Chapter One – Arrival
Disclaimer: I wish owned Final Fantasy and it's characters, but I don't and I would be very surprised to learn that any of you owned them either. I shall only say this once in this story, but it applies to all chapters.
Author's Note: Okay, so here is the beginning of the revised version of this story. I'm going to make this version much more detailed and accurate and interesting than the previous (and incredibly shorter) version of this story. I will probably use parts of the story that were in the previous version
A small girl ran through the field of flowers. Her blue, knee-length dress was the same colour as the sky above and her yellow shoes were the same shade as the daffodils in the field. There were a wide variety of flowers in the field, but daffodils were one of her favourite flowers. She had dark brown, cropped hair and dark brown eyes that were full of life. Her name was Ellone.
Although she didn't look it, running through this field excitedly, Ellone was an orphan. A few years previously, her parents had died in the village of Winhill where Ellone still lived. Sorceress Adel had sent Esthar soldiers to look for possible successors and the soldiers tried to take Ellone back to Esthar. Her parents had resisted. They had not wanted to lose their little girl. They shot her father point blank when he confronted them. Her mother had then gone into a wild fit of anguish and grief, and when she stood in the way to prevent them taking Ellone they shot her without mercy also.
Eventually, the Esthar soldiers left without taking Ellone with them. The village had rose up in fury and fought for Ellone's sake. There had been a lot of discussion about what to do with Ellone. It was decided that the family's next-door neighbour, a single woman named Raine, would be given custody. Raine and Ellone's parents had been very close and Raine was more than happy to accept.
Raine lived alone above the bar she owned, and since she had no family she raised Ellone like a daughter. As Ellone grew up over those few years, she thought of Raine as both a big sister and a mother. Ellone remembered nothing of the incident that had taken her parents from her, and she had only fleeting memories of her parents themselves. Raine had given her many photographs, but it wasn't the same. Raine didn't tell her how her parents died, just that they had to go away for a while. But she never hid the fact that she wasn't Ellone's real mother. Raine had vowed to tell Ellone when she was older, but Ellone was far too young at present to know. Too young to comprehend why they had been killed.
Ellone continued to run through the fields. She loved being out in the open, she loved the fields, she loved running, and she loved Winhill. Even though there weren't many other children her age to play with, and even though it was a little too quiet and sleepy for her bubbly attitude, she loved it. But she had never been anywhere else, so she couldn't compare it to a busy city.
Eventually, when her breath ran short, Ellone stopped running. She sat down amongst the flowers and caught her breath. She turned and looked back towards the village. She had run quite a long way. She lay back and looked up at the clouds in the sky. She loved clouds. Ellone often just lay back and looked at the clouds, picking out shapes in them. Right now she could see a puppy running, a steam engine puffing out smoke, and a mouse.
She was trying to decide what another cloud was when she heard a small 'squeak' or 'chirp'. Curious, she sat up and looked around and saw a small pale yellow coloured bird standing in front of her. Ellone knew what it was, a chicobo. She couldn't prevent a huge grin spreading across her face in excitement. She waved at it happily and the chicobo let out a small squeak in response.
Ellone slowly got to her feet and approached the chicobo, who watched her cautiously as she approached. As the girl approached the yellow chick it backed away nervously, before turning tail and fleeing all together. Ellone cried out in dismay and watched it disappear. She frowned and began walking back to Winhill.
She had run such a long way into the fields it took the little girl awhile to get back to the village, by which time she had cheered up considerably. The village was quiet, as it usually was. Ellone set off down the road back towards the village square, humming as she went. The mansion at the far end of the square could be seen from far away, and it gave Ellone the creeps. For some reason she just didn't like it. She went over to the middle building on the left and stood in front of the door. She had to stand on her tip toes to reach the handle and open the door.
"Raine, guess what I saw today! I saw-" Ellone stopped.
