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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
- 10
- 11
- 12
"Where's Irvine?" Squall approached the body snatcher with fist balled for combat.
Backing away, hands up in defense, Imari explains. "He's still in here with me, I promise. I am not Imari, I am Palidor... I don't know how many times I can prove it to you."
"Fine." He backed off, but remained where he stood- which is practically under the man's nose. "But why are you in Irvine's body? What happened at Winhill? Where's Ellone?"
Irvine appearing is strange enough, but with Palidor inside of him and in control its just one weird mystery after another; so the last thing he needs is to find out that Ellone has been hurt, or left in a compromising situation.
"She's with your father; and I put a spell over Winhill's populous, it was the best I could do to stop them from devouring each other."
"Devouring?" Again he asks. "What happened?"
Winhill 6 hours earlier.
"At first, nothing.... But daylight began to dwindle, and that's when strange things began to happen."
Irvine is at the window, his guard on high alert for the return of the invading monsters. But its been a full 3 hours since the occurance, and nothing has happened. Not so much as mysterious rumbling in the bushes outside the window. At least he has a chair. Scanning the empty room, he wondered if he could sneak away for something to eat.
"Irvine," Ellone is walking down the long staircase; her expression dour of the situation.
She's been on house arrest before, many years ago, when they had to hide her away in a space station to prevent sorceresses from using her body as a vessel. Even sailing the high seas wasn't pleasant, because she was being held for protection. At least when she'd been hiding out in Balamb Garden she could watch her brothers and sisters- except Irvine, who'd been in Galbadia.
"Everyone is in bed now. It took a moment to get the children to sleep, the littler ones thought the monsters were going to come back for them."
She rubs her arm for comfort of the chill that the monsters may come back. She's been in sketchy situations before, but never physically touched by anything. Even through the long sleeves of her purple shirt, she could feel the dirt encrusted bandages, and the monster's solid bones beneath the bandages.
"Though I don't blame them." Approaching, she looks out of a small space left inbetween the boarded up windows. "Anything new?"
"Ghost town." He glances at her when feeling her thin hand land on his shoulder.
"Can I fix you something to eat? I know you weren't at dinner?"
"Anything'll be fine, thank you." When Ellone is out of sight, he extends his legs, and gives them a rub before standing to stretch them from their slumber. Blowing out a puff of air so big his cheeks ballooned, he says to himself. "I'll give it to guys who stand on guard post, they're tougher than me on attention and entertainment-stamina."
He almost wished the monsters would return... almost. He wondered what was going on that Squall would text him about Laguna's gun? It must be crazy over there. It was a nice distraction though, but then there were those kids saying Kait got hurt- it's not something he enjoyed hearing, especially when he's stuck in Winhill; but he got lucky that they were on their way to Dollet where Kait could be cared for by one of his fathers.
'But quarentined? What's that about?'
The days have been becoming more and more mysterious; ever since Siren left its been one strange event after another: monsters are ravaging towns, Laguna's gone missing, and now this quarentine? What next, the 4 horsemen?
'Yikes. Don't even kid the thought.'
Thump! Thump!
Looking at the high ceiling, he tries to figure out if the continuing thumps are coming from the roof or somewhere else in the house. With the way the mansion is set up, its very likely the sounds are coming from the upstairs area at the far end of the foyer. But he had to be sure.
Glancing to where the kitchen area is, he moves to the front door and carefully pulls it open to prevent whoever's making the sound from noticing him so right away. Creeping down the front steps, he looks left and right through the darkness. The only real light he has is the dull glow of the moon cloaked by rain clouds.
Perking an ear, he listens for the thumping sound. Nothing.
'What are the odds of it being some kids stayin' up late?' Removing a handgun from the hip-holster, he goes back inside, crossing the room through the french doors that occupy the space beneath the double staircase.
He passed a few closed doors before coming to the candle-lit kitchen. They all decided it was better to not draw attention to their safe haven, so if there were going to be any lighting it would be the dull glow of a candle.
"Psst! Elle.. Was everybody asleep when you left?"
"Yes. I'm sure of it." She places a lid over a sauce pan filled with something white and creamy and peppered with green bits. "What's going on?"
Placing a finger to his lips to tell her to hush, he points up at the ceiling. The thumping is even more pronounced in the kitchen than it was from across the room in the foyer. Ellone nods understanding why he asked. If it had been a singular sound, or even scattered, it would have made sense as human movement. But this was a steady, repeated thumping pattern. It kind of sounded like someone were slowly beating a rug clean.
