Author's Note: Next chapter. This one is going a little slower than I would like, but I hope to pick up the pace in the next week or two.

I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who is reading/following/favoriting/reviewing this. It is always appreciated. :)

Chapter Three

Squall walked back into the main hall of the temple and immediately sensed that there was something wrong.

After several minutes of searching for Laguna with no success, he decided that it would be prudent to go back to the party to see if Sosan and Laguna had returned, and if they hadn't, to gather his team and organize a more comprehensive search of the temple.

As he strode back into the hall, he overheard some of the other attendees talk about how they hadn't seen Sosan for a while and that they couldn't find the entrance that they had used to get into this place. He was thinking about asking some of them what they meant when they said that they couldn't find it when he saw Rinoa dashing over to him.

"Squall, something's happened!" she said. "Ward's been hurt!"

"Ward?" Squall echoed. "Is he all right? Does he know who did it?"

"He's alive," Rinoa said. "And as for who did it…Squall he said that…."

"Squall!"

Squall and Rinoa turned to see Selphie and Irvine rushing over to them.

"Squall, do you know where Sir Laguna is?" Selphie asked.

"No," Squall said, immediately tense. "I was just looking for him."

"Oh no," Selphie said clasping her hands together. "We need to find him."

"Yeah, Ward acted like he could be in real danger," Irvine said. "We've asked everyone here and no one's seen him for almost an hour."

"And that's not all," Selphie continued. "Something really weird is going on. All the guards that were supposed to be watching the entrance…they're all gone. Poof! Just like that."

"Irvine, you said that Laguna in particular could be in danger," Squall said. "Why does Ward think that? What is going on?"

Irvine opened his mouth to answer when a cold, lilting laugh filled the hall. All the people looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from. Eventually, they looked up to see Sosan standing on a small balcony above them.

"I promised all of you an enjoyable Halloween party and now it is time to give you the frights you have all been waiting for," she said. "The temple has been sealed and only I have the keys to activate the doors to reopen it. There is no escape. And should you think about trying to track me down and forcing me to give you the keys, you should know that I have activated a series of traps in the corridors as well as releasing a horde of monsters that I had been keeping incarcerated. Mind you, they won't go out into this main hall due to the protection fields I set up, but I can't guarantee your safety if you leave this area."

Gasps and angry retorts rose up from the crowd, but Sosan continued to have a calm, yet contemptuous expression on her face.

"If you simply stay put and do not try to interfere, there is a chance you may survive this night," she said. "Not that many of you deserve to. So enjoy the rest of the party. After all, I did promise you an evening to remember."

Sosan laughed again and turned to leave through the corridor behind her. People all around Squall and his friends talked excitedly, but no one really moved from where they were. Given the situation, Squall was glad that they were reacting that way.

"I need to talk to Ward," he said as he turned back to Irvine and Selphie.

"No problem," Irvine said. "Turns out he wasn't hurt too badly. Quistis and Zell are with him right now."

Laguna blinked his eyes several times before he finally decided that he was awake after all.

He wasn't sure how long he had been out, but it didn't take long for him to remember why he had fallen unconscious in the first place.

'Sosan! Where is she? What's going on? Why did she knock me out?'

'And…why can't I move?'

Laguna groaned and eventually managed to reach up and rub his head, his temples throbbing. He mustered all his strength to sit up and looked down to see that he was lying in the middle of some kind of strange symbol drawn on the floor. The lines of the design glowed and their light grew more vivid whenever he tried to move.

'What is this thing? It's like a big spider web. Man, I hate spiders. I gotta get out of here.'

Laguna tried to stand up, but could only get to his knees before the force emanating from the symbol yanked him back down again. He continued to struggle to get to his feet, but soon ended up exhausting himself.

'Whatever this is, it's got me. I just hope that it's not really a spider web. I don't even want to think about the spider who could have made this.'

