Chapter 16: Squall, he is your Father
Squall jumped deftly out of the sleek black helicopter that he had ridden to Esthar in. Irvine had flown them both to the huge city, having realised something was wrong with his friend; he had taken over the controls of the helicopter and booted out the normal SeeD pilot in a non-too friendly manner. He would have taken Zell as well, but Zell had wanted to get training with the Valentines, and didn't realise how serious the situation was with Squall. Irvine jumped out of the door as Squall had done, and hurriedly followed him, not wanting to be left behind. It had taken nearly six hours to get to the small helicopter pad on the roof of the Esthar Heart Hospital from Balamb Garden; they were currently about twenty-five stories up. They had flown in near silence on the trip there, the only sound in the helicopter had been a short radio communication from Xu saying that the Rinoa, Selphie and Quistis had got back safely from their shopping trip in Esthar.
Squall wished that something had have come up so that Rinoa could be with him now, he needed someone and Irvine wasn't exactly known for his caring nature. He hadn't even told Irvine why he had wanted to come here in the first place, and the sniper hadn't asked much to his relief.
Squall opened the heavy door to the stairs, on top of the high roof, that would eventually lead down to the lower floors. Behind him he heard Irvine's booted feet stop too. The steps were made of that pressure-hardened glass that the locals here were so fond of. The glass was exceptionally solid on these steps, being the dark blue variety; the darker the colour, the harder the glass. Soft pink-tinged lights glowed overhead, powered by Esthar's mysterious power source, and lit the way down the long, narrow staircase. Squall could reach either end of the stairwell by spreading out his arms sideways, but refrained from doing so for fear of looking like a simpleton in front of Irvine. As they jogged down the stairs, hospital sounds could be heard slowly getting louder as they neared a door at the end of the staircase.
Squall reached the door at the bottom not even out of breath, neither was Irvine; their Junctioned GF's keeping their stamina high. Neither spoke as Squall opened the misted white glass door and the stairwell was flooded with the antiseptic smell of hospitals and the general hustle and bustle of the doctors, cleaners, patients, families and friends. They both stepped through the door, but Squall froze, unable to go on once the door had closed behind them.
"Are you okay Squall?" Irvine asked
"Huh?" Squall blinked a few times as though being brought out his mind.
"I asked if you were okay."
"Erm...yeah, I'm fine Irvine."
Irvine looked at his commander and friend, he didn't look okay, but if Squall said he was… "Come on then, lets find a doctor, I'm assuming you're here to find one." He said and started walking towards a pretty young female doctor who was stood in the white washed corridor reading a chart; there was little hardened glass in the building. She looked a bit like Quistis; tall, slim and her wavy blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail. Squall trailed reluctantly behind him.
"Excuse me Doctor…Walker," Irvine grinned looking at her nametag; "my friend here would like a word with you."
"Are you Irvine and Squall from Balamb Garden?" She butted in excitedly, not waiting for Squall to start talking in her excitement.
"Why yes we are, Doctor." Irvine said importantly
"Can I have your autograph?" She asked fluttering her eyelashes at him while holding out the medical chart and a pen. Her eyes were a light green Irvine noticed, not like Quistis's bright blue.
"Of course!" He grinned, reaching for the items, only happy to oblige to such a pretty women
"Irvine." Squall said seriously, he didn't have time for this
Irvine sighed, "Sorry, ma'am, maybe later huh?" he let his arms fall to his sides.
Dr Walker looked disappointed, but then brightened at the possibility of a 'later'. "Sure, later then." She smiled and started to walk down the corridor away from then.
"Hang on a second ma'am!" Irvine shouted and jogged to catch her up
"Yes?" She asked
"Squall wanted to ask you something." He pointed and Squall who slowly walked over to them
"Oh yes, what would you like to ask me, sir?" She said, all professional now that the initial shock of finding two of the Children of Fate talking to her has worn off.
"Is there President Laguna Lorrie here?" Squall asked
"I'm sorry but that information is classified, no names of patients will be given out to anyone other than family or the authorities."
"Dr Kisby rang me up and told me to come earlier today."
"Dr Kisby?"
Squall nodded
"Oh, you must be Squall Lorrie, of course, come with me." She turned and walked down the corridor, talking as she went, "I'm sorry about that Mr Lorrie, but I didn't realise you were that Squall Lorrie, I always thought your last name was Leonhart…"
She carried on talking, stopping now and then to shake hands with a patient or give a small hello to another doctor as they went by.
