Chapter 8: Father
Squall's POV: Though my face was straight and unnerving with emotionless expressions, inside I was shaking with fear and anger. How much did we all have to suffer? Why doesn't the pain inside stop? Every time I try to forget the pain of the past, it comes back to hit me at full force. All I wanted was the "things were finally looking up" phrase to come true in my life, but everything gets thrown down. I sat on my seat, waiting for graduation to come to an end. I've looked forward to this day with excitement, as a thought, but now I feel heavy with depression. I never thought that I would ever regret being 15. I'm sure the others are feeling the same about their new age.
"Squall Leonhart; please present yourself to the stage." My sensei called. I got up reluctantly.
"Squall has been the youngest gunblade master in the history of SOLDIER. I award you, your very own gunblade." The sensei smiled, giving me the blade. I took the blade and bowed.
"Sadly, you cannot be with us any longer. I wish you a safe journey, goodbye." The sensei bowed. I walked out of the doors, leaving everything I worked hard for behind. My friends stood outside waiting for me with grave expressions on their faces. I returned the same expression and hopped on the bus.
"Tell me, do you guys hate me? Tell me the truth." Ray asked us. I looked at her with a puzzled look.
"Don't you know the answer to that one Ray? I don't think anyone hates you." I replied.
"Squall is right. No one hates you for what you are and we are all involved so you can't push us away." Tifa scowled at Ray.
"I-I…" Ray was stunned at how Tifa responded. She looked angry and annoyed at Ray's question. "Hey, we're here." Cloud spoke with a frightened look. We got off the bus and stood in front of the house with memories coming back at us, hitting us at full force.
Ray's POV: I stood there along with the others, quiet and afraid. I took out my kunai knife.
"Stay here guys, I'm going in. Don't stop me because I have to do this." I told them.
"No, Ray! Don't even try!" Tifa shouted at me. "I told you not to stop me! You're always making things so complicated for me so stay out of it!" I shouted at her coldly. She took a step back, stunned.
"You know how dangerous it is so why do you insist on going alone?" Cloud asked me.
"I have to do this myself, this is my problem and you're not part of this so stay back." I snapped at him.
"…We are here for you so make sure you come out alive." Squall told me. I looked at him, surprised that he would let me go. He would probably be the one, who would try to stop me with all his power because he can be overprotective, but he let me go, he understood that I had to do this.
"Thanks Squall, I'll come back, I promise you all." I nodded. I walked toward the house, my heart pounding with every slow step. My hand slowly turned the doorknob and I was inside my home, my nightmare, my life.
Tifa's POV: I grabbed onto Squall's shirt with worry written all over my face.
"Why the hell did you let her go?" I shouted at him.
"She's okay, she's still alive alright?" He told her. I gripped at his shirt tighter and looked like I was about to scream.
"Uh, at least you don't hear a scream?" He tried. I looked at him with sadness and anger and started to bang my head at his chest.
"Ouch! Trust her would you? Let her do what she had to do years ago." He flinched. I let go and looked into his eyes.
"You're right Squall, I have to trust her. I've lacked the ability to do that lately I'm afraid." I told him. He gave me a small hug.
"Hey, letting her go was probably the hardest for me to do, but it is best." He smiled at me.
"Right, she has to find her father." I agreed.
"You always know what's right Squall, I'm glad." I acknowledged him. He blushed and scratched his neck, embarrassed.
"Ha, come on Squall, it's alright to brag." Cloud teased him.
"Shut up you two." He mumbled.
Ray's POV: I wandered around the living room remembering how my mother died. I saw her last smile before she went on without me. I touched the blood-stained carpet and scowled at the memory. It was so long, but the memory was too fresh and painful. I left the living room and went upstairs into my room and saw that nothing changed at all. It was an eerie feeling, almost forbidden. I held my used-to-be-favorite teddy bear, but instead of warmth and comfort, I felt cold and different. I put the bear back and sat on my small bed. The memories swarmed in my head, refusing to be quiet. I grasped my head and started my way downstairs, but I was stopped by a tall man with blood-red eyes and pitch black hair, father.
"…You've grown so much Ray." He hesitated. His voice, his appearance, he is the same person I knew since birth. Tears welled up in my eyes and I embraced him.
"…Dad, you don't know how much I longed to see you, the real you." I choked. He was shocked for a bit, but regained himself and held me tight.
"You shouldn't have come back. I couldn't pay for your education because the other me kept on fighting for many months, I'm sorry." He apologized.
"I don't care, as long as I see you again." I sniffed. He slowly pushed me away.
