Fear is the mind killer.
- Paul Muad'Ib

All he was aware of was screaming.

After a moment, he stopped the sound, breathing deeply and heavily, struggling to catch his breath. It felt as though he had stopped breathing, and his lungs desperately craved the oxygen that he was currently filling them with. He didn't know where he was, only that his surroundings were darkened by the night sky. fter taking a minute to calm himself down, he proceeded to visually sweep the area and found himself lying in a bed with the sheets a-strewn. He was wearing a simple male's tank top and a pair of grey sweats and he was lying inside of a room. He wondered exactly where he was before it suddenly dawned on him.

Esthar… I'm in Esthar…

Both hands immediately went up to his neck, searching for the bite wounds he had sustained, only to find that they were gone. Searching himself, he realized that he was in perfect condition, which didn't seem right at all. The last thing he remembered was falling onto the floor of his office and blacking out, and now he was lying in his room?

He suddenly became aware that there was someone else sitting beside him and turned to see who it was. Shock overrode confusion once he recognized who it was.

Rinoa was staring back at him, her face paler than he remembered it, but instead of reaching to bite him with decaying teeth as he expected, she looked just as confused as he felt. She was in her sleeping clothes, an oversized t-shirt with bike-shorts underneath, but to him she was a sight for sore eyes.

A moment passed between them before Rinoa flew forward, resting her head against his chest as his arms flew around her, holding her close and willing that this wasn't a dream. She began to cry, her shoulders trembling and he looked her over, checking to see if she had any injuries from the endeavour they had both had to face and was surprised to find that she was perfectly fine.

There was only one thing that made sense to him and he was bound and determined to find out if he was right. Still holding onto Rinoa with his right arm, he reached out onto the nightstand with his left and checked the date before sighing in relief when he realized he had assumed correctly. It had all been a dream, a horrible dream. None of it had really happened, the exchange with Nicholas, the virus that reanimated the dead, watching everyone he knew and cared about die in front of him, all of it. It hadn't been real. It had all been the result of a stupid imagination and an even stupider cheap horror film.

I'm seriously going to gut Irvine for this…

Rinoa looked as though she was finally calming down, and Squall released his grip on her, allowing her to sit up against the headboard, following her example and doing the same, even as he looked at the alarm clock. He definitely wasn't getting any more sleep that night.

"It was horrible," Rinoa said finally through a shiver, breaking the silence between them, and Squall didn't need to ask her what she was talking about.

She must've had a nightmare too. He thought to himself.

Even if he had wanted to, he didn't need to prod her to say anymore. "I was in my room, getting ready to head outside – Selphie and I were going to go shopping – when I noticed I had a scratch on my leg. You know the kind, you didn't realize you got scratched and later on you notice it and wonder how it happened?"

When Squall nodded, Rinoa continued with her explanation. "So I went to the infirmary – it wasn't too deep but I went anyway, just in case. But just after I got there, there were these strange people that just came in, and they started attacking the other patients. I had the pinwheel with me, but I didn't want to hurt anyone, right? But then I noticed that the patients that had gotten hurt were starting to get back up, and they started joining in, and I realized that there was obviously something wrong with them when they started for me. Angelo and I took some of them out but then Quistis came out of nowhere and started shooting at them too."

Squall's stomach tightened at the familiar circumstances, and he hoped that this wasn't a sort of side-effect of the Sorceress powers Rinoa had accepted. He would never forgive himself if she had been forced to witness his nightmare. The thought that it could have easily been hers didn't cross his mind.

Rinoa seemed to realize this, and her expression changed from slight terror to confusion and worry. "Squall? What is it? Are you okay?"

Squall nodded after a minute went by before turning to look at her. "These people, in the infirmary. Where these people killing the patients before they got back up?"

"Yeah, they were actually. One guy's head was bent at a strange angle and I was amazed at how—wait…" Rinoa stared at Squall strangely before continuing. "How did you know about that?"

"I think I might have had the same dream," Squall confessed. As much as he didn't want Rinoa to blame herself, he knew she deserved to know the truth.

Rinoa looked confused for a second before a realization dawned on her. "My powers… I must have relayed the dream to you… Squall, I'm so sorry—"

"Hey, it's not your fault. It could have just as easily been my bad dream being transferred onto you. And besides, we can't expect you to be able to control your powers yet. You only just became a Sorceress."

"Don't blame yourself. This was entirely my fault—" Rinoa cut herself off when a dog-shaped creature jumped up onto the bed and the couple screamed in unison at the sight of it, but after a moment, they realized that Angelo was alive and normal, with her tongue hanging out as she panted, eagerly ready to greet her mistress.

