FicWad

The door to the only bar in Winhill, owned and run by one Raine Leonheart-the woman who had put up with me from the time I was drug into Winhill almost two years earlier-opened to Raine's reprimanding voice toward the little girl whose parents had lived in the house I now slept in. She was staring down at little Ellone, saying worriedly, "You understand, Ellone?" The little girl nodded quickly, and Raine seemed to deflate. "Now go to your room and play."

Little Ellone scuffed her shoe and suddenly noticed me. She beamed up at me and stage-whispered, "I got in twouble."

I laughed quietly-forgetting for a moment that Ellone was in trouble because she'd gone to get me from the house-and stage whispered right back, "That's 'cause you broke your promise. Too baaaad . . ."

Raine snapped at me tiredly, moving back behind the bar, "Laguna! Use proper English when speaking to Ellone!"

Summoning the biggest puppy-dog eyes I could muster, I crouched before Ellone and complained softly, "I got'n trouble."

She grinned and simpered back at me, "Too baaaad!" We laughed softly at each other, and I straightened up as I felt movement behind me. I remembered, in an instant, that Ellone had come to get me because there was a 'funny-looking guy'. As I turned, I felt the smile breaking over my lips at the sight of Kiros in this cool red leather . . . thing. Tight red leather thing, which had me staring like an idiot for about half a second, until he was smiling and talking.

"It's been a while, Laguna.""

I found my voice in time to squeak a surprised and elated, "Kiros!" It took a lot of control not to grab him and violently hug him, but I managed to channeled that excited energy by turning to Ellone and explaining quickly (to her early assertion that he was 'funny-looking'), "He's Uncle Laguna's friend. He dresses funny, but he's not a bad guy."

Ellone giggled, scoffing a toe against the floor and saying to Kiros, "Yoo dress funny, but yoo're a good guy, right!?" He smiled a little. Lady-killer, right there, even if that wasn't what he wanted. It was . . . cute. Comforting.

He said to me, as he sat at the bar, "You seem well."

I just kinda stumbled over my brain for a minute, before managing an inane, "Yeah . . . you, too." My brain and tongue caught to nothing in particular, and I found myself asking, almost boastfully, "Hey, how long has it been? You know, our grand escape from Centra?"

He looked contemplative, began, "That was . . ." But he trailed off, and corrected me, "One would usually call that being chased out . . ."

Raine laughed, shaking her head and cleaning a beer stein as she muttered, "I thought so . . ."

Kiros continued, quieter than before, "Well, I would say about a year or so." It was more than that, but maybe that was true for him.

I reported sullenly, "I was bed-ridden for over /six months/. It seemed like every bone in my body was in pieces."

And Raine told him, "I nursed him back to health," which was this huge understatement. She nursed me back to /life/, my dark haired angel.

Kiros smiled at her, and I thought I caught a flicker of that old jealousy he'd had for Julia. "Thank you," he said to Raine, "for taking good care of Laguna." Then he turned back to me, and said easily, "I was able to recover in about a month or so. Ever since then . . ." He laughed, smiled a little; "I've been searching for you."

I couldn't help the incredulous laugh of "Why?" from leaving my lips.

He smiled a little, shrugging one graceful shoulder. "After leaving the army . . . Well, just killing time I guess." He nudged my ankle with his boot and smiled as he said, "Life's pretty boring without you as entertainment, my man."

I gaped at him, and pouted slightly. "That's a harsh thing to say. I've been living a productive life here."

Raine, no help at all, said conspiritually to Kiros, "I think I understand what you mean, though."

Kiros laughed, an easy, silky noise that made my hands shake slightly, and asked of me, "So, what do you want to know?"

I hummed over it for a second, before decisively asking, "How's Ward doing?"

Kiros told me, in a gentle voice, "Ward quit the army, too." Then he got a bit less nostalgic and continued, "Luckily, he found a job, and he's working pretty hard."

I asked, "What's he doing?"

He said, "He's a janitor down at the D-District Prison."

I laughed a little, blinking at the image that cast in my head. "Wow . . . . Can't picture him moppin' floors, but I'm glad he's doing well."

Kiros quietly continued, as though his words were of little importance, "Oh, and he never got his voice back." He shrugged a little. "You could basically tell what he wants from his facial expressions."

I wanted to tell Kiros, I'm just glad you're doing well, but the words wouldn't come to my lips. So, instead I asked, "How's Julia doing?"

Kiros had this utterly unreadable expression for a second before he said with a shrug, "I don't know-."

Raine suddenly broke in, excitedly, "You mean Julia, the singer?"

Kiros nodded, looking surprised for a second. "That's right." Then he laughed and informed Raine candidly, "Laguna really admired her and always frequented the night club." It was an understatement, and one that made me frown and blush a little.

"Shut up! So what if I did!"

Raine looked confused for a second, before asking, "Julia used to sing at a night club?"

Kiros shook his head. "No, she didn't sing. She just played the piano."

"Then the first song she released was 'Eyes on Me'?"

I froze, remembering years past and words Julia Heartilly had spoken to me. Unsurely, I stuttered, "H-How does the song go?"

Raine looked at me like I had crawled out from under a rock. "You don't /know/?"

I huffed and complained, "Well, you never let me hear it!"

Raine just shrugged and said, "I didn't think you listened to music." I rolled my eyes dramatically, and she quietly explained, setting a stein aside and grabbing a new one, "The song's about being in love . . . . I really like it."

Kiros broke in, voice very slightly smug, "Heard she recently got married."

