Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Home for the Holidays ❯ Chapter 8

Home for the Holidays

 

Chapter 8

 

 

For Darksquall.

 

All Characters borrowed without permission from SquareSoft will be returned, only slightly traumatized, upon request. Written for love, not profit.

 

`Hero' Universe. Hints of Yaoi, angst, fruitcake and finally, a happy ending.

 

*

 

I never lost a patient yet, and I wasn't about to start with a guy I'd more or less grown up with. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to pack a miracle in my ass, what with the flying monkeys and the sun shining out of it and all. All I needed was a Hynebedamned Epinephrine shot, something I would make damn sure Zell had on him at all times in the future.

Quistis moved over closer, singing a carol that I suspected was Zell's favorite, and took his hand. He was nonresponsive; I was fumbling for something to say but the set of her shoulders told me Quis had already cast Scan and knew the score.

"Did Zell know about this allergy? You think he might have something in his gear?" With the sun coming up and better light, one of us could try diving for it. And pray the damn thing wasn't contaminated.

Squall shook his head. "I would know if he did; he'd have to tell me. Allergic reactions like this can come on suddenly, can't they?"

"Yeah, what happens is you get one free pass, then the next time, boom. And Hyne knows what it was, Gayla will eat anything."

Irvine stood up suddenly. "I saw something flash."

"Sing louder," Selphie commanded. "Voices carry and it will tell a person we are friendly and not give away much to a monster." She started a more rollicking song and we all joined in as best we could.

"There." Irvine pointed. "An aluminum boat, I think."

Squall stood as well, waving his arms, and we all saw a figure in a small fishing boat wave back.

Maybe there were some miracles left.

When he was close enough, the boatman shouted over, "Brung hot coffee and dry blankets!"

I thought Squall was going to jump into the water and swim out to meet him. Instead, he called back, "We have injured; can you get help?"

The boatman maneuvered close enough for Quistis to hook the bowline cleat with her whip and steady him. "Was getting the livestock moved to safety and heard singing.  Iria, that's the wife, said 'what about them kids what took the old Appleberry place?' Nothing would do but I come look." He was an older man, but broad and healthy, not even out of breath from rowing Hyne knows how long. He handed up the coffee, which Squall gratefully accepted.

"Is there anyplace near by we can get medical aid?" I cast another Regen on Zell and prayed the local hospital wasn't underwater, too. "Even a pharmacy?"

"Doc Barnes' place's on high ground, can take you to the clinic. Not all of you, won't fit."

"Seifer, you go with Zell." That was a given, really, but Squall was in Command Mode. "Selphie, you and Trabian, too."

The old man nodded, approving, and I slipped down the tiles into the little boat, trying to decide how best to balance the load. He and I shifted around some before Quistis and Squall lowered Zell down to me while Irvine stood watch.

Selphie, however, had other ideas. "Hey, Irvy is Trabian's parent, too! And women can take cold water better than men."

“But Darlin', you are the only one who can feed him."

Selphie shut her mouth with a snap, something I'd personally never seen before, and she clambered down into the boat. The old man was visibly upset over Trabian, and kept murmuring, "Wish'd brought them life vests."

"Just getting us to the clinic is more than enough. We'll be ok." I hoped. Squall knelt down and held out his hand. I took it, wondering about a formal handshake, but he passed me the rest of his Regens and a few Floats as a safeguard. Our eyes met and I nodded.

We didn't need words, anyway.

The old man rowed us away and I looked back at our lovers, standing on the remains of the roof in the bright morning sun. Squall, dark and slim and as dangerous as a water moccasin; Irvine in pajama bottoms and a blanket, rifle in hand and the light turning his hair to copper and red; Quistis, dignified and calm in the remains of a peach colored peignoir set, coiling up her whip.

Reading my mind, Selphie said, "They'll be ok, too."

"Yeah." All they had to do was wait a couple more hours until we could send another boat back.

Balanced in the bow, Selphie started chatting with our savior. His name was Gnos, and he was philosophic about the floods. "Always get a bumper crop year after flood. Mebbe not what got planted, mind, but bumper crop none the less."

She laughed and introduced all of us. Gnos had grandchildren and he and Selphie bonded over baby talk.

