In Crimson It Ended
Liberty or Death, what would it be?
This was the question I've been asking myself ever since I read those words written on the wall of Raubahn's old house. My father's words.
In a war such as this, there was little else one could hope for. Even as Hien arrived with reinforcements and we managed to breach into the city proper, this question still lingered on my mind.
And when that dragon, that primal, rose up high into the sky above the palace, I was convinced that the answer would be death.
But...death didn't come, and as I watched the creature that had taken Papalymo away from us fall apart as it plummeted towards the palace, I knew that she had won.
That we had won.
Quiet.
Everything was quiet.
No cries, no fanfare, even the wind seemed to have stopped at the sight of what had unfolded only moments ago.
Tiny particles of aether were raining down from the sky, like snowflakes glowing in the morning sun, flickering bright between dancing petals then dissipating into nothingness. Blue gave way to a deep red as the sun began its descent, as if to pull the curtains on this macabre stage that had been set just for her.
And in front of her, lying in a field of beautiful red, white and pink flowers, was Zenos.
S'eni released a deep breath, and sound returned. Footsteps echoed from behind, soon followed by Lyse's voice.
"S'eni, are you alright!?" she asked as Alphinaud and her came to a stop.
"Yeah." S'eni nodded, but didn't take her eyes from the sight in front of her. The other woman followed her gaze.
"Zenos!"
The body stirred at the sound of his name, releasing a groan. A shaky hand grasped the discarded sword that lay in between the flowers, using it to help drag himself to his feet as he spat blood from his mouth.
His breath came out in painful gasps as he began to speak.
"...The hunter has indeed—" a violent cough. "—become...the hunted..."
Zenos turned his eyes to the sky, where the last flickers of aether were fading away. "And yet...I feel only joy. Transcendent joy that I have never known before..."
"Joy? Is that what this was all about!?" Lyse demanded. "Do you know how many people died just so you could feel something!?"
"Stupid woman. Life demands sacrifice. Men die so that others may live...and those that survive are stronger for it..." he told her. "But your understanding is of no consequence. To have stood upon this great stage of fools...to have played my part to perfection...Ah, how long my heart has longed for a moment of such clarity...of such life. No other moment shall compare to this...so none shall ever follow..."
With an expression of satisfaction forming on his face, Zenos raised his blade to his neck.
"Coward!" Alphinaud cried.
"Oh no you won't!" Petals whirled into the air as Lyse lunged forward, but S'eni knew that it was already too late. From the moment she had followed him into the Royal Menagerie, she had known that only one of them would leave here alive.
Zenos' eyes found hers and his blood-stained lips curled into a genuine smile. "Farewell...my first friend...my enemy..."
One stroke, a gush of crimson that stained the flowers around him, and it was over.
Zenos yae Galvus was dead.
None of them said a word until Raubahn, Pipin and Hien arrived on the scene.
"What happened?" the Flame General asked.
"Zenos is dead. By his own hand," Alphinaud replied in a somber tone.
The older man looked from Alphinaud towards S'eni and she nodded. He returned it and breathed out, "It's over then...and justice has been done."
"No..." Lyse then said, standing over Zenos' fallen body, her hands balled into fists. "There's no justice in that sick monster's end."
"When I think about how many of our friends had to give their lives because of his madness I..." the young Elezen cut himself off, shaking his hand.
"We've won. Forget him," Raubahn said. "Right now we should think of the living instead of the dead."
Hien then spoke up. "Stand tall, Lyse! Now is the time to raise a cheer for all that have fought for freedom! One loud enough that even your comrades in the heavens can hear it!"
Silence once more draped over them like a blanket. Slowly, S'eni walked over to her friend and placed a hand on top of her shoulder. A moment passed before Lyse moved to gently cover it with her own.
"You're right," Lyse said and turned around, facing her with a smile on her face. "Thank you, S'eni. Without you...well...you know."
She mirrored the other woman's expression. "Hm. I know."
"So let's go and celebrate Ala Mhigos freedom together!"
