Chapter 14

Family Ties

Squall strolled into the palace gardens by accident as he randomly brushed past the hallways before him. He flinched slightly as the bright beams of sunlight poured into the garden, and thus raised a hand over his eyes. Slowly, he decided to walk along the winding garden paths, curious to where he would end up eventually.

He was relieved Irvine had not followed him and enjoyed the feeling of solitude once again. Things had not been like this before, when he was still a child. What had happened then?

Squall knew that he had dramatically changed over the years for the best. He knew people he loved surrounded him, and he quickly pushed them away, especially, those who loved him the most. He didn't want such a thing to happen again. Not to him, or to anyone else he was fond of.

~If only she were still here…~ he thought quietly to himself, staring intently out into space.

"Do you hate me that much?"

Squall whirled around quickly, startled by the familiar voice. He immediately scowled viciously as he caught sight of Laguna standing behind him.

Laguna was not looking at Squall. Instead, he turned his gaze to admire the wild plants that thrived healthily beside him. "You…really must hate me for coming here…" He reached out to a butterfly fluttering over to him and smiled.

Squall continued to stare at his father, the anger in his eyes draining. "I don't need to be babied," he answered with a shrug.

"No, of course you don't. My mistake." Laguna finally looked up to meet Squall's gaze. He widened his smile and sent the butterfly resting on his finger to fly away. "I forget how much you've changed since then. Whenever I see you, I still see the same young boy who made me the happiest man in the world."

Squall gave no reply in return. He knew his father never fully recovered from the pain in the past, no matter how hard Laguna tried to cope with the loss.

Laguna looked away from Squall's gaze and reached out to touch a blooming flower beside him. "Maybe if she were still here…"

~Now he's crossing the line,~ Squall thought irritably to himself. He didn't want Laguna to bring up the pain and sorrow from long ago. "She's not. She's gone."

"Yes…my mistake," Laguna replied with a shrug. He gave a soft chuckle and threw his head back to the sky, his shoulders shaking. "You must really hate me for bringing that subject back up. After I promised never to speak of it again. It's funny how I suddenly think about it now."

Again Squall gave no reply to his father. Instead, he turned his back towards Laguna and walked away, clenching his fists so tight that his hands shook fiercely.

*

Quistis sat stiffly on the marble floor, her eyes shut, as if in deep concentration. Her hands rested comfortably against her thighs, and her breathing grew even and silent within a few minutes. Calmly, she cleared her mind of all thoughts and worries and began to summon her powers resting deep within herself.

Gently, Quistis pushed at her magic to come forward, trying to keep it from overflowing all at once. With great care, she drew out her powers and sent a silver light to slither around her like small snakes gathering together. Again, Quistis willed her powers to release itself from her body, this time, with a stronger force, and caused a brighter light to glow around her.

Finally, after a few moments or so, Quistis gently nudged at her powers, urging for it to flow back into her body. Slowly, she began to lose the silver glow around her, and all traces of her magic disappeared within a few seconds.

It was then that the door creaked open, and in walked the sharpshooter, looking slightly concerned.

Irvine stepped into the room silently and found Quistis gazing up at him with an inquiring expression. "Oh, sorry if I interrupted anything," he apologized, scratching his head nervously.

Quistis shook her head and tried to smile. "It's no trouble. I was just completing one of my daily exercise routines," she answered, tucking loose strands of her hair behind her ear. "It's an excellent way to keep focused and control your powers."

"Oh, I see," Irvine replied, approaching the princess. "You mind if I join you for a moment?"

Quistis patted the space beside her, remaining in her meditation position. Quietly, she wondered to herself why Irvine was interested in joining her for meditation. Not even she liked to meditate.

Irvine sat himself beside Quistis and leaned on his hands. With a sigh, he then rested against the floor, his knees propped up while his hands moved to rest under his head. He said nothing at first to the princess, and instead closed his eyes, breathing deeply.

At first, Quistis presumed that Irvine had fallen asleep, due to the deafening silence. But as she turned to glance at him, his eyes slowly opened and stared blankly at the ceiling.

"…Squall's never told you anything about his father…has he?" the sharpshooter finally inquired after a long period of silence.

Quistis brought her knees up towards her chest and hugged them tightly. "…No…Squall's not one to talk about himself or anything else for that matter," she replied, resting her chin against her knees. Silently, she wondered why Irvine suddenly brought up the topic about Squall to her of all people.

Again, there was a long moment of silence before Irvine decided to speak again. "Ever wonder why?"

Quistis shook her head. "I don't think this is any of my business–"

"Odd to say, but no one really knows why he's so distant," Irvine interrupted, ignoring Quistis's reply. He continued to gap blankly at the ceiling, not once looking at the princess beside him.

