Author's Note: It's finally here, the last chapter. And I really mean it this time! I feel a little sad. I had so much fun writing this story and I hadn't written a story in so long! It's like my baby grew up and is leaving the nest! Lydian kinda is my baby since I made her. . . Part of the reason I added more chapters is because I wanted to see her transformation through to the end. I wanted to see the person she'd become. And Larsa is my favorite character from Final Fantasy XII and I loved delving into his character! I want to thank everybody who read and reviewed my story or followed or took the time to favorite it. I'm grateful for your support and feedback. I'm so happy you've stuck with me through all of this and that you're here right now reading these words. Every one of you has my love and appreciation. Here it is, the final chapter. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think!
First I'd gone through all of that training before with my uncle to help save Larsa. It wasn't easy. I mean, it was far from it and I'd gone home with aches and pains at the end of the day the majority of the time. That was something I'd felt I could be good at, though. The training, the fighting. . . I'd spent months fighting to begin with so I wasn't walking into the situation with no knowledge whatsoever. My new training, the training to become a lady, was different. I was completely out of my element.
Esabel had made it her own personal mission to pour all of the knowledge of being a lady from her head into mine. My mother had taught me manners, of course, so I had that going for me. There were many more things, though, that I had to learn. I had to learn certain ways to wave and certain ways to address certain people. I had to learn particular etiquette for dining. I even had to learn to sit up and walk a certain way. My posture, Esabel had told me, was terrible. She made everything look so easy and graceful. I felt like I was bumbling around by comparison.
A third of the way into this lady boot camp, Esabel decided to up her game. She declared that I would not be able to see Larsa if I didn't make progress. And she'd informed Larsa that he wasn't allowed to come see me, either. And Esabel meant it, too! It was a big palace and it was like every step of the way Esabel was one step ahead of me as far as me trying to see Larsa. She'd always be standing wherever my destination was with her arms crossed over her chest. I was starting to think she had little moles planted around the palace, people spying on me and reporting back to her. I'd never thought Esabel had a devious bone in her body, but apparently she was showing me yet another new side of herself I hadn't seen before.
I had just sat the teacup down on the saucer properly, because yes there was apparently a right and wrong way to do it, when Esabel had given me an approving nod. "Yes, yes. You're doing quite well, Lydian." She'd been slipping back into her normal Rozarrian accent more and more these days. That was good considering there hadn't been a reason for her to hide it for a long time now.
Her approval made me happy. It made me hopeful. "Thanks. Does that mean I get to see Larsa now?" I asked her as she wrote something down, probably a checklist of things I needed to learn.
She raised her eyebrow ever so slightly and shook her head. "I'm afraid not." With that said, she left the room. I gently pushed the saucer and cup out of my way before laying my head on the table. I even did it in an unladylike way. There. Take that, Esabel!
That was when I finally sat down and thought this training through thoroughly. And that was when I came to a realization. I was making things much harder than they needed to be. I had been getting inside my own head so much and telling myself that there was no way I could be good at such things. That was the wrong thing to do. Once I realized that, I was able to move past all those self-doubts and make progress pretty quickly.
I was able to tell this fork from that fork for fancy dinners even though I grew up only having to deal with just one kind of fork. I was able to sit this way and wave that way. Esabel had made me walk with books on my head and my mission had been to not let them fall off. The catch was that I couldn't hold them there. My arms had to be straight down at my sides. I didn't feel as if I were as graceful as Esabel and Larsa, but I felt as if I were really on to something there.
It actually didn't take me long to soak up all the knowledge that Esabel had to teach me about being a lady. She was so impressed that when it was time for me to learn more about dancing than I'd learned at the ball, she brought in a special teacher for that. She turned the rest of my training over to Larsa. In addition to the dancing, I needed somebody to teach me about the in-depth history of Archadia as well as their particular customs. I also needed somebody to give me some pointers of how to be a leader. Considering how busy he was as the emperor, I was surprised that Larsa had been more than capable of carving away plenty of time in his days to help me out.
