Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ I Want to be Your Chicken Wuss ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

I Want to be Your Chicken Wuss :: Chapter Three

Author's notes:: I'm not exactly sure if Hippaul is the hippo that Vivi races. But I do know that Vivi isn't able to race him until after Alexandria is destroyed. We'll just pretend, alright?

~O~

I awoke to the wonderful feeling of ice-cold water being splashed against my face. The blue, yes blue, haired woman smiled at my sputtering and gasping. "He looks awright to me," she said in a thickly accented voice. She patted my shoulder lightly. "You had us worried there, kid," she added. I nodded dumbly and tried to sit up. Where was I? Oh, the theatre. Wait. "Th' name's Ruby," the woman continued, seemingly unaware of my confused, somewhat disappointed expression. I wasn't supposed to be here. I should have been back at Garden, in my small, standard-issue bed.

"I think he's still out of it," Marcus offered from behind Ruby.

I groaned and fell back onto the table, which was being used as a make-shift cot. Why had this happened to me? What had I ever done to deserve this? Well, there was that one time. No! Don't start listing things! While I bickered with myself internally, the others gathered around me and began to discuss what would be done with me. "I vote we throw him out on the street," Marcus grumbled, obviously still sore about the whole tumbling-down-the-stair thing.

"We should probably send him to the nearest hospital; the guy's insane," Blank suggested.

"I already told you," I protested weakly, still disappointed with my whereabouts, "I'm not crazy."

Ruby nodded. "He's too cute to be insane or," she glared at Marcus, "thrown out on the street."

"Ask him where he is," Blank instructed, "then tell me he's not insane." They all looked at me expectantly.

I realized I could tick Blank off by saying I was in--What had he called this place again?-Alexandria, that's right. Heh, like Alexander. But instead I said, "I'm in a mini-theatre," with a dumb-ass grin on my face, "somewhere in Hallucinogenic Mushroom-induced Dreamland."

The three gave each other slightly worried glances. I wasn't going to get any help here. I started to get up when Ruby stopped me. "You think this is a dream?" she asked.

"It has to be," I replied. "I mean, one minute I'm getting the crap beat out of me by that jerk Seifer, and the next moment, I'm lying in the middle of some damn alley in a city that I've never even heard of."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "Maybe you should go get Zidane, Blank. This guy's serious."

"He's insane, Ruby."

Ruby turned and glared at Blank. "Go get Zidane," she said between gritted teeth. Blank nodded and off he ran.

Zidane sat across from me as I recounted my tale. His brow was furrowed in thought when I finished. "You don't have amnesia or anything?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. I can remember my whole life. Well, I can remember the stuff the GFs didn't push outta my brain."

"GFs?" Zidane asked.

"Guardian Forces. I guess you guess don't have 'em here." I checked to see if Quezacotl, Cerberus, and the Brothers were still equipped. They were. "I'll give a demonstration some time. Just not in the city. I don't believe any good things could come of that. I'd just end up creating mass hysteria again." Zidane looked worriedly at Ruby.

"Blank's right," Marcus said, "he is crazy."

I glared at him. "How many times do I have to tell you people." I started.

Zidane interrupted me, "I think he's telling the truth." I stuck my tongue out at Marcus. "But I don't think you're dreaming," he told me.

"How can I not be?" I asked.

"For one thing, we're too sure of our existence. And another thing: Wouldn't you have just woken up back at your home when you passed out?"

Now that he had spoken my own doubts, my dream theory was crumbling. But if I wasn't dreaming.

"I think we should take him to see Dr. Tot," Zidane told the others. "Besides, Vivi wanted me to go with him to see Dagger anyway." Zidane got up and slid his chair back under a table. "C'mon." he trailed off, looking at me quizzically. "What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't." I replied. "But I'm Zell."

"Nice to meet ya," he said, and I followed him upstairs and out into the city.

We took a gondola-like boat to the castle. The woman soldier who steered it winked at me. I smiled back. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here, dream or otherwise. We had picked up this little kid before we left. I imagine he was Vivi. He reminded me of the jawas from this old movie called 'Star Wars' that Irvine was a big fan of. As we were getting off the boat we came upon two very suspicious-looking characters: a giant rat and this gigantic, I mean gigantic in the Raijin sense, blue guy with red dreadlocks that hung over his eyes. They looked like they were ready to kill each other. As Zidane left to break up the fight I turned to Vivi. "Hi," I said. "I'm Zell."

He looked up at me with his big yellow eyes. I smiled awkwardly. "My name's Vivi," he said in a soft, shy voice.

I kneeled down next to him and shook his gloved hand. "Nice ta meet ya, Vivi." I realized I somewhat echoed Zidane's response to me earlier. "So…How do you feel about those hippos?" I asked when I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"They're pretty nice," Vivi replied. "I race Hippaul sometimes."

"Cool," I said. "I bet you win a lot, huh?"

He nodded, his hat sliding down over his eyes. "I win sometimes."

While I was pondering what to say next, hippos were only so interesting after all, Zidane jogged back over to me, slowly explaining to the rat and blue-guy that it was a bad, bad thing to kill each other. I stood back up, waiting to be introduced. Vivi hid behind me, sliding a gloved hand in my own. I gave him a reassuring smile before turning back to Zidane and his...companions.

"Zell," he began, "this is Freya," he pointed to the rat-person, "and this is Amarant," the blue guy. "Guys, this is Zell. He's…ahh…in a bit of a fix." Zidane trailed off, looking to me to elaborate.

I shrugged saying, "Where's this Tot guy you mentioned?"

"Oh…yeah…right." Zidane faltered. The ra-I mean Freya-quirked an eyebrow at Zidane's stuttering.

I had to resist shrugging again. Darn me and my expressive nature. Vivi tugged on my hand. I looked down at him and he pointed to the castle. The castle. Hoo-boy. "So he's in there?" I looked to Vivi for confirmation. He nodded. "Good." I started for the castle, Vivi trailing along behind me.

"Hey! Wait!" Zidane called, trotting after me. Freya and Amarant weren't far behind.

We had just reached the entrance when an armor-clad man suddenly appeared, blocking the path. "Hey!" I protested, feeling a thud against the back of my legs; Vivi couldn't stop himself in time.

The man scowled at me disapprovingly and started to open his mouth to say something when he spotted Zidane; then his disapproving look turned downright nasty. "You," he growled as the little girl he held under his left arm flailed about uselessly.

"Rusty!" Zidane greeted in return with grin on his face. The little girl under Rusty's arm stopped squirming to look up and fawn over Zidane. Rusty dropped her on her ass and I had to stifle my laughter.

"What are you doing here?" Rusty demanded.

"Why, we're here to see Dagger," Zidane announced.

"And that Tot guy," I added. Rusty looked from me to Zidane with disgust. "Well who peed in your cornflakes?" I asked, rather annoyed with the guy's attitude.

He looked taken aback for a moment until Zidane broke into hysterical laughter. "He always looks like that," Vivi informed me. "He doesn't like Zidane."

Upon sighting Vivi, Rusty broke into a wide grin. "Master Vivi!" he cried happily, bowing quickly. His armor squeaked in protest. "And what brings you to the castle?"

"We were gonna see Dr. Tot and Dagger."

"Well then follow me, Master Vivi; I believe a short visit could be arranged." Rusty led Vivi inside, pointing out random knickknacks and giving their history. I followed along behind, with Amarant, Freya, Zidane, and the little girl trailing. I hated tours; they were always so boring.