"Lorrie?" Irvine mouthed to Squall
Squall shrugged and carried on walking, not sure why he was letting others get away with calling him this name, but if it let him get to see the President he didn't mind…too much.
An elevator ride and half a dozen corridors later, Squall was stood outside a plain light blue door with 34A engraved on the glass. A guard on either side of the glass door, but they were wearing civilian clothes acting as though they were just normal men stopping for a chat, rather than protecting their president. It took a trained eye to notice the budges of muscles under their baggy clothes, and the hardened eyes of solders behind their fake smiles and idle talk.
Dr Walker excused herself once they stopped, saying that she wasn't permitted to enter the room, and left the two SeeDs at the door. Squall took a deep breath and quickly entered the room, the disguised guards stopping neither Irvine nor himself from entering. Irvine closed the light blue door behind him and they both looked around the white room.
It was a simple room; a bed, heart monitor and breathing equipment were the only large objects there. A small table was by the side of the bed; it held nothing but a get-well card and a bunch of wild flowers. A man sat on either side of the bed, Kiros on his right, Ward on the left. Squall knew that he was avoiding looking at the bed, but wasn't sure why. He hardly knew the man, but having been in his mind for a while, Squall felt a strange sort of companionship and loyalty towards him. He felt a hand on his shoulder but didn't turn, knowing it was Irvine's way of comforting someone. Squall moved toward the unconscious president, and let out a soft gasp. Wires came out of his mouth and nose; most of his torso wrapped up in heavy bandages sensors were placed above his heart and in various other places on his chest and back. Laguna's face was deathly pale and had a bandage around his temples and forehead, and he seemed to be dead, no matter that the heart monitor next to Ward bleeped every few seconds showing a steadily but slow pulse.
"What happened?" Squall finally managed to get out, his voice strangely as ice cold as it used to be when he was a cadet and new SeeD.
"We don't know." Kiros said, his voice full of sorrow, "We assume it was an assassination that went wrong. Nothing was taken from his room and no one saw anything suspicious when it happened, the police have no leads. But blood, that was not Laguna's, was found around the room where Laguna has shot the assassin and around the window where we assume the person escaped. The police are not sure who the person survived the fall unless they used some magic like Float."
Ward grunted something which Kiros turned to words for the two teens, "Ward says that it was someone powerful, Laguna only ever had a couple of triples and a Demi, but when we found him he had only one Triple and a Demi, but four Ultimas too. Whoever this person was, they are strong magically, which means that they must have a GF junctioned to them like Laguna had, although he didn't use it."
"Ultimas?" Irvine gasped, his hat in his hands, not on his head in respect for the unconscious Laguna.
"Yes, which means that whoever this person…or people, are they strong enough to carry around a supply of powerful magic and survive three Ultima spells." Kiros nodded, his long braids swinging as he did.
Squall moved over to Laguna's side, and sat carefully on the side of the bed, "What injuries did the President receive?" He was trying to distance himself from the situation, and he knew it, from the looks he was receiving, the others knew it too.
"A sword slit vertical through his stomach and back, narrowly missing the spine, just under two foot long. There were no other serious ones, although he did smack his head against, we suspect, his door as the blade went through."
Squall stood up and struck a thinking pose, "The only person I know of who carries a blade that wide is a new cadet we have called Cloud Valentine. Coincidently he was here in Esthar yesterday, but there is no chance he's strong enough to do all that. Plus he had three SeeD watching him all the time he was here, he couldn't have got away from them long enough to do this."
"There is no such thing as coincidences in our line of business, we'd like to see him." Kiros said harshly.
"He's not strong enough, and only me and the other SeeD who defeated the Sorceress have any Ultimas as far as I know, I'll ask if any of them gave him them when they were here."
"Its okay Squall, I will." Irvine said helpfully as he pulled out a mobile phone and left the room. He was already punching buttons as he closed the door behind him, grateful for being able to help even a bit.
The room was silent for a minute before Squall decided to speak again, "How long has he been unconscious?" He looked down at Laguna's still and pale body.
Kiros and Ward glanced at each other, "Since we found him shortly after the attack, at about 11.30 pm yesterday. The doctors do not know who long he will be like this for; he could wake up today, or in a month or even a year. He is breathing by himself, but he's lost so much blood and the blade damaged him badly…"
Kiros trailed off into silence for a few minutes when Ward cleared his throat pointedly, causing Kiros to look at him first and then turn sadly to Squall. "Squall... we have…something to tell you…about Laguna. Laguna wanted to tell you this himself, but seeing as we don't know when he's going to wake up…. I think it best if you sat down."
