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moogle_workshop2011-06-01 02:17 am
lightofeilia.livejournal.com) wrote in moogle_workshop2011-06-01 02:17 am
I BRING MORE FICS~
Some time ago I hosted a fic prompt thing for myself xD And these are some of the prompts I've filled :)
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lightofeilia
Class: Monk
Title: NONE. I HATE TITLES
Summary: Prompt forzerrat; Squall never liked ice cream. Can be read as a stand-alone, but previous parts are here: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Characters/Pairings: MORE SQUALL/SELPHIE, DAMMIT
Word count: 1212
Rating/warnings: Unbeta-ed.
"Squaaaaaaaaaaaaall!"
Squall heard the unmistakeable voice of Selphie's ringing through the hallway. A couple of cadets flattened themselves to the wall to avoid the bursting tornado of energy otherwise known as Selphie Tilmitt, barreling straight for Squall's midriff.
He endured the ensuing collision with much patience, something he had very much for the petite brunette he had come to silently adore.
"Hi," she breathed up at him, catching her breath as she held on to his waist. He didn't say anything, but just looked down at her.
"I passed~! I'm Rank A now, just like you and Quisty!"
He raised an eyebrow in question. While he was sure Selphie made a great SeeD/teammate/engineer (due to her love for explosives and other big things), he could never picture her actually seriously studying for the Rank A exam.
"Congratulations," he offered, gently maneouvring her into a more comfortable and less awkward position. She held on to his arm as they walked in the direction of his office.
"I was thinking of celebrating," she said excitedly, and Squall could already see the gears in her head turning. They rarely had time for parties, so Selphie always jumped at the opportunity to host them. "Maybe going out for dinner with the rest or something."
"Hmm.. I"m not sure if we're all free tonight," said Squall thoughtfully. A break sounds nice, and he'd been neglecting the gang for awhile now. He had learnt that to get some peace and quiet for himself, all he had to do was accomodate them for a night, thus using up their "Squall-friendship-love-attention" quota which lasted for about two or three weeks. Avoiding them all the time was like a negative feedback loop of sorts; they just hung on tighter.
Not that Squall particularly wanted to avoid them all the time; he was just used to relaxing on his own.
Though the last time he relaxed, he thought darkly, was a long, long time ago. He scowled at the mental thought of paperwork. Shiva sent a warning chill through his head. The last time he had complained inwardly to Shiva about all of the paperwork he had to do, she had banned that word from entering his thoughts (actually, she tried to freeze it first).
"Squall?"
"Hmm? Sorry. What did you say?"
She huffed at him, but quickly resumed, by now used to his silences and lack of attention.
"I said, what about a quick ice-cream break in your office?"
"...Why does it have to be myoffice?"
"Because ... because it's our base."
"Base?"
"Yeah! It's where we meet and plan things and have fun and stuff."
"What a coincidence. It's also the place where I work."
"I know, right? Isn't it amazing? You can work and eat ice-cream at the same time. Win-win."
"So much for celebrating. Doing work and being forced to eat ice-cream at the same time."
"No one's forcing you to do work!"
"But someone's forcing me to eat ice-cream."
"Don't you like ice-cream?"
"...Not really, no."
They reached his office and Selphie jumped into a nearby armchair, summoning Carbuncle as she did so. Squall glanced over at the GF lying on Selphie's lap, enjoying a nice ear and neck massage, eyes closed, body languid. Selphie was alternating between rubbing its ears and petting its forehead.
"I don't really know what to say," Selphie finally said.
"About what?"
"About the fact that you don't like ice-cream."
Squall stifled a smile as he continued doing his work. Not liking ice-cream apparently stumped Selphie.
"You wouldn't if you continuously had it shoved in your face everytime ice-cream was given to you."
"Let me guess: Seifer."
"Right. Although, I'm sure you did it at one point too."
"Did not! I would never do that."
"Sure, Selphie."
"So you won't eat my celebratory ice-cream?" she said accusingly.
"Probably not," he agreed. When his answer was met with silence, he looked up to see Selphie pouting at Carbuncle, who cocked its head innocently at her.
"I'll still be happy for you," he pointed out, "After all, you are holding the party in my office."
"It's not as if we're gonna shove it into your face or anything."
"I don't like the taste of it. Too sweet."
"Fine. I'll feed your share to Carbuncle." The little GF perked up at the sound of its name.
"Dear Hyne, Selphie. Must you always do this?"
"Do what?"
"Anytime I don't do anything you want me to do, you replace me with Carbuncle. Squall won't talk to me, fine, I'll talk to Carbuncle. Squall won't dance with me, fine, I'll dance with Carbuncle."
"Squall won't kiss me, fine, I'll kiss Carbuncle," she sang out happily, and then gave a quick peck on Carbuncle's forehead. The GF was alternating back and forth between Squall and Selphie everytime its name was mentioned. It shied away from the light kiss, but remained where it was.
"I never said I wouldn't kiss you," Squall grumbled softly.
"I'm gonna go tell the others and grab the ice-cream, okay? Stay here, Binkie," Selphie cooed, standing up and placing the GF right on top of Squall's dreaded paperwork before leaving. Squall cringed. He disliked that nickname. Although, it was definitely better than "Carby" or "Buncle".
Squall kept his eye on the GF, glancing up every once in a while. Carbuncle lounged on his desk, occasionally nosing at various things littered about the desk.
After about half an hour, his door burst open unceremoniously, prompting him to sigh and push aside his work. Selphie dumped the two heavy bags she was carrying onto the coffee table.
"...Selphie. There are five tubs of ice-cream," Squall said in disbelief, walking over to her.
"Yup! One for each of us! And a tiny little popsicle for you because you're silly."
"I already said I didn't want any. And I'm not letting you feed Carbuncle any of it," Squall added hastily, grabbing Carbuncle and gently pulling it away from the stack of ice-cream tubs.
"Binkie'll be fine," she reassured him. "It's not like GFs die or anything."
"They do take damage, you know. You just passed the Rank A exam, of course you know that. And you also know that Poison is a type of damage."
She whacked him on the arm and continued to dig in the back. Finally she procured a popsicle and began unwrapping it.
"Here, this is for you."
"Selphie..."
"Try it."
He sighed, letting Carbuncle leap from his arms to Selphie's lap, accepting the popsicle. It was coloured light blue, and all in all, looked quite unappetizing.
"You'll like it, I promise!"
He gave a tentative lick, bracing himself for the sweetness that was bound to come... and then looked at Selphie in surprise.
"It's... salty," he said carefully.
"Sea-salt ice-cream," she said triumphantly. "I knew you'd like it!"
"It's not bad," Squall said finally.
"Great! Next time, we'll promote you to tubs," she said happily, opening a strawberry ice-cream tub. Grabbing a spoon, she scooped up a generous amount and proceeded to eat it.
Squall sat beside her silently, finishing off the rest of the sea-salt ice-cream.
