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Blue Skies: A Requiem for Storms	By : Raiethstar Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Het - Male/Female Views: 998 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own final fantasy. All OC chars I do own, but I still don't make any money off of this venture. This is for my own amusement only.

Chapter List
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Okay this story is a long time in the making, and I'm not very far into it but I think It's starting to shape up into something I'm willing to show people. It takes place 8 years after the events of FF8. it makes several assumptions on the workings of GFs and Sorceresses, I shouldn't have to explain anything out of the story but if something comes up that Ive glossed over or just flat out made a mistake on please point it out. I do know some key beats to the tale, and where I want it to end but getting there is proving to be difficult. The ending to this whole thing will be bittersweet at best. If you have to read happy fluffy tales please steer clear of this one.
WARNING: This story will feature copious amounts of blood, violence and will eventually have sex, both consensual and non. That's not for a while yet and for now it's just blood and an unstable mind. I will upgrade the warnings for more intense chapters.
Edit: (nov 25, 2011) PhoenixHelix pointed out that having Squall be a teenager in the flash back, and 25 in the story is kinda confusing, and now that I read it again, it kinda is. So just a quick edit to remove reference to age to make it a little more seamless. Thanks for the review!!
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Day 1
Nothing, there was nothing to see. Dry, cracked, red dirt stretched forever into the distance. The sky was both grey and green and swirling in a nauseating manner. The horizon in the distance was perfectly flat, not curved as it should be. Stumbling, a young man walked forwards, always forwards. The red dirt clung to his military boots, the dust staining his clothes. He wore mostly black, with only a pair of oxblood red belts crossed about his hips adding any colour. His low cut shirt, once white, was now stained with dirt, sweat and blood; it would likely never be a pure white again. His torn leather jacket possessed a fur collar of almost white, it was matted and covered in mud, blood and tears. Sweat ran down the man’s face as he stumbled across the flat landscape. He licked his dry, cracked lips and wiped the sweat from his brow, his short brown almost black hair clinging to his face and his pale blue eyes reflecting the endless wastes. Still he walked forwards, his feet dragged and he swayed, but still he walked. Without warning the land suddenly ended and the swirling grey-green sky extended far below into infinity. The last of his energy seemed to drain from him as he sank to his knees. He stared into the abyss, too tired and too weak to even care that he was dying. He tried to laugh, but he couldn’t find his voice, he couldn’t go forward anymore. He closed his eyes and fell into the grey void, fading into nothing.
Squall sat up in his bed, covered in a cold sweat, his breath rapid. He ran a hand through his damp hair, hand shaking slightly. It had grown less frequent, but he could always count on that nightmare around The Anniversary. “Eight years...” He took a calming breath and suddenly cried out as a sharp pain lanced across his back. He reached for a medicine bottle on his beside table, all three of them were empty. Gritting his teeth he climbed out of his large bed and stalked into his bathroom. Opening the medicine cabinet he grabbed another bottle and popped two of the tiny pills in his mouth. He leaned on the sink breathing deeply until the pills dissolved under his tongue and the shooting pain faded into a dull throbbing. The pain in his back had been getting worse, he would have seen the infirmary about it but it was just stress. His two days off, starting today, should fix the problem. Sighing, Squall made use of his attached bathroom, and after fixing his hair, he headed back into his room to change.
Knowing it was going to be another hot day, Squall pulled on a sleeveless black shirt, with a square neckline with a cutout in the shape of a ‘v’ and trimmed in grey. He traded his sleeping pants for his leather ones, and began attaching his many belts, he seemed to acquire more every year. Every belt contained a pocket space, he found having several small ones, rather than one large one, helped when it came to deception as well as organization.
Finally, he donned something he almost never went without. In the final days of fighting Ultimecia, his favourite leather jacket had been ruined in the fighting; as a gift for his eighteenth birthday, Xu, his Deputy Headmaster, had salvaged it and turned it into something he could drape about his waist. The white fur rested on his hips attached with a thick belt with Grievers’ lion head as the buckle. What was left of the black leather of his jacket she had sewn into a panel that rested on his right thigh, it just reached past his knee when he stood. He found that wrapping the twin belts that contained his gunblade over top of the panel helped keep it from getting in his way. She had even gone the extra step of dying the supporting belt the same oxblood red as his twin belts.
Securing everything properly he smoothed the white fur. Every time he put it on he was reminded of the events that took place eight years ago. Something he never wanted to forget, as he had learned many lessons. Squall never was sure if he had managed to convey how thankful he was to Xu. Once again he hoped that merely wearing it would convey what he could not in words. Thumbing his Griever pendent absently he exited his rather spacious room and headed for his small on-suite kitchen.
