Disclaimer:  I don’t own the characters.  Squaresoft does.

Notes:  For those who’ve watched Weiss Kreuz, you might find the settings somewhat familiar... (some inspiration it has over me ^_^ ) but then it’s only up to the settings.  Other than that the story takes on a completely different route with the characters borrowed from FF8.

Warnings:  Blood, violence, yaoi, R-sex, rape for some later chapters, read at your own risk.  I won’t be held responsible if you suffered from a heart attack, got it?

Life Blood

by konekomh

Chapter 1

It was well past midnight.  The city of Deling, vibrant and glamorous as it was after sunset, had also started to drift off under the gentle caress of mid-night breezes.  Against the silent background high heels were clicking against the cold asphalt, leading a beautiful blonde to Balamb Garden, a bar renowned for its tropical feel.

“Sorry we’re closed for the day.”  A cheerful voice piped up from behind the bar, spikes of golden bangs were peeking from the counter as the bartender was busy putting away the garbage.

The blonde signed, “Oh, I’m so disappointed.  I thought I could have some Owl’s Tear.”  Everyone pulled up to attention at Quistis’ entrance.

“Hey, Beautiful!  Long time no see.  What have you got for us this time?”  Irvine Kinneas sauntered from his corner to greet the blonde, only to find his hand batted away from her shoulder nonchalantly.

Irvine shrugged, he was used to Quistis’ cold shoulder anyway.  Well, to put it more precisely, she was known to give every single male a cold shoulder if they ever dared to touch her, even if it were the President.  Known to be the genius of the city, Quistis Trepe became a doctor by the age of 15.  And now, she’s the chief surgeon at the City’s hospital and the appointed family doctor of the President of Galbadia.  In Irvine’s terms, books and patients were her lovers and they were so numerous that she couldn’t spare enough energy for the male population in general.

Quistis quietly slipped to the first floor, where Selphie had been sitting in front of the computer hacking into whatever sites.  The blonde gave the petite brunette a tape and started the briefing when the other two boys found their corners in the living room. 

“SeeDs, I think you should have noticed some elderly missing recently.”  A deep baritone of a middle-aged man started when the pictures moved on to show various photos of those mysteriously vanished.

“Hell yeah.  I was told they were just snatched away when they were watering their plants at home.”  Zell put in while he started shadow boxing in the air, apparently he was quite upset, “some kids even witnessed their grannies being stuff into a bag and dumped into a car.  But the police never got a clue what was happening.  Fricking fools.”

The others nodded, acknowledging Zell’s comment, “Our agents have been able to trace the missing people to this place,” the tape showed the Tomb of the Unknown King from various angles.  “Unfortunately, once they’ve stepped into the Tomb we’ve lost track of them.”

“And they never came back.”  Irvine piped in. 

“Quite the contrary.”  Quistis answered as the pictures switched to piles of dried corpses.  They looked so brittle that one touch could render them into powder.  Gasps were heard from various part of the room. 

“Our second team discovered the bodies a week later, only to find themselves being attacked by a herd of human-like creatures.  This is the very last footage they’ve got.”  The wall then switched into full motion, with the agents being ripped apart by hungry creatures all eager to suck them dry.  Professional or not, the mercenaries in the room could only gape like a fish out of water.  The room was covered in screams and wails that brought never-ending nightmares.  And then...

Dead.  Silence.

The screen switched to the shadow of a man with his chin resting on the back of his hands,  “Your mission is to find out what’s happening in this place, gather the data and then destroy it together with the organisms.  SeeDs of our hope, burn away the tomorrow of those weeds.”

“Easier said then done, Quisty.”  Selphie looked up from her perch on the stool, “that’s the grannies we’re talking about, not merely ‘organisms’.”

“What?  But... but they looked young!”  Zell’s eyes bugged out so much that they could have fallen off any minute.

“I’m sorry but you’re quite right, Selphie.”  That earned Quistis 3 pairs of eyes staring at her as if she were some monster from outer space.  She signed.

“The tissue samples we’ve got proved what you’ve said.  But the point is, they are no longer human.  We want to know how, why and then destroy those creatures altogether.”

“I don’t feel good about this.” 

“Would you rather die if you’ve become something like that?”

“But...”

“Orders are orders.  So who’s in?”

TBC...