Author's Note: New story. :) As I have mentioned in my profile, this one is very loosely related to my Vires and Constantia one-shot, but reading that will not be necessary to read this fic. The time-line for this story is two years after the events in the game. I'm going to spend a little time in some less-explored areas and characters of this game, so I hope my readers enjoy it. :)

Also, I want to thank the wonderful Bebedora for beta'ing this fic. If you haven't read her Final Fantasy VIII fic, you really should. It's awesome. :D

I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who reads/follows/favorites/reviews this. It is always appreciated.

Chapter One

The first thing Laguna noticed as he walked into his office within the Presidential Palace was how grey the sky was that morning. It was a perfect match his mood.

Normally, Laguna wasn't the type to show up to work more than a few minutes early. He usually preferred to make up for any lost time at the end of his day rather than the start of it. It was his way of keeping the tranquility of the morning to himself. Raine had also been an early riser, and the two of them spent many mornings enjoying their time alone together before Ellone got up for the day. Even though Raine was no longer with him, Laguna found that the mornings were the best time for him to relax and sort through his thoughts.

Laguna frowned as he sat down behind his desk. He picked up his coffee mug, which was emblazoned with a dancing Moomba and the words "World's Greatest President", and sipped at the searing liquid inside. The mug had been a gift from Kiros on his last birthday. Laguna smiled as he remembered Kiros giving it to him. However, he quickly went back to frowning when he recalled that Kiros was the reason why he had shown up early in the first place.

At first, Laguna did not notice the changes in his old friend's routines and demeanor. For the past month, he, Kiros and Ward had been swamped with preparations for the annual budget committee meetings. The work wasn't especially difficult, with most of the heavy lifting having already been done by various council subdivisions by the time it reached them. But it was tedious and time-consuming. As a result, the three of them had spent a lot of time isolated in their respective offices reading through the proposals and filling out various forms. It wasn't until Ward stopped by his office two weeks prior to ask him where Kiros was going after work that Laguna noticed something different.

"…."

"Last night?" Laguna replied. "I don't know. I thought Kiros was working late in his office."

"…."

"Huh," Laguna said, putting a hand to his chin. "Well, he didn't say anything to me about any plans. Maybe he was doing something with Mara."

"…."

"She doesn't know either? That is weird. I'll ask him the next time I see him."

"…."

"What do you mean, 'don't bother'?" Laguna said with a frown. "Maybe he didn't tell you, but Kiros doesn't keep any secrets from me…at least not about anything important. And even if he tried, I have a way around that. It has to do with that whole 'guardianship' thing he has with me. Apparently, if I invoke his position as my cusodi and ask him a direct question, he has to give me an answer. Some kind of weird, esoteric rule from the traditions of his tribe. I just don't ever use it 'cause he's already said he'd make me pay if I abuse the privilege. And you know as well as I do that he means it when he says stuff like that."

"..." Ward replied with a shudder.

"Yeah exactly," Laguna said. "Trust me, I haven't forgotten either about the last time we ignored that warning. Even after all these months, I can't look at a tube of industrial adhesive without twitching."

Despite the misery they had suffered at the time, Laguna and Ward weren't able to resist chuckling a little at Kiros' plot against them. The man had an imaginative and yet elegant touch when it came to crafting his revenge for the antics they inflicted upon him.

However, Ward's laughter died quickly as the tense look he had on his face when he showed up at Laguna's office returned. Laguna noticed it and patted Ward on the arm.

"Hey, don't worry about it, ok?" he said. "You know Kiros. He's probably just in one of those moods he gets caught up in once in a great while and wants to spend some time by himself. Heck, I'm that way too sometimes. But if it'll make you feel better, I'll find out what's going on, all right? Just leave it to me."

Laguna finished what was in his mug and set it down his desk. He looked outside to see a light drizzle starting to fall. He contemplated getting some more coffee to distract him from the gloomy weather and the thoughts weighing on his mind.

The day, after his talk with Ward, Laguna tried casually mentioning to Kiros that Ward had been looking for him.

"Sorry, these proposals have been a real headache this year," Kiros had told him. "I've being going out for some walks every once in a while to clear my head, and I must have missed him."

