Epilogue – Final: The Simple Life…Sort Of
The warm sun shone brightly overhead as the young couple walked hand-in-hand down the dirt road, their footsteps kicking up dust as they made their way toward the main part of a village surrounded by brightly-colored flowers.
"Wow…I'd forgotten how quiet and peaceful it is here," Selphie murmured in awe as she took in their surroundings.
"You've been here before?" Squall asked, surprised by her statement.
"Well, sort of…" she replied, puzzled by his question before she realized why he had asked. "Oh, that's right; I was 'connected' to Mr. Kiros when he found Sir Laguna and went on patrol with him."
"Of course…" Squall replied, his own somewhat-embarrassing memories returning. "So, do you like the peace and quiet? I remember how excited you were about Esthar; didn't you say you wanted to live there?"
"Yeah, I did…" she admitted, looking down at the road as she swung their arms. "But, you know…" She sighed contentedly. "…I think that after getting closer to you, I kinda like the idea of quiet; it's fun being around a lot of people and having noisy fun with them, but…" She started to nibble on her lower lip as her face took on a thoughtful expression.
Squall glanced over at his love, then smiled to himself as he returned his gaze to the village off in the distance. "If it helps, I like the quiet because it gives me a chance to think; to, uh… to be alone with my thoughts and refine them. If I have other people talking around me, it's like their thoughts get mixed up with mine."
Selphie came to an abrupt stop and pointed at him with her free hand. "That's it! Well, something like that."
"Is that why you're okay with living in Winhill?" he asked as they started to walk again.
"Well, partly," she admitted as they came to the chocobo crossing, where a pair of adults plus their offspring were busy trotting across the road; surprisingly, the oversized birds seemed unfazed by the presence of the humans. "Honestly, I've been thinking about your mom's bar ever since that 'dream' and thought it would be sad if the place was neglected; or worse, changed so much that we wouldn't recognize it."
"I see…" he replied, warmed by the sentiment as the last chick passed and they were able to continue on their way. "Did you want to reopen the bar or something?"
"Something like that," she replied, then giggled. "Honestly, I've been thinking of making it into a juice bar."
"A juice bar?" Squall repeated, turning surprised eyes on his girl.
Her stride faltered. "W-Would that be okay?"
His pace slowed, and he blinked several times as he processed her idea. "I'd…never thought about it, to be honest. I don't see a problem with it…other than where we'd get the fruit for all the amazing drink ideas you'd come up with."
"Squall…" she giggled as she playfully whapped his arm. Then a flock of birds flying overhead drew her gaze to the clear, blue sky. "Do you know when Zell and Sally and the others are supposed to be back?"
"Their last transmission indicated that they should be back in the next day or so," he replied easily. "Looking forward to seeing them again, I take it?"
"Of course!" she chirped. "I've missed than soooo much, and I'll bet they'll have sooooo many cool stories to tell us when they get back!"
"I'm sure you're right," Squall chuckled with a gentle smile; truth was, he'd missed them during the prior six months as well, but his responsibilities as Garden commander and commodore of the blossoming space fleet kept him busy enough to keep the feelings of loss at bay.
Selphie beamed at him with a giggle as they entered Winhill's town square and headed over to the old bar where many memories had been made…and later relived. "Wow, it looks almost the same as I remember it…in Mr. Kiros' memories, I mean."
"It does look the same," Squall agreed as he took in the large structure. Then, he released her hand to reach into his pocket and pull out a key. As he worked on unlocking the front door he asked, "Have you decided when you're going to contact your family?"
"I..." Selphie nibbled on her lower lip as she tried to keep the tears from forming; after Squall had finally come to terms with his own family due to the 'gift' from Ellone and Laguna he had asked his 'Sis' if she would be willing to do the same for the other orphans. After all, Squall had thought himself an orphan for a long time, but it turned out he still had a living parent, so perhaps one or more of the others weren't as 'orphaned' as they had believed. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case with Selphie; when Ellone had sent her back into her own past, she ended up seeing her parents perish in a collapsing building – the result of one of Adel's mad attempts to find a 'vessel' for her power and control. However, she was able to discover the identities of several extended family members who had relocated to Balamb, interestingly. "I'm not sure I'm ready. I mean, they're not going to know who I am, are they?"
