Ripples in a Pond

Chapter: 14
Rating: G
Warnings: N/A
Pairings: Seifer/Zell, light Irvine/Selphie and implied Squall/Riona. The chosen threesome isn't named to avoid spoilers.

Summary: All bearings are lost when SeeDs experience an unfortunate crash that sends them on a planet where technology is at its beginning and monarchs still rule. The only thing they can do is try and keep their heads over the water and go with the flow, less they drown. ff8-ff9
Note: This one was no easier to write, and it falls a few hundred words short compared to the others, but try and enjoy!
Note #2 (Spoilerific for the hyper spoiler-sensitive): I've been asked often about a future appearance by Rinoa. Unfortunately I don't want to answer, since it would ruin a lot of the plot. Just saying this I consider already too much... I'm sorry and all, but it's part of the suspense of the story!

Dr. Tot had seen many things in his life as a scientist, researcher and doctor. He often looked back to his youth and chuckled at his days of knowledge hunting in the recesses of the world with his glasses, probing nose and pale, sun-depraved skin. Those times had served him well, and he had learned many things that were not in books.

Watching as the very tall young man was being brought in his laboratory on a stretcher, Dr. Tot was sternly reminded that there was no end to knowledge, and as knowledgeable as he was, there would always be something to surprise him. If only they could more often be good surprises.

As the young man's innumerable feet of height were finally brought in, Dr. Tot gestured for the two bearers to put him on a bed he'd had specifically installed. Zidane came to stand beside him, his expression worried and sorry.

"He won't give you much trouble. He's been still as a corpse since we got to Lindblum," the genome assured, more as a need to fill the silence than for real information, no doubt.

Still, Dr. Tot had not worked as a doctor by only helping victorious recoveries. It was the thankless and unavoidable side of his line of work. "It might mean his case his worse, or that he is recovering. I cannot tell yet." Bad news were just as unavoidable. He looked over his glasses at Zidane. "I will do my best."

The genome stared at the unconscious man for a few moment before his eyes drifted to the blond one who was helping switch the patient from the stretcher to the bed.

"Tell that to that guy, Zell. He's been the one taking care of Seifer the most so far."

Dr. Tot considered those words and that look carefully before speaking. "I have been informed that Seifer is aggressive?"

Zidane snorted humorlessly. "You'd better be careful, doc. I don't know if Cid told you, but Zell is going to stay with Seifer to make sure he doesn't try anything. He isn't going to be an easy patient if he ever wakes up."

"I have had difficult cases before," Dr. Tot pointed out gently. "I am sure that with Zell's help, we will manage to avoid fatal confrontations," he added with a hint of sarcasm. He had not examined Seifer yet, but he could tell at a glance that the man was badly weakened by sickness. He could be handled.

"We're counting on you." Zidane half-turned towards the door as Squall gave a few last words to Zell and moved to leave. "You can contact either me or Cid anytime if you have news."

Dr. Tot nodded and followed both of them to the first stairs leading down the room. "I will keep you informed. The best of luck in your own endeavors."

"Thanks, doc."

Zidane had nearly disappeared down the steps when Dr. Tot recalled something rather important he had meant to say upon hearing of Zidane's coming here. How foolish of him, really!

"Ah, wait a moment, Lord Tribal!" Dr. Tot couldn't help an amused grin as Zidane froze in his tracks, shoulders tensing as if he'd been whipped. He knew the young genome just enough to understand he would never take to titles very well. "I never did congratulate you and Garnet for your union. Congratulations!"

The now-king looked up over his shoulders and half grimaced, half grinned. "Thanks, I'll give her the message, but make sure to come over and tell her yourself soon, too! And never call me that, you hear?"

Dr. Tot chuckled and waved his hand in a shooing gesture. "I will try to keep it in mind. Farewell, Zidane."

With his own wave of goodbye, Zidane quickly disappeared down the stairs. Dr. Tot allowed himself a moment of joy for Zidane and the queen before turning to the grim task awaiting him.

Zell was standing at the foot of the bed, rocking on the balls of his feet and looking absolutely restless.

"So, what do you think?" he asked, his tone just as impatient and anxious as his demeanor. Dr. Tot reminded himself of Zidane's words.

"I cannot say before I've examined him," Dr. Tot reminded gently as he moved beside Seifer's low bed. "Can you tell me exactly what happened to cause this?" Cid had given him the basics, but now he would need details.

Zell sighed deeply and crossed his arms, looking no more at ease. "We're not sure, but Seifer fell in Fossil Roo's water during a fight against monsters. He's the only one who did."

Fever, slight trembling, rapid but weak heartbeat, cold sweat, Seifer had many symptoms that could mean about anything, yet nothing Lindblum's very capable physicians had been able to identify and cure.

"How did he fall?"