And we were all business, too. Seriously, though, we weren't goofing off or anything. It's kind of ironic considering how much effort Esabel put into keeping us apart because she thought I wasn't focused enough. Larsa wanted to make sure that I learned everything properly and I wanted to make sure that I didn't let him down. Every time I got something right, he'd smile and that was more than enough reward and motivation to fuel my learning. It occurred to me that I would never, ever get tired of seeing that smile and I hoped that there would never be a situation to wipe that smile off his face again.
It was strange, the way I felt I'd been going through a metamorphosis of sorts. I'd started off as the same girl I'd always been. Then I'd gone on that amazing journey with Larsa and Esabel and I'd become a warrior. Then I became a solider. And now I was doing my best to become something else entirely. I was trying to become a woman worthy of being an empress. This was a whole different journey. This was a completely different battle I was fighting. I'd finally moved away from the self-doubt and criticizing myself. My friends believed in me. The citizens of Archadia believed in me. Wasn't it time for me to believe in myself?
I walked away from a wedding planning meeting thinking not about the wedding, but something else entirely. I was thinking about what it was that I could do for the citizens of Archadia. Larsa had spent so many years transforming his empire into something completely different than his father and the previous leaders had made it. He'd made an improvement in the lives of people who had once had a bleak existence, such as those in Old Archades.
There had to be something I could do. I'd learned so much. Not just about being a lady, but I'd learned about Archadia and about good leadership. I wanted to do something for the people. How could I expect to be an empress worthy of their support if I didn't do something to give back? There was one issue that the more I thought about it the more I realized it was near and dear to my heart. I was an orphan. I'd struggled as a child and I'd survived. I'd been lucky. But life hadn't been easy. Back in Lowtown, I certainly hadn't been the only orphan and while there weren't any large scale battles going on today, there were still orphans out there. Whatever circumstances had occurred, there were children without parents.
That, I realized, was my cause. There were children out there who were like me and there was something I could do about it. I thought it through seriously before I brought it up to anybody. Esabel and I were sitting there with Larsa while he worked. She had been staring out at the water while I had been reading Larsa's ideas for breathing life back into the Cerobi Steppe. He wanted to do something with the area that Metris had used for the manufacted nethicite. He wanted to wipe the the taint of Metris away from the area. I was trying my best to pay attention to it and I really had read the majority of it, but my own idea was too prevalent on my mind and I felt it was time to get it out. I sighed and sat the papers aside.
"It appears to be something is on your mind," Larsa said. The last time I'd checked, he'd been writing something. I hadn't noticed when he'd stopped doing that and started watching me.
Esabel directed her attention toward me, too. I felt like I was suddenly on the spot. It was a good idea, though. It was a solid idea. And it was one that would make a difference.
"I have an idea," I told them after I took a deep breath. "I spent all of that time learning how to fight. I've been a solider. But now. . .I mean, I'm happy. I'm so happy, but. . .there are no more fights. At least not the physical kind. So I was thinking there was still a way I could fight. I've been thinking a lot about. . .about being the empress. I've been thinking that there has to be something that I can do to help the citizens. There's a way I can fight to improve Archadia in my own way."
"Do you think to propose a charity?" Larsa asked, quickly interested in whatever it was I was trying to say.
"I thought about that at first, but there's something else I have my mind on. You know what happened to my mom and what my life was like after I lost her. It wasn't a bad life, but it was. . .it was difficult. I'd like to think that my struggles and experiences have made me a better person, but what if I hadn't been lucky? What if other things had happened and I was a different person today? A worse person? As an orphan, there are so many different paths I could've traveled down, different scenarios. . ."
"You want to help the orphaned children," Esabel spoke. It was a statement, not a question. She knew where I was going with this.
"I want there to be a place that they can all go instead of having to struggle on their own. There are children in Archadia who need a place and need people who care. They need opportunities. But then I thought about all the children who don't even live in Archadia who need a place to go. It's a big world out there and there are children all over who need help," I told them seriously. "I propose we build a place for them to all go. It doesn't necessarily have to be built on neutral ground, but it'll be a place where all children can go no matter where they originally came from. In its essence, it'll be neutral. And with all of these children growing up together in such a way, perhaps this will help strengthen our bonds with other nations."
