When Tidus awakened, he was so warm and comfortable for a moment he thought he was back in his own bed in Zanarkand. He realized he was not as soon as he opened his eyes and saw the large open room, sparsely furnished with solid wooden furniture.
He heard movement behind him and rolled over to see what was going on. Squall was lying in the bed closest to the wall under a pile of blankets. Terra was perched on the edge of the bed leaning over him, examining the scar between his eyes. "No magic here." She traced the scar with her little finger. "If I'd healed it, there wouldn't be a scar."
Squall pushed away from Terra until his back was against the wall.
"Terra!" Celes called from the far side of the room. "Why don't you see if you can find some new clothes for our guest?"
Terra hopped off the bed and scampered across the room.
"What's this sudden fascination with scars?" Locke muttered from beside Celes. "It's not like he's the only one that's got 'em."
Tidus sat up and faced toward Squall. "How are you feeling?"
Squall blinked several times. "I feel fine."
"Do you remember what happened?"
"Not really." Squall sat up and looked around suddenly, looking slightly panicked. "Where's Rinoa?"
"She's not here. But she's safe." Tidus wasn't certain that Rinoa was safe, but he thought she probably was and there's wasn't anything they could do for her right now anyway. Better for Squall to be relaxed so he could rest and heal.
Celes approached and regarded Squall. "You're looking better." Squall shifted under her gaze. Celes turned her attention to Tidus. "Are you two hungry?"
"Yes, starving," Tidus replied, standing up.
Terra returned and presented Squall with a dark green tunic. "Here you go."
"Thank you." Squall accepted the tunic. Terra continued to stare at him, Tidus wasn't sure if she was studying the scar on his face or waiting for him to try on the tunic.
"Let's eat." Celes shepherded Terra and Tidus toward the large table where Locke was setting out plates of food.
Tidus sat at the table and eagerly dug into the food. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten and he had to force himself to slow down so he wouldn't choke.
Squall appeared at the table wearing the green tunic. He sat down beside Tidus and took a small bite of food. Then looked around at each of the strangers at the table. "Thank you for helping me."
Celes nodded. "I'm glad to see you back on your feet, I wasn't sure I would. But you should really be thanking Terra, she's the one who healed you."
Squall turned to the green-haired girl and bowed his head deeply.
Tidus couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Squall. He didn't know these people at all, and he probably didn't really understand exactly why he was in their debt.
Locke adjusted the bandana on his head. "So are you guys ready to explain exactly what you were doing confronting monsters unarmed?"
Tidus swallowed his last bite of food and considered what he would say. "I'm afraid you wouldn't believe us if we told you."
"Try us."
Tidus shrugged and began his story. It wouldn't be the first time someone thought he was crazy when he tried to explain where he came from.
Ma Dincht understood, in a way very few people could, why most SeeDs were orphans. When she'd adopted Zell, she'd had to agree to enroll him in Garden when he was old enough. He wasn't required to pursue the SeeD track—becoming a SeeD was always voluntary, a choice made by the student. But Ma Dincht had always known it was what Zell would choose. And so Ma spent most of her days filled with equal parts pride and worry. Today though, the worry was, miraculously, at a minimum.
Her baby—yes, even if he was seventeen and a professional mercenary, he would always be her baby—was home. Even better, he was currently asleep upstairs in his room and he'd said he didn't have to report to Garden for a few days. She didn't know exactly what he'd been up to the last few weeks, but she was sure he'd earned a rest.
She caught her first whiff of melted chocolate and couldn't help but smile. She hadn't wanted to wake Zell, but he'd been asleep so long she was getting a little worried. She thought perhaps fresh-baked cookies would bring him downstairs without her having to shake him awake.
She was checking the cookies in the oven when she heard a knock at the door. That was odd, she wasn't expecting anyone. She opened the door to see three young ladies waiting. Two of them stood back a little ways. The one in front, with black hair, a blue outfit, and a large white disc strapped to her back, clearly seemed to be in charge. She smiled sweetly. "Hello. Is Zell here?"
