Hello! Welcome to the first of a series of one-shots I'll be doing. I took about 75 different prompts, split them into different pairings and have done series based on them, so you might see me in different fandoms. Oh, and the first four will be in some semblance of chronology. So, without further ado:

Disclaimer: I don't own this game, nor the characters within it.

020. Over

It was over. Everything was over. The fight that she shaped her entire life was over with one deft swish and jab of Cecil's crimson coated sword. Zemus was gone - as though he'd never existed - and it was over.

None of them could quite believe it, not after they'd reached the airship, not even after they'd made it half way back to their home world. It was as though they were dreaming, not quite aware if what they were doing, yet not quite unaware either. And Rydia could not even bare to think past what she would do after she finally got the chance to rest, bathe, and eat a proper meal after so long with only potions and other such liquids to keep her going. But of course he knew exactly what he was going to do. As always.

"What're you going to do after we get back Mysidia?" He inquired with a boyish twang in his voice, as curious as ever - he reminded her of a cat, in some ways; poking himself into all kinds of situations and looking at her with ever blank but somehow curious eyes.

"Sleep."

"And after that?"

"Bathe." she reeled off listlessly in as monotone voice as she could muster. That usually deterred him.

He raised an eyebrow suggestively and smirked like the immature little boy he overtly was, but thankfully said nothing. "And after that." Well, isn't he feeling persistent today?

"Eat."

"Rydia," he warned with a tired sigh - which was new, "you know what I meant. What will you do with your life?" Such a big question for such a tired mind.

"You tell me Edge, because clearly you're the only one who has their life figured out!" Rydia snapped, almost shouting, huffing like the petulant child Edge usually was. Why did she always do this around Edge - act as though she wanted nothing more to be rid of him when really, deep inside, she wanted the exact opposite?

He looked at her with his grey green eyes sharply then, and something unreadable swirled in them; something she desperately wanted to know. "Of course I know what I'm going to do, I don't have a choice, I'm going to have to become king and rule. Cecil too. And Rosa? Well, we all know that she's going to stay at Cecil's side and probably become queen, and Kain will be off doing Lord knows what because that's all he ever does." He said with and embittered voice, and the words that he said stung just like a Flan's acid, her mouth hanging slightly open in shock. But he was undeniably right, none of them had a choice, but she had all the choice in the world. She shouldn't wallow in her freedom.

"We only care about you, Rydia, that's why we ask. So please, if you'd be so kind, don't push us away and act like we know nothing of your troubles. Because all we want to do is help." As he walked away, all Rydia could do is think how much she'd messed up this time. And how lonely she was. And how tired she was. And how all unassumingly angry she was.

He wouldn't speak to her at all after that, not when they landed back on the blue planet, not during the festivities (but, of course, he seemed to flirt with every other woman in Mysidia), not even when he saw her as she was fleeing Mysidia during the night. She wasn't even sure if they'd meet again! Years could go by in a mere month on the surface - she could be dead and buried by the time he was three years older! And he wouldn't care.

It was clear that their relationship - whatever it was; friend or enemy or something more - was completely, utterly and irreversibly over.

She spent her time in the Feymarch, day after day merely existing, staying away from those who might realise something was wrong. What that was exactly? She didn't know. But something was amiss, something was making her feel like she had nothing left to do with her life but pine for something that she'd missed out on. It felt like hole in her heart, like when she left her travels behind, she left part of her soul in the care of something, or someone, else. She dreamed of her friends - but surely they weren't what she missed to make her feel like this? She missed them a lot of course, but not this devastatingly so. They were busy anyway, he'd made that clear enough. So naturally, all she had to do with her time was play with the young Eidolons and keep to herself. But of course Shiva and Mist noticed. When didn't they?

"What is bothering you child?" Shiva asked with her voice as crisp as the early spring mornings of Mist, after appearing quite suddenly out of seemingly nowhere. It never failed to surprise her when Shiva was in her human form; her eyes were a tell tale ice blue, yet her hair was a lustrous mahogany brown. She stood tall amongst others, with shoulders firmly back and chin up - she had a very regal aura. Sometimes even making Rydia want to cower away - like she was no good around such a noble and beautiful creature. Perhaps the most curious feature of Shiva however, was her pale as the freshly fallen snow skin that seemed to exude frost from her very pores.

Rydia was startled at their sudden appearance, apparently it was simply 'easier to move on two legs'. She sighed forlornly, and turned back to facing the wall of her house, counting the trite grey stones for the thousandth time; the two women coming to sit on the wooden stools in front of her, blocking her view of the bricks.

"Nothing much." She mumbled nonchalantly.

The two Eidolons looked at each other with a look that just made Rydia irate for some reason - like they knew something she didn't. She was already lonely enough, she didn't need more friends keeping her out of the loop and turning their back on her.

"What transpired between your companions and you before you left?" Mist asked, her silver eyes full of sympathy, yet her light blonde eyebrows were pulled into a light frown, a crease appearing between her eyes, and her pink lips were pursed tightly as though she was stopping herself from saying too much.

"Nothing." She concluded not to say anything either - two could play at that game.

Shiva gave her a frosty look and Rydia sighed; she knew that they would stop at nothing to get this out of her. Thus, she recounted it all - from the way Edge spoke to her, to the silence and gloom that overhung the partings in Mysidia. Even though she knew that whining about her misfortunes would do nothing, she somehow felt better about it, the way that Shiva and Mist looked at her with empathetic ice blue and cloud hued silver eyes. And even though she knew what she'd experienced throughout their travels was long over, she couldn't help but nurse some bitterness over the fact that they were all needed somewhere and she was tied to nowhere. She didn't matter, in the end - no one depended on her. She hoped she could remedy that.

A year passed for Rydia, before she finally received a letter from Baron - the inevitable wedding invitation. Naturally, without skipping a beat, Rydia was off, ushered to go by Asura and Leviathan 'in their stead'. When she reached Baron two weeks later, and finally saw Rosa and Cecil for the first time in so long for her, she discovered that it had been only two months on the surface. And that they were worried about her. She could tell by crinkle in between Rosa's eyes and the way Cecil's eyes sloped down. Did she really look that different? She'd grown a few inches granted, and her hair was now down to her mid back, but nothing else had changed, surely!

"You seem different, Rydia." Cecil noted with his ever wise voice. She knew she couldn't keep up the façade for too long.

"It's nothing." She muttered over the evening meal, seeing Rosa and Cecil's eyes meet and pass a message between them.

"Rydia, I know that something occurred between Edge and yourself." Cecil said more forcefully. She said nothing, but avoided eye contact like her life depended on it. She could feel Rosa's sapphire eyes burning holes in her scalp.

"Don't worry Rydia, he'll be here soon."

A silence settled over the two some time later after Rosa had been called away on an emergency - apparently the life of a white mage never let up, not even if you were the queen-to-be.

"Are you nervous for the wedding?" She asked curiously. Cecil hadn't shown a lick of nerves but Rosa was fidgeting in every spare moment when she thought they couldn't see - and the wedding was still a week away.

"No, I love Rosa - I always have. This wedding is just for our love to be seen in the eyes of others as it is seen by us. Love is not something that should ever be given up on, Rydia." She gave him a weak half smile. Perhaps he was right.

Perhaps soon, whatever the two of them had wouldn't be over forever.

C'est fini! I hope you liked it. Again, this is the first of four, progressing (kind of) one shots. So stay tuned for more!

Please leave a review/favourite if you liked it, and I'll see you later.