Meanwhile, I was having to pump the Curas and Esunas into Zell faster after each Regen. Cure was no longer working at all; and I only had so many Curagas. I tried another Regen, and didn't like the results.

"Seifer," Selphie said sharply. She rarely called me by my proper name, so I knew something was up. Selphie pointed and I saw something crest up and then dive back underwater. The sunlight wouldn't scare off all the monsters, the ones that could would be taking advantage of the murky waters and the easy prey. Like us; neither Selphie nor I were armed, and I didn't think Old Gnos was packing.

"Weren't so bad coming over," he mused.

"They are attracted by magic," Selphie said tersely.

Dammit. They were. It wasn't just the sparkles that had caused the waves of attacks last night; it was the ambient feel of the magic itself. Up on the roof, I was far enough away that most the monsters couldn't reach us - and the ones that tried couldn't get past Squall, Quistis, and Irvine. Now we were practically sitting in the monsters' laps. I looked down at Zell, noting the bluish tinge, and threw another Cura without thinking.

There were more flashes in the water this time.  There was a rumble, like hard edged thunder, but below the waterline.  And not nearly far enough below the waterline. Something bumped the flat bottom of the boat.

"Seifer, don't!"

Selphie was holding Trabian tightly, and her eyes were wild. We both knew magic was all that was keeping Zell alive and we both knew if a monster swamped the boat, Zell and Trabian were both goners. Not that the old man had much of a chance in the frigid water, and I knew Selphie would kill herself to save her son.

"I have Down," she lied, trying to make the decision easier. Her voice was pleading.

Magic doesn't fix everything, and if we were close enough and this Doc Barnes had the right equipment...

"Count for me," I said, tipping Zell's head back and taking a deep breath before starting artificial respiration.

Gnos rowed on.

*

"Epinephrine!" I shouted and praise Hyne, someone slapped a syringe in my hand. I gave Zell the injection, followed by Scan and another Regen for luck. His stats were climbing slowly, and his blood pressure was shot all to hell, but the improvement held.

 

Zell was going to live.

I sagged back, grinning at Selphie, who bounced, laughing. She threw her arms around Gnos and hugged him, earning an indignant squeak from Trabian.

I turned to Doc Barnes to give him the history. "Patient is a 23 year old highly athletic male who was exposed to an unknown allergen approximately 5 hours ago and went into anaphylaxis-"

"You kept him alive for 5 hours? I'm impressed, Doctor." Doc Barnes checked Zell's eyes with a penlight.

"I'm not a doctor, yet. But I am a licensed EMT." I looked around the examination room, noticing for the first time that the table was stainless steel and the posters were of... sheep.

He followed my gaze and smiled. "I'm a veterinarian. My specialty is agricultural animals."

"Great, just what we need for a chicken."

"Hey!" Zell protested weakly. I nearly hugged him. Fortunately, Selphie beat me to it.

 

*

 

 

"We are pretty much the only emergency medical care available," Barnes told me as we settled Zell on a cot and hooked him up to a jury-rigged IV.

"And neither of us licensed to practice medicine on humans."

"You are."

"In emergency, life or death situations, yeah." He gave me a knowing look and I sighed. "Ok, point. What do you guys normally do?" I tucked a blanket around Zell - it was tulip quilt Gnos' wife Iria had made out of frighteningly brightly colored fabrics.

"Take the train to Greenfield or drive into the City."

"Which we cannot do. Ok, so we'll need to set up Triage and secure a space and a clean water source. Who's in charge around here, anyway?"

"I am." Selphie said matter of factly. She finished tucking Trabian, freshly washed and diapered, into a quilted carry, and dimpled at the surprised looks she got from Gnos and Barnes. "This is a SeeD operation now, and I'm the Acting Commander." She had that scary organizational gleam in her eye, too. "Seifie, make me a list of what you and the Doc need and we'll scout it up for you. Mr. Gnos, lets go see if the Station Master has any communications with Esthar."

"Don't forget to fetch the others," I called after her. She dismissed us with a wave, still talking to poor old Gnos as she marched off.

*

 

The town had no power and the relay station to Esthar was down, leaving us with no communications, either. Most of the water was from local wells; I issued orders that all water was assumed contaminated until proved otherwise and to boil pretty much everything.