Squall never really liked ice-cream, but this particular flavour wasn't too bad.
"Thanks, Selphie."
"Mmm? For what?"
He smiled at her, but did not reply.
____
Title: NONE. I HATE TITLES
Summary: Prompt forfreijya; Laguna tries to tell Squall about their relationship.
Characters/Pairings: Laguna, Squall, and moombas.
Word count: 3852
Rating/warnings: Unbeta-ed.
Laguna paced back and forth restlessly. If he concentrated hard enough, he was capable of making both his legs cramp up. As it was, however, he was concentrating on not concentrating on thinking about Squall, and the inevitable bloody mess that his body would be once he was done talking to that stubborn, Raine-like, trigger-happy ... commander of Balamb Garden. Great.
"Kiros. Tell me, Kiros. Did I hit my head on something hard last night? I mean, why ---"
"You hit your head on something hard three minutes after you were born, Laguna. It's why you're currently like ... like this."
"You weren't there when I was born, Kiros, so shut up."
"As far as you know," Kiros muttered, grinning.
"WHY. Why am I on my way to see the most dangerous person on this planet, to tell him the most dangerous information that could get me most dangerously killed?!"
"Minus ten points for repetition. Zero points for unnecessary drama. About... point zero eight points for content," Kiros said thoughtfully.
"YOU'RE NOT HELPING."
"You didn't say you wanted help. Calm down, Laguna."
"I should have just sent him an email."
"You don't even know how it works."
"Do too."
"Do not."
Ward facepalmed and left the room.
"I totally do know how to. I'm President of Esthar, the most ... uh, technologically comprehensive and logistically successful country."
"That doesn't even make sense. Bonus points for trying, though."
Ward reappeared with a sedative in hand.
"Ward," Laguna whirled around from his pacing, "Ow, ow ow. My leg's cramping up again. Arghh, fuck. Ward, should I turn around and go back to Esthar? This seems like a bad idea..."
"Ward wants to stab you," said Kiros, observing Ward carefully. Ward turns his murderous gaze on Kiros abruptly. "And me too," Kiros added as an afterthought, swiftly dodging out of the way as Ward lunged at him.
"!!!!"
"!!!!"
"...................................................................."
"No, wait! No fair! I can't move, my leg hurts... argh! Ward!!"
_______
A buzzing sound interrupted Squall from his mission briefing with Selphie. Irritably, he pressed the intercom button.
"What is it, Xu?"
"Commander, sir. An Esthar aircraft is approaching Garden, requesting temporary boarding, sir. What should I do?"
"Esthar?" Squall repeated. "...Is it Laguna?"
"I don't know, sir. Let me ask."
After a short pause, she added, "... President Loire is on the ship, sir, yes, however, he appears to be... unconscious at the moment."
"Unconscious?"
Squall felt a headache coming on. What did that bumbling moron do this time?
"Presidential Aide Kiros is respectfully requesting a meeting, sir."
"Understood, Xu. Get them on and have someone prepare a meeting room for them."
"Yes, sir."
"Sir Laguna is here!" Selphie chirped happily, latching on to his arm. Squall groaned noisily, allowing Selphie to pull on his arm.
"We can do the mission briefing later! I wanna go see Sir Laguna!"
"He's unconscious, remember," he reminded her.
"Oh, yeah..."
"Right, so the situation in Timber is at the moment highly unstable. Without a government in place, General Caraway's army have been keeping the peace and ruling on a strictly military basis. General Caraway has been in Deling City for the past few months; however, intelligence reports show that Caraway will be on a train ---"
"TRAINS!"
"--- to Timber, arriving this evening at approximately 0600 hours. Our mission is to assist the Forest Owls in the capture and interrogation of General Caraway."
Selphie paused; her praise of trains abruptly coming to a halt.
"But... but that's Rinoa's father," she said in disbelief.
"I know," Squall said heavily.
"Does she know?" Selphie demanded.
"I expect so. She's in Timber right now."
"...And she's really okay with this?"
"Who knows? She seems to hate her father enough. Anyway, we are to board the train at 1130 hours, at East Academy Station. Selphie, you are to meet up with the Forest Owls on board the train and infiltrate the main car Caraway is on."
"What about you?"
"Caraway will recognize me immediately," Squall replied, shaking his head. "I can't go in there with you. I'm going as back-up support, just in case anything goes wrong."
"Right," Selphie nods. "I'll go get ready then. Are we getting to the station by foot?"
"No, we'll be using a simple Garden-mobile to get there. Meet at the front gate at 1030 hours, got it? I'll drive it round from the parking lot."
"Yes, sir. Can we go see Sir Laguna now?"
"If you like."
________
"........"
"I'm not saying it wasn't a bad idea, Ward."
"............................"
"I know, I know. It probably does help his nerves."
"........."
"He should be waking up any minute now, don't you think?"
"........................"
"Commander, sir," Xu said quickly, jumping to her feet and saluting as Squall entered the room. She had had enough of the one-sided conversation that strange man was having. And really, did they have no respect at all for the President of Esthar?! They just left him crumpled against the wall, not bothering to even put him in a chair...
"Kiros, Ward," Squall acknowledged, nodding solemnly.
Kiros stifled a huge grin that was threatening to splash itself across his face. Squall was so very like his mother.
"Commander Leonheart, long time no see."
"Likewise," Squall answered, glancing over to the slumped form of Laguna, who looked like he was drooling slightly.
"What's wrong with him?" Selphie asked, scurrying over to Laguna, poking him lightly in the chest.
"Nothing, really," Kiros said amiably, waving aside all concerns of Laguna. "He should be up any minute now. He has something important to tell you, Squall."
"Can it wait? I'm scheduled to be on a mission in approximately fifteen minutes. The only reason I came in here was to tell you that."
"I suppose it can wait, though it's really up to Laguna."
"He could relay it to Xu," Squall said, heading towards the door. "I probably won't be back until evening."
Kiros and Ward exchanged significant glances at each other.
"I think, if you don't mind, it would be good to set up temporary residence for us. Laguna won't be leaving until he speaks to you personally."
"Suit yourself," Squall shrugged. "Xu, please see to the necessary arrangements. Come on, Selphie."
"Bye, Sir Laguna! And Sir Kiros and Sir Ward!"
They left the room together with Xu, who was following through on her orders to set up a suitable room for their guests.
"Mmmmmmmm bwuh. Ward, you jackkkass."
"..........."
"You missed Squall. He was just here ten seconds ago, laughing at your sorry ass."
"Ughh. Squall doesn't laugh," Laguna replied dazedly, trying to sit up.
"Well, we're here in Balamb Garden anyway, and Squall's just left for a mission. We're going to stay here until he gets back tonight."
"What?!" Laguna yelled, jumping to his feet immediately, if not shakily. "WHY? WHY PROLONG MY TORTURE?"
"Cue the drama," Kiros sighed heavily.
"I have to tell him now! I'm not going to wait fourteen hours to die!"
