Syke.
A/N: Got tired of waiting? ^_~ Sorry about that, I'll try and get things rolling more quickly now that things are about to pick up. (Hinthint). Thanks so much for the great feedback I've been getting, please keep it coming! I'd love to know what you think about this chapter, and the next, and the next! Oh, and to answer yer question...yes, we will meet Seifer quite soon. Hold yer horses. ;-P Soundtrack: "Stupefied" by Disturbed (Oh, I am so very original). Chapter four.
Squall was relieved that Irvine wasn't cracking under fire again. When you need all the manpower you can get, someone who's having a nervous breakdown won't cut it, unfortunatley. Now he was picking apprehensively at the sleeves of his jacket. Oh boy.
"Reassure me that you're up to this, please." Squall narrowed his eyes. Irvine nodded, not looking up.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." He relaxed, though only a bit.
"Good. Now here's what I need you to do." he turned back to the console and scrolled down a list of figures, "Go down to the infirmary. Zell's down there, wading through blood and trauma. See if you can get any more stories out of the girls, help out with first aid if at all possible."
"Gotcha." Irvine turned to leave, but Squall caught him by the arm.
"One thing."
"...yeah?" Leather-gloved hands placed a small object in the palm of Irvine's fingerless ones. He blinked, "This is a stun stick."
"Be careful." was all he said. Irvine pulled away, sliding the device in his jacket pocket and heading to the door.
"You can count on me. I won't fail."
"Don't."
"Oh man, Irvine, am I glad to see you!" Zell was running down the hall towards him.
"What's up?" He the blonde began hopping around madly; did the guy EVER get drained?
"It's a madhouse in there. They've got girls in there who scream every time they see me, they think I tried to kill them. You'd think you were in some kind of insane asylum--" he grabbed Irvine by the shoulders and began hauling him towards the infirmary, "You have to see it to believe it, but brace yourself."
Insane asylum was an understatement, Irvine realized once he set foot in Dr. Kadowaki's infirmary. There were chairs set up all over the entryway with the lesser injured, more sane female students were propped up against them with icepacks, splints and what-have-you. The door in the back of the lobby was wide open, and row after row of hospital beds were full of screaming, crying, or otherwise disturbed girls. The smell of blood and sweat was overpowering.
A short, round, elderly woman ran up to the two young men, red-faced but not out of breath.
"Hey, Dr. Kadowaki. What's the story?"
"About time more help came, boys. Now get your butts in that room and start from the front and work your way back. And remember, don't push them. If you can't get anything, leave them alone, come back later." Nodding, Irvine steeled himself and let Zell lead him into the back room.
The sight was enough to make a grown man cry, and now Irvine was feeling a lump in rise in the back of his throat. Even Zell seemed to suddenly become more subdued. Young women, SeeD and future SeeD alike, people Irvine and Zell were used to see on a daily basis all clean and well groomed were all in various states of the most gruesome dissary they'd ever seen, dressed in what they had probably been wearing to bed that night. While some were lying almost deathly still and pale in their beds, a few in the back had forced Dr. Kadowaki and other medical assistants to strap them to the bed lest they hurt themselves. Altogether, they made one collective wail that made Irvine wonder why he couldn't hear it when he was on the third floor.
Zell, noticing the pained expression on Irvine's face, said sympathetically, "You get used to it after a while. The noise, that is. Come on, we'd better get to work." The cowboy mutely made his way over to the first bed.
The girl couldn't have been more than thirteen, deathly pale and wheezing. How he was going to get any information out of someone like this seemed like some kind of paradox, and as her eyes rolled towards him, she inhaled sharply, painfully. Basic instinct kicked in.
"Hi there," he said, using his best lady-charming smile, "How ya' doing?"
"Don't--don't--"
"Don't what?"
"Don't...touch...me!" each word sounded as though it were being ripped from the poor girl's lungs, and Irvine winced visibly. Checking the small bracelet around her wrist, he looked for her name. Wish Ronstadt.
"Look, Wish. Save your breath. I won't force you to say anything."
"Go...away."
"...okay. Goodbye, Wish. Hope you get better soon." he stood, and headed towards the next bed.
"She had her vocal chords injured." an unfamiliar voice from behind him said. Whirling around, he realized it was the green-haired boy he had seen with Nida upstairs.
"Who--"
"Aidan Morose," he interrupted, offering a hand. Irvine took it and shook.
"Morose? Hey, I'm sorry man."
"Oh shut up. I get enough about it from the chicks, I don't need it from you. Although--" Aidan reached behind Irvine and tugged at his ponytail, "I could very well place you in that category."
