Careworn Lives

Summary: It's been two years since defeating Ultimecia and Laguna still has yet to reveal to Squall who he is to him. However, while trying to reach that point Laguna is met with challenges that may speed up or hinder that process. A new threat is brewing somewhere to the north and not just Laguna needs to watch out for it.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters that were not made by me. No canon was harmed by any of the OCs within this text. (In other words, the few OCs that are in this aka. The bad guys will not have any love interests, or be super omega powerful. I strictly hate any and all mary-sues and gary-sues. You will not find any of them in this story.)

While Reading: Please note that all speech will be surrounded by quotes ("") but all thought speech will be surrounded by apostrophes (''). Some people do it, some don't… I just like doing it this way.

To the Reviewers:

kmsaum - Thank you very much! :D

Captin Azza - Thank you so much for your wonderful review! I know exactly what you mean about Squall's personality being a little bit over the edge. lol I definitely struggled with him in the last chapter. I'll try harder this time to tone him down some more. :D I'm very happy you're so well taken with Laguna. He's been a fun write. Thank you again, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Ape87 - Thank you so much! I hope I shall continue to please. :D

MasteroftheIceblade - Thank you muchly! I'm glad you've enjoyed it thus far. I'm all sorts of excited about how Laguna has been coming along. Even though his story is sad.

-Chapter 4-

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The next few hours passed by at a snail's pace. Kiros had lead Laguna back to the Ragnarok to allow him some quiet time to think. Things weren't looking good for the newly acquainted father and son. Neither of them had really expected much different from Squall on the account, but as time stretched on without any word from anyone Laguna had begun to grow unsettled.

"If he doesn't call or come out here soon I will storm in there and drag him out myself." Laguna demanded as he paced back and forth on the bridge. Kiros couldn't help but crack a smile.

"You're already sounding the part." Laguna stopped for a moment and shot his friend an awkward stare and then continued his pacing.

"This isn't a time to joke around. Doesn't he realize the kind of danger he's in?"

Kiros closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest while studying his disgruntled friend. "I'm sure he does. Squall's never been one to really joke. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already gone over everything in his head." Kiros reassured.

Laguna stopped his marring of the floor to pay more attention to his companion. Maybe he had been too busy thinking about what he would be doing in Squall's situation, and not realizing the type of person Squall actually was. He was completely different from his 'so called' father. Even Raine was more open about how she felt than him.

Laguna sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was because Squall grew up alone and without anyone to help him be more than what he is. He had no mother or father to care for him and pay attention to him. Growing up in an orphanage meant he would have received sided attention from Matron and the other kids. If he decided he was better off by himself then, who would be there to stop him or help him come out of his shell?

Laguna fell down in one of the chairs opposite Kiros. His face buried in his hands. Kiros suddenly sat up in his seat looking rather worried. "What's wrong?"

Laguna just shook his head and finally slouched back into the seat. "I'm not bringing this up again." He said as he starred up at the glass ceiling and into the night sky. Leaning forward once more he looked to Kiros now with determination. "I'm going to make amends. I'm going to be the father that he never had."

Kiros sighed as he realized what this was all about. Ever since Laguna had met Squall for the first time two years ago, the thoughts of how he had failed his son lingered with him. It depressed him greatly knowing his son had missed out on so much, and because of that, was this cold, emotionless figure. Ward and Kiros had both dealt with these bought's ever since then, stopping him from running off to try to be that superhero figure in his long lost son's life. Even though they both wanted to see their friend happy and to finally be with the boy his love gave birth to, they all knew Squall wouldn't have it. He was who he was now and there was no changing him. Laguna's ideals were long since past.

"Laguna, I know this is hard for you. But we've gone over this."

"We have, but this time it's different." Laguna was standing again in a flash, spewing his declarations like a salesman. "The news is out now that I'm his father. I don't have that to hide behind anymore. I can finally be someone in his life other than just some political leader he can come to whenever he needs gil, supplies, or an army."

"Yeah, and speaking of which, Cid's been taking advantage of just that fact if you haven't noticed."

Laguna paused and with a confused look answered, "What?"

"You've been sending loads of gil and supplies to Balamb at Cid's request. He's been using Squall as an alibi in his letters, saying that Squall needs this and this for this and that." Kiros explained.

"Why would he use Squall to get that from me?" Laguna scratched his head drawing a blank.

"Cid is married to Matron who ran the orphanage Squall grew up in. He's known you were Squall's father before you knew you had a son. Odds are he figured you'd do just about anything for anyone if Squall requested it." Kiros explained.

