Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Until the End of Eternity, and Longer ❯ Chapter Sixteen ( Chapter 16 )

Disclaimer, and etc. . .

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"Until the End of Eternity, and Longer"

by: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Sixteen

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Squall and Irvine blinked awake almost simultaneously. Irvine looked at Squall with a nautious expression and opened his mouth to speak.

"Where was he?" he asked emotionally.

"Unconscious," Squall answered sourly before looking at his father. "You were too late, weren't you?"

Laguna, from the brief conversation, guessed at where they'd just come from, and nodded, "I was too late to save either of them," he whispered. "Five minutes sooner. . ." Laguna shook his head sadly. "When I got back to the house, Jace was already gone and Mrs. Donovan was dead on the kitchen floor. Max was kneeling over her sobbing, begging her to wake up. I still remember. "This isn't fucking funny. Come on, wake up! Be okay!" he was saying, and his whole body was shivering. "Don't die," he was saying, but it was already too late, and, even though he didn't mean to, he was the one who killed her."

Laguna remembered it too well. For the first time since he'd met Max Kinneas, he thought, `this guy might just be human after all. Not that that excuses anything, but. . .still. . .' He couldn't help but feel a little pity as Max sat there, hugging himself, rocking back and forth like some neglected child, begging his wife's mother not to die, but knowing it was already too late for that. Others, probably, would have said, fuck him, he deserves this, but Laguna was always a hopeless puppy-dog when it came to emotions, and Max was so wrapped up in himself that he didn't even hear Laguna come in, or Kiros and Ward trading ideas about what was wrong with the guy.

"Max, where's Jace?" Laguna asked after a long moment. That was just the most important thing to him right now.

Max's wide blue eyes snapped up at Laguna, who was leaning on the door frame for support. "I. . .I dunno. She WAS here, but, she left before I arrived."

"Gee, wonder why," Laguna snapped.

"I. . .I was wrong. I know you hate me. I guess I deserve to be hated. All the same, I just. . .I didn't want to share Jace with anybody."

"Not even her own mother?!? Not even me?"

"ESPECIALLY NOT YOU!" Max hollered, suddenly fierce, his voice escaping as almost a growl, then he broke down and sobbed. "Jace loved me in a certain way, and you in a certain other way. . .and I loved Jace in both of those ways, but she always loved you better. The way she loved you went all the way down to the bones of the earth with all the other things that can't be broken. I thought that if I took her away from you. . .if she only had me. . .then. . .so I decided not to share. . .but it didn't work out the way I intended. The love she has for you is fierce and flawless. I wanted that sort of strong emotion, but her feelings for me were so soft, like water coming and going and yielding to everything. She loved me with the piece of her that I hated, and only that tiny piece. I hate you Laguna Loire! I hate you so much because you never go away, you're her virus, you bastard! Why won't you let her go!?! Just tell me why you won't let her go?!" Max demanded, shoving himself to his feet to face off with the woozy green eyes that stared sadly at him.

"Because Jace and I. . .we promised to protect one another long before either of us really knew what that meant. Still, it was a promise. Didn't you and Jace have any promises?"

". . .she promised she wouldn't leave, as long as I was the strongest."

Laguna thought a moment. Jace had always been drawn to strength, and there was a time, yes, that Max had had just that.

"Then you can't blame her for leaving, now that she's found her own strength," Laguna said. "That's just the way Jace is. If strength was the only thing you had over her, then no wonder. . .no wonder. Strength, Max, it isn't a physical thing, not really-it never has been, not for her."

"Then what is it? If you understand her so well, then tell me!" he h

"It's. . .a way of living, every day, for the rest of your life, and knowing in your heart that you always did the right thing. Strength is water. . .giving in. . . It's. . .a willingness to sacrifice everything for love." Laguna looked at Max's attentive features, this last sentence seeming a physical blow on the man, so something bitter in Laguna couldn't help but add, "and you never had that. It was only a matter of time before she figured it out."

"That I'm weak," Max whispered.

"Yeah."

"But. . .I don't want to be strong, if that's what strength is."

"Then you'll always be alone. And now, you're going to tell me what happened to Mrs. D."

"It turns out he was enraged and hollered at her some until she just collapsed under the stress," Laguna explained. "Mrs. D had a weak heart in her old age. With Jace leaving again and worrying about that, and me nowhere to be found in the midst of a concussion, and then Max coming in and raising up a storm full of hellfire, it just gave up on her. In the long run though, I suppose it was the best thing, some people just aren't meant to live their lives alone."

Laguna frowned thoughtfully.

"What happened to Max after that?" Selphie asked, not really sure if anyone else was wondering.

"Well, I had to leave not long afterwards, but I heard that there was a trial against him, but without Jace there to testify to anything it was pretty pointless. Anyway, as best I know, he was declared emotionally unstable and put in some asylum. Still there for all I know, and fact of the matter is, I never cared enough to check up. I'd rather go on pitying the guy then remembering why I hated him in the first place. I think that's best."

"But you've been to Bella Maure, so how did you ever find mom?"

Irvine asked.

"Well, it could have been luck, or fate. At the time, we chocked it all up to the fairies, or some random whim of the desert gods."

"The desert gods?" Zell asked.

"That's what Kiros called them. Apparently, in ancient times, there were a lot of different beliefs about things. I guess the desert gods came a long time before Hyne did, I don't know. They're probably no more real than the fairies are, but I still like to believe in fairies."