Jin's expression darkened at Leo's words, the weight of their truth settling like a heavy stone. "You're not wrong," he admitted reluctantly. "The Ronso have more reason than most to hold a grudge. What Seymour did... no one can blame them for being angry. But if they start hunting the Guado, that rage is going to spiral. Spira's had enough bloodshed."
Tera bit her lip, looking uncertain. "But the Guado aren't exactly helping themselves," she murmured. "I mean... some of them were part of what happened, weren't they? People remember that."
"People remember what they want to," Leo interjected, his tone sharp but not unkind. He turned his gaze toward the horizon again, watching as the early sunlight began to stretch across the Calm Lands. "Doesn't matter if it's the truth or not. They'll blame the whole race for the sins of a few."
Jin huffed, leaning on his counter. "That's the way it's always been, eh? Spira's good at keeping grudges. The Eternal Calm might've stopped Sin, but it didn't erase the pain people are carrying. Just gave 'em more time to stew in it."
Leo nodded faintly, his fingers tightening on the spear strapped to his back. "The Ronso won't stop," he said, his voice quieter now. "Not until someone steps in. But the Guado won't stop running either. If this keeps going..." He trailed off, unwilling—or perhaps unable—to finish the thought.
Tera stepped forward hesitantly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "What about you, Leo?" she asked softly. "What are you going to do?"
For a moment, he didn't respond. His shadowed face betrayed no emotion as he stood there, the stillness of the Calm Lands around him. Then he shook his head, almost imperceptibly.
"Survive," he said simply. Then, more quietly, "It's all I've ever done."
With that, he turned toward Solstice, the Chocobo giving a soft kweh in recognition. He began adjusting the bird's reins, readying himself to leave. But something lingered in his posture—a tension, a hesitation—that suggested he wasn't as certain as his words.
"It's not my problem, anyway." Leo spoke from a hard place. He no longer cared about the needs of others- just himself. A new lifestyle he had to adapt to after the end of his family.
Jin frowned at Leo's words, the weight of them settling like an unwelcome guest in the space between them. "Not your problem, eh?" he said, his voice quiet but edged with something stern. "Funny thing about that. Problems have a way of finding you, whether you like it or not."
Tera looked like she wanted to say something, but she held back, her hands tightening around the straps of a supply bag she'd been carrying. She glanced at her grandfather, then at Leo, her brows knitting together in a mix of concern and frustration.
"Is that what you tell yourself now?" she asked softly. "That none of it matters? The Ronso, the Guado, the Calm Lands... the people who still come here and leave offerings at the temple ruins. Does it all mean nothing to
"You expect one person to fix that? What do you want me to do, go up to Gagazet and challenge every Ronso to a fight? You're an idiot if you think the actions of one person can change the world."
But Leo was wrong- not long ago had the actions of Yuna changed the entirety of Spira for the better. And Tera was sure to remind him of that with a rather angered tone, annoyed at Leo's selfishness.
Tera's face twisted with frustration, her grip tightening on the bag in her hands. "You think you're so clever, don't you, Leo? Hiding out here, acting like nothing matters because it's easier than trying." Her voice rose, sharp and biting, filled with a mix of anger and hurt. "Don't you dare stand there and pretend one person can't make a difference. Because we both know that's a lie."
She took a step forward, her finger pointing accusingly at him. "Lady Yuna—remember her? She walked into the heart of Bevelle, stood up to the Maesters, and ended the cycle of Sin. And guess what? She didn't do it by running away or sitting in some hut in the Calm Lands feeling sorry for herself."
Jin raised a hand, attempting to calm her. "Tera—"
"No!" she snapped, her eyes still locked on Leo. "Someone has to say it! He's so busy acting like the whole world's against him that he doesn't see he's the one holding himself back."
Leo stood there, the words hanging heavy in the air. Tera's anger burned bright, but beneath it was something deeper—desperation, perhaps. A need for him to hear her.
"You don't have to fight every Ronso or save every Guado," she continued, her voice softening slightly but still firm. "But you can do something. Anything. Sitting here waiting for the world to end isn't living, Leo. It's just running away."
She stepped back, her chest rising and falling with the force of her emotions. "You can tell yourself it's not your problem all you want," she said quietly. "But if you really believe that... then you're the idiot."
Jin sighed, rubbing his temples. "That's enough, Tera," he said, his tone tired but firm.
