Shadows of Pain and Purity
By Darcion Shadowheart
I do not own Breath of Fire 2, nor do I wish I could. The people that made it put in thousands of hours of effort into making that game, and I don't own a single cent of its value. Jared Gilman, the author's real name, wrote the song sung by Ryu during the fic, it has a copyright pending, don't steal it or you are breaking a law. If you want to use it, send me a message and I will give you the OK. Thanks for reading. Sorry it took me so long
Ryu: He got reviewed…. Amazing. Thank you Anonymous for your kind words.
Nina/Katt: (gasp) he is still talking, he sang a song in the last chapter!
Ryu: I dunno if I want to be mute anymore… its scary… lemme talk more… please! Then they wont gasp at each chapter.
Ryu awoke to the dawn cracking over the mountains of the horizon. His arms caressed Nina's winged back softly, held tightly with his wrists clasped around her waist. Slowly he detached one hand and slid it across her face, watching with a smile as her eyes fluttered open and gaze into his own. She smiled softly and rested her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat, each pulse sending warmth through her own body, the ecstasy of listening to his life move through him heating her skin with a slight blush. Ryu grinned softly at the rose color that flowed over her face and he held her tighter.
"How are you this morning… my beloved Nina?" Ryu's face softened into a warmer smile and he kissed her forehead gently.
Nina let out an exasperated laugh and held him tightly, no longer blushing but simply reveling in the joy of holding him so close to her, knowing that she would never have to let go. Eventually Ryu sadly detached their embrace and they walked hand in hand to the lower level, where Bow quickly noticed them and grinned suggestively. Ryu parted his hand with Nina's and walked to his canine friend, hitting him over the side of the head and sending him flying into a wall, where he sagged to the ground rubbing his head.
Ryu then walked back to Nina and escorted her to her room, then went to his own to look in the mirror and smile, his normally stoic face cracking wide with joy as the warmth from her body slowly began to fade from his skin. As he smiled and changed his clothing, he heard a noise from the next room and placed his ear to the wall. Someone was weeping, her heart sounded shattered, and Ryu knew that voice. Katt, the powerful Woren that had fought so loyally at his side after he saved her at the Coliseum, was crying as though her world had fallen, even after the defeat of Deathevan.
Bowing his head, Ryu heard her say softly through her whimpers, "Ryu… why couldn't you love me? Why couldn't you hold me like that… its just not fair," she tapered off for a moment, "Nina…my friend… how could you take him… Why did you and he have to fall in love, when I loved him first… ever since he saved me."
Ryu pushed off the wall and sagged to his bed, suddenly feeling very old, as though every bone is his body had increased its weight ten fold. His hands went to his face and he sighed sadly, then a tear slipped down his face. He stood up and turned to the open window, stepping out and jumping down to the ground, landing with his usual grace as he walked into the forest and did not look back. Katt had stopped her crying and her usual senses returned, she heard Ryu move through his room then down into the forest and gasped, realizing that he had just heard all she had said. She broke down again at the shame of her actions and words and curled into a little ball as Ryu made a steady pace to the center of the forest.
Nina had happened to turn towards her window in time to see Ryu leaving the town for the forest, and the look on his face told her that he wished to be alone. Confusion set into her heart and she walked down the stairs to the lower level slowly, her mind trying to process what had happened. As she passed Ryu's floor, she saw a tear streaked Katt emerge from her room and their eyes locked. Shame and grief shone in Katt's eyes, and Nina's opened wide in realization that it was something she had done.
She stepped towards Katt, and the Woren took a step back, "Katt, what is wrong, why are you crying? What is it?"
"No! No no no… Nina… I'm so sorry, " Katt held her face in her hands, "I am so so sorry…"
Nina stepped forward again and the Woren backed into a corner and then fell to the floor, pulling her knees to her face and crying against them as Nina slowly approached and then crouched before her friend, a hand reaching out to touch Katt's cheek, but Katt recoiled at the touch.
