Life is like a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you're gonna get.
- Forrest Gumps' Mother

Squall emerged from the elevator leading to the second floor, and turned left at the first intersection. Normally, he would have taking the stairs, but it seemed as though more people were choosing that option and he wanted to keep away from all physical contact as humanly possible. Ever since the incident with the teenager the previous afternoon, he had been more than just a tad jumpy with someone suddenly bumping into him or placing a hand on his shoulder.

Looking at his wrist watch, he frowned when he saw that it was nearly noon already. Normally, he would have been up far earlier than that, except Rinoa had somehow managed to convince him to watch a movie with her and the rest of his team. What made things worse was that it had been a tacky zombie flick. Squall had seen the outcome of the movie coming right away; pretty much everyone who had a brain was going to die, and the only one who wouldn't was none other than the blonde female protagonist who had little sense of her surroundings and had opted to wear a stupid looking cocktail dress and didn't so much as consider wearing a bra.

Quistis had defined it perfectly that horror movies favoured dumb attractive blondes.

Squall half-wondered if that was the reason Irvine had picked the movie in the first place.

Whatever reasons were behind the chosen movie, Squall had agreed to watch it with his friends. But it wasn't bad enough that he had to endure the tacky zombie movie, but he had to also endure the tacky sequel to the tacky zombie movie. It wasn't that he had been terrified by the events of the movie (he had actually been bored throughout the entire thing), but Rinoa had been and had insisted that he stay up the majority of the night with her. The only good thing that came with watching it had been the time he had spent with his friends and, specifically, with Rinoa.

But despite the perks, it also meant that he had slept for far longer than he had originally intended. He had just contacted Cid Kramer, who was currently stationed in Balamb Garden, having already prepared himself to step down as the Garden's Commander. The reason behind his decision had nothing to do with the previous nights events. He just didn't feel comfortable leading one of the largest forces in the world if he had trouble sorting through his own life. He had never wanted to be a leader, had never felt any gratification towards giving out orders and would have preferred to fight in the front lines alongside everyone else.

Unfortunately, the conversation didn't appear to be heading in his preferred direction. Every time he managed to broach the subject, the Headmaster would interject with some other form of business that needed to be taken care of.

"The paperwork on your desk has been divided into sections thanks to Xu, so now your work station appears to be better organized," Cid interjected, once again successfully changing the subject. "How is the operation in Esthar handling itself?"

Sighing for the umpteenth time since he had gotten out of bed as he made another turn leading him further away from the elevator lobby, he answered the question that had been addressed to him. At the exact same time, he managed to juggle the mug of coffee he held in his right hand, the manila folders filled to the brim with files and other documents he had to look over tucked under each of his arms, and fumbling through his pocket with his left hand for the key card that would grant him access to his makeshift office located just in front of him. "So far, so good. According to my reports, nearly twenty-five percent of the monster population has been eradicated thus far, but there are still nests located outside the boarders of the city. I'll have to convene with the President in order to receive permission to extend the search that far, though I don't believe that'll be a problem."

"That's excellent news," Cid exclaimed, sounding shocked. "Twenty-five percent eradication within barely a week's time is outstanding. You should be very proud of yourself, Commander, as well as the forces you're in charge of."

"Thank you, sir…" Squall bit back a curse as he fell into old habits. "I mean, Cid." He knew that the transition between his previous rank and his newly acquired one was going to be extremely difficult, but if things went his way, he was pretty certain that he wouldn't have to worry about that for much longer.

Of course, not much went Squall's way on a good day, so he wasn't holding his breath.

There was one thing that did seem to go his way though. He managed to successfully slide his keycard through the slot on the right side of the door, and enter the correct code without dropping the cell phone, which was balanced precariously between his left ear and shoulder, or the stack of folders under his arms. His luck seemed to end there, however, as the sliding door refused to budge right away and, since he wasn't necessarily watching what was happening, he walked right into it as a result. This caused him to drop both folders, spilling the contents from the protective layer of paper on each end and spilling his coffee atop said contents.

The only saving grace was he'd managed to avoid spilling the scalding beverage along the front of his shirt.

