Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ When Darkness Falls ❯ Chapter 22 ( Chapter 22 )

Clouds covered the sky greying everything. The three teens walked to the apartment, stopping just at the corner of the building.

"Damn." Murmured Shadow. "This place would have a door man, and the jackass probably never moves from that spot."

Cracking his knuckles, a wicked grin displayed across Zack's face. "We could always move him." He said putting an emphases on the "move". The dark haired nut wanted nothing more than to get his hands on anything; and quieted victim violence was his specialty.

Shadow sighed and shook his head. "Mm-No."

"No?"

"No. I don't wanna risk the chance of being seen; there's supposed to be a full moon tonight." He looked Zack directly in the eyes. "I'm not trying to go back to prison."

The violence lover rolled his eyes. "Shadow puleeze, we won't be caught."

Zell remained silent listening to the two of them bicker. He didn't care how they went about getting in as long as they did. 'Wait a second...' Looking up, he took notice of the iron ladder hanging just above their heads and the lengthy balcony's and stairs higher up.

"The fire escape..." He said quietly.

The two glanced at Zell from his sudden words, then they looked up realizing what he had said. A smile spread across their face over the idea of the things they could accomplish ran through their mind.

"Yeah, but which place is this Cid's?" Asked Zack.

"Hello ." The doorman said as if on cue. The trio stood where they were, looking on, as a tall blond man walked up to the large building. His hair was short and spiked on top of his head, the guy's face was slightly covered by reforming beard fuzz.

Cid was wearing a long black coat that came down to his knees and long black pants to match. He seemed luxurious to say the least, but it was probably all flash and show for the world. Zell wasn't really interested in robbing the guy, no. He had other plans for him.

A dim glint jumped through the young blond's eyes and he was tempted to charge right over there and beat the man like a drum, but Shadow's hand came down on his shoulder pulling him back to attention.

The thief had a finger in front of his lips and he pointed up. Then, wrapping his arms around Zell's shoulders like a hug, the leader of the small group of thieves whispered. "Me and him are gonna make a scene; you sneak up the fire escape and see if you can find the guy's place."

When moving back out of the embrace, Zell nodded to show that he understood.

"I'll let you know the floor number." He smacked him on the shoulder then pointed a finger in his face. "Don't get caught. Okay?"

"Yeah, go ahead." Zell said in a hurry.

Cid looked to be moving inside now and there was a chance they'd miss the elevator number. Slipping over to his left, Zell hid on the side of the building.

"Show time." Shadow thickened his voice then shoved Zack into the building shouting. "ASSHOLE! I warned you not to come into my territory!"

"I'll go anywhere I damn well want," Shouted Zack in an equally gruff voice. The two of them began their mock fight, shoving each other and shouting profanities left and right while moving closer and closer to the entrance of the apartment.

Cid glanced at them thinking. 'Worthless street rats.' Going into the building he closed the door and the doorman made sure to lock it after him.

"Listen you're going to have to take this someplace else." The man began, keeping his voice low. He was trying to show that he was in no way trying to intimidate them but just sort of move them away from the building.

"And who the fuck are you talking to?" Zack asked shoving the man.

The doorman held his hands up in defense, muttering over and over that he didn't want any trouble. The two thieves turned their attention to the poor frightened man shouting in his face about how they can do what they want, wherever they want to.

Zell laughed to himself watching the cowardly man shrink away from his two friends. His face faded back to serious, and he started up the fire escape ladder. The way the apartment was set up was for in case of a fire, you are to leave your place and, once out into the hall, you then go out the window onto the fire escape rather than everyone trying to go down one small section assigned to your row.

All the while they were arguing with the man, Shadow watched through the glass doors. He has a nice view of the elevator and sees the numbers on the panel going up, stopping on the fourth floor. "We've been living in this neighborhood, for FOUR long years."

That was all Zell needed and he sped up the stairways to the fourth floor hallway. Peeking into the windows one by one, he chose a window that was behind the elevator Cid had taken. He ducked down but raised himself up on his toes high enough to peek inside.

