~ Sweet Siren ~
We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dream,
Wandering by lone sea breakers, and sitting by desolate streams.
World losers and world forsakers, for whom the pale moon gleams,
Yet we are movers and the shakers of the world forever it seems.
CHAPTER #1
Squall was bored. Though the peace that was the small town of Fisherman's Horizon, was quite relaxing for the young Commander. But there was only a certain amount of peace he could stand. He wanted to go out there and wreck some havoc.
Oh sweet Hyne! I'm turning like Seifer. A smile crept over those perfect lips of his at the thought. Not like that's a bad thing. He shifted, tilting his head to one side, his silken hair falling to his right. He rubbed the scar across the bridge of his nose.
He had a habit of rubbing the scar whenever he thought of the blonde, which was understandable in a way considering that he had given it to the younger man. And Squall acted, giving him one all for his stuck up and absolutely gorgeous face. Ha! Serves him right. A cough behind him, had him crash back into reality.
"Off by yourself I see" the figure shook their head, hair flapping gently in the cool ocean breeze. "Again" Squall turned his head, and looked at the person over his shoulder
"It's the only way I can be sure of intelligent company" the figure strolled over to Squall, their feet shuffling upward like a child kicking up dirt. They leaned over the side of the balcony and looked out at the sea before them, then turned to their superior
"I'm intelligent, aren't I?" they asked, Squall nodded.
"You are, it's just that..." a finger shot out from their place in the safety of their owner's pockets and was held to Squall's lips to quiet him.
"I know" the figure leaned in closer to flash him a world known grin. The finger was pulled away and placed back into its original containment. The figure cocked his head back and laughed "It's been - Hyne only knows how long - since Rinoa's been gone, and you're still moping around here like a lab rat" Squall looked at them
"I am a lab rat, Zell. Cid's lab rat" Zell's left eyebrow rose, then fell just as quickly.
"You sick of the hero stuff, huh?" Squall sighed, pulling his lean figure away from the balcony. Shook his head, to free his eyes of the loose strands of hair and looked at Zell through storm cloud grey.
"How long has it been since Ultimecia's defeat? 6, 7 years?" Zell nodded once, to acknowledge the date "And he still treats me like a crystal glass. 'Only use to make an impression', that's all I am to him" Zell shook his head in disagreement
"Nah, I don't think so. You're more the 'Fierce Lion' type. Strong, Brave, Respected, Feared, Dangerous" Squall had started to blush, Zell's eyes widened and he turned away nervously "Uh, sorry man... I'm not hitting on you or nothing. You know how Lena and me are and yeah..." he looked up and met the gaze of Squall's laughing eyes.
"Zell, it's okay. Besides you're not my type anyway" Zell sighed with relief, then turned and glared at him
"Heeey! I'm pretty sexy, you know" the young blonde began to bob around the Commander, striking air. Squall smirked at the smaller man. It was funny, Zell was actually his elder but he never acted like it.
"Whatever you say" he patted the man on the head and continued to look out to sea. He frowned then turned back to Zell "Was there a specific reason why you're here, or are you just trying to bug the hell outta me?" the blonde stopped and looked at the younger man, flexed his fingers then said
"Irvine was looking for you..." he frowned "or was it Seifer?" he shrugged "One of them were looking for you" Squall rose an eyebrow
"Really" Zell nodded a couple of times, then looked at his watch
"Oh! Gotta run, Lena'll be waitin'!" he waved to his superior officer and headed inside. Squall smirked
Irvine or Seifer. Oh please, let it be Seifer! Squall hoped, he turned and headed inside and bumped directly into Selphie. She fell over, and rubbed her head. He looked down "Oh, sorry Selphie" she jumped up, brushed her yellow dress and smiled up at him
"There. I'm fine, Squall" he relaxed, and then asked her
"You seen Irvine?" she nodded "Do you know if he's looking for me?" she shook her head
"No, can't say that he is..."
"Okay" she eyed him curiously
"Why?" Squall waved his hand back and forth
"Zell can't get a message straight" she nodded. Squall smiled, that meant Seifer was looking for him. Excellent. "It must be Seifer who's looking for me then" she nodded once, then shifted, ran a hair through some hair and burst out laughing. Squall frowned "What's so funny?" she looked at him
"Oh! It's not you, it was what he was doing this morning" she was trying to keep back a laugh "He, Raijin and Fujin were down in the Quad singing 'We are Family', Hehehe..." she gave in, and toppled over laughing "HA! HA! HA!" Squall frowned like he always did and pulled the look that said 'You're an idiot' the only reason he did that was to hide the fact he found something amusing.
"So, he'll be in the Quad?" she was rolling along the ground
"Ye-HA! HA! HA! Yeah, he'll... HA! HA! Probably be in... HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!" Squall began to walk away, quickly. Entered the elevator and pressed 1. The soft whir of machinery, then the gentle 'PING' as the doors opened. He walked towards the Quad, and he started thinking like he usually did.
Seifer had been placed in the D-District Prison, because of his actions. He'd only been let out recently, and he'd come back as a new man. Correction, a different man and singing was something that Seifer Almasy defiantly would NOT do. But who was he to judge?
Heavily amplified guitars and loud thuds of drums, and two voices rapping out rhymes. Squall recognised one voice.
"Se-Seifer?" Squall's eye's widened, maybe Selphie was right. Squall approached the stage and he soon realised the second voice was Fujin. Raijin banging away at the drums, Nida on Bass guitar and... Irvine on Electric? What the...?
"BOOM!" Fujin rapped
"Here comes the..."
"BOOM!" Fujin rapped again.
"Ready or not, here comes the boys from the South"
"BOOM!"
"Here comes the..."
"BOOM!"
