Parting Ways
He is there, somewhere on the horizon.
I can't see him for the setting sun but his silhouette is a clear outline on the bronzed sky. I am staring down a cliff, staring down an abyss towards reaching him again. He is lost somewhere between here and there, somewhere between her and myself. He is closer to death, closer to her right now and I can't blame him.
Everything is so fresh, everything stings like a new wound, washed under cold water. Zangan dragging me across rocks, scraping my skin raw, then patching my flesh. Catching my breath every time I shift.
You catch someone's eye and wince. It's all right there on the surface, all raw and exposed, nowhere to hide. He buried her in the crystal lake but she's still sitting on his shoulder.
And he is breaking, every second of every moment, he is breaking under the weight of her. He is breaking and putting himself back together and doing a terrible job at saying it's all okay.
None of it is okay.
We are all broken.
I am broken.
I have been broken for so long.
I want to tell him that, I want him to feel safe in telling me that. Like that night he pulled me into his arms, standing in the flowers. In her flowers.
But he hides, not in obvious ways, but in sliding ways. Sliding past the rest of us; no eating with us, no shuffling of materia with us, no exchanging of armor with us. He holds himself apart from the rest of us.
And I can't blame him.
I feel like I'm constantly holding my breath around him. Not like he'll explode or do anything crazy, I just feel like it's all held together with tape and if someone taps it the wrong way it'll all just fall apart. The cracks are already there. We can see them, we just ignore them.
We sit, beneath that great hull of the airship. The night is crisp and pure above us. Stars like pinholes in the sky. I can see my mother holding her skirt over my face, see the sun peak through the tiny holes, feel her giggle as she pinches my cheeks.
And I cry.
Everything shatters, and peels back, and bleeds anew.
And he is there, arms as strong as they always have been.
Eyes as blue but clearer than they've ever been.
And I catch my breath, looking at him, seeing him for the first time in a long time.
And his lips are on mine, his lips are mine, we are one.
And for a time, I'm not scared anymore.
A/N: I'm all over that Kingdom Two Crowns sound track, Parting Ways. I'm eagerly waiting for the next slice of the rerelease to come out and hoping for some inspiration. Love you as always :)