-1 This is a two-chapter story on the scene when Gau finally meets his father a.k.a. the crazy old man who thinks Sabin is a maintenance man. I absolutely love this little scene and since Gau didn't seem to be getting enough love in fan fiction, I decided to create one for him. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Terra and Cyan gaped at the broken down house that stood in front of them. Honestly, calling it a house might be going beyond expectation. The foundation was uneven, making the house slant slightly to the left. The roof had so many makeshift patches in it, the walls were all but crumbling, and the door…well, it just wasn't there anymore.
Terra turned to face Sabin with a look of disbelief. "You're telling me that someone actually lives in this thing?"
Sabin shrugged his shoulders. "Yep."
"Excuse me Sir, but one would have to be out one's mind to be living in a place such as this!" Cyan said, his mouth and eyes still wide open.
Sabin just shrugged his shoulders again. "Hey, the world has all but ended with everything going upside down and your surprised by something like this?"
Terra shook her head. "But didn't you say that this is where Gau's father li…"
Sabin quickly covered Terra's mouth before she could say another word. At the sound of his name being mentioned Gau, who had simply been gawking at the odd house, now spoke up.
"Uwaoooo…Terra say Gau's name? What else she say?" Gau asked with interest. He always seemed to be interested in conversation when his name came up.
"Oh, its nothing Gau!" Sabin said, while chuckling nervously.
Gau pointed to Terra and started laughing. "Uwaoooo. Haha ha! Terra is changing colors!"
At this, Sabin realized that he was still clamping Terra's mouth closed, and released his hand immediately. "Sorry about that Terra." Sabin apologized.
"I'm just glad someone noticed." Terra said while coughing. "What was that about anyway?"
After Sending Gau to tell the rest of the group on the airship that they were going to stop for a bit of rest, Sabin pulled Terra and Cyan to the side.
"Okay, so what's up with all the secrecy? This is where Gau's father lives right?" Terra asked with confusion.
Sabin leaned in closer. "I said that I think its his father. The man's gone looney and I couldn't exactly get much out of him last time I met him. But ever since we heard those rumors about a man who went crazy after his wife died, then threw away his kid on the Veldt because he thought it was a monster, I'm almost absolutely sure that the man who lives in this run-down shack is Gau's biological father. However, since I'm not 100% sure yet, I didn't want to get the kid's hopes up yet, you know?"
Cyan looked thoughtful. "It is true that we first met sir Gau on the Veldt…" Cyan began slowly. "And sir Gau also said that he had lived amongst the other beasts on the Veldt since he could remember….It's possible…"
"But how do you know we have the right crazy man?" Terra inputted. "There are plenty of people who've gone crazy, even before the Kefka incident."
Sabin answered quickly. "I'm only basing my judgment that this guy is Gau's dad on instinct, but that's why we're here to find out for sure. Of course we won't straight out ask him yet, just imply that maybe he had a son at one time. Who knows, maybe he'll start rambling and end up telling more than he means to. Crazy old men have a habit of that."
"I guess…it wouldn't hurt to try. If its to help Gau find out who his family is…."
Cyan nodded in agreement. "I would also like to see young Gau with family."
"Then its decided!" Sabin smiled. "And it looks like Gau is back just in time." he said as Gau came running up to the group.
As Sabin, Terra, and Cyan greeted the man who lived in the run-down house, Gau simply stared at him. Although Gau was not very smart with words, he was intelligent nonetheless. He had had to grow up fast. Besides knowing how to hunt and fight, Gau also knew which people were bad and which were good. He had learned how to read people through their facial and body expressions in order to determine if a person would be kind or wicked to him. In this way, he had survived for thirteen years. When Gau looked at the aging man in front of him, he couldn't tell if he was bad or good. He assumed that since his friends were not afraid of him, the man was not a bad person. Instead, Gau felt a sense of familiarity that he could not explain.
"Old man, how many times I got to say it?" Sabin asked exasperated. "I am not a maintenance man!"
The man covered his ears. "Don't have to be so loud! If you have time to yell, then get to fixing that roof. Thing's about to fall down y'know?"
Cyan put his arm in front of the fuming martial artist and stepped in before Sabin could make things worse. "Excuse me sir, but it is quite lonely to be living in such a place by one's self. Dost thou not have blood relatives to aid thee in thy um…housing distress?"
"Eh? What's he saying?" asked the old man turning to Terra. "I only speak plain English you know."
Terra spoke up. "What he means is uh….don't you have any family around? A wife and maybe….children? Like a son?"
"Hmmm…well I had a wife. Don't remember much about her though, or having any kids."
Terra, Cyan, and Sabin sighed in disappointment. Looks like they were never going to find out if he was Gau's father or not. Unnoticed by everyone, Gau had grown extremely quiet. His eyes were thoughtful and distant as is he was remembering something from long ago. In his mind eye, Gau could see a vision of a family living in a small house. A mother, a father, and a child, no older than 2 months old, with green hair the color of grass. They were obviously poor, judging by their clothing and the state of their house, but they looked happy nonetheless. But the mother…she looked very pale and sickly. This man was his father, Gau suddenly thought. He wasn't quite sure how he knew that, he just…knew.
Before Gau could continue his train of thought, the old man spoke up again. "But you know…I have an odd memory of a child with green hair, the color of grass, (unusual color isn't it?), who lived here before. He was a young tyke, not even three months. Odd isn't it? Not even sure its a memory or a dream….
The group perked up at this. There was only one person they knew with hair the color of grass. "What happened to that child?" Terra asked eagerly.
The man shook his head. "Not sure. Just disappeared I guess. Don't know where he would've gone since he was still a babe of two months."
Sabin then decided to try a new tactic. "Was you're wife still with you after the kid um…disappeared?" he asked tentatively, not wanting to scare or shock the man.
"Now that you mention it….she disappeared around that time too…." said the man thoughtfully. "Ugh…can't remember…head hurts."
"Let's go Sabin." Terra whispered. "I think we found out what we need to."
Walking out of the house, Gau was the last to exit, and the only one to look back in time to see the pained face of the man who was his father.
To be continued…..