Fanfiction: "Humphrey"
Sep. 5th, 2019 07:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deemoyzaTitle:"Humphrey" (9,146 words) [AO3]
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Rating/Warnings: General Audiences / No warnings apply
Characters: Ellone, Raine
Summary:Following the murder of Ellone's parents at the hands of Esthar soldiers, Raine takes Ellone into her care. While struggling to understand and help a child too young to completely grasp the meaning of what has happened to her, Raine begins having strange, eerily realistic dreams -- dreams that Ellone claims to share. (Pre-game, multi-chapter. My contribution to the Successor Challenge Bonus Round on Tumblr.)
Excerpt below the cut.
With several hours remaining before the pub opened, Raine put away her cleaning materials and headed into her garden. Being among the flowers soothed her, and, as the sunlight warmed her back, the cold chains around her heart began to loosen.
She'd just finished weeding one flower bed when a muffled sound came from the small shed behind her. She opened the door to investigate, and heard shuffling behind a stack of boxes in the corner. Mice, perhaps, or a wayward baby Catechipillar? They were fairly harmless as juveniles, and quite lovely to look at; Raine smiled as she approached the boxes, ready to catch whatever might run out from behind them.
Nothing did. Instead, a tiny yellow shoe poked out from behind the box closest to the wall. As Raine looked on, puzzled, another little foot appeared, this one bare, and soon, a child wriggled backwards out from behind the boxes, clutching a filthy stuffed rabbit to her chest.
Ellone.
Raine cried out her name, and Ellone started. She turned around, brown eyes wider than usual on a face thinned by hunger, and smiled when she saw Raine.
"Raine!" Ellone scrambled to her feet and flung herself at Raine, burying her face in Raine's pants leg, wiping her eyes and nose on the fabric. "Hi!" Then, pulling away, she glanced around quickly. She motioned Raine toward her and, leaning close, whispered, "Bug people gone?"
The Esthar soldiers. So, she had seen them. Did she see what they'd done to her parents?
"Yes," Raine replied, "the bug people are gone. Were you hiding from them?"
"Uh-huh. Mama say hide. I hided here. I'm a good girl!"
"Yes, you are! A very good girl." Raine relaxed. Ellone hadn't seen; but that also meant she didn't know. How would Raine tell her that her parents were gone, that they weren't coming back? Perhaps she could buy some time, and get some advice on the matter from the other women in town. She wiped a streak of dirt off Ellone's cheek. "You look like you've been there a while. Are you hungry?"
"Yes! Very hungy!"
"All right, then. Let's go inside, and get you cleaned up and fed."
Forty-five minutes and one uncooperative bath later, Ellone sat at a table in the pub, disappearing into one of Raine's shirts and swinging her legs from the chair. She'd finished two bowls of cereal already, and was starting on her second piece of toast when Ilenda arrived, with Mrs. Martens on her heels.
They looked at Ellone and shook their heads sadly, then cast inquisitive glances at Raine.
"Where in the world was she?" Ilenda asked, smiling down at Ellone.
Ellone returned the smile. "I hided. I'm a good girl."
"In my garden shed, behind some boxes," Raine answered.
"Didn't the soldiers search there?"
"Yes, but not as thoroughly as they claimed."
"That, or she wasn't there yet. Ellone, did you go anywhere else after your Mama told you to hide?"
Ellone nibbled on her toast. "I hided. With Humfee."
"Humfee?" Ilenda staggered forward as Mrs. Martens nudged her out of the way to examine Ellone. She lifted Ellone's arms, looked into her eyes and bent down to examine her little feet beneath the table. Ellone kept eating, only mildly perturbed.
"Humphrey, her stuffed rabbit.," Raine said. "She was holding it when I found her. It definitely needs a good washing before she gets it back."
"It's all so strange –"
"Don't question it," Mrs. Martens said, frowning at the dirt that remained under Ellone's fingernails even after her bath. "Providence protected this child, and it must have had a reason to. We should celebrate this miracle, instead of trying to pick it apart."
