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Snow Drift	By : Resting-Madness Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male > Irvine/Squall Views: 970 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own anything involving final fantasy 8, nor do I make money from this fanfiction. The only thing that's mine is the take on a plot that's been done by just about everyone.

Chapter List
- 27
- 28
Kait caught Imari's eye on accident. He couldn't help looking over at him, but that time he was caught. "Imari?" Kait figured he should say something.
"Hmm?"
"What do you keep saying?"
"What do you mean?" He cocked his head look at him.
Kait points to his head. "I hear you saying some stuff, up here."
'It would make sense, some kids are very sensative to a lot of other-worldly things; maybe he can hear what I can't hear.' Standing, he then crouched at the side of the bed. "Kait, I don't think I'm able to figure it out on my own. I only hear some of it. You have to tell me, what is it saying?" He asked sweetly.
Kait was quiet for a moment, listening out for the words. "It just keeps saying something weird... Palidor."
Imari's eyes are wide right before the irises rolled up to the back of his head. He fell to his side violently convulsing under the pressure great and small of memories withheld in his mind. The wars. Sorceress and Magi. The battle in Centra. The fall. The rise. It all blended and melded. Painful and hot. His body burned in ache to break.
Kait looked over the edge of the couch, panic ruled in his tone and nerves at the unusual spectacle. "Imari? ...What's wrong?" He climbed off the couch to get closer in order to help, though he doesn't know how or even if he can. He knows the emergency numbers are in the kitchen on the fridge. He should call one. He hurried into the kitchen to grab the magnet.
...
"And you're sure about this?" Quistis asked while jumping into the car beside Squall. "That bird is an ancient creature, and its possessed Irvine's body? How is that possible? Unless a contract is broken" The car door closed. "a Guardian Force should exist within the body but not as the body."
"But this creature isn't like anything we've ever seen. The picture you all saw that I shared with you was the Esper, it looks exactly like that bird Imari has been living with, minus the size. We have to get to him quickly."
Rinoa, buckling her seatbelt, added. "Especially since he's alone with Kait. You don't know what could happen."
"Kait should be fine." Squall encouraged himself to believe that as well. "Imari said that he kept hearing some voice asking for him to say a name... There's a chance it was Irvine." He recalled hearing the bird 'kaw' that one night. It sounded as if it'd been trying to say his name. Was there a switch made? Or did the bird simply replace Irvine as the host of his body and store him in a recess within his mind?
Seifer and Zell overheard the conversation through the open window as they climbed onto the ex-knight's motorcycle ready to follow or surpass. Rinoa was right, Kait is alone with an unpredictable spirit. Anything could go wrong.
Back in Balamb town.
Kait rushed into the kitchen and grabbed the information magnet on the lower door of the fridge. There are two of them with the same information, but one is where he can reach it. He heard a thump from his bedroom, he was about to go in but decided not to, he has to help his friend. Returning to the living room he grabbed the home phone from the base; a loud ringtone startled him, and when he looked at Imari's cellphone, he noticed his father's phone number.
He grabbed the phone and answered the call. "Daddy, Imari's not feeling good." He said right away. "He fell but hasn't gotten up." Kait was crying, but he knows to stay calm in an emergancy - Quistis and Rinoa practiced with him, with his toys, on how to act in an emergancy situation. He's to state the problem clear and direct. "And I'm scared."
"Shi... What do you mean, what happened? Tell me from the start." He kept his voice calm so that his son wouldn't freak out more.
"We were watching Alice in Wonderland; and then we talked about Cowboy Irvine, and then I heard somebody whisper and I thought it was Imari. He asked what I heard, but when I told him he fell down."
Squall can hear the tears in the male's throat. "It's ok. I'm on my way, I'm almost there. Don't be scared."
"Is Imari gonna be ok? I didn't mean to do it."
"You didn't do anything, and I'll be there shortly," He put his foot down on the pedal. "Call Mrs. Dincht and tell her to come and get you. Leave the house on your own and go down to the street, but wait for her on the stairs."
"Okay."
