OCEANS APART

Sequel to Broken Wings

"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."

Jelaluddin Rumi

Chapter Two

Suspicion

The Stella Maris had been docked at Balamb Harbor since the night before, and Rinoa Heartilly was reluctant to go ashore. She didn't want to risk being seen by anyone who might know her. If anyone did, she'd have to explain, and she wasn't prepared to do that. How to explain a five year absence and two young children? She hadn't wanted to stop in Balamb, but one of the sails had torn and had to be repaired before they could continue on their journey.

Rinoa had spent the majority of the day below deck with the children, teaching them their lessons, but now they were restless and clamoring to go visit the town. It was so seldom they got to visit land, the children had started to see it as a special treat. If Seifer came back soon, Rinoa send them with him.

Presently, Althea, her youngest, was busy trying to put a dress on Angelo, who was compliant but didn't seem to be enjoying it. Althea was her daughter by Seifer, and at age 3, quite a handful. The girl was bright and curious, but had a bit of a wild streak in her that no amount of discipline could keep in check. No matter what the punishment, Althea did what she wanted. Kind of like her father.

On the other hand, Arden, her son, was a quiet and serious boy. He looked very much like Squall might have at age four. Now that he was older, there was no mistaking the resemblance between the two. Arden was impossibly mature for his age, and sometimes Rinoa could scarcely believe that the boy was only four.

"Althea, put that away and leave Angelo alone," Rinoa told her daughter, who had produced a tube of lipstick and attempted to put it on the dog.

"I wanna go see the stores," Althea pouted. "Where's daddy?"

"He'll be back soon," she promised and she glanced at Arden. The boy was standing against the rail, looking out at the ocean beyond, watching the gulls dive and dance in eccentric circles above. He was happy to stand quietly by himself taking in the view. Hyne, he was so much like Squall, it was scary. The very expression on his face was the same one that she remembered seeing on Squall's face when he was deep in thought. No doubt now who his father was. No doubt at all.

Rinoa had thought a lot about returning to Balamb, to Garden, but she wasn't ready to face them yet. They were all her friends, and surely, they worried about her, but she wasn't prepared to confront them with any of this. She couldn't answer their questions or meet their hurt eyes. She knew that they all thought Adel had stolen some essential part of her, the part they loved most, but that wasn't the whole truth. That part of her was still around, though deeply buried, and sometimes, it was easier to pretend she didn't care than to face up to her own failures and mistakes.

In her own eyes, she'd been foolish to leave in the first place. Childish. Stupid. The truth was, much of what had occurred, she'd willingly let happen. Well, on some level, she'd been aware, and she'd done nothing to prevent it. Had she tried harder, maybe none of it would have happened, and her father might still be alive. Of all the things she'd done, her father's death was the one regret that weighed most heavily on her mind. She would go to her grave knowing her own act of patricide would haunt her even in the afterlife.

Seifer's voice broke her away from her thoughts as he scooped both the children up into his powerful arms. "Did you miss me?"

"Yessss!" Althea cried and threw her arms around Seifer's neck. Arden merely nodded, looking serious and contemplative.

"Which one of you is going to help me get groceries?" Seifer asked as he set them down.

"Mememememememe!" Althea said as she jumped up and down. "I wanna do it! I wanna help!"

"All right, then. Arden, can you help your Mother get the dive tanks filled?"

"Sure," Arden replied, with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Knew I could count on you, kiddo," Seifer said and tousled the boy's hair.

Seifer looked up and smiled at Rinoa. "Hey, babe. I figured you'd want to fill the tanks since it was closer. Little to no risk of being spotted."

"Thanks," Rinoa replied and she opened the storage closet that housed the dive equipment. "Leave me the wagon, ok?"

"No problem," Seifer said and picked Althea up again and put her on his shoulders. "We'll leave as soon as everything's squared away."

