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Characters/Pairings: Laguna/Raine, Laguna/Julia, Ellone
Fandom: FF8
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Laguna's recovering from his heroic failures. Thankfully Raine's not full of pity.
Notes: It's going to take more than one story to get through the complexities of Laguna and Raine's relationship. I'm also assuming that Laguna's journey takes more than the year that canon gives, because that's crazytalk. Also this has been sitting in my WIP folder FOREVER AND A DAY. Crossposted at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
spoony_bards
From the series "Hotel" found here. Since it's been like a YEAR since I finished a story for this.
Some things fall apart
Some things make you whole
Some things that you find
Are beyond your control
A broken heart was supposed to be a localized ouch. This was really not a localized ouch at all. This was all over body pain and he really didn't like it. His eyebrows hurt.
"Where am I?"
"It's called Winhill, and you're lucky I didn't leave you out where the residents could beat you to death."
Laguna's first solid impression of the woman was that her voice was incredibly grating. The kind of voice that a person got when someone killed their puppy and they never dreamed again.
"...Why would they beat me to death, I didn't do anything!" Ow. Ow ow ow. He needed to learn to talk less enthusiastically. Better yet, not talk much at all.
Laguna Loire was no puppy killer, though, and he needed this humorless woman to believe him.
"I don't want to get political."
"Political?"
"Do you have amnesia or are you... really ignorant?"
Grating, and intelligent. And since his vision made everything into colorful fuzzy blobs, he decided that this woman must have been a bajillion years old and giving him very disapproving looks. Big nose optional.
"I kind of fell off a cliff, I'm sort of jumbled?" Weren't nurses--if that's what she was--or good people that brought strangers from the brink of death supposed to be a little more patient?
She sighed. "You're wearing a Galbadian uniform. Galbadia has been occupying various surrounding territories. Winhill's in a territory..."
"People don't like the military? I'm not a very good soldier, promise."
She snorted. "Nevermind. Get some rest."
He reached out, groping for a hand. He got a sweater. "Wait. What's your name?"
"Raine." Laguna had to wonder what kind of parents she had, to name her after the most gloomy kind of weather.
---
I love you and you're beautiful
You write your own songs
What if the right part of leaving
Turned out to be wrong
---
It occurred to him about halfway through the song that he was a fair measure tone deaf. But he continued on anyway, because Raine was gone and he was obviously alone.
"Why are you so loud, mister?"
The voice was very short. Well, the person that the voice came from. He was still seeing blurs instead of shapes and faces, but the blurs were starting to become more defined. He shifted so he could almost see over the edge of the bed, and sure enough there was a small moving shape.
"Because I hurt."
She--because it was most definitely a little girl--giggled. Giggled at his pain. But then, Kiros or Ward would have done the same thing. Oh, he hoped they had come out alright...
"You made my EARS hurt."
Here he was, Laguna Loire, already a failed soldier listening to a little girl tell him that he couldn't sing either. It was enough to make him sigh semi-dramatically.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to."
"It's ok. Why do you hurt?"
Maybe because he'd very heroically leaped from a cliff, after having the most fantastic night of his life talking with the most beautiful woman he'd never see again. And she wasn't likely to remember his name at this point either, not with how slowly he was recovering.
"Do you know what love is, kiddo?"
He could hear the face she was making. "That kissy stuff?"
"Close enough. Well, I lost my love and my dignity."
"You could draw a picture? Always makes me feel better when I'm sad."
Laguna's first solid impression of the girl was that he rather liked the way she thought for as young as she was.
"Maybe when I can see again. Got a name, kiddo?"
"Ellone! Raine says it's a special name, that's why it sounds different."
---
If I could kiss you now
Oh I'd kiss you now again and again
'Til I don't know where I begin
And where you end
---
His vision had returned with its previous sharp clarity, and he was sitting up more than laying down during the day. Ellone was around him the most, hopping in with her bobbed hair and fresh crayons. Laguna had half a mind to ask how she always had new crayons, but he didn't want to accuse her of anything. She was really sweet, after all.
Didn't really see Raine much, despite the fact she was the one caring for him.
"See my picture! See my picture!"
