(Author's Note: Yey! I was so shocked and happy to see that some of my favorite author's such as Purple Rose and Optical Goddess actually took the time to review my story! Yey!...okay...I'm calm now. I would like to thank ever single person who reviewed me, its for you that I do all this...except "leonhart wannabe" I'LL KILL YOU ALEX!! I'll kill Sacha for telling you my penname. But I now have new motivation to write the next chapter so here it goes and once again I thank you guys so much.)

*~Chapter 4~*

Revelations

"The course of true love never did run smooth"

-William Shakespeare

Squall's hand rose in preparation to knock on the heavy oak door to Headmaster Cid's office on the third floor, but hesitated milliseconds before his knuckles hit the wood. A minute ago he had been determined to march straight in there and demand that he be able to go public about his relationship with Rinoa. But now, once he was actually there, right in front of the door...only then did the doubt begin to settle in his brain, spreading throughout his mind like a grueling plague.

*What if this is a mistake * he thought, slowly pulling back his clenched fist. *What if Cid gets angry if I question Garden's orders. Is Rinoa's spazing really worth my position as commander? Is this little fight of ours worth my hard earned title of SeeD?...Is Rinoa worth it? * (Little did he know that Rinoa herself had been pondering the same question, and she too was having extreme difficulty answering. )

All his life, his only goal had been to advance in Garden. He had been raised to believe that duty and honor was placed far above such foolish emotions such as love and lust. With a sigh Squall turned away from the office door and once again headed for the elevators. He couldn't risk it. Garden was his home, and he would not put that in jeopardy. Not when a simple talk could possibly fix things between them easily. Who knows?...maybe he'd even go through the pains of arranging a weekend away from all of this secrecy...just the two of them in a lovely seaside resort in Dollet, maybe even Fisherman's Horizon, where they could be alone. He was only concerned with HER happiness of course (wink wink). The fact that he was still a 19-year-old virgin had nothing to do with it.

With a smile, Squall pressed the button to summon the elevator, drumming his fingers impatiently on the wall. He desperately wanted to fix things with Rinoa before she had too much time to think and actually consider what she had said earlier. With the pleasant ringing of a bell, the lift arrived. Squall was about to step in, with his eyes pointed to the ground, ignoring whomever it was exiting the elevator, when he felt someone's firm hand grip his shoulder, forcing him to take notice.

It was none other than headmaster Cid coming back to his office after his daily luncheon with Quistis in the cafeteria, a steaming mug of coffee in his hand and a smile on his face.

"Squall!" he exclaimed happily, pulling his commander into an awkward hug since Squall was still a little shocked and found it impossible to react. "What are you doing here my boy? Our meetings not for another few hours...I think." Cid looked at his watch too make sure. "Yep, it's only noon...shouldn't you be with the Shumi leader?"

Squall looked around for an excuse. He couldn't say that he was here for any other reason other than to see the headmaster since the third floor was strictly Cid's territory. The truth was his only option. "I wanted to ask you a question...but it can wait headmaster, my apologies."

He began toward the open elevator but Cid stopped him, shaking his head. "Shumi can wait. I don't think they even care that we're going through all this trouble to ensure that they don't get blown up or something. They don't believe that anything or anyone would dare harm a peaceful people such as themselves...of course I don't believe they've been introduced to the Galbadian way of thinking." He scratched the stubble on his chin with an exasperated sigh. "We have time, come into my office."

Cid sipped his coffee as he walked the few feet to the heavy oak doors, pushing them open with one hand as Squall followed all the time protesting.

"Cid, I really should get going...the Shumi elder isn't known for his patience." He paused at the threshold, fearful to actually set foot in the beautiful sunroom. But Cid only plopped down on his desk and motioned for Squall to close the door behind him.

"Squall, they have been totally antagonistic toward us since we built that wall around their village, claiming we ruined their view or something and neglecting the fact that we saved them all from that hoard of wild behemoths set loose in the northern region." He began sorting through the piles of papers stacked neatly on his desk, ignoring his commander's pleas. "The don't even live above ground for Hyne's sake...what view is there to miss?! The least we can do is make them wait a while."

Squall nodded and closed the door before hesitantly sitting himself down in one of the overstuffed chairs in front of Cid's wide desk.

