She pressed her way through the trees and saw it--Garden lying beautiful and glowing like a dream. It was late, and the gate was closed, but Garden was her home; she knew its weak spots here and there, so she headed towards the back where the domain of the Dormitory was and she jumped the guard fence with ease. Lina slipped into the shadow in fear that appointed guards were on duty and snuck in towards the Instructor Dormitory area down the hall to her immediate left.
Lina backed into the hallway, intending on breaking into her own room with a hairpin and crashing for the night, but she wasn't watching her front and suddenly crashed into someone. She squealed, but jumped back, in a stance and ready to fight. In the shadows, it would be difficult to aim her blows, but under the little moonlight there was, she'd manage. The person made no move to attack, only stood in its shadowy place with little movement.
"Lina?" she heard him say, and she immediately stood up straight, relaxed. "What are you doing here?" Lina blinked--that voice--could it be?
"Zell, you're awake? It's late!" she exclaimed. They both stepped into the moonlight to see each others' faces. "How did you know it was me in the dark?"
"I recognized your recoil, and your stance," he chuckled, but before he could finish his sentence, she flung her arms around him. Zell blinked, then held her tight and took in fully her embrace. "Hey, hey now. What's wrong? What happened?" She didn't say anything, just held on to him for the time being. Then she realized how awkward it must be for him (remembering they weren't together) and she jumped back. "Come inside, it's getting cold out." Lina gave him somewhat of a funny look and he chuckled--he was expecting a strange look considering the way he just put that down. "You know what I mean. Just as friends, now let's go, we'll talk about it inside."
"Okay," Lina smiled, and she let him pull her into his room which was a very noticeable few degrees warmer. Zell tossed a little backpack he was carrying with him onto the couch, flipped the lights on, and stretched the way he always did after coming back from the Training Center. "Why are you up so late? It must be almost midnight." Zell turned around and just kind of looked at her with a lazy, admiring smile on his face. Lina could instinctively feel herself flush red.
"I don't know," he finally said. "I haven't slept much lately. So come here and take a seat." He pat his hand on the back of a chair and pulled up one himself to the little coffee table. Lina waddled over, all smiley, while Zell got a good look at her. "Wow, your hair's grown out." She nodded and sat herself down, and smiled subtly. "Don't worry it looks great. What I'm a little more concerned about is why you're wearing a bathrobe."
"Ahhh... very long story," Lina blushed. "I'm staying with the Suzaku Seven and Miaka, but Nuriko had this brilliant idea to go frolic in the woods in the middle of a rainstorm. We all got soaked and by the time we came back, it was dark, and all that was left to do was shower..." Zell nodded, and watched her rub her forehead in contemplation as she continued with her story. "Um...then I was out on the porch and thinking about..." you, but she didn't say it. "Things I guess..." she took a break to look up at Zell.
"Mm hmm, keep going," he said. Lina smiled--she couldn't quite explain the look on Zell's face if she tried, but he had a lazy expression in his misty blue eyes and gave her the impression he was more or less idling off even though he wasn't. His smile was warm as always, but she didn't have a word to describe it exactly. He was smitten--and wondering to himself--was this a dream? That he would bump into Lina in the hallway around midnight?
"What are you all smiley about?" she asked, as if something were amusing.
"Nothing, nothing, just keep going," he said. Lina gave him a strange look, and he chuckled. "Right, so you were on the porch."
"Right...well um... Chichiri joined me on the porch to see what was wrong," she said very carefully, and Zell's smitten smile faded into a serious concern in his eyes that she could sense even though she wasn't making eye contact. "He asked me what I thought love was." She looked up at him for just a second then looked away as she mumbled, "then he kissed me." It was quiet for a second. "I freaked out mainly because...well... I don't think of him like that...so I jumped the fence and ran for it."
"Did you tell him that?" Zell asked. Lina looked up at Zell who was red in his face and ears. Lina nodded. "I see..." Zell wasn't smiley anymore--in fact, he looked a little bit sad. Zell stretched his arms and tucked his hands behind his neck. "It's getting pretty late... let's get some rest." Lina nodded and started heading for the couch, but Zell stopped her. "Whoa, hey, what are you doing?"
"Sleeping on the couch?" she suggested, but Zell laughed and shook his head.
"No...it's alright." She blinked at him. "What?? It's a very large bed...A man needs his space, but I can sacrifice my space for you tonight. You get the other side." Zell pulled the sheets up and for the time being tossed them aside while he sat on his bedside and took his gloves off. Lina rather shyly slipped around to the other side.
"Well...alright," Lina said as Zell plopped himself down and momentarily shut his eyes. Lina sidled under the covers of the other side and faced him; she knew she would have been on the couch if she didn't trust him as much as she did. She got comfortable by wiggling around a little bit, then Zell opened his eyes and smiled. "So. What have you been up to lately?"
"Just stuff. Actually nothing really," Zell scoffed and tucked a hand under his pillow. "Class in the morning, your class which is boring now, lunch, then a lot of idle time where I usually go to the training center because there's nothing better to do. Then I'll come back and rest... actually I really don't sleep much."
"How come?" Lina asked as she dug her cheek deep into the pillow. Zell smiled at her, but shrugged. She was the reason. Since she'd left, he felt restless and couldn't sleep at all, but since she was here right then, right there, he finally felt at ease. "Well, that's not good." No it's not, he wanted to say. That's why you should stay and not leave anymore. "How is everyone doing?"
"Eh...Squall's been getting on my nerves, but not on Rinoa's that for sure. We finally caught them making a PDA in the Quad. Quistis is actually really busy; she's been getting some kind of promotion that's been keeping her out all day, but we all kind of suspect she's just out to see a guy...kind of about time though. Dan and Karen aren't doing much--it's sad that you can't be here with them. Irvine and Selphie don't change... and Seifer is just a bastard," Zell yawned into his pillow, then blinked at her with kind of a goofy smile on his face. He struggled with himself for a moment before finally deciding to tell her, "I miss you, Lina. I'm really glad you're here right now."
Lina just smiled. Of course she missed him too, more than ever, but the point in her leaving was so that they'd forget her--so that they'd be safe from who she was and what trouble trailed behind her. Zell didn't falter; he could tell she missed him, but he knew she wouldn't admit it openly. "Goodnight, Zell."
"Goodnight, Lina."