Ellone was usually content to sit on his bed, careful to avoid the leg that was still in a cast, and color various childish things, which she'd show him with a zeal that sometimes almost upset the state of that cast. Laguna didn't do much drawing with the way his hands sometimes shook, but he had put his restored vision to use and gave her the oral version of the reviews he imagined he would write at real art shows.
"The use of smudging is very modern, while the colors are very traditional. Bold use of squiggles."
"You sound weird."
"I'm being a critic, Ellone. That's what they sound like."
"Just tell me it looks pretty."
"It looks pretty."
Literary prowess was somewhat lost on small children. At least he tried. Ellone didn't seem to mind; she always told him when he was being 'weird' or 'silly'.
"I think Laguna needs to rest now." He nearly jumped at the sound of Raine's voice, though he really shouldn't have. Laguna never did have a good sense of where people were. He'd been the only kid on the block that never could win at hide-and-seek; neither hiding nor finding.
"I'll bring more pictures later, Goona." Ellone scampered off, dark hair flying wildly around her face.
"You're very good with kids. Siblings?" It was the first time that Laguna recalled Raine being warm at all; of course, it was obvious that Ellone meant quite a bit to her.
The funny thing about the injury was that his leg didn't cramp up at all. Too broken or something. Then again, Raine wasn't exactly the type of woman that would make his leg cramp up anyway. "I guess kids just know I'm silly and aren't bothered by it."
She patted him on the shoulder. "Whoever she was, you certainly won't win her over with your singing. That's for sure. At least Ellone's a fan of your critiques."
Somehow, the backhanded compliment was better than any amount of pity he could get. Between Raine and Ellone he wasn't going to get the royal treatment. And that was strangely alright.
---
Thought I fell in love the other day
With an old friend of mine
I was running kisses
Down every inch of her spine
---
One night he dreamt of what might have been.
Laguna was in the hotel room, talking with her. He could feel the cramps in his leg and Julia was so unearthly beautiful, in a way that only dreams can make happen. They touched and all formalities flew out the window. He was lost in the silk of her dress, the way she tasted a bit like candy, the kind that he used to get in trouble for sneaking before dinner. Laguna himself was different too; more sure, able to make her graceful back arc with just a few words and a brush of his fingertips.
But it was only a dream. Even when he was dreaming Laguna knew it could never be real, because he wasn't that man. And he was starting to suspect that all that time watching Julia and never speaking to her meant that she wasn't that woman either.
---
We had the roof down
The sun came shining in
The black fact is
That I was thinking of you
---
He was leaning on Raine's shoulder while Ellone held his hand the first time he went outside after getting injured. Laguna hadn't gotten a proper look at Winhill, considering he was nearly dead when he came to it, but there was something about the way that the sunlight hit everything that made it even more beautiful than Deling at night.
"Don't be a baby, go on, try standing on your own. If you fall Ellone and I will just drag you back inside."
He was getting used to the fact that things that came from Raine's mouth weren't as harsh as they seemed to be if they had come from someone else. Still, he didn't really want to let go of her shoulder; it was like she had taken over for both Kiros and Ward, and he was never quite sure since he left home if he could stand on his own.
"I don't want to be a bother..."
"Oh you already are. Come on now. Just a few steps."
Ellone had let go of his other hand, strangely quiet, just watching. Despite her closeness with Raine, Ellone looked at him like some kind of hero. Well, he wasn't going to let her down, at least.
The first step was the hardest, and he almost hit Raine in the face with his elbow. But she dodged and he kept on for a few more steps before he felt winded.
"Good job Goona!"
Laguna flashed Ellone a smile before looking over at Raine. He could almost swear that she had smiled too, if only for a moment. The sunlight framed her short dark hair like a dirty halo, which was strangely fitting.
Of course, that was when he decided to get fancy and fell on his ass.
Before he blacked out he noticed that both Ellone and Raine were at his side in an instant, and it was Raine that was holding his hand this time. He might have said something, too, he only hoped that it wasn't ridiculous and he didn't make the mistake of calling Raine the wrong name.
