CHAPTER 7 – What to do with Squall

Squall sat in a chair after getting her normal clothes back on while Quistis made contact with the Garden and Selphie flirted with Watts and Zone. Rinoa sat on her bed, beside Squall.

"Yes, sir," Quistis said. Squall couldn't hear what Headmaster Cid was saying, but she knew the subject of the conversation was Squall's strange use of force on the fake President. "No, sir. Headmaster, she saved our lives, though. Fine, sir." She hung up, then turned to Rinoa. "Do you have a way out of the city?"

"Yeah. Watts or Zone can take a car."

"Headmaster Cid wants Squall to report to Galbadia Garden, and there she'll be sent back to Balamb."

"I have to go home?" Squall asked. "Why?"

"Well, Squall... There's kind of a test that most girls go through when entering Garden to see if they have any latent or dormant..." she paused as if looking for the right words, "Sorceress power."

"Sorceress power? I'm not a Sorceress!"

"Calm down, Squall. For a lot of people, it's really common to have minute, dormant Sorceress power. I did when I was fourteen, so a lot of girls have it."

"But... If—and I'll say if—I have Sorceress power, that was not dormant or minute! Did you see what I did? I practically ripped him in half!"

Quistis sighed. "I'm sorry, Squall. Those were Headmaster Cid's orders and we'll have to follow them."

"But, you'll need me!"

"The hard part's over, Squall. Rinoa, Selphie and I can handle sneaking into the TV Station and capturing the President ourselves."

"I hope you're right."

Squall wandered around Galbadia Garden for the better part of an hour before she found Headmaster Martine. The small glimpse of him she'd gotten at fake Deling's party had told her that he was a younger man than Cid, but close to middle-aged.

"Ms. Leonhart, nice to meet you," he greeted her with. "I'm sorry about the circumstances that led you here. Some of my students have been waiting to meet the famed Squall Leonhart for years."

"'Famed'?" Squall asked.

"Headmaster Cid is very vocal in his descriptions during his visits. He has spoken very highly of you for some time now."

"Oh..." she shrugged. "I didn't know."

"Well, you're not expected at Balamb Garden until tomorrow. Feel free to take a nap if necessary."

She nodded. "Thank you, Headmaster Martine. I think I will."

"Perfect. There's a room set up for you in our dormitories, second floor."

"Thank you, again, Headmaster," she said, bowing.

Martine led Squall to the room that he'd spoken of. It was a two-bedroom dorm, similar to the one she'd had at Balamb, only larger. One of the two halves of the dorm was three/fourths of her newer, larger room that she'd gotten for being a SeeD member. The room on the left had dirty clothes dumped on the floor. Squall laughed to herself—it was clearly a boy's room.

After Martine left, Squall walked into the unoccupied room and looked around. It was very spartan—the only piece of furniature other than the bed was a simple dresser. She opened it up and found no clothes in it. She figured Martine and the inhabitant of the room had picked it because the second room had no occupant. Squall figured the guy who lived in this room was lucky—no roommate to deal with.

She shut the door and stripped down to just her bra and panties and laid down on the bed. She could use some sleep after the exhaustion that came from what she'd done. The image of it in her mind still scared the hell out of her.

As fatigue took its toll on her, she pushed the image of the fake President out of her mind, hoping for a happier group of images during her dreams.

Hoping for dreams, instead of nightmares.

Laguna woke up to see the smiling face of his four year-old daughte Ellone staring at him. In her held-out hands she held a plate of brown pancakes, covered in syrup and butter. A fork and knife were already sitting on the stand beside his bed. "Mommy made them for you, Daddy."

Laguna smiled. Mommy. He hadn't seen her in almost the four years Ellone had been alive, and she still wasn't ready for him to be with her again, but both he and Ell held out hope (Ell's in the shape of pancakes) that they could be a family again.

"I'll thank her when I'm done with them, sweetheart," he groggily said as he took the plate from her. She jumped up on the bed and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then jumped back down and took off running. Laguna just smiled again. He hoped she never had to see anything he'd seen when he was a member of the Galbadian Army.

Outside the window, a beautiful sunrise painted a picture of peacefulness. He'd chosen Winhill as his home for a reason. It was far away from the Galbadian-Esthar War that had taken the lives of so many of his friends. Kiros and Ward, luckily, were not among them, but Ward had lost his ability to speak. From what Kiros had told him, Ward was working as a janitor at a prison in the desert west of Deling City.

Laguna finished off his pancakes and walked downstairs. He saw the pans and pancake mixes that she'd used to make the pancakes. A note was laying on the table. He picked it up and read it: "You know where to find me, hun."

Wow... His wife was really flirty, wasn't she?

Hm... Laguna hadn't heard that voice in years. He thought he'd gotten rid of it.

He washed off his plate and stuck the note in his pocket. He walked outside, onto the cobblestone street square that was the largest populated space in Winhill. Two Galbadian soldiers were hanging around near the water fountain in the middle of the square.

"How goes it, boys?" he asked as he walked up to them. "Either side winning?"

They both saluted. The higher ranked one said, "Colonel Loire."

"I'm not in the army anymore. I'm just a common townsperson."

"Still, sir. It's customary to refer to any military personel, retired or otherwise, by their rank."

"Yeah, I know. So, what's going down? The war isn't on its way here, is it?"

"No, no, sir. We just... Well, the others that come here during their leave say that this is a peaceful place, so we just decided..."

"Ah, I get it. Looking for a calm place to stay for leave. That's how I found this place. This place, and..." He turned around and looked at the second floor window of the building next to his house. It was open, and she was standing there. "Well, you know."

Both men smiled. "So that's why you left the army," the one said.