Rinoa was relieved. Seifer was always pushing her to go visit with her old friends. She thought part of him wanted to see them too, though he never said so. She knew he too had a lot of regrets and wished to ask forgiveness of the people that he'd hurt most in the past.

She collected four of the tanks and placed them in the little red wagon that often came in handy for chores other than entertaining the children.

"Ready to go?" she asked Arden.

He nodded and she pulled the wagon behind her down the pier.

As they walked, Arden stared at people who walked by, at mail boxes, trees, flowers. These were all things he was not accustomed to and they never failed to fascinate him. She smiled and felt thankful that these were things he didn't take for granted, like other children raised on land might.

"Mom, what's that?" he asked as he pointed to a telephone booth nearby.

"It's a phone booth," she said. "It's for calling people on land. Kind of like our radio but it uses cables instead of air waves."

He tilted his head and studied it. "Why don't we have one?"

"Because we don't need one."

They arrived at the dive shop and Rinoa took the tanks inside to be filled with oxygen. Once filled, she began the task of placing them back into the wagon. The last one, she dropped on her foot.

"Damn it!" she cried and hopped around, holding her aching foot in her hand.

"Mom, damn it is a bad word."

"I'm sorry, baby, it hurt. Sometimes when grown ups get hurt, they say bad things."

"Can I say bad things when I'm hurt?"

"Not until you're older."

She bent down to pick the tank up, and a familiar voice behind her said, "Rinoa?"

Rinoa swallowed hard. She knew that voice, and he was the last person she wanted to see, the one person she'd truly hoped to avoid. She placed the tank in the wagon and turned around.

"Hello, Squall," she said in a quiet voice and watched as he struggled to maintain his composure.

"You look great," he finally managed as he eyed the little boy at her side that stared up at him with big copper-blue eyes.

"Mom, who is he?" Arden asked, curious.

"An old friend, baby," she said and brushed the hair out of his eyes with the kind of gentleness a mother reserves only for her children.

"I'm Arden," he said and extended his hand. Rinoa covered her mouth to hide a smile. Sometimes, it was easy to believe that there was a little old man hiding somewhere inside of her son.

Squall smiled and took it in his own. "I'm Squall."

Rinoa trembled. This wasn't how she'd planned to introduce Squall to his son, but she guessed now was as good a time as any. Except that she couldn't find the words to tell him the truth.

"What are these?" Squall asked as he gestured at the tanks.

"Oxygen tanks," Rinoa answered.

"For what?"

"Diving."

She could see by the look on his face that he wasn't having an easy time with this, and she wasn't exactly making it easy for him. She felt a bitter pang of guilt stab at her.

He insisted on helping her return the tanks to the boat, which made her nervous. Seifer would be back with Althea any time, and a confrontation between the two would not be a pretty thing.

"We were all so worried about you, Rinoa," Squall said as he placed the last tank in the tiny closet. "We missed you."

She sighed and went to the railing. "I missed all of you. So much, it hurts sometimes."

Squall looked down at the deck below. "Is this what you've been doing for the last five years?"

"Pretty much," she replied.

"Why did you stay away so long? No phone calls? No letters?"

There was a bitter edge in Squall's voice that cut Rinoa to the bone. He was angry, as she knew he would be, and doing his best to hide it.

She didn't answer. She didn't know how to explain it all without sounding like a selfish bitch.

"Rinoa, are you back?" Seifer's voice called from the pier. Althea was at his heels, a popsicle in her hand.

Squall's face hardened as he realized that she hadn't been sailing alone. One look at Seifer and Squall's face colored, his cheeks flamed and his eyes turned towards her accusingly as she nodded a weak confirmation.

"How could you?"

"Don't ask me that," she hissed.

Seifer scowled as he sauntered to where they stood. This was exactly what Rinoa had hoped wouldn't happen, but Seifer surprised her by breaking into a happy grin.

"Hey man, long time no see," he said and extended his hand.