Squall raised an eyebrow at both the words and the way Kiros was hesitant over saying them, in the 'dream world' he had always seemed very capable and articulate. Squall sat down at the edge of the bed as asked, a long silence followed as Kiros pulled his thoughts together.
"Well?" asked Squall, getting tired of the awkward silence.
"Erm…I don't know how to put it…. Do you remember when on the Ragnarok we said that you looked like your Mother?"
"Yeah" He did vaguely recalled that he realised, surprising himself really. The GF's he had junctioned tended to make him forget little details and passing comments like that easily, as well as his past. "Did you really know her?"
"I did, as did Laguna, and Ward to an extent. …You see…erm do you know who Raine was?"
"Raine? The women who rescued Laguna in Winhill?" Squall blinked at what he thought was a rather sudden change of subject.
"Yes, she did. You see Raine had a baby with Laguna, but he had gone to rescue Ellone from Dr Odine, and so missed the birth. When he got back to Winhill months later, he was told that Raine had died along with the baby shortly after he was born. Laguna blamed himself for not being there when she needed him most, and so left with Ellone, Ward and myself." Kiros reached over and patted Laguna on his bandaged head gently, as though soothing a child.
"Why are you telling me this?" Squall asked curiously, but Kiros just held up a hand, indicating for him to be quiet.
"A few years ago someone let slip to us that the baby didn't actually die. But, because many people in Winhill didn't like Laguna, it was decided that a baby wasn't safe with him and his way of life. So they gave the baby to an orphanage far away from Winhill, and changed his last name so we could never find him…"
Squall got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he had a hunch he wouldn't like the answer to the question he was about to ask "Who was the baby?"
"You were…"
Irvine had just finished talking on the mobile phone and was heading back the way he had come when he heard a loud strangled yell from the President's room. He hurried to the door with his Exeter rifle in his hand in case he would have to use it. But before he reached the blue door Squall had sprinted out, pushed the guards out of his way and ran down the corridor as though being chased by all the demons of hell.
"What the…?"
Irvine quickly stuck his head into the President's room, everything looked okay in there, even if Kiros and Ward did look a bit upset about something, most probably Squall's shout. There were no intruders and no one, bar Laguna, was injured. He decided to follow Squall, it wasn't hard, he just had to follow the corridors with wide-eyed staring people all facing the same way. Tilting his hat to a few good looking women when he passed them, Irvine sprinted in Squall's wake without stopping until he got to the elevator at the end of the corridor. 'I wonder which floor he went to?'
Squall walked over to the edge of the roof and sat on the cold floor leaning his back against the low wall that surrounded the circumference of the top of the hospital. He needed some fresh air; it wasn't everyday you were told that one of your dead parents was alive (kinda) and you'd been inside their head, heard their thoughts and lived part of their life. Squall chewed his bottom lip, a habit that he did when he was extremely worried or confused, a habit that he had picked up from Sis and thought he'd broken through his SeeD years.
What would it have been like if Laguna had found him when he was a baby? He sat pondering. Why hadn't he looked harder for his son? Obviously he hadn't really wanted Squall, Sis was enough for Laguna, who needed another child to mess up Laguna's life? Maybe he would have been 'normal'. Squall was aware that he was a loner, only just recently having his first real friends and girlfriend rather than simply acquaintances; if Laguna had found him maybe he would be all smiles and happiness like Laguna. That made Squall shudder; maybe it as a good thing Laguna hadn't found him.
Squall realised that he was assuming that Kiros had been telling the truth, he could have been lying, but Squall knew deep in his heart it was true. He thought about Laguna's actions and realised many of them where ones he himself did, like how they sat and stood. They both had the same build and were about the same height too. He remembered now that Raine had died giving birth, as well as when Ellone said that Raine had wanted to show Laguna her new baby before she died…Sis knew and hadn't told him…
Lost in thought, Squall never heard Irvine walking slowly up to him, not strutting as he normally did. But when he put a hand on Squall's arm, Squall jumped and stood up as though burnt, then backed away from the sniper until completely of out his reach.
"Are you okay Squall?" Irvine asked, "You sure got a pair of lungs on ya, ya know? Half the hospital heard you screaming." He jested, ignoring how badly Squall had jumped to spare him any embarrassment for letting his guard down so much. 'If its ignored, it never happened' was Irvine's motto. The cowboy sniper plonked down onto the next to where Squall had been sitting, his back against the wall, and his legs out straight with the Exeter rifle laid across them. After a few minutes Squall made his way back over and sat next to Irvine, just out of reaching distance, neither spoke.