They were both quiet for a minute or two. Esabel was the one who spoke first. "I could speak on your behalf in Rozarria, propose the idea. And I am sure it would take little time to convince the Lady Ashe to see the light of such a good idea."
Larsa rested his chin in his hand as he regarded me. I stared back, unwavering. I was confident about this. And apparently he could see that because he smiled. My breath caught in my lungs.
"In what location do you suggest such a place be created?" he asked me as I tried to remember to breathe.
I pushed his papers I'd been reading toward him with a smile of my own. "You wanted to bring life back to it, right? How about the Cerobi Steppe? I know there are all sorts of monsters out there. I mean, we've fought them. And I don't want to deprive them of their natural habitat. But I think it'll be okay to carve out a part of it for this, the part that Metris left his mark on. . .I think this would be the perfect way to erase his presence."
Six months later, the plans for the Cerobi Steppe were in full swing. Esabel had gone to Rozarria and talked things over like she'd promised and in the end, she'd been successful. I'd gone to Rabanastre and talked to Queen Ashelia myself. Esabel was right. It hadn't taken much to get her on board and for that I was relieved. Larsa had spoken to the citizens of Archadia about my idea while I was gone. When I got back from Rabanastre, it was like I was suddenly the grand idol of the citizens. It caught me off guard, my skyrocketing popularity. Maybe I could be a leader to these people. Maybe. . .I could make a make a difference in their lives after all.
Sure, there had been some fine details we'd had to work out, but the idea was going forward and it was progressing beautifully. Someday soon, the building that was rising from the ashes of the sinister nethicicite Metris had manufactured would be done and so many orphans would have a new future ahead of them. Maybe, through these children, Ivalice would have a new future as well.
There was something else that had progressed beautifully, though. Throughout all the planning for the Cerobi Steppe, there had still been a wedding to plan. I'd gotten a taste of what it was like to be Larsa, having so many balls up in the air and having to juggle them without letting one hit the ground. I'd managed the juggling, though, and the final preparations for the wedding had been made.
I woke up on the morning of the big day feeling like nothing in the world could bring me down. I wasn't getting cold feet, no. I knew I was making the right decision. I belonged with Larsa. I loved him more than I thought I'd ever be able to love anybody. I would be more than happy to spend the rest of my life by his side and with him by mine. I was nervous, though, make no mistake about that. There was a lot going on in the course of a single day. There were so many plans that may or may not work out the right way. There were a lot of people involved. It wasn't about the pomp and circumstance of it, though. It wasn't about the wedding. At the end of the day, it was all about a marriage. Even if something went wrong with the wedding, the marriage was what was really important. I kept reminding myself of that as I tried to fight my nerves.
I stared in the mirror as Esabel finished sweeping half of my curls up into an elegant, somewhat messy bun. The rest of my hair she let cascade down my back and pinned away from my face with what appeared to be diamond hair clips. My ladies-in-waiting, who had helped me get dressed, had suggested that all of my hair be up. They thought it'd be more elegant that way. I'd wanted it down. Esabel had us compromise with the style I was wearing. Penelo smiled at my reflection in the mirror and I smiled back.
"Are you nervous?" she asked me as Esabel put a few final touches on my hair.
"Yes and no. I mean, I'm not nervous about the marriage yet I am nervous about the wedding. . .Does that make any sense?" I asked her.
She smiled at me again with amusement in her eyes. "Of course it does," she answered.
"Everything will be fine," Esabel assured me as she stepped away from my hair. "There, my work is done."
I stared in the mirror once more and was beside myself. There I was. There was Lydian from Lowtown. But I was more than that now. I lifted my chin up slightly, the way Esabel had taught me, and I could see somebody else emerge in that reflection. Lydian from Lowtown was there. Lydian the warrior was there. Lydian the solider was there. But I felt as if at last I had reached that point where that final person had arrived. Lydian the empress was finally there. That realization was disconcerting to say the least. Lydian the empress. Was I finally empress material? Was I finally the person I had strove to be over all these months? My eyes met Queen Ashelia's in the reflection as she gave me an approving nod. Maybe. . .Maybe I really was.
