Ivalice's Hero
Notes: A story tying Ramza and Vaan together. Just read to understand.
So cold…can't go on…burns aching…the snow eases the burns but stings the flesh. Delita...Teta…Algus…Brother. Am I going to die? What is this? Snow…this snow is red… I am dying…
"Vaan! Come have a look at this." I heard someone call my name so I looked. Balthier came running up holding a rather old looking bunch of papers. "Look at this treasure I uncovered in my last outing." I leaned over and enquired to what it was. "The true record of The Lion War." Everyone in Ivalice knows of The Lion War. After it was over, King Delita Hyral came to power and introduced the bangaa, viera, and all the other creatures to Ivalice.
"So? Just go down to a store. You can find at least one thousand books on it." When I turned to look at Balthier he was shaking his head. I glowered and yelled, "What?" Truly I did not understand.
"This, my friend, is the one and only Durai Report. It is the only record containing information on the The Forgotten Hero of Ivalice: Ramza Beoulve. Purged by the church for being a heretic."
Cardinal Draclau is dead. I fell him with my own two hands. But was it truly he? His blood…it soaks me. I feel sick…I'm shaking. Teta…what would you say if you saw me? This blasted hell whole…I must escape. I'm suffocating. The air smells so metallic. I feel faint. What now? Draclau was inhumane…a demon! I had every reason to kill that disgusting pig! Dear God, my head is aching…my ears are ringing! Make it stop!
I carefully read the Durai Report that night. I had always been told that King Hyral had saved all of Ivalice but… this put everything into a different view. It feels odd knowing that I did something similar but not quite to the same scale. He marched to Hell for Ivalice. Could I ever do that? I do not know… Some man named Olan Durai wrote this document years ago. I lowered the document in shock when it spoke of the death of Queen Ovelia Hyral… We of Ivalice had always been told she died of illness but… King Hyral murdered her… This is too much to take in! I threw it to the side and lay on my bed filtering it all. Our history is so shaded if this document doesn't lie.
I am tired… my head is throbbing, my heart is racing, and I am soaked in sweat and blood. I need water… Wiegraf… and Izlude are dead. I murdered both of the Folles siblings…Miluda and Wiegraf's blood both have sprayed on me. But Izlide was not my fault…His own kin was mad…like Wiegraf and Draclau. All of the people I have killed! Their icy hands cling to me and I cannot forget. Agrias stares in awe as I sit here dry heaving. It is not that I am unused to battle…but shame and guilt destroy souls. And my soul is rotting from the inside out.
The next day I returned it to Balthier in awe. What a brave man that Ramza Beoulve. He readily fought to the ends of the Earth for Ivalice. Balthier was happy to see that I was able to appreciate it. "I'm going to store this some place safe. It is the treasure of all of Ivalice, eh Vaan?" I readily nodded in agreement. Then I went on walking in the market place contemplating. I was curious to know what he was like. I know he was brave and good but that is not enough. I came to decide him like a fairy tale hero. He was stead fast and strong for his beliefs and did what was right. I came to consider my own position. I saved Ivalice too but…I have bad parts of my personality. I can be cowardly, naïve, and even childish. Was he like that too?
Can you forgive me God? Zalbag is dead… another hand pulling me down to the pits of Hell. My own kin…my brother! Alma is all I have left…Dycedarg is no longer the man I knew. I sit curled up in a ball here in Mandalia Plains…dying. Not my body…my mind. It slowly crumbles with my world…my family. Father, this all began when you died! Why? Am I not even half the man you were? I touch my lip…blood. This head pain won't go away… it grows worse all the time. Agrias asked if I am okay… Could I tell her no? That the dregs of my humanity are being wrenched from my very being? I want to cry but the tears cannot fall. Brother, father, Teta…can you hear me? I will apologize to you soon…
A few months later I saw Balthier again. He told me he had gone to see As…Queen Ashe. He asked to have the Durai Report print en masse. I was surprised. "Will people receive it well, Balthier?" He shook his head no. The church will fight it, the commoners won't believe, and the scholars will be in shock. The whole history of Ivalice will be told differently. Will people accept a heretic as their savior, that King Hyral was not a good man, and we have been lied to all of these years? Some how, I remember Vayne when I think of King Hyral: power hungry to the point of madness. God, poor Penelo. She's always had a historical fan girl crush on King Delita. This will surprise her to no end.
The entrance to Hell… Everyone is there waiting for me. Mother, father, Teta, Zalbag… Everyone I have killed and failed to save. They achieved their goal and have dragged me down here. Orlandu asks me why I hesitate. Can I face them? Wiegraf, Miluda, Draclau, Izlude… I have to. I must save Alma…I must save Ivalice. But why me? Why the man who is so afraid to face his sins? Why must it be I who travels through Hell, seeing all those he has wronged, to finish this task? Meliadohl looks sad. I know what she is thinking… She does not want to see Izlude. A common fear we share. My head hurts so much I can hardly think… My hands and lips are shaking; my heart is pounding, face drenched in sweat, and eyes focused forward in fear. Can I do this…?
After two years of the Durai Report's release to the general public much has happened. The church had uproar, some of King Hyral's monuments were destroyed, and a statue to Ramza was erected in Archades. Me? On my sky pirating adventures I have made a point to raid any document storage areas in search of more information. All I have discovered was his military school records. Nothing that would be useful in unearthing Ivalice's hidden truth. Balthier hasn't had any luck either.
Does anyone remember me? I certainly hope not… Stories blur the truth and paint me a hero… or a villain. I do not wish either. I rather fade peacefully into obscurity. No monuments…no scorn. Alma…? We shall stay here forever…the living among the dead. If no one remembers what does it matter? Sleep here on this wrecked airship…wasting away. It has been so long and some have died… an archer and a priestess. My headache blocks my senses so I cannot smell the rotting flesh. The world darkens around me… my mind is sinking into oblivion. I turn my head slightly and make out a blurred image of Agrias…slumping over. Dead or sleeping I do not know… I do not care particularly either. I close my eyes, as it all grows so dark. My heart rate slows, my breathing subsides and my headache is gone…
End
End Notes: I was listening to Calling from FFVII: AC while I wrote that last paragraph because it fitted. Peaceful yet so very sad. Ramza's dying wish to be forgotten was some what denied of him. He was eventually remembered as hero, which he did not desire. Please review but please no flames. Love.