Like Father, Like Son
by Rikku Chic9
***
(Author's notes: This is an alternate universe, quite the bit of blood, swearing once or twice, but not anything big. There are a couple of SPOILERS throughout this story, so be warned. First FF8 fic, so have mercy.)
***
"What if she doesn't...? Wh-what if she says 'no'?" A man with dark shoulder length hair questioned.
"You'll never know 'till ya ask, my man." Another male responded handing the other a small palm sized box.
"I don't know about this..." The man who gave him the box put a hand on his good friend who was trembling from being nervous.
"Don't worry about it, just act casual." He wished he'd thought of a different way of phrasing that.
"Man, this is nerve racking," the young man fingered the puny box shakily, "it's such a huge commitment, I mean..."
"Stop worrying, man. Ward and I didn't run across half the continent to recover that ring, you dumbly lost, for nothing." Kiros faced one of the room's walls in thought, but smiling.
"I know... Thanks Kiros." Laguna gripped the object that reflected what was in his heart for the woman, Raine, he had realized months ago that he loved.
***
A small electric alarm clock went off suddenly waking a wide-eyed and sweating Squall. He glanced over at the time and sighed.
'Again... that dream.' He thought resting his hand on his forehead.
Lately, even after Ultimecia's defeat, the Garden had been having strange occurences. Though they weren't anything to worry about they still none the less were strange. Especially, since they just started happening when Squall began having these odd dreams... about Laguna.
There was a sudden knock on the door which startled him making him sit up.
"Hello? Squall are you awake?"
"Come in." He answered dully though realived knowing the voice.
Ellone slowly opened the door and shut it behind her.
"Just came to see how you were. Quistis said you were having more troubles sleeping lately." She began.
"It's nothing." Squall assured her smiling faintly.
"Are they still about Uncle...?" Ellone seemed curious.
Squall hesitated until he could finally utter out an answer.
"Yes."
Ellone stared at the floor in contemplation.
"I still can't figure this out... and when you started having them everything that's been going on lately began, correct?"
"Yeah." Squall still sounded a bit uninterested.
Ellone only gave him a concerned look.
"Well, it's a Saturday and no classes, so just relax for today, okay?" Ellone stressed this to make sure he was listening.
"Okay." He smiled softly at her as a reassurance.
Squall got out of bed, but for no apparent reason, he fell to his knees holding his chest tightly with pain. It was like being on fire to where he couldn't bear it.
"Oh god, Squall?!" Ellone had apparently knelt to his side holding him nervously.
He couldn't explain what he felt at that moment like he was empty and weak somewhere. There was a sore pain coming from his mouth and he didn't know why he had some strange urge when seeing Ellone. Before he had any chance to understand what was happening he felt himself slipping away and everything was fading out. The last thing he heard was Ellone screaming his name and a faint call for help.
***
"Hey everyone! We're home!!" Laguna burst through the doors to Raine's bar with an embarrassed looking Kiros.
"Uncle Laguna!" Ellone flew at Laguna making him stumble slightly backwards from her excited charge.
"Hey there, kido!" Laguna smiled warmly embracing the equally hyper little girl.
"No announcement needed." Kiros sat down in front of a surprised Raine.
"How was today, then?" Raine tried to sound dignified.
"Eleven, today, Commander Raine!" Laguna shouted out as both him and Ellone bounded over to them.
"My, my, two more than yesterday, no?" Kiros had his face in the table not paying attention to answer her sarcasm.
"Well, we've done better. This has just been an off week for me and Kiros, but it just means almost all of the monsters are gone meaning this village will be slimy creature free in no time!" Laguna predicted proudly.
"Woopty do for us." Kiros muffled still flat faced against the table.
"That's good to hear," Raine turned, but thought softly, 'the sooner you're done, the sooner you'll leave... but it will be pretty dull around here if they go...'
"Actually, we were thinking about staying a little longer just in case anything else were to come up." Laguna glanced at Raine slyly.
Raine turned abruptly with a confused and slightly annoyed look. Kiros just noticed as he looked up at Raine. Ellone just stared at them not aware of what she'd missed.
"That's the third time..." Raine stopped and just stared at Laguna.
Laguna blinked realizing while Kiros was giving him a warning glance. He thought of something quickly.