She could see Raine arguing loudly with some of the other villagers. Ellone didn't know what they were arguing about but they didn't seem to have noticed her presence. Raine was wearing her usual outfit of black trousers and a baggy white jumper. Ellone thought that with her long, chestnut brown hair and blue eyes Raine was really pretty; but would be even prettier if she didn't wear baggy clothes all the time.
Ellone closed the door quietly and slowly approached the group of quarrelling grown-ups. Behind them, she saw another man lying on a stretcher on the ground. Ellone looked at him curiously, she hadn't noticed him before. She went around the circle of villagers and closer to the man on the floor. He had cuts and bruises all over his body and looked to be in a great deal of pain. He was crying out in pain and his fists were tightly clenched. Ellone sat down beside him and for the first time, that man noticed she was there. He stopped crying out in pain and looked at the little girl carefully, as if wondering if she was really there or if she was a hallucination. Ellone looked at him curiously and pulled a lock of hair away from his face so she could see it better.
"We don't even know who he is. He could be dangerous, he could hurt Ellone," Raine argued
"He's wearing a Galbadian army uniform, not an Estharian one. Besides, he couldn't hurt you in the state that he's in."
"But why should I have to look after him? It's not like I don't have enough to do with caring for Ellone and running the bar."
"I know Raine, but you're the only one with enough room and-" Started the man arguing with her, but Raine had already begun to phase out.
She sighed, all this arguing over where this man was going to stay was taking a lot out of her. Raine looked over at the man and saw Ellone sitting there with him, calming him. Raine smiled as she watched the pair, but saw the extent of the man's injuries and forced the smile away.
"Fine, he can stay next door. I'll look after him," Raine reluctantly agreed, turning back to the man and cutting him off mid-sentence.
Ellone meanwhile had been examining further the man on the floor, who was in a great deal of pain, but who was looking fondly at the little girl who sat beside him.
"Elle, come away from him," Raine said, going over to her and sweeping her up into her arms, glancing briefly at the man on the stretcher. "Take him next and put him in the bed upstairs, I'll be over soon."
The men nodded and picked up the stretcher. Ellone shifted in Raine's arms to watch the man as he was carried off, and he looked at her for as long as he could before it caused him too much pain to turn and look the little girl and the woman.
"Raine, what's wrong with that man?" Elle asked once the men had left.
"He just had a little accident, that's all," Raine answered, carrying Elle upstairs.
"But why were you shouting?"
"The other villagers wanted me to look after him, but I didn't really want to."
"Why?" Ellone asked, confused.
"Because…" Raine paused, what answer could she give that a little girl would understand? "Because I wanted to focus running the pub and on raising a certain mischievous little girl," Raine finished, with a smile.
She put Ellone down on one of the beds and knelt down in front of her.
"I'm not mischievous!" Ellone protested
"Oh really? So where have you been all day?" Raine asked, knowing where the girl had probably been already.
"I was just playing in the fields. But Raine, guesswhat guesswhat guesswhat!" Ellone exclaimed, full of excitement.
"What?" Raine asked, laughing.
"Noooo, I said guess, silly!"
"Oh, sorry. Lemme think…" Raine said, scratching the back of her head, exaggerating her thinking. "You… saw a little flying spaceship and then a little bright blue alien jumped out of it, right in front of you?"
"Nooo!" Ellone giggled
"Oh. C'mon Elle, just tell me, I'm really bad at guessing, I'll never get it," Raine asked, pouting.
"Tee hee, okay. I saw a little Chicobo! It came up right close!" Ellone exclaimed.
"Really close," Raine corrected.
"It came up really close then. It was so cute!"
"Wow, Chicobo's hardly ever come that close to people. You're very lucky Elle."
"Yup," Elle replied, yawning.
"Look at you, all this excitement has worn you out. Come on, time for a nap," Raine ordered gently, so it hardly sounded like an order, and she went to the head of the bed and pulled back the patchwork duvet.
