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Uprising: The Beast Wars	By : Resting-Madness Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1109 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't make any money from this story. I do not own the fandom or rights of creation of anything involving Final Fantasy VIII and its world. I did make up original characters but eh.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
"Look at the size of that thing!" An officer shouts over the boom of metal footsteps hitting concrete like a wrecking ball.
The boom was seismic, it not only busted glass windows in cars and houses, it was enough to burst an eardrum. The rattling shattered streetlights, and sounded the alarms on any cars shaken hard enough to set off the system; all this racket was accompanied by the weirdest sound, it was sort of like the lowest sound ommited when dropping something into water, just a deep whooot! when it swung its great sword.
The Estharean police arrived in town 2 hours ago and, since arriving, have made evacuating the townspeople top priority; along the way they're pushing back the onslaught of monsters. A distress signal went out hours ago, there was no messege but that only made the situation seem more dire.
The police from Timber must have been alerted as well, because there are cars parked near the outskirts of town, all empty of any officer or their recent presence.
Making their way into town, they were greeted with an intense quiet. It was obvious there was a problem, the normally bustling city is a ghost town. Not until they began to weed through the town with megaphone did the chaos erupt revealing the nature behind the distress call. Monsters of all sizes and color came out of the wood-works, snarling and thirsty for blood.
10 men were assigned to handle the hoard of beasts, while the other 6 officers searched shops and homes for the hiding townspeople; whom, when found, were lead out of town via police vans borrowed from the empty station here in Dollet along with the ones parked at the boarder.
They didn't have to wonder what happened to the D.P.D, because there were a few semi-eaten bodies laying over the counter and on the floor of the station, along with an officer from Timber who must have been called in before the phonelines went down. The amount of creatures in town was ridiculous! No wonder they'd been overpowered. But what are they all doing here? There are more monsters than residences. Which is why the main evacuation didn't take very long.
Some of the people were so shellshocked by fear that they were saying strange things: "Mommy changed!" or "Mr. so-and-so came through the window, and bit someone!". There wasn't one person who wasn't horribly rattled from the sudden monster invasion.
The officers drove back the herd with as much vigor as they could muster; but without being magic users, they really only had guns to rely on. It took a long time to out number the pile of creatures, but they gradually gained the upperhand. The police vans removed people to a secure area out of town to Timber, but there were still people farther in the city yet to be found.
And their plans for further infiltration were interrupted by a very loud boom! They didn't need to look up to behold the entirety of an oversized Iron Giant coming their way. With more people to find, and more monsters to drive out, the last thing they need is to be dodging the broken bits of building this thing is ravaging through with its giant sword, along with the possibility of being squashed in its blind path.
"What should we do chief?" Asks Leiutenant Rami.
Chief Ballantyne took in a thoughtful breath. He saw no way around this with nothing but arms, unless this thing has an unknown sweet spot that isn't made of triple enforced steel. "We pull back from fighting this thing, and call Garden..." He suggested.
Balamb Garden.
The cadets are removing the rubble left around from the broken walls, and mopping up the water that got everywhere from the moat. No one blames Selphie for the injuries caused, but passersby can't keep from casting shifty glances her way, along with the other two since they've been confined with her. It seemed like someone was approaching for answers, but Zell scared him off.
Now they're just sort of sitting in bed, waiting for answers themselves over the results of their blood tests.
"Dinky..."
Zell paused from bouncing a palm-sized, multi-colored, superball against the glass door of the quarantine room. He looks at his lover with an affectionate grin, as he asks. "Yeah?"
"Bounce that ball against the door one more time, watch what happens." Warns the jailed blonde.
Zell cocked a brow, then stepped away from the door to toss the ball into the air to play one-man catch with it... right before he hurled it against the glass door again.
Seifer let out an agitated growl, but the girls- and Zell- chuckle softly at the male's teasing. Seifer let it slide though, he knows the little pest is just trying to lighten the mood.
"Why are you in here? You're free to run, and mostly fly, peck at your gross feet, and act like all the other little" And he was sure to stress that word, afterall, he couldn't let Zell get away with it entirely. "chickens your age."
"Y'know, normally that would have bugged me... But seeing your hot-tempered butt in there, it really doesn't mean much." He grinned cheekily. Turning his head when the sound of the sliding door catches his attention, he stuffs the ball into his pocket and greets the visitor. "Hey Quistis, did you find out anything else about the changes?"
"No. The samples are still in testing, our facilities aren't as good as Trabia's." And she murmurs. "..I wish they'd get back to us soon." To Zell, she continues. "The reason I came is I have a job for you and your team in Dollet."
"Dollet? What's going on over there?" Zell is following Quistis to the door; the last thing they want to do is worry the confined; but Seifer, and the girls are eavesdropping regardless.
"There's been an outbreak of monsters in town." Quistis informs.
Rinoa looks at her cellmates, saying without need. "Just like what happened in Viyanagara."
"It seems that way." Quistis replies; though, she didn't want the three of them aware of the situation, it seems unavoidable. "The Esthar police have been called out there to investigate; they've been evacuating the citizens, they said they'll be doing that while getting help from Garden with the monsters, since they're not equipped for dealing with them as Garden Military are."
"Why're the E.P.D over there? Timber's closer."
Quistis shrugged a hand.
"You can count on me." He straightens his posture, legs together, right hand comes up to cover his right eye saluting her before dashing through the sliding door and out into the hall.
