Notes: Well, at least I'm done with the Odine speach for a little bit, but not for long. Ergh, I hate writing his talking, because I end up trying to write Zell's speach the same way. It's so damn confusing. Ergh. I just got back from another Dr. appointment. I had a blood test done, they are checking for a blood disease, how nice. I won't get the results back til' tomorrow though. I'll let you know what it says. Well, to those of you that care anyway! ~_^

Terminal Recovery

Chapter Fourteen - Snow and Rocks and David, Oh My!

By Tori Singer

Did you know that humming is actually good exercise for your throat? I didn't know that either, but I do now. I tilt my head a bit as I continue humming, driving the ship. David was finally in his seat, but he was deathly quiet. I almost thanked the heavens, but it's getting a little uncomfortable in here without his loud jabber.

I could see Trabia coming into the distance, the snowpeaked mountains glistening in the late afternoon light. I pulled out the map and glanced at it while trying to keep the ship steady. It was difficult, so I handed it over my head.

"Here, Matt, you read it." I feel him pull it out of my hands.

"Uhhh...." He was reading the map as far as I could tell, I was just trying to keep from crashing. I tapped my fingers on the side of the controls while waiting for directions. Getting a little impatient, I turn my head toward him briefly.

"Well?" I inquire, focusing on the altitude of the ship. Finally I hear more rustling.

"Um, according to this, the Polar Mountain is located somewhere near the ruins of Trabia Garden." I looked out at the scenery before remembering which direction that garden was in. I smoothly tilted the controls, guiding the ship north-west. I looked at David briefly before speaking.

"Hey, David, help me keep an eye out for the garden, alright?" He was just too quiet for my liking, so I thought I'd keep him busy. He doesn't say anything, but he looks out the large windows on the side of the cockpit. I'm pretty sure of the location, I just wanted a reason to pull David out of his thoughts. I suppose that he doesn't feel too good after all this flying.

I start humming again, looking among the treetops. Finally, I can see the trashed building of Trabia Garden. Poor students, they never did raise enough money to fix the garden, instead they transferred to my garden or Galbadia, or dropped out. The empty building has been here ever since. I look around the immediant surroundings, trying to find the right mountain.

"Hey, is the mountain we're looking for larger than all the others?" I finally ask, staring at the numerous mountain peaks. I hear Matt rustling around the paper again before he mumbles something.

"Well, it doesn't really say."

"What?!" I jump in my seat, the conrols coming out of my hands. David screams as we decend rapidly. I quickly take control again, my heart thumping a little fast. I hear David gasping for air.

"Zell! Don't do that!" He screams at me. I cower in my seat, avoiding his glare. I sigh and tilt the ship toward one of the mountains. I hate Odine and his vague directions, I really do.

Hours later, we'd checked at least ten different mountains. My eyebrow was twitching as David sang his heart out in the seat behind me.

"Where to, now?" I ask Matt, trying to ignore the 12th chorus of Three Blind Mice.

"Well, the mountain we're trying to find is supposedly the only one up here with a mine, so I would say it would be one of the smaller ones." Now we're getting somewhere. I scan the area, turning the ship around. There, at the end of the mountain chain was a rather small one, it looked kind of out of place. And, it was similar to the mountain we'd seen on the screen in the lab.

Getting closer, I could see a trail cut through the trees at the base of the mountain. That was a good sign. I lowered the ship next to the trail, getting an even closer look. David was standing behind me, peeking out the window.

"It looks like there's a hole in the side of the mountain! I think we found it!" Finally. I sigh and lower the ship on the ground, jolting us all. David stumbles but actually doesn't fall. He laughs loudly.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this flying thing!" I groan, that meant more singing on the way back. I kill the engine, locking the controls so that no one could mess with the ship while we were inside. Matt looks skeptical.

"Actually, why don't I stay here and watch the ship?" I'm taken aback by his sudden request. I felt a little suspicious.

"Why?" I ask, while David pouts at him. He shrugs.

"I just...don't like caves. It's a long story." I don't push it, I could trust him. I toss him the keys.

"Well, I'll hold you to that story when we come back!" I grin before leading David out of the cockpit. I still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling as we left the ship. I didn't know why I was so worried, Matt was my friend. I guess I'm not as trusting as I thought....