"D-don't touch me… I… I am not worth your touch… please… leave me be… I am not worth your care, how could I do this to you? To him? How could I… how…?"
Nina's eyes grew more and more concerned, but she stayed calm as she let her knees fall to the floor and embraced her closest friend, Katt tensing and trying to resist, trying to convince her to leave her there in the hallway alone. After a while of this Katt just gave up and cried in Nina's arms, Nina still trying to understand what had happened, what Katt had done.
"Katt… you are my friend, what have you done that has so wronged me?"
Katt looked down at her feet and tried to stop crying, "R-ryu… he heard me… in my room. I was crying… because I had seen you and him on the roof last night. I-I-I… Nina… I love him too… and he heard me talk about it to myself… I… I am so sorry… I am not worthy of you touching me right now… I have wronged both you and the one I love… my best friend and the person I love…"
Nina's eyes widened and then closed, her head spinning with everything as she realized exactly what had happened. She understood exactly what had happened, Ryu had heard Katt's confessions… and felt his grip on his now perfect reality slip. This was almost as bad as when all of his friends had been mercilessly slaughtered by Deathevan, not even corpses left to bury. She had no idea of what he would do… but she knew that the state of his mind would be fighting itself, trying to grasp what it could do to not hurt either person.
Standing slowly Nina walked in a daze down the hall to the opposite end of Katt and became lost in her thoughts as she felt her heart pull her towards the forest. Her legs lifted her from the ground and carried her out the door, dusk's light casting long shadows through the trees as she walked, her wings folded to her blue dress. Lines of darkness passed over her body as her form drifted towards the center of the forest, finding the path seemingly clear in her heart.
Ryu stood in the clearing at the center of the forest, sagging against the tree behind him and cried to his knees, his heart torn and broken after the pain it faced now… the love of two of those he cared for most, when he only wanted the one. How could this work, how could it happen? Why? When? How? All these questions slipped across the expanse of his shattered mind as he was curled against the elder tree in the center of the clearing.
Gentle footsteps brought Nina into the clearing, her eyes gazing on Ryu as he lay curled against the tree's trunk, and she stopped next to his form, slipping to her knees and wrapping her arms around his neck. She guided his head into her lap, and brushed the hair back from his face, his eyes closed as a not so peaceful sleep had taken him. A sad smile set on her face as she began to cry, her tears falling onto his face and sliding down its sides, her body wracked with sobs as she knew the pain and brokenness her beloved felt.
In his twisted dreams, Ryu watched his world's broken pieces swirl in a tornado, his mind unable to move as they moved out of his reach, farther and farther away. Then he felt a pair of arms hold him tight and caress his face, tears sliding onto his face, each drop like a warm lightning shock on his face, jolting with every touch of their wet surfaces. Ryu's tornado began to gather together and form one image, and Nina's gentle smile filled his heart with peace, her gentle caresses on his cheek waking him and gazing into her tear filled eyes.
"Oh Nina… I am so sorry about how I reacted… I just couldn't see anything… I couldn't bear to hurt another person after we worked so hard to save them all, couldn't bear to hurt one of the people that Afini returned to me when I watched you all die… Nina…" he buried his head in her neck and she wrapped her arms around him protectively, knowing that for once, he needed someone else to be strong.
"My Ryu… I understand your brokenness completely… I know how much you hurt. I can sense your heart my beloved… your heart is joined to mine and I share your awful burdens with you, we are one person sharing these weights. Let them fall to me for once… do not stand alone anymore, for I am here." Tears welled up in Nina's eyes even as she spoke these words, and Ryu's own were very wet, salty trails snaking down his cheeks as he tilted his chin up and brought his lips to Nina's deeply.
Time froze, nothing moved. Nina melted into Ryu and felt her soul join with his, their hearts one. Their tears mixed together as they fell down each other's cheeks, lips crushing together as Nina wrapped her wings around them both and pulled Ryu tighter, trying to pull him into her, to make them truly one. Ryu smiled against her lips and wrapped his much stronger arms around her waist and pulled her right against him, as close as possible without hurting each other.