AN: To start off, i want to thank all the people who reviewed the previous chapter. Your feedback was appreciated. :-)
On a sidenote...
Has anyone else seen Outlaw Star? I have been rewatching it recently. Is it just me or does that have a well crafted plot...an intricate universe...well thought out characters...and a short as hell storyline? I dunno about you guys, but i want more outlaw star! The whole caster system is just friggin cool!
Now then, on with the story.
Well not quite. I was quite worried about my portrayel of Squall and Rinoa as i found them both to be more ooc than i usually write thm. It was only recently that i remembered why i originally wrote this fiction. Both thier parents live. Squall wouldnt be AS cold and heartless because of that, and even Rinoa would be at least a little different if her mother lived.
I had made mentio nof thier parents in the first few chapters...and then forgot about it. Shame on me. Well this chapter is to help correct that error, so enjoy reading it.
"Excuse me. Oh I'm sorry, I must have the wrong room." At the door to a familiar classroom stood a woman with long brunette hair that flowed down her back. While a few stray wrinkles revealed she was about forty-ish, the lady remained one that could snatch a double take from just about any man. She remained by the door side confused about where she ended up with a little lopsided smile on her face. This was supposed to be the right room. She had come here many times before…but this time she didn't find what she was looking for.
"Its Mrs. Loire!" shouted out that familiar bossy blond girl with glasses. Rinoa had learned quite early on that this one tended to keep the other children in control. It had certainly helped to keep that particular child happy these past few weeks. It made her job that much easier.
Rinoa put down the chalk as she was helping the children solve a rather tedious math problem and slowly made her way to the door with a smile on her face. "Can I help you?" She did appear to be looking for someone. Maybe she was the parent of one of her students. Oddly enough she had yet to meet any of them. It was probably too dangerous to have so many people drill her on her qualifications.
"Yes I'm looking for my Squall, my-" Unfortunately Raine was interrupted by the substitute teacher. Not just by the words Rinoa spurted out, but the brief but apparent glowing smile that flew across Rinoa's face at the mention of his name. Odd. She hadn't seen any girl react to him that way before.
Yes being the mother of Squall Leonhart was a rather unusual title to hold. The first of many reasons being that most people could hardly believe that someone who looked so young could have a child as old as Squall. But that was hardly the child's fault, now was it?
He was always an odd little boy, clinging to familiarity wherever he could find it. From the day he was born he constantly sought out his adopted sister for companionship. It was from that day on she had a feeling the two would never be alone so long as they had each other to support one another.
Though in truth, it often made Raine feel like an extra in a poorly written play. Sometimes at least. Her little boy had become quite the mama's boy as well growing up, often clinging to her leg whenever meeting strangers or even slightly afraid. She was still the one he came crying to whenever he skinned his knee or got picked on. Raine never felt a lack of love from her child, but what mother couldn't help but want more? This was one of those times it was ok to be selfish.
It warmed her heart to know that she was one of the few women in his life that he kept in touch with constantly. Raine worried when her son didn't call for an extended period of time. It usually meant he was out on a mission of sorts. Let's face it, no matter how strong someone is, a mission always has an element of danger along.
"Oh Squall! Well…I imagine he must be in his office right now." Come to think of it, Rinoa had never seen him do much outside of his office, the training room, or their dorm. That's right…their dorm. The two were still having a strange living arrangement until further living quarters could be freed up. That's alright. Rinoa was willing to 'rough it' on the sofa for a while.
"I see." Damn. She was hoping to catch her son here. Wait…Squall? It was ok for her to say Squall. She was the boy's mother. Everyone else around here, staff included, called him Mr. Leonhart or Commander. The only other people to get away with it was the children and a few select friends and Raine had met all of the people he considered one of those. Why was this one left out? Time for a mother's inquisitive and protective nature to take over.
"How do you know him, if you don't mind my asking?"
That was the question Rinoa had fought long and hard to avoid asking. It was difficult enough to deal with a classroom full of children with wild imaginations and limitless creativity, but this woman looked like she could be a bit of a challenge.
"Squall? Uh…He was….the one to help me get settled in here." That sounded believable enough, even though administrative duties like this fell outside the jurisdiction of the base commander. Doh…
"Really? I thought Quistis was the one who helped teachers along through the orientation." Hyne only knows what condition the school would be in if Quistis wasn't around to make things better. Squall was adept at bringing about change and chaos, whereas Quistis could return order to the most bleak of situations.
'Come on Rinoa! You can pull through this. If you can escape from the Galbadian army while disguising yourself as a SeeD and landing yourself in what is probably the most secure military institution on the planet…then surely you can fool her!' The truth is, you don't become a resistance movement without learning to adapt and to think quickly on your feet.
"Squall used to take care of these children, so he thought he would be the best person to help me get adjusted." There! That sounds like it could be true. Wait…it technically was…making it the best lie/cover story of them all!