"I wonder why he wanted to stay? Do you know anything?" I ask David as we hiked up the big hill to the entrance of the cave. He shrugs before grinning.

"Well, one time I found a cave next to the river by Timber. I told Matt about it and that I wanted to explore it. He just freaked out." He ran ahead of me, laughing. Oh, it's a challenge, then. I start running, catching up to him quickly. I let him stay next to me for a while before speeding the rest of the way up the hill.

"Hey! NO fair cheater!" He teases me as I reach the gaping hole in the mountainside. There was a few wheelbarrels and some piles of rock. David comes panting up the hill, bending over next to me.

"Huff, you....gasp.....how can you..?" I grin at him before slapping him on the back, sending him to the ground.

"You should come to Garden, it would do wonders." I tease him, but he smiles up at me.

"Do you think I could?" I step back, I didn't think he'd take it seriously. I grinned, yeah I think he'd make it. He'd sure drive everybody nuts, well, except Selphie maybe. I shudder, they'd probably form a group of Annoying People or something like that. He frowns at me when I shudder again.

"I guess that's a no?" He smiles slightly before walking toward the entrance. I run to catch up.

"Wait! That's not what I meant!" I walked next to him as he looked around the cave.

"Oh, ok." Is all he says before walking toward one of the numerous tunnels. I sure hoped he knew where he was going....

Apparentally not. We've been walking around for an hour or so, and I couldn't find anything that resembled the blue crystal. David was humming loudly next to me, the sound echoeing loudly off the rock walls.

"500 bottles of beer on the wall! 500 bottles of beer!" Oh dear lord help me....

Another hour or so later, he was down to 5 bottles of beer. Finally. I turned down another tunnel, getting increasingly frustrated. This was getting us nowhere!

"Tch, knowing our luck the stones are deep inside the wall!" I shouted, watching David pull another stone off the wall and sticking it in his pocket. I'd noticed that he'd been doing that since the entrance. He catches me staring.

"What!? They're pretty! I thought I'd take Matt back some souveniers!" I roll my eyes, scanning the area. I still didn't see nothing. We came to another crossroad as David finished with 1 bottle of beer on the wall. Whew. Now I know why Matt didn't wanna come. The bastard.

"......1,000 bottle of beer on the wall! 1,000 bottles of beer!" Shoot me, please.

"Grumble, growl..." I place a hand on my stomach, leaning against the wall. David sat down next to me, sighing. Well, this was it, a damn dead end.

"I cannot believe this..." I complain in the empty, rocky hall. It was pretty dark except the small flashlight I had in my hand. Well, it was David's 'protection' as he calls it. I'm just glad he had one. I didn't think we'd be in this cave that long and didn't even think about a flashlight. I guess I am an irresponsible guy after all. I sigh, defeated.

David pulls out a few of the stones in his pocket. He was flipping them up into the air before catching them. I watched them closely in the dim light. I shined the small beam of light onto the stones as he continued to play with them. I widened my eyes before shining the light on the walls. Covering the walls in certain areas, were dull, blue stones. My eyebrow twitches dangerously.

"David?" I call sweetly. He stops throwing the stones and grins at me.

"Yes?" He looks at me innocently. I grin evilly, making him frown.

"What?" He asks, still holding the blue stones in his hand. I point to his hand, still grinning.

"W-where did you get those? Out of the walls, right?" I kept up my sweet facade as he nods happily. I pounce him, tumbling over the rocky floor.

"You MORON! Those are the stones we're looking for!" He whines under me, trying to push me off. We roll around a bit more, my anger flairing.

"I didn't know! I thought that we were looking for a BIG one!" I growl and throw David off of me before pouncing him again.

"Idiot! Dummy! Moron!" I insult him, flipping him to the side. He lands hard before getting up on his knees. He lowers his head.

"I-I'm sorry." I punch the ground with my fist.

"We could've been in and out of here in less than ten minutes!" I tell him, trying to restrain myself from nailing him to the wall. I glare at him but it quickly fades when I see his shoulders trembling. Uh oh.

"Oh, don't cry, man." I reach a hand out to him, feeling like an ass. He sobs for a minute, hiccuping afterwards.