Quistis immediately fell silent and buried her face into her knees. The grip on her knees tightened, and she chewed anxiously at her bottom lip.

"To tell you the truth, I've only got a vague idea of the complicated picture. From what I've heard, his mother died giving birth to him. The doctors said that she would be too weak to give birth to another child, ever since she lost most of her strength having her first child."

"Squall has a sister?"

Irvine gave a small nod. "Gorgeous thing if you ask me. She's got the prettiest eyes I've ever seen," he answered with a wide grin on his lips. "Laguna was always forced to spend more time with his work, so she was left to take care of us only when she was 10. I had the biggest crush on her.

"Squall loved Ellone very much. I could tell that he would always look up to her more than anything. I guess he saw her as a motherly figure to him," Irvine explained, shutting his eyes for a moment as if to remember the past. "But then…Ellone grew ill, and the doctors feared for her condition. She was forced to stay away from Squall, in case she infected Squall with her illness.

"I haven't seen her since…Eventually, a cranky old maid had to watch over Squall and me." Irvine paused for a moment, opening his eyes, staring intently at the ceiling. "It wasn't until the Galbadian Conflict that we received word that Ellone was to move to Trabia and marry the king there. Squall's never forgiven himself for not being there to bid Ellone goodbye…"

Quistis remained silent for a long moment, trying to let the words sink in. It made her quite distraught to learn of Squall's family-less childhood. She knew that if she were deprived to ever see her father or brother ever again she would have curled up and died.

"You must mean a lot to Squall, Irvine…"

Irvine shot a glance at Quistis and gave an amused chuckle. "Oh, I hated Squall back then," he responded plainly.

Quistis's eyes bulged out in shock, and she stared in disbelief at the sharpshooter beside her. "What?"

There came another set of loud chuckles as Irvine caught the look on Quistis's face. "Don't look so surprised, Quistis. Even as a child Squall wasn't exactly adorable," he answered, a dreamy look rising to his eyes. "Ah, yes, I remember how much I hated him back then. It surprises me how much I changed. But you see…Squall and I…we go way back…I was a little servant boy coming from a very poor family. Laguna hired my family and brought us to live in the palace. I guess Laguna figured I could be Squall's playmate since we were both the same age."

Irvine paused once again as he gave another loud chuckle. Rising to sit up, he leaned back against his hands and grinned broadly. "Boy, did I hate that spoiled little brat when I met him. In my eyes, he was the inconsiderate little rich boy who didn't know what he had. Squall was always sulking and gloomy, and he was never in the mood for anything. But that wasn't all." Irvine shook his head and glanced at Quistis, who looked quite puzzled. "I hated Squall because Ellone was always hovering over him, treating him like a friend and always being nice to him. I guess I was jealous of Squall at the time."

Quistis raised an eyebrow, a bit skeptical on the subject. Still, her curiosity was too great, and she said nothing critical on the matter. "So what made you change?" she asked instead, rather than criticize Irvine.

Irvine gave a shrug. "I really don't know what made me change my mind about Squall. Squall was never mean to me; he was only quiet. I guess it wasn't until Ellone fell ill when I really befriended Squall. He knew I didn't like him, but once Ellone was taken away from him he looked at me with these extremely adorable eyes and told me not to leave him," he explained, blushing slightly. "Kind of freaky once I think about it. But once I saw those heartbroken eyes, I couldn't resist. His eyes reminded me too much of Ellone, and I didn't want Ellone to be disappointed if I left Squall's side. Besides, I'm the only one Squall's actually got now, despite his rather rude attitude towards me. Plus Squall's gotten me out of trouble numerous times. I don't know where I'd be if he didn't cover up for me all the time. I owe him a lot."

"I see…" Quistis made a move to rise from the floor. The conversation was greatly puzzling her. It troubled her to be discussing about Squall's past with Irvine. Still, the questions nagging in her mind could not make her dismiss the subject.

"But…his father…Surely they've been able to see each other?"

The sharpshooter remained where he was, his gaze shifting to the wall. "Not as often as anyone would like. Squall's afraid of Laguna. Squall thinks that he was the cause for his mother's death and that Laguna blames him for it. He's grown up with that knowledge and I guess it's hard for him to face the truth," he said softly, the grin on his face fading away. "Laguna's never been there to get to know Squall very much, but he worries over him constantly, and always treats Squall like a loving father."

Quistis gave no other reply. Instead she remained standing, blankly gazing in space. The puzzle pieces now fit together, but she still could not understand Squall entirely. It was hard for her to imagine the pain and hurt the prince of Esthar had gone through, and it troubled her even more to know that Laguna was suffering as well.