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Rating/Warnings: General Audiences / No warnings apply
Characters: Ellone, Raine
Summary:Following the murder of Ellone's parents at the hands of Esthar soldiers, Raine takes Ellone into her care. While struggling to understand and help a child too young to completely grasp the meaning of what has happened to her, Raine begins having strange, eerily realistic dreams -- dreams that Ellone claims to share. (Pre-game, multi-chapter. My contribution to the Successor Challenge Bonus Round on Tumblr.)
Excerpt below the cut.
With several hours remaining before the pub opened, Raine put away her cleaning materials and headed into her garden. Being among the flowers soothed her, and, as the sunlight warmed her back, the cold chains around her heart began to loosen.
She'd just finished weeding one flower bed when a muffled sound came from the small shed behind her. She opened the door to investigate, and heard shuffling behind a stack of boxes in the corner. Mice, perhaps, or a wayward baby Catechipillar? They were fairly harmless as juveniles, and quite lovely to look at; Raine smiled as she approached the boxes, ready to catch whatever might run out from behind them.
Nothing did. Instead, a tiny yellow shoe poked out from behind the box closest to the wall. As Raine looked on, puzzled, another little foot appeared, this one bare, and soon, a child wriggled backwards out from behind the boxes, clutching a filthy stuffed rabbit to her chest.
Ellone.
Raine cried out her name, and Ellone started. She turned around, brown eyes wider than usual on a face thinned by hunger, and smiled when she saw Raine.
"Raine!" Ellone scrambled to her feet and flung herself at Raine, burying her face in Raine's pants leg, wiping her eyes and nose on the fabric. "Hi!" Then, pulling away, she glanced around quickly. She motioned Raine toward her and, leaning close, whispered, "Bug people gone?"
The Esthar soldiers. So, she had seen them. Did she see what they'd done to her parents?
"Yes," Raine replied, "the bug people are gone. Were you hiding from them?"
"Uh-huh. Mama say hide. I hided here. I'm a good girl!"
"Yes, you are! A very good girl." Raine relaxed. Ellone hadn't seen; but that also meant she didn't know. How would Raine tell her that her parents were gone, that they weren't coming back? Perhaps she could buy some time, and get some advice on the matter from the other women in town. She wiped a streak of dirt off Ellone's cheek. "You look like you've been there a while. Are you hungry?"
"Yes! Very hungy!"
"All right, then. Let's go inside, and get you cleaned up and fed."
Forty-five minutes and one uncooperative bath later, Ellone sat at a table in the pub, disappearing into one of Raine's shirts and swinging her legs from the chair. She'd finished two bowls of cereal already, and was starting on her second piece of toast when Ilenda arrived, with Mrs. Martens on her heels.
They looked at Ellone and shook their heads sadly, then cast inquisitive glances at Raine.
"Where in the world was she?" Ilenda asked, smiling down at Ellone.
Ellone returned the smile. "I hided. I'm a good girl."
"In my garden shed, behind some boxes," Raine answered.
"Didn't the soldiers search there?"
"Yes, but not as thoroughly as they claimed."
"That, or she wasn't there yet. Ellone, did you go anywhere else after your Mama told you to hide?"
Ellone nibbled on her toast. "I hided. With Humfee."
"Humfee?" Ilenda staggered forward as Mrs. Martens nudged her out of the way to examine Ellone. She lifted Ellone's arms, looked into her eyes and bent down to examine her little feet beneath the table. Ellone kept eating, only mildly perturbed.
"Humphrey, her stuffed rabbit.," Raine said. "She was holding it when I found her. It definitely needs a good washing before she gets it back."
"It's all so strange –"
"Don't question it," Mrs. Martens said, frowning at the dirt that remained under Ellone's fingernails even after her bath. "Providence protected this child, and it must have had a reason to. We should celebrate this miracle, instead of trying to pick it apart."
