Disclaimer: I have bought Square. These are my characters now. I will not listen to anything to the contrary. (Even though I didn't, and the characters are still Square's)
Zell was beginning to think moving in with Seifer may have been a bad idea. Seifer was irritable quite often, mostly when he was not in a group. Zell had begun to learn to tell that he just hid it better when he was in a group. Tonight was a particularly irritable night.
Seifer was already changed for sleeping, just wearing a pair of pajama pants, and was lying on his bed, scowling as he read through a book. Zell, likewise dressed, quietly, and as stealthily as he could, grabbed a trio of juggling balls (a hobby he had started and completely abandoned last week) from under his bed, located right beside the box Seifer's birthday present for him (a new set of gloves) had been in.
Fwap. The first ball hit Seifer's headboard. No reaction. Fwap. The second hit the back of his book. That was a scowl. Thud. That one hit Seifer full in the face. Growling, the older man stood up on his bed, growled out; "Your dead chicken-wuss" and leapt across the room onto Zell's bed, and Zell. Rolling with the sudden increase in weight, Zell fell off the bed, taking Seifer with him. Now on top of the bigger blonde, Zell grinned and tried to pin Seifer. Seifer, for his part, exerted his greater strength and had Zell on his back, while he straddled him, until Zell sprung forward, making their positions change.
After five or more minutes, Seifer managed to pin Zell, one of his arms holding down both of Zell's above his head, and on hand pushing down on Zell's chest. "Oooh. Such a nice view" came a feminine voice from the doorway. Both guys looked up in unison, to see a grinning Selphie leaning in the door. As Zell started to open his mouth, she interrupted him. "Since Seifer pounced on you. Quite a nice view, I have to say." And Selphie just grinned. "Movie Night. Squall and Quistis's dorm. Twenty minutes." Selphie just turned and left after that.
Seifer and Zell had thrown shirts on, and were now seated on Quistis' loveseat, watching a comedy, which was the only genre they all ever agreed on. It happened slowly, Selphie coming by, and leaving a box beside the seat. When the credits began to roll, Quistis got up and went to the kitchen. She returned, moments later, with a cake with lit candles.
As the others sang Happy Birthday to him, Zell signaled, with a shake of his head, that he didn't want Seifer to mention they were three weeks off from his birthday. They at least got the month right. The presents were predictable. Something cute, but useless from Selphie. Something practical from Squall. A book from Quistis. Booze from Irvine. Grinning, Zell made sure none of his feelings were showing, and apparently happy, spent the rest of the evening with his friends.
When Seifer brought up the subject that night, as they each lay in their own bed, Zell avoided it, by pretending to be asleep. He didn't think Seifer believed him.
Zell mentally growled. He hated students, but it was a new rule for all SeeD. They had to teach at least once in their careers, if only for a month or two. And his name had been drawn, fair and square. Over the last few weeks, he did feel a bit guilty over burdening Seifer with his problems, but Seifer just shrugged it off. And he had even come to today's lesson. Zell didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.
"Alright, listen the hell up!" Seifer accentuated his order by drawing his Gunblade across an oddly shaped stone. At the high pitched noise that ensued, Zell groaned, and turned to look out into the training area, waiting for what he knew would come. Seifer had practiced getting that pitch just right for months. "Tomorrow you take your SeeD field test! So, we are making sure you can do the work tonight. If you fail here, you might as well go home!" Seifer accentuated his speech with a slash of his Gunblade, and pointed it at a student who raised her hand.
"Why isn't Mr. Dincht teaching the lesson?"
"Because 'Mr. Dincht' will be involved in the lesson!" Seifer grinned. He could see it coming already, he'd have to issue the orders quickly… "You are going to fight a T-Rexaur. Without our aid. You may not use a GF. You will keep your magic casting to a minimum. This course is on melee combat, and we expect you to demonstrate that!"
The T-Rexaur charged into view right then, summoned by the pitch the Gunblade had given. "Fight!"
The dozen or so students looked warily at the dinosaur as it took its time deciding which one to eat first. During this time, Zell sidestepped up to Seifer, and whispered; "What are you…?"
"Just be ready with some Cures." Came the quiet reply, as Seifer watched the students begin their assault. "The one with a broadsword is showing some good leadership, but little in tactics. The one with the whip, she does good tactics, but she's no Quistis when it comes to actually putting force behind the blows."
The commentary continued for the next ten minutes, until Seifer began to growl. "Why the hell does he even have a Gunblade? Its obvious he can't use it. Makes us all look bad"
The students were winning, ever so slowly, against the giant beast, until one over ambitious student stepped back, and closed her eyes. A smallish fireball burst over the creatures flank, doing no appreciable damage, but it lunged for her, jaw open and ready for a meal. The student Seifer had said had shown some good leadership stepped back, and began to focus. A small cloud, filled with lightning formed in front of him. Throwing off a few bolts before vanishing, the summon did little damage, but distracted the dinosaur long enough for someone to grab the fireballing student, and get her away.
Striding into the melee, Seifer grabbed the 'leader' by the shoulder, and roughly tossed him out of the fray. "I said no Guardian Forces!"
"But…the T-Rexaur…"
Growling, Seifer turned towards the aforementioned beast, and charged it, bringing his Gunblade from behind to infront in an upward arcing sweep. The students parted before, letting him have an unimpeded path. The T-rexaur stumbled, while Seifer staggered back slightly. It was only a few more moments before the beast fell over, dead.