"Zell, wait for the Tram!" Quistis follows him out the door; murmuring to herself of how he can be too keyed-up to act sometimes.
Seifer waited for the silence to lay over the room before pulling his phone out of the cubbyhole they were told to put them in one, just incase they needed to spray them with some sort of healing position or activate a spell after the cealing shield went down, they wouldn't want the device to get messed up- kind of like the effects a can of air spray has on a computer tower.
"Who're you calling?" Rinoa asks, watching the male's actions.
"Leonhart. He probably doesn't know the kid's infected, and he'd probably wanna be informed." Seifer knew there was no 'probably' about it, Squall would want to know.
And as far as his telling him, well, he still kind of has a guilty conscious about telling the little squirt to go home to his mother back when he was a kid. A shock to himself, he knows. But its there, namely because he's really come to like the kid; and his mother seems like the type to vanish without a trace once he's in her clutches. It took her eight years to find him in the first place! Not to mention her even being a blip on the radar, when he and Squall sought her out in the first place.
Guilt trips are a bitch sometimes; he still gets itchy whenever the mention of Sorceresses comes up, like he's just waiting for more of the scorn and flack he'd taken when he came back to Garden. Irvine confided in him, one darts in a bar tossing afternoon, that he'd been treated pretty shitty after the war was over, and he'd come to Balamb Garden. Some of the students couldn't see a war hero, they just saw a guy from the Garden that helped to cause a lot of the problems.
"What?" Came Squall's usual snipped tone.
Not bothering with joking around, he asks point blank. "Do you know where Kait is?"
"....Garden." Realizing how vague that is, he adds. "Galbadia, why?"
"If I can borrow some slang from your sweetheart, you best get sonny-boy quarantined fast for testing. He might be infected with a toxin that went through the desert not long ago."
Its quiet on Squall's end, then the line went dead.
"I've done my good deed for the day." Putting his phone back into the cubby, he turns around then slumps down into a chair. "Looks like we'll be missing some excitement... I wonder what the hell is going on?"
"Seifer, can you get my phone?" Selphie asks with a quiet voice.
He's never heard her so quiet without intending to be, it was weird. "Who're you calling?" He asks, then it dawned on him... It was an obvious answer. Dialing Serge for her, he hands her the phone when he comes over the line.
"Selphie, I'm sorry I'm not there. I thought we'd wrap this up quickly, but its kind of crazy over here... How are you?"
"Laid up." She tried to smile.
"You sound thrashed... I'm pulling for you to get better soon."
"I wanted to make sure you are ok, forget about me." She chuckled. "I'm in Garden, you're over there battling monsters."
"We're all right. The monsters have been cleared out from where we are, for the most part... say, Sel', since I've got you on the phone.... Do monsters usually stick around once you've exterminated them?"
"No... Their bodies dissolve almost instantly. Why?"
"These ones aren't- well, some of them are and some of them aren't; the streets are littered with them... a bunch of fired-off shells too." He says it as though he's turning one over in his palm at the moment.
'They disappeared in the desert... Have the monsters gotten stronger since then?' She wonders to herself. "Just be careful. I'm gonna let you get back to your job, Chief." She smiled at his laugh. "Bye Serge."
"Bye."
"Loverboy in the clear?" Seifer mettles.
"Yeah. Its like Quistis said, they're trying to steer clear of the monsters while evacuating people, but get this... The monster's corpses aren't dissolving."
"What?" Rinoa shifts in her bed to face Selphie without having to turn her head too much. Her necks been really stiff.
"He said they're going down, but the bodies are just laying in piles on the streets."
Sighing out his frustrations, Seifer asks no one. "What the fuck is going on?"
Selphie closed her eyes, her thoughts going to what just happened to her and what's been happening in other places. "The monsters in the desert all disappeared like normal," She begins sharing her theory. "but not these ones... I changed, but then I changed back."
Raising his brows, he eggs her on. "Don't lose it now, what're you thinking?"
"What if the monsters aren't turning into spirit dust because they aren't really monsters... What if they're the townspeople?"
8 8 8
Squall dialed Kait before Galbadia Garden. He had to make sure the kid wasn't spooked by the sudden swarm of people trying to put him into a confinement over a possibilty. He's almost at Dollet now, just a stone-throw away. So he's got time to check in on his son before he goes to check in on his father.
'Pick up... pick up....' He willed the child through the line. 'Maybe they've already confined him...' He re-adjusts his grip on the bar, having chosen to stand rather than sit in the propellored boxcar.
"We'll be landing in Dollet in three minutes, please prepare for the descend."
Stuffing his phone into his pocket, Squall gets a sudden wave of nausea over both situations at hand. He can feel the itch in the back of his mind over Kait, and a flood of concerns over Laguna. Removing his phone again, he calls Irvine instead.
"How're things over there?" He asks.
"We're just about to land; listen, something's going on in Garden, I need you to call Kait and tell him he has to be quarantined for while while they perform some tests on him."
"Alright. Is it anything serious?"
"Not sure, but Seifer called to give me the heads-up about it."
"If Seifer called it must be serious. Alright, I'll get the little bird on the phone, and text you if anything's up." He knows enough that the kid must not have been contacted if Squall is asking that he give it a try.
"Thanks." He hangs up.
The light in the sky dimmed drastically around them as they near the city; the Tram bounced roughly against the dirt below before the cart settled into the land. Squall spots two other Trams as the sliding door moves aside to allow him an exit. That's not a good sign. Trams are only for emergiancies, not simple vacationers. If those are parked here, than something must be going on. His urgency to find Laguna just upped itself a notch.
