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A/N: Keep in mind this is more of a thought process after the events of the main game in Endwalker. But there are spoilers for Pandaemonium and all the info you find out there. For now unnamed Warrior of Light… though that may change if I decide to carry this on.
~Ours is not a kind world, but it is beautiful. Always.
Alphinaud Leveilleur ~
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‘Sharlyian is beautiful in a sad way’.
This was the thought the Warrior of Light had had ever since she first arrived here with the other Scions. Before the Final Days got into full swing, before arriving in Elpis, before Venat, before…
‘Stop, dwelling on it all won’t help you now’.
She loved sitting up on top of the buildings and structures here. It wasn’t as cold as Garlemald or Ishgard and wasn’t as hot as Doma could be and Ul’dah. Sitting up here gave her time alone – as much as she loved helping others and the Scions themselves sometimes, she just needed a moment or six by herself to breathe. To forget she was some awe-inspiring heroine to the masses. Sometimes she just needed a minute to remember that she was human and could fuck up, to mourn, to be angry…
‘I don’t think I ever mourned any of them. Not Haurchefant, not Ysayle, and now I can’t mourn Hades and Hyth. I can’t mourn Themis and Hephaistos. I can’t mourn Venat or even Hermes’. She thought, with a self-deprecating smile. ‘Not when I am the one that ended most of them. Not when I should have been stronger, been faster, to realize the asshole was aiming that fucking spear so Haurchefant wouldn’t jump in front of me. Should have been stronger so Ysayle wouldn’t have had to sacrifice herself. Why do people always sacrifice themselves for me?’
Looking up at the daytime sky she couldn’t help but mumble with a bit of a sneer in her voice, for no one but herself.
“Great hero can’t even save those that are most dear to her”.
“Now why on earth would you say that my friend”? said a male voice behind her.
Smile turning a bit more real, she turned to face G’raha.
“Isn’t it the truth? Yeah, we saved many Raha but…”
“But it doesn’t seem to account for the fact that there are those, you now know intimately, that weren’t saved”. G’raha finished with a sad smile while he watched her.
Nodding, her smile turned wistful as she stared back up at the sky.
“I think, honestly, the only thing keeping me going right now is the fact I have you and the rest of our friends and…” she paused, undecided if she should finish the rest of her thought out loud.
“Go on” G’raha coaxed with a small smile.
“…and I did make a promise that I plan on keeping. It’s the least I can do for him…for them all”. She spoke almost to herself. To remind herself that she couldn’t give up, even just a little bit. Not when she still had so much to do. Not when she had a legacy that she swore, even if only to herself, that she would not squander.
Smiling, all G’raha did was nod wishing that he could take some of her burden from her. This is one of the things that he had always admired about his hero turned friend. Her ability to feel remorse even for those that were her staunch enemies from one time to another. Her unbridled empathy for all things no matter how cruel they may seem. Be it an entelechy such as Meteion to a sundered soul such as Fandaniel who wanted to burn and to take the world with him.
Still, it didn’t stop him from wishing sometimes that she could just lay her burden down and listen to her traveler’s heart to see everything she could set her sights on. Because, for all that the masses loved and adored their Warrior of Light… he knew, in his heart of hearts, that all she ever wanted was to do was see what the world had to offer and to find all the mysteries that man had forgotten throughout the ages.
“Well then” he said, “Maybe what you should focus on is not who you couldn’t save. But how you can remember them and keep their memories alive in you”.
Laughing the Warrior of Light nodded, slinging an arm over G’raha’s shoulders.
“What would I do without you Raha. You keep me straight when I feel like I’m drowning in my own pity party”.
“Tis not a pity party my friend” G’raha said seriously. “It’s you. Being human. Being more than the heroine of the masses. It is you being who you are and no one else”.
Smiling the Warrior of Light nodded and just stood there with one of her best friends. Just enjoying the peace and calm before the next adventure would take them all to new heights yet again.