The headmaster’s suite was set up much like a small apartment, Squall had always assumed it was built so that Cid did not have to feel like he was living in a military barracks. Personally, he found it far larger than he could fill with possessions, so had left it mostly the way Cid had. Those few who had seen the rooms back when Cid occupied them would notice differences however; the first was his original gunblade. The steel was pitted and worn and the leather grip cracked with use. It still held an edge but the mechanism was damaged beyond repair. He had mounted it on the wall in such a way that anyone entering the suite could see it. The second major item was the helmet of the space suit he had worn so briefly. The rest of the suit had been returned as the fighting he had been forced to perform in it to secure the Ragnarok had ruined it. The helmet made for an impressive trophy however. In fact, he had many small trophies of his travels throughout the apartment. Most were unnoticeable to the casual eye but he treasured each the same. As a constant user of Guardian Forces he found that he did not easily remember events, to trigger them he needed a prompt of some sort. He was confident that no memory was ever truly lost to the GF’s and in a small way this was useful, as he found having a floodgate on his memories kept him from getting lost in them. Much like he was doing now.
Turning away from his mementos Squall entered his kitchen. The Anniversary always made him feel sentimental. There was a part of him that wanted to just call the whole thing off and just run away. He shook his head slightly and reached for the mug on his coffee maker. He peered inside, just as he thought, he did go to bed without drinking his last cup. He cast a low level Fire spell and slowly made his way to his office, scowling at the old coffee taste.
Part of the extensive repairs Balamb Garden needed after the War of the Gardens, as it has swiftly become known, had involved the headmaster office. The pilot controls for the garden rose right in the middle of the spacious room. So he knocked out the old lobby wall and instead installed a few smoked glass walls, effectively cutting the large room into three. A waiting room that encompassed both elevators, and led to both an office for Xu and Squall. Of course there were no ceilings between the false walls and the driving platform allowing an uninterrupted view to the pilot of the mobile school.
He entered his office from a door hidden behind one of the decorative tapestries around the office. It always amused him to hear the rumour mill trying to explain where he slept. His personal favourite was that he did not sleep and instead spent the night patrolling the halls watching for any student that dared break curfew. Thumbing briefly through the mornings’ pile of mail and paperwork on his desk, he saw that, like usual, the vast majority of it was fan-mail; being the man in charge of the most effective army on the planet granted him a lot of power, the fact he was single made him a target for arranged marriages; that he had helped save the world, and was single made him a target for wishful thinking. Xu had helpfully stamped everything that was not business related with a red ‘Fan Mail’ stamp. Where she had gotten the stamp he had no idea, he pushed the pile of red stamped mail into a large and rather full box on the floor next to his desk and promptly forgot about it. Squall frowned as he looked at the small pile of real paperwork, apparently it was Instructor Aki that needed no sleep, he had reported six students breaking curfew last night. That man had been a useful thorn in his side when he was getting the hang of the paperwork, but now it was almost annoying how meticulous he was with discipline. He sighed, he’d deal with it later. Right now, he had more pressing matters, like breakfast.
Tossing the stack of papers onto his desk he looked up as he circled the central elevator. “Good morning Nida.”
Nida waved a hand, his focus on the horizon around them. “Good morning Squall. We should be at the ranch in around an hour.” He spared a grin for the brunette headmaster. “I’ll slow down so you can jump out a window.”
Squall smirked, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll just fly out with Bahamut.” He stretched his arms wide. He could feel Bahamut’s displeasure at that idea, Squall ignored it.
Nida laughed, “Please don’t, that thing is big enough to use the school as a lounge chair.” Nida had grown used to his headmaster’s strange humour long ago.
Squall chuckled quietly to himself as he stuck his head in Xu’s office. “Morning Xu.”
Xu glanced at her clock. “You’re up early.”
Squall shrugged, “You hungry?”
She looked at her paperwork stacked high on her desk and debated quietly with herself. “Yes, I would like to eat breakfast with you.” She pushed her chair away from her desk with a grin.
Squall opened the door fully and made a sweeping hand gesture towards the elevator, inviting her to go first. She always did seem to know exactly what he meant to say, even if he could never seem to get the words out right. He watched her walk around her desk and pass him, before falling into step behind her.
“The one day off you get in six months and you don’t even sleep in.” She tilted her head at him as they waited for the elevator.
He shrugged again, “You know I don’t use an alarm clock.” It was true, he hadn’t used an alarm clock for as long as he could actively remember. Which wasn’t more than a handful of years due to the GFs, but the point still stood.
They entered the elevator and headed down to the cafeteria. Thankfully the kitchen had long ago learned his habits, and would have breakfast ready for him when he got there. Becoming headmaster certainly had it’s perks; he was suddenly reminded of when he was still a cadet, waiting in line for leftovers.