"Ready or not, how you like me now?" Seifer rapped, his hand waving around. Raijin in the background going
"Boom, ya know?" Squall turned away, trying desperately not to laugh. Seifer looked at him
"Yo! Squall!" he jumped down and turned to the band, "Nice. 'Kay guys, break for 5" they turned to each other, Irvine turned to Fujin.
"Pretty good, eh?"
"SUCKS"
"It didn't suck"
"JUST YOU" Raijin laughed
"That's pretty funny, ya know?"
"YOU TOO" Raijin frowned; it was Irvine's turn to laugh.
"Ha! Ha! Crash and burn!" he laughed, pushing his black cowboy hat further up his head. Seifer turned to Squall,
"Whatcha think?" Squall shrugged
"It's okay, I guess" Seifer's hopeful shoulders slumped a little,
"Just okay?" Squall sighed, trying to please the older man
"Okay, it was excellent. Absolutely smaaashing" he clapped his hands together. Seifer frowned
"No need to be an arse about it" he turned away, Squall watched him momentarily and then placed a gloved hand on the taller man's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Seifer" he really was "I really am" He really was! "Really, really, really." really sorry "sorry" he voice was hinting on that of seductive. Seifer caught the hint and turned back around, gazing into soft blue.
"Squall.?" he smirked flicking his eyes all over the Commander's perfect face. Squall covered Seifer's mouth with his hand.
"Later, I wanna hear another one of your songs" Seifer smiled, turned and started to walk away. Then he stopped turned back around and looked at Squall
"You know," he began, smiling deviously "I will always love you" Squall smiled in triumph, then frowned
"That's your next song isn't it?" Seifer frowned
"No!" he lied, Squall saw through him so he answered truthfully "Uh, yeah" Squall's eyebrow rose for the umpteenth time that day, Seifer pointed towards the stage. "There's a lovely seat in the front row, sir"
"Anywhere on the Quad floor, isn't it?" Once again, Squall had seen through Seifer's lying
"Well. it's not that bad" Seifer walked up the metal stairs of the stage and looked at Squall "You've had worse" Squall nodded
"You would expect that Esther could afford comfortable seats" he rubbed his backside "Laguna's such a cheap arse" Seifer laughed, threw the microphone up into the air then caught it with his other hand.
"He is your father, you know" Squall threw him a fierce glare
"He's no father of mine" Irvine looked at him, having overheard his conversation
"Awww, come on!" he pointed at Squall "At least you have one" Squall blushed slightly
"I didn't mean to." Seifer whacked Irvine in the side of the head with the microphone
"Shut up, Kinneas" the cowboy pouted and strummed the guitar a couple of times, the loud ringing of the notes echoing in all their heads. And they were totally benevolent the message coming from the speaker.
". Report to my office, immediately" they all looked at each other
"Did anyone hear that?" Seifer asked, Irvine shook his head
"NO" Fujin admitted
"Yeah, no. ya know" Squall shook his head, confused by Raijin's response. The message repeated
"I repeat. Squall please report to my office immediately" Squall stamped his foot in anger
"FUCK!" everyone stared at him "God damn mother fucking bastard."
"Squall?"
"Doesn't even know the fucking day of the fucking week."
"Squall!"
"Can't run the fucking Garden without the help of me!"
"Squall!?"
"DAMNIT! DAMNIT! DAMNIT! FUCKIT! FUCKIT! SHIT!"
"Squall, ya know?"
"Friggin' hippies lovin' the damn trees, or is that.? Doesn't matter. what was I talking about?"
"SQUALL"
"Fucking GF's, stealing my memories. not like they were nice memories. I think.? DAMNIT!"
"I repeat. Squall please report to my office immediately"
"I'M GOING!" he yelled to the speaker, not that the Headmaster would've heard "I'M NOT YOUR SLAVE!"
"Squall?" Seifer said, Squall turned to him
"Yeah, man?"
"Shut up and go see Cid" Squall walked off, leaving the band by themselves. "Sweet Hyne!" Seifer sighed, "The boy sure does have a mouth!" Irvine nodded
"I've never heard him swear the much" Seifer looked at him
"What? O-Oh, I was talking about his perfect-" he looked up at everyone "Uh, never mind"
"PRACTICE" Fujin said after a long awkward silence, Raijin nodded
"Yeah, practice. ya know? Gotta get it right, ya know?" Irvine nodded, as well as Nida. Fujin looked at Irvine watching him pluck various strings to see if they sounded right, he looked up when he realized he had a woman's eyes upon him. well, a woman's eye to be exact. He flashed her a grin
"I know you think I'm gorgeous, just admit it babe" she glared at him
"The only thing I'll be admitting to is your death, cowboy" she said in a deathly low tone. Irvine held up his hands in defence
"Alright, alright, alright!" He went back to his guitar "Can't blame a guy for trying" Seifer sighed
"Shame you're not a guy then, huh?"
~ * ~ "Sir" Squall saluted, Cid turned to him
"Squall. at ease." Squall relaxed "I have terrible news" Squall frowned "Your father has been killed by a gang of Estharian rebels" Squall breathed a sigh of relief
"Thank Hyne! I thought it would have been something serious" Cid, surprised by Squall's repose continued "As well as Ellone" Squall buckled
"Hyne! Are you sure?" Cid laughed
"Ha! April Fools, Squall" Squall straightened and stared at Cid blankly
"It's June, sir" Cid frowned
"Is it? Damn" Cid pulled out a small tape recorder and pressed 'RECORD' "Note to self: Remember to check calendar once in awhile" he turned his attention back to Squall
"Is that all, sir?" Cid scratched his head, and became more serious
"Actually no, we're had reports from Balamb saying there have been disturbances"
"Disturbances?" Squall pressed, Cid nodded
"In the water. We sent a team of SeeDs to investigate it, but they never came back" Squall sighed
"You shouldn't have sent cadets out" Cid nodded
"I know, and I didn't" Squall looked at him
"Wh-Who did you send then?" Cid looked at a report, eyes skimming until he found the names.
