Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Propsal ❯ The Propsal 12 ( Chapter 12 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter Twelve

Zell and Laguna pushed what had just happened behind them. Squall was
their most important concern now. He had to be found, Rinoa depended
on them that they did. Laguna held his machine gun close to his chest,
prepared to blast away any daring Galbadian forces. Zell held his
fists by his sides, clenched. It was only them now. Laguna, father of
Squall. Zell, friend of the bravest SeeD.

The sun was rising slowly in the sky, the orange haze surrounding it
was touched with a blue aura and the navy blue sky slowly began to
turn into a beautiful clear blue sky. Laguna and Zell became
increasingly worried. Squall was no where to be seen. Zell showed
signs of panicking. they had promised that they would bring Squall
back to Rinoa, alive, not until they found him, could they return.
Rinoa was crying for Squall, she loved him, they couldn't fail her.
She would marry Squall. She must!

Zell felt the strength grow in his fists. Seifer. Zell still hated
than man, never again would he call him a chicken wuss, Zell would see
that he died, if he wasn't already. Smiling he thought about Squall
killing Seifer, if only he was there to watch. Nostalgia took over
Zell, his childhood home, back in the orphanage with all his friends
he knew so well now apart from Rinoa, but she was different.

Cry baby Zeeeeeeell!!!!! Seifer.

I am no cry baby!I'm not scared of you! Zell answered back in his
thoughts, but his child self just began to cry and went running all
the way to their matron, Edea.

Tell tale! Why can't you just stop crying for once! Chicken! Tell Tale
Zeeeeeell!Still Seifer.

Stop it! More tears. years of teasing and picking from Seifer. Squall
had always been fighting with him too. Squall always won though, he
never started crying and ran to matron for support. Zell began to sink
into a deep depression as all his childhood memories began to come
back to him. Why now he didn't know, but looking for Squall, worrying
about Squall, all these memories just came flooding back. At least now
though, he had his girl, back at garden, his little ballerina.

It seemed funny to think. Zell and a ballerina named Leesa. They made
an odd couple, as Zell had never appreciated ballet, but something had
attracted him to Leesa, something odd and strange. Now what would
Seifer think of him. Zell couldn't help but laugh at this. Leesa was
his though, he had a girl and Seifer didn't..did he?

Laguna looked over to his thoughtful companion and nudged him. "Squall
isn't dead yet you know Zell, what's the funny faces for?" he asked,
suddenly feeling like a dad to the young man. Zell snapped out of his
deep thoughts.

"Uh-nothing, just thinking you know," Zell almost stuttered. Laguna
let a smile cross over his face.

"If I know young men, then I guess that you are thinking about one
thing," he said, looking over at Zell with a sly smile. "A girl yeah?
I've seen that kinda look on many peoples faces you know Zell. On mine
too," Laguna said calmly. "Raine was a special woman you know Zell,
she was Squalls mother," he sighed, "and I still love her."

"Why you telling me this? We should be looking for Squall, not..
talking about this," Zell snapped harshly. He didn't want to hear
Laguna's woes.

"Yeah, I know that, I know," Laguna muttered, "well, come on then,
Squalls life may be depending on us," Laguna's tone changed into
something a little hostile.

They walked together in silence, each not daring to think of what
might happen if they found Squalls body lying dead on the ground in a
pool of blood. Both were fully junctioned with all their strongest
magic and carried a radio in case of emergencies. It was oddly quiet
now, they had suspected it to be swarming with Galbadian soldiers, but
there was none. Not a single soul, the place appeared to be dead. The
two men kept their guard, this all appeared too weird. First
impressions had been that something was wrong, but there was something
else, the storm had left quickly, in fact far too quickly to be
natural. There had been a bright blue light earlier on too, the storm
had disappeared as soon as that had gone

From the darkness of an alleyway a cat mewed, Laguna pointed his gun
in the direction as a ginger cat ran out and down the street they had
just come up from. Zell stood beside him and waited for whoever or
whatever to emerge from the shadows where for now they hid. If it's
you Seifer...