"You stay put, I'll check it out."
"Okay. But Irvine, put your gun away... If it is just someone moving around, you'll frighten them all over again."
He raised a skeptical brow over the notion, but replied with a nod and saying. "Right."
Walking as quietly, but as quickly as he could, he wound up breaking into a sprint when-
"Aaahh!!!"
Somebody screamed! Tearing up the stairs, two at a time, he hurries down the hall listening for where the ruckus was coming from. The mansion is huge! 10 rooms total- and that's not counting the bathrooms and offices. Removing the gun he'd just politely put away, Irvine leans an ear to each closed door; closed but currently opening due to the sudden scream jolting them awake. It narrowed down the search in the foreign home, though; he grabbed the knob of the only door that wasn't currently occupied by onlookers.
"Stay back!" He said to them, hoping they'd listen and duck back into their rooms he pressed forward.
Entering the dark bedroom made him pause; his eyes widened and his mouth dropped in shock. There, on the polished plank wood flooring, is a man slumped over his son creating wet slurping sounds.... He's eating him! The child that screamed wasn't screaming anymore, he couldn't after the initial jerk from his sleep brought on by his father taking a bite out of his side and still doing so, whilst dragging him from the bed.
"Hey!" Irvine called the man's attention from the mess. "Eat this!" He fired at the man's head, dropping the freshly turned zombie in a heap over his dead child.
"What happened?" Half the home's strangers ask. The other half also want to know what's going on, as they attempt to exit their rooms and look beyond the open door.
"Dammit." He muttered when they dead child's fingers began to twitch. He's turning. Firing off another round into the youth's temple, Irvine closed the door to the brutal, unfortunate, scene. 'I would be out of Esuna.' He thinks about the situation. The child's father could have at least been saved a bullet, even if he'd have to mourn his son. 'But how'd he turn into a zombie? Everybody was fine when they arrived...'
While Irvine was musing over the odd situation; a man's curious behavior suddenly calmed, and his eyes rolled to the top of his head and down again glossed and blood-shot. His mouth sagged open; and a hard breath escaped his deflaiting lungs blowing right against the back of his wife's neck.
"Mmraaaauuuhhh...." He groaned falling forward into the round woman, his teeth gnashing and wanton for her flesh.
"Haaa!! What are you doing?!" She screamed; elbowing her husband, under the idea that he was being a jerk, she got a rude surprise when he bit deeply into her thrown elbow.
Everyone in the hall was at a mad scramble, they bolt past Irvine who's moving towards another bizzare transformation. He can hear their screams when they entered- no doubt intentionally- the room he'd just closed off. He can then hear their footsteps rushing into another room across from it, as he shoves his boot into undead man's temple knocking him away from his wife. But she'd been bitten, and would turn soon as well, which forced him to shove both of them into the room they were occupying.
"No! Please, don't leave me in here!" She bellowed from beyond the held-closed door.
He closed his eyes to her screams when her husband recovered from the floor where he'd been kicked, as he intended to finish her off. The man wasn't bleeding anywhere that Irvine could see, so why did he turn? What is going on here?
He stepped back from the door when a pool of blood slid from the opening beneath it.
"Mom!" A young voice bellowed.
'Are you serious?' He wondered, going a room down to scope out the scene and is relieved to see the woman had just vomited from nerves. 'I've gotta stop this before it spreads through death, they won't be able to change back once that's happened..'
Turning on the light, it was a needed risk, he roughly looks over each person in the room for signs of change. Anything remotely off about their skins natural hue, or the lack of alert gaze. Finding one person who seemed a slight bit green, he helped her up and walked her to an empty room.
Nervous she asks; glancing over her shoulder in a worry over being shot like the other two. "Where are you taking me?"
"I'm sorry ma'am, but you're gonna have to stay in here until I can figure something out."
"Why?" Fear was about to make her panic into a full scale attack. "What's wrong with me?"
"Nothing." He held the knob with one hand, ready to pull the door closed, and the other waved away the woman's fears. "Its just a precaution, everyone is getting the same treatment.. Alright?"
That seemed to relax her, and she moved over to the bed. He gave her a kind smile, saying he'd be back in ten minutes before closing the door. It really wasn't such a bad idea, though. If he put them all in separate rooms, their was less of a chance of anyone else turning through death.