Both Rinoa and Squall exchanged glances that would have been comical given any other circumstance, having practically jumped into the other one's arms before directing their gazes back at the collie. Oblivious to what had just happened, Angelo moved closer to her owner, snuggling in between the teenagers and making herself quite comfortable before lying back down, her chin lying across Rinoa's legs.

Squall frowned at Angelo and Rinoa leaned her face in so that they could see eye-to-eye. "That's not funny, Angelo."

Angelo couldn't have cared less. She stared back at Rinoa, her tongue still hanging out with her tail wagging.

Suddenly, there was a loud pounding noise coming from the front door and once again, Squall and Rinoa jumped. Angelo moved away from her owner because of the sudden movement and, almost looking insulted, hopped off the bed. The pounding became more frequent and even louder as both teenagers refused to move.

"Squall…" Rinoa said after a full minute had passed. "Go check to see who it is."

Squall turned on her incredulously. "Why don't you go and look? You're the Sorceress."

"And as your Sorceress," Rinoa moved her leg underneath the covers and kicked the male out of the bed. Squall landed on the carpeted floor beneath him, glaring up at her as she continued. "I'm ordering you to go take a look."

Rising to his feet, Squall continued to balefully glare at the raven haired girl, who glared right back at him, but the impromptu staring contest ended when a familiar voice cut through the silence. "Selphie wants in! Let me in!"

"Forget about Selphie!" A second voice, also familiar, cut in. "I want in! Ow! Selphie, stop hitting me!"

Sighing in relief, Squall finally moved from where he was standing, approached the door and undid the lock. In turn, both SeeDs entered the room, the blonde male and the brunette nearly bowling their Commander over in the process as the door slid shut behind them.

"Don't do that!" Rinoa shouted, even as she was climbing out of the bed. "You scared us half to death."

"Us?" Selphie said, turning to stare at the Commander, to which Squall stared at her levelly.

"I could always just put you two back in the hallway."

Selphie turned a pale shade of white before shaking her head. "I'll be good."

Zell, who had been unnaturally quiet since entering the room, ran a hand through his hair, which wasn't gelled in its normal style. In fact, both SeeDs standing in front of him were still in the pyjamas, probably not bothering to change before leaving their respective rooms. Zell was simply dressed in a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, whereas Selphie was wearing light blue button up pyjamas with yellow birds – presumably Chocobos and Chicobos – scrawled on the material in a diagonal pattern.

"Why are you two here?" Rinoa asked, coming to stand next to Squall.

"Well," Selphie said, turning a shade of red. "Um… I know it sounds really dumb, but it was really scary. You see, I had this really bad dream…"

"You too?" Zell asked incredulous. "So did I." Upon realizing what it was he had said, he began blushing like the shorter girl. "Kay Selphie, you were right. It does sound dumb."

"Was it about zombies?" Rinoa asked the question that was on Squall's mind.

"Yeah," Zell said as Selphie nodded. "How'd you know?"

Rinoa hesitated in her answer for a moment and, upon exchanging glances with Squall, she sighed reluctantly. "…We had one too. A nightmare, I mean. And there were zombies in it."

"Where was yours?" Selphie asked. "Mine was here in the Residence."

"Same with us," Squall said, to which Rinoa nodded.

"That's weird." Zell said. "Really weird. That's where I was in my dream too."

Pausing for a second, Zell frowned thoughtfully. "Wait… the only other time we had a dream the exact same was when Ellone sent us to the past, right?"

Squall and Selphie both nodded.

"You don't think this was her doing, do you?"

"I don't think so," Squall said. "Ellone's power is to send people she knows to the past as people she knew back then. I know I never set foot in the Residence before the mess with Ultimecia, and even when I did come here, I didn't run into those things."

"So we all just had the same dream?" Selphie asked. "Out of the blue?"

"I think this is somehow my fault," Rinoa said depressingly. "I still don't know the limits to my powers, so either Squall or I were having a nightmare, and I guess my powers dragged you two in it as well."

"Quisty and Irvy were there too," Selphie said almost thoughtfully. "So were Sir Laguna, Kiros and Ward. Do you think they might have had the same dream too?"

As if on cue, the sound of frantic knocking on the door filled the air, before a muffled 'ow' followed it. Almost immediately afterwards, there was another knock, only this time it sounded more sedate than the previous one, as if the interloper was trying to retain their composure.

"That's your cue, Squall," Rinoa said, gesturing towards the door.

