Aria, Maiden of Water

NOTE: If you are playing Final Fantasy III DS and are not yet past the Water Crystal, this chapter and possible later chapters may contain important spoilers. I don't want to scare away readers, but I don't want to spoil the gaming fun of people, either.

1. Confusion and Fear

"Look out!"

She had seen it. She had pushed him out of the way. They were the ones that needed to live, not her. When she fell, it was like time was slowing… Like the time-stopping that had happened to all the rest of the surface world was now finally happening to her. But it wasn't quite the same… She saw him leaning over me, lifting her head up a bit. It softened her pain, to see that he cared… She heard that menacing voice, in the very distance. Everything grew so soft, her vision blurry… He left her side. While she laid there and slowly slipped into darkness, she could hear the cries of battle. Her heart told her, that they fought with furry and grieve…

And then he was there again, at her side. He didn't leave her. She blessed him, him and the others, with the light of the Crystal. Her task was done. She was happy that I could have helped them, if only a little…

"Aria, hang on!"

"N-no…It's already, too late for me…"

"Aria, you can't leave us!"

"Promise me… Promise me that you'll free the land from the darkness…That you will give birth to the light again…"

Everything ended with darkness. And she sank into it. In a far away distance, she could vaguely hear her name being called.

"Aria! Ariaaa!!!"

When she fully slipped into darkness, the last thing she felt and remember, was that she smiled and that a tear rolled over her cheek as she did so.

---

"So this is death…? Floating around in darkness, having no feeling. Just being there, in the darkness, forever. Waves of memories rush over me, like my whole life is passing by at rapid speed. But why? I am dead, am I not?"

Her own thoughts echoed in her head.

"I feel afraid. I didn't know you could be afraid when you have died. But I am. I am afraid to be in this darkness forever. I feel tiny, small. Small compared to this never ending darkness. Is this the end? Is this where I am to be till the end of time, if there is time here? Somehow, I cannot believe that."

In silence she send out her prayers. Prayers for help. Somebody come and help me, help me to escape this. Help me escape death… She didn't know how it is possible, but she could feel something. A tear running over her cheek. She wished she was with that kind young man again. She wished she was in his arms again. She would never forget that in the end, he was there. How she wished that he could be here now, to help her.

She was crying.

"It is weird, to be able to cry when you are dead. But if I can cry, is it possible that I can do more? Maybe I should try to speak? If I could hear my voice again, than maybe I wouldn't feel so alone. If I could break this silence, this haunting silence…"

"Luneth…"

She had intended to speak, but it had come out as a whisper. Yet, the silence was broken… And she felt warm. Like her body was starting to work again. Somehow…

"Open your eyes…" She whispered to myself. A task so simple, yet the effort it took to do so surprised her.

"Opening your eyes, how hard can it be? Maybe, you aren't supposed to open your eyes when you are dead?"

She felt how she clenched my fists, as if it was to encourage herself. "Come on… Aria… You can do it…" Her eyelids felt like they were made of lead… But, after what seemed forever, she could see tiny bit of light. It gave her hope. She gathered all the strength that she could bring up. Her eyes opened and she was bathed in a blinding ,white light…

When she woke up, she was no longer in darkness. She could move again, see again. She was freed from my prison of death. Or, at least that is what she thought. Testing if she could move again, she tried to sit up. She was able to do so without any problems. She touched her chest. The wound of the Kraken's arrow was gone, only a scar remained.

"Strange. Do wounds heal when you are dead?"

Aria looked at the rest of my body, but everything seemed fine. She decided to go a bit further in her movements, this time standing up. She could do that, too.

"I do not understand this." She whispered, laying her hands on her chest. "Is this death?"

