Disclaimer: Everyone and everything from Lufia II is property of Natsume/Taito. I claim no ownership to anything, I don't.
The streets of Parcelyte are flooded now. Not that they hadn't been earlier; don't get me wrong. They'd been packed when two of the three heroes came back with news that Gades was no more. But now they're really noisy, because everyone has something to be happy about. Parcelyte is going to be okay. Seim Island isn't going to sink into the ocean. The people are safe. The kingdom is safe and so are its surrounding cities. The empire of Parcelyte has a lot to celebrate.
I'm happy for them; I'm not that self-centered that I can't feel their joy a little. I'm happy that they'll live another day and that the monsters are pretty much taken care of and that Maxim and Guy and everyone else will finally be able to relax.
Relax? I meant settle down. Settle down, the one thing I always wanted Maxim to do. Well now he's going to do it, but not with me. And that hurts.
It's my fault, isn't it? I followed him. I insisted on coming along, and you want to know why? Because I loved him, damn it. People always worry about the ones they love, especially if those loved ones happen to like living on the edge. Especially if those loved ones like hunting down things that could very well kill them. Maxim gave me a hell of a lot to worry about; I never lacked in that department.
And he cared for me. I'd be lying if I were to say he was totally heartless. But he cared no more than any normal friend would, no more than one good buddy to another.
Yes, celebrate, Parcelyte. Throw your parties and may the king host a great ball in the palace. May no thieves come in and try to take that pretty sword of yours and may no rebels seek your throat. May you live in peace and prosperity, blah, blah, blah...
I feel so bitter.
It'd be a nice day if I didn't feel like every tear down my face would burn. Really nice. Sky's nice, blue, blue like the hair I kept long and pretty for him, not that I don't like long hair myself. It's autumn so everything's a little chilly. I always liked fall. Not hot at all, but not too cold. The cobblestone streets of Parcelyte are littered with fallen leaves, gold, red, brown. I hope Micah's keeping the shop in good order, or else I'm going to have lots of leaves to sweep out...
The road beneath my feet cedes now to grass. There's that great meadow that we saw, Maxim, Guy, and I, when we were heading to Parcelyte for the first time. Right before the woods, it's a very pretty clearing, dotted with white flowers that'll all be gone when the snows come.
I love meadows. I love picnics in meadows. I love...
...No. Not anymore. I can't. Because now he's hers.
Her.
I want to hate her so badly! If it weren't for her, I'd... I really wish we'd never stopped in Parcelyte. I wish we had never met her. Couldn't that have been prevented somehow? Couldn't fate have intervened?
Couldn't something have stopped me years ago and told me right to my face that loving a warrior was one of the dumbest things I could do, since I can't really support one? Couldn't something have tried to stop me from foolishly clinging to him? Ugh... Know something? I'd like to hate him too. But like with Selan, I just can't.
I'm trying though, I really am...
Nice couple, huh? She, the beautiful swordswoman who just happens to know magic too, and he, the traveling warrior, stronger than most and undoubtedly the best looking man I have ever laid eyes on in my entire life. No wonder I fell for him. Heck, there were other girls who liked him too, but funny enough, he never showed interest in them at all.
I got more attention from him than those other girls did, but I never got what I really wanted. I never got love beyond that of friendship.
Was that a lot to ask for, after waiting for as long as I have? Was I being too demanding, oh great gods? Was I asking for too much?
I didn't realize how far I walked until just now. Parcelyte's pretty far away, but the noise still prevails. I can still hear the crowds; I can still see the merrymaking of the people. I can't see Dekar anymore though; he must've left a while ago.
I didn't lie when I told Dekar that talking to him made me feel better. It did...for a while. Ha, he's a little deeper than I thought. I never knew he had a sensitive side. He always came off as totally thickheaded and so full of himself. I guess there's always an unseen side to people, and it only comes out when things get to be too much or when someone really needs to see that nicer half, because they're so upset.
Like me...
Oh, you helped, Dekar, you helped, but you weren't enough. Nothing will be enough right now. I don't know what I need or what I have to do other than to go home and try to pick up the pieces...