More people came running into the Royal Menagerie, Arenvald right at the helm. The young man stopped short when he saw Zenos' corpse before grabbing the horn hanging by his hip and blowing into it.
A loud cheer soon echoed throughout the entire city, signalling the end of the battle.
"Well, time to meet the good people of Ala Mhigo, Commander Hext," S'eni said, her smile growing into a grin.
"Yeah." Lyse laughed. "I suppose it is."
Together, they headed up the stairs to the part of the gardens that lead into the former royal quarters, where they were met by Thancred and Yugiri and the rest of the Alliance leaders. No one spoke, exchanging smiles instead, and the group moved over to the nearby balcony overlooking the city, where soldiers as well as citizens had gathered in the street.
A few seconds of silence passed and then every Ala Mhigan raised their voice as one into a mismatched choir of young and old, deep and high.
S'eni looked around as the people sang the anthem that hadn't been heard in 25 long years and her eyes came to rest upon Lyse, who was raising her hand towards the sky.
Are you seeing this, Papalymo? She asked her departed friend. You can rest easy now...
She took a step back and, with one final smile, slipped away.
This was a moment for Ala Mhigo. She was sure they could spare some time without the Warrior of Light right now. Lyse and the others could scold her afterwards.
Her eyes roamed the smooth sand-colored stone of the palace walls as she walked back the same route she had fought her way through earlier. On her way, she passed soldiers as they moved through the halls, some of them taking care of any wounded or fallen, even the Garleans.
A similar sight awaited her in the inner courtyard, with Alliance troops tearing down the barriers and powering down the artillery that had been placed around the area to stop the advancing assault. She gave the Griffin statue in the center of it a passing glance while heading into the direction of the entrance.
Outside, blue smoke rose high into the air from destroyed Magitek all over the city and she took a moment to look upon the giant scorpion-shaped one that she and her team had destroyed earlier.
Note to self: no attacking while the tail's up, she thought to herself. With her luck, she would undoubtedly run into one of these in the future again.
Leaving the palace grounds behind, S'eni made her way to the main street and from there, past the market stands, towards the city gates. As she stepped through the large hole in them, she found herself greeted by the sight of the Maelstrom's cannons and a few of the Grand Company's soldiers guarding the rear, who were a little surprised at her appearance, but otherwise didn't comment when she began heading down the stairway.
She was halfway down when her ears perked up at the sound of footsteps echoing towards her from down below and she found herself stopping in her tracks as she spotted the source of the sound. A lone figure making its way up the stairs. Dressed in an all too familiar white coat.
For a moment she thought that she was hallucinating, that it was simply a mirage caused by the air dancing across the dried salt flats.
But when the figure stopped on one of the landings, a pair of eyes, shining like pale moonstones, rose up to look at her and S'eni knew that it wasn't just a figment of her imagination.
Releasing a mixture of a breath and laugh, she broke into a sprint, practically flying down the stairs that separated them. When she reached her, S'eni all but tackled Y'shtola, making her stumble backwards as she threw her arms around the other woman's neck.
"Well, that's certainly a greeting," Y'shtola said, amusement clear in her voice and hands coming to rest upon her back.
Closing her eyes, S'eni rested her head on her lover's shoulder. "Shouldn't you be resting?" she asked.
"Do you really think I could just sit back after I heard what was happening?"
She smiled. "No, I suppose not."
"But I see you have managed to come out ahead yet again."
They remained like this for a little bit and S'eni breathed in Y'shtola's scent, letting it chase away the last vestiges of battle stress that had remained until now, and she felt herself relax as the arms around her back pulled her a little closer still.
Eventually, though, they stepped back.
"What about Lyse and the others?" Y'shtola asked.
"All safe and sound. And most likely still celebrating too."
"And Zenos?"
"Dead," she replied.
Y'shtola said nothing for a moment, instead calmly looking from her towards the city, then nodded. "I suppose that was the only realistic outcome."
