Disclaimer: I do not own FF8.

Squall saluted, his muscles tensing up, towards Headmaster Cid, The headmaster waved his hand, motioning for Squall to relax. The SeeD did so. "I have new mission of you, Squall," Cid said, holding his hands behind his back. "I thought that this mission would be somewhat personal to you, so I choose you." Squall raised an eyebrow at the headmaster. "What do you mean by personal?" The SeeD asked, shifting his weight onto his left leg.

"Well, here are the mission specifics. Read them thoroughly," Cid said, grabbing a folder off his desk and handing it to Squall. The SeeD accepted it, saluted, and left his office. "Good luck Squall!" The SeeD raised a hand and waved off the comment. "I wonder if that boy will ever change," Cid mused as he went back to work.

0

Squall opened the folder only to see several newspaper clippings of a strange looking man. Another news paper clipping was of Laguna. He pulled out the specifics, noticing that it was rather short. He sighed, walking out of the garden to see the Ragnarok awaiting him already. "She's all set for ya, bud!" Zell said, grinning widely as he ran past his friend. "Selphie put it on auto-pilot! All ya have to do is enter the coordinates!"

Squall waved at him and boarded the airship, walking rather slowly to the cockpit as he began reading the report.

Mission 246937:

There's a chance of an assassination of President Loire.

Requesting SeeD member:

Squall Leonhart.

Esthar police have reports of a possible assassination of the Esthar President.

Due to being short-handed, we have requested SeeD member Squall Leonhart, gunblade specialist.

Squall Leonhart is to report to the Esthar Presidential Palace to speak with the police chief for further information and instructions.

Sounds easy enough, Squall thought to himself as he sat in the pilot seat of the Ragnarok.

He entered the coordinates for Esthar, leaned back, and relaxed.

0

"Laguna, it's time to wake up! You've overslept again!" Kiros yelled as he knocked on the door to the presidents' room. "Fine more minutes mom," Laguna said groggily, laying his head back down. "I don't think so!" Kiros said, opening the door and dashing up to Lagunas' bed. He grabbed the president and pulled him out of bed even as Laguna yelled out in anger. "Let me go! That's an order! Dangit Kiros! LET ME GO!"

"Ward! Help me with Sleeping Beauty!" Kiros yelled as Laguna struggled to break free. Finally he did, and he went running down the hall to get back to his room. He ran smack dab into Ward and went finally backwards, bleeding from his nose. "Ah, crap, my nose!" He yelled, holding his nose as Ward picked him up. "…." "Yes, I'm still in my pajamas! I just woke up!" Laguna said, looking up at Ward and frowning.

Ward silently laughed as Kiros went into Lagunas' room to grab his clothes. He came back out and literally threw the clothes at Laguna. Laguna sighed in defeat and went into his room to change. He stripped off his cloud pajamas, leaving him in his boxers. He shivered and quickly put on his white shirt and his pants, hurried out, and looked at Kiros and Ward in distaste. "You're gonna pay for this."

"Sure we are."

0

Squall yawned as he watched the clouds roll by. Even with the Ragnarok, the trip to Esthar got rather boring. He was now cleaning blood stains off of his gunblade, seeing as he had nothing else to do. "These trips are always so boring." He got up and began pacing back and forth. Before long he could see the outline of Esthar. "Finally, Esthar is in view."

Something clicked in his mind and he looked back at the mission specifics.

Possible assassination of the Esthar President, the words echoed in his mind.

If someone's attempting to assassinate the Esthar President, their trying to kill my father.…

My father? Someone's actually going to try and kill MY FATHER?

He definitely wasn't going let that happen, even he didn't like the man; Laguna didn't deserve to be assassinated.

And Squall knew that Laguna probably new nothing about it.

0

"Do I have to?" "Yes." There was a small moan escaping the Presidents' mouth. "But why?" "Because you're the president, and the president must speak to his people." "This is such a hard job." Another moan echoed through the halls. "Then maybe you should quit." "What other great man would lead such a great country?"

"You and your oversized ego," Kiros said, rolling his eyes. "What's wrong with having pride?" Laguna asked as he laughed. "I said you had an oversized ego; I didn't say you had pride," Kiros replied as he escorted Laguna outside. "Well I do, and I always will," Laguna said, folding his arms.

"Yeah. You do."

0

Running, Squall made his way through the city and towards the palace. He skidded to a stop as he saw the police chief just outside the palace. He walked up to the man, and sighed, saluting. "Squall Leonhart reporting for duty." The chief looked up at him at nodded. "Welcome back to Esthar, Sir." Sir? "We have reports of a possible assassination of President Laguna Loire at today's press meeting."

"We have information that the assassin may try to shoot President Loire from the top of the building to the left of the palace. From there would be a clear shot to kill the president," the chief said, pointing to his left. "Your orders are to hide there and intercept the perpetrator. Try to be sure that he isn't able to pull the trigger before you reach him." "Yes Sir," Squall said, saluting the police chief. "No need to call me sir. You are dismissed," the chief said.

"And thank you for helping us Sir."

Sir?

0

Laguna stood in front of the crowd, waving and smiling the best that he could. "Do I really have to do this?" He whispered to Kiros, and the darker man nodded. Laguna sighed silently and looked at the wide crowd that had gathered. A sharp pain went through his leg suddenly, and he inwardly winced.

Crap, my leg's cramping up!

0

The sniper grinned, adjusting the rifle so that he could see President Loire in the scope. "Prepare to die, President Loire." Suddenly something rammed into him, a brown haired man, but the sniper still clicked the trigger. The shot range out in the air, and everyone seem to gasp simultaneously.

0

The bullet went straight through Laguna's shoulder, and he gasped in pain as he grabbed hold of the wound and fell to the ground. Just as it had hit him, it had exploded, causing Laguna even more pain. Shit! What the hell was that? "Laguna!" Kiros yelled, running up to his best friend and kneeling beside him. "You're bleeding badly!" "Thanks for….pointing THAT….out," Laguna said, nearly hissing as he sucked in air.

Laguna scanned the buildings, and spotted two figures on the roof of a nearby building. "What's that?" Laguna asked Kiros, pointing to the building. Kiros looked up at the building and squinted. "Looks like two people fighting," he said as Laguna stood up, clutching his left shoulder. One of the figures jumped down onto another roof as the other one collapsed. The moving figure jumped down onto the ground once he was on a low enough roof, and rushed towards the front of the crowd.

0

Squall rushed through the crowd, pushing disgruntled, confused, and shocked bystanders out of the way. After he had dealt with the sniper, he had found a way to jump down from building to building until he was sure he could jump down onto the ground. Now he was making his way through the crowd, not caring who he pushed down.

Finally he was in the front of the crowd, and jumped up onto the small stage. He ran up to Laguna, feeling himself freaking out slightly. "Dad? You need healed!" Squall yelled frantically. "This is nothing," Laguna said, smiling towards his son. He winced, clutching his shoulder tighter.

"Idiot," Squall muttered, grabbing hold of his dad. "Sorry everybody. The press meeting will have to wait!" He yelled, having to drag his dad back into the palace. "You'd better be glad I have magic junctioned or else I'd kill you myself," Squall muttered. "Well that's good to know," Laguna said as Squall sat his father down on one of the benches.

Laguna leaned back against the wall as Squall healed his shoulder, and smiled slightly. "You really are like your mom."

"You know what I've realized Laguna?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."