Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Until the End of Eternity, and Longer ❯ Chapter Fifteen ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: I don't own it, so don't sue me.

Couple more chapters of the stuff I already have written. . . might upload it all tonight. Dunno when I'll write another chapter, but I figure seventeen chapters ought to keep people busy for a while.

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"Until the End of Eternity, and Longer"

by: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Fifteen

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Jace holds a tiny pink Irvine in her arms, with Max sitting at the side of the bed, smiling. She smiles back. Max brushes a hand gently over the boy's cheek in a way that is familiar to the woman. She remembers him touching her in a very similar way, in the beginning, and a sudden fear strikes her heart.

"What's his name?" Max asked her.

"I. . .I thought you would want to name him," she asks, genuinely perplexed by Max's honest question.

"Oh, come on, Jace. I know you well enough to know that you must've thought of something that you want to name him, or would like. Just tell me what it is."

"It's. . .Irvine," she whispered.

"Irvine Kinneas, hmm?" he paused for a long moment. "A gentle cowboy then, is it?" he asked.

"That's not. . ."

"That's how it sounds. You were a gentle cowboy once too, remember? But you changed," he frowned. "Maybe Irvine won't become weak like you did."

Jace just stared at Max, dumbfounded, as he stood up. "I really did love you, once, you know," he said to the wall. "I called you my sapphire dream. You haven't forgotten, have you?"

"No. . .I haven't. When did you stop, Max? Loving me, that is?" she asked, feeling suddenly broken and angry at him, her heart so full of the baby in her arms and a fear that he might hurt her son that something fell away, some defensive gentleness was shattered.

"When I realized that you only loved me with part of your heart…not like me at all. I didn't love anything but you, but you still shared your heart with someone else."

"What?" she asked, trying to follow what he was saying.

"That day. . .that day I met Laguna Loire for the first time. My only condolence was that he didn't have all of your heart either. So I took you away from him to make sure he never would." He turned as if to leave the room. "He's out in the hallway right now, you know. Stubborn bastard. Wants to meet his nephew. But I won't let him. Irvine will love only me, my gentle cowboy, MINE. The way that you never did. I think I'll go show big brother that he doesn't belong here."

Jace's heart caught, and before she knew it, a fierce anger in her quivering voice snapped, "Don't you touch him. Don't you dare! You're not half the man that he. . ." she caught herself with a gasp. "I-Max-sorry."

But Max was uncharacteristically calm, almost distant. "Jace," he said. "Never again. You won't trick me again. You're just a phantom who haunts my dreams. You don't mean anything, nothing at all. You aren't even real. A woman incapable of love. So sad. So pathetic."

In her arms, an infant Irvine cried at the tension in the room as his father departed.

"Shh. It's alright Irvine. My tiny shooting star. Shh. My little love. You boys just taught me something very important," Jace whispered, pulling the baby tighter to her chest and snuggling him slightly as she slowly pushed her legs over the side of the bed. "Let's get outta here, huh sweetie? That man, he'll never hurt you, I promise. I won't let anybody hurt you, not ever. My precious little boy."

Jace thought a moment, maneuvering Irvine as she tried to find her things. `I'll go back to mum's house and pick up the stuff I left there, just a few things. I'm sure she'll let me take a bit of food too, if I explain that it's for a good cause. Mum. I really miss her, but if I leave, I have to go far away. I can't stay in Deling, even if it…even if it means I won't get to see `guni anymore. He'll understand. I have to protect Irvine now. Laguna. . .you've become really strong, please take care of yourself from now on.' As she thought this, she looked down at the baby in her arms and a few silent tears fell from her eyes. "I'm going to be giving up a lot, huh? We'll be so far away from everyone. I want to introduce you to your grandma and your Uncle though, if they're there when I go to get things for us. We'll be okay, Irvine, just you watch, we're going to be just fine. But where are we gonna go?" She thought for a long moment.

`Mom. Momma. You're the best. I love you so much.' Irvine thought as he awkwardly looked down at himself through her eyes, and could see how beautiful he looked through the eyes of someone who loved him that much.

`He said he'd get to see the world. . .' Jace thought, almost jumping up in her good spirits as she realized aloud, " `guni will know what to do! He can tell me places I can go. He's been lots of places, right? It'll be great, and then he'll know where we are and can maybe visit us once in a while, and he can tell mum and she can see us too…if she wants. Ooo. Let's see. . .how to contact him though. A letter. I can dictate a letter to Nurse Horley and she can have it delivered to him, to meet me somewhere…where will we meet him? Duh! Mum's house, of course!" she cheered, happily doing a small spin with the baby cradled tightly in her arms, no chance of letting go. She pressed the tiny button to call the nurse and the pudgy woman with her disheveled blond bun popped her head inside.