"Why? You hate me!" He starts shaking again. I bite my lip, I can be an asshole sometimes. But still, he WAS a moron....well, that meant that I was one, too. I mean, I could've looked at the stones when he was putting them in his pocket. I could've asked, I could've done something. But no, I'm a jerk. I scoot closer to him.

"I'm sorry, David, I just lost my temper." I try to console him, but he flinches away from me. Oh man. Suddenly, the ground starts shaking slightly. I look around, but there's nothing there. The shaking turns to violent tremors.

"Shit! All of our hollering and fighting must've caused the ceiling to crumble!" I holler, watching a long crack form in the ceiling. I grabbed David's hand.

"We've gotta move, now!" I dragged him behind me as I ran back the way we came. I quickly got scared when I realized that I didn't remember which way we came. I stumbled against the trembling ground, trying to decide which way to go. One dead end and we're trapped. I pick one, hoping that I was right. I breathe in relief when I come to another junction in the cave.

David was panting beside me, looking around with wild eyes. I knew that he was scared, Hell I was too! I dragged him down another corrider, trying to ignore the sound of debris falling from the roof behind us. I could sense that we were near the entrance, it was brighter. I turned another corner, stopping dead.

"Damn!" I scream, we'd reached a dead end. David gasps beside me, looking behind us. I turn around, jumping back as dirt and rock fell from the ceiling, trapping us in. I stare as the rumbling stops, leaving us alone in the dusty, dark cave.

"Ummm....now what, Zell?" I could hear the panic in David's voice. Oh shit oh shit oh shit! Now what, Zell?! Yeah, you're the big genius here, you figure it out! I stamp my feet around, cursing to myself. I heard David sink to the floor.

"We're trapped, aren't we?" He murmurs. I punch the wall.

"No shit!" I couldn't help but retorting. This was just stupid! I can't believe this! I had lost my flashlight when we were wrestling around, so I couldn't see a damn thing. I couldn't even tell where David was. I fumbled around in the dark.

"David, where are you?" I gasp as I trip over him, sprawling to the floor.

"Right here." He says as I spit out dirt. I clench my fists and try to keep from ramming his face in the wall. I take a deep breath, this wouldn't do. I needed to calm down and access the situation. Ok, we were trapped in a cave, barred by solid rock on one side, and large boulders, debris, and dirt on the other. And on top of all that, the oxygen won't last long. I groan. This is perfect, ya? Die in a lonely cave with the village idiot.

"Hi ho, hi ho! It's off to work we go! *whistling*" I glare in the direction of the singing, trying to come up with a plan. Damn, I didn't know what to do! I just couldn't think of anything! If I tried to dig our way out, we'd be overrun by more dirt, filling the area to the point where we'd be buried alive. Damn!

Half an hour later, it was getting hard to breathe. I knew that we were gonna die down here, I just knew it. I sigh, banging my head against the wall. I could hear David sitting next to me, fiddling with something. Suddenly, pop music started sounding through the room.

"I love this song!" I hear David gush, standing. I stand too, trying to tell where he was at.

"What have you got?" I ask, listening to him dance around the room.

"Oh, it's a radio I stole out of your ship. I finally found a station with music instead of a bunch of people talking." I know that steam came out my ears. I growled, stepping closer to the source of the music.

"Give it to me." I say in my most intimidating voice. He steps away from me.

"You're not gonna break it or change the station are you?" I start shaking in rage.

"Is it possible to want to kiss somebody and kill them at the same time?" I ask him as I snatch the radio out of his hands. I growl at him when he tries to take it back.

"This can save our life, stupid!" I finally shout, stepping away from him. I felt the object in my hands. Yes, it's one of the two way radios that was in the cockpit. Meaning, that the other one was still there. Maybe Matt will hear it and can help us. I start flipping the tuner button, trying to listen for the right frequency. Without any light, I couldn't tell what it was set on.

I hear a match strike. I look over at David, who was lighting a cigarette. My whole body tingles. I wanted to kill that man so bad... Why am I stuck with the moron, anyway?

"David! Bring that match over here, man." I try to remain civil as he walks over to me. When he holds it to the radio, it goes out.

"Darn! That was my last one!" I almost faint. I grab his cigarette out of his hand. I take a big puff, coughing a bit. I hold the bright cherry up to the tuner, trying to see what station it was on. Just a few more clicks and.....yes!

