Disclaimer: Well, the truth is, yes, I do own the Final Fantasy 8
characters and everything about them.
*Background mumbling. *
What? I don't own them any more? I sold them! To a company named Squaresoft! How stupid is that!? Well, I guess I don't own them anymore. Oh well, read the story anyway and I hope you enjoy.
They all stood before the enormous house that was their assignment. Investigate and clear it was the mission, investigate and clear it. For some reason the building was standing after 3000 years of abandonment. Everyone assumed that some supernatural force kept it standing this long and the Garden wanted to find out what it was. If it was safe and possibly useful, investigate it. If it was dangerous, investigation became a secondary priority and the destruction of the force became primary. No one really knew what to expect to find in it, but each had their own expectations.
"I think its gonna have ghosts," said Selphie Tilmitt. She always was the bunch of energy that the group needed. Her yellow overalls and weapon of choice, the nunchuku demonstrated her perkiness. If nothing else showed it, the bouncing curl at the end of her hair did. "Like Casper!"
All Sefier Almasy could muster was a scoff as he turned his head and held in a laugh. His broad shoulders moved with his slight laughter and the large white trench coat that he always wore moved with it. His blonde hair, stuck in place barely moved with the rest of his body as he chuckled.
"What?" Selphie asked.
"No, no, I'm not gonna say it Messenger-Girl. It's just way too easy."
"Hey, it could happen."
"Yeah Sef, it could". The six foot one, sharpshooting, woman loving, Irvine Kinneas walked up from behind and laid his hands of support on Selphie's shoulders with a reassuring nod. His long, brown ponytail fell over the back of his long, brown jacket and his frame carried it all well. If you didn't see it by now, the leather boots and hat would tip you off from a mile away that this guy was a true cowboy.
"Your optimism is enthusiastic but it is just what it says it is, optimistic. You can believe what you want but the best never happens ,"Sefier said with a that's-that kind of tone. "Every hear of Murphy's law? It would completely destroy the way you think."
Quistis Trepe let her sight fall from the top of the huge mansion and fall on Seifer. She had decided that for the time being her glasses were unnecessary, so she didn't wear them. You would think though, that if one thought glasses would get in the way, the dress Qusitis wore would too, but it didn't. The blouse she wore was buttoned at the top, but came undone towards the bottom expose a triangle of bare midriff. She didn't much look like she belonged in Special Forces team either. Her hair, body, and face made her look much more suited for a career in modeling or television. Regardless, she was a member of SeeD and she really had no intentions of going into the entertainment business. "Must you always bring everyone else down"? Her hands poised themselves on her cocked hips and her head titled to the side to give Seifer "that look".
Seifer broke his view of the house too. He turned around with his back to the rest of the party and took a couple well-aimed gunblade swings at the air. "Come on now Quistis." Seifer loved not having to call her Instructor Trepe anyway. It made Seifer feel like she was on an equal footing with the rest of them. "You know on this mission you're not an instructor or anything more than me, Squall or Chicken-Wuss here."
"Ahhhhh." Zell Dincht responded, almost instinctively lifting his first in the air and shaking them at the wearer of the white trench coat that loved picking on everyone that isn't named Seifer. His spiked blonde hair didn't move an inch as he bounced on the balls of his feet to clock Seifer when he turned around. Even though Zell looked like a skater kid with his punk clothes and black face tattoo, he wasn't. He was T-Board kid; skate boarding was just so lame now a-days.
Seifer didn't bother to turn around though as he kept slashing the air with a smile; that's what bothered Zell. Seifer didn't even bother to acknowledge his frustration; he just let out a bellowing laugh and kept swinging.
Zell was more than a little frustrated when he read Seifer would be working this mission with the group. He'd love to get under Seifer's skin just once to show him what it was like, but Seifer always seemed to take advantage of his short temper and got the better of him every time.
"Whys he even here anyway? He's not SeeD!" Zell shouted.
"Neither is Irvine or Rinoa. Neither one of them really belong to Garden but Headmaster Cid obviously thought the three of them would be beneficial to this mission so he sent them along. Is that alright with you Zell?"
