Author's Note: Man, I've been out of the loop for a long time. It's nice to be back to writing and getting back into the writing mood. It's also great to get back to fanfiction.net period. I haven't even been reading any of the fanfic for a long time. So it's nice to catch up on all the great stories, authors, and just the general awesomeness of fanfiction.net again. I'm looking forward to the ride ahead. Here's the 12th installment of It's Raining in Winhill. Enjoy.
Sincerely,
GrayFox
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Quistis awoke to the phone ringing on her bedside table. She rolled over to pick up the receiver.
"Quisty." Selphie's voice said on the other line, not completely sure who had answered the phone. A smile slowly crossed Quistis' lips as she realized it was her friend.
"Hey Selph, it's me. How's it going?" Quistis asked tiredly.
Selphie breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, whew, I thought it might be someone else, I'm so relieved the number was right. Anyway, it's going pretty good, Seifer's beside himself worrying about you since we hadn't heard from you since you left…Hold on, Quisty, Rinoa wants to talk to you." Selphie replied. Selphie handed the phone to Rinoa.
"Quistis, how are you doing?" Rinoa said concernedly.
"I'm doing just fine, Rinoa. How about yourself?" Quistis responded in turn.
"I'm doing alright…you know Seifer really misses you, he's been driving everyone crazy worrying about you." Rinoa said gently.
"Make sure you tell him I'm doing fine, and that I love him and miss him." Quistis said wistfully, she missed Seifer's arms tight around her. There was a slight pause in their conversation as neither of them wanted to bring up the next topic.
"How is…Did you find…" Rinoa stuttered.
"He's changed, he's a very harsh, furious man now. Rinoa, I've never seen such cold eyes anywhere. But I swear our Zell's still in there, I can see him hidden beneath that steely exterior." Quistis brought Rinoa up to date on what had happened since she had arrived.
Quistis could hear Rinoa's breathing had become slightly ragged, as if she was crying as she listened. Quistis could hear Selphie in the background, "Rinoa, are you alright?"
Rinoa handed the phone back to Selphie as she walked to the other side of the bedroom and wiped the tears out of her eyes.
"Selphie, is Rinoa gonna be okay?" Quistis asked worriedly.
"Don't worry about Rinoa, Quistis, she's been doing this off and on ever since Zell left." Selphie whispered into the receiver.
"How is he, though?" Selphie said, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"I don't know really, I haven't really had a chance to sit down and talk with him. He's been really aloof and he obviously hadn't expected or wanted to see me anytime soon." Quistis' answer came somberly.
Suddenly, Quistis' eyes filled with tears as she spoke to Selphie through ragged breaths.
"I made a huge mistake, didn't I, Selphie? I drove him away, if I hadn't crushed him he would've never left and this would've never happened. Hearing Quistis cry brought tears to Selphie's eyes.
Quistis heard Rinoa get on the other phone in the room. She was crying as well.
"Quistis, it's not just your fault, I should've been there for him, I had the chance to stop him, but I left him when he needed me the most. I am so sorry for putting you guys through this." Rinoa wept as she spilt out her thoughts.
Selphie broke in next, with her thoughts. "Guys, you can't blame yourselves, it was no one's fault. Zell chose to leave of his own accord. So now we need to do everything in our power to get him back." Selphie's tears rolled down her cheeks and down onto the bed sheets.
Rinoa, weeping harder than ever, pleaded with Quistis. "Quistis, I'm begging you Quistis, please, please get him back. I can't live here without him. Garden's empty without him…We're not a complete family without him. Please, bring him back."
"Rinoa, I'll do everything I can to get him to come back. I swear to you, I will do everything possible to get him to come back." Quistis promised.
"Quisty, we need to go…please call us in a couple days at the most." Selphie asked as calmly as she could.
"Alright, I will. Talk to you later…Bye." Quistis said as she put the phone back in it's slot.