"Matt? Can you hear me?" I speak into the radio. I hear fuzz on the other side. I knew that if he was in the cockpit, he could hear the radio.

"Matt!" I holler, jumping when I could hear my own voice in the room. I look around, trying to figure out what the hell....

"Hello?" I say, hearing it across the room, like the other radio was.....

"David!" I scream, charging in his direction. I hear him gasp, running out of my way. I couldn't tell where he was, but I could hear his footsteps. I followed, intending on killing my little friend slowly....

I pounce when I'm close enough. I grunt in pain when I smack the wall. It crumbles with my weight, forcing me to fall into the hole in the wall. I started coughing, dust clouding my lungs. I could see a dim light at the end of the tunnel I was in. Daylight!

"David!" I holler, coughing some more. I hear him come up behind me. He laughs nervously.

"Does this mean that you're NOT going to kill me?" I'm tempted, I really am. I stand, trying to brush the dirt off my clothes. My whole body was wracked in pain, a dull aching. I crick my back, listening to it pop all the way up.

"Ah!" I sigh, feeling a bit better. I motion for David to follow me. We walked carefully, not wanting to cause another collapse. I started grabbing stones off the wall, the light too dim to tell if they were the right ones or not. I didn't care, I just started stuffing rocks in my pockets. We got closer to the end of the corridor, where the light was.

We turn the corner, gasping when the bright light assaults our eyes. It was the entrance! Finally! I take off running after grinning at my friend. He follows me out, eager to get out of the creepy cave. I was a bit surprised that we didn't run into any monsters in there. I suppose that the environment wasn't suited, there wasn't anything to eat, I guess. We rushed down the hill, glad to be out.

I shout when I trip, tumbling down the hill. I gasp and groan as my body is tossed and banged on all the rocks all the way to the bottom. I land with a 'thump'. I just lay there, staring up at the blue sky. I hear David screaming, rolling down the hill. I look up just in time to see his small body falling on me.

"Ooof!" The wind's knocked out of me as he bounces off of me and keeps rolling. He stops a little ways from me, panting. I groan, rolling my eyes up in pain. I roll over, trying to get up. I finally get to my knees, taking deep breaths. We were out! We were finally out! I stand up and look at the ship. I was relieved to see it was still there.

"David!" I holler when he hadn't gotten up yet. I walk over to him, knealing down next to him. He was shaking and holding his wrist. It looked really swollen.

"Are you alright, man?" I ask, watching as blood dripped down his chin. What the fuck? Was he dying?!

"I-I think I hurt..." He stares at me, more blood coming out of his mouth. I panic, scooping him up in my arms. I take off toward the ship, his limp body in my arms.

"Matt! Matt!" I holler as the entrance to the ship opens. He was at the top of the stairs, looking scared. He stared at the pale body in my arms before taking him from me.

"Just fly!" He hollers at me. I nod, taking off toward the control room. I fly to my seat, buckling in quickly. I shake as I start the ship, panic in every inch of my body. I raise off the ground after closing the hatch. I blink rapidly, seeing spots. I shake my head slightly, ignoring the pain in my ribs.

"Gotta get back to Esthar....gotta...." I close my eyes before jerking them back open. I couldn't pass out now! I hear Matt enter the room. He layed David on the ground next to one of the machines.

"Is he alright?" I ask, trying to keep from falling out of my seat. My whole body hurt, and I think I busted a rib or something. I keep shaking my head, focusing.

"I don't know, he's lost conciousness." I gulp at his words as he walks over to me. I try to blink the spots away from my eyes.

"You ok?" He asks me, but I'd already slumped over in my seat. I couldn't stop it.

Matt looks at Zell in disbelief and shock. He stumbles when the ship immediantly decends without a driver. He quickly moves his friend out of the seat, laying him on the ground. He climbed into the driver's seat, looking around frightened.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit OH SHIT!" He hollers, the treetops looking to be dangerously close. He grabs the steering controls and pulls up. He gasps as he starts a steep climb. He didn't know how the hell to drive this thing!

"Oh god!" He hollers, trying to steady the ship. This was going to be a looong drive back to Esthar....

About ten minutes later, he had the ship under better control. Well, he was still getting close to the trees but at least he hadn't wrecked it, yet. He looked over at Zell, who was sprawled on the floor. He hoped that he was ok. And David! He'd die if anything happened to David...