Bing! Sounded the elevator coming to a stop.

'There he is.' Noted Zell.

Cid glanced in the direction of the windows but paid no real attention to them as he started through the hall to his room. Crouching, Zell followed the man until he saw a door open.

'F4.' He quickly lowered himself out of view before Cid slightly turned, looking over his shoulder. Letting out a quick breath, Zell started down the fire escape seeing that a cop had shown up asking what the ruckuss was all about.

"This guy says we can't get in to see my old man because he's never seen us before." Shadow lied.

"Is this true?" Asked the cop, giving the confused doorman the eye.

The doorman began to stammer, shaking his head rapidly. "N-noo, no. I was just trying to get them away from the building because they were fighting... I... I didn't want any trouble." The man insisted.

It was time for the cop to play who's telling the truth; Zack jabbed Shadow in the ribs getting his attention.

"You know what," Shadow was saying, after making a show of really looking at the building. "I've got the wrong building. Shit. It's my fault. Sorry." The delinquent pair ran off, leaving both the cop and the doorman scratching their head.

"Now what do you suppose that was all about?" The officer asked placing his hands on his hips, he suddenly brushed them down his buttucks. "What the...? Hey! My wallet's gone!"

"Mine too." The doorman noticed.

"Get back here you punks!" The cop shouted.

The three teens tore down the streets laughing all the way to the town park. Once reaching it they all ran behind a large patch of bushes, hiding hunched over and laughing. "They're making that way to easy." Zack mused, flipping the cop's wallet open. "Officer Brea." He laughed taking the money out.

"What about this one, Christopher Lewis." Said Shadow. "This guy has ass-kisser written all over him." Emptying the wallet, he dropped it on the grass beside the cop's. The duo spoke about something uncomprehensable, then they turned to Zell.

"Did you get the number?" Asked Zack.

"What... Ye-yeah." The blond replied. He wasn't feeling so good. The sun had began to come out from behind the rain clouds. Parting the puffy white bursts spilling its golden rays along the streets in large and small patches.

Both Shadow and Zack looked at Zell with curiousity. They were no experts, but they could tell when someone looked like shit run over. "Hey, Zell..." Shadow inched closer to him scooting across the grass on his butt. "You all right?"

Zell held his fist up to his mouth and coughed into it. "Yeah..." He coughed again. "Yeah I'm fine." But he continued choking out loud, chest straining coughs. His breathing wavered from even to heavy and ragged at a rapid pace. His eyes looked drained of their darkish blue color.

The raven haired thief glanced at his companion, silently asking what they should do? But he wasn't given any answers.

"Look, if you want some water, there's a fountain over there." The panicked brunet pointed past them.

"Hhhh...uuggg...aahaagg..." Zell's breathes were being cut off now and he grabbed at his throat leaning himself over onto a hands and knees position. "Ca...ca...Uuuggghhh." A clear liquid slid from the teen's mouth, oozing down in a thick long stream.

Shadow and Zack's eyes grew like saucers. They had never seen someone throw up saliva before!

Standing, Shadow walked the short distance to Zell and started patting his back. "Seriously.. Are you all right?" He was saying lowly.

The more Zell tried to speak, the thicker the strange liquid became as it drained out of him. Zell's body began to suddenly tremble, he was clearly having trouble breathing never being given a break from the piles of puke coming from his mouth. The panicking blond frantically began to pull at it, struggling to get it off his hands as well as out of his mouth. Frantic now the blond shoved his friend's arms away and stood, backing up with every inch that he pulled free from his mouth.

The thief duo didn't know what to do! Calling for help wouldn't do any good... So... what was there?

"Aaahh, aahhh... hhhuuu... huuu..." Zell's feet had stumbled over something knocking him to the ground.

Shadow and Zack watched as Zell writhed and rolled over the grass; then finally a loud final cough left expelled from their friend before he just stopped moving.

"Zell!" Shadow stood up and ran over to him, dropping to his knees. He helped Zell to his feet.