"Yeah, yeah," Irvine shot back, slapping the hand away, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go look for clues as to the whereabouts of my best friends."
"Let me help. That's what I was sent down here for." Irvine sat down next to the second bed without so much as glancing at Aidan.
"Then help somewhere else." The girl had her eyes closed, she was sleeping. Irvine debated wether it was worth it or not to wake her.
"--I wouldn't touch her if I were you."
"Oh yeah? Why not?"
"Because--" suddenly, the girl's eyes opened, and as soon as she caught sight of Irvine, they widened in terror, and she would have backed right off the bed if Aidan hadn't caught her. The bandage around her chest lifted a little, and he realized that she had been shot in the shoulder. More than once.
The girl's tearing screams were now added to the rising and falling symphony of wails and moans, and her face was twisted in terror.
"Whoa! Hey--!" Aidian hopped around, trying to keep on balance while the girl he was holding was pushing him over, trying to get away. He looked at Irvine, "You'd better leave," he shouted over the girl's terrified screams.
"Um, yeah. Sounds about right." Irvine responded, resisting the urge to throw up, and stumbling backwards towards the exit.
She had thought it was him that tried to kill her. Well, he couldn't blame her, if he was in her position, he'd think the same thing.
But why...? He had never seen that girl before in his life. Whatever had attacked it had taken his form, however. What did it mean?
Forget it. Again. Just concentrate on the task on hand. He couldn't possibly go back into that room again...right now scaring someone to death wouldn't make Squall too happy.
"Irvine? What's wrong?" Dr. Kadowaki stopped scribbling notes on a pad on her desk and came towards him.
"I'm sorry Doctor, but I can't go back in there. There's a girl who thinks..."
"--Ah yes, I see."
"...and as long as I'm in that room she'll probably end up killing her own self." The doctor nodded, then motioned to the door.
"Alright then, you can go. No use in having you here when you can be helping Squall somewhere else." Sighing, Irvine headed for the door one more time.
"Oh, so a new one to join the club," Squall was still at the same console, typing away. Again, his eyes never left the screen.
"Yeah, so, like, I need something else to do."
"Hold on a second. So now Zell's down there by himself?"
"That new guy, Aidan, is taking care of things."
"Oh, so you met Nida's brother." Silence.
"He's--?"
"Yeah. Just graduated into the world of SeeD-dom. Don't mind the hair, regulations say he's gotta re-dye it or shave it off."
"Poor guy." Irvine flipped his ponytail just for the heck of it.
"Not really," Squall countered, "That guy's got abilites that are off the charts. You know he's 15 now. He came to Garden at the age of 14."
"How'd he manage to pull that off?" "Pretty easy, really. Did you know that all average humans use less than half of their brains?"
"No..."
"Scans show Aidan's using 80%. Physically, he's one of the most fit young boys you'll probably ever find. Mentally...well, let's just say he's some kind of natural phenomenon."
"Kind of cool. He'll be good for y'all to have."
"Sure will." More silence.
"So, assignments please?" Squall sighed.
"Actually, I was getting ready to do this myself, but it seems like I'm needed here. I'm going to send you to Timber to pick up Rinoa and escort her here."
More travelling...
"Yeah...I guess that'd make sense to bring her to Garden. You're sending me by myself?"
"Yes."
"Anything else?"
"No. You can go now." Now that business was settled for now, Squall had reverted back to his old self, a man of few words.
Irvine had wanted to see Rinoa before, but not like this. Hyne knew what all of this meant, and the last thing he wanted to see was Squall being reunited with his girlfriend while his own was gone...maybe even dead. It was selfish, he knew. Squall wasn't just bringing Rinoa here for his own personal benefit; she'd also be much safer here than with those goofs back in Timber.
But there was no telling what kind of state she'd be in. For all he knew, he'd be dragging a comatose (again) Rinoa back to Balamb, or, even worse, an insane, traumatized one. Like those that he had seen in the infirmary.
Okay, he was now officially afraid. His hand clenched the barrel of his shotgun to steady himself. There was something solid to hold on to. Something to rely on. There was always something reliable about a bullet. It was straight, fast, and clean. You just had to aim it in the right place and fire; the rest of the work is done for you. Easiest way to get the job done with the least effort. And it was almost never unpredictable. Of course, there had been a few exceptions. Dealing with Sorceresses, one can never tell. But other than that, there was really no other more reliable thing than a loaded gun. He just hoped that he wouldn't have to use his.