Chapter 4: My Desert Storm
Disclaimer: FF8 characters are not mine. People who do not like shounen-ai/ yaoi/ male to male please press the back button now.
The desert sun was as harsh as it had ever been that day. The coarse sand had been carried by the warm wind to whichever direction it pleased. Sand, that is all that the young man with auburn hair could see for miles. The cowboy had been driving the huge enclosed jeep his mysterious client had provided him. He had a lot to think about during this long and uneventful journey of his. Irvine still had no idea what his mission was but he was sure it involved a sniper rifle and a target. His mission was so classified that he was only to be informed who his target was when he had arrived at the given coordinates. Come to think of it, he was not able to see the faces of his client's messengers clearly. The men who delivered the very limited details of his task wore black suites and dark tinted sunglasses. The young sniper would not accept such a mission under normal circumstances but at this point, Irvine only wanted to get the task over with. His thoughts were abruptly disturbed when a strong gust of wind shattered the windshield of the jeep.
The jeep swerved to the right and came to a complete stop. "What the hell was that?" the cowboy exclaimed. A bit stunned but uninjured, the man got out to inspect the damage to his jeep. Another strong blast of air came out of nowhere. Irvine managed to evade it but it left a dent on the roof of the jeep. "An Elnoyle? I guess these creatures have become more aggressive since they've been driven out of Esthar." With his Exeter in hand, the gunman aimed for the beast's head. The Elnoyle charged at him, preparing its sharp claws for the kill. For a brief moment, a familiar face flashed in his mind. bang! Irvine missed. The beast was able to scratch his thigh. "Damn it. How could I've missed that easy shot!" Taking his aim once more, the sniper waited for the creature to charge at him. bang! this time the bullet went through the Elnoyle's head. Its body came crashing down on the sand.
"What in heavens is wrong with me?" He leaned on the jeep and sat down on the sand. "The wound is pretty deep. I'm such an idiot. Selphie and the others would be laughing their heads off if they saw what just happened. Squall would be furious at me for being reckless." He paused at the last thought. Irvine took out the first aid kit from the jeep and treated his wounds as best he could. Fighting is definitely more difficult without the help of the GF's. He then heard a man's voice coming from the jeep's radio.
"Kinneas are you at point G now?" The injured man stood up and took the receiver. "I had some trouble with an Elnoyle. Can you send me backup?" The man on the other end of the receiver paused for a while then replied "No, that wasn't part of our contract. Get to point G now." That was the last thing the cowboy heard before the transmission ended. "Tch! Bastards." The injured man tried to start the jeep and the engine responded. "I guess I'm still lucky after all that." He drove off into the horizon, his wounded thigh still hurting.
Meanwhile, in the middle of nowhere the President of Esthar had been ranting on and on about his life and his misadventures with his loyal comrades. "Laguna is always like this…so annoying." Squall thought to himself. The younger man could not take it anymore "Why did you hire SeeD when you have Kiros and Ward to 'accompany' you and why the hell are we walking in the middle of the desert when Esthar has the most advanced cars available?" The happy-go-lucky Laguna was surprised at Squall's outrage. The older man merrily replied "Well, you see Kiros and Ward are taking care of some political issues in Esthar. I didn't hire SeeD. I specifically called for you Squall. I wanted to spend some time with my son." Laguna scratched his head at this. The young brunette shook his head at this and thought to himself "This is a complete waste of time." Seeing the dismay in Squall's person, the cheerful man said "I need to attend an important meeting at the Sorceress Memorial. Esthar and other places like Timber and Balamb are conducting a very important experiment." The young leader of Balamb was stunned at what the other man just said. A bit more enthusiastic, Squall asked "What kind of experiment? If Balamb town is involved how come I, as leader of Balamb Garden wasn't informed?" Laguna was deep in thought for a few moments and scratched his head once again as he replied "Well, the people in the town are unaware of our experiments. Only a selected few from Balamb and Trabia are participating in this project. Sorry about that. I'm not good at saying the things I really mean." The president laughed a bit and continued talking "You see, we've managed to find a way to replace GF's. People get twice, three times the power they need without the side effects such as memory loss. The thing is I'm not for it." Quite shocked, Squall retorted "Why not? That kind of technology would help a lot of SeeDs and trainees." The jolly man suddenly became serious as he spoke "I know that but this technology might become a reason to start a war. Why do you think Esthar tries to remain hidden to the world? If others knew what kind of technology we have, other nations will be threatened even though we mean them no harm." The younger man was lost in his thoughts again "That's why you couldn't ask you own guards to accompany you to the meeting. The people from Esthar don't know about the experiments or the breakthrough. Using a car from Esthar would draw too much attention from possible enemies. I don't like this at all." After that, both men were silent for the rest of the trip.