"You're doing a good job, Little Bird, I'm proud of you."
He only received a sniffle as a response.
"I'm hanging up now. Remember what I told you, head downstairs and call Mrs. Dincht to come get you."
"Okay. Bye." He hung up.
"What's happening?" Quistis wondered out loud.
"Kait said Pal's and Imari collapsed. I think he's been lying there since then; Kait thinks he might be dead."
Selphie made a hard gasp.
"I doubt he is, but that doesn't make it any less severe." He was glad for his paranoia. He has Phoenix Downs in the first-aid kit. Because life is unpredictable.
The car pulled up just in time to see Mrs. Dincht leave the neighbor's home with Kait. His son missed seeing him, since he wasn't out of the car before the woman got them around the corner towards her home.
The six dash up the stairs into the upper apartment, wasting no time searching for Imari, who was luckily in the living room but, unfortunately still unconscious on the floor.
"I'll call an ambulance." Selphie has her cell phone in hand instantly dialing the number.
Squall is at his boyfriend's side, ear pressed to his chest. "His vitals sound good; and he's breathing evenly... Irvine... Irvine?" He shakes him. "Wake up." He shook him again.
There was a sound from somewhere in the bedroom area. Too manmade to just be a vibration knocking something over. The house should be empty. Except...
"It's gotta be the Esper." Seifer moved to the hall. "I'll get it; we'll force that damned thing to cough up Irvine, even if we have to pull it apart."
The five move into the hall to secure the Esper, but they quickly return with weapons drawn.
Squall was suddenly brought alert because of the others suddenly bracing their weapons as if to attack something; was Pal so intimidating? Since when? It's an Esper, but they are SeeD. No matter the adversary they can defeat it. However, he was not prepared to see what they're backing away from. Not Palidor, but a grotesque man-bird walked into the room from the tiny hall.
Its the same colors of the Palidor, but its the size of Irvine! The face... the face even looks like the sniper! The eyes are human, but he has feathers sticking out from his cheeks and his hair is a mass of lavender plummage, the beak is beyond startling as it's flesh colored, and his arms seem to be attached to the wings.
It took one look over all of them and let out a low KAW.
"Is that Pal!?" Zell asked, terror in his tone.
The wound from Seifer's dagger is bleeding gently at the shoulder, leaving them with the conclusion that they are not mistaken of it being the creature.
"It knows Time spells, we have to get out!" Squall shouts.
Zell bashed into the creature with his shoulder, knocking it against the wall. "Run, now!"
They didn't need anymore coaxing. The group fled the home. If they're going to battle this body stealing monster it has to be in an open area where they can have the advantage, and not cause any damage to the home or town. Sure enough, Palidor followed them out of the house like a bat out of hell, wings flexed out from the hunched over posture it had since the hall kept it from fully expanding its body, as it chased the soldiers to the battlefield.
"We have to get this thing out of the town, make sure it can see you!" Quistis instructs.
A loud shriek filled the air as the Esper flew into the sky like a bird of prey ready to dive. The rain is making it a slippery mess beneath their hurried pace, but they have to get far enough away so the town isn't effected by the battle. You can bet that they wished like Hell for it not to be as dark as it is right now, but they made it out of town and into the field.
"Do you see it?" Zell looked from left to right up in the sky.
"Don't tell me we lost it?" Selphie spun a circle as she looks into the area.
All of them jumped to attention when Quistis let out a pained yell. Palidor zipped past her clipping her side with its long sharp bill and it seemed to be turning around for another snip.
"Let's finish this thing quickly, so we can get Irvine back." Squall commands.
A shimmer of golden yellow light dances around his body as Aura has been cast by him. He started to do his Lion heart attack but was cut off by Palidor slamming its feet down on his shoulders hard enough to crack his collar bone. Brought to one knee, he collects himself and readies for another attack, he needs something quicker and his Renzokukens Rough Divide seems right for the job but as he prepares the strike he watched the bird dodge an attack fired at it by Zell, who's using his martial arts to keep the creature ground level long enough for someone to assist in taking it down.