"Ah! Dante Varsken, Eike Astadourian, Lorie Xeipher, Leliel Ayanami and. their leaders were. Xu and Quistis" Squall buckled again
"I hope you're kidding" Cid shook his head
"No. I wish I was" he sighed, slumping slightly "Get a team together and find out what's going on" Squall nodded, saluted then left. He walked to the elevator, and started thinking again.
Quistis AND Xu are missing? He pressed 1 and started blankly at the doors. It's not like Quisty to not come back. Dante Varsken, Eike Astadourian, Lorie Xeipher and Leliel Ayanami. Hmmm.
Those 4 were the only ones who had passed the SeeD exam, that year. Quite strong fighters too, they were all top of the class. Dante was first in Irvine's sharpshooter class, Eike was first in Zell's Martial Arts Class, Lorie was first in Quistis' class, and Leliel had topped everyone easily in Squall's magic class.
Squall was quite surprised by the girl's ambition to learn, and how quickly she had mastered the magic she had been given. It was. it was as if, she was a descendant of a Sorceress. But it was impossible; the only Sorceress around this time had been Adel and Edea. Adel never married, so it was quite obvious she never had children, and also the fact that she was a psycho didn't help. If she did have a family, she probably killed him. Edea never had any children of her own, she only raised other people whose parent's had been killed in Adel's reign. The only Sorceress now, was Rinoa and Leliel was only a couple of years younger so it was impossible between those two.
The doors opened and Squall stepped through, a figure turned to him but Squall was too lost in thought to notice.
"Yo, Squall!"
Dante, Eike and Lorie looked quite familiar as well, but Squall couldn't put his finger on it. The fact the Guardian Forces took some of their owner's memories, so they can secure their place in their master's brain. At times, Squall wished he didn't have them, but he was always thankful to have them there especially when they were fighting Sorceress Ultimecia.
"Hey, Squall!"
It was impossible for Leliel to be descended from Ultimecia as well, because that Sorceress was centuries into the future and besides, they didn't even look alike! Ultimecia's hair was a silver colour, Leliel's was Raven Black, the tips of it a Blood Red in colour. Ultimecia's eyes were yellow; Leliel's were an unnatural shade of blue. But Edea's eyes were yellow when she was in reign, when originally her eyes were green.
Maybe when you're possessed your eyes go yellow?
"Yo! Earth to Squall, are you receiving me?"
The boys on the other hand, looked more like the average SeeD. Dante looked more like Irvine; he even had a hat too. Squall wondered if the cowboy look was a special tradition between sharpshooters, or Dante was just an admirer who wanted to be more like his idol. or something. Eike? He never saw Eike much, that boy liked to keep to himself.
Sounds just like me. Squall thought. Shoulder length blonde hair, looked oddly like Seifer almost the same height too. And Lorie? Hmmm. Squall tried to remember what Quistis had told him a couple of times about the boy. At one stage Quistis thought he was suicidal but it seemed to blow over, maybe that was just how he was. Now he was in training to learn how to fly the Ragnarok.
"Squall!? Can you hear me!?"
Quistis couldn't have taken the Ragnarok to Balamb, because it was being repaired. Selphie brought it back from Esthar today; he could take it to Balamb today that is if Cid would let it out of his grasp. It was surprising how long it took to repair that thing; also keeping in mind at it was at least as old as he was. She probably went to Timber and caught the train to Balamb, but trains often were out-of-order maybe she was still waiting at the station. Squall laughed
"You're an idiot, Squall!" he mumbled to himself. The figure walked right up to them and looked into his eyes
"Hey! Are you receiving me?" Squall looked up
"Huh?" the figure smiled
"We have transmission, welcome back online Squall. Had a nice trip?" Squall's eye's narrowed, the figure shifted and pulling his hat off his head then rubbed his head, then placed his precious back upon his auburn hair.
"Oh shut up, Irvine" the cowboy eyed him
"Well aren't we Mr. Cranky Boy this morning" Squall frowned
"Shut up"
"I was just"
"Sh-shut up" Irvine sighed
"What did Cid want?"
"Quistis' been missing" Irvine nodded
"She went to Balamb to inspect a water disturbance a few miles away from the Harbour town. Apparently it's an old mythological creature that has finally awakened" Squall frowned at the man
"How did you know that?" Irvine grinned smugly
"I have my sources" Squall looked at him
"Quistis herself, huh?" Irvine nodded "Should have known"
"I'm only surprised she never told you, before she left" Cowboy admitted. Squall shrugged
"She probably thought it wasn't something important enough for me to know. You've seen how many missions are landed on my desk a day" Irvine merely nodded. "Besides she's closer to you anyway, since you're her boyfriend now" Irvine nodded.
"I can't believe that Sephy liked Zell all along" Squall started at him surprised
"What?" Irvine turned and looked down at the Commander
"Yeah, she prefers Chicken-wuss over me" Squall's eyebrow rose again. He really had to stop that.
"Does he know?" Irvine gave him "The Look", Squall nodded "You're right, Zell wouldn't even know if his precious hair caught on fire" Irvine chuckled quietly. Then frowned
"How many you taking?" Squall shrugged
"I dunno, probably you and Seifer" Irvine smiled gratefully. "I don't think I could stand Zell or Selphie another day, besides him and Lena aren't going anywhere. give him and Selphie some time together" Irvine nodded "Besides, when we find Quistis I'm sure she'll be glad to see you anyway" Irvine nodded once more.
"I'll go pack" He placed his right hand to his chin, and struck a thinking pose. "Seifer'll probably still be in the Quad, he was still there when I left about 5 minutes ago" Squall nodded, and Irvine walked off.
