Careworn Lives

Summary: Squall has shown signs of the deadly disease, pnemoresin, that his father Laguna passed down to him genetically. However, now that isn't the only problem Laguna has to face. Missiles with Esthar's flag printed on them have struck Balamb, Trabia, and Galbadia Gardens causing terribly destruction and many lives lost in their wake. Now, Squall is determined to fight this new foe and disregard his own health problems. While Laguna must decide whether his son's life is more important or thousands of innocents.

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

To the Reviewers: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I dearly apologize for there having been a 2 year hiatus between these updates. I had tried to pick this up last year at one point but couldn't figure out what I had wanted to do with the story (and conveniently misplaced the notes I had originally made).

Special thanks to Maloire for the reviews as well as the corrections found in the previous chapters. I really appreciate the work you put into that. ^^

Chapter 6

A long trail of black smoke billowed from where the shattered remains of Trabia Garden once stood. The scent of decay lingered in the air towards the lone shumi elder. A smirk crossed his face as he turned his back on the destruction he had caused.

"Ahh- Elder Rubison. I've been looking for you." General Caraway came strolling up to the shumi who had reentered the large cave- now turned military base.

"Yes- no need to report. I have already seen the success from the infiltration team." General Caraway nodded in response. "However, I would like to see how the production teams are doing on the Scimitars and Regas."

The General nodded once more and started off towards Martine's jurisdiction. The cave they were located in had originally been the shumi's ancient city. However, once the human race began to flourish, the shumi's number dwindled. They had no need for such a large scale city, so they created the smaller shumi village. The old city played the perfect role as being Rubison's military outpost.

The sound of blow torches and drills and other heavy equipment rang out towards the approaching rebel Elder Shumi and retired Galbadian general. Bright red flashes from the fires and pits of smoldering iron lit up the large interior of the cave, casting large shadows off the old Shumi architecture that still stood as sentinels to a lost time. The harsh reds were contrasted by the familiar green bio-luminescence from the rocks that continued to glow from when they were first created generations ago.

As the two neared the main iron pits, an echoing roar broke the hammering and drilling. Caraway jumped at the sudden noise, fearing fiends had been unearthed in the deep underground. The elder only smiled as he rubbed his large hands together.

"It seems my Regas are coming together well."

Caraway had yet to see what Martine had been up to and was shocked to see live fiends, however live that could be. The fiends in mention were Ruby and Hexa dragons. If it wasn't for their familiar cries and markings, they may have gone unremarkable as they were now ten times their original sizes. Each one standing easily the height of Balamb Garden itself. To go along with their enlarged size, they were mechanized. The old shumi technology of bio-mechanical fiends to be used as protection seemed to have been unearthed by Elder Rubison.

"What happened to the original plans? I thought the Regas were to be submersible drills." Martine asked as he moved a little behind the Elder Shumi.

"Now Caraway, a General such as yourself should know you never reveal all of your plans, nor to the complete truth." Rubison said with a grin as he headed forward to where the beasts were chained. Caraway scoffed at the shumi's reply and, hesitant at first, followed suite.

"Elder! Your people were truly gifted. After the implants were made, we never thought the beasts would return to life. But as you can see-" He waved behind him right as one of the large Ruby Dragons sounded a war cry.

"Indeed. Marvelous looking beasts as well. You did well in capturing the ones that I asked. Our enemies aren't push overs and shouldn't be underestimated even with these Regas." Rubison moved towards a podium in front of the barracks that held the ruby dragon contained. Large blue beams from five corner posts held it's legs chained tightly but workers still seemed hesitant now that the beast was thrashing about.

"Just how are you suppose to control these things? We followed your instructions and everything has worked up till now, but with the way they're acting-" Another roar from the dragon made Martine wince, "-I can't fathom controlling them as they are now."

"Aren't you forgetting a major part that was built onto these beasts?" Rubison rested his large hand on the dusty podium which brought it to life. Read outs on the dragon begin to spill down the screen and after what looked like a diagnostics test, a green light began to flash. Rubison paused before continuing his work at the podium and turned to look at both General Caraway and Martine. "They are no longer mere fiends." His large hand brushed the flashing light which instantly calmed the raging dragon before them. It's eyes glowed a fierce red as it's large wings folded in on itself. It's long neck, once thrashing it's head around, was held upright and it's facial expression looked aware yet the mind seemed distant. It then bent down on it's front legs that were now not only organic but also enlarged with beams and machinery that intertwined between pulsing and glowing tubes of blue and green liquid, almost resembling veins and arteries that once naturally was in the fiend itself.