Watching the melee, Squall wondered if maybe Irvine and the bird are one right now? Irvine was possessed but there was no way of knowing which way it went. If they hurt Palidor... If they kill it... Will Irvine die as well?
Unleashing his Lightning Hazard attack, the sky lights up with all sorts of streaks and colors as the bolts entrap the bird paralyzing it without electrocuting it. Zell is encased in Berserk energy and pounds away at the immobilized Esper that will soon be freed from his Limit Break.
"Selphie! You're up!" Called the blond as his strength returns to normal.
Swinging her chuckle like a fan out at her sides, Selphie whirls it over her head before slamming it into the ground unleashing her Metal Bomber attack. The mase at the end of her weapon shot out its spikes like the quills of a porcupine. The bird let out a loud shriek of pain as the pins stick into its body before exploding in contact.
Seifer could not properly use Bonfire in the rain because his fuel would be watered down; so once the mini-psycho's explosions died down, he attacked it with Bloodfest using all of his energy in swinging Hyperion's Blood around and around, landing vicious cuts here and there though he's receiving some of his own.
Palidor had had enough! It flew up into the sky out of their reach. Its eyes glowed bright white as it looks down upon the group. Screeching down at them, sound waves blast the party off their balance into the mud and wet grass beneath them. Wings flapping hard, it used the force to alter mere blades of wind into a weapon which sliced through the rainy weather tearing into them, cutting them here and there.
Rinoa was at her limit and using her weapon Twisted Jester, its attack Leech Life launched through the air with invisible, magic seeking vines that snapped around the bird's ankle. It cried out as the energy is drained from it; its strength depleted it plummets from the sky.
"Is it going unconscious?" Rinoa wondered.
Squall got up from the ground dashing over to the falling creature; dropping onto his backside to slide upon the soggy grass, he kept his arms up reaching out. He caught the spirit! However.. just as the large bird landed in his lap and arms.. the two of them vanish.
"This is not good." Selphie got up only to slump back on the ground from a bad cut on her leg. "Where'd they go?"
They all had expected Shiva to show up, but she did not. Squall and the Esper are gone.
# #
"Where am I?" Squall looked around in the thick blinding white of the mysterious location. "Irvine?! Irvine!?"
"He's no longer here... ...Why do you want him back?" Asked the unconcious bird telepathically.
"Because I love him." He said plain and simple. "We all love him."
"But you forgot about him once you thought that he was dead. ...I got to live as a human lives, love as a human loves... In my world, no such thing is allowed when you are an Esper and mankind has shunned you."
"I don't know how you got here, but you're no longer in your world." Squall informed vehemently. "Things are different here."
"I am aware of that!" The monster hissed. "Here I was shown that monsters and people can co-exist, but as a means of their fighting tools. I've lived here, hidden for years and years watching the world evolve until one night. While I slept, a group of men stole me from my cave. I was locked inside of a gem called Magicite from where the people in my era used me for good and evil. I saw your friend..." The bird sputtered and coughed before speaking again. "He was on top of the hill speaking some words to me, and before I knew it I was being pulled to him - into him! I panicked and used my Warp ability to send him away, but his spell to bring me in interferred. We somehow ended up in a very cold place... I was in his body and he was in mine, or so I'd thought."
Squall was following along, but so far he was hearing nothing of use to get Irvine back.
"Your friend, Irvine, believed that he had died during his mission so he remained in that state of mind while I took main control of his broken body, not knowing where I was or what would happen to me. My body, somehow, managed to remain as a tiny bird that I found when I woke up. I did not know your friend's and my subconsciousness were blending."
"Is that what happened? The combination of magic errupted into a body displacement?"
"Yes. But within our mind."
"Then what happened to Irvine? Where is he now, shouldn't he be here?"