Laguna stopped moving and studied the area around him. He was still in the room with the altar, and as he remembered the conversation he had had with Sosan, he grew increasingly nervous about whatever it was that she had planned.

'I'm sure Squall has noticed that I'm not around by now. Ward and Kiros too for that matter. They'll be looking for me and they'll find a way to free me from this thing. I just know it.'

Laguna heard the rustle of leathery wings in the background and he shivered. While he liked the idea of ghost stories and haunted houses, he really did not like the idea of facing stuff like that by himself.

Moments later, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps moving toward him. Laguna peered down the corridor in front of him, but couldn't make out anything in the black void.

"Who's there?" he asked. "Minister Sosan? Squall?"

A figure emerged from the darkness and Laguna let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Kiros.

"Kiros!" he grinned. "Man, I'm glad to see you. Hey, help me off of this thing, will ya? It's got me stuck to the floor."

Kiros laughed, and Laguna blinked at the icy, derisive sound. Kiros moved closer and Laguna shivered when he saw that his eyes had an unnatural red glow to them.

"Tsk, tsk," Kiros said, waving a finger at him. "It will do you no good to beg. Not that I mind hearing you do so, but you should know that it will not help you out of the trap you are in…nor will it delay the inevitable."

"Kiros?" Laguna said confused and now more than a little frightened by the way his best friend was acting. "What's going on?"

Kiros laughed again and moved even closer. He studied Laguna for a moment silently as if he were a specimen in a laboratory.

"Yes, I can see why she chose you," he finally said. "You have a purity of heart and mind that are rare among men of this time. It's what draws people to you…including this one whose body I have taken. Even now as he is dissolving into nothingness, I can sense his loyalty, his devotion to you. It rises from within when these eyes look at you."

"Who are you?" Laguna asked. Kiros smiled and Laguna shuddered when he thought he saw fangs glistening in his mouth.

"I am Locius," he said. "I have returned from my long slumber to reclaim my rightful place in Zeromus' court."

"Locius?" Laguna echoed. "But I thought he died a long time ago."

"The death of my body is but a trifle to one as powerful as I," Locius said with a wave of his hand. "As you can see, I can easily take over another body. I must admit, I was initially displeased that Sosan chose an Eltarian as my vessel, but I have come to realize that this one is powerful. Yes, he must have been a prince among the warriors of his people. And I sense that you had no idea just how noble his bloodline was. What a fool you are."

"You're wrong," Laguna retorted, narrowing his eyes. "I might not know everything about his lineage, but I know Kiros and how strong he is. And I know that someone like you will never be able to defeat him."

"Pathetic," Locius scoffed. "Clinging to false hope will accomplish nothing. The Eltarian has already lost. He is but a shadow now and soon even that will disappear into the void."

"Kiros, please," Laguna pleaded. "I know you're still in there. You've got to fight this guy. You can't let him beat you."

"How useless," Locius sighed. "You should be more worried about what lies ahead for you rather than wasting your energy on such maudlin sentiments."

"Come on, Kiros," Laguna said. "I'm right here with you."

Locius was about to say something else, but instead he stumbled forward and screwed his eyes shut, clutching his hands tightly against his temples. He fell to his knees right in front of Laguna. He covered his eyes with his palms and Laguna leaned closer to him.

"Kiros?" he said, hesitant. Kiros lowered his hands and Laguna let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding when he saw his eyes open and that they were back to their normal chocolate hue.

"L-Laguna?" Kiros stuttered. Laguna let out a sigh of relief and reached over to touch his arm.

"It's me, Kiros," Laguna said. "Are you all right? What happened?" Kiros moved a trembling hand up to grasp one of his.

"H-help," he gasped. "C-can't…stop…him…."

"Yes you can," Laguna insisted. "You've got to keep fighting him. Don't let him win."

Kiros groaned and closed his eyes again, his head drooping down. Laguna clasped Kiros' arm.

"Kiros?" he said. "Can you hear me?"