"Everybody please listen," He asked when returning to the room full of Winhill villagers. "I'm gonna need y'all to sit alone for a little while, while I figure out a way to help you."
"Help us from what?" The homeowner asked.
"I think something might have happened to someone, and it went missed. So like, now there's a sort of bug going around. Its just better if you're alone right now."
Hands thrown into the air, the man can't hide his anger. "Unbelievable! I invite all of these.... these..." Searching for a word that might be a scratch kinder, he decided not to bother. "ungrateful savages into my home, and now you're telling me someone was carrying a disease?!"
'Seems that way.' Thinks the SeeD; but as far as an explanation, only drew in a breath to think of what to say only to end up shrugging a hand. He didn't know what to tell the guy.
"W.. wh.. why is it s..s.o cold in here?" A girl rubbed her arms.
"Everybody get out!" He ordered; seeing the girl getting up from the floor, he hurries by and grabs a blanket for her. "Not you, hon'." He drapes the blanket around her shoulders, helping her over to the bed to sit. "You stay put in here, ok? I swear I'll get you better."
Leaving the room, he looks around the panicked hall occupants and shakes his head. This is a disaster! These people are turning left and right! Spooked, he began to wonder if he would turn as well! Or Ellone!
"Listen to me!" He called over the frightened murmurs. "I need everyone to find a room in this house and close yourself in it."
"Can I go with my wife?" Asks one of the elderly men who'd been fishing when he and Squall were out on the lake earlier.
"No. You have to be alone."
"Why?" Protests the man, ready to pitch a fit.
Irvine was about to tell his neighbor to stop whining, but spotting Palidor hovering behind the crowd, he muttered for them to just do as he says before holding an arm out to the Esper.
"What are you doing here?" He asks the telepathic bird.
"I had to return to you. While flying over the area I discovered something I need to tell you..."
He watched the villagers wander to rooms alone, including the elderly man; the thumping sounds of the turned fill the hall as well, they're trying to get out by bopping into the door where sound can be heard by their dead ears.
"What?"
"Go to Squall, I need the others to hear this."
"I've gotta stay here and watch out for these people. My hands are tied."
"I'll take care of the people, but get to Squall- its important." The bird flapped its wings.
"Take care of them how?" He wondered.
Just then the doors splintered and smashed out holes where clawing, hunger-fueled, hands reached for him. Their process of turning into zombies has taken their knowledge of pain, and now their strength is superhuman.
"Better do it quick," He panics. "Ellone!" He calls down the stairs to his sister, who's still in the kitchen; passing by the people in the home in the process of their hiding themselves away; he's glad they're listening to what he'd said. "We gotta go!"
He felt the static of magic in the air, and before he could ask what Palidor planned to do he'd felt everything go dark.
"I switched places with Irvine after concealing the villagers, they're moving very slowly but they are no longer a harm to themselves or anyone else in that state."
Squall would have asked how Palidor knew all of that, but he'd probably seen into Irvine's memories. "Why did you need to get to me?" He asks when the contents of the events replayed in his mind.
A somewhat contained outbreak of zombies in Winhill. How did that happen? And what could he possibly do about it?
"I need you to call your friends, that way I can tell you all what I know at once- you can do that correct?"
"Yeah, hold on." He speed dials the last number that called him. "Seifer, call Zell for a confrence- is Quistis anywhere around?"
He listens to Seifer, while watching his husband's abducted body kneel over to converse with Kait.
"Get her down there then. I'll call Zell, you call her." Brows furrowed; he sighs, impatient to get off the phone with Seifer to connect with the martial artist, who's on his way to Dollet again. "He's fine. He went back to Dollet."
Smiling at the face that's facing the floor, Palidor pats Kait's hand. "How are you, young sir?"
"I've been better." He declared sleepily.
"Can I help to heal your back?" He looked over the bed at the bandaged area.
Perked up, he asks with great enthusiasm. "Could you?"
"I'm not my friend Saphrim, but I can use haste to speed up the healing process."
"Real-.."
Squall interrupted his conversation. "Don't touch him. The doctor said he was lucky to get that much; Kait will be healing in the safety of the Esthar hospital with his grandfather as soon as he's well enough to be moved."
"I understand." Straightening, he raises a brow if the phones were connected for confrencing.
Taking a moment to be sure the confrence has gone through to all that need to listen, he nods. "We're all listening." The phone is handed to Palidor.