The suprising confidence of their leader put a look of stupidity on Zell's face and a look of surprise on everyone else' s. His voice took control of any situation when he really wanted it to. Everyone in the group knew that he was a natural born leader. No one knew if it was his voice, the fact that he seemed so real life with his problems or the trademark scar he bared that made him so fit to take control of the troupe, but they all knew it was his duty to be their leader. His black coat gave him a certain kind of imagine. No one really knew what it was, but combined with his personality, full of guilt complexes and confusion, plus his deep brown hair, Squall Leonhart was easily one of the most mysterious people you'd ever meet.
"I think it's about time we went in don't you?" Rinoa Heartilly asked with a likeness to Selphie in how she seemed cheery at all times. Sure Selphie was just down right spunky but Rinoa brought her share of life to the group too. She wore her classic electric blue and black outfit. It really was a unique outfit. The blue fabric hanging long in the back and short in the front and the short black boots really topped things off. She had a way of looking beautiful in a mature angelic kind of way and cute in a childish kind of way, all at the same time. Both views could be easily be seen as she bent down and pet her dog, Angelo with a beautiful smile.
"Your right. I wanna get this done as quick as possible,"Zell said, coming back into focus after his skirmish with Seifer.
"Well then, we better get the packs out," Squall announced. The inquisitive looks from everyone didn't surprise him.
"Packs?"Selphie uttered.
"Yeah. What packs are you talking about,"Irvine chimed.
Squall turned to face his crew and make sure this was explained very clearly. "Headmaster Cid refrained from mentioning certain details from this assignment for a reason. He knew that if you knew this was an over night mission many of you would have turned it down".
"I'll say!"Seifer responded.
"You mean we've gotta sleep in there?"Rinoa asked, looking up from Angelo.
"Its nobodies fault but your own. You all were given a mission briefing packet with all the details before you decided to accept it,"Squall announced.
"Well maybe we did", started Zell, "but I didn't read about this."
"The headmaster counted on that. He knew you'd all be a little too impulsive on this kind of thing. He knew you'd read the beginning, and the end, but not the details in between. You all brought this apon yourself," Squall said with a tone of clarification.
"Come on Squall, that's enough. It was a good idea, but you're not much of one to pull off a joke,"Irvine said through a smile.
"It's no joke," Quistis said while gently pulling her hair out of her face, "I read the briefing. This is an over night mission, possibly nights."
"You're kidding right? More than one night? But I don't have clothes, my toothbrush, my hairbrush, my hair spray, my blankie."Selphie went on naming things off and keeping track of them on her fingers.
By this time Squall was already behind the large vehicle that they had taken to the haunted house. He opened the compartment in the back, reached in and threw a backpack at Selphie. She barely caught it and had it not been for Irvine 's helpful hand she might have ended up flat on the ground. Selphie was to busy trying to keep her balance that she didn't notice that Irvine's "helpful hand"was supporting her from the gluteus maximum.
Selphie stumbled setting the heavy bag down and unzipped it. Inside was all the stuff that she had named off and a little more.
"So, unless there is anything else I suggest we divide into our groups," Squall suggested, knowing the looks he was gonna get on this one. So of course, he got the looks. "Yes, you heard me, groups. You all know that this house is way too big to be covered by one group and so did the Headmaster. So he suggested we split into groups."
"Please say we get to pick our groups,"asked the group's only cowboy with the maturity of a high school student not wanting to get paired with the stupid kid in the back row but the hot girl in the front.
"I'm Sorry Irvine, but the Headmaster and Xu picked these groups. The groups are as follows".
Everyone stopped talking, or thinking even for that matter, and waited in a silent suspense to hear their partners for the next day or two. Squall reached into the right chest pocket of his black jacket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. He unfolded it and read aloud.
"Group 1 will be Seifer and Zell".
"Ahh CRAP! You're not doing this to me Squall man!" Zell stood up from his crouched position with his hands on knees and his fingers crossed and begged with his squad leader. "I 'd rather give up eating hotdogs and my stash of Girl Next Door's than partner with him."