"Something you need, Miss Jace?"

Nurse Horley always called her Miss Jace, even though her name was technically Mrs. Kinneas, and most of the other nurses had picked up on the habit and did the same.

"I would like to dictate a letter to you," Jace said, absently rocking the infant in her arms. "Secretly. It would need to be delivered immediately. Do you think you can manage that?"

"I can send one of the orderlies. Who is this letter for?"

"My brother Laguna. I need his help. Ms. Horley, Irvine and I are going to be leaving Deling City. Immediately. Tonight. I won't let that man lay a finger on my little boy. I'm really. . .I'm very afraid for his safety. I know it's against hospital protocol, but. . .do you think, maybe you could turn your back, just this once?"

"Miss Jace, please stay put while I go get some paper."

Squall has been carefully watching Irvine, and sees no new wounds surfacing, no random objects miraculously appearing, but as he watches, he feels the familiar tug of dream.

`Ellone…why didn't you send me and Irvine at the same time…?' he starts to ask in the blackness before the dream begins.

`Because, Squall, I didn't send Irvine into the past this time. I don't know who did, but I'm sending you to where I think he is now.'

Squall didn't have time to register this before he blinked painfully awake to find himself feeling as if he'd just been slugged and looking down at blood in his palm. Vision blurry but clearing, Laguna brings his hand to his nose to wipe some more blood away before glaring at Max Kinneas and lunging at him, tackling him to the ground.

"He's my nephew you asshole. You don't own them. They're people. Human beings, you know what a human being is, don't you!" he snaps angrily between connecting his fist repeatedly with Max's ribcage and taking multiple hits to the face and head. Laguna can't see straight pretty much at all. He knows he's brawling with Max, that his fist is connecting with something somewhere on the other man's body, someone's grunting in pain to a rhythm as blow connects after blow after blow, and he's not entirely sure that it isn't him. He's dizzy, he can taste blood on his lips, and all he can think is, `this little shit deserves whatever he gets, and I'm not about to quit giving.'

He isn't really sure when he passed out, but he assumes that means he lost the fight. He sees Kiros and Ward hovering over him. "You really did it this time," Kiros commented. "When're you gonna learn that violence doesn't solve everything, Laguna?"

"I know it doesn't," Laguna said defensively, his voice sounding a bit groggy to his ears. "But it sure makes me feel better," he grins briefly as his comrades help him up, one on each arm.

"Getting the crap beat out of yourself makes you feel better. Laguna Loire, you are one really weird guy," Ward commented playfully.

"I got in a few good hits," Laguna said defensively, shoving the hair out of his mouth. ". . .I think." His head bobs as he tries to shake off the dizziness.

Kiros holds up a few fingers and says, "Alright, Laguna," with a sigh. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Probably not near as many as I'm seeing," Laguna answers languidly. "Is it possible to see in triplicate. . .or quadruples even?"

Ward laughs and gets up. "What're you doin' man?" Laguna asks as he sees a large blur and assumes it to be his friend Ward.

"I'm getting you a drink. I think you could use one," Ward laughs and walks over to the bar. Laguna squints, his vision slowly coming back into focus. He doesn't have to see Kiros to know that the other man is rolling his eyes at Ward's ever-present opinion that alcohol is capable of solving just about any problem you can think of. Not that he was a lush, or anything, but the man DID like to drink.

"I wanna see Jace," Laguna frowned as he tried to get hold of his faculties long enough to stand, and failed tragically.

"You want her to see you like this? You must really love that girl."

"She's my sis. `course I love her. I gotta know that she's okay."

"You're staying put until I'm sure you haven't gone and gotten yourself a concussion. . .again," Kiros half-ordered. "Your vision still fuzzy?"

"A little?"

"How many fingers do you see?" Kiros tried again holding up his hand and spreading all five digits wide.

After a considerable silence and a few long moments of blinking, Laguna finally can see something that resembles a hand, it's a little blurry, but at least Kiros no longer has twelve fingers on each hand and three heads.

"Three," Laguna answers flatly with a slight yawn. "Thumbs and pinkies don't count."

"How come?" Ward asks, just knowing that Laguna will have one of his `perfectly logical' explanations for why pinkies and thumbs don't count as fingers as the large man puts drinks down on the table.

"Middle finger, Pointer finger, Ring finger," Laguna elucidates. "Pinky and Thumb don't have that qualifier. Well okay, you technically CAN say `pinky finger'. . .but who'd ever want to? And you never ever say `thumb finger', because it sounds stupid. Hence, three fingers per hand, plus a thumb and a pinky each. Where's my drink?"