Squall looked at the hand as if it were something vile and filthy. Without a word, he turned and dashed off the boat and down the pier. Rinoa's heart thundered in her chest as she leaned against the cabin door, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Seifer put his hand upon her shoulder. "Go talk to him," he said. "He deserves to hear it from you."

"I can't," she said as she wiped away her tears.

"Rinoa, go to him. Explain things. You can't hide forever, babe," he said gently. "I'll watch the kids."

With a heavy sigh, she got to her feet and sprinted after Squall, Angelo at her heels.

Quistis Trepe had never seen Garden in such an uproar. Everyone was huddled in small groups, whispering, and the young women especially, looked over their shoulders with nervous anticipation as if expecting to be attacked at any moment by a brutal, faceless killer. Quistis herself was afraid to be alone at the moment. She had seen the photos of Sylania Dulene, found dead in Balamb this morning, and the other girl, Ingston Cortman who'd been found in the woods two days ago, and it left her feeling a bit nauseous. They were heart breaking photos, two lovely girls, both cadets, murdered on her watch. The question was, why were they out after curfew? Cadets were not allowed to leave the premises without permission, and neither had a pass to leave at the time of their death. Quistis wondered how she could let something like this happen, how she could become so lazy about enforcing the rules.

She sighed and pulled files for both the girls and placed them on her desk. A quick glance through them told her that both girls were bright, but on the verge of failing out of the academy, both on academic probation for poor marks and attendance. So how the hell had they gotten out of their rooms? From now on, she'd have to be certain that the staff enforced the curfew, and she would have to enforce stricter punishment for breaking these rules, for SeeDs and Cadets alike. There was no excuse for this, and she felt quite guilty that these girls had been raped and murdered because there had been too much freedom.

What bothered her most was that Squall Leonhart was the only suspect. She didn't understand why. He'd been gone so much on missions that he had little time for anything but training. Not to mention that Squall wasn't a cold blooded killer. Quistis was almost certain of that. She'd known him a long time, and she could not fathom him doing something like this. Anyone who knew him personally would agree.

True, he'd dated both girls, but that didn't mean anything. Quistis knew for a fact that he hadn't dated either seriously. He hadn't dated anyone seriously since Rinoa had left five years ago.

And where the hell was he, anyway? He was supposed to return last night and check in with her but he hadn't. She knew now that he'd stayed the night at the Dinchts, and he'd sent word that he'd return early, but it was going on noon now.

Quistis rubbed her eyes and sat back in her chair, refusing to let doubts about Squall's innocence enter her mind. It couldn't be him. It just couldn't.

As commander, she wasn't supposed to let her relationships become personal, but there were certain exceptions, Squall being one of them. She couldn't help that he was one of her closest childhood friends, and she couldn't help what they'd been through. It was hard to be impersonal when there was such a long history behind them. Not to mention the pathetic crush she'd still managed to maintain after all these years. It was silly and sad, but she could not make herself give up the ghost.

Despite her silly crush, she still wished for Rinoa to return. Quistis missed her. Besides, Squall might not be so grumpy all the time if Rinoa were around. All she wanted was for him to be happy, and she knew that only Rinoa could cheer him up. Hyne knows, Quistis had tried to do that, and had failed miserably.

"Quisty?" Selphie said from the doorway. She was red eyed and she sniffled a little. "The Dulene's are here."

Quistis sighed, rubbed her eyes and put her glasses on. This was something she wished she didn't have to do. But the Dulene's wanted answers, and she couldn't blame them. "Thanks Selphie. Send them in."

Seifer stood at the railing of the boat, his daughter Althea perched on his shoulders like a little bird. Every now and then, a drop of syrup from her popsicle dripped onto his head but he didn't mind. Fatherhood had taught him not to worry about the little things.

Beside him, Arden was eating his own popsicle, though unlike his sister, the boy took great pains to keep the treat from dripping and had wrapped a napkin around the bottom to keep his hands clean. Sometimes it was hard to remember that the boy was only four. He was a good kid, not at all like the little spit-fire on his shoulders.