Speaking of the queen, she went to a closet and pulled something out. It was my own closet and I hadn't even known she'd stored something in it. When I saw what it was, I gasped. I'd only ever seen it from a faraway spot in the crowd when I was a kid, but there was no mistaking that it was the veil she'd worn during her own wedding.
"A-Are you sure?" I asked her, nervously spinning my mother's blue ribbon I'd tied on my wrist around and around. I couldn't believe she was offering to let me borrow it.
"Yes," she answered as she placed the veil on top of my head and adjusted it. "I can think of nobody more deserving."
The door suddenly opened then and Vaan busted inside. "Hey, Lydian. . ." Vaan started before he trailed off. "Wow, you look great!"
"Vaan, what are you doing here? No guys are allowed!" Penelo said, quickly advancing on him. "And who is watching Reks?!"
"That would be me," Balthier said with a bothered sigh as he started to pull Vaan out with one arm while holding Reks in the other. Had I not been so stressed out, I would've found the sight completely hilarious. As if it weren't enough that he was holding the baby in the first place, the look on Balthier's face was priceless.
"But wait, I. . ." Vaan started as he was being pulled backward.
"The time is nearly upon us," Fran said from where she stood.
"That's what I was trying to say!" Vaan called as Balthier continued to pull him away. I could hear baby Reks laughing as they made their way down the hall.
So it was time. It was finally time. I suddenly felt like I might puke. The nerves were really trying to get to me.
Lady Ashe put her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye. "Remember to breathe," she told me. I did as she said and I tried to breathe. I then limited myself to deep breaths. That had helped a little and I gave her a small smile.
"Remember to keep your chin up," Esabel reminded me as we headed toward the door. Fran closed it behind us and I saw somebody standing in the middle of the hallway. He'd even gotten a fresh haircut for the occasion. My smile grew larger and I grew calmer as he offered me his arm.
"Uncle Basch," I said as I accepted said arm and held on tight.
"Were you not my niece, still I would believe you to be the most beautiful of brides," he told me with a warm smile. I held on a little tighter. I'd really missed him since leaving Rabanastre.
"Thank you," I told him with a beaming smile as I took more deep breaths.
He regarded me critically for a few moments before saying something else. "As a solider, you've been short no amount of strength; however, strength appears in many forms, Lydian. Not always does it manifest itself as brute force. Stay strong. Let not your nerves get the better of you."
Everybody else had been telling me to stay calm and not be nervous. For some reason, though, the words worked much better coming from him. We all made our way down to the ground floor of the palace. As we reached the front of it, I saw that the doors were open. The light from the outside was pouring in and I could make out a figure standing there in that light. My stomach did little flip flops then. It wasn't because of my nerves, no, since my uncle had somehow managed to dispel those. It was because the person standing there in that light was Larsa. He held out his hand to me then. Letting go of my uncle's arm, I stepped forward and took it.
He pulled me closer before placing a kiss on my lips. I immediately reached up and put my hands on the sides of his face. In that moment, it was like time was standing still. I wasn't going forward today to become the empress of Archadia. I was honored to be able to serve the citizens and I was in awe concerning the life I'd now be living. But that's not what truly mattered today. What was really important to me was that I would be spending the rest of my life with Larsa.
"Save it for the wedding, would you?" Balthier said, snapping us back to reality. My cheeks pinked a little and Larsa cleared his throat.
"Lydian, you look. . ." Larsa trailed of as he stared at me with a magnificent light in his eyes. "All the words in the world are too inadequate to express the full magnitude. Nor are there enough stars in the sky to describe the degree."
I stroked his cheek with the back of my hand and did my best not to cry. Esabel wouldn't be happy if I messed up my makeup. Saying thank you just didn't feel right. Those words couldn't express what I was feeling at the moment. "I love you." That was what I told him instead. That was what I felt. And that was what he needed to know.