Sighing, Squall complied, moving towards the metal object and unlocking the door once again. This time, he was greeted by Irvine and Quistis, both of them dressed in their sleep wear. Quistis entered first, followed by Irvine, who was rubbing the back of his head. Clutched tightly in Quistis' arms was a text book, presumably what she had hit Irvine with.

Taking in the presence of the others, Quistis sighed, pushing her long hair – which had been left down – out of her face. "I take it we weren't alone in our predicament."

Selphie and Zell shook their heads and Squall moved away from the door, not bothering to lock it this time, assuming that they would have more visitors within the next few minutes.

"Nightmare?" Rinoa asked.

Irvine nodded in response. "Oh yeah. You could say that."

Squall noted that Quistis was watching Angelo out of the corner of her eyes. The dog must have sensed it as well, because she immediately stood up and began to walk over towards the former instructor. Quistis turned a shade paler and pushed Irvine in front of her, who stared at the elder girl as though she had lost her mind. Angelo merely stared at the two before turning back around a hopping up onto the bed, making herself comfortable on the side that Squall normally slept on.

Pointedly ignoring the dog, Squall turned his attention back to Irvine. "You were saying?"

"Right, nightmare." Irvine scratched the back of his head. "See, I was just walking around, trying to clear my head, and I run into Quistis, who says she had a nightmare too. We talked about it and found out we had the same one, and thought maybe y'all had the same thing happen to you."

"You guessed right," Zell said. "I'm never looking at an elevator the same way again."

"But if we all had the same nightmare," Quistis said, pointedly ignoring the comment. "How did it happen? Is that even possible?"

"We thought of a possibility," Selphie interjected. "But Squall shot it down."

"I already explained how it happened," Rinoa said, sounding frustrated. "Either Squall or I had a nightmare and my powers dragged everyone else into it. So it's my fault."

"Don't say that, Rinny," Selphie said. "We don't even know for sure that it was your powers."

"What other explanation is there?" Rinoa asked pointedly. "It's the only one that makes any sense, and you know it."

Suddenly, the door slid open behind them and Laguna, Kiros, Ward and Ellone – all dressed in their sleep wear – were revealed to be standing there. Laguna had his hand raised ready to knock and, upon seeing the faces of the SeeDs and Sorceress staring back at him, he lowered his hand and hid it sheepishly behind his back, probably in the hopes that they hadn't actually seen that.

Smiling sheepishly, the President of Esthar coughed in his other hand before clearing his throat. "Didn't think the door was unlocked…"

"Sorry for the interruption," Kiros interjected. "But none of you managed to have a nightmare about zombies by any chance, did you?"

When no one responded, Kiros nodded before speaking again. "I'll take that as a 'yes'. We think we might have the culprit."

Ellone waved sheepishly at the group of teenagers and turned around, probably attempting to leave, only to have Ward standing in her way, shaking his head. Hanging her head, Ellone turned back around and frowned.

Squall and the others exchanged glances, Selphie and Irvine both shrugging in response before Laguna cut in. "Let me explain. Out of the ten of us standing here, there was only one of us that didn't get chased around by zombies. And no matter where we went, we never ran into her."

Squall chose to keep himself from contradicting the elder man. It was obvious he was onto something.

"What's your point?" Rinoa asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"What Laguna's saying is that we all got hunted down by those things and pretty much looked around the entire Residence, but not once did we run into Ellone. That's because Ellone was kind of responsible."

"Tell them what you told us," Laguna gestured and Ellone sighed, looking extremely guilty.

"Well, I was about to send Squall to the past—"

"Again?" Squall asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

Either she hadn't heard him or she was deliberately ignoring him. Despite this fact, she continued with her explanation. "But he was already asleep. Then, something unusual happened."

"What was it?" Selphie asked.

"Well, I sort of became an observer in his dream. I could see everyone and hear everyone talking, but it wasn't me. I was watching everything through him, kind of what you experience when I send you to the past. I couldn't do anything to get his attention, or to get anyone else's attention for that matter. He couldn't hear me, so he probably didn't even realize I was there."

Squall nodded and Ellone sighed before continuing. "I don't know how it happened. All I know is that I was there, but I wasn't there. I think that's why no one was able to find me. Because I wasn't actually thinking for myself.

"Depending on a dream, you perceive things differently than you would in real life. In this case, we all were seeing things in our own perspective, and because there was no one to watch my perspective, the dream me was sort of erased—except for the very end. Squall was so worried about me, wondering where I was and if I was safe that he sort of placed me in the dream as a zombie. I guess it was an explanation as to what had happened to me. It was a large inconsistency, so obviously the mind'll come up with a solution if it doesn't receive one.

