Author's Notes – Guess the streak continued. Darn. I blame inexplicably obtaining a, how do you call it, so-called 'life' over the summer. Yes, a foreign concept, I know. In any event, hope you all like the little Squall Day update!

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Chapter XXV – Don't Tell Me it's Over Now

This was the homecoming I never wanted.

I had not stepped into some sort of time warp back to three years ago when I crossed the threshold of the mansion like I'd expected. I was greeted with binders upon binders filling up any available space in the living room shelves, stacks of books cluttering up the long dining room table, a thin but distinct layer of dust was caked on every nook and cranny that was not disturbed by recent displacement and setting down of reading materials and loose-leaf papers. I didn't want to know what had my father so engrossed to the point of forgetting how freakishly-anal he usually was about tidying up and his mantras about 'the importance of maintaining a professional-looking living space and personal appearance' when I was growing up. I wanted to believe that maybe this was the result of a week's worth of whirlwind research and full-on assault by some kind of dust fairy but I knew better than to believe in fantastical excuses – especially considering the fact that I had evidence from earlier that suggested that my father hadn't been skinned and worn from some tentacle monster from outer space for some elaborate trick.

And if I was ever in doubt of this, I was once again reminded of my father's similarity to the man he was years ago - namely when he immediately divorced me from Squall and Nurse Bear's company; I didn't even have the chance to invite them to sit down on the only couch that wasn't festooned with papers and binders before I found myself in the upstairs study-slash-guest room. Though I'm pretty sure they could have figured out that they could sit there on their own…none of this made me feel particularly optimistic about what I was going to be told now that I've plunked myself down on the edge of this crisply-made bed. Not even the lightly-wafting aroma of a nearby lavender air freshener could settle my nerves now.

As shallow breaths struggled to fill my lungs, I carefully watched my father pick up a chair from the nearby computer desk opposite the bed and place it right in front of me, purposely leaving a sizeable gap in between us. Without much fanfare, he sat himself in it.

And I waited for the moment when I wouldn't be forced to be deafened by the sound of my heart frantically thumping against my chest.

I dreaded it in equal measure.

…Then the bough finally broke when he broke eye contact.

The man I knew years ago would have never faltered like that period, never mind crack within less than a minute. It was a most unfathomable thought.

"I always knew this day would come." he sighed as his right thumb and forefinger rubbed the inside corners of his eyes. "I just didn't know how it would manifest."

If it was at all possible, my beating heart plummeted to my feet.

"What…do you mean you 'knew this day would come?'" I asked in a voice no louder than a mousey squeak. "…How?"

The fleeting moment of weakness seemingly dissipated as raised his head and moved his hand away from his face, resting his palm on his knee.

"The story I'd been told…was that the moment the sorceress died all those years ago, her body involuntarily passed her powers to those who were physically closest to her at the time. Your great-great-great-grandfather's wife Lenore was one of them. Since then, every single one of her descendants has not experienced anything other than a light fever for a few days and a lightening of the irises during a transition, with or without vaccine. Myself included."

"Ok, so I'm…confused." I admitted, anger starting to bubble beneath the surface of my skin, "Why am I different then? And more importantly, why didn't you tell me? Wouldn't you think that's, I don't know, kind of important info to let me in on?"

"According to the texts, only women can be full-fledged sorceresses. The Caraway line has not seen any female descendants until you were born." he explained. "I didn't tell you for your own safe-"

I immediately crossed my arms. "-My safety? I find that hard to believe." I protested. "I could have suffered from sort of side effect and been scared out of my mind because I wouldn't have the faintest clue why. Oh wait, that did happen. Good thing the side effect wasn't me setting myself on fire or something like that…though the power surge I had was definitely no picnic."

"-I'm not going to argue about this." he brusquely replied, shutting me down like he always had in the past. "The plan your mother and I had settled on when you were born was to find texts on sorcery to educate ourselves adequately before explaining the situation to avoid unnecessarily frightening you in the event that gender made no difference. The texts were much harder to find than we'd anticipated and you were even harder to convince to come back home by the time I'd found some."

Naturally, my ears perked up at this. I also blinked hard for good measure. I…almost wanted to believe that he hadn't fully left me in the dark on purpose. I couldn't make that stretch to completely believing him though – there was still the pesky 3 year-old chocobo in the room. Apparently those suckers weren't limited to hospital rooms.

"So why not say that you had big news that you didn't want to say over at the centre? I might have listened to you then." I pointed out.

"Because I know how stubborn you were and still are. You would have forced me to explain on the spot and that was not an option."

In spite of myself, I wrinkled my nose at his answer. He…had me there.

"Touché." I sighed, "Though…what I don't get, well, the tip of the 'I don't get' iceberg…if there was no set time frame for this transition, why give up and declare me a lost cause and just randomly pull this escape plan? Or…wait. Nurse Bear, she was your eyes, wasn't she?"

"You would be correct." he confirmed. "I approached her after the incident with your friend since she seemed to know more than the others about the particulars of the event. She offered to keep me updated for any changes in your condition and after she proved to be trustworthy, I informed her of the situation once it was evident that she had her own suspicions about you."

"So was it always in the cards to come spring me out of there? Nurse Bear said that tonight was a risk on a lot of levels so…something obviously didn't go to plan."

"The plan was to have you come to your senses and check out of the facility yourself." he frankly answered. "Remy's text to Allison tonight made it impossible wait any longer despite the attention your absence would naturally draw. They might seek you out but legally, there is no recourse if you left out of your volition. The question is whether or not they would risk exposure of their unethical research for whatever boon your condition could bring to it."

"Well…" The bile was rising in my throat. "Do you think they'll…?"

"-Undoubtedly."

Now it threatened to escape it. Did I dare ask? Or would I be better off shutting off my brain and just go with the flow of the plan he undoubtedly had up his sleeve? Thinking on it for a moment, I knew which choice was the correct one.

And so I dared to make myself violently ill.

"Ok. Then…will I ever…" The words died on the tip of my tongue as my courage turned into bravery and then into faltering bravado; saying them would mean things would become real and I couldn't take them back.

But it didn't matter whether the words existed to the man in front of me, he already knew. I could tell by his eyes.

"I…can't guarantee anything Rinoa."

I'd never seen them this glassy before.