I'm falling apart, bit by bit. But I just can't cry. I can't. I can't give in; I can't give fate or Maxim or Selan or whoever that satisfaction of having broken me. I need to stand on my own now, because I have no one to help me. My hero is gone; he belongs to someone else now. My savior is no more.
It's funny. He was always there to save me from others, but now he's not here to save me from myself. My tears are the worst enemies I could ever face and here I am, all by myself with them.
I just don't understand how fate could be so cruel! Why would it want to abandon me like this? It already put me through the torture of watching those two grow close. I saw it all, from start to finish, considering I was too stubborn to leave Maxim's side. I saw those two as they laughed and talked and shared old battle stories and I watched as the laughing and talking turned to flirting, and how the flirting turned to such obvious displays of affection that it nearly made me sick. Guy was practically oblivious to their flirting most of the time, though sometimes there was a gap in his insensitivity and he'd see it too, and then make some sort of witty comment. But he wasn't there in the North Dungeon, when things really hit a peak. No, he'd been spared of all that.
But then again, he has someone waiting for him. He doesn't know what loneliness is like anyway.
Maxim and Selan no longer know. Well, I don't think Maxim ever felt it---he was so used to being by himself and doing things on his own. Selan... Oh, well she won't admit it, miss wannabe Ice Princess, but she was lonely. That's why she fell in love with Maxim. I guess she's more like me than I thought. But she and Maxim don't have the history that Maxim and I have.
Oh, but she'll make her own history with him! They'll probably end up married and have a bunch of kids and Maxim will spend the rest of his days as the great dad I always thought he'd be, in the company of a fellow warrior. How quaint. I'm looking for the white picket fence now, and the rainbow in the sky and the white puffy clouds...
Stupid fate.
And they'll be sung in all the poets' songs forever and a day: Guy and Dekar, the invincible swordsmen, and Maxim, ultimately the savior of Parcelyte, and his pretty lady waiting for him in her hometown, who very well would have led her people to safety had her hero failed. They'll all be remembered. They're heroes, and no one forgets heroes.
But the bards won't write about the one woman who followed the great Maxim from the start, the one who knew him since he was a child. Their songs won't sing of the original lady in waiting in her hometown, waiting for her hero to come out to the stretch of grass in back of the schoolhouse, to come and save her from those awful other boys. No, she won't make an interesting story to those bards. She's nothing, in spite of her efforts. Her story is of love that never was. That's not verse worthy, is it? No, love is supposed to be either total bliss or total tragedy, and I guess my story's not total tragedy. It didn't end in the death of someone. The only thing that died really was love itself.
Or actually, it's slowly wasting away. It didn't die yet.
I guess I'll always love Maxim no matter what, even if I have to let him go like this. Even if Selan took him from me. Even if fate didn't want me to have him.
I guess this is my lesson in life: You can't always have what you want, even when you really want it and you're so sure that it's best for you. Maybe Maxim isn't best for me; maybe there's someone else...
Well, the poets won't write me sonnets, but my friends back in Elcid will hear everything. I helped get the crown back in Alunze. I helped rescue a woman held captive. I helped a small glass craftsman get back on his feet---financially, anyway. I did a lot. Where would Maxim be now if I hadn't come along? Would he ever have met Selan? Or even Guy?
Maybe, but I know I made the journey more bearable.
Go on, celebrate, Parcelyte. No one's stopping you. I'm not there to make things miserable. I'm not there to be the city's wet blanket. Go on. Live in the peace you've earned.
As for me, it's back to Elcid. I won't be mobbed, but I'll have a lot to tell everyone. Maybe I can be the bard for my own story.
A/N: Nothing major here, just fixed the formatting. And I want to thank everyone who read this. I was thinking of starting on a bigger Lufia project some time in the future (not sure when, since I have a lot of other things to finish). Hopefully later on down the line, more people will start contributing to this section.
And one thing that won't change: if you're a first time reader of this, please keep any anti-Tia or anti-Selan remarks to yourself. I happen to be a fan of both characters, and review sections aren't the place for incoherent rants.