Biting back another curse, he bent down to retrieve the fallen papers, almost groaning as he saw the damage the coffee had done to it. Glaring balefully at the door as it opened just as he'd finished collecting his paperwork, he could only hope that the papers dried without destroying whatever print he had yet to read. As he passed through the door, he decided that it was time to have the maintenance team in Esthar take a look at it.

"What was that noise?" Cid asked from his end.

"I just walked into a door," Squall answered, irritation lacing the words despite his attempt to mask it.

"Well that wasn't very smart of you, Squall." Cid teased from his end. "Perhaps you've been working too hard."

"Speaking of which…" Squall began, hoping to steer the subject back to the reason he had called him. Unfortunate, he was cut off once again.

"Maybe you should actually relax on your time off and worry about all of this work later."

Squall took in a calming deep breath before releasing it as the door behind him slid closed. It appeared as though there was a delay with the door, which made it take its sweet time opening and closing behind anyone who entered (Squall wondered if it was just him that was having this problem), and he seriously considered dropping everything for the moment and calling the maintenance team down from whatever it was they were working on just to fix it before he could forget.

Looking up from his conversation, he immediately stopped in his tracks before setting his now empty coffee mug and papers to the side, on top of a table to the right of him. Setting the mug onto the surface of the table but not on top of the papers, he stretched his arms out before taking the cellular from between his aching shoulder and neck, holding it against his ear. He would have sat down at his desk, except someone else had beaten him to it.

The stranger who sat staring at him was dressed nearly in black, with an off-white shirt underneath a long black trench coat. The man possessed light eyes and immaculately tidy dark hair, and was sitting with his arms folded in front of his chest reclining almost lazily in the SeeD Commander's office chair. Frowning in annoyance, Squall wondered briefly whether or not he should have just stayed in bed that day before turning his attention back towards the conversation he was currently having. "Cid, I'm afraid something has just come up. I'll have to continue this conversation some other time."

"Of course," Cid stated from his end. "And Squall? Try to enjoy your time off while you can?"

Squall hung up the phone and turned his attention towards the intruder. His patience levels were already at a low, and from the events that transgressed throughout the day so far, it was steadily dropping. "You have thirty seconds to tell me how you got past security and why you are in my office."

The man didn't appear the least bit intimidated by the question. If anything, he seemed amused by it, which was apparent as his lips were curved into an upturned expression.

"Something amusing about all this?" Squall asked, insulted that he wasn't being taken seriously.

"Only the fact that no one could possibly answer both questions in fewer than thirty seconds," the man answered, speaking with a Dollet accent. "Unless of course they were born with a motor for a mouth."

"Then take your time, but make it quick." Squall was definitely beginning to lose whatever patience he had left with this man, who acted almost as obnoxiously as Seifer had. "Some people around here have work to do."

"Then which question would you prefer me to answer first?" the man asked. "How I got here, or why I'm here in the first place?"

Squall's frown deepened and the man raised both arms in from of him in defence. The way he had done it was familiar to him, but currently, Squall was not in the right frame of mind to notice such details. "Calm down. It was just a question."

"Then you won't mind answering mine." Was the reply.

The stranger rubbed his chin thoughtfully and Squall was seriously considering calling security on him without having either question answered. The last of his patience was slipping away from him and it was all he could do not to cast Firaga on this man.

Finally, after a moment of silence passed between the two occupants of the room, the man finally appeared to have reached his decision. "I suppose that there is no easy way to tell you this, so I'll just come right out and say it." Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, the man continued. "We really do need to have a talk."

"And why would I need to talk to you?"

"Because I'm your father."

Squall's jaw tightened at the admission and it took a moment for the information to sink it. However, his body seemed to work faster than his brain was, because he automatically responded to the response. "You're lying."

Even as the words flew from his mouth, Squall questioned the surety in his voice. How was he to know whether this man was lying to him or whether he was indeed who he claimed to be? He didn't even know what his parents looked like, let alone who they were.

"I assure you, that I couldn't make any of this up, even if I tried. I have a very limited imagination," The man stated, apparently having expected the rebuttal. "I suppose that we should begin from the beginning."

When Squall failed to say anything in response, the stranger took the cue to continue. "We – your mother and I – lived in a very small village, with very few people populating it. Despite the fact that where we lived was quite far from the rest of civilization, we were quite happy; with our way of life and with each other. We were living for ourselves, and building our own lives, not based on the circumstances evolving around us, but by how we believed we should live.

