Agrias Oaks-
Accounts of a Holy Knight,
Heartfelt Yearnings of an Incomplete Woman
Disclaimer: All Final Fantasy Tactics characters, worlds and events are copyright of Square-Enix.
Final Account-By Your Side Forever
It was nightfall. The rest of the knighthood was sound asleep in their barracks, not aware that their superior officer was still awake, right outside the main gates. But this was not the Agrias Oaks they knew, this was a completely different Agrias, in both looks and spirit. Where her armor normally was, she wore a stunning blue dress, matching the color of the armor Ramza had worn the last time she had seen him. Her hair was still pulled back in a twisted ponytail, but the ribbon was not nearly as tight as it she usually wore it. Where gauntlets usually covered, Agrias' strong womanly hands shone threw, brushing back stray pieces of hair that the chill wind blew in front of her face. She shivered a little, but refused to move.
"Ramza..." Agrias said desperately. Still no sign of him, and it had already been an hour since Agrias arrived at the spot where she continued to stand. But still nothing.
"Maybe...he couldn't make it...because of the Church..." Agrias thought bitterly to herself. That was the better of the two scenarios that Agrias proposed, the other...
He doesn't want to see me...he must've decided to stay with Alma...
Agrias felt tears sting at the corners of her eyes. Ordering herself not to cry, Agrias turned around and began to walk inside. Maybe she could make it back to her room before anyone saw her.
"Wark!"
Agrias spun around. That was the unmistakable sound of a chocobo.
"Could it be...?"
A figure appeared in the distance, mounted on the chocobo that was the owner of the cry Agrias had just heard. Agrias stepped forward, clutching her hands together tightly. The figure got closer and closer, before finally stopping in front of the Holy Knight. Just as Alma was, this person also had a cloak covering their face. But there was no mistaking it this time. It was...
"Ramza..."
"Hello Agrias." The figure said as he jumped down from the chocobo, instantly removing the hood from his face. Ramza Beoulve now stood before her. It was really him, this was no dream. He was exactly as he had looked at Murond.
"I'm glad to see you in good health." Ramza said.
"Y...yes..."
Ramza unlaced his cloak and set it on the chocobo's saddle. Tieing the bird to a nearby post, he walked back over to Agrias. Agrias watched everything he did, he moved with the same energy he always had. This same energy led him into battle countless times. This same energy brought about the ends of lives of many different people. This same energy captivated the young woman, she was always drawn to it.
"Ramza..."
"I know Agrias, you don't have to say anything."
"Why...?"
"I couldn't do anything Agrias. I had no choice but to vanish. It was for Alma's sake, and my own as well. The Beoulve Heretic Twins, we're fugitives. We can't show our faces so long as the Church still knows who we are. Which is why I have to go soon..."
"Don't go...please...you're all I have left..." Agrias pleaded.
"I can't...if I stay here, I put you at risk as well Agrias. The Church wouldn't be very ecstatic if they found out a Holy Knight was collaberating with the Heretic Ramza Beoulve."
"......." Agrias stayed silent.
"If I had a choice, I would happily stay with you. But...Alma needs me. She can't live a safe life alone."
"I need you too Ramza..."
"No, you don't. You're a strong woman Agrias, you've always been that way. I've known that since the day I met you. I've always been able to confide in you, I could trust your strength. You were right Agrias, you don't need anyone, you are your own fortress."
"No I'm not!!!!" Agrias screamed. Ramza stepped back in shock.
"A...Agrias...? What's wrong?"
"You! Ever since Ovelia was taken, I pledged my life to you! I'd follow you to the very depths of Hell! And now you're telling me I don't need you?! How can you say such hypocritical things?!"
"B...but Agrias, I didn't mean to..."
"Ramza Beoulve, I love you with all my heart and soul, and I will not let you vanish into the annals of history without me!!!"
"Agrias...I..."
Now the tears that were being confined in Agrias' eyes flowed freely down her face. Ramza then began to see just how much this woman truly cared for him. He smiled innocently as he began to speak in his most endearing and honest tone of voice.
