Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Storm Front ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter 14

"Kiros is coming back today."

"Hmmm?" I put down the glasses I'd been shoving back under the bar and pulled myself up on the brass rail. Laguna was sitting at one of the tables, uncharacteristically picking at his lunch instead of wolfing it down as usual. "Did you say that Kiros is coming back? He did say that he'd be gone a week, so that would make it today, right?"

"Right." Laguna stared at his sandwich and pushed it around with one finger.

"What's the matter with you? Something must be really wrong if you won't eat," I said.

"Yeah, well... I guess I'm kinda worried about what I'm gonna tell him when he gets back. You know, about us."

"I see." I sidled out from behind the bar and walked up behind Laguna's chair, bending to slip an arm around his chest and press my cheek against his. I felt him smile, and he covered my arm with his, lightly tracing the back of my hand. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. I think your friend figured it out before either of us did."

"You think so?" Laguna was skeptical.

"Remember how he tried to get you to stop talking about Julia, doofus?" I teased, gently. "Why else would he care?"

"I guess," Laguna mused. "And he did want me to stay and listen to what you were saying..."

"What I was saying when?"

"Ummm...."

"Cough it up," I warned, poking him repeatedly in the shoulder.

"Well, you know when you were talking to Ellone the day Kiros came?" Laguna said, reluctantly.

"Ye-es..." I wasn't sure I liked where this was going.

"And you said all that stuff about me snoring and not knowing about my aspirations and things?"

Outraged, I smacked Laguna on the shoulder. "You little sneak, you were eavesdropping! You weren't supposed to hear any of that!"

Laguna held up his hands in defense. "Hey! I wanted to leave, didn't want to hear your girl talk and all that, but Kiros said we should listen! Hey - ow!" he yelped, as I gave him a hard pinch.

"You didn't have to listen to him," I told him, but I flushed to remember how I had overheard his conversation with Kiros not too long afterwards. That had been an accident, anyway. It didn't count.

"Yeah, well, then you told Elle that you felt the same as her and then I knew that you didn't hate me after all and maybe we felt the same way, so it's okay." Laguna turned around and grinned at me. "And then I kissed you before I went off to fight the dragon and you didn't slap me across the face, so it was a start. But I would never have done it if I hadn't heard you talking to Elle!"

"Oh fine, then," I huffed, putting my hands on my hips. "Kiros did you a favor, I guess. But I'm still mad at you!"

"No, you're not," Laguna returned, standing up and slipping his arms through my elbows to give me a hug. "I know your mad Raine face, and that isn't it. You just want me to think you're mad because it's fun for you." I growled at him, but my voice was muffled against his jacket.

"No, I really am mad!" I grumbled, but there was no conviction in it.

"Heh, if you really want to be all prickles and elbows today, you can go ahead and grump all you want," Laguna teased. "But I like you better when you're not." He rested his head on my hair, and against my will, I relaxed against him.

"One of these days, Laguna..." I said, snuggling into his shoulder.

"Yeah, tell me a story," he replied, but he didn't let go.

How long we stood there I didn't know, but the sound of a door opening shocked us from our private reverie. Laguna's teeth clacked together hard as I inadvertently brought my head up in surprise to knock against his jaw, and he yowled in pain. We separated ourselves from one another in a flurry of blushes, and Laguna turned to face the intruder.

"K-K-Kiros!" Laguna stuttered, his hand dropping from its place around my waist. His face was a vivid shade of red, and I was sure that I was a similar color. "You're back!"

"Yup." Kiros leaned against the open door, amused. "I see things have changed."

"Ah, well... ha ha ha!" Laguna blushed an even deeper scarlet, and his leg developed a case of the jitters that would have been funny under other circumstances. "Uhhh... well, it was like this... there was the dragon, and..."

Kiros waved his hands. "Cut it out, Laguna, you don't have to justify yourself. I mean, anyone with half a brain around here could figure things out."

"R-really?"

"Really. Though it took you damn long enough." A look of quiet regret flashed over Kiros's face almost too quickly to be seen. "So what else did I miss in my week away?"

"Well, uh..." Laguna was still trying to get his leg to unbend. "The ruby dragon was no walk in the park, I'll tell you that much."