Squall groans as he blinks awake to find Laguna holding a towel against what feels like a very sore nose.

"Wha. . .?"

"You're nose is bleeding, just sit still until it stops," Laguna told him. He only manages to stay awake for a few raw moments before the dream world swallows him again.

`Elle…what the hell?'

`Um. . .heh. Moving right along,' Ellone comments by way of an apology that doesn't sound all too apologetic to the frazzled young man as he finds himself staring at wide green eyes rimmed with red in the mirror as Laguna puts ice to his swollen nose, pulls it away and winces, then puts it back on, pulls it away and winces again. Finally, with a disgruntled, but determined, sigh, Laguna puts the ice on his nose and holds it there, leaning his head back on the couch.

"This sucks," he grumbled under his breath. He's exhausted, but has been told with all due certainty that he isn't allowed to sleep. . .so why the hell had Mrs. Donovan thought it was a good idea to put him onto this soft plushy couch they had in the living room? The very same couch that had always made him want to take a nap every time he sat on it. . .even when he didn't have a concussion, as he did now.

"I feel kinda woozy," Zell commented, blinking.

"M-me too. . ." Selphie replied as both of them fell into the dream world. Kiros and Ward again, from the looks of things, in the Galbadia Hotel, drinking together, but with none of their usual cheer.

The orderly ran into the Galbadia Hotel and downstairs into the lounge. Seeing two men who were at the hospital earlier, he runs over. "E-excuse me. Are either of you Mr. Laguna Loire?" he asks breathlessly. He's been trying to track down Laguna to give him this letter for hours.

"No, but we know him. Do you need something," Kiros asked.

"I have a letter that needs to be delivered to him post haste," he replied.

"Hey, relax man. I'll give him a call, we can head over to wherever he is as soon as he gives us directions," Kiros said, pulling a small phone out of his uniform.

"H'lo?" Laguna asked, glad that the ringing had managed to keep him from nearly dozing off.

"Laguna? You still at your old house? We got a guy here who needs to get a letter to you."

"Where are you?" Laguna asked.

"Same place you left us man, the hotel. Give us some directions, we'll. . ."

"Nah. I'll come there. I know my way around better, so just stay put, I'll be there soon," Laguna told them.

"What about your head?"

"Moving will keep me from falling asleep. Don't worry. I've got a killer headache, but other than that, no big thing. I'm on my way." -Click.-

Kiros frowned at the phone.

"What's up?" Ward asked.

"He hung up on me. He could've at least said goodbye first."

"Polite as ever. You get the directions to that house?"

"He's coming here," Kiros said before turning to the orderly. "You can leave the letter with us man, we'll see he gets it soon as he walks in."

"Great! Thanks. You really saved my ass right now. I owe ya one!" the orderly grinned, handing the letter over to Ward, and ran out of the hotel to get back to the hospital.

Laguna couldn't seem to run more than a few feet without toppling over, so he settled for walking as quickly as he could manage. He felt a lot less dizzy when he was sitting down. His equilibrium was completely off kilter. As a result, it took him almost forty minutes to get to the hotel, where Kiros and Ward waited impatiently by the door, rather stressed with worry.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Laguna said, his words slurring at the end as he passed out.

"Laguna!" Kiros shouted with a start as Ward caught their falling comrade. "You idiot," he sighed as he followed Ward back into the hotel with an unconscious Laguna slung over his shoulder.

Jace walked in the front door, using the key that was hidden under the mat. "Mum? Laguna?" she asked.

"Who's there?" Mrs. Donovan asked cautiously as she made her way around the corner. "Laguna? Is that you? You shouldn't be up and around right now. . ." she said, obvious tension in her voice, but it was still her, still. . .

"Mum," Jace whispered as the woman came around the corner. She hadn't seen her mother in far too long, and it was almost too much to see how old she'd gotten. Her hair had begun to gray around the temples and there were tiny worry wrinkles around her once bright eyes. "Mum. It's me, Jace. I. . .just thought I'd. . .um. . .stop by," she said nervously.

"Jace! Oh my poor poor baby girl!" Mrs. Donovan said, moving quickly to her daughter, about to embrace her when she saw the tiny white bundle in her arms.

"Is this. . .?"

"Mum. I want you to meet your grandson, Irvine," Jace said, all pride at the little sleeping face wrapped up contentedly in the hospital blanket and her arms.

"You named him after your father," Mrs. Donovan said, smiling.

"I've decided that it's okay to remember the past, as long as we don't let it rule our lives," Jace answered. "I don't want to forget dad, just because he isn't around anymore. He taught me lots of important things."

