Corpse in the Cupboard

***** CHAPTER 9 *****

Squall Lionheart was a complicated man. Most people never realized it. They saw the cold exterior and deadly glare and instantly labeled him as one to be avoided and feared. That was true, to a point, but it was only a small part of the whole puzzle that was him. Growing up as an orphan, believing he’d been discarded by his parents for all of those years, had taught him how to separate his emotions from the outside world. How to hide his true self behind walls of steel that no-one could breach. He’d survived his childhood that way, cold and alone, never letting anyone see the frightened little boy that hid inside.

That shell of steel had made him into the man he was today. Commander of the Seed, an elite force of mercenaries who did everything from defeating evil sorceresses to culling monsters. Trained from childhood to be the best fighters the world had to offer. Fighting was what he did best, his one passion that he didn’t have to hide.

Then everything began to change. He discovered he wasn’t alone in the world. Laguna Loire, President of Esthar was his father. At first, he’d been angry and disappointed. His anger had faded quickly when it became clear that Laguna hadn’t known he’d even existed. The President had been as shocked as he was to discover the connection between them. The disappointment had taken longer to subside.

Squall had always dreamed that his father was a warrior. Some-one strong and powerful that demanded respect. Laguna was none of those things. He had fought in the Galbadian army, but only as a common soldier with no love for battle. He was respected, but it was for his innovative thinking and his skills in negotiation and diplomacy, which were all talents that Squall saw little value in. In short, the two had nothing in common.

That fact didn’t stop Laguna from trying to form a relationship with him though. The President had driven him crazy at first, trying to break down his walls and get him to open up. Eventually he had accepted that Squall felt smothered by him and had reluctantly backed off. They rarely saw each other in person after that, but Laguna insisted on calling every couple of weeks to chat and ask how he was. It was an arrangement that the Commander was comfortable with and it had continued that way for a couple of years.

Around seven months ago, everything changed again. At first, Squall hadn’t been concerned. Laguna had been flat out handling the latest crisis in Esthar. Some strange being had come through a time flux and after first appearing to be dead, had miraculously come back to life, destroyed professor Odine’s lab and disappeared into the city. He’d offered to assist but his father had declined his offer and told him he’d keep him informed of any future developments.

Two weeks later, as usual, Laguna called and said that there had been no more sightings of the creature. He was taking a week’s holiday at his cabin in the Centra Mountains and he’d call again when he got back.

The next call from his father came two months later. Squall had begun to worry, not that he would admit it to anyone. Laguna had sounded strange, his usual cheerfulness was absent and it had been obvious that something was wrong. When he’d asked him about the news reports from Esthar that had announced that the missing creature had been found and killed, the president had been vague in his explanation and had hastily ended the conversation. After that he’d stopped calling completely. Three whole months of silence.

The whole series of events and Laguna’s strange behaviour made Squall suspicious. It also pissed him off. He’d thought his emotional walls had stayed up but somehow the President had found a way into his heart and he had to grudgingly admit to himself that he missed him. As the time went by, the hurt grew, until finally Squall sent one of his most trusted Seed agents into Esthar to spy on his father.

The first report the Commander received only added to his concern. When Laguna came back from his holiday in the Centra mountains, he wasn’t alone. Everywhere he went, he was accompanied by a new bodyguard. Nobody seemed to know where he’d come from or who he was. Why had his father never mentioned anything about this to him before? And why had he suddenly hired a bodyguard, after Squall had tried, on numerous occasions, to convince the man that he needed one, only to be told that it was unnecessary?

The Seed agent had included a couple of photos of the mysterious man and Squall looked at the first curiously. Well, the guy looked like a bodyguard. He was tall, long dark hair, not much older than Squall himself and had that alert but detached aura that personified bodyguards in general. The Commander noticed that the man had something black covering one of his arms. Turning to the second photo, he saw that the arm was bigger than his other, uncovered arm. A prosthetic limb maybe? Well, it wouldn’t be a surprise that his father would hire someone with a disability. Laguna’s big heart and sympathetic nature were his biggest weaknesses, as far as his son was concerned.

The next report stunned Squall. His agent had targeted the crew of the Ragnorak next, in an attempt to find out where they’d picked up the mysterious man and had found out that the new bodyguard had been with his father at his cabin. When they’d come aboard the airship, he’d been wearing a red cape and some weird kind of golden claw. What in Shiva’s name? That creature was the bodyguard? Laguna had gone on a holiday with a dangerous creature/man that fell through a time flux and destroyed Odine’s lab with his bare hands? Had someone drugged his coffee this morning? Squall shook his head and decided enough was enough. He was calling his agent to tell him to return to Garden because he’d be taking over the investigation in person.

When he called, he was surprised to received one last piece of the puzzle. Kiros had resigned his position as the President’s personal assistant and this Friday would be his last day before he retired to Dolet. The man had been his father’s constant shadow for the last twenty years. For him to suddenly quit his job and retire to the other side of the planet meant one thing. Something was very wrong.