---
If I could kiss you now
Oh I'd kiss you now again and again
'Til I don't know where I begin
And where you end
---
"Raine says you're inserfable."
"Inserfable? Do you mean insufferable?"
"Yeah! That word."
Laguna wished the word insufferable meant that he didn't suffer. But after his wonderful demonstration of his kinetic prowess, he found himself doing just that. If it wasn't the pain in his leg, it was the daggers that Raine seemed to be shooting out of her eyes at him.
"I don't mean to be so much trouble."
At least Ellone was around, more his peer than he wanted to admit.
"You're just silly, Goona. And Raine likes you."
And Ellone wanted things to be better than they were, just like he did.
"She's got a strange way of showing it."
Ellone shrugged. "She gets REALLY mad at bad people. You're not bad."
"Well, when I get better, I'm going to make sure no more bad people come back this way. I was a fine soldier once, you know."
Raine's chuckle nearly startled him, and it was obvious she'd been listening in on the conversation for a little bit of time from where she was standing in the doorway.
"No you weren't," Raine said, but it was the farthest from a criticism he'd ever heard from her.
"No, I wasn't. But I'd like to try?"
---
I slept in the sun the other day
I thought I was fine
Everything seemed perfect
'Til I had you on my mind
---
Laguna took small steps the next time that Raine took him outside, and then for several tries after that. He wanted to leap and jump and fly to Deling, but it became obvious that it would continue to be slow going. But she was there, smacking away his elbow when he got clumsy and chastising him when he tried to do more than he was capable of.
He could almost make a full patrol at this rate, as long as Raine walked with him.
"Remind me never to leap off cliffs again." There walks were typically quiet, as he knew that his stories of his short and unfruitful time in the army weren't bound to impress her, and anything else he could think of sounded ridiculous. But eventually he decided that the ridiculous was better than nothing.
"She must have been very beautiful, for you to do something like that."
It was strange that Raine leapt straight to that subject, as before it obvious that she found his pining to be a little ridiculous.
"Julia was but... I'd only ever talked to her once. Great talk, but it was mostly about our careers."
"Love of a lifetime, for sure." The sarcasm in her tone was apparent.
He winced. "I mean, it could have been more. I don't know. Maybe. I only knew that she really wanted to sing, and then heard her on the radio."
"At least you know she's alive and well enough to live her dreams. Right?"
Raine was so practical. Kiros would probably like her quite a bit.
"Right."
The sun was setting, and Raine's hair was taking on a reddish hue like the sky. The Deling lights would be too harsh on her, Winhill's natural light suited her well.
"It's much worse if they die on you. Because there's no more might have been. Only a 'was' where an 'is' should be. So you're lucky, Laguna."
Laguna had never been the quickest man about most things, but he was starting to be good at reading grief on someone's face. And he could understand why a woman whose village had been ravaged by soldiers wearing the uniform he used to wear would take in one of those injured soldiers now.
He took her hand, and counted the first stars that began to appear.
---
I tried to love you
I did all that I could
I wish that the bad now
Had finally turned into good
---
"Alright, reach! Come on, you can get those cobwebs!"
His balance was back to where it should have been, and despite being somewhat tall Laguna still couldn't reach the top corners of the main room in Raine's house. Thankfully having Ellone on his shoulders gave him that bit of extra to get the very last of the cobwebs.
"Goona! THERE'S A SPIDER. IT LOOKS MAD!"
He quickly pulled Ellone off his shoulders and set her down on a nearby chair, and tried his best not to show the fact that he was probably more afraid of the spider than she was.
"Don't move. They can smell fear."
Ellone hopped off the chair and clung to his leg. He armed himself with a broom, waiting for the eight legged freak to attack.
"What is going on here?"
"GOONA MADE A SPIDER MAD!"
Laguna remained fixated on the corner, trying to be brave. He felt Raine's hands on his arm and on the broom, making him lower it.
"Ellone, even if spiders are scary looking, they have to have a home. You've got nothing to be afraid of if you don't poke it."
Laguna felt embarrassed and scratched the back of his neck. "We were just trying to clean up for you..."
