Five Years and Counting (FFIV, Rydia, PG) (for Lassarina)
Five Years and Counting
Fandom: FFIV
Characters: Rydia
Rating: PG
For: lassarina, Meme of Five
Prompt: FFIV: Five Things Rydia Misses About the Land of Summons (And One Thing She Doesn't)
---
She's cocooned herself into a corner of Baron's Greathall, one that allows her to slip her shoes off and pull those dreadfully heavy earrings from her ears. Looking out over the blinding glitter of the hall, Rydia is hit with a sudden pang of homelessness.
She misses the simplicity of the Land of Summons. There was a time a young girl could run around barefoot, wearing whatever patchy silk the Ariachne knit for her on good days. There was no pomp, no fancy ribbons on dresses, no coloured bars adorning shoulders of men whose names she would never remember.
Every word that has been spoken to her tonight carries three different meanings behind it. The politics of this world confuse her - monsters do not lie, for they have no need to, and as such Rydia does not understand verbal games. Even Cecil and Rosa, with their noble grace, have a hard time playing as the noblemen and women want them to play.
She leans back against the wall and bites her lip. She misses her home.
- - -
The top of Mount Ordeals is cold, and windier than she remembered - although the fierce gusting might be the fault of Kain's presence. She's angry at him for staying up here like a bastard, and she's angry at Cecil for asking her to go, and she's angry at Rosa for having the baby now, and most of all she's angry at herself for giving in and coming to find Kain.
In the midst of the anger - and the wind - she finds herself inexplicably longing for the calm of the Land of Summons. There's no wind there, nothing that whips the hair into her eyes and face until she's tearing and chapped. And it's warm: a thick, solid warmth, with not even a stray breeze.
She brushes the mass of hair from her face and yells Kain's name against the gale.
- - -
Her back is up against Edge's, and she can feel his entire body tingling and tense. He darts away, and she hears the deadly song of Masamune as it slices air and flesh.
The last word falls from her lips, and she extends her hand to the sky, calling forth Meteo. Fire and rock rain down upon the Eblanian bandits who have surrounded them. Her spell cuts a swathe through the crowd, but it is not enough - not yet - and it will take her too long to chant again.
Edge is there, dodging arrows and calling for her to follow. For a moment, Rydia wishes fiercely to be in the Land again, where her magic came quickly and easily. One Meteo cast with the magic of the Land behind it would've quelled this ill-fated Eblanian resistance instantly. On the surface, she struggles and is slow. There, the magic was like liquid.
The Land takes hold in her mind, and she begins to draw forth a Titan, thinking vaguely: and you rebel against your King for marrying a commoner. I will show you common.
- - -
In the Land of Summons, no-one dies.
Monsters are ancient. They are not immortal, but the spirits of the Summons give them years far beyond any human reckoning. The spirits themselves move from vessel to vessel; Asura is centuries old, and the Healing Summon itself is older than the reckoning of time.
Rydia bows her head, weeping, over Edward's casket as she pays her last respects. They will follow the train to the Tomb of Damcyan. Desert fever, the same thing they tried so hard to save Rosa from, so long ago. Ironic that now Edward - and most of Damcyan itself - would fall prey to the disease, especially after surviving so much war.
She'd stopped having to say goodbye in the Land of Summons. It is a foolish thing, she knows, for death is part of life, but - she misses her childhood home. She misses its permanence.
- - -
"Here," Rosa says. The room is lit in gold.
Rydia, gently, takes the baby into her arms. "It's so small," she says without thinking, and then laughs. "Er. She's so small."
Rosa beams; nothing can bother a mother basking in the light of her daughter. She looks well, but different: Rydia watches as Rosa's eyes track every movement of her small child.
She realizes suddenly that she herself has lost yet another mother. Rosa was always her friend and caretaker and confidant, but now there is another to care for: a bond of flesh and blood, of descendance. Rydia's old enough now that she doesn't need mothering, not any more, but it still hurts, a little.