"I-I didn't mean that! The way you looked when you turned... I mean like you were happy we were almost done with the extermination, so we'd beat it quicker!" Laguna smiled dumbly, but looking a little hopeful.
"You figured all of that from the look on my face before I turned around?" Raine didn't seem to swallow it as easily as Laguna had hoped.
"Uhh... I..." Laguna couldn't think of anything.
"...Whatever." Raine glared at him slightly.
"What have I been hearing about this anemia business lately around here?" Kiros had directed his question at Raine.
This did seem to pull her away from Laguna as she placed her attention on Kiros.
"What's the deal with all those soldiers from Galbadia?" Kiros asked again.
"There's some anemic cases going around. They found two of them weak and pale down at the bottom of the old stone stairs. They had quite a bit off blood drained out of them, but there weren't any open wounds on them at all. They looked perfectly fine when I went over last week, but somehow it had happened." Raine paced behind the counter slightly.
Kiros made a small motion with his lips, but Laguna raised his arm waist level to silence him to let her continue. Ellone had snuck up to Laguna holding his leg.
"Another Galbadian soldier was taken into care with Luca and her husband earlier today. Whatever's going around seems to be striking them with cases of anemia. That's really odd there's no creature in this region that can do that to a person and there's no epidemic going around..." Raine emptied more shelves with bottle replacements.
"Why's everyone making a deal?" Laguna looked curious, but cautious.
"Well, it's pretty silly just because everyone around here is edgy about outside visitors. They think it has something to do with Galbadia suddenly coming to occupy this place or it's," Raine had a dark look over her face, " you two."
Kiros gave a wavery and quite nervous glance at a composed, but slightly worried looking Laguna. For some reason, Kiros shot his head right back at Raine who appeared to him that she had a slight suspicion.
***
"Squall? Are you finally awake, kid?"
Squall awoke to bright white lights blaring on him. He squinted his eyes while raising his hand up to cover them.
'Why does this keep happening?! Everytime that strange pain comes... everything fades and I wake up from one of those damn dreams. Ellone even said she wasn't doing it... I don't become Laguna like before... What's going on with me...?" Squall risked taking his hand away.
He was greeted by a smiling Quistis standing at the foot of the bed with her arms crossed.
"You've been out of it for almost four hours, kid!" Though it sounded a bit reprimanding she kept her smile.
"What... Where's Ellone?"
A hand reached out to touch Squall's causing him to look to the side.
"Sis?!" He looked more relieved trying to sit up, but feeling a pain still near his chest making him fall back.
"Don't. It's alright Dr. Kadowaki said you'd be fine." Ellone still held his cold hand.
"How did I get here... what happened?"
"You passed out. I called for help and Quistis ran in. She helped me by coming to the infirmary to get Dr. Kadowaki to carry you over here with a stretcher. So here you are." Ellone just looked happy to see him alright.
"I was going to Selphie's dorm, so I just happened to be coming down the hall and that's when I heard Ellone." Quistis smiled faintly.
"Thanks." Ellone just smiled out of relief.
"I'm just glad it wasn't anything serious," Quistis unfolded her arms, "I have to get going so I hope you recover soon, Squall."
She waved slightly and walked out of the room with her loud shoes.
"Ellone?"
"Uh, yeah?" Ellone gave him a surprised look.
"... I had another dream. This time when I fainted... that pain came again, but it was more intense than the last time."
Ellone's expression went slightly worried and extremely concerned.
"Just rest, Squall. Just rest." She felt his forehead ruffling his brown hair.
***
Quistis was sitting at a small table in the cafeteria looking quite thoughtful.
'Squall's been acting strange lately. This is the fourth time since his birthday last month he's fainted for some reason.' Quistis took a sip of her drink.
'He's seemed to have gotten paler since then, too. Well, paler than usual. His eyes have gotten more lighter, since they appeared black sometimes, you can tell that they're very obviously blue now... Maybe it's just me.' Quistis chewed on her straw.
'Maybe it's just a phase. He just turned eighteen after all...' Before she could finish the thought Zell leaped on the table making her drink fly.
"Hey, Quisty did ya tell Sefie?!" Quistis gave him a deeply irritated glare.
"I'm guessin' no?" Zell didn't have too much of a chance to prevent her cup of Sierra Mist from spilling over her head from landing.
