Disclaimer: Don't own any of the healing items/ summons/ jobs, those are Squaresofts. This is non-profit fun.

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Walk this stagnant world like a dead man

Lost chasing after your faded light

Never to be happy again

Your love

Your memory

A shadow: taunting me, haunting me

Like whispers of the past

Stabbing my heart killing me slowly

Drowning me in the sea of my sins

This is your ghost

Hollow I sit, unfriendly company

With it by my side

-Ghost by Pen

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Ashen came to the holy place; his beloved Aleura cradled in his arms. He did not think to take off his shoes before walking the grass for this sanctum for it was no longer holy, it had become tarnished by the massacre that took place. Though it showed no sign of it visibly, the tree, still blooming in lavender, mocked him. There, in its shade, he buried her, letting the tree be her marker.

For the rest of the day and into the night, he buried the two hundred members of the sect. Giving each individual their own grave and rock for a marker, and for those bodies he couldn't retrieve, he buried a fallen appendage. When he had finished late into the night, he came back to the holy place.

The tree now rained lavender petals onto the mound Aleura slept in, as if it were weeping for the dead. Ashen, exhausted both physically and emotionally, walked to the dirt mound and collapsed beside it. He slept there, but there were no dreams and no rest for him.

It was noon when he finally awoke. The sun held clear in the middle of the blue sky, seemed to all laugh at his misery. He was a mess, dirt covered and blood stained. He looked to the grave at his right, wishing he could sleep forever by her side. However, he knew he needed to leave, that being here was of no use, and the longer he stayed the more sanity he lost.

Reluctantly, he arose, casting one last look at the lavender covered grave. He whispered, "I love you," hoping her spirit could hear him and resenting the fact he never told her that while she had been alive. He left, knowing he would never see this place again.

~***~

The long stretch of highway never seemed so silent, so alone. On his motorcycle, he sped down the left lane, phasing in and out of reality as the engine buzzed in his ears. He didn't know where he was going, not back to the little city he's made his home. Not back to the job as a bouncer at the little run down bar. Not back to his lonely apartment. It didn't matter to him now. For now he just rode on, where ever the road felt like taking him.

"This is all your fault, you know?" a voice in his head mocked him. "If you weren't here, if you two never metshe would still be alive."

On either side of the road golden leaves fell, the trees were nearly bare. A sure sign winter was just around the corner.

"You were supposed be the one who died, remember? You were the one, not her," the voice continued to prod at him.

"Shut up," he whispered hoarsely trying to drown out the accuser in his mind, tugging slightly on the throttle making the bike go a bit faster.

"This is Karma, Ashen Maave. This is your punishment for all your crimes," the voice spat viciously.

Why them?! They did nothing wrong, if I'm the criminal why kill them?! She had nothing to do with it, damn it! Why kill her?! He retorted in this mental debate.

"What are you gonna do about it?" It asked dryly.

He knew what that meant, his mind scrolling the images of the destruction he had witnessed. It was all the same, exactly like the past. He remembered the van that nearly hit him, the only car on the road yesterday. Suddenly, it all came together: MAGE. They were the only one's capable of such total indiscriminate annihilation in that short amount of time.

"MAGE..." his voice burned in hushed rage. His blazing red eyes on the road but seeing nothing.

"What will you do about them?" it chirped.

"I'll kill them" The whisper came like venom.

He tugged on the throttle again unconsciously.

"I'll kill them all"

Blinded, by his rage he pulled the throttle to its limit. Like a streak of black lightening his bike raced down the highway. The world became a hazy blur behind him.

All of a sudden, something skipped across the highway not too far ahead of Ashen's bike. Stopping abruptly in the middle of the road while the bike charged on. Ashen's demeanor changed from slight confusion to utter shock and disbelief, his eyes gradually growing wider as the little figure became more and more visible, distinguishing its features perfectly.


Six years old, clad in a pink dress and a blue wool sweater, with a gray bunny in her loose grip. Her brown pigtails swayed as she turned her dirty little face ever so slowly towards the rushing bike no more then few feet away. She stared at Ashen blankly, with large red eyes.

A gasp caught in his throat. That's notpossible.

All at once, he let go of the throttle and tried to veer away. A moment of total weightlessness that was replaced by excruciating pain and finally total darkness.

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AN:

Whew * Been having issues with compy troubleshopefully I'll get a new puter or this one won't poop out by the time I at least finish this story. As for the story, i.e. this chapter; ehehehehhe, I like this one it leaves you with that creepy feeling of "What the?" And the poem up top (crappy though it may be) is what the title of the story is based off of. Anywho, I think I answered those questions. Anyone have another? Don't be shy * wink *

Hope to see you all next chapter!