“Looking forward to seeing the ranch again?” Xu asked with almost forced casualness.
The question caught Squall off-guard, “Yes.” He replied with more emotion than he usually allowed into his speech. He desperately missed his chocobos. The ranch was his retirement plan. Saving the world made everything else pale in comparison and he just wanted to quietly hide away and live out his days in peace. Of course he still had too many loose ends to tie up, and one more always seemed to pop up just as he began to look forward to his well deserved rest.
Xu seemed, somewhat sad at his answer. “Well at least you can bring Boko with you to assist in the operation.” She smiled with forced happiness. The elevator ‘dinged’ as it reached the ground floor.
Squall was confused, this wasn’t the first time she had seemed sad when he mentioned retiring. He exited the elevator, “I’m not retiring yet. You know I can’t just leave this mess in your lap.”
She followed behind him, looking around the central ring and pointedly not at him. “I know. It’s just...” She hesitated.
Squall frowned slightly, she always got like this when he mentioned making her headmaster too. Squall had been thinking about this particular problem recently and decided he would try a different tactic this morning, “You don’t have to be headmaster when I leave.” He watched her carefully for her response.
She stopped dead in her tracks, “I don’t? But...”
He turned to face her properly, gesturing with his near empty mug. “No, we’ll find someone else. We have a few more years until this Esthar mess is cleaned up at least.” He tilted his head, “Now can we go eat?” His urgency to fill his stomach was not born of any personal preference, rather...
Xu shook her head to clear it, “Eden, yes.” She started walking again.
Squall continued on to the cafeteria, that had worked better than he thought it would. But now he would have to start grooming his replacement. There were a few teachers that would likely do well as headmaster. He put the matter out of his mind for now and focused on Xu. She was looking happier than he had seen her in days.
She caught him looking. “What is it?”
Although his stoic nature had served him well when it came to political machinations, it was sometimes reassuring to have someone he could be honest and frank with. He had learned, over time, to open up a little to Xu. It made him feel selfish, and guilty after what he had done, but she always seemed to have time to listen to him.
“Nothing.” He gave her a half smile, “You just look happy is all. It’s a good look.”
Xu’s cheeks reddened, “Oh, is that all?” She walked a little faster so he couldn’t see her face.
“I didn’t realize that becoming headmaster had you so upset.” Squall easily matched her pace. “You should have told me sooner.”
They rounded the bend and entered the cafeteria, making their way to the teachers lounge. As was usual this early in the morning the large open space was mostly empty, with only a few scattered students about.
Xu waited until they had entered the teachers lounge before responding. “I didn’t want to worry you.” She sat at the large table already piled high with food.
Squall frowned at her, “Why would that worry me?” he sat at the table and began his morning ritual. Ever since he had junctioned Eden eight years ago, he found that he was forced to eat almost constantly. It had certainly started rumours, and required many precautions but not eating had disastrous consequences, he would black out and eat the next thing he came across. This problem had really only come up a few times when he was journeying to fight Ultimecia, their isolation both causing and helping to hide the horrible drive, resulting in him waking up suddenly full and surrounded by something that might later be identified as a particular animal, if enough of it was left. He was fairly certain that Irvine and Quistis had picked up on it as they were both attentive to detail. He had burdened himself with the GF as he needed her power, he may not have been able to defeat the sorceress without it.
The real problem, however, was afterwards. He could not de-junction it. In fact, he could not remove any of the GFs he had used, nor the junction machine itself. It had somehow bonded with him and Dr. Odine believed that surgically removing it could cost him his life. None of the others had this problem, as they regularly removed their machines when they were travelling. He had always been paranoid to be caught without his spells, and was paying the price for it now. According to Dr. Odine it was the first time anyone had worn the junction machine continuously for so long, and that he should be thankful the energies that it controlled hadn’t killed him. The whole problem had prompted him to create new rules for the tiny devices, limiting their use.
He was suddenly broken out of his thoughts by motion near his food. His instincts were guided by an aggressive GF, and Squall’s hand darted out to guard his meal.
Xu pulled her hands towards her body before he could grab her. She tilted her head at him, “Sometimes I forget why I talk to you this early in the morning. You didn’t hear any of that did you?”
Squall shook his head to clear it, she had just been gesturing as she talked. He withdrew his hand across the table. “You should know better.” He admonished quietly. She really should, his control over his instincts was tenuous at best and he had nearly killed her in an instinct fuelled incident years ago. He had always wondered why she continued to trust him, after all he would never trust a Sorceress again, why was this any different?