"You're not going to die, Laguna."
"He'll murder me dead, don't you see? He will!"
Kiros and Ward did their best to hide their amusement.
"I have to find him," Laguna babbled. "It'll be good for him; I'll let him know about our relationship, and then I'll run away, and then he'll murder everyone on his mission that he's supposed to murder, except with twice the speed and efficiency. It'll be great. It'll be wonderful. It'll be fantastic; he'll be promoted so fast he'll forget about trying to kill me. What's higher than Commander? Supreme Ruler? Supreme Ruler of Balamb Garden Mercenary School. That has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"Laguna, shut up."
"Where'd he go?" Laguna ignored the rebuke and rounded on Xu, who had just arrived to lead them to their respective rooms.
"The commander? Last I saw he was heading for the parking lot."
Laguna dashed out of the room a split second before Kiros and Ward could stop him.
_________
"Take this," Squall said brusquely, tossing a tiny headset to Selphie as he swerved into the parking space at East Academy station. "Stay in contact with me at all times. I'll be about one or two cars away."
"Got it."
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be," she chirped.
"Good," he said, ruffling her hair gently. "Let's go, then. Tickets are with me. We'll board early and slowly move up the cars."
As they boarded the train, Squall's trained eyes caught sight of another Garden mobile approaching the station. Frowning, he stored that detail away at the back of his mind, concentrating on the current mission at present. Perhaps it was just a Balamb Garden student who wanted to visit Deling City but didn't want to wait for the Garden to be mobile again.
He stepped inside, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.
_____
In his haste, Laguna did not stop to thank the student who had taken the trouble to drive him out here. Instead, he hurried over to the ticketing station, bought a ticket and quickly boarded the train.
He stated that he didn't want to wait thirteen hours to die, but Laguna really didn't want to have to explain his relationship to a dead body. Squall's life was full of danger; who could know if he might even survive this day? Laguna wasn't willing to risk it. He would tell his son what he needed to say today or forever regret it.
He smelled the rain before it poured. The open windows lent a cool breeze to the dusty interior of the train, sending a chill down Laguna's spine. Quickly, he made his way through the passengers milling about putting away their luggage and settling down. Surreptitiously he tried to look for Squall, hoping that he wouldn't have to pass through cars in order to do so.
He was instructed to sit down by the train conductor when they departed, but after awhile he was allowed to move about again.
Finally, after what felt like hours of searching (though in reality it was only about fifteen or twenty minutes), he spotted the leather-clad teenager sitting in a corner, gazing out the window.
He hurried over and slid into the empty seat opposite Squall. Suddenly, all of the adrenaline in his body seemed to leave him in a rush, replacing it with what seemed like cold anxiety.
"Hi," Laguna said anxiously, fidgeting in his seat. He could feel the beginnings of a cramp working its way slowly up through his right leg. Fuck.
Squall looked at him in shock.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed. "I told Kiros to wait until I was done with this mission!"
"But, but I have to tell you now! It can't wait!" Laguna insisted.
"I'm. On. A. Mission." Squall bit out impatiently. "It will have to wait, Laguna. Besides, you shouldn't be here. You're putting yourself in danger."
"Hah! Danger is my middle name!"
Squall groaned, facepalming.
"I'm serious. You're the President of Esthar. I don't want you caught in a crossfire. Where's Kiros and Ward?"
"They're at Balamb Garden. I'll be fine. Besides, it's not like I've been in these situations before! I could help, too. I've seen as many battles and explosions ---"
"Squall, watch out!" Selphie's voice screamed in his ear, and the first thing he did was to vault over to Laguna's seat and push him to the ground.
Protect! He screamed at Shiva, and he felt the spell form around him and Laguna.
The ensuing, inevitable, plot-device explosion only blasted the train car next to theirs, so they were relatively unharmed. They were, however, stranded in the middle of the train tracks, the rest of the train having been separated and still chugging on to Timber.
"Selphie, come in," Squall barked into his communication device from his position atop Laguna's back. The older man groaned, and Squall rolled over, subtly checking Laguna for injuries. The other passengers of the car were shell shocked and screaming in panic, but Squall didn't care.
"Selphie, come in," Squall repeated frantically whilst getting up to check the rest of the car for any more explosives. "Laguna, stay here."
The wind blew fiercely, causing the heavy rain to slant into the wrecked train car. Laguna pulled himself up into a sitting position, staring at the grasslands. He wondered how he should go about telling Squall. Perhaps it would be best to just get it done and over with, so Squall could go back to his mission.
"Laguna," Squall barked, obviously angry. "Get up. We're getting out of here."
Laguna did not protest, hastily getting to his feet.
"Where are we going?"
"We're heading back to the train station on foot and waiting for another train to Timber. You will drive back to Garden. Understood?"
"Okay, but I still have to tell you..."
"Not now. I need to figure out a way to contact Selphie."
"But it's important ---"
"I'm not interested right now," Squall gritted his teeth. "We are walking back to the station and we are not going to talk at all until we get there."
"...."
"Exactly."
Laguna remained silent, letting the rain fall on him gently. He fell back, watching his son walk ahead of him, suddenly questioning his decision to be here. Squall had so many things on his plate. Was this really a good decision?
...I deprived Squall of a chance at a normal childhood. He's lived with it for 18 years. Would it be kinder to just... not tell him? The truth hurts, right?
....
Raine...
_______
Squall hadn't noticed how subdued Laguna was throughout the entire walk to the station, but as they approached the station, Squall realized that Laguna had actually listened to him and not said a word the entire time.
"Alright. We're here. I've changed my mind about boarding the next train to Timber; the wrecked train still needs to be cleared up anyway. I'm going back with you to Garden and contact my clients from there."
Laguna nodded mutely. Squall began to feel uncomfortable. Which was unusual, because if anything, Squall Leonhart preferred silence above anything else.
"You were about to tell me something important," Squall continued, fishing his pockets for the keys to the Garden Mobile.
"I...um, yeah. Listen, remember when you asked me about Raine? Back.. during the whole sorceress event."
"...Yeah. I remember. You said it was way too long a story, though."
"Yeah. It still is," Laguna sighed dramatically.
"I'm waiting," Squall said impatiently.
"Right. Uhm, yeah. See, Squall, um, what I have to say to you next... I'd love for you to promise me not to maim me or anything, but... I bet that's going to be too much to ask, so..."
"What did you do this time?"
"It's not something I did this time..." Laguna said, eyeing the distance between them. He opened his mouth to continue, when Squall interrupted him.
"Hold on, I need to go inform them about the accident..."
Laguna paced back and forth, feeling his leg muscles starting to cramp up. How should I say this? "Raine was your mother. I married Raine. I guess you could call me your father. But you don't have to. And you also don't have to take out your gunblade and slice me into cells. I appreciate the sentiment, but you don't have to send me to Raine..."
"Laguna."
Laguna jumped, spinning around to face Squall, who looked oddly serious all of a sudden.
