'It's happening again,' Tiz informed himself, as he looked on at his brother running off after the sheep, and then tripping over and falling flat on the ground. 'Til, come back!' he tried to scream. His mouth moved, but no sound was made. He heard the fateful cries of the birds again. A bright light erupted out of the village, and the ground shook wildly. 'I don't want to see it again!' Tiz scrunched his eyes shut, hoping it would wake him up.

He was in luck. He awoke, jerked up and jumped out of bed. He looked around him. He was still in the Grandship. That knowledge made him relax a little. He was out of the dream.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. He opened it, wondering who'd be out so late, and he nearly had a heart attack at the sight he saw. It was Til, crying his eyes out. 'Why did you let me go, brother?! Why?!'

'No, you're not real, go away!' Tiz pushed the younger boy out and slammed the door.

The scraping on the door rang through Tiz's head.

'Why do you hate me?!'

'Go away! Argh!' Tiz clamped his hands onto his ears, trying to block out the noise. 'This must be a dream. I have to wake myself up.' He scrunched his eyes shut. 'Come on, wake up!' He opened his eyes, and then closed them again.

The scraping outside turned into banging, and then into explosive sounds. Everything around Tiz started falling apart. He began falling with everything, and he felt as he was about to hit the ground.

He woke up again, and tried to hold his scream. His heart crunched for a moment, until it rested again. He looked around him. He was on the Grandship again. He jumped over to the door and opened it. There was no-one there. He had to be out of his dream realm by now.

'Hmmm…' Ringabel moaned as he slowly awakened. Tiz's noises had obviously disturbed his "beauty" sleep.

'Are you okay, Tiz?' he asked the disorientated shepherd, a concerned look in his eyes partly covered by his usually curled up hair which had been flattened down by the pillows.

'I'm fine, just go back to sleep.' Tiz had no intention of talking to any of the group about his nightmares.

'Okay… make sure you do too.' Ringabel turned in his bed and shut his eyes.

Tiz didn't want to. 'What is the point of sleeping? It just wastes time.' He slowly exited the room and decided to go for some fresh air. On the way, however, he had to pass the girls' room. He thought that he could just walk by, but, as he was right by the door, he stepped on a flimsy floorboard, making a loud squeaking noise.

'Who's there?' Edea shouted out from inside.

Tiz didn't want to alarm anyone, so he calmly replied, 'It's just Tiz. I had a bit of a bad dream, so I'm just going to get some fresh air.'

'I hope you are okay,' the soft voice of the Vestal Tiz treasured so much responded.

He was glad they couldn't see him blush through the door. 'Please get back to sleep.' He continued on to the doors leading to the balcony. He rested his arms on the railing, and looked out towards the sea. He felt the cool breeze waft in his hair, making a few strands flutter about, separated from the rest. He loved the wind, ever since he saw Agnès restore the Crystal. He was her hope, after all, as he kept on insisting on their first meeting. However, he felt like he didn't mean it. 'What's the use in having a hope when all you have is gone? I just said that so I would have something to keep my mind off…' He kept in his tears. 'But even with this whole quest thing, I'm still haunted. I guess I can never escape it...' he looked into the depths below, 'there is one final way out.' He clambered up onto the railing, and stood facing away from the Grandship. He took a deep breath, and began falling towards the water.

A hand grabbed his arm, and pulled him back up. 'Whoa, where do you think you're going?' It was Ringabel.

'I… I just…' Tiz sat down, his back sliding against the railing that could have been the last thing he stood on.

'Edea told me you were having nightmares. Anything you want to talk about?'

'No, thank you.'

Ringabel frowned, but decided it was best to leave Tiz be. 'Come on, you still need rest.' He pulled Tiz up and walked him to their room. Neither got to sleep; they just lay awake until dawn.

When light entered through the windows, Tiz quickly got up, went out of the room, and stretched. His head felt a little compressed and heated, but he tried to ignore it.