Kiros let out a low chuckle and Laguna's blood froze as he realized that that was not his friend laughing. Then Kiros lifted his head and opened his eyes again, the red glow having returned.

"Fool," Locius spat. He pulled his arm away from Laguna's grasp and backhanded him across the face, causing Laguna to fall back onto his behind. Locius stood up and glared at him.

"I've had enough of your babbling," he said. "One more word from you and I will cut your tongue out."

Laguna sat up and rubbed his jaw where Locius had hit him. He tried again to get up, but continued to be held in place by the symbol on the floor.

"Let him go," Laguna replied, clenching his hands into fists. "Or I will…."

Locius snarled and pulled out one of the katal Kiros wore out of its sheaths and grabbed Laguna by the hair. He yanked his hair to pull his head up, exposing his throat, and then pressed the edge of the blade against his neck.

"You'll do nothing but sit there and be quiet," Locius said. "You may be ideal for my plans, but you are not indispensible. Push me too far and I will make your death far more painful than it already will be. Do you understand?"

Laguna glowered at him, but silently nodded his head. Locius let him go and roughly pushed him against the floor. He put the katal away and massaged his temples for a moment before turning to leave.

"I must see what is keeping Sosan," he said. "Remember what I said. While I am gone, you should prepare yourself for what is to come."

Locius walked out of the room, and Laguna lowered his head, tears stinging his eyes.

'Kiros…where are you? Are you still in there or did Locius…?'

Laguna shivered and swiped at his eyes. He refused to believe that his best friend would give up so easily and was determined to find some way to help him.

For now though, Laguna was aware that he needed to find some way to help himself out of the situation he was currently in.

Squall crouched on the floor in front of a large sofa in one of the back corners of the main hall as he listened to Ward's story.

Zell had found Ward, bleeding and unconscious earlier and had made sure to alert the others without setting off any kind of alarm with the other guests. Fortunately, the wound to Ward's shoulder turned out to be shallow and had missed any vital organs or blood vessels, so it was easy for Rinoa to heal him. Quistis took the precaution of bandaging the area after the young sorceress had worked her curative magic. After he had regained consciousness, he told the team what had happened which prompted Rinoa, Selphie and Irvine to go look for both Squall and Laguna.

Ward leaned back on the sofa, still somewhat woozy from blood loss and typed his comments to Squall and the others on a small touchpad he used whenever Laguna and Kiros weren't around to speak for him.

"Then he stabbed me and knocked me out with his other katal," Ward said as he wrapped up his story. "I didn't see where he went after that."

"Wonder why he went crazy like that," Zell said, scratching his head. "Kiros never seemed like the type of guy who would crack up."

"It may have been Kiros' body, but it wasn't him," Ward insisted.

"Wait, I thought you said it was Kiros," Selphie said.

"It was…and yet it wasn't," Ward replied. "It may have been his body, but the person who stabbed me was not Kiros Seagill. I'm sure of it. It's as if something else, something evil was controlling him."

"Whatever it was, I'm thinking that Sosan is probably the one behind this," Squall nodded as he stood back up. "Getting control of Kiros must have been part of her plan. But why?"

"I don't know what she's planning," Ward said. "But I'm betting that it has something to do with Laguna. You said he was missing, and now this thing with Kiros….Squall, I meant what I said about Laguna being in danger. If Kiros really is being controlled by Sosan, then there's no telling what he might do to him. And Laguna…he won't even see it coming because he trusts Kiros implicitly.'

"I understand," Squall said grimly. "We need to find both of them as soon as possible."

"That's not all we need to do."

Everyone turned to see Seifer, Fujin and Raijin walking toward him. Zell and Quistis immediately assumed combat stances, but Squall held out an arm to stop them from acting.

"What do you want, Seifer?" he said.

"Aw… and here I was trying to be helpful," Seifer said with a dramatic shrug. "Seeing as we're all trapped here thanks to some psychotic witch."

"DISTURBING." Fujin interjected.

