A/N: Hey! How's it going. Well this idea came to me in a dream so if it's a little funky. Tell me if it's a bit TOO funky... Dreams are 'fun-Kay'. Well hope you like it and to enjoy more, why not read my other stories too. Enjoy! This is set out kingdom style...new age kingdom style.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8 or the other. I have no authority at all yet I own this plot. Don't sue! Or plagiarise in that matter too.

Chapter 1: The true heir

He shed endless tears. Even though he was a grown man, even though he'd been though hell and back, he didn't care about anything else. Only now has he ever wept. A woman that he cared dearly, showed him light in times in darkness, in which he promised that he would love forever and he intended in keeping that way.

Raine...How do I live without you? You are my life...you are my all...

"Sire, please, it's time to close the coffin," said the male servant slowly, as if he was afraid of the king's reaction. The servant was a scrawny little man, dressed in the formal royal servant's attire of black yet, normally he would have worn the royal red, today just wasn't the day.

"I SAID NOT YET!" yelled the King in his demanding voice that made everything shake. Even the two large guards next to him jumped. "Not yet," he repeated calmly to reassure the others.

The King. A tall, built man with his long dark hair jacketing over his mournful face, on his knees, slumped over at the open casket. There, laid an innocent victim to a cruel and meaningless way of transportation. How angelic she looked, so young... long beautiful auburn hair, fair skin...she had the kindest heart.

The king stayed there, staring, hoping in some way, she'll come back to him... Even if she had to depart from him, he yearned to just have enough time to say one last goodbye or one last, solemn, sweet kiss... As time went by though, the realisation that she had finally departed started to sink into the king. The priest next to him tapped on his shoulder, startled, the king reflexively looked to the correspondent.

"Come Laguna, let her rest in peace," he suggest with his arm gesturing him back to the church benches. The priest, Father Matt, knew Laguna since he was brought in the royal family therefore, it was no surprise to the king that he spoke to him so informally, "For Raine's sake, let there be no other delays."

Laguna agreed reluctantly, kissed his wife on the forehead and stepped back to the old, traditional benches of the house of Christ where he sat. He still shed tears, crying for the sake that the love of his life had proceeded into a 'better life' and how he was still left in his. Suffering by the constant pain...to remain his life in solitude...

The funeral ceremony continued. The lowering of the casket, the priest's final words, the placing of flowers around her headstone. It was almost too overwhelming for Laguna, at so many times in the graveyard he wanted to bail out and run away forever. Forget everything but then he remembered, how could he ever forget Raine, how could he ever stop loving her. Every significant moment, every last word was heard, felt and flashed before him. The day he proposed to her, the gleaming smile on her face, their wedding day, their wedding night, the honeymoon and then their great days of ruling the kingdom together. Then the other juvenile thoughts too came back, the first time that they met. He pure hatred between them that turned to love, the closeness they grew, their first kiss. It was so hard to stop thinking of her. Finally the last parting words were spoken and Laguna returned back to his room.

Unfamiliar, he had a double bed with no companion. He shut his lonely bedroom door and locked it by turning the golden switch. As he passed through his blank room, he traced his hand over her beauty items, her brush that still had some collection of her hazelnut locks, her pink eye-shadow which suited her so well and her perfume, Patience, the fragrance smelt of sweet smelling white roses. The smell was almost a trademark to her. Laguna felt as if he couldn't handle the constant thoughts, light headed and sat on the edge of their bed. He tilted himself down and wept, where the essence of Raine still remained. He was reluctant to shut his eyes, hugging his sheets to his chin and tucking his knees. Eventually he did sleep, exhausted by his constant weaving. Yet, all thoughts were still of the forever-florescent Raine.

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Laguna woke in his empty room. He turned over to seek for his clock which read that it was past noon. Obviously, someone must have ordered to not interrupt the king to day as he maybe a bit touchy, he thought. He slid away from his forlorn bed and changed quickly to his royal garments. Still a bit nauseated, he yanked the curtains back to let the full blissful shine hit his mental fog away. He walked to his door yet, he didn't know what to do. He started hesitating as his fingers touched the knob yet, he couldn't make himself to turn it. Could he bear the constant stares? He is the king, he can't show any vulnerability. In a little while, just give me a while, I need just another minute...he promised himself.