Besides, this'll give me a chance to make my move on Seifer. Irvine understands how I feel. He headed towards the Quad; he could hear the sound of:
"RAGE!" then a loud howl and a
"Owuch! That hurt, ya know!" Squall stepped forward and looked around. Fujin looked at him
"SQUALL" he turned to her
"Seifer here?" she shook her head
"HOME" Squall nodded and walked away. He heard a muffed sentence then:
"RAGE!" then another howl.
Will Seifer accept the mission? Squall thought as he headed for his crush's dormitory. He's a SeeD now, so I suppose he has no right to refuse it.
Seifer had 'finally' passed the SeeD exam, and had become a SeeD. Squall remembered how proud he looked, but he had tried to keep it hidden by picking fights. There was still a bit of the older Seifer there, not much though. Squall raised his hand to knock on Seifer's door; he could hear the muffled voices from the TV. Aaargh! It's The Mr. Hell Show. Squall recognised. He watches that too? He tapped gently at the door, and when Seifer didn't answer he pushed it open. Seifer was lying sprawled on top of his bed, his beloved trench coat thrown over a chair, boots kicked off and laying across the room, next to the bathroom door.
Seifer was voicing the scene from the TV
"Hi is David there please?"
"I'm afraid there is no one here by the name of David" Seifer voiced
"Well, who are you then?"
"Peter"
"Hi Peter, it's Keith Simms"
"I'm afraid I don't know anyone by the name of Keith Simms"
"Well, who do you know then?"
"Graham Soya"
"Hey Peter, it's Graham Soya"
"Hi Graham, how are you going?"
"I thought I'd just call you up to say hi"
"Well, it's nice to here from you. How's Judy?"
"I'm afraid I don't know anyone by the name of Judy"
"Well, who do you know then?"
"Uh... Debbie"
"How's Debbie?"
"We split up, she's going out with Frank now"
"I'm afraid I don't know anyone by the name of Frank"
"Well, who do you know then?"
"Terry"
"She's going out with Terry now"
"No!"
"As God as my witness!"
"Terry! Dear, oh, dear... she would've been better off with David"
"Yeah, you're right"
"Is David there by the way?"
"Yeah, he's just writing a letter to Peter..."
"Well, that would be me..."
"Riiight" Seifer rolled over so he was lying with his back on the bed. He frowned, then sat up quickly when he noticed Squall was watching him
"Sorry, Squall. I didn't hear you come in" Squall smiled, and waved the apology off. Seifer jumped up and turned the television off. He looked down at the younger man and pulled a welcoming grin "Can I get you somethin'? Tea? Coffee?" Squall shook his head, Seifer smiled and walked towards his trench-coat "Good, cos the cafeteria doesn't have any." Squall chuckled.
"I came here, to offer you a mission" he ran a hand through his silken hair. Seifer watched him
I wonder what it would be like to run my hand through that- He stopped when he realised Squall was staring at him strange. "Uh, wha?" Seifer blushed slightly, but Squall didn't seem to notice.
"Well, not really offer. it's more force a mission upon you" Seifer smiled at him
"So. why are you here?" Squall sighed
"You're coming with me and Irvine to find Quistis and her crew" Seifer obviously hadn't been listening.
"So, why are you here?" he asked again, smiling more than ever.
"Just pack for a couple of days, and meet us in the Garden Hanger tomorrow" Squall turned to leave, but Seifer grabbed his shoulder. The Commander turned around, heart racing, eyes locked directly on the taller blonde. Yes, Seifer! Admit your love to me!
"Tell me, and be honest" Squall gulped nervously "Why are you here?" Squall's shoulder's slumped and he walked out. Seifer watched the younger man walk out "WHAT!? WHAT DID I SAY!?"
~ * ~
"Hey sunshine!" Seifer smiled, Squall looked at the smiling man running towards him "Didn't think it got through, huh?" Squall smiled
"Glad you finally understand something" Seifer pulled the pose that he did when Raijin and Fujin asked if the SeeD exam was hard. Selphie jumped down off the Ragnarok
"Okay, everything's set!" She glared at Squall "And if you scratch it you're Dead. D. E. D. Dead" Squall frowned. Selphie was never good at spelling,
"Uhm... okay" She waved goodbye to her friends as they boarded the aircraft. Seifer threw his belongings to the side of the cockpit, slumped in the co-pilot seat and propped his feet up on the control dashboard. Irvine looked around, and then threw his belongings down beside Seifer's. Squall sighed, and then sat in the pilot seat. Turning to Seifer, he said, "You alright with this mission?" Seifer looked at him
"I have no right to pick and choose my missions, Commander" he did a mock salute, and then settled back into the seat "Besides, I wanna get Quisty back" Squall nodded then started up the Ragnarok. It started with a jerk, and then slowly took to the air. Irvine had fallen over, and was untangling his long slinky legs from the pile of bags. Squall pressed the 'AUTO-PILOT' button, got up from the seat and turned to Irvine.
"You need any help?" the cowboy stood up, picked up his black hat and placed it on his head.
"I'm fine" Squall nodded, and looked at the mission folder. Seifer stood up and headed over to the others.
"So. Mr. Leader, what exactly has happened?" Squall gestured for them to sit, they did and he started the mission briefing
"Tuesday, June 13th a squad of SeeD were sent to the continent of Balamb to investigate strange disturbances about a mile or two away from the harbour town. Wednesday, June 14th the squad captain, Instructor Quistis Trepe reported that they had discovered what seemed like the remains of a mythological entity known as a Siren. Thursday, June 15th we Garden received a distress call from the squad. Friday, June 16th we lost all contact with the squad" Seifer sighed
"A Siren huh?" Squall nodded "Isn't it one of those creatures who sit on top of cliffs and sing, beckoning benevolent sailors to their deaths?" Squall nodded again "Don't we have a GF called 'Siren'?" once again Squall nodded. "Damn"
We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dream,
Wandering by lone sea breakers, and sitting by desolate streams.