He didn't get a chance to respond before we were hurried onto a large. . .float of sorts that was being pulled by chocobos. Seeing those chocobos made me think about the Mosphoran Highwaste and when we'd rode on one together. We shared so many memories and now we had a lifetime to have even more. I also thought about Esabel and hoped she was okay since I knew she certainly wasn't over her fear of chocobos. I turned to look at her and she smiled.
It occurred to me that she was a wonderful friend and at the moment I felt as if I didn't even deserve her. When I'd thought she was the one Larsa had chosen, I ran off to Rabanastre and hadn't even opened her letters. Yet now that I was the one he'd really decided to be with, she'd stayed by my side the entire time doing all that she could to help me. There was more to it than that, though. What must it be costing her to stand there and watch the man she loved marry somebody else? I had an idea since I'd felt all sorts of feelings during the year I'd been gone from Archades and none of them had been easy to deal with. I'd always known she was strong. I'd known that the second she'd jumped down from that building at Nalbina Fortress. It struck me that my uncle was definitely right, though. Strength didn't always mean brute force. Right now, Esabel had a different kind of strength and in that moment I realized she was the strongest person I knew. I'd spend the rest of my life trying to be the kind of friend she deserved.
I had no more time to think about that, though, considering that we started moving then. A huge parade was being thrown in our honor on the way to the church. It reminded me of when Queen Ashelia got married all those years ago. Back then I was one person in a crowd, watching in wide-eyed wonder at all that was going on. This time, I was right in the middle of it and it was partially for me. I was still in wide-eyed wonder, though. Larsa and I waved at the citizens as they chanted our names and called out their congratulations. There were beautiful white birds flying high above. People of all races, including moogles, put on all sorts of performances as we made our procession through the city.
We finally approached the church. It stood tall and proud, but Larsa seemed to stand taller and even more proud. I drew from his quiet strength as he helped me down to the ground. All of the other sounds and people and everything else seemed to fade as he kissed my hand and said the words he hadn't had the chance to say earlier. "Lydian, I love you, too."
With that said, he was led away into the church. I'd never grow tired of hearing my name leave his lips. From the very beginning hearing him say it had always made me feel these extraordinary things and I knew that as long as we lived I never ever wanted that to change.
I was led into the church next and waited as everybody took their places. When the time had finally arrived, I took my uncle's arm and awaited our cue. He looked down at me and before I knew it he placed a kiss on my forehead.
"Just as I am proud of you, so would be your parents," he told me right before the doors opened and we started down the aisle.
Darn him! I was trying not to cry. Didn't he know that?! I smiled up at him and did my best to maintain my composure. I wished that my mom could be there with all of my heart. I wished I'd grown up with a father who would be holding me steady right now. I didn't have those options, though. What I did have was my uncle Basch and I would forever be grateful for his presence in my life.
As we walked, I looked forward at my destination and my eyes met Larsa's. He stood there so graceful and strong and handsome. There was a time when if somebody had told me I'd be right where I was, I would've thought they were crazy. Life is funny like that, though. We can never really know where it's going to take us until we actually get there. Sometimes it can be unbelievable and unexpected, but as long as there is air in our lungs and our hearts are beating it is something we will experience. When we finally reached Larsa, my uncle placed another kiss on my forehead and stepped back. I stood directly before Larsa and put my hands in his.
So much had happened since the night we met. We'd ran. We'd fought. We'd struggled. We'd lost. We'd won. There had been happiness and hardships. There had been misunderstandings and revelations. Now, though, it felt as if things were finally how they should be. We'd finally come full circle. This was the light at the end of the tunnel. I wouldn't forget anything. I'd always remember every single detail of our journey: past, present, and future. And no matter how much time passed and whatever happened, I wouldn't forget those people we were the night we met. Despite who we were now or who we'd evolve into in the future, Larsa would always be my secret emperor and I would always be his Lowtown girl.
The End.