He watches three police cars speed down the road towards Timber, one of which was an ambulance. Wishing for a faster mode of transportation, he had to settle for running into the city instead; he's got a feeling he was in the right to bring his gunblade with him. Holding it steady as he hurries into the city.
A police car slows to a stop beside Squall, the window comes down so the driver can speak to him; Squall was gonna run the man through if he planned on telling him to leave, there was no way he'd be going anywhere without Laguna.
'It's you.' He thinks when spotting Sergey Ballantyne from the E.P.D. 'If Esthar's police are here, Laguna may already be out.'
"Squall?" Serge says upon taking in the reason he'd stopped in the first place. "If you're here the city will be in good hands."
"What's going on?" Squall asks, glancing into town as far as his vision will travel towards his destination.
"You don't know?"
He shakes his head. "I came to see why Laguna hasn't returned any calls."
"President Loire?"
"Have you seen him?"
The police chief shakes his head. "If he's still here, he may be farther in the city. We've been removing all citizens to a safe location in Timber, anyone injured is going to the hospital. I'll be back as soon as I drop off this family."
"But you thought I was here for a different reason?"
"The city's been over-run with monsters.... They've gotten into everything, and have had their fair share of meals. Good luck in there, I've gotta go now." Before rolling up the window, he adds. "I'll alert the remaining officers about the President... if he's in there, his men will find him."
Squall nodded as a thanks then hurried on his way.
Where? Where? Where would Laguna be? He said he was doing some writing, and needed a place for inspiration. If something were going on in the city, he would definitely come down from his campsite and check it out. Knowing that clumsy oaf he stumbled into a hole and stayed there, then he'll claim it was all part of some grand-scheme once he's found.
Skirting around a corner, he looks down the street as if Laguna would just be standing out in the open for anyone to notice. He has to be either hiding or helping, and Laguna wouldn't hide, not unless he was alone. He's just gotta be somewhere.
Travelling down the concrete path, he moves over to a rowhouse neighborhood. He doesn't bother with knocking, in all the chaos what's one more thing slamming through a door to gain access?
"Laguna!? Laguna?" He listens for any kind of muffled sounds; even if its not him, it could be someone who needs help. He sucks in a breath then shouts at the top of his lungs. "Is anybody here!?" Empty.
He tried the next house and the next; he has to be in one of these! He can hear sirens blarring in the background from where the police are returning. More people looking is gonna be a great help.
6 houses later he's crossing the street to start the search all over again; there's so much death littering the ground, he could be under a pile of rotting monsters for all Squall knew. It may be useless to be looking around in this area. If the monsters have been exterminated, then this area was already checked. He needs to go where there's still activity.
'Why aren't the monsters dissolving like they usually do?' He wonders while stepping over a Funguar's mutalated body lying under a busted streetlight. 'These marks look like they were made with a sword, that's not his style. But some of these do have bullet wounds,' Upon further inspection, he notices a collection of shells all over the ground. 'He could have come through this way, of course these could belong to the cops.'
Times like these he wished that Irvine was around, his knowledge of bullets is ridiculous. He could easily tell if these rounds were Laguna's.
'Wait.'
Removing his phone, he stomps into the nearest home and through its living room into the kitchen. Turning on the light after finding the switch, he then washes the bullet clean in the sink. Taking a picture of it with a questionmark as the heading to the composed messege, to show he wants an answer and isn't just sending ballistics porn, he sends it to Irvine.
Its not likely he can ID the thing from such a picture, which is why he took a few more with the bullet at different angles. It'll be a miracle if he knows the make of gun it's for.
He got a quick response that read in the heading: 9 mm Luger. Pistol. He could have kissed the sniper for his obsession. But he knew he couldn't send him a photo of every bullet he picks up or digs out of a monster's corpse.
His phone sounded again and the messege contained the model of assault rifle Laguna uses, along with pictures of a whole bullet, along with a shot of what one looks like when its been fired off. Squall sent him a quick 'thank you' before turning his phone off. He can hear talking outside.
"You guys look around back, I'll check this row."
'Zell?' Leaving the home, he looks both ways before spotting the blond making his way into a home across the street. "Zell!" He called out.
Jumping into a tumble, Squall rolls onto his butt looking back at what attacked him. Blitz swung its pike in the air like a dangerous baton, because this one gathers electricity instead of applause. It then swung down with intention of slicing the gunblader in two up the middle, but the monster hadn't counted on Squall being heard, which is why it went flying into the home's stone exterior thanks to a sonic-wave clap from Zell's Chime gloves.
The acoustium metal they're made from allows him to send sonic vibrations of sound through the air like a weapon; hard to control but amazing for long range attacks.
The martial artist dashed over to help Squall up, grabbing his up under his arms to lift him to his feet. "Were you called in too?"
"No. I came looking for Laguna and found this." He waved a hand at the grand picture. He doesn't have to ask Zell if he were called in, because its obvious; and his team is here as well.
"We could use your help, there's a Giant in the main part of the city... The same type you fought in Ultimacia's twisted castle." Zell looks over his shoulder. "They said its heading towards the outskirts by the waterfront."
"I'll join you when I can, I have to find Laguna."
"Okay. But be careful." He starts away but pauses when hearing Squall speak again.
"And Zell... There may be a worshipper here controlling the monsters. If they regenarate just look for someone out of place, and break a rune in their possession. We dealt with it in Winhill a few hours ago."