After letting the red in Zell's face fade from admitting he had a stash of Girl Next Door magazines Squall gave Zell the only reasoning he was going to get.
"Zell, I apologize, but I didn't set up these groups. These groups came straight from the Headmaster and Xu and they were very adamant that the groups not be changed. "
"They better not have packed those Girl Next Doors for you Chicken-Wuss because I am not dealing with your little accidents in the middle of the night,"Seifer stabbed.
"Alright now, listen. Group number two will be Rinoa and I."
It was pretty curious that Squall and Rinoa were in the same group and Selphie was the first to notice it. "Are you sure you didn't have aaaaaaaany thing to do with these groups Squall?"she inquired while holding the a in her cutesy childish voice. No one noticed Rinoa blush as she hid her face in Angelo's fur.
"Like I said before these groups were selected by Cid and Xu and I had nothing to do with them. So group three will have three members and it they will be Irvine Kinneas, Quistis Trepe and Selphie Tilmitt,"Squall announced in a very professional tone. Irvine finished silently praying to the sky only a second before Selphie turned around and playingly punched Irvine in the chest.
"Hear that Irvy? You me and Quisty are gonna group together!" Selphie exclaimed like no one but her heard it Squall's last announcement.
"With that said I think its time we get moving. Will head to the main room and from there will split up," Squall finished as he tossed everyone their respective packs. "Let's move out".
Every member of the group moved for the door in a different way. Squall took the lead, standing tall and blazing the trail. Zell trudge behind him with a look of complete misery on his face. Behind that was Seifer laughing at the misfortune he put the young, hotdog loving SeeD through. With plenty of room between him and Seifer, Irvine walked through with his arms around both of his group member's shoulders and bringing up the rear was Rinoa with Angelo faithfully trailing next to her. The huge double doors creaked when they opened but showed no signs of wear.
"Oh my god! It's huge,"Zell let out.
With his eyes on his beautiful teammates Irvine wasn't watching his path as he bumped into the frozen Zell.
"Hey! Keep movin wil-"Irvine paused in amazement as he looked around with the rest of the crew. This one room itself was massive, even more so than the outside let on. A ceiling hundreds of feet high and lord knows how many feet wide. The two sets of curving stairs led to the same place, but the gave a very large emphasis on the majestic feel of the house. Each doorway let you know this place was a catacomb of an ancient time and almost every square inch of the building was covered in cobwebs. From every corner to the edge of every table this place was collecting dust. Even though nothing in the mansion seemed to rot or decay (and seeing as how just about everything in the house, including the house itself, was wood it was pretty amazing) one could tell this house hadn't seen a living soul for at least a century. "This could be the size of the garden!"
"Balamb and Galbadia combined Irvine,"Squall reassured him.
"The size of two gardens?! This could take DAYS!" Rinoa shouted.
When the echo stopped bouncing off the walls and ceiling of the enormous room Quistis informed, "It most likely will", in an almost annoying tone.
"Listen group. This place can be quite a confusing maze so everyone's backpack will contain a map of the building, use it if you need to,"informed Squall. "Communications don't work in the house; it's already been tried. All radio signals will fail; cell phones will have no reception, nothing. Its even theorized that this house would be completely immune to a nuclear blast because it would block all the waves omitting from it. Team one will go up the middle; team two takes the right wings and team three the left. Any questions?"
Not wanting to start a mission with a serious Squall Rinoa asked, "Who packed our underwear?"
Squall didn't laugh, but he smiled, and right now a smile was good enough for Rinoa. She had a couple of days; she could work him over.
"I'll see you all in a couple days,"Squall reassured them as his parting words.
With that, and everyone's separate good byes, the three groups split to cover more ground. From the stairs Selphie waved to everyone and shouted one last goodbye.
Thanks for reading this. Any feedback, comments or criticism that you would be willing lend me would be great. This is my first fan fiction ever and if you've got any ideas on where you think this story should go let me know and I'll definatly give it a thinking. Anything you want to say e- mail to me at MACROBUTTON HtmlResAnchor drennier@att.net
Thanks again!
