Chapter Four: True Love

The thing Squall hated most about reconstructing Radiant Garden was that every time he fixed on thing, someone came along and broke something else. And then there were the heartless--who had no respect at all for personal property, or property in general for that matter. He cut down the last of the current swell effortlessly and raked his fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back into the sun, let it soak in a little. Radiant Garden, indeed. They talked about it as if it had always been here, but it had only gotten that name when Balamb's engine failed. They'd rooted it where it landed. At the time, there had been a small village nearby and a castle in the distance. Gradually, the town expanded and swelled until Garden became part of it. That's when it got the new name. That's when, somehow, by chance, the people of the town came to depend on him the same way everyone else did. He didn't understand how these things happened, but the older he got the more he felt like he understood Laguna a little better--it was hard to walk away from people when they were asking for help. And he liked helping, really--almost as much as he liked to complain about it. Thing is...he couldn't help but wonder how much more of himself he was going to have to sacrifice for everyone else.

Cloud. Why couldn't he remember Cloud? Shouldn't the most important memories be the last to fade? It bothered him, and he found himself going out of his way to cut down heartless because it was the only way he could think of to ease some of his frustration. He wasn't a fool. He knew that even though his mind thought he only knew Cloud a few short days, his heart said something completely different. It was difficult to reconcile the two. And not being able to reconcile them meant he didn't know how to act--how familiar, or how cautious.

"Hey Commander, sleepin' on the job?"

Squall jumped and spun about. "Irvine?!!" It had been three years. Irvine looked like he hadn't shaved in a day or two. His long hair was bound now into a braid instead of a ponytail, but other than that, he hadn't changed much. He had the same stupid hat, the same cocky grin. The khaki travel pack slung over his shoulder was the same one Selphie had patched for him with a sunflower just before they left.

"What?" Irivine asked. "You're not going to give me hell about coming back so late?"

"I would," Squall answered, "except that I don't remember what I sent you off to do."

Irvine laughed and dropped his bag to the side to pull Squall into a man-hug. That's when Cloud turned the corner. He'd been planning to bring Squall some lunch--he would claim he just bought too much and couldn't eat it all, and then find an excuse to stay--help with the heartless, or something. He was sure that Squall, even if he couldn't remember him with his brain, still knew him in the most important ways. The way Squall talked to him said so. In two short days they'd become almost inseparable. He'd been afraid his memories would add up to a childish crush, but he was more attached to Squall than ever, and he felt like the feeling was mutual. If he just stuck around long enough...

...but then he turned the corner and saw his Squall hugging another man. He didn't hang around to find out who it was. He tossed the meal he'd intended to share in a trash can and ran off to take out some of his anguish on the heartless by the castle. There were always heartless by the castle. Lots of them. Squall already had someone? That wasn't fair!

"It's good to see you again," Squall said, pulling back. "The others?"

"Seffie's shuttin' down the gummi. Zell and your old man are unloadin' 'er. I told 'em I'd go on ahead and find you. Let you know we were back. Everywhere we went, someone'd been there before us. Looks like sending us off to right the wrongs of the universe was pointless."

"Right. The heartless. I sent you to see how far the damage had spread and take care of them where you could," Squall remembered.

"Yeah, thing is..."

"...it must have been Sora and his friends."

"Sora?"

"Long story," Squall said. "A lot's happened since then."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Irvine said.

"Listen, Irvine, your memory, it's still pretty good, right?" The amount of things Irvine could remember sometimes scared him. It was like he had a video camera running in his brain that could call up any moment in his entire life on a whim.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Cloud. Someone named Cloud, do you remember him? From..."

Irvine's eyes widened in shock before Squall finished what he was saying. "Cloud is here? Seriously? That's great, man!" he slapped Squall on the back before realizing Squall was asking because he honestly didn't know who the blond was. "Squall, you..."

"Who was he to me, Irvine? He was someone important, wasn't he?"

Irvine wondered how much he should say, but he was no shrink, so he decided just to answer. He shrugged a bit. "He was your Seffie, man."

Squall found himself sinking to a nearby step. His Seffie. He knew what Irvine meant by that. Irvine was born to love Selphie. So if what he said was true, then Cloud had been everything to him, more important even than his sis--the very reason for his existence. His heart confirmed this, even if his mind still struggled with details that felt like they would always be just beyond reach.

"Sooo?" Irvine hedged, sitting beside Squall with a grin, nudging him with his elbow.

"So?" Squall asked, still unable to trace Irvine's thought patterns properly.

"You gonna go for it, Commander?"

Squall choked a bit and fought a losing battle with a blush. "That's none of your business!"

"What's none of our business?" a voice from behind them said.

Squall found himself exclaiming again. "Zell!" Beside the martial artist was a familiar girl in a yellow jumper. Her hair was a little overgrown. "Selphie!" Luckily, neither of them deigned to hug him. It was a relief, because he liked his ribcage in tact and they were both ridiculously strong.

Then, there was Laguna. The man rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "...hey." He obviously wanted to give Squall a giant hug, but knew that their relationship had never become that close, so he kept his hands to himself.

Squall crossed his arms over his chest and looked off to the side. "...hey." Was it always going to be this awkward? "...welcome back."

Laguna smiled.

"I, uhm, I have...this thing," Squall said clumsily. "You know, an important thing to do. So, you're probably tired, and everything. Here." He pushed his keys onto Zell. "You can rest at my place. It's just where it always was."

Selphie tilted her head quizzically to the side as he wandered off. "What was that about?" she asked.

Irvine grinned, draping his arm around her shoulders. "True love, I'd wager," he replied.