The Song of Dalmasca
Fourth Movement: Nocturne
The room was dark and quiet. Several people stood within the same walls she did. It had only been a few weeks since she had gotten married in the presence of these very stones. It was a memory surrounded by happiness and hope that Ashe held deeply to her heart – a memory she wasn't yet prepared to let go.
Now, she found herself once again surrounded by spectators formed from both flesh and rock, and she struggled to take in everything that surrounded her. The nations were falling apart. Dalmasca was close to its own demise and soon to be assimilated by the Archadian Empire. Her people were about to become absorbed into something that they did not support; soon to be forced to salute a banner that they feared. Yet, for her, the most painful part was what lay before her. It wasn't the sound of Archadia's colossal footsteps heading towards her doorstep or the thundering drums of war and strife. It was the twisted shell of a man that lay before her.
She remembered when Basch had told her that Rasler had died at his side, defending everything that his father had fought for and everything she had hoped they would share together. Time seemed to lose its meaning. The past and future imploded upon her at that very moment, and she could do nothing but kneel at his casket and bear the burden of everything that pressed against her. The weight of the world was no comparison to what had just been robbed from her.
The voice of the Kildean priest spoke words that echoed throughout the halls and crept into her mind. "Blessings of the Great Father, descend and guide your body's return back to the earth. Great Father, guide your spirit's return back to the mother of all. There, Lord Rasler, you shall find peace. Faram."
Ashe could hear the airships outside, lazily plowing through the skies. The people in the room let out a few quiet sobs and whispers. The world around her was still moving, yet her mind was frozen. She brought her shaking hands up under her veil and watched as her first tear fell to her palms.
She had lost her nation. She had lost her prince. She had lost everything.
And she cried.
-
Yeah, it took me a while to post this final, short thing up, but that's because it underwent multiple forms. Trust me, this is by far the smallest and most concise version, and I even opted to go against ones that included more of Basch. I just felt that this was about Ashe and her reflections, but I don't think these feelings would be naturally complex. The feeling of loss feels very large and intimidating and multi-tiered, but it usually falls to one simple concept: you miss what you lost.
So, yeah, it's all done now. Will I be going on with a novelization? Maybe. Maybe not. I still need to play the sequel on the DS, which I can hopefully borrow from a friend at some point. And, honestly, I have another more nagging idea in my mind, not to mention my older fictions that I feel the need to revise and get back into the swing of.
Thanks for the reviews! Hope you enjoyed.
Edited: 3/11/08
I edited this slightly after getting a recent review that offered a large amount of constructive criticism (thanks, Tem), but at the same time I didn't quite change the style of the story. I kept a few things that were commented on the same. I changed a few words here and there, shortened a few lines, added some missing words that the Document Manager Monster probably saw as a delicacy, and I changed the "lone tear" statement to "first tear" to break away from the cliche, I suppose.
However, I want it to be known that I didn't want to make this last piece extremely deep. In my experience with loss, especially being as strong - or at least stubborn - as I believe Ashe to be, that "lone tear" can be all that there is, and the emotions at first are simple. You're soaking everything in, watching, observing, organizing it all. You're not destroyed just yet. Of course, this is how I observed Ashe's character to be in that scene (where I recall there being only one tear and no uncontrollable sobs). Like I said in the author's note, I wanted this to be simple. If you disagree with it, that's fine, but my point here wasn't to touch someone's heart but to be realistic. Losing someone or something isn't always an emotional explosion, especially with someone as strong as Ashe. Sometimes it's, well, less.
Perhaps I should've went with the more emotional version I wrote earlier, heh. I just felt this one fit her character more.