Eventually Irvine asked the question that had been repeating over and over in his mind, "What happened back there?"
Squall seemed not to have heard and just as Irvine was about to repeat the question, Squall spoke in an empty voice.
"Remember when we were back at the orphanage?"
"Better than you do." He lamely joked, unsure what the question had to do with what happened back in the room when he had gone.
"Remember when we all used to sit up late into the night and talk about what we were going to do and say when we found our parents?" He continued as though Irvine had never spoken.
Irvine nodded, he could still picture them all sitting around the beds talking late into the night while Sis watched them all with Squall sat by her side and Selphie by his own.
"And I always said that I'd ask why they left me there?"
"Yeah, I remember, then one time you said that you didn't care anymore, that they didn't want you but that was okay because you had Sis. You didn't play that again after that, just listened to us, then when Sis left you refused to even stay in the same room as us when we talked about it."
Squall hugged his legs, and rested his chin on top of his knees, he stared off into nothing. 'I wonder where this is going' Irvine thought as he looked at Squall's emotionless face and childlike posture.
"It seems like I had a parent all this time, and I've known him for a couple of years now…"
"Really???" Irvine asked, one of the gang actually had real life parents? (Ignoring Rinoa, as she didn't grow up in the orphanage) "That's so cool! I can't believe it! Who told you? Who is it? Do I know him?" Irvine jumped up smiling for all he was worth, acting as though he was Zell, his rifle left forgotten on the floor. "Oh man, I'm so jealous!"
"Don't be." Squall deadpanned
"What? Why?" Irvine knelt down next to the dark haired teen, curiosity, confusion and doubt plainly shown on his face.
"It's…he's…" Squall mumbled something that Irvine couldn't catch
"He's who?"
Squall sighed, not wanted to tell, but having to, "He's Laguna Lorrie. That man down in the hospital, almost dead!" Squall found himself standing and yelling, his emotional barriers broken, words flowing unstoppable from his mouth. "He's the one that left me there in that God forsaken place! He took Sis from me and didn't bring her back, he knew about me, but never came and got me, or even tell me! After all I did for Gaia, and it still wasn't enough for him…. Nothing I do is ever enough!" Squall turned and kicked the small stonewall in his anger, the pain not even registering the cracking sound of his foot braking. "ITS NOT FAIR!" He yelled over the side of the wall to the people far below, nothing more than moving dots this high up.
Irvine watched in wide-eyed wonder as the cool and collected Squall raged on the high roof of the hospital, it was something he never would have thought Squall was capable of. It was very out of character, the prospect of having a parent all this time but not knowing must have really unsettled him for him to loose it this bad. Something inside of the teen seemed to have snapped, and it kind of scared Irvine. He had no idea what to do, had Squall been a women he would have hugged Squall until he had calmed down, but with Squall being a man…. Irvine walked behind Squall and placed a hand on his shoulder, Squall spun around and glared at Irvine, but Irvine found little hate, only immense sadness in his face.
"Come on, calm down Squall, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for why this happened, we just have to ask Laguna…or maybe Kiros, seeing as Laguna is unconscious."
"I'm gonna find out who did this to him and I'm gonna make him pay." Squall vowed, ignoring his friend.
Irvine raised an eyebrow at this; obviously Squall wasn't pleased about his parent's identity, but was going to sort out the problem of the attack as though he had known Laguna as his father from birth. He had to admire Squall's loyalty to his family, even if he had only discovered it a few minutes ago. He hoped Squall wasn't going to forget the rest of them. Over the past two years the 'Children of Fate', as people had started to call them, had turned into a family of six, looking out for each other as though real siblings.
"Do you realise that because Raine adopted Ellone, she's kinda your half sister?" Irvine blurted out as soon as the thought struck him.
Squall turned and regarded him thoughtfully, Irvine was right, Sis was his sis. He wondered if he had given the nickname of Sis to her, or if she had told a younger Squall to call her that. He took a deep breath, "Come on, lets go see if Kiros and Ward can tell us anything else about the attack, I am going to get justice from whoever did this to Laguna." Squall, his emotions now in a tight reign once more, said as he moved away from Irvine and headed towards the stairwell. He was cold, he was ice, and he was going to get vengeance.
Authors note:
Soz for the late update everyone, just kinda had a writers block, I knew wot I wanted, but I didn't know how 2 write it, and thanx everyone for the reviews!!!
(P.S. Thanx Poops 4 proof reading this so it could b up loaded 2 day instead of later ^_^)