"Like shooting, eh?" Mrs. Donovan asked, pointing at the pistols on her daughter's hips.

"Like living," Jace corrected. "But, yeah, shooting too. It might come in handy one day; that's what he said. I think he may be right."

Mrs. Donovan nodded, bending over the baby and pulling the blankie closer around his chin while saying, "well, hello little Irvine, my precious little grandson. I'm sure you'll make us all very proud one day, just like your gran-dad did. And I'll bet your mom will too, when she's ready."

"Hey, Mum, is `guni here?"

Mrs. Donovan looked at the empty couch with obvious worry on her expression. "He isn't in, just now. Perhaps he went out with those friends of his."

Jace sighed. She knew that expression. How could she forget it. Concern had etched her mother's features too many times to not leave it's mark on her.

"What do you really think?" she asked, more of a statement than a question.

"That husband of yours did a bad job on your big brother tonight. But you know Laguna, he's stubborn as a mule. I'm sure he'll be okay, and he won't be out long, likely. He knows how I worry. But, Jace, what brings you here?"

"Irvine and I are leaving Deling City, Mum. I just came for some things. . .and some advice. I think I'll probably always love Max a little, in spite of myself, and everything he's done, but I won't risk my little boy for something so trivial as all of that. I've decided that some things are more important, you know. . .than that sort of love. Irvine is much more important to me than all that."

"Jace, my little girl. It looks like you've finally decided to grow up and become the woman we always knew you'd be. Where will you go?"

"I'm not sure. That's sort of why I wanted to talk to Laguna. Someplace. . .someplace far away from everything, where we can live and die quietly. Someplace that it doesn't matter who I was, or what sort of life I lived before. Because I. . .I've made too many mistakes to relive them all. From now on, I'm just going to do whatever is the best thing for my little boy. So I have to leave everything behind now, even you, mum. All the same I. . .I'm gonna miss you a lot."

"Shh. None of that now. Your old mum'll always be with you, and don't you forget it. Let's get you some things packed up then. I'm sure your big brother will be back by the time we're finished. Here, let an old woman hold her grandson, hm? Just this once."

Jace handed over the sleeping baby to her mother and said, "why don't you relax. I just need to go upstairs and get some things I left behind, I'll be back down soon. You just, relax huh? You look tired, bond with your grandson or something. I won't be long."

"Alright baby. You're room's just as you left it, except maybe a little cleaner. If you can't find anything you just come on down and ask."

In her room, Jace pulled out the red knapsack she'd used when she was in school, before Max forced her to drop out, that is. It was almost a shame, because for all her bad behavior, all her determination to live life according to her own rules in those days, she was actually pretty good at all that intellectual shit. She frowned. `I could've been really smart, I'll bet, in a different world.' She shook her head. That was all in the past anyway, and as it was, the school she had been going to had been shut down over two years ago now. But it had a little more honor to say you didn't graduate because you're school closed down than it was to say you didn't graduate because you just stopped going. Jace was on record as a drop-out too, one more article of shame to hit herself with. All for what? All for Max? Ptah! All for nothing. She sighed. `All for nothing.'

She dropped the backpack on the bed and sifted through her drawers. A change of clothing. Something comfortable. She was a little fat now, heck, she just had a baby a few hours ago, but aside from that, she hadn't changed much since she'd lived at home. She threw a pair of blue jeans and two white tees in the bag. She abandoned the worn sneakers she was wearing for a pair of comfortable work boots that she never wore in high school because they didn't suit the image she was sporting in those days and dropped the sneakers in the wastebasket, reminding herself, `never again.' After all, Max had bought her those sneakers. They were ugly, she thought, not made for running, or walking, or anything active at all, and they reminded her that, for a while, she had been a dominated woman. The rest of the room in the pack would be for Irvine's things. She couldn't afford to bring too much. A toothbrush and some soap, then diapers, bottles. There was a lot that she could get when she arrived, or on the way there. For now, the bare necessities would have to do.

She stopped at the door beside hers, five and a half steps closer to the stairs than her own. This was Laguna's room, when he'd lived here, and it was probably just the same too. She decided to go inside. Opening the door whilst faking her usual wild grin she whispered, "hiya `guni! You busy? No? Good!" like she always used to say whether he was busy or not. And he would answer, "Never too busy for you, sis. What's up?" usually while looking putting down his pencil or closing a book. He did his homework way too often for her liking. She used to call him `my nerdy, do-gooder big brother.'

Her expression dropped. It still smelled like him. After all this time, she still remembered what he smelled like. It was some mixture between boy smell and wildflowers. Nothing perfumey, just sort of gentle and fragrant.

