Will to Love

Mark Berger

Introduction by the author: "Will to Love" is from an incredible album
called "Sing or Die," and Skies of Arcadia is the first epic RPG for the
Sega Dreamcast game console (I specify "epic" because there have been a
whole lot of piddly little 20-hour dungeon crawlers).

SPOILER WARNING: The events in this fanfic start very close to the end of Skies of Arcadia.

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There's nothing I really want, Nothing else that I need
If you're standing by my side

"Vyse... I'm scared." Fina was staring at the ruins that had once been
the Crescent Island base. Just minutes ago, the Valuan Armada had
reduced it to rubble and nearly killed them. Fina was standing at the
base of Crescent Isle's ruined flagpole, crying softly. Everything
they had worked so hard for was just gone. Vyse put his arm around Fina,
and suddenly the devastation of her world seemed to fade away.

The dream I had yesterday, The world is gone, the end of time
If you're here, I won't be afraid

Fina watched the Blue Rogues work together to clear the debris of Crescent
Isle, before starting to rebuild their world again. Just because the
Valuans had wrecked the place, didn't mean that they were going to stay
beaten. Watching the Blue Rogues laughing as they worked together, she realized that Ramirez was wrong about the Arcadians. They deserved to live just as much as the Silvites did.

From a hole in the sky, Fiery tongue, the tip is dry
Trembling flowers fear for their lives, taken easily

Ramirez triggered the Rains of Destruction from the Yellow Moon, and
laughed as the falling moon stones destroyed the entire Valuan Empire.
His horrible laughter echoed in Fina's ears... a twisted parody of what
it had once been. Now Fina knew what she had been refusing to acknowledge.
The Ramirez she had known was dead, and the stranger that stood in his place
was one Fina didn't want to know.

In the morning I could see the fields, and they were burning
Sea will rise against the careless men, and it was weeping

In the aftermath of the Rains of Destruction, Upper City and Lower City
residents for the first time stood face to face with each other... and
despite every prediction Ramirez possibly could have made, they turned to
each other, and began to work together to rebuild their shattered world.

There's nothing I really need, I won't be afraid of anything
I'm gonna hold you tight, in my arms, I'll sing for you

Fina laid in Vyse's arms, the two holding together. Vyse was about to make
history... The young Captain was about to take on the entire Valuan fleet!
How could he not be nervous? Despite this, his breath was slow and even
against her cheek.

I'm wondering where we're going to? And wondering how far we'll go,
Will the sky still be blue?

Fina remembered their triumphant return from Yafutoma, the first time she
had seen the thriving town on Crescent Isle. The island town was built
from nothing, and the dedicated, but slightly mad Blue Rogues would
rebuild it from nothing, she was sure. No matter how many times it
was devastated by Ramirez, or anybody else, life would go on.

There is a hole within our hearts, mended but then the bandage falls,
And goes crashing down, crashing down, for everyone to tear

Everywhere in the world, Fina had seen the same thing: when people fell
into disaster, their neighbors pitched in to help restore their world to
life. She knew that Ramirez was wrong. Yes, people had an incredible
talent for destruction, but they could band together and build something
truly greater than an individual person.

And then tomorrow, I will sow the seeds, Hope is calling
In the forest I can hear the rain, tears are falling

"In dire need!" shouted Vyse...
"We call forth!" continued Aika...
"The power!" cried Prince Enrique...
"Of the Ancients!" finished Fina.

"TO BATTLE OUR FOE!" The four together called down the power of the Silver Moon together to send the mad Ramirez to his grave. Their battle had been long and hard, and it had been so many hours since it started that the morning sun was peeking up over the horizon. Mid Ocean was ablaze with the smoldering corpses of ships fallen on islands, wrecked and beyond recovery. Finally, though, her one-time friend had been defeated.

There's nothing I really need, I won't be afraid of anything,
I'm gonna hold you tight, in my arms, I'll sing for you...

Fina gazed deeply into Vyse's eyes, searching for that indescribable
feeling that she had often seen in Enrique's when he spoke of Moegi...
and finding it. She smiled, blushing, and closed her eyes, happy now
that she knew where she belonged: with Vyse, and the Blue Rogues.

I pray the will to love is blooming deep in our hearts
Unhurt by chaos and screaming, I pray our will to love
will always be here.

Vyse gazed deeply into Fina's eyes, wondering, hoping that the young Silvite could love and respect him, a scruffy air pirate from the wrong side of Arcadia... and found the answer to be "yes."

Even if I lost everything, it's only my heart that I can bring
I'm gonna hold you tight, in my arms, I will sing for you...

The two young lovers came together in an embrace. Their lips met, and their two worlds became one.

THE BEGINNING