Chapter 18

Squall

Snow was piling to the driveway. The street was empty. Cold. Only the artificial lights colored the white ground with pale yellow. The police car had driven off and left marks on the pavement. They too, were vanishing fast under the falling snow.

"Squall. Get up here." The tone promised nothing good and the little boy stood up, unwillingly leaving his window post.

"Yes, father?" He didn't look up to his father, nor did he expect the man to tell him anything nice. He never did. Squall just wished to be sent away as soon as possible.

"Your sister is dead." Laguna's voice was empty of feeling as it usually was whenever he had to talk about something else than himself. "Took off with some punk and got herself into trouble." Squall stood there, motionless and eyes blank. He couldn't digest the words. Not his sister. Dead? That was.. it was not true!"

"Lies! You're lying, you old git!" Squall had lost his temper because he was afraid and angry. And before he could feel sorrow, he had to be really.. really angry. Laguna turned his marble face towards his son and sneered.

"Wash your mouth, boy! You saw the nice policeman leave the house just now and your good for nothing sister has been off having some real fun with some punks in the dark alleyways! That little bitch got what she deserved." Squall was trembling with anger, tears trickling down his cheeks. "What! Are you crying now?" The man laughed coldly. "What a wimp you are. Should've dressed you into a dress after all!"

Few moments later the door of the Leonharts' residence banged shut again. Little footprints led down the driveway and down the street. Snow filled the marks quickly and the blizzard swallowed the angry form of a child.

The present time

Squall lay on his back in his room, staring at the ceiling. He had ran away from home because his father had been an idiot and egoistic shit. He had ran because he wanted to find Ellone. He had ran because... he had been scared.

After he had found out the news about Ellone were true, like his father told him, Squall had shut himself completely. It was his choice to live without emotional attachments. It was easier to be left alone. Saved him so much heartaches and trouble.

But then the twins happened to him and his whole life had been turned around. He wasn't even sure anymore how it all had been arranged. The twins had clung onto him like people who were drowning. Maybe it was because he had been so young and yet so independent and was able to live without having to rely on other people like young people usually did. Maybe because he didn't give a fuck about everyone else and… Squall wiped a tear from the corner of his eye before it trailed down his cheek. He had lost his heart about the minute he had found the boys and taken them in to make sure they had at least one night of warmth.

But then he had learned how the two had been living on the streets for few years now and he had exploded. Squall remembered vividly how he had been on the phone yelling at someone at the Child Welfare Bureau about how the hell there could be two children out on the streets without even shoes on. He had called to the only person whom he had trusted at the time and pretty much spent one night going thru papers and laws on how it would be best to sue someone for this injustice.

It had been the scared looking little boys that eventually cut the edge of his fury off. Squall swallowed hard when he remembered the hurt and pain in the big blue eyes that had been staring at him. "Please, don't yell anymore. You'll make Sora and me scared. We'll be fine so we'll just go now." Well, that had put a stop to his raging. Squall had breathed deeply and leveled himself at the twins' level before telling them they wouldn't have to go anywhere anymore because he would take care of them from now on.

And he had. The social workers had come to reason with him but he had simply thrown them out unceremoniously. It was lucky for him that no one really cared enough to take the boys from him because they would've only been in the cycle of foster homes again. Apparently the twins had a record of running away and being a major pain in the governments' ass. Squall had received papers in the mail to be named as the boys' temporary guardian until they got of age.

Life had gone on with more responsibility and daily struggles. More than once Squall had wished he still had a sister or a mother to tell him how little children worked. But they had managed somehow. Sora and Roxas had grown up quickly to understand their childhood was gone with the wind even if they now had a permanent home. But they had never complained or ran away. That still amazed him.

Then came Cloud... Squall grit his teeth and grimaced. He didn't want to think about Cloud right now. The whole matter made him angrier than anything. Well, it had until Tifa had broken down the news to him.

Ellone was alive.

He couldn't believe it. It was so surreal, something out of this world. He had to pinch himself to be sure he wasn't dreaming. Tifa had not said much, just had explained she had had her suspicions about something and Ellone had been found in the midst of her snooping around and somehow Yuffie was involved in this too. Squall made a half smile.

Yuffie had been, and still was, a pain in his ass whenever he encountered the energetic girl. He hated and loved her, all at the same time and it most definitely did not come as big surprise to him to find her up to her pointy nose buried in this matter.

His mind drifted back to Tifa's words.

"She wanted you to call her as soon as possible. If you can find it in your heart to forgive her for being absent from your life for so long she would be most eager to meet up with you."

How could she believe he hated her! It wasn't her fault, was it? It had been Laguna, lying to him about her so called death, right? Though.. In the back of Squall's mind, a little green monster nagged to him that there had to be something fishy about her because she could have found him easily. Well, perhaps not easily as he had severed all his connections to his father and tried to stay away from his hometown ever since, but it was possible, like Tifa's snooping proofed, to find someone.

Now he had a phone number and he couldn't make himself to pick up the phone and dial the numbers. Every time he even thought of it his heart began to race and it was hard to breath. So, he put it off for the moment and lay on his bed, trying to empty his mind with the help of good old Jack Daniels.

His head was buzzing after an hour and Squall fell asleep, never noticing his phone vibrating next to him with an unknown caller.