Xu leaned back in her chair. Despite her calm demeanour, her hands trembled as she reached for a glass of water, “I suppose that right after you eat you are going to head out?”
Squall mentally cursed himself again, he would never forgive himself for that lapse in control. Squall fished in his mind for a way to change the mood, it was supposed to be his day off. Unfortunately all he could come up with was, “Why do you not like chocobos?”
Xu promptly choked on her water. Quickly recovering she looked at him in shock. “Where did that come from?”
When he looked sideways and didn’t answer, she sighed. “I don’t know what gave you that impression, I actually find them kinda cute.”
Squall raised an eyebrow, “Really? Then why do you get all upset whenever I mention them?” He leaned an elbow on the table and ate the last of his enormous breakfast casually, the bulk of the hunger drive satiated, for now.
She seemed to ponder that. “Do I? I guess it’s because you usually mention retiring in the next breath.” She appeared to want to say something else but refrained from doing so.
Squall nodded, he supposed one thought usually led to the other. “I can’t remember, have I ever taken you?”
She shook her head. “What is it like?”
He stared off into the distance, his eyes focused far away. “It’s a large section of land in the northern Great Plains bordering the Grandidi Forest. There is a hill on the edge of the property that has a great view of the surrounding area. You can see the ocean in the East and West, and at sunset the light reflects off Esthar City on the horizon. The Great Plain stretches to the South like an ocean of grass. It’s really peaceful, the chocobo’s themselves keep the bulk of the monsters out, and generally the days just pass in peace...” He trailed off. It had been so long since his last visit.
“It sounds lovely. Do you have a house built?” She was curious, he never talked about the ranch, yet he seemed almost homesick now. Xu had not even known he considered anywhere but Garden home.
Squall nodded. “It’s not large, only 4 bedrooms, but it has two floors and is next to the barn. I built it with...” He trailed off, he had built it with kids in mind. He thought he would settle down and raise a family, but that future seemed farther away now then it had. It didn’t help that the main reason for that decision was Rinoa. His face darkened when he thought of the Sorceress.
Xu didn’t miss the expression. “What is it?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. I built it when I thought I might, uh, settle down eventually.” he said the last quietly, almost ashamed, like he could never be worthy of that future. “But I guess that, like retirement, that’s going to have to wait.”
“Oh Squall,” she whispered with a sigh. “Does she still haunt you even now?” Her hand subtlety reached towards him, she aborted the gesture however.
Squall didn’t see, as he was focused on some dark place within himself. He had been Rinoa’s knight. A romantic term for what was essentially a mind controlled puppet. The worst part was that he had initially liked her. Her outspoken and brash nature had intrigued him, and he had found himself falling in love. That small, fragile feeling was twisted against him when she acquired Ultimecia’s power. He had managed to maintain a small degree of control over his actions, but not much. It grew worse when she absorbed Adel. He found that every GF he acquired allowed him just a little more freedom, the unspoken reason for why he never removed them. After Ultimecia was defeated and everyone was separated by time’s flow he found himself suddenly released from her control and loathe to go back to it. In the end however, even getting himself lost between time wasn’t enough. It took one of Dr. Odine’s Sorceress sealing bracelets to do that. He wanted to cryogenically freeze her like Adel, but everyone thought he was crazy. Once again Xu broke him out of his thoughts, this time with a touch.
Her hand covered his clenched fist, “Squall?” She sounded concerned.
He took a deep breath and unclenched his fists, holding her hand in his own for a moment, suddenly glad for the rare skin to skin contact. “I’m not crazy.” He finally stated, voicing his last thought aloud.
She smiled at him, closing her hand firmly around his. “Aren’t we all just a little crazy? Isn’t that what makes us SeeDs?”
He smiled back, Squall had grown to like her smile. “I know now is not a good time but, would you like to come with me the next time I visit my ranch? It’s not fancy but...”
She nodded, “I would.”
The school’s PA system chimed, “Headmaster Squall, we have arrived at our destination. Please report to the loading bay.” Nida repeated the message.
Squall squeezed her hand and let it go. “Looks like this is my stop.” He rose from the table. “Please don’t let me forget.”
She nodded and winked at him, “I won’t.” She knew it was a valid concern for the troubled headmaster.
With one final nod Squall made his way to the loading bay. His many magic pockets held everything he could want on his trip. He knew he could just get the Garden to wait while he picked up Boko but the two day ride would give him time to unwind. It was much easier to control his resident GF population when he was relaxed and he would be in the heat of battle shortly after returning and would need all the control he could get.
Saying his goodbyes to the students he passed, some of whom he had watched grow up, Squall exited the Garden. It had dropped him off on the hill overlooking the property that he had mentioned to Xu. He watched as the large school flew into the distance towards Esthar City. Breathing in the fresh air he started down the hill towards the small two story house and barn nestled at the bottom of the hill in the shade of the deep forest.