"Halt!" Laguna suddenly called, his voice echoed around the place. The
dark figure which was still coming through the dark alleyway stopped,
his head bowed to his chin he didn't say a word. In fact, it seemed as
if he was almost in a dream, for he had just stopped, no question, no
nothing. "Seifer, is that you," Laguna asked frowning, for a moment he
thought he had seen the blonde haired enemy and rival to his son.
Laguna stepped closer and gasped aloud.

Squall!

Zell's eyes widened as Squall dreamily walked up, his eyes misted, and
stopped in front of Zell. Laguna stared at his son, who looked as if
he was possessed by some demon or worse. Squalls eyes were still
looking to the ground when he fell to his knees and then over onto his
face as he collapsed. Zell and Laguna rushed to his side and knelt
down, turning him over onto his back.

Squalls face was gaunt and drawn, his eyes were sunken into his
sockets and his cheek bones formed to sharp white bumps. Squalls skin
was almost transparent. His wrist was turned to an odd and painful
angle, the huge laceration across his back was turning septic.

"Oh sh!t Squall!" Laguna shook his dead looking son gently by the
shoulders.

"How is he supposed to marry Rinoa like this!" Zell cried out and
tried prodding his friend into consciousness..

"Who cares about that Zell!! He has to live first! Contact base Zell!
Shit!" Laguna swore. "Full-Life!" he muttered ad cast the full life
spell upon Squall who lay like a lifeless body in his KOed status. It
didn't work.

<Xu! Send help now!> Zell yelled down the radio mic as Xu answered his
call.

<What's happened? Have you found Squall?> there was excitement in her
voice at the other end.

<No! He's half dead!> Zell almost yelled in panic as he watched Laguna
cast every single curing spell he had on him, including the command
revive and even restore. <We can't revive him!>

<We'll be there immediately. Where are you?> Xu asked, Zell heard her
screaming orders at her end.

<Don't know> Zell replied feeling rather stupid. "Where are we
Laguna?" Zell asked, turning to the ex-Galbadian. Laguna shrugged as
he sent three Curagas at Squall at the same time. <We're lost>

<We'll be able to track you don't worry, don't turn your radio off, we
can track your signals.> Xu commanded, Zell nodded, although Xu
couldn't see him nod.

<How's Irvine> Zell asked. Xu seemed to sigh impatiently as if this
was not the time to ask such questions.

<He's fine. Describe Squalls current state>

<KOed and nothing can revive him. His wrist badly broken and so is his
back. No healing magic will work though. Laguna is unable to revive
him...>Zell explained, slightly surprised with himself. When he was
given the chance to have some responsibility, he carried his job out
well. Laguna looked slightly surprised himself with Zell's
accomplishment.

<Nothing at all?>Xu sounded disbelieving, as if they were doing
something wrong.

<I said nothing, Laguna's been trying everything God damn it!> Zell
snapped.

<OK. Help will be on its way, a vehicle will come for you alright.
Keep an eye out. There are people there with the most advanced curing
magic junctioned to them, be patient> Xu informed them.

<Great, tell them to hurry up will you, Squall's dying!>Zell said
staring as Laguna did everything in his power to help Squall. He had
bandaged Squalls back up, put his wrist back in a more comftable
position and laid him in a easy position. Zell shook all over, his
friend was dying, the man whom had saved his life once or twice, who
had trusted him and had given his confidence to. Squalls friendship
meant a lot to Zell.

<They are going as fast as they can Zell. I'm scared too you now. We
all are> Xu told him. <Irvine and Quistis are behind us and
Mischa..he's in his room> Xu told the panicking blonde. <Here's
Quistis> Xu said and Quistis came on.

<Zell, you OKay?>she asked with concern, knowing how frightened and
worried he could get.

<I'm fine!>Zell yelled, annoyed, of course he was fine, but what about
Squall.