"He was beginning to figure it out when he heard all of you speaking. It got to the point where I had tried to tell him, but I couldn't give up being human and being able to be loved instead of used. Your son was so kind to me..." It held a fondness in its tone. "After a time you all became that way, you were kind to me as a Imari Karver. I thought Irvine would be a thing of the past, that he could live as my old form by my side, still in your lives. So I pushed him back. However, he started to speak to me over and over. I seemed to forget who I was myself, but when your son spoke my name..." It trailed off.
"That's what you meant that day. When you said you wanted to stay... Palidor, you can stay with us. Kait and me.. and Irvine, but... you have to give Irvine back!"
"...I can't... your friend has gone..."
"What?!"
The voice begins to fade. "But I will return to my body and sign a contract with him as he wished... Maybe then you'll see your friend again..."
The bird - the world - starts to fade away...
Squall's eyes open and he looks around. He's in the hospital. Irvine is laid up beside him, a mask over his mouth to help him breathe. "Irv..." His throat is dry and hurts. It felt as if his skin has been microwaved by the sun. Was he dreaming that?
"Squall, you're awake." Quistis took his hand. "How do you feel? You've been out for days."
"Days? What about Irvine, is he ok?"
"The doctor says that he's fine, he only needs the mask because his breathing gets eratic in his sleep." With tears in her eyes, she announced. "Squall, he woke up. He spoke to us, but..."
"He's still not Irvine." He says sadly.
"...No. ...But, he isn't Imari either. The Esper is at your house, as tiny as a sparrow... It's caged."
Squall nods. So Irvine is alive and well-enough. He'll help him remember, though, even if it takes forever. With no Esper inside of him locking his memories with Stop, Irvine will have a better chance at remembering sooner. Falling back onto the bed, he let his eyes close so that he can sleep.
December 23.
Irvine skates over to the bench where Squall is seated. Plopping down beside him he wrapped an arm around his boyfriend. "Did I mention how great you look all covered up in winter wear?"
"Only a hundred times." Squall can feel his cheeks rise from pleased embarrassment.
"Well, it's true! Besides, I'd tell you a hundred more times, so that I don't miss a minute of being with you."
"Daddies look at me spin!" Called Kait to the pair. Doing his spin he stops a little wobbly, having to spin his arms to keep his balance only to get plucked up from under his arms by Zell, to skate around the ice with the laughing fighter.
"He's so cute." Irvine snickered.
"I remember, you know?"
"Remember what?"
"You. You always had this look in your eyes, and I never knew what it was for... It's a terrible thing when you can't remember people and when people can't remember you. But that day, when you got your memory back... it was raining just like it had been back then when we were kids... You came outside sometimes and would take my hand." He took Irvine's hand. "You would just look at me and smile, sometimes you would cry too... You never said anything, except for that first time when you did it. You looked at me and said: "No one should have to be sad alone"."
Irvine smiled with a certain light in his eyes that Squall had never seen before. "And we'd hold hands to comfort each other now and then."
"Yeah. I thought it was weird when you grabbed it at the parade - you're a lecher after all, but, no... you just remembered what I didn't. Acting on an old impulse... I never remembered because all the other kids talked and talked, but you... everytime we were around each other you never said anything. Which was just what I needed sometimes." He closed his eyes to drink that cared for feeling in. He opened them, locking eyes with his boyfriend. "I love you, Irvine Kinneas."
"I love you, too, Squall Leonhart." He kissed him on the cheek before he got up from the cold bench. "Now let's get out there and show them what team Kinneas is all about."
"Team Kinneas?"
The man only laughs to himself as he skates away.
'Its good to have Irvine back, inside and out. And now, we'll always have a way to remember each other even when the other can't.' Squall left the bench, skating out into the crowd.
He doesn't join the scattered fray of their circling teasing joy, he just stood amongst them, allowing himself to bask in everything and everyone's presence. Lives of those whom he never wants to live without again. Each of them have become his greatest source of strength in life. Now with his son, he feels more completion to the weight on his mask. He can let it go. He can be his whole-self with them. His loved ones. He's not afraid of that once feared mask free existence. He can be loving, he can be rude, he can be afraid or needy, but they will let him. They won't leave him.
And yet...
THE END
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Snow Drift