Ma smiled back, though she was not thrilled to see the visitors. If they were from Garden, here to tell Zell he had to return, she was not going to be happy. Still, Ma had always welcomed Zell's classmates into her home and, in fact, the black-haired girl looked familiar, she may have stopped by before. The other two, Ma was fairly sure she hadn't seen before. "Zell's resting. You know he's been given some time off, right? He shouldn't be getting new orders from Garden now."
"Oh, it's not like that. We're not from Garden. Er, not officially, anyway. We just wanted to talk to him. But we can come back later."
"You sure you're not from Garden? You're not a SeeD?" She had the look of a SeeD about her, and Ma didn't expect Zell had too many friends outside of Garden.
"No, ma'am. We didn't mean to bother you. We'll catch up with Zell later." The three turned to leave.
Ma almost let them leave, but then though better of it. "Please, come in. I think Zell will be down in a few minutes."
Tidus began his story at the blitzball game in Zanarkand. Squall wasn't sure if it was because Tidus thought he needed to be that thorough, he loved the sound of his own voice, or he just wanted to make sure the others thought they were both completely crazy right from the start. Or maybe he just wanted an excuse to talk about blitzball.
Squall had only taken a few small bites of the food, some sort of lightly-spiced porridge. Although he knew he should be hungry, he just didn't feel like eating. He was too tired. Other than a faint stiffness in his right shoulder and back he physically felt fine. But his mind was full of fuzz.
He didn't know where he was, how he'd gotten there, or who the other people were. He knew he ought to try to figure these things out, but he just couldn't summon the energy to care.
Although Squall didn't have an appetite, he'd noticed Tidus devoured his food and scraped the bowl clean. Squall pushed his bowl in front of Tidus—how was he still talking about that very first blitzball game?—then crossed his arms on the table and put his head down. Tidus hadn't even left Zanarkand before Squall was fast asleep.
Zell, Ma, Rinoa, Ellone, and Yuna were seated around the kitchen table munching on cookies. Zell had found it a bit disconcerting to find the three girls chatting with his mom when he'd first come downstairs. Disconcerting, and then worrisome, as Zell had feared there might be bad news about Squall. Rinoa had invited herself and the others to his room to talk. Zell had agreed, even though he hated having other people in his room. He'd been relieved to hear there was no bad news about Squall, then slightly annoyed that they would come to his house when nothing had changed. His annoyance had evaporated, however, when Rinoa earnestly asked for his help, her desperate concern for Squall obvious.
It hadn't taken long for him to peer into Rinoa's past with Ellone's help. But just as he was waking up, his ma had called to them, insisting that they enjoy the cookies while they were still warm. Now, sitting in the kitchen, Zell was far more uncomfortable than he should be while eating fresh-baked cookies.
"Thank you very much for the cookies. We should probably be going now." Ellone looked meaningfully at Rinoa, who currently had a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie and didn't look like she was planning on leaving anytime soon.
"No, please, stay as long as you like. I'm enjoying getting to know you better." Ma smiled brightly and patted Rinoa's arm. Zell groaned inwardly. He wasn't sure exactly how, but his ma seemed to have gotten the idea that Rinoa was more than just a friend. And Rinoa wasn't doing anything to dissuade her of that notion.
"Maybe you guys should head back to Garden. You know, in case there's any updates." Zell felt a little bad about pushing them out the door. But he tried very hard to keep the details of his work away from his ma and he didn't trust Rinoa to be discreet about their recent missions.
Rinoa looked slightly taken aback, but stood up. "Okay. Thanks, Ma. Your cookies were wonderful."
"Here, take some to go."
Rinoa glanced at Zell with a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. She better not… Zell sent her a warning glare. He'd already had to share the cookies with her, she better not be walking out with half of the few that remained. "No, that's not necessary."
"Well, come back and visit again soon."
"We will. I can't stay away from Zell for too long." Rinoa winked at Zell. Apparently, in exchange for keeping the cookies he was going to have to have an even more awkward conversation with his ma after they were gone. "Especially since there's nothing to do at Garden without him."
