Laguna: I pause in the doorway at the Green Bay bar, Ward's enormous bulk blocking my view of the inside. He hasn't been my bodyguard for years, since the Revolution in fact, but when his mind wanders, his body falls back into old habits.
Not that I am ever in any real danger these days. There hasn't been a serious armed challenge to the Republic for fifteen years, and we've already hunted down the few monsters that broke through the defences during the Lunar Cry. There are always lone nuts of course, but to a para-magic user as powerful as me, the threat from a pistol or a knife is puny.
Ward steps forwards and allows me a view around the bar at last. The place really is getting quiet. The plainclothes Special Protection Force officers must make up almost half the clientele. No wonder the bar manager likes my custom.
My son and his friends are sitting in a circle of chairs up against the far corner of the bar, looking for all the world like just another bunch of kids on a night out. I wonder what a normal father feels when he walks in and sees his son sitting at a bar. Then I worry how Squall will feel seeing me.
Things are very strained between us right now. Being near him reminds me constantly of Raine. She is in the way he stands, his gestures, the way he holds himself while he watches me. I suppose I also find it strange to think of this teenage boy as the ghostly presence that I sometimes felt helping me in battle. Things- mistakes- that are years in the past for me are just recent memories for him. He's not really starting off with any great illusions about me.
I can't believe I'm doing this. Why do I let Kiros talk me into these things?
We start walking across the floor towards the bar. The manager is already waiting for us, with our cues stacked neatly against the plastered wall. He bows gently in greeting then silently passes the cues and chalk over to Kiros. Gallas, my security chief, has already scanned the whole place for explosive molecules and found nothing. As usual. Kiros hands over his Gil card, and it is swiped through the bar's currency unit. A portion of the money stored on the card is automatically electronically transferred to the bar's bank account, exactly as normal. The manager passes us a fistful of tokens to use on the pool table. Okay. Everything is done. It's time for the walk.
Right.
Kiros and Ward are watching me out of the corner of their eyes. My collar is too tight around my neck. I tug at it futilely. I really need to buy some new clothes, ones that fit. Hyne, I haven't been this nervous since I asked my secretary out. Kiros is laughing at me behind his eyes. Bastard.
I draw a deep breath and square my shoulders. Signalling Kiros to follow me with a sharp jerk of my jaw, I set off towards the pool table at a brisk walk. I haven't got the nerve for this. Squall and three of his friends are sat with their backs to us, chatting away. Two seats in the circle, which I assume belong to the two female SeeDs, are currently empty. We are half-way across the room, and I am just beginning to hope that I can slide past unnoticed…
"Sir Laguna!"
"Hey Squall, what are you doing here?"
…damn.
Selphie and Quistis have turned up at the balcony opening. Selphie's call and Kiros's cheery greeting send heads turning at the SeeD table. My son turns to look at me, exactly as I break my stride to search his face. Our gazes' lock- and straight away my leg buckles under me, sending me sprawling.
"Fuck!"
The pool cue goes flying across the floor as I lunge to Ward for support. The big man deftly catches me around the waist with his cue hand, and waves hello to the SeeDs with the other. I hear a clatter of heels. Squall jumps out of his seat and grabs my other side, helping Ward to support my weight
"Sir Laguna! Are you alright?" demands a worried female voice.
I throw an arm around Ward and allow myself to be guided to Squall's empty seat, my leg still jangling painfully. Its Selphie of course.
"I'm fine," I gasp, eyes searching for Squall again.
He's standing over by the table and watching me with his arms folded, obviously exasperated.
"Laguna, what are you doing here?" he demands, glaring down at me.
Good question.
My mind makes me one of the finest statesmen of my generation. With it, I overthrew Adel, I kept Esthar from starving during the Withdrawal, I initiated the most advanced space programme in the world and I kept brought Esthar through the Cry. Unfortunately my body is a useless quibbling piece of jelly with the instincts of a brick. It makes my leg collapse when I'm trying to ask a certain famous lady pianist if she'd like to go to bed with me. It makes my face twitch and spasm when I'm addressing the Galbadian envoy, so I look like I'm being gently electrocuted as I speak to him.
My mind intends to explain to my son that I've come down here to heal the rift between us, to tell him about his mother and his past, in short to get to know him. Halfway through my larynx, my brain's instructions encounter the surge of adrenaline from my body as it realises I'm sitting right next to Squall, and are promptly hijacked.
"I'm here to hold a national security meeting with Kiros and Ward," I hear myself declare in ringing tones.
Squall looks around the dingy student bar with its handful of dirty customers. The other SeeDs around me look startled at this sudden insight into Esthar's security process. Kiros gently puts one hand over his eyes, while Ward gazes with sudden intensity at the ceiling. Squall's expression doesn't change however. He doesn't even blink.
"I see," he says flatly.
There's a whole conversation in those two words.
"What your Dad is trying to say," Kiros translates wearily "Is that we play pool here most nights. We play doubles, him and Ellone in one team and me and Ward on the other. But Ellone is out of town tonight, so we wondered if you could take her place and play on Laguna's side."
Squall looks like Kiros has just suggested he try mud-wrestling a Grendel. I hope he hasn't guessed we engineered Ellone's absence from our little group deliberately. It's always hard to tell just from Squall's face what he's thinking. From the suspicious look he suddenly shoots me, I think he has tumbled. I gaze cheerfully back up, mouth firmly shut.
"I don't know how to play pool," he stonewalls us "I never learned."
"That's all right," smiles Kiros, entirely unmoved, "Laguna can show you. He's a great teacher."
I'm suddenly enjoying myself immensely, now Squall is the centre of attention. Rinoa is beaming at Squall. I know from speaking to her that the girl is a die-hard romantic. She wants Squall to heal the rift between us, not only for his sake but for hers. If he can do it, then there's a chance she can do the same with her own father. It's deeply unfair of me to manipulate Squall through Rinoa like this, but I find I can't resist it.
"Come on son," I exclaim heartily, slapping him on the shoulder "We can spend some time getting to know one another at least."
I catch Rinoa's eye entreatingly. She stands up and whispers something into his ear. Squall's face assumes a trapped expression. He glances unhappily down at Rinoa who scowls at him and makes little shooing motions with her hands. Squall sighs, and his shoulders sag. That's when I know we've got him.
I pick up my cue and pass it to him. He reaches out and takes it gingerly.
"Right," I say, clapping my hands together briskly "Shall we make a start, my lad?"
Squall's face is a picture. He looks at the cue in his hand, then at the gaming table, then at me. He rolls his eyes heavenwards.
"Lead on then, Dad,"
Oh well. It's a start.