"You fought that thing? I'm impressed." Kiros shut the door behind him and the two friends walked up to the bar. Laguna began to recount the story of the dragon, and I decided to make myself scarce. A beer for each, and then I was able to escape to the sanctity of the kitchen. They were already chattering away like nothing had happened.

"Kiros," I murmured to myself. "Kiros, Kiros, Kiros..." A whole new wrinkle to our budding relationship. What was he going to mean for the two of us? It wasn't the most comfortable of positions to be the third wheel between Laguna and myself. But then, he'd been following Laguna around for far longer than I'd known either of them, and there were aspects of their relationship I'd never be a part of. I just hoped that it wouldn't be too uncomfortable - and I hoped that Laguna wouldn't change his mind, now that Kiros was back.

The first few days were almost comical. Laguna, of course, wanted to stay with me at night, so he would concoct some excuse to stay behind while Kiros went back to the house next door. Kiros was no idiot, so he would just grin knowingly while I tried to find a quiet way to sink into the floor. He never twitted me about it - he was too polite for that - but I did hear some spirited razzing from outside my window one morning as Laguna went back home in what Kiros termed, too loudly for my taste, the "Walk of Shame."

Things settled back to normal. Autumn began to deepen in the fields, and Laguna and Kiros went back out on patrol. I was outside digging in the garden one day when I heard them trotting back, hungry and tired as usual.

"I just have to go there for a day or two! Come on, Kiros!" Laguna pleaded loudly, hands outstretched. I peered out from behind the hedge and stayed quiet.

"Your timing could have been better," Kiros sighed, returning a katal to its belt sheath. "I just got back, for Hyne's sake! You think train tickets grow on trees?"

"It's important," Laguna said. "I really need to go to Timber. You know...because..." he growled, giving Kiros a significant glare.

Timber? A very unpleasant jolt of surprise rocketed through me, and I drove my fingers into the dirt. Laguna wanted to go to Timber after all? After all this? After everything he'd said to me, late at night? If he had been stringing me along... Furious, I popped up from my hiding place, angry and hurt. "Because why? You don't want to leave for months on end, and you want to go now? What kind of game are you playing with me?"

"Raine!" Laguna jumped about a foot in the air. "What are you doing there?"

"Uh oh. Lovers' quarrel," Kiros shook his head. "See you later. I'm not getting into this." He strode purposefully off towards Laguna's house, whistling.

I grabbed Laguna by the wrist and dragged him off around the side of the house, not wanting to make a big scene in the middle of the town square. "What the hell, Laguna?" I hissed, folding my arms over my chest. Tears threatened and I pinched my arm hard to stave them off. "You want to go off and leave me now?"

"What? No!" Laguna's eyes went wide in surprise. "It's just a day or two; I don't see why it has to be a big deal, right? What's the problem?"

"The problem is that I've heard this story before. Boy meets girl, boy sleeps with girl, boy leaves. You're going to go off now that you've made your conquest?"

"That is not fair," Laguna shot back. "I can't believe you think so little of me." Angry, he mirrored my posture. "I was - am - going to come back. And I never thought of you as a conquest. You really think I'm that shallow?"

"No! But..." Feeling guilty, I fumbled for words. "Your timing is incredibly bad! What did you think I was going to think?"

"Bad timing. You sound like Kiros." Laguna snorted. "I didn't think you'd get this upset, that's for sure. It's a couple days! I can go away for a couple days if I want to - I was going to tell you about it, but I didn't get a chance before you overheard me. And anyhow, it's not like I need your permission to take a trip, we're not married or anyth..."

My eyes filled with tears even as Laguna stopped and went white, realizing what he'd just said. "So that's how it is," I whispered. "Okay. I understand now."

"No! Wait, Raine..." Laguna tried to grab onto me as I pushed past him on my way back into the house, but I shook him off with a hard shove and stalked back to the door. "I didn't mean it that way... Raine, please wait..."

I turned to face Laguna from the doorway. He looked miserable, but I didn't care. "Just shut up, Laguna," I said, numbly. "Shut up and leave me alone." The bang of the door effectively ended the argument, and a few minutes later Laguna's shadow passed by the windows.