"I just need to borrow some things," she whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek. "It's okay, right?"

This was harder than she thought it would be. She moved to the dresser and pulled out one of his white undershirts from when he was younger and smaller and exchanged her dirty t-shirt for it. Only one last thing that she needed now, a jacket, and she knew which one she wanted. She opened the closet door and reached in the back, on the left side where things were allowed to get a little musty. Her fingers ran over denim softened from years of wear and she yanked it out. Faded at the elbows and shoulders, just barely frayed at the left wrist. He'd worn this jacket every day for years until he finally grew out of it and had to buy another. It was just her size now. Most people would cringe at hand-me-downs, but Jace hugged the denim to her chest for a long moment before slipping into it like a warm blanket on a cold night. "You don't mind, do ya `guni? It's not like it fits you anymore anyway. And I. . .I want to remember. This will help me remember all the happy times we had as kids, before I. . .before I fell in love, when things were good and life was easy. When we were happy and didn't know how to be sad. That's the legacy I want to pass on to my son. A smiling face full of love, just like things were then."

Jace picked up her bag and began her way down the stairs. The sound of her mother's voice cracking in a harsh whisper with words she couldn't make out made her pause halfway down. Then, slight sobbing. Jace ran.

"Mum? Mum! What's wrong?" she pleaded, watching as her mother hung the phone back on the receiver. The woman turned to her daughter, gesturing to some things on the table, old baby blankets, cloth diapers, a pacifier still wrapped up in plastic that was yellowed from age, a baby bag with two teddy-bears and daisies decorating it. The woman had been packing it all up for her daughter on the kitchen table, a baby bottle half hung out of the side pocket.

"That was Max," Mrs. Donovan whispered. "I told him I had no idea where you were, but Irvine woke up and started crying for his mamma. Baby, he's coming here right now. He'll be here any minute."

"Shit! I can't wait for `guni then. Mum, I gotta go, now! He's not gonna take Irvine away from me, not ever!" Jace said as she shoved the items on the table haphazardly into the bag and zipped it up, shoving anything that didn't fit when jammed in so absently into her red knapsack along with the water and food her mother had already stuck in the bag. Things for Jace, things for Irvine, things for both of them.

Jace slung the bags over her back and shoulders, took Irvine from her mother quickly, tightly into her arms as the nervous infant smiled up at her and fell asleep again. She gave her mother a quick peck on the cheek and started to run for the back door.

"Jace! Where will you go?!" her mother called, frantic with worry.

"I'll let you know when I get there!" Jace called back. "I'll write, or call, I'll think of something mum, I promise. We're gonna be okay from now on. Just the two of us."

"Be careful babies," Mrs. Donovan whispered as her daughter ran out of her life for the second time. She grabbed her chest, the one secret she'd kept so well, and moved to the cupboard for her heart medication, but she would never make it that far.

Laguna blinked awake, feeling nautious, and with the worst headache. He had no idea where he was, but Kiros was there, and Ward. Suddenly, he remembered what he'd left the house for in the first place.

"Kiros, the letter!" he gulped, his voice sounding far too loud to him.

"Here," Kiros said, passing it to Laguna whilst looking at him with concerned eyes.

Laguna took the paper and squinted at it, lines and letters dancing over the page as he was hit with another spell of dizziness. He handed it back to Kiros.

"Read it to me," he said.

So Kiros read:

*Laguna,

I have decided to leave Deling City, for Irivne's sake. Tonight.

Please meet me at Mom's house as soon as you get this letter. It's very

important. I need your help.

See you soon,

Your favorite little sis,

Jace Kinneas

The name on the letter was barely legible, obviously, the girl had attempted to sign with her one good hand, but it was at least obvious that she had chosen to sign with her married name. And from what Kiros had heard from Laguna, which was, thanks to Laguna's penchant for storytelling, quite a bit, Jace was a very peculiar girl. "To live every day of my life, without regrets, and without reservations, that is what I desire." Kiros remembered how proud Laguna had sounded when he told them of the day Jace told him that. A woman who lives completely in the present, with no care for the past and no hopes for the future-that is what Kiros thought of her, but now, he wondered if he hadn't been at least partially wrong, or if the girl had changed in some mysterious and unknown way, right under all of their noses. Jace Kinneas, he decided, whoever she was, whatever personality flaws she might have, was a strong woman with an equally strong will to fight. And for her sake, as well as for Laguna's sake, and his own sense of honor, he HAD to help them. Besides, he wanted to meet her and find out if she was all that Laguna made her out to be.

But even with Laguna's newfound strength and determination as the young man thought, `Shit! I was just there!', it was already too late.