Quistis dropped her head back on her pillow and clung the other pillow tightly to her body. "I'm so alone…" Quistis whispered to herself and fell asleep, crying softly.
Quistis woke up several hours later, the sun shining down on her through the window. She quickly dressed and thought about what she should do. She decided to go check out the grocery store, because Zell obviously had to get groceries somehow and maybe she could find someone who had some kind of contact with him.
She walked off in that direction, leading up to the grocery store. As she entered the rather large (for the size of Winhill) store, she saw an elderly lady bagging up groceries for a customer. After she helped the customer, Quistis walked up to her.
"Why hello there, child. How can I help you?" The elderly lady asked with a smile. Quistis couldn't help but return the contagious grin.
"I'm looking for a friend of mine and I was wondering if you knew anything about him." Quistis asked politely.
"Ah, a man friend, looks like a girl your age should settle her sweet self down to have a nice little home and a good, strong husband to help her." The lady smiled sweetly. "What's the boy's name?"
"His name is Zell, Zell Dincht." Quistis replied.
"The Dincht boy, he's new around here, I know him a little. Shy boy, that Dincht. I can tell he's a softie at heart though. Whenever he drops in, he always helps this old body out, moving boxes and sorting groceries. Usually he comes and picks up his groceries, but today I got a letter from him asking that they be delivered." The elderly lady grinned mischievously. "I'll just get you those groceries and you can just tell him that an old woman asked you for a favor."
"Would you do that for me? Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me." Quistis thanked her from the bottom of her heart.
"Don't worry, darling, I was in love once too." The old lady smiled as she went to the back to get Zell's groceries. Quistis frowned at her statement. It brought back thoughts of why she had come here in the first place.
She returned holding a single bag of groceries and handed them to Quistis. "There you go darling. Now run along." She shooed Quistis away.
Quistis started to walk towards Zell's house. She walked the same trail she had the night previous and thought about what had happened last night.
She reached the clearing around Zell's house and walked up the wooden steps. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door three times. She heard something stir and rise up to walk towards the door.
As Zell opened the door, she looked down and saw Quistis holding his groceries. He looked her straight in her eyes, tensed slightly, and then turned around and walked back inside of his house and sat down on the couch.
Quistis took a cautious step inside of his house, and nervously asked him, "Where should I put these?"
Zell didn't say a word and didn't even make a move. Quistis looked over at his kitchen, which had a soft blue hue, and walked over and set his groceries on his counter.
"Zell, would you like me to put these away for you?" Quistis asked politely.
"I'd like you to get out of my house." Zell replied sharply. Quistis ignored the comment and started to put away his food in what she thought would be the right spot. As thoughts flooded through her mind, she almost broke into tears.
"You know Zell, I talked to Selphie and Rinoa today. They really miss you Zell." Quistis remarked trying to keep herself from crying.
Zell turned to face her, "I miss them too." Zell said quietly. Quistis continued putting away groceries.
"You miss them…but you certainly don't seem to miss me." Quistis commented.
Zell stood up and walked towards Quistis. He pointed an accusing finger at Quistis.
"You made your choices Quistis…and I made mine."
As he walked towards the stairs leading to his bedroom. Quistis called up after him.
"So you really didn't miss me, did you?"
Zell dismissed the remark with a wave of his hand and kept walking. Quistis yelled up at Zell again.
"Cause I missed you," The comment stopped Zell mid-stride. "…terribly Zell."
Zell turned around and replied impatiently. "Why are you here?" Zell rushed down the stairs and stopped right next to Quistis, startling her. He repeated himself, "Why are you here Quistis? WHY? To torment me, to alienate me, what do you think you're accomplishing?"
Quistis' answers came out only in random sputters as her mouth couldn't fit around the words to form a coherent sentence. Zell picked up where he left off.