Once he was closer he could see that it was much as he left it. The window shutters were still secured and the roof looked intact. The long periods of neglect were starting to make themselves evident, but home had never looked so good. It was just too bad he couldn’t stay. He reached into one of his leg pockets and retrieved a thin metal whistle on a leather cord as well as his fingerless leather gloves. Placing the whistle between his teeth he pulled the black gloves on. The single yellow chocobo feather tied to the cord swayed in the slight breeze.
The whistle was shrill, the sound carrying between the trees. He could hear the forest chocobo’s respond to the whistle and could see flashes of yellow as they darted between the trees. Finally a large male ran into view, his pale yellow feathers distinctive to Squall’s eyes. He put the whistle away and ran to meet the large bird. They head-butted in customary greeting before Squall smoothed his neck feathers and looked the bird over. “How are you doing, Boko?” The bird rested his head on Squall’s shoulder, “I missed you too.” He scratched the feathers at the base of Boko’s beak before stepping back. “We have to get going. Come on, let’s get your things.” He walked back in the direction of the house, his loyal companion following closely behind.
Boko’s saddle and tack were just inside the door. He gave them a once over before getting the bird ready for travel. Bolting his home shut once more, Squall mounted the bird and headed after the Garden. With a full two days of travel ahead of him, he let Boko set the pace. It wasn’t the first time they had made this journey, so they knew the route. Boko, at least seemed to enjoy stretching his legs on the open plain. Squall knew that in another couple of years the chocobo would start to show his age and long distance trips like this would not be possible anymore. He quickly put the thought out of his mind and focused on his surroundings.
The landscape was breathtaking, as it always was. He hoped that he would never grow tired of the view. With no one to talk to but Boko, Squall quickly found himself lost in his thoughts. His internal monologuing broken only by distant sightings of animals and pauses for food and water. He found himself looking forward to seeing his friends again, it had been years since they were all in one place at the same time, having been scattered to the four corners of the world as duty dictated. They were all going to assist in the last major push to get the monsters out of Esthar. Squall found himself thinking about how far all of them had come in the last eight years.
Selphie and Irvine had married in the ruins of Trabia Garden shortly after Ultimecia’s defeat. It was a quiet ceremony with only close friends and family. They had vowed to rebuild the facility, and create a memorial in honour of those who lost their lives. They had done so in a remarkably short period of time, with the school mostly functional within two years. It was on a piece of land north of the original location, the ruins themselves converted into a large memorial. Officially, Selphie was headmaster, but Irvine handled the day to day functioning of the school in reality. As the closest permanent Garden to Esthar the bulk of the Esthar monster hunting fell to their students and SeeDs. Personally, Squall had always wondered why they had never started a family. He had always figured they would be the first to have kids.
That honour, such as it was, went to Zell of all people. He had matured during their trials and finally asked his dream girl, Prinna, to marry him. They were married three years ago, it had been a large affair as they both grew up in Balamb City. The announcement of their first child shortly after the wedding was little surprise, and with a second on the way Squall wondered how they found the time. After all, Zell was one of the lead SeeDs in charge of Esthar clean up operations. He had proven very reliable, was a natural leader and seemed to inspire confidence in the citizens. Prinna had recently started her maternity leave and going back to her was all Zell ever talked about. Not that he could blame the man, he thought as he patted Boko’s neck, having a place to go home to was a wonderful thing he had learned.
Quistis had been stationed in Glabadia to supervise the rebuilding of it’s government and had maintained order within and without the Garden. She was a key figure in the process and had nearly single handedly prevented civil war from breaking out. Once the political situation had stabilized she had shifted her focus to the smaller more isolated towns affected by the conflict. Her motherly nature lent itself well to humanitarian efforts, and most of the contact she had with Balamb was requests for more help when the situation was too great for her and Glabadia Garden to handle on their own. He always spared her the man power when she asked, usually more than what she asked for, as she was stubborn in her own way and if she asked for help then she really needed it. Squall had heard rumours that she was dating someone but he would believe that when she told him herself.