"Winhill too? These attacks are getting ridiculous." Waving a hand in the air, he says as he dashes away. "I'll remember that!"
Squall raised his blade firing off a round into the slowly recovering Blitz's head, dropping it dead in the opening it made in the home. Taking out his phone, he looks back over the photos then begins his search again.
............
'He was here, I'm sure of it.'
Looking at all the bullets that are littering the street this far into the city, he could only imagine that they belonged to Laguna, considering the police haven't come this far in because of an Iron Giant on the loose.
'There's a dry patch on the oil covered street beneath this car... Laguna, or someone else, must have hidden beneath it.'
He spots gasoline footprints leading to a clothing shop. They're definitely his dad's! The left foot drags a little bit to the side in the imprint of the boots.
'So he was hurt....'
Squall made his way across the street to the weapons shop; leaping over a pile of burned corpses, he can feel his heart rate rising over the thought that Laguna had blown himself up in a desperate attempt to rid the city of a good deal of monsters. But, he wouldn't do that? He's not that crazy....
"Uuughh... aaa..."
Squall's step stumbled in the landing because something caught him by the ankle; steadying himself he quickly looks over his shoulder ready to strike when he sees a woman, crushed beneath a pile of charred monster chunks. Upon closer inspection, he sees that a couple Funguars had begun eating her legs before they were crushed as well, a few new monsters burned to ashes lay plump over top of them.
"Please... Do.. I don't wanna die alone." She coughed then, harder than needed because her right side is flat like a broken-in cardboard box.
Taking the hand attached to his ankle into his own, he tightened his hold to let her know that she isn't alone. "Did that car hit you?" He asked. He had to be sure the person under the car wasn't this woman, as he's now beginning to suspect.
"No." He whisper was so tiny, only the sob behind her words made it a bit more audible because the end shot out of her mouth.
"Were you the one who burned the monsters?"
He didn't notice until just then, but she's pretty burnt up herself. How is this woman still alive? Sheer willpower to not be alone, half a monster's dinner, until someone showed up. She must have been terrified; even from here he can hear thunderous footsteps of the metal menace.
Her blood gurgled in her throat a bit at her sucked in breath to speak. "I saw a man... Pres...ident Loi.., he went in and I thought he'd help." Her coughing spat blood in Squall's face, but he doesn't wipe it away, he leans in closer so she doesn't have to raise her already quiet voice.
"Laguna went into the store, and he burned the monsters?" He asks. "Just squeeze my hand if you can't speak. Two 'no', one 'yes'."
She squeezed his hand one time.
"Did he not see you? Were you in the fire?"
She squeezed his hand once. Then again twice to the second question, he assumed. Then she nods.
"What's your name?"
"Nan Winshall."
"Nan... Did you see which way he went?"
She nods, then speaks again. "Whe...n. I change.. back to me.. he changed."
"Changed?"
He leaned in closer as her voice began to petter away to nothing. Her last words, the last words her broken existance could say, stopped his blood cold.
Laguna crushed her.
8 8 8
"Stacey, formation ten!" Called their captain Hector Morgan.
"Aye captain!" Called the girl with a swift salute before she sprung into action for formation ten.
The team has comprised many attacks that they can perform together, its almost like a dance routine they fight so well. Leaning forward, her hands are planted on the ground and she whirls into backflip after backflip to slam her metal clawwed boots into the mutated mushroom's bulbous body.
The jiggly body wriggled and writhed being backed into an endless street, or so it seemed; team captain Hector launched himself forward bugnucks poised for a punch, sending the mushroom flying between the girl's parted legs. It skittered over the ground, back the way it came to have Dana finish it off with a few rounds from her pinwheel-gunblade.
Taking these monsters down will be a synch, and the extra credit won't be too bad either.
"Holy!" Zell looks up at the Iron Giant stalking its way to the waterfront opposite Lapin beach. "Why is that thing so friggin' huge?" He asks no one.
There was no time to wonder any further, he has to take this thing down. Its keeping the police from rescuing anyone alive this far into the city. Laguna could be somewhere around here, if Squall hasn't found him yet.
"Kids!" He called to a group eyeing the larger foe. "Where are you from?" He had to pause, as he recognized Kait's 'Seifer' named Hyland.
"Galbadia, sir," The white haired antogonist eyed him, then smiled. "We just located the monster, Commander Dincht. We haven't decided how to take it down yet."
A girl at Hyland's side turned around to salute. "Cadet Holly Sweet. We'll follow your orders, sir."
"I'm Cadet Rudie Gracer, Commander." Informs the second male cadet.
"Cadet Hyland Strand, sir. Rank fi"-..
He acknowledges their names with a nod but waved them to silence; and had a bit of a bitter glint at the white-haired Seifer, in his friend's life. Looking up at the strangely colored giant, he cocks his head in thought.
"Its dragging its leg, so something must have injured it. Something this size, we'll need the strongest attacks we've got... Have you guys trained with Aura yet?"
They shook their heads.
'Oh.... great... Now's as good a time as any, though.' He cast triple on himself. "It'll feel like every muscle in your body wants to explode, just let it out until it wears off; the most important thing right now, is not panicking over the rush. You should also have something useful like ice, fire, or thunder junctioned into your weapon. Poison, and junk like it, has no effect."
The trio nod, but look like frightened rabbits hearing a wolf explain that being whirled around on a spit over a fire won't get them eaten- comically speaking. Just trust him.
