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Father's House.
Don't own em. Squaresoft owns em. Leave me alone.
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Squall leaned on Selphie and Irvine a little as they went in to see the President, but let go and stood straight as if he'd never needed her help as they entered. He put on his best 'nothing is unusual, nothing is wrong' face and strode in, using sheer willpower not to droop.
Laguna was nearly struck dumb when what he thought of as the child-warriors from the Garden strode in. Even aside from the fact that even Squall was wearing light summery garb instead of his leathers, all of them were different from when he'd last seen them – Squall had been ill and he looked it, thin and fragile looking in the extreme – but ye gods, no one had prepared him for how… alien they looked. He couldn't put his finger on what it was that looked so different – and when they stopped moving, they didn't' look so inhuman. He gestured them forward a little and saw it this time – they moved with a slow and languid grace as if they were underwater.
He'd seen that before – the Ambassadors moved like that.
So the aliens were not lying. Whatever this virus was, it rewrote the kids DNA to make them more like whatever the hell those pointy-eared fanged weirdoes happened to be.
Fine. I can deal with this.
He barely avoided blubbing 'my poor widdle boy, aaaaugh!' and instead flashed his big grin at the trio. "Made it in one piece, I see. How's the stomach, Kinneas? I heard you were having some nausea still."
"M'okay, sir, thanks." Irvine blushed like a little schoolgirl asked about her menstrual cycle. Hm. Kind of shy fella, I guess. Laguna turned his charm onto Selphie, who giggled uncontrollably and rolled her eyes around like a google eyed pug before he even said anything. Laguna thought it was cute.
Kiros politely refrained from puking by thinking of Laguna naked.
"So… Odine" Laguna said it the way he said 'festering monkeyshit' "…has Rinoa? Any results yet from his tests?"
"Not yet." Squall said, spine rigid with distaste at having had to leave Rinoa with the twitchy, accent-using pervert. He made fists to keep the claws from sliding out, he was so angry at the encounter. Irvine's hand slid up Squall's back to his shoulder and Squall gathered his temper back in a neat little iceberg again. He flickered a thankful glance at Irvine, whose sweet, easy smile gave him back his momentum. "We only know that the disease is somehow negatively affected by healing magic, causing an immediate relapse. We suspect Rinoa's powers are causing a feedback effect that is sending her into a relapse-casting-relapse loop. Odine's power restrainer for sorceresses might be her only chance."
Selphie's body pressed a little closer to Squall's. Laguna noticed that Squall seemed to not only tolerate but also actually encourage with small glances and posture shifts closeness from his friends that only a few months ago, he would have spurned with a casual caustic glance.
"Well, we have a few other surprises for you, as well, Commander." Laguna said carefully. "The Aliens who apparently are responsible for the contagion of which you have run afoul. They've come to try to make restitution and redress the pain and suffering that's been caused as a result of their carelessness."
"Nice prose, Laguna."
"Thanks, Kiros, shush."
"Aliens…?" All of them gawked at Laguna and then Kiros. Squall shook his head. "Is this some kind of … joke or something?"
"No. This is much too serious, waaaaay serious, for jokes right now. They say you all will be contageious for up to six months. I'd like you all to get rested up and then come and meet the ambassadors. Its kind of interesting to meet nonhumans that look so much like us, and maybe you kids… er… you SeeDs will get some help from them adjusting to some of the things they were telling me about, like the enhanced senses and the temperature tolerances." He looked at his son, and tried to will away the strong urge to cry – Squall was not quite his son anymore… now alien dna and according to the aliens, some behaviors and reflexes had been templated over their genes. 'no… he's still my son. If he had run out and gotten tattoos and implants and shit, he'd still be my son. I just wish he would …' … he sighed.
The SeeDs watched, blinking occasionally, as Laguna just sort of stopped talking (a miracle all by itself) and just stared sadly at them. Kiros finally cleared his throat. "I think everyone's a little tired, if you will come this way, SeeDs, I'll escort you to your rooms."
Squall lay upon the couch in his suite, brain running in circles like an excited mog. Or a Zellycat. Funny how Zell had started that little bunch of cutesie-isms. And they stuck, too – Even Squall thot they were funny and cute. He cringed at himself in amused disgust. Zellycat, Quiscat, Squallycat, Kinnecat, Selphiecat. He'd almost smacked Zell for referring to Rinoa as 'Pusspuss'.
Zell: Since we are all becoming the cast of Cats, we need catnames. I hearby name myself Zellycat!
Irvine: Zellycat? Heheheheheee!
Selphie: oooo! Dibs on Selphiecat!
Irvine: who else would claim that name, sugar, don't be silly!