 

The weather had cleared, which helped with the flooding but not the overall danger, as the temperature was dropping fast and would be well below freezing come nightfall. The water had receded from most of the town, but left masses of slippery, stinking, rapidly freezing mud. I struggled up the road towards the pub, hoping the landlord had enough high-octane fare that he could spare some for germ killing purposes. And maybe some small alcohol lamps. My major and immediate goal was not to fall face first into the muck and smother. It would be an embarrassing way to go.

 

Someone, probably Selphie, had tied a series of guide ropes along the streets, connecting pillars and posts. I wasn't the only one who was clinging to them, making his way slowly, hand over hand. We were passed by a kid wearing mop buckets for boots, who was being happily hauled up the road by an enormous muddy dog.

 

Now I knew how Selphie was getting around town so fast.

I told myself that Squall and the others were tough, but I liked their odds less and less. When Gnos returned for them to 'the old Appleberry place' no one was there. Out loud we reassured each other Squall, Quistis, and Irvine had probably been rescued by someone else and inside we feared they'd succumbed to a monster. Not that I believed that, really. There would be hellacious carnage, first. My fear wasn't of monsters taking them out but exposure, exhaustion, dehydration, infection and disease. Of all the natural disasters, floods are the nastiest - nothing goes away.

 

The local elementary school had a working generator. Selphie stole fuel cells from half the cars in town to power it up, claiming the cars would be worthless now anyway. Doc and I set up in the multipurpose room, laying out gym mats and blankets as hospital beds. Zell was conscious but still very weak; we put him in charge of recording everyone's names and pertinent details so we could work out some sort of census.

 

People trickled in all day, and the later it got, the worse off they were. Shock and exposure mostly, some broken bones and contusions, water inhalation, but some folk had clearly had run ins with Lunar Cry monsters and were damn lucky to be alive. More and more monsters were coming down from the north, attracted by the stranded and drowned livestock, and most were willing to vary their diets by attacking humans.

Doc and I were working on a guy whose right leg was gone from the knee down. Since I'd been training in a more civilized place, Doc had more experience with amputations than I did, and I let him do the tricky stuff on this one. Also, I was supplying the guy's blood, as the only readily available type O. The patient was conscious, too shocky to feel the pain or even the painkillers we tried on him as we packed and wrapped the wound.

"And then, an blue angel appeared and the sky filled with diamonds..."

Doc murmured "Delirious."

"Shiva," I corrected, laughing a little with relief. Doc made me lie down and drink some tepid orange flavored kids' drink, thinking I was getting giddy from blood loss, which was surely a factor in why my knees went weak. Now I knew for sure Squall was still actively fighting monsters, and it stood to reason Quistis and Irvine were with him.

 

All I really needed was to know where the hells they were.

Selphie quelled a minor riot and run on the general store by confiscating everything for SeeD use. Her theory being idle hands were the most likely to cause trouble, she more or less drafted every man, woman and child in town as unofficial SeeD support units. Clubs of little old ladies descended and took over the school cafeteria kitchen and soon were brewing up masses of heavenly smelling soups and casseroles. Selphie put kids to work minding smaller kids, and all of them in charge of decorating - it was still Yule, after all. The Multipurpose room sprouted paper garlands, lovingly crayoned pictures of classic Yuletide themes, and a huge paper cut out of a Trabian style tree, loaded with hand made ornaments stapled to it. People who managed to stay high and dry brought what they could spare: blankets and bottled water, spare fuel cells and warm clothes, coffee and cookies and a depressing amount of fruitcake. Many stayed to help tend the sick and injured or just hang out in the warmth, caught up in Selphie's magical enthusiasm.

We posted maps of the area and worked out with volunteers a systematic check so we could make sure everyone was more or less accounted for. Our real problems were only beginning - the cold would delay the decay, but there were still a hell of a lot of dead cattle, sheep, and other animals bobbing about in what was pretty much our drinking water. Not to mention the outhouses and other sewer lines were all flooded and adding to the misery. I fell asleep going over Doc Barnes' inventory and dreamed of being ensnared by lists of the diseases I wished I had vaccines available for.

Doc Barnes had his regular patients to contend with as well, and his attention and time was split between helping me and trying to do more mundane things like save a man's livelihood by handing out medicines for weird sheep diseases and vaccines for chicabo fever. We spent hours trying to revive and save a splattered box of bemired and frozen kittens - fortunately, once they were cleaned up we had no shortage of volunteers to cuddle the little balls of fluff.

