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's also some language and violence.

3) This is a yaoi story. If you are offended by yaoi, or don't know what it is, then 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 14: Impending Challenges

(***********)

"So what do we know," Cid grumbled, after the soldier had been escorted out of his office. He planned on finding that student who blew his cover. That child might have caused the garden a war. There would be discipline. "Where do you think he came from?"

"Esthar's out. He didn't look or act like one. And he seemed to think he could get home by tomorrow. There's no way you can get from Dollet to Esthar in a day." Cid accepted Squall's logic, as they slimmed down the possibilities.

"So what's that leave us?"

"I'd focus on the Galbadia towns: Deling, Winhill, Timber. We should also look to Galbadia Garden. They might know something."

"Exactly Squall," Cid nodded. "Good plan." There was a brief pause, as both tried to think of something else they got out of the conversation. "Oh yeah, how does Forest Spiders strike you?"

"No clue," Squall looked up. He shook his head and returned his glance to the ground "Too many unanswered questions."

"Time is our best ally now." Cid looked at his clock, and realized that it was getting late. "Sleep on it son, and try to get me a report in the morning." The brunette nodded, and headed for the door. "Oh yes, Squall?"

"What?"

"Today you made some of the best intellectual decision I've seen in a while."

"Thank you sir."

"Keep up the good work."

Squall nodded, and left the headmaster to his plans for handling the situation.

"What a day," Cid thought, collapsing into his chair.

(***********)

The Dincht Residence did not awaken until 11:00 the next morning. Zoe was supposed to have classes today, as it was a Friday, but after yesterday's events, she knew the garden wouldn't be holding them. It had been a pretty crappy week. For three days, she only had a half-day of school. Puma was supposed to have a full five-day week, but that had been cut down to 1½ day. Too many things happened at once. It was a crazy.

"What do you want for breakfast honey?" Ma Dincht asked from the kitchen.

"Eggs and bacon," Zell replied. He was still hovering over his laptop. The triple triad game presented him a challenge, but he continued to get stronger cards. Zoe eventually awoke to the smell of breakfast, and made her way downstairs. "Mornin Zoe,"

"Mornin Zell," she replied. She yawned, and obviously wasn't awake yet. Ma had finished making breakfast, and after the three ate, Zell and Zoe began to get ready for a return to the garden. Zell was satisfied; his mother looked in much better condition then yesterday. Ma wasn't SeeD; she wasn't prepared for this kind of shit. Zell was just glad he was there for her though. If Squall hadn't suggested going to Balamb for the day, Ma and the rest of the town would be in much worse shape.

"Don't think about that," Zell told himself. He had returned to his room to pack up some stuff he could take to his dorm. He grabbed his PS2®, an office chair, some posters, and his DVD player. Lugging all of it down the steps, Zell and Zoe said their goodbyes to Ma, and returned to the car.

There wasn't much to say on the way home, as they were both in a pretty good mood. The horrible day had turned out all right. When they got to the garden, the attack was all the buzz, but Zell decided to ignore the continual questions.

"What happened Zell?" Selphie questioned him for the fourteenth time that day. She had tried Squall last night, but there was no hope there. Zell had to resort to locking her out of his room. A reasonable solution. Zell had only told Zoe and later Puma, whom he knew would keep quiet.

SeeDs remained their guard at Balamb, but after the first incident, nobody dared to try a second one. Life slowly returned to normal. Zell was becoming a good hall monitor, and made friends with many of the junior classmen. The blonde was lenient. If you were running in the halls, he wasn't going to give you a detention, but in a peaceful way, reprimand you. Squall, Selphie, and Zell began to spend more time together, as Zoe and Puma were continually caught up in schoolwork. Days rolled by into weeks, and September turned to October.

"Zell," came Puma from behind him. The blonde was holding his usual guard duty by the caf. Zell found it the best place to hang out, as the best bribes came out of the caf.

"Sup man!" Zell smiled, giving the kid a high five.

"You know what today is?"

"October the third I believe," Zell nodded, looking at his watch.

"Exactly!" Puma waited for a reaction, but got nothing out of the blonde.

"What? It isn't your birthday today is it?"

"No. November 4th. Remember that, I better get a big assed gift."

"Yeah yeah," Zell replied. He tried to pretend he all ready had it memorized, but he'd forget in two days again. "So what's today?"

"Not today, tomorrow." Zell used his long-term memory, but drew a blank. The only thing he had planned tomorrow was some sleeping, eating, and maybe a midday nap.

"I got nothing," Zell sighed after a while.

"Ugh…I've got my SeeD field exam."