Sitting in his desk, he took out his hidden keys and tempted to open one of his drawers yet, his eyes pondered to the bottom. There were three drawers, the top was for miscellaneous, middle Laguna's associations, last... Raine's items. He respected Raine's privacy yet, does privacy still mean anything when you pass on? Laguna thought, What could it do? I can't feel lower that I already am? He jabbed the key in hearing the click and pulled the handle gently. He didn't really know why he was doing this. Maybe trying to find something to tell him that she'll be waiting for him or if he was just paranoid and it was just a way of grieving. The first item that caught his eye was a medium size book. Laguna lifted it up carefully and flipped to the cover page, 'My Diary by Raine and Raine Loire.' Laguna found himself amused slightly, thinking that in here, it will reveal his disgusting habits, her little fantasies and other whatnot. He turned to the next page and it read:

4th January

Dearest Diary,

LAGUNA! He is SO impossible. That sounds about right. But I love him. Laguna paused and breathed in slowly. Today, he snuck up on me while I was reading in the forest and well...one thing lead to another. Oh, I remember that...Heh... I don't want to jump to conclusions but I think a lot more happen than us just fooling around. I don't want to startle him, I mean, we're not even married yet. He's such a romantic though...sigh...I really do love him. She really thought like this? Laguna was tempted to put the book away but, proceeded, not as if he wanted to, more as he needed to. Maybe I'm too young...and what a hunk he is...Yes I Am. Hmm...Raine Loire, has a nice ring to it doesn't it? I love you Laguna and I always will forever. I'll never forget you. Love you FOREVER!

Raine.

With that as much as encouragement, he stepped out of his comfort zone and walked out of his room and down to the throne. Most of his business associates were waiting for the king patiently.

"Sire, I'm sorry for your loss," one responded.

"She's gone to a better place, Sire," said another.

Laguna gestured in a way that he accepted their heartless sympathy. "So, what's going on?" he said with calmness but there was a hint of fear lingering.

"Sire, this may seem too soon but, since you didn't have and kin with your dearly departed, have you thought about anything to continue the Loire line?"

Laguna's mind turned to rage but the glowing face of Raine that was lurking in his mind stopped him from bursting, "I don't intend to re-marry if that's what you're considering."

"Sire, you may lose your position as king."

"Then let it be but as long as I'm living, I am king till the day I die."

"The assassins will be working overtime for your other hick siblings," another murmured, intended to be humorous yet it did end up that way. The other associates glared at their disrespectful 'friend.'

"Let it be," repeated Laguna.

The rest of the meeting continued with local issues, global issues, other media and gossip. Laguna could only care for his people, all the rest, his associates can handle. He went back into his room and lock himself up. Everyday, he promised, he'd read a page from Raine's diary to give him strength for the day. The thought also lingered when he would finish the book but, he thought he'll tackle it when it happens.

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Laguna proceeded, each day, getting his little inspiration. What he read today stunned him though. He recalled that they had an argument in their relationship that lasted for almost half a year yet they reconciled after that. He never actually knew what happened but he thought it was something overly pretentious.

20th August

Dearest Diary,

I miss Laguna so much! I know I told him I hate him and all...I don't honestly. I love him so much that I can't bear this to distress him. Laguna...I'm doing this for you. Laguna adjust himself to an uncomfortable position, almost knowing that something huge will be exposed soon in the passage. How can I go to him with this swelled up belly. How can I tell him that he's going to be a father? "FATHER!" he choked to himself. She was pregnant and she never told me? Did our love mean nothing?! He's born to be king. This child of mine is either a princess or prince. I think it's a girl, it's so gentle and barely kicks at all. Really quite. But who knows? It could be a boy, If it is, I'm glad because I can tell he'll be a lot like me, how? If he had Laguna's side then he/she wouldn't sleep at all. Laguna started reading slower. Any day now, this little one will be in the world. She had to go through all that alone...My poor, poor Raine. I understand...I am angry but I can't stay angry at you. I hope she or he will receive a good family. I do hope...If it is a girl, I'll name her Iris...If it's a boy...hmm...Laguna junior? No, that would be too obvious. I love the name Squall. Squall it is...