There was a long and awkward silence that filled the room. For a long moment there was no sound from the two occupants in the room.

Finally, Irvine gave a sigh and tipped his hat at Quistis. A small grin replaced his previous grim look and he made his way of the room in a rather steady pace. "Well, I think I've taken too much of our time today. I should get going and see if I can sneak myself some of that pastry stuff the servants were passing out last night," he said in his usual carefree manner.

Quistis scowled slightly and chewed on her lower lip. Whirling around quickly to catch up with Irvine, she grasped his shoulder rather firmly. "Wait…Irvine…"

Irvine, equipped with a rather airy look on his face, turned around to meet Quistis's azure gaze. "Hmm? Would you like me to get you a pastry too?"

Quistis ignored Irvine's suggested and briskly asked, "Why did you tell me all this?"

"Because I figured you'd be hungry that's all. Just because you're a princess doesn't mean that you don't have an appetite either, you know."

Quistis felt a vein throb painfully within her temple as Irvine's complete idiocy overwhelmed her. It was remarkable how he could hold a long conversation about something so serious but then immediately replace the thought for food. "Forget about the pastry! Why did you suddenly blurt out things about Squall? Why did you tell me about Squall?"

"Oh, that," Irvine replied, smiling broadly. He gave the princess a sly wink and pinched her cheek quickly. "Because you're different…" he said with a toothy grin. "Now how 'bout that pastry, eh?"

*

"Let's see…with all the damage on the Ragnarok, we may have to stay here until repairs are fully made."

Kiros mused over the Ragnarok charily, making a note to himself of all the gadgets needing to be fixed. He missed no detail and scribbled furiously on his note board, making a small reluctant noise. If his guess was correct, he, Laguna, and Ward would be stuck in Balamb for at least another day or two. The thought made Kiros shudder in despair.

The delay was going to hinder the mountain of paper work Laguna continuously put off for days. Not to mention, the humongous tension between Squall and Laguna were not going to straighten things at all. Kiros guessed Laguna's luck was short of a miracle.

Laguna, who had been busy looking over the cost of repairs, quickly looked up as he heard Kiros groan. "Well, I know it's a little over the normal budget we can afford, but it's still a good price. And this ship's pretty banged up…"

Kiros shook his head and sighed. "It's not that, your majesty," he replied calmly. The cost of the repairs was far from his mind at the moment. "I'm just concerned…that's all."

"If this is about the paperwork, don't worry. I'll get right to it once we get back to Esthar!" Laguna said brightly, an encouraging smile stretching across his lips.

Kiros twitched slightly and shot Laguna a hot glare. "I'll have you know, that even if you CARED to attempt ANY paperwork once we get back to Esthar, that the due date for most of them were this afternoon," he grumbled irritably.

Laguna shuddered as Kiros's gaze burned through his very soul. He gave a nervous laugh and hurried away from his irked companion. "What was that, Ward? You think we should use Kiros's pocket money to pay for the repairs?"

Ward was currently reading over a mechanic manual and raised his eyebrows when Laguna had suddenly addressed him.

"Don't drag Ward into this! You and I both know he can't speak!! And don't go changing the subject either!!!" Kiros screamed angrily from the top of his lungs. "By the time we get back to Esthar, we're never going to hear the end of it from the Council!"

"Oh, Kiros!" Laguna cried out in exasperation, moving his hand as if to silence his companion. "You worry too much! What's the paper work worth anyway? I'm sure the Council will understand that I had important matters to attend to," he argued heatedly.

Suddenly, the doors to the docks opened, and Quistis walked in, looking quite puzzled as she caught sight of the two men arguing once again. "Oh, erm…Anything I can do to help?"

The three men inside the room turned to glance at Quistis as the doors closed behind her. Laguna cleared his throat loudly and rushed over to the princess.

"Oh, Lady Quistis, nice to see you," Laguna greeted, clapping a hand on Quistis's shoulder. With his other hand, he ran his fingers through his long raven colored hair and smiled. "I see you like being useful."

Quistis nodded as Laguna led her towards Ragnarok. "Yes, it helps me keep my mind off certain topics. And it is mostly my fault that your ship was damaged in the first place," she answered while marveling at the Ragnarok's curious appearance. Never had she seen a ship so extraordinary before. "Amazing ship. You don't see many ships built with a peculiar design like this one."

Laguna chuckled and scratched his head. "Well, I'm glad you like it. It's the only one of its kind. One of Esthar's experiments," he replied, seeing the look of awe in the princess's eyes.