But the damage—or perhaps the spark—had already been done. The air between them crackled with tension, and for the first time in a long while, Leo found himself at a crossroads he couldn't simply walk away from.
With a slap of Solstice's reins. Leo took off without a word in response to Tera. She was just some girl- what did SHE know of the world? And Yuna? Yuna was one of the reasons that he was alone in the first place. She got to go back home to her precious little Island Paradise, while he had to live with the ramifications of offering aid to her.
As he continued to ride, the emotions of hate, grief and anger mulled over in his mind. He blamed a lot of things on himself, but he hadn't blamed Yuna before... And now that he had started to conjure the thought in his mind, maybe it WAS her fault after all... wasn't it?
Solstice's stride echoed through the expansive Calm Lands, each powerful step kicking up small clouds of dust in the morning light. Leo's grip on the reins tightened as his thoughts churned. The wind whipped at his hood, exposing his furrowed brow and the storm in his blue eyes.
Yuna. The name had always carried a strange weight for him. Reverence. Regret. And now—blame.
He clenched his jaw, his mind flashing back to the fateful moment when Bromm had opened their camp to her and her Guardians. It had felt like the right thing at the time, a chance for the Wild Roses to show the world they weren't the monsters Yevon painted them as. But in the end, what had it led to? Death. Destruction. The end of everything he had ever known.
She got to walk away. She got her happy ending. And he? He got the ashes of a life that didn't even feel like his anymore.
Solstice let out a sharp squawk as Leo jerked the reins harder than necessary, pulling them to a stop near a familiar cliffside overlooking the expanse of the Calm Lands. He slid off the chocobo and stormed toward the edge, the rising sun casting long shadows across the grass.
"She didn't lose everything," he muttered, the words bitter as bile. "She didn't have to bury her family. She didn't have to wake up every day wondering why she was still alive."
His fist tightened, and before he realized what he was doing, he slammed it into the rocky ground, the pain sharp but grounding. He stayed there for a moment, his breathing heavy, his mind spiraling deeper into the poisonous thoughts.
But then a gust of wind swept through the Calm Lands, carrying with it a faint sound—like the laughter of children, distant and fleeting. It was a trick of memory, no doubt, but it froze him in place. For a split second, he was back in the Wild Roses' camp, the sound of Bromm's booming laugh mixing with the chatter of his makeshift family.
The anger in his chest wavered, giving way to something more raw.
"Why?" he whispered, his voice breaking. "Why am I still here, Bromm? What am I even supposed to do now?
But there was no answer. Only the endless expanse of the Calm Lands, silent and indifferent as always.
As the sun started to set, and Leo returned to his home-camp. He paused. Something didn't feel... right. His eyes panned out towards the large tent of his, then some of the boxes he had stored- things almost seemed like they had been moved...
Leo's instincts kicked in immediately. His grip tightened on the reins, and his eyes narrowed, scanning the perimeter of the small camp. The breeze carried a strange stillness, a sense of unease that hadn't been there before.
Solstice shifted nervously beneath him, sensing the tension in the air. Leo dismounted, his boots crunching against the dry earth as he moved forward, every muscle in his body alert.
Something was off. The boxes. The camp's layout—it all looked wrong. A fleeting thought crossed his mind, one he quickly dismissed: Had someone been here? The Wild Roses were gone, but Leo's mind wasn't entirely free of old habits. There was always a need for vigilance, a need to keep his eyes open, ever since the days of hunting, hiding, and surviving.
He moved carefully toward the tent first. His spear was at his side, but he didn't draw it yet. His movements were slow, deliberate, making no sound. His blue eyes flicked to the shadows, checking for anything that seemed out of place. The night was falling quickly, and the last rays of the sun seemed to deepen the eerie stillness of the place.
His hand hovered just over the fabric of the tent's entrance. Every fiber of his being screamed to be cautious, to wait. But he couldn't afford to hesitate. He pushed the fabric aside, stepping inside with a quiet urgency
Everything was as he left it. The makeshift bedding, the small firepit, the meager supplies he'd gathered—nothing was disturbed here. But then his gaze flicked to the back of the tent, where the stack of crates and boxes were stored. A few were shifted out of place, some partially opened, their contents rummaged through.
Leo's chest tightened. His thoughts raced. Who could have been here? And why?
The answer he dreaded came unbidden: No one should be here but me.
