Twiz: Hello everyone! Welcome to In The Moment! This fic is going to be a multi-chapter fic, each chapter being for a different couple from Suikoden II! I already have a few planned, but I'm also open to requests for others so feel free to speak up! I really hope you guys enjoy!


Chapter one is Elza and Clive! I know their romance isn't technically cannon but I still love the idea of them. This fic is a bit Au-ish but not really, you'll see what I mean. Anyways, hope you like it :)

((Warning: Spoilers for Clive's Quest ahead!))


"Whenever you're ready." Clive said the words, assuming he would be ready to deal with the repercussions. In all reality he wanted time to stop. He wished the world could come to a standstill just so he didn't have to go through with this. It didn't matter if she was read or not, he wasn't ready.

"Impatient, eh? Don't you want to stay in this world a little longer?" Elza challenged. Her stance showed confidence in what she was saying. It challenged him to hold his ground and see what came from this. However, her deep brown eyes told another story entirely. Was that, regret, in her eyes? No. Clive hadn't seen the expression paint her face in years. She had become a different person since then.

Clive stepped forward, taking up his stance. "That won't be necessary." He replied coolly. No matter what he once might have felt for this woman in front of him, he had to brush it aside. This wasn't his Elza any longer. This was the criminal that shot his best friend and ran off after the fact. This was the criminal he had been enlisted by the Guild to hunt down, to kill.

Both of the gunners simultaneously raised their weapons a fraction. "Howling Voice, shadow upon the ground!" Elza called out. If this was going to be a duel, then it was going to be one in proper Guild fashion. Clive didn't hesitate to reply as he hefted his gun higher still, Elza matching his movement. "Howling Voice, flash of thunder from the gods!"

"Cursed Voice that seperates Life from Death!" Elza's voice interrupted Clive's thoughts. Life and death, she should know all about that. Clive didn't know the full story of what had happened the day that Elza had shot Kelley, but he knew that by the end of their duel, Kelley was lying dead on the ground and Elza was nowhere to be seen to explain herself. He was left alone, deserted by the only two people he counted on with no one to explain why.

Stern felt heavy in Clive's hand as he lifted the gun to the heavens, "Right here, right now, these Guns want to shed blood." He already knew what was coming after. These were the words that were engrained into his brain for most of his life. He knew how this was going to play out, right up until a shot was fired.

"They want to feast on souls!" Elza shouted back. Her voice was strained at this point, only a few more lines left before the duel truly began. Clive knew Elza well enough to know that she wasn't scared of the duel itself, but even so, why was her hand shaking? It dragged Clive unwillingly back to another time. A time when a five year old girl was given to the Guild by some unwilling parents. It brought him back to the constantly frightened expression that covered her young face like a mask. That expression was the same one she wore now, but morphed to look more confident than she actually was.

"Listen you cursed Guns!"

"We are it!"

"The final blast to signal war!" Clive cried as the two gunners leveled their weapons at each other.

"Clive!" Elza screamed at the top of her lungs. It was the heart wrenching sound of someone shattering inside. Her chocolate eyes, however, were resolute. No matter what, she could not back out now, and she knew that.

"No hesititaion!" Clive called back determinedly.

BOOM

A gun fired and a body fell limply to the ground. The only sound that could be heard through the now quiet town was the sound of her gasping for breath as the life bled out of her in a warm red trickle onto the cobblestones below. "It's over…" Clive whispered in disbelief, lowering Stern to his side. He stood his ground, shock paralyzing him in place. With a grunt of effort Elza rolled herself onto her back, sprawled out as if her own limbs were too heavy to move.

"Yeah… you're right... You… you won." Every syllable was a struggle to choke out, her hard breathing filling the silence between her words. "Did you… really think… I could shoot you?" she questioned breathlessly from the ground. "Boy… there are no bullets in this gun…" 'There you go Kelley, there's your irony. I'll be coming soon, so wait for me okay?' Elza thought silently

Clive stood silent and steadfast, too unsure to do more than stare at her dying form. She spoke for him, "The day I shot Kelley…. It was me who should have died… Died with pride as a Gunner…" Her breathing became more and more labored as the words started to tumble out, the explanation she knew he'd always wanted. "That's why, boy… That's why I've got more regrets than I care to count…"

Clive took a tentative step towards her, "What?" There was no way she could mean that, regretting killing Kelley. All this time he had thought that she had stopped caring, that after she left that was it, she was done having anything to do with the Guild. He had thought she had meant to do it, to shoot one of her only friends in the chest. Apparently all this time he had been wrong.