Casting the spell, Zell then cast it on himself. The four man cell glowed like shining golden statues; but the three cadets yelped in momentary pain or perhaps just the startle of the sudden rush of adrenaline.
"Fight to your limit!" Called the commander.
Zell growled, punching his fist together before flexing his muscles to draw strength into his core. Springing into action, he runs up the side of a clothing store, bouncing off it like a projectile, shooting himself towards the Navy colored Iron Giant.
The unsuspecting man-of-steel lurched forward as the martial artist's fist came into contact with its back; left, right, left, uppercut came his Punch Rush; the metal claws dug in deep with every punch landed. Zell rolled his hips for a strong Mach Kick to the back of its head. Bouncing from the Giant's shoulder, he's above its swatting limbs to descend a perfectly executed Heel Drop.
Toppling forward, the Navy Giant is met with a grab as its kneed in the face.
"Booya!" Hollared the martial artist. Slamming the monster in the face once again, he stepped back and laid a punch to the ground; the fissure burst through the concrete giving it a finishing blow of a Burning Rave to the face.
"My turn.." Hyland crosses his arms over each other, hurling his chakrams during the movement.
The tri-colored circular blades skim the monster's hard shell as buzz-saws do a piece of wood, making it hard to see the black, silver, and gold of the weapon as anything more than a grey blur of movement. The twin blades trace up the creature's large body, denting the metal in but not piercing it.
The Giant came to a stand, swinging around at the little gnats bothering him; the street team dodged and defended any landed swing of the sword or swipe of the hand the monster could shell out.
Holly drew some Triple from Zell to cast upon herself, with-which she cast Shell on the party then Protect. 'Oh shoot, not Shell!' She beat herself up. Fumbling through spells she begins casting Haste, only to have her distraction get her bashed into a store's window.
Hyland bounced from foot to foot on his swirling blades, flipping over the Giant's head, he snatches the weapons back into his grasp slashing the thing in the face. The metal gave a nasty groan from being thinned by the fire of Zell's Burning Rave, and the blades tore open a horizontal hole in the monster's face.
Dropping to the street, he calls to the three. "Its working! The blades went through where it got burned." He points.
"Then let's burn the crap out of this thing." Zell starts in on another rumble, this time he's gonna use the hard stuff. He laughed with battle lust as Haste circulates through his body.
Rudie removed three arrows from the quiver shooting them to pin into the Giant's back like a Stegosaurous spine; the end tips drill into it until they're able to pop open at the point to latch into the body; he's now able to pull the Giant to a fall in the street on its back. Continuing the motions of his limit, he removes a flute and plays to charm the ends of the arrows like snakes to course their way throughout the monster's body to keep it bound, the constricting part doesn't do much damage to a creature like this, but at least its pinned... So he thought.
The Navy Giant spun like an alegator doing its death roll, dragging the cadet forward to be crushed beneath it. A frightened yelp came from him throat at the sudden tug, but he was swift enough to let go and avoid being crushed.
The rolling dug trenches in the street, the crevice in the street was deep enough to burst the watermain pipes, flooding the street with water up to their knees and rising. The water distracted them momentarily, but that was long enough for the Giant to rise again and go after the troublesome fighters. Squating, it spread its arms, buildings be damned when his reach broke through them, and he stomped his way up the area leveling anything his hands collided with.
The four ducked out of the way of its hands, narrowly escaping such odd behavior for the the metal man. Usually these monsters have attack patterns, like a union gang or something. But this thing is pulling out the stops.
Shooting another set of arrows, Rudie is jerked up into the air coming to slam into the Giant's back. The Navy Giant spun in a half twist and rubbed his back against the popular bar in order to shake the cadet loose.
Panic flashed in Rudie's eyes when he heard a crack, and he just released his hands from the steel cords attacked to his arrows. The water broke some of the pain of his ten story fall, it also succeeded in breaking the rest of his cracked ribs. He hollared in pain until he felt Curaga mending the break.
"Nice job, Holly." Zell calls out. "I'll take it from here." He leaps into the air, drawing energy like a huge bolt of sizzling orange lightning. His Meteor Barret should do the trick in taking this thing down.
The navy Iron Giant roared a battle cry; snatching the Commander from the air before his attack could even be attempted. He seemed to actually debate crushing him, and instead settled for chucking the male through the roof of a clothing store.
"Commander!" The three shout in panic.
Injured, but healing with Regen that he cast on himself, Zell exits the store through the front doors; seething mad, he barks his command. "Hyland, Rudie, cast fire spells... I'll finish it."
"Zell, stop!" Squall hollared over the noise of the roaring monster.
"Stop? Why?"
"Its Laguna......."
As if calling it by name were the release on a hypnosis magic trick, the monster's body began to secrete a smog of blue mist into the air. All five onlookers hold their breaths at the strange sight of the oddly colored metal giant as it shrank into the familiar, tiny form, of Laguna Loire. His body bobbed in the water... lifelessly.
0 0 0
"Are we gonna be able to dock here?" Amada wonders when the submarine comes to a landing at Lapin beach.
"I don't know... It sounded like an explosion went off."
"Several of them." Looking at Kait's sleeping figure, she mentions to any God who'll listen. "Let that hospital not be too crowded."
"If it is, we'll just go someplace else."
"Hey what's with you, anyway? You've been in a snit ever since we left the forest." She crosses her arms, mostly to hug herself rather than look authorative. "We found Sorin... He's gonna come back with us at least. Kait's going to be all right, Joel was taken home... We messed up, but we didn't get into anything we weren't expecting."
