Chapter Summery: "I know how brave she's always been, no matter how tough things have gotten." Shu about Kluke.
You are Kluke. Friend, orphan, doctor, Shadow-Wielder, Black Mage, hero. You sixteen years old. What does it mean to be brave?
The thing about Kluke is this: she is afraid. Kluke is not Shu, hot-headed and reckless, too busy with determination to be afraid. She is not Jiro, who is level-headed except when he lets the world see his worry, and his fear. She is not Marumaro, young and impulsive, with a simple view of the world or Zola, aloof, experienced and mysterious.
Kluke is brave.
But to be brave one must first be afraid.
Kluke faces the world with eyes wide open and an outstretched hand. She is gentle because she chooses to be gentle. She is kind because she chooses kindness. She is responsible because she chooses responsibility. And she is hurt, again and again by her heart left wide open to a cruel world, but she hides the wounds behind confidence. When she cries, she cries alone. By day she heals others' hurts, at night she cries for her own suffering, wounds of the heart, unseen but still bleeding.
Kluke is the daughter of doctors, Kluke is the orphaned child of murdered parents, Kluke is the Wielder of a Black Magic Class Shadow. Kluke knows death and she knows it intimately. She knows that in every battle, death dogs their footsteps, and it always takes something. To fight is to kill and to kill is to choose. Your life or the life of your enemy? Your allies' deaths or your enemies' deaths?
Kluke is not foolish or optimistic. She knows that Nene far out classes them. She knows that every step closer to finding him may be a step closer to their deaths. This does not stop her. Kluke is afraid but she is brave in her fear and she knows; he must be stopped. She cannot turn back from the path she is walking down, and she cannot show her fear.
Because her fear might break them, her beloved friends who walk this path with her. Because they love her and in that love they do not want her harmed. But she is the Black Mage and they need her to slay their enemies. Because she is their beloved, their heart, and they need her to keep marching forward. Because she will not turn back, no matter what, not even if they beg, because what Nene does is wrong, because it cannot continue, because she will not let it happen, not while she yet lives to fight against it.
Kluke is brave.
Kluke is grieving.
Kluke is terrified.
Kluke is fighting.
And she will not stop.
I dug this out of my files. Might have wrote it before I replayed Blue Dragon but I thought it was interesting enough and complete enough to tidy up, write a summery for, choose a title, and post.
The title is a line from Blue Dragon's Boss Theme Song Eternity.