The explanation didn't seem out of the ordinary at all, and Laguna told Ward as much. Laguna quickly let it go and didn't think about it again until Mara, Kiros' wife, came to him last evening.

"Laguna…I need to speak to you."

Laguna looked up from the file folder he had been holding to see a petite woman with fair features, long, almost black hair and light, violet colored eyes walking over to him. He tossed the folder to the edge of his desk and jumped up from his chair.

"Hey Mara," he grinned at her. "What is it? Is Kiros being a pain again?" Mara crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at him.

"Laguna Loire, you know perfectly well that if my husband acts out of sorts at times, it's because he has to watch over a hyperactive child while at work," she said. "A child, I might add, who just happens to be one of the most powerful people in the world."

"Hey, that's harsh," Laguna pouted. "Engaging in some harmless fun once in a while does not make me a child."

"Oh?" Mara replied, raising an eyebrow. "Even when that includes stuffing so many plush Moomba dolls into the Defense Minister's office that he couldn't even walk through the door?"

"Hey... how did you find out about that?" Laguna asked. "Did Ward tell you? Man, he just can't keep things to himself. And besides, that guy kept saying he'd do his part with the charity parties we have at the orphanages if he had a compelling reason to visit. I just made sure he had one. I will say though that I almost died laughing when he crawled out of the pile that fell on him and had that one covering his head. "

Mara laughed and Laguna grinned again. Ever since he had first met Kiros in the Galbadian army, Laguna had noticed that he would only date casually and then only once in a great while. By the time he met Raine and Kiros had found him in Winhill, Laguna began to wonder if Kiros would ever fall in love the way he had.

It wasn't until three years after they had starting living in Esthar that Laguna finally got his answer. Kiros had met Mara by accident when they happened to share a table at a crowded restaurant one night. Mara, a historian and writer who had studied Centra's history and who well-versed in the legends surrounding it, had impressed Kiros by actually being able to deduce his tribal heritage and by knowing a lot about the history of his people and their connection to Centra. Curiosity and a chance to talk about mutual interests led to more meetings and eventually that interest and respect grew into something much deeper and much more passionate. One year exactly from the day they met, Kiros and Mara were married.

Laguna eventually stopped laughing and guided Mara over toward the couch in his office so she could sit with him. Over the years, he and Mara had become good friends, and Laguna was happy for Kiros that he had her in his life. Caring and soft-spoken, intelligent and of clever wit, patient and devoted…Mara was an ideal partner for his best friend.

Mara soon stopped laughing as well and ran her hands along the folds in her skirt. Laguna recognized as a nervous gesture.

"Actually, I'm worried about Kiros," she said. "These days he seems…I don't know. I guess the best word to describe it is preoccupied, but it's more than that."

Laguna cocked his head in a questioning manner as Mara shook her own and continued.

"He's having trouble sleeping and whenever I go to check on him, he is standing by our windows," she said. "He'll do this for hours. He stares out at the sky and at the horizon in the distance. It's as if he's expecting something—something black and terrible—to appear. And the look on his face…Laguna, you know as well as I do that Kiros is not the type of person to just give up on anything. But I swear, the look in his eyes while he does this, it's as if he's already surrendered and is just waiting for the end to come."

Mara lowered her eyes toward the floor and folded her hands in her lap. Laguna couldn't help but notice that they were trembling.

"There are other things, of course," she added. "He rarely speaks more than a few words to me anymore, and even when we do talk, he's often distant and distracted. He goes off on what he says are errands. But I never know where he goes, and he refuses to tell me anything about them."

"Mara," Laguna said gently, placing his hand over hers. "You don't think that he…that he would…."

"Be unfaithful to me?" Mara sighed. "No, never. That is not the kind of man he is, and you know it. No, I know for a fact that he still loves me because….because…."

Tears welled up in Mara's eyes and Laguna clasped her hands tightly while putting an arm around her shoulders.