"But then, one day, your mother changed. She was pregnant at the time; fairly far along actually…with you. I don't know where the change came from, but she suddenly wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. I tried to talk with her; to find out what the problem was, but she wouldn't have it. She went as far as to tell me that she didn't want me poisoning her child with my influences, and to keep us apart, she called the local authorities, accusing me of being abusive and attempting to rape her. She told them that I was a raging alcoholic, and that I had problems controlling my anger. She said that she wanted to get as far away from me as possible, before I could kill her. And, after a long period of time, and a lot of questions, they believed her story over mine, and I was locked up in prison as a result. You would think I hold some form of animosity towards her, but I don't."

Squall slumped back into one of the armchairs that resided within the room and rested his head on his left hand; his annoyance and anger having been drained away by a numbing shock. He heard footfalls from behind his desk and, after a moment, could tell that the stranger was coming closer to stand next to him.

"The instant the charges were dropped and I was released, nine years had already passed. I soon found out that your mother had died shortly after I had been sent away, and everyone seemed to have assumed that the baby had died with her. Regardless of what they told me, however, I kept searching. There was no proof to encourage that you had died as well, so I continued to search for you for eight long years after that.

"There were times that I became discouraged, but I never once chose to quit, because that would mean accepting that you were gone. However, just as I had thought I would never find you, I recently heard your name on the news and I knew that I had to find you; that you were the one that I was looking for. I took the train to Esthar from Timber, even though they were weary of setting it up after the War ended, and came looking for you as soon as I could. I actually found you yesterday afternoon. Do you remember that teenager who wanted your autograph?"

Squall immediately shot his head up at this revelation, perfectly aware that he had failed to mask his surprise. It seemed impossible in his mind for a man who appeared to be reaching his fifties to be able to successfully disguise himself as someone his own age of seventeen. He would have been able to see through it instantly, and yet he hadn't.

Then again, he thought to himself, I did notice that something was off about him.

His gaze turned from the stranger towards his left hand. The cold feeling that had gripped him in the previous afternoon had faded away as the day passed by, but that didn't mean that he had forgotten it completely. But even with that thought in mind, it still didn't make any sense to him.

"I was the one following you yesterday, and when you surprised me by turning around immediately, I disguised myself as the first thing I could think of. How I accomplished it is a very long story that I will save for another time."

"And the group of people you claimed to be with?" Squall asked after a moment had passed between them.

"An illusion," the stranger explained. "one that only you were able to see. Everyone else around you merely saw an empty space. Once again, a story for another time."

A moment passed by where neither occupant spoke to one another. Squall closed his eyes and allowed his hand to rest upon his left hand in deep thought. He had no idea what he could possibly say to this man who was claiming to be his father. He could not prove it or discredit it due to his own faulty memory. His explanation appeared far fetched, but at the same time, it also seemed to make sense. It explained why he had ended up at the orphanage at such a young age. From what he remembered from the orphanage, everyone had managed to secure a keepsake from their past to remember their parents from. It was something symbolic that they had refused to give up or to share with any of the other children. He hadn't had anything to remember anyone by; had always been alone. He supposed that was the reason he chose to cling to Ellone. Because he didn't know if she had had anything to remember her family by, he could have believed they were almost the same.

With their items, the other children had had a story to tell about their families. He had had nothing.

It wasn't that he was jealous of the others. He respected that they had had something to treasure, and that it had all come down to circumstance, and in its defence, he believed that he had to be where he had been in order to defeat Ultimecia. It didn't disregard that he wished things had turned out differently, but he understood that no one had the power to change the past.

"Look…" the stranger spoke, breaking the tense silence. "I know this is a lot to swallow, and all at once especially. I don't expect you to make up your mind about me right away. So how about I leave you alone to think it through for now? If you have any questions, or if you just want to chat," he pulled out a piece of paper with a number scrawled onto it from his date book. "use this number. No one else has it, not even my business associates, so you won't need to worry about being put on hold or anything.

"If you find that you don't want to have anything to do with me at this point, then I'll understand completely."

He handed the number to Squall, who automatically accepted the offering without even thinking about it, and the footfalls that came thereafter indicated that the man was leaving. The SeeD didn't even look up when he heard the door slide open and shut behind him.