<Is the car there yet>she asked, lost for words to say.

<No!>

"Calm down Zell, you're not helping no one, especially yourself,"
Laguna said checking Squalls pulse. "I can barely feel his heartbeat,"
he muttered and cast more curagas on him until he had none left.

<Don't give up>Quistis told Zell, trying to calm her own nerves as she
patted Irvine's back, he was still crying like a baby.

"Zell, they're here!" Laguna said, pointing to the speeding van that
came hurterling down the road and skidded to a halt. Five people
jumped out carrying a stretcher between them.

<Okay, we'll see you back here, over and out!>

"Stand back!" called a SeeD and two beams of blue light struck Squall
at the same time. His body had a blue aura form around him,
sparkerling and glistening. Three more of these followed until someone
called for them to stop. Laguna and Zell watched in stunned amazement.

"Okay, his pulse is a lot stronger!" said another SeeD. "Bring on the
Nostruma!" he called with a grin, "been wanting to test this one out
for ages!" he grinned.

"Excuse me! This is a serious case, now quit acting as if this is a
godsend from heaven to test this whatever it is on, Squall is no
guinea pig!" Laguna snapped angrily at the SeeD.

"Hey cool it man!" he said backing off. "The Nostruma is a GF! A
healing GF to be precise! We discovered it..." Laguna lifted the
excited little SeeD up from the ground and looked deep into his eyes
with the anger of a bull just seen red.

"Look, I don't care Okay, just bring my son back to life!" he snapped
angrily at the frightened little man.

"Ye--es sir!" he said in a squeaky voice and Laguna put him back down
on the ground.

"Summon the Nostruma!" yelled the SeeD who had sent the curing beams
of light, which seemed to of worked on Squall a little bit.

A spotty little SeeD, of the same age as Xu stepped forward and yelled
the name of the GF and the summoning began.

The sky glowed an electric pink as the GF Nostruma came its way to
heal Squall of his wounds. The pink grew stronger and thicker as it
exploded into golden beams of light, which rained down upon the now
see through ground. All but Squall disappeared from the scene, but
watched the GF come to do its thing. The golden beams of light carried
on raining down, blue, green and red beams joined it and the whole
place was filled with the beautiful beams of light with the pinkish
reddish sky above still glowing brightly. Something darkened in the
sky as golden clouds rimmed with red floated into the middle, a shadow
of a creature appeared behind the clouds and then the GF appeared into
view. It was the beautifulest thing most of the SeeDs(and president)
had ever seen before in their lives.

The Nostruma bird was outstanding in its beauty as it flew gracefully
from the sky and brought out its wings wide, hovering above Squalls
body. Its golden wing feathers were rimmed with a deep reddish tinge,
it's breast feathers were also golden as were all it's feathers, but
were rimmed with a light purpled pink, at different angles, its
colouring were so different as its body shimmered in the golden-red
light from above. Its long red, green, goldy-brown and blue tail
feathers touched the ground as it hovered above Squall.

With a beautiful harmonic song, the bird flew around Squall, touching
his body with the tips of its tail feathers, sending a golden cloud of
dust fall over his body, the Nostruma turned and looked back to the
clouds where it had just come from, laying it's entire river of tail
feathers upon Squalls body, which lay still on the invisible ground.
The Nostruma spread its wings wide and took off, flying with perfect
ease back up to the pink sky's and disappearing completely, the pink
sky cleared and the world returned to normal.

Laguna ran to his sons side, quickly followed by Zell and the five
other SeeDs.

"Dr Odine will be kicking himself! He's wanted to test...."the spotty
SeeD began to say.

"Look, I don't care about all that! Squalls still..."Laguna flared at
the spotty little man.

Squalls eyes flicked open and he looked around him. His back was
healed as were all of his other wounds, including his wrist, which was
returned to its usual position. Laguna smiled silently with happiness
as he saw his son come alive and conscious.

