The Wants of the Few
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Author's note: Short chapter, but sweet.
Chapter 17 – Who Will Remember?
Finally around 4:30 Elysia's motley crew of friends were picked up by their parents. Roy and Riza collapsed on the couch completely exhausted. Gracia was in the kitchen cleaning up the remainder of the cake and Elysia was quietly playing on the floor with a few of her new toys. Roy watched the child with fascination. Children were such interesting things…'even if they are sometimes a little dangerous…' Roy thought remembering the pain in his groin. After playing with a large doll, Elysia stopped and picked up her music box once more. She carefully wound the key and opened the box again, silently watching the gears within the box turn. By this time Riza was also watching her. Elysia's eyes seem to glaze over and she was transported to a different time. After a few minutes it wound down and she came out of her little trance and closed the box. She seemed much happier now and began playing with the large doll again.
"Elysia?" Riza said, interrupting the small child's play. Roy was a little surprised, they'd all been so quiet it was strange to hear a voice.
"Yes Miss Riza?" Elysia said, turning to face her.
Riza took a moment to gather her thoughts…painful memories rushed back to her. "Do you ever get sad thinking about your daddy?" Riza asked, her own father's death coming back to her.
Elysia thought about the question seriously for a while. After several moments Riza was afraid she'd over stepped a boundary, but then the little girl spoke up, "Sometimes…but it makes me even more sad when people don't talk about him. They try to pretend that he never died…that he never lived." Elysia seemed to be saying it all to the floor, but then she looked the two adults in the eye, "I miss him a lot, but when Uncle Roy tells me stories about him and I get to see pictures of my daddy…its like he's here with me again. I don't think my daddy would want people to be sad. I think he'd want us to be happy when we remembered him. I hated it when everyone stopped talking about him…everybody's been so quiet so long, I'm afraid I'm going to forget him…I don't want to forget him." Small tears pricked the sides of Elysia's eyes at the thought of losing her father's memory.
Roy's heart caught in his throat. Everyone had stopped talking about him. Everyone had tried to pretend that everything was fine…but it seemed that his memory was forgotten…all the hard work and memories Maes had helped create were stripped from the record, the only exception being locked within the memories of the people that he'd touched.
"Yesterday, you cried when your Mother left you at my house…why do you cry for her, but not your father?" Riza asked…she felt meddlesome asking so many questions, but there were so many questions left unanswered.
"I don't want her to die…" She said honestly, "Not like Daddy did. I never got to say goodbye to Daddy. Besides, if Mommy leaves…who will be there to help me remember Daddy?" she asked, her innocence seemed to penetrate the room and fill it…Riza couldn't breathe. She was amazed…it wasn't Maes' death that weighed heavily on the child…it was the responsibility of being the only one that was trying to keep his memory alive. The girl's words echoed in her head once more, 'Besides, if mommy leaves…who will be there to help me remember daddy?' She couldn't help but risk a small sidelong glance at Roy, "We will." She replied out loud. Elysia could only smile.
Only one more chapter...stay tuned :)