Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Storm Front ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Things went more smoothly after the first awkward day with Laguna. I was never entirely comfortable with my role as nurse, but like most people in the medical profession will tell you, experience inures you to most indignities. It was easiest when Laguna wasn't in any shape to complain, but nevertheless it was a good sign when he began to be able to hold a conversation and move around a little bit on his own.

Ellone's fascination with our visitor had only intensified since I had forbidden her to bother him on the first day. She hovered around the door, furtively trying to look inside every time the door was opened. Still, Ellone was good enough about leaving Laguna alone that I thought I could leave her home with a sitter one day while I went out on errands. Some of the kinder-minded soldiers could be enticed into staying in the pub and looking after Ellone if they were promised free drinks, and today was no exception.

It was mid-afternoon by the time I was finished. I hurried home. When I arrived back at the pub, the soldier I'd sweet-talked - I think his name was Tomas - was sitting all alone in the common room, playing solitaire. He greeted me as I struggled in the door with all my bundles.

"Hi, Raine," the soldier said, cheerfully. "Hey - let me help you with that." He grabbed a few packages from me before they could drop to the floor and helped me get some things into the kitchen.

"How's Ellone? Did she behave for you?" I asked, hauling flour into a closet.

He shook his head. "Good as gold. She's doin' something up there, and she's happy as a clam. Heard her talking to someone."

"Oh good grief." I stopped stacking cans and buried my face in my hands. "Laguna. She's bothering Laguna. She got herself into his room."

"That the guy Kev and Mallin found?" Tomas looked pleased at the prospect of a little gossip.

"Yes. You can go tell your buddies that he's going to live, so don't worry."

"Who is he? Did you find out anything?"

"No. He's still too weak to talk much. I'll keep you informed."

"Right, then." Tomas threw me a salute and left, whistling. I grabbed the usual doses of medicine for my patient and climbed the stairs to Laguna's room, dreading what I was going to find. Inside, I heard Elle chirping happily away at Laguna, and his subdued but enthusiastic responses. I pushed open the door, and Ellone looked up and squeaked. I stared at the mess on the floor - she must have dragged every toy in her toy box inside to play with. Dolls, blocks, and game pieces were tumbled all over, and a few stuffed animals peeked out from behind the wreck of Laguna's legs.

"Ellone!" I said, sharply. "You know you were supposed to leave Laguna alone! You were very disobedient and you sneaked into his room while I was out!"

Ellone's lip trembled. "Wanted to play with Mr. Laguna!" she protested, looking guilty.

Laguna stirred. "'S okay, Raine," he said. "I let her stay. She's a good girl. She would'a left if I'd asked her to." Ellone beamed. He didn't look too well - there were deep shadows under his eyes and he was pale. The set of his mouth spoke of suppressed pain, and it must have been a heroic effort for him to play with Ellone in his injured state. "But we had a good time, didn't we?"

I sighed, resigned. "Clean up your toys, Ellone. It's a mess in here and I have to help Laguna." She halfheartedly picked her stuffed moogle up by the leg and started dragging it out the door. I put down my load of medicines and started throwing blocks into their storage bucket. Ellone came back and picked up another small toy, ostentatiously displaying her tremendous displeasure at being chased out. I called over my shoulder, "You can carry more than that. Knock it off, Ellone, or you get to spend some time in your room to think about it." She picked up something else and left again.

"You sound like my mother," Laguna murmured, dropping back down onto the pillows.

"I am her mother, for all intents and purposes," I returned, "and she knows better than that. She was supposed to leave you alone. You look like death warmed over."

"It's all right," he mumbled, clearly exhausted. "She's a special kid. I like her. Don't scold her too much."

"I'll think about it." I handed him an antibiotic; he'd progressed enough to be able to take it by himself.

"Another one?" Laguna groaned. "All you do is feed me pills. Dinner would be better."

"Don't complain. Would you rather get an infection?" I said, holding up a glass. "Drink. I'll get you something to eat in a few minutes."

"Can you change the pillows around too? This one's kind of lumpy," he said, wriggling against the pile. "And maybe another blanket."

Patience started to wear thin. "Okay."

"When do the stitches come out? How many days? You don't know how itchy they get, and I can't scratch." He tried to move his leg into a more comfortable position and hissed at the pain that came with it. "And my leg hurts again. A lot."

A muscle jumped in my cheek. Somehow I doubted that he would be getting such loving care from the army. "Stitches come out in a week. I'll clean them for you after you eat and then they'll stop itching. You can have another dose of painkiller in about four hours. Until then, buck up."

"Cruel woman," he muttered.

"Cruel nothing," I said, resisting the urge to thump him on the bad leg and really give him something to complain about. "I don't need to put you in rehab for morphine addiction as well as nurse you back to health. Deal with it."

"Hmph." Laguna nestled into the pillows and sulked.

"Tired and cranky children need sleep," I said silkily. "Why don't you try and nap while I fix you something?"