"Are you here to rip my heart out, cause congratulations Quistis, mission accomplished. You win Quistis, is that what you wanna hear? DING DING DING, Captain Quistis can add another notch to her SeeD rank because she has never failed a mission yet. Good job Quistis, you succeeded, you can go HOME now." Zell fumed at her.
Quistis' eyes filled with tears as she stood there, absorbing Zell's rage.
"Oh great, what is it Quistis, what?" Zell asked his voice rising with each sentence he spoke.
"Zell…Oh Zell, please stop yelling, I'm sorry, okay, I didn't mean to upset you." Quistis mumbled through her tears.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" Zell's yell echoed throughout the whole house.
Zell got down on his knees and took Quistis' hands in his own. Looking up into Quistis' soft crystalline eyes in a subtle plea, he spoke genuinely.
"Quistis, I will do whatever you want, whatever it is, I will do it, if you leave right now and don't come back. Please, I'm begging you, leave me be."
Quistis' sobs got bigger as she looked into Zell's pleading, sapphire oceans. Quistis slowly drew her hand out of Zell's grasp, and she started to walk towards the front door.
Zell picked himself up off the floor and leaned on his couch.
Quistis turned back before she shut the door. "I'm sorry…" She whispered as tears fell down her face.
Zell's heart ached as he saw Quistis crying. He resisted the urge to run to her and wrap her up in his arms, besides, she'd already chosen who she wanted. And it wasn't him. She chose Seifer. Let him go comfort her.
Zell's internal defense wasn't helping get rid of his guilt. He wanted to say something to her so bad, but he just couldn't. He averted his eyes and heard the door shut behind Quistis.
(Well, not seeing her suppressed my love, but it's still there, it flares up every time I see her. Of course, my anger does too. Why couldn't she have just chosen me?) As Zell thought to himself, Zell felt like crying. He knew he wouldn't, he was too good at stopping himself. Zell just swallowed hard and tried not to think about how much he loved the girl that had crushed him.
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Quistis walked back to her room, crying with each step. When she finally reached the hotel, she was considering what to do next. She was honestly contemplating leaving Winhill for good. It would make Zell happy and she could just get on with her life.
She flopped onto her bed and wiped her eyes on her pillow, as she reached for the phone. It was dark outside as she dialed Rinoa's room at Garden.
"Hey, Rinoa." Quistis inquired slightly.
"Quistis…have you been crying?" Rinoa asked.
"I think I've made a big mistake…I'm thinking about coming home." Quistis bawled as she poured her heart out to Rinoa, relaying what happened to her.
"Quist, I know he misses you, I'm positive, don't give up yet. But if you honestly want to come home don't waste your time over there, come home as soon as possible. Because even if he doesn't miss you, all of us back here are definitely missing you." Rinoa stated, trying to cheer Quistis up.
Quistis heard a door shut and Selphie ask Rinoa. "Is that Quistis? Has Zell agreed to come back yet? What's going on Rin? Tell me." Quistis heard Selphie come on the line.
"Quisty, we miss you." Selphie said sincerely.
Quistis sobbed again. "I miss you guys too, so much."
"I gotta go Quisty, I gotta go meet up with Irvine, say hi to Zell for me." Selphie said hurriedly and hung up the phone. Quistis heard the door slam a second time.
"See Quistis, we miss you. Come home if you're ready to." Rinoa said cheerfully.
"I can't." Quistis replied.
"Why not?" Rinoa questioned.
"Because I know as soon as I get back, then all of us would be missing Zell the same way we miss each other right now. Except worse, because he left on bad terms with us." Quistis stated as the realization of why she had come hit her. She knew it would be tough, but she had made a vow to bring him back and she would.
"I'm gonna go Rinoa, I'll call you later." Quistis said with new-found confidence.
"Keep us informed Quist, bye bye." Rinoa said, ecstatic her friend hadn't given up on Zell yet. Quistis hung up the phone.
"I haven't given up on you yet, Zell Dincht." Quistis whispered to herself.