Zell panted heavily, his breathing shaky, but... whatever that was seemed to have stopped and his breaths were returning back to normal.

Shadow looked at Zell with concern. The color in Dincht's cheeks were still flushed pinkish with pale white splotches as though he had a rash. "Hey, man, you ok?" Asked Shadow, his voice was flooded with concern.

Zell said nothing in response, he just continued to catch his breath and restore oxygen to his brain. They laid Zell out over a dry area of grass. The clouds moved apart a bit further shining the bright sunlight down along the trio.

"Aahh..." Zell cried out, curling into a ball. He covered his head with his arms and rolled away from Shadow's grasp. "Aaa... GET OFF!" He snapped pushing the incoming arms away.

"...Zell I was just gonna..." The brunet began.

Zell pulled himself to his feet and dashed off holding his sides. The ditched pair looked dumbfounded as they watched him escape.

"...What... the fuck was that?" Zack asked bewildered.

Shadow shook his head with a shrug. He'd never seen somebody freak out before.

Looking at his lover then back to where Zell had disappeared to, Zack took a step forward asking. "Should we follow him?"

Shadow shook his head. "No, let's just leave him alone for now." Turning to the exit of the park. "He'll come back before the hit tonight." Waving a hand for Zack to follow him, they departed the park area.

Zell dashed through the streets, running faster than he thought he could. His whole body hurt as though he were being burned alive from the inside out. He had to find shade! The frightened blond came to a staggered hault underneath a large tree with a lot of leaves shading off a little of the area. Two picnickers screamed when Zell practically dropped his weight down on them and started sucking his forearm.

"Gross!" The teenaged girl cried out.

"Hey, buddy, back off!" Said her boyfriend.

Zell hadn't seemed to hear either of them as he continued sucking his arm deeper and deeper until he broke his skin. "Mmm..." He hummed tasting the salty blood that poured from the cuts.

The two teens had seen enough and ran off scared.

The liquid from his blood seemed to relax him and his sucking calmed down to a slower pace until he stopped all together. Panting, Zell wiped a sleeve across his mouth glad that his shirt was red this time, so nobody would look at him funny if they saw it.

'What's gotten into me?' Zell wondered feeling tears well in his eyes. 'Am I going crazy? Or maybe it's just heat stroke - no, it's going on winter now.' A brief flash of Squall ran through his mind and he shook it off. 'It can't be... He would tell me something like that wouldn't he?'

He hoped so. Rolling over, Zell felt a stab of pain and stopped his movements. "Rrrr." He cursed. 'Okay, bad idea. I'll just lay here for a while.'

Zell looked up in the direction of the sun. He closed his eyes, then swallowed hard, feeling sweat beads roll down his forehead.

'Since when did it get so damned hot, ahaha...' He coughed again but only for a moment.

He'd planned on lying there a lot longer than allowed, but in the distance he heard the girl's voice saying: "He's over here, officer."

'Great.' Rolling onto his stomach Zell got up, as painful as it was, and dashed off again before he could be seen.

"Right here," The girl was getting closer. "You see... Hey, where is he?"

Looking around the cop crossed his arms over his chest, and scoffed at her. "Ma'am, you and your boyfriend have a good day." He turned away leaving them alone. "And don't make anymore false claims." He forewarned.

The woman made a strangled sound in her throat and crossed her arms in a huff.

"It's all right sweetie." Her boyfriend said wrapping his arms around her.

Zell kept an eye over his shoulder as he ran. He didn't wanna be arrested anytime soon. It was almost as if he knew what it was like and didn't wanna repeat the mistake.

Stopping by a tree, Zell held his sides from the pain. He was scared, really scared but the only thing that would make him comfortable right now is... Locke. Tears began to flood his face again. 'Why did I have to bring him back up... I was doing so well up until now.' His body shook gently as he cried in silence. 'What am I gonna do...?'

Pushing off the tree he began to walk towards the school, he wasn't sure why he was going there but he had to see him... he had to see Locke.