The defeat of Bakal had finally come at long last. The war that had gone on for centuries upon centuries was seeing its conclusion. The sky of Empyrean, no longer filled with smoke or baleful dragons ruling above, revealed a vermilion hue that previously had been hidden by the smog. The tint of red-orange signified that night had already passed. Morning was coming, and it meant a new dawn for a liberated Empyrean.
Such thoughts momentarily flowed through the mind of the pilot within Gaebolg after witnessing the Tyrant's defeat. Furthermore, Juvenil began to reassess the damage Gaebolg had taken through the utilization of what internal controls could still operate temporarily. The brawl with Bakal resulted in significant damage. The arm of the machine being blasted off had especially caught his notice, but something like that was difficult to miss. The machine's chest and nuclear reactor had also been destroyed in the fight. The internal controls revealed that the machine would no be able to function, at least not without a major repair job. Whether or not Gaebolg could actually be repaired for potential usage again in the future was a question. However, it mattered little right then. Juvenil had no real use for it any longer.
The gigantic machine soon shut down completely, devoid of an energy source. It could not even stand upright anymore, so it had already given in, slouching completely. The pilot within climbed out of the cockpit, nearly stumbling due to the presence of bent and broken parts on his way out. An opening in Gaebolg existed just beside a palace wing that was in poor condition. He used that to his advantage and stepped out. When his shoes met the fragmented railing of the wing, he jumped down onto the concrete proper.
Juvenil took a moment to regain his bearings. He, himself, was in good condition. Piloting Gaebolg hadn't been too difficult of a task once he had gotten the hang of it, partly thanks to Michelle's help. It was the fact that it actually existed that felt much more difficult to comprehend. He surveyed the creation he had just exited. The damaged Gaebolg was there, hunched over just by the Cruel King of Dragons' Road.
He stopped gazing at the machine and readjusted his radio headphones. He then stared off into some other direction, contemplating.
Gaebolg… The ancestors I hated so much were right all along… What have I been doing?
While he was caught up in his own thoughts, the Adventurer, who sensed and saw that Juvenil wasn't present when the Empyrean Allied Forces celebrated its victory, circled back to the scene of where she had seen the battle between Gaebolg and Bakal to find him.
Juvenil heard her footsteps and broke free of his contemplation. Moreover, he watched as she casually approached him. She was that same short, fierce-faced red-haired girl. He figured she would come looking for him. That was just like her. It didn't mean he appreciated it right then, though. He was still piecing together scattered thoughts and realizations.
Even so, he gave Gaebolg another meaningful look before devoting his full attention to the Adventurer.
"...Everyone else has gone to a safe place. What are you still doing here?" he asked.
She didn't budge from her position, where a respectable space existed between the two of them. She also didn't immediately move to make an answer. Juvenil decided to stress his point.
"Hurry up and go. The survivors-I mean, the distinguished-will be rewarded handsomely. Enjoy your rewards as the most distinguished."
His words rang rather lonely. His voice carried with it a hollow tone even to his own ears. He almost wondered if he said the right thing or delivered it clear enough, but the Adventurer was quick to respond.
"What about you?" she asked.
Actually, he already made peace with his resolve. "...I don't deserve a reward. I deserve to be forgotten."
"Why are you being alone here?"
The way she voiced it expressed both her annoyance towards whatever angst he had been keeping to himself for the entire time she had known him along with, of course, her own genuine concern. It was like the two contradicting emotions somehow came together in a strange, yet sensical harmony. That in itself was admirable. To that, Juvenil could only fall silent.
To start, he couldn't blame her for the vexation she was experiencing. The moment she stepped into the picture, he realized she would be useful. She had benefited him – as well as the Empyrean Allied Forces – greatly. She helped to turn the tide of the war against Bakal and his army by defeating numerous foot soldier dragons; the four dragonoids; and two out of three of Bakal's sons. She even battled against Bakal himself, contributing to his demise. Without her, the war undoubtedly would have dragged on for much longer, cost their Forces more resources, and most importantly, taken more precious human lives.
All the while, the Adventurer was never given much to go off of based on him. She had seen his worst traits, too: his desperation, his seeming cowardice, and to some like Flo and Oscar, his heartlessness. She didn't even know his real name. Juvenil, what he had given her back then, was just an alias.
Yet despite all of that, the Adventurer was still concerned for his well-being. She most certainly showed it, too; she was the only one to bother to come looking for him.
She was an exceptional case… Really, an exceptional person and being. For that, she deserved a straight answer.
"I… I'm the reason that Empyrean suffered so much in the last century."
