A/N: This came to me last night. It's a bit of a downer at Xmas, but I'm still pleased with it. Please R&R at the end.
Have a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.
Disclaimer: Square-Enix owns these characters, not me.
Remembrance.
The Sun shone brightly in the late December afternoon. However, the brisk North Wind carried the promise of snow. Everyone in the little town of Nibelheim was indoors, out of the cold. Except for one man, a figure of crimson and jet, walking calmly up one of the hills just outside of the town.
Presently, the wind blew strongly, blowing back the man's red cape, the Sun glinting on a fierce bronze gauntlet, shaped like a claw. Vincent Valentine used his left hand to carefully pull his collar up more than usual, as a slight submission to the weather. He would have used his right hand – the one not encumbered by the gauntlet – to do this normally, but he had already entrusted it with what he thought of as a worthier task:
In it, he carried five wreaths.
Eventually, Vincent reached the top of the hill, and paused reverentially. In front of him were five gravestones – this wasn't the last resting place of any soul, as far as he knew, so they could not be called graves. He went up to each in turn and laid a wreath of rosemary – the herb of remembrance – on each. After doing this, he took a step back and looked at each of the headstones in turn. He nodded solemnly in faint satisfaction – these were, unfortunately, the only places of remembrance for each of these five people on the entire planet.
The tombstones read:
Beloved Lucrecia
I hope that you have found your peace.
Sephiroth
Forgive him, Lord; he did not know what he did.
Gast
Friend, and father to a friend – you shall be missed.
Ifalna
May the Promised Land be all that you were promised.
Hojo
Rest In Peace.
Vincent stood quietly in front of them for a minute, and then slowly bowed his chin to his chest. A warm glistening tear ran down his cheek, and then fell to the ground.
After a few minutes, he looked up again, and sighed quietly.
"Don't worry;" he quietly announced to the row of headstones, "I shall not let them forget our mistakes. If they ever did…" he paused, before continuing more softly; "…then they would be doomed to repeat them."
With that said, he turned around and began his trek back to Nibelheim.
The first snowflake fell silently to the ground.