"Anyways, the best I can understand it is this. Squall was in the middle of a dream to begin with when I tried to use my powers. His dream was more intense and overwhelmed me, thus sort of forcing me to observe the dream through his point of view. I think what happened with the rest of you was that his level of distress was so high that he drew Rinoa in and as a result, Rinoa's powers allowed her to grab a hold of anyone she could think of and dragged them in as well."

No one spoke for what felt like a long time, but finally, Quistis broke through the silence. "That… actually does make some sense, in retrospect."

"So the dream was Squall's all along?" Selphie asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I never woulda thought," Irvine said, shaking his head before grinning suddenly. "Didn't know the movie'd scare you that much, buddy."

Squall immediately looked up from his own thoughts at the comment, scowling as he did. "It didn't."

"Sure…" Irvine said in a tone that indicated he didn't believe him. "Whatever you say."

Squall rolled his eyes. "Honestly. You all know I was falling asleep during the damned thing."

"Do you need a hug, Squall?" Rinoa asked sweetly.

"It didn't scare me," Squall said, quickly becoming annoyed at all of them.

"It's okay to be scared," Rinoa said, waving off his denial. "We're your friends. We won't make fun of you if you admit it."

Squall's frown deepened as he turned to look at Quistis, hoping the former Instructor would have the sense to know the stupid movie hadn't had any effect on him.

"That's it," Quistis said, sporting a smirk of her own. "No more horror movies before bedtime for you, young man."

"You mean it really did come from a movie?" Laguna asked. His eyes wide in shock. "Well damn. Who'da thought?" Turning to look at Kiros and Ward, he shook his head slightly. "And you guys say I have an active imagination."

Squall sighed exasperated, knowing fully well that whatever he said in his own defence wouldn't do the situation any good. He knew for a fact he had been half asleep while the stupid zombie movies were playing. He had barely been paying any attention at all. He had no idea why they would suddenly turn into something as horrifying as that nightmare had been.

"I don't know about any of you," Zell broke in, causing everyone to stare at him. Zell shifted his gaze towards Squall, a large grin on his face. "But that was, by far, the scariest, creepiest horror adventure type dream I have ever seen in my entire life, and I've seen plenty."

Not at all sure about what the other SeeD was saying, Squall was surprised when the next set of words left the brawler's mouth. "Let's do it again!"

It had been a few days since the strange nightmare, and everyone's mannerisms seemed to be returning to normal, though it was thanks to a few changes. Quistis had managed to secure a new room on the other end of the hallway from the one she had been in recently, having been attacked there in the first place. She then resorted to using the automatic lock the technicians had installed on her door to prevent any unwanted guests from barging in, to the dismay of both Selphie and Rinoa.

Zell no longer relied on the elevators in the Residence to take him anywhere. Instead he chose to take the flight of stairs everywhere he went, even if the journey was long. When Quistis had pointed that fact out to him, the brawler had merely replied that it was good exercise. The only changes that Irvine had displayed were that he stayed as far away from the eighth floor as possible, and camped out in Selphie's room for the duration of their stay. Besides having a new roommate, Selphie hadn't really changed after the dream, though she always dragged someone with her when roaming the Residence at night, regardless of who it was.

Squall himself had finally requisitioned the paperwork for the maintenance team to fix the delay on the central door leading into his office. Approximately half a day after the nightmare, the door had been fixed and he no longer had to wait for a minute to pass before entering the room. Though he was a bit weary of the office as a whole, he remedied the situation by adding to his hidden stash of weaponry and, despite how it looked, always had his gunblade with him at all times. He wouldn't have been surprised if the others had followed the example.

Currently, he found himself being led through the corridors of the Presidential Residence by non-other than the Commander-in-Chief himself, who didn't appear to be any worse for wear from the nightmare he had been a part of. It sort of unnerved the teenager that the man didn't appear to have been effected and secretly he wondered what it was the elder man was on and if he was willing to share.

The only thing stopping him from asking him directly was the fact that it was none of his business. He had no more right to pry through Laguna's musings than the others had to pry through his own. People dealt with circumstances differently from everyone else, and if Laguna's way of handling his inner demons was to act like he normally did, then that was his business.

Taking in his surroundings, he knew they weren't heading towards the Presidential Office. They would have had to turn right at the previous junction before continuing straight. Instead, they seemed to be veering off towards the living quarters of the Presidential Residence. He just hoped the seemingly absent minded President hadn't gotten them lost.

