My Last Night Tear With You (F I N A L F A N T A S Y X V)

P A R T I

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L U N A

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I don't know how I could miss him so much. His kindness. His patience. His courage.

Each night the roars of that daemon and the nausea of flight rip through my vision, sending a jolting shock through to my fingertips. A tight grip on my arm is all that keeps me from being devoured... Those steely green-grey eyes weighted with a burden of responsibility pierce me-- urging me of something with such conviction... The intensity at the heart of his pupils... the humanity--those eyes-- not of a Glaive... but of a king.

I wake up in a cold sweat, the smell of metal and flame still fresh in my nose. My senses are numb for an instant, everything settling in a misty haze...

There's an unmistakable fluorescence in my cavernous room; a calming, soft white which floods between the parting in the thick drapery shielding the window.

Luna...

I turn at the sound of my name, the drowsiness of sleep vacating as if it were never there, to begin with. The voice is one that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It was a clear voice. Crisp and yet sonorous. Familiar. I scan the dark recesses where the shadows collect in the corners near the door.

No one.

Of course no one. Never anyone.

I allow the weight of sleep to pull at my eyelids again settling into the soft down of my pillow. Swallowing the cotton of the name that lies dry on my tongue, I fall victim to the void of sleep once more.

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T H E   D U T Y   O F   A N   O R A C L E

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"Why does the girl weep?..." The softness of Gentiana's voice billows in from across the courtyard. Her tone: gentle, nonaccusatory...

"Ravus doesn't understand." I wipe my eyes before turning to face her. "He..." I brush my fingers one more time across my damp face. "He could never understand. If he could only see-- see what I do, he might..."

"Be that as it may--"

"Is it so hard to understand?!" I cut her off and almost instantaneously feel ashamed.

A sudden gust rustles stray flowers from the field sending a sparse flurry of petals through the air.

"All... anybody ever wants is to stand beside their beloved... right...?" I exhale sharply, the sound clashing harshly against the calm of the air, the crispness stinging my lungs. I search her sorrowful eyes for an answer.

I wish there were an answer.

The leaves rustle and the dense flower thickets at my feet catch the brilliance of the fast approaching dusk. They shimmer with a dust of orange caught from the sky; their earthy floral fragrance intertwining with the gentle breeze that wafts to greet my nose.

I wipe the stray tears that have found their way to my cheeks once more before reaching down towards the familiar beauty of the blooms. With a gentle tug, the stem snaps in my fingers; the delicate blossom and crisp break flashes memories of happier times through my vision... Times with him... Our youth-- our days here in Tenebrae too-- filled with days of joy and little to worry over... The war: nothing but a faraway tale.

Petals catch gracefully on the hand of the wind as they flutter downfield.

"To laugh together... grow old together... to hold his hand and feel his closeness... even if it were just once more, Gentiana..." I let a stale breath out. Between my forefinger and thumb, I pass the velvety petal before releasing it to drift away. "If in his palm I could feel the promise of time-- of happiness together... Together until we're old and frail..." My eyes burn and my vision blurs. "If I could feel that bliss and comfort just once more...The security of a future... I would have it in my heart to forgive my fate."