Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Until the End of Eternity, and Longer ❯ Chapter Twenty-Six ( Chapter 27 )

Okay, so the obligatory commentary and rant:

*Clears throat* ahem….

Lunatic Pandora1: hrm…that woulda been funny! Hehe. Actually, when Irvine says "uncle 'guni"…I was torn, half wanted to say "guni" the other half wanted to say "laguna", but I went with the familiar because I didn't feel like freaking out the poor sales girl. Dunno, guess I just wasn't in the mood, or something. *shruggs*

Aison: che. Me too darlin'. Actually, I think I have. Man, my feet were really cold.

Divine Star: Yippee!! A new reviewer! I was afraid everyone had stopped reading my story. It made me sad. But you've proved me wrong…and in such an ENTHUSIASTIC way, what with all the CAPITAL LETTERS and what not! Tehe. Well, the story will end…eventually, as stories tend to do, but, not yet. A few chapters back I had anticipated thirty chapters, but looking at the story now, I don't think that's going to be enough. At least 8-10 more chapters, maybe? Fact is, I don't really know. I have two more story chunks I want to get through before I'm comfortable wrapping this up, and I feel that the story won't be resolved until I've done that, so as much as I would like to finish this story soon, I'm not about to rush it. As long as I've been living with this story and these characters, I want to make sure I do it right, so…it'll take me as long as it takes me, I suppose. Thanks for reviewing and letting me know that people out there are still reading this! *grins*

Special notes: a * in the front or back of a sentence/paragraph, signifies the beginning/end of a flashback.

And without further adieu, Chapter Twenty-Six of "Until the End of Eternity, and Longer"…

***

"Until the End of Eternity, and Longer"

By: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Twenty-Six

***

Squall scowled at the cheerful silver snowflakes and the evil roll of scotch tape. Whoever said wrapping Christmas presents was fun was either a liar, or insane. An image of a small, bubbly girl in a yellow dress saying, "let's blow it to smithereens! Wohoo!" tumbled through his mind. Definitely insane, he decided.

He scowled at the emerald-eyed imp that Irvine was so infatuated with. "Stop giggling and show me how to do this," he barked, and as she flitted over, saying, "Sir Laguna is going to look so handsome in his new clothes!" a memory hit squall.

* "Hey tulip! You know a lot about jewelry, right? Take a look. Whaddya think? Selphie'll like it, right?"

Squall looked blankly at the tiny gold band with it's little heart-shaped diamond, almost pink in the light. Small and delicate, just the right size for someone as tiny as Selphie, but definitely not cheap.

"It looks a lot like a…"

"Wedding ring," Irvine finished for him with the tiniest smile, an almost reverent look on his face. "I was thinking, New Year's. I want it to be special."

"You're sure?"

"It's the first time I've been sure of anything, you know…since Bella Maure. I've thought about it for a long time. I…Squall, I want you to be…my, uh…well, that is, if she says yes I-I'd like…" Irvine stuttered. As silly as it was, it was endearing.

Squall touched his forearm gently through layers of leather and suede and said, "It'll look good on her."*

The door swung open just as Squall was imperfectly, yet meticulously, and with intense concentration, putting the last bit of tape on his father's present, scowling at the box as he did so.

"Squall!"

"Seifer," Squall bit out in his customary fashion, but almost regretted it when he saw doubt and worry passing through the taller man's eyes.

"I need to talk to you, privately…please."

Squall worried that it might be about Laguna, until he heard those words.

***

Laguna held up the brightly-wrapped package and grinned.

"It's darling, Uncle Laguna," Ellone smiled, chuckling softly. "Do you think he'll like it?" Laguna asked, biting his lower lip.

"As long as it's from you, he'll love it. It doesn't really matter what it is," a voice said from the doorway.

Laguna's eyes darted up.

"Ah, Quistis! Come in! Come in! What's up?"

***

"What do you want, Seifer?" Squall asked, his words curt and clipped. Laguna would be pissed off if the boys got into a fight on Christmas Eve, and lately, Squall found himself caring about his father's rather explosive mood swings.

He'd never seen the man angry before, but after dropping an ornament that happened to be one of Laguna's favorites, it was easy to understand why Ellone, Kiros, and Ward worked so hard to keep his father placated. Because, fact was, facing off a quiet, glaring Laguna Loire was like staring into the eye of a storm, and when the explosion came, you were never ready for it. Squall rubbed his arm absently where Laguan had slapped him when he called him "stupid" and shoved him into the corner to "go mope, or something! It seems to be what you're best at. And DON'T YOU DARE touch my ornaments again until you've decided you aren't a total, irreconcilable klutz!" This coming from him! Apparently his father took the holidays VERY seriously. Well, Squall resolved not to think about it, at least for the moment.

"I want to come back," Seifer blurted it out, not knowing, after a moment's thought, how to ease into the conversation. "To Garden. I want to come back."

"I was wondering when you were going to get around to asking that," Squall stated blandly.

Seifer blinked. And then, he blinked again. Squall had known all along that he intended to… "Then why the hell didn't you say anything!?!" Seifer fumed. Oh, now he was pissed.

Squall sighed. "Seifer, you almost killed us all. I'm the Commander of Garden now. I have to keep everyone's best interest in mind. But…if Laguna will give you a letter of recommendation, then I guess you can come back…on probation. It's standard procedure."

"For terrorists," Seifer spat.

"Yeah," Squall said flatly. "And? That's the offer. Take it or leave it. Now it's Christmas Eve and you're pissing me off, and I don't need to get slapped again just because I kicked your ass, so I'm going back to deal with that maniac Irvine calls a girlfriend now."

***

"Whaddya mean we have no cranberries!" Laguna turned white as a sheet, looking as if panic was gonna start in and he was going to start panicking, or yelling, or doing something else that no one really wanted him to do.

"It's no big deal uncle 'guni, we can have canned cranberry sauce instead. We don't have to make it from scratch if…"

"We most certainly CAN NOT!" Laguna huffed. "I'll have to go get some cranberries myself then!"

Squall grabbed the keys off of the hook before Laguna could reach them and opened the door.

"Squall."

"I'm not letting you drive in the mood you're in. Somebody'll get killed."

"Oo! I'm coming too!" Irvine decided happily. "If Squall's driving it's bound to be an adventure!" he joked.

"Shut up duck boy."

"Whatever, tulip."

***

okies, another short chapter, but stuff starts happening again in the next chapter, or should. This took me longer than usual to write, b/c well, halfway through I decided to write inuyasha stuff..sooo…meh.

But yay, another chapter done. Laguna is so…manic. Haha.