My Nightmare, My Solace
Rutee Katrea found herself in what appeared to be a swirling black void. Every way she looked, the scene was the same. Nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see. She wondered how she'd got there, and why she had come to this awful place.
-Rutee!- a deep, masculine voice echoed in her mind, -My…beloved…child….-
"Father!? Where are you?" she called out. The girl knew it had to be him; there was no mistaking that voice. She ran forward at top speed.
At last, Rutee came upon her father kneeling down on the ground in pain. Seeing him in that state troubled her, and she moved to help heal his wounds. But the second she reached out to touch his body, he began drifting away. No matter how far she reached, or how much she walked towards him, Rutee found herself even farther away than before.
He whispered, "Rutee…please be strong. Live on for me in the peaceful world."
Tears began streaming from her eyes. "No! I don't want to be without you! All these years, I've been alone. And now…now I find the father I've longed for. I'm not going to let you die; I'm going to make sure to save you and bring you back home!"
She kept on running, and found herself gaining on him at last. Suddenly, as her fingers touched his sleeve, Hugo vanished into thin air. Rutee fell onto the ground, devastated. Once more, she'd failed to rescue her father from the void. And once more…she was all alone.
S...S
All of Rutee's tossing and turning led her to kick her husband, Stahn, against the wall. As he woke up from his slumber, the young man saw her restlessness. He could easily tell she was having a nightmare, as well as what it was about.
'Poor girl,' thought Stahn, 'Ever since the final battle, she's had such pain in her heart. She lost her brother, her father and a person who was like a mother to her, all in a short period of time.'
With kindness in his heart, the youth pulled his wife into his arms. Gently, he whispered words of encouragement and kindness. As if she was a baby, he began to rock her, hoping to calm her down from her shaken dreams. Finally, the young woman awoke.
"You dreamed about your father again, didn't you? Or was it Atwight or Leon?" inquired Stahn.
Rutee informed him, "It was Father. I was in a dark void, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't reach him. When I finally did, he vanished. I feel it symbolizes my failure; I was unable to reach out to him when there was still time, and when I finally did get to him it was too late."
Stahn continued to gently rock her, doing his best to comfort his beloved. Rutee never showed this weak side of herself to most people. But to Stahn, with his kind heart and devoted love, she was willing to bring it out. She knew he wouldn't laugh at her weakness, but instead help her to get around it. His love had allowed Rutee to do her best to move on with life. However…the pain still remained.
She looked right into his eyes, noticing their sparkle. Stahn's gaze was one of both love and worry; he didn't like to see her in pain, and would do anything to help her. It was that personality that allowed Rutee to open up to him.
He wiped away a tear from her eye. "There…you'll be okay. I know sometimes it just helps for you to let your emotions out, to let yourself just cry."
"I know," she whispered into his arms, "I just wish I could move on with my life and stop having these horrible nightmares. I mean, they've become less frequent since we married, but once in awhile I still have to be tormented by my past pain."
The young woman was surprised when Stahn helped her to her feet and let her go. But what surprised her even more was that he knelt down in front of her, taking her right hand in his left. Gently, Stahn kissed her hand.
"Uhhhhhhhhhh…Stahn? What are you doing?" she asked him.
The youth answered, "What a gentleman should do. I, Stahn Aileron, make this vow to you, Rutee Katrea Aileron. Until the day you are free of your pain, I will be here to protect you from those horrible nightmares. And even after they stop, I'll still be here whenever you need me."
That caused her to blush; Stahn took his whole knight routine very seriously. 'Who says chivalry is dead? I married one of the kindest, most loveable idiots in the entire world. And even having to wake up in a cold sweat feeling my own regrets and past anger isn't so bad when I'm near him. I guess even someone as tough and independent as me needs a little love sometimes. It sure beats living alone and crying in the corner, or trying to hold my tears in and causing myself more anguish.'
Kissing her hand again, Stahn pulled Rutee back into his arms. He then picked her up as if he was carrying her home after rescuing her from a Dragon. The young man placed his beloved on their bed and then climbed in with her.
"I love you," he said, "No matter what happens…I'll always be there."
"I know. And if you ever needed, I'd do the same for you," she whispered back.
S...S
The next morning, Rutee was as cheerful as she could possibly be. She pranced downstairs to cook breakfast for the orphans as well as get everyone ready for the day. If her demeanor seemed much sunnier than usual, the children took no note of it. The younger ones were just happy that she was in a good mood, while the older ones figured Stahn had done something extra nice for her.
Carly stated, "After all…she isn't even thrashing him awake or using that ladle and pot lid. And she hates it when he sleeps in."