My temper had cooled by that evening, but the hurt lingered. Laguna tried his best to talk to me, but there wasn't much I wanted to hear from him. Even Ellone picked up on the strain between us, and she was quieter than usual. I felt sorry for Kiros, caught in the middle, but there wasn't anything to be done about it. Laguna went back to his house that night, for the first time since Kiros had come back. I missed his presence in the bed next to me, but if I was just another notch on the proverbial lipstick case - or whatever the male version of that metaphor was - it was better to start cutting losses now. It didn't make the autumn night any less cold.

A few days later, two satchels rested by the door at breakfast. I kept staring at the scuffed Galbadian-issue bags - Kiros's in perfect repair, and Laguna's a complete mess with popped stitches and badly-attached souvenir patches. I laughed at that, a little, even though my heart twisted at the sight. It was so representative of the two of them.

"Are you still mad?" Laguna's voice, uncharacteristically soft, interrupted another surreptitious stare at the bags. "Our train leaves soon. I don't want to go off to the city with you still mad at me."

"Laguna…" It was hard to stay mad, with those green eyes watching me so imploringly. It had been so lonely and cold without him.

"Elle doesn't understand why Raine and her Uncle Laguna are mad," he continued, reaching for my hand. I let him twine his fingers with mine. "I don't understand either."

Sighing, I gave up. "It's just that…" I bit my lip. "I don't understand why you're going. You stayed here for so long. What's so important about Timber now? Are we not enough any more?"

"It's not that, not at all." Laguna stepped closer and drew me against his chest. "I love it here with you and Elle. You think I want to stop being Uncle Laguna and leave my two best girls?"

"No…" I replied, against the warmth of his jacket.

"I am going to pick up some stuff from Timber Maniacs while I'm there," Laguna said. "That's not why I'm going, though."

"Why are you going, then?" I asked. Laguna's revelation was a relief, but I was still uneasy.

"You'll find out, won't you?" Laguna teased. "I'm not telling."

A little smile began to spread across my face. "Laguna Loire, are you keeping secrets from me?"

"Yes." Laguna kissed me on the forehead. "Kiros and I have to leave soon. Can I have a kiss before I go?"

"I don't know. If you're not telling me something…"

"You'll find out soon." Laguna tilted my chin up, and there was no more argument. I leaned happily into the kiss, feeling a wonderful sense of rightness enfold me. When the kiss ended, he stood back and looked at me ruefully.

"What's the matter?" I cocked my head at him.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just realizing how much I'm going to miss you, even if it is only for a couple days." Laguna smiled and touched my cheek. A whistle sounded from outside, and he reluctantly bent to pick up the bags. "I better go. Where's Elle? Elle!" he called.

The thunder of two little feet scrambled upstairs, and Elle clattered down the stairs and zoomed across the room to attach herself to Laguna's leg. "Uncle Laguna, Uncle Laguna!"

"Umph!" Laguna grunted with the force of a five-year-old impact on his leg. "You gonna miss me, kiddo?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Elle let go and held her arms out for a hug. Laguna swung her up into the air, laughing.

"Laguna, the ceiling! Be careful!" I tugged on Laguna's sleeve, but the two of them were ignoring me, as usual.

"Don't go away for a long time!" Ellone warned, from her new perch on Laguna's shoulder. "I'll cry if you do!"

"Awww, Elle, I'd never make you cry. It's only a couple days. Is that okay?" Laguna carefully put her back down on the floor. "If I bring you a present, will that make up for it?"

She pretended to consider. "Oh… aaaall riiiight. But don't stay gone!"

Laguna looked over at me. "I promise." The response was to Elle, but I knew he was really saying it to me, and my heart gave a little squeeze.

The door opened suddenly, and Kiros stuck his head in, clearly annoyed. "Yo! Laguna, are you coming already? If we don't leave now, we're going to miss the train."

"All right, all right, keep your shirt on." Laguna shouldered his bag. "Bye, Ellone." He bent and gave her a noisy kiss on the head, and she giggled. "Goodbye, Raine."

"Goodbye, Laguna," I said softly, and he hugged me hard and kissed me on the neck where Kiros couldn't see.

Kiros was tapping his foot impatiently. "Ready?"

"Yep." Laguna sighed and followed him out the door. "Keep the light on for me, willya?"

"Always."