THE ZELL DINCHT COLLECTION

WARNINGS

1) I do not own Zell, Squall, Rinoa, Irvine, Seifer, Selphie, Irvine, Quistis, or any other character I may mention from the FF8 series. I may add some more characters, which are mine. If you steal them, I probably won't find out about it. I also do not own most of the towns, monsters, etc… used in this story.

2) This was written cause Zell is the coolest character ever to be created in the FF series. It's rated NC-17 for mostly sex, but there is also some language and violence.

3) This is a yaoi story. If you are offended by yaoi, or don't know what it is, I suggest you leave. You have been warned.

Ok think I got everything. Just read it and leave me some feedback. If you flame me I'll find it funny, so do whatever the hell makes you feel good.

CHAPTER 12: Lions Bite

The blonde put his hands behind his head. It was a peaceful ride. There wasn't much conversation, but Zell enjoyed it, as it was much quicker then a T-board. Squall parked the car at the car rental station, and the two SeeDs strolled out to explore the town. Strangely, the owners of the car rental weren't around, but they didn't worry too much about it. Nobody was going to tow them, and Zell knew them personally anyway.

"You care if I grab some stuff from home to bring to my room?" Zell asked, looking up to Squall.

"As long as it doesn't overstuff the car." As the two walked down the alleyway towards Zell's house, they became suspicious. The town was barren. Nobody was walking the town, or running the stores; even the lights were out in all the houses. This became especially scary when Zell reached his own house. It was pitch black.

"MA?!?" Zell yelled, opening the front door. No response. "The hell's going on?" Zell turned to Squall, but the Lion had suddenly disappeared too. With courage, the blonde decided to explore the dark house. Sunlight poured through the windows as the only form of light. He could only see to about the kitchen, and the rest dwelled in darkness. "MA?!?" Zell tried again. A figure emerged from the dark living room, but he realized at once that it wasn't Ma.

"Mommy's not home," smiled a soldier. He held Zell at gunpoint, and Zell slowly raised his hands. Judging his uniform, Zell could immediately tell that the man wasn't Estharian, Galbadian, or a Dollet soldier. He seemed to be much more primitive. His clothes were a simple camouflage of green and yellow. Zell's first guess was Dollet, but then he realized it wasn't even a uniform. More of tattered clothe.

"What the hell did you do?" Zell snapped, staring the man in the face.

"Let's take a walk." Zell could have easily wasted the weak soldier, but his forgetfulness got the best of him. He left his gloves back in his dorm. Sure, Zell could have still beaten the man to a pulp without his gloves, but he had a gun. If he didn't knock the guy out on his first swing, he'd be swallowing bullets. Magic and GF was out of the question too. Zell didn't want to burn down his own house, and what if there was an entire army here? A giant thunderbolt would draw a crowd. The blonde could have done a lot of things, but he was SeeD; he wasn't stupid. So Zell reluctantly listened to the militant.

"Where the fuck's Squall?" One thing Zell learned when he fought next to Squall in Dollet was that Squall was truly the Lion. Hell, Zell didn't consider him a Lion, he considered him a monster. Squall was quiet, sly, and would sink his gunblade into enemies before they even realized he moved. Zell didn't fear many people, but he feared Squall. This Lion had fangs. The blonde rivaled Squall in power, but not in strategy. The brunette had a brilliant mind. He knew his enemies weak points, and could turn their Achilles ankle into a gaping wound. If you didn't keep your eyes on Squall at all times, he could easily disappear. Knowing this, Zell knew the Lion was prowling, but still would rather have him here.

"Get down on the floor!" the soldier commanded. Zell did as he was told, and the man tied his hands behind his back. He then led Zell outside the house. The blonde looked around for Squall, but he was nowhere to be found. "Keep moving." The man jammed his gun into Zell's back, pushing him down the alley. Zell spit in retaliation, but that was about the best he could do. He realized that the man was taking him to the docks. As he was being led, the blonde noticed the army's objective. They were ransacking every store and house in town. It was a public, organized, mass burglary. There seemed to be about 50 or so soldiers as Zell saw. Not much of an army, but Balamb wasn't much of a town. The thieves' goal seemed to be speed. They knew that as soon as the Garden found out about this, SeeD would slaughter them. So the dock was lined with speedboats. Big enough for one person, they were perfect for getting away in a hurry.

"Found another civilian," the soldier muttered, and pushed Zell in front of his superior.

"Put him with the rest," the captain nodded over to the right. Zell followed his glance, and saw the huddle of the 100 + townspeople. They were tied up, but not gagged. He noticed a single guard kept watch over the group as he was thrown down to sit next to them.

"Zelly," Ma cried from behind him. The blonde scooted over to his mom and leaned against her. She was obviously terrified, and frankly, who wouldn't be? "Thank Hyne you're here."

"It's okay Ma," Zell comforted.

"Are you ok?" she cried. "Did they do anything to you?"

"No Ma I'm fine." She let out a sigh of relief, and Zell let silence take hold for a few minutes. When he saw her breathing return to normal, he considered it okay to start questioning her. "What happened?"

