PROLOGUE

Edea breathed out a sigh of shame and disappointment. She had been cleaning this window for over an hour now, and she still couldn't see through it.

For as long as she could remember, she dreamed for the life of an ordinary woman. She envisioned herself as the kind of woman to stay at home, clean the house, grow beautiful flowers in her front yard, cook meals for her husband, and raise a family. But as reality would have it, Edea was far from any of those things. She was an ex-sorceress dressed in a dark navy blue shirt tucked into her khaki skinnies with her hair tied up in a bun who couldn't even clean a window properly. It was certainly not the image she expected herself to be.

And as much as she hated to admit, fixing a house, despite it being neglected for over a year, was not her forté. She was naïve to ever think she could actually pull off being a housewife.

What was I thinking…

Thunder echoed in her ears, and in an instant, she opened the window to gaze outside. Heavy clouds had already gathered to block out the sun, shading the sky a dark grey. Her lips graced into a smile. She couldn't have asked for a more perfect time for a break.

She stepped out the front door, staying under the roof for the upcoming storm and ignoring her poor excuse of a front yard with bits and pieces of the broken columns scattered around. Edea loosened her hair tie, letting the wind cool breeze through her black silky strands. Closing her eyes, she reveled in the warmth and chill of the thunderstorm, inhaling the fresh air only the advent of rain could produce.

How long has it been since she last experienced this? Since she felt the forceful thunder rumbling in the distance, goose bumps tickling her arms from the gentle sea breeze, heard the first set of raindrops claiming the silence in an instant,

metal scraping against the cold, wet pavement….

That was strange. Awakened from her reverie, she turned her head to the left to find out what-

Her hands immediately flew up to prevent the gasp escaping her lips, amazed and torn at the sight before her.

He stood at the threshold of her destroyed garden, completely soaked to the bone. Every step he took was agonizingly slow, his body already past the point of exhaustion. His gunblade dragged alongside him, but his grip remained strong, ready to strike at any moment. His trench coat wore countless, irreparable tears with both fresh and dry blood seeping through them. His face was devoid of emotion. Lips slightly parted. Eyes half-open and empty. Staring down as if mesmerized by the ground.

"Seifer!"

Before his body could even tilt forward, Edea was already in front of him, arms tightly wrapped around his muscular frame. His gunblade fell from his grasp, clattering pathetically on the ground. She used all the strength her petite frame could gather and quickly laid him down on the ground, careful not to harm his already damaged body. Relief finally washed over her when she found a faint pulse.

Shielding him as much as she could from the relentless rain, she cradled his head on her lap. She noticed his eyes were still half-open, and she wondered for a moment if he was conscious.

"Seifer?" She gently nudged his shoulder. "Seifer, honey, can you hear me?"

Tears threatened to escape the back of her eyes when she received no response. Just the mere sight of him, lying in her arms, so helpless, so…

broken…

brought back the guilt that's been tearing at her soul since the war. Everything's she done to him, everything she made him do, she could never forgive herself for. Her body started to tremble, and she knew it wasn't because of the rain. She hesitantly caressed his cheek.

"Seifer, please…"

His body was deathly cold.

"Wake up."

His breathing so frighteningly steady.

The notion of death crept at the back of her mind. Her actions grew frantic from stroking his cheek to running her fingers through his hair, shaking his shoulder, pulling at his coat-just anything that could wake him up! Her heart was just about to burst into sobs, but it froze,

"Please. You have…to…"

when she saw the gold gleam in his eyes.