World losers and world forsakers, for whom the pale moon gleams,
Yet we are movers and the shakers of the world forever it seems.
CHAPTER #1
Squall was bored. Though the peace that was the small town of Fisherman's Horizon, was quite relaxing for the young Commander. But there was only a certain amount of peace he could stand. He wanted to go out there and wreck some havoc.
Oh sweet Hyne! I'm turning like Seifer. A smile crept over those perfect lips of his at the thought. Not like that's a bad thing. He shifted, tilting his head to one side, his silken hair falling to his right. He rubbed the scar across the bridge of his nose.
He had a habit of rubbing the scar whenever he thought of the blonde, which was understandable in a way considering that he had given it to the younger man. And Squall acted, giving him one all for his stuck up and absolutely gorgeous face. Ha! Serves him right. A cough behind him, had him crash back into reality.
"Off by yourself I see" the figure shook their head, hair flapping gently in the cool ocean breeze. "Again" Squall turned his head, and looked at the person over his shoulder
"It's the only way I can be sure of intelligent company" the figure strolled over to Squall, their feet shuffling upward like a child kicking up dirt. They leaned over the side of the balcony and looked out at the sea before them, then turned to their superior
"I'm intelligent, aren't I?" they asked, Squall nodded.
"You are, it's just that..." a finger shot out from their place in the safety of their owner's pockets and was held to Squall's lips to quiet him.
"I know" the figure leaned in closer to flash him a world known grin. The finger was pulled away and placed back into its original containment. The figure cocked his head back and laughed "It's been - Hyne only knows how long - since Rinoa's been gone, and you're still moping around here like a lab rat" Squall looked at them
"I am a lab rat, Zell. Cid's lab rat" Zell's left eyebrow rose, then fell just as quickly.
"You sick of the hero stuff, huh?" Squall sighed, pulling his lean figure away from the balcony. Shook his head, to free his eyes of the loose strands of hair and looked at Zell through storm cloud grey.
"How long has it been since Ultimecia's defeat? 6, 7 years?" Zell nodded once, to acknowledge the date "And he still treats me like a crystal glass. 'Only use to make an impression', that's all I am to him" Zell shook his head in disagreement
"Nah, I don't think so. You're more the 'Fierce Lion' type. Strong, Brave, Respected, Feared, Dangerous" Squall had started to blush, Zell's eyes widened and he turned away nervously "Uh, sorry man... I'm not hitting on you or nothing. You know how Lena and me are and yeah..." he looked up and met the gaze of Squall's laughing eyes.
"Zell, it's okay. Besides you're not my type anyway" Zell sighed with relief, then turned and glared at him
"Heeey! I'm pretty sexy, you know" the young blonde began to bob around the Commander, striking air. Squall smirked at the smaller man. It was funny, Zell was actually his elder but he never acted like it.
"Whatever you say" he patted the man on the head and continued to look out to sea. He frowned then turned back to Zell "Was there a specific reason why you're here, or are you just trying to bug the hell outta me?" the blonde stopped and looked at the younger man, flexed his fingers then said
"Irvine was looking for you..." he frowned "or was it Seifer?" he shrugged "One of them were looking for you" Squall rose an eyebrow
"Really" Zell nodded a couple of times, then looked at his watch
"Oh! Gotta run, Lena'll be waitin'!" he waved to his superior officer and headed inside. Squall smirked
Irvine or Seifer. Oh please, let it be Seifer! Squall hoped, he turned and headed inside and bumped directly into Selphie. She fell over, and rubbed her head. He looked down "Oh, sorry Selphie" she jumped up, brushed her yellow dress and smiled up at him
"There. I'm fine, Squall" he relaxed, and then asked her
"You seen Irvine?" she nodded "Do you know if he's looking for me?" she shook her head
"No, can't say that he is..."
"Okay" she eyed him curiously
"Why?" Squall waved his hand back and forth
"Zell can't get a message straight" she nodded. Squall smiled, that meant Seifer was looking for him. Excellent. "It must be Seifer who's looking for me then" she nodded once, then shifted, ran a hair through some hair and burst out laughing. Squall frowned "What's so funny?" she looked at him
"Oh! It's not you, it was what he was doing this morning" she was trying to keep back a laugh "He, Raijin and Fujin were down in the Quad singing 'We are Family', Hehehe..." she gave in, and toppled over laughing "HA! HA! HA!" Squall frowned like he always did and pulled the look that said 'You're an idiot' the only reason he did that was to hide the fact he found something amusing.
"So, he'll be in the Quad?" she was rolling along the ground
"Ye-HA! HA! HA! Yeah, he'll... HA! HA! Probably be in... HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!" Squall began to walk away, quickly. Entered the elevator and pressed 1. The soft whir of machinery, then the gentle 'PING' as the doors opened. He walked towards the Quad, and he started thinking like he usually did.
Seifer had been placed in the D-District Prison, because of his actions. He'd only been let out recently, and he'd come back as a new man. Correction, a different man and singing was something that Seifer Almasy defiantly would NOT do. But who was he to judge?
Heavily amplified guitars and loud thuds of drums, and two voices rapping out rhymes. Squall recognised one voice.
"Se-Seifer?" Squall's eye's widened, maybe Selphie was right. Squall approached the stage and he soon realised the second voice was Fujin. Raijin banging away at the drums, Nida on Bass guitar and... Irvine on Electric? What the...?
"BOOM!" Fujin rapped
"Here comes the..."
"BOOM!" Fujin rapped again.
"Ready or not, here comes the boys from the South"
"BOOM!"
"Here comes the..."
"BOOM!"
