Disclaimer: I wish I own them, but no, FF8 and all its characters belong to Squaresoft. But I do own this story! ^__^
Chapter 3: Is It Christmas Already?
At the cafeteria, the gang's eyes widened with amazement as Zell reaches for the last hotdog on the plate. And ate it whole.
"I can't believe…Zell, you're a freak!" Rinoa cried out.
"Too bad Selphie missed it. Where is she anyway?" Irvine inquired.
Just then Selphie ran into the cafeteria. "Hey guys! You'll never guess it, but Sir Laguna, Kiros and Ward are here! "
"Selphie, have you been taking too much sugar again?" Quistis asked in a stern tone.
"NO! It's true, look, I got the video to prove it!" Selphie played the camcorder to her friends, much to their amazement.
"You mean they're really here?! Where are they now? We have to meet them, it's been two months since we last saw them," Quistis said, eyes glued to the camcorder. It was now showing the gift that Laguna brought Squall.
"Squall's taking them to the guest room, we can visit them now – HEY! Zell, did you eat the whole plate without me?!"
Zell burped in response.
"You know how hard it is to keep a dog away from his hotdogs, don't you?" joked Rinoa.
"HEY!" barked Zell.
"So, like, are we going now?" Irvine asked, tilting his hat.
"Okay, follow me!"
Selphie led them to the guest room, but only after persuading them to follow the 'choo-choo train', which she played the engine, of course.
After knocking on the door, they were greeted by Laguna himself. "Great to see you guys again!"
The gang was invited into the room, where they sat comfortably on couches and began to chat. Laguna was introduced again the names of the heroes who fought bravely against Sorceress Ultimecia. You tend to forget names when you've reached their age.
"Ooh! Ooh! Almost forgot, we got you guys presents too!" exclaimed Laguna as he jumped off the couch and swam in their pile of luggage.
He didn't take a lot of time. A few moments later, the gifts were all on the table.
"This is for Irvine," said Laguna as he picked up a shear feather they got from killing a Thrustaevis and handed it to him, "goes well with your cowboy hat, doesn't it?"
"Uh, thanks," answered Irvine nervously, accepting the gift. Seriously, like I'm going to put a stupid feather on my hat, thought Irvine.
"Next, mystery fluid for Zell's cool hair-do! Man, now those Gaylas are a handful."
"What?! I'm not putting some fricki – owww – I mean, thanks." After receiving his gift, Zell quickly rubbed the sore point on his abdomen where Quistis hit him with her elbow.
"There were so many Geezards, and they coughed up so many of these usele- I mean, wonderful screws, so we got a hundred of them and decided to give them to Quistis, so you can, um, do art with them!" A huge smile hung on Laguna's face.
"Oh my, these…are…truly wonderful screws! Yes, I think I will do art with them," Quistis smiled back uneasily.
Laguna continued on. "What have we got for Rinoa? Fish fins from Fastitocalon-Fs!"
"Great! I think…what do I do with them, exactly?" Rinoa looked at the pile of fish fins on the table. It smelled.
"I don't know, cook something with it!"
Everyone started to feel sick. "Okay, thanks…"
"Right, last but not least, Malboro tentacles for Selphie!"
Selphie was genuinely happy. "Whoo-hoo! New skip ropes!"
Kiros had been suppressing his laughs the whole time, but in the end he failed. Laughing out loud, he explained, "We're really sorry, we meant to get you REAL DECENT gifts, but thanks to Laguna here, we ended up staying in almost every hotel on the planet, spending more gil than planned."
"…" said Ward.
"Ward says you're welcomed to beat Laguna up," explained Kiros.
"Traitors!" Laguna yelled at his comrades, then scratched his head apologetically, looking at the now laughing gang.