Zell: we can call you Kinnecat, cuz Irvcat don't flow, y'know. An' Quistycat…
Quistis: I prefer Quiscat, or Trepecat, if I must be called something like that.
Squall: don't any of you have anything better to do than make up silly names for each other?
Zell: no sir, Squallycat!
Squall: …
All but Squall: gigglegigglegiggle
Squall rolled his eyes, as he'd done then. 'Whatever.' He'd said at the time, which had just made more giggles. But it had done a lot of good – Irvine had lost that tight look around his worried eyes and all of them had made stupid cat jokes for the rest of the night and got some of their unspoken fears aired in humor. Yes, they were cats. Or something like cats. And after the joking and silly names, everyone seemed to feel a lot better about being cat things.
Squall didn't' feel quite so alone when the others started talking about the weird urges and compulsions. Irvine had started craving mint – and catmint in particular, which was the only thing that got rid of the languid sleepiness. Zell had discovered that he didn't really need to mousse his hair up anymore – and if he got mad, it sprang up in bristly anger. Which had actually made Squall snort on an aborted laugh, himself, just thinking about it now almost made him smile.
Selphie's cat problem was also food based – she craved stinky foods. Cheese that made most people's heads close up, tuna, the cheaper the better, corned beef and cabbage, just about anything with a noisy smell got her attention and made her mouth water. So she was brushing her teeth a lot … smelling a big stinky tunafish and provolone sandwich on Selphie's breath was enough to make Irvine run for the john gagging.
And Quis… Quistis had discovered she liked baths. Not showers but long, hot baths and then sunning herself to dry instead of just toweling off. She'd taken to sitting on one of the garden's balcony's and brushing her damp hair in the sun… and it was like an addiction, she had cut herself down to two a day and it still didn't feel like enough some days. She wanted one after every time she had a meeting with anyone. Partially because … she didn't like the way humans smelled anymore.
Squall cringed away from that thought, because he, too, was finding the monkey cage scent of the Garden a little hard to take. He had had to fight himself to get into a crowded elevator the other day and he'd almost lost. It wasn't even human body odor so much as the other effluvia – corn nuts, for instance, were the craze amongst the younger members of the garden, and while Squall had never liked them, now they made his stomach curl up in his abdomen and kick like a child having a tantrum. Liniment that he had used so many times he still reached for it on the shelf though he'd had to throw it out, just like Zell, now hit his nose and made his eyes water. It wasn't humans that smelled bad. The rubber in their shoes, the vinyl in their jackets, the perfume, gods, the perfume made his ears itch, it smelled so bad. It wasn't as bad as the first day he'd come out of the doctor's office – he'd doubled over and gagged when the open hall's air had rushed up his nose – but it hadn't gotten especially better since. He smirked to himself since there was no one to see his breech of stoicism – he'd even had a couple of strong urges to just piss on things to give them a better smell.
His own contribution to weird behavior urges – he wanted everything to be HIS. Zell was his. Irvine was his. Selphie and Quis and Rinoa, all his. Mine mine mine. They're mine. The Garden is mine. Mine! He'd even wanted to pounce on Laguna and rub his face all over him and tell him 'You're mine, too!' He shuddered. That had not been an adult urge. He didn't feel the feral possessiveness towards Laguna. Just laying eyes on him, the same old 'Oh, no, it's the Idiot!' feeling had started… but his scent…
He put a hand over his eyes and shivered. 'His scent. My Scent. He's mine. No. I'm his.' That made the shivering worse. There had never been that … connection before. He had sort of resented this man coming and saying 'You are my son and I love you' to him out of nowhere, he'd never really Felt it before. Now it was burned into his mind like a hot iron. He knew that that man was his blood kin. And he was not that man's commander. It had made him feel peculiar in the extreme – Laguna was older, taller, and just more… male. And his blood kin. He had felt all kinds of peculiar urges which he repressed then and was carefully taking out and examining now – an urge to touch him, an urge to get his approval, a powerful urge to just foist all these problems off on Laguna, and do what he was told and maybe just curl up in his lap and cry on him for awhile and beg him to make it all go away…
Whoa.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes. 'OOOOoooookay, enough introspection, Puberty boy.' He laughed at himself using Seifer's 'pet' name for him and felt a faint twinge. 'Ah, Seifer… I bet you'd have a field day with all of this.' He thought to himself, and rubbed his face with his hands. I don't miss him. I don't. I called off the searches and gave him room to breathe if he wanted it. I made them leave him alone, just like they got Edea pardoned. I just want him to be left alone. Trying to look for hints of where he is unofficially is just … trying to keep an eye out for trouble. He's just trouble. That's what the whole tiger dream thing was – a warning from my subconscious to tell me that I'm in deep shit – like I need Seifer-Tigers to tell me that.