"Ready or not, how you like me now?" Seifer rapped, his hand waving around. Raijin in the background going
"Boom, ya know?" Squall turned away, trying desperately not to laugh. Seifer looked at him
"Yo! Squall!" he jumped down and turned to the band, "Nice. 'Kay guys, break for 5" they turned to each other, Irvine turned to Fujin.
"Pretty good, eh?"
"SUCKS"
"It didn't suck"
"JUST YOU" Raijin laughed
"That's pretty funny, ya know?"
"YOU TOO" Raijin frowned; it was Irvine's turn to laugh.
"Ha! Ha! Crash and burn!" he laughed, pushing his black cowboy hat further up his head. Seifer turned to Squall,
"Whatcha think?" Squall shrugged
"It's okay, I guess" Seifer's hopeful shoulders slumped a little,
"Just okay?" Squall sighed, trying to please the older man
"Okay, it was excellent. Absolutely smaaashing" he clapped his hands together. Seifer frowned
"No need to be an arse about it" he turned away, Squall watched him momentarily and then placed a gloved hand on the taller man's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Seifer" he really was "I really am" He really was! "Really, really, really." really sorry "sorry" he voice was hinting on that of seductive. Seifer caught the hint and turned back around, gazing into soft blue.
"Squall.?" he smirked flicking his eyes all over the Commander's perfect face. Squall covered Seifer's mouth with his hand.
"Later, I wanna hear another one of your songs" Seifer smiled, turned and started to walk away. Then he stopped turned back around and looked at Squall
"You know," he began, smiling deviously "I will always love you" Squall smiled in triumph, then frowned
"That's your next song isn't it?" Seifer frowned
"No!" he lied, Squall saw through him so he answered truthfully "Uh, yeah" Squall's eyebrow rose for the umpteenth time that day, Seifer pointed towards the stage. "There's a lovely seat in the front row, sir"
"Anywhere on the Quad floor, isn't it?" Once again, Squall had seen through Seifer's lying
"Well. it's not that bad" Seifer walked up the metal stairs of the stage and looked at Squall "You've had worse" Squall nodded
"You would expect that Esther could afford comfortable seats" he rubbed his backside "Laguna's such a cheap arse" Seifer laughed, threw the microphone up into the air then caught it with his other hand.
"He is your father, you know" Squall threw him a fierce glare
"He's no father of mine" Irvine looked at him, having overheard his conversation
"Awww, come on!" he pointed at Squall "At least you have one" Squall blushed slightly
"I didn't mean to." Seifer whacked Irvine in the side of the head with the microphone
"Shut up, Kinneas" the cowboy pouted and strummed the guitar a couple of times, the loud ringing of the notes echoing in all their heads. And they were totally benevolent the message coming from the speaker.
". Report to my office, immediately" they all looked at each other
"Did anyone hear that?" Seifer asked, Irvine shook his head
"NO" Fujin admitted
"Yeah, no. ya know" Squall shook his head, confused by Raijin's response. The message repeated
"I repeat. Squall please report to my office immediately" Squall stamped his foot in anger
"FUCK!" everyone stared at him "God damn mother fucking bastard."
"Squall?"
"Doesn't even know the fucking day of the fucking week."
"Squall!"
"Can't run the fucking Garden without the help of me!"
"Squall!?"
"DAMNIT! DAMNIT! DAMNIT! FUCKIT! FUCKIT! SHIT!"
"Squall, ya know?"
"Friggin' hippies lovin' the damn trees, or is that.? Doesn't matter. what was I talking about?"
"SQUALL"
"Fucking GF's, stealing my memories. not like they were nice memories. I think.? DAMNIT!"
"I repeat. Squall please report to my office immediately"
"I'M GOING!" he yelled to the speaker, not that the Headmaster would've heard "I'M NOT YOUR SLAVE!"
"Squall?" Seifer said, Squall turned to him
"Yeah, man?"
"Shut up and go see Cid" Squall walked off, leaving the band by themselves. "Sweet Hyne!" Seifer sighed, "The boy sure does have a mouth!" Irvine nodded
"I've never heard him swear the much" Seifer looked at him
"What? O-Oh, I was talking about his perfect-" he looked up at everyone "Uh, never mind"
"PRACTICE" Fujin said after a long awkward silence, Raijin nodded
"Yeah, practice. ya know? Gotta get it right, ya know?" Irvine nodded, as well as Nida. Fujin looked at Irvine watching him pluck various strings to see if they sounded right, he looked up when he realized he had a woman's eyes upon him. well, a woman's eye to be exact. He flashed her a grin
"I know you think I'm gorgeous, just admit it babe" she glared at him
"The only thing I'll be admitting to is your death, cowboy" she said in a deathly low tone. Irvine held up his hands in defence
"Alright, alright, alright!" He went back to his guitar "Can't blame a guy for trying" Seifer sighed
"Shame you're not a guy then, huh?"
~ * ~ "Sir" Squall saluted, Cid turned to him
"Squall. at ease." Squall relaxed "I have terrible news" Squall frowned "Your father has been killed by a gang of Estharian rebels" Squall breathed a sigh of relief
"Thank Hyne! I thought it would have been something serious" Cid, surprised by Squall's repose continued "As well as Ellone" Squall buckled
"Hyne! Are you sure?" Cid laughed
"Ha! April Fools, Squall" Squall straightened and stared at Cid blankly
"It's June, sir" Cid frowned
"Is it? Damn" Cid pulled out a small tape recorder and pressed 'RECORD' "Note to self: Remember to check calendar once in awhile" he turned his attention back to Squall
"Is that all, sir?" Cid scratched his head, and became more serious
"Actually no, we're had reports from Balamb saying there have been disturbances"
"Disturbances?" Squall pressed, Cid nodded
"In the water. We sent a team of SeeDs to investigate it, but they never came back" Squall sighed
"You shouldn't have sent cadets out" Cid nodded
"I know, and I didn't" Squall looked at him
"Wh-Who did you send then?" Cid looked at a report, eyes skimming until he found the names.
