"C'mere, beautiful."
With those two words, he owns me; body and soul. In them I hear everything he would say to me, were we alone.
He sits, bloody and exhausted; his lance resting across his shoulder as if it was an obscene gesture to the sky.
He was never meant to be a warrior…his soul belongs to the sky. Only I know how deep his weariness truly goes; yet he doesn't complain, knowing what we do is necessary. I will be beside him when his nightmares come, loving them away, as he has done for me…so many times.
In spite of all the killing, my unlikely philosopher holds to his belief the world will someday be a better place. He allows the others to think whatever they will; hiding himself behind a mask of brashness and cynicism, but I know the truth of him. His is a heart big enough to care for the smallest thing.
He watched me one day as I was petting a small cousin of Nanaki's kind in the ruins of Midgar; the poor creature little more than skin and bones, all eyes and black fur. A sudden noise frightened it away, but later I found him in the engine room, sitting cross legged on the floor. Beside him was food and water, and a warm bed he had made for it from one of his old shirts. He was speaking softly to the small creature, soothing it ever so gently with those large hands.
His expression was shy and guilty that I should find him doing such a thing; but all he said when his blue eyes met and held mine was that some things are worth saving.
Mine. I like the taste of it, and of him. He tells me I am beautiful, and his eyes make me believe. He tells me my scars have merely found a way to the outside, when most people carry theirs always within. He taught me to see beyond them.
From him, I learned to allow both myself and what lies within me live; after so long lying hidden in darkness. I dance only for him, unafraid that he see me so revealed. Because of him, I have learned to love the sky.
Lucrecia was the love of my past, but his is the love that will endure to what lies beyond forever.
We have a secret, Chaos and I…one we shall keep. When he is gone, I shall follow in the same moment, and we both shall be free. Until then, we are content in our knowing.
And so I answer him in silence, approaching where he sits bowed in weariness against the stone; coming to rest against him. He shifts the lance aside, and wraps me in his arms.
Even in his exhaustion, he finds a smile for me; and the world is already a better place.
