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Elemental Guardian Force Laguna
by PrettySephy
Warning: Character Death. Angst.

-Chapter 3-

Squall barely managed to dodge to T-rexaur's tail when the monster
suddenly attacked him. Summoning Shiva, he stepped back to let her
handle the beast.

Once the T-rexaur was dispatched, Shiva turned to Squall. Squall
toppled over in surprise. The Guardian Forces usually did not
interact with their summoners on such a level. Shiva tossed something
to him. He caught it and looked at this palm to see what he
was holding.

It was a machine-gun shell from the same type of gun his father had
once used.

Squall wanted to ask Shiva what she was doing with it, but she was
already gone.

Putting the shell in his pocket, Squall wandered off in search of
more monsters.

His father. Squall could not believe the man was dead. He tried to
wrap his brain around the concept and it refused it entirely. Dead
and Laguna were two concepts that didn't fit each other, like a
square peg in a round hole. But someone had come along and forced
said peg into said hole with a sledgehammer. And Squall hated them.

Squall would find the man who murdered his father, not to mention
most of the citizens of Esthar, and see that he paid for his crimes.

A Ruby Dragon interrupted this line of thought with a fatal slash.
As Squall dropped to his knees, all but dead from the unexpected
attack, his fingers closed around the shell that Shiva had given
him. It felt suddenly warm, and throbbed as though it had a heartbeat.

"Whatever you are," he thought as consciousness failed him, "help me."

The sky changed, and the desert below him turned to green grass which
felt springy under his feet. The noise was intense at the moment,
however, as Doomtrain chugged past him and came to stop in a field by
a small pristine lake.

Shiva was there already, along with Carbuncle, Cerberus, and Quetzcoatl.
The other GFs were arriving one by one. Even Eden had come.

Squall's expression was puzzled. And the approach of a small boy who
couldn't have been more than six did not improve that. What could a six
year old boy do? He noticed the boy carried a single flat stone. Was he
going to throw it at the enemy? Rather pointless. And why were all of
the Guardian Forces there? He didn't think such a thing would impress
them.

The boy beckoned him.

"You aren't very impressive," Squall said as he joined the boy.

"Watch this," the boy smiled, as the moonlight fell upon the water.
He skimmed the stone. Thrice it skipped upon the surface of the lake.
Then a hand caught it.

"Behold," the boy told Squall, "the true Guardian."

Squall fell on his backside in utter surprise as his father emerged
from the lake, clad in nothing but long cloths and ribbons which did
at least hide what needed to be hidden.

"Too late," he whispered, as his life force finally left him.

Laguna raised a hand toward Squall and whispered something. Deep
blue water came from his hand as though he were launching a simple
magical attack. But he did not direct it at the Ruby Dragon. Nor did
it cause injury to Squall whom it was directed at.

Squall drew in a long, surprised breath as he staggered to his feet.
He still felt weak, but a far cry better than he had a few minutes ago.
He was sure he had died.

"The GF brought me back," he whispered. The GF. Had it really been his
father? He summoned it again.

This time, the other GFs made no appearance. Squall realised they must
have just been there to welcome the new arrival, like family members
who come to see a new baby.

The boy skimmed the rock, and Laguna emerged once again, catching the
rock as he rose to the surface. Laguna ran across the lake to Squall,
and stood before him.

"Father?" Squall asked, weakly. There was no longer any doubt. This
was Laguna.

"My son," Laguna promised, with a sad smile. "I will always protect
you."

As Laguna placed a simple kiss upon Squall's brow, Squall felt as though
a protective barrier had encircled him. He looked up to thank Laguna,
but Laguna was gone. And Squall was back in the thick of it again.

The Ruby Dragon came at him again. But this time it's attack did no
damage. The Father's Kiss protection had blocked it, he realised as
he called upon Shiva to deliver a fatal blow to the monster.

Shiva's attack did not kill the beast completely. But it did damage
it enough for Squall to escape. Squall wasn't taking any chances,
however. He launched himself forward, gunblade in hand, and slew the
dragon with a devastating Fated Circle attack.

Catching his breath, he cast a full heal upon himself. He felt for the
shell in his pocket, but it was gone. Heart aching at the idea that it
might be gone, he searched the grass, but could not find it. He reached
up to clasp his Griever pendant for the little comfort it offered, and
felt a new charm pendant resting on the chain alongside Griever.

Lifting it to take a look, he saw the shell, now encased in a small
bubble of water which was solid to the touch, though it was water and
not ice.

With a relieved sigh, Squall made his way back to the ruins of Esthar.
He still wanted to find his father's killer. But right now he had to
tell the others what had happened.