Squall shifted in his saddle and winced as the his back began to hurt sharply again. He reflexively retrieved his pain medication and let the pills dissolve under his tongue, his train of thought hardly broken at all. The only one of his friends he saw with any regularity was Seifer. Too old to become a SeeD, he had run from the world after he was released from Ultimecia’s control. He seemed to drop off the face of the planet until appearing suddenly at Squall’s office several years later with a business proposal. It turns out he had been hiding in Esthar right under Squall’s nose the whole time. He had saved an airship factory worker and as a form of payment was given a security job at the factory. The district the factory was located in was one of the lightest hit and therefore far down on the SeeD priority list. The monsters were still there, they were everywhere, and Seifer realized he was fighting an endless battle and instead organized the welders to build defences around the district. According the ex-cadet, that’s when he learned his love of welding. To hear him talk he was a born natural. In any case, his fire affinity, quick wit and loyalty secured him a prominent place within the district and when problems emerged he resolved to fix them. He had come to Squall with a most interesting business proposal. The airship manufacturing district had stagnated; with no long term projects on the horizon and out of the critically affected zones, the families there realized that they were slowly starving to death. Seifer had come to Squall in the hopes of establishing a long term partnership.
It was a unique opportunity for Squall; with the radio interference gone, safe air-traffic control could resume and fast intercontinental travel would be possible once again. His own fleet of airships would grant his armies mobility like the world had not seen in over two decades. However, he had also been cautious, investing too much at the wrong time could backfire spectacularly. So they had struck a bargain, a few ships at first to see if they could produce quality results in a reasonable time frame, then they would revisit the contract. The results had been better than he ever hoped. The first airships were done ahead of schedule and were small, fast and designed for inter-atmosphere flight. With that first shipment, a lasting contract was struck, and he now commanded nearly fifty airships of various types distributed amongst the Gardens. This injection of commerce was not just for his own purposes, useful as the small aircraft were. The deal had created thousands of jobs, from mining and textiles all the way to air traffic controllers and instructor pilots. With most of the city struggling to survive, the injection of cash was most appreciated by the city’s leadership.
Squall frowned as his train of thought led to Laguna. It was still hard to think of the laid back man as his father, after all he had met him when he was almost eighteen and already Commander of the SeeD. Laguna did try though, he always invited Squall to Esthar’s social events, and had yet to forget his birthday. But there was only so much he could do to patch a gap seventeen years in the making. Squall’s expression softened, he had to admit he had not really give Laguna much of a chance, and it seemed that not running after him and Ellone and forsaking everything he had worked for was a decision that ate at the presidents heart.
He smiled as he remembered the look on Laguna’s face when he announced that he was changing his name to Loire when he turned twenty. At that moment, Squall’s doubts about the decision vanished. It had also been the first, and last, time Squall had not struggled to get out of Laguna’s embrace. The grown man had cried on his shoulder, and the whole event had been a turning point in their relationship. However, having grown up in a military school, after thinking he had been abandoned, had made him wary of physical and emotional contact of all kinds. His instinct to push people away was a hard habit to break, and he still shied away from forming close bonds with anyone. Still, he at least considered Laguna a friend, and that was a start. One of these days they would have to get away and do something as a father and son, he had heard fishing was a popular activity. But that would have to wait until his current mess of problems was dealt with.
He sighed, when would this be over? It would be years yet until the mess with Esthar was sorted out enough that he could trust another to take over. That thought brought a groan to his lips. Who would take over? Xu obviously did not want the position and he had no other candidate in line. It would have to be an already high ranking SeeD.
He grabbed his head with his hands, roughing up his hair in an attempt to get the thoughts out of his head. “Boko, what do you think I should do?” He asked in a vain attempt at a solution.
His yellow bird happily ‘warked’ at him in response to his name.
Squall smiled at the happy bird. “That’s your answer for everything.” He leaned back in the saddle and stared at the thin clouds streaking above him. “Why did Cid leave me in charge?” He sighed, he knew the answer to that question. It was because he was the one who told Edea about Garden and the SeeDs, and that she knew he defeated the Sorceress but not who was with him. But, then he inevitably started to wonder how it began, did she ever come up with it on her own once? Was he fated to always be stuck in a time loop in the past? Did it even matter? He pressed his palms against his eyes. This was supposed to be time for him to relax and gain control of himself.
He had been more relaxed holding Xu’s hand in the cafeteria. He paused, that was a strange thought, “Where did that come from?” He had forgotten how comforting feeling another’s touch was. It had been a reminder that he was not as alone as he sometimes felt. He briefly wondered if he should hold her hand more often, and laughed at himself. He could just imagine the rumours now, they were already bad enough. He was not sure if he could even consider Xu a close friend. Sure they spent almost every day with each other but they did not make a habit of hanging out during what few off hours they got. He actually knew very little about her, certainly less than any of his other friends.
He tried to think of something simple he knew about her. Such as her favourite colour. Squall found his mind wandering as he tried to see though the haze of his memories, had they ever discussed it? He scanned the horizon, the sun was beginning to set. The orange tones of sunset bloomed on the horizon, the greens and reds would soon follow. Something about the colour red sparked his memory.