"Squall...are you are you alright?" he asked, almost choked with tears
of happiness. There was a great weight suddenly lifted off from his
heart. His son was alive now. Rinoa will be so happy!

"Yeah.. what's... Seifer.."Squall said still a little dazed. He pulled
himself to his feet and stood upright, a little wobberly, but he was
standing up and he was alive. "Seifer...I killed him and then he
wasn't there.." Squall said, not even noticing Zell or anyone else at
all. Laguna laid his hands down firmly on Squalls shoulders, making
him look into his fathers eyes.

"Squall, that doesn't matter right now yeah? You are alive and well
now; we have to go back now ok, Rinoa's back at Balamb Garden waiting
for you. Everybody's worried about you Squall, you've been gone for
over a month, all your friends, we're all worried about you, all of
us, so let's go back huh?" Laguna said, with a friendly and loving
fatherly smile.

Zell grinned at Squall, overjoyed to see one of his best friends alive
again and coming home. "Yo Squall! So glad to see ya!" he grinned
madly, his blue eyes shining happiness. The five other SeeDs also
smiled their welcome at him.

"What about Reene and Javri?" Squall asked, suddenly panicking as he
remembered what he had first set out to do. Laguna forced his smile
not to fade and hoped that his eyes did not give away his pain and
guilt, but Squall didn't seem to notice the little change in the
atmosphere. Zell made sure he kept his lips shut and pretended he was
sneezing.

"They're both perfectly fine...they've umm, gone away to rest some
where's, it's been a big ordeal for them you know," Laguna lied.
Squall seemed convinced by this, but a look of guilt and failure came
over him. "Squall, you couldn't of helped them, it wasn't your fault
they're safe now. Both of them,"he was almost in tears as he lied to
his son to prevent him from upset. The wedding could not be spoiled.

"......How is Rinoa?" Squall asked, forgetting about Reene and Javri,
remembering his one true love would be at home worrying over him.
Would she worry? She wouldn't marry me....so.. Of course she will be
worrying though...Rinoa's know you must love me...you must.. Squall
hated these doubts, they came into his mind frequently, although he
knew the truth well. Rinoa did love him, he knew that, or why did she
tell him like she did? Brushing the back of her hand over his cheek,
caressing him and loving him. Rinoa I know you love me! And I know I
love you!

"Scared, worried, missing you," Laguna replied, "come on, you're
expected back in garden, in SeeD uniform," Laguna told Squall and
patted his son on the back.

"In uniform? Laguna.. I've just. .killed Seifer.. or I think I have
and all I want is to go back to be with Rinoa, if Cid wants to talk to
me or promote me again, then he'll have to wait, I want to return to
Rinoa, the one I love, please Laguna, contact Cid and tell him that I
don't want to do anything else but that. I'll take Rinoa and we'll o
to the Shumi Village, she loves it there," Squall almost begged his
father, he was that desperate.

"Squall, you have to. Rinoa will be there too, by your side, holding
your hand, please Squall. You have to do this, for the Gardens sake! I
know it's the last thing on your mind and Cid didn't really want to do
this either, but he's been forced into it. Do you want some rest
before you go?" Laguna asked.

"No, I've had all the rest I need thanks," Squall replied with a small
laugh, barely a chuckle.

"Heh, you sure have son," Laguna said, the 'son' had truly slipped out
accidentally. Squall stared at him a little while, only then
remembering that Laguna was his father. My father Laguna realised his
mistake and cleared his throat uncomfortably, they went quiet with
Zell and the others looking at them. "Sorry," he muttered, "let's go
then." Squall nodded and they climbed into the vehicle.

Zell sat down beside Squall and Laguna beside Zell, neither father or
son talked, both caught up in their own thoughts. The journey back to
base went in silence, such a thick silence that it was hard for people
to breath. The look on Squalls face and on Laguna's was thick and
troubled, both wondering what to do. Whether they could just forget
that they were indeed, father and son.