During his mental musings, he noticed Laguna pause at a specific door and after a moment it slid open, permitting the pair access inside. The room itself was decorated somewhat simply in comparison to the rest of the Presidential Residence, and the SeeD assumed that it was because Laguna liked to keep things simple. But whatever the reason for the President bringing him to the room eluded the teenager as the door slid shut behind him.

Laguna sat down on a couch located on the farthest end of the room and, when Squall didn't follow suit, he gestured towards a seat nearby. "You can sit down you know."

After the SeeD had taken a seat, an uncomfortable silence settled between the pair. Squall could tell that the President was hesitant in what he felt he needed to say, and he didn't know how to start a conversation with the man. Though the silence was awkward, he found himself at a loss as to how it would break, but just when he was about to take a stab at it, Laguna finally jumped in, relieving him of such a task. "I'm guessing that you're wondering what I needed to talk to you about."

"Sir, if I may ask," Squall stated, avoiding the question slightly. "Why would you go through the trouble of bringing me here if we could speak just as easily in your office?"

Laguna took in an uneasy breath before letting it out slowly and Squall figured that it must have had something to do with the dream. He had been reluctant to return to his office after what had happened, but chose to do so simply because it was convenient. Even if he had wanted to, Laguna was the President and his office was where it was. Squall could guess that no exceptions could be made under the matter.

"Well, there are a few reasons, I guess," Laguna said, rubbing the back of his head in a nervous gesture and Squall resisted the urge to ask him if he had a leg cramp yet. "But the biggest one is that it's less private in the office, and what I need to speak to you about is personal."

Squall raised an eyebrow even as Laguna took in another deep breath. "Do you remember what I said in the dream?"

"You said a lot of things in the dream," Squall deadpanned.

"To you, I mean."

The SeeD stared at the elder man, knowing that there had been many things that had been said to him. Laguna stared back and, for a moment, neither one spoke. Finally, the elder man broke the silence. "This isn't the easiest thing to explain, and I don't expect you to believe me – not right away I mean, what with someone lying to you about something that important…"

The point, Laguna… Squall thought to himself impatiently, purposely trying to avoid thinking about that aspect. He was still furious with himself for believing a complete stranger over something that could have obviously been used against him like it was – even if Nicholas didn't really exist.

"…Do you want to talk?" Laguna suddenly blurted out, jarring Squall from his feeble attempt at not thinking. "About what Nick lied about, I mean."

"Not particularly."

"But it'll help," Laguna pointed out.

Squall shrugged in response. "What's there to talk about? I was lied to. Didn't we already have this talk though?"

"I don't think I gave you a straight answer before," Laguna said. "When you asked me what I would do if I were in your position. If someone where to come up to me and tell me that they were my son, I think I would believe them; even if they didn't have any evidence or proof to back up their word. I'd take it at face value. I would want proof. A test or something that'd validate what they were saying, though."

Laguna muttered something under his breath, but he said it too low for the SeeD to pick up. "But I didn't bring you in here to brood on the past. There's something I need to talk to you about."

"I think you've already established that," Squall muttered and Laguna nodded in response.

"What would happen if someone else just suddenly told you that they were your father," Laguna suddenly blurt out, and immediately gained the SeeD's attention. "And was willing to prove it?"

Squall didn't say anything right away, the question having caught him off guard. Why would Laguna want to know the answer to something that complicated? Moreover, why would he want to ask him about that? Was it because of what he went through when Nicholas had lied to him? Was it about the mixed feelings that had been left behind after he had found out the truth? It was none of his business so why would he want to know?

He could tell Laguna was staring at him, waiting for an answer to his question. Normally, he'd say exactly what he was thinking, that it wasn't any of his business and he shouldn't have even bothered to ask, but he couldn't be disrespectful to the President. It was standard protocol, and he couldn't afford to just brush him off like he would anyone else thus jeopardizing relations between Esthar and Garden.

Finally, he managed to scrape together an answer and hoped the former soldier would get the hint and stop prying into the subject. "I wouldn't take it at face value. I'd want to see this proof and, depending on what it is, I guess it'd go from there."

Laguna nodded in response, seemingly satisfied, and Squall hoped the subject had been concluded. The last thing he wanted was to talk about the deception, or other possibilities that probably would never happen. It was just too depressing.

"I hope you know that I didn't mean proof as in stories or hearsay." Laguna broke into the brief silence, much to Squall's chagrin. "I meant as in actual proof. Like DNA or blood… you know, that sort of thing?"