"I'm not tired," he said, eyelids already drooping. I just shook my head and picked up my things. Despite his protests, he was nearly asleep by the time I closed the door; Ellone had worn him out. She was still moping in her room, but she'd be out soon enough. I knew I couldn't keep her out of Laguna's room if that's where she wanted to be, but as long as she learned a little propriety, it would probably be fine.

It didn't take too long to fix up something for my patient; one of the benefits of a busy tavern is a lot of leftovers. Ellone came down to the kitchen while I was heating some stew in a pot and started to play quietly on the floor. I sighed and looked up at the clock - it was getting on towards evening and I had better start fixing something up for the inevitable crowd. Laguna didn't need me to be there all the time, but he'd need a quick way to let me know if he needed something. An idea dawned on me. Perhaps there was a way to let Ellone be useful and stay near Laguna without her having to be a pest.

"Ellone!" She looked up at me, all bright eyes. "Do you want to help me to help Laguna?"

"Yeah!" she said, jumping up. "Elle is a good helper!"

"Let's go upstairs and visit Laguna, and then you can help."

She tagged along as I carefully carried the tray up the stairs. We opened the door, and I put the tray down and shook Laguna awake. He blinked at me blearily, but a low growl from his stomach woke him up quickly.

"Smells great." He struggled to sit up, wincing every time his leg moved. "What is it?"

"Beef stew," I replied. "Good for what ails you."

I moved a small table over next to the bed so he could reach it easily. He had graduated to being able to feed himself, for which I was grateful. "Is Ellone with you?" he asked, looking around.

"She is, and she's going to be a big help. Right, Ellone?"

"Right!" Ellone pulled herself up on the bed and waved. "Hi, Mr. Laguna!"

"Hi, Ellone." He reached out and tousled her hair. She glared at him and smoothed it all back down. I chuckled a little at her pro forma protests - Ellone liked attention in just about any form she could get.

"So. I have to start making dinner for the hungry hordes that are going to descend on this pub in about three hours," I told him. "Ellone here is going to stay here with you and tell me when you're done with dinner." Ellone looked proud. "If you need anything, she can come and get me, since you obviously can't. Okay?"

"Okay." Laguna replied, brightening up. He beckoned to Ellone. "Want to sit up here with me?"

Ellone nodded and threw herself at the bed. "Watch the leg," I warned him. "And your stitches."

"Sure thing, doctor," he replied. I left them alone and went back to work. The usual tasks of chopping vegetables and slicing meat kept my hands busy, but my mind was free to wander. I thought wistfully of the time before the war, when I had a flower shop instead of a bar, and every day was filled with the scent of lilies instead of the aroma of cooking food and spilled beer. When the flower shop stopped turning a profit, I left it to the old woman Anna and her husband, and took up the task of Tallah's old pub instead - where I'd grown up. Though the soldiers weren't a welcome presence in our peaceful town, they did bring their wages with them, and Ellone and I needed that money. And so I went through the routine every night - make an enormous pot of something and draw pints till my arms were sore. How the added burden of a large patient was going to factor into all this was still unclear to me.

Little feet thumped down the stairs, and I put down my knife. Ellone peeked around the door to the kitchen and announced, "He's done! Am I a good girl?"

I picked her up and hugged her. "Yes, you are. Let's go clean up."

Elle bounced up the stairs, singing, "Here I come, Mr. Lagu-na!" She darted inside his room, giggling.

"Elle!" I heard him say. "You were gone for soooo long that I started to miss you!"

More giggles. "I gotta take care of you now!" Ellone said, trying to sound very grown-up. "Raine says I can be your nurse!"

"That's great!" Laguna said. "But no needles, okay?"

From my silent post outside the door, I saw Ellone shake her head until her hair flew. "No needles! Owwwwie!" They both began to laugh.

Smiling, I joined them inside. "Okay, you two, just a minute. Are you all done, Laguna? Do you want anything else? Are you still hungry?"

"Nah, I had enough, thanks." Laguna handed over his tray to me. "Your cooking's a hell of a lot better 'n we get in the army, that's for sure."

"Hell, hell, hell! You said a bad word!" Ellone chirped with glee.

"Ellone, don't say that," I scolded. "Nice people don't say bad words."

"Isn't Mr. Laguna nice?" She cuddled up to his side. "I think he's nice."

"Sometimes nice people have bad habits," I replied, glaring at Laguna, who looked slightly abashed. "Watch your mouth," I admonished, shaking a finger at him. "Little pitchers have big ears. Don't swear around Ellone."

"Sorry," Laguna said. "I'll behave."

"You got a scolding!" Ellone shook her finger at him in imitation of me. "You were bad! Better be careful, 'cause if you're really bad you get a spanking." She screwed up her face at him. "You don't want Raine to spank you, do you?"

Laguna tried desperately not to laugh as I turned crimson. I could practically see the thoughts racing through his head. "I think Mr. Laguna gets the point, Elle," I said, trying to salvage my dignity. "Let's leave him alone now."