"You've transformed haven't you? Your hair and eyes, they're different and so are you." He observed. My heart felt heavy with guilt.
"It's my entire fault that you're like this. I wish that this never happened." Dad choked.
"If this never happened, then I wouldn't be born Dad, and I would never meet my friends. I-I don't want the good things to go away." I sobbed quietly. He rubbed my back and kissed me on the cheek.
"Come on, I need to show you some things before it's too late." He told me and led me downstairs. I was confused, what is he talking about? He handed me some papers which I quickly scanned.
"Dad! You can't be serious about getting us our own house!" I gasped. He nodded.
"I can't take care of you because of me. You'll also go to the school over there. Your new house is pretty far from here so thing will be okay. I already decorated it for you and stuff. All the food and extra stuff will come from your pocket. Everything else I paid for." He told me. I hugged him hard.
"Dad, I don't want to be separated from you! I want you back into my life! Everything in my heart hurt so much when I was at the school!" I cried.
"My dear daughter, never come back do you hear? Don't come back, leave everything behind and start a normal life, something I couldn't give you and something that you've always wanted." He whispered pushing me away. I reached out to him but he refused my hand.
"No, it's happening, isn't it Dad?" I asked him, tear-streaked. He nodded slowly.
"RUN AWAY RAY!" He screamed at me and started to transform. I could only stare at him in horror. His eyes turned blood-shot red and his teeth extended into fangs. I started to walk backwards, but froze when he stared straight at me. I fumbled around in my pocket for my kunai knife.
"GIVE ME BACK MY FATHER YOU DEMON!" I screeched at him.
"Ah, if it isn't my daughter, you've grown so much…You look a lot like me now, like father like daughter." He smirked. I charged at him with full speed, but he dodged to the left, grabbed my arm and flung me out the window.
Cloud's POV: We watched in horror and fright as Ray came crashing out the window, blood splashing onto the ground.
"Oh no, RAY!" We all cried in unison. We all went to help her, but we were suddenly knocked into the air and we crashed onto the hard, black street.
"Err…" I groaned. I quickly got back up and found myself face-to-face with Damien.
"You bastard, damn you!" I shouted at him. Suddenly, a flash of light blinded my eyes and knocked me back further.
"Gah!" I yelled.
"Cloud, are you alright?" Tifa called to me several feet away.
"Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure." I gasped. Tifa looked at Damien with anger and she attacked him with many fast combos. I was surprised, but took this opportunity to check on Ray.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked her. Squall went to back Tifa up.
"C-Cloud, uh, I'm alright." She responded. I got her up and put her arm on my neck while I held her waist.
"Ouch, he's strong, but we have to stop him." Ray stated.
"Can you fight?" I asked her.
"Silly question you ask, of course." She smirked. I grinned and put out my two hands to give her a boost. She stepped on it and I flung her towards Damien. She "flew" through the sky and came down at him with a heavy kick at his head which made him fly right over Tifa. I ran over towards them with my sword in hand.
"Good going you two." I acknowledged both Ray and Tifa. Squall came over with his gunblade in hand. "Hey, we're not finished yet." Squall stated.
"Wait, we should get out of here while we can." Ray told us. We had questioned expressions on our faces. She spud off and we hesitantly followed. It was hard to keep up with both Ray and Tifa because they were incredibly fast. To think I thought that Squall and I were fast, it must have been a dream. We stopped when we reached the border to the city. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, why must you be so fast?" I panted.
"Ray gave me a few papers. I scanned through it.
"Well, well, let's get going." I smiled.
Squall's POV: I grabbed the paper and scanned through it myself.
"Unbelievable, we have our own house?" I questioned Ray.
"Yes, I spoke to my dad, my real dad, and found that out recently. We will be going to the school there and he will pay for all expenses, except food and other things. That will come from our own pockets. This is our chance to live normal lives together." Ray told us. However, her face was covered with guilt and sadness.
"You're coming with us aren't you?" Tifa asked her. "…Yeah, I'm going too." She responded softly. Cloud went over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, we'll get your dad back, but right now we have to focus on ourselves." He comforted her. Ray looked at him with disbelieving eyes, but nodded.
"Let's go then, let's go home." I smiled. We walked the rest of the way and got there right before sunset. The house was magnificent. It looked like a mansion! It was a beautiful white house. Inside the house had 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, one large kitchen, one enormous living room, and a big game room. (I might change it into a training room instead though.) Everything inside was already set for us like the beds and furniture. I checked the bathroom and was shocked. I got to say, this is an excellent way to split girls and boys. This was a large bathroom all together, but it was split in half with a glass door that you can't see through. There was a toilet on both of the sides, a spa, a shower, and two sinks on both sides. The floor was made of a nice light tan marble. Wow, I never thought we would ever live this luxurious.