Zell frowned as he thought. "I can't really say for sure, I only noticed when he started dipping forward. I'd say it was the monsters' singing."

"Singing?"

"Yeah. The monsters sang like they were playing a flute or something. They'd been following us for a while."

Dr. Tot considered the information carefully but did not draw conclusions just yet. "You all heard the same music as Seifer, yet no else was drawn to the water. It might have been selective hypnotism, then. It is not unheard of. So you say the only thing that sets Seifer apart is his fall in the water?"

"Kinda. At least, he began feeling sick soon afterwards," Zell acquiesced. "Selective hypnotism?"

"It's a type of magic that singles out an individual within a group. Although everyone may feel --or hear, as it seems to be in your case-- the instrument of hypnotism, only the target is affected. It's rather difficult to accomplish and usually fails if the group in question is conscious of what's happening to the victim."

Zell followed Dr. Tot on the other side of the sickbed, intently watching, but he spared a moment for a guilty grimace.

"You mean if there'd been another sentry along with Seifer, it could've been avoided?"

Dr. Tot didn't look up, but he could imagine what the boy was feeling at the moment. Though sympathetic, he was more preoccupied with Seifer's fever. Clearly it was the man's worst enemy at the moment, burning him up from the inside.

"Maybe, maybe not. If the monsters were well-coordinated enough and numerous, they might have been able to bring down two people. Selective hypnotism is very precise. It molds itself to the victim's state of mind, finds the cracks, and seeps in like venom. Harder, but much more efficient than generalized hypnotism."

Zell frowned heavily and stood back, looking at the wall before him but not seeing it.

"Wait. That means the water might not be the problem after all. What if it's this hypnotism thing that's making him sick? Like, convincing the mind to affect the body and all."

Dr. Tot looked up and allowed himself a little smile. "Very bright observation. Yes, it might be, but it's highly unlikely." Dr. Tot raised a hand before Zell could ask another question. "First, selective hypnotism remains magic and can be broken with the appropriate spells, all of which are at the disposition of Eiko. Second, if the monsters only wanted him to fall in the water, it would have been a tremendous waste of energy to modify the hypnotism to also convince the subject he's sick, and thus make him so, like you say. Now, magic could still fail, or remain ineffective. For the first to happen, the monsters' magic would have to be almost impossibly strong. As for the second, Seifer would have to be weak to mental manipulation and suggestion. He'd have to want to cling to the hypnotism, if you wish."

It was a chance peak over his glasses that allowed Dr. Tot to see the sudden hesitation and grimace that crossed Zell's face, only to be replaced by guilt. The doctor straightened and pushed up his glasses.

"...Is he? Easy prey to such magic, I mean."

Zell fidgeted for a few good moments under Dr. Tot's heavy stare, casting worried glances at Seifer as if he was afraid the man would wake up any moment and discover what was happening. Eventually he sighed, shaking his head as his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Sorry man, but the doc's gotta know..." the boy mumbled. He stalled another few seconds, checking Seifer for signs that he was waking up, and finally dared meet Dr. Tot's eye.

"I'll take that as a yes..?"

Zell nodded glumly. "Yeah. Can't go into details, but it didn't even need magic. I don't think you can call it hypnotism at all, just mind-wrapping shit. And it just took the right words. He came around eventually, but that took a whole lot more convincing. Violent convincing," Zell added, raising his hands up to his waist before him and staring at the metal plates of his gloves.

"Do you think this could be it, again?"

That seemed to catch the boy by surprise. He thought for a minute, tilting his head, and eventually deflated in one, heavy and bone-weary sigh.

"Nah," he concluded, shaking his head. "This isn't the same. He's an idiot, but those monsters couldn't have offered anything to make him turn again."

Dr. Tot didn't comment, keeping his thoughts about the fragments Zell had revealed to himself. It seemed a touchy subject, and as a scientist and doctor, he respected that.

"So you see yourself. We'll know more when he wakes up, but for now I'll keep an eye out for the symptoms, in case it's the hypnotism after all. Your knowledge of Seifer's personality will be invaluable to pick up the clues."

That seemed to cheer up Zell somewhat, as his pose straightened like a man ready to do something. "What type of clues?"

Dr. Tot walked around the bed and towards his shelves, hand on chin as he searched for anything that could help.

"In the case of mind-induced illness, anything that indicates that Seifer is clinging to his sickness; refusal to recognize the possibility of hypnotism, refusal to accept recovery or exaggerated pessimism. Anything that looks like he's convinced he's sick and that it will never change, or that he wants it to change in the first place."

Zell forced out a laugh, and though it sounded strained, it was a valiant effort at cheering up that Dr. Tot appreciated.

"That'd be so unlike Seifer I'd have picked up on it without you telling me. He knows he's sick alright, but so far there's been no defeated I'm-done-for attitude. Just complete craziness."

