Fragment 4:
Legacy

x x x

The world was seventy years colder since the end of their journey, and none of them had much to show for it but baggage. They wandered the unified land with small smiles and tall staves. Lloyd kept his swords sheathed, lest their brilliance accidentally unleash divine justice; Genis struggled to calm the massive torrent of mana he was so unused to feeling. His concentration had grown so immense that it was almost second nature to unleash the heavenly lightning with a backhand glance.

They gave up the Riehards in favour of inconspicuousness and wore cloaks close to their chests. Genis suggested they hire a wagon for the increasingly unwell young Chosen who protested the idea but eventually gave in- they got one with a dragon, just for old times' sake.

Lloyd's hair had grown long, eerily reminiscent of his father. It reminded Genis of why he loved Lloyd so much.

They journeyed well like the Chosens of Old, and Genis supposed it was good- he pretended Kratos was there, and wondered if everyone else felt like they should be seventy years younger. He considered casting fire balls instead of cyclones and tidal waves but Raine looked at him with those empty eyes and he lost the will to grow younger.

"Journey, journey," Colette mumbled through a veil of icy fever, "Oh maiden Spiritua who saves, thy humble servant asketh for thy blessing. Honour us with the special-"

Light and song rained down from the heavens onto the wind-wracked plains.

x x x

They stopped at a town being built near the Great Tree to rest, their journey so far fruitless. They weren't sure if they were trying anymore.

"Belladem," Lloyd casually read from the town's creaking sign. "We can stay here for the night, if you and Professor need to sleep."

"Let's go to the Great Tree." Genis' eyes fell upward. "Colette- well, um-"

"Yeah," said Lloyd in a flat, expressionless voice that betrayed everything he was feeling. "I checked earlier when she fell asleep. She's lost both legs and one of her arms."

The tears came terrifyingly quickly and Genis found his legs no longer able to hold him up. Raine came running over and caught him as he wailed, no longer even knowing or needing a reason why. She looked up to the stalwart half-angel. His gaze locked on the Tree in the distance, his eyes dark and his wings fully extended; who could have seen this part of him so many years ago?

"You've changed," she said.

"I know. I'm sorry."

x x x

It was dark by the time they decided to make their way into the town, cloaks drawn close- seventy years meant few humans would remember the old worlds, but the scattered Elves and Halflings were still looking out for them. It was a burden that they were not in the mood to bear.

Lloyd carried Colette, the Daughter of Angels, in his arms as though they were being married beneath the dusk-coloured moon again; the town was quiet but not yet slumbering. The brick-lined streets murmured with muted activity.

"I will protect this world with my own hands," said Colette as she shook awake. "Where are we?"

"We came to the surface." Lloyd's eyes were fixed on a point far away. She chewed on her bottom lip.

"Why?"

To get you a Rune Crest, Genis imagined but shook his head and corrected his thoughts before saying something so silly. "We came to see the Great Tree. It's been too many years since we've seen Tabatha, so Raine thought it would be good to pay our respects."

Lloyd and Raine stopped abruptly, causing Genis to refocus his attention forward. Sitting in the centre of the town, surrounded by streetlamps that seemed to lean in towards it, was a large pool of water. The stones around it were raised and benches lined its rim, so Colette found herself gently placed in a seated position as the three of them looked and wondered.

The water was tinted green, a clouded cerulean that seemed familiar.

"This is from Iselia Forest, isn't it?" Lloyd ran a hand through his hair. "I remember Dirk having it behind the house."

"If I recall, he was experimenting with algae that produced metallic oxides. His copper batch was the most successful, but he was never able to actually process a solid metal."

From the shadows outside the lamps, a young woman appeared. She was about twenty years of age (should she be human- it was harder and harder to tell these days as the blood of elves became more scattered) wearing a dress of yellow and brown. Her hair was a darker shade of blonde, but if it weren't for that she could have been-

"Chocolat," said Colette as though waking from slumber, "Chocolat, is that you?"

The resemblance was stunning, and she had that same home-grown beauty, but some things are impossible.

"Chocolat?" The girl giggled. "My name is Marzipan. They both sound yummy, don't they?" She smoothed out her skirt. "Chocolat was my grandmother."

"Oh." Genis bit his tongue, not knowing what was proper to say. "We...knew of her. From the- the Ranch near Iselia."

"Uh-huh. They say that she was taken to a Half-Elf Ranch because of her famous beauty, but Lloyd Irving the Hero of Eternity- or was that the Hero of Ages?- anyways, the hero Lloyd Irving came and saved her from the hands of the Half-Elves, and they married and had Mama before he disappeared into the heavens so many years ago. I have the blood of that hero flowing in me."

There was a period of awkward silence.

"Anyways," she said in a far cry from delicacy, "That's why I'm responsible for the pool." She stepped into the light, revealing that her hair was indeed blonde and that her dress was some kind of simple ceremonial outfit.

"About the pool," Lloyd said.

"Right." She stepped up to it. "It's sacred water from the Iselia Forest, believed to be where Lloyd Irving was born from an angel and a mortal woman. It was only recently that we could get it here because a fanatical Dwarf was convinced he was Lloyd's father and that the water was his, but thankfully he passed away."

Lloyd visibly stiffened. Genis reached over and put a hand on his friend's back in what could have been a compassionate gesture, but between them was a reminder that the world wasn't ready to see the half-angel's wings again.

"…In the scriptures of the Earth Goddess Martel, his name has meaning- 'Lloyd' means 'Sacred', 'Irving' for 'Green Water'. Some day when the world needs a hero, he'll come out of the sacred green water and save us all again. That's what they tell me to say, anyway. Would you like to make a donation?"

"Do you take the name Irving, or Aurion?" Lloyd's voice was low and strained. Genis couldn't remember the last time he had seen his friend this angry. "Did you even stop to think about the name of the Dwarf who lived in that house?"

"Oh- excuse me. It was rude of me to not give my name," the young woman replied, totally missing the point. "We take Grandma's name, Alvein. My name is Marzipan Alvein. Is something wrong? Sir, don't step into the water! It's sacred! Sir-"

"The world has no need for old heroes," Lloyd said in a terribly sorry way as he shook off his cloak and let it fall into the pool at his feet. "And hopefully, it will never need heroes again."

By the time she understood who they were, they were all ready gone.

x x x

"It won't be safe," said Genis. "They know that we're here. Are you sure that you want that?"

"It's fine." They pushed through the thick underbrush of the forest, wondering how so much had managed to grow in so little time. "I was…mad. Mad that they would do that to Dad, and that they thought Chocolat- and I- and they called me a hero. I don't know anymore."

Colette stirred in his arms, delirious and dreaming with her eyes warm and gray. "To err is human, Lloyd," she said, and there was confident finality in her voice. "To forgive is divine."

As the last words passed her parched lips, they came into a clearing and the Great Tree Yggdrasill shined down in all its terribly beautiful glory like angels and demons together. The pure and concentrated mana of the Tree wept down on them as though it was solid; unhindered by obstacles, Colette's Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium gave a surge of brilliance and she turned to stone.

She died carrying the last and greatest sacrifice she would be burdened with- after Martel's spirit had flooded her body so many years ago, she had lost the ability to bear children.

And the stars, be they burning, paused in their mighty slumber and one by one quietly went to sleep.

x x x

It was quiet for a long, long time.

Eventually, Genis remembered to cry.

x x x

i've been waiting for so long
it's starting to kill me
what do i have to do

Word Count: 1 471