"...Thank you Agrias. I'm truly blessed to be loved by someone like you. All my life, everyone's hated me. They hated me for my name, they hated me for my goals, they hated me for being alive. I thought only Alma could accept me as a human being, but now I see there is another..."
Ramza held out his hand to Agrias.
"I too am in love with you Agrias Oaks, you are one of the few pieces of my life that I can truly call happiness."
Agrias, without saying another word, ran to the young Beoulve and collapsed in his arms, crying her eyes out on his aquamarine armor. Ramza's arms enveloped around Agrias, shielding her from everything in the world. Two incomplete souls, drawn to each other by fate, were now whole. The moon fell behind a curtain of clouds, bathing the two figures in a romantic darkness, and the fated meeting between Agrias Oaks and Ramza Beoulve came to a climax...
Agrias awoke the next morning in her bed, a warm smile spread across her face. She moved her hands over to her bed, expecting to feel her beloved Ramza's face, but there was nothing. Sitting up with a start, Agrias found Ramza fitting into the rest of his armor.
"I must go now Agrias..." Ramza said solemnly. Rather than refusing to let him go, Agrias replied with a simple, "I know."
"I'm sorry to leave you like this, but I cannot stay in the open any longer."
Agrias wrapped her bedsheets around her body and walked over to Ramza, hugging onto him tightly.
"Will I ever see you again...?"
"I do not know, but if there is ever a time when I can show my face in public without fear, I will come back to you as fast as I can, this I promise." Ramza said assuringly as he turned to face Agrias. Planting a kiss on her cheek, Ramza took hold of Agrias' hands and clasped them in his own.
"Live well Agrias. My love shall be beside you..."
"...Forever." Agrias answered for him.
After one more loving hug, Ramza covered his face with his cloak and went outside. Agrias watched from her window as he mounted his chocobo and began to ride off. He stopped in the distance and looked back. He could feel Agrias' kind eyes all the way out there. Nodding to himself, he kicked his chocobo, and dissapeared into the distance. Agrias sighed a dreamy sigh, then walked over to her desk and sat down. Taking up her feather once more, Agrias opened her journal and began to write.
To be complete, it is the most wondrous feeling in all the world.
This shall be the final entry in this journal. I no longer feel the need to chronicle every last detail of my life. The reason I started this journal in the first place was to always remember what might have been. But now I do not need to think about it. What might have been is no longer a concern to me. What matters now is the future before me. It is a future I do not face alone. I have my health, I have my friends, and I still have him. Though he cannot be with me, I can still feel the warmth of his breath on my body. I still feel his tender heartbeat coincide with my own.
I will continue to live as a Holy Knight. But no longer am I the ignorant servant I was, now I truly can call myself a soldier. War does not dictate what one can feel. Love can happen anywhere, even on the bloodiest and most treacherous of battlefields. He taught that to me, along with so much more.
He has left me again. But this time it is not with sorrow, but love. An eternal love that will forever exist in my heart, and I believe in his as well. While boundless miles seperate us, what we feel for each other transcends any such distance effortlessly. No other man will ever hold a place in my heart as Ramza Beoulve does. I have dedicated myself to him. I'll remain a strong Holy Knight, the same Holy Knight he loves so very much. And he shall remain the innocent boy whom I will forever cherish. Our titles vary, but that is unimportant.
Live for me Ramza Beoulve, and I shall live for you.
Forcefully divided, but forever devoted,
Agrias Oaks
"Lady Agrias!" A voice called out from behind her door, it was her squire. "You didn't show up for training today! Is everything ok?"
"Yes." Agrias said to herself. "Everything is just fine."
Agrias set her pen down and closed her journal, setting it inside her drawer. She took the dagger that was next to it and dropped it in the drawer as well. Never again would she feel the need to go to such extreme lengths to maintain her sanity. Agrias Oaks was now, and will always will be, a complete woman. Thanks to the love of one noble boy...
-'Fin
