Zee finally got back to the house somewhere close to midnight, carrying a little brown sack over her shoulder, her skin stained with dirt and scrapes. She very carefully tip-toed to the house door, saw that there was one lone light on in the living room--they must have left it on for her so that she could see at night--and fumbled with her coat pocket to produce the key to the house. She slipped it into the keyhole very quietly and turned to the left. The door clicked and pushed itself open. She very lightly, pulled the key back out and stepped into the house, closing the door very quietly behind her.
"Hey." She looked into the living room and there was Zell sitting on the reclining chair--except not reclined--remote in his hand. "Where'd you go?"
"Shh!" she muttered. "I don't want to wake them up." Zeku knew they usually slept pretty early--a little too early for her own personal taste.
"Oh, they went out... all left to see some movie, coming back later," Zell said. He looked at Zeku and she blinked. "I didn't feel like going... I think Squall and Irvine just want to enjoy themselves tonight. We're leaving tomorrow. No choice." Zell actually seemed a little sad, but he averted his attention from her to the television to try and suppress it. Zeku dropped her little brown sack onto the floor and took of her shoes, setting them by the door. "So where'd you go?"
"Oh um... well I recognized that one of those bandits had run off smiling, that's when I realized they had something of mine..." she shuffled her hand through the sack until she found what she was looking for and held it out for him to see. "This necklace." She held it admiringly, the shiny silver chain with the design of a rose in a heart hanging daintily off its end. Zell's eyes lighted to it--that was the exact necklace he'd given Lina as a gift a while ago...when they were still together...when they were both still so happy. "Nifty isn't it? I don't remember where it's from, but I'm really fond of it." She held the design between her fingers and smiled a little at it.
"Yeah...it's nice," Zell said, then looked at her while she admired the silver design. "You don't remember anything about it?" She looked up at him with her coffee brown eyes--those beautiful wide and curious eyes--and shook her head wistfully. "I see..." Zeku smiled subtly at him, then headed down the hallway to her room.
She was a mess and she knew it. Usually she wouldn't care much, but today she did, so she went ahead and took a shower, blow-dried her hair, and changed into her pajamas: a plain pink T-shirt that read "GEEK" across the front and "Jason Mraz" on the corner in the back, and plaid pajama pants. Meanwhile, Zell just sat outside in the living room, pretending to watch TV, but really just too focused on his thoughts. What would he do tomorrow? Could he stop them from taking her things from her room? He decided he'd take her things for the time-being and store them in his room. If he must. He would come back and try to convince her to go back to Garden anyway--at least to get her stuff. And if she would decide that she wanted to go back to Spira...Zell would go back with her.
Zee finally came out of her room and down the hallway again, but instead of going into the living room, she turned left into the kitchen. Zell watched her go, wondering what she was cooking up. He heard her pouring water and the sound of cups hitting the title, then she walked out of the kitchen right past him to the door, slipped her sandals on, and walked right on outside.
Zell waited for a second, but she did not come back in, so he decidedly stood from his comfortable seat, flipped on his sneakers and went outside also. He didn't so her anywhere. He walked around to the other side of house, but she was not there either. He was about to give up until he heard, "Up here." He spun around and saw Zeku's petite figure sitting right there on the roof. "You like to watch the stars too?"
"Yeah," Zell said, then tried to see how she got up there. It wasn't difficult--there was a large pile of crates upon crates leading right up the roof that was pressed against the wall. Zell began his ascent rather hastily.
"Careful, some of the boxes are empty," she told him and he slowed down a bit, until he found an easier route to maneuver himself up onto the roof next to her. Conveniently there were a couple of dents up there that served perfectly as seats. "Tidus and the others were practicing blitzball a while back, and during Tidus's Jecht Shot, he missed the goal and hit the roof." Zell was silent, maybe catching his breath. The two of them gazed up at the sky for a long time, watching the sea of stars shimmer along with the waxing moonlight. "Tea?" Zeku offered her mug to him. "It's very light...I'm kind of tired." He looked at it for a second, then took it.
"Thanks," he said and took a sip. "You do this often?" He watched as Zeku nodded under the brilliant moonlight. Zell took another sip.
"Whenever I get the chance to." Zeku turned her head to look at him and by the reflection of the moonlight in her eyes, Zell could see just how weary they were. She blinked and lifted the edges of her lips up in what she tried to pull off as a smile. Zell smiled back, took another sip, and observed her as the edges of her lips slowly turned down again and she looked towards the sky. How he longed to have those eyes, those lips, and a smile like that, but fuller and genuine. "Do you think..." she paused and contemplated her words while Zell looked in her direction. "Do you think the moon ever gets lonely up there by itself?"
Zell thought for a moment, taking another sip of the warm tea, then said, "of course not! Look at all the stars up there. It's got plenty company." He saw that she was kind of shivering, so he handed the mug back to her.
She took it and kind of squinted her eyes up at the moon while she took a mouthful of tea, "But the stars are all so far away. What if the moon can't see the stars? I mean... what if they're out of reach?" Zeku looked at Zell with tears in her eyes and Zell was startled. He saw the pained look in her eyes, the passion in her tears, the maturity in her gaze. He looked at her lips and remembered all those times he'd drank from their splendid fountain, and he blinked and looked into her eyes and realized she that she could not recollect it even once.
"Zeku..." She smiled again, this time embarrassed, wiped her tears as if they were it was the most ridiculous thing for her to cry, then breathed out a forced chuckle.
"Sorry...It's just hard sometimes..." she looked down at her mug, then sniffed her nose clear. Up in the sky, a lone cloud went and squandered her view of the waxing moon. She sighed, then looked at Zell, "Ready to go in?" Zell looked at her for a moment with his caring gaze, then nodded. He started to climb down first, careful not to step into any empty crates, then lent a hand to Zeku who barely needed his help since she was just so used to it already. Slowly, they waltzed side by side back into the house.