"Blood is considered to be DNA."

"You know what I mean," Laguna said sheepishly. He muttered something underneath his breath and Squall could have sworn he thought he had heard something about a smart ass.

Managing to regain his composure, Laguna sighed once again. "I've been meaning to talk to you for a while, ever since the mission to take care of Ultimecia. I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but there was just so much to do, and our jobs made it pretty impossible. Then I thought, with the dream, that I wouldn't ever have the chance to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Squall asked. Anything to change the subject.

"The truth." Laguna said simply and just as Squall was about to press him further, Laguna jumped in. "About who you are."

"With all due respect," Squall interjected. "I already know who I am."

"Well, yeah…" Laguna said, stuttering slightly as he reached up to scratch the back of his head anxiously. "Of course you know who you are, I mean, you're you. It's not like you're suffering from some kind of amnesia, and you're not sick so you don't need me to tell you the basics, and you certainly don't need a doctor… can we possibly start over?"

Without the psycho-analytic bullshit, sure. Squall didn't give voice to his inner musings and simply nodded in response.

"I haven't been this nervous since I asked Raine to marry me," Laguna continued to ramble. "I couldn't even say the words so I just shoved the finger onto her ring – err, I mean the ring onto her finger."

"You're rambling," Squall interrupted. "Why are you nervous in the first place? Whatever it is, I'm not going to tear into you."

"You just might…" Laguna said.

"What could you possibly say that would give me reason to verbally attack you?"

"The truth?"

Squall merely rolled his eyes and refused to comment as Laguna continued. "Beating around the bush doesn't seem to work that well, so I guess I'll do for you what I did for Raine."

Squall blinked confused. "You're going to put a ring on my finger?"

Laguna slapped himself in the forehead. "No!"

Taking in another deep breath, he released it slowly. "When Ellone found me at the Lunar Base, she told me what happened in Winhill after I left and things that I hadn't known until she told me."

"What didn't you know?" Squall asked when Laguna broke off suddenly. He had never seen the President at such a loss of words before, not even in the past.

"I didn't know," Laguna began, and it seemed as though he was holding his breath. "that Raine was pregnant. I knew she died, but I didn't know how or why."

Squall frowned thoughtfully, not really understanding what it was Laguna was saying. He remembered that Ellone had said something about a newborn baby, so he had already known Raine had been pregnant, and suspected that the birthing process had been too much for her. He also could assume that Laguna had been the father, since Ellone had mentioned that Raine had wanted him to see the child.

But he couldn't figure out where this conversation was heading, or why he was being told all of this. Clearly, it wasn't any of his business, and he had wondered why Ellone had wanted him to even know about the baby in the first place. Did Ellone know something he didn't? Had he had a run in with this person before and not even realized it? He didn't think he had met anyone who reminded him of the former soldier, but then again just because Laguna had a son or daughter, didn't mean said kid was going to be exactly like him in personality or appearance.

An idea suddenly came to him. What if Laguna was asking SeeD to help him look for this person? SeeDs were mercenaries, they took on any mission so long as there was payment involved, and it wouldn't be the strangest mission they had taken.

"So Raine was pregnant and you have no idea where the child went," Squall stated simply. "Are you asking me to help you look for this person?"

"No," Laguna said hesitantly. "I already know where he is."

Then what does he want? Squall thought to himself, even more confused than he had been a moment ago. "Then I have no idea why you called me here to talk to you about this. It's none of my business."

"Of course it's your business," Laguna suddenly blurted out and Squall raised an eyebrow in response.

"I don't see how."

"I'm no good with words," Laguna said suddenly. "I told Elle I would bomb at this, that I'd mess it up."

"You haven't messed anything up," Squall said, sighing in exasperation. "Look, just start from the beginning. Tell me whatever it is you want to tell me and I promise not to bite your head off."

Laguna appeared to allow the suggestion to sink in before he attempted to say anything else and Squall was grateful for that. He couldn't afford to stay with the President for the remainder of the day. He still had a lot of paperwork to take care of and, since they hadn't actually finished dispensing with the monster threat as of yet, he had to keep an eye on the extermination team as well.

After a few minutes of silence between them, it looked as though Laguna was finally reining his thoughts in and Squall resisted the urge to glance at his watch in irritation. The elder man physically stiffened, as if waiting for someone to attack him, clenching his eyes shut before he finally just blurting it all out. "You're my son."

The words didn't sink in right away, but when they did the SeeD felt as though he had run head first into a reinforced metal wall. "What?"