Upon saying that, he immediately noticed that her normally fierce expression changed into that of a puzzled one. She remained silent because she expected him to continue. He could tell, so he did.
"I'm a descendant of the worst traitor in history. I have no place among the heroes." Juvenil then removed his hands from his sides and let them hang.
The Adventurer's previous puzzled look had done well to return to her usual one, with an inquisitive edge to it. "The worst traitor? Who?"
"One of the people who created that fallen Gaebolg over there." He pointed to the partially destroyed hunk of mass leaning next to the palace wing they were standing on. "He betrayed the rest of us and helped Bakal maintain his tyrannical rule."
The words rolled off his tongue so naturally, but in all honesty, and despite living his whole life knowing them to be truth, he wasn't sure if he could believe those words anymore… or even believe in himself right then. The Adventurer was much more honest than him, though. He could practically see the edges of doubt she was feeling as if was starting to bleed out of her. Still, he had more to say, so he continued.
"His child, my distant ancestor, who was raised by the Meisters Hauts-de-louis and Curio, only knew his father was a traitor. All his life, he felt pressured to make it up to his country." Juvenil shook his head. "This ancestor I despised so much was… one of the Seven Meisters."
He also closed his eyes. "And I'm a Curio… and a Tenebe."
After saying all of that, he felt like he had gotten nearly everything that had been on his mind out. It had pained him, taken all of him to admit everything he said. Yet, as he opened his eyes again and read the look on the Adventurer's face, he could see that she wasn't as moved.
"You don't look surprised."
"Because I'm not." she answered plainly.
Juvenil made a half-smile and turned away from her. He found humor in her response. "As I said, I hated and despised him." Then, he chuckled. "And he deserved it. Because of him, I had to hide from everyone else like a criminal.
"My hatred toward him only grew as I got older. I thought, 'Alright, I'm going to survive and clear my name somehow. I'll commit crimes if I must, to prove that I'm not like my ancestor.'"
It was at that point when the amusement on his face and in his tone left him.
"And that's what I did, survive, doing whatever I can, until now."
Next, he gave Gaebolg a quick lookover. "And today, my ancestor proved to me that he was right and I was wrong. I was just an ignorant fool who wasted his life in anger for no reason whatsoever."
"No." The Adventurer voiced with such resoluteness. He faced her again to see her slowly shake her head. Then, she gave him some look that, to him, read as if she was saying 'Fine! It looks like I have to be the mature one in this situation.' With that, she extended her arms. She closened the distance between them, wrapping those arms around his frame. She hugged him.
"You did what you had to do." she told him, gazing up at him with warm eyes and a much softer expression. "You did what you believed was right as a responsible adult. As a hero of your nation."
Juvenil was taken aback by the sudden hug. Such an action wasn't something he really ever received or gave out. It didn't mean that he did not appreciate it right then and there, though. He hugged her back.
"Thank you for saying that." He then said, returning her gaze. He patted her head gently.
They both fell silent for a moment, causing the distant sounds of spreading fires, burning building debris falling, and the last of the dragons' death cries to become more apparent.
"About your ancestor, Tenebe…" the Adventurer would suddenly begin, directing Juvenil's ears to focus on her voice again, "I met him."
"Michelle told me."
"Yeah. The more time I spent around him, as well as the other Meisters, and knowing how their story was to end, I couldn't help but feel sorry… For Tenebe especially."
To that, he couldn't help but raise a brow. "You felt sorry for him?"
The Adventurer nodded. "He once told Siran, Iris, Michelle, and I in reference to his eventual deceased self, 'I'm envious of that Tenebe. He went through this already and is resting in peace.'"
Even she was astonished that she could so vividly remember the traitor's words regarding himself in what was, back then, his near future. She continued.
"He constantly looked like he was carrying the world on his shoulders, which created great paranoia within him. He knew he was soon going to die, and that'd he lose most of the other Meisters and his comrades within the Eternal Flames. He also understood that he'd be recognized as a traitor by not only his allies, but throughout all of history. Even so, he faithfully carried out the plan he set out to complete."
A 'hmph' came from Juvenil. "I heard this, although a lot more bluntly, from Michelle. He supposedly had been told to prevent Gaebolg's completion by Bakal because one of the Meisters who helped to develop it wasn't a true Meister, but someone who hoped to end Bakal as part of some greater plan they had in mind. Because of that person, Gaebolg couldn't be fully considered something built by Empyreans."
"Yes… and despite knowing Tenebe had betrayed them, the other Meisters beyond the false one placed their faith in him fully, believing he was doing it for a good reason. They joined him in destroying Gaebolg. It was all to ensure a proper future in which the people could stand on their own without borrowed power."
