Work Text:
A giant dragon—an enormous dragon—a dragon that filled the entire sky—
Moonflower would never forget what it felt like to see Bahamut break free from Dalamud and rain down his rage upon the people of Eorzea. Shards of the false moon hurtled to the earth, destroying buildings and nature alike. Bahamut’s fire blasted every city-state and every region, turning the planet into an inferno.
She thought she would die that day. She thought her mother had died that day, as her dear mother pushed her away from falling trees and urged her to safety. So the teenager ran, ran because her life depended on it, praying with all her might to the Twelve that Eorzea would be saved, until a bright light enveloped her and caused her to black out.
Bahamut was gone, destroyed, and so were the Warriors of Light. The brave heroes who fought alongside Louisoix Leveilleur were erased from memory, except for their silhouettes. But there was destruction and terror left in the great wyrm’s wake, a deleterious scar that would not heal.
“Mama!” Moonflower started calling the moment she approached the area she had left her mother behind. They had made it a fair distance from their meadow when the trees started collapsing around them. It had taken a few days to make her way back this far, after having stopped several times to help rescue people. She was not alone, as others with hale bodies came with her. It was a group effort now, saving as many people as they could, carefully laying out the bodies of those they could not. Burials would be conducted as soon as possible, but it was such chaos after the initial Calamity.
Not everyone who needed rescue could respond, so the group was not alarmed by a lack of response. They worked to clear a path, and as they did, they uncovered Moonflower’s mother. Her white hair was stained red, as was the rest of her, and it was clear that she had several broken bones.
“That’s my Mama,” Moonflower said, confirming her identity. One of the other women checked for breathing and nodded. Jasmine Hyou was alive, although no one knew for how long considering the extent of her injuries.
Moonflower and two others broke away to carry her mother to the medical station that had been set up almost as soon as everyone woke up from the Calamity. Once there, they laid the injured woman on the ground with the other patients. As much as it tore her heart to leave her mother like this, Moonflower went back with the other two to help find and rescue more people.
They spent the rest of the day like this, until it was too dangerous for them to try clearing more paths in the debris due to exhaustion and lack of daylight. With solemn nods to one another, the group dispersed, although most went back to the medical station as their loved ones were among the patients.
“Hello, Mama,” Moonflower whispered when she arrived at the spot her mother lay. She had received some medical treatment by then, but she was still dirty and bloody. With the intention of giving her a bath, Moonflower went to the stream and collected two buckets of water. Then she began to do what she could with wiping away the blood and dirt. It would be a while before her mother would wake up, according to one of the healers.
Night passed into day, and Moonflower woke up holding her mother’s hand to hear the healers whispering about supplies.
“We’re out of ethers and the potions are dangerously low too,” one of them fretted.
“We can’t go buy more,” another pointed out. “Everyone will be scrambling to buy whatever they can from suppliers, and prices will skyrocket. We may even be forced to defend ourselves against other desperate people.”
A third shook his head. “Imagine being so greedy as to take advantage of a Calamity…”
The first sighed, but her face did not look any less stressed. “We will need to conserve what mana we can… take as many moments of rest to help replenish our reserves…”
The three agreed that was the best they could do, and Moonflower realized with a start that her mother had prepared for the Calamity with a good box full of ethers and another of potions. If she could get those boxes to the medical station…
“I’ll be back as soon as I can, Mama,” she promised, and stroked her mother’s hair before she got to her feet. She’d only slept a couple hours, but it was enough to keep her upright, so she took off in the direction of their meadow.
Unfortunately, most of the paths into the meadow were blocked off, so it took her hours longer to reach an entrance than she had intended. But Moonflower was determined, and managed to wriggle her way into the meadow. It was surprisingly untouched aside from the debris preventing her from entering any other way, and her house was still standing. Nervously, Moonflower pulled out a knife and crept toward the door, just in case someone else had found her home and was ransacking it. Her mama had warned her that with doom on the horizon, it was likely that desperate, hungry people would enter any building they could find in search of food, supplies, and valuables.
The door was still shut, so if anyone had come, at least he had the decency to shut the door behind him. Moonflower pushed it open, knife still clutched in her hand, to find no one inside. It looked… very normal, exactly as she had left it. She checked every room (of which there were not many) and saw no sign of forced entry. Perhaps their meadow was safe from ransackers, or perhaps she had shown up before they did.
With no time to waste, Moonflower opened the cupboard in the floor where they usually kept food, and pulled out the boxes of ethers and potions. Her eyes lit up when she saw the rolls of bandages, and took those too. Anything that could be used at the medical station, she piled into her bag. Once she was satisfied, she covered the cupboard and hefted the boxes into her arms.
She didn’t know if her house would be safe, but there was nothing to be done except hope for the best. For the moment, she had to get the supplies to the medical station. Thankfully, she was adept at carrying heavy things, so that wouldn’t be a problem, and most people were too busy to notice a girl carrying boxes.
It was with great relief, both from the physical strain and the mental worry, that Moonflower set down the boxes upon reaching the medical station. “I brought ethers and potions,” she said, panting. “My mother and I… we had some stored away.”
“I don’t believe it, this should be a tremendous help!” said the first healer to see her.
“I have these too,” she added, and pulled everything out of her bag. Bandages, medicinal plants, some poultices. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
“Thank you, thank you! May the Twelve bless you for this day.” A petite healer hugged her with tears in her eyes.
Moonflower hugged her in return, crying a little herself. Once those supplies ran out, she didn’t have any more. They may have to resort to inflated prices when they needed more. Until then, she wanted to look after her mother.
She gave herself a few hours, then went out once again to help with search and rescue. It went that way for several days, until one day, her mother woke up.
Jasmine’s eyes opened while Moonflower was busy wiping her forehead clean.
“Mama!” she gasped in surprise. Then she ran to grab a cup of water and helped her mother drink it down.
“My moon child.” It was barely audible, but it was heard all the same.
“Oh, Mama, I’m so glad you’re alive.” Moonflower wept and hugged her mother, relief washing over her. Her mother said no more, but it was enough.
They would recover from this Calamity, slowly but surely.