"Clive…" his name came out as a tender whisper now. "This place… this village… This is where I was born…" 'Someone may as well know' Elza thought bitterly before continuing. "My father, my mother, our house… They're all gone… Nobody who even remembers them… But even so, this is the place where my heart always returns."

Clive remained in a shocked silence. Elza never used to talk about her past when they were kids in the Guild. She was always too resentful of her parents for giving her up to ever bother talking about them. Clive never realized she had yearned for them in secret all this time. It seemed more and more of this girl he thought he had figured out was unravelling in front of him.

Elza tilted her head towards Riou now, finally acknowledging his presence, "Poor Clive… He was born in the Guild, raised in the Guild… Pretty sad, don't you think boy? And then… he lost Kelley…" She trailed off as her eyes wandered skyward. 'I lost you too that day' Clive thought remorsefully. "Give me Storm" Elza said, motioning to the large gun lying in the dust.

Clive moved silently, crouching down next to the gun, and handing it off wordlessly to Elza. The dying gunner took the weapon and hugged it weakly to her chest. "Storm… the only gun in the world with a soul inside it… The Guild chose Kelley to inherit this Gun, not me… But then Storm itself chose me… The Guild could not go against the wishes of Storm, and the only way to settle it was with a duel…"

Clive waited in his perpetual silence, on the edge of his seat for her story to continue. "Stern and Mond were the guns prepared for the day of the duel. And just like today, only Stern was loaded with bullets. Kelley knew that… and so, he chose Mond."

"The Guild, those fools." Clive interjected. Now he finally understood what had happened on that day years ago, and what was so ironic about the situation now. What a fitting way to go, the same as the one whose life you took.

"I deeply regretted it… shooting Kelley… And then running away from the Guild.

Thank you… Clive. Now, my soul can return home…" Elza trailed off, her breathing so quiet, her slender form convulsing in a sad attempt to gasp more air.

"Elza…" Clive said brokenly. He couldn't save her now, but at least her understood her reasons. A sharp pang in his heart that drew him a step closer to her. She was dying, and he couldn't help her. He should have just let this stupid chase go long ago. Maybe if he had… well that wasn't important now.

"Clive… take care of Storm… You're it's keeper now… Farewell, forever… Farewell, gunslinger."

He threw himself onto his knees next to her, his ever present hood falling back and his untamed blond hair falling into his eyes. "N- No! NO! Elza! Elza!" He screamed her name to the heavens, desperately hoping that could keep her next to him.

"You did good boy… But, remember… You still couldn't do it… You couldn't catch me…" Her hand fell into his, giving a gentle squeeze. It felt like he was holding the cold hand of a corpse, but he clasped at it for dear life all the same.

Clive knelt next to her and watched helplessly as the life drained out of her sparkling eyes, her body becoming still, "I'm sorry Clive…", and the last breath escape her lips.

He sat there, broken, tears escaping his eyes, his throat raw from shouting her name. "Please don't be gone, please… If only I'd known sooner…"


Clive opened his eyes with a jolt, his breathing heavy, and sweat covering his brow. It took him a moment to remember where he was, breathing slowly and waiting for his heart to stop pounding. The bright afternoon sunlight stung his eyes as he glanced around at the back yard of Victory castle. The gunner was leaned up against a large tree in the yard, previously napping within the shade of its branches.

It took him another moment to feel the heat of another person lying on his lap. He kept still as not to wake her, turning his head too look at her sleeping face. Her bleach blond hair was fanned out in a halo around her head, her face peaceful, her breathing a steady in-out as she slept. A large sigh escaped Clive's lips. She was here, she was okay.

It always took him a minute to remember that day clearly, as it actually happened, after having that particular dream about it. It always panicked him until he remembered that he never took the shot. She was still here, in Victory Castle, with him, because he never too the shot.

A soft breeze rustled the trees as Clive leaned over and placed a lingering kiss on Elza's forehead. He leaned back against the tree, a microscopic smile on his face as he soaked in the scene around him. "Mmm, morning to you too Clive" Elza said jokingly as her eyes fluttered open. The female gunner leaned up and quickly pecked her companion on the lips before letting her head fall back onto his legs. She smiled up at him as he laughed at her greeting.

They were finally together with nothing stopping them anymore, all because he didn't take the fatal shot.