Loni nodded. "I'll bet they did some really fun things last night. Fun, 'adult' things."
"What things?" asked a younger boy, "Loni…what did Stahn-niichan do to Rutee-neechan?"
"Loni! Don't go corrupting the younger kids with stories!" yelled Rutee.
Loni called back, "But it is something that mighta happened!"
Rutee shook her head. "And how in the world do you even know about those 'adult things' anyway? You're only ten years old!"
"I heard some adults talking about it," confessed the boy, "When I was playing outside the other week. They were talking pretty quietly, and I wondered what was so secretive."
"Well…that wasn't something you should be listening in on. Loni, one day you might here a secret that would not be in your best interest to know. I want you to promise me that you'll never listen in on a conversation that doesn't involve you again," Rutee scolded.
Reluctantly, the boy made a promise to his foster mother. He ran off to play with his friends and let Rutee continue cooking. She sighed; even she wasn't half as curious as that when she was young.
Suddenly, she heard a low voice call out, "Mamma…hungry!" Turning around, the woman beheld her two-year-old son, Kyle, toddling into the room. Rutee was surprised he'd gotten up on his own, and even more amazed that it was only eight in the morning; like Stahn, Kyle had a notorious habit for sleeping until almost noon unless someone woke him up.
The young woman bent down and picked the child up. "Kyle, sweetheart, Mommy is finishing up breakfast right now. Can you wait just a few moments?"
"Kay, Mamma!" he exclaimed, "Kyle'll wait!" He then let his mother put him down in his booster seat, and began to play with a wooden spoon.
'Stahn…he gave me more than comfort during my times of pain, or when I have nightmares. He also gave me this child, the first flesh and blood relative I've lived with since Kronos took away my family. Between the two of them, and all of these children, I know I'll never truly be lonely.'
S...S
When Stahn finally got up around ten thirty, he found that Rutee already had his breakfast on the table. Knowing she was going to let him sleep in, the young woman had wisely just poured some cereal in a bowl. The second he seated himself at the table, Rutee brought out the milk and drenched the food just the way her husband liked it.
"Sorry I couldn't get up and eat with everyone else," he told her.
She replied, "Don't worry. After what you did for me last night, I didn't have the heart to do Shisha no Mezame this morning. So I made you something that required no effort when you finally did pad out of bed. Eat up!"
Stahn downed the food in record time and then got up from the table. Both he and Rutee watched as the girls were dressing Loni up to play house with them. The young boy laughed when they tossed one of Stahn's old shirts over him; Loni didn't quite fit into it yet, and the sleeves went down past his hands.
Giggling, he turned towards the kids and held his arms up so the sleeves dangled down. "Look at me! I'm a space monster!"
"Loni!" cried Carly, "You're 'aposed to be the daddy…not a space monster."
"I can be a good space monster who takes care of you all," he replied.
While the kids began discussing whether or not they should make a space monster one of the roles in the game, Rutee let out a little giggle. It always amazed her the degree of imagination young children had. And even though she saw it every day, they were always showing her something new.
Stahn told his wife, "I think the best decision we ever made was to agree to take care of these kids. Their cheerful demeanor always brightens my day, no matter how down I feel."
She nodded. "Yes. Though no matter how much sunshine these children bring into my life, it'll never compare to the things that you've done for me."
"Heh, thanks," Stahn replied, "I just do what I can for the ones I care about."
"But it means the world to me to know that there's someone out there who understands my pain and would do anything to make me feel happy again," she whispered.
At that moment, little Kyle toddled over to them again. He held out his blanket, knit for him by his Aunt Lilith when he was still in his mother's womb, saying, "Blankie dirty…needs wash!" Indeed, the little mantle was splotched with dirt and crusted food.
Sighing, Rutee took the blanket from her son. "I guess our time together will have to wait. A mother's duty calls. Watch the kids while I clean this up for him; I might as well do a full load while I'm going to be out there."
Stahn picked up his son as his wife went out to do the laundry. Despite the amount of work that came from being a mother to so many children, Rutee always held a smile when she was doing housework. He believed it was that sense of being needed, of caring for others that brightened her spirits.
'She needed someone to look after her when her mother died and her father became Kronos' pawn,' he mused, 'So I know that giving children with similar needs a home makes her feel a lot better. No matter what anyone else says, I know that Rutee has a heart of gold deep down. That's why I vowed to defend her from her pain; her kind heart deserves to be shown the love and kindness that was denied to her all those years ago.'
- - - -
Teefa's Last Words...
Just some nice fluff from me. With all the ToD2 and ToDR I've been playing lately, I just had to write something from that world. Since all my ToD2 energy has been going to a nice little surprise for you, I had to do something with Destiny.