The Adventurer continued to look up at Juvenil, but this time her softened expression revealed a hint of sorrow.
"He did all of it for Empyrean... So please don't think too harshly of him."
Her monologue concluded there. Juvenil formed a half-smile again, then gently freed himself from her hug. He walked over to where the railing of the fractured wing was to watch the vermilion skies. Placing one hand over the broken railing, he spoke up.
"I take it that you could tell I was his descendant before now?"
The Adventurer didn't even have to give his question a second thought. "Yes."
"When did you first realize it?"
"...When I first met you."
A slight perplexed look reflected on his countenance, although she couldn't see it. "And how is that?"
"I saw the jacket hanging on your shoulders."
She sounded very serious with that statement. Then again, she had probably seen a similar, if not the same jacket flow off Tenebe's back as well. Juvenil was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt there, but he hoped she didn't come to such a conclusion based on that alone. He decided to explicitly tell her the deal with the jacket, but implicitly tell her that she needed to better explain herself, in the best way that he could.
"This is just a jacket given to the leading figure of the Eternal Flames. It could have been anybody else wearing it." he tossed back at her plainly.
"To rekindle the fire of the Eternal Flames, an Anti-Bakal organization once led by Tenebe that had already long fallen into obscurity, and to hold a respectable position within it already says something bold, doesn't it?"
Her remark was enough to quiet him. It was a given that she would be well aware of the Eternal Flames, as she and her comrades had apparently worked closely with the organization in the past. Juvenil was handed a reason to reflect on why he bothered to revive an organization led by the ancestor he so detested.
Initially, it began with the discovery of the Anti-Bakal weapons' blueprints left behind by the Seven Meisters. That led to his understanding of their uses and implications against the dragons. After that, it was just a matter of seeing the designs completed and utilized on the battlefield, which required the help of many hands. The process was not smooth, however. Countless lives had been lost to ensure the completion of the Anti-Bakal weapons. Those who had fallen entrusted Juvenil with their futures: Empyrean's future.
As if it all happened in a cruel twist of fate, it felt like he really had just chased after what the Seven Meisters were unable to complete and survived to accomplish a goal they never achieved. It was almost as if, through those motivations, he had desired to feel at least some strand of a connection to Tenebe.
The Adventurer wasn't done there, however.
"It wasn't just that. The way you stand: it's the same as the way he did. Your silver hair reminds me of his. I always see you wearing those radio headphones and reaching for them just like he did with his handheld transceiver. Certain mannerisms you've expressed, like your avoidance to giving full answers, or even the way you mask your emotions to not give yourself away – he possessed all of that too."
She suddenly paused as if she were trying to figure out if she had gotten everything. She must've felt her list was complete, because she then said,
"All these things, big and little, came together and pointed toward your ancestor."
The way she quick-fired each detail, which was more than a little eye-opening, showed how much she paid attention to both him and his ancestor. It also gave Juvenil further insight on Tenebe; really, much more than he ever wanted to know about him. Yet, even with that disgust in mind, Juvenil felt like he gained something the more he spoke to the Adventurer. That something weighed more than just knowledge. It led him to realize that it was not only this interaction, but all of his past ones involving only her in which she disregarded her own nonsensical circumstances to talk sense. Moreover, she had an aura about her that emanated experience gained from adversity which strangely contradicted with her young appearance. It made it feel as though she were always the older figure and he was just a kid. Maybe that didn't exactly matter right then, though.
He returned to the original subject preceding the tangent he started: the proposition she previously placed upon him regarding his feelings on Tenebe hereafter. In his continued sky-watching, he finally said,
"While I was in Gaebolg, I heard the voices of Hauts-de-louis and Curio. Their voices, which were recorded hundreds of years ago, also said more or less what you already said regarding Tenebe's betrayal. To hear it from the two of them and now even you…"
He placed his free hand against the back of his head and let out a sigh. It wasn't a wistful sigh, but an exhausted one. "Well, I guess it can't be helped, then. It'll be difficult to think of him as any more than a bastard, but then again a lot of things I've seen and thought were turned upside down-or perhaps right-side up-once you and your companions arrived."
The Adventurer joined him by the railing and stood beside him. Juvenil was much taller than her, thanks to his Empyrean stature, so she really had to look up to see the expression on his face. When she saw that he was forming more than just a half-smile, she smiled too. In a reassuring tone, she told him, "I know you can get through this."
He let out a 'hah.' "Yeah. But it will take time."