"I don't miss him." He said, sternly.
The knock on the door almost made him jump off the couch and yank his gunblade into position for combat. Nooo, I'm not jumpy or anything.
"Commander Leonhart? The Ambassadors are asking to meet you all…" a squeaky woman's voice. Why did they have to hire little squeaky women to do this? Squall found squeaky women to be even more annoying than the regular kind. If there was such a thing as a 'regular' kind.
"Alright. I'll be right out." He got up and brushed away all of the monologue he'd been having. It was foolish to even bother thinking things through – he had no idea what was going on and all he could do was press on and move forward and try not to get anyone left behind.
And… try not to let these … drives and urges force him to embarrass himself and everyone else around him.
The room they were to meet in was a very airy, very simple room. Deceptively so – it was very carefully arranged so Laguna seemed in a dominating position but not overpoweringly so, and everyone else was roughly equal – no chance anyone would be thinking they were in a favored position. Except for being closer to Laguna, if that was desirable. Squall made sure he was at a central spot where he could not be surprised rather than rushing over to sit as close to Laguna as possible, which was his first urge – he didn't want to jostle Selphie for that position, anyway, as she claimed it proudly.
Laguna was dressed simply – he looked more like … someone's dad…(my dad) than president of the richest, most advanced country in the world. He didn't shake anyone's hands and was tugged back from doing so by Kiros, reminding him that they still were not 100% certain it was not spread by casual contact. He flashed his pretty grin at Selphie, tho, and made her twitter and preen. Irvine pinched her on the butt and got a squeal and a smack and Squall gave them The Look™. They settled down quickly and tried to grow halos. Squall gave them another strong dose of The Look™ and they quieted and he was able to have a seat – he was so tired. He did his best to look healthy and alert but it was just too soon after he'd gotten out of the fever. And the crushing weight of fear that Rinoa would … not make it…
He heard the door open and couldn't remember when he'd closed his eyes. He opened them and sat up and got a sad little smile from Laguna, sympathy and love and pain all at once that almost floored him because he'd just …opened his eyes right into it. He gathered his icy calm around himself and just nodded acknowledgment to Laguna as he rose to be polite to the aliens that as far as he knew were partially if not fully responsible for his turning into a freak.
The first thing he noted was how damned tall they all were. He was sort of glad Zell was on another mission, he would have been feeling dwarfed. He also probably would have said something about the woman's gown, which displayed her naked breasts like little cupcakes hugged by lace and silk. Okay, not the gown, he would have probably yelled something like 'holy crow, boobies!' or something equally horrible. A flicker of affectionate annoyance crossed his features for a moment even though he wasn't even here and hadn't done it.
Kiros was saying something… then Laguna… but Squall didn't hear it. He saw the Man. That's how he thought of him immediately. The Man. He went rigid and felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The Man was staring straight at Irvine. And the Man opened his mouth and inhaled, his nose wrinkling slightly. He can smell it! He Knows! Squall's jaw dropped.
Selphie saw it, too, and clutched Irvine's hand, which was a good thing. Irvine's eyes had gone wide and … empty. And he'd taken a step towards the Man, not thinking, just moving.
Squall felt that silvery rage just settle over him like an old friend and he got between this Man and Irvine. "Mine." Was all he could choke out, he was so angry at this presumptuous fuck. He didn't notice the Woman warding off Kiros who sat down suddenly and as if he didn't mean to do that at all, or Laguna moving to one side. He didn't hear anything anyone said until the Man spoke to him. And not with his voice, but in his head.
No words – there were no words. Just the overwhelming feeling that this Man would make all of the bad things go away and take care of it all, that he didn't have to be in charge anymore, that he didn't have to be strong or tough or alone…all he had to do was let this Man take care of him. All he had to do was just… let go and come to him and everything would be out of his hands.
Squall felt as if his bones were filling with cold lead. He was tired, so very, very tired… and this Man, he knew what was going on, he could save Rinoa, he could make everything better…Shiva stirred warningly and with that, so did his cold iron backbone reassert itself. This was more than the goddamned instincts, he was casting some kind of fecking spell on Squall and Squall was not shaking it off as easily as he usually did. He curled his lip up, exposing his teeth, his eyes burning like molten silver. "Fuck you."
