"…"
"You said it. Poor Laguna," Kiros whispered back. "I mean look at the man. The kid doesn't speak to him for two weeks and he's a wreck." The two men stared at Laguna, who was gazing out the window at the child in the courtyard.
"I wonder what he's thinking…" Ward shrugged.
Laguna watched Squall quietly, leaning on his crutch. Squall had quit speaking to him again as soon as he had gotten over the shock of the Presidential Palace. The child would barely even acknowledge Laguna's presence in a room sometimes. He sighed. This was hard. He wished Squall would give him a break, but the small boy missed the orphanage and blamed Laguna for taking him away from it.
"Laguna?" Kiros said, taking a step forward. "…Laguna?" he tried again.
"…What is it?" Laguna replied, turning his head slightly. Kiros swallowed. Laguna had become increasingly moody within the past few weeks and Kiros had no desire to make him angry. He had a feeling that underneath the skin, Laguna was not someone to piss off.
"Um… You have a meeting right now," Kiros answered. Laguna glanced out the window again, contemplating whether to tell Kiros to stuff it.
"…Okay…" he replied after a brief pause. Kiros sighed in relief. Laguna reluctantly moved away from the window and limped down the hall toward his office. He opened the door and saw a man looking at the paintings on the walls of the room.
"Ahem…" Laguna coughed, making his presence known. The man turned around and Laguna was surprised to see Cid Kramer, as equally surprised, looking back.
"Laguna/Cid?" they said at once. "What are you-" they both stopped. Laguna motioned for Cid to go ahead.
"Laguna? What are you doing here? In the Presidential Palace?" Cid asked, raising an eyebrow. Laguna moved to his desk and sat on the edge.
"Um… I'm the President?" Laguna answered. Cid's mouth dropped open.
"YOU? What? How? Huh?" Cid said, eyes wide. Laguna shrugged.
"Long story… Now what can I help you with Cid?" Laguna said. Cid blinked and shook his head.
"Um… Well, I wanted to talk to the Pres- Um… you… about Garden," Cid replied uncertainly. Laguna cocked his head.
"Garden? What's that?"
"Its and idea Edea came up with…"
***
"I don't know. The idea sounds interesting though," Laguna said. Kiros shrugged.
"It's up to you, Laguna. We could fund them I guess. I'm sure the budget could handle it," he answered. Laguna nodded absently, deep in thought.
"Where's Squall?" he asked suddenly. Kiros glanced at his watch.
"Probably eating dinner right now."
"Cid has been shown to a guest room?" Kiros nodded. Laguna sighed and limped down the hallway. "Let Squall know that he's here… I'm not feeling very well. I'm gonna to go lie down." Kiros watched Laguna walk slowly toward his bedroom and sighed. Laguna was becoming very depressed and it was starting to rub off on everyone else around him. He was usually so cheerful, annoyingly cheerful sometimes, but a change had come over him. Suddenly Laguna wasn't the goofy klutz that everyone knew and loved. He had become cautious, thinking carefully before he acted, serious, and so bloody quiet. It was unnerving. He was acting the same way he had been the first time Kiros had met him, while they were in basic training. Kiros stood silently in the hallway for a few more minutes, thinking. Then he turned and went in search of Squall.
***
"What do you want? There is nothing here!" Brook cried hysterically as five soldiers ransacked her house.
"Leave us alone! We don't have anything!" Laguna shouted at them. One soldier stopped and studied them. He seemed to be the leader of the small unit.
"Why are you doing this? What have we done to you?" Brook said, tears running down her face as a vase shattered on the floor. The leader approached her.
"You attacked our peaceful town, destroyed our farms and killed our families," he answered narrowing his eyes.
"We didn't! Our government did that, not us! Why?!" she asked. The man slapped her.
"Because you are Galbadian," he replied. Laguna lunged for him.
"Don't touch her!" He growled, punching the man. The other four soldiers stopped searching and two of them grabbed Laguna. The others helped their commander up off of the floor. "Let go of me!" Laguna snapped defiantly. The commander stood up and rubbed his chin. He glared at Laguna and pulled his gun out of the holster. Laguna quit struggling and became quiet, his eyes still full of anger. The soldier narrowed his eyes and pointed the gun at Laguna, cocking it. Then he turned his arm and pulled the trigger.
"NO!" Laguna cried as Brook fell to the ground. He tore out of the hands of the men who were holding him. "Mom!?" Laguna fell to his knees, next to his mother. Tears ran down his cheeks as he pulled her limp form close. He watched as the floor underneath slowly turned a crimson colour. "Mom…" he whispered. "…Don't leave me."
Brook only stared blankly at the ceiling. She was dead. Laguna gazed numbly at his mother, the tears slowly stopping. He winced at the sound of a gun being cocked behind his head.
"Stand up," the voice ordered. Laguna placed his mother gently onto the floor and slowly stood up. "Turn around." Laguna complied. The men that stood in front of him all had strange uniforms and spoke with accents. He had no idea where they were from, or what they were doing in Deling City. The leader of the unit stared at the 16-year-old for a second and then placed the gun against Laguna's temple. Laguna just stared at the man, his green eyes full of pain, anger and hatred. The man eyed Laguna for a while, then suddenly un-cocked the gun. He brought it away from Laguna's face and put it back in the holster at his side. He turned to walked to the door. "Let's go."
"But sir!"