Of all his accomplishments in life, Seifer was most proud of his kids. He knew that Arden was not his son but that didn't matter. Seifer had been the one who was there when he was born, and he was there when he learned to crawl, took his first step, said his first word. If the realization that his life was full of mistakes and regrets hadn't changed him, fatherhood had.

At first he'd had is doubts about whether or not he'd be a good father. Before Arden was born, he worried that his personality would eventually fuck the kid up, but he'd been wrong. It had come naturally to him, and an impatient man like Seifer Almasy had found that he had all the patience in the world when it came to children. Even ornery little Althea was hard to lose his temper with, even though some of the stunts she'd pulled were enough to drive anyone crazy. Her constant chatter about everything in sight was at times maddening enough to drive even the most patient man over the edge. Seifer had learned to tune her out most of the time, when the chatter was just a bunch of silly nonsense and made up words.

Seifer bore all of this without complaint because he knew his involvement with these kids mattered. He wanted to give these two children the best life he could give them, and he wanted to give them all the love that he had been denied as a child. He hoped that by being the best father he could be, he could at least make up for his crimes in some small way.

"Daddy?" Althea asked as she ran her sticky fingers through his hair.

"What baby?"

"When are we going to see Unkie Rage and Antie Fooge again?"

"I don't know," Seifer said, smiling at his daughter's nicknames for his two best friends in the world. "Maybe soon. It depends on where your mommy wants to go."

Seifer glanced at the boy at his side, who stood silently, staring out at the activity in the harbor with a quiet interest. Seifer knew Arden wasn't really interested in the boats or the people. He had that look on his face that meant he was trying in vain to figure something out. His brow was lined with what looked like worry and his copper-blue eyes held a distant look of tortured contemplation.

"Hey little man," Seifer said as he poked Arden in the arm, "what's up?"

"Did you like living on land?" Arden asked.

Seifer had never really thought about that. "I guess I did," he replied.

"If we ever live on land, I want to live here," Arden declared.

Seifer chuckled. "What's so special about this place?"

"Just a feeling. There are nice people here."

"How do you know that?"

Arden turned his intense gaze to Seifer and said, "Because my real dad and his friends live here."

Seifer was startled, and a little hurt. My real dad. To Seifer's knowledge, Rinoa had never told Arden about Squall. She had told him stories about her friends in Balamb, but she'd always left Squall out, or if she talked about him at all, she only called him the brave knight. It wasn't possible for Arden to know about him, was it? Had Rinoa told him the truth? Seifer didn't think so and he made a mental note to ask her later.

"How do you know about your real dad?" Seifer asked.

"I just know," Arden replied with a shrug.

"Your mom tell you?"

"She didn't have to."

Seifer was miffed. Arden was not a liar, so when he said that Rinoa hadn't told him, Seifer believed him.

In the past, Arden had said startling things to his parents, things he shouldn't know at his age but did. Rinoa had said it was because Arden was so observant, that he picked up on things that most children don't. Seifer was beginning to doubt that theory. There had to be something more.

So, they'd found his work of art. They'd seen how beautiful she was. They had taken photographs and stared in awe at his masterpiece.

He was pleased. Very pleased indeed.

It was a pity, though that he wasn't there to see their reactions, to see the looks on their faces. He considered this part of his art, too. Art by proxy. Horror was as beautiful an emotion as pain and fear. A pity that he didn't get to see them tremble and wretch at the sight of her. A pity that they didn't understand.

No one really understood.

Notes

New content abounds! Some of these chapters were pretty short. Had to beef it up just a little to round it out better. In this one, I've added a section from the next chapter as well as an all new section with Seifer and the short passage at the end. I'll probably be combining the old chapters a bit and adding new content as I go along.

For all you Squinoa fans out there, stick around. There may be one in your future. Or maybe not. It might be a Quall, or whatever they call 'em. I'm a big meanie, so I'm not telling.

Review please...let me know what you think!