Chapter Two
Their voices crashed into my slumber like a runaway train, abruptly awaking me from the light sleep I knew I needed.
"AHHH! Who are you?! RAINE!!!! THERE'S A STRANGE MAN IN OUR HOUSE!" and then the sounds of Ellone crying...
I jumped up and ran into the room, picking up Ellone.
"Look, Elle, this man isn't bad...he's just hurt."
"I'm not bad, I'm not!" Laguna spoke up for himself, feebly waving his hands in an attempt to prove to me he wasn't 'bad'.
"But he's," Ellone hiccuped, "he's a soldier!"
"But he's a good soldier, see? He's wearing blue. Blue soldiers are good soldiers. Galbadian Soldiers. He's a good
soldier," I tried to reassure her, and she seemed to believe me, jumping out of my arms and running across the hallway to
her room.
"I'm so sorry," Laguna mumbled, closing his eyes and shaking his head ever-so-slightly. "Never meant to make her scared."
"It's perfectly allright," I reply, mentally thanking the heavens that he didn't inquire as to why Ellone's afraid of
soldiers, and walk downstairs to start on breakfast.
I hear voices again, this time fusing with my conciousness in a more gentle manner, as to none of them are screaming.
Their words, meaningless at first, run around in my head like two children chasing each other before I finally decide to
listen to the conversation that the two are having.
"Then you're a good soldier?"
"Yep. Who are you?"
"I'm Ellone."
I can almost see Ellone's smile. She's probably crossing her arms and smiling proudly. One of the main things I've
always taught Ellone is that, no matter what kind of person you are, that you should always, always be happy to be
yourself.
A piece of advice I wished I would have, and still could have, lived by.
"But then who are you?"
"Me? My name's Laguna."
"La-gu-na," I hear her repeat slowly. "What a funny name!"
"You don't know the half of it," he mutters, and a faint smile crosses my face.
"Breakfast time!" I yell out, placing plates for Ellone and myself on the table, and fixing one up for Laguna, whom I
highly doubt can make it down the stairs.
"Arentcha coming down for breakfast, Mr. Laguna?"
Laguna gives a weak laugh.
"Not sure I can make it down those stairs, Ellone," he says weakly.
I walk up the stairs, holding a tray.
"You won't have to," I say in response to his comment, and he perks up instantly at the sight of food. "Now go eat
breakfast, Elle."
"But I wanna eat up here with Mr. Laguna!"
I look to him to see if he minds, and he smiles and shakes his head.
"Fine, fine," I sigh. Best not to argue with Ellone, espically if you don't have the patience to put up with quite a long
fight. She's a very, very persistant little girl.
"Yay! Thanks, Raine!" she runs downstairs to get her plate.
"I'm sorry if she's annoying you," I say to him, handing him the tray.
He reaches for his fork, holding it awkwardly in his injured hands.
"No, she's not annoyin' me at all! She's such a sweet little girl. I don't mind her a bit," he says, switching hands with
the fork and dropping it. He picks it up, annoyed, and tries to figure out the easiest way to hold it.
I, however, am more interested in his words then his struggle to hold a fork. Most Galbadian Soldiers hate
everything, espically little children. And even if they did have a soft spot for anything, they were way 'too cool' to
show it.
And yet without any embarassment of all, he calls my Ellone sweet and smiles at the same time.
He's still struggling with the fork, swearing slightly under his breath. I can't help but smile. Ellone walks back
in, sits down, picks up her fork and starts eating. After a moment she looks up at Laguna.
"Yoo don't know how to use a fork?" she giggles.
"I do too!" he sticks his tongue out at her, and she giggles harder.
"Yoo do not!"
"Proper english, Ellone."
"I do so!" Laguna looks down at his bandaged hands, scowls at them, and clasps both hands around the fork. "See?! See?!"
"But...you're only supposed to use one hand for a fork, Mr. Laguna!"
He laughs.
"Maybe you're right, Ellone. Maybe I don't know how to use a fork."
I can't help but smile at their goofy argument, realizing I've probably met one of those 'one-of-a-kind' Galbadian
Soldiers...he completely surprises me by taking an interest in Ellone, and then admits that he "doesn't know how to use a
fork"...? Pecuiliar, that's for sure.
"You hold it like this!" Ellone reaches up and shows him the fork in her hand.