"So?" the headmaster said, placing his mug carefully on a coaster after sipping it one last time and leaning back in his large leather chair. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Squall had been avoiding having this conversation for so long now that by now he was terrified of what the headmaster's reaction might be. He suddenly felt very small in this gigantic room, with the dark, towering doors and the back wall made entirely out of glass through which you could see the endless blue sky. And in the center of it all sat Cid, behind his oversized desk in his oversized chair with an oversized grin on his face...like Hyne himself. Even a full grown Ruby Dragon would have been a bit intimidated by the scene, let alone a lowly commander who held information he knew his superior wouldn't want to hear. Luckily, Cid seemed too be in a cheerful mood. That was always a good sign. Rinoa was right, they couldn't put up with this forever and now was as good a time as any to bring up the subject, so it seemed.

"Well..." Squall began, clearing his throat and focusing intently on his lap as he nervously wrung his hands. "It's about Ri..." but, as if fate didn't want him to finish his sentence, Cid's phone rang, interrupting.

Saved by the bell.

Squall could help but feel relieved as the headmaster gestured his apology and searched for the speakerphone button. "It's my personal line" he explained "emergencies only". Who cared!? As far as the commander was concerned, the extra time to sort out his thoughts was a blessing.

"Balamb Garden," he answered once finding the correct button "this is Cid speaking".

"Cid?" questioned a cheerful, mocking voice from the other line. "What's with the formalities? It's only me."

The headmaster chuckled. "Yes of course Mr. President. Sorry."

Squall visibly stiffened. Only one man used Cid's personal number AND held that title...that would be the president of Esthar...otherwise known as Sir Laguna...the hero who banished Adel...Sis' guardian...and, to a select few, the Commander's father. Squall involuntarily winced at the thought.

He had found out a while ago, about two months after the 2^nd sorceress's war and to say that it was `quite a shock' would have been putting it lightly. If there was ever a time when Squall could have been described as temporarily insane, it would have been the night he got that call. The call that informed him that the blood tests has turned positive and that the father he had thought dead for 19 years was really just lounging comfortably in Esthar his entire life without a care in the world.

Hyne, how he hated that man. And how he now pitied the training center fiends that had had to face his wrath that night...along with half the furniture in his dorm...and not to mention the old oak tree in the courtyard that still had a few generous dents in it even after the junior classmen accused of committing the vandalism spent hours healing it. Yet another thing he had meant to mention to the headmaster but never got around to...oops.

"So have you changed your mind about coming?" Cid continued the conversation as if Squall wasn't in the room. "Its not every day that we celebrate the one year anniversary of the defeat of the sorceress Ultimecia now is it?"

"That's just what I was hoping to discuss...I would love to come but I don't think..." Laguna paused as if trying to find the right words "I don't believe a certain Commander would enjoy my company at a ball celebrating his success."

*Well you're right about one thing* Squall thought. He'd rather have the three-ring circus than Laguna on the guest list. But Cid passed it off as usual, ignoring the obvious fact that he HATED the president with a fiery passion.

"Who? You mean Squall? You must be joking. He would absolutely LOVE for you to come."

*HA! Yeah right. Almost as much as I love being tortured to death and the color pink *

"Really?" Laguna asked happily, thrilled by the fact that he may finally get the chance to have a civilized conversation with his son. Only a complete idiot would have believed that after all the `stay at least 10,000 feet away from me' signals Squall had been sending he still wanted to talk.

Exhibit A; the president of Esthar...a true, complete idiot.

But Cid kept it coming. "Of course he would." he insisted, turning the phone around to face his commander so that the speaker was closer to him. "...Wouldn't you Squall?"...

...Now that was just plain mean.

Squall held his breath, praying to Hyne that something heavy would magically appear in the sky, fall on his head, rendering him unconscious thus saving him from having to talk to his father.

"Is...is he there?" Laguna stammered, he too was not prepared yet for the much-anticipated lecture. "Squall?...Are you there?"

His first impulse was, of course, to run as fast as possible to his dorm, barricade the door and refuse to come out until the world solemnly swore to stay out of his personal life once and for all. Anger also threatened to dissolve his resolve, since the sly Cid was pulling a lame attempt to get the father and son talking again. However, several years of suppressing his emotions has taught him well and somehow Squall managed not to scream in protest but just sit there and do nothing.

He refused to talk...it was a simple and childish plan but if in the end he got what he wanted, the procedure didn't really matter. After eight months of successfully avoiding any contact whatsoever with his father, he sure as hell wasn't going to give in now. Even if the headmaster had to witness his stubbornness.