"Keep calm," he said quietly, "And we're going to walk to the car as though nothing is wrong. Got it?"
Laguna swallowed and nodded.
They had only taken a few steps before gunfire erupted behind them.
"Stop! Guards, arrest them!"
"Shit. RUN!" Squall yelled, dashing towards the parking lot. Laguna followed quickly, pulling out a small handgun he kept concealed with him at all times when he wasn't carrying his faithful machinegun. Looking back, he saw a few Galbadian soldiers running towards them, shooting with poor accuracy. He fired a few shots back, suddenly grinning. He was fighting alongside his son! Unfortunately for him, Squall caught the moronic grin on his face and frowned at him.
"Get in the car!"
"Gotcha! I'll cover your bac --- "
For the second time that day, they were foiled by an explosion, except this time it was actually enough to make them pass out.
_______
"Laguna."
"Hey." A wan smile.
"...When are you leaving?"
"...As soon as I can."
Hesitation in her voice. Worry in her brow. Fear in her lips, trembling. Resolve; in her eyes. And this is why he loves her.
"Find her. Keep her safe. Don't worry about me."
"Yes ma'am," he replies, grinning a little. He clasps her hands together and brings it to his mouth, kissing the ring on her finger.
"I'll come back to you once I've found her."
"I'll be here."
Laguna jerked awake suddenly, with Squall's face swimming into his vision slowly.
"Wake up," said Squall urgently.
"Wha... where are we...?"
"We're in prison," Squall growled, clearly unhappy with the situation. "D-District Prison. I've been here before."
"You've been in prison before? Also... D-District Prison. Ward used to work here," Laguna said, scratching his head as he stretched.
"...Yeah. Failed a mission, ended up captured. Pretty much the same thing now."
They sat in silence for awhile, Laguna with his back on the floor and staring up at the grey, metal ceiling. Squall was somewhere to his front, probably peering out of their cell, though he wasn't really paying attention.
"...Well, we can sit back and wait for Kiros and Ward rain hellfire down on Galbadia for imprisoning the President of Esthar, or..."
A crack resounded, jolting Laguna from his thoughts. He sat up abruptly. A Galbadian soldier lay slumped on the floor, his neck twisted at an odd angle. Squall was trying to manoeveur the body into a position where he could search for keys.
"...or we could do that," Laguna continued, grinning brightly at his son. "The old "grab-and-twist", eh?"
"They must not know who we are. The last time I was in here, it was in a maximum security cell. No bars."
Squall continued searching the body, before sitting back, frowning.
"...No keys either. Damn."
"Laguna?"
"Heeeeeeeey, it's a moomba! Hi! Wow, you know my name! How'd you know my name?"
"Laguna! Laguna!"
"...I mean, I only taught the one Moomba my name. That's odd."
Squall sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Crouching down to where Laguna was batting playfully at the Moomba's paws reaching in through the bars, he addressed it solemnly.
"Can you get us out of here?"
"Laguna. Laguna laguna laguna." The Moomba nodded solemnly at him, Squall noted bemusedly, before swiftly swiping at the bars of the prison. With a few more swipes, Laguna and Squall managed to squeeze through. It retracted its claws and continued gesturing at Laguna.
"Right, let's get out of ---"
"Hey, stop! What are you doing?! PRISONER ON THE LOOSE!"
"Run for it!" Squall yelled once again, racing for the exit. He looked back over his shoulder briefly to make sure that Laguna was following him.
"LAAAAGUUUUUUUUNA!!" the Moomba howled and launched itself at the guard. Although it was too late by then; the alarms had already sounded. Monsters would no doubt be let loose on the floors to subdue the escaped prisoners. And to top it off, they were without weapons.
"Aarrgghh! Get off me!"
...Or perhaps not.
Laguna grinned broadly at Squall, who looked vaguely amused as he slowed down. Perhaps it would be safer to stick with the scary moomba after all.
"Come on," Laguna said cheerfully. "Let's go find our weapons. Why are there moombas here? I freed all of the moombas kept as slaves during Adel's rule."
Squall added that fact to the "List of Things Accomplished by Laguna Loire Despite All of his Moronic Tendencies", and replied, "I don't know. There were moombas here before, too. They're used mostly to serve food to prisoners."
"Or scratching the eyes out of Galbadian soldiers. I should raise an army of Moombas."
"You're technically a Galbadian soldier. Although, an army of Moombas does sound dangerous."
"Not anymore, I'm not. An army of Moombas sounds awesome, what are you talking about."
"You'd get along well with Selphie."
The moomba scurried over after having successfully defeated its enemy, puffing up its chest in an attempt to look menacing.
"Hey little guy, where's the rest of your friends? We're busting out of here."
The moomba gazed at Laguna for a long time, before howling a long, dreary howl. It was nothing like they had ever heard of before. Soon its lone howl was joined by other similar howlings.
Pretty soon, all hell broke lose as a horde of Moombas rushed towards them, tearing through any monsters that got in their way.
_______
Squall and Laguna stood on the road leading out from D-District Prison with what seemed like thirty Moombas surrounding them, all clamouring about each other and letting out excited noises.
They'd practically terrorized the entire building. Once they had gotten back their weapons, fighting their way out was easy enough. Laguna remarked during their break-out that this was why Galbadia would fall eventually: they recruited more soldiers than they could train efficiently. Galbadia won wars by outnumbering their enemy and losing countless, barely-trained soldiers.
For the first time ever, Squall, who was usually on the front lines, fell back to the defensive position and healed all of the terrifying Moombas who were, well, stampeding their way out.
"Well, what now?"
"It's getting dark out. We should find a place to rest, or keep walking somewhere," Squall listed out potential options. One of the Moombas batted his hand playfully, before being pulled by another into an ensuing scuffle and batting of tails.
"Well, whatever we're doing, let's do it away from this place."
"The road turning left leads us to Deling City," Squall said, remembering the drive to Deling City, when his nerves were frayed with the thought of the missiles targeting Garden.
"No way, that's Galbadia territory."
"That's the nearest place from here," Squall said exasperatedly.
"No, it's not."
"What?"
"Winhill. Winhill's just south from here, if Deling City's over that way."
"...You're right. I guess we could go to Winhill then. I'll contact Garden from there... assuming they have things like phones."
"They should. Anyway, this is good. It ties in with what I have to tell you anyway."
"...I completely forgot about that."
"Yeah, well, we've had a rough day. We can talk about it tomorrow," Laguna offered, surprising a brief smile out of Squall.
"Yeah. What about all of these Moombas though?"
Though Laguna was a man with a lot of charisma, even he could not order thirty Moombas to "run, and be free!" when all they clearly wanted to do was to snuggle up right beside them as they prepared for the night under the stars. Squall did not have the heart to reprimand the critters; he felt rather safe surrounded by them.