*Background mumbling. *
What? I don't own them any more? I sold them! To a company named Squaresoft! How stupid is that!? Well, I guess I don't own them anymore. Oh well, read the story anyway and I hope you enjoy.
They all stood before the enormous house that was their assignment. Investigate and clear it was the mission, investigate and clear it. For some reason the building was standing after 3000 years of abandonment. Everyone assumed that some supernatural force kept it standing this long and the Garden wanted to find out what it was. If it was safe and possibly useful, investigate it. If it was dangerous, investigation became a secondary priority and the destruction of the force became primary. No one really knew what to expect to find in it, but each had their own expectations.
"I think its gonna have ghosts," said Selphie Tilmitt. She always was the bunch of energy that the group needed. Her yellow overalls and weapon of choice, the nunchuku demonstrated her perkiness. If nothing else showed it, the bouncing curl at the end of her hair did. "Like Casper!"
All Sefier Almasy could muster was a scoff as he turned his head and held in a laugh. His broad shoulders moved with his slight laughter and the large white trench coat that he always wore moved with it. His blonde hair, stuck in place barely moved with the rest of his body as he chuckled.
"What?" Selphie asked.
"No, no, I'm not gonna say it Messenger-Girl. It's just way too easy."
"Hey, it could happen."
"Yeah Sef, it could". The six foot one, sharpshooting, woman loving, Irvine Kinneas walked up from behind and laid his hands of support on Selphie's shoulders with a reassuring nod. His long, brown ponytail fell over the back of his long, brown jacket and his frame carried it all well. If you didn't see it by now, the leather boots and hat would tip you off from a mile away that this guy was a true cowboy.
"Your optimism is enthusiastic but it is just what it says it is, optimistic. You can believe what you want but the best never happens ,"Sefier said with a that's-that kind of tone. "Every hear of Murphy's law? It would completely destroy the way you think."
Quistis Trepe let her sight fall from the top of the huge mansion and fall on Seifer. She had decided that for the time being her glasses were unnecessary, so she didn't wear them. You would think though, that if one thought glasses would get in the way, the dress Qusitis wore would too, but it didn't. The blouse she wore was buttoned at the top, but came undone towards the bottom expose a triangle of bare midriff. She didn't much look like she belonged in Special Forces team either. Her hair, body, and face made her look much more suited for a career in modeling or television. Regardless, she was a member of SeeD and she really had no intentions of going into the entertainment business. "Must you always bring everyone else down"? Her hands poised themselves on her cocked hips and her head titled to the side to give Seifer "that look".
Seifer broke his view of the house too. He turned around with his back to the rest of the party and took a couple well-aimed gunblade swings at the air. "Come on now Quistis." Seifer loved not having to call her Instructor Trepe anyway. It made Seifer feel like she was on an equal footing with the rest of them. "You know on this mission you're not an instructor or anything more than me, Squall or Chicken-Wuss here."
"Ahhhhh." Zell Dincht responded, almost instinctively lifting his first in the air and shaking them at the wearer of the white trench coat that loved picking on everyone that isn't named Seifer. His spiked blonde hair didn't move an inch as he bounced on the balls of his feet to clock Seifer when he turned around. Even though Zell looked like a skater kid with his punk clothes and black face tattoo, he wasn't. He was T-Board kid; skate boarding was just so lame now a-days.
Seifer didn't bother to turn around though as he kept slashing the air with a smile; that's what bothered Zell. Seifer didn't even bother to acknowledge his frustration; he just let out a bellowing laugh and kept swinging.
Zell was more than a little frustrated when he read Seifer would be working this mission with the group. He'd love to get under Seifer's skin just once to show him what it was like, but Seifer always seemed to take advantage of his short temper and got the better of him every time.
"Whys he even here anyway? He's not SeeD!" Zell shouted.
"Neither is Irvine or Rinoa. Neither one of them really belong to Garden but Headmaster Cid obviously thought the three of them would be beneficial to this mission so he sent them along. Is that alright with you Zell?"
