Work Text:
He was the wind.
From a far-away land, he’d been swept ashore after a calamity befell him and his crew. One would call it a miracle of the sea, but she knew better than that - if it had been, it wouldn’t have sunk his ship in the first place. Rather, it had been the wind that saved him, pushing him out of the ocean and onto the land, where she had met him, and then the other two shortly after. From there, the four of them - the Wind, the Sea, the Earth, and the Flame - began their travels together.
His windswept hair occasionally gave him a bit of a wild look, but he was a gentle soul, more than happy to help anyone he came across. That was exactly how he’d come rushing in like a sudden gust, rescuing her from the mercenaries after the Wind Crystal and receiving its blessing. In hindsight, it was incredibly fitting. The breeze could give way to a storm at a moment’s notice when faced with the injustices of the world, or vice versa when a gentle touch was needed. She hoped his kindness would never change.
When, in a moment of weakness, she had opened up to him and cried and cried and cried over a kingdom forever lost, his arms had wrapped around her and he’d whispered quiet words until her breathing steadied. She couldn’t remember exactly what he’d said to her that night, but she remembered the feeling of a warm ocean breeze and the whispers of the wind in her ears. She hoped that she could repay the favour before the end of their journey.
Sometimes - just sometimes - when she looked at him, his figure seemed to flicker and waver, as if he wasn’t truly there. But then she would blink and there he was, just as solid and present as the rest of them. He’d flash her a gentle, reassuring smile and she would smile back at him, and then the four of them would continue their journey, the wind at their backs pushing them ever onwards until the end of her days. She hoped it was just a trick of the light.
She tried not to get too attached to any of them, knowing her fate, but to no avail. All three of them had wormed their way into her heart, and her into theirs. Him, in particular, she regretted getting close to - not because she disliked him in any way, but rather the opposite. His presence had always comforted her, even when she couldn’t see him through the frenzy of battle, or in the darkness of night. Like the wind, she could tell he was there, even if she couldn’t see him. She hoped he wouldn’t cry when the time came.
Instead, in a twist of fate, the wind refused to stop and swerved around fate itself, finding a way to end the battle against the Night’s Nexus without her sacrifice. And in the end, they were all sent back to where they belonged with the blessing of the Crystals. She hoped, with all her heart, that they would all go home together.
But he did not belong with them.
He was both there and not there, straddling the line between life and death, the line between our world and his, the line between belonging or not. But in the end, no one could stay in that limbo for long, and he was gone. She didn’t have anything to grasp onto to bring him back, and all that was left was a dying breeze as she cried and cried and cried in a world without him. And this time, the wind wasn’t there to comfort her, and there was nothing to hope for.
She was the sea.
When he was sure he had reached the end of the line, he had instead awoken on the beach, somehow surviving the calamity at sea. While he later learned that the Wind Crystal had saved his life, he couldn’t help but feel that the sea was the one that brought him to land - and to her, and to the others. She had greeted him with a voice that calmed him, although he couldn’t put his finger on why. Perhaps it was simply because she was the one who saved him from the beach.
She was calm and composed, but he could sense the strength below her deceivingly delicate appearance. With a single wave of her hand, she felled enemies twice her size. She carried the three of them through their journey as the sea would carry a ship, and it was only then that he realized why he felt such familiarity from her, despite having never met before. But just as the sea had the power to lift and support, it also had the power to crush anything in its path, and he had witnessed this firsthand many times - both on the water itself and during battles, when her unrelenting strength of will would tear down foe after foe. He was glad to have her on their side.
But not even she was invincible, and he eventually found himself by her side as she lamented the loss of her home, tears running down her face in rivers. And so he held and held and held her, whispering soothing nothings to her, knowing that logic and reason would not sway the storm of emotion. He whispered to her until the sobs quieted, and they said nothing more as her breaths evened out, matching the slow lapping of the waves outside. He was glad he could bring her some small comfort in the face of everything.
Sometimes - just sometimes - when he looked at her, he could spot a stormy expression in her eyes. Almost nothing could sway her conviction - perhaps it was this trait of hers that made him worry for her when he finally recognized the storm as uncertainty. But then she would catch him looking at her and it was gone, replaced by the strong, yet gentle eyes she always had and he would return it with a smile, and then the four of them would continue their journey, marching onwards with the strength of the sea in their footsteps. He was glad that, perhaps, she trusted everyone enough to let her walls down, even for a little bit.
He didn’t realize it at first, but as time went on, he understood the implications of his second chance at life. But by then, it was too late. The three had become closer than even family to him, and he dreaded the moment he would have to return the time he borrowed. He would miss them all, but her especially. She reminded him of the sea in every way the longer he knew her, and her presence beside him was always strong and reassuring in a way only the ocean had ever been to him. He was glad he had this second chance, if only to meet her and the others, even if it wouldn’t last.
In a twist of fate, he had almost lost her before his own time was up. In a haunting vision, he watched as he lost her in his arm’s grasp, slipping away like the ocean water between his fingers. It tore at him like nothing else had - both the pain of experiencing her loss, and the knowledge that he would end up doing the same to the others. But one loss was better than two, and she, at least, deserved to live out the rest of her life in peace, after all that had happened to her. He was glad, so genuinely glad, that no one seemed to be aware of his impending fate.
And when all was said and done, he knew his time was up.
She belonged firmly on the side of the living, of her world, of belonging. But he did not, and as the Crystals bestowed their final blessings upon them all, he reached out to her one last time and held and held and held her, before he was clutching nothing but sea foam in his hands. He could imagine the rivers of tears that would come after they awoke without him there, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find it in himself to find anything to feel glad about.
But the winds refused to cease. The sea refused to swallow him.
No longer needing to seal away the Night’s Nexus, the wind once again bestowed its power upon him - this time to keep - and the sea ferried him away to the shore once more. He awoke to the sound of waves.
She was the first to react to the figure slowly sitting up in the sand. A gust broke the silent air as she threw herself at him, and the waves crashed upon the shore almost joyously as the two of them fell right back down into the sand. One more time, she let herself hope, with all her heart, that this would be the last of their partings. He was glad, so genuinely glad, that he could see her and the others again, this time with smiles on their faces.
They were the wind and the sea.
And they cried and cried and cried.
And they held and held and held each other.