Author's Explanations
The title The Meaning is supposed to refer to the riddle that Hades asked. This story was supposed to be all around very philosophical, but then I kinda got caught up in the whole running away adventure thing and lost the theme. I tried to shove in a few extra points at the end, as you can probably tell. I just love philosophy.
First it was just because I saw how Rose behaved in the game and how I portrayed her in my own story, and I began to feel bad for her. I had to make her come back to experience life again and to change her disposition. But then it evolved into a life and death thing, about how life must fade. Zieg and Darius were thrown in as sort of a romance twist, and because I needed two deaths. Kanzas because I needed someone to blame for the prophecy (see I make things up as I go along). And Lloyd, well, because…because I wanted him back. As to why they were mortal, it is because I've been so caught up in the supernatural that I forget we are only mortals. Sometimes, I keep trying to remember when I last saved, so that I could restart the last part of my life. Of course that's not possible, which is why I wrote that part to remind myself.
I still feel terrible over this. Rose seemed so hopelessly in love with Zieg, and their love seemed to be so perfect. But for my Darkness Barrier story, I needed a guy in there, someone that would be the opposite of Rose, and yet make her attracted to him so that when they parted, she would be heartbroken. And I needed Zieg to stay with Dart at the end of my story, so that was why I brought Darius back. I just thought that after eleven thousand or so years, Rose deserves a good lasting romance, hmm? It was the one thing that would help her to fill the void in her life.
Meru always seemed like the opposite of Rose. Rose was quiet, harsh, and followed her obligations. Meru was carefree, friendly, openly hyper, and she went against tradition by leaving the Forest of Winglies. By having them become sisters, it was like they gave each other a piece of their personality. In The Meaning, Rose became more open and emotional, while Meru seemed to grow up and mature.
Emille and Tesalor (my cousin's name) were created because I just adored the romance between Albert and Emille in the game, and I thought they should have a son (sorry Rap's, some guys just aren't meant to be part of the real world). And also because I needed two hostages for Hades.
Trust is a very funny thing. The slightest bit of doubt, instilled by the prophecy, can tear a lifetime of trust apart. I needed them to have a little sort of tiff so that Rose could walk away and contemplate how she felt about trust.
Well, everyone writes about Shana so nastily, so I figured she deserves a little credit. After all, when she first appears, she's willing to fight. It's just like how everyone writes Dart as a good main character, so I wanted to make him more of a bastard in this one. ^_^ And Guaraha? Well, I like how he cares for Meru so much, and she would definitely need emotional support after what happens, so I tossed him in there. It was also supposed to compare Rose's love life with Meru's, but I did a crappy job of that, as I usually do with romance. ::sighs sadly::
I needed to show the difference in love and hate and apathy, and I wanted to show that emotions were a very important part of this story. Hence, the archways.
If you'll remember my original story, The Story of the Darkness Dragoon, when Rose reaches the Moon, she runs off while Haschel faces his challenge. She meets two Minintos and speaks with them about life. They ask her a question that she couldn't answer until now. The question was if she thought she was real. Her answer was yes.
Everything has to have rules. Hades is a strange dude to understand, which is why I didn't try. I simply tried to recreate the rules that they have to follow, of debt and retribution. Since two lives escaped from his underworld, he gets two lives back. And if they aren't given to him, he himself can take four. Makes sense? Rose and Darius had to die because they wanted to die together, so that they could save the others, and because I needed some sort of a twist.
Note how Dart acted toward Rose during my story. Sure, in the beginning, he was cold, but after that. I always felt that Dart was very close to Rose in the game (although somehow my story twists bit of that for my own purposes, sorry! ^_^). They seemed to share a strange and unique relationship, bordering on true love, but not quite there. During the funeral, Dart refers to Rose in the present tense, see? I thought they'd be a good fit for each other, but then that gave me the creeps, so I decided against it.
Ah, one of the most important parts of my story, which is why I saved it for last. When Rose first reappeared—reappeared, remember, not resurrected. She never actually came back—Meru commented on the perfume, and in chapter three, Rose promised that Meru could have it. Promises are important. Whenever I make a promise, I follow through. I think Rose would agree with me on that, so at the end of chapter four, I made Meru receive the perfume bottle.
I really want people to understand my work, fully, really! And there are some points in here that even I don't really understand, so I try to explain the ones that I deliberately put in, in hopes that someone will truly comprehend what I'm writing.