"I didn't know when I left Winhill to search for Elle," Laguna continued, speaking quickly as if he expected Squall to interrupt him. "Raine probably wanted to wait until after I got back. She knew I wouldn't have gone after the soldiers who kidnapped Ellone if I she told me right away. I know it's not an excuse, but when I got back the villagers didn't even tell me about you. They just said that Raine was dead and that they sent Ellone away. When you first arrived at the Residence and I told you that Ellone told me everything at the Lunar Base, I meant it, I honestly did."

Squall honestly didn't know what to say as Laguna continued with his explanation. "I wanted to tell you right away, believe me, I really did, but work got in the way again. You were busy, and I couldn't get away from the meetings and then that stupid dream happened. I didn't know if it would be a good idea to tell you so soon after that kind of experience, mainly because of what Nick did, at least not without proof."

Squall directed his gaze to the floor, suddenly finding himself in a very familiar position. The arguments and implications he had come up with before were crowding his mind once again, but this time he was even more confused than he had been the last time. Nicholas' actions flashed up in the teenager's mind, reminding him of what had taken place the last time he had opted to trust what someone had told him.

But the difference between Laguna and Nicholas was the former had Ellone to back up his claim. Thinking about it though, Squall didn't think he would be able to trust what was being said based on words, no matter who they came from.

Not without proof.

Not this time.

"I…" Squall finally managed to find his voice once again and he rose to his feet, visibly shaking his head. "I can't do this again."

"I thought you'd say that," Laguna commented sadly. "If it were me, I probably wouldn't believe me either. But I am willing to prove that I'm telling the truth. If you're up for it, I can arrange a blood test, or something along those lines."

He hated times like this, times where he didn't know what to do or what to say. The parts of his life he could remember he always knew what he was doing ahead of time, and there had only been one other instance similar to what was currently happening, and one exactly like it.

During the war seemingly forever ago, Squall had almost made a very huge mistake. He had almost allowed Rinoa to go with the Estharians to send her into space, as they had done for Adel twenty years ago. He had thought it was her decision, but when Quistis confronted him on the motives of his actions previous to this mistake, he had changed his mind, stormed the Sorceress' Memorial and rescued Rinoa. When all was said and done, he had known he had made the right choice.

Then there was the situation with Nicholas. He had wanted to believe him and had chosen to do so, mainly because he had already realized that he couldn't do everything by himself. The others had taught him that valuable lesson and he had believed it would stick with him and would form him into a more likeable person in his eyes. But that had proved to be a big mistake. Nicholas had been behind the whole horrible experience. It didn't matter that the incident had been a dream, or that Nicholas wasn't real. He felt it was his subconscious reminding him of the pain that would come from such blind acceptance.

So where did the suspicions end and the trust begin?

He knew Laguna longer than he had known Nicholas, but that didn't make him feel any less weary. He didn't know what he should do now. The last decision he had made had blown up in his face, and he didn't want to play the fool again.

But then, Ellone trusted him, had trusted him from when she was a child. He had never let her down, not willingly. And he trusted Ellone as much as anyone could trust another person. When she had left, it had been painful and he hadn't understood, but he had been four years old, no one had expected him to understand. In hindsight, he knew that if she had had the option, he would have gone along with her, but her powers posed too much of a threat. So, if he trusted Ellone, and she trusted Laguna, was it safe to do the same?

"I don't know what to do," he recanted, and he wasn't aware he had said anything aloud until he heard Laguna respond.

"I can't make you do anything you're not comfortable with, but I can make a suggestion. If you decide to take the test, you don't need to do anything after that, whatever the results. But if it proves to you that I am who I say I am, regardless of what you decide, I'll always be there. I couldn't at the beginning, and I won't make excuses, but I'm here now."

It sounded reasonable enough, and Laguna appeared to be sincere, but what if he got hurt again? The constant doubt he carried – had carried with him for Hyne knew how long – continued to plague his thoughts, and he knew it had to stop. He couldn't get through life by himself – he understood that now – but he couldn't completely depend on anyone else either. He'd have to find a balance, one that he could live with from then on.

People were going to lie. That piece of cynical logic was going to stick with him, but more important than that, there were instances where they would tell the truth. No one could live with a lie, he had learned that himself. It was a difficult thing to carry on with it, to remember each and every one of them. Though he didn't lie too often, he had lied about who he was, in order to keep himself from caring what others around him thought of him, thinking it would make him weaker and more susceptible to the pain if he didn't.