Dr. Tot quirked an eyebrow. He pulled down one volume, old and faded but priceless, and gestured for Zell to come help him.

"Craziness?"

"Random conversations. Mumbling, violence on everybody and their mother. Except me." Zell pulled a face. "He's got lucid moments, but they're fewer and far between."

Silently, Dr. Tot allowed himself a small moment to marvel at how fascinating this whole case was turning out to be, and then he tucked the heartless feeling away and concentrated on studying to heal.

"Dementia. It's not a side effect of any sort of hypnotism I've ever encountered, heard of or read about. It dulls or fools the mind, it doesn't dismantle it."

A fifth book went into the pile growing in Zell's arms. The boy didn't complain, just craned his neck to see the smaller doctor.

"You sound pretty sure it's a poison or something."

"Indeed, it's my first guest. I'll watch out for the other, but concentrate on finding the poison or virus in question."

"Great. Um, what now, doc?" Zell asked when the sixth book bumped his chin.

"For now, we will try and put some nutrients in him; water, some food, and I will give him something for his fever and to steady his heartbeat," he explained as he moved, checking one last time to make sure he wasn't missing anything for now. "His fever has to be broken soon, or else it won't matter if it's magic or not, he'll be gone."

Zell swore colorfully and would have gesticulated if he wasn't weighed down with old, dusty tomes.

"Let's get on with it, then!"

"Indeed." Dr. Tot cleared a square of his work table and helped Zell pile the books in a stack. "But while I work, could you give me a precise account of everything Seifer has done or said since the beginning of his sickness?"

Zell snorted loudly as he heavily sat down on a chair, foot jingling almost immediately.

"Easily. He wasn't exactly relaxing."

Dr. Tot grabbed a quill, ink and parchment and set them up beside his medical books and jars and herbs. "Let us begin, then."

--

The quantity of information they had just been given was mind-buzzing. Beatrix loosed Save the Queen in her scabbard, occupying her hands to focus her mind. This sudden avalanche of troubles was too much to be normal, and she was already starting to search for possible connections between them all, trying to find the pattern so she could discern their enemy. Thinking that these were simple, natural happenings that had decided to plague them all at once through sheer coincidence was a lot to swallow.

Sitting beside her, the Queen did not look any less confused than Beatrix felt. Garnet stared in her cup of mulled wine thoughtfully, a small frown pinching her brow. The coming times would be trying on her, but Beatrix was confident she would pull through. They simply had to find a place to start from.

"We have been receiving many reports about the monsters," Beatrix started, pulling the others from their respective contemplations. "Forces have already been dispatched to investigate the problem."

They had not found any useful information, however. The monsters just seemed to have awakened from a deep sleep at the bottom of the ocean. Who had awakened them, however?

Regent Cid knuckled his moustaches. "If Alexandria has eyes on the ocean, then I will send Lindblum troops to Fossil Roo and see what we can discover. We need either one to reach Ozma safely."

Beatrix frowned. "We cannot move an army through Fossil Roo. If Lindblum wishes to help, some airships to support our boats would be more useful."

"I am not sending an army to Ozma," Garnet spoke up. She looked up at Beatrix with a hint of the visceral fear the General always saw in the Queen's eyes whenever the monster crept up in conversation. "They would die. It would be better to have a few veteran fighters rather than fearful troops stepping on each other's toes."

"Considering the only battle against Ozma that was ever attempted, you will need numbers, your Highness," Beatrix replied more forcefully than she'd meant. She did not want to see Garnet on the brink of death ever again, her duty be hanged. She cared too much for her.

Zidane as well, she reminded herself belatedly. It was still strange thinking of him as her King, even more so as her friend.

"I agree with Garnet," said King countered, straightening from the tense slouch he'd adopted. "More than four, but only enough that can travel through Fossil Roo."

Beatrix opened her mouth to argue again, but Regent Cid cleared his throat politely, so she clicked it shut with as polite a glower as she could manage.

"We can argue about this later. General, rest assured that Lindblum will lend you a few strong airships, but neither will I leave my northern border blind to the possible threat Fossil Roo could become. As such, the point is moot for now."

"What about Fossil Roo's other end?," Zidane asked. "Maybe we could smuggle some troops back on the north continent? We'd be able to search Fossil Roo from both ends."

"Do not forget Ozma," she reminded sternly. Zidane was shaping up to be a good king, but he was still a novice at managing a country instead of a few independent fighters. For now, he needed all the pointers he could get. He made her want to tear her hair out, sometimes, and Steiner had stopped having fits if only because the sheer amount demanded would put him in cardiac arrest.

"I'm not, but if we don't send too many, maybe it won't notice them. It let us go pretty easily even if we were right under its nose."

"That would be very dangerous. Let's wait and see what the investigations yield on this continent, it might just be all we need," Garnet countered deftly, setting her barely touched cup of wine on the table. "We will need two teams. One for the sea monsters, one for Fossil Roo."