"How would I know?" Squall replied as the door clicked. "There we go." He turned to face her fully. "But how will you know until you take the chance and try to visit them? You know I'll be right there with you, right?"
"I…I know," she acknowledged, giggling as a tear spilled over onto her cheek. "Good grief, look at me; nervous about meeting people."
"First time for everything," Squall quipped with a gentle smile along with an understanding wink. "Don't beat yourself up over it, okay? After all, Sis hasn't done this for the others yet; I'm sure you'll have time."
"True," she replied as she blotted her eyes with the back of her hand. "Man, I bet Zell will flip out at the chance."
Squall reached for the doorknob, then paused. "He might have trouble with it; he has a mom now, right?" He opened the door to let his girl pass first.
"Ooo, that's true…" she mused as she led the way into the old bar; there was still a smell of alcohol, however faint. "If his real mom's still alive… Yeah, that could be a problem. Well, we'll just have to be there for him. For all of them. Even Seifer," she finished with an impish grin over her shoulder.
"Right," Squall replied with a grin of his own, not taking the bait as he followed her in. His mood then turned more somber. "Listen, Selphie…?"
Something in the tone of his voice caused her to face him with a look of concern. "Is something wrong?"
He rubbed at the back of his neck as he tried to figure out how to give voice to his thoughts. "Listen… Are you really okay with all this? With me?"
Her expression shifted to one of fondness as she stepped forward to take his hands in hers; he'd expressed his self-doubt several times over the last year, and she had become somewhat accustomed to it. She actually found his insecurity charming…in its own way. "Hey, I'm the one who chased you down, right?"
"Well, yeah."
"And I'm the one who put myself out there, telling you how I wanted – well, want – to be there for you and all that, right? And we have a wedding date set, right?"
"That's…true," he grunted, starting to regret the stupidity of his question. "Sorry, I guess that after….you know." He suddenly couldn't look her in the eye, though he kept hold of her hands, and it didn't take a genius to recognize that he was referring to his prior relationship with Rinoa.
"I know." She angled her head and looked up onto his distressed face before releasing his hands to wrap him in an embrace. "It's okay, Squall," she murmured with her cheek pressed against his chest. "For what it's worth, I feel like I'm right where I belong." She then felt a shudder from him before he placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her away to look her in the eyes again. He started to lower his head toward hers, and she closed her eyes in anticipation of-
ch-chirp
Squall grunted in annoyance at the timing of the communication. "I swear; sometimes it's like I'm in a bad rom-com," he grumbled as he unzipped his coat to access the handheld communicator tucked in his jacket's inside pocket; it was more powerful and had a greater range than the badges used while on Garden grounds. He tapped the button to connect more firmly than necessary. "Squall here."
"Communication from the Lionheart, sir," the familiar voice of Communications Officer Dawn Barton reported; another reminder to Squall that he had taken way too long in proposing to Selphie. That, and a prior transmission had included a request from Seifer for 'permission' to become Rinoa's Knight; it wasn't hard to see the subtext that the two had likely become involved again.
Squall glanced at his companion. "Put it through, please."
"It's just two words, sir; 'Look up'."
The pair reflexively looked up in time to hear a 'pop' as the E.S.S. Lionheart appeared high in the sky, seemingly out of nowhere, and angled to head toward the village. "I see them," Squall said, lifting his communicator closer to his mouth. "I'll take it from here."
"Very good, sir. Barton out."
Squall absently tapped the button to close the communication only for the device to chirp again almost immediately, and he glanced at it to find 'video request' on its screen, so he tapped the comm. button again. "Squall here."