She had several pieces of jewelry with rubies set in them. There was another memory; he had seen her in a red dress on her way out with her friends once, it had been form fitting and suited her well. Even if he wasn’t sure it was her favourite colour she did look good in red. A far darker memory rose to the surface, she looked good in blood too. “No!” He grabbed his head with his hands, his outcry startling Boko. She had been warm in his hands, her startled cries pleasantly loud in his ears, and her blood had smelled so sweet. His fingers dug into his skull painfully as he tried to banish the memory, “No, I didn’t like it,” he tried to convince himself. He could smell her blood even now, he swiftly lifted his head, he could smell blood.
Scanning the horizon the tortured headmaster rose to stand in the stirrups. Where was the smell coming from? Under him Boko lifted his nose to sniff the air. Good, it wasn’t just his imagination. Sitting back down he urged the chocobo towards the narrow river canyon ahead, he knew it was the only blind spot for miles around. He strained to hear over the insects calling in the now rapidly darkening plains. As the pair grew closer to the edge he could hear, something. The scrape of claws on rock, heavy breathing, the clatter of a rock, then even fainter, running, splashing footsteps. Urging Boko into a run they pulled up alongside the canyon, he could see a figure running in the trickle of water at the base. Grey in colour, it looked human. The details were hard to make out from here, the bottom of the canyon was deep in shadow. He scanned the canyon walls, there was a pack of what looked like a variety of Hexadragon on the hunt, quickly counting he could see five jumping shapes between the narrow reddish rock walls.
Readying his gunblade he jumped off Boko towards the nearest one. Adjusting his weight with Gravity he landed on the large monster before it knew what had hit it. He activated his weapon’s vibration, the bang of gunpowder echoing in the narrow canyon, and the blue tinted metal bisected the creature’s waist, it’s dying scream choked off.
Before he could fall with the corpse he reversed his Gravity with Float and leapt for the next. At the apex of his jump he once again brought himself down with Gravity. The noise of the first attack had alerted the whole pack and he caught his target in the face as it turned to him. He felt the skull crunch under the weight of his blade and he grinned savagely as the hot blood from the impact sprayed his face.
Floating himself once more he twisted to face the creature that he was only dimly aware had leapt for his back, and with the distinctive bang the creature’s head was severed from it’s torso. His killing instinct sung in his ears, his heartbeat a steady counterpoint and he resisted the urge to lick at the fountain of blood before him.
He pushed off it’s falling corpse and met the next head on, before his gunblade had even stopped vibrating. He manoeuvred between it’s outstretched claws and pierced it’s heart, teeth snapping shut next to his ear as they fell. Twisting the large blade to confirm the kill, Squall spun his head around and spotted another target.
Adrenaline surged in his veins and his body hummed with barely restrained magic, he felt alive. The monster he was targeting as he fell was running diagonally down the cliff face away from him. He saw it look over it’s shoulder at him with multiple sets of eyes, and run faster. Squall found himself laughing maniacally, it was running from him! Realizing it was fleeing from him triggered a deep seated need to stop it at all costs. He tripped it with Gravity, and angled himself to land on the creature. The six legged beast hit the ground hard, it’s fifty foot Gravity assisted free-fall breaking bones. It had time to lift it’s head in pain before Squall, blade first, landed on top of it. The body tore, his black boots slipping in viscera as flesh ruptured under him, the force of his landing spraying blood into the air.
Standing at the bottom of the eighty foot canyon surrounded by death and covered in hot blood Squall threw back his head and roared in triumph. The primal and inhuman sound tore painfully at his throat as it echoed though the narrow canyon.
He heard a woman’s scream ahead of him. The sound was like a splash of cold water, and he ran forward, slipping in the blood, feeling like he was going to throw-up. It was terrifying how easily he had lost control. Rounding the bend he saw that he had missed one of the creatures. From behind he could see it had grabbed the figure he saw earlier by the torso, blood covered limbs struggling on either side of it’s wide head. The blood-soaked headmaster Hasted himself and ran parallel to it, the creature barely had time to register that he was there before he cut it’s head off. The echo of his gunblade seemed to stretch on as he cast Float on the severed head to prevent the teeth from doing more damage when it fell.
Carefully, he pried the jaws apart and retrieved the victim, before allowing the monster’s remains to fall, he needed to get out of this river canyon before he would be able to do anything. The fading light was becoming a real problem, in another few minutes there wouldn’t be enough light to see anything.
As soon as he bundled the light body into his arms his back flared in pain. It felt like his muscles were writhing, a cry escaped his lips as he arched backwards. Strangely, this time the intense pain was almost pleasurable, almost like something pent up was suddenly released.
