Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Updated: 2009.11.10

Summary: AU Rinoa and Squall have seen some hardships in their lives. Those hardships are what made them the people they are today. Can the two overcome one more hurtle to get a happy ending? My pointless and potentially never ending story. Songs end every chapter, feel free to leave ideas for future chapters and future songs.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I walk alone

-Green Day

He was here again. The boy looked around at the white walls of the hospital. His father had entered the room down the hall. He could hear his mother screaming. He didn't know why they kept coming here if she was always screaming. Kept cursing. Kept blaming someone for 'doing this to her again.' Whatever.

The brown-haired boy looked down at his feet. Two girls sat playing together. Oblivious to the screams. Oblivious to the white walls. Oblivious that neither parent was there for them now. The boy frowned. Neither one was any fun to play with.

They were his sisters. Ashley and Brittney. They were twins. They were irritating.

They used to cry endlessly. Now they shrieked endlessly. Was Rinoa like that when they were that young? He looked down upon his two 4-year-old sisters. Hyne damn they were annoying. Laguna had told him not to curse. It was hard when he had to sit through two of these sessions in the hospital. It was even harder because the two culprits in front of him were the cause of his sleep deprivation.

A scream came. Again. When could he go home? He didn't need more annoying sisters.

Squall sat in the chair Laguna had left him in. He was 12 years old now. He was a big boy. He could take care of himself. Squall didn't mind being alone. He had learned to cope. Ever since moving he had learned that human contact wasn't really that important. Nobody tried to talk to him at his new school. Nobody tried to befriend him like Rinoa did. Hyne he wished he could go back to being 6. Back then life was simple, back then he wasn't concerned with what others thought of him. Back then he enjoyed life.

Another piercing scream echoed through the empty halls of the hospital.

Squall was bored. He thought back to Rinoa. His one and only friend. Squall admitted she was his best friend. He never forgot her but he did find it somewhat irritating that she apparently forgot him. She was supposed to come visit. That was 6 years ago. Squall remembered his mother even taking the matter into her own hands after a year of silence.

Flashback

"Squall, I'll call them. I'm sure Julia probably just forgot. Your friend will be here before you know it!" Raine cheerfully stated.

Squall just sulked in his seat. The family had moved to Balamb. Some stupid island in the middle of the ocean with nothing more than a single school. Squall hated everything about Balamb. The air was always humid. The streets were always wet. The sun was always too bright. The clouds were always too dark. Most of all, he had no one to play with. Squall was horrible at making friends.

Raine ignored her child's sulking attitude. She practically skipped to the phone, obviously eager to talk to her friend again.

Raine dialed. Squall sulked.

"Hello Mr. Caraway! Is Julia there?"

Squall's head perked up. She was actually calling this time.

"She isn't there? Oh, okay, well is Rinoa there? My son would like to speak to her."

Squall stood up and walked over to the phone. At least he'd be able to speak to his only friend.

"Excuse me?"

Squall looked up at Raine, she seemed to have been offended.

"What do you mean 'good for nothing'? They're children! They need to have fun!"

Squall knew something wasn't going right. His mother never yelled.

"I hope you burn in hell!"

Squall was startled. Something really bad must have happened. Raine yelling was a rare occurrence. Raine swearing was unheard of.

Raine slammed the phone down and turned to where Squall had been sulking only to find him not there. She was about to look for him when she felt a tug on her pants. She looked down to see Squall almost in tears. Raine immediately bent down to comfort her child.

"I'm sorry Squall, I'm not sure if you'll be able to see Rinoa again." Silently Raine thought to herself, 'And I'll never see Julia again.'

End Flashback

Squall didn't really understand what happened that day. He just knew what his mother told him. He would never see Rinoa again.

Squall thought back to his happier times. Playing tag. Playing pranks. He hadn't done either since he had moved. Hadn't done anything fun for that matter in the last 7 years of his life. It was like he was at a stalemate in his life. He couldn't move and forget her, but he couldn't find a way to find her again either. Something big would have to happen for him to forget her. Something devastating.

Another piercing scream emitted from the room before a crying sound was heard. Something had changed. Squall got up off his chair to investigate. He glanced back at his two sisters. They wouldn't get lost. Not that he cared. He headed towards the door Laguna had vanished through down the hall. At least it was something to do.

Inside he saw his mother holding a baby. The baby was small, Squall couldn't believe he was ever that small. Then again he couldn't remember that far back. This was the first baby he had actually seen himself. Squall noticed that the baby's eyes were shut tight and it's small hands were grasping onto Raine's thumb. He had to admit it looked like a picture out of a storybook.

