The Song of Eternity

Canto 2 : Gaia

Verse 5

Couples

They join to save their world,

Each realizing that they cannot save him,

Reconciling on the way.

"Wait up!" Lani complained as she struggled with her pack, finally catching up to Amarant. "Can you please walk slower," she pleaded, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Fine," Amarant conceded with a hint of annoyance. They had been traveling nonstop for the last day, hoping to make it to Treno in time to make a difference. Between the two of them they were carrying the twelve weapons that Toma had forged. "We should make it to Treno later today. That will still leave us a couple days to figure out what to do?" Amarant reasoned out loud.

"What do you mean? What to do? We need to go save him, he's family," Lani stated plainly. Amarant did not respond, he just kept walking. "He is a friend of yours as well, that has to mean something, even you can't be that cold," Lani shouted angrily before catching herself. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly as Amarant stopped walking.

"You think you know what is going on here? You are just like the rest of them. You have no idea about the truth," Amarant said with fire in his eyes. "I am the only one left that knows what is happening, thanks to you!" He yelled at her before dropping his pack and sitting down to rest. "We'll rest here," he ordered as he pulled out a canteen.

"I'll never know what's going on if you don't tell me. Is it about the monastery?" She asked him with concern, noting him cringe when she mentioned the monastery. "What was so special that you did there?" She asked him as she took a seat on the grass.

"We studied the ancient texts. The prophecies of what was to come. The records of what was understood back when people here could understand the song," Amarant replied from memory. "We prepared for the great conflict, knowing that we would have a part to play. We studied the legend of the one as well. The one who would change the world at the cost of himself."

"You spent all that time preparing for an apocalyptic battle foretold to you by the song from the void?" Lani asked him strangely, raising her eyebrow. Amarant nodded in response. "So, being the only one left, what do you think it means?" She asked him as she took a drink of water.

"I was not supposed to have read the scriptures, but I did anyway, before you arrived," Amarant explained. "Then you arrived and we did our little stint and I got kicked out," he said bitterly before she interrupted him.

"Excuse me for being shipwrecked," she said angrily. "I never forced you to go with me and marry me anyway!" She shouted angrily at Amarant.

"It's not your fault," Amarant shook his head. "It was meant to happen in order to get me out of there before the plague hit. Anyway, you should give me a little respect since we never technically got divorced and you never told your father," he chuckled as he revealed the ring under his claw. "Anyway, back to the song. I never truly understood anything that it said until after it happened. This is the conflict that my brotherhood was to prepare for, the battle with Garland. The one of legend, the one who is to die a thousand deaths, to lose everything that one can lose, to live in misery for a million years in the hope of finding peace, has to be Starmore. He is my brother as well, but I know what must be done. Or rather what must not be done, we are not going to save him from Garland," Amarant said decisively before lifting his pack and heading out.

"We'll camp here for the night and go to Treno tomorrow," Deklin said as he sat down on a stump near the edge of a forest. Eiko sat down beside him, shivering from the cold. "You're cold," he stated, then placed his hands in front of him, creating a small, but warm floating ball of fire. He removed his hands and it stayed there floating in the air, warming the two of them.

"Thanks," she said to him as she warmed her hands near the ball of fire.

"No problem," Deklin responded before falling silent. "Nothing like being back home again," he said with a sigh, picking up a rock and throwing it.

"You really think they're all dead?" She asked him, referring to Zidane and Steiner.

"Dagger said that they were, but who knows. No one else appears to be," he said angrily. "Let's get up that tree so we can get some rest," he motioned at the large tree behind them.

"One float spell, coming up," Eiko nodded as the two of them lifted off the ground and settled into the branches. After they were settled in for a minute, Deklin made a hand motion and the fireball floated up to their position. "So you worked out a lot of better magic before you left here?"

"Yeah, wasn't much else to do. We cracked the teleportation a little before you disappeared. We had a basic working understanding of how our magic worked before I left, but who knows what they can do now," his voice drifted off as he looked out into the night and fidgeted with his desert cloak from Parm.

"Vivi, what happened to you on Parm?" Eiko asked him, noticing a mix of anger and tears in his eyes.

"I don't want to be Vivi anymore, so please….stop," he said as the fireball glowed brighter for a second. "I worked for Ashura. I killed for him," he stopped again, looking over his clothes.

"You want to talk about it, maybe get in touch with the old you. It'll make you feel better," she comforted him and held his hand.

"I don't think I can go back. It's like a part of me was lost when I remembered what I did. I just have to accept what I did. I'm still the same old guy, just a little more messed up," he joked, but didn't laugh.

Let's get some sleep, you'll feel better in the morning," Eiko said as she rested her head on his arm and closed her eyes. "You think we'll be able to help Deke, or whatever his name is?"

"I don't know. If Zidane and them couldn't take the city with all the kingdoms helping, do we really have a chance on our own?"

"You need to have faith Deklin, you need to have faith in people," Eiko muttered before drifting off to sleep, leaving Deklin to ponder the situation.

Nathan sat in an old worn chair up in the balcony in the Treno auction house. He stared at the glass of wine in his hand. He saw movement in the glass, a reflection of someone behind him. "What do you want?" He asked to whoever it was, not really caring.

"Just came to check on you," Mikoto responded. She walked around to stand in front of him and leaned back on the rail, looking into her husband's eyes. "How are you holding up?" she asked him, trying to get a response.

"Super. I've been commanding a losing war for the last five years and I just found that my brother is alive, but in the one place where I can't save him," he stopped and took a sip of the wine to calm himself. "Just great…"

"When are gonna go get him?" Mikoto asked, taking the wine away from Nathan. "You drink too much of this," he scolded him.

"I drink just enough of this," he replied, taking the glass from her hand. "I already decided on what we are going to do anyway," he stated before downing the rest of the wine and throwing the glass to the ground, causing it to shatter. "They want us to come, to attack in full force. They are going to pull back all the WEAPONs, along with the majority of their troops, to protect the city."

"Why would they do that?" Mikoto asked her husband.

"Because I know their plan," Nathan explained. "We have two choices here. We can either save him or do nothing, at least that's what Garland thinks. If we try to save him, we will die. But if we mass our forces, prepare for the attack, their troops will fall back to prepare. Then we will take back the cities and hopefully raise a large enough army to stop them from being retaken."

"But what about Travis?"

"I would give my life to save him, but it would take all of our lives and more to get him out of there," Nathan said calmly as he looked at his wife. "We can't save him."

"So you are just going to let your brother die?"

"He would do the same thing," Nathan said before massaging his scalp. "The only way he's gonna get out of there is if he does it himself. I contacted the elemental, it's going to try to revive him. But we are going to do nothing. There is nothing we can do," he finished before settling back into his chair, exhausted.