"I said let's go." The other soldiers slowly complied. The man stared at Laguna for a second and then left, closing the door behind him. Laguna just stood there, staring at the door in shock. Why hadn't the soldier killed him? He had killed Brook in cold blood, for no reason other than the fact that she was there, but he hadn't killed Laguna. After a few seconds, the boy fell onto his knees in the ruined house and started to cry.
***
Laguna abruptly sat up in bed, breathing heavily. He was soaked in sweat. He'd been trying to forget that event for sixteen years and now he couldn't stop thinking about it. Laguna put his hand to his forehead and forced the tears that were welling up back down. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Behind his eyelids, however, a picture formed. It was Raine. She was standing in front of him with a frown on her face.
"You'll be back soon, right?" Raine asked him worriedly. Laguna picked up the bag and opened the door.
"Of course," he answered. "Don't worry, I'll get Elle back." Laguna kissed her on the forehead and turned to leave.
"Do you promise? Promise me you'll come back," she said, tears forming in her eyes. Laguna had never seen Raine cry before. He put the bag back down and hugged her.
"…I promise…"
Laguna opened his eyes again quickly. Why? Why was Hyne mocking him? First Hyne had taken his mother. After her, Hyne took Julia, then Ellone, and finally, Raine. He was cursed. The only important people in his life that seemed immune to the curse were Kiros and Ward, but even they had fallen victim to it at one time or another. Ward lost his ability to speak and Kiros had been near-death on many occasions. Then there was Squall. Laguna was torn between wanting to be there for his son, to be the father that he had never had, and wanting to protect Squall from the Loire curse. The more Laguna thought about it, the more his head started to hurt and the more he wanted to cry. He picked up a pillow and threw it across the room angrily. Laguna glared at the pillow for a few seconds and then lied down again to stare at the ceiling.
***
"Cid!!" Squall squealed happily, running toward the man. Cid smiled as Squall hugged him tightly. Cid saw Kiros following slowly behind Squall. Kiros stood to the side and waited while Squall happily told Cid everything that had happened to him in the past two weeks.
"That sounds wonderful Squall, I'm glad you like it here," Cid said smiling. Squall wrinkled his nose.
"I don't like it. It's horrible. I don't like Espar… All the peeple tawk funny and dress funny and I don't like it," Squall answered frowning.
"…You might like it better if you actually talked to Laguna once in a while…" Kiros muttered. Cid glanced at the dark-skinned man.
"Um… So how are you and Laguna getting along?" Cid asked, smiling. Squall's eyes narrowed.
"I hate him," Squall answered, crossing his arms. Cid frowned.
"I'm sure you don't hate him-"
"Yes I do. I hate him," Squall interjected.
"Do you say that to him?" Cid asked.
"No. Squall hasn't spoken to him in two weeks," Kiros said, coming to life. Cid looked down at Squall.
"Is that true?" Squall glared up at Cid defiantly and nodded. "Why do you hate him Squall?" Cid asked. Squall opened his mouth to answer and stopped. Why did he hate Laguna? He looked up at Cid's smirking face and narrowed his blue eyes.
"Because."
"Because why?"
"I don't have to tell you if I don't want to," Squall said, pointing his nose in the air.
"Okay," Cid said, conceding. Squall looked at Cid, interested.
"How is everybody?" he asked quietly. Cid looked at Squall in surprise. The other children had quit worrying and gone on with their lives already, was Squall still dwelling on it?
"Um… They're all fine. Quisty got adopted," Cid answered. Squall looked at him wide-eyed.
"Quisty got 'dopted? Where does she live now?"
"Dollet. That's really far away," Cid added, seeing Squall's look of confusion.
"Oh."
"Squall, come on. You need to get your breakfast, and Cid has to go talk to your dad, okay?" Kiros said, ending the conversation. Squall pouted, but complied.
"Bye Cid."
"Bye Squall, I hope I'll see you later," Cid said, smiling as the small boy followed Kiros down the hall. After Squall disappeared from his view, Cid turned and made his way to President Loire's office. He stopped outside the door and knocked softly.
"…Come in," a voice inside said. Cid opened the door and saw Laguna sitting at his desk, with his broken leg stretched out in front of him. He looked exhausted.
"Good morning President Loire," Cid said. Laguna scowled.
"Don't call me that please… Laguna is fine," he answered. "…Sit down." Laguna motioned to a chair. Cid sat down slowly. "I've been discussing your proposal with my cabinet, and we've decided-" Cid closed his eyes tightly and crossed his fingers. Laguna saw this and chuckled. "-to support you." Cid opened his eyes wide in surprise. No one had offered to support him, ever, and he had been around the whole world at least twice in search of someone who would. Laguna smiled a little at Cid's shocked expression. "…So where do you want to build your 'Garden'?"
"…Uh… Um… Whew… You know those old Ryndelian army bases? There's one on the island of Balamb that is still in pretty good condition. We wanted to use that." Laguna frowned at the word "Ryndelian," but nodded.
"Alright. You'll want to talk with Kiros. He's been put in charge of helping you out," Laguna said. Cid nodded and stood. He thanked Laguna again and walked toward the door. "…Did you talk to Squall?" Cid stopped.
"Yes."
"…What did he say?"
"…That he still hates you." Cid heard Laguna sigh behind him.
"…Okay. Thanks." Cid opened the door and left Laguna in the office, alone with his thoughts.
***
Author's Note: I didn't put notes in the first time 'round with this chapter, so here they are now. ^_^ Wow, I barely had to do anything to this one. I'm surprised. I didn't think I was THAT good… Anyway. Chapter 6 should be up when I get it done… that's not much of an incentive is it? ^_~ It is coming, I promise.
-Rhyein