When Raine noticed Squall was with them, she lowered the baby so Squall could get a better look.

"Squall, say hello to your new baby sister. Ellone."

Two years later.

"Squwa! Squwa!"

Squall looked down at his annoying sister. The runt still couldn't pronounce his name right.

"Pone for you!"

Squall frowned. Just because he didn't have any friends to hang out with didn't mean he wanted to be stuck babysitting Ellone while his parents went out to company dinner parties. He had better things to do. Like study. Laguna was always telling him how important an education was to getting a high paying job to be able to afford the type of lifestyle he might want. Squall took it to heart. Since he didn't have to worry about the stupid notion of friendships, he buried himself in his homework. He was the top student in his class and had been ever since entering the school.

He glanced down the hall, neither Ashley nor Brittney were around. They always fought over answering the phone. Ellone seemed to have an affinity for him though. Maybe it was because Ashley and Brittney had each other. They never let Ellone play with them. So the 2-year-old would seek Squall to play with. He normally gave in. It was hard to turn down pouting eyes. At least, as long as they didn't come attached to a loudspeaker for a mouth like Ashley and Brittney's did.

Squall put his pencil down and trudged over to the phone. This better be quick. He had to study for the test coming up in a couple weeks.

"Hello?"

"Is this Squall Loire?" A man's voice came over the phone. Squall didn't recognize it as anyone he knew. Then again he didn't really know anyone.

"Yea, who's this?" Squall mumbled.

"This is the Balamb Hospital. We regret to inform you that your parents were in an accident earlier. Neither one survived the accident."

Squall blinked. "What?"

"Your parents are dead son."

Squall blinked again. "What do I do?" He was surprisingly calm.

"How old are you son?"

Squall didn't like the man calling him 'son' all the time. "14."

"Alright, I'll send a city professional to your house, his name is Craig Stevens. He'll help you get everything sorted out. I'm very sorry for your loss son." There was a pause on the other end. "If there's anything you need call 414-5029, it's my personal line, I'll do anything I can to help you. My name is Brett Bradford."

"Okay." Squall replied after he had recorded the names and number onto a sheet of paper. "Bye." Squall hung up.

So Raine and Laguna were dead? What would that mean now? What would that mean for him? What would it mean for his sisters? Squall looked down at Ellone. What would that mean for her?

Ellone was busy coloring in a coloring book. She wasn't coloring within any sort of lines, just in the book. Squall was relieved that she would be too young to understand what had happened. She might not even remember who their parents were. What they looked like. How much they cared.

Squall decided to stop thinking such sad thoughts, he didn't want to cry. He had to be strong now. He had to be strong for more than just himself. He had to be strong for his sisters. He had to be strong for Ellone.

Squall sighed. What was he to do now?

'I walk a lonely road'

Squall exited the house. The setting sun gave a sorrowful color to the atmosphere. Squall glanced to the garage. It had only been hours since a car stood there and a happy couple entered the car telling him to be careful. They were the ones who should have been careful.

'The only one that I have ever known'

Squall trudged on. He would walk towards school searching for a job. At least he wouldn't get lost. Before he turned the corner he glanced back at his house. He knew his existence had changed dramatically from a single phone call.

'Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone'

Squall carried on around the corner. A pizza shop, a barber shop, a dentist office. It made no difference; he applied to them all. If only one of them would work with his school schedule. If only one of them would work with his new duty to his sisters. If only one of them would work with him to take care of Ellone. If only one of them would hire him.

'I walk this empty street'

Squall exited the dentist office. Nobody had been in but he had slipped an application under the door. Maybe something good will come of it. He turned to the main boulevard.

'On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams'

It was the boulevard his parents had driven down when they first arrived in Balamb. Squall remembered being amazed at the ocean being so close. He remembered being excited, to think he could play hide'n'seek there with Rinoa when she came over. He remembered his father's joy of his new job just off a side street. He remembered his mother's joy as they drove down to the hospital to bring Ellone and his sisters into the world. He would later learn this was also the boulevard where a drunk driver hit his parents.

'Where the city sleeps'

It was getting dark. Squall didn't want to be here anymore. He needed to get back to Ellone and the others. They might be crying for dinner already. He couldn't fail them now. He would have to become an adult. A parent. He would become a single parent, a single parent of three, all at the age of 14.

'and I'm the only one and I walk alone'