Stealth
Chapter xxvii
By YuriNigasa
*standard I don't own FFVIII, Squaresoft, characters, etc. applies from now until whenever I decide I'm done*
Stealth
Chapter xxvii
By YuriNigasa
I rolled out of bed the next morning like a recalcitrant seven year old. And like most seven year olds, it was for no good reason. Seifer caught my glare and reached out his arms and pulled me back into him, nuzzling his lips against my neck. I didn't quit scowling. I wasn't going to let him ruin my perfectly bad mood.
"Ahh, come on," he chided.
I rolled my eyes, determined to glower at everything. I was lucky he knew me well enough to know it was just one of those days. He didn't get upset, didn't try to pry me out of it like some people had. Just placed a quick kiss on my cheek and sat up.
"I've got a lot to do today before Doctor Usuki comes in," he said. "Do you think those tests will be back?"
I nodded, standing and grabbing a clean shirt from the closet. I spared a quick glance in the mirror and sighed. I'd cut my hair if I had any idea what to do with it. Why was I worrying about something so trivial in light of all that was going on? I hated this feeling. I didn't even have the luxury of being surprised, of being thrown headfirst into it like I had the last time. This time I was being tormented by slow uncertainty. I wondered if those memories I had suppressed were gone forever, or just compressed back into the far depths of my subconscious.
"I won't object if you go out like that, but I don't think it will be very popular with anyone else," Seifer's voice startled me and I looked down. Shirt, pendant, boxers, boots, oh... I reached into the closet for a pair of pants. I growled softly. I had too damned much on my mind.
It was cute, seeing him standing there completely vacant-eyed and pantless. I knew I had two options. Either he'd kill me for pointing it out, or kill me for failing to. Still, it took all my effort not to laugh. He never would have forgiven me for it.
I slipped on my jeans and then reached for my black zip-up vest. I zipped it a little more than halfway, showing what I thought was an impressive amount of what I thought were very sculptured pecs. I pulled on my shoes and socks and headed downstairs, trusting that Squall would make it down intact now. I ran into Selphie and Irvine as they were finishing up breakfast. Nodding, I headed outside and made my way to the Command Center. Damned if Quistis hadn't beat me there. She was already at the computer, leaning over to closely examine some of the images Usuki had sent.
"Find anything?" I asked, startling her.
Quistis put a hand to her chest and exhaled slowly. She turned in mock anger. "Do not do that again!"
"Heh, admit it, you're awake now."
"Yes, but how many years did a shock like that take off my life?" She raised an eyebrow questioningly.
I laughed and sat down beside her. "So, did you find anything?"
"A couple things that look like they might be of interest. Let me pull them up." She accessed a separate file folder and displayed the contents.
"These are examples of the text Usuki found." She displayed a picture of a badly frayed manuscript. "This thing that almost looks like a flowing, curling design is actually the Centran language."
It was fairly ornate looking script. If I had drawn leaves on it, it would have made a lovely vine.
"The fact that it's like that is one of the greatest problems they're facing when it comes to deciphering the texts. Syntax, word order, even phonetic sounds are impossible to determine."
"Then how do they even know it's actually the language? Maybe they had a thing for designs?"
"Because portions are repetitive. It's something that's common to written language. Certain patterns emerge over time. Like finding the word 'the' in a manuscript. It's too consistent to be random."
I heard the sound of footsteps behind me and swiveled around in the chair, expecting to see one of the others poking into the room to see what was up. To my surprise I saw Elijah.
"Hey," I called. "They let you out this early?"
"Finally. I can't take that again. Just though I'd stop by and see what you were up to before I get my assignment."
He peered over my shoulder at the image file. "What is this?" he asked. "Some sort of storybook?"
"What gave you an idea like that?" I said.
"Well," he pointed to the curled text, "That says that it's the tale of the Sundering."
I had no doubts the look on Quistis' face was echoed on my own.
"You can read that?" she asked pointedly.
"Looks perfectly normal to me," he replied.
"What else does it say?" I demanded.
"Time of Great Calamity... I can't make out the next portion. Guardians of mankind sacrificed... more I can't read. Left behind a gift... legacy? That's all I can make out from the picture."
"Where did you learn to read this?" demanded Quistis.
"You can't read it?" he asked, perplexed.
"Elijah," I interrupted. "That text is Centran. Nobody's read it for over seven hundred years."
He began to look a little shaken, so I pushed a chair in his direction. He sat down with an audible flop.
"Well, looks like we're on the right track," I said to Quistis. "Can we reach Doctor Usuki before he leaves Trabia?"
Quistis looked down at her watch. "No, too late. He's already left."
I cursed quietly. I hoped he would bring that manuscript.
Elijah looked over at me with a peculiar expression on his face. "Seifer? Do you mind telling me what all this is about?"
I had gotten a shock from Seifer not too much after I'd left the room to scrounge breakfast. It seemed the sole survivor of the attack, Elijah - I corrected myself - had come back with a little something extra from the other side.
I had called everyone together to speak about this latest wrinkle. Alisa Case disappears with no real trace and Eckner nearly dies but comes back sporting some new mental toys.
"I think he deserves to know what's going on," Seifer said.
Of course Seifer would think that. I can't fault him for liking the guy, even if Eckner liked to be a tad too close in terms of personal space to Seifer, setting off that little twinge that I suppressed for Seifer's sake.
"The guy's reading Centran like it's last week's Balamb Herald. We can't quantify what kinds of things he may have running around in his head. That makes him a natural security risk," Zell said.
"If what he told Seifer is right, then it's not his fault this happened. It seems to correlate with the appearance of the apparition that calls itself Hyne." Selphie leaned against the table, glancing down at me.
Quistis weighed in with her opinion. "Whatever we decide, we need to have a plan before Usuki arrives. Eckner could prove to be unbelievably valuable in our search for answers. Given our options, I say we use what we've been given."
"Yes, but we don't know if we can trust 'Hyne', or Eckner, or Usuki," Said Irvine.
Seems like everything eventually comes down to trust these days. I pressed my lips together in a thin line. Talk about being stretched outside your comfort zone. If I stretched anymore they could throw me over a gourd and use me for a tom-tom.
I sighed heavily and looked around the table. This was going nowhere fast.