"Maybe you should pay a visit to Deling City," Zell suggested.
Rinoa scowled. "I only set foot in Deling City for assassination attempts."
Did she really have to put it that way in front of Ma? Zell glanced at his ma—she didn't seem particularly disturbed by Rinoa's phrasing. But she'd always been good at concealing her distress.
"Okay, fine, then. I'll see you back at Garden in a couple of days." Zell ushered the girls toward the door.
"Be safe. Make sure you stay on the road on the way back," Ma called. Zell cringed. That was exactly the wrong thing to say to Rinoa.
"We'll be safe," Rinoa replied. But it wouldn't be on the road, Zell knew. Rinoa hated authority figures telling her what to do. If Ma hadn't said anything, she probably would have stuck to the road on account of Yuna and Ellone. But now that she'd been told to do that, there no way she'd be anywhere near the road.
Once they were out the door, and his ma was cleaning up the plates from the table, Zell finally had a bit more time to process what he'd seen in Rinoa's past.
Ellone had told him to try to ignore Squall and Tidus—he couldn't control where Rinoa was looking in the flashback, but he could try to adjust his own focus as he saw through Rinoa's eyes—and to pay attention only to the details of the location where they were lost. Easier said than done, for sure. He hadn't learned much, there was only a few seconds to work with. It was dark and damp, probably a cave of some kind. But there was one detail he'd noticed that didn't have anything to do with their location. He'd wanted to talk to Rinoa about it right away, but not in front of Yuna and Ellone. He couldn't very well have sent Yuna and Ellone away and kept Rinoa in his room alone—what would Ma think of that?—so he hadn't been able to say anything. But he couldn't go two whole days without talking about it, so Zell headed out the door. "Be right back." He did his best to ignore his ma's knowing smile.
He found them just outside of Balamb. As predicted, Yuna and Ellone were walking down the middle of the road and Rinoa was walking a few feet beside it.
"Rinoa!" Zell waved to her, gesturing for her to meet him out in the open grassland, out of earshot of the others.
"What is it?"
Zell glanced back to see Yuna and Ellone were chatting, seemingly not paying much attention to them.
Zell turned back to Rinoa. "They let go." He looked at his hands as he spoke. The memory, those few brief seconds, was crystal-clear in his mind.
"Squall, he'd fallen away from you, but grabbed onto Tidus. He seemed to be pulling Tidus away from you, so he let go. But Tidus, you had a firm grip on his wrist. He could easily have stayed with you, but he twisted away."
Rinoa nodded. "I think he didn't want Squall to be alone. I didn't know if I should tell Yuna."
"So this Tidus guy—he's got Squall's back?"
Rinoa nodded.
"Well…good. I guess I feel a little better, knowing that."
Back at home, Zell was helping to clean up when Ma asked the inevitable. "Rinoa—she's very special to you, isn't she?"
"No, Ma. It's not like that. She's just a friend."
"Are you sure there's no room for something more?"
Zell sighed. "Yes, I'm sure. Anyway, she's involved with my superior."
"Oh. Well, I can't help but notice she came to see you, not him."
Zell really didn't want to say any more. It would just cause Ma stress. But if he didn't say anything, she may never let this go. "That's because he's MIA. She came here to talk about him."
"Oh, Zell. I didn't know. I'm sorry." She walked over and hugged Zell. He wasn't really sure why she chose that moment and he almost resisted her embrace. He was a professional SeeD after all; he didn't need his mother to take care of him. Ultimately, though, Zell hugged his ma back. Mercenaries may not need their mothers, but if they happened to have them, they could still appreciate them. He felt a pang of sorrow for his friends back at Garden. None of them had a parent to hold onto.
Zell didn't really mean to keep talking as he leaned against his mother, but the words spilled out. "He's not just my superior. He's sorta my best friend."
Not that Squall would ever admit it. He'd just sigh and roll his eyes. Call me ridiculous and say something like, 'Quit worrying about me and take care of yourself.'
Well, Squall, I don't care what you say. I miss you and I'm worried about you.