"You don't know what I know." Vola snips.
"Then tell me."
The perfect tension breaker, his phone rang. It also broke the stare-down that ensued between the two; reaching for the phone beside him on the benc, he cocks a brow in question. The number is unknown, but he's seen it before on Kait's phone when looking over his shoulder at one point in time and another.
"Hello. This is Cadet Vola König, may I ask who's speaking?"
Amada glared at the male's lucky escape from the conversation. She can't figure him out. On top of that, he keeps shooting cautious and bitter daggers at Kait. Did something happen in the forest that he's not telling her. With as tight-lipped as Vola is in life, getting the answer out of him won't even be possible, if his habits are that die hard. This is the most the male's talked in all the time she's been on his team, and that's only because he has no choice.
"Commander Kinneas!"
"I can't reach Kait, but your headmaster told me he's on a job with you."
"Yeah. He's here. He lost his phone, I'm afraid."
"Can I speak to him directly?"
"He's unconscious, I'm sorry. The mission wasn't executed as expertly as we'd of liked."
Amada scoots over from her bench across from his to sit beside him, leaning over she tries to listen in.
"We're taking Kait to the hospital in Dollet... We're here now. He's been badly injured."
"Injured how?"
"We were finding a young boy who sells Chocobos to travellers in the Estharean forest. We got lost from each other in the moving forest, and a tree attacked him. His back is pretty messed up. And... one of us didn't make it out alive."
Inspite of being pissed at him, Amada touched the male's shoulder to comfort him.
"Sorry to hear that." He sounds genuinely concerned. "When Kait wakes up, will you tell him that he'll need to be in quarantine for blood testing."
"Tests?"
"He was out in the desert, and there was some sort of contament in the air. We're not entirely sure yet, but Trabia thinks its been turning people into monsters."
His eyes widen in the panic. If there's been a red flag raised, then there's a chance that they really aren't safe with Kait around. "Will you be coming out to tend to your son?"
"I can't. I'm in Winhill right now handling a situation over here." He then assures them. "But Squall's out there, he told me he was just about to land, that was fifteen minutes ago."
"Commander Leonhart is in the city? Alright, we'll look for him then. Kait's in good hands, we'll take the best care of him until Commander Leonhart shows up. Bye." Hanging up he, once again, shoots a bitter glare at Kait.
"What? What's going on?"
"Commander Kinhart is stuck in Winhill, but he said that Squall is in the city and we should hand Kait over to him. The reason he called... He said that Kait has to be quarantined for testing. He may have contracted a disease from the desert that could make him sick." He withheld the larger picture. Bad enough he's worried, why bring her into it.
"Oh. ....Is that why you're acting so skittish about Kait? Did you know already? Or is it because you would have rather it been him in that bodybag, instead of Sorin?" Crossing her arms, she snips under her breath. "Frankly, I thought you were into women, and a better friend than that."
"My sexual preference has nothing to do with the matter.... You don't know what I know, and its got nothing to do with any disease."
"Then teeeell meeeee.." She pleads.
His bitter gaze looks at the girl, then it softens seeing her honest concern. "You can't tell him. What I'm about to say has to stay between us."
On the edge of the seat, she nods. "I won't say a word."
Kait listens quietly in on the conversation about him. He can't believe that he may be carrying a disease of somekind. He feels fine, minus a few heat-spells, but its midsummer, how can it not be humid?
"We were fighting a rogue Diablo... its what killed Sorin.."
"I'm not following. I already know that."
"But what you don't know is what happened when I found Kait... His back, its got the same injury that the Diablo would be sporting. And, when I was carrying him to the beach... His face began to change." He swallowed over a lump in his throat. "His skin turned black, and his teeth grew sharp.."
"Stop it! Do you hear yourself?!"
"I know what I saw! Kait was that Diablo that I injured; he was changing right there in my arms!"
"Will you keep your voice down.... You wanna wake him or something?" Amada looks at the back of Kait's head, completely unaware that his eyes are open and staring at the wall he's facing. "Even if what you're saying is true... its not possible. Kait's just as human as the rest of us, we know who his mother is, and she knows about his blood father."
"All I know is, he began to change but changed back when he jumped out of his sleep asking for Sorin." He shakes his head. "He was either to hurt to change completely, or worrying about me leaving Sorin behind kept it in check." He sighed. "I got lucky. I could have been killed bringing him back with me."
"Will you stop talking like that... He may not even be aware of it- wouldn't he know, wouldn't the Commanders inform us if they knew?"
"Well then what the hell is going on with him?"
"I don't know. You said it yourself, he contracted some disease in the desert?" Exhausted of the subject, she sighs. "We're getting him help from people a lot smarter than we are... They'll know what to do, so you can let your guard down." Standing, she wraps an arm around Kait. "Now help me get him out of here, and to the hospital. What happened to Sorin was horrific, but I don't believe it was intentional. Sorin wouldn't want us to neglect his best friend."
He didn't agree with that; the way Sorin died.... he can't agree that the guy wouldn't want vengeance, but he knows she's right about giving Kait to the hospital. Getting up from the bench, he lifts the slumbering male into bridal position then carries him from the submarine.
Unsure of the situation, they can just feel the weird vibe in the air. Their feet sink the sand in as they cross the beach with cautious steps.