'It's all my fault...' He thought, remembering his fear of caves. When he was about five or so, his older cousin had taken him to a cave, saying that there was a pot of gold at the back of it. Being the naive boy he was, he went in. But, his older cousin had started laughing at him, blocking the entrance with a large rock. He was so scared, being five years old. He screamed and screamed, trying to get somebody to help.

He had wandered through the small cave, trying to find anything that could help. Then, he'd come across a pool of water in the back of the cave. He stood there as a monster started climbing out of the water. He shrieked and ran the other way, trying to get away. He remembered falling over a rock, but that was it. He had awoken days later in his home. He had never went in another cave since....

But, because of that fear, he couldn't save David and Zell... It was all his fault...

"Dammit...." He muttered to himself, flying over the patch of ocean between Trabia and Esthar. He still had a ways to go, but, could he land this thing? He just now got the hang of flying it, he didn't even know what button to push to stop! He whimpered to himself as Esthar came into view ahead.

"Zell!" He shouted. There was no answer. He gulped, looking around at all the controls on the panel in front of him. Ok, just look at the buttons, I can figure this out. He wasn't so sure. His vision landed on the speaker next to him. Well, maybe he could call for help? He shakily reached over and pushed a few buttons.

"Hey! Can anybody hear me?" He spoke into the microphone. He couldn't hear anything on the other end.

"Hey!" He hollered, pushing more buttons. He heard crackling before a voice came on.

"Roger Ragnarok, this is the Control Center. What's your current situation. Matt breathed heavily, trying to stay calm. He looked at his two friends, they were still out.

"Uhh, two men down, I don't know how to fly this thing!" He shouted, fear filling him as the air station came closer in his view. He heard more voices.

"Ok, roger that. We can turn you over on auto pilot. Just sit back and relax, Ragnarok, we're bringing you home.....AHH!" Matt jumped when the radio cut off. What the hell was going on? He panicked when the ship did not enter auto pilot. The air station was coming up fast. He pushed the controls down a little, preparing to land any way possible.

"Hold on!" He said to the quiet room as he started scraping the ship against the ground.

"Arrgh!" He shouted, trying to keep control of the ship. It skidded closer to the laboratory, finally coming to a stop. Matt took deep breaths, not moving. His hands still gripped the controls in a deathgrip. His knuckles were white and his heart was beating out of his chest.

"Oh god." He shook his head, climbing out of his seat. Now, he'd have to carry these two out of the ship! Oh man...

He hefted Zell over his shoulder before stumbling over to David. He managed to get them both over his shoulders, but he was having a hard time walking. He stumbled out of the cockpit and went down the lift. He pushed the button for the bridge to open. He walked down the stairs, carrying his friends.

Matt packed them toward the lab, stopping at the entrance. His eyes widened to saucers and he almost fell over. The two guards were laying in front of the door, blood running out of numerous wounds in their bodies. Matt almost threw up, the sight sickening. Oh god, could it be...?

He wasted no time in hurrying inside. He noted that it was so quiet around.... This wasn't good. He reached the large door to Odine's room. He kicked it open, gasping. Papers were scattered everywhere and machines were torn up. His heart sank when he saw that all the computers were destroyed, like someone had litterally pulled the wires out of them. He heard whimpering in the corner of the room. He sat his two friends on the ground as gently as possible.

"Hello?" He called out, walking over to the small desk. Odine popped his head over the top of the desk, his face as white as a sheet.

"Odine!" Matt hollered, rushing over to the small man. Odine was shaking terribly.

"What happened!" He demanded. The old man shivered some more before speaking.

"S-Squall, he he.....vent inzane! He killed everyone! He iz a vonster!" Matt's blood ran ice cold.....

End of chapter 14.

Author's Notes: *laughs* poor Zell, poor David. Oh well, you'll get over it. Well, you couldn't expect the mine scene to go smoothly, did you? I just love David, he's so stupid. I actually know a few people like him. They aren't my friends, I just work with them. I swear, biggest morons on the earth. I can definately see them doing this kind of thing. And poor Squall, it must suck having to kill everybody like that! *winks* Hope you liked this chapter, I thought a little humor would do us all some good after all the drama.

-Tori

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