Agnès opened her door, and saw Tiz. 'Tiz…'

He turned around. 'Yes, Agnès?'

'Do you want to talk about last night?'

Tiz sighed as the pressure started building in his head. 'No. Can you please just leave me alone?'

'Are you sure you want me to? You seem a little depressed-'

The pressure was too much for him. He exploded, 'I said leave me alone, Agnès! Don't you ever listen?!' He stormed off towards the bathroom.

The Vestal stood in complete shock. Edea ran to her side, and waved her hand in front of Agnès' face. 'Hello? Can you hear me?'

Agnès started to weep. 'What did I do wrong?'

'What do you mean?' the Eternian asked, dabbing her friend's eyes with a handkerchief.

'I just wanted to comfort him, but he shouted at me.'

'What? That's odd. Maybe I should go talk to him.'

Ringabel interrupted their conversation. 'I'd hate to be rude to such fine ladies, but maybe you should take his advice and leave him alone.' He didn't know about Tiz's dreams, but he knew what he must be going through with any sort of nightmare. He'd suffered the same.

Tiz slammed the bathroom door behind him and sat on the toilet seat, his head in his hands. 'Why couldn't she just listen? "You theem a little deprethed",' he mocked her voice. He looked over at the bathtub. 'There's still that way out…'

As the water ran into the bath, he could see his reflection in it.

'Look at you. You're nothing. You couldn't even save your own little brother. You are so weak. As if you have anything to live for,' it sneered back at him.

Suddenly, it morphed into Til. 'Yeah, you can't do anything right, and now you're just a loner taking the coward's way out. I'm ashamed of being your brother.'

Tiz swiped at the water, wiping away the image. 'It may be the coward's way out, but it's for the best, for everyone.' He turned the tap off, stripped off his clothes, and stepped into the warm water. He lay back, took one deep breath, and slipped his head under the water. He was doing it; he could finally get away from the haunting images of his dead brother. This was it. He could feel his lungs burning for oxygen. 'Not far until the end now,' he thought.

He was beginning to pass out, when he heard a distorted voice call out to him. 'Tiz! Tiz! I'm here for you!'

'Til! I must be dead already! I didn't think there'd be an afterlife. Thank the Crystals I can be with him again!' He excitedly jumped out of the bath, wrapped a towel around him, and opened the door, seeing a figure in the doorway. 'Til!' He hugged the figure.

But then his heart sunk. Last time he remembered, Til didn't have breasts, nor hair past his shoulders. Tiz stepped back, and saw the surprised yet sorrowful face of his so-called hope. 'I thought I said to leave me alone!' He tried to slam the door again, but it was stopped by Agnès' foot.

'Please talk to me about this.'

He kept pushing the door furiously, no matter how much she screamed, 'Stop! That hurts!' He felt relieved when the door closed. He slid his back down the door, and stopped when he hit the floor.

Agnès sobbed on the other side, clutching her crushed foot. 'Why, Tiz, why?' she quietly asked, too quiet for Tiz to hear. She doubted he would care even if he had heard.

Edea was laughing loudly nearby. 'Sometimes you can be such a comedian, Ringabel. Going on a date with you,' she snorted and laughed again. Her laughter was cut short when she saw Agnès crying. She quickly rushed over to the Vestal, Ringabel close behind. 'What happened, Agnès?'

'T-Tiz,' she sniffed, 'h-he kept slamming the door into my foot w-when I wanted to talk to him.'

Edea glared at the door. 'Tiz! What the hell?!'

Ringabel laid his hand on her shoulder. 'Calm down, my rosebud. Take Agnès back to your room and give her a quick healing. I'll talk some sense into our deranged country bumpkin.'

Edea snorted again. 'Rosebud.' She slowly picked Agnès up, put one of her arms under the other girl's shoulders, who put her arm over Edea's shoulders, and walked away.