Raine laughed, the kind that wasn't slightly sarcastic like he was used to. He liked her expression when she laughed, it made her look more her age, instead of the years added by responsibility. Though, he liked her other expressions too, because she had one constant to them all; a sense of being in the moment, not somewhere off in dreams or the future.
Maybe that was when he started to see her, instead of trying to see another dark haired woman in her place. Raine, the defender of spiders and patron of lost souls.
---
If I could kiss you now
Oh I'd kiss you now again and again
'Til I don't know where I begin
And where you end
---
"Are we a family, Goona?"
It was the first patrol he'd gone on without Raine's assistance. Of course Ellone insisted on coming. And how could he deny such a cutie? However, her question had to be handled with the utmost delicacy.
"I... ah... I don't know, Elle."
"We should be."
Winhill quite obviously hated him, and he was starting to feel strange around Raine. There was absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to stay. Obviously.
"It's a little complicated. I think I'm technically a deserter."
"Raine says family takes care of each other."
"Well, if you're using that definition, I guess we are."
It was strange how a little girl and a woman had made all the big things that he'd jumped off a cliff for slowly evaporate. He'd expected that life and love and all the Big Important Things happened like they did in the movies; so dramatically. Maybe Winhill was the sort of place that just put everything into slow motion.
Or he was going out of his mind.
"'Sides, you'll fall on your butt alone."
Ellone always put things into the right perspective.
---
If I could kiss you now
If I could kiss you now
If I could kiss you now
---
"I was thinking, Winhill doesn't really have much in the way of a militia or monster hunters or really any sort of defense."
"That was intentional on Galbadia's part." Raine kept to her chores like a clockwork machine. A rather elegant clockwork machine.
"So I guess I'm going to earn my keep and do that. At least if you're not sick of me."
She paused, her back turned to him. He held his breath.
"Well there have been complaints about monsters getting near on the north side of town. If you help out around the house too I suppose you can work off your debt."
Laguna didn't wait for her to turn around before he hugged her shoulders, pointedly ignoring the slight ache in his leg. Just as quick as it happened it was done, and they resumed their places and distance.
Things took longer in Winhill. But now he had time.
---
Oh where you end
Is where I begin
Fandom: FF8
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Laguna's recovering from his heroic failures. Thankfully Raine's not full of pity.
Notes: It's going to take more than one story to get through the complexities of Laguna and Raine's relationship. I'm also assuming that Laguna's journey takes more than the year that canon gives, because that's crazytalk. Also this has been sitting in my WIP folder FOREVER AND A DAY. Crossposted at
spoony_bardsFrom the series "Hotel" found here. Since it's been like a YEAR since I finished a story for this.
Some things fall apart
Some things make you whole
Some things that you find
Are beyond your control
A broken heart was supposed to be a localized ouch. This was really not a localized ouch at all. This was all over body pain and he really didn't like it. His eyebrows hurt.
"Where am I?"
"It's called Winhill, and you're lucky I didn't leave you out where the residents could beat you to death."
Laguna's first solid impression of the woman was that her voice was incredibly grating. The kind of voice that a person got when someone killed their puppy and they never dreamed again.
"...Why would they beat me to death, I didn't do anything!" Ow. Ow ow ow. He needed to learn to talk less enthusiastically. Better yet, not talk much at all.
Laguna Loire was no puppy killer, though, and he needed this humorless woman to believe him.
"I don't want to get political."
"Political?"
"Do you have amnesia or are you... really ignorant?"
Grating, and intelligent. And since his vision made everything into colorful fuzzy blobs, he decided that this woman must have been a bajillion years old and giving him very disapproving looks. Big nose optional.
"I kind of fell off a cliff, I'm sort of jumbled?" Weren't nurses--if that's what she was--or good people that brought strangers from the brink of death supposed to be a little more patient?
She sighed. "You're wearing a Galbadian uniform. Galbadia has been occupying various surrounding territories. Winhill's in a territory..."
"People don't like the military? I'm not a very good soldier, promise."
She snorted. "Nevermind. Get some rest."
He reached out, groping for a hand. He got a sweater. "Wait. What's your name?"
"Raine." Laguna had to wonder what kind of parents she had, to name her after the most gloomy kind of weather.