Raine laughed brightly, smiling at his gossip. "Oh yeah!" She shook her head, cleaning her hands of soap suds. "To some army general, right? General Caraway or something?"

Kiros shrugged, eyes far too knowing when he said, "I'm not too sure."

Raine nodded, as though that was the exactly answer she needed. "I read in a magazine that her true love went off to war and never came back." She sighed-one of those dreamy sort of 'I want a good man to sweep me off my feet' sort of sigh-and continued, "General Caraway comforted her while she was feeling down. That's how they got to know each other."

Kiros, sadistic little bastard that he is, asked in a gently, almost mocking voice, ". . . So she didn't wait for the soldier to come back . . . ?" His eyes cut to me, and I frowned a little.

I brushed it off, waving a hand dismissively, covering my unease with a load, "So what! Who cares!?" I scoffed, trying to ignore the annoyed expression Raine was giving me; I consoled with, "As long as she's /happy/, right? That's all that matters!" I turned toward my feet, where Ellone stood watching us 'grown-ups' talk. "Ain't that right, Elle?"

Ellone beamed up at me, and chimed in her squeaky little voice, "Right!" I nodded decisively. She continued, in that equally chipper voice, "Uncle Laguna and Raine are-."

"Agh!" I flinched, flushing and shaking my head quickly, demanding, "OK, enough talk about this!" Ellone looked sullen with my choice to change subjects. She looked so cute and annoyed; I smiled, and tried not to think of the news of Julia's marriage to /Caraway/. With I sigh, I consoled myself to fond memories. I shook my head and said, "Let's talk later. Time to do some work."

Kiros looked unsure, but gamely nodded and said, "Okay."

I grinned and casually asked, "So, what's your plan? You're gonna stick around here for a bit, right?"

Kiros looked to Raine, as though she were grand marshal on the entire thing. "Would that be ok?"

Raine casually said, "You work for what you eat. If that's fine with you, you're more than welcome." He smiled, nodding a little I grinned, grabbed Kiros' arm, and said we'd be back before Raine knew it; she shook her head and told us she'd have lunch ready for us.

In the town square, Kiros stopped me and quietly asked, "Laguna . . . I have a simple question." I nodded, unsure whether I wanted to hear his question. "What exactly do you do here?"

I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest, and explained, "It's like this: all the working men in this town were sent off to war. The only ones still left in town are old people, children, chocobos, dogs, and cats. And I'm sure you've noticed, but monsters have made their way into town." He nodded a little. "This here town took real good care of me," I told him in a quiet voice. "So basically, I want to return the kindness."

So I smiled and puffed up, expelling the somberness as best I could. "You're lookin' at the Monster Hunter of Winhill!" He laughed softly, shook his head. I pointed at him importantly, continuing, "So as of today, you'll be my assistant. We're to patrol the town up to the town entrance! If we see anyone in need along the way, we help them. That's our basic duty!"

Later, as we were heading back into town from the outskirts, Kiros stopped me again, and softly began,
"Hey, Laguna . . ." I looked back at him, cocking a brow. He worried his lip for a second, before he asked, "Are you doing this patrol thing everyday?"

I felt a distinct tic, one I hadn't felt since being a cadet and having our little flings walked in on repeatedly by Ward or my roommate, resurface as I stared him down and gritted, "'Thing'!? What're you callin' 'thing'!?"

Kiros sighed, rolling his eyes and saying, "Weren't you aiming to become a world-traveling journalist?" I just sort of shrugged and he kept going with, "You've heard of 'Timber Maniacs', right? I had a talk with the chief editor." He smiled for me a little. "He said he's interested in any article related to world travel."

I brightened a little, grinning back at him. "That's great!"

Kiros nodded and said, "We should go talk to him sometime."

/We/. My throat caught and my chest grew tight as my grin got a bit dumber and I stuttered, "Y-Yeah..."

A while after that, fingering a pocket absently, I asked, "Um, it'd be ok if we stayed here a bit longer, right?"

Kiros shrugged, obviously agreeing. I deflated thankfully. He said gently, "You need time to gather more material? This seems like a really nice town. You're gonna write about this place first, aren't you?"

I shook my head quickly. "No way. Can't make this place famous. Too much publicity and you get all those tourists and stuff."

Kiros got this knowing smile, shaking his head at me. "You're afraid someone might come and take Raine away? Laguna, you've changed, man."

I just stuttered some excuse and hurried ahead, not wanting to listen to Kiros' accusations. Even if that might've been true. /Might've been/.

After all was said and done, we returned to the small house that had once been the home of Ellone's parents and now was the closest thing I had left to a home. We climbed the stairs to the bedroom, and I stretched as I settled onto the thin bed; he stared at me for a moment, and I smiled.

"Well now, shall we rest up a bit?" I felt my blood run cold for a second, and stood up, shaking my head.

Kiros, concerned, stepped over and touched my arm gently. "Hm? What's the matter?"

"I get scared sometimes," I said quietly, staring at the bed stupidly and feeling Kiros' hand hot through my shirt. "Scared of waking up somewhere else . . . scared of not seeing Ellone . . ."

Kiros added knowingly, "Scared of not seeing Raine?"

I shook my head, but not to deny it, just to try and clear my head up a little. I demanded of him, as if he'd know, "What happened to me? I feel . . . . What is this I'm feeling?" I sat down on the edge of the bed, stared up at the ceiling, and humorlessly demanded of whoever might be listening, "Oh, please let me be in this room when I wake up! Please let me be in this puny bed when I wake up!"

"Laguna," Kiros quietly murmured, standing over me, "you've changed."