"Aww!" she said, sticking out her lower lip. Laguna's eyes were slightly teary with mirth, but he didn't say a word.

"Go on, Ellone, scoot." She reluctantly got down off the bed and left. Detachment. I needed detachment at the moment. "Are you sure you don't need anything else before I leave?" I said, trying not to look Laguna in the face.

"My leg still hurts. Is it time for the shot yet?"

It was a little early, but… "I guess so." I got a syringe from my room and went back into his. "You know the drill. Roll over."

"Dunno about that," he said, as I helped him over onto his front. "You're not gonna… spank me, are you?" Laguna wore an innocent expression, but his eyes were dancing.

My cheeks burned. "You're going to get something a lot worse if you don't knock it off." I flicked the tip of the needle and swabbed his skin with alcohol.

"Could be fun-OW!" I gave him a vicious but quick jab with the needle and injected the medicine. He gave me a sullen sidelong look, rubbing the injured spot on his backside. "That hurt!"

"Good," I said. "That big mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble, if it hasn't already."

"'S what Kiros always said 'bout me," he said, starting to drift off on the medicine. "Talk first, think later."

"A perceptive man, your friend," I said, and left him to his thoughts.

Days passed swiftly, and fall began to turn to winter. Laguna was on the mend, and while he had his good days and his bad days, it was clear that the injuries both internal and external were healing. The first month was tremendously draining, since Laguna continued to require doses of morphine, which sometimes put him to sleep and sometimes made him hallucinate. I kept Ellone away from him while he was raving, and it was fortunate that the state of his leg and the internal injuries made him too weak to get up during the bad spells. In time, subsequent doses of Potions made more dealings to get morphine unnecessary, and Laguna was able to get by with less powerful medicine.

Laguna was not a good patient, once he was lucid enough to really start voicing his likes and dislikes - sometimes I wasn't sure who was three years old, him or Ellone. The removal of the stitches improved his humor because he could finally take a real bath instead of me having to sponge him down so the stitches didn't get wet. Laguna wore a solid cast on his leg, which he didn't like either, but there was nothing else to be done about it, as I reminded him often. No one in the village knew the powerful magic needed to restore an entire body immediately, and the soldiers didn't volunteer.

While he was grateful to me for saving his life, restlessness and frustration at being so needy ate at him, and his temper was uncertain. I alternated between feeling sorry for Laguna and wanting to shake him until his teeth rattled, but Ellone adored her new friend, and he adored her right back. It wasn't too long before she was calling him "Uncle Laguna," a form of address that made me uneasy; it spoke of permanence, and I wasn't sure that he was going to stay here for too long after his injuries healed. Ellone had lost enough in her life, and she had latched onto Laguna as a father figure. He seemed to enjoy it, though, and for all that she was little and he wasn't, they had a charming rapport. The more cynical portion of my mind whispered that they seemed to be about on the same level, intellectually.

Talking to Laguna was an exercise in patience, since he rarely stayed on one subject for long and evaded all attempts at a serious conversation. I'd managed to gather that he had been drafted into the army, had gotten himself in trouble more than once, and had lost his comrades in what must have been a spectacularly botched escapade. He didn't come out and say any of that, of course - Laguna embellished every story with outrageous exploits, and it required some reading between the lines. I had some inkling that this was what put him on my doorstep, though it was difficult to say. Sometimes shadows crossed his face when he spoke of his friends, and I began to realize that he had more history than he cared to admit. Sometimes people deal with their problems by affecting a carefree exterior, and he seemed to be one of them.

Having Laguna around was a godsend in one respect, though - he helped to entertain Ellone. Discipline was still entirely up to me, though, because his happy-go-lucky attitude made it impossible for any severity he meted out to Ellone to stick. Laguna would try to put on a serious face, and Ellone would pretend to pout, and then both of them would start to laugh. All the same, he kept an eye on her, and she was more than content to stay in his company while I did my chores. She was diligent in her nursing, always letting me know if Laguna was hungry or hurting or tired when I was unable to tend him directly.

Winter tightened its iron grip on my little village, and Solstice came and went. Laguna was not yet healed enough to manage crutches and get out of bed, so we brought the celebration in to him for a while. Ellone made a great show of presenting some of her crayon drawings to him as a gift, and he gravely examined each one and pronounced them genius work. She had refused to show them to me, working in great secrecy, and I leaned over curiously to look at the pictures as Laguna turned through them. Most were little-girl scrawlies - a cat and a dog, a chocobo, trees and sunshine.

The last one made me sit up in surprise, though. In it, a small girl-figure was standing between a mommy-figure and a daddy-figure, holding hands. The mommy was recognizable as myself, with long, dark hair - and the daddy was Laguna. Ellone had been as careful with the representation as three-year-old skills would allow, giving his bright, exaggerated face green dots for eyes and shoulder-length hair. She had even drawn in the ever-present ID tags. Laguna quirked an eyebrow at me when he saw it, and I laughed nervously. It was all Ellone's idea. I hoped he understood that.