Regent Cid nodded his agreement. "Indeed. As soon as we know of a safer way to go north, we'll take action. But for now, caution is the key."

"I see your point, though I don't like sitting on my hands over here while Ozma's raging up there," Zidane conceded unhappily.

"We won't be inactive," Beatrix reminded him. "We will be busy searching for a way to attack it. Squall, will you help us?" she asked, turning to the fifth and silent member of the assembly.

The young man had been as quiet as a shadow, looking intently from one person to another as they talked. As Alexandria's general, Beatrix was instinctively wary of him, but as a simple swords master, she respected him. He handled his sword with the ease and efficiency of an expert. His strange blade clearly belonged with him.

Squall uncrossed his arms after a second and nodded. "We all will. It might be our only ticket home." His voice was not hopeful.

--

So they were moving again. Irvine wasn't even surprised, but he was far from thrilled at the idea of being separated from the others. Lounging in the grass, long legs dangling over the rock wall and just brushing over the water's surface, he watched the sun roll back behind a wall of clouds and heaved a heavy sigh. He should count himself lucky, somewhat, since he wasn't on the Lindblum team. He'd had enough of being dragged here and there without an imp's ass idea of what the hell he was getting himself into with these people, but he'd still prefer that to being split in two teams. It was strange. He'd never been this adamant about sticking with the others before, even during the war against Ultimecia, but then again, she hadn't completely un-earthed them. It was one hell of a motivation.

If only Rinoa were here, then the team would really be complete. It just wasn't the same having Seifer's sarcasm loom instead of her bullheaded optimism, even if the man had grown on him somewhat since the crash. He chuckled quietly at the thought. It was even stranger to realize he could forget Seifer had ever been an enemy at all.

"What's so funny?" Selphie came back from her exploration of the area to squat beside him, tilting her head curiously.

"I'm just thinking that our team's only missing Rinoa to look like the old days," he replied, a little wryly, because the old days meant Ultimecia, and that wasn't exactly laughing material.

"Missing Rinoa makes you laugh?" Selphie questioned dubiously, raising her eyebrows at him.

Irvine rolled his shoulders into a lazy shrug. "Not exactly. It's the whole situation."

"You're a bad liar."

"I'm not even lying! Don't you find it funny, what this crash's doing to us?"

Selphie shrugged and started plucking at the grass idly. "Not really. I don't think about it too much. I just go with the flow."

Now it was Irvine's turn to frown. "Liar. What's on your mind?"

"Hey! Don't change the subject!" she accused with a pout.

Irvine just stared, feeling amusement tickle the corners of his mouth. He wasn't really worried about her, Selphie was a tough girl, physically and mentally, but he was curious to know what could make her pluck at the grass mournfully instead of tugging him on his feet so they could explore that castle for good this time.

He also knew he could win that contest every time.

"Oh, fine!" she exclaimed with a short laugh. "But I'm not a liar, I'm not thinking about what the crash's doing to us. I'm thinking about Rinoa, too, but also Laguna."

That one caught him by surprise. "Laguna?"

Selphie nodded emphatically. "Yeah. Remember what Quistis said? It makes sense that he'd investigate our disappearance and all, and maybe come and rescue us, but what if his ship gets caught in the meteor field too? It'd crash like us, and then they'd be stranded too. Or they might not even be so lucky."

"Well, of course that could happen," Irvine started slowly. He hadn't really thought of Laguna much. He preferred pining his hopes on something he could control and work with, even if it was almost nonexistent and pretty much useless. "But Laguna's smart, he won't go charging head first where we disappeared. He'll check what went wrong first," he added quickly when Selphie's shoulders slumped.

She hummed, eventually nodding. "You're right. But I'm still worried. I wouldn't want him to get injured or crash like us."

Irvine snorted. "And I wouldn't want to lose one of our more likely options off this rock, either."

"But the people are nice! They've been doing a lot for us," she pointed out, poking him in the side in mild accusation for his heartless words.

"That's the point, though. I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome." Irvine squirmed out of the way and grabbed her arm before she could jab him again. She twisted out of his grip with a laugh.

"So long as we make things explode for them, I don't think they'll mind us staying longer."

Oh, he loved her so much in these kind of moments. Laughing uproariously, Irvine hopped to his feet and dragged her up with him.

"They'll be putting us to work exploding things as soon as tomorrow, though, so we'd better take advantage of the day off," he pointed, nodding his head over his shoulder and towards the looming castle behind them.

Selphie's eyes lit up, dispelling the worry that had been shadowing them. "I heard the view from the towers is amazing! But it's restricted..."

Irvine tipped his hat and raised one eyebrow. "That never stopped you from climbing anything before."

Selphie smiled, broad and impish, and crossed her arms behind her back. "Nope! Let's go!"

TBC