If he allowed that dream to lead his actions for the rest of his life, then he was giving up. If he depended on people too much, he was going to get hurt, eventually if not immediately. Laguna's suggestion was like a middle ground. The elder man was giving him a way out in either case.

Finally, he nodded and attempted a small smile. "I think that'd be a good start."

05/07/06 – Oh my GOD was that a pain in the ass to get out! I'm not saying I don't like the story anymore; I'm commenting on how freaking long it took me to write the end of the chapter! The first half was easy – humour is too good to resist at times. Sorry it took almost a month to update, and I hope it was well worth the wait.

Now, while I was coming up with battle tactics to combat the evilness that is writer's block, I pooled all of my chapters (minus the author's notes) into one, just to see how long it actually was. HOLY CRAP! 97,285 words, and (in Times New Roman font) 253 pages. I never DREAMED that it would become this huge a monster with only 20 chapters (well, 19 and an epilogue, but you know what I'm talking about).

What I wanted to do after this story was concluded was to write commentary like another author has done (Peptuck), but I probably wouldn't know what to say about it except that I have a twisted imagination, and I'm getting much better at making Original Characters. I wrote this story sorta on a spur of the moment thing, right after I completed reading the novelization of Resident Evil Genesis and Resident Evil Apocalypse. I had already seen the movies, but there was so much more in the books than in the movie, which lead me to begin reading the novelizations of the games. Looking back on it, Nicholas Griffith was a name used in one of the original novelizations, so I honestly don't know if gamers actually recall the name. All I know myself is that he was an ingenius and twisted character and I needed a name for my villain (I got annoyed with calling him 'the man' all the time).

Like those of you who chose to read the story (whether you chose to review or not), I have favourite parts in every story I write. Mainly they are parts that I seriously cannot wait to write. Selphie's death scene was one of them. I always saw her going out in this huge explosion – ever since day one. Zell's was also predestined from the beginning, mainly because I had him pegged as a horror flick fanatic (sort of how I feel about Final Fantasy). He knew more than his fair share and the villain couldn't have that so he killed him off. Quistis was also predestined actually. I loved Rain's death in RE:Genesis, and I pictured Quistis going out in the exact same way.

Speaking of Rain, I actually caught the irony of melding the two genres together since Laguna's late wife's name was Raine (albeit different spelling). It was hard at times to not call her by name, simply because of the dramatic ramafications it would have on Laguna's character. He would've found it funny... in a morbid sense of the word.

I know I found it obvious from the get-go that Squall was going to be the last one standing, and I hoped that it wouldn't turn people off the story, but you know what? I talked with a couple of people online – people who were helping me with my writer's block – and they were surprised by who lived longer than who, and they didn't expect Squall to be the major player. Maybe that's just me.

Wow, I guess this story really did get a commentary after all.

Well, the long and short of it is that the Inspiration Bug alleryd me and Writer's Block finally had its fun (after what, 19 chapters of being on hiatus), but I did manage to update almost all of my stories while working on this final chapter, so it's a small victory.

So now, Coming of the Apocalypse is completely finished. Well, not completely actually. Like most of my projects, there will be a sequel. I believe it will probably be called Rise of the Apocalypse, or something along those lines, so keep an eye out if you are interested.

Comments from the peanut gallery (that's you readers) are welcome. Likes, dislikes, favourite moments, things you feel I need to improve on, and (the most important in my opinion) did the ending totally suck or just suck a little bit? Let me know. Until the sequel, adios!

11/09/06 – Only a slight alteration from the previous. Most things stayed intact, but some description was added, a couple of movements taken out or replaced, and most importantly, quotes added to the beginning of each chapter, each having some kind of role or emphasis on the occurrences of the chapters.

Also, the sequel has been posted – it's official title is 'Enter: The Apocalypse'. It's just the prologue and its close to 600 words (shorter than I'm used to posting actually; it's bothering the hell outta me), but more should be posted very soon. I now have two jobs to juggle along with social time. I wonder when I'm gonna have some actual me time through all of that.

04/23/09 - I feel guilty for not posting a comment in so long, especially when I've been constantly recieving emails and reviews asking about the sequel and why it isn't posted. Well, the sequel was posted for a little while, but I took it down due to the fact that my ideas for it were all rather stale. I have been thinking about ways of improving it, but if I do follow through and end up re-writing it, then I will end up re-writing this ending (which makes me sad because I like the way this whole thing ended). As it stands right now 'Coming of the Apocalypse' is merely a stand-alone.

Again sorry for the lack of word on the sequel; I know people have been looking forward to it for a while now, and I am hoping to not let anyone down.