"But I don't wanna," Ellone protested, crossing her arms angrily.
"Tough, come on Elle," Raine replied, picking up Elle again and lying her down in bed. "I'll wake up before dinner and you can tell me more about this amazing Chicobo, okay?"
"Okay," Ellone said sleepily, snuggling into her pillow and already halfway to dreamland.
Raine pulled the covers over the little girl and tucked her in, then leaned forward and softly kissed Ellone's forehead. Standing back, she stood smiling and watching the little girl sleep for a little while before quietly heading back downstairs.
Raine went over to the bar where she had left a pile of the white flowers she had been sorting through when the villagers had brought the soldier in. She filled a vase with water and then put a selection of the white flowers into it. She left the sink to fill up while she took the vase upstairs and put it on the bedside table in between Ellone's bed and her own. When she came back downstairs, she found that the sink had mostly filled up and, turning off the tap, put the rest of the flowers in. She took a deep breath, breathing in the beautiful fragrance of the flowers. She loved that smell.
Raine filled a metal basin with water and fetched some clean clothes from the cupboard and then went next door to tend to the injured man. The other men were still there, talking quietly around the table.
"We're sorry we had to do this to you, Raine. We know you have enough to deal with," one of them said as she came in.
"It's okay," She said, shrugging.
She still wasn't happy about being dumped with an injured soldier to look after, but there wasn't much she could do about it now. She had already agreed to it and Ellone had practically blackmailed her emotionally into doing it without realising. Crafty little child. She couldn't refuse to look after him now. Besides, he was injured, she couldn't really turn away an injured man. How could she contemplate doing that in the first place?
"I'll go clean him up," Raine said, heading upstairs.
As she went, she looked away from the bullet holes on the side of the staircase. It brought back too many bad memories of that day when Ellone's parents had been killed. This whole house brought sad memories, which is why Raine avoided coming here if she could.
The injured man had been placed in the little bed in the upstairs bedroom. It was a bit small but it would do. Ellone's cot was still in the corner of the room, as were some of her old baby toys. Raine looked at them for a moment, before turning her concentration to the man. She put the basin on the floor beside her and dipped one of the clothes into the warm water. He looked as if he was asleep. If he was, it was certainly a troubled sleep, as he certainly seemed to be in a lot of pain.
Raine began to strip of the man's uniform so she could see the wound better. He had a lot of bruises on his torso and arms (and she assumed on his legs too, but she hadn't stripped off his trousers yet), and she could a gash on his left side of his torso. She took the damp cloth, squeezed the excess water out of it and began to gently clean the wound. The man winced at the pain that caused and he stirred a little. He wearily opened his eyes and looked at her.
"Who-?" He asked groggily.
"Ssh," Raine hushed, cutting him off, "Just rest for now."
The man seemed to nod slightly, but Raine couldn't be sure. He closed his eyes and turned away, trying to get back to sleep. Raine watched him for a moment, then returned to what she was doing.
She slowly and carefully cleaned the wound and dressed it properly, putting clean bandages on it. It looked like it would take a while to heal, to her dismay. Part of her had hoped he would recover soon and he would be off her hands. Once his wound was taken of, she washed the rest of him. He had a lot of blood on him. As she washed his face, she couldn't help but notice his soft yet strong features and realised she was smiling slightly. She snapped back to sense and got back to work. She carefully removed his machine gun from its holster on his side and placed it on the floor. She hated guns. Raine then stripped off the rest of his uniform, but was careful to leave his underwear on. She was right, he had more bruises on his legs. This man was a walking bruise.
Finished, Raine picked up his clothes, the basin, and the gun and went to leave the room. She looked back at the now sleeping man for a moment, and left.
So that's the end of the first chapter of my revised version of White Flowers of Winhill. If you read the first version, then you'll recognise parts of that chapter in this one, but this one is much more detailed and goes further. Overall, I'm liking this story more already. P So, please keep reading! Reviewers review!