"But I can't do that," Laguna protests, showing him his bandaged hand.
"What did you do to your hand?!" Ellone gasps.
A weak, pain-filled look crosses Laguna's face, but he quickly masks it. I'm surprised how quickly he hides what
he's feeling. Maybe, I think to myself, it's for the sake of Ellone. Maybe whatever pain he's feeling is something he
doesn't want Ellone to know about. But something about the pain he was hiding bothers me none-the-less...
"I was runnin' from someone, and I tripped and fell on it!"
"Did the person get you?!" Ellone's eyes are wide as she listens intently to his story.
And then I notice something--it's like she's just activated something. A totally different look crosses his face,
and instead of leaning back like he had been, he struggles to sit up. Yet there's this bright look in his eyes, and
suddenly he becomes the storyteller.
"You see, I'd made 'em mad quite a few times. He was really, really mad at me. And he told me that one day, he and his
buddies would get me and my buddies. But we weren't scared! Nope, not until he caught us. See, we didn't think he knew
where we were at, yet, and then..." Laguna paused, and Ellone gasped, mesmirized by the moment.
"And then what?!" she asks breathlessly, caught up in his story. And I think to myself, I bet he's a really good
storyteller. It's hard to tell, though, because the story he's telling is obviously intended for Ellone or any other young
child her age...
"Then he caught us! Me and my friends tripped and I got hurt!"
"You must have fallen down on something hard to get that bad hurt!"
His eyes seem to glaze over, like he's lost focus on the world he's in and is living in a memory instead of in today.
"Yeah," he finally says, snapping out of whatever state he was in. "It kinda hurt. And then--I fell asleep. I was just
so tired from runnin' from him that I just fell asleep. When I woke up, Miss Raine," he glances to me quickly to see if
that's what I'd like to be called.
"Just Raine."
"Well, Raine was fixing me! She put band-aids all over my hands and gave me medicine, and then it was so late at night
that I fell asleep again. And when I woke up the next time, I thought I was in a castle."
"Huh? Why'd yoo think you were in a castle, Mr. Laguna?" A confused look crosses through Ellone's eyes, and I know the same
look must slightly show on my face as well, being as to though there isn't a single building that halfway resembles a
castle in the town of Winhill.
"Well," he smiled, crossing his arms. "I saw this pretty little brown-haired girl and thought, 'Oh wow! She must be the
princess!'"
Ellone giggles, knowing he's talking about her.
"And then another girl walks in, and I think 'Oh wow! She must be the queen!'"
I roll my eyes and shake my head.
"Flattery will get you no where with me, Laguna."
He snaps his fingers.
"So much for a free breakfast," he sighs. "I really owe you, Raine."
"Don't worry about it," I say.
"Well, whatever you say," and I can tell by the tone he says that in that I still haven't convinced him that he doesn't
owe me. I can tell by the tone in his voice that he's determined to find a way to repay me.
And I'll deal with that when the time comes.
"Done!" Ellone announces.
"Go put your plate in the sink," I tell her, thinking about my food that, naturally, is getting cold while I sit up here
and visit. She jumps up and does so, and Laguna smiles as she leaves.
"She's adorable," he shakes his head, and after a great struggle, manages to find a comfortable position to hold his fork
in and finally starts eating. "This is so good!" he mumbles through a mouthful of pancakes.
"Thank you," I reply, standing up to go downstairs. "...you're eating like you've never seen food or something," I can't
help but point out.
He blushes scarlet, and swallows the food in his mouth.
"I haven't eaten in a while and this is really good."
"You act like you haven't eaten in forever."
"I haven't!" he whines. "I haven't eaten since, since--" he breaks off instantly, going pale. Only I think that it's not
his lack of food that's bothering him now, but it's, again, something else...
"What happened to you?" I ask quietly, hoping, in his sudden weak state, I'll be able to get a straight answer out of him.
"Thanks for breakfast," he says, handing me the almost-empty plate and laying back down, a sudden wave of tiredness seeming
to overwhelm him.
"You didn't answer my question," I said softly.
"Escaped," he sighs.
~//~
A/N: So, how was it? Okay-ish, maybe? Is the formatting okay? I still don't have MS Word =| so I dunno. What do you think? Let me know if it's okay, please, cuz I don't think it sounds very good =S...yeah...thanks again people!
