Based on: Behind These Hazel Eyes, Kelly Clarkson
The day is beautiful. The sun is shining high, and there is just enough wind to cool, but not to stir up the sand. The view from the balcony is nothing short of breathtaking, with the sprawling streets of Rabanastre stretching as far as the eye can see.
She stands there, a smile playing on her lips as she surveys the numerous citizens milling about the city. It seems from here the war doesn't exist. That armies aren't marching to defend their honor.
Everything is alright now. He is beside her, and their hands are together. Their love is endless, even if for most their union seems merely a political statement.
They look at each other, cheer dancing in their eyes. She, soon to be queen of this vast land. He, her future king. Their fate is sealed; happiness beyond measure, and a certainty everything will come out for the best.
She wakes with a start. Her breath hitches. A dream, again. Of him. A pang of longing lurches in her. He is not here. He will never be.
Another sleepless night, alone with a a phantom in her mind, a raw wound that cannot heal.
She barred any from inquiry, lest they discover their leader's frail state, but ever does her hand reach for the end of this pain. She resists, by sheer strength of will.
She is determined. She will lead the resistance against Vayne Solidor, and reclaim Rabanastre from Archadian oppression. The people will surely follow, and Dalmasca shall be free once more.
Rasler is ever on her mind. His death is fresh to her every day. Every day she gathers strength from it, even as she crumbles under the grief and rage.
It was supposed to be all right. The perfect marriage, filled with true love, ideal in its image. They were just right for each other; two sides of the same, exquisitely carved coin.
But it is not so. She is here, and he is not. She hates him too, sometimes, for leaving her alone. But he meant not ill by it, and her guilt builds should she think him remiss.
Yet he will never see her cry. The tears fall freely, and he cannot comfort her, cannot be. The only one who could help her with such things is the one who perished, and part of her heart with him.
The part that can heal the tragedy of life.
There were no secrets between them. She believed they were meant to be together, for all time. Oh, how cruel can her enemies be, to take away such wonders on a whim?
For that, they will pay.
Oh, they will pay dearly.
With blood, and she will spill it herself. She will take up her sword, and carve a bloody mark in her enemy.
Dalmasca will not forget. Will not forgive. Archadia's doom is certain, just as her love to Rasler was. She only need find the means, and a terror Ivalice had never known will descend upon them.
For all those who have fallen. For him.
Her eyes craved the Empire's demise.