Daughter

Paddra Nsu-Yeul gazed at the twinkling stars as she waited for what she knew would happen. The beautiful Pulsian night would witness the outcome of Yeul's decision of walking away from her home towards the plains of Gran Pulse. The thirteen year old knew that she would not return to her village tonight because of a vision she had a few days ago. Today was the day that her life ended.

A once kind and compassionate man, angry and believing the young Seeress was the cause of the monster attack on his city that killed his daughter, had traveled to her village and stalked her as she left. His heart was heavy with hate as he held his weapon out, ready to strike at the girl he did not consider human. Yeul knew he was creeping closer as she distracted herself with the stars. The Seeress had received excruciatingly painful visions of the attack on the man's city and a villager had been dispatched to warn them. Thanks to her, the city's people had fared better than they would have without the warning. Many had died but the death toll was lower than it could have been.

The city's occupants, heeded her warning and then decided that Yeul must have caused the attack for her own amusement. They were wary of anything they did not understand and blamed the person that had helped them. The man now yards away from her also believed that she was the cause of the attack and vowed to kill her to avenge the deaths of his daughter and people.

Yeul could yell for Caius and not let the vision of her death come to pass but that would cause more problems. Another painful vision showed the girl that after her death, her murderer would be hailed a hero and eventually be given leadership of the city. Under his guidance, the city would rebuilt stronger and end up more prosperous than before. Paranoid of the repercussions of killing the Seeress, her murderer would have his people become powerful warriors so they would be ready for the next attack that he believed would come. His warriors would save the lives of many people in the neighboring villages and cities as their leader would always be willing to give aid to those who needed it.

If Yeul tried to avoid her fate then this would not happen. Most likely, her own village would be attacked in retaliation by the city's people to get at her. There was already a large group of men and women headed this way, hungry for misguided revenge. Even if she left, they would likely still attack the village fueled by anger and wanting to lash out at anything. The group would only turn back after meeting the man who killed her on his own way back home. Running would only end with destruction of her home and people so she would not do it.

Though she knew her death was coming in just a few more moments, Yeul did not cry for herself but instead for her Guardian. Yeul had ordered him not to interfere when she was to die and so he would not. Once again, he would endure her death only to see it happen to her reincarnation years from now. Letting a single tear fall from her eyes, Yeul did not turn as she heard the sound of booted feet behind her and embraced her fate.

Appearing after the murderer fled with his blood soaked spear, Caius Ballad knelt and gently picked up the warm, blood-covered body of the child he wished he could have protected. Her eyes were closed and her blood quickly covered his hands and began to drip to the ground. Her killer had made sure to pierce her heart, maybe afraid of what he thought the Seeress could do if he gave her time to react. Yeul's death had thankfully been quick. There had been times when this had not been the case.

Every death hit Caius as hard as the first did, or maybe even more than the first. He no longer held any love for the Goddess as it was she who cursed Yeul. His charge was re-born only to die before she could live to adulthood. Yeul was at times feared, hated and even hunted by the people of Gran Pulse because of Etro's so-called 'gifts'. More of the world's people feared her than loved her. All she did was try to help and all they did in return was hurt her.

Caius hated the Goddess after seeing Yeul die dozens of times. But even so, he still held hope that one day She would take back her misguided 'gifts'. He hoped that one day his charge would be able to live a life free of the cursed Eyes of Etro, misunderstandings of the people and that the Heart of Chaos would no longer be needed. He wanted freedom for them both.

He knew Yeul hoped this as well but always accepted her fate and did not try to fight it. Instead it was him that harbored thoughts of defying the visions but was dissuaded by the child he considered his daughter in every reincarnation. Yeul did not believe that extending her life was worth the pain it would inevitably cause. She did not want anyone to suffer because of her.

It was agony to watch the child he helped raise be die over and over. Her deaths were most often caused by the visions and sometimes by accidents, monsters and humans. In some reincarnations he was her only companion, the parents of the girl abandoning her once they found out about her visions. They would think her a witch, a demon, or a curse on their family. In other reincarnations he visited her often while she lived with a family that loved or at least tolerated her.

The only creature truly responsible for Yeul's suffering and deaths was the damned Goddess. Caius longed to find a way to seek vengeance on the Goddess and somehow save Yeul from the pain caused by the cycle of rebirth. If this cycle did not end then one day he knew he would do everything in his power to save Yeul even without her consent. He didn't think he could take seeing her constant sadness and pain any longer.

Not letting his sorrow take over yet, Caius disappeared to lay the body in his arms to rest. In about 9 months, he would meet her again.

I posted this on an old ffnet account I forgot about some years ago. I recently found some of my old unpublished FFXIII stuff and remembered about that account as well. I'm going to put this collection on my new account and maybe post some of the rest of the old stuff I wrote. I haven't played FFXIII in ages so I'm not even sure what I got right or wrong in the fics anymore. For anyone curious, my old account was SilverWinterMoonWolf.