Title: Word of the Day v. FFIV
Author: Garnet Eyes
Archived: fanfiction .net, livejournal .com
Last Updated: 11 Mar 2011
Summary: 17 February 2000 edition.
Rating: K+
Characters/Pairings: Cecil, Rosa, Cecil x Rosa
Author Notes: abjure, transitive verb;
1. To renounce under oath.
2. To renounce ore reject solemnly; to recant; to reject; repudiate.
3. To abstain from; to shun.
Disclaimers: Final Fantasy IV is owned by Square-Enix and I in no way, shape, or form profit off of my writing. This is simply for my own pleasure, and may at any time be removed and/or modified as I see fit.
...
"Do you ever miss the power you used to wield?"
Blinking, the paladin looked to his wife in mild confusion. It seemed an odd topic to ask him, completely out of the blue, but her features told him that the question was completely serious, so he gave it thought instead of using the knee-jerk reply that had been on the tip of his tongue. She wanted to know, and he was willing to be considerate of that. Between the powers of Dark and the powers of Light, there was something to be said for each, but the immense strength found in darkness came with a bitter price. For a long time Cecil had been willing to forsake himself and pay that price because it was what he owed to his liege for being so gracious to him and taking him in when he was nothing more than a peasant's abandoned duty. Well, on his mother's side he was a seventeenth generation noble, but it wasn't as though anyone actually knew that back when he'd been found. That was completely irrelevant to the topic, though. He wasn't willing to pay that price anymore, because the darkness held such immense destruction within, but it would cost him everything he held dear if he let it. And Cecil would never again let himself suffer losses that were completely unnecessary. With the light, he had the power to halt those losses, to protect instead of destroy. In the end, however, a sword was a sword, and it all came down to how the weapon was wielded.
"...In a way, yes, but for the most part, not at all."
Rosa smiled softly up at him, her blue eyes crinkling in the corners, before she'd nodded once and turned away. Cecil watched her go, a half smile quirking vivid blue lips, although he still had no idea why she'd asked that of him. She paused suddenly and turned to look back at him, her smile broadening merrily.
"I'm glad you can be so honest now. I'd want no one else as the role model for my child."
Emerald eyes blinked before the paladin stiffened in surprise, stuttering as he spoke.
"Ch-ch-child? You- what-"
Rosa laughed, bringing one hand to her lips while the other rested against her flat stomach.
"You've still got a bit of time before that. At least eight months."
Ecstatic, Cecil hurried to her side, smiling broadly.
"That's wonderful!"
It was one more reason to be thankful for and protect the life he now had.