Silvery white eyes shifted back towards S'eni and immediately began scanning her in that telltale way she always did when checking her for wounds.
"Heh, you'll be pleased to know that I'm absolutely—Hey!" S'eni was interrupted by Y'shtola's hand reaching under her haori.
"Fine?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "What is this, then?"
Pulling it open, the other woman revealed a cut on her left side, the blood almost unnoticeable on the color of her clothes.
"I—huh." S'eni blinked and tilted her head. "Didn't even notice that."
"Honestly," her lover muttered and placed her hand on top of the wound, shortly followed by that soft, warm glow and a tickling feeling as her flesh was mended.
"Should you be doing this already?"
"I will have you know that Clemence gave me permission to take walks these past days."
A small smirk formed on her lips. "That doesn't answer my question though."
Y'shtola didn't reply.
Instead, she slapped her side, making her yelp out at the sudden, short pain, before resuming healing her once more.
Once she was done, the other Miqo'te pulled her hand back. "There. Thankfully it wasn't too deep."
"Thanks," S'eni replied earnestly. She then took a step forward and planted a kiss on her cheek, followed by a playful smile. "Now what would I do without you?"
"Run around beaten and bruised, apparently." Y'shtola smiled.
They shared a laugh.
She wanted nothing more than to hug Y'shtola once more and give her a real kiss, but standing in the middle of a giant staircase atop a salt lake was hardly the most romantic setting, so instead, she said, "I was going to go back to Porta Preatoria, but if you want we can still go and join the others."
The other woman looked past her towards Ala Mhigo once again before shaking her head. "I believe we can let them celebrate a little longer."
"Alright. So...you're allowed to take walks?" S'eni asked as they began to walk down.
"Yes. I'm allowed to take walks," was Y'shtola's dry response, and S'eni had to giggle at the image of Clemence telling her that in the same tone that always fell flat on the ears of the woman's sister as well.
"And do those walks include Gyr Abania as well?" The look that she received was answer enough, drawing out another giggle. "How did you even know what was going on?"
"Well since a certain someone forgot to keep me informed—"
"Yeah, sorry about that. Things got pretty hectic all of a sudden."
"—I had to rely on Alisaie and whatever chatter I could make out from the others. I was just about to go out for a walk when news arrived that a primal appeared over Ala Mhigo."
"And then you ran to grab your staff and came all the way out here to make sure I was alright?" S'eni grinned.
Y'shtola turned her head slightly and brushed some hair out of her face. "I...might have teleported to Castrum Oriens and demanded a Chocobo, yes..."
"Aww, Shtola..." she moved in to gently nuzzle her neck. Her lover cleared her throat.
"In any case, I'm happy to see that everything has turned out fine. Though I suppose the real work has only begun for Ala Mhigo's people."
S'eni hummed and nodded. While the city has been liberated, Gyr Abania would need time to heal and rebuild. And that was something only its people could do, not them.
"I suppose that means the Scions' official mission is over, doesn't it?"
"Indeed."
But...
"What do you think Lyse will do now?"
"That's something that she will have to figure out on her own."
"Yeah..."
As they fell silent, S'eni looked up at the sky where the warm colors of the sunset faded to a deep indigo. Gingerly, she reached her hand out to take hold of Y'shtola's, smiling softly when their fingers slowly embraced.
"I do believe you owe me a few tales of your exploits in the Far East," her lover said, her own lips curling upward.
"Alright. Where do you want me to start?"
"As much as I would like to know how you are now apparently able to breathe underwater, I feel the beginning is more appropriate."
"Alisaie told you that, huh?" S'eni chuckled. "So we were crossing the sea..."
And as she began to tell Y'shtola the story of their journey to Kugane, which had been an adventure in itself, she gave her hand a little squeeze and returned her gaze back towards the sky, where the first stars began to faintly twinkle into existence.
It was going to be a beautiful night.
In crimson it began, and in crimson it ended...and then we were free…
And this conclused the story of 4.0. Next up are gonna be a few breather chapters. But until then, have a nice weekend!