Title: Fine Distinctions.
Theme + Number: 13. Stop
Characters/Pairings: Vivi
Rating: PG / K+
Word Count: 683
Summary: It is in the details.

She found him alone sitting next to a stream, playing with the water. He cupped it and threw into the air, and then with a raised palm, cast stop on the droplets. Down they tumbled, colorless and dull, and they shattered at his feet.

Freya sat next to him. "Vivi?" She began to clean her Dragon's Hair in the river, which was caked in green blood and unmentionable gory bits. It was a gruesome chore, and one she had thought to do alone. Apparently not.

The mage sat silent.

Freya glanced at Vivi between gently scrubbing her weapon. It was a dangerous place, the forests around Daguerreo. The party had been attacked many times today, consecutive battles that allowed little time to catch one's breath. The last few had been particularly vicious, owing up to the sheer abnormal strength the creatures of this island possessed. She was surprised Vivi had gone wandering off, considering that Great Dragons lurked about.

Vivi's eyes were dull as he stared at the water. He had not looked at her once, not even when she spoke. After a moment of running her hands over the smooth blade of her lance, Freya gingerly rested the shaft against her shoulder and focused on the small mage beside her.

"Vivi, what's wrong?" Freya asked.

Vivi cupped water in his hands. A moment later, it turned gray in his palms. Hefting it in one hand, he turned to Freya. "This is what happens when something stops," he said quietly. He held the stopped water out to her.

Freya eyed the irregular-shaped mass, before taking it gently between her claws.

She blinked. She was staring at the object, and yet her fingers could not feel the stopped water. There was no pressure between her fingers, no weight. It was like pressing her fingers against a barrier of some kind, but one that was light as air. She flipped it in her hands, running her fingers over the curves and edges of the water, before returning it.

"That's strange," she said simply, "but surely not worth contemplation. What's the matter with it?"

Vivi gazed at the water in his hand a moment longer, before suddenly, it was liquid water again and it trickled through his fingers in a rush. Droplets swirled. He turned his gaze up to the Dragoon Knight.

"I don't know," he replied. Their eyes made contact. "It doesn't make sense. Things that...stop...shouldn't be allowed to unstop...should they?"

Freya saw something flicker in his golden eyes.

How many people have...stopped moving?

You are very kind to use those words. But you already know what it means to live...

...and to die.

Freya looked at him for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then, taking Vivi by surprise, she went back to cleaning her lance.

Vivi's hands trembled. "Tell me, Freya. Please...is it...should I...we..."

"Vivi," Freya interrupted, "stopping is not death."

Vivi stared at her. "But..."

"Stopping," Freya went on firmly, " is ceasing to exist. There is nothing inside it or outside it; it is simply a shell of something lost. Now death..."

The Dragon's Hair gleamed in the light of the sunset. Freya stood and with practiced ease, sliced the air in front of her once, twice, thrice and a fourth. Then, carefully, she balanced the shaft on her shoulder.

"Death," Freya said, the light of the sunset making her silver hair gold, "is dying after having lived."

She glanced at Vivi, and then smiled mysteriously.

"Not even death can erase your existence. Dreams, memories, actions...all these are retained in the heart of life. Even in death, you are unstopped."

Vivi dropped his gaze, staring at his open hands.

"I hope you'll follow me soon," Freya said. "One should not lose themselves to night when light is beyond the trees." Her lance pointed towards camp, but her eyes remained fixed on his pointed hat.

"O-okay," Vivi said quietly.

"Good." Then, Freya left.

Long minutes passed, but soon Vivi followed.