Raine stepped backwards just slightly and let herself take in Rinoa's appearance for a moment. She found herself doubting Squall's apparent true motives for helping this young woman…get adjusted. Her son might be cold and a bit of a loner at times around other people….but he was still a man.
"I see. Well I'll be going then…Ms..?" Yep, Raine would be going alright. Right to the directory to get some more information on this….this….hussy!
"Heartily. Ms. Heartily." The name reverberated throughout Mrs. Loire's head like a bad nightmare coming back to haunt you through the day. Heartily? Could it be? Was this woman the daughter of…? How many Heartilys could there possibly be?
Was she….stunned? Shocked? Appalled? Or maybe…maybe the emotion that came more predominantly over her now was relief. Relief at finding a Heartily? The potential daughter of the woman who almost…..?
Too many questions racing through your mind at any given time? Terrible feeling isn't it? Best solution to the problem? Run away and think things through later.
Squall would have quite a bit of explaining to do. There is no way he would have overlooked something so blaringly obvious.
"Would you like me to phone Squall and let him know you are coming?" An honest enough request, even though she did feel like talking to him anyways. What…it wasn't love. She just needed to…flirt with him more for purely logical reasons relating to her cause. That's all.
"She just wants an excuse to talk to her boyfriend!" The boy who came forward with that comment was shot with a deadly glare that could pierce through stone. Looks like class was getting double homework today.
That last comment left a suspicious feeling in the pit of Raine Loire's stomach as she continued to digest the plethora of information offered by this accidental meeting. Just what had she stumbled on and how badly was she overreacting?
"No…I need to go into town for a moment. I'll talk to him later." And with that she went off quickly down the hallway before she caught herself saying anything ridiculous to the teacher. In the end it could all be one cosmic coincidence. A joke on Hyne's part to throw everyone into a bit of confusion.
This girl….she couldn't possible be the daughter of Julia. It just couldn't be? Or maybe…maybe it was too dangerous to hope it was.
Confused by the rather odd encounter and quick departure by their guest, Rinoa did the only thing she could do in a given situation. Consult a child for advice.
She walked over to the know it all blond and knelt down by her desk so she could speak in a whisper so no one else could listen in. Naturally the rest of the class all accidentally dropped their pencils so they could lean in and pick up bits and pieces of their conversations. This is where the juicy gossip of the class flowed.
"Who was that?'
"Mrs. Loire?" That sounded like a dumb question. The last name alone should have been a dead give away to who her husband was. Oh wait! The last name must be what's also throwing her off! "That's Squall's mother."
A brief crash was heard as Rinoa fell to the floor in shock.
"Hey! Commander Puberty! Are you in there!" Squall's day had started out well enough. He woke up, showered, changed, and made his way to work just as he had many times before. While there wasn't anything especially good about the day, there hadn't been anything especially bad either. Then again, that was until Seifer fought his way into the commander's office. "Stop hiding from me!"
The doors burst open as the blond kicked them open. Behind him a very frantic young secretary was almost cowering behind her desk at this rather unorthodox display coming from an elite SeeD. Hmm… she was new here. 'Guess I should have told her about Seifer.'
Well at least it would makes things a bit more interesting around here. Frankly life was getting a bit boring stamping out endless piles of papers with names and information he wont remember ten minutes from now. He was the bloody commander, not the freaking headmaster. This was supposed to be outside of his jurisdiction. Yet somehow Cid and Edea always managed to guilt him into getting this work done.
"What do you want now?" He leaned forward on his desk and rested his cheek against one hand as he awaited this latest outburst. Too many things ticked Seifer off and he wasn't afraid to voice his displeasure with any situation.
"Your mother!" No. this wouldn't be a bad string of 'Your mama' jokes as to people turned comedy into a dual of sorts. This was a legitimate complaint against someone's mother. "Hyne! The second I ran into her in the parking lot, she started scolding me again!"
'Don't laugh….that will upset Seifer more….Don't laugh…..don't laugh…you're a highly trained cold and emotionless killing machine….you will not laugh….'
At that precise moment the memory of what happened the last time his mother came to the garden appeared. His mom grabbed Seifer by the ear and dragged him away from a bunch of cadets he was flirting with while complaining that a boy his age should act more grown up. Needless to say that had effectively diminished Seifer's hard earned reputation as the garden.
Hang on a minute….that means…"My mom is here?" This was not good. Quite the contrary, this was very bad. He had spoken to her several times over the past few weeks and he had made no mention of Rinoa. Should his mother so much as learn that Rinoa Heartily was here, things could get quite complicated.
"Of course she is you dimwit! She didn't berate me again over the phone!" The raging blond took a seat across from Squall's desk and propped his feet up upon it while leaning back in frustration. "A guy just can't act himself with someone's mother hovering around. You need to warn us when she comes around like that!" For that time period alone, Seifer would at least try to act like a gentleman.
Having released a little bit of rage, Seifer had actually calmed down quite a bit. He was much more placid after he started seeing….someone.
