Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Until the End of Eternity, and Longer ❯ Interlude ( Chapter 24 )

LunaticPandora1: Uh, yeah, I guess it did get kinda complicated there, huh? But, I think the most complicated parts are over with now. Though, don't quote me on that. I didn't really want to do anything too complex, but as the story developed, I found I sorta needed to in order to move things along so…*scratches head*…oh well, I guess.

Uhm, Aison, knowing you, you probably reviewed too, but I don't recall what you said this time….uhm…..something about me being evil, I think…or was that the chapter before? *chews lower lip* Well, as long as you don't try to take my machine gun away again, we're cool.

This interlude, I think is a nice change from the last few chapters because it's pretty lighthearted and there isn't really any angst in it. (Shocking for me, I know.) So, I hope you enjoy it while waiting for Part II of "Until the End of Eternity, and Longer" to begin. Some time has passed, but, I'm gonna shut up, since I tell you all of that in the interlude. Blah. So, yeah, still don't own it, and I know I sorta insert disclaimers at random, but so long as it's in here somewhere, right? Well, right?

Anyways, on with it!

"Until the End of Eternity, and Longer"

by: Banshee Puppet

Interlude to Part Two

Squall brushed his bangs from his eyes with an exhaustive sigh as he slid open his door and stumbled into his room, paperwork toppling out of his arms and all over his floor as he tried to put his keycard back into his pocket.

"Almost die, save the word, survive the most moody girlfriend on the planet and a father who's just as bad, and yet, beauracracy still kicks my ass every time," he complains as he leans against the door for a moment, letting his weary mind settle before flipping the light switch. It was almost two a.m. and he was only just managing to escape the office. Commander. It wasn't an easy job, and if he'd thought he'd grown up quickly before, he'd found with these new tasks that he still had a lot to learn. Bending over to pick up his paperwork, he noticed a slim, yellowish piece of paper mixed in with the mess. His daily list of things to do, he couldn't keep himself even remotely organized without it, and even with it, he was hard-pressed to do so. He placed it on the center of his desk, dumping his other papers unceremoniously in one of the drawers before groaning comfortably as he stretched out his back. He slipped off his gloves, putting them in the pocket of his jacket and hung his jacket by the door, taking off his boots and leaving them, also beside the door. There he was more comfortable now. Only white cotton socks, a white muscle tee and his well-worn leather pants to cling to his slender frame in the near eighty-degree weather of his quarters. Sitting at the desk, he pulled out another yellow slip, writing on it. "1. Have heating and ventilation systems for instructor's wing checked and recalibrated."

His eyes scanned his room. It had gotten more personalized, he realized, as the years went on. At first, it had been barren. One could barely tell that anyone lived here at all. Then, there was a picture of himself and Rinoa, and another of him, looking disinterested and grumpy as ever at one of the happiest times of his life, at a party with his friends.

It was a long time before any other personal effects were added to this space, but since Bella Maure, he'd added a few other pictures as well…pictures of family. On his dresser, an old photo sat nestled in a slightly too large wooden frame. A little boy with a young soldier and a woman in a cowboy hat. Irvine, Jace, and…Laguna. But this was not the only photo. It had been some time since then. Two years, to be exact, or nearly that. And beside it, in a simple, yet elegant frame of slim copper, another photo rested. A photo which he knew, had Rinoa's looping handwriting on the back of it, which read. "Just the boys. First Annual Esthar Spring Carnival" and the date. He couldn't help but smile at the memory of that day, and that ludicrous photo. He stood with a blue slushie in his hand, staring at it as if drinking it might cause him to grow another head. Beside him, Laguna was happily consuming a strawberry ice cream, though he wasn't actually sure his father was getting any of it in his mouth as the sticky juices dripped down his hand. And behind them, with an arm slung haphazardly over either of their shoulders, was Irvine Kinneas, grinning that manic grin he had, having the time of his life. Just after the photo had been shot, catching the two shorter men off guard, Squall had said, "I swear Irvine, if you get any of that cotton candy in my hair, I'm going to kick your ass."

"Sure sure Flower boy. Don't worry about a thing!" the irritating cowboy had said flippantly.

Squall's response. "Quack. Quack."

And they laughed, with the unfortunate side effect of Squall moving his head slightly and getting sugary blue fluff stuck in his bangs. But it was still a good memory. One of the best he could recall. He smiled nostalgically at the picture before turning back to this past day's memo on his desk. 'Two years,' he thought. 'Has it really been so long?'

His eyes widened marginally as he noticed that one of the items wasn't checked off. "Check Mail." Email? He wondered why that was important when a small desktop calendar caught his attention and his eyes widened. 'It's the second Tuesday of the month! He always emails me the second Tuesday of the month. I can't believe I forgot!' Squall almost laughed at himself. It wasn't that he ever replied to Laguna's letters. He didn't. In fact, some of them were so inane and pointless that he almost wondered why the man bothered at all. But all the same, he found, over the past two years, he had grown rather fond of those letters, no matter how vapid they were, and he really looked forward to receiving them. So, he flipped open his laptop and signed onto the system in hopes that his father had not broken their little tradition.

He was not disappointed, cocking an eyebrow at the little blurb on his screen. Mail from: gunaoverthemoon@squiggleworthy.com, Subject: yayness!!!!!

Squall cocked an eyebrow at this. He'd always thought that was an extremely stupid email address, not that he knew what it meant, or if it was actually supposed to mean something at all, but that was besides the point right now. 'Yayness?' he thought. 'Is that even a word?' How many times had he said that to Laguna now? Is that even a word? And the answer was always the same: of course it is! I just used it, didn't I?!? And the same mock-offence was always on the older man's voice.

