Chapter 10: In Dreams
"Presidential shocker!" Selphie read emphatically. "Loire reunited with long-lost son, Squall Leonhart. Laguna's mystery lady..."
"Huh?" Irvine looked over her shoulder at the tabloid newspaper she was reading. The words were written in tall, black, bold print, and there were photos of Laguna, Squall, and Laguna and Esarene together. Some photographer had managed to get a shot of his mother and the president kissing at the recent groundbreaking ball. "Gah! Long-lost son? Mystery lady?!"
"Um...it's not like anyone was trying to keep it a secret..." Selphie began.
"Well, no one is gonna believe a stupid tabloid, right? That could be anyone in that picture. It's too grainy to tell..."
"Has the eternal bachelor President Loire finally found his dream woman?" Selphie continued to read.
"They've been waiting ages for this," Ellone commented, entering the room. "The tabloids, I mean. Laguna's been rather boring up to this point-he hasn't done anything scandalous until now, and they're eating it up."
"But who would believe that Laguna is Squall's father?" Irvine wanted to know.
"Um...he is," Ellone replied, giggling.
"Whaaa?" Irvine exclaimed. "But...but...they're practically opposites! And...and..."
Selphie was still giggling at the tabloid article. "Thousands of Estharian women will be disappointed by the snatching up of Esthar's most eligible bachelor," she read aloud.
"What?" sputtered Irvine. "But he's old!"
"He's still a sexy old man," Selphie replied. Ellone snickered. "And if Laguna's old, then so is your mother."
"My mother isn't even forty yet," Irvine corrected her. "If she sees this..."
"Knowing Esarene, she'll probably have a good laugh over it," Ellone interrupted. "Which is about all it's good for to any of us."
"I guess," Irvine agreed reluctantly. Selphie set down the tabloid.
"So...are you going to send us back?" she asked.
Ellone nodded. "So long as you still want to go," she said. The two nodded. "How about the day Irvine came to the orphanage?"
"Sounds good to me," Irvine replied. Selphie agreed emphatically.
"Yeah! Let's go!"
*
The new boy was curled up on his bed, crying again. "Gramma," he whispered. "Grampa. Momma..."
"He's worse than Zell," commented Quisty, as Sefie looked in on him again.
"Why is he so sad?" wondered Sefie. (Poor Irvine. He's just a little kid. He doesn't know what's going on...or that the people he loved are really gone.)
"I dunno," Quisty said. "He's too little to know. He's a baby." Quick, thumping footsteps came closer and closer, and Squall ran by, Seifer in hot pursuit. Seifer slapped Quisty's shoulder.
"Tag! You're it!" Seifer cackled, and Quisty took off after him.
"I wasn't even playing, you dumbhead!" she yelled. Sefie watched them run away, then looked into the room where the boy was still crying. He sounded so sad...
"People're playing tag outside, if you wanna come," she said uncertainly, standing the doorway. "'s fun..."
The boy whimpered something Sefie couldn't understand, so she came closer. "What?"
"'M not allowed," the boy moaned, a little bit louder this time. He looked up, and she saw there was a big bandage on his cheek, and a smaller one on his forehead. His arms and legs had bandages on them as well. Was this why he'd been hiding from everyone?
"What's your name?" Sefie wondered.
"Irvine," the boy sobbed. "Go 'way."
"No," Sefie replied stubbornly. "I don' want anybody to be sad. I'm Sefie," she introduced herself. "Even if you can't play tag, I got some marbles we can play with. I'll go get 'em." She ran off to her room, retrieved her bag of marbles from its hiding place under her bed, and returned to Irvine. He wasn't crying any more, though his eyes were still red and puffy and he looked miserable.
"Why're you sad?" Sefie wondered. Irvine stared at her distrustingly for a moment, but decided he could put some faith in her.
"Cause my momma and my gramma and my grampa are all gone," he whispered. "Now I'm all alone and I don't have any family."
Sefie blinked at him. "You had a momma?" she said.
"Yeah," sniffled Irvine. "Don't you?"
"I never had a momma or a daddy or anybody," she said. (I guess I must have been orphaned when I was a baby...that's sad. I doubt if I'm ever gonna find anyone related to me...) Sefie brightened up a bit. "But I got Matron and Quisty and Zell and Elle and Squall and Seifer," she said.
Irvy wiped his nose. "Huh?"
"I can be your family," Sefie continued. "It sounds like fun."
"How can you be my family?" Irvy asked.
"It's just pretend, silly!" Sefie giggled. "I'm gonna call you Irvy, 'kay?" She opened her bag of marbles. "And I don't let anybody play with my pretty marbles 'cept me, but since you're my family, it's okay." She picked out a big, milky white sphere swirled with green and yellow and held it out to Irvy with a ceremonial air.
"Pretty," Irvy said, taking it from her.
"'Sa present for you," Sefie said.
"Thank you," Irvy said, and he tried to sit up and winced, tears welling up in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" gasped Sefie.
"I got burned..." Irvy whispered.
"Sefie, whatcha doin'?" Zell was peeking into the room.
"'M playin' with Irvy!" Sefie replied.
"We're playin' hide'n'seek outside..." Irvy started to cry again.
"I wanna play," he whimpered.
"You gotta get better," Sefie told him. "I know, 'cause Quisty got sick once. You just gotta wait until you get better and then we can play whatever we want!"
Irvy sniffled. "Really?"
Sefie nodded, grinning. "Yeah!"
*
"Are you busy, Laguna?" wondered Esarene. She'd come directly to Laguna's rooms that morning, a rolled-up newspaper in one hand. She had come across the infamous tabloid as well.