~Xifa~
Their voices crashed into my slumber like a runaway train, abruptly awaking me from the light sleep I knew I needed.
"AHHH! Who are you?! RAINE!!!! THERE'S A STRANGE MAN IN OUR HOUSE!" and then the sounds of Ellone crying...
I jumped up and ran into the room, picking up Ellone.
"Look, Elle, this man isn't bad...he's just hurt."
"I'm not bad, I'm not!" Laguna spoke up for himself, feebly waving his hands in an attempt to prove to me he wasn't 'bad'.
"But he's," Ellone hiccuped, "he's a soldier!"
"But he's a good soldier, see? He's wearing blue. Blue soldiers are good soldiers. Galbadian Soldiers. He's a good
soldier," I tried to reassure her, and she seemed to believe me, jumping out of my arms and running across the hallway to
her room.
"I'm so sorry," Laguna mumbled, closing his eyes and shaking his head ever-so-slightly. "Never meant to make her scared."
"It's perfectly allright," I reply, mentally thanking the heavens that he didn't inquire as to why Ellone's afraid of
soldiers, and walk downstairs to start on breakfast.
I hear voices again, this time fusing with my conciousness in a more gentle manner, as to none of them are screaming.
Their words, meaningless at first, run around in my head like two children chasing each other before I finally decide to
listen to the conversation that the two are having.
"Then you're a good soldier?"
"Yep. Who are you?"
"I'm Ellone."
I can almost see Ellone's smile. She's probably crossing her arms and smiling proudly. One of the main things I've
always taught Ellone is that, no matter what kind of person you are, that you should always, always be happy to be
yourself.
A piece of advice I wished I would have, and still could have, lived by.
"But then who are you?"
"Me? My name's Laguna."
"La-gu-na," I hear her repeat slowly. "What a funny name!"
"You don't know the half of it," he mutters, and a faint smile crosses my face.
"Breakfast time!" I yell out, placing plates for Ellone and myself on the table, and fixing one up for Laguna, whom I
highly doubt can make it down the stairs.
"Arentcha coming down for breakfast, Mr. Laguna?"
Laguna gives a weak laugh.
"Not sure I can make it down those stairs, Ellone," he says weakly.
I walk up the stairs, holding a tray.
"You won't have to," I say in response to his comment, and he perks up instantly at the sight of food. "Now go eat
breakfast, Elle."
"But I wanna eat up here with Mr. Laguna!"
I look to him to see if he minds, and he smiles and shakes his head.
"Fine, fine," I sigh. Best not to argue with Ellone, espically if you don't have the patience to put up with quite a long
fight. She's a very, very persistant little girl.
"Yay! Thanks, Raine!" she runs downstairs to get her plate.
"I'm sorry if she's annoying you," I say to him, handing him the tray.
He reaches for his fork, holding it awkwardly in his injured hands.
"No, she's not annoyin' me at all! She's such a sweet little girl. I don't mind her a bit," he says, switching hands with
the fork and dropping it. He picks it up, annoyed, and tries to figure out the easiest way to hold it.
I, however, am more interested in his words then his struggle to hold a fork. Most Galbadian Soldiers hate
everything, espically little children. And even if they did have a soft spot for anything, they were way 'too cool' to
show it.
And yet without any embarassment of all, he calls my Ellone sweet and smiles at the same time.
He's still struggling with the fork, swearing slightly under his breath. I can't help but smile. Ellone walks back
in, sits down, picks up her fork and starts eating. After a moment she looks up at Laguna.
"Yoo don't know how to use a fork?" she giggles.
"I do too!" he sticks his tongue out at her, and she giggles harder.
"Yoo do not!"
"Proper english, Ellone."
"I do so!" Laguna looks down at his bandaged hands, scowls at them, and clasps both hands around the fork. "See?! See?!"
"But...you're only supposed to use one hand for a fork, Mr. Laguna!"
He laughs.
"Maybe you're right, Ellone. Maybe I don't know how to use a fork."
I can't help but smile at their goofy argument, realizing I've probably met one of those 'one-of-a-kind' Galbadian
Soldiers...he completely surprises me by taking an interest in Ellone, and then admits that he "doesn't know how to use a
fork"...? Pecuiliar, that's for sure.
"You hold it like this!" Ellone reaches up and shows him the fork in her hand.
