Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Until the End of Eternity, and Longer ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

`kay, here's chapter four. As always, I don't own FFVIII, and I DO appreciate r&r. *hint hint*

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"Until the End of Eternity, and Longer"

by: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Four

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The tavern stopping cold when they walked in (once again fully clothed, jackets and all, since it was getting dark and a chill wind was coming in from the West) was not exactly the effect Irvine had been going for. Neither was the sound of shattering glass what he'd expected to hear as the bartender (a man about Laguna's age with chestnut hair tightly tied back into a tiny bobbed ponytail and near-black eyes) saw them and dropped the glass he'd been wiping. "Jace," he whispered, but then it hit him suddenly, and he smiled, walking over.

Squall didn't miss it. Whoever this man was, he KNEW something.

"Irvine," the man said as he stood in front of him, nearly a foot shorter than the cowboy. "You're the last person I expected to see just wander in here. Hyne, look at you. You've gotten so big!" he grinned widely, but there was something sad about the smile too. "And you look just like your mother. Oh, but don't just stand there like a doormat. Come in! Have a seat. Do you and your friends want something to drink, eat? The stoves aren't on right now, but I can have them heated up in just a little while…"

Before he could find any words Irvine was being dragged softly by the hand to a table near a small stage, and the others just followed, a million questions formulating in their minds. Though Zell was still stuck on the first one that no one had ever gotten around to answering yet: `where exactly are we?'

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember you," Irvine managed finally.

The man looked a little hurt, but not surprised. "Oh, well I guess you wouldn't. I haven't seen you since you were four years old. I used to help change your diapers," he laughed. "Damned if that doesn't make me feel old as heck though. Anyway, beside the point entirely."

`There was a point to all that banter?' Squall wondered quietly, and Rinoa, who had learned to read his expressions, slapped his arm lightly. He just glared at her.

"What brings you all the way back to Bella Maure?" the man asked.

"I..we…just sort of…stumbled upon it," Irvine admitted. "I really don't remember ever being here…." he tried desperately to phrase a sentence, but since he couldn't, Selphie, in her usually chipper way, saved him.

"When we arrived, we saw that statue, and we read the little inscription and saw that the woman's name was Kinneas, Irvine's last name. We wanted to know what the connection was, and."

"Everything," Irvine interjected quickly.

"An old man said there was someone named Kennedy here who could tell us her story," Rinoa added.

"Kennedy, yup, that's me," he said, pointing a thumb at his chest. "I can tell you what I know. And there are pictures and some video footage of the performances I think, if I can get that antique machinery to work….It's a long story though. You sure you're up to it?"

"I want to know about her," Irvine said by way of answer. "She was. She was my mother, wasn't she?"

"No, Irvine," Kennedy said sadly, and a pitiable frown crossed Irvine's features, like his hopes had been suddenly dashed, before Kennedy said, "she'll always be your mother. Always. She loved you more than anything. It broke her heart when she had to leave you behind, but she wanted you to be safe and happy, and she knew that, even if she could make you happy, by being with you, and loving you, she couldn't keep you safe. So she chose to love you, always, and to give you up with the hope that you would find a life full of big dreams and big hearts.

"Some people are just dealt a bad hand, I suppose. I knew that she was one of `em from the very beginning."

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Okies, `nother short chapter down. Next one coming soon.