Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Doll House ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

There was a loud thud somewhere in the house. I closed my eyes praying that it wasn't the other dolls moving around again. I've been gnawing at the tape on my wrist for what felt like forever and so far all I managed to do was exspand the tape but that only made it stickier,which was not at all usefull for helping me get out.

"Rrrrrrrr! Gods!" I struggled with all my strength to free myself from these damned constraints but nothing was working, and I was seconds away from giving up when I heard someone calling me, faintly. It sounded like Squall's voice. No friggin' way!

"Squall! Squall! Help me!" I shouted, but my voice was surprisingly low. "What's happening to my voice?" I asked out loud, however it sounded almost like a mumble. "Squa-..." I felt myself panting, and my head was getting lighter. 'I can't let them turn me in-...'

"Where the hell am I?" Squall wondered standing up. 'Well, if this is where the little girl went, then Zell must be in here.' With two directions as options, Squall decided to go forward. The hall just took him to another crossroad of left and right. He looked in both directions, choosing to go right.

"Zell?" He called out and looked around with his eyes at the bare walls. "Zell, are you in here?" He called again, but got no answer.

Squall walked into the a room that looked like a bedroom; it was a mess, everything was tossed askew or flipped over except for a large upholstered armchair, that sat oddly in the middle of the room. "Hello?" Squall kept his guard up as he walked into the bedroom. "Is anybody in here?" The gunblader asked.

He heard faint whispers coming from by the table, and from where sounded a good distance away, somewhere else in the house.

"Are you here to save us?" The voice asked as Squall approached the table.

He can't see the speaker because the chair is facing away from him, so he walks around to where he could face them. "If I can." He answered when he was closer.

His hand flexed in ready of a cause to have to defend himself in-case something leaped up from the chair. However, when he spun the seat around he sucked in a breath of a gasp.

"It's a doll..."

Squall touched the toy on the cheek. He expected cool rubber, but it felt a warmth underneath, almost human like. Kneeling down, he looked the doll dead in the eyes and asked. "What the hell are you?"

Cocking his head, he turned his head seeing another doll beside an overturned table. 'This one has a string on it.' He reached over for the string and gently pulled it outward.

"She's a doll." It said.

"What the...?" He stumbled backwards landing on her rear from tripping, he scooted away with heels scuffing the floor. 'Did that thing just answer me?' He wondered.

"Do not be afraid." The girl continued. "I will not hurt you..."

"What happened in here?" Squall asked, positioning himself on hands and knees. He then sat back on his legs looking at the girl.

"The owner, she flipped the bed over and...pull my string...pull my string..." She repeated.

Squall raised an eyebrow confused, until he noticed the string was nearly in the girl's back again.

The gunblader stood up going closer to the girl; he yanked the string again, but he stepped on the tug-hoop so it wouldn't pull back in again. "Have you seen Zell?" A pause. "He's a blond guy, kind of short, and he has a tattoo on the side of his face?"

The girl's eyes turned towards him, and she started to talk but something was wrong. "He.. He.. He..."

"He what?" Squall asked. He surmised that her voice must be locked because the string can't move. He lifts his foot from it. "Go ahead."

"He was here. He may already be a doll..."

"What?!" Squall grabbed the girl's shoulders, and tried to resist shaking answers out of her. After a hard swallow to calm himself down, he closed his eyes and asked with as much kindness in his voice as he could muster, so that the talking toy wouldn't get scared and freeze up - literally - he asked. "Okay, when was the last time you've seen him?"

She was quiet. Squall couldn't tell if she was thinking about the answer or needed another string pull.

"He was here... He was here... He was here..."

"Shit." He tried to pull the string again but the little girl seemed to be in another world now, and the only thing she said was.

"Change my batteries... Change my batteries... Change m-..."

Leaving the room with haste, Squall was wondering if he had time to get help or if he should just stay where he was and look for Zell? After locating him, he can figure out how to get them out.

"Zell!?" He called again only louder. At first he didn't hear any type of reply then there was the faintest sound of his name.

"Squall?"

"Zell?! Zell where are you?!" Squall looked around for where the sound was coming from directly, and he walked back to where he had woken up in the first place.

"Zell, keep talking so I can find you!" He shouted to him, but the martial artist voice went quiet.

"He may already be a doll..." He heard the little girl's voice saying.

"I don't have time to go back. I have to get him out of here, now." Squall stated. He used his instincts to figure out where Zell might be held.

'If I was kept prisoner where would I be held?' The gunblader wondered while walking around the corner at his right. 'He'd have to be in the lowest part of this place - wherever here is...' Squall kept his hand to the wall tracing it with his fingers as if he were making a mental trail for himself, since he has no chalk or markers. 'There has to be stairs around here somewhere...' He made another right, then a left.

"Zell!" He shouted in-case he could hear him and answer back. His calls were still met with silence. "Zell, where are you?!"

Just as Squall was about to make another right, he saw a banister from the side of his eye. 'Now we're getting somewhere.' The gunblader changed directions and walked cautiously down the stairway into a living room, and after a glance around with his eyes he went farther in.

"Zell?" Whispered Squall. "Zell are you down here?" He asked. Silence. No. Wait..

"Squa-... Squa-..." It was coming from the kicthen.

"Zell?" Squall walked into the next room. He saw the martial artist taped to a chair!

"Zell, what happened to you?" Squall ran over to him; he removed a tiny knife from his pocket and started cutting at the tape around his friend's wrist. He felt sick looking at Zell. He was not at all fine.

"Squa-... Squa-.. ba-ha... uuuuuhhhh." He fainted.

"Zell?" The gunblader's expression registered blank.

"Uh uh uuuhh, I wouldn't do that if I were you, Squally."

Squall spun around and saw a giant arm reaching into the room.

"He's my doll, and so are you."

Squall gasped, an tried urgently to get out of the way; but the little girl's grip was far too strong and fast, he was stuck hard to the head.

'Damn it.' He blacked out.