"Never too busy for you," Laguna replied, and Esarene blushed a bit. "So, what's new?"
"I'm a celebrity." Esarene waved the cover of the tabloid at Laguna. He took it from her hands and read it.
"Estharian woman gives birth to Gayla...two-headed Elnoyle to wed in private ceremony...Presidential shocker?!"
"I wish they'd used a better picture," Esarene said. "That one makes me look fat."
"You're delusional. Ugh, look at that face I'm making." Laguna looked at the article. "This is horrible!"
"I thought it was just sort of amusing," Esarene replied. "I mean, word is going to get out that we're together."
Together? The word echoed in Laguna's mind. "Are we...like...officially, I mean?" he stuttered. Esarene giggled.
"Well, I sure hope so," she said. "'Going steady,' you mean, or something like that?"
"Um...I guess..." He shuffled through papers on his desk nervously.
"You are busy, aren't you?" Esarene said. "And I'm going out on patrol today. But if you wanna stop by my room later, you're welcome to do so."
*
Where is he going? Irvine didn't like the look on Laguna's face as he walked down the hallway. He seemed just as happy-go-lucky as usual, but he was getting dangerously close to the guest wing where his mother was staying. Irvine stopped behind the corner, froze, and peeked around slowly. Laguna was completely oblivious to his presence, and Irvine continued to trail him.
He's going towards her room, all right. And she's all alone...no! I can't let this continue! Irvine clenched his fist in determination.
"Hey, Laguna, fancy meeting you here!" Laguna turned around to see Irvine standing there with a shaky, obviously fake grin pasted on his face.
"Oh, hi, Irvine!" Laguna smiled. Irvine almost rolled his eyes. He's so dense.
"Isn't it a little late, Laguna? I'm sure you've got a big day ahead of you, being president and all..."
"Oh, I'll be all right," Laguna replied. He continued walking, and Irvine continued following him.
"Where are you going?" Irvine asked.
"I'm just going to visit Esarene."
Dammit. The false smile shone on Irvine's face. "That's funny, that's where I'm headed."
For the first time, Laguna sensed that something was amiss. "Really?" he asked.
"Yeah," Irvine replied, nodding emphatically. "I need to talk to her and get to know her better, seeing as she is my mother. My mother," Irvine repeated forcibly.
Laguna shrugged. "That makes sense. Isn't it kind of late for a chat with your mom?"
"She said I could stop by any time," Irvine replied with a shrug.
They both knocked on her door at the same time. "Hold on a second, I'm coming!" Esarene called. She opened the door, and blinked in surprise. "Hello, Irvine. Hi, Laguna."
Irvine gave a bit of a gloating look to Laguna, as if to say, "she said 'hello' to me, first!"
"Come on in," she beckoned. She motioned for them to sit down. Laguna took the couch on one side of the coffee table, Irvine the loveseat on the other. She looked back and forth between them, then took a seat on a chair.
"So what brings you here?" she asked politely.
Laguna and Irvine looked at each other, then to Esarene. "I wanted to talk to you," they said in unison, then glared at each other. Esarene snorted.
"I see," she said, one eyebrow barely raised above the other. "Well, then." Laguna and Irvine were both watching the other, paying little attention the third person in the room.
The clock ticked. "I'll go put on some water for tea," Esarene offered.
"Tea sounds good," Irvine said.
"Yeah, tea is good," Laguna added.
Esarene shrugged and headed for the kitchen. She shut the door behind her, started the water running, and let out a guffaw of laughter that she couldn't hold in any longer.
"What's going on in there?" Laguna wondered. Irvine shrugged and pulled out his deck of cards.
"How about a game?"
"But I thought you only played with girls," Laguna noted.
"It's something to do," Irvine muttered. "Rules?"
"Better stick with plain, no specials. I'm not very good." Laguna dug out his own pack and chose five likely-looking cards.
The score was Irvine: 3, Laguna: 0, and one tie by the time Esarene returned with the tea. She set a cup in front of each of them, and filled them with steaming hot tea. Irvine and Laguna both reached for the sugar bowl at once, as Esarene sipped her cup without any sweetener. Irvine and Laguna were wonderful entertainment. Irvine kept sneaking menacing looks at Laguna, which were returned by Laguna's entreating ones. Neither wanted to be the first to leave--Laguna wanted to be alone with Esarene, and Irvine wasn't about to give him the chance. Both grew sleepy, but neither excused themselves, though they pointed out plenty of reasons why the other should go to bed.
Esarene saw right through it. It was rather amusing. Laguna's sentences weren't fitting together well anymore, and Irvine could barely keep his eyes open, but neither of them would leave before the other.
Eventually, the two of them were asleep. Esarene found two blankets in the closet and covered each of the men with one of them, tucking them in with motherly care. She sighed, looking between them--the two men who had filled her empty life.
There was Irvine, curled up on the loveseat, looking reminiscent of both the tiny child he'd once been and the brother she'd lost before his birth, but she also saw the young man she'd gotten to know over the past few weeks. She'd never realized how much she missed him until they met again. She brushed his hair away from his face and kissed his cheek.
She moved over to sit by Laguna, who lay sprawled on the couch. They had so much in common; he'd given her happiness she'd never known before. She stroked his cheek, leaning in to kiss him good night as well.
He stirred, his lips moving. "Raine..."
Esarene pulled away suddenly, and Laguna just mumbled something incomprehensible and rolled over. She stood up, looking down at Laguna with a look on her face that didn't begin to express the pain in her heart. She stepped toward the doorway, looking back one time before she switched off the light.