Raine.

Laguna found it hard to breathe, it was too overwhelming. He was so light headed that he forgotten about his ego, wobbled to the door and ordered the outside guard to get him an analgesic with a glass of water. A servant came quickly to his aid and Laguna swallowed the tablet down and drained the rest of the water wordlessly. He thanked them and closed the door again. Taking a deep breath, he charged towards his empty bed, grabbed a pillow and hugged it contently like a child to his favourite teddy bear. I fathered a child, I have a son or daughter...I have an heir...

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A young lad sat under an evergreen tree in front of a sea view. It was incredibly peacefully, just the way he liked it. The seas breeze wafting pass him as he watched the beautiful sun set. The streaks of orange started to sink while shades of purple and blue rosed to consume the remaining bits of the greatest star. The young man with hazelnut locks with light streaks of strawberry blonde, sat there and did the final touches of his painting. And what a great artist he was, every stroke seemed to be perfectly placed and the end product always ended up perfect, he wouldn't have it any other way. He always hated untidiness. He continued until his pictured had disappeared, consumed by the night.

Unaware, there was a girl than ran from the other side of the forest, she too, also thought that she was alone. She slipped into the river to have a swim. The lad, now, stopped painting at then studied the glittering sky above him like every other night. The girl swam so freely and with ease as if she swam before she walked. She ducked in and out of the surface, rarely taking air, graceful as ever. Her clothing was a nuisance though, it always seemed to slow her down yet it was better to wear something than nothing she convinced herself. She took one more duck before she left it for the night. Deep into the water, she could only see the things that have been shined by the moon. Taking to surface to take a breath, her leg got caught by something, not panicking, she bent down to she if she could untie it herself yet it was too dark to see anything. Now, her heart race, knowingly that there was no one out there, she cried for help anyway. She fluttered quickly causing the water to cause frantic ripples. The young lad attention got caught and he placed his picture down and stood up.

The lady, with her final ounce of strength, jumped as far as she could and screamed, "Help! Somebody!" then dropping back to the water. The lad heard her frantic cry even though it was mostly muffled by the water in her mouth. He ran towards the water and swam as fast as he could to save her. The movement of the water was an indication of where she was but, only when the water stopped moving did the lad start to hasten. He swam faster and reached down towards her, ripping her dress to set her free, he pulled her across the sea and reached to the nearest bank. He dragged her uphill and did CPR. Brushing away her raven tresses that had light streaks of ginger. He held her nose, gaped her mouth and breathed into her, then tilting his head to listen if there was any breathing. He continued this procedure for about a minute until she coughed out the sea water. As she coughed, eyes widen, held on tightly to the closest object next to her, which was the lad and heaved air in frantically as her shock began to die down.

"W-What *cough* happened?" she asked wearily. Still holding on to this unknown man, she realised how moronic she must have looked like and let him gently. "Sorry."

"I didn't catch all of it," he started saying while he took of his shirt and strained it from the water, he was quite built with a great pecks and all, this even appealed to the lady, "But you nearly drowned. Are you alright?" he asked, slipping his black shirt back on.

"Yeah, thanks. I come from a wealthy kingdom, give me your name and I'll reward you greatly," she stated in upmost queenly way. Yet the young man had already turned away and started walking back to his equipment. "Do you know who I am?" she demanded, angry with him now, for that now respecting royalty.

"Do I care?" he responded rudely. He walked to his bag and took out a ragged towel where he dried his hair, which remain quite scruffy afterwards, which suited him very well. "You should go back to a cocktail party shouldn't you?"

"I am Rinoa Heartilly, princess of Deling. What nerve you have to treat a princess like that?" she asked poshly.

"Hey suit yourself, you could be the queen of whatever, I wouldn't care. It's not like you're going to remember me anyway, I'm just a commoner," he said while sitting down, the moonlight highlighted his features with silver as it did to the princess. The princess, with her wet tresses welded to her heart-shaped face, her big brown eyes glimmered as she studied at her knight in shining armour. Her saviour, looked up to flick his hair back away from his eyes, a mystical blue, so he could finally collect up his items.

She sat beside him, just to irritate him further. Even though this man was incredibly rude, she found herself attracted to him and wanted a payback for his despicable uncouthness. She saw a piece of paper on the ground and picked it up. "What's this?" she asked innocently.