Rubison hit another set of keys on the podium which released the bindings that surrounded the beasts legs. It did not move from the position it was in, even at it's new freedom. Martine and Caraway stayed well back, as well as the rest of the crew who now seemed far more interested in the exit. Rubison just raised his large hands in front of the dragon and cried out, "What you are looking at gentleman! Is the pride of the Shumi culture. A bio-mechanical ship to be driven by shumi and man alike!" He lowered his arms and turned back to the crowd that had steadily formed behind him. His voice lowered slightly as the atmosphere began to grow steadily heavier, the cries from the other thrashing fiends down the cave seemed to go unheard as if the Elder himself quieted them so all could hear him speak.

"These are Regas, and will be piloted by the best the Galbadian army has to offer. And with these ships, we shall conquer this planet and bury Esthar where it belongs.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

The faucet water quickly stained red as it washed away down the drain. Laguna stood over the sink, glaring at the blood as it slowly spelt his time left. Like an annoying alarm, it's frequency made him angrier than his usual disposition usually allowed.

Cupping the clean water in his hands he splashed it over his face and down his neck. The water was cool and it did take off some of the edge, however much that could do. Knocking at the lavatory door brought him back to reality. With a heavy sigh, and a quick glance at his appearance he grabbed his collared shirt from the counter and tossed it on while heading back onto the bridge of the Ragnarok. Kiros stood idly by, knowing all too well what Laguna had been trying to hide, yet hiding that fact to himself, motioned to the view screen.

"Ward has sent us some-" Kiros paused wishing he hadn't had more bad news to report to his beleaguered friend, "distressing footage taken at the missile base. I have it up for you to see."

Laguna was quiet, and merely nodded as he walked to the control panel as the large screen in front of him displayed Ward's video feed. Much to his desire to just hear a sugar coated version from Kiros he knew this situation meant for a more direct approach. Facing such times, a figure head of the people needed to be seen and heard from at the source of the tragedy.

Kiros moved forward and with a signaled nod from Laguna once more, Kiros tapped in a command and the screen played out the worst of Laguna's fears.

"As you can see-" Kiros began as the cameraman moved through the control room of the missile base, "-the space research team that had been using the missile base as a separate facility for conducting experiments with rockets, were all shot in the back of the head while at their posts." Laguna didn't need the narration for what he saw. He knew these people were only working on enhancing their space program, nothing in the way of missile research was being conducted. "There was a scheduled inspection of the facility this morning. Apparently it had all gone smoothly," The camera than veered to a hallway leading to the entrance of the building that was littered with bodies of men and women, all who had also been shot in the back of the head.

"Any survivors?"

"None, I'm afraid. We have suspicions that the killers were amongst the inspection team. From the security cameras stationed around the building, these three men, " Kiros brought up a security vid showing three men that kept slightly behind the larger group of inspectors, "acted strangely throughout the inspection. Pulling up the security feed from within the control area and the hall, these men are not seen. We believe they knew the limit to the camera's line of sight ahead of time and were able to hide in these blind spots and murder the research and inspection teams with a silenced pistol." The view screen clicked off and Laguna moved to the large window to look out over the still slightly smoking Balamb Garden.

"We fear these three men were the ones to have set off the missile attack on the three Gardens."

"Any evidence at the scene that may have alluded to who they are, or a motif."

Kiros shook his head, "No motif, but these may interest you." Laguna quickly looked back to the view screen as Kiros brought up photographs of some earthy sediment. Nothing too extravagant there as the land around that area was dry and broken. It wasn't a surprise to see dusty floors in a place like that. After studying these and not seeing anything worth while, Laguna started to loose hope, when a new photo quickly brought to life some defining evidence.

"Blow that one up there!" Laguna pointed with exaggeration. Getting in close, a faint bluish-green glow from a few small rocks and pebbles quickly instigated Laguna's triumphant cry. "Bio-luminescence!" Kiros, regaining his posture after being startled by Laguna's findings, moved in on the image to see for himself the glow from the rocks. "That's bio-luminescence. The technology of the Shumi tribe. These stones are everywhere in the Shumi village."

"So Shumi are responsible for killing all of these men and women?" Kiros asked, seeing the answer being extremely far fetched for such a peaceful race.

"They may be involved in some way. The way that Elder spoke to me the other day had seemed rather odd for their race. Never have they been so abrupt even when their patience was being pressed." Laguna began to pace the floor for the dozenth time.

After Laguna had made a careful groove in the floor he finally snapped up, "Alright. We're heading back to Esthar. I'm going to make an announcement to the city about what has happened and take those stones to the Shumi elders and see what they have to say for that. No where else on this planet, that I know of, has these same stones other than their village. They must have some explanation behind this."

"What about Squall?" Laguna paused as he heard the words. The excitement in his shoulders quivered slightly but remained as he tried to mask what he did not want to think about.

Earlier...

