Hope sat down on a rock his muscles aching his face covered in dirt, weak from his recent battles with the various denizens of Pulse.
He looked down into the river in front of him, seeing not himself, but a filthy, weak Child.
He observed the filthy once silver hair, the tear stained face and the L'cie brand with its eye half-open affixed to his arm in the reflection in front of him.
He balled his fists tightly as he felt a pulling in his chest almost like there was something inside him that was trying to claw him apart from the inside ripping and gnashing gaining strength from his pain.
A tear fell from his cheek falling into the river as he let out a mute sob.
He grabbed his chest. "Just stop already, it hurts..." But the pain continued the pulling and the clawing, the biting and the ripping inside him.
"P..Please..." He begged, but his pain just grew.
He whispered something nearly inaudible under his breathe "Break". He felt his legs start to harden and he closed his eyes as he felt a pressure enclose his stomach steadily moving up to his chest and then enclosing his neck and a single last tear fell from his eye, but this time it sunk into the stream.
A stone tear, washed away by the torrent of water never to be seen again.