A moment of silence passed between them once more, causing their expressions to gradually mellow out. Empyrean's skies became the fixation again. So did the damaged Gaebolg. Juvenil figured the Empyrean Allied Forces were likely to begin a gathering at the Sky's Wish Gate to celebrate the war's conclusion and discuss the next steps moving forward. He still didn't feel ready to return just yet, though. There was still one last thing he needed to piece together in relation to the Forces as well as Irine. It wasn't something he intended to burden the Adventurer with. He wanted to figure it out himself, hence why he had chosen to stay behind.
These thoughts between the war, the dragons and Bakal, the Meisters, Gaebolg, and Irine were so consuming that he couldn't think of anything else to say to the person right next to him. He looked over to her once again and was mildly surprised to see her with a different look on her face. It held some eagerness and a bit of concern.
"Will I get to know your real name?" she asked.
He could tell that the question had been gnawing at her for some time. He figured she would bring it up at some point, too. However, just as she only knew him by his alias, he only knew her by hers. He couldn't help but direct the question back to her.
"Shouldn't you tell me yours before I tell you mine?"
It was as if she expected him to ask her that. "I would be willing to tell you mine if you tell me yours first."
Juvenil let out another 'hah' before he began to messily run his fingers through the hair on her scalp in a teasing manner. He realized she had said that to protect the integrity of her real name, because she already knew he wouldn't give his either way. "Sorry, but no can do."
The Adventurer closed her eyes and let him tousle her hair. "I thought so."
"And…" Before the subject could be dismissed completely, he added, "...Thank you for caring enough to ask."
Her eyes opened again and she answered to his gratitude with a smile. Juvenil smiled, too. As they silently resigned on an unknowing ending in regard to exchanging names, they could hear hurried footsteps coming their way. The two looked up ahead to see Michelle, Siran, and Iris approaching. The Adventurer saw it as a cue to rejoin their party, while Juvenil returned to his initial positioning on the palace wing.
"Adventurer, what are you doing here?" Michelle asked when she, Siran, and Iris were close enough. She noticed the person she had called out to wasn't the only one overlooking Gaebolg, though. "Juvenil? What were you two talking about?"
Juvenil answered her second question. "Something you already know, that's all. By the way," He pointed out the damage done to the area, "this place is dangerous. Why did you come back?"
By the look on Michelle's face, she seemed to be seeking the perfect excuse. "Err, we have something to discuss… in private."
"I see. You're going to leave, aren't you?"
Right then, she smirked. "You're pretty sharp. What about you?"
He fell silent. He stepped farther away from the group as well as the Adventurer, turning his back to all of them. His hands returned to his sides as he assumed his typical stance. An immediate response did not come from him, but even without facing her, he could tell that Michelle was eager to say something.
"Juvenil, may I…? There's something I'd like to ask you…"
He could hear the concern in her voice. She was probably waiting for him to indicate that it was okay for her to ask her question. However, Juvenil was even aware of what that question was going to be.
"Now that I know something I shouldn't, I know I shouldn't stay." he spoke with a nod, more to himself than the others. "I won't. I have no intention of leaving my name behind, either. Don't worry."
Michelle was alleviated with that response. She breathed a sigh of relief. "...Okay. Thank you."
"No." Juvenil then said, turning his head to give not only Michelle, but Siran, Iris, and the Adventurer one last look. "Thank you."
He walked off, feeling as though he said everything he needed to say to them. He was satisfied with leaving it like that. He knew it meant he would have to speak for their sudden disappearance when he returned to the Sky's Wish Gate. Fortunately, he knew just how to handle it. Vaguely could he make out the voices belonging to the people behind him, but what they were saying was no longer any of his business. Based on the information Michelle had told him before, they were to return to their proper dimension, having achieved what they needed to do in what Juvenil considered was his present, but to them, the past. The Empyrean Allied Forces and the Eternal Flames would never see them again moving forward. He would never see them again.
Or… Perhaps it couldn't hurt. Just another 'last' look, this time truly for good.
He turned his head once more to look back for a moment. The departing four were running off along the weathered palace wing far in the direction opposite of his. Juvenil's gaze lingered on the Adventurer in particular for a moment longer. Then, he redirected his attention back to where he intended to go and where he needed to be.
"I wish you the best of luck on your next journey."
Author's Note: It is my typical style to use a genericized, unspecified character in the player character's role. However, since I had taken some liberties in the speech and actions of this one, and in ways that another player probably would have not, I thought it would be best to utilize a character of my own. Upon reading through this scene in the game, I could not help but feel like there was potential for more to be said between these two characters. It was such a persistent recurring thought that I just had to write it out.