"Ah! Dante Varsken, Eike Astadourian, Lorie Xeipher, Leliel Ayanami and. their leaders were. Xu and Quistis" Squall buckled again
"I hope you're kidding" Cid shook his head
"No. I wish I was" he sighed, slumping slightly "Get a team together and find out what's going on" Squall nodded, saluted then left. He walked to the elevator, and started thinking again.
Quistis AND Xu are missing? He pressed 1 and started blankly at the doors. It's not like Quisty to not come back. Dante Varsken, Eike Astadourian, Lorie Xeipher and Leliel Ayanami. Hmmm.
Those 4 were the only ones who had passed the SeeD exam, that year. Quite strong fighters too, they were all top of the class. Dante was first in Irvine's sharpshooter class, Eike was first in Zell's Martial Arts Class, Lorie was first in Quistis' class, and Leliel had topped everyone easily in Squall's magic class.
Squall was quite surprised by the girl's ambition to learn, and how quickly she had mastered the magic she had been given. It was. it was as if, she was a descendant of a Sorceress. But it was impossible; the only Sorceress around this time had been Adel and Edea. Adel never married, so it was quite obvious she never had children, and also the fact that she was a psycho didn't help. If she did have a family, she probably killed him. Edea never had any children of her own, she only raised other people whose parent's had been killed in Adel's reign. The only Sorceress now, was Rinoa and Leliel was only a couple of years younger so it was impossible between those two.
The doors opened and Squall stepped through, a figure turned to him but Squall was too lost in thought to notice.
"Yo, Squall!"
Dante, Eike and Lorie looked quite familiar as well, but Squall couldn't put his finger on it. The fact the Guardian Forces took some of their owner's memories, so they can secure their place in their master's brain. At times, Squall wished he didn't have them, but he was always thankful to have them there especially when they were fighting Sorceress Ultimecia.
"Hey, Squall!"
It was impossible for Leliel to be descended from Ultimecia as well, because that Sorceress was centuries into the future and besides, they didn't even look alike! Ultimecia's hair was a silver colour, Leliel's was Raven Black, the tips of it a Blood Red in colour. Ultimecia's eyes were yellow; Leliel's were an unnatural shade of blue. But Edea's eyes were yellow when she was in reign, when originally her eyes were green.
Maybe when you're possessed your eyes go yellow?
"Yo! Earth to Squall, are you receiving me?"
The boys on the other hand, looked more like the average SeeD. Dante looked more like Irvine; he even had a hat too. Squall wondered if the cowboy look was a special tradition between sharpshooters, or Dante was just an admirer who wanted to be more like his idol. or something. Eike? He never saw Eike much, that boy liked to keep to himself.
Sounds just like me. Squall thought. Shoulder length blonde hair, looked oddly like Seifer almost the same height too. And Lorie? Hmmm. Squall tried to remember what Quistis had told him a couple of times about the boy. At one stage Quistis thought he was suicidal but it seemed to blow over, maybe that was just how he was. Now he was in training to learn how to fly the Ragnarok.
"Squall!? Can you hear me!?"
Quistis couldn't have taken the Ragnarok to Balamb, because it was being repaired. Selphie brought it back from Esthar today; he could take it to Balamb today that is if Cid would let it out of his grasp. It was surprising how long it took to repair that thing; also keeping in mind at it was at least as old as he was. She probably went to Timber and caught the train to Balamb, but trains often were out-of-order maybe she was still waiting at the station. Squall laughed
"You're an idiot, Squall!" he mumbled to himself. The figure walked right up to them and looked into his eyes
"Hey! Are you receiving me?" Squall looked up
"Huh?" the figure smiled
"We have transmission, welcome back online Squall. Had a nice trip?" Squall's eye's narrowed, the figure shifted and pulling his hat off his head then rubbed his head, then placed his precious back upon his auburn hair.
"Oh shut up, Irvine" the cowboy eyed him
"Well aren't we Mr. Cranky Boy this morning" Squall frowned
"Shut up"
"I was just"
"Sh-shut up" Irvine sighed
"What did Cid want?"
"Quistis' been missing" Irvine nodded
"She went to Balamb to inspect a water disturbance a few miles away from the Harbour town. Apparently it's an old mythological creature that has finally awakened" Squall frowned at the man
"How did you know that?" Irvine grinned smugly
"I have my sources" Squall looked at him
"Quistis herself, huh?" Irvine nodded "Should have known"
"I'm only surprised she never told you, before she left" Cowboy admitted. Squall shrugged
"She probably thought it wasn't something important enough for me to know. You've seen how many missions are landed on my desk a day" Irvine merely nodded. "Besides she's closer to you anyway, since you're her boyfriend now" Irvine nodded.
"I can't believe that Sephy liked Zell all along" Squall started at him surprised
"What?" Irvine turned and looked down at the Commander
"Yeah, she prefers Chicken-wuss over me" Squall's eyebrow rose again. He really had to stop that.
"Does he know?" Irvine gave him "The Look", Squall nodded "You're right, Zell wouldn't even know if his precious hair caught on fire" Irvine chuckled quietly. Then frowned
"How many you taking?" Squall shrugged
"I dunno, probably you and Seifer" Irvine smiled gratefully. "I don't think I could stand Zell or Selphie another day, besides him and Lena aren't going anywhere. give him and Selphie some time together" Irvine nodded "Besides, when we find Quistis I'm sure she'll be glad to see you anyway" Irvine nodded once more.
"I'll go pack" He placed his right hand to his chin, and struck a thinking pose. "Seifer'll probably still be in the Quad, he was still there when I left about 5 minutes ago" Squall nodded, and Irvine walked off.