"Oy." Zell tried slightly not to start bust out laughing.
"I didn't get the chance to ask her. I was too caught up with Squall and Ellone." She'd grabbed a handful of napkins wiping the table roughly.
"Huh? Squall conked out again?" Zell picked up the cup from the floor.
"Yeah. This didn't all start until that student was found near the entrance... dead remember?" Quistis halted before she continued with the table.
"There was Nida, too. Real fortunate that he got away since he said he fought it for a few seconds, but it ran off, whatever it was. He didn't even see it. He had said it looked like a person, but that's all he got a glimpse of." Zell had gotten to the floor cleaning the spill.
"Yes, but Xu's still in the infirmary." Quistis stood up in thought again.
"She's going to be out next week though since it was some case of anemia, but it was a small case," Zell looked up Quistis, "Irvine's still edgy about you-know-what."
"I forgot to ask Selphie, alright. This is a great time for Rinoa to be away, too." Quistis folded her arms intently.
"Already, six. I'm going to be hitting the sack in maybe two hours. I'll be seeing you," Zell threw the wet napkins thrashward, " if you see Squall tell him I sent my wishes!"
"Yeah," Quistis just stared at the wall, "man am I hungry."
***
It was late now, probably about eleven and no one was running around like usual.
"Probably all asleep." Squall had dressed and was intent on returning to his dorm after telling the doctor that he felt perfectly fine now.
He stopped short of the dormitory thinking that he should have told Ellone he would be leaving. He knew she worried easily, but she had fallen asleep on the egde of the bed and he hadn't wanted to wake her.
'Guilty conscience...' He was about to turn, but a sharp burning made him stumble.
'God, not again!' He held his chest in pain with that urge again coming back, but it felt like too much now.
"Someone..." Squall didn't feel the sensation to pass out again, but he felt something grasp his shoulders.
"Squall?! Why'd you leave? Squall?!" Squall recognized Ellone's voice as she shook him softly.
"Are you feeling anything? You have to tell me, Squall." He looked up at her wanting to speak, but something distracted him.
Squall stared longingly at Ellone's neck while wondering why it attracted him so strongly.
'It's so close...' Squall heard the small beating of her heart and the vein pulsing from her throat as though they were calling to him.
"Squall are you alright?" Ellone placed a hand on his face.
The veins in her wrist were becoming too much for Squall. He wanted it so badly, but he himself was still confused and scared about the feeling he was experincing for the first time.
He caught her arm, but lowered it back to her side and released it slowly while putting a leathery hand to her cheek. Ellone looked up at him with confusion at first, but one look at his eyes alarmed her. They appeared clouded over and misty as if unaware of his actions. She knew this look very well and was quite aware of what was going to happen next.
"Squall, control it." She whispered trying not to blink and focused directly into his steely blue eyes.
Squall nuzzled her neck a little, then pecked it softly with his lips though this made Ellone shiver slightly, but kept her gaze on his.
"Squall...you can contain it. Just try." She continued to whisper to him hoping to reach him.
Squall's canines had lengthened to their most as he gazed back into Ellone's eyes. Ellone felt a small speck of her hope die as his eyes were still glazed and noticed the appearance of his fangs. She had hoped his body didn't make it that far.
She held his face in her hands in a quick movement not giving him enough time to react.
"Squall stop please. You have to control it." She stared into his eyes with hope.
Squall gazed blindly at her until finally something snapped him back into reality with the realization of where he was. His eyes were clear as before as he looked at Ellone. He stood up quickly looking down at Ellone in confusion then touched his mouth gently. He took a small step back as he felt his newly formed fangs.
'What the hell...' He thought still confused.
Ellone stood up and touched Squall's face gingerly. He gazed down at her with a frightened and confused look upon his face.
"What...?" Ellone silenced him before he could finish.
"It's alright. I had a feeling this would come, but it seemed a bit early. This is different from what he'd warned me. Your human side kept it very dormit until now." Squall had no clue what she was going on about causing him to speak out.
"Ellone... what's happening to me...?"
