Laguna sat on his bed staring at the photo in his hand that Ellone had given him. It was a snapshot of Squall at the party in Balamb Garden following the victory against Ultimecia. There really was nothing out of the ordinary about the photo, but Laguna felt like the more that he studied it the more he learned about his son.
In the photo Squall was leaning against a wall with a drink in his hand. He was dressed casually in his fur lined jacket and black double-belted jeans. He was clearly aware of the photo being taken and had a somewhat guarded expression on his face.
Squall's eyes looked cool and almost void of emotion. His mouth was unsmiling as it always seemed to be, judging by the few encounters Laguna had had with him. The scar between his eyebrows stood out in stark contrast against his pale skin. To be frank, Laguna saw absolutely nothing in him that could even remotely point to the possibility of the two of them being related, much less father and son.
Laguna's hand shook a little as he remembered what he'd said to Squall. That maybe after the battle they could get together and have a little talk. Squall had looked suspicious at the offer and had accepted it grudgingly. Laguna had assumed that Squall wasn't too fond of him judging by what he must have seen in visions of his life that he and his teammates had been sent to by Ellone. It was a little embarrassing to know that his son had witnessed his leg cramping out of anxiety as he'd tried approaching Julia, a woman he was interested in, among other stupid things he had to have done in all the years he's lived.
Squall must have also seen visions of Raine, Laguna thought to himself. He saw his mother but had no idea it was her. It really hurt to know that Squall never had a chance to be raised by Raine, to get to know her, to love her. To him she was nothing but a stranger in a dream he'd experienced. Laguna's vision blurred as tears pricked his eyes. How very sad...
Of course the obvious question was when and how he should tell Squall about his parentage. Laguna himself was still shocked at the revelation that had been handed to him just recently. Realizing upon meeting up with Ellone that the woman he'd left behind...no...abandoned...had been pregnant and to not have been there when it happened...when she died...That alone ate at him like crazy making his stomach twist painfully just thinking about it. But to add to that the fact that Squall grew up not knowing that he had a living father just made his situation even bleaker. It was like he'd set himself up for the worst possible trap ever...one he had no idea how to handle. Parenthood.
The more Laguna stared at the photo, eyes boring into Squall's own, the more judgement he felt that he could see in his son's eyes. "How could you leave her like that? How could you?" It seemed like that was what he was saying. And Laguna, as though he'd actually heard it, shook his head and said "I'm sorry...I didn't know...I don't know why she couldn't have just told me somehow...I just don't know..."