Though he wasn't sure what anyone but himself and Zell could do, with everyone else quarentined in Garden, and Irvine momentarily taken over. He supposed now was as good a time as any to have all those cadets experience real SeeD life.
"Just talk into it, and try not to push anything by accident."
Nodding, Palidor holds the clear rectangle in his grasp trying not to touch it anywhere but on its edging. "What I'm about to tell you is a theory I've come to about what's going on in your world, I could be wrong, but I don't believe so." He looks into Squall's concentrated gaze then continues. "It starts back in the year one thousand......"
The accent-free voice spilled from the sharpshooter's mouth, spinning a tale for all that are listening. His words picturesque so the audience can almost invision what he's saying.
"Three entities Fiend Kishin, Demon Majin, and Goddess Megami known as the Warring Triad initiated a conflict that would come to be called the War of the Magi. This quarrel grew to catastrophic proportions, unleashing magical energy into the world which transformed afflicted humans into Espers."
"No way!" Zell verbally gaped from his end.
It must have been a strange and powerful battle that the disgarded magicks could transmute humans into what Palidor is today.
"Once discovered by the Gods, my people were used as soldiers in their war. It was a cruel and brutal battle involving fighters and bystanders alike. Many died, and those who lived were never the same.... and put instantly to war for either side who found them out."
Squall couldn't believe it. Normal people sent into battle just because they've changed into Espers, just because... they had the ability to do so.... They must have been frightened and confused, having to use something that they've only come to know and had not yet mastered, or maybe even that it wasn't something that they wanted to acknowledge at all. He himself knows what its like to be forced into things he doesn't want.
"Eventually, and I don't know what changed their lust for dominance, realizing the horrific calamity wrought by their hands, the Triad returned free will to the Espers- though they could not turn them back as they once were- and then after they sealed their own powers... becoming stone statues."
"So what happened to the Espers?" Seifer wondered. "Did they just die or something?"
Seifer knows that if such things existed now, they'd be more adapted to living among humans, wouldn't they? He recalled his short stint in Galbadia, when he'd seen these ape-like men known as Slappers on the hockey team. As for their existance beyond the sport, he had no clue and until now never really thought to inquire about them.
"The remains of my people had only one request made of them after their freedom was restored, and that was the Espers ensure their power remain locked away... so it might never be used again."
"They walled themselves up?" Zell couldn't process how wrong that had been of those stingy so-called Gods.
"The Triad were all they Espers had come to know, all powerful and merciful in allowing them freedom..."
Squall scoffed at the use of the word 'freedom' used on a species that was anything but.
"The Espers carried their stone gods to a hidden land of their choosing, sealing both the statues and themselves off from the realm of humans."
Irvine's body stirred like a restless bird on a perch might. "Our land wasn't quite the cave and confinement it started out as. We built homes, harvested food, found love... We lived normally in our new version of it. And on the outside, where remaining man existed, the concept of magic gradually faded to legend and myth as mankind built a society extolling science and technology."
"But what does any of this have to do with the current situation?" Squall wondered on their behalfs.
"A cruel and expanding dictatorship led by a man, Emperor Gestahl and his clownish general Kefka, changed our peaceful coexistance. In the year 1866 the barrier between the Espers' land and the rest of the world weakened. To the Espers, they felt long forgotten so there was no need to uphold the strength of the spell."
Everyone listening could understand that.
"But as any event in the world progress is recorded, so was the war of the Magi; having read of this Gestahl spent his life searching for our land, and once finding the entrance he takes advantage of our seclusion and attacks the Espers' land with modern weapons, capturing several of us." He nods. "Finding out our existance was only the beginning of the onslaughter; true power was sought by him, and more was needed to destroy the world." Explaining calmly, he says as though ashamed. "The Triad were found, an inscription had been carved on their stones, for our use for protection... But it was a sort of double-edged sword. When the Triad are awakened by him, they are mindless husks that attack prey set before them."
Seeing Squall's restlessness, he sighs.
"Don't you understand? Using the Espers as a power source, Gestahl initiated a research program to combine magic with machinery to give humans use of magical powers. The result being a craft known as Magitek. Kefka became the first experimental prototype of a line of magically empowered soldiers called Magitek Knights, drastically impairing his and the other's sanity. But through the experiments my people were killed or gradually died. Our bodies turn into stones of power called magicite."
