Squall did nothing but wish for a pair of sunglasses. The sun did nothing to help his headache, if anything it made it worse. He had a hard time keeping up with Laguna, he didn't understand how he could walk so fast and not even be hungover. Squall was mixed with feelings of envy and bitterness. Laguna likely drank way more than Squall yet he didn't suffer nearly as bad.

"Were here!" Laguna announced too loudly.

The smell of the food was both intoxicating and nauseating. The restaurant was too loud and too crowded but his stomach decided it was too empty to justify skipping the meal.

They were seated quickly despite the crowd. Squall suspected Laguna might have slipped the hostess some gil to get them seated faster.

A gesture Squall greatly appreciated.

Nothing on the menu looked remotely appetizing to Squall. His stomach churned the farther he got down the menu. He ordered the one thing that didn't make him want to vomit, a simple side salad. A decision that earned him a strange look from Laguna.

"What?" Squall snapped, not in any mood for judgement.

"You know, greasy food is the best cure for a hangover," Laguna shrugged.

"That sounds like a lie," Squall argued.

"believe what you want, all I know is greasy food has always made me feel better when I have a hangover."

"I'm not you," Squall sneered.

Laguna couldn't argue with him, Squall was more like his mother. Some of that was likely because Raine raised him alone. A fact that saddened Laguna.

He wanted so much to be with Raine and help her raise Squall, but he could never get away from Esthar for any extended period. Raine tried living in Esthar with Laguna, but she hated not seeing the mountains of Winhill or the flower fields or being able to go out without armed guards.

"when will the car get here? I want to find my ring," Squall asked.

"Should be soon," Laguna murmured. "What's so special about that ring?"

"If you don't know, then you don't care, so I'm not going to bother explaining it," Squall barked.

Squall was mean when he was hungover. Laguna rolled his eyes and started sipping at his drink and looking around at all the people in the little café. Most of them were around Squall's age, likely there for the same reason as them. Nursing a hangover. Most of them would end up getting drunk again later in the evening.

"So, what would you like to do today?" Laguna asked.

"Sleep," Squall grumbled.

"You can't waste a nice day like today sleeping," Laguna laughed.

"Watch me," Squall said with a glare.

Laguna rolled his eyes and looked down at the newspaper the waitress left. A brightly colored ad caught his attention: "Last day of the ChocoMog Carnival!"

That was the perfect thing to do!

The ChocoMog carnival was something that happened once every ten years or so and Laguna had always wanted to go. It was never in the same place twice and he'd always missed it. How did he get so lucky to just happen upon it?

He wanted to announce his plan to Squall but decided it would be best to leave it a surprise.

The rest of their breakfast was silent but Laguna had a hard time containing his excitement. His random bursts earned him some strange looks from those around him, mainly Squall.

"Why are you being weird?" Squall asked.

"No reason," Laguna smiled.

"I know you're lying, but I'm too tired to care right now," Squall sighed leaning back in his seat.

Laguna quickly paid the bill as soon as the waitress brought it to him and bounded out the door.

Squall groaned before following his father, Laguna was up to something and Squall was in no mood to deal with it. All he wanted was to check the car for his ring then get some sleep that wasn't on a beach.

Thankfully, the car was waiting right outside.

Squall searched every inch of the car but still didn't find his ring. It was lost and Squall wasn't happy about it. If it weren't for Laguna's stupid road trip he would still have it.

Wherever they were going next, Squall prayed it would be somewhere quiet.

Laguna bounced in the driver's seat as they weaved through the streets, shaking the entire car and making Squall's stomach churn.

"Stop that," Squall groaned pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I can't," Laguna laughed. "Too excited!"

"Whatever you're planning, count me out."

"You'll love it!"

Squall groaned and leaned the seat back, ignoring Laguna or at least trying to.

He started to doze off when the car jerked to a stop. He jumped up and looked around frantically. Had Laguna hit someone? If he did it was impossible to tell.

All around the car there were people dressed in crazy chocobo or Moogle outfits. Yellow and white balloons floated around all originating from a central point Squall couldn't see from a distance.

"What is this?" Squall demanded.

"ONLY THE BEST THING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!" Laguna yelled as he jumped out of the car.

Squall growled and laid back down on the seat. He refused to engage in this nonsense but Laguna wouldn't leave him alone. He opened the passenger side door and yanked Squall out of his seat.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, son. I'm not going to let you miss it!"

Kiros loomed over his desk just staring at the newspaper he'd been sent from Balamb.

"Party boy President"

Not the kind of headline he wanted to wake up to, the picture that went with it was worse.

Laguna wearing a colorful party hat and giant sunglasses and a pink feather boa. Laguna was getting out of hand with this road trip nonsense. His shenanigans were making Esthar the laughing stock of the world.

"Sir, this just came for you," his assistant announced as he entered the office.

Kiros took the large manila envelope from him with a halfhearted smile. With any luck, this would be some good news.

