The Diary Entries
Summary: Feeling like there wasn't much time left in her life, and worrying that she would go before Laguna made it back home, Raine Loire decided to start a little journal of her own.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII.
Note: This is not really a sequel to my other story The Journal Entries, but kind of Raine's version of her acquiring Ellone and meeting Laguna. Just wanted to let those reading that you do not have to read that story first! (But if you want to, go for it!) Also there are things I need to fix in The Journal Entries, timeline wise, that I have to go back and fix. So if there are any inconsistencies, I apologize in advance and am working on them.
Prologue: The Tall Grass
Dear Readers,
Hello. My name is Raine Loire. Is this how you start an entry? Is this really how he starts his? This is like a diary. No it sounds like a letter. Maybe I'll start over.
Dear…who is my audience? Who's going to read this after I'm gone? I doubt anyone is going to come back and look for this. I mean, it's just my little thoughts on the most significant events of my family's life. Maybe this could be buried with me. Well, then what's the point in writing? Just how would he do this?
Dear.
Dear. Dear. Dear. Oh, dearie me!
Ellone.
No doubt you'll come back from Esthar with that hopeless soldier in tow and find this sad excuse of a journal in my place. Greeting you at the door. Oh, but I shouldn't start off that negative, should I? That's it then, my dear Elle. This is my letter to you. I can only hope I can give it to you personally.
I don't know how much time I have left. Certainly, and hopefully, I will get to see your darling face before I go. I'm getting sick, and with this…with my condition…how do I explain this? We never did have that talk about where babies come from, and I'm sure if I live to see the day you return home you'll be surprised to see me this huge! My husband too, I'm sure. I can just see it now, Laguna's big goofy smile, and me trying to hide away the fact that I'm too pale and there are dark circles under my eyes.
Anyway. This is for you, Ellone. This is our story. Laguna's too, of course.
At nine-years-old, Raine Leonhart liked to think she was the perfect person. She was never late to school, always did her homework, never picked fights with the other children in Winhill, and always ate her vegetables.
But even sometimes perfect people do some very imperfect things. This time was one of them.
At nine, she, like most children her age, thought she was invincible. Impervious to harm in such a peaceful village in the middle of nowhere. So when she was dared to run through the tall grass between the flower shop and the grocery store, to collect a chocobo feather, she didn't think twice. She stuffed her school pencils she was carrying into her pants pocket, shoved off her bookbag, tucked her long hair into the neck of her sweater, and climbed over the fence.
The grass quickly enveloped her. All around were tall walls of dead green. Being in the grass was like a whole different kind of adventure, one that she thought she would enjoy.
Until she came face to face with the largest bug she had ever seen in her life. Who knew such monstrous caterpillars lived right next door! Raine was lucky enough to run away before it realized that she was a small human, and the perfect lunch. In her running, though, she found that she was lost and not anywhere near the wooded fence.
Mom and dad are really going to freak out! she thought to herself, combing through the tall grass. I don't know where I am at all!
She reminded herself that she was smart. She had to believe that she would be able to get out of this alive. Maybe if she just found the parted grass she came from she could just follow it back to the road. When she did find the parted grass she cried a very quiet cry of happiness, as if not to attract any unwanted attention, and began to follow it.
It was an hour later that she started to get worried. She had been following the grass the whole time and yet there was no sign of an end. Just as she started to get really frazzled, she tripped on a root that stuck out of the ground. She gathered herself up, rubbed her sore knees, and continued on. It was many minutes later when she realized something was very wrong.
She stepped up to the flattened grass and picked up a broken pencil. She patted her pockets and groaned. She had been walking in a circle, or something like it at least. She looked around but could only see the parted grass in front of her. She took another lap and decided to try and retrace her steps, but she realized that wasn't going to work. There wasn't a very clear path anywhere, and she started to dislike the unknown that there were creatures out there waiting for her. When she felt like she couldn't move any longer, was when the panic started to eat away at her.
She collapsed onto the grass and pulled her knees up to her chest. It started as short deep breaths, but as the afternoon started turning into night, panic shown itself through tears and soft wails. She didn't care anymore that she could be eaten by the big bugs from all her bawling. She could only think that she was going to die out here in the tall grass, or she would be found by her parents and they would kill her. It was deadly both ways.
"Raine! Raine?"
Raine heard her name so very faintly but couldn't form words to call back. Instead she hiccupped and cried as loud as she could. Eventually she could hear stomping getting closer, and she found herself hiding her head in her arms in case it was the monster come back for her. She was surprised when instead she was being lifted into the air by some very strong arms. "Raine, oh dear Hyne!"
"Da-da…d?" Raine managed to say between breaths and heaves. Even in the dark she could see the panic and relief in the eyes of her father. She frowned as fresh new tears clouded her vision and found she could no longer breathe through her stuffy nose. She wrapped her arms as tightly as she could around his neck and didn't let go.
. . .
"You could have been killed!"
Raine couldn't look up as her mother stood over her, waving her hands in the air. "I'm sorry," she muttered to the floor.
"I raised you to speak up and look at your elders and parents."
Raine shyly allowed herself a look into her mother's face. Her long, brown hair was kept in a nice thick braid that hung down from her shoulders. The one thing that was a little different between the two was that her mother's bangs were always pinned back. Raine believed it was because her mother's eyes needed a direct route into other people's souls to make them feel guilty for anything bad they might have done. How else was she to raise an adventurous daughter? People did say they looked alike, and Raine often wondered if that meant she was to also inherit Felicia Leonhart's flaming fury. Her mother raised one eyebrow and Raine mumbled out her apology without breaking eye contact.
"You're so very lucky those boys came running down the road screaming! You were out there for hours! I was worried sick! If your father hadn't found you…you could have…" Her mother shut her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose, and then threw her long braid over her shoulder. Raine knew the fury was trying to be suppressed in these little gestures. She waved a hand at her daughter. "Upstairs with you. Someone will be along to give you dinner."
As a guilty, little Raine dragged her feet up the steps she caught the beginning of a whimper. She was already in enough trouble as it was, so she risked herself to stand on the steps and peek into the kitchen through the banister.
Her father had made his way in from outside just in time to catch her mother at the table, head in her hands and shoulder's shaking. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek, maybe whispering something soothing into her ear. Felicia finally let her hands fall, and she cried out, sadly, "She's my only baby left, Owen! I…I can't b-bare the thought of losing her, too."
It was the last thing Raine could stomach to overhear, and she scurried up the rest of the way upstairs. As she closed her bedroom door and flopped onto her bed, empty belly first, she sighed. She had to remember that sometimes even perfect people made mistakes.