Then she noticed her surroundings. A gasp escaped her lips. She covered her mouth with her hands to suppress a scream. She was not on the surface world! She was not in darkness, but at least it came close to it, at least in her eyes. Around her everything seemed to be endless. Endless blue depths, filled with stars. Aria looked at her feet. The ground she was standing on seemed to be made of some kind of beautiful stone. Or maybe even crystal. It had that dark blue colour like the eternity around her had. She bend over to touch it. The surface felt smooth and polished. Aria stood up straight again, and her gaze followed the small floor she was standing on. It looked like a path. A long path, floating in eternity and made of crystal. A path of which she couldn't see the end. Hesitatingly, she set a step forward. Nothing happened. It became a little too much for the young Maiden of Water. She fell on her knees and cried.

"What is happening? Where am I?"

How she didn't long for Luneth to be with her. Him and the other Warriors of Light. They had cared for her. They would have helped her, like she had helped them. She was sure of that. But now she was dead, and there was no way for them to reach her.

Eventually she got a hold of herself. "I must find out what I am doing here, or where 'here' is. And I have to do this on my own…" Afraid but without any other options, Aria walked further along the path. She continued to observe her surroundings, which never seemed to change much. Sometimes the pathway was covered by dark, purple clouds that nearly made it impossible for her to see where she was going. When that happened, she continued slowly and placed her hands on her chest, unsuccessfully trying to calm herself. She caught herself touching the scar on her chest almost all the time.

The pathway went on and on, and there seemed to come no end to it. Aria was getting desperate. When would this end? She looked around again. But this time she noticed something had changed. When she looked behind her, she noticed how far she had walked already. She couldn't even see the place where she had woken up. She looked at her left. In the distance, she could see what seemed to be a huge floating island. It was too far away to see exactly what it was, but she could see some things where built on it. It reminded her of the Floating Continent. When she looked around better, she noticed more of such floating things. But they were all too far to see clearly. Her eyes followed the path again and Aria saw that the path she was following led to such a floating island as well. It was also too far for her to see exactly what was on it, but she hoped it would be an end to this endless path.

Aria was amazed at what she saw. It had been further than she thought, but now she had left behind the narrow path and was walking in what seemed to be some sort of forest. The closer she had come to the place, the more she had realised that this place indeed looked like the Floating continent. The path that led to it was tiny compared to the floating chunk of land. She wasn't sure if it was really land, but it looked like it. The outskirts of this island had been relatively empty. The nice, polished pathway had changed into a hard, rocky ground. The rocky ground had a dark blue and purple colour. Eventually the rocky, empty landscape had changed into a forest. The trees were strange, their trunks grey and their leaves dark. A small path ran between the trees. This placed seemed to be bend on keeping her going, not looking back. But all the walking had tired the Maiden of Water.

Aria looked for a place to rest. One of the trees had a very broad trunk and the ground around it was covered with some mosses. Carefully Aria touched the moss. It was very soft. Some of the trees roots were so big that at the base of the trunk, the came above the ground.

"If I rest here between these roots…" she said to herself "I won't be easily spotted…" Taking the risk, she nestled down on the mosses at the base of the tree. Now she noticed just how sleepy she was.

"Strange…I didn't know you could feel sleepy when you are dead…"

Then she sank into a very long, deep sleep.

---

When Aria woke up, she immediately was aware of the fact that everything around her seemed brighter. The 'sky' above her was no longer dark blue and purple, but more of a soft, sea blue colour. It was still dark compared to the sky on the surface world before the Darkness had come, but it made her feel better. The trees, that had seem so dead and lifeless when she had fallen asleep, now were more like the trees she knew. At least the trunks were brown, very dark brown, now and the leaves green, incredibly dark green. The fact that she was surrounded by familiar things calmed her.

Aria got up and stretched herself a bit. The mosses had been a very nice bed indeed. Her long sleep had refreshed her. Aria wondered if she needed to eat, because she had needed to sleep, but nothing around her seemed eatable.

"I should be on my way again." She said to herself. Taking a deep breath, she stepped on the path and continued to follow it, deeper into the woods.