The contents were unexpected, a digital camera and a piece of paper with Squall's signature.

"We need to find them now!" Kiros ordered jumping to his feet.

"The president last used his credit card to rent a yacht from Balamb to Dollet," his assistant informed.

"Then we'll go to Dollet," Kiros ordered heading for the air station.

Squall was fuming.

Not only was he in the loudest place in the world he was forced to wear the dumbest chocobo hat he'd ever seen. To top it all off Laguna had disappeared somewhere in the crowd. This was the worst day of his life.

"Why so sad, Kupo?" a feminine voice asked.

Squall refused to acknowledge her presence but the girl wearing a full Moogle costume made it hard for him to ignore her.

"Leave me alone," he ordered.

"Someone is a grumpy Gus, Kupo!" she said covering her fake eyes with her hands. "I know! You need a big hug from Mog, Kupo!"

"Don't even thing about—" before he could get another word out he was swept up in a tight hug by the freakishly strong Moogle woman.

"There, now don't you feel all warm inside, Kupo?" she asked with her hands on her fake cheeks.

Squall was filled with a blinding rage, he wasn't normally a mean person but he lost it. His hand started shaking and he punched the fake head making it spin around on the girl's shoulders causing her to fall into a balloon vendor and making balloons go everywhere.

"How rude, Kupo!" she cried.

"What's your problem, bro?" a masculine voice asked.

This time it was a tall chocobo getting in his face.

"I want left alone," Squall hissed.

"So, you think that gives you the right to hit a girl?" the chocobo asked pushing Squall in the chest. "Huh tough guy? Are you afraid to pick on someone your own size?"

Squall threw another punch but it only made the chocobo stumble a few steps.

"Oh, it's on!" the chocobo announced.

He charged at Squall but Squall easily dodged his attack and pushed him into a pile of stuffed moogles.

"Take this, meanie!" the Moogle yelled as she jumped on Squall's back.

The chocobo managed to get back on his feet while Squall struggled to get the Moogle off his back. The chocobo started charging again, this time Squall couldn't dodge. He braced himself for the impact but in never came. Laguna tackled the chocobo and started punching the giant foam head.

"Leave my son alone!" He yelled as he continued to wail on the chocobo.

It wasn't long before the police came and pulled Laguna off the Chocobo and the Moogle off Squall. All four of them were taken into custody.

Kiros paced throughout the passenger cabin of the Ragnarok. He thought of all the things he was going to scold Laguna for.

"Sir?" his assistant called.

"What is it?" Kiros demanded.

"The Dollet police department is on the phone. They want to confirm that they have the president in custody," he answered nervously.

"What did he do?" Kiros demanded.

"He and Squall got into a fight at the ChocoMog carnival."

Kiros sighed and took the phone from his assistant.

"This is Vice President Kiros Seagill, that is in fact the President you have in custody. Do not release him until I get there," Kiros didn't wait for a response before hanging up.

"Excuse me!" Laguna yelled. "When are we going to be let go?"

"Sorry sir, we were just told not to release you till the vice president arrives," the police officer answered.

"What if I gave you 1000 gil? Would you let us out then?" Laguna asked with a smile.

"I'd charge you with bribing a police officer," the officer said darkly.

"Laguna, just sit and wait," Squall ordered from the bench.

Laguna grumbled and sat next to Squall.

He didn't want to get scolded by Kiros but there wasn't any way of avoiding it now.

"Looks the like the road trip is over," Laguna sighed.

"Good," Squall said flatly.

"Why are you so mad?" Laguna asked.

"Why? Because you forced me to go on an international road trip, didn't pack any of my clothes and forced me to go to a stupid carnival when all I wanted to do was sleep and get rid of this terrible headache!" Squall yelled. "On top of all that I lost the ring mom gave me for my birthday before she died and you don't even care."

"I didn't know she gave you that ring, I'm sorry."

"Of course you didn't know, because you were never around when I was growing up. You were too busy goofing off in Esthar," Squall glared at Laguna. "Just leave me alone till Kiros gets here."

Squall laid down on the bench to try and take a nap.

It wasn't long before Kiros arrived and he had the angriest look on his face Squall had ever seen.

"Hey buddy!" Laguna laughed nervously.

"Do the two of you have any idea how much trouble you're in?" Kiros asked.

"What did I do?" Squall demanded.

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

Kiros held up the paper he was sent for Squall to look at.

"I-I got married?!"

"To a girl named Rinoa Heartilly," Kiros sighed.

"I don't remember any of that," Squall's face turned white.

"Maybe these photos will jog your memory," Kiros offered him the camera that came with the marriage license. "You can look through them on the way to Deling City."

Squall walked slowly through the police station to the car flipping through the pictures on the camera.

"Kiros," Laguna whispered pulling him aside. "Can we make one last stop before Deling?"

I know I didn't state it but the Moogle and Chocobo were Selphie and Irvine.