"You're all dismissed. Go back to your dorms. … Now!" The students scrambled, and the two SeeDs began to discuss what each of the cadets did wrong…
Cid hadn't been all that happy the next morning. He had already had several complaints from students about the danger Seifer had exposed them too. He had rebuffed them with saying every SeeD should be able to handle him or her self. But, when the time for the SeeD mission came around, he had made a decision.
"Zell, as Melee instructor for most of them, you are expected to be there for them on this mission. Squall, you will lead the SeeD we have dispatched for this mission. Seifer, you will be going because of your experience with the opponent."
Seifer looked curious. "What opponent? I wasn't aware I'd left one alive…"
"The mission is to a newly appeared island. Apparently there is a cult worshipping the Diamond Dragon living on it. We have been hired to dispose of this cult."
That had been all of their briefing from Cid. There were maps and other things available on the gunboat/transport boat they rode, along with a handful of SeeD Cadets.
Staying aboard the ship, Squall was below, studying maps and relaying orders over the radio, Zell and Seifer however, were up top, looking at the island. How anyone had missed charting it before was beyond them.
Looking through his pair of binoculars, Zell rattled off a distance and bearing. Moments later, a fireball streamed from Seifer's hands into the cultists who were attempting to sneak up on Zell's students. Letting them test under true battle conditions, and preventing a slaughter was a thin line they both knew, and thus only took out the ones they felt they needed to.
After a while, the cultists stopped going after their wards, and it was obvious why. It was a near slaughter, no SeeD or Cadet had been lost, but the cultists were fighting to the death for every inch, but they were badly trained. Before most of them died, the majority of cultists called out to their god, the Diamond Dragon, to no avail, at least, not at first.
The battle was nearly over when it happened. Only a flash in the distance, the Dragon quickly grew in size as it approached, flying straight for the SeeD ships. The Cultists rejoiced, and fervently began to fight again. Those hopes of faith were dashed when the Dragon did not stop to strike at the boats. It kept going, obviously leaving the island. All of the Cultists began to cease their fighting, surrendering quietly, after that. Heartened by their victory, Zell was the first SeeD to realize the truth, and then only because of his closeness to Shiva. The Island had only appeared when the dragon was there. The dragon had formed it out of ice, and using magic made it appear as any other island, and not an iceberg, but an iceberg it had been. Without the dragon, the magic holding the island together was no more. Already, the ice floes were forming, breaking off.
"Signal a full retreat Squall! Now!" Zell yelled down the hatch. Manipulating the controls in front of him, the boat began to pick up speed, accelerating toward the center of the ice, ground splitting before the hull, revealing itself for the ice it truly was. As the other ships tried to retrieve their SeeDs, Zell knew they would be too late, unless something was done. So he did something. Once the ship was close to the center of the Island, he turned Shiva free.
A small, human sized shell of ice speared up out of the ground. Shattering, the Ice Goddess strode from out of her shell, and lifted up her arms, simultaneously draining every ice, or cold related spell from Zell's mind. In this onslaught of draining, Zell passed out into Seifer's arms, whom carried him down the hatch, and onto a seat. Outside, the ice began to freeze again, spiraling out from Shiva's feet, solidifying into a single mass, allowing the SeeDs time to escape. Once the last Seed set foot on their boat, Shiva vanished, and with her went the magic's holding the island together.
Zell's head felt like exploding, or rather, like it had already exploded and was about to do it again. Groaning, Zell brought a hand to his temple and rubbed gently as he opened his eyes cautiously. He was in his and Seifer's room, in his own bed, with Seifer looking at him from across the room, a worried expression on his face.
"Why is it…" Zell began, "that, every time I am alone with you outside this room, I end up in extreme pain?"
"Luck?" Good to see Seifer hasn't lost his sense of sarcasm, Zell thought. "You saved everyone you know. You and Shiva that is. Broke a few records on GF use at the same time as well. They want to give you a few medals for it."
After that, Zell just fell asleep again.
They were back where they had first encountered the Dragon. It was a blizzard again. Obviously, that was a sign of the creature's presence. Squall and Irvine had the north sector, Seifer and Zell, the south, near where the cave they happened across last time was. All seemed quiet, and the two SeeDs kept a leisurely pace going. The only sound that could be heard over the howl of the wind was when the ground shattered beneath them, and they both fell into another cave.
Zell groaned as soon as he could recover from having the air knocked out of him. "Your right Seifer…every time we are in the same place outside the Garden…even inside, I keep getting injured…." Zell massaged the wrist that broke his fall.
"Seifer? … Seifer?" Zell cast his gaze around the dimly lit tunnel. There. A lump on the ground, roughly body sized. It had to be Seifer. Zell crawled over to him.
"Seifer?" Shit, he wasn't breathing. What to do, what to do? Zell began to panic.
"Take a breath. Then do CPR" Shiva. Shiva always knew what to do. Zell took her advice and took a deep breath, and let it out, as he rolled Seifer onto his back, and pressed on his chest a few times, then inhaled again. Putting his mouth to Seifer's, Zell attempted to force the air back into Seifer's lungs. Breathe; push on Seifer's chest. Breathe; push on Seifer's chest….
On the third attempt to breathe into Seifer, Zell felt a pressure back on his lips, and pulled back, looking at Seifer, who, for his part, coughed and worked his way to a sitting position. The two stayed like that until the rescue party found them an hour later.
AN: I removed the character death from the description. It was going to be Rinoa who died, but I felt like not even giving her a part, if all she was going to really be was in the description (Which was really going to be all the major mention, aside from Squall leaving for her funeral). Besides, it gives me another character to play with later.