Besides, this'll give me a chance to make my move on Seifer. Irvine understands how I feel. He headed towards the Quad; he could hear the sound of:
"RAGE!" then a loud howl and a
"Owuch! That hurt, ya know!" Squall stepped forward and looked around. Fujin looked at him
"SQUALL" he turned to her
"Seifer here?" she shook her head
"HOME" Squall nodded and walked away. He heard a muffed sentence then:
"RAGE!" then another howl.
Will Seifer accept the mission? Squall thought as he headed for his crush's dormitory. He's a SeeD now, so I suppose he has no right to refuse it.
Seifer had 'finally' passed the SeeD exam, and had become a SeeD. Squall remembered how proud he looked, but he had tried to keep it hidden by picking fights. There was still a bit of the older Seifer there, not much though. Squall raised his hand to knock on Seifer's door; he could hear the muffled voices from the TV. Aaargh! It's The Mr. Hell Show. Squall recognised. He watches that too? He tapped gently at the door, and when Seifer didn't answer he pushed it open. Seifer was lying sprawled on top of his bed, his beloved trench coat thrown over a chair, boots kicked off and laying across the room, next to the bathroom door.
Seifer was voicing the scene from the TV
"Hi is David there please?"
"I'm afraid there is no one here by the name of David" Seifer voiced
"Well, who are you then?"
"Peter"
"Hi Peter, it's Keith Simms"
"I'm afraid I don't know anyone by the name of Keith Simms"
"Well, who do you know then?"
"Graham Soya"
"Hey Peter, it's Graham Soya"
"Hi Graham, how are you going?"
"I thought I'd just call you up to say hi"
"Well, it's nice to here from you. How's Judy?"
"I'm afraid I don't know anyone by the name of Judy"
"Well, who do you know then?"
"Uh... Debbie"
"How's Debbie?"
"We split up, she's going out with Frank now"
"I'm afraid I don't know anyone by the name of Frank"
"Well, who do you know then?"
"Terry"
"She's going out with Terry now"
"No!"
"As God as my witness!"
"Terry! Dear, oh, dear... she would've been better off with David"
"Yeah, you're right"
"Is David there by the way?"
"Yeah, he's just writing a letter to Peter..."
"Well, that would be me..."
"Riiight" Seifer rolled over so he was lying with his back on the bed. He frowned, then sat up quickly when he noticed Squall was watching him
"Sorry, Squall. I didn't hear you come in" Squall smiled, and waved the apology off. Seifer jumped up and turned the television off. He looked down at the younger man and pulled a welcoming grin "Can I get you somethin'? Tea? Coffee?" Squall shook his head, Seifer smiled and walked towards his trench-coat "Good, cos the cafeteria doesn't have any." Squall chuckled.
"I came here, to offer you a mission" he ran a hand through his silken hair. Seifer watched him
I wonder what it would be like to run my hand through that- He stopped when he realised Squall was staring at him strange. "Uh, wha?" Seifer blushed slightly, but Squall didn't seem to notice.
"Well, not really offer. it's more force a mission upon you" Seifer smiled at him
"So. why are you here?" Squall sighed
"You're coming with me and Irvine to find Quistis and her crew" Seifer obviously hadn't been listening.
"So, why are you here?" he asked again, smiling more than ever.
"Just pack for a couple of days, and meet us in the Garden Hanger tomorrow" Squall turned to leave, but Seifer grabbed his shoulder. The Commander turned around, heart racing, eyes locked directly on the taller blonde. Yes, Seifer! Admit your love to me!
"Tell me, and be honest" Squall gulped nervously "Why are you here?" Squall's shoulder's slumped and he walked out. Seifer watched the younger man walk out "WHAT!? WHAT DID I SAY!?"
~ * ~
"Hey sunshine!" Seifer smiled, Squall looked at the smiling man running towards him "Didn't think it got through, huh?" Squall smiled
"Glad you finally understand something" Seifer pulled the pose that he did when Raijin and Fujin asked if the SeeD exam was hard. Selphie jumped down off the Ragnarok
"Okay, everything's set!" She glared at Squall "And if you scratch it you're Dead. D. E. D. Dead" Squall frowned. Selphie was never good at spelling,
"Uhm... okay" She waved goodbye to her friends as they boarded the aircraft. Seifer threw his belongings to the side of the cockpit, slumped in the co-pilot seat and propped his feet up on the control dashboard. Irvine looked around, and then threw his belongings down beside Seifer's. Squall sighed, and then sat in the pilot seat. Turning to Seifer, he said, "You alright with this mission?" Seifer looked at him
"I have no right to pick and choose my missions, Commander" he did a mock salute, and then settled back into the seat "Besides, I wanna get Quisty back" Squall nodded then started up the Ragnarok. It started with a jerk, and then slowly took to the air. Irvine had fallen over, and was untangling his long slinky legs from the pile of bags. Squall pressed the 'AUTO-PILOT' button, got up from the seat and turned to Irvine.
"You need any help?" the cowboy stood up, picked up his black hat and placed it on his head.
"I'm fine" Squall nodded, and looked at the mission folder. Seifer stood up and headed over to the others.
"So. Mr. Leader, what exactly has happened?" Squall gestured for them to sit, they did and he started the mission briefing
"Tuesday, June 13th a squad of SeeD were sent to the continent of Balamb to investigate strange disturbances about a mile or two away from the harbour town. Wednesday, June 14th the squad captain, Instructor Quistis Trepe reported that they had discovered what seemed like the remains of a mythological entity known as a Siren. Thursday, June 15th we Garden received a distress call from the squad. Friday, June 16th we lost all contact with the squad" Seifer sighed
"A Siren huh?" Squall nodded "Isn't it one of those creatures who sit on top of cliffs and sing, beckoning benevolent sailors to their deaths?" Squall nodded again "Don't we have a GF called 'Siren'?" once again Squall nodded. "Damn"