---
I love you and you're beautiful
You write your own songs
What if the right part of leaving
Turned out to be wrong
---
It occurred to him about halfway through the song that he was a fair measure tone deaf. But he continued on anyway, because Raine was gone and he was obviously alone.
"Why are you so loud, mister?"
The voice was very short. Well, the person that the voice came from. He was still seeing blurs instead of shapes and faces, but the blurs were starting to become more defined. He shifted so he could almost see over the edge of the bed, and sure enough there was a small moving shape.
"Because I hurt."
She--because it was most definitely a little girl--giggled. Giggled at his pain. But then, Kiros or Ward would have done the same thing. Oh, he hoped they had come out alright...
"You made my EARS hurt."
Here he was, Laguna Loire, already a failed soldier listening to a little girl tell him that he couldn't sing either. It was enough to make him sigh semi-dramatically.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to."
"It's ok. Why do you hurt?"
Maybe because he'd very heroically leaped from a cliff, after having the most fantastic night of his life talking with the most beautiful woman he'd never see again. And she wasn't likely to remember his name at this point either, not with how slowly he was recovering.
"Do you know what love is, kiddo?"
He could hear the face she was making. "That kissy stuff?"
"Close enough. Well, I lost my love and my dignity."
"You could draw a picture? Always makes me feel better when I'm sad."
Laguna's first solid impression of the girl was that he rather liked the way she thought for as young as she was.
"Maybe when I can see again. Got a name, kiddo?"
"Ellone! Raine says it's a special name, that's why it sounds different."
---
If I could kiss you now
Oh I'd kiss you now again and again
'Til I don't know where I begin
And where you end
---
His vision had returned with its previous sharp clarity, and he was sitting up more than laying down during the day. Ellone was around him the most, hopping in with her bobbed hair and fresh crayons. Laguna had half a mind to ask how she always had new crayons, but he didn't want to accuse her of anything. She was really sweet, after all.
Didn't really see Raine much, despite the fact she was the one caring for him.
"See my picture! See my picture!"
Ellone was usually content to sit on his bed, careful to avoid the leg that was still in a cast, and color various childish things, which she'd show him with a zeal that sometimes almost upset the state of that cast. Laguna didn't do much drawing with the way his hands sometimes shook, but he had put his restored vision to use and gave her the oral version of the reviews he imagined he would write at real art shows.
"The use of smudging is very modern, while the colors are very traditional. Bold use of squiggles."
"You sound weird."
"I'm being a critic, Ellone. That's what they sound like."
"Just tell me it looks pretty."
"It looks pretty."
Literary prowess was somewhat lost on small children. At least he tried. Ellone didn't seem to mind; she always told him when he was being 'weird' or 'silly'.
"I think Laguna needs to rest now." He nearly jumped at the sound of Raine's voice, though he really shouldn't have. Laguna never did have a good sense of where people were. He'd been the only kid on the block that never could win at hide-and-seek; neither hiding nor finding.
"I'll bring more pictures later, Goona." Ellone scampered off, dark hair flying wildly around her face.
"You're very good with kids. Siblings?" It was the first time that Laguna recalled Raine being warm at all; of course, it was obvious that Ellone meant quite a bit to her.
The funny thing about the injury was that his leg didn't cramp up at all. Too broken or something. Then again, Raine wasn't exactly the type of woman that would make his leg cramp up anyway. "I guess kids just know I'm silly and aren't bothered by it."
She patted him on the shoulder. "Whoever she was, you certainly won't win her over with your singing. That's for sure. At least Ellone's a fan of your critiques."
Somehow, the backhanded compliment was better than any amount of pity he could get. Between Raine and Ellone he wasn't going to get the royal treatment. And that was strangely alright.
---
Thought I fell in love the other day
With an old friend of mine
I was running kisses
Down every inch of her spine
---
One night he dreamt of what might have been.
Laguna was in the hotel room, talking with her. He could feel the cramps in his leg and Julia was so unearthly beautiful, in a way that only dreams can make happen. They touched and all formalities flew out the window. He was lost in the silk of her dress, the way she tasted a bit like candy, the kind that he used to get in trouble for sneaking before dinner. Laguna himself was different too; more sure, able to make her graceful back arc with just a few words and a brush of his fingertips.