"Ahhh…the old trip to the Fire Cavern." It all came back to Zell now. Puma told him something about SeeD two days ago, but it didn't sink in.

"Yeah, and you're going to come with," Puma grinned.

"Don't you have to take Trepe?" Zell raised an eyebrow.

"Nah, it says preferably an instructor, but you can take a SeeD too." Sounded good to Zell. He'd be able to get out, throw a couple of punches, and visit his old friend Ifrit. Zoe flashed into his mind though.

"Fuck it…if she wanted me to come, she would have asked…" Zell rationalized. "You're not getting me up early tomorrow are you man?"

"Nah, we can do it around noonish if you can get me out of class."

"You're going to have to talk to Trepe about that."

"Yeah she'll be cool about it, just make sure you say something to her so she knows you're in."

"Kay, I'll see what I can do."

The late bell interrupted the conversation. Puma glared at Zell with a look of despair.

"Fine here's a pass," he muttered handing it to him. "Noon tomorrow."

"Noon." They shook hands on it, and Puma scampered off to class. Zell sighed, and watched the redhead run down the hallway. It had been a long while since he visited the Fire Cavern. The blonde remembered his experience all too well. Trepe had also escorted him there, as she was his instructor. He was an eccentric child, and didn't exactly perform the field exam to perfection, but he did it well enough to get into SeeD obviously.

"Puma shouldn't have too much trouble." Zell trusted the kid. He had grown a little more muscle over the last month, and he could put up a fight. "Prolly could knock Seifer out now," the blonde thought. Puma hadn't slept over since the fall festival. This wasn't due to hate on either side, but more just awkwardness. The night sort of freaked out both of them. Zell definitely wasn't ready for a relationship, but with Puma becoming more appealing every day he saw him, Zell was almost ready to roll the dice again. Seeing another SeeD take post outside the Quad, Zell decided to take a little break. He returned to his dorm, and collapsed on the couch. The blonde lied there for a while, and realized his life sucked.

"So boring." He didn't join SeeD to play hall monitor; he joined to explore the world and fight. "Where the hell are the missions?" Zell sighed and sat up, his laptop catching his attention from the coffee table. He had been able to move a couple more things in over time, and his dorm was becoming more and more his home. Pulling the mini PC on top of him, Zell booted it up, and checked his mail.

"Junk, Junk, Garden newsletter," The next letter caught his attention however.

TO: ZDSeeDHotDog@GIO.com

FROM: guthardzj65159@Balambgarden.com

SUBJECT: Zelly Dincht

Hey Zell, got my magic paper done early, and I got some free time on the computer in the library. After visiting the three sites these fricken computers let you see, I thought of you. What's up? Nothing here. I only got like three more periods left today, and then I'm free. Hey, it's been a while since we've done anything. You want to get together tonight? No formal plans, I just wanna do something to get my mind off this school crap. Try to write me back, but if not, I'm just showing up at like sevenish. Happy Hall duty Zelly!

Zoe

Zell smiled and laughed. Zoe was always a good writer. She made you feel important and was just fun. It was true, Zoe was pretty hung up with work as of late, and he hadn't spent much time with her.

TO: guthardzj65159@Balambgarden.com

FROM: ZDSeeDHotDog@GIO.com

SUBJECT: RE: Zelly Dincht

Yeah that's cool. Stop by whenever, I'm bored out of my mind. I just got my PS2® hooked up, so you'll have to check that out. We can get something to eat if ya wanna too. Hopefully you'll get this, but I guess it really doesn't matter. See ya tonight.

Zell

Satisfied, Zell closed his mailbox, and checked up on some of his favorite bands and sports teams. Finding nothing new, the blonde shut down the laptop, and put it on the coffee table.

"No more hall duty today," Zell compromised with himself, taking off and throwing his SeeD shirt on the floor. "Did my part." Too comfortable to get up, Zell decided to take a little nap. He sunk into the plush leather, and eventually drifted off.

G-N-I-M-A-E-R-D

He took a look around. It wasn't a place he recognized. Barren would describe it well. The walls were painted white, but there was no furniture. He just found himself sitting in a corner. For some odd reason, he felt like looking for something. He didn't know where or what it was, but there was a desire to find it. There was a single door in the room, but it only could be opened from the outside. Disappointed, he sat back down against a wall. Where the hell was he? His thoughts stopped however, when he heard voices outside.

"Isle closest to Hell?" mumbled a young woman.

"Yes, don't worry. Its location is known to few."

"Excellent. You brought the dog didn't you?"