 

I only had two tucked under my shirt because they were warm. And because Zell was already sleeping with a pile of dogs and puppies. I finally had to banish all four footed patients to the larger classrooms; by the noise levels, most of the mobile kids went with them.

 

Barnes ran a nice veterinary clinic, but he didn't stock huge amounts of medicines, and a whereas some of what he had, like bandages and antibiotics, could be adapted for use on humans, a lot of his stuff was no damn good to us. We needed blood, typhoid vaccines, and a medical team that knew more than to just throw some curative spells and keep the patient's nose wet.

"Selph, we have to get word out. No telling what condition the neighboring towns are in, either. We need an Estharian disaster team in here."

"Towns can't just vanish so someone knows we lost communications. It will just take a few more days. The water is still too high for a truck and there's no way a chocobo can get through without being attacked. Already I'm having to send someone to ride shotgun with every rescue boat.”

 

We were flopped on the mat beside Zell's pallet. I'd managed to keep him in bed and on the IV this long, but I knew by tomorrow he'd pull the needles and get up whether I sanctioned it or not. Zell was dicking with some parts and small tools someone had brought him, trying to repair a portion of the power grid. We needed that, too - people had started burning more dangerous things for light and heat and we already had 2 cases of near asphyxiation from carbon monoxide.

Selphie had Trabian by her side and was idly playing with his fingers. She was tired and I felt bad about getting on her case over things she couldn't control but Hyne, I was exhausted myself. Barnes and I had found some locals with cool heads and steady hands but even so, between us we couldn't have scored more than 6 hours sleep in the last 48.

"Any word from, you know, the field team?" Zell asked quietly.

Selphie shook her head and tried to smile. "But there are reports of ice storms and lightening flashes. ...I guess Irvy's not so easy to see from a distance."

"They'll be fine," I said with my best I'm-the-doctor-and-we-know-these-things voice. "After all, the only one who can take Squall is in this room."

"You must mean me, because, no offence, Seifer, but right now you look like my Ma could kick your ass."

"Right now I feel like your Ma's cat could kick my ass, but nevertheless, Squall is still one tough bastard. They will be all right."

I must have dozed off, because Zell woke me up an undetermined time later. "Hey, you still have those metallic blankets?"

"Hmm? Yeah, the general store had about 10 in with their camping supplies. Why?"

"I have an idea..."

I woke Selphie up, largely for meaness, and Zell showed us some sketches he'd done on scrap paper while we slept. He had this plan to create a series of photovoltaic units and power the communications grid with solar power.  When he was done explaining, I shook my head.

"You are a Hynebedamned genius."

"Why does everyone always look so surprised when they say that? I speak like 4 languages, you know..."

"T-boarder cant is not a language." Selphie snatched up the drawing. "I'll get the parts right away, can you make the integrator thingie?"

Zell held up the mechanical bit he'd been messing with earlier. "Did that."

"Booyaka! You watch Tray, I'll go scavenging."

Some hours later, I was pressed into service to assist Selphie with the wiring. She climbed up my body like a monkey and sat on my shoulders, stretching overhead. "Dangit. Hold still, Seifie." She shifted around until she was kneeling on my shoulders, driving her bony knees into my clavicles.

"Selph... are you wearing any underwear?"

"Don't go all homosexual on me now." She stood up, balancing by leaning heavily on my head and compressing several of my disks.

"I'm just concerned about being shot for seeing things I shouldn't." My voice was slightly muffled by the dagged end of her pajama top, which kept trying to get into my mouth.

Selphie made a scoffing noise. "All the other boys have seen it." Which was true, Zell had been there with Squall when Trabian was born. "Anyway, you are practically a doctor, why would Irvy shoot you for peeking?"

"Who said anything about Irvine? I'm worrying about Squall."

"If he were here, I'd be so glad to see him I'd let him shoot you." Zell said, chuckling. "Wait, I'd do that anyway." He bounced out of swatting range, just in case, then circled back, watching Selphie like a magpie. "...You want me to wire that in for you?"

"No, you aren't steady enough on your pins yet," she said.

 

"And besides, you weigh more,” I added.

