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Lunafreya had died young. She had died in the arms of her longtime lover Noctis Lucis Caelum, the crown prince of Lucis after she had been stabbed by Ardyn Izunia. She had been happy that they had had a chance to be together even though it hadn’t been a very long one. When Lunafreya had left her body behind, she had decided to stay in the world of the living instead of going to the afterlife. She was walking around aimlessly while watching how years went on and on in the land of the living.
She was the only one who remained the same. Just as young as she had been on the day when her journey in the land of the living had ended.
She watched from the sidelines when her beloved prince stopped grieving for the loss that hadn’t been his fault. She watched quietly when he eventually found someone else who made him happy. They lived together, married each other and had a family that Lunafreya had wanted to have with him. She smiled as she felt the greatest happiness for him. She was proud of him because he had taken a step to the right direction. All Lunafreya could do was to watch it unfold before her eyes from the distance to make sure that nobody would sense that she was still there.
As years went on, Lunafreya noticed that Noctis was getting closer to the end of his time. One day he had been young and full of energy and all of a sudden his face was wrinkly, and his hair was grey. He was less energetic. Most of the time Lunafreya watched him sit on a bench in Altissia looking thoughtful. Lunafreya was curious and allowed it to take over her. She walked over to see what he was doing, making sure that he wouldn’t sense her presence. As Lunafreya looked over his shoulder, she was surprised to see that he was actually looking at the old photos of him and Lunafreya from the days when she had still been alive.
Did he really still miss her this much – even after all these years?
Lunafreya felt sad that Noctis still felt that way. She didn’t know how long it had been as time didn’t really matter to her as a ghost anymore. For the living, on the other hand, feeling sadness and longing for someone so long must be a painful, mentally draining experience. Lunafreya started thinking that maybe she should leave the world of the living and await for her beloved’s arrival there. That thought started to make more and more sense as she looked at the man next to her. He stood up from the bench, put his phone back into his pocket and made his way towards the hotel where he stayed every time he came to Altissia.
“The days when I loved you were my happiest, Noctis”, Lunafreya whispered into the wind as she watched Noctis go further and further away. Then she sighed and looked into the clear blue sky above the city and finally allowed herself to leave the land of the living from where she had left from a long time ago.
*
“The days when I loved you were my happiest, Noctis.”
Noctis stopped walking and furrowed his eyebrows and looked around. He could’ve sworn he had heard Lunafreya’s voice in the wind a moment ago. He turned around and look to the direction he had come from and gasped in total shock. He was sure he had seem a silhouette of a person that had dissolved into the air. It had definitely been a woman and he was sure that it was most likely Lunafreya’s ghost.
Noctis believed that Lunafreya had never left Altissia. He had came to that conclusion because of all those times when he had felt like she had been watching him from the distance as if to make sure that he was alright. That presence had always felt like hers because during those occurrences he had also been able to smell a familiar scent that only Lunafreya had. While he had been grieving over Lunafreya’s death, that familiar presence had given him the support that he had needed and he had always felt a lot better as the result–like as if he could carry on as long as needed.
He had never told anyone about his reasons to go to Altissia annually. He had kept it as a secret for all these years and had made excuses for his trips. Usually he just said that it was a well-deserved vacation after he had taken care of his responsibilities as the king. Sometimes he even took his family with him there as well as if to show Luna that he had been able to become happy again. He knew she would appreciate that even in death.
As years had gone on, and his children had become adults, Noctis had started to do these trips alone again. He had also considered on stepping down as a king multiple times and let his oldest son to take over the throne but had not made a decision on it because they would ask questions and Noctis was sure he shouldn’t tell them the truth. He knew very well that people in Lucis might think that their king had lost his mind because of his grief over a woman who had died decades ago.
As he watched how the female figure vanished into the winds, Noctis felt familiar feelings of loss and heartbreak in his heart. It seemed that Lunafreya’s ghost had finally decided to leave this world behind. Maybe she had seen Noctis as an old man and realized that they’d meet each other sooner or later in the afterlife and decided to wait for his arrival there?
Noctis smiled. Death didn’t scare him no more.
“The days when I loved you were my happiest too, Luna”, he whispered, hoping that the wind would carry his words to her–wherever she was.