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!