The suprising confidence of their leader put a look of stupidity on Zell's face and a look of surprise on everyone else' s. His voice took control of any situation when he really wanted it to. Everyone in the group knew that he was a natural born leader. No one knew if it was his voice, the fact that he seemed so real life with his problems or the trademark scar he bared that made him so fit to take control of the troupe, but they all knew it was his duty to be their leader. His black coat gave him a certain kind of imagine. No one really knew what it was, but combined with his personality, full of guilt complexes and confusion, plus his deep brown hair, Squall Leonhart was easily one of the most mysterious people you'd ever meet.
"I think it's about time we went in don't you?" Rinoa Heartilly asked with a likeness to Selphie in how she seemed cheery at all times. Sure Selphie was just down right spunky but Rinoa brought her share of life to the group too. She wore her classic electric blue and black outfit. It really was a unique outfit. The blue fabric hanging long in the back and short in the front and the short black boots really topped things off. She had a way of looking beautiful in a mature angelic kind of way and cute in a childish kind of way, all at the same time. Both views could be easily be seen as she bent down and pet her dog, Angelo with a beautiful smile.
"Your right. I wanna get this done as quick as possible,"Zell said, coming back into focus after his skirmish with Seifer.
"Well then, we better get the packs out," Squall announced. The inquisitive looks from everyone didn't surprise him.
"Packs?"Selphie uttered.
"Yeah. What packs are you talking about,"Irvine chimed.
Squall turned to face his crew and make sure this was explained very clearly. "Headmaster Cid refrained from mentioning certain details from this assignment for a reason. He knew that if you knew this was an over night mission many of you would have turned it down".
"I'll say!"Seifer responded.
"You mean we've gotta sleep in there?"Rinoa asked, looking up from Angelo.
"Its nobodies fault but your own. You all were given a mission briefing packet with all the details before you decided to accept it,"Squall announced.
"Well maybe we did", started Zell, "but I didn't read about this."
"The headmaster counted on that. He knew you'd all be a little too impulsive on this kind of thing. He knew you'd read the beginning, and the end, but not the details in between. You all brought this apon yourself," Squall said with a tone of clarification.
"Come on Squall, that's enough. It was a good idea, but you're not much of one to pull off a joke,"Irvine said through a smile.
"It's no joke," Quistis said while gently pulling her hair out of her face, "I read the briefing. This is an over night mission, possibly nights."
"You're kidding right? More than one night? But I don't have clothes, my toothbrush, my hairbrush, my hair spray, my blankie."Selphie went on naming things off and keeping track of them on her fingers.
By this time Squall was already behind the large vehicle that they had taken to the haunted house. He opened the compartment in the back, reached in and threw a backpack at Selphie. She barely caught it and had it not been for Irvine 's helpful hand she might have ended up flat on the ground. Selphie was to busy trying to keep her balance that she didn't notice that Irvine's "helpful hand"was supporting her from the gluteus maximum.
Selphie stumbled setting the heavy bag down and unzipped it. Inside was all the stuff that she had named off and a little more.
"So, unless there is anything else I suggest we divide into our groups," Squall suggested, knowing the looks he was gonna get on this one. So of course, he got the looks. "Yes, you heard me, groups. You all know that this house is way too big to be covered by one group and so did the Headmaster. So he suggested we split into groups."
"Please say we get to pick our groups,"asked the group's only cowboy with the maturity of a high school student not wanting to get paired with the stupid kid in the back row but the hot girl in the front.
"I'm Sorry Irvine, but the Headmaster and Xu picked these groups. The groups are as follows".
Everyone stopped talking, or thinking even for that matter, and waited in a silent suspense to hear their partners for the next day or two. Squall reached into the right chest pocket of his black jacket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. He unfolded it and read aloud.
"Group 1 will be Seifer and Zell".
"Ahh CRAP! You're not doing this to me Squall man!" Zell stood up from his crouched position with his hands on knees and his fingers crossed and begged with his squad leader. "I 'd rather give up eating hotdogs and my stash of Girl Next Door's than partner with him."