Luckily, Laguna seemed to sense his son's discomfort and it was he who withdrew first. "It's alright Cid, just pick up the phone. He's not ready yet and we can't blame him for that."

*Always aiming to please* Squall thought, knowing that Laguna would surely cut off his own hands if he believed it would get people to like him. The total opposite of Squall who could care less of what people thought. *Well you're too late for my affections...a lifetime too late*

...There was absolutely no way they could be related. The Lionheart and the Clown...it was just wrong.

Cid sighed before reaching over to pick up the receiver, disappointment written all over his face when he looked at Squall who simply shrugged and mumbled "whatever" under his breath. Maybe he really should try to extend his vocabulary.

"Uh huh...I'll tell Selphie to add you to the guest list...yes I'll tell him...Goodbye Mr. President. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night." And with those final words, they disconnected and air was finally allowed back into Squall's lungs.

Tomorrow night...well he had to face him sooner or later. Mostly likely later because there was no way Squall was going to that ball now.

Cid turned to his Commander, a smirk on his wide face. " I'm guessing you know the president is attending the anniversary ball."

Squall sifted in his seat, wanting to end the conversation. "Yes sir...too bad...I thought he'd be busy."

"One always finds time to honor the heroes who saved the world. To think...a whole year since the battle with Ultimecia. Seems like only yesterday...My time flies doesn't it?"

"I guess so sir."

"Are you going to honor us with a speech?"

"Not if I have a choice sir."

Cid laughed whole heartily. "That's what I love about you Squall...always honest...someone I can trust." Squall felt a deep pang in his heart, but hid it well. The exact reason he had come here was to inform the headmaster that he had been deceiving him for an entire year. Oh the irony was just too much.

"I would greatly appreciate it if you made the speech. It just seems fitting that the leader of the group does it...and, not to mention, I don't want you running off half way through the party to avoid certain encounters."

*Damn*...was he really that predictable?

"As you wish sir." Fine, he'd go to the ball. But the first person to shove Laguna in his face was doing so at the risk of great injury.

"We're all very proud of you Squall...he is very proud of you." Squall rolled his eyes and fiddled with the chain of his necklace...Laguna was proud of him...great. It was funny that he only after he saved the world did his father give him some recognition.

"Laguna is a great man...like father like son I guess."

A great man...Ha...he was such a great man that he knocked up some girl and left her to die and his son to an orphanage while he gallivanted around the world writing books, banishing sorceresses and claiming cities.

Squall brought the pendant of greiver up to his face and for the first time, studied it carefully with new meaning. He had had the necklace since he could remember. It came with him when he was born along with the ring that now hung around Rinoa's neck.

The pendant that he had always treasured suddenly appeared vile and tacky.

Had they once belonged to him? Had his precious chain once hung around the neck of that bastard Laguna? Had the ring once adorned the finger of his mother? What had happened all those years ago? Why did he, in the end, always end up alone?

Of course, all these questions and more could be answered if he only had the nerve to speak to his father if only for a minute. But pride won over curiosity. He wouldn't dare give Laguna the satisfaction of his attention. It wasn't the Leonhart way.

"A great man wouldn't have abandoned his family." Squall said, while carefully removing the chain from his neck, unable to look at it anymore, and stuffing it in his pocket. His neck felt unusually light without it.

"There were complications." Cid defended the president, certain of his innocence in the matter. It was true what Squall said. Leaving Raine had been a stupid thing to do. Something he was sure Laguna would have avoided if he had the choice. "Just give him the chance to explain. That's all he wants from you right now...neither your sympathy nor your affections just your understanding. Is that too much too as..."

"Forgive me headmaster but I do not wish to pursue this subject any further." Squall stood up, proving that he would indeed leave if he was forced to talk about his parentage any longer. Cid sighed and motioned him to sit back down in defeat.

"I've been trying to get you to open up for years boy..." he said while anxiously running his hands through his thinning hair. "But I'm finally beginning to believe that it may be impossible."

*Nothing is impossible* Squall almost smiled as he remembered Rinoa's words. She hadn't given up on him like the rest of the world...Rinoa had managed to get inside his head and his heart. She had tamed the lion.

She had...

She...

She was going to leave him if he didn't get to the point soon. That's why he had come here in the first place after all.

"Umm...sir?" he began, his anger ebbing away into the oncoming flood of nervousness. "About what I was saying before we were interrupted..."