Ellone ran up from behind him and tackled his legs. Laguna knelt down and picked her up, hefting her up onto his shoulder. "This is another reason. This is my daughter, Ellone. Ell, say hello to the men."

"Hello. Did you fight with my daddy?"

"We were never assigned to his squad, kiddo, sorry."

Laguna saluted the men back, then said, "C'mon, Ell, let's go see Mommy so I can thank her for the pancakes."

"Are you two gonna have sex?"

"Whoa? Who's telling you things like this?"

"Isn't that how you and Mommy made me?"

"Well, yeah, but you're four! I didn't know what sex was when I was four, and I darn sure didn't ask my dad if he was gonna have sex with my mom."

Ellone kissed him on the cheek again. "Mommy tells me lots of stuff, Daddy."

"If she's teaching you about sex this early, she's obviously worrying a little too much."

Laguna walked into the building next door—a bar—and set Ellone down on the counter. He told her to stay and then walked up stairs. As soon as he reached the top, he was shoved against the wall and her lips were on his right away. He pushed her away for a moment and said, "Whoa, whoa... Shouldn't we move this into the other room before Ell sees it? Just because you've been telling her about sex doesn't mean she needs to see it."

"Oh, baby, you are the best father out there."

"Hey, I care for my kid just like any dad does."

She kissed him on the lips.

Deep inside his head, the voice he thought he'd gotten rid of spoke something that he didn't hear.

Mom?

Squall sat up in the bed with a speed she didn't think she had. She was sweating profusely. Her heart was racing. She had seen her mother in that dream. Raine Leonhart.

God... does that mean... Laguna's my dad? That Ellone girl is my older sister? Have I been seeing my dad's past?

She got her breathing under control, stopped the sweating and felt her heart slowing down to a far more normal speed. How could she be seeing her dad's memories? What was causing it?

Squall heard the door into the main room open and close. She quickly grabbed her skirt and her tank top and slipped them on before the door opened. A guy in a brown duster stood in the doorway. He was wearing blue jeans and a cowboy hat as well. Squall couldn't see his face, but something told her it was utter bewilderment that he was showing.

"Uh, hi?" she stuttered out.

"Wow. Headmaster Martine said he was letting a chick stay in the spare room there, but I didn't think you'd be this hot."

"You can cool your flirtations, buddy, I've already got a boyfriend back at my own Garden."

"Dammit. Got any hot friends?"

Selphie. She'd fall head over heels for you. "One or two."

"Awesome. So I guess when I escort you back to Balamb Garden tomorrow, you'll have to introduce me to her."

"She's on a mission right now."

"Aw, dammit."

Squall smiled. "I'll introduce you at some point."

"Hmm... Say, I've got class in a few minutes, wanna come along?"

"You're just inviting somebody from outside your Garden to one of your classes?"

"Why the hell not? Doesn't matter what continent or country we're in, Garden's Garden. Classes are all the same."

"They let members of SeeD into your classes?"

"Ah, so it'll be a first."

Squall thought about it for a moment. "Sure, I guess." She decided to leave her gunblade case and her jacket in the room. "I've got nothing better to do, and maybe a class or two will calm me down a little. I just had... a weird dream."

"Name's Irvine Kinneas."

"Squall Loi—Leonhart."

"Huh?"

"Leonhart. My last name's Leonhart." What the hell was I thinking? I don't even know if Laguna was my dad. My last name's not Loire, so maybe...I dunno. Maybe they just didn't get married. I don't know what Ellone's last name is, but I'm guessing it's Leonhart, too, judging by how the fake President recognized my name. I wish I knew what was going on with me.

Squall was surprised to find that Irvine's 'class' was simply study hall. He led her to the library, on the third floor of the building. Galbadia Garden was much bigger than Balamb Garden. The library itself was twice as big as the one at her Garden.

"Hey, Irvine, are there records on old Galbadian soldiers?" she asked.

Irvine frowned. "That's a weird question. I don't know." He turned to the librarian. "Hey, are there records for old soldiers?"

The librarian scratched her chin. "How long ago?"

Irvine turned to Squall. "Seventeen to twenty-seven years ago," she answered.

"Ah, yes. Most of them are still in the service, but those who have died or retired have records as well."

"Can you look up Laguna Loire?"

The librarian mubled the name as she searched for it in the computer. Then she must have found it. "Aha, Colonel Laguna Loire. Retired eighteen years ago after a major skirmish in the Galbadian-Esthar Wars. Moved to the town of Winhill. After that, I've got nothing."

Squall thought for a second, then asked, "Did he have a mission in Winhill sometime before he retired?"

"Um... He took leave there, one year of leave, twenty-five years ago."

"Does it list anything about children?"

"Um... two daughters, that's all."

Squall walked over to a chair and sat down. Two daughters. No sons. If he's my dad, then that means I was born a girl and turned into a boy for one reason or another. Okay, I can accept that. That could very well be why I've had so little need to get adjusted to the new me. So, the bigger question is... why did somebody turn me into a boy? Is it because I may be a closet Sorceress?

Irvine sat down next to her. "What's goin' on?"

"Nothing. I'm just trying to figure myself out, I guess."

"Whaddya mean?"

"Well... I think that Laguna guy is my dad."

"You don't know?"

"I don't remember anything about my dad. My mom died in childbirth. I've been at Garden since I was six, and I don't remember much before that."

"Guess you're luckier 'an me. I grew up in an orphanage 'til I was six."

"Sorry."

"Ah, that's okay. I don't mind having grown up in an orphanage."

Squall twiddled her thumbs for a few moments. How would I have been if I grew up in an orphanage? Little Squall, look at her! Poor little orphan girl, her daddy didn't even want her! Except they'd all be orphans, too. In fact, most people in Garden are orphans. I wonder how many...