"But I can't do that," Laguna protests, showing him his bandaged hand.
"What did you do to your hand?!" Ellone gasps.
A weak, pain-filled look crosses Laguna's face, but he quickly masks it. I'm surprised how quickly he hides what
he's feeling. Maybe, I think to myself, it's for the sake of Ellone. Maybe whatever pain he's feeling is something he
doesn't want Ellone to know about. But something about the pain he was hiding bothers me none-the-less...
"I was runnin' from someone, and I tripped and fell on it!"
"Did the person get you?!" Ellone's eyes are wide as she listens intently to his story.
And then I notice something--it's like she's just activated something. A totally different look crosses his face,
and instead of leaning back like he had been, he struggles to sit up. Yet there's this bright look in his eyes, and
suddenly he becomes the storyteller.
"You see, I'd made 'em mad quite a few times. He was really, really mad at me. And he told me that one day, he and his
buddies would get me and my buddies. But we weren't scared! Nope, not until he caught us. See, we didn't think he knew
where we were at, yet, and then..." Laguna paused, and Ellone gasped, mesmirized by the moment.
"And then what?!" she asks breathlessly, caught up in his story. And I think to myself, I bet he's a really good
storyteller. It's hard to tell, though, because the story he's telling is obviously intended for Ellone or any other young
child her age...
"Then he caught us! Me and my friends tripped and I got hurt!"
"You must have fallen down on something hard to get that bad hurt!"
His eyes seem to glaze over, like he's lost focus on the world he's in and is living in a memory instead of in today.
"Yeah," he finally says, snapping out of whatever state he was in. "It kinda hurt. And then--I fell asleep. I was just
so tired from runnin' from him that I just fell asleep. When I woke up, Miss Raine," he glances to me quickly to see if
that's what I'd like to be called.
"Just Raine."
"Well, Raine was fixing me! She put band-aids all over my hands and gave me medicine, and then it was so late at night
that I fell asleep again. And when I woke up the next time, I thought I was in a castle."
"Huh? Why'd yoo think you were in a castle, Mr. Laguna?" A confused look crosses through Ellone's eyes, and I know the same
look must slightly show on my face as well, being as to though there isn't a single building that halfway resembles a
castle in the town of Winhill.
"Well," he smiled, crossing his arms. "I saw this pretty little brown-haired girl and thought, 'Oh wow! She must be the
princess!'"
Ellone giggles, knowing he's talking about her.
"And then another girl walks in, and I think 'Oh wow! She must be the queen!'"
I roll my eyes and shake my head.
"Flattery will get you no where with me, Laguna."
He snaps his fingers.
"So much for a free breakfast," he sighs. "I really owe you, Raine."
"Don't worry about it," I say.
"Well, whatever you say," and I can tell by the tone he says that in that I still haven't convinced him that he doesn't
owe me. I can tell by the tone in his voice that he's determined to find a way to repay me.
And I'll deal with that when the time comes.
"Done!" Ellone announces.
"Go put your plate in the sink," I tell her, thinking about my food that, naturally, is getting cold while I sit up here
and visit. She jumps up and does so, and Laguna smiles as she leaves.
"She's adorable," he shakes his head, and after a great struggle, manages to find a comfortable position to hold his fork
in and finally starts eating. "This is so good!" he mumbles through a mouthful of pancakes.
"Thank you," I reply, standing up to go downstairs. "...you're eating like you've never seen food or something," I can't
help but point out.
He blushes scarlet, and swallows the food in his mouth.
"I haven't eaten in a while and this is really good."
"You act like you haven't eaten in forever."
"I haven't!" he whines. "I haven't eaten since, since--" he breaks off instantly, going pale. Only I think that it's not
his lack of food that's bothering him now, but it's, again, something else...
"What happened to you?" I ask quietly, hoping, in his sudden weak state, I'll be able to get a straight answer out of him.
"Thanks for breakfast," he says, handing me the almost-empty plate and laying back down, a sudden wave of tiredness seeming
to overwhelm him.
"You didn't answer my question," I said softly.
"Escaped," he sighs.
~//~
A/N: So, how was it? Okay-ish, maybe? Is the formatting okay? I still don't have MS Word =| so I dunno. What do you think? Let me know if it's okay, please, cuz I don't think it sounds very good =S...yeah...thanks again people!
~Xifa~