"So what are you saying?" This was Selphie's question.
"With magicite, a human could absorb Esper abilities outright, no machinary necessary. I believe the same thing is happening here, in your world. Gestahl wanted to invade and rule a frightened world of humans with the power of Esper magic, as well as with the Triad Gods legend has made humans fear. The situation here is the same, a powerful person seeking ownership but in reverse. They want humans to become beasts; mindless creatures worth nothing to anyone but those who want to use them, that knows how. And this person does."
"How do you know?" Selphie asks.
"Because all the bodies in Dollet. A woman was only badly injured before death, she remembers changing back under a tidal wave of charred monsters." Squall replied. "She saw Laguna turn before he crushed her in his path."
Selphie gasped. "Sir Laguna's turned?"
"He's fine now, only a few minor injuries."
"Thank goodness."
"But what is there to gain by turning the world into monsters?" Quistis wondered to the group or to herself.
"Your friend's Siren was abducted from Irvine somehow, and she's being manipulated somehow to speak to the other Guardians of yours."
Perplexed, Squall asks. "What is she saying?"
"She wants the others to turn on their contractors- on everyone! She's saying to attack anyone who hasn't changed into a monster." He blinks his gaze sadly to the floor. "All the Guardian Forces are restless, they're beginning to listen. The monsters aren't the same as your Guardians so they go mad, simply wanting to attack. I'm unsure of how they're controlled once they rage."
"Guardians attacking, monsters on the mayhem.... So, how are people being turned?"
"I've been thinking about that, Zell... My theory is that the monsters are carrying the disease, that killing them is the reason its become airborn."
"Like in the desert?!" Rinoa pipes up.
"Exactly."
"That explains why the toxin wasn't in the sand, but when the wind blew the sanitations worker changed."
Squall grabs his chin thoughtfully. "So the monsters are carrying the virus... Does that mean we're all infected?"
"I'm afraid so. I don't know how much longer you can fight it, or if you're immuned somehow... But it won't be long before you yourself may end up a mindless monster, or a soldier that's a Guardian Force."
"No!" Snaps the martial artist. "I don't wanna end up some damned monster, and I can't see myself being morphed into a mindless weapon either!"
"Calm down, Zell" Squall orders. Looking at the doppelganger, he asks. "What can we do to stop this? Do you know?"
"You need to locate Siren, silence her and you can silence the onslaught of monster attacks. That would spread the virus a lot slower if the monsters aren't invading towns, you'll have no need to kill them in the people's defense. But... I'm not sure if that will be enough if this is already airborn, then its very likely the toxins will simply rock your world and change everyone regardless from cross breezes."
'Don't sugar coat it for us.' He pinched the headache between his eyes. "You said you can hear Siren? Can you pinpoint where she is?"
Palidor shrugged. "I've been flying around waiting to hear where her voice is the loudest. I first heard it before Kait took his mission to the Esthar forest. Somewhere in the south is a place to start."
"Then any able body should head south as soon as you can. We can rendezvous at the orphanage and figure out a strategy to stop Siren and whoever's controlling her."
"Count me in," Seifer pipes up. "I'm going mad in lock-up."
"I'm going too." Rinoa chimes in. "I might be able to help out over there."
Zell joined in the thrill of battle. "I'm there, whoever's doing this is gonna pay for what they've done."
Smiling, Palidor listened to them speaking. "If I can interrupt, you have to know to subdue the monsters if another invasion happens. Killing them could result in more human lives lost, and more transmutations of the infected." He adds carefully. "You've found more of my people, we'll gladly lend you our assistance; if I'm not affected then they won't be either. But you cannot trust your Guardians as allies until Siren's voice stops singing to them."
"Good point." Squall wondered about Shiva though. He's hand a contract with her for so long its practically his sister! Would she really turn on him because of Siren's spell?
"I'd also like to suggest that only two of you go to the south lands, since you don't know if another invasion of monsters will happen; and the Espers you've gathered are few."
"We can put cadets in position in towns, and tell them what's going on." Squall assured. "Its a big job, scattering everyone could take an entire day or three."
Jaw set with affirmation, Kait says confidently. "I'll go too, anywhere you need me."
"You can't, you're hurt." He thinks to himself. 'And infected enough that you've changed, you're simply too dangerous right now.'
"I'm not hurt anymore; you said it yourself, you're sending me to Esthar to rest."