Spotting the trio, an officer crosses the distance to them. Authority heavy in his tone, he holds out a hand to cease their trail. "I'm going to have to ask you to turn around."
"But our friend needs a hospital." Amada replies.
"The hospital isn't open."
"What hospital isn't open?" She wonders over how incredibly weak that sounds as a reason to turn them away.
"The hospital is shut down. All patients are to be taken to Timber for treatment."
"We can't make it to Timber by sub'.... And you can't expect us to walk."
The five, Amada, Vola, the officer and two others yelp over the loud boom that sounds in the distance, but the volume of it is loud enough to believe its just right up the stairs into the city.
"What was that?" Asks the girl. "Vola! Wait!"
"He needs a hosptial, and we can't walk... Whatever's going on here, surely the hospital can take one more patient."
"We said you cannot pass." An officer at the stairs points his handgun at the persistant visitor.
Vola found himself in another staring match, but this time with a cop instead of a comrad. Giving in, he walks over to the man and holds the falsely sleeping male out to him. "Please... We can't make it to Timber by submarine, and he needs a hospital."
The officer looks down at the teen, bare chested and covered with a zipped cadet jacket like its a skirt, blood all over him.
"He's Squall Leonhart's son... We were told by his partner that he's in the city, so don't lie."
He seemed apprehensive, but lowered his gun with a nod. "Call the medic team!" He ordered the man next to him; reaching for the teen, he's taken aback when Vola steps back. "I said we'll take him."
"Its not that. His back has been injured very badly, his spine is bruised in a few places, maybe worse. I know how to hold him, and I'd rather wait for the professionals to care for him."
"Suit yourself." He didn't have to voice it, but 'punk' was definitely added atthe back of that reply.
The wait was a short six minutes, but they were spent in an uncomfortable tension. The kids wanting to know what's going on, and the adults wanting to keep the situation from spreading due to the fear it'll cause. They may be military, but they're still gossiping minors.
"Where's the body?"
The paramedic is rushing down the stairs with his partner, gurny supported in the trip. Seeing the child, they set the portable bed down in the sand.
"Put him down here. Careful now, careful." He reaches up; his partner does as well.
The two medics support Kait's body onto the stretcher; he's then bound down across the chest with and legs with a strap, his head is supported with padding to keep from jostling him back and forth.
"Please be careful with him." Amada called after the retreating ambulance attendants. Watching until Kait was being carted away, she then turns to Vola. "Guess we better get back to Garden."
"Yeah."
The two head back to the submarine, head's hung low. Now comes the worst part, telling the headmaster of their failure, and the school about the death of a comrad.
...............
"How did you know it was Laguna, Squall?" Zell asks in a voice filled with remorse. He never would have whooped that Giant as hard as he had if he'd known it was Laguna.
"There was a woman on the street... She was buried under monsters after changing back from being one herself. She said she saw Laguna and thought he'd help her, but he changed into that giant and crushed her in his path."
Zell wanted to say "No way", but there was no denying it after what he'd been through in Garden. But Laguna wasn't in the desert, so how did he change? "I'm sorry about whailing on your dad... Did the doctors say he's gonna be all right?"
"That slice across his face is gonna scar for sure, but aside from a broken leg and shoulder blade, they say he's gonna make it. He'd be dead if it weren't for that steel shell of his transformation." He looks down at his father, laying unconscious in the bed. "He got lucky, if what I'm thinking is correct, then all those monsters in Dollet are mutated townspeople. They didn't morph back because they're dead."
"Are you SERIOUS?! All those monsters.... Fuck, and my team is still back there like they're fuckin' hunting." He marches to the door. "I've gotta call them, and get over there. They have to stop."
Squall didn't object to that, but with the police milling about, thousands more will die if he doesn't get there soon. His mind went back in time to the hours he'd spent in Winhill, those monsters all turned to dust. 'But Winhill was attacked... Does that mean the citizens haven't changed yet, or have they not been infected because Irvine and I stopped them?'
Getting up from his seat, he gives Laguna's hand a squeeze. "I'll be right back."
Walking into the hall, he takes the elevator down to the lobby to use a payphone. Irvine's on guard anyway, but if Winhill's townspeople begin to change, he has to be informed to not kill them. He waits for the line to pick up, but it rang long enough that the voicemail came on.
"Irvine, there's been an outbreak of monsters in Dollet; Laguna was injured but we're in Timber now waiting to be transfered to Esthar. If the people begin to act funny, or if they flatout change into monsters do not kill them. Subdue them somehow, because they can change back... I think. Just be careful. Garden's looking for a cure now. Where are you?"
Messege end.
Hanging up the phone, Squall spies a couple paramedics rushing into the hospital, past Zell's exit, with another Dollet victim on the gurny. ...Wait a second, that's no Dollet resident.
"Kait..." He hurries over to the men; pushing aside their halting gestures to be at the teen's side. "He's my son. What happened to him?"
"His spinal cord has been damaged and his back is broken in a few places." The man had a bit of an attitude as he spoke. "He's lucky he can move. If this were a normal person, he'd be paralyzed from the neck down... He may very well end up that way anyhow, if the doctors can't fix the mess your little magic tricks have done on it."
"What?"
He's not deaf to the police forces hatred of the Garden military because they have been trained to absorb and expelle magic they're sort of cheating in life. Its not as if they don't need hospitals still, because of situations like whatever this is, they very much do. But what other human can say they died and came back like a reverse had been done on them? Not many, or any that's for sure. Even if you used life magic on a civilian, they'd reanimate, sure, but their body may react poorly to the unfamiliar substance going on with their body and they'll end up dying again.