But it was only a dream. Even when he was dreaming Laguna knew it could never be real, because he wasn't that man. And he was starting to suspect that all that time watching Julia and never speaking to her meant that she wasn't that woman either.
---
We had the roof down
The sun came shining in
The black fact is
That I was thinking of you
---
He was leaning on Raine's shoulder while Ellone held his hand the first time he went outside after getting injured. Laguna hadn't gotten a proper look at Winhill, considering he was nearly dead when he came to it, but there was something about the way that the sunlight hit everything that made it even more beautiful than Deling at night.
"Don't be a baby, go on, try standing on your own. If you fall Ellone and I will just drag you back inside."
He was getting used to the fact that things that came from Raine's mouth weren't as harsh as they seemed to be if they had come from someone else. Still, he didn't really want to let go of her shoulder; it was like she had taken over for both Kiros and Ward, and he was never quite sure since he left home if he could stand on his own.
"I don't want to be a bother..."
"Oh you already are. Come on now. Just a few steps."
Ellone had let go of his other hand, strangely quiet, just watching. Despite her closeness with Raine, Ellone looked at him like some kind of hero. Well, he wasn't going to let her down, at least.
The first step was the hardest, and he almost hit Raine in the face with his elbow. But she dodged and he kept on for a few more steps before he felt winded.
"Good job Goona!"
Laguna flashed Ellone a smile before looking over at Raine. He could almost swear that she had smiled too, if only for a moment. The sunlight framed her short dark hair like a dirty halo, which was strangely fitting.
Of course, that was when he decided to get fancy and fell on his ass.
Before he blacked out he noticed that both Ellone and Raine were at his side in an instant, and it was Raine that was holding his hand this time. He might have said something, too, he only hoped that it wasn't ridiculous and he didn't make the mistake of calling Raine the wrong name.
---
If I could kiss you now
Oh I'd kiss you now again and again
'Til I don't know where I begin
And where you end
---
"Raine says you're inserfable."
"Inserfable? Do you mean insufferable?"
"Yeah! That word."
Laguna wished the word insufferable meant that he didn't suffer. But after his wonderful demonstration of his kinetic prowess, he found himself doing just that. If it wasn't the pain in his leg, it was the daggers that Raine seemed to be shooting out of her eyes at him.
"I don't mean to be so much trouble."
At least Ellone was around, more his peer than he wanted to admit.
"You're just silly, Goona. And Raine likes you."
And Ellone wanted things to be better than they were, just like he did.
"She's got a strange way of showing it."
Ellone shrugged. "She gets REALLY mad at bad people. You're not bad."
"Well, when I get better, I'm going to make sure no more bad people come back this way. I was a fine soldier once, you know."
Raine's chuckle nearly startled him, and it was obvious she'd been listening in on the conversation for a little bit of time from where she was standing in the doorway.
"No you weren't," Raine said, but it was the farthest from a criticism he'd ever heard from her.
"No, I wasn't. But I'd like to try?"
---
I slept in the sun the other day
I thought I was fine
Everything seemed perfect
'Til I had you on my mind
---
Laguna took small steps the next time that Raine took him outside, and then for several tries after that. He wanted to leap and jump and fly to Deling, but it became obvious that it would continue to be slow going. But she was there, smacking away his elbow when he got clumsy and chastising him when he tried to do more than he was capable of.
He could almost make a full patrol at this rate, as long as Raine walked with him.
"Remind me never to leap off cliffs again." There walks were typically quiet, as he knew that his stories of his short and unfruitful time in the army weren't bound to impress her, and anything else he could think of sounded ridiculous. But eventually he decided that the ridiculous was better than nothing.
"She must have been very beautiful, for you to do something like that."
It was strange that Raine leapt straight to that subject, as before it obvious that she found his pining to be a little ridiculous.
"Julia was but... I'd only ever talked to her once. Great talk, but it was mostly about our careers."
"Love of a lifetime, for sure." The sarcasm in her tone was apparent.