Ringabel sat down with his back to the door. 'Tiz? Why did you do that to your hope?'

'She deserved it. What part of "Leave me alone" doesn't she understand?'

'She doesn't understand the part where you've suddenly become so angry. She doesn't understand the part where you're hurting her. She doesn't understand the part where her Tiz has gone. Where's that compassionate boy who's determined to fight for her no matter what?'

'He left last night when he realised that he was blindly leading himself into danger just to stop thinking about how weak he was because he couldn't save his brother.' Tears flowed down his cheeks.

'Oh… so that's what's been troubling you. Look, you may have lost your brother, and your entire livelihood, but you've found a new family, in Edea, Agnès, and I. I will gladly be the best brother I can be.'

Tiz stopped crying, and felt his heart jumping with joy. He did have something worth living for all along. As much as he thought he was using it to escape the trauma of the Great Chasm, he had found happiness in his journey with the other three. 'Ringabel… I owe a huge apology to a beautiful young lady.'

'You're starting to speak my language,' Ringabel chuckled.

...

Edea inspected the damage to Agnès' foot. 'Hm, nothing a simple potion can't fix.' Using anything more powerful would be a waste; it wasn't as bad as charred flesh caused by a dragon.

She handed a potion to the Vestal, who took it all in one go. 'Thank you, Edea.'

'Let's see if you can walk.'

Agnès stood up, and paraded up and down the room, in her own elegant way. 'It only hurts a little, but I am okay. Thank you again.'

'That's okay. I just hope Ringabel has got through to Tiz…'

There was a knock at the door. 'Who is it?' Agnès asked.

'Um… Agnès, c-can I come in, please?'

Edea smiled, but Agnès was a little scared. 'What if he hurts me again?' she mouthed at the Eternian.

'I'm sure he won't.'

'But you do not know if he will or not.'

They heard from outside, 'See, Ringabel? She hates me. She's never going to talk to me ever again.'

'That can't be true. They're either contemplating letting you in, or,' he raised his voice, 'maybe they're having some lady problems.'

Edea couldn't resist the urge to open the door and slap Ringabel around the face.

As soon as Agnès saw Tiz, she dived under her bed covers, put her knees up against her chest, and hid her face in her knees, trying to make herself as small as she could.

Tiz tried to go over to her, but Edea held him back. 'You can't go near her. I don't want to take the risk of you hurting her again.'

'Agnès, I'm so sorry for getting mad and hurting you. I just felt I couldn't trust you anymore, because you weren't doing what I'd asked you to. Please forgive me.'

The Vestal pushed the covers off her, and faced him, a tear trail running down her cheek. 'I'm not sure…'

Tiz fell to his knees and clasped his hands together. 'Please! You are my hope! I don't know if I could live knowing you hate me! I- I care so much about you!'

Edea's eyes went wide open. 'That's how a man begs. You could learn a thing or two, Ringabel.' The amnesiac smirked at her.

Agnès beamed. 'I forgive you. I care about you too. That is why I wanted to know what was upsetting you. Can you please tell me?'

Tiz stood up, and sat down next to her on the bed. 'Well…'

Edea whispered to Ringabel, 'Let's leave these two alone.' They left the room.

'Ever since it happened, I've been haunted by the events of the Great Chasm opening. When I saw you, I believed I had a hope of getting away from the haunting by helping you on your quest. That was why I said you were my hope. I realised that last night. But now I know that you are my hope in having a new life. And you are everyone's hope in restoring the world.'

Agnès laid her head gently on his shoulder. 'Thank you for sharing your troubles. And I should admit something too. I have had a few bad dreams of when the Wind Crystal fell into darkness, and when I lost the acolytes… but I know I can move on, because I have Edea, and Ringabel, and most of all, you.'

Tiz wrapped his arm around the Vestal. Neither of them wanted to move out of their position. It was nice to feel loved.

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment, if you'd like, it's nice to know what people think.