"Please, wait here. I'll go talk to him." Ellone awaited a nod from Ward and Kiros, which she quickly received. She turned, keeping her shawl over her head to shield herself from the light rain, and strode silently up to the tree where the dark, curled-up figure of Squall rested against a tree. She had used her intuition to find him, here, under this tree about a mile from the Presidential Palace of Esthar. She gave herself a silent congratulations when she was close enough to the slumped figure to know, without a doubt, that it was indeed Squall.
Ellone was close enough to hear his breathing now, and realized that he was asleep. She whispered his name to wake him up without startling him, but he did nothing more than roll his head to face the other direction. She shrugged and yelled his name. "SQUALL!!"
"GAAAAH!!" he shot up, and almost took out Ellone when he swung around to face the direction his name was called from.
"EEEK!! Uh, remind me to NEVER do that AGAIN!!" Ellone was breathing heavily now, quite reasonable shaken up by Squall's thrashing so close to her. "So..are you okay? Why did you run off?"
"I'm fine." Squall said indifferently, and brushed some mud from the base of his jacket. "I just wanted to be alone, that's all."
"I see.." Ellone eyed him curiously. "You're soaking wet, you know. We should go back to the Palace so you can cha--"
"No, I think I'll just go back to Garden, thank you."
Ellone shook her head underneath her shawl. "Oh. So now you're avoiding Him."
"No, I just would like to wear my OWN clothes, okay?!" Squall spat, annoyed slightly.
Ellone pulled back a bit, surprised by his tone. "Well, you didn't have to give me a tongue lashing over it." She huffed a bit to emphasize her point. "Mind if we escort you to Ragnarok? We want to make sure you get back safely to your garden."
"Who's 'we'?" Squall looked around, then spotted two figures in the rain nearby. "Them?"
"Yeah. It's just Ward and Kiros. Laguna had me bring them along...for protection."
Squall just looked at her, his face showing no emotion except for his eyes. Ellone noticed this and looked into them. His eyes showed...anger? Oh, she thought, now he's hypersensitive to the name 'Laguna'.
Squall averted her gaze, looking left as he spoke. "Ellone, why didn't you tell me about Him when we were with Matron?"
"I...." she looked down, ashamed suddenly, "...I thought it was best you didn't know. If you did, then you would have grown up hating someone you didn't know, someone you couldn't recognize even if he was standing right in front of you...I thought it was better you grew up without that thought...and you wouldn't have listened to me if I told you it wasn't...your father's fault that he didn't see you."
"How...do you mean..?"
Ellone sighed. She began her tale of the past, as she remembered it...and as Laguna had told her. "Laguna proposed to Raine not too long before he had to go to War. Like you, he was a Soldier...obligated to serve when called forth to do so. They were married...and the next day, Laguna was sent to fight. He was gone for less than a year, and worked when he wasn't fighting to try to get more money for Raine and himself to move into a better house. When he returned to Winhill from war, he found out that Raine became very ill and died after childbirth...a child Laguna didn't even know about! The people of Winhill blamed him for Raine's death, saying that if he hadn't been there, if he hadn't given her a child, she would still be alive. So they further tormented him by denying him the location of his son, and refusing to tell him where they sent me as well. What they also didn't tell him was that they sent you away because you made everyone sad...you reminded them of Raine. They sent you to an orphanage, and I argued and begged until they let me go with you. I loved my Uncle Laguna...and I wanted to make sure you were okay, that you were put into a good home, or at least a decent orphanage--"
"Wait." Squall held out his hand, signaling for her to stop. "So you mean that the people of Winhill are the ones I should be upset with? NOT Laguna?"
"Mmmhmmm," Raine nodded happily. "See, he's not a bad guy...it wasn't his fault at all."
Squall let everything sink in for a moment, then nodded. "I should be heading back now."
"To Esthar?"
"No, to Garden. If you insist upon escorting me, then let's get going. Or else I'll head on out without you three." Squall began walking toward the flat area of land he left Ragnarok at.
"Oh, Squall..." Ellone waved for Ward and Kiros to follow as she kept close in toe with Squall. Squall, will you ever forgive your father?
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Quistis went through the opened doors of the elevator, and stepped briskly toward the ballroom party. She decided that she should check on Seifer...just to make sure she wouldn't have to pick him up in pieces after Squall got through with him.
She entered the room. Hundreds of students, SeeDs, Instructors, and guests were still dancing around, talking, eating, drinking, sleeping....everywhere. She noticed Selphie was asleep, propped-up against one of the side walls, while Irvine was sitting next to her, watching the crowd loosely packed into the room. Zell was still eating (That pig, she thought), whereas his lady friend, Amie, was asleep in her chair next to him. She decided it was best to talk to Irvine, and ask him if he had seen where Seifer was at, since she did not see him or Rinoa or Squall anywhere.
She walked up to him. Irvine noticed her as she was approaching, and stood to greet her. He removed his hat from his head and said, "'Mornin'! What's wrong, Quisty? Couldn't sleep?"
"Eh, something like that," Quistis replied politely. "You wouldn't happen to know where Seifer is at, do you? He came down here a little bit ago..."
"Oh, yeah! I did see him! He was out on the balcony with Rinoa last I saw him."
"Thanks!" Quistis smiled, and waved to the cowboy as she sprinted toward the balcony.
"No prob!" Irvine called after her.
Quistis first listened closely to try to hear some sound of struggle, but was surprised to hear nothing. Did they push him off the balcony? She leaned her head so it peeked around the entryway, enabling her to see who was out there without being seen herself. Hm. No Squall. Did he jump OFF the balcony when he saw Seifer? Did Squall think he was a ghost???
Edea Kramer came up behind Quistis and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped, and turned to face her.
"OOOOH, QUISTY!! I'm glad to see you're back down here!!" Edea beamed rather loudly. Seifer and Rinoa turned around and looked at Quistis. Seifer rolled his eyes at her. "I wanted to tell Rinoa that Squall's back. Ragnarok just landed a few moments ago."
"Oh?" Quistis said. "Where did he come back from?"
"Esthar." Edea stated plainly. "He wanted me to tell everyone to leave him alone for a few days, but he wanted to speak to Rinoa right away."
"He...only wants to talk to me?" Rinoa asked, stepping toward Edea.
"And...when you talk to him, Rinoa, please...try to convince him...to.."
Rinoa tilted her head to one side slightly. "To...?"
"To stay here. He's saying he wants to leave Garden. He doesn't want to see anyone else for fear they'll get upset with him. Please, Rinoa, talk some sense into that poor boy..." Edea shook her head, and left the balcony.
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AuthorNotes:
Forgive me if I messed up a few things with the past here. I'm going from memory of the game...which I completed about six months ago (the flashback parts of discs 1~3 anyways). If anything is wrong, let's just imagine that this chapter is the truth. Because it just...works for the time being. Ee, gomen!! I'm wishing I would have been able to write more, but..you know, family. I wasn't allowed to type because we had people over. Bah to them. I'll make up for the shortness this week, though!