***
(Author's notes: Laguna's scenes were NOT Ellone's power to send them into the past. Squall was dreaming them on his own. Everyone's been making Squall werewolf fics lately, so I had to break that little chain with some vamp craze. This will be continued!)
by Rikku Chic9
***
(Author's notes: This is an alternate universe, quite the bit of blood, swearing once or twice, but not anything big. There are a couple of SPOILERS throughout this story, so be warned. First FF8 fic, so have mercy.)
***
"What if she doesn't...? Wh-what if she says 'no'?" A man with dark shoulder length hair questioned.
"You'll never know 'till ya ask, my man." Another male responded handing the other a small palm sized box.
"I don't know about this..." The man who gave him the box put a hand on his good friend who was trembling from being nervous.
"Don't worry about it, just act casual." He wished he'd thought of a different way of phrasing that.
"Man, this is nerve racking," the young man fingered the puny box shakily, "it's such a huge commitment, I mean..."
"Stop worrying, man. Ward and I didn't run across half the continent to recover that ring, you dumbly lost, for nothing." Kiros faced one of the room's walls in thought, but smiling.
"I know... Thanks Kiros." Laguna gripped the object that reflected what was in his heart for the woman, Raine, he had realized months ago that he loved.
***
A small electric alarm clock went off suddenly waking a wide-eyed and sweating Squall. He glanced over at the time and sighed.
'Again... that dream.' He thought resting his hand on his forehead.
Lately, even after Ultimecia's defeat, the Garden had been having strange occurences. Though they weren't anything to worry about they still none the less were strange. Especially, since they just started happening when Squall began having these odd dreams... about Laguna.
There was a sudden knock on the door which startled him making him sit up.
"Hello? Squall are you awake?"
"Come in." He answered dully though realived knowing the voice.
Ellone slowly opened the door and shut it behind her.
"Just came to see how you were. Quistis said you were having more troubles sleeping lately." She began.
"It's nothing." Squall assured her smiling faintly.
"Are they still about Uncle...?" Ellone seemed curious.
Squall hesitated until he could finally utter out an answer.
"Yes."
Ellone stared at the floor in contemplation.
"I still can't figure this out... and when you started having them everything that's been going on lately began, correct?"
"Yeah." Squall still sounded a bit uninterested.
Ellone only gave him a concerned look.
"Well, it's a Saturday and no classes, so just relax for today, okay?" Ellone stressed this to make sure he was listening.
"Okay." He smiled softly at her as a reassurance.
Squall got out of bed, but for no apparent reason, he fell to his knees holding his chest tightly with pain. It was like being on fire to where he couldn't bear it.
"Oh god, Squall?!" Ellone had apparently knelt to his side holding him nervously.
He couldn't explain what he felt at that moment like he was empty and weak somewhere. There was a sore pain coming from his mouth and he didn't know why he had some strange urge when seeing Ellone. Before he had any chance to understand what was happening he felt himself slipping away and everything was fading out. The last thing he heard was Ellone screaming his name and a faint call for help.
***
"Hey everyone! We're home!!" Laguna burst through the doors to Raine's bar with an embarrassed looking Kiros.
"Uncle Laguna!" Ellone flew at Laguna making him stumble slightly backwards from her excited charge.
"Hey there, kido!" Laguna smiled warmly embracing the equally hyper little girl.
"No announcement needed." Kiros sat down in front of a surprised Raine.
"How was today, then?" Raine tried to sound dignified.
"Eleven, today, Commander Raine!" Laguna shouted out as both him and Ellone bounded over to them.
"My, my, two more than yesterday, no?" Kiros had his face in the table not paying attention to answer her sarcasm.
"Well, we've done better. This has just been an off week for me and Kiros, but it just means almost all of the monsters are gone meaning this village will be slimy creature free in no time!" Laguna predicted proudly.
"Woopty do for us." Kiros muffled still flat faced against the table.
"That's good to hear," Raine turned, but thought softly, 'the sooner you're done, the sooner you'll leave... but it will be pretty dull around here if they go...'
"Actually, we were thinking about staying a little longer just in case anything else were to come up." Laguna glanced at Raine slyly.
Raine turned abruptly with a confused and slightly annoyed look. Kiros just noticed as he looked up at Raine. Ellone just stared at them not aware of what she'd missed.
"That's the third time..." Raine stopped and just stared at Laguna.
Laguna blinked realizing while Kiros was giving him a warning glance. He thought of something quickly.
