Prince Squall

Me: I'm on a roll, so far anyway.

Zell: Yeah, tomorrow you'll probably be too lazy to write anymore.

Me: Maybe...

Squall: ::shakes his head:: Well if you think about it too much then you defiantly won't write anything.

Me: True, true. Okay then on with the next chapter.

Chapter Two

(10 years later)

A tall male with long wavy brown hair ran through the streets of Deling City. He wore a cowboy outfit and had a newspaper under his arm. 'I'm late!' His mind screamed at him. 'I'm late. He's going to kill me.' The youth speeded around a connor and almost bump into a brunette man, about his age. "Sorry." The man just growled at him. Irvine slowly walked towards the entrance of the building his friend told him to meet him at. On the way he passed and long queue of men, that all looked alike. They all had brown hair, grey eyes and a cut on their faces. Irvine entered the building confused. He walked to the main hall and found his shorter friend sitting behind a desk. He walked slowly towards his friend's back, about to scare him.

"You're late." The short blonde turned in his seat his blue eyes burning with impatience.

Irvine scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry about that. Too early in the morning."

"What are you talking about?" Zell looked at his watch. "It's two o'clock in the afternoon. I told you to meet me here at twelve."

"Sorry." Irvine took a seat next to the blonde. "You, seen the paper." Irvine unfolded the paper and held it out for Zell.

"I've seen it. That's why I called you." Zell pointed to the main headline on the paper, which said 'Reward For Finding The Lost Prince'. "We are going to find him."

"Oh so that's why there's loads of guys outside."

"Yeah, and because you were late they've been waiting a long time, so let's get the show on the road. Show them in, one at a time. Oh and check the scars. They need to be real."

Irvine looked confused. "They would have to be psychos to give themselves a scar."

"We need psychos to pull this off." Irvine shrugged and got out he seat and let one man at a time in.

A boy around the age of seventeen, with long brown hair, that was tied back in a ponytail, and steel eyes, stepped out of the orphanage he called his home. He turned to face the large stone building. "Leon!" Shouted a little voice. A small girl ran out of the house.

Leon picked her up. "What's wrong, Liz?" He asked her.

She put a necklace around his neck. "You almost forgot this." She looked like she was about to cry. "Don't leave me."

He patted her head. "I sorry but I have to find my real home." She nodded sadly. "Hey, when I find it, I'll come for you."

She looked deep into his eyes, her eyes deep with hope. "Promise?"

"I promise." He held her in one arm. He spat in his feel hand and held it out for her. She spat in her own little hand and shook his. "There." He put her down and patted her head again. He walked out of the large front gate and turned to face her again. "Tell Andrew I'll be back for him too."

She nodded and waved 'goodbye'. "Bye, Leon."

"Bye, Lizzy." He smiled at her, one of his rare smiles. He slowly made his way down the road and stopped at a signpost. "Which way to go?" Leon looked at the necklace he almost forgot and turned it around. He held it up so he could read it: 'Together in Esther'. The signpost only had two directions; Deling City 5 miles or Timber 30 miles. "Deling City it is then. There's no way I'm walking all the way to Timber."

Leon began to walk away but stopped when he heard rustling behind him. He spun on his heels but no one was there. He walked again, but the noise was still there. He stopped and listened carefully. Leon walked towards the sound and pushed away some bushes. He peered into the bushes and saw a little ball of yellow feathers. "Wark!"

Leon jumped back and the little ball of feathers came out from the bush. "Wark." It was a baby chocobo.

"Your kind of cute, little thing, aren't you?" Leon leaned down and picked it up. "Where's your mother?" The little chocobo seemed to look sad. "I lost him parents too. Why don't you come with me?" The little bird cheered up and 'warked' again. Leon began to walk to Deling City again and placed the ting yellow bird on his shoulder. "You should have a name? I now I'll call you 'Mitshi'. Do you like that name?" The little bird nodded its head and they both made there way to Deling City.

It didn't take too long for the brunette to reach the edge of the city. He looked around for a sign to point him towards the train station or something that could get him to Esther. He found the train station. "One ticket to Esther please?" Asked Leon.

"Passport?" Said the middle-aged man behind the desk.

"I don't have one."

"No passport. No ticket. You need it to leave the country." The man said gruffly.

Leon began walk away, a little disgruntled. "I'll never get to Esther."

Leon stopped walking when an old woman stood in front of him. "Ask Zell. He can get you a passport."

"Where can I find him?" Asked Leon, curiously.

"He lives around the connor but he'll be at the abandoned hall." She said. "But you didn't hear it from me."

Leon said his 'thanks' and made his way to the abandoned hall by asking a few passers-by. When reached the hall he noticed that there was a queue of men that all looked like him and around the same age. He walked up to the one at the end of the queue. "Excuse me? But do you where I can find Zell?" He asked.

The man in front of him, and look him up and down. "He's inside." Leon made to walk away to the door. The other man's hand stopped him. "You need to wait. Like the rest of us." Leon nodded. The other man gave him a funny look. "I'm Dan. What's your name?"