Stepping back, he scanned the camp again from the entrance of the tent, his eyes falling on the edge of the camp where the grass met the rocky cliffside. The wind had started to pick up again, but it brought no relief—only more questions.
His hand instinctively moved to the spear at his side, fingers brushing the smooth wood of the shaft. It wasn't just the camp that felt wrong. The whole landscape seemed to be shifting beneath his feet.
"Who's there?" Leo's voice, hoarse from the tension, broke the silence. It wasn't a command or a shout, but an inquiry, a challenge to the unseen presence he could almost feel but not yet see.
He stood still for a moment, waiting. His heart pounded in his chest. But there was no answer. Only the distant chirp of crickets and the faint rustling of the wind.
Somebody had gone to great lengths to get this here, so much so that they had to know when he'd be out, when he'd be gone- when he'd return. It means that somebody had been watching him for a good few days to position this properly.
Leo pushed through the tent's entrance, his presence filling the confined space as his eyes darted over the disheveled crates and scattered belongings. His heart sank, the unease that had been gnawing at him since he arrived now sharpening into something more personal—more visceral.
Something was missing.
His steps were measured, his movements deliberate as he crouched down by the disturbed crates. He rifled through the contents quickly but methodically. Supplies—mostly untouched. His meager collection of old trinkets and scraps—still there, albeit shifted. But the absence of one thing gnawed at him.
It was gone.
The small, worn leather pouch. Its contents weren't much to anyone else, but to Leo, it was irreplaceable. Inside had been a collection of keepsakes from his life with the Wild Roses. A pendant Bromm had once worn.
"..I'll find you." He growled, eyes panning across the grass and dirt in the search for any sort of tracks or clues. Bromm taught him how to hunt, how to follow the small changes in nature from it being disturbed; It's how he was able to survive by himself for so lon
But this time- he wasn't hunting for food, he was hunting a thief.. somebody that had stolen from him and had dared to keep it personal
It was late, and the sun was just cresting upon the horizon. But if he didn't follow the tracks, he'd never be able to catch up or find who had taken what he held dear.
The Tracks led to Gagazet, which meant that whoever had done this was affiliated with the Ronso. And from the manner of timing, they definitely expected him to give chase in the morning... That was a very BAD assumption.
"Sol." Leo called for his Chocobo, having picked up the trail after a few moments of deliberation. He's going after them- Sunshine or Not.
Solstice responded almost instantly to Leo's call, the Chocobo trotting over with an eager chirp despite the tension radiating from its rider. Leo wasted no time, pulling himself onto the saddle, his fingers gripping the reins tightly as his piercing gaze fixed on the faint tracks ahead.
They were fresh. Whoever had done this had underestimated him—underestimated his drive, his rage. They likely thought the night would hold him back, that fatigue or fear would stay his hand.
They were wrong.
With a nudge of his heel and a sharp "Hyah!" Leo urged Solstice forward, the bird's strong legs propelling them swiftly across the rugged terrain of the Calm Lands. The faint light of the rising sun cast long shadows over the grass, but Leo's focus never wavered. He followed the trail with precision, Bromm's teachings flooding back as he read the subtle cues left behind—the flattened grass, a snapped twig, the faint impression of a heavy stride heading toward Mount Gagazet
The tracks led north, growing clearer as they neared the base of the towering mountain range. Gagazet stood like a silent sentinel against the dawn, its peaks kissed by the first rays of sunlight. But to Leo, it wasn't a symbol of pride or resilience like it was to the Rons
It was a battleground.
As Solstice carried him ever closer, Leo's mind churned with possibilities. Was this truly a Ronso? Was it connected to the earlier commotion at the Travel Agency? Or had someone simply used the Ronso territory as a convenient escape route?
Either way, they had stolen something that could never be replaced.
Leo's grip tightened on the reins as they reached the narrowing pass at the mountain's base. He pulled Solstice to a halt, sliding off the saddle as he inspected the trail once more.
There.
A faint set of scuffed tracks led into a shaded alcove—a path winding upward toward a cluster of jagged rocks. The thief thought they could lose him in the rugged terrain
"Not happening," Leo muttered under his breath, drawing his spear from its sheath.
The time for hesitation was over. With Solstice trailing faithfully behind him, Leo pressed forward, ready to face whoever—or whatever—waited for him in the shadows of Mount Gagazet.