"For my part I know nothing with any certainty,but the sight of the stars makes me dream." – Vincent Van Gogh
I realized I posted this to tumblr but forgot to post it oh here or a03
When Alphonse died, he asked you to look after Sharena. And you have kept this promise to the end. Veronica fell to lies, the summoner to betrayal. Hel is dead now, but at the cost of everyone. Of everything. The world is dying around you, withered with no decay. Decay is a form of life, and this world has no life or death left in it. Just the endlessly stretching eternity of nothing. The mask is hot on your face, and you dare not take it off, for fear of what you might breathe unfiltered.
The sky burns with the low red of fading fire. Your eyes have long grown adjusted to it, as you work in the near dark.
"This time..." Sharena starts, but doesn't finish.
You squeeze her fingers. You know what she means. This time things will be different. This time you will intervene where the past you had failed to act. Not complete control, but enough. At the very least, this time you will not be the last man standing.
She hugs you. Slowly you hug her back. Sharena is a gift. You would be in a worse place without her. Her optimism has kept you going in a world gone to hell.
"This time we can be friends sooner." You tell her. She's crying, but responds that she would like that.
It's not long before you are finished with the prep work. You hold each other close, masks off, your knife in her ribs, and hers in yours.
Together you fall.
You hold her as you both lay dying, while the ritual activates .
—
It works. Or it works well enough to be called a success.
It's not as if you wanted full control. You are in the background of the mind of your past self, as he concerns himself over issues you have long since forgotten about. But you do have a truce, and sometimes have control to set up for the future.
You meet her sometimes. She looks at you oddly, but the friendship is still there. Your Sharena and her present self learn to cooperate. She has prep-work of her own to set. But it's nice to have her company again. You have missed her.
Together you manage to put off the bad future into the far off future. Until they are older and wiser and capable of handling it better. But you know that you are both just buying time.
She dies first, and something in you breaks a little at the news. You didn't want to be the last one standing. You broke your promise to Alphonse, to protect her to the end. And a world without Sharena feels like a world with the moon. Hope is still there in the stars, but something fundamental is gone.
It bleeds like a raw barely healed cut, and you try to avoid thinking about it. Your other self notices.
"You loved her."
"Yes."
"It was impossible, you know."
"It didn't matter. Sharena was a breath of fresh air in a stale hellscape. You don't know how much you need her until she's there, and remember life can be beautiful If you let it."
"I'll take your word on that."
"They are the main reason that life is worth staying alive for. Don't waste your moments away from them."
"Your reasons, maybe."
"The end will come no matter what you do. But when the time comes, do you want this to be your regret? "
Bruno decides to try to help them become friends. It doesn't go super well, given they both want his attention, but he's taking your advice, and that is satisfying.
In this world, Bruno is not the last man left standing. Alphonse and Veronica are crying, and Bruno is scared, but you are there with him. You don't fear death again.
"They will do better than we did." You tell him, as the blessing of silence washes over everything.
"You once said that life can be beautiful, if we let it."
"I did."
"I can see that now."
"I'm glad."
You look up at Veronica and Alfonse crying over you. You have every faith they can create a better future then the one you left behind.
You die at peace, and amongst friends.