"This morning, when I found him at those windows yet again, I tried to talk to him," she said. "At first, he wouldn't say anything, like usual. But then suddenly he wrapped his arms around me and held me close. He…He told me that no matter what happens he would always love me and asked me to keep him in my heart. Laguna…he told me that he was sorry, and I don't even know why he is apologizing to me."

A pair of tears slid ran down her cheeks, and Mara dabbed at her eyes before continuing.

"I tried to get him to tell me what was weighing so heavily on his mind and heart," she said. "But he just deflected it with a smile and a laugh and told me that he would be working late tonight. Laguna…if you know anything about what's going on, please, please tell me."

"Honest, Mara, I have no idea either," Laguna replied. "But hey, you said he's working late tonight, right? How about we go to his office together and find out what is….?"

"That's just it, Laguna," she interrupted. "I stopped by there before I came to you, and he's not there. What's more, his secretary told me that he had left hours ago. Laguna, where is he? What is he doing? Why is he…?"

"I don't know, Mara," Laguna said. "But I promise that I'll find out, all right? So hey, don't cry. We'll get this straightened out and then Kiros will be back to his usual difficult self. You'll see."

After Mara finally left, Laguna asked a couple of his guards to locate Kiros for him. Almost three hours later, they returned to inform him that, not only was Kiros not in the Palace, he apparently was no longer in Esthar, having walked out of the city some time ago.

Laguna looked over at the window and watched the rain slide down the glass in streaks. He had stayed in his office until late at night to see if he could catch Kiros when he returned, but he never showed up. The first thing Laguna had done when he had left his quarters this morning was stop by Kiros' rooms down the hall. He was dismayed when Mara tearfully reported that he didn't come home last night and that she had not heard from him.

Laguna glanced back over at his mug and frowned. He had asked his guards again to find Kiros, but he had a feeling that they would give him the same report: that Kiros wasn't in Esthar and that they did not know where he had gone.

'What's going on?' he asked himself. 'This isn't like him at all. And why hasn't he said anything to me about all this? Usually when there's something serious going on in his life, he lets me know about it, but this time…it's like he's shutting all of us out.'

Laguna got up from his chair and paced around the room. A part of him was worried, and wanted to send out a search party to find him so that he would know for sure that Kiros was all right. But with his country having re-joined the world only about three years ago; Laguna knew that it would be problematic to send out a troop of Esthar soldiers. There were still many places where people were hesitant, if not downright hostile at the idea of them coming into their cities and towns. Plus, Laguna was forced to admit that he wouldn't even know where to start looking or, if this was a private matter, if he even should.

"Excuse me, Mister President, sir."

Laguna looked over at the door to see his personal assistant, Brishen, standing there.

"Brishen, you know that you don't have to be so formal with me," Laguna smiled at him. "Now, what is it?"

"Um, well sir, we just got a communication from Mayor Dobe at Fisherman's Horizon," Brishen continued.

"Oh really?" Laguna said. "That's rare. Usually Dobe isn't all that keen to contact us. Anyway, how's he doing these days?"

"I imagine not very well, sir," Brishen continued as he wrung his hands. "Apparently, there was a murder there last night. A young woman was killed."

"Murder?" Laguna said, raising an eyebrow. "That is serious. But…what does this have to do with us?"

"Mayor Dobe is asking for our assistance," the assistant continued. "He said that FH doesn't really have the resources to deal with this kind of situation and that it would be better if Esthar handled…certain aspects of this."

"I see," Laguna said. "I suppose there isn't a lot of crime in FH, and with Dobe being the way he is…. Tell him that I will send him a troop of my best soldiers and investigators to help him solve this."

"Um, that's not actually what he's looking for," Brishen said, fidgeting even more. "He said that they already have a suspect in custody, and that they're pretty sure that they've already solved this."

"Well then, what does he need us for?" Laguna huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Mayor Dobe felt that it would be better to contact you before any further actions were taken," Brishen said. "He um, he specifically requested your presence at FH as soon as possible."

"Why?" Laguna said. "They've got the guy who did it. Why exactly does this involve me in particular?"

Brishen looked down at his shoes and shuffled back and forth in place for several moments before finally speaking again.

"Mister President, sir…the suspect…the person who they think did this…It's Minister Seagill."