He brought his hands up behind his head and looked over with a smirk. "So, what happened to you today?" It would be great to hear how Mrs. Loire embarrassed Squall. Though to be honest he had yet to hear a story like that.
Much to his dismay, there would be no further telling of such humorous tales as Squall was no longer seated across from him, but instead launched himself like a rocket down the hallway and towards the elevator.
"Hey! Don't you run away from me when I'm talking to you!" However Squall was too preoccupied to hear the half threat coming from his friend and rival.
Absolutely disgusted with the lack of respect a warrior of his caliber had been treated with Seifer slumped further into his chair. 'Humph. No respect.'
His mood was quickly lifted when he saw a faint blue glow off the window behind Squall's chair. The bloody idiot had left in a hurry without signing off of the system. Hmm, looks like Seifer could do a little snooping while the commander was away. If anyone came in all he had to say was that he was shutting it off after their leader had burst out of here. It sounded plausible enough.
It wasn't a need to snoop that made Seifer do it….but out of limited concern. Squall had been rather odd these days. He was almost a total recluse before, but now he seemed to spend even less time with other people. If he wasn't working or training, you could guarantee that he was in his dorm room hidden away from the rest of the world.
Of course someone like Seifer never needs to justify their actions. He simply sat down in Squall's chair and started digging away.
The world was a dizzying haze of nausea as all Rinoa could see was a blurred outline of a figure sitting over in the corner. A rush of confusion hit her as she slowly began to recount the events of the day and just what led to her…..irrational response.
"Better?" A simple one worded question that got straight to the point. It had to be Squall sitting over there. The fact he was here assured her that he knew the events of the day, and perhaps comforted her that he cared.
"Yeah…" not much was worse than falling unconscious for a minute or so from shock. Although hitting her head against a desk on her way down did do enough damage to keep her out for quite a bit longer.
"So you met-" Hmm. Can't think of much to say here, so stating the obvious seemed like the way to go.
"Yeah…" This was awkward. Meeting his mother, him sitting here like this. The whole situation was just awkward. How was she supposed to react to meeting the mother of the man she was trying to seduce for her own gain? It's not like she did this kind of thing for a living!
Squall stood up from his seat across the room and approached her with a glass of water. Rinoa pulled herself upright and sat up in the bed and rubbed her eyes before accepting the drink and regaining at least some composure.
"I think I made a fool of myself." Ehh, wrong. Correction. She did make a fool of her self. No doubt about it.
"So I heard." Right…smooth….real good with the words aren't ya buddy?
"Excuse me!?" How dare he judge her! It wasn't like he knew her well enough to do that! And therein lays the problem.
"Sounded funny to me." Oh Hyne…then she must have seemed like a bigger idiot than she thought if Squall of all people found that funny.
"All I did was faint!" Rinoa crossed her arms and tilted her nose up just a little bit as she turned her head away in annoyance. The nerve of some men!
"Well you did hit your head on the way down. Seems like a bit of overreaction to me." He did have a point. Its not like she had insulted anyone, besides herself that is.
"I can't help where I fall when I faint! Meany!" There, that point should get him!
'Meany? What is she 12!?' Certainly not. No twelve year old could have legs that don't stop and a chest you couldn't help but stare at if didn't catch yourself. "Yes but you didn't have to faint in the first place, now did you?"
Aha, a point that had Rinoa speechless for a moment. Well in all fairness she was just knocked out. Witty responses would take some time.
"It seems like very strange behavior if you ask me." Squall quietly circled the bed making his way to the other side as he concluded his thoughts. "It looks like you have been hiding something important. Something about you that you were scared would get out into the open."
The world seemingly slowed down and sped up at the same time as Rinoa found herself heavily breathing and sweating under this mock interrogation. Something she had done had tipped him off. Or maybe he was just too tired not knowing who she really was while she continuously tried to gain his favor.
There was no denying it at this point.
Squall leaned down and let his face hover just inches away from Rinoa's as his eyes pierced hers looking for truth…looking for answers to questions he hadn't asked. All she wanted to do at the moment was to look away and not face what was to come next, but such a luxury would not be provided for her.
There was no denying it in deed. She wasn't just pretending to flirt with him. From the beginning she could tell he was someone she liked. Yet the more she told herself she was acting the more apparent it became that Rinoa was only trying to fool herself. Deception seemed to be the name of the game with their 'relationship' and that was hardly a sturdy basis for one.
It was all over now. He would want to know who she really was and where she really came from.
Squall's face continued to hover just inches away from her own with an almost hypnotic stare as he took in her every twitch. He reached up with one hand and moved aside a piece of disheveled hair as he asked the question that needed to be answered before anything else happened.
"Who am I to you?"
Was that the question anyone was expecting at the end? I have been trying to work on just how much irony i have in my stories...given my name at least.
Well, as always, your comments, questions, and overall reviews are eagerly awaited. Until next time, take care guys!