"Yeah, we don't want to be stuck in here with a bunch of ghosts, ya know?" Raijin said.

"So how about we team up and try to find some way out of this place?" Seifer said. "Granted, we don't really need your help all that much…but working with you guys might make things go a little faster and I, for one, have had enough of this party."

"Squall? You aren't actually going to take him up on that are you?" Zell said, incredulous. "He just wants to get out of here so he can get paid and split."

"Zell, let me handle this," Squall said. "Seifer, it's not that simple. Laguna and Kiros are missing and it's our responsibility to find them and get them to safety."

"Yeah, plus there's all those other people here too," Selphie said, pointing at him. "We can't just leave them here for the monsters."

"Who says we can't?" Seifer replied. "They're not paying my salary. Besides, this job isn't worth sticking my neck out for."

"Maybe not," Squall said. "But you know perfectly well that if it weren't for Laguna, there would probably be a lot more warrants out for your arrest right now than there currently are. All those other countries decided to let bygones be bygones largely because Esthar was willing to do so first. You owe him…and me."

Seifer frowned at him, and Squall scowled right back. The two of them stared at each other silently for a long moment before Seifer let out a sigh and shrugged again.

"All right, fine," he said. "We'll help you look for Loire too. So is it a deal?"

"It is," Squall said. "For now. But I'm going to be the one running things here, Seifer. Keep that in mind."

"Oh sure, Commander," Seifer chuckled with a mock salute. "I figured as much."

"Good," Squall nodded. "Now, this is what we're going to do: Quistis, Zell, you stay here with Ward and the other guests. Try to keep them as calm as possible and make sure none of them try to leave. And Zell, try and see if you can get past the locks Sosan has on the door."

"I'm on it," Zell said, punching his fists into the air in front of his body.

"Seifer, you and your group see if you can find another exit," Squall said. "We might need to use an alternate route to escape if we can't get the main entrance open. And make sure to keep an eye out for Laguna. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Seifer said.

"Selphie, Irvine, you two will start looking for Laguna and Kiros," Squall continued. "Rinoa and I will do the same. All of us will meet back here in three hours."

"Gotcha," Selphie said. "And we'll be sure to get rid of any monsters we find along the way."

"All right," Squall said. "You all know what to do. Let's get going."

Everyone nodded and Seifer, Fujin and Raijin took off down one of the side corridors while Selphie and Irvine went down the main hallway. Quistis and Zell went back into the crowd and Squall was about to leave with Rinoa when Ward reached out to grab his arm.

"Squall," he said. "I don't know what has happened to Kiros, but believe me when I say that whatever it is, it's not his fault."

"I believe you," Squall said. "But from what you've told me, it sounds like Kiros' body has been taken over by some kind of dark magic. We may have no choice but to…."

"No!" Ward insisted. "His body is being manipulated by something, but a part of Kiros is still in control."

"How can you be so sure?" Squall asked him.

"Because if Kiros were really gone, I wouldn't be alive right now," Ward answered. "Squall, whatever it was used Kiros' skill in combat to take me down. I've fought with him long enough to recognize that. By all rights I should be dead because there was no way that Kiros would have missed if he were trying to kill me. Instead, he knocked me out and made sure to give me only a minor injury. There's no way this…thing would have left it at that if Kiros weren't interfering somehow. He's still in there, somewhere. And I'm begging you for my sake and for Laguna's…please don't kill him."

"All right," Squall said. "I promise that I will do what I can to spare him. But I can't guarantee that…."

"I know," Ward said, his eyes filled with sadness. "And I'll understand if you're forced to defend yourself. I…I just pray that it won't come to that."

Squall nodded and walked away with Rinoa beside him. Even though he didn't say it out loud, he also hoped that he wouldn't have to make that kind of choice either.

Endnote: The reference to Laguna hating spiders was inspired by Bebedora's fic...although I also could totally see Laguna freaking out over them as well. ;)