"I-I didn't mean that! The way you looked when you turned... I mean like you were happy we were almost done with the extermination, so we'd beat it quicker!" Laguna smiled dumbly, but looking a little hopeful.
"You figured all of that from the look on my face before I turned around?" Raine didn't seem to swallow it as easily as Laguna had hoped.
"Uhh... I..." Laguna couldn't think of anything.
"...Whatever." Raine glared at him slightly.
"What have I been hearing about this anemia business lately around here?" Kiros had directed his question at Raine.
This did seem to pull her away from Laguna as she placed her attention on Kiros.
"What's the deal with all those soldiers from Galbadia?" Kiros asked again.
"There's some anemic cases going around. They found two of them weak and pale down at the bottom of the old stone stairs. They had quite a bit off blood drained out of them, but there weren't any open wounds on them at all. They looked perfectly fine when I went over last week, but somehow it had happened." Raine paced behind the counter slightly.
Kiros made a small motion with his lips, but Laguna raised his arm waist level to silence him to let her continue. Ellone had snuck up to Laguna holding his leg.
"Another Galbadian soldier was taken into care with Luca and her husband earlier today. Whatever's going around seems to be striking them with cases of anemia. That's really odd there's no creature in this region that can do that to a person and there's no epidemic going around..." Raine emptied more shelves with bottle replacements.
"Why's everyone making a deal?" Laguna looked curious, but cautious.
"Well, it's pretty silly just because everyone around here is edgy about outside visitors. They think it has something to do with Galbadia suddenly coming to occupy this place or it's," Raine had a dark look over her face, " you two."
Kiros gave a wavery and quite nervous glance at a composed, but slightly worried looking Laguna. For some reason, Kiros shot his head right back at Raine who appeared to him that she had a slight suspicion.
***
"Squall? Are you finally awake, kid?"
Squall awoke to bright white lights blaring on him. He squinted his eyes while raising his hand up to cover them.
'Why does this keep happening?! Everytime that strange pain comes... everything fades and I wake up from one of those damn dreams. Ellone even said she wasn't doing it... I don't become Laguna like before... What's going on with me...?" Squall risked taking his hand away.
He was greeted by a smiling Quistis standing at the foot of the bed with her arms crossed.
"You've been out of it for almost four hours, kid!" Though it sounded a bit reprimanding she kept her smile.
"What... Where's Ellone?"
A hand reached out to touch Squall's causing him to look to the side.
"Sis?!" He looked more relieved trying to sit up, but feeling a pain still near his chest making him fall back.
"Don't. It's alright Dr. Kadowaki said you'd be fine." Ellone still held his cold hand.
"How did I get here... what happened?"
"You passed out. I called for help and Quistis ran in. She helped me by coming to the infirmary to get Dr. Kadowaki to carry you over here with a stretcher. So here you are." Ellone just looked happy to see him alright.
"I was going to Selphie's dorm, so I just happened to be coming down the hall and that's when I heard Ellone." Quistis smiled faintly.
"Thanks." Ellone just smiled out of relief.
"I'm just glad it wasn't anything serious," Quistis unfolded her arms, "I have to get going so I hope you recover soon, Squall."
She waved slightly and walked out of the room with her loud shoes.
"Ellone?"
"Uh, yeah?" Ellone gave him a surprised look.
"... I had another dream. This time when I fainted... that pain came again, but it was more intense than the last time."
Ellone's expression went slightly worried and extremely concerned.
"Just rest, Squall. Just rest." She felt his forehead ruffling his brown hair.
***
Quistis was sitting at a small table in the cafeteria looking quite thoughtful.
'Squall's been acting strange lately. This is the fourth time since his birthday last month he's fainted for some reason.' Quistis took a sip of her drink.
'He's seemed to have gotten paler since then, too. Well, paler than usual. His eyes have gotten more lighter, since they appeared black sometimes, you can tell that they're very obviously blue now... Maybe it's just me.' Quistis chewed on her straw.
'Maybe it's just a phase. He just turned eighteen after all...' Before she could finish the thought Zell leaped on the table making her drink fly.
"Hey, Quisty did ya tell Sefie?!" Quistis gave him a deeply irritated glare.
"I'm guessin' no?" Zell didn't have too much of a chance to prevent her cup of Sierra Mist from spilling over her head from landing.
