Dear Squall,
If Ellone was still here, I know she'd say how weird it is to write you letters, instead of telling them in person.
Let me tell you a secret- mommy loves to write.
It's how you and your daddy got along in the first place.
Letters capture the feelings of the moment and I certainly I hope you'll feel what I'm feeling now.
As of writing this letter, I'm 36 weeks pregnant.
Perhaps if I moved to Deling City, I would have access to a modern facility with an ultrasonography. Perhaps I would be able to determine what your sex is.
But no.
I decided to stay here in Winhill.
It's where I was born, and it's where I'd want you to be born too.
The midwife has advised me to take regular walks to make the birth easier, but it's becoming more and more difficult to move around.
I'm as big as an old sow.
That, however, doesn't diminish the love I feel for you.
It's a little sad tour father never had the chance to learn about you.
Ellone, your older sister… your foster sister, actually, was kidnapped and Laguna promised me he would bring her back.
Three weeks after he left with Kiros and Ward, I started to have episodes of nausea and vomiting.
It was only I had myself checked by the town doctor that I realized I was five weeks pregnant.
If only Laguna had known about you before he left.
Now, I can only write letters, hoping that he'll be able to read them once he returns home.
I do hope he returns with Ellone by the time of your birth.
I think Ellone would love to have a little brother, and we can finally be the happy family I've always dreamt of.
When I was five months pregnant with you, I decided to think of baby names, and it was hard.
Really hard.
Ultimately, I found my answer.
Whether you're going to be born a girl or a boy, your name is going to be Squall, Squall Leonhart Loire.
Squall means a sudden violent gust of wind, and I'm not naming you because you're violent or what.
Though you did give me quite a discomfort with all your kicks and punches.
Your father's name is Laguna- it sounds similar to lagoon, a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water. My parents named me Raine… just like the rain.
No, I'm not naming you after another body of water.
I'm naming you after the element that seems to accompany the rain as it drifts to a lagoon…
It's so fitting.
Squall.
Isn't it a beautiful name?
One day, I want you to read the letters in front of me and your father and learn our love story, so that you'll appreciate your own love story with your partner.
So let me tell you the tale of how I met your father, but first, let me tell you about your older sister Ellone...
AN: This was originally titled His Eyes on Me (HEOM), the sequel to my 1st ff8 fic, Your Eyes on Me.
Although I had written HEOM a year ago, I could never finish it because it didn't feel right. I abandoned the story and wrote other stories instead. It wasn't until I read Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird that I had the inspiration to try and write Raine's story in a letter form… and the ideas poured like a geyser!
I hope you'll enjoy my take of Raine's story. I'm using the Succesor Challenge to finish the story Thanks for reading and I hope you'll enjoy!