Blinking away his tears he whistled for Boko, the blood on his fingers sweet on his tongue. He heard a ‘Wark’ behind him and Boko rounded the corner his beak coated in blood. Squall was a little surprised, he hadn’t expected Boko to follow him down the cliff. The promise of a free meal must have been too good to pass up.
Gritting his teeth, Squall quickly mounted the bird and cast Haste on just the chocobo. Letting the chocobo do the running would free him to check on his new cargo. First ‘it’ was female, probably no older than he was. She was breathing but according to his Scan, her left lung was collapsed and both were filling with blood; everything else was secondary, broken bones, internal bleeding, lacerated organs, she was drowning and would be lucky if she survived another ten minutes. They had to get to flat, dry land where he could get a light going and treat her properly. Just casting Cure would do more harm than good at this stage.
However, it seems luck was with them as within minutes of Hasted travel Squall spotted an animal trail out of the canyon. Steering Boko towards it the trio rose up to the flat plains and not a moment to soon as the last of the sun’s light faded away.
Popping more painkillers into his mouth, he quickly set up a fire using magic so he could see what he was doing. He was trained in first aid, but this was field surgery, far more complex and far more dangerous. He focused on draining her lungs and stopping the bleeding. He could have laughed at the irony of it all, he could cut something twice his size in half with a single sword strike, but struggled to save one life.
He was not sure how long he had been working, but eventually he managed to stop the worst of the internal bleeding and re-inflate her lungs. Unfortunately, it was not enough, he was no surgeon, and she needed immediate help. However, he had bought them valuable time. Waking his exhausted chocobo and once again Hasted, they raced for the Garden.
Time seemed to crawl until he could see the tell tale glow of the Garden on the horizon. Fishing in his pockets, he retrieved a flare, hopefully he was close enough. The bright orange light streaked into the sky before exploding, not unlike a firework. He stared intently at the Garden in the distance, the flare would only help if he could fire another one before any exploratory ship could pass him. His eyes strained with the effort of trying to watch for something so small. There, he saw the running lights of a scout approaching from the Garden. He fired a second flare into the distance ahead of him to signal where he was now, he let the Haste spell drop slowly enough to not startle Boko into tripping, and slowed their forward momentum. The airship circled overhead and landed ahead of him.
Two SeeDs waited on the loading ramp weapons drawn, not knowing what to expect. They were understandably confused when he magically pushed them back into the ship and rode Boko right up the ramp. “Go! Fly!” He yelled at the SeeD onboard. Squall’s overworked bird collapsed to the metal deck almost immediately as they came to a stop. He dismounted with his fragile cargo, “Is there a medic on board?”
The question snapped the solders out of their trance as the airship rose into the sky once more. Quickly his SeeD responded as they had been trained, taking the injured woman out of his blood soaked arms. He slumped to the deck leaning heavily on his mount.
One of the female SeeD crouched next to him, “Sir, are you alright?”
He nodded. “I’m just tired.” Just because he could sustain Haste for hours on end, didn’t mean it was easy. He idly stoked Boko’s head, the chocobo was panting heavily, he ‘kweh’ed softly.
“Sir!” Came a call from up front, “Please prepare for landing, we have arrived.”
Docking was fast and Squall watched as the others rushed the mysterious woman to the infirmary. He leaned back onto soft yellow feathers, finding it hard to keep his eyes open now that the adrenaline was wearing off.
There was movement by the loading ramp, “Squall?” It was Xu, she sounded worried.
“In here.” He replied.
He heard rapid footsteps as she ran into the airship. “Squall!” She approached him, worry written all over her face.
He waved a hand dismissively, “I’m fine.” He caught sight of the blood on his arm and looked down at himself. “I must look a mess.”
She crouched next to him, “Just a little.” Her relief was obvious. “When the pilot said a chocobo rider sent up a flare and needed immediate medical assistance...” she reached out to touch him. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she was frowning in concern again.
She seemed to slide sideways, Squall blinked, his eyelids even heaver than before. He didn’t like seeing her frown, but there was nothing wrong. He was just so tired, and Boko was so soft and warm. There was something he had to ask her, if he could just remember, “What’s your favourite colour?” he remembered at last, his speech slurring as he fell unconscious.
She smiled at the odd question, “It’s red.”
He seemed to nod to himself as his eyes closed. He had remembered.
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Please review, even if it's just to say you like it. Or hate it, or whatever. I am aware Squall is pushing the OOC line, but it's been 8 years in a very people focused job so I tried to show some growth in his interpersonal skills. I'm about 3/4 of the way through chapter 2 right now, but i'm not a fast writer as I do most of my work during my lunch break. I'll just post when im good and ready ^.=.^
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Blue Skies: A Requiem for Storms