"Oh yes!" Cid slapped his forehead. "I completely forgot...you may continue."

"Umm well..." the nervousness had completely resurfaced by now. But the image of Rinoa's smiling face when he told her they no longer had to hide kept him from going under. "It's been a year now since the defeat of Ultimecia, a year during which nothing odd has happened." Cid's smile faded as quickly as hot dogs disappear from Zell's plate as he sifted uncomfortably in his seat, intensifying Squall's anxiety. He knew where this conversation was headed, they both knew perfectly well.

"Go on," he insisted, trying miserably to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Well sir...I was wondering if..."

"No." Cid cut him off without even letting him finish, knowing what he was going to ask and that was out of the question.

"But Sir!" Squall protested, standing up so abruptly that his chair fell over backwards, not that he noticed. "It's been a year! I've been seeing her for a year and nothing has..."

"YOU'VE BEEN WHAT!" This he hadn't meant to say and Cid's anger was apparent as he too rose from his chair and glared at Squall menacingly. If looks could kill, he'd be long since dead. "Do you mean to tell me that my high commander has been lying to me for the majority of his career here in Garden? Do you mean to tell me that you went as far as seeing this girl behind my back when I specifically asked...no I TOLD you not to go near her?"

He had never seen Cid this angry, and it as more than a little disturbing for a man known throughout the world for his calm, blow up at him so readily. But by this point, Squall was angry too; angry enough to fight back with the hopes of salvaging what was left of his relationship with the woman he loved. Some would call an act of such proportions incredibly romantic and brave...but the majority would of called it stupid.

"I don't get it Cid! Why all this fuss when everyone can clearly see that nothing is wrong with her...and Caraway obviously doesn't care or he would of long since come to Garden."

"We shouldn't risk the daughter of the Galbadian General fraternizing with our commander. I know you teenage boys. I was young once too you know and the information you can spill out when some girl has got you by the tongue is astounding. I'd be so easy for her just too..."

"I haven't told her anything! And even if I did, she wouldn't tell her father...she hates her father and she's committed to Garden."

"Committed to Garden eh?" Cid gave him a sarcastic laugh before turning to face the window, his hands twisting behind his back. "What a great boyfriend you must be not to notice how much she's suffering here."

Squall sneered before bending down to pick up the chair he had previously thrown to the floor, all the while thinking of how many ways he'd like to kill his headmaster at that moment. But Cid ignored him and continued "I should have figured it out months ago. She's miserable here Squall...suffering immensely don't you see?" Squall crossed his arms over his chest. Of course he knew how Rinoa hated it here. It was painfully obvious that fighting wasn't what she intended to do with her life, but he just figured she would learn to love it eventually like he did. And whether it was because he was blinded by his need for her by his side, or because he truly believed that she was on her way to becoming a great SeeD, Squall refused to bring up the subject. "I had long since began to wonder why she was putting up with it all," Cid continued, his voice lowering "but I had faith that you wouldn't dare disobey me." He turned to his commander, a look of pure disappointment etched on his
features. "I guess I was wrong."

An uncomfortable pause followed, during which Squall stared at his feet, his rage dissolving into shame in seconds. He hadn't meant to betray Garden. It was the last thing he ever wanted to do, but Cid had to realize that... "I love her..."

Something in his voice seemed to touch the headmaster, for his face visibly softened as he sighed and cautiously walked around the desk to face Squall, no longer looking at him as a treacherous commander but as yet another young man fallen victim to the virus of love. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Cid searched those stormy blue-gray eyes, hoping to find some sign of guilt or realization. But Squall was as persistent as ever, his sights set on one goal that he would pursue until the end...Rinoa.

Cid pitied him, as he had pitied himself all those years ago when he had been thrown into the same situation with his wife Edea. But he wouldn't let Squall make the same mistakes he did. He had refused to part with Edea all those years ago. And yes now they were as happy as ever, but only after a decade of war and blood and death just because he hadn't had the guts to give her up, even after he knew who she was and what she was destined to be.

"Squall, I know you're her knight...that will never change. But I said it before and I'll say it again...stay away from her." Squall tensed as the headmaster backed up to lean on his desk. This was going to take a lot of convincing, he could tell already. "It's for your own good...need I remind you why?"