____
UHh, end part 1! It got too long. I'm still in the middle of writing part 2 xD
Username:
lightofeiliaClass: Monk
Title: NONE. I HATE TITLES
Summary: Prompt for
zerrat; Squall never liked ice cream. Can be read as a stand-alone, but previous parts are here: 1. 2. 3. 4.Characters/Pairings: MORE SQUALL/SELPHIE, DAMMIT
Word count: 1212
Rating/warnings: Unbeta-ed.
"Squaaaaaaaaaaaaall!"
Squall heard the unmistakeable voice of Selphie's ringing through the hallway. A couple of cadets flattened themselves to the wall to avoid the bursting tornado of energy otherwise known as Selphie Tilmitt, barreling straight for Squall's midriff.
He endured the ensuing collision with much patience, something he had very much for the petite brunette he had come to silently adore.
"Hi," she breathed up at him, catching her breath as she held on to his waist. He didn't say anything, but just looked down at her.
"I passed~! I'm Rank A now, just like you and Quisty!"
He raised an eyebrow in question. While he was sure Selphie made a great SeeD/teammate/engineer (due to her love for explosives and other big things), he could never picture her actually seriously studying for the Rank A exam.
"Congratulations," he offered, gently maneouvring her into a more comfortable and less awkward position. She held on to his arm as they walked in the direction of his office.
"I was thinking of celebrating," she said excitedly, and Squall could already see the gears in her head turning. They rarely had time for parties, so Selphie always jumped at the opportunity to host them. "Maybe going out for dinner with the rest or something."
"Hmm.. I"m not sure if we're all free tonight," said Squall thoughtfully. A break sounds nice, and he'd been neglecting the gang for awhile now. He had learnt that to get some peace and quiet for himself, all he had to do was accomodate them for a night, thus using up their "Squall-friendship-love-attention" quota which lasted for about two or three weeks. Avoiding them all the time was like a negative feedback loop of sorts; they just hung on tighter.
Not that Squall particularly wanted to avoid them all the time; he was just used to relaxing on his own.
Though the last time he relaxed, he thought darkly, was a long, long time ago. He scowled at the mental thought of paperwork. Shiva sent a warning chill through his head. The last time he had complained inwardly to Shiva about all of the paperwork he had to do, she had banned that word from entering his thoughts (actually, she tried to freeze it first).
"Squall?"
"Hmm? Sorry. What did you say?"
She huffed at him, but quickly resumed, by now used to his silences and lack of attention.
"I said, what about a quick ice-cream break in your office?"
"...Why does it have to be myoffice?"
"Because ... because it's our base."
"Base?"
"Yeah! It's where we meet and plan things and have fun and stuff."
"What a coincidence. It's also the place where I work."
"I know, right? Isn't it amazing? You can work and eat ice-cream at the same time. Win-win."
"So much for celebrating. Doing work and being forced to eat ice-cream at the same time."
"No one's forcing you to do work!"
"But someone's forcing me to eat ice-cream."
"Don't you like ice-cream?"
"...Not really, no."
They reached his office and Selphie jumped into a nearby armchair, summoning Carbuncle as she did so. Squall glanced over at the GF lying on Selphie's lap, enjoying a nice ear and neck massage, eyes closed, body languid. Selphie was alternating between rubbing its ears and petting its forehead.
"I don't really know what to say," Selphie finally said.
"About what?"
"About the fact that you don't like ice-cream."
Squall stifled a smile as he continued doing his work. Not liking ice-cream apparently stumped Selphie.
"You wouldn't if you continuously had it shoved in your face everytime ice-cream was given to you."
"Let me guess: Seifer."
"Right. Although, I'm sure you did it at one point too."
"Did not! I would never do that."
"Sure, Selphie."
"So you won't eat my celebratory ice-cream?" she said accusingly.
"Probably not," he agreed. When his answer was met with silence, he looked up to see Selphie pouting at Carbuncle, who cocked its head innocently at her.
"I'll still be happy for you," he pointed out, "After all, you are holding the party in my office."
"It's not as if we're gonna shove it into your face or anything."
"I don't like the taste of it. Too sweet."
"Fine. I'll feed your share to Carbuncle." The little GF perked up at the sound of its name.
"Dear Hyne, Selphie. Must you always do this?"
"Do what?"
"Anytime I don't do anything you want me to do, you replace me with Carbuncle. Squall won't talk to me, fine, I'll talk to Carbuncle. Squall won't dance with me, fine, I'll dance with Carbuncle."
"Squall won't kiss me, fine, I'll kiss Carbuncle," she sang out happily, and then gave a quick peck on Carbuncle's forehead. The GF was alternating back and forth between Squall and Selphie everytime its name was mentioned. It shied away from the light kiss, but remained where it was.
"I never said I wouldn't kiss you," Squall grumbled softly.
"I'm gonna go tell the others and grab the ice-cream, okay? Stay here, Binkie," Selphie cooed, standing up and placing the GF right on top of Squall's dreaded paperwork before leaving. Squall cringed. He disliked that nickname. Although, it was definitely better than "Carby" or "Buncle".
Squall kept his eye on the GF, glancing up every once in a while. Carbuncle lounged on his desk, occasionally nosing at various things littered about the desk.
After about half an hour, his door burst open unceremoniously, prompting him to sigh and push aside his work. Selphie dumped the two heavy bags she was carrying onto the coffee table.
"...Selphie. There are five tubs of ice-cream," Squall said in disbelief, walking over to her.
"Yup! One for each of us! And a tiny little popsicle for you because you're silly."
"I already said I didn't want any. And I'm not letting you feed Carbuncle any of it," Squall added hastily, grabbing Carbuncle and gently pulling it away from the stack of ice-cream tubs.
"Binkie'll be fine," she reassured him. "It's not like GFs die or anything."
"They do take damage, you know. You just passed the Rank A exam, of course you know that. And you also know that Poison is a type of damage."
She whacked him on the arm and continued to dig in the back. Finally she procured a popsicle and began unwrapping it.
"Here, this is for you."
"Selphie..."
"Try it."
He sighed, letting Carbuncle leap from his arms to Selphie's lap, accepting the popsicle. It was coloured light blue, and all in all, looked quite unappetizing.
"You'll like it, I promise!"
He gave a tentative lick, bracing himself for the sweetness that was bound to come... and then looked at Selphie in surprise.
"It's... salty," he said carefully.
"Sea-salt ice-cream," she said triumphantly. "I knew you'd like it!"
"It's not bad," Squall said finally.
"Great! Next time, we'll promote you to tubs," she said happily, opening a strawberry ice-cream tub. Grabbing a spoon, she scooped up a generous amount and proceeded to eat it.
Squall sat beside her silently, finishing off the rest of the sea-salt ice-cream.
Squall never really liked ice-cream, but this particular flavour wasn't too bad.
"Thanks, Selphie."
"Mmm? For what?"
He smiled at her, but did not reply.
____
Title: NONE. I HATE TITLES
Summary: Prompt for
freijya; Laguna tries to tell Squall about their relationship. Characters/Pairings: Laguna, Squall, and moombas.