The Man laughed and stopped the subtle approach. Irvine, still enthralled, was being wrestled down by Selphie, who was cursing like a chocobo wrangler. Kiros was out cold – whatever the woman had done, it had conked him out like turning off a switch. Laguna stumbled back and fell behind the desk, vanishing with a sort of 'oops!' expression. Typical. Squall would have been embarrassed but he didn't have time. He started to pull his gunblade as the man advanced on him but his arm went nerveless as the Man twisted somehow at him with magic or psionics or … something… and in two more steps the Man was there, physically forcing the weapon out of his numb hand and yanking him so close he could smell him even in this well ventilated room.
And all chance of fighting bled out of him. The scent, it was always the damned scents that affected them so… and this was overwhelmingly dominant, it made his brain fuzzy and drained all his willpower out of a little hole in his boot. And he was just… so… tired…He looked at the dark eyes of the Man and his own eyes were locked there suddenly – he couldn't look away.
"On your belly, bitch." The man's words translated to him even though he knew that's not what the man really said. But the meaning was clear as if he'd had one of those calm little translating people standing by repeating what he'd said in English.
What?! He thought, but he felt himself starting to slide down to his knees, and even with Shiva helping, he could not make himself do anything else. He was falling into this Dominant's black eyes, and whatever came up out of it if this Man finished whatever spell he was doing would never be Squall Leonhart again – just… some… no…no, no… don't let this happen, dammit!
"Aha!" Laguna's voice was far, far away, Squall could barely register it… "There you are, come to daddy!"
And a machinegun's chatter cut through the spell and the Man at the same time, painting the airy, beautiful room and all it's inhabitants with a spray of blood from the Ambassador. Squall fell back on his ass, splat, shock and relief mixing as the contact with the Man was cut abruptly.
Laguna had the weapon on the Woman now, pointed right between her pearly, perfect tits. "ah-ah-ah. No getting all huffy, now, I was just protecting what's mine."
Mine. He's mine too. My father. Mine.
"You wouldn't dare!" She snarled, taking another step forward. He shot one single bullet, pinging it off one of her funky hair danglies. She fell back, looking not fearful, but incredulous.
"Wanna bet?" Laguna wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Gotcherback, President Loire." Irvine said steadily. Whatever else went on, Irvine's professional face had clicked into place and he was on his feet and had that powerful rifle pointed at the woman's forehead. Squall wondered how the hell Irvine could be walking and talking, he couldn't even get up. He felt like someone had pumped about 3 gallons of tranquilizer into his system and he was just sitting there blinky and quiet. Selphie looked pale and grim and her weapons were twitching in her hand. She was moving around to check on Kiros, who seemed to be unconscious but unharmed.
When Irvine took over covering the woman, Laguna moved to where Squall was sitting and mopped at the blood on his face. "Are you okay, son? He was doing some kind of spell – they got Kiros with some kind of sleep spell but that's not what he was doing to you. I'm sorry it took so long to get the guy but they make me lock my machinegun away and it took me a little while to get the drawer open." He looked at Squall's blank, bloodstreaked face and wondered if he was even aware of anything around him. "Squall?" He touched Squall's face gently and then snatched his hand back – the boy hated to be touched.
Squall surprised him with how incredibly fast he moved, snatching back Laguna's hand and pressing it briefly to his face. He held it there for less than 10 seconds, but it was enough to make Laguna feel one of those tight little bubbles of hurt and longing for his son burst with that brief moment of acceptance. "I'm okay. I'm still affected but it's just some kind of… tranquilizer or something, I can't make myself get up." He let go of Laguna as quickly as he grabbed him, but it was enough to make Laguna's whole month. Laguna pulled him to his feet and hugged him tightly, and for once, Squall didn't' roll his eyes or look disgusted. It was probably the tranquilizer but Laguna didn't give a shit. Squall relaxed against him and clung, again briefly, before he went utterly limp, slipping into a darkness induced by the combination of magic, exhaustion and illness.
"Selphie, honey, can you get …" Laguna paused and hitched Squall up some, to get a better grip on him. "…um.. yeah, get security to get a Hazmat team up here. I think I just screwed up again, isnt' one of the ways you guys are sure this is spread by blood….? Oh and maybe cast a healing spell of some sort on Shithead MacButtfuzz there who tried to put his hands on Squall…" He grinned crookedly. "Wow, when I screw something up, I really do it good, don't I?"
"Sir, you just have a way about you. Think of it as Style." Irvine drawled, grinning. "Welcome to the pride, Loirecat."
"What?"
"Nevermind. You'll figure it out later."
Thanks to all who are so supportive of this weird AU fic with our weird cat/aliens. This chapter grew a bit more than I expected and I'm working on the next one now, which I was going to just add on to this but I figure deserves it's own space as some things are cleared up and others are obscured…
And Race, yeah, I just stuck it up without beta because I wanted certain kitty lovers who shall not be named to get all happy and wiggle around so cute. I can always edit it later.