"I don't know I…I heard yelling outside, and then…then a man came in our house with a gun," Ma tried. She had become riled again, and was fighting back tears. "They tied us up…and threw us down here." Ma lost the fight. The tears started to flow down her face, and Zell felt bad for prying so early.

"It's okay Ma. It's okay." She put her head on Zell's shoulder and sobbed. "Poor Ma."

"Said they were from Dollet," Zell's neighbor butted in. The man knew Zell was their last hope of getting free and was determined to give him as much information as possible.

"They lied to you." Zell nodded to him. "Dressed too shabby to be Dollet."

"Hey no talking," the watchman growled over to them. Zell rolled his eyes. Some loser guard wasn't going to stop him from holding a simple conversation.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here," Zell smiled to the group.

"What'd I just tell you?" the guard glared, now approaching the blonde. "You seem to have a thing for disobedience." Zell took to his feet, and faced the guard. "Brave are we?" The man raised his gun and held it at Zell's neck. "Do we want to be an example?"

"Zell no!" his mom yelled, but the blonde was too pissed. When the guard looked down at Ma, Zell broke the flimsy rope, and decked the guard. Wherever these people were from, they didn't know how to tie knots. The guard hit the floor with a thud, and, Zell quickly grabbed his gun. It didn't take long for the other soldiers in the dock area to realize a revolution was occurring, and were soon sprinting to Zell.

"Drop your weapon!" they yelled. Seeing he was outnumbered, Zell grabbed the unconscious guard. He knew the only way out was to start taking hostages.

"Leave now, and I'll let your little buddy live," Zell replied, nodding towards the boats. The captain of the operation stepped up, and began to rationalize the situation.

"Boy, let's not do anything stupid."

"How much do you treasure this guy's life?" Zell sneered, raising his gun to the man's head. The captain wasn't amused.

"Every minute you waste, someone dies," the captain threatened. "Let's start with her." He pointed to Ma Dincht, and a soldier quickly picked her up by the hair. "You seem to be fond of this one." Zell was in deep shit.

"YOU KILL HER, HE DIES, YOU ALL DIE!" Zell yelled.

"We'll see abo…" the captain started, but never finished his sentence. The soldier who held Ma Dincht hostage was cut through, and then a gunshot from a gunblade blew the captain off his feet. The Lion had found his Antelope. Zell capitalized on the situation, and used a fire spell to paralyze the shocked guards. Squall took three swipes of his gunblade and cut down three on looking soldiers. A blast from his gunblade took down a fourth. Zell grabbed a gun, and took out anyone even in close proximity to Squall. Meditating, Squall summoned Quezacotl in no time, who, with a flash of lightning, took down the original army of 50 somewhere close to 20.

"SEED! SEED!" the soldiers yelled, and dispersed to their speeders. Squall cut down the soldiers who were slow to their boats with some swift movements of his gunblade, and Zell fired spell after spell at the escaping speeders. In all, only ten speeders got away. 39 slain, and 1 unconscious remained on Balamb's docks. Operation Liberation, as Zell called it, was a success.

"Squall," Zell cried, pulling his friend into a big embrace. "Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you-thank-you-thank-you." Squall tried to break away, but Zell wouldn't let go of him.

"Get off," Squall tried pushing the blonde's head away, but to no avail. His eyes then fell upon the townspeople, who were still tied up, but looked up to him with amazement. "Um…I came to buy some clothes," Squall muttered, trying to explain himself. Zell laughed, looking at the townspeople's stares of awe. He helped untie them, and they all gave him a hug. They found it harder to hug Squall however. Have you ever tried to hug a lion? Hard thing to do.

"You okay Ma?" Zell hugged her. She was the first person he untied. She nodded, and tried her best to regain her composure. "I'm taking her home," he told Squall. The brunette nodded. Zell trusted him to clean up here. Returning to his house, he led Ma up to her room, and let her try to calm down. He stayed beside her until she fell asleep, and then took a quick look around the house. A couple of drawers were open, but upon inspection, the important stuff seemed intact. If they did steal anything, they did one crappy job. Satisfied, Zell decided it best to return to Ma's side. He was sidetracked by a knock at the door however.

"Squall," Zell muttered, letting him in. The brunette had two overstuffed bags in his hands, and Zell couldn't help but chuckle. They must have given him every article of clothing in town.

"Contacted the garden," Squall started, ignoring Zell's smile. "They want us back ASAP." The smile left Zell's face.

"So we're abandoning town for those thieves to just come back?!?" Zell shot, eyes wide.

"I had them send two more SeeD's to keep order."

"But what about Ma?" Zell whined.

"Tell your neighbors. The garden just wants a report; you'll be able to come back tonight." Disappointed, Zell nodded. He headed upstairs and woke Ma up.

"I got to go for only and hour or so," the blonde told her reluctantly. "I'll be back tonight. I promise." Ma understood, and nodded. Zell gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead. "I'll have the neighbors keep an eye on you."

"Thanks Zelly," she smiled to him. He smiled back, and taking a deep breath, left Ma.

"Ready?" Squall asked, still downstairs on the couch.

"Yeah," Zell sighed, and led Squall back to the car. He made his neighbors promise to watch over Ma, and hopped in the car with Squall. As the car drove away, Zell realized…he never got his laptop.