"I see," Quistis breathed, taking into the view how the ship was designed and the glorious red color. Tearing her eyes off the Ragnarok, she turned back to look at Laguna and smiled. "How may I help you?"

Again, Laguna scratched his head, as if thinking. "Well," he began, pausing for a moment to think. "I don't want to trouble you with such burly work…"

"Don't worry," Quistis replied, folding her arms behind her, "I've asked Squall to assist me. He seemed to be sulking about in the gardens when I found him, so I asked him to come over if he wanted to."

Almost instantaneously, Laguna's eyes flickered a ghastly glow. "Oh, is that so?"

"Is there something wrong?" Quistis inquired innocently, although she was well aware of the relationship between Squall and Laguna. She knew it was wrong to interfere with other people's personal lives, but she couldn't help but try and fix things. Besides, Irvine's story already made her feel guilty for prying into other people's personal lives.

Quickly, Laguna cleared his throat loudly and swept his hair back a little too enthusiastically. "Wrong? Oh, of course not! There's nothing wrong! We'd love all the help we can get!" he exclaimed a little too loud to be believable.

Quistis pretended to cough in her hand to suppress her amusement. Instead, she turned to glance at Kiros, who was nodding his head in approval. "Ah, excellent. So, what can I do to help?"

"Well, there are a few parts here on the list we'll be needing to find. Do you think we can find these parts lying around the town?" Kiros interjected before Laguna could open his mouth.

Laguna scratched his head, looking slightly embarrassed. "Erm…normally we get these parts from Esthar's research facility. But since we've got no way of contacting them from here, it's going to be a lot harder to get your hands on," he said, blushing slightly. "I think it's a little too much, but the only way we can get a hold of these replacements is by salvaging them from beast infested areas. They grow from a rare material, you see, and beasts are attracted to this type of material."

Quistis thought carefully about Laguna's request. When offering a helping hand, she never expected such a difficult request. Not to mention such a dangerous task to be fulfilled. Still, Quistis didn't have the heart to refuse Laguna, since she had been the one who had offered in the first place.

Laguna took Quistis's silence as a negative response and shook her hands vigorously. "Well, you don't have to, Lady Quistis! It's definitely not a job suited for a princess like yourself! Besides, it's such a dangerous task–"

"I'll do it."

"See, like I said, you ought to…eh…what?"

Quistis couldn't help but smile in amusement. "I said, 'I'll do it.' I'm up for the job," she replied calmly.

It was Kiros's turn to speak. "What? Are you certain? It's a dangerous job!"

Quistis shook her head stubbornly. "Well, I did offer, and it seems that that's the only task you need to be finished. It's no trouble really. I'm quite skilled with defending myself, and it's not like I'll go alone," she said dismissively.

Laguna flushed. "Ah, well, you don't understand, Lady Quistis," he said, slightly nervous. "These aren't just ordinary beasts, you see. These are…"

*

"RUBY DRAGONS?!" Zell screamed in fury, craning his neck so quickly that it almost snapped.

Quistis winced slightly from the force delivered form Zell's tone. She could have sworn the room shook as he stomped over to her.

"Well, what was I supposed to say, Zell? It's my fault in the first place that they ended up in this mess, and I did offer them my help. What was I supposed to say? 'Sorry, that job's too hard. Why don't you do it yourself?'" she said defensively.

"WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU?!?!" Zell roared, rubbing his neck.

"Because it wouldn't have been the polite thing to do. Besides, I can't go back on my word now," Quistis said in a gallingly calm voice.

Zell chucked his hotdog against the wall in a fit of rage. Not realizing this, he continued to throw things randomly against the wall. "SCREW THE POLITENESS!!!! QUISTIS, THESE ARE RUBY DRAGONS!!!! HOW COULD YOU PUT YOURSELF IN SO MUCH DANGER FOR THIS?!?!?!!?!?!? HOW CAN YOU BE SO INCONSIDERATE?!"

Quistis gave a sigh as she watched Zell's favorite wine glass shatter as it made contact with the ceiling. "Zell, you're not a subtle man," she said exasperatedly, trying her best to keep her temper low. "I never said I was going to parade all over the world in search of ruby dragons. I just said that would be the alternative. Father would keel over from the shock if I were to tell him that. Besides, Balamb may be able to spare a few parts."

Zell took in a deep breath and slumped over next to Quistis on the couch, his head facing the ceiling. He was beginning to miss that hotdog he had thrown earlier. "You're such a pain, you know."

"Well that makes two of us," Quistis retorted with a grin. "So, about those Ruby Dragons…"

"Forget it! Out of the question!"

"Zell!"

"NO! There is no way, not now, not ever! NEVER! YOU'RE NOT DOING IT!"