"I gave up everything for her!" Gone is the calm measure of control, the facade of power and capability, the ice in her veins and the steel in her heart. Something else has been left behind in the wake of Serah's departure. Something raw and beating and bloody. It doesn't glide smoothly like the transition of her gunblade; it aches with grief and reeks of bitter copper and hot tears. "I gave up everything and now there's nothing left! Don't you get it? Just go!"
There's no Eidolon to calm her down, to force her to think rationally. Odin wasted his opportunity long ago and imprisoned himself in the marking over her beating heart. The others have gone and it's just the two of them now, standing in that woodland terrain, the sun peeking out faintly between and behind black, green and golden leaves. Shadows dance as the wind blows. They look like demons, he notices, as they climb over the pallor of her skin.
The scent of flowers is sickly sweet.
"After our parents died, I threw it all away to keep her safe! I gave up being a kid, I gave up my future, I gave up my name! And now she's gone! How are you going to fix that, 'hero'?!"
She needs something from him - anything from him - and he can see it clear as day. But she has worked herself into a frenzy of screaming and crying; howling like a banshee and cursing like a sailor. Tree bark reverberates with every foul, miserable word.
"Lightning." He says.
"Shut up!" She shouts.
"Lightning!" He yells.
"Go to hell!" She screams.
"Claire!"
The forest of screaming and yelling and shouting and speaking is finally silent and tears drip from her eyes.
"Claire." He says her name again, softly this time. How long has it been since she heard this gentle syllable? She doesn't look up and he draws her close into a hug. Her body is trembling; every nerve exposed, every fiber of her being poking out and testing the air. Bracing for electric, burning emotional pain. Bracing for the worst and gaining nothing in return. "Claire."
"I gave it all up. I would've given up more, if she wanted it. I would've set Pulse on fire and I would've ripped Cocoon out of the sky if she wanted. If it would have kept her safe."
"I know." He sighs. "But she never asked you to."