"To heal, you're going there to heal from the hours of surgery you've just undergone. You're not ready for battle yet. You may not even be able to walk." Tousling the back of the boy's head, he sighs. "Thanks for wanting to help, but a real man knows when its time to rest as well as fight."
"I understand." Though he sounded like he didn't.
"Hey, you still there guys?" Zell asks from his end.
"What, Dink?" Responds his lover.
"I just got a call from someone in F.H. said Leviathan's reeking havoc over there, he needs back up."
Squall knew who the person was, he was the former SeeD member who'd griped when Winhill was attacked, Jasper. "Meet up with us when you can; I'm not waiting for you to show up, Seifer. Call a Tram and get out to Centra."
He couldn't say it wasn't annoying as hell how long Trams take to get from point A to point B, but with the trains down, and boats just as speed practical as Trams, they're going to have another day missed for stopping this issue permanantly.
Who knew what would go on while they're traveling to Centra, not to mention having to search for the source of the problem over such a huge span of land! Enemies can't just hole up in the fiery Balamb cave, snowcapped mountains or mildly dense forest. Nooo. Its gotta be in the furthest reaches of the world.
"I'll take a train, Hudson told me they're running again. The Tram'll meet me where you are. It'll take about fourty minutes if I leave now."
"Zell, I'll meet up with you in Fisherman's Horizon." Quistis's line ends there.
"The rest of you see to dispatching the cadets from B, G, and T Garden tell them they're doing security recon and why." Squall orders. "I want their mission clear and understandable that no monster is to be killed. Its too hard to know which is a person and which is an actual monster."
"Right."
He could almost see Selphie salute him.
"Rinoa, I want you to go to Deling with some cadets. Stand on guard there."
"But... Oh fine." She relents. "I'll do my best."
"Thanks." Looking at Palidor, he explains. "Matron and the other Garden headmasters can deploy their teams and captains. Are you coming with us?"
Palidor nods; reaching into Irvine's shirt revealing its tiny, still body. "I'll be waiting outside." Eyes closed he released himself from Irvine's body.
Irvine blinked with lack of confusion, looking to Squall he gives him his thin smile. "We'd better get going."
"You're not staying here?" Wonders the SeeD commander.
"I could. I don't think this place has been attacked, those monsters could come here at any minute."
"You may be right." He looks at Kait. Last thing he wants is to have this place attacked before Kait, his father, and Ellone can get to the safety net that is Esthar.
"My Tram's still outside, you can take that when Seif' shows up."
"Okay." Kissing him on the cheek, he exits the room.
Stretching his arms up over his head he walks over to the odd bed and sits on the floor, scooting himself he lays back on the floor. "Hey Little Bird,"
"Hi, pop."
"Not havin' the best day, huh? Me either. Winhill's been infested with zombies." Placing an arm behind his head, he sighs. "Can you move?"
"Not much."
"Wanna play cards?" He digs into his pocket. "I'll place your cards for you."
"Sure."
Removing the gameboard from the back of the deck, he lays it out over the floor where his head once was. Gritting his teeth, Kait lowers his hands on the side of the table to hold the deck to choose his cards secretly. Irvine takes Kait's hand, before blindly selecting his own.
"What rules?"
"Uuuhh, how 'bout Esthar's?" Suggests the sharpshooter. "I've got a feeling you'll be playing it a lot with Laguna."
"Hmhm," He chuckled. "me too." Looking over the board, "Gerogero in the upper left corner." he requested.
The minus one from the holy symbol in that spot meant nothing to a card like his. Irvine set his Ifrit dead center. His favorite move.
Smiling, Kait hands Irvine a card. "It's like you're giving this game to me." He chuckled at Irvine guiltless laughter. "PuPu middle left."
"Shoot." The middle card glowed in Kait's blue color.
But fat Chocobo took care of that, flipping over the card of a little neon-blue alien. Trauma was Kait's next play, and he asked that it be stuck below Ifrit which flipped it.
"Gettin' scared, hombre?" Kait drawled out in his put-on Galbadian accent.
"Not at all." Replied Irvine.
Plunking down a souped-up Doomtrain that flipped Ifrit and Gerogero over, he laughed like a child would when going "Nah-nah."
"Oh yeah.. Pandemona top right."
It flipped Irvine's card, but a card modeled after his non-uncle Kiros flipped his Trauma. As a rebuddle, he set down a person card as well. And having Seifer in the center right, put them at a draw.