"Oy." Zell tried slightly not to start bust out laughing.
"I didn't get the chance to ask her. I was too caught up with Squall and Ellone." She'd grabbed a handful of napkins wiping the table roughly.
"Huh? Squall conked out again?" Zell picked up the cup from the floor.
"Yeah. This didn't all start until that student was found near the entrance... dead remember?" Quistis halted before she continued with the table.
"There was Nida, too. Real fortunate that he got away since he said he fought it for a few seconds, but it ran off, whatever it was. He didn't even see it. He had said it looked like a person, but that's all he got a glimpse of." Zell had gotten to the floor cleaning the spill.
"Yes, but Xu's still in the infirmary." Quistis stood up in thought again.
"She's going to be out next week though since it was some case of anemia, but it was a small case," Zell looked up Quistis, "Irvine's still edgy about you-know-what."
"I forgot to ask Selphie, alright. This is a great time for Rinoa to be away, too." Quistis folded her arms intently.
"Already, six. I'm going to be hitting the sack in maybe two hours. I'll be seeing you," Zell threw the wet napkins thrashward, " if you see Squall tell him I sent my wishes!"
"Yeah," Quistis just stared at the wall, "man am I hungry."
***
It was late now, probably about eleven and no one was running around like usual.
"Probably all asleep." Squall had dressed and was intent on returning to his dorm after telling the doctor that he felt perfectly fine now.
He stopped short of the dormitory thinking that he should have told Ellone he would be leaving. He knew she worried easily, but she had fallen asleep on the egde of the bed and he hadn't wanted to wake her.
'Guilty conscience...' He was about to turn, but a sharp burning made him stumble.
'God, not again!' He held his chest in pain with that urge again coming back, but it felt like too much now.
"Someone..." Squall didn't feel the sensation to pass out again, but he felt something grasp his shoulders.
"Squall?! Why'd you leave? Squall?!" Squall recognized Ellone's voice as she shook him softly.
"Are you feeling anything? You have to tell me, Squall." He looked up at her wanting to speak, but something distracted him.
Squall stared longingly at Ellone's neck while wondering why it attracted him so strongly.
'It's so close...' Squall heard the small beating of her heart and the vein pulsing from her throat as though they were calling to him.
"Squall are you alright?" Ellone placed a hand on his face.
The veins in her wrist were becoming too much for Squall. He wanted it so badly, but he himself was still confused and scared about the feeling he was experincing for the first time.
He caught her arm, but lowered it back to her side and released it slowly while putting a leathery hand to her cheek. Ellone looked up at him with confusion at first, but one look at his eyes alarmed her. They appeared clouded over and misty as if unaware of his actions. She knew this look very well and was quite aware of what was going to happen next.
"Squall, control it." She whispered trying not to blink and focused directly into his steely blue eyes.
Squall nuzzled her neck a little, then pecked it softly with his lips though this made Ellone shiver slightly, but kept her gaze on his.
"Squall...you can contain it. Just try." She continued to whisper to him hoping to reach him.
Squall's canines had lengthened to their most as he gazed back into Ellone's eyes. Ellone felt a small speck of her hope die as his eyes were still glazed and noticed the appearance of his fangs. She had hoped his body didn't make it that far.
She held his face in her hands in a quick movement not giving him enough time to react.
"Squall stop please. You have to control it." She stared into his eyes with hope.
Squall gazed blindly at her until finally something snapped him back into reality with the realization of where he was. His eyes were clear as before as he looked at Ellone. He stood up quickly looking down at Ellone in confusion then touched his mouth gently. He took a small step back as he felt his newly formed fangs.
'What the hell...' He thought still confused.
Ellone stood up and touched Squall's face gingerly. He gazed down at her with a frightened and confused look upon his face.
"What...?" Ellone silenced him before he could finish.
"It's alright. I had a feeling this would come, but it seemed a bit early. This is different from what he'd warned me. Your human side kept it very dormit until now." Squall had no clue what she was going on about causing him to speak out.
"Ellone... what's happening to me...?"
***
(Author's notes: Laguna's scenes were NOT Ellone's power to send them into the past. Squall was dreaming them on his own. Everyone's been making Squall werewolf fics lately, so I had to break that little chain with some vamp craze. This will be continued!)