Laguna stood in the far back of the entire student and faculty body of both Balamb and Trabia Gardens which had congregated on the grounds outside the recently attacked Balamb Garden itself. SeeD students stood along the parimeters of the large gathering to keep wild fiends at bay while a quick podium and stage was put up to allow Squall, their leader, to acknowledge them all under these circumstances.

Squall took the stage to a still quiet crowd. Many crying over lost loved ones, others crying out in pain who had yet to receive treatment from the limited medical staff they had on hand. It was a dreary sight to behold, yet the strength Squall showed brought a new found pride to Laguna to really see the kind of man he had become. Laguna had to laugh to himself to think that if he had raised him, would he have turned out to be such a strong leader? Looking over at Kiros made him quickly shoot that thought out of his mind, as if the man would have read his thoughts and punched him for even thinking such a thing.

"Students, faculty, friends, and neighbors, today we have suffered a terrible loss. A loss that will live within the halls of the three Gardens as well as in our hearts." Squall paused, "Yet, we will not allow this heartless attack go unanswered! We will not sit back and morn this loss but we will fight for the memories of our departed and strike back!" The crowd steadily began to uplift at Squall's words. "Our marked enemy is the City of Esthar! However, the President has informed us that it was never on his authority for those missiles to be launched. Rather a third party; an unknown organization is plotting to hurt us so we can't fight back." Squall paused as he looked around the enormous gathering. Rage started to take over sorrow as the crowd began to cry out against those responsible. "Yet, we will not back down!" The crowd cheered. "We will not hide in fear!" The crowd cheered louder. "We will stand and fight these cowards and honor those who can not be with us today." The crowd roared as Squall stood at attention and saluted to the crowd. The cheers continued on after he stepped down from the podium and Cid took over for him to address arrangements, and recruit those for the upcoming fight."

Laguna moved to the side of the crowd to see Squall meet up with Rinoa and his other friends who patted him on the back for a job well done. He was truly remarkable. His speech had done it's job in uplifting the spirits of the crowd, which was once a sea of misery.

It wasn't until Squall stumbled in his step, his hand rushing to his mouth, and Zell quickly moving to catch him did Laguna remember one of the most important aspects of his being in Balamb.

His son.

Laguna met Rinoa's frantic gaze as she helped Zell keep Squall on his feet. Her gaze cried out to him which made him sprint down the edge of the crowd, Kiros at his heels, only to come up on a steadily recovering Squall.

"Squall-!" Was all he could get out until he was quickly silenced by a stone cold glare from the young man. Blood still dripped down the side of his mouth, which he wiped away with the back of his hand, his eyes still locked on the older. Once Squall had regained his composure, and Zell asked if he was alright for the umpteenth time, he walked forward without looking back for a second glance and strode back into the garden.

The others just looked at the stoic figure of Squall as he left, than shot a glance at Laguna before quickly catching up with their leader. Rinoa was the only one to hold back. Her eyes had glistened over with oncoming tears which turned to look up at the raven haired president. Laguna had hardly the strength to keep himself going but he looked down at the girl, who already showed so much maturity at her young age from all the hardships she had faced, and continued to face.

"We will save him, Rinoa." He bent down to look her directly in the eyes, his hands wrested on her shoulders, "We will, save him."

Back on board the Ragnarok, Laguna had to face the truth behind Kiros' words. What about Squall... he refused to go with him back to Esthar now. Even after Rinoa pleaded for him to go, that he wouldn't be in any shape to fight this unknown enemy, he ignored it all and started making arrangements for SeeD.

Moving to the pilot's seat, Laguna sat down and began to bring the roaring airship to life. Starring at the instruments as they flickered on, and dials whizzed on high he finally said, determination in his voice now, "The only thing keeping Squall from listening to me and seeking help is this new battle. He will not help himself before he helps others. I know he's realized the danger he is in, but he also realizes the danger thousands of innocents are in as well. I should take a lesson from his brave choice and help him win this fight." He let the airship raise up off the ground and when it was well above any hindering landscape he threw the throttle forward and let the giant airship rip through the air, Laguna's demeanor turned in that moment. He was no longer just a soldier, or a political figure head, but a caring and worried father, who would do anything to see his child safe. Even if it meant he had to prolong the inevitable, he would see his son, safe.

A/N: HELLO! Wow, it has been... 2 years since I've updated this story. I know, reassuring to keep an eye on this story right now. lol But hear me out! After such an extended leave I've worked up loads of story plot and further development (which I had originally forgotten), and fixed much that made no sense! lol I do hope you stick around and keep an eye out for future chapters for "Careworn Lives" as there is still much story to be told. :)

To those who are returning, thank you so much for alerting and following this story even after such an extended hiatus. I hope this chapter and what's to come will be worth the long wait. :) 3