FFVIII: Change in Three Parts, Part Three

[edenbound]

Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Pairing: Laguna/Squall
Warnings: Incest, angst, deathfic
Chapter: Three, final
Rating: G
Summary: A small measure of revenge. For fated_children.


"You're Squall Leonhart, aren't you?"

Instincts of a lifetime had Squall reaching for Lionheart before he rolled over to face the intruder, looking up and finding the man from the day before standing over his bed, the corners of his mouth downturned into a frown and his eyebrows scrunched together. Squall relaxed. "Yes, I am."

"That's why I recognised you. You look like your mother. She was from this village, you know."

The man looked away as Squall got up and dragged some clothes on, biting his lip slightly. Squall's silence got to people, nearly without fail, and it certainly worked this time. He walked away to look out of the window as Squall finished getting dressed, neatening the bed. Finally, he went to join the man at the window, perching on the windowsill and looking out, not looking up at him.

"You're too young to have known my mother."

"Oh, I didn't mean I knew her. I was born around here -- only just got back from being away. My grandmother was friendly with her, and my mother knew her a little." The man shifted his weight uncomfortably and shrugged. "We have some photographs of her."

"I see."

"Excuse me for prying, but... the man who died, in Esthar. The president. He was your... lover, wasn't he?"

Squall didn't miss a beat. "He was."

"Then... I have something horrible to tell you."

"That he was my father?"

The man turned to look at Squall, his eyes wide and his mouth opening a little. Squall met his eyes coldly, starting to guess, but not moving to pick Lionheart up again. "You... you knew? And you still...? You knew and you'd still... love him?"

Maybe it was the way the man spat out the words, disgusted, like they left a bad taste behind. Maybe it was because Squall knew that all family ties aside, he and Laguna had truly, honestly, loved each other. Maybe it was that Laguna had wanted to tell him, but couldn't, in case he would react at this man did, and that Laguna hadn't been able to bear the thought of that.

Maybe it was because when you're cold and hard and numb inside, there has to be a breaking point.

Either way, the young man found himself on the floor with a mouthful of blood.

"You were in Esthar a week and a half ago, weren't you?"

The man stammered and spluttered, but Squall had found all the answer he needed. Two steps took him to Lionheart and two steps took him back, his blade resting against the man's neck, drawing blood so that drops splattered onto the wooden floorboards.

----

"Squall... are you okay?"

"I'm not sure," Squall admitted, and let Kiros' hand rest on his shoulder without shrugging it away. "I can't forgive him even if he was clearly deluded. Or doing what he thought right. I still don't understand why he felt he had to intervene just because my mother was from his village. I'm not going to just... forgive and forget. At the same time..."

"He had a point?"

Squall nodded.

The topic didn't seem to get any easier for Kiros with time. "And how are you coping with the fact that he was... you know, your father?"

"I don't know," he admitted, voice soft, "but I know that he loved me. I... I think I can forgive him."

Kiros smiled a little. "Try."

Comments

[lassarina]

I very much like the specific point that Squall can forgive Laguna, but not necessarily himself. One thing that's a little unclear (and it may just be the general speed at which I read) - we're missing the point of how this boy from Winhill a) found out about Squall and Laguna in the first place and b) why that drove him to kill just the one and not the other. I mean, I can infer the chain of events, but the fic itself might work a little better if they were explained a bit more clearly.

[edenbound.livejournal.com]

The general idea was that people from Winhill knew about Squall's parents, and because of the family resemblance, realised that Squall must be Raine's son and therefore Laguna's. Squall and Laguna's relationship would've been pretty much an open secret, so that would've been easy to find out, and the boy from Winhill assumed (correctly) that only Laguna knew about the family resemblance, and so in a sort of loyalty to Raine/Winhill families, murdered Laguna because he was in a relationship with Squall knowing that they were related. :/

[lassarina]

Okay, thanks ^.^; I figured that was probably the general notion, I just might have liked to see it spelled out a bit more in the fic itself. But still, yay angst!

[edenbound.livejournal.com]

I edited it a bit to try and make it a little clearer, but really, here you see the effects of me not doing as much planning as I usually do on multi-chapters. Thin Red Line and Visitation had a page of planning per chapter, this one had a line. xD