A/N: I read the word 'Vermin' one too many times and this popped into my head.
Yuan: -snickers-
The Other Vermin
"Quick! Someone catch it!"
CLANG!
"You idiot!"
"There it is!"
"Who the hell let it in here!"
"Don't look at me! I haven't been out of the Ranch in months!"
"Get it!"
"I got it!"
"I got it!"
THUD
"AH!"
"You knocked out Pherelle! She was our best catcher, now we're going to lose it for sure!"
"Don't be such a worry-wort, we can just trap it in there!"
"No-Don't!"
All eyes turned to the door as it opened, a small dark form darting across the floor to stop between the Cardinal and the intruders. Sitting there innocently, the interloper peered up at Lloyd with dark eyes.
"Magnius is in there!"
"Oh . . . crap."
"Is that a rat?" Genis looked at it incredulously.
"It's so cute!" Colette chimed in, smiling brightly.
"I think it's a mouse, actually." the brunette swordsman crouched down for a better look, and nodded. "Yep. A field mouse."
"V-v-v-v-v . . . ." Magnius stuttered, eyes wide and expression slack.
At the rear of the party, the disguised Seraphim winced in dread of the reaction to come. If only he had brought ear plugs . . . those heavy duty ones Yuan tended to wear whenever Pronyma was about would have been ideal.
"V-v-v-v-v . . ." the red-headed half-elf continued to stutter before finally finding his voice, "VERMIN!"
Except it seemed he'd found his feminine side's voice instead. With a second high-pitched shriek of utter fear, the redhead dropped his axe and bolted to the nearest door. Opening the closet, he dove amid the mops and buckets and yanked the door shut.
"It would appear that Magnius suffers from Murophobia, the fear of rodents."
"…"
"Professor, could you set the self-destruct now?"
"Oh, of course."