Till Twilight Falls, a final fantasy vii fanfic

'Till Twilight Falls

Rachel "D" Winslow

Lyrics/Sounds to read by: 'Lover's End', by The Birthday Massacre

Hands cover whispers of the lovers' fright

Fear-cloaked renditions of that autumn night

Only in the midnight hours, when no one was around to hear. That one inconvenience that caused them to sneak around like shadows in the dark was a small price to pay for the time they spent together. He was quiet like a thief, and she his ever-willing accomplice. Whether or not they would ever be caught was never the issue; it was more fun their way. Sometimes he believed she wanted to be caught, and others she was so convincing in her ways when she would say, "Be careful".

She'd felt guilty at times for betraying a bond not yet set in stone, such a conscious girl. At the same time, she knew it would just be so much easier to expose themselves for all the world to see, judgement be forgotten. She, the quiet and innocent young woman that she was, thought she should be allowed to have a darker side as well.

And the contract? Let that be forgotten as well...at least for now. It was always for the sake of the moment, living one day at a time, regardless of the hidden possibilities. They escaped to each other, were lost in each other, hid from the world in their secret place. That place would never become jaded. There it was always warm and safe, and she could forget her fears in his arms.

They were so afraid...of the hidden possibilities they pretended not to see. If she'd only lived to see his body twist in agony as he called out to her through the darkness...if only. But no one could ask her to give up the best years of her life. Not even the one who held her by her chains, or the demons that plagued the one who was her shelter. They could not ask for such a thing. But they could take...

Digging up rumours of the kids in the park

What awful things happened in the dark?

There was a long silence that day. Solemnity hung over the mountain town, and the children ceased playing, though there was no particular reason. Not one of them knew what was going on behind those walls. A few random dogs could be heard barking, but the source of their discontent could not be found. The air was quiet and restless all at the same time, like a poison waiting to take hold on the life it has bound itself to. Those walls were thick enough to cover any sound, any shot. Any screams...

What good can be said about a place where young men venture, never to return? For this is what had passed; one man entered, and no man returned. He was never seen again. Light exposes things for what they are, and the deed was done in darkness, in secret. No one would ever know...

The chains, they were kept secret, a quiet reminder of what it is to lose the thing which makes one free. The tools, they were quiet; chains and tools cannot speak for themselves, and what good is the voice of a man who is dead and bound? The needles and the walls...they were both thick.

Take just one last dare

Pretend you don't care

Till twilight falls

Wait, is someone else here?

And I can't stop my tears

I've never been so scared

He'd been wreckless, that was true, though he did it all for good reason. He was fearless all his life, until he met her. It takes a lot to bring a man like himself to his knees, though strangely enough, in his case, "a lot" could be defined as a small weight of lead. He never thought about the consequences of his actions until his life had come to an end, and darkness was staring at him point-blank. It was then that he knew real fear.

And they said grown men never cry.

They hadn't feared any of them, not even that one. But he was the one with the chains and the tools, and the needles, and...the key. If only she could have seen the tears in his eyes and known that he did know how to cry after all. If she had made it there in time too see her fears realized, she would have lost what little time she had left. The worst fate possible, reserved for the two of them.

In the cellar buried six feet deep

The lover's shaken from a dreamless sleep

The end is never pretty, though many like to pretend. There is no such thing as a graceful death, and there is nothing beautiful about a man hunched over, vomiting blood on hardwood floors, waiting for the last breath to be sucked from his body. Though if one could have made the scene worth every moment, it would have been him. The sheer irony of it all was enough to rip him to shreds, leave alone the surgical tools strewn about the dusty room. Tools to make him every bit the demon he then imagined himself to be.

Yes, a real-life horror story. How he missed her from his lonely box in the middle of the dank room, locked in his crypt, waiting for the first visitor to find the new dark legend in the peaceful town. Their nightmare had come true, forever alone, forever separated. There were only nightmares and darkness; his death was his sleep, and his sleep was his hell.

Nails clawing splinters from the ceiling and floor

Shrieking like the witches til his stitches are sore

The demons, oh, the demons. They tried to get free every single time. They cried for release, and each breaking was a rampage, but he was bound within his nightmare, and as he slept, they also slept. They were released within his mind, as long as he refused to wake, making his slumber all the more insufferable. Yet, if he were to wake, he would let them free. Such a heavy burden for such a troubled creature. Thus his sleep was not a sleep, but a sort of guard against the darkness. And his sleep was darkness, so his existence became darkness.

His entire body was swallowed up by the images of his nightmares, and he became something not quite human. His mind screamed for freedom from the depths, but its voice was drowned out by the nothingness that surrounded him.

Once a lover's angel, now the tainted product of an amateur undertaker, his struggle was empty, and he was frozen in time.

Take just one last dare

Pretend you don't care

Till twilight falls

Wait, is someone else here?

And I can't stop my tears

I've never been so scared

She'd not thought about the consequences, and purposefully. They were both struggling and dying as they fought, hopeless in their cause. They could never be free, because they were unwilling to let go of their demons. These demons they feared, and they were driven to madness by them in their own way. To die of grief is a sad fate indeed.

The sun was setting on their life together, and their place became suddenly cold, lifeless. Death visited each of them in its time.

She'd never wanted to die alone, having been stripped of everything she'd ever held dear.

Calling for the other

Searching for her lover

Secrets she discovers drain her face of color

When he didn't come to help her the second time, she grew afraid for him. Why she was afraid was a question she had been afraid to ask herself ever since she'd let herself love him. She waited for him, but he never appeared. She feared for all the things that might have happened to him, for all the horrible things that might have been. There were so many who would have dismissed them, or even worse. Someone had it in for them...

The loss was disheartening enough, and she died the day she heard, becoming nothing more than a shell. But it wasn't until she found the records herself that she truly lost it, and was left to a world of sadness. And there was nothing she could do.

1, 2, 3, 4, underneath the cellar floor

5, 6, 7, 8, lover will suffocate

And he lay in wait as the years passed him by, hoping that one day she would come to him before his heart was consumed. No human ear would ever hear his cries, no human hand would ever feel his touch, and his breath would be forever cold.

This was his fate, and there was nothing to do but to wait silently, and hope that Death still wanted him. A cruel fate indeed.

And the darkness closed in from all around...

1, 2, 3, 4, underneath the cellar floor

5, 6, 7, 8, lover will suffocate

End