Yeesh, more of this story is coming… only it's chapter… 13! -hides- Well, let's hope I can break the tradition of 13 being unlucky and write this chapter! Yeah! OK, reviews, then I shall attempt to rewrite history! Not really, but who's paying attention?
Ej- Standard reply as usual, eh? Well, glad you liked it.
Wollffye- Ah. Thank you. Sorry, it gets confusing with two Wolfs. And is… interesting… a good thing? Lol, not in my opinion, they must be evil! -laughs evilly- Not really, I know there are SOME good ones.
Lady-Rinoa- Yeah, it was better than Wolf's idea, she said Xu and Caraway should fall in love. -gags- Still, I had to kill him off, adds more complications. Heh heh, I am so evil.
Magical Girl Pretty Sammy-Chan- And I thought I was crazy. Heh. Balamb Brigade? OK.
Wolf- Oh, shut up. :D I still love ya, though… sometimes. : P
Oh, by the way, if you weren't paying attention, the whole household was dead. So, Xu's dead too. The end. No reviving them. They're gone. Live with it. Thank you. Sorry this update was spaced, school just started, and it's very hard to write and stuff with school junk like swirling around in my mind. I'll try to update every week on Fridays from now on, but if I don't, you know why. Y'know, I have a very strong urge to put Cid in as the local and very, very fat Indian chief, whadda you guys say? OK, enough stalling… On with the show!
Chapter 13: Stone Age
Squall opened his eyes, looking up at the ceiling with a frown on his face. Sure, he wasn't the type of person to wear nightclothes, but his clothes were beginning to chafe him in his… well, the pants were getting irritating. He rubbed at his backside slightly before rolling over, staring at the wall and examining a tiny spider living in-between the cracks. Annoyed at the way the stupid thing reminded him of himself, Squall turned over and stared at the desk. However, the imported pine desk seemed to create faces, mocking him. He sat up, and sighed to himself.
"Calm down, you just need… more sleep," he muttered. He groaned and clapped a hand to his forehead. Squall had to admit it. He was bored half-to-death. He had been trying to sleep for an hour since he had woken up, howling jolting him from his sleep. Everything had been feeling so confusing recently… all things deranging logic from his brain. It really didn't help that he had lost control earlier as well. Still, there was only one safe place where he could travel at night in the town, but it was probably closed off. More thoughts swirled around the giant whirlpool that used to be his subconscious, until he decided. He was going. His traveling cloak lay on the bed post, almost like a shadow cast over his bed. Getting to his feet, Squall slipped his feet into his boots and whirled his cloak on, staring out at the dismal skies.
The cold darkness seemed to seep through the cracks in the walls. Despite his tough-guy demeanor, he shivered in his cloak, feeling as though the black was a legion of cold, dark fingers stretching out to him. His eyes stared into the star-filled skies, eyes almost becoming like stars themselves. Shaking himself lightly, Squall walked out of the room, placing the blocker so that you could only open the door if you were at least one-hundred and thirty pounds. He was at least one twenty, he hadn't weighed himself in a while, plus the boots gave it an extra kick, so that was no problem at all. Slowly padding down the hallway and leaping down the stairs a few steps a time, Squall eased out the door and walked swiftly and silently to the town's entrance. The guard sat stiffly, staring out into the open prairies. Squall silently slipped past, blending into the shadows almost perfectly. His footsteps were silent, swift, as he walked miles out of the town. The only sign that he was even in the desert was the occasional sound of breathing.
After he had gone a mile or two out, he came across a small stone house. Squall recognized it solely as the very house he was raised in, the orphanage that he spent a good eight years of his life. The house had been abandoned several years ago, leaving it in disarray. Hedges were growing in an almost complete circle around it as vines crept up the walls. He ran his hand against the moss-covered stone and stepped inside, the door rusting from disuse over many years. He sat on the old bed he used to sleep on, nearly collapsing under his weight. Squall flopped down, to the protesting of the springs, and heaved a heavy sigh. Nothing made sense anymore…
"Hey." Squall leapt to his feet, wishing he had brought his gunblade. "Chill, I just followed you." He sat upon the bed once more, staring at the figure leaning against the door.
"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Squall asked sarcastically. The figure laughed and stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself as Irvine. Irvine flopped onto a bed next to his, looking intently at the man in black.
"So… why here?" Irvine asked, laying his gun on the floor. Squall sighed and tilted his head back.
"So many memories here…" he left it at that. Irvine laughed once more and put his chin on a hand.
"You couldn't sleep either?" he asked. Squall turned his head so sharply he almost twisted his neck. At least, that's how it felt. He frowned and turned his head back to the ground. "Hey, it's cool." He leaned against the wall and sighed. Squall tensed slightly. He had come here to be alone, that's why he left in the middle of the night. Still, it was nice to have someone there to talk to… even though Squall would never say anything. "Anything happen between you and Rinoa yet?" He slapped himself. Speak of the devil. Squall purposely turned away from him and grunted, refusing to say anything. He fingered his right arm, feeling the bandage through the cloak. Irvine laughed.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Squall asked bluntly, turning his head only slightly. Irvine laughed again.
"How long have I known you, three or four days?" Irvine answered his own question. "I can already predict exactly what you'll do or say to almost everything someone else says or does." Squall grunted, not wanting to listen anymore and just wishing he was still in that stupid bed back in the town. "So, what happened after we left?" he asked again. Squall frowned and began to recite the tale, knowing that he would find out anyways. When he came to the bit about the pain in his arm, Irvine covered his mouth and snorted.
"What?" Squall asked, irritated at being interrupted.
"You… sprained your arm? By falling?" he laughed, holding his stomach and shaking.
"Be quiet and let me finish," he snapped back. Yes, it was quite embarrassing that a tough guy like him could sprain his arms that easily… then again, he wasn't too fond of milk as a kid. He continued his tale, but at the end Irvine was surprisingly silent.
"Man, even I didn't think that would happen that quickly!" he exclaimed. Squall raised an eyebrow. "We had a bet going on…" he said sheepishly. "I bet two weeks, Selphie bet a month, Quistis bet two months, and Zell voted cow. He was drunk, again. Anyways, I didn't think it'd be less than a week, though!" Squall frowned and stared at the stupid cowboy.
"Thanks, Irvine, that makes me feel so special," he sarcastically commented. Irvine laughed once more, causing Squall to grin, though he quickly swallowed it and pretended he had never smiled in his life. Irvine stood, still laughing, and holstered his gun upon his shoulder.
"Shall we leave then? You never know when the 'guard' will up its patrols." Squall sighed once more, stuck traveling with a certain idiot if he wanted to be protected. They left the house, Squall once more shutting the door as the sun slowly snaked up the horizon, lighting up the bleak western prairies. Squall, though he wouldn't say it out loud, felt better having confided in someone, but one final precaution must be taken.
"Hey, Irvine?" Squall asked.
"What?"
"You utter a word about what I said and your guts are on the floor." Once more, Irvine laughed.
"Somehow, I knew you'd say that." Together, they walked as the sun slowly rose from behind the distant Blue Mountains. Squall couldn't help but feel that he had made one more friend.
Yayness for that, this chapter is finally out! And yay, Squall made another friend! So yip-yip for that! Sorry to keep you all waiting, but as I said, I'll try to update over the weekends if not Friday. Happy Labor Day, all!
(note: I finished this on Labor day and updated today, don't say my internal calendar is wrong… which it is. :D)
-Greiverwings