Word count: 3852
Rating/warnings: Unbeta-ed.
Laguna paced back and forth restlessly. If he concentrated hard enough, he was capable of making both his legs cramp up. As it was, however, he was concentrating on not concentrating on thinking about Squall, and the inevitable bloody mess that his body would be once he was done talking to that stubborn, Raine-like, trigger-happy ... commander of Balamb Garden. Great.
"Kiros. Tell me, Kiros. Did I hit my head on something hard last night? I mean, why ---"
"You hit your head on something hard three minutes after you were born, Laguna. It's why you're currently like ... like this."
"You weren't there when I was born, Kiros, so shut up."
"As far as you know," Kiros muttered, grinning.
"WHY. Why am I on my way to see the most dangerous person on this planet, to tell him the most dangerous information that could get me most dangerously killed?!"
"Minus ten points for repetition. Zero points for unnecessary drama. About... point zero eight points for content," Kiros said thoughtfully.
"YOU'RE NOT HELPING."
"You didn't say you wanted help. Calm down, Laguna."
"I should have just sent him an email."
"You don't even know how it works."
"Do too."
"Do not."
Ward facepalmed and left the room.
"I totally do know how to. I'm President of Esthar, the most ... uh, technologically comprehensive and logistically successful country."
"That doesn't even make sense. Bonus points for trying, though."
Ward reappeared with a sedative in hand.
"Ward," Laguna whirled around from his pacing, "Ow, ow ow. My leg's cramping up again. Arghh, fuck. Ward, should I turn around and go back to Esthar? This seems like a bad idea..."
"Ward wants to stab you," said Kiros, observing Ward carefully. Ward turns his murderous gaze on Kiros abruptly. "And me too," Kiros added as an afterthought, swiftly dodging out of the way as Ward lunged at him.
"!!!!"
"!!!!"
"...................................................................."
"No, wait! No fair! I can't move, my leg hurts... argh! Ward!!"
_______
A buzzing sound interrupted Squall from his mission briefing with Selphie. Irritably, he pressed the intercom button.
"What is it, Xu?"
"Commander, sir. An Esthar aircraft is approaching Garden, requesting temporary boarding, sir. What should I do?"
"Esthar?" Squall repeated. "...Is it Laguna?"
"I don't know, sir. Let me ask."
After a short pause, she added, "... President Loire is on the ship, sir, yes, however, he appears to be... unconscious at the moment."
"Unconscious?"
Squall felt a headache coming on. What did that bumbling moron do this time?
"Presidential Aide Kiros is respectfully requesting a meeting, sir."
"Understood, Xu. Get them on and have someone prepare a meeting room for them."
"Yes, sir."
"Sir Laguna is here!" Selphie chirped happily, latching on to his arm. Squall groaned noisily, allowing Selphie to pull on his arm.
"We can do the mission briefing later! I wanna go see Sir Laguna!"
"He's unconscious, remember," he reminded her.
"Oh, yeah..."
"Right, so the situation in Timber is at the moment highly unstable. Without a government in place, General Caraway's army have been keeping the peace and ruling on a strictly military basis. General Caraway has been in Deling City for the past few months; however, intelligence reports show that Caraway will be on a train ---"
"TRAINS!"
"--- to Timber, arriving this evening at approximately 0600 hours. Our mission is to assist the Forest Owls in the capture and interrogation of General Caraway."
Selphie paused; her praise of trains abruptly coming to a halt.
"But... but that's Rinoa's father," she said in disbelief.
"I know," Squall said heavily.
"Does she know?" Selphie demanded.
"I expect so. She's in Timber right now."
"...And she's really okay with this?"
"Who knows? She seems to hate her father enough. Anyway, we are to board the train at 1130 hours, at East Academy Station. Selphie, you are to meet up with the Forest Owls on board the train and infiltrate the main car Caraway is on."
"What about you?"
"Caraway will recognize me immediately," Squall replied, shaking his head. "I can't go in there with you. I'm going as back-up support, just in case anything goes wrong."
"Right," Selphie nods. "I'll go get ready then. Are we getting to the station by foot?"
"No, we'll be using a simple Garden-mobile to get there. Meet at the front gate at 1030 hours, got it? I'll drive it round from the parking lot."
"Yes, sir. Can we go see Sir Laguna now?"
"If you like."
________
"........"
"I'm not saying it wasn't a bad idea, Ward."
"............................"
"I know, I know. It probably does help his nerves."
"........."
"He should be waking up any minute now, don't you think?"
"........................"
"Commander, sir," Xu said quickly, jumping to her feet and saluting as Squall entered the room. She had had enough of the one-sided conversation that strange man was having. And really, did they have no respect at all for the President of Esthar?! They just left him crumpled against the wall, not bothering to even put him in a chair...
"Kiros, Ward," Squall acknowledged, nodding solemnly.
Kiros stifled a huge grin that was threatening to splash itself across his face. Squall was so very like his mother.
"Commander Leonheart, long time no see."
"Likewise," Squall answered, glancing over to the slumped form of Laguna, who looked like he was drooling slightly.
"What's wrong with him?" Selphie asked, scurrying over to Laguna, poking him lightly in the chest.
"Nothing, really," Kiros said amiably, waving aside all concerns of Laguna. "He should be up any minute now. He has something important to tell you, Squall."
"Can it wait? I'm scheduled to be on a mission in approximately fifteen minutes. The only reason I came in here was to tell you that."
"I suppose it can wait, though it's really up to Laguna."
"He could relay it to Xu," Squall said, heading towards the door. "I probably won't be back until evening."
Kiros and Ward exchanged significant glances at each other.
"I think, if you don't mind, it would be good to set up temporary residence for us. Laguna won't be leaving until he speaks to you personally."
"Suit yourself," Squall shrugged. "Xu, please see to the necessary arrangements. Come on, Selphie."
"Bye, Sir Laguna! And Sir Kiros and Sir Ward!"
They left the room together with Xu, who was following through on her orders to set up a suitable room for their guests.
"Mmmmmmmm bwuh. Ward, you jackkkass."
"..........."
"You missed Squall. He was just here ten seconds ago, laughing at your sorry ass."
"Ughh. Squall doesn't laugh," Laguna replied dazedly, trying to sit up.
"Well, we're here in Balamb Garden anyway, and Squall's just left for a mission. We're going to stay here until he gets back tonight."
"What?!" Laguna yelled, jumping to his feet immediately, if not shakily. "WHY? WHY PROLONG MY TORTURE?"
"Cue the drama," Kiros sighed heavily.
"I have to tell him now! I'm not going to wait fourteen hours to die!"
"You're not going to die, Laguna."
"He'll murder me dead, don't you see? He will!"
Kiros and Ward did their best to hide their amusement.
