Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ When Darkness Falls ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Author's Notes:The songs in this fic are by Korn and Evanescence. This fic contains gore and voilence, language and all that jazz.
Disclaimers already, but I will rattle them off again: FF6, 7, 8 are not my creation, I own none of the characters and make no profit off this story. I also don't promote for any companies whose brands might be featured. It's just messing around. Hope you like it.

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It was the start of a new day in the middle of the month of August. Students of all ages on vacation to distant locations at tropical islands or at grandparents houses, maybe even from places as frivolous as camping in one's backyard, are now returning to their homes in Willow Pines, Dollet.

But wherever the location may have been, they all returned home to gather in one place to drone out eleven months of their life. School. And all of it's inhabitants were less than happy to be there. Especially one, who, over the summer, had discovered something he had been trying to avoid his entire life.

The young man was a short blond, with a distinctive shark-esque grin. His blue eyes could melt butter, and his personality was more than winning to everyone he met. He was popular with both male and female students. He even had a good relationship with his teachers, being a straight A student since he was enrolled in the Kindergarten as a child.

Only, this year, he had to accept the fact that with his new lifestyle he was going to be less than popular. "Hyne, I feel outcasted already." He muttered to himself as he looked for a place to sit in the auditorium.

He hated new school years. Everyone suddenly thought they were better than you, even if they've known you since middle school. The blond was a highschool student and this was his last year attending W.P. Shepard High School. He couldn't have been more happy to get out of there.

"Zell!" He heard a female's voice calling. "Yoo hoo! Over here!"

Judging by the volume of the voice and it's words ability to be heard distinctly over the inaudible roar of others, it could only be one person. He turned his head seeing his best friend since sperm, Selphie Tilmitt, waving her arms jumping up and down for his attention. 'Heeere we go.' Zell thought, as he made his way down the aisle to the middle row where Selphie was standing. 'The vicious, history repeating itself, cycle.'

Once reaching Selphie, he sat down feeling her thump down in the seat beside him. Regardless her petite form, the hyperactive girl could really drop her weight down on something. Sure, Zell loved Selphie to death, but this year he wanted to make some cool friends and not have his, practically, sister tagging along every step of the way; with her handful of stories in a bag waiting for an unknowing voice to say, 'I never knew that' before she went off on them.

"Guess what," She already started in on him. Zell turned to her with a curtious smile to let her know he was listening. Although, he wasn't. "I got a new pair of earrings over the summer, and as I was buying them the guy behind the counter asked me out!" She shouted clapping her hands. "Isn't that trippy?" Selphie grinned ear-to-ear.

Another thing she often did was talk like she was from the seventies. And sometimes, without warning, it rubbed off on Zell and he was doing it too. Hyne, was he really a geek in secret? Maybe nobody would notice that he was gay, after all.

"That's great Selph'." Zell said in a very mellow acknowledgment, but clearly not interested.

Selphie started playing on her fingernails fidgeting beside him, before she spoke again saying in a hesitant voice. "Which brings me to my next thought... See, Sabin, the guy I mentioned... kinda wants me to hang out with him this year, so I was wondering if...?"

Zell's face brightened. 'A ray of light?' He clasped his best friend's hands in his and brought them up to his mouth kissing them saying. "Selphie, I'd be insulted if you didn't hang out with - - Sabin, was it? A fiiine name," Selphie smiled hearing his cheer towards it. Nodding her away, he added. "So yeah, you go right ahead. I'll be fine." Zell turned himself forward in his seat, getting comfortable.

Selphie drew in what sounded like every ounce of air in the room before saying. "Ooooohhhh. You big sweetie, thanks!" She crushed him in a hug and he patted her shoulder. "See ya around." Popping up from her seat, she was gone in a flash.

Zell let out a breath and eased farther down into his seat. "Thank God."

"Zzzell." A low and sexy voice said extending the Z like a hissing, S. The short blond turned his head seeing a long, dark-blue jean covered leg coming over the seat, before bringing a body with it down beside him. It was his long time rival Seifer Almasy.

He slung an arm over the little blond's seat and grinned at him. "I see you've ditched the shrimp, Tiny."

Zell scowled hearing that name he'd been called since he's met Seifer. This particular, jerk, was favored by both female and male alike, as the hottest and most popular blond in school. And Seifer rarely gave them a chance to think otherwise, when everyday for him was another massacre of bodies falling at his feet just from a smile.

Zell removed Seifer's arm from around his seat and straightened himself up. "Nooo." He scowled.

Seifer's smile turned into a laugh. "Than she ditched you? How pathetic." Zell's angry grumble inside his throat only caused Seifer to continue laughing at his sparse attempt to theaten him.

