please don't hate on sodia. she's a great character; you're all just bitter.
(i rewrote the scene at aurnion because: you've all played the game you know what happens, and i know how boring it is to reread a scene you've already watched)
Sodia hated Yuri Lowell. That was no secret. She hated the way he acted without thought to the consequences, she hated the way he talked as though nothing was a big deal. But, most of all, she hated the way he so easily rubbed off on Flynn. A punch to the arm, a half-smile, and already the tension was draining out of Flynn's shoulders. When he was around Lowell, Flynn's eyes would soften, and the hard line of his mouth would relax, and he would lose everything that made him Flynn. Yuri had Flynn's soul; Sodia knew it from the looks that they gave each other, how they came undone in each other's arms in the way only soulmates could. For so long she tried to convince herself that she was happy, glad for the fact that Flynn could unwind and forget the world, if only for a fleeting moment; she tried, but all she ever thought when she watched them was 'that could be me'. Eventually it changed to 'that should be me', and she channeled her envy into hatred towards the star who stole the sun from her sky and brought him to the night.
Sodia hated Yuri Lowell because he already had everything that she had ever wanted, ever worked for, and he didn't seem to give any more of a damn than he did about everything else.
The sunset in Aurnion was solemn, if only because Flynn had taken off with Lowell once again, retreating to their secret little world where they could be kids with dreams again and never have to look reality in the eye. She wanted to know that world, her and Flynn, looking up into the clouds and finding hope where there was none. They would face the world, trusting their backs to each other, and they would live.
At the thought, Sodia's eyes went half-lidded, stinging with the prick of oncoming tears, and her smile grew that much more believable.
Sodia padded softly to where the commandant and Lowell had gone, past the entrance, the yellow and green grass muffling the heavy clanking of her armored boots as she walked. The guard that had been posted outside had gone off, probably recognizing the situation and trusting the watch to Lowell and Flynn. She leaned against the wood, breathing in the scent of relief and strength of will that had seeped into the bark from the many hard workers who had handled it.
She turned her head and there they were, all a blur of muted grays and shiny silvers, Flynn's blue eyes almost glowing in the near-darkness, like twin stars. Hair too, almost as though it had soaked up all the rays of sun that had ever touched it, warm and bright and- buried in blades of grass as Lowell knocked Flynn back with a particularly hard strike. Flynn hefted himself up on an elbow, breathing through his mouth with the biggest smile Sodia had ever seen plastered to his face.
"Hah- alright I give-" He ended with a puff of air. Yuri slung his sword over his shoulder and took a few steps towards him, wearing a shit-eating grin. He leaned down a little in a mocking sort of way to hover over Flynn.
"Already? Get up Flynn! We've only just gotten start- whoa!" One step too close, it would seem, as Flynn hooked his leg around Yuri's and brought him tumbling to the ground beside him. Lowell heaved a breath and turned over on his back, allowing himself a light laugh.
"Cheater."
"You were the one baiting me." Was Flynn's response, his grin matching Yuri's. The two laughed for a minute more, just lying on their backs and gazing up towards the same sky.
"Guilty as charged." He offered Flynn a glance. "Gonna arrest me, commandant?"
"No." Flynn replied simply. "Leblanc wants your head badly enough as it is."
"Aha, true enough. Not that they'll ever catch me."
"They won't." Flynn turned to meet Yuri's gaze. His smile changed in that moment, to something a little lonelier.
"Yuri, thank you."
"What's this about?"
"Thanks for being you. I know for sure that there's no way I could've ever made it this far if not for you." Yuri opened his mouth to object.
"And not just because of the things you've done backstage.
I was always thinking about you. About our promise, about our dreams. About changing the rules of the game so that they'd be fair for everyone. And… whenever I was tired, or uncertain, or- or afraid, I thought back to those days when we were kids, when we felt that we could take on the world and change it with our own hands.
Those memories picked me back up when I fell down. They kept my heart beating. If it wasn't for you, Yuri, I'm sure that I would've given up a long time ago." Flynn's voice gave out near the end, betraying the beginnings of tears swimming behind his eyes. He stared back up at the sky. Yuri did too.
"That was all you Flynn. All I did was provide the means. You have no one but yourself to thank." Yuri answered decidedly. The sky grew darker.
Flynn's free hand found Yuri's amidst the grass, twining their fingers together, and he heaved a sigh from deep in his chest, blinking away the almost-tears.
"I missed this. I'll always miss this." He breathed.
"Yeah, me too."
The pair broke out into laughter once more.
Their laughter made her heart flutter weakly. A weight settled in the pit of her stomach; something of a cross between acceptance and sorrow; a realization that she had put off for too long: unable, unwilling, to believe.
"It's as I thought." She muttered numbly as she turned away from the two. A sad chuckle bubbled up in her throat. Her legs wobbled.
"I could never make Flynn laugh like that…"
Sodia felt the first warm drop hit the back of her hand.