"Yes, he was…" The voices faded however, and were no longer audible. He strained his ears to hear more of the conversation, but he could only pick up words like "the, or, and".

"ZELL! ZELL! ZELL!"

G-N-I-M-A-E-R-D

The blonde awoke with a start. He considered it a nightmare, but couldn't really put his finger on what was actually frightening him. It was one of those dreams that only stay in the memory for five minutes. After that, he could barely remember what it was about.

"ZELL! ZELL! ZELL!" the calls continued from outside his room. The second thing Zell noticed was that it was a lot darker outside. Looking at his clock, he realized that it was 7:00.

"Zoe; that's right." Yawning and stretching, Zell got to his feet and opened the door for her.

"What took you so long?" she whined, walking towards the couch. Zell followed, and sat down next to her.

"Took a little nap."

"You look a little freaked. Nightmare?"

"Sort of, just one of those weird ones." Zell smiled up to her and laughed. She looked beat. He remembered the late nights of studying, and pushing himself beyond his intellectual limits. She carried a book under her arm, apparently still not completely done with her homework.

"Oh I have a question for you," she muttered, following his glance. "Article 7 Section 4 of SeeD code protects SeeDs how?"

"7-4, SeeDs never reveal their identity unless absolutely necessary," Zell recited. "People are more hostile towards mercenaries then civilians. Its easier for SeeDs to act as civilians unless in battle or critical situations.

"Whoa," Zoe exclaimed, quickly writing down everything Zell said. "That's amazing, how did you memorize that?"

"You don't know how badly I wanted to be a SeeD." He chuckled. "Go ask Squall, he knows every word of SeeD code."

"Ugh, I'll never memorize all this stuff," Zoe moaned. "I'll screw up on some stupid law during the final exam and not get in SeeD."

"Nah, just give it some time," Zell comforted. "It'll all sink in."

"I don't have time! The test's in two days."

"So what? I didn't pass my first one. If you fail it, study harder, and take it again in the spring."

"I'm not going to be here in the spring!" she cried, obviously upset.

"Shit, that's right." It was going to be rough for Zoe. Sure, the Fire Cavern was easy, but the final exam was tough. Zell barely passed it the second time he took it, and that was fighting a giant beast off a communications tower. First year garden members had a one in thousand shot at passing. "Then you gotta give it your all this time."

"That's helpful…"

"Sorry, you want me to lie?"

"No…" she admitted. "I just really want to stay here."

"If you fail it, there's bound to be a student exchange thingy next year, and you can stop by my house over the summer or something."

"You're such a jerk…" Zoe cried, hitting him hard in the arm. "That was so mean. Don't you even care?"

"Ow…" the blonde whined rubbing his arm. "Of course I care. I just don't want you to get your hopes up. It's a fact that you don't have a very good chance of getting in."

"You don't think I'm good enough…?"

"No…Puma doesn't have a good shot either. They usually don't take first years."

"Did you give him this same talk?"

"No…" Zell admitted. "But he hasn't brought the pity train over here either." That got him another hit in the arm.

"What do you mean 'pity train'?"

"Listen…I'm supporting you, but don't expect me to fill you with false promises."

"Well you're a great friend."

"I apologize for telling you the truth!"

"Well I bet you'll never tell Puma 'the truth'.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zell asked, suddenly swelling with anger.

"Nothing…I'm taking my 'pity train' elsewhere…"

"Good. Come back when the reality caboose comes into the station."

"Argh…" Zoe sighed, making her way to the door. "I've been caught up in a lot of work lately, and all I wanted was a little support!" Tears were starting to form in her eyes, which would usually cause Zell to soften. He was too pissed now though.

"I'm not going to build you up a happy fantasy land…face reality."

The redhead just shook her head, and let herself out. Right outside the door, she almost ran into Trepe, who was about to knock. "I hope you're facing reality…cause Zell's good at pointing it out today," Zoe spit, turning towards her dorm.

Zell just waved his hand at the puzzled Trepe. "She's holding a pity party and everyone's invited!"

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," she remarked, watching Zoe turn into her dorm. Zell didn't even dignify her a reply. "Um…well Puma told me you were taking him to the Fire Cavern tomorrow at noon and I was just making sure you were in too."

"Yes," Zell muttered.

"Okay well that's it. Hope you have a better night Mr. Dincht."

The blonde just nodded, and closed the door behind her. He knew very well what Zoe meant by him not telling this to Puma, but then Puma didn't come in and act like a drama queen either. "Women…" he muttered to himself. "Stupid little…thinks she's the only one with problems…" He shook his head, and went to bed angry.