Giving up hope in the jerk just telling him why he was there, the shorter blond turned to face him and asked point-blank. "What do you want, Seifer?"

"Tch. I don't want anything." He retorted with a snooty tone, and an uncomfortable shift in his seat. "I was merely extending a hand to you. If this year you wanted to come and sit with me and my friends..." he left it open-ended.

Zell's eyebrows must have shot up like a bullet because Seifer laughed to his reaction. "But I always thought that you hated me?"

Seifer looked as though he were struggling to say what he was going to say next, but the words choked out of his mouth uncharacteristically in compared to his usually cool demeanor. "N-no, I think you're really... Listen, do or don't.. I really couldn't care less." The taller blond got up from the seat and walked a few rows down, returning to where he came from, over with his friends.

Zell watched for the most of his trip then turned back around. "... Seifer... I wonder if he's, nah, probably not."

The bell rang. All commotion really picked up then, excited and a bit nervous as they all stood to leave. Talking about schedules, and after school plans. What teams they were going to join; the teachers they prayed not to have because of a brother's or sister's warnings.

Zell walked to his homeroom, which was the only classroom location he knows of at the moment; he took a seat in back once inside; with a sigh, he stood again and walked to the front. 'Okay, so I won't be that bold just yet.' He watched other students file into the classroom either in group or like himself, alone.

They all seemed to be talking about something unimportant, but Zell held an ear to it for his own amusement.

"He was totally sweet last winter, but we broke up over the summer." A girl was saying.

Zell thought he may have known her once before, but she didn't look familiar. She must have dyed her hair or something.

"I thought you two would be together forever." Said her best friend, as though she were beyond ready to cover that unmarked territory.

"I know. But, it doesn't matter. I'm with Spencer now."

A quiet girl walked in, another boy, a jock and a girl he was sure was in ballet. "Hi, Zell." She said when she saw him.

"Uh, hey, Rin'." He raised a hand as a wave. She sat down in the seat behind him; he straightened himself up in his chair. It always made him a little uncomfortable when people sat behind him, all freshman year Seifer flicked him against the back of his ears. It was very annoying.

The bell rang giving people only five more minutes to get to homeroom before the late bell. He looked into the hall watching the groups of people scrambling. 'Should have been early.' He thought. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he turned around in his seat so that he was sitting sideways. "Yeah?" He asked.

"Did you have a good summer?" Rinoa asked.

With a smile, Zell blushed remembering his summer. He had spent it with this great guy named Cloud. They met in a burger place because both of them were stuck at home while their friends were on some great summer vacation to exotic locations. So, bored to tears and in need of something to do, food seemed to be the answer. They were sitting a booth away from each other; Zell was listening to his iPod, singing as he ate. Cloud was nodding his head to Zell's singing. He eventually just asked the casual singer if he could join him. The two of them shared an earpiece a person, and they listened to the songs together.

Once the final song in the playlist ended; they realized they were through eating. Cloud introduced himself to Zell, who did the same. The taller blond wrote his phone number down, and Zell called him right when he got home. They talked for hours that night, and eventually met up the next day. They decided to hang around at Cloud's empty house. That's when Zell discovered that he was gay.

The two of them kissed the entire time. And all Cloud said was that he really liked Zell's shirt! Their romance was fleeting, unfortunately, because Cloud told him that his family was moving this summer. He wished more than anything he could have stayed. Zell understood. The two of them spent every minute together that they could, until the day his first love moved.

Snapping out of his trance, Zell shrugged saying. "It was great."

Rinoa smiled hearing that, then said. "Mine too, I met this girl who does nails and look..." She held her fingers out to him. They were done like little tidal waves with different colors of blue and some white to make it realistic.

Holding her hands to get a better look; Zell brushed his thumb over them feeling the polish. "That's really nice." He never got why girls wanted to show their nails and stuff off to boys. It must just be a girl thing. 'What if she knows I'm gay? That could be why she showed me.' He looked his friend over and was about to ask her if he looked any different, but the late bell which turned him face-forward in his seat as if it were a physical sound, as well. He could always ask later.

"Alright class, My name is Barret Wallace." The black man said. "But you will address me only as, Mr. Wallace." He was a big man with a beard, wide yet tall maybe about 6' 4", he looked to be entering his mid-thirties and his face read not very friendly.

"I want you to take these," He was saying, walking around his desk to the front of the class handing them over to the girl in the front row. "Find your name, pass them back. Don't be waistin' other people's time checking your friends schedules, you can ask them later." He returned to behind his desk, muttering something about hating first days.