With a yawn and no further delay, Squall opened the letter and began to read:

Hey Squall,

Guess what? It's Tuesday! I actually wrote this two days ago, but…I didn't want to break tradition, so I waited to send it! Haha. (Squall gets an image of his father laughing and scratching his head as he writes this.) So anyway, it's winter in Esthar and the holidays are just around the corner.

And, Squall, it's SNOWING!!!! They say it hasn't snowed in Esthar in 37 years. It's sooo pretty Squall. Especially at night, all those little white snowflakes dancing around in the colorful lights outside my office window. I wish I could be out in that right now, but I still have lots of work to do before I'm allowed out of my chair. And it's already 2 a.m.! This is the part about being President that I hate…paperwork and beauracracy! I feel like I'm drowning in it. Sigh.

Well, I guess it's okay though, that I can't go outside now. There isn't enough snow on the ground to make snowmen or have snowball fights with right now. It just started this evening, really, but I wanted to tell you about it.(Not Tuesday evening, but the evening I wrote this, well, whatever.) Ellone and I used to play in the snow all the time in Winhill. We would make forts together, and all the Galbadian soldiers would help. And before you say it, yes, I am well aware that I'm a bad influence! But they were AWESOME forts! (Squall chuckled silently and shook his head.) Raine would never come outside though (which I'm pouting about right now, in case you weren't sure). She said it was just juvenile and immature, but we always managed to get her outside by the end of the evening.

Actually though, the main reason I'm emailing is because it's December, and the holidays are just around the corner. I know last year, you couldn't make it because you were on a big mission (which is such a bummer!), but I was hoping this year you and Irvine and all your friends would be able to make it here for the week. You know, Christmas to New Years. Come a few days early! Kiros and Ward went out and got a tree today. It's the most unhealthy thing I've ever seen. It's really big, but almost entirely bald down one side! I don't know what they were thinking. We were going to put it in the center of the room downstairs, but we ended up putting it in the corner to hide the skunk stripe. And I had to cut off a good chunk of the top because it was crooked, and it was soooo funny watching them try to bring it in the front door! I swear, we'll need a ladder to decorate the thing! Which we'll be doing the morning of Christmas Eve, by the way. I hope you can come and that you're here by then so you can decorate with us, or at least Irvine can, because I know you'll probably just stand in the corner frowning at us and pretending that you're not enjoying yourself even though we all know you are! You're a terrible liar, you know.

Uhm…where was I? Oh, right! So the holidays are coming and I'd like to see everyone(especially since I did all my Christmas shopping three months ago and I don't think, at this point, anyone will take back returns). So, I know you never reply to my emails, but try, just this once, and let me know if you can make it, okay? I think I'll email Irvine now and tell him to make sure to force you to reply to my email. Because unlike SOME people, he actually does! Jerk. Will be waiting to hear from you.

Love from Esthar,

Your dad,

L.L.

Squall smiled vaguely at the letter, mouse hovering over the "delete" button for a few moments before a sudden impulse took it elsewhere and clicked. Reply. From: lionheart@garden.org Subject: Yayness? Is that even a word?

And so, he began to type, hesitating as he began, not sure how he should start? Who should he address it to? "President Loire" was too formal since it wasn't a business letter, and "Father" definitely wasn't right. Should he begin with the man's name, as he did, but as he typed "Laguna" he didn't feel so certain and deleted this. Finally, he stopped thinking about specifics and tried just talking with the keys. Surprising himself with what came out.

Dad,

As always, it's good to hear from you, even if I'm fairly certain you're insane. Yayness is sooo not a word, I don't care what you say, and so what if it's snowing. Haven't you ever been to Trabia? It's friggin' cold up there!

Anyway, I don't have a lot of time seeing as between drowning in paperwork, half of Garden under repairs, setting up missions, and the moodiest girlfriend on the planet, I barely have time for sleep. Irvine says all girls are like that but…that just can't be possible, can it? (In the tradition of your manner of letting me know absolutely everything you're doing at the moment…groan. There, happy?) She's mad at me again, my room is a sauna, and I have to be up to start another fun day in three hours, so this letter isn't going to be anywhere near the length of yours.

As far as the holidays go, I think I really need a vacation, even if that means dealing with your idiocy for a whole week, so, I'll find a way. I'll close Garden for a week if I've got to. I've got to get out of here. Uh, well, that's it.

You're son,

Squall.

(P.S. - Irvine told me that Seifer is working for you now. Please tell me he was kidding?)

(P.S.S - gunaoverthemoon@squiggleworthy.com? I've never heard of anything that stupid in my entire life. But then again, it's you, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.)

Despite the fact that he was having some severe second thoughts about what he just wrote, Squall hit the send button and decided to be done with the entire affair, at least for the night. So, shutting down his laptop, he stripped down to his boxers (another pair which Irvine must never ever see, he decided as he noticed the "too cute" teddy bears that his girlfriend had picked out for him), and lay down atop the covers, hoping to find sleep before his alarm went off to beckon him onward to another hectic day at Balamb Garden.

So, yeah, that interlude was a little longer than I expected, but still short, so at least I'm not lying…much. Next chapter will begin part two. Uhm…I still don't know what I'm doing yet though, so it might be a few weeks before I have anything up on that. Anyways. R&R is, as always, loved and coveted, and reviewers get hugs!

Until next time, Happy Haunting,

~Banshee Puppet~