Captain Seifer Almasy's face appeared on the small screen, and Squall was amazed at how…different he looked; he didn't look old by any stretch of the imagination, but he did look…seasoned. There was no trace of smugness or arrogance in his expression as he spoke. "This is Captain Seifer Almasy of the E.S.S. Lionheart, requesting permission to land."
Squall was surprised by his former rival's adherence to protocol, even though the two of them knew each other too well. "Permission granted, captain; welcome home."
"Thank you, sir."
Squall blinked, surprised yet again. "Contact Chief Quistis McCormick at Balamb Garden for landing procedures."
"Understood." Seifer then paused just noticeably. "Sir, two of my crew are…" He pushed his mouth to the side, apparently in thought. "My chief engineer and science officer would like to transport down to see you; their request."
Squall glanced over at Selphie, who was positively glowing. "As long as you're okay with it, captain, then I'm fine with it." He figured it wouldn't take long for the ship to touch down, let them off, then head off officially for home.
"They'll be transporting shortly, then," Seifer concluded. "Lionheart out."
Squall waited until the captain's image vanished from the communicator's screen before disconnecting his end. "Well, it'll be good to see them again," he said as he pocketed the device. "Now, where were we…?"
"You were about to kiss me," Selphie replied, a blush threatening to take over her face.
"R-Right…" Squall said, suddenly feeling awkward; then his eyes widened slightly in response to a slight twinge in his right leg. "Aw, don't tell me…"
"Is something wrong?" Selphie asked with a worried look as she stepped up to lay her hands on his cheeks.
"I…I'm fine," he replied, hoping she wouldn't see him furtively patting his leg in an effort to make the rapidly-forming cramp go away.
She smiled up at him as she reached up to loop her fingers behind his neck, drawing his face toward hers to-
"Yo! We're home-whoa…"
Squall and Selphie nearly jumped away from each other, startled by the sudden intrusion, and they turned as one to find the Dinchts just inside the bar, staring at them in wide-eyed surprise. "Welcome home, guys!" Selphie chirped, her face nearly aflame as she rushed toward her friends with arms open wide. "It's been so long!"
"Yes, it has!" Science Officer Sally Dincht squeaked as she found herself suddenly wrapped up in an excited embrace. "Oh, it's so good to see you again, chief-er, Selphie!"
As the women talked excitedly, Zell ambled up to his old adventuring buddy and stuck out a hand. "Long time no see, bud."
"Zell…" Squall greeted with a smile, the warmth spreading from his heart throughout his slender form. "Good to see you, too."
The Lionheart's chief engineer released the commodore's hand to cross his arms. "Bet you're wondering how Salsa and I got down here so quickly."
"The thought had crossed my mind, yes," Squall admitted, starting to feel his prior embarrassment returning at the recent memory of being 'caught'.
"Well…" Zell started, throwing his arm around the other man's shoulders. "While we were out there, Salacious and I started talking on our off-hours about how we could transport people off the ship without needing another vehicle."
"Zell!" Sally's scolding tone intruded. "You promised that I could tell them about it!"
"Whoops!" Zell yelped with his hands raised. "Sorry, babe; totally vaped on that."
"Let's get something to eat, and you can tell us all about it," Selphie said, gesturing to the door. "The hotel across the square has a restaurant."
"Speaking of food," Zell started, making a show of looking around the old bar as he and Sally followed Selphie out the door, "you planning on doing something with these digs?"
"We'll talk at the restaurant," Squall replied as he joined the others on the front deck of the building. He then smiled to himself as he locked the front door, thinking about the way life had made a turn for the better, with Seifer having a new purpose, Irvine with a woman who could actually handle him, Zell and Sally with their new relationship…
He nodded approvingly at the sight of his friends plus fiancée as they headed toward the hotel, chatting happily. As for me… I feel like I'm right where I belong.
Rough Draft Complete