"I have to find him," Laguna babbled. "It'll be good for him; I'll let him know about our relationship, and then I'll run away, and then he'll murder everyone on his mission that he's supposed to murder, except with twice the speed and efficiency. It'll be great. It'll be wonderful. It'll be fantastic; he'll be promoted so fast he'll forget about trying to kill me. What's higher than Commander? Supreme Ruler? Supreme Ruler of Balamb Garden Mercenary School. That has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"Laguna, shut up."
"Where'd he go?" Laguna ignored the rebuke and rounded on Xu, who had just arrived to lead them to their respective rooms.
"The commander? Last I saw he was heading for the parking lot."
Laguna dashed out of the room a split second before Kiros and Ward could stop him.
_________
"Take this," Squall said brusquely, tossing a tiny headset to Selphie as he swerved into the parking space at East Academy station. "Stay in contact with me at all times. I'll be about one or two cars away."
"Got it."
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be," she chirped.
"Good," he said, ruffling her hair gently. "Let's go, then. Tickets are with me. We'll board early and slowly move up the cars."
As they boarded the train, Squall's trained eyes caught sight of another Garden mobile approaching the station. Frowning, he stored that detail away at the back of his mind, concentrating on the current mission at present. Perhaps it was just a Balamb Garden student who wanted to visit Deling City but didn't want to wait for the Garden to be mobile again.
He stepped inside, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.
_____
In his haste, Laguna did not stop to thank the student who had taken the trouble to drive him out here. Instead, he hurried over to the ticketing station, bought a ticket and quickly boarded the train.
He stated that he didn't want to wait thirteen hours to die, but Laguna really didn't want to have to explain his relationship to a dead body. Squall's life was full of danger; who could know if he might even survive this day? Laguna wasn't willing to risk it. He would tell his son what he needed to say today or forever regret it.
He smelled the rain before it poured. The open windows lent a cool breeze to the dusty interior of the train, sending a chill down Laguna's spine. Quickly, he made his way through the passengers milling about putting away their luggage and settling down. Surreptitiously he tried to look for Squall, hoping that he wouldn't have to pass through cars in order to do so.
He was instructed to sit down by the train conductor when they departed, but after awhile he was allowed to move about again.
Finally, after what felt like hours of searching (though in reality it was only about fifteen or twenty minutes), he spotted the leather-clad teenager sitting in a corner, gazing out the window.
He hurried over and slid into the empty seat opposite Squall. Suddenly, all of the adrenaline in his body seemed to leave him in a rush, replacing it with what seemed like cold anxiety.
"Hi," Laguna said anxiously, fidgeting in his seat. He could feel the beginnings of a cramp working its way slowly up through his right leg. Fuck.
Squall looked at him in shock.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed. "I told Kiros to wait until I was done with this mission!"
"But, but I have to tell you now! It can't wait!" Laguna insisted.
"I'm. On. A. Mission." Squall bit out impatiently. "It will have to wait, Laguna. Besides, you shouldn't be here. You're putting yourself in danger."
"Hah! Danger is my middle name!"
Squall groaned, facepalming.
"I'm serious. You're the President of Esthar. I don't want you caught in a crossfire. Where's Kiros and Ward?"
"They're at Balamb Garden. I'll be fine. Besides, it's not like I've been in these situations before! I could help, too. I've seen as many battles and explosions ---"
"Squall, watch out!" Selphie's voice screamed in his ear, and the first thing he did was to vault over to Laguna's seat and push him to the ground.
Protect! He screamed at Shiva, and he felt the spell form around him and Laguna.
The ensuing, inevitable, plot-device explosion only blasted the train car next to theirs, so they were relatively unharmed. They were, however, stranded in the middle of the train tracks, the rest of the train having been separated and still chugging on to Timber.
"Selphie, come in," Squall barked into his communication device from his position atop Laguna's back. The older man groaned, and Squall rolled over, subtly checking Laguna for injuries. The other passengers of the car were shell shocked and screaming in panic, but Squall didn't care.
"Selphie, come in," Squall repeated frantically whilst getting up to check the rest of the car for any more explosives. "Laguna, stay here."
The wind blew fiercely, causing the heavy rain to slant into the wrecked train car. Laguna pulled himself up into a sitting position, staring at the grasslands. He wondered how he should go about telling Squall. Perhaps it would be best to just get it done and over with, so Squall could go back to his mission.
"Laguna," Squall barked, obviously angry. "Get up. We're getting out of here."
Laguna did not protest, hastily getting to his feet.
"Where are we going?"
"We're heading back to the train station on foot and waiting for another train to Timber. You will drive back to Garden. Understood?"
"Okay, but I still have to tell you..."
"Not now. I need to figure out a way to contact Selphie."
"But it's important ---"
"I'm not interested right now," Squall gritted his teeth. "We are walking back to the station and we are not going to talk at all until we get there."
"...."
"Exactly."
Laguna remained silent, letting the rain fall on him gently. He fell back, watching his son walk ahead of him, suddenly questioning his decision to be here. Squall had so many things on his plate. Was this really a good decision?
...I deprived Squall of a chance at a normal childhood. He's lived with it for 18 years. Would it be kinder to just... not tell him? The truth hurts, right?
....
Raine...
_______
Squall hadn't noticed how subdued Laguna was throughout the entire walk to the station, but as they approached the station, Squall realized that Laguna had actually listened to him and not said a word the entire time.
"Alright. We're here. I've changed my mind about boarding the next train to Timber; the wrecked train still needs to be cleared up anyway. I'm going back with you to Garden and contact my clients from there."
Laguna nodded mutely. Squall began to feel uncomfortable. Which was unusual, because if anything, Squall Leonhart preferred silence above anything else.
"You were about to tell me something important," Squall continued, fishing his pockets for the keys to the Garden Mobile.
"I...um, yeah. Listen, remember when you asked me about Raine? Back.. during the whole sorceress event."
"...Yeah. I remember. You said it was way too long a story, though."
"Yeah. It still is," Laguna sighed dramatically.
"I'm waiting," Squall said impatiently.
"Right. Uhm, yeah. See, Squall, um, what I have to say to you next... I'd love for you to promise me not to maim me or anything, but... I bet that's going to be too much to ask, so..."
"What did you do this time?"
"It's not something I did this time..." Laguna said, eyeing the distance between them. He opened his mouth to continue, when Squall interrupted him.
"Hold on, I need to go inform them about the accident..."
Laguna paced back and forth, feeling his leg muscles starting to cramp up. How should I say this? "Raine was your mother. I married Raine. I guess you could call me your father. But you don't have to. And you also don't have to take out your gunblade and slice me into cells. I appreciate the sentiment, but you don't have to send me to Raine..."
"Laguna."
Laguna jumped, spinning around to face Squall, who looked oddly serious all of a sudden.
"Keep calm," he said quietly, "And we're going to walk to the car as though nothing is wrong. Got it?"
Laguna swallowed and nodded.
They had only taken a few steps before gunfire erupted behind them.
"Stop! Guards, arrest them!"