After letting the red in Zell's face fade from admitting he had a stash of Girl Next Door magazines Squall gave Zell the only reasoning he was going to get.
"Zell, I apologize, but I didn't set up these groups. These groups came straight from the Headmaster and Xu and they were very adamant that the groups not be changed. "
"They better not have packed those Girl Next Doors for you Chicken-Wuss because I am not dealing with your little accidents in the middle of the night,"Seifer stabbed.
"Alright now, listen. Group number two will be Rinoa and I."
It was pretty curious that Squall and Rinoa were in the same group and Selphie was the first to notice it. "Are you sure you didn't have aaaaaaaany thing to do with these groups Squall?"she inquired while holding the a in her cutesy childish voice. No one noticed Rinoa blush as she hid her face in Angelo's fur.
"Like I said before these groups were selected by Cid and Xu and I had nothing to do with them. So group three will have three members and it they will be Irvine Kinneas, Quistis Trepe and Selphie Tilmitt,"Squall announced in a very professional tone. Irvine finished silently praying to the sky only a second before Selphie turned around and playingly punched Irvine in the chest.
"Hear that Irvy? You me and Quisty are gonna group together!" Selphie exclaimed like no one but her heard it Squall's last announcement.
"With that said I think its time we get moving. Will head to the main room and from there will split up," Squall finished as he tossed everyone their respective packs. "Let's move out".
Every member of the group moved for the door in a different way. Squall took the lead, standing tall and blazing the trail. Zell trudge behind him with a look of complete misery on his face. Behind that was Seifer laughing at the misfortune he put the young, hotdog loving SeeD through. With plenty of room between him and Seifer, Irvine walked through with his arms around both of his group member's shoulders and bringing up the rear was Rinoa with Angelo faithfully trailing next to her. The huge double doors creaked when they opened but showed no signs of wear.
"Oh my god! It's huge,"Zell let out.
With his eyes on his beautiful teammates Irvine wasn't watching his path as he bumped into the frozen Zell.
"Hey! Keep movin wil-"Irvine paused in amazement as he looked around with the rest of the crew. This one room itself was massive, even more so than the outside let on. A ceiling hundreds of feet high and lord knows how many feet wide. The two sets of curving stairs led to the same place, but the gave a very large emphasis on the majestic feel of the house. Each doorway let you know this place was a catacomb of an ancient time and almost every square inch of the building was covered in cobwebs. From every corner to the edge of every table this place was collecting dust. Even though nothing in the mansion seemed to rot or decay (and seeing as how just about everything in the house, including the house itself, was wood it was pretty amazing) one could tell this house hadn't seen a living soul for at least a century. "This could be the size of the garden!"
"Balamb and Galbadia combined Irvine,"Squall reassured him.
"The size of two gardens?! This could take DAYS!" Rinoa shouted.
When the echo stopped bouncing off the walls and ceiling of the enormous room Quistis informed, "It most likely will", in an almost annoying tone.
"Listen group. This place can be quite a confusing maze so everyone's backpack will contain a map of the building, use it if you need to,"informed Squall. "Communications don't work in the house; it's already been tried. All radio signals will fail; cell phones will have no reception, nothing. Its even theorized that this house would be completely immune to a nuclear blast because it would block all the waves omitting from it. Team one will go up the middle; team two takes the right wings and team three the left. Any questions?"
Not wanting to start a mission with a serious Squall Rinoa asked, "Who packed our underwear?"
Squall didn't laugh, but he smiled, and right now a smile was good enough for Rinoa. She had a couple of days; she could work him over.
"I'll see you all in a couple days,"Squall reassured them as his parting words.
With that, and everyone's separate good byes, the three groups split to cover more ground. From the stairs Selphie waved to everyone and shouted one last goodbye.
Thanks for reading this. Any feedback, comments or criticism that you would be willing lend me would be great. This is my first fan fiction ever and if you've got any ideas on where you think this story should go let me know and I'll definatly give it a thinking. Anything you want to say e- mail to me at MACROBUTTON HtmlResAnchor drennier@att.net
Thanks again!