Laguna thought about this for a minute but finally shook his head saying, "That's not the issue right now. Look, I just want to do some sort of 'fatherly' things with him. You know, maybe take him out fishing. Teach him how to fly the Ragnarok." Laguna began as he listed off things on his fingers.

"He hates fishing, and he already knows how to fly the Ragnarok." Kiros countered.

"How do you know this?" Laguna whined in defeat of the moment. "Alright, I'm tired of this, I'm heading in there to find out what's been going on." He turned and started for the lift only to be greeted by a rather out of breath, Zell.

"There you are! Why haven't you been answering the frequency we've been sending you?" Zell asked as he leaned along side the wall to catch his breath.

"What?" Laguna turned and looked to Kiros who examined the intercom. He shrugged and looked to Zell.

"The links are all open. Are you sure you were using the right frequency?" Kiros asked as he walked over to the two.

"Yeah, man. I dunno, but whatever. Just come with me back to the Garden. Ward's been hailing you guys and hasn't been able to get through so then he called us. He's on the viewer back in Cid's office, also with some Shumi guy." Zell explained as he regained his stamina.

Laguna looked over to Kiros who already looked ready to go at this new info.

"Zell, is Squall there?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, of course he is. He's the leader of SeeD. They drag him everywhere even if it doesn't really concern us." Zell explained as he fixed one of his grieves.

"Right- of course." Laguna said, half-heartedly. Kiros moved past Laguna to join Zell on the lift.

"Let's go. If a Shumi is in Esthar than something must be wrong." Kiros stated rather urgently trying to knock Laguna out of his stupor that was beginning to resurface again at the thought of seeing Squall.

Laguna nodded and joined the two adding a 'thank you' to Zell for apparently having sprinted out to the Ragnarok to get them.

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"I understand that you're upset and we're doing what we can to get in touch with President Laguna. We've sent a messenger out to his ship to see where he is." Squall explained into the large view screen. Ward was standing quietly behind a tall shumi elder who was calm in his outward appearance, as all shumi's generally were, but had continued to be aggressive in his urgency to speak with Laguna.

'Where could he be? He's been leading a country for twenty years now and he still seems to be as incompetent as I remember him from his past.' Squall thought as he rested his hand on his forehead, trying to deny the thought so he could sleep at night.

Just then the elevator doors slid open and Zell came running out followed by Kiros and a rather quiet Laguna.

"I found them! I guess something must be wrong with the lines because they never got any word from us." Zell explained as he stood to the side allowing Kiros to step forward.

"I'm very sorry we put you through all of this." Kiros said with a small bow to Squall in apology. Squall just starred and stepped back with a slight wave in understanding. Kiros turned to the viewer and began, "So what seems to be the trou-"

"I'll take it from here, Kiros. Thank you." Laguna, suddenly standing tall and firm, walked over to the viewer to confront the shumi on screen. Kiros stood back as he let the president through.

'Heh, so he's going to use this as an opportunity to show Squall he is the President of Esthar for a reason. Good move.' Kiros thought to himself with a smirk as Laguna began to talk.

"I'm terribly sorry for your wait, Elder. What seems to be the trouble?" Laguna asked as he stood with pride, his arms clasped behind his back.

"Master Laguna. I'm saddened to have to visit you under such difficult circumstances. But there has been a terrible oil spill in one of your underground sections in Esthar and it has traveled as far as our Shumi Village. Abundant amounts of wildlife and plant life has died in it's wake. Master Ward has already had Esthar soldiers begin cleanup of the spill but I'm afraid something more needs to be done. I would like to request an audience with you back in the hall of the high council." The elder explained.

Finding the Elder oddly blunt and to the point, Laguna nodded and finished, "At your earliest convenience, I will be there." Laguna bowed. The Elder returned the motion and the screen returned to the stagnant Balamb seal. Laguna looked over to Kiros who nodded and headed for the elevator.

"Woah- so you guys deal with the Shumi a lot, huh?" Zell chimed in, intrigued by all the commotion and the rarity it is to see a Shumi outside of their village. Laguna simply nodded in response.

"Hey, Zell. I'm starving, how about some hot dogs." Cid spoke up from his quiet corner of the room.

"What! But I still haven't paid off the debt from last time." Zell whined at Cid's request for a game of Triple Triad.

"Well, maybe you'll get lucky and pay it off this time around." Cid smirked as he slung his arm around the protesting Zell as they walked to the elevator and followed Kiros down.

