Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from Final Fantasy.
Derailed
Chapter 10-Epilogue
Amaye found herself pacing the chipping wood of her front porch, her nerves were so wrecked. She was barely able to sleep at all, and getting Valor to sleep a wink proved to be even more of a challenge. Both mother and child were equally excited for after months of waiting and anticipating, the day of Sephiroth's arrival had finally come. She had received a small postcard in the mail some time prior stating that the man would return on that day.
But the excitement was short lived.
For it wasn't Sephiroth making their way up the long dirt path, but a dark haired man she'd never seen before.
"Who are you?" Amaye asked, moving her son behind the protection of her leg.
"I'm Zach!" The man grinned broadly. "Seph sent me here."
Amaye relaxed completely, giving the man a soft smile. He gave off such a happy, outgoing vibe that it was hard for her to believe he was so close to Sephiroth. "Where is he?" She asked.
"When is Sephiroth coming back?" Questioned Valor, tugging on his mother's blouse as he eyed the man closely.
Zach's smile seemed to drop a little but not completely. "Well… he's uh… busy, but he's alright." He said. "He wanted me to give you this."
He held out his hand to the woman, dropping a solid gold band with the word 'Artimis' engraved onto it in her palm. Gasping, her wide eyes lifted to meet Zach's sky blue ones.
"Where did he find this?" Amaye dared to ask. "My dad disappeared years ago… how did he manage to find this?"
Zach shifted his boots in the dirt of the path, he wasn't sure how to answer any of her questions. Sephiroth had warned that Amaye was inquisitive, and that he should be prepared for certain questions and to avoid others.
"What is he doing?" Amaye asked again.
Amaye returned to work shortly after Sephiroth had left, and with her son falling ill following that the mother had little leisure time to sit and worry about the things occurring on the other side of her ten foot fence. It amazed Zach that she didn't know, that she honestly had no idea.
"I can't say," Zach replied regrettably. "But he wanted you to have that and he told me to tell you he said wait for him."
Amaye smiled through her sigh. "I'm still waiting, Valor and I both. Let him know that he has people here that care about him."
Zach seemed pleased to hear those words, heavens only knew that was all his friend secretly longed for. But as he said his goodbyes, turning his back onto the young mother and her child, he wondered how things would've played out if she really knew what her lover was up to.
What would her thoughts be if she knew?
If only…