The first sign of life made her heart jump out of her chest. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw a bird flying over her head, landing on a tree branch and observing her curiously. It was a bird like she had never seen before and, like everything here, it was coloured darkly.

"Hello there." She smiled to the bird. It opened its beak and let out a soft screech, maybe trying to figure out what she was, or trying to impress her. Then it flew off again. Aria shrugged and went further, happy that she wasn't the only being here. She didn't dare to say 'living' being, because she knew very well that she was dead.

After a long time, the path arrived at a river. The water was also dark, but it didn't seem poisoned or something like that. In fact, and Aria was amazed at this, she found that it looked crystal clear. She left the path and went to the riverside. Hesitatingly she kneeled down and put a finger in the water. It was soothingly cool. She put both her hands in and enjoyed the feeling. Then she cupped her hands and splashed some water in her face. It felt so good! When the water touched her lips, Aria suddenly noticed how thirsty she was. She filled her hands again and carefully took a sip. The water tasted normal, even though it was a tiny bit thicker than the water of the surface world. She drank until she could drink no more. Then it was time to continue her way again. The path continued over the river, thanks to a wooden bridge that was build there.

"So, there must be people here too!" She gasped, as she hesitatingly touched the bridge, only believing it was real when she felt the wood under her fingers. It gave Aria a bit of courage. She crossed the bridge and followed the path, which led her along the river for quite some time.

Once she arrived at another bridge, she decided to rest for a while. Above her, the sky, or whatever it was, had become a little bit brighter again, but only a little. Still, it made her feel better. She heard screeching again and noticed the bird from before.

"Hello again." Aria smiled. "Have you come to keep me company?"

The bird tilted his head, observing her again. Then it flapped its wings and screeched at her.

"What?" Aria asked. "Am I doing something wrong?"

The bird didn't stop screeching. It was trying to tell her something, she realized. Its tone was very excited. What was it trying to do? Aria turned around and saw why the bird was making so much noise. A big, fire red snake had slowly crept up from behind her. Its teeth were shimmering, its cold eyes observed her. She almost screamed. Then she turned and ran. The bird flew of, screeching louder and louder, but Aria forgot about the bird. Her mind was to occupied running. She heard the serpent come after her. It was big, twice as high as the Kraken had been, with his long tentacles.

"It must think I am a prey…" Aria realized. She ran faster, trying to get away from it. It seemed like she had a small chance, until she hit a dead end. The path was blocked by a huge fallen tree. At her left side was the river, to broad to jump across. At her right was the forest. She tried to reach it, but the serpent by now had cornered her. It reared up and looked down on her, its split tongue catching her scent. The monster knew that smell. It was the smell of fear. Preparing itself for an unusual meal, it lunged down at the Maiden of Water. Aria closed her eyes and waited for the fangs to go through her and kill, her, again. If she could die again, that was.

Only it never came. She heard a cry of beastly furry, coming from the serpent. She opened her eyes a bit and saw the beast, with an arrow in its left eye. From between the woods came a man shrouded in black. On his shoulder sat the black bird. The serpent now turned its attention to him. It attacked the stranger, but died when the man broke its neck with one slash of his sword, which he had suddenly drawn. Pulling his sword out of the beast's neck, the stranger turned to Aria.

"Are you alright?" He asked coldly. She didn't answer. Too much had happened at once. She had died and now she had been almost killed again. Her knees grew weak under her. She felt herself falling. She could hear the stranger's running footsteps, the screeching of the black bird. Then Aria passed out.

---

So yeah, a fanfic about Aria from Final Fantasy III. Her death was one of the saddest in the entire series (in my opinion) as she was my favorite character from the game. That why I decided to write this fanfic about her, to give her her own adventure even if she died in the World of Light. I'll avoid changing FF III story events as much as possible, unless I want that event to happen differently. Hope whoever has read this enjoyed it. Next chapter will hopefully bring some explanations.