Laguna just watched as everyone left leaving only Squall in the room. Laguna hadn't even looked at the youth since he had entered the office. The tense atmosphere felt like it was choking him as he tried to come up with something to say. He felt cool and collected while talking with the Elder, but now with the large room empty save two, he hadn't quite the same calmness as before.

"Squall-" He began without turning around to face him. There was no reply so he continued. "I don't care about what you may think of me, or if you will ever accept me as being your father. Right now, all I'm worried about is your safety. If you never do anything else for me, at least, just this once, humor an old man and visit Esthar soon so our doctors can help you. I'm serious about this Squall. You could die." Laguna ended as he slowly turned around only to find himself alone in the room. Laguna sighed and shook his head.

'So much for that. I guess I'll just have to count on Rinoa.' He thought to himself as he nodded to no one and made his way to the elevator.

Meanwhile, two women slowly released their captive. Squall sat on the lift on the bridge as he was forced to listen to the conversation that had went on below them. Rinoa and Selphie had apparently been hiding on the bridge, ready for when Squall took his leave when Laguna entered Cid's office. Squall had first put up a struggle, but the glare the two females had given him told him he was fighting a loosing battle, so he settled and listened.

Squall had to admit though that after Laguna stopped talking to the air, he realized the man had a sense of true concern. Maybe he had judged to harshly. Much like how he had messed up when he was younger, Laguna had done the same. Most of Squall's interpretations of the man just happened to come from when Laguna was still young and naive, like how he had been. They had both made mistakes and learned from them. It just seemed that a little forceful action from his friends was what was really needed to get him to see just that.

"Well?" Inquired Rinoa as she stood back, her hands on her hips.

Squall just looked at her. 'What does she want from me? I'm just suppose to open my arms and say 'It's okay, dad!'. I thought my father died back in the war. I had accepted the fact that I was alone. How do you want me to act after finding out, of all the people, he is my father!' He argued with himself as he sighed openly and shook his head.

"I'll travel to Esthar in a few days. First I need to tie a few loose ends with the Trabia project before I can do anything." He claimed, hoping that would be good enough and they could both leave him alone.

"Okay, I'll settle for that." Rinoa sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get much more out of him. However, she had already had Quistis working with Xu concerning the so called 'loose ends' so she'd easily have him on the next train to Esthar by tomorrow.

Selphie just stood there smiling at the outcome. Rinoa nodded to her and they both got on the lift to leave Squall to his musings, which he would probably continue with on into the morning.

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"That little disturbance you caused has stirred the council elder's to action themselves. I thought you mentioned they wanted to stay out of this?"

Elder Rubison stood over a large holographic map of the world, positioning units in the Trabia mountains and within Centra's culverts. Without turning to acknowledge the general he began, "I really wasn't expecting them to sit idly by while we planned a war." He turned to face Caraway now and continued, "I was sent to begin working on plans if such a need arouse. What will happen is that joke of a president will talk with the elders and come to a happy medium for both parties. Things will settle down and they'll all go back to normal."

"Well then, if the elders and President Loire are involved, how are we going to start a war against Esthar?" Caraway inquired, seeing their plans going to ruin thanks to the elder's interruption.

"That's where our sub-unit will come into play." Rubison brought up a new holographic projection. It showed the coast line of the Esthar continent. Giant piping and ducts were overlapping through the underwater terrain along the mountainous walls. Another projection was then brought up displaying how sets of manned underwater submersibles, known as Scimitars, would go in and add their own little problems to the piping.

"See, these will all only be temporary. It's being made to look like the ancient foundations of Esthar are just in need of some repairs. It'll be enough to keep the elder's out of our hair, and the Esthar soldiers fixing up the damage." Rubison paused as he looked back at the display. "When I decide the time is right, we will take these-" He paused and brought up a diagram of a different type of ship. Similar in design of the Scimitars, these Regas were built for heavy drilling through bedrock. "The Regas are one of our main weapons. We'll be using them to dig up from below Esthar's ground levels and attack them were they're most vulnerable."

"Most vulnerable?" Caraway asked intrigued.

"They're power supply."

A/N: Ugh! Short chapter. D: I had intended on it being longer but the next few things are better left in a chapter to themselves. Thank you again to those who left such wonderful reviews. I'm really glad this story has been enjoyable.

I'd like to leave a note here that if anyone is interested I drew a little Laguna and Squall fanart that can be seen on my deviantArt. A link to the image can be found on my profile page here on FF.