"Leon."

Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out a mirror and a red lipstick. "Hey could you put a scar across the face like the one you have?"

Leon looked confused. "Sure, but why?"

Dan sighed. "You need one before they'll take you to Esther."

"Oh." Leon took the lipstick, holding Mitshi in his other hand, and made a line across Dan's face like the scar he had. "There."

Dan looked at it in his mirror and nodded. "So how did you get that?" Dan asked pointing at the scar.

"I can't remember."

Leon had been standing outside the door for about an hour now. He was the last one. The door was flung open and a very angry Dan came out. The fake scar on his face was now reduced to a smudge. "I hope you rot in hell!" Shouted Dan to the people in the building and walking away.

A tall man with long wavy brown hair and a cowboy hat stood at the door. "Last one Zell." The brunette said to the person inside.

"Zell's here. I need to speak with him."

The cowboy bowed slightly. "Then go in." Leon walked in and found himself in a large hall with nothing but a desk. A blonde youth about Leon's age sat behind the desk looking down at some papers. The cowboy closed the door and walked towards the new comer, staring at his ass. 'If only I wasn't taken. If only.' He bit his lip and walked behind the desk and took his seat. He motioned for Leon to come forward. The cowboy nudged his blonde friend.

"Huh?" Zell looked at the cowboy, who nodded towards Leon. Zell turned to face him and froze. He had never seen anyone so... beautiful. Zell shook his head to clear his thoughts and stood up. He walked slowly towards Leon and reached his hand up to touch the scar, but before he could Leon stepped back.

"What are you doing?" Asked Leon, narrowing his eyes at the short blonde.

Zell sighed. "I'm check to see if it's real."

"Well... you could have asked first."

"Okay then. Can I touch your scar?" Zell asked sincerely. Leon nodded. Zell touch the scar with his finger, all the way across it. Leon got a shiver up his spine. No one had ever touched his scar before. Zell moved his hand and smiled. "It's real." He walked back to his seat. Zell pointed at the chair in front of the desk and Leon sat in it. "From what I can see your perfect." Said Zell.

Leon blushed. "Um... thanks, I guess. But I'm not here for whatever you're doing. I need a passport and someone told me to come here."

Zell blushed. "Oh, I see. Well when I said you were perfect I meant you were perfect, for being a Prince Squall look a-like." The cowboy laughed at the blonde. Zell nudged him. "Shut up, Irvine."

"What do you mean a Prince Squall look a-like?" Asked Leon.

"Well," Started Irvine. "We have been looking for Prince Squall so we could reunite him with his father, King Laguna of Esther."

"Esther." Said Leon, touching his necklace, which was now underneath his ragged t-shirt.

"Yes. And so far we have had no lucky." Irvine leaned forward, with his elbows on the desk. He pulled out a picture from the small pile of papers they had. He turned it so Leon could look at it. "This is the last picture ever taken of the Prince." Leon studied the picture.

There was a small boy with brown hair and steel eyes. A taller girl, not that much older, with short brown hair and brown eyes, standing beside him. They were both holding hands. Behind them were two adults. The man was tall and had long black hair and dark blue eyes. The woman had long brown hair and light brown eyes. The man had one arm around the woman and another on the boy's shoulder. The woman had her hand on her the man's shoulder and her other on the girl's shoulder. They were all smiling, and the whole picture seemed to scream out 'happy family'.

Leon looked up at Irvine. "You think I look like him?" Leon pointed to the small boy.

Irvine nodded. "So far out of everyone we have seen, you look the most like him." He paused to think. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen." Replied Leon.

"Well then, you're the right age to be him. To have right body frame, hair colour and eyes colour. Plus you have that scar."

"What's o important about my scar?"

Zell sighed. He wanted to join in this conversation. "The Prince got a scar just like that when he was trying to escape from Deling City."

"How do you know all this?" Asked Leon. Mitshi 'warked' and Leon absently petted him.

"I was... living in Deling City when it happened. It's kinda hard not to miss a boy running with the King with a bleeding forehead." Said Zell.

Irvine decided to change the subject a bit. "We'll take you to Esther with us if you decide to pretend to be Squall."

"I can't. That would be lying." Leon looked down at this hands and Mitshi, who was fast asleep. "I don't want to hurt anyone. I wouldn't feel right, pretending to be someone I'm not."

Irvine looked Leon up and down. "You're an orphan, right?" Leon nodded. "That would mean you don't have a past beyond the orphanage you were at. So therefore, technically, you wouldn't be lying. You would be just trying to find a home."

Leon thought about this for a moment. "Yeah. I guess your right." He looked up and the pair in front of him. "Well if I don't belong there then I could just say it was a big misunderstanding."

"Yeah." The pair said in unison, both smiling.

Leon stood up. "Then lets go." The other two stood up and lead the way to Zell's apartment.

Me: That took a while.

Zell: I thought you said you were on a roll?

Me: I did, but I got too caught up in my other stories. Sorry.

Squall: Review please.

Me: YAY!