"I've almost got it." Selphie sounded a little breathless. It probably had nothing to do with me blowing on the insides of her thighs to annoy her.

"Did you make sure to ground the -"

"Zelly, I do know how to wire things! Demolitions, remember?"

"We want this building to still be standing after, though, Selphie." I had to agree with the chicken on that.

Selphie huffed and jumped down off my shoulders. "Ok, now all we do is wait for sunrise and-"

It was my turn to scoff. "Sunrise? We don't need no stinkin' sunrise." I held up my hand, allowing a Flara to form. They grinned at me and we all ambled outside to the photovoltaic array. I warmed up like a pro soft ball pitcher and let the spell fly right into the center.

Then we all ducked, blinded by the flash that split the sky. Light fanned out and frissons of power crawled along the circuits. Lights came on all over town and people cheered.

"If you overloaded my integrator, I'm going to choke you," Zell said grimly.

"You're welcome," I replied, feeling smug.

We were up and live and Selphie was on it like Norg on a gil. She used the SeeD emergency passcodes and was connected directly with Esthar command central. I left her and Zell coordinating SeeD rescue operations and went back to spell Doc Barnes in our makeshift infirmary. And give him the good news: help was on its way at last.

The next day an Estharian dragon ship touched down and who should appear but our very own Yule King, Laguna Loire. The locals were in utter awe that the President himself had come, bringing wonderful and necessary emergency supplies like fresh water, medicines, dry clean clothes and, sadly, a whole lot of fruitcake. He even had toys for the kids.

Doc Barnes and I gladly handed over our patients to Laguna's medical team; I was helping secure them in the dragonship when he pounced on me. Loire and I get along pretty well, but I was still surprised by the hug.

"Squall?" he asked, once he let go so I could breathe again.

No point in beating around the bush. "MIA."

Laguna turned white and said slowly, "They found the Torama about 80 miles down river..."

"Oh, no, we were in the house, we saw it go." Laguna sagged against me and I rubbed his shoulders. He puts on such an act of being a big doof it's easy to forget he's Squall's father. I added confidently, "Squall's off fighting monsters, I'm sure he'll come in once he thinks the civilians are safe." If I said it enough, I could believe it, too.

Laguna was so happy to hear Squall hadn't been with his beloved car, he actually accepted that. "Come back with me, I have personnel who are delighted to step in and take over in situations like this."

I hesitated and he added knowingly, "Squall wouldn't want you to stay here, where you are in danger. He'd want you back in Esthar, where you can get food and rest and a shower."

"Hey," I said, trying to sound offended. "I had a bath just 3 days ago. ...maybe 4. What day is it?" Granted, that had been nearly drowning in our front yard, but a bath is a bath.

He laughed and put his arm around me. "Come on, Son, let's go home."

"Wait." I didn't have Squall's enhanced hearing, but the heavy roar of engines was unmistakable. We turned and saw three ...things zoom into town. I found myself reaching for Hyperion out of shear horror of the creatures. Ok, sure, they could have been people on ATV's, but they were all so encrusted with muck it was hard to tell.

One of the mud monsters stood up, straddling the bike, and wiped his face with an equally muddy sleeve, knocking off enough clay to make a bathtub before revealing a smile I knew well. I pulled away from Laguna, grinning a bit myself.  Another of the mudmonsters was trying to shed its skin and made a faintly distressed sound - Irvine, making a grumbling complaint about his vest, his hair, his skin, his hair, the smell, his hair... it tapered off when Selphie shouted Booyaka from the dragonship bridge, waving frantically. Quistis, proving she was the one with a brain, unwrapped a filthy scarf from around her face, her smile blossoming when Zell ran down the stairs to her.

The mudman tribal chief (you could tell, he had the most mud) pushed up his goggles. Stormy silver eyes danced with excitement that I knew his face wouldn't show even if he weren't wearing a 3 inch mask of gooey, sticky ...yuck.

 

"Seifer," Squall said, "we have got to get one of these for back home."

"You Asshole," I laughed, grabbing him and kissing him, goop and all.

 

*

 

Special thanks to the real Acid Rain, for beta and advice; to KD for laughing at my jokes;and to Bitty for worrying about Zell; Mostly, thanks to Darksquall for waiting a year to the day for her birthday present. Happy Birthday!