Love Story

Raine Leonhart was a beautiful young woman, one of Winhill's few residents. There she lived a relatively quiet life, peacefully owning and operating a small Pub in the heart of the town.

One fateful day, an injured soldier of the Galbadian army was brought to her doorstep. He was carried in crying like a baby, which she found a rather less than impressive quality, but she took him in anyway and nursed him back to health.

Living with Raine, at that time, was a young girl called Ellone. Ellone had been orphaned at a very young age after losing her parents to the Esthar Army. The powerful and malevolent Sorceress Adel who ruled Esthar City at that time was busy on a hunt for young girls who could potentially become her successor. Unbeknownst to herself, Ellone had the mysterious ability to manipulate time. For this reason, Ellone was continually hunted. When Esthar soldiers showed up in Winhill to take her away, her parent's refused to give her up and were shot on the spot.

Laguna remained bed-ridden for six months under Raine's care. Almost a year had passed before he had fully recovered, during which time he had grown very close to Raine and Ellone. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving what he had come to love so much, but Raine insisted that he work for what he ate. So he took a job as "the Monster Hunter of Winhill", constantly patrolling the streets and exterminating fiends along the way.

One beautiful, star-spangled night, somewhere in one of Winhill's many fields, Laguna got up the courage to propose to Raine, who agreed with a smile. He slipped a smooth silver ring onto her finger, and then embraced her.

Somehow, regardless of Laguna's efforts to keep Ellone safe, she was kidnapped and taken away to Esthar City. Laguna knew that it was up to him to save her so he set off, leaving behind his beloved wife, with plans to return someday soon so that that three of them could be a family once again.

Raine waited day after day for him to return, but that became the last time she ever saw him.

Finally, he found Ellone and sent her home to be with Raine but remained, himself, in Esthar with the purpose of finishing the war.

While Laguna was away, Raine learned that she was pregnant with his baby. She desperately wanted to see him, and to tell him of the news, but that opportunity never came. On August 23, Raine gave birth to their son Squall, but died shortly after of birth complications.

Squall and Ellone ended up in an orphanage while Laguna remained in Esthar, completely oblivious to the existance of his son.

Years later, Laguna had not forgotten, and returned to the spot where he had once proposed to gaze upon the grave of the woman he adored.