FicWad

"What do you mean he's not here?" Kiros glared at the older man. He didn't care that the man outranked him. All he cared about was that Laguna wasn't with him and Ward as he should have been.

"He left on a mission this morning."

"Bullshit," Kiros swore. "Laguna wouldn't ditch me."

"He didn't want to risk your lives. That's why he left you and Ward behind."

"You let him take on a dangerous mission solo?!"

"He'll be fine," the general began to move the files on his desk around. "Laguna's had additional training that you don't have. That was what was needed on this mission."

"Laguna wouldn't leave without saying goodbye."

"He did say it. But you were asleep. I watched him. He even gave you a kiss on your forehead."

"Where did you send him?"

"Sorry, that's classified."

With a defiant snort, Kiros stormed out of the room, certain that the man was lying.

He was even more certain that something was very wrong. Laguna had been wounded badly the night before. Had barely survived his failed demon summoning, and had presumably been in the infirmiry until that morning.

So why send a wounded man off on such a dangerous mission?

*

"So, tell me, when did you first believe you could summon these demons?" Dr. Jennings asked.

"When the faeries came." Laguna told him, honest to a fault.

"Tell me about these faeries," Dr. Jennings prompted. "What do they look like?"

Laguna shrugged. "Well, I can't say I've ever seen one outside of books. But there's this buzzing in my head, and I can on occasion hear this voice."

"What does the voice sound like?"

"He's a bit of a jerk."

"A jerk?"

"I hate saying mean things about people, but he seems rude, belligerent, and downright antisocial."

"Interesting."

"What is?" Laguna stood up and went over to the window.

"Sit down, please."

"Just enjoying the clouds," Laguna returned to his seat nonetheless. "Relax, doc. I may have a thing for faeries and demons, but I draw the line at imps(1)."

"Indeed," the doctor made a note of this and continued. "I was about to say that the faery, as you call him, that you mentioned seems to embody, for lack of a better term, all those characterstics of humanity that you try to keep out of your own personality."

"So, what are you saying?"

"That this faery is your own natural emotions, the ones that you try so hard to repress. What we have to do is to help you release those bad feelings in a more productive, less psychotic manner. Now, I think we've made great progress here, but I can't recommend your release at this time. Our next appointment will be," he checked his appointment book, "in two weeks. In the meanwhile, think about what we discussed."

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(1) Reference to Edgar Allen Poe's "The Imp of the Perverse".