'm nothing special to her now" He said, lighting one of his cigarettes by making the wall spark with a piece of glass. "Well we're not sure if that's true." Gurgle responded. "All you have to do is see for yourself by apologizing to her." Gill turned back to where Peach was again and thought about it for a moment before slightly nodding.
"Oh Peach, that's horrible." Said Deb, hugging Peach. "Why would he snap at you like that?" Peach was about to answer but immediately stopped. Even though she's upset by their argument, she still cared for him and wanted to keep his secret safe. "I'm not sure." She lied. "Une telle tragédie entre amis." Jacques said. Deb looked over at him, not understanding what he had just said in French. "He said it's such a tragedy amongst friends." Peach turned to Jacques. "Je vous remercie, Jacques." She thanked him in French. "Vous êtes le bienvenu, et quand vous devenez un couple, vous me le dites." Jacques teased. Peach blushed, embarrassed by what he said. "J-Jacques!" "What? What is it?" Asked Deb. "Nothing. Nothing at all." Peach fibbed before glaring at Jacques who just gave her a taunting grin. Deb took out her mirror and started talking to her reflection. "Something fishy is going on here, Flo. Isn't it?" 'Flo' didn't respond. Peach signed and got off the bed. "I'll be right back." Peach said, heading for the sink.
Gill, Bubbles, Bloat and Gurgle saw Peach leave to the sink. "Now's your chance, Gill." Bloat said. Gill burned his cigarette against a small ashtray and thanked them before heading towards Peach. Before he could take a step, the room's door opened and two doctors were standing in front of it. Peach stood in the middle of the room by the door. Everyone froze and no one said a word. The doctors nodded to each other and approached Peach. They grabbed her arms and put them around her back. She tried struggling out of the doctors' grasp but it was no use. "Let me go!" Peach exclaimed, making the doctors grip harder and start pulling her out of the room but she would have none of it. She tried moving the opposite direction but it did little. Suddenly, something made the doctors let go of Peach. She fell to the floor and looked up to see what had happened. Gill was standing between Peach and the doctors. "Don't. You. Dare. Touch her!"
The doctors went to grab Gill but he was quick to dodge and start attacking the doctors. With Bloat and Bubble's help, the managed to make the doctors retreat out of the room. Gill breathed heavily for a moment before rushing over Peach who was still on the ground. "Peach! Are you alright?" "Y-Yes." She answered. "You s-saved me." Was all she could say. "Well of course I did! Do you think I'd be able to live
with myself if I hadn't prevented those doctors from laying a finger on you-" He was cut of by Peach hugged him tighter than she ever could as she started crying into his chest. Gill wrapped his arms around her and gently stroked her hair. "It's alright. Nothing's gonna hurt you." "Um, we'll just leave you to it." Said Gurgle before he and the others walked over to the beds, all of them having grins on their faces. "They so have a thing going on." Said Bloat. "Oui." Added Jacques.
The two were still in each other's arms for a moment until Peach's sobs turned into small sniffles. "I'm so sorry." She choked, looking up at Gill. "I'm sorry I made you snap." "Peach, no. I'm the one who should be sorry. I knew eventually you'd notice and get curious, I always dreaded the day you finally saw it. I was hesitant at first was because I didn't want you to start thinking less of me." "Gill, Why would think that?" Asked Peach. "My whole life, I've been seen as someone suspicious or dangerous or frightening or just someone to not trust. I was afraid the same thing would happen with you. That you'd stop trusting in me." Peach stayed silent for a moment before softly smiling. "What are you talking about? You're the most trustworthy person I know. Why else would I want to go and talk to you for advice or assurance. You probably don't see it, but under all that fake suspicion, all I see is a caring soul who's willing to protect those he loves." Gill blushed and hugged her once more. When he let go, he let Peach tuck the hair that was covering his eye behind his ear. She gently traced her finger on his scar while Gill set a hand on her's.
"How did this happen?" She asked. "I tried to escape, but tripped on a glass bottle before I could make the exit." He explained. "And why did you want to hide it?" "I already look suspicious as it is, this just made it worse." "Gill, you don't look suspicious at all." Peach then rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "In fact, and this is optional, I think you should tie your hair up." Gill grinned. He found a rubber band on the floor and started using it to tie his hair in a low pony tail. Peach's heart stopped, as she started blushing. She then leaned forward and pecked Gill's lips. "It uh, l-looks great on you." He just chuckled before picking her up, setting her on his lap and kissed her back, longer this time. Meanwhile, the others look over at the two, high-fiving each other.
A/N: Aaaaaand that was my dumb cliche writing! I mostly was trying to for more explaining my interpretation of what happened to the tank gang as humans before the events of the first movie with a bit of Peach X Gill fluff thrown in. I'm sorry if this was over the top. Anyways, that's so much for reading if you were willing to read the whole thing. See ya in the next short!
- Rxin3 ?￢ﾘﾔ️