"It mended wrong, but it mended. He'll be hobbling about for the rest of his life if his spinal column can't be aligned. Doctor Sonata, we have a spinal injury..."
He's done talking with Squall. But he's not done with them. He doesn't care if he has to follow them into the O.R, he'll do it! Scrub up if he has to! Its like a fucking tailspin. First Laguna, now Kait, next thing he'll have Sis calling him to tell him that Irvine's been hospitalized or vise versa. If this is the work of those worshipping bastards, they'll wish they never met the Lion of Balamb.
"Doctor Sonata," He overheard the name. "can I come in with you?"
"You can watch from the viewing area." He says calmly. "Can I ask your relation to this young man?"
The gurny is rolled down the hall to the elevator.
"I'm his father."
"Please take the visitors' elevator on the right."
He and another doctor load the elevator; this one is rolling Kait onto his stomach to access the damage.
Squall presses the button on the wall, wanting to smash it in really. He's becoming more and more annoyed over this whole ordeal. Since when have those power hungry, Sorceress loving murmurers been this crafty? Usually they'd find their little meeting places and take them down no problem. But they seem to have found a way to recruit enough power to control monsters to do their bidding; they've gone beyond chanting for reincartnation of an evil. What he can't figure out is how they're poisoning everyone to turn them?
Maybe its a nasty side-effect of trying to reproduce their own sorceress? Matron's power was removed from her by passing it on to Rinoa, like a makeshift vessel. Ultimacia manipulated Rin' in order to free Adel. Power tranfering isn't uncommon if you have the know-how to do it. Ultimacia's mess took years to clean up, and during that time of closing the time compression portals she'd created, some of her cells could have been left behind.
If history classes have could be any sort of reference, the same thing happened centuries ago with this monster called Jenova, she came to the planet and brought nothing but destruction. It was then recorded that her leftover cells spawned much of the same evil in three nasty murderers looking to bring her back to fullfill her dream of enslaving a planet or flatout killing it off. It could easily be a situation like that that they're dealing with.
Stepping off the elevator, he looked around the empty hall. That bastard didn't even tell him which room they were heading to. Fuck! He'll just have to look in each one.
"Oh, sir! This way, your son is in O.R Two."
Thank Hyne for nurses.
0 0 0
"How do you feel?" Squall asks his son while petting the back of Kait's head tenderly.
"Like slag.... In more ways than one."
Chuckling softly, since he's uncertain of what that could intel, Squall shakes his head. He doesn't know what to tell him. Kait's on his stomach with his face peeking from a hole in the head of the bed, like getting a massage. He'd been in surgery for hours, and in that time Squall watched patiently while praying- for the first time in his life- that his father's idea of looking on the bright side is a reliable practice for good fortune.
The damage to Kait's back was so thorough, he had to get the cord replaced with an overlay. They said its a new method that Esthar has been working on, but they've been to many seminars and have done many research tests to ensure that they are skilled at performing the surgery. Squall gave his concent; to be honest, he'd rather an actual Estharean perform the surgery, but he'll put his trust in these people that they know what they're doing and won't immobolize his son.
He's never heard of any such treatments as Cybernetic Spinal Reconstruction, but it looked damn painful to have done to you. He was also informed that Kait would need months of phsyical therapy in order to properly use the prostetic.
"I feel like I can't move."
"You'll feel like that for a while, at least that's what the doctor said."
"I'm scared."
"So'm I." He admits.
Thinking, he asks. "Where's Irvine?"
"Winhill."
"Oh."
"Want me to get him here?"
"Not if he has to stay over there... I'm not selfish... And I've got you."
Squeezing his hand, he offers an unseen smile.
Trying to lighten the mood, he wonders out loud. "How am I gonna eat like this."
Chuckling to give him ease, Squall pats Kait's hand with the one that isn't holding it. "I'll get you a straw and some soup."
"Bleh."
They're quiet for a moment. The only question to ask lays heavy in the air.
"We were in the woods doing a mission for the Forest Foxes when we got separated by the moving forest. .....I died out there, a tree latched onto me... I can still feel its branches brushing against my organs when Life brought me back."
"I'm sorry."
"Vola saved me... But I wish he hadn't. Being food for that tree is what I deserve after what I did."
He completely disagreed with the punishment for whatever crime it was that he committed, but he remained silent as his son spoke.
"I changed into a G.F. and I...."
Squall can hear wet slaps hitting against the white tiled floor. Leaning over, he wraps an arm delicately around Kait's shoulders so his body heat will comfort him like his hold currently can't.
"I ate my best friend."
Squall wondered about that, then he recalled a loud mouth, lecher of a kid coming over for a barbecue once. His name was-
"Sorin was always so nice to me," He sobbed. "and now he's gone, and its all my fault."
"Sssshhh, it okay... Just let it out." He really wished Irvine were here now. He's much better at this than he is. "Where the hell is Irvine that he's not picking up his phone?"
"I'm right here." Irvine says in an odd voice at the door. "And the reason I didn't answer the phone is because I don't know how to use it."
Inspite of everything, Squall's gaze narrowed at his love, or better yet... the imposter riding his body. Imari.
...........
Commentary: Thank you all for reading, seriously. I didn't think this would be read so much because its an action based story and those are usually for just that and everyone wants a drama or a romance. So thank you. I appreciate it every time you click on this or vote or review.
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