"Target approaching." A voice from the cowboy's portable radio alerted. Irvine walked towards the edge of the ravine where he was told to wait. He could see two moving objects approaching the entrance of the gorge. "Which one is my target?" He asked as he knelt down, taking extra care because of his wound, and viewed into the scope of his rifle. The transmission from where he knelt was bad. A lot of static could be heard from the radio but the sniper managed to make out "man…blue…shirt…" Irvine took his aim and waited for an opportunity to get a clear head shot. He waited for his calm. At this point all he could hear was his own heartbeat. All he could feel was the warm desert wind. All he could see was his target walking beneath him. This is just another target. The young man was about to pull the trigger when he noticed the familiar figure walking beside his target. "Squall!" His heart skipped a beat. The sniper then took a closer look at his target. "Laguna? What the hell is going on here?" Thrown aback, Irvine put his rifle down.
"Kinneas, eliminate the target now." The voice said, almost shouting. A million thoughts ran through the auburn haired man's mind as he retorted "I can't kill the President of Esthar." He could here several other voices from the other end of the radio when the same voice spoke again "We'll take care of it. Get yourself out of there or we will shoot you." Irvine's heart was beating like crazy now. "Wait! You can't…" No reply. Damn it! Without a second to waste, the young sniper staggered to his feet, took his rifle and fired into the sky. The loud sound caught the two men's attention. The cowboy screamed at the top of his lungs "Take cover you two!"
Squall heard gunshot coming from the left and easily blocked the bullet bound for his chest with his gunblade. More bullets came so the two men were left with no choice but to take refuge behind a large rock. "I guess they found out I was going to announce the cancellation of the project at the meeting today. Smart bastards." Laguna said as he took out his gun. "It's been a while but my aim is still good" the older man continued. Squall shook his head at this I definitely hope so. A bullet shot through Squall's dark brown hair, missing his scalp by a few inches. Seeing the origin of the bullet, the hero of the Sorceress Wars cast Firaga on the gunman.
The cowboy was trying his best to wound as many gunmen as he could in his condition. His wound was bleeding again and the bandage could no longer absorb the blood. "I have to protect him even if it's the last thing I would ever do in this lifetime. It can't…it mustn't happen again." Irvine was getting more and more desperate as the crossfire went on. He was running out of bullets and it was getting more difficult for him to move. Damn it! There has to be around seven of them left. Squall can't get close enough to use his gunblade or cast magic on them. Irvine had used up all his remaining bullets, taking down three more gunmen.
Out of nowhere, a large harpoon flew by and knocked down one of the four remaining assassins. A man came running to Laguna's side. "Ward!" Laguna exclaimed. The commotion gave Squall enough time to cast Meteor on two hit men who were standing near each other. The last gunman was knocked unconscious by Kiros who, like Ward came out of nowhere. "I'm sorry we're late." The lean dark man said as walked towards Laguna. "Yeah, we had some trouble with our 'informant.' He didn't want to say who the mastermind of your assassination is." The leader of the trio scratched his head. It took them some time to realize somebody was missing.
Irvine was so relieved that help came so he lay down on the ground. My body feels so heavy. I've lost too much blood. The cowboy covered his face with a frail hand to keep the sun away from his eyes. "Kinneas!" a familiar voice called. Squall? Is that you? Before the sniper drifted off to sleep he felt comforting warmth engulf him. He then knew he was safe.
Author's Notes: Waah! That was such a teaser…..hehe…I'm so mean slaps self…o well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter…I'm gonna start writing the next chapter soon gulp…The plot of this story just became more complicated…huhu…how am I gonna get away with this now?...mopes in a corner…Reviews are appreciated…thanks for reading:D