The man was counting a realised he missed a page, in which the princess was holding, "Give it back, it has no interest to you."

"If you say it that way, it must have some interest to me," she said cheekily hiding it behind her back.

The man stood up and tried to get his painting back, he hated playing games therefore he wasn't really trying. He flinched to one way and she moved in the opposite direction. He tried the other and the same happened. Then finally he did a fake to the right and snatched it with his left hand. Yet, she held it on too tightly and a great rip scarred right down the middle.

"Oh well, no use now, I didn't like it anyway," he said, giving up and proceeded packing up his items.

Rinoa, curious, opened up the painting and saw a beautiful picture of the sunset, perfect. Looking down to the bottom where he signed his signature. 'Leon.' She pieced the other together and saw the relationship they combined. She started to feel disgust, not to 'Leon' but herself, how could she ruin such a beautiful painting. The array of colours matched and all of it combined together perfectly. 'Pretty as a picture' was an understatement towards this.

"Leon?" she asked quietly. Making sure that he, in fact painted this masterpiece.

"Yeah," he responded reluctantly. He hated being called that but it was name he made by himself.

"I'm really sorry. You're such a great artist, why don't you sell you paintings or something?" she asked as she still, studied the picture that she ruined.

"I'm not good enough, I mean the one you have in your hand for instance, the curve lines of the sea, see here, the colouration isn't right. I was going to keep that for reference but oh well, you can have if you want."

"Really?" she exclaimed, almost unbelieving that Leon had a heart.

"Yeah, whatever, I was going to chuck it anyway," he said dismissing it with a wave. What am I going to do with rubbish anyway, if she wants to be a garbage collector, she can go right ahead.

She ran up to him and hugged him, which was awfully uncomfortable for Leon. "Can you not do that?"

Rinoa looked up, still holding on to him, "Do what?"

Leon looked down in what she was doing and then she backed away, "Oh, I got a bit carried away hey?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"Hmm...Leon...like Leonardo Di Vinci?" she said and she sat down to embrace the great view.

"Somewhat like that..."

"Does that mean that's not your actual name?"

"Maybe, maybe not," he said enigmatically.

Before Rinoa could say another word, a tall, old man came down the hill from where she first crawled out. "Rinoa?! Rinoa! Are you here? Where are you?" a male voice yelled.

"They've got a search party for you, you better go."

Rinoa agreed and headed off in direction to the man's voice. Leon, broke away, taking everything that belonged to him and walked back to the diligent city. As he walked through the streets, he thought he might visit an old friend...

He came to a dark, deserted street and knocked gently on an old wooden door of a commoners house.

"Who is it?" one croaked.

"Leon."

Someone slid open the peephole and stared at Leon, he found this utterly irrational yet, it had to be done. The lady opened the old creaky door to let him in. "Wow, you have grown, what brings a great man like you to this province... Squall?"

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"Rinoa, where were you? Why are you drenched? And why is your dress ripped?" asked her concerned Father as he observed her passing through the little forested area. King Caraway. After her mother passed away, his father had never been the same. 'Over protective' was Rinoa liked to call it.

"I'm fine father," she whined as she quickly returned to her castle. "I'd wish you'd trust me more."

"What did you really expect? You run off, almost of the dead of night and without a word to anyone? You don't know what kind of psychos are out there!"

"Oh come on, it's only 9pm and I was only gone for a moment. Please, spare me the constant lecture," she retorted back to her father.

Like her mother that one... "Come on, go and get dress and go to bed."

Rinoa had already ran ahead and out of her fathers view. She ran up to her room, slammed the door and collapsed on her bed. Then she sat up and noticed that she still had something in her back pocket, taking her hand back and pulling it out, it was Leon's painting. She walked up to her table and lifted the glass that covered it and placed the beautiful painting underneath. Placing in together as if was never torn. Then she sat in the chair and sighed.

She hated being a princess, sometimes she'd just want to runaway...escape from it all...

A/N: Woah, I gotta admit, this is the longest first chapter I'd ever written. Well I hope you like it. Please review or I'll get offended. And why not read my others while you're at it. Thanks! Cya!

Leonhartilly