When the schedules got around to Zell, he started skimming through them for his. The door to the classroom opened and a guy walked in. "You're late." The teacher said to the tardy student. Odd. An open door usually meant that someone was coming to collect attendance, not a missing student.

"Sorry about that. I'm new here, and this place is pretty big." Said a sensual voice that made Zell look up to place a face with it.

'Wow...' It was a crush at first sight. This guy has ashy brown hair that looked grey when he walked in certain lighting, he seemed to be around 5'9" and either 18 or 19. He had a stronge look about him underneath his baggy clothes, and he wore a red bandana over his forehead.

"Put your name on the late slip and take a seat." Mr. Wallace said. The boy shrugged and walked over to the corner of a countertop where a clipboard sat. He wrote his name down saying it out loud as he did so.

"Loooocke Cooole." He dropped the pen when done, receiving a glare from the teacher that summed up: I already know this kid is going to be trouble.

Zell started shuffling through the schedules looking for Locke's name. When he found it, he quickly looked it over, thank Gods for his photographic memory, and memorized the entire thing down to how long he had to fake getting dressed in gym to catch a glimpse of him.

"Is that mine?" Locke asked.

Startled Zell looked up seeing the dream next to him looking over his shoulder. "Uh... it's..." Zell stammered.

Locke took the schedules from him and pulled his card out. "Thanks." He said going to a seat in the back.

Zell prayed to every God out there that no one saw his berry red blush. Hearing Rinoa clear her throat, he snapped out of his panic and pulled his card free, which was conviently underneath Locke's, then he passed them back.

"Thank you." She said very aggitated.

Once everyone in class got their schedules, they talked across the room to their friends asking them which classes they had together or if they'd only see each other during lunch. Zell turned in his seat pretending he wanted to ask Rinoa, but he really just wanted to sneak looks at Locke.

"Which classes did you get?" He asked her, not even half interested. While she talked about this and that, Zell watched the ashy-haired brunet fold the corners of his schedule, turning it into a plane which he tossed it in Zell's direction. The daydreaming blond quickly scooped it up. Locke smiled holding his hands up saying to him. "Toss it back, I'll catch it."

Zell swallowed hard and tossed the plane into the air. It flew three inches away from him before the nose turned up and it came crashing down on the floor. Locke laughed to himself either over Zell's weak throw or at the plane itself for looking comical before the crash. Dincht hoped it was the latter. Rinoa picked it up and handed it back to him, she was only a seat away and nobody was behind her.

Locke and Zell locked eyes a moment, but the lovestruck blond blushed and looked away. Rinoa continued telling him her schedule, then asked him about his.

"I've got Lab first - great I have to stay here. Tech Ed., Math 103 advanced, English... and Reading. Then gym." He took a breath then went on. "Health, great, and history."

"Yikes..." Rinoa said sympathizing him. "Well good luck with that." Everyone looked up when the bell rang. They then removed themselves from their seats and walked into the hall. The people that had to remain in class took a different seat than the one they were currently occupying.

Zell thought about moving, as well, but he didn't notice Locke getting up so he remained where he was, too. 'Of all the times to become shy, I pick this year. I couldn't wait 'til college?' He heard the steel legs of the desk beside him squeak, he turned his head seeing Locke taking it. Turning his vision back to the front, Zell felt his cheeks heat, so he put his hands up to ward it off.

"Hey," Locke said.

Zell wasn't sure if it were a greeting or opening for a question so he said nothing.

Locke leaned over in his seat and reached out a hand to him. "Hey," He said again this time adding. "I'm Locke."

'Yes!' Zell took the outstretched hand and shook it saying. "Hi, I'm Zell."

Taking the item off Zell's desk, Locke said casually. "Let me see your schedule - since you got a good look at mine."

'Geez he noticed that?' Thought Zell.

Locke looked over the little schedule card then his own. "Sit with me at lunch, okay, Zell?" He passed the paper back to him.

"Yeah, sure." Dincht grinned.

"It's that big one when you walk past the double-doors, right?" Locke pointed as though they were standing in the hall and the cafeteria was a few feet in front of them.

"Yeah, I could get you from class, if you want?" Offered Zell. 'Perfect, perfect. That's that old Zell coming through there.'

Locke nodded. "That could work. I don't know about getting around the rest of the day though." The object of Zell's desires leaned back in his seat while still turned sideways facing him, and he moved his knees together then apart; the visual caused Zell to grow hot.

'Come ooon, keep conversation flowing.' Zell thought. "You take advanced math, too?"

Locke nodded and started biting on his pen, still staring around the classroom. When the late bell rang everyone took their seats and the actual class began.