"Can't you just say I won? I've got a bad back." He smiled from Irvine's laughter. "Take pity on me man."
"Alright B actor... Which card do you wa-"
Cutting him off, he chirps. "Doomtrain!"
"Alright, sir. You can have my train. I'll put it in your deck when we get home."
Kait's smile dissolved then. "Home. ...Irvine, can you call Mara and tell her where I'll be. Don't tell her what happened!" He sounded almost panicked. "I just want her to think I've got a mission out there or something, or that I took some free time to visit grandpa."
"You got it. Want anything else while I'm up?"
"A drink would be nice."
"Anything?"
"Uh-huh."
He listened to Irvine's departure, and when the elevator dinged! Kait pushed himself up from the table. He bared his teeth from the pain, but decided to get moving down the back elevator, and he'd take the last floor by the stairs and sneak out the back. He wants to help; he's afraid, but he can do something. And who knows... succeeding may ease his fears about soldier life.
Unfortunately when he rounded the corner for the elevator, he met with a road-block.
"Exactly how much does it hurt movin' around?" Irvine crosses his arms, brows raised in disappointment. "Ball park it, one to ten."
Glowering, he snips into the wall beside him. "Eight."
"Kait..." He drops his arms, touching the boy on the shoulder. "Kiddo, you've gotta get better. No ifs, ands, and buts about it." Leaning in he gives him a kiss on the forehead. "Get on to Esthar with your grandpa. It may be an impenatrable force, but it might need some guarding too. You could get lucky." He winked at him.
Smiling, he opens his arms like he'd done as a child when he wanted to be picked up. "I kinda lied, its more like a fifteen."
Nodding, Irvine turns and kneels down so Kait can climb onto his back for a ride back to the room. "You promise no more escaping?"
"Yup."
"Okay." He walks him back to his room. "I'll get you that water, by the way."
"Thanks." Sliding from Irvine's back and down onto the bed, he lowers his head in shame. "It was calling Mara that gave it away, huh?"
"That's the one."
"I'd still like to know where I am, incase she hears about the dispatch and starts to worry." Carefully, he assumes position on the bed. "If she thinks I'm in that strong-hold called Esthar, I'll be fine."
"Yeah." He nods. "Try to get some sleep, though, to pass the time."
"Mhm."
P.A: Irvine Kinhart to the front desk. Irvine Kinhart to the front desk.
Wondering when he'll get around to his before assigned task, he wanders to the front desk.
"I'm Kinhart."
"Phonecall."
"Thank you." Taking the phone, he asks. "Hello?"
"When Kait is on the Tram, head to Centra. If the person we're up against is that powerful, we might need a sneak attack with a bullet."
"I don't have a rifle on me."
"I told Seifer to bring you one."
"Okay. I'll check with the doctor for when he can be moved." The hospital already have their own air-emergancy systems, so it was really a matter of Kait's condition- granted the fired up kid didn't make things worse by trying to flee.
"I'll patch you the coordenance if we get there before you join us."
"Yes sir." He listened to Squall's goodbye, giving his own.
Now to find that cafeteria.
0 0 0
Seifer showed up a little before he said he would, which meant the railroad stations were trying to make up for being down for so long. He has two long cases at either side of his stride out of town.
Squall straightened from his slump on the bench inside the Tram; the door left open for the cross breeze. Its sweltering today. He scoffed when Seifer boards the craft. "Didn't have a smaller one."
"Don't be jealous because my pin-sticker's bigger than yours." He grinned handsomely over his jab.
"Smaller, but more affective." Snipped Squall, with just as much bravado as his rival.
The shuttle shook as the fan blades began to whirl, lifting the craft from the ground.
"Can you believe this whole thing?" Seifer takes a seat. "Some fucking nut turning the world into monsters. What will those bald albinos think of next?"
"Don't test them, they might poison our water supply or food." Looking out the window he watches the scenery of Timber roll from view.
"Hyne. Being a mindless freak... Its as good as death."
'I think it might actually be death.' Squall's mouth tightens into a thoughtful line.
"Whatever the case, we're gonna stop it." He leans back in his seat; angry gaze cast blankly upon the beautiful scenary before him. "I'm not gonna be anyone's puppet."
Hearing that, Squall balled his hands together and blew quietly at the cold.
- 10
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Uprising: The Beast Wars