I went back downstairs and met Cloud in the living room reading.
"Hey, I was in the garage and saw that we have our own black convertible and a motorcycle. Ha, not that we'll be able to drive it yet. This note from Damien says that once you're 16 then you can drive. Since you already learned to drive at SOLDIER, then you'll get your license when you're of age." Cloud reported.
"Oh, alright then, where's Tifa?" I asked. "She must be in the garage with Ray checking out the car. I didn't know that girls like them would be so interested." Cloud and I chuckled. I went to the garage.
"Oyo, isn't this cool?" Ray asked me. Hmm, I thought she'd be too depressed to even be interested in a car. I guess Tifa worked her usual magic.
"Yeah, it's really nice." I sighed.
"…Yeah…" Tifa sighed. She looked like she was somewhere else.
"Who'd ever thought that we would live richly?" She suddenly asked. I walked out of the garage to go to bed.
Tifa's POV: "Is something wrong with Squall?" I asked Ray.
"…He's not used to the idea. This is so sudden and I'm not adjusted yet either." She responded plainly.
"…Maybe I'm not being sensitive enough." I said.
"Ha, what in the world are you talking about? He's fine, he just feels responsible for everything, he'll get out of it soon enough." She smiled. I nodded and we went out of the garage and found Cloud watching T.V. "Hmm, it feels like T.V. is so new to me." He grumbled. Ray put her hand on his head.
"Hey, don't we all feel that way? We don't even know how to cook." Ray chuckled.
"Oh no, now that you brought that up, we have to learn how to cook! Oh no, what are we going to eat everyday?" I fidgeted. Cloud and Ray looked at me with a confused and aggravated look.
"Stop looking at me like that, we aren't eating fast food everyday so we have to cook." I spat.
"…You're right, but we have to get those products that have instructions on them." Cloud said while changing channels. Ray stretched and patted me on the back.
"Stop being so worried. We have all the time in the world now. We don't even have to work with the huge amount of money we got from scholarships." Ray brought up. I sighed and went up to bed.
Cloud's POV: I flipped through the channels and sighed at the non-interesting programs. Ray sat next to me.
"Hmm, even with cable, there isn't much to watch." I mumbled to myself.
"Hey, remember the channel we used to watch when we were kids that had that famous person, um, or sport…Oh yeah, blitzball!" Ray exclaimed.
"That sport, I remember it. Jecht was our favorite, but I'm pretty sure he retired already." I told her. I turned to the channel and watched the blitzball overseer announce.
"Our dear Jecht has retired, but he is never gone! His blood still lingers in our hearts today and his son continues that bloodline! Welcome Tidus, the blitzball star of the Zanarkand Abes!" The announcer roared. A blond haired, dark-skinned kid about our age stepped up and bowed.
"Geez, kids are ruling this sport now." I scoffed.
"Hey, they say that kid is going to be in a school in this area." Ray said.
"Hmm, so that's the school we're going to right? Great, we'll have lots of fan girls in the way." I scowled.
"Poor guy, I know how it feels." Ray pitied me.
"Well not too many guys want to even try to get near you, though they secretly admire you." I laughed.
"Funny guy aren't you, well we can't expect good things to come from a public school. It makes you feel superior somehow, like they are all lowly roaches with no lives." Ray bragged.
"I must admit that that's how I feel as well, but that's a bit harsh isn't it?" I asked her and turned her way.
"I don't know what you are talking about. We aren't saints so why can't you just call them worthless fools?" Ray smirked.
"I have to say, I like your attitude more and more. If it was the old Ray, she would probably smack me at the back of my head." I laughed.
"Nah, she wouldn't do that either. She would just giggle and tell you that's not nice." Ray corrected me. I looked at her with pity.
"Hey…" I started.
"No, I'm alright, thanks for your concern, but I'm alright with it now." She responded before I asked. I turned back to the T.V.
"Well, I'm going to bed now, so have fun." Ray informed me and went up. I flipped through the channels and finally turned it off, going upstairs to sleep as well.
Chapter 8 is done finally. Wah, since school is coming so close for me, I might not be able to keep writing for a while. ANYHOW, are thing really going well for them? Will they truly live normal lives or will something bad happen again? Next, Chapter 9: Carnival Fun.