"But sir!..." Squall wouldn't give up so easily, and though it added to his strenuous task of insisting that they part, Cid couldn't help but admire his determination...few had the guts to stand up to their headmaster. "Nothing has happened to lead us to believe that she..."

"YET Squall...nothing had happened yet. She's still young. It won't be long before she starts showing the signs."

"And when that happens I swear, a the first inkling I get that she's acting strangely, I will send her to Tear's Point without a moment's hesitation."

Cid laughed at this. "Will you really?" he asked, reaching over to claim his mug of coffee still resting on the coaster. "Even if it takes, I dunno, years before she starts to change? Even if you're married and have a comfortable little home on some secluded beach with two pet moombas replacing the children you can never have...will you still, so easily, let her go?"

As expected, the commander stayed silent and stared down at his feet once more. "I didn't think so. Hyne knows I couldn't part with my wife when the time came, and look at the mess I made."

*Say something* Squall tried to urge himself, but he couldn't. A lump had formed in his throat large enough to abort all efforts to speak. *It won't happen to me...Rinoa loves me...she would never...*

"She will turn on you Squall. It's not a theory it's a fact." Said Cid calmly, finishing Squall thoughts and capturing his eyes once more as they stared at each other. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day when you least expect it. When it comes down to strictly you or world domination, she won't hesitate to choose the latter. Not because she wants to but because its in her blood. Adel did it, Edea did it and history always repeats itself."

"But Rinoa is different!" Squall insisted, desperate to defend his hopeless case. But Cid only laughed almost mocking Squall's lame attempt to win this losing battle.

"I'm sorry" he said through giggles, trying to catch his breath "It's just funny that that's the exact same thing I said to the white SeeDs who tried to lock up Edea on her own orders all those years ago." They stood there for a while in uncomfortable silence...both men faced with the same dilemmas at one point in their lives...the sorceresses' lovers.

"You have no future with her Squall. Sorceresses are sterile and I know you don't care about that now but trust me, you will later. She has a destiny, an evil destiny that does not concern you. You're lucky that your relationship with the president of Esthar allows Rinoa to roam free of her burden for the few years before she comes into her powers. She's safe here, where power hungry military figures such as her father won't use her for her title and where people who fear the sorceress wont dare do her harm within these walls. It hurts...I know, but not half as much as it will if you pursue this relationship for she will betray you...it is written in the stars.... If you really love her, you'll let her go."

Squall sniffed loudly, but didn't cry. He never cried in his life and he sure as hell wasn't going to start now. "Can't I at least tell her why?"

Cid shakes his head sadly. "It's bad enough that we'll have to send her into space once she turns...do you really think it fair for her to live her last few years worrying about it? Rinoa doesn't know all this is going to happen to her, I think it best if it stays that way."

Squall nodded, Cid had a point...a bad point but a point. With a stiff salute, he turned to leave only to be stopped by one last comment from his headmaster. "This goes without saying," he mutters, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and waiting for his commander to signal that he's heard him. Squall cocks his head a little but refuses to turn around. So Cid continues, knowing he is listening. "If you're seen with her again...you're out of Garden. Not commander, not SeeD not anything you understand?"

Squall's eyes narrow to slits and his fists clench and unclench at his sides. He wanted to just get out of this horrid office. Away from the very stench of all the lies set up so that Rinoa can live out the rest of her life peacefully, all the while strangling her with the sheer fakeness of the entire place. Squall didn't care that she was a sorceress, he didn't care that she was prophesied to betray him. It didn't matter, together they would find away around it all.... Together they could do anything.

"Squall?" Cid insisted impatiently. "Did you hear me?"

"I understand" he says blankly before marching out of the office and slamming the doors with bone breaking force behind him, to many wild thought running through his brain to notice.

He understood. Yes. But did he care? No.

*Tomorrow night*. Rinoa's words rang clear in his head as he stepped onto the empty elevator. *If you don't tell everyone by tomorrow night...*

Tomorrow night...the ball...the ball which he was forced to take Quistis to. The ball where he would announce his love for Rinoa to the entire student body and faculty before he whisked her away to a far off place where no one would stand in the way of their love...yes...they would leave Garden forever, and never look back.

Squall pressed his face against the glass of the lift's walls as the floors zoomed by one by one. He tried to carve their detail in his mind, everything from the ceiling's stucco pattern to the tall flower pots placed outside the doors, knowing that within the next 48 hours, he would leave this place forever...his home. But he finally decided...she was worth it.