All characters and places belong to squaresoft and no infringement is
intended.
Okay, this is just a little warning. This is my first
attempt at a YAOI fanfiction so if you hate it, don't be too harsh, just give me
a little advice..., oh yeah and reader discretion is advised.
luv, Nicola
Wilcox AKA thedarksquall. ~_\~
"You can make me
whole again...."
- Atomic Kitten
The Island Closest to Hell, or is it
Heaven....?
(A Squall and Zell fanfiction.)
Zell felt like
killing himself.
He wondered what he'd done so wrong that morning for
his life to suddenly take this unbelieveable twist.
Squall Leonhart lay
before him, terribly wounded.
He had to replay the last few minutes in
his mind so he could comprehend what had happened.
******** That
morning. ********
"Hey Squall!" Zell cried as the commander strode past
him. "What's up?" Squall shook his head and ignored the annoying martial artist,
heading towards the main gate. Zell jumped up and followed him.
"Come on
man, where're you goin'?"
"Very well, Zell." Squall stopped dead and
swung around, Zell barely managed to stop himself from bumping into the
commander. "If you must know, I'm fed up of sitting on my arse waiting for
something to happen. I'm going to find the last few items I need to upgrade my
gunblade to the Lionheart standard." That was possibly the most Zell had ever
heard him say.
"Cool. Can I come?" That moronic grin reappeared on his
lips once again.
Squall rubbed his forehead and sighed in exasperation.
('Is there any way I am going to get away with saying no?') He thought to
himself.
"Please? I'll be quiet and...," Zell paused, looking for
something else to convince him. "And besides, you need dragon fangs to do that
and the only monsters that carry them are on the island closest to hell and you
can't fly the Ragnarok which you need to get there...." Zell continued to ramble
and Squall felt a little alarmed.
"Zell." Squall gently gripped his
upper arm and squeezed a little. "Breathe, okay?"
Zell took a deep
breath and immediately hiccupped, before turning a remarkable shade of red. The
corners of Squall's mouth twitched and moved up ever so slightly. If it had been
anyone else, they would have been rolling on the floor in fits of laughter by
now, but this one wasn't like that. This one was special.
"Sorry." The
blonde man smiled sheepishly. "Besides, I need a fury fragment, and I heard a
rumour you could get them there. Come to think of it, we all need items so why
not go as a group?"
Squall shook his head again, nutmeg brown tinged with
the odd strand of red danced over his forehead hiding his scar for a second.
Hiding Seifer and his influence from view allowing Zell a brief repreive from
the memory of the blonde bastard. Then it was back again, just like the scowl.
"I'm not used to all the company Zell."
"True." He nodded. "Up 'til
recently, you were a real lone wolf." He bagan to ramble not knowning how this
would make Squall feel. "Now you got Rinoa hanging off your arm, Quistis fawning
over you and a whole garden watching your every move."
The man in black
winced. "Thanks for reminding me."
"Sorry." He said apologizing
again.
"Forget it."
The two men walked to the dragon-like airship
and within twenty five minutes were standing on the island closest to hell. The
Ragnarok rose up into the air on a preservation program. The two had agreed that
they would stay until the evening, to raise their skill levels and decided
against leaving their transport open to attack from the vicious
monsters.
Squall slotted six shells into the chamber of his gunblade,
flicked his hair back out of his eyes and then tightened the gunslinger's belts
around his waist. Zell looked down at his gloves and realized they were too
slack so he set about putting them right, stealing a quick glance at the
commander every now and then.
Perhaps, if he hadn't been looking at
Squall so intently, he would've heard the Malboro creeping up behind him.
Perhaps he would have seen the attack that Squall had seen and been able to side
step it. But he could not change that now.
Malboro's tentacles had been
raised high in the air, dripping with that venom that could cause death in
minutes. They had descended towards him with incredible force hoping to capture
him as a meal.
All Zell could remember was Squall jumping towards him,
striking him square in the chest and taking him down, and the look of pain and
incredible anguish as the tentacles had pierced his body, passing clear through
to enter the skin and flesh of Zell's stomach.
All Zell could remember
was calling upon every GF that he had or knew to take revenge on the bastard
plant.
All Zell could remember was hating himself because of that
nerve-tingling warm feeling that had spread through him when he had felt the
pressure of Squall's body upon his own.
******** Now.
********
Zell had slung him over his shoulder and made his way to a set
of earth works, a small cave in the shore of the island.
Placing
Squall's body on the sandy floor, Zell chased and battled the smaller foes that
resided in the semi darkness until there were none left. The stupidest thing
was, in these minor and insignificant battles, he aquired three fury fragments
and no less than seven dragon fangs.
The entrance to the cave lay up a
steep slope and lay almost directly above Squall, a golden shaft of light
illuminating him, shimmering on the bloodied leather. He was alone with the Lion
of Balamb garden.
Finally, Zell forced himself to snap into the
professional mode of a highly trained mercanary, and set to attempting to heal
Squall.
Carefully removing his friend from the fur lined leather jacket
that had become a part of his image and ripping the reddening tee shirt from his
body, Zell turned him and surveyed the damage. The exit wound through the front
of his abdomen was the worst of them and he was suffering several status
effects. As Zell cast esuana he cursed himself as he remembered the elixer he
had left on his bed in the dorms. It would've come in useful about
now.
Fighting back a repulsion from the open wounds Zell poured a potion
over the gash to sterilize it and set about cleaning all the plant matter from
it. A faint groan emanated from Squall's mouth and his eyes opened. Zell felt
that familiar cold granite gaze on his cheek and he glanced at the scarred face.
"You should've stayed out cold Squall, it would've been easier on both of
us."
"You should know by now, I never take the easy way out." He
whispered, a whisper that was punctuated with a sharp intake of breath through
his gritted teeth as a particularly long piece of vegetation was pulled out.
"Hmm." Zell was concentrating on the task at hand and would have
otherwise been chattering away if he hadn't felt so guilty. "I shouldn't have
come with you Squall. This is all my fault. If you'd been
alone....."
"Zell?"
"Yeah?"
"Just shut the fuck up and
finish what you're doing."
"Okay."