"Shit. RUN!" Squall yelled, dashing towards the parking lot. Laguna followed quickly, pulling out a small handgun he kept concealed with him at all times when he wasn't carrying his faithful machinegun. Looking back, he saw a few Galbadian soldiers running towards them, shooting with poor accuracy. He fired a few shots back, suddenly grinning. He was fighting alongside his son! Unfortunately for him, Squall caught the moronic grin on his face and frowned at him.
"Get in the car!"
"Gotcha! I'll cover your bac --- "
For the second time that day, they were foiled by an explosion, except this time it was actually enough to make them pass out.
_______
"Laguna."
"Hey." A wan smile.
"...When are you leaving?"
"...As soon as I can."
Hesitation in her voice. Worry in her brow. Fear in her lips, trembling. Resolve; in her eyes. And this is why he loves her.
"Find her. Keep her safe. Don't worry about me."
"Yes ma'am," he replies, grinning a little. He clasps her hands together and brings it to his mouth, kissing the ring on her finger.
"I'll come back to you once I've found her."
"I'll be here."
Laguna jerked awake suddenly, with Squall's face swimming into his vision slowly.
"Wake up," said Squall urgently.
"Wha... where are we...?"
"We're in prison," Squall growled, clearly unhappy with the situation. "D-District Prison. I've been here before."
"You've been in prison before? Also... D-District Prison. Ward used to work here," Laguna said, scratching his head as he stretched.
"...Yeah. Failed a mission, ended up captured. Pretty much the same thing now."
They sat in silence for awhile, Laguna with his back on the floor and staring up at the grey, metal ceiling. Squall was somewhere to his front, probably peering out of their cell, though he wasn't really paying attention.
"...Well, we can sit back and wait for Kiros and Ward rain hellfire down on Galbadia for imprisoning the President of Esthar, or..."
A crack resounded, jolting Laguna from his thoughts. He sat up abruptly. A Galbadian soldier lay slumped on the floor, his neck twisted at an odd angle. Squall was trying to manoeveur the body into a position where he could search for keys.
"...or we could do that," Laguna continued, grinning brightly at his son. "The old "grab-and-twist", eh?"
"They must not know who we are. The last time I was in here, it was in a maximum security cell. No bars."
Squall continued searching the body, before sitting back, frowning.
"...No keys either. Damn."
"Laguna?"
"Heeeeeeeey, it's a moomba! Hi! Wow, you know my name! How'd you know my name?"
"Laguna! Laguna!"
"...I mean, I only taught the one Moomba my name. That's odd."
Squall sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Crouching down to where Laguna was batting playfully at the Moomba's paws reaching in through the bars, he addressed it solemnly.
"Can you get us out of here?"
"Laguna. Laguna laguna laguna." The Moomba nodded solemnly at him, Squall noted bemusedly, before swiftly swiping at the bars of the prison. With a few more swipes, Laguna and Squall managed to squeeze through. It retracted its claws and continued gesturing at Laguna.
"Right, let's get out of ---"
"Hey, stop! What are you doing?! PRISONER ON THE LOOSE!"
"Run for it!" Squall yelled once again, racing for the exit. He looked back over his shoulder briefly to make sure that Laguna was following him.
"LAAAAGUUUUUUUUNA!!" the Moomba howled and launched itself at the guard. Although it was too late by then; the alarms had already sounded. Monsters would no doubt be let loose on the floors to subdue the escaped prisoners. And to top it off, they were without weapons.
"Aarrgghh! Get off me!"
...Or perhaps not.
Laguna grinned broadly at Squall, who looked vaguely amused as he slowed down. Perhaps it would be safer to stick with the scary moomba after all.
"Come on," Laguna said cheerfully. "Let's go find our weapons. Why are there moombas here? I freed all of the moombas kept as slaves during Adel's rule."
Squall added that fact to the "List of Things Accomplished by Laguna Loire Despite All of his Moronic Tendencies", and replied, "I don't know. There were moombas here before, too. They're used mostly to serve food to prisoners."
"Or scratching the eyes out of Galbadian soldiers. I should raise an army of Moombas."
"You're technically a Galbadian soldier. Although, an army of Moombas does sound dangerous."
"Not anymore, I'm not. An army of Moombas sounds awesome, what are you talking about."
"You'd get along well with Selphie."
The moomba scurried over after having successfully defeated its enemy, puffing up its chest in an attempt to look menacing.
"Hey little guy, where's the rest of your friends? We're busting out of here."
The moomba gazed at Laguna for a long time, before howling a long, dreary howl. It was nothing like they had ever heard of before. Soon its lone howl was joined by other similar howlings.
Pretty soon, all hell broke lose as a horde of Moombas rushed towards them, tearing through any monsters that got in their way.
_______
Squall and Laguna stood on the road leading out from D-District Prison with what seemed like thirty Moombas surrounding them, all clamouring about each other and letting out excited noises.
They'd practically terrorized the entire building. Once they had gotten back their weapons, fighting their way out was easy enough. Laguna remarked during their break-out that this was why Galbadia would fall eventually: they recruited more soldiers than they could train efficiently. Galbadia won wars by outnumbering their enemy and losing countless, barely-trained soldiers.
For the first time ever, Squall, who was usually on the front lines, fell back to the defensive position and healed all of the terrifying Moombas who were, well, stampeding their way out.
"Well, what now?"
"It's getting dark out. We should find a place to rest, or keep walking somewhere," Squall listed out potential options. One of the Moombas batted his hand playfully, before being pulled by another into an ensuing scuffle and batting of tails.
"Well, whatever we're doing, let's do it away from this place."
"The road turning left leads us to Deling City," Squall said, remembering the drive to Deling City, when his nerves were frayed with the thought of the missiles targeting Garden.
"No way, that's Galbadia territory."
"That's the nearest place from here," Squall said exasperatedly.
"No, it's not."
"What?"
"Winhill. Winhill's just south from here, if Deling City's over that way."
"...You're right. I guess we could go to Winhill then. I'll contact Garden from there... assuming they have things like phones."
"They should. Anyway, this is good. It ties in with what I have to tell you anyway."
"...I completely forgot about that."
"Yeah, well, we've had a rough day. We can talk about it tomorrow," Laguna offered, surprising a brief smile out of Squall.
"Yeah. What about all of these Moombas though?"
Though Laguna was a man with a lot of charisma, even he could not order thirty Moombas to "run, and be free!" when all they clearly wanted to do was to snuggle up right beside them as they prepared for the night under the stars. Squall did not have the heart to reprimand the critters; he felt rather safe surrounded by them.
____
UHh, end part 1! It got too long. I'm still in the middle of writing part 2 xD
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POINTS
Second Fic: 154 Points
Total Points for Both Fics: 203 Points to Team Monk! :)
Oh wow, I loved both stories. You write Squall awesomely. The first fic was really cute, and then the second one had a lot of different qualities to it that came together really nicely. Both had me smiling quite a bit as I was reading them. :D
Re: POINTS