He winced. "I mean, it could have been more. I don't know. Maybe. I only knew that she really wanted to sing, and then heard her on the radio."
"At least you know she's alive and well enough to live her dreams. Right?"
Raine was so practical. Kiros would probably like her quite a bit.
"Right."
The sun was setting, and Raine's hair was taking on a reddish hue like the sky. The Deling lights would be too harsh on her, Winhill's natural light suited her well.
"It's much worse if they die on you. Because there's no more might have been. Only a 'was' where an 'is' should be. So you're lucky, Laguna."
Laguna had never been the quickest man about most things, but he was starting to be good at reading grief on someone's face. And he could understand why a woman whose village had been ravaged by soldiers wearing the uniform he used to wear would take in one of those injured soldiers now.
He took her hand, and counted the first stars that began to appear.
---
I tried to love you
I did all that I could
I wish that the bad now
Had finally turned into good
---
"Alright, reach! Come on, you can get those cobwebs!"
His balance was back to where it should have been, and despite being somewhat tall Laguna still couldn't reach the top corners of the main room in Raine's house. Thankfully having Ellone on his shoulders gave him that bit of extra to get the very last of the cobwebs.
"Goona! THERE'S A SPIDER. IT LOOKS MAD!"
He quickly pulled Ellone off his shoulders and set her down on a nearby chair, and tried his best not to show the fact that he was probably more afraid of the spider than she was.
"Don't move. They can smell fear."
Ellone hopped off the chair and clung to his leg. He armed himself with a broom, waiting for the eight legged freak to attack.
"What is going on here?"
"GOONA MADE A SPIDER MAD!"
Laguna remained fixated on the corner, trying to be brave. He felt Raine's hands on his arm and on the broom, making him lower it.
"Ellone, even if spiders are scary looking, they have to have a home. You've got nothing to be afraid of if you don't poke it."
Laguna felt embarrassed and scratched the back of his neck. "We were just trying to clean up for you..."
Raine laughed, the kind that wasn't slightly sarcastic like he was used to. He liked her expression when she laughed, it made her look more her age, instead of the years added by responsibility. Though, he liked her other expressions too, because she had one constant to them all; a sense of being in the moment, not somewhere off in dreams or the future.
Maybe that was when he started to see her, instead of trying to see another dark haired woman in her place. Raine, the defender of spiders and patron of lost souls.
---
If I could kiss you now
Oh I'd kiss you now again and again
'Til I don't know where I begin
And where you end
---
"Are we a family, Goona?"
It was the first patrol he'd gone on without Raine's assistance. Of course Ellone insisted on coming. And how could he deny such a cutie? However, her question had to be handled with the utmost delicacy.
"I... ah... I don't know, Elle."
"We should be."
Winhill quite obviously hated him, and he was starting to feel strange around Raine. There was absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to stay. Obviously.
"It's a little complicated. I think I'm technically a deserter."
"Raine says family takes care of each other."
"Well, if you're using that definition, I guess we are."
It was strange how a little girl and a woman had made all the big things that he'd jumped off a cliff for slowly evaporate. He'd expected that life and love and all the Big Important Things happened like they did in the movies; so dramatically. Maybe Winhill was the sort of place that just put everything into slow motion.
Or he was going out of his mind.
"'Sides, you'll fall on your butt alone."
Ellone always put things into the right perspective.
---
If I could kiss you now
If I could kiss you now
If I could kiss you now
---
"I was thinking, Winhill doesn't really have much in the way of a militia or monster hunters or really any sort of defense."
"That was intentional on Galbadia's part." Raine kept to her chores like a clockwork machine. A rather elegant clockwork machine.
"So I guess I'm going to earn my keep and do that. At least if you're not sick of me."
She paused, her back turned to him. He held his breath.
"Well there have been complaints about monsters getting near on the north side of town. If you help out around the house too I suppose you can work off your debt."
Laguna didn't wait for her to turn around before he hugged her shoulders, pointedly ignoring the slight ache in his leg. Just as quick as it happened it was done, and they resumed their places and distance.
Things took longer in Winhill. But now he had time.
---
Oh where you end
Is where I begin
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