She misses her own mother. She misses Asura, the caring touch and fierce power of her summon-mother. She misses Leviathan, the only snake-father she'd ever known.
The child giggles, and Rydia turns back to the chubby face in her arms and sighs.
- - -
The spoon clatters off of Edge's nose and the children burst out laughing. Rydia tries to give him a stern look, but she can't hold the laughter in, herself. Even Cecil has cracked a smile. Rosa bounces her second son on her lap, giggling.
Edge stands with a ninja-like flourish and hangs the spoon back on his nose. Their son Edward Cid is trying to imitate his father; he throws a tentative look at her for approval.
Rydia nods, smiling. Moments like these, she is glad to be with her family - all of them. Not only her own growing family, but Cecil and Rosa, and Kain and his newly-wed Amazon wife, from Toroia. Young Edward manages to drop the spoon into his soup, spraying bisque all over the heir to Baron's throne, who sits primly across from him. The room erupts in laughter.
Edge asks her sometimes if she misses the Land of Summons. She does - certain things, really, like the thick sense of peace and magic that lay throughout Leviathan's calm country. However, there are things the Overworld holds that the Underground never will - powers humans have that even the greatest of Summons do not.
Rydia looks around her and smiles. Monsters never laugh; her own children do.
Fandom: FFIV
Characters: Rydia
Rating: PG
For: lassarina, Meme of Five
Prompt: FFIV: Five Things Rydia Misses About the Land of Summons (And One Thing She Doesn't)
---
She's cocooned herself into a corner of Baron's Greathall, one that allows her to slip her shoes off and pull those dreadfully heavy earrings from her ears. Looking out over the blinding glitter of the hall, Rydia is hit with a sudden pang of homelessness.
She misses the simplicity of the Land of Summons. There was a time a young girl could run around barefoot, wearing whatever patchy silk the Ariachne knit for her on good days. There was no pomp, no fancy ribbons on dresses, no coloured bars adorning shoulders of men whose names she would never remember.
Every word that has been spoken to her tonight carries three different meanings behind it. The politics of this world confuse her - monsters do not lie, for they have no need to, and as such Rydia does not understand verbal games. Even Cecil and Rosa, with their noble grace, have a hard time playing as the noblemen and women want them to play.
She leans back against the wall and bites her lip. She misses her home.
- - -
The top of Mount Ordeals is cold, and windier than she remembered - although the fierce gusting might be the fault of Kain's presence. She's angry at him for staying up here like a bastard, and she's angry at Cecil for asking her to go, and she's angry at Rosa for having the baby now, and most of all she's angry at herself for giving in and coming to find Kain.
In the midst of the anger - and the wind - she finds herself inexplicably longing for the calm of the Land of Summons. There's no wind there, nothing that whips the hair into her eyes and face until she's tearing and chapped. And it's warm: a thick, solid warmth, with not even a stray breeze.
She brushes the mass of hair from her face and yells Kain's name against the gale.
- - -
Her back is up against Edge's, and she can feel his entire body tingling and tense. He darts away, and she hears the deadly song of Masamune as it slices air and flesh.
The last word falls from her lips, and she extends her hand to the sky, calling forth Meteo. Fire and rock rain down upon the Eblanian bandits who have surrounded them. Her spell cuts a swathe through the crowd, but it is not enough - not yet - and it will take her too long to chant again.
Edge is there, dodging arrows and calling for her to follow. For a moment, Rydia wishes fiercely to be in the Land again, where her magic came quickly and easily. One Meteo cast with the magic of the Land behind it would've quelled this ill-fated Eblanian resistance instantly. On the surface, she struggles and is slow. There, the magic was like liquid.
The Land takes hold in her mind, and she begins to draw forth a Titan, thinking vaguely: and you rebel against your King for marrying a commoner. I will show you common.
- - -
In the Land of Summons, no-one dies.
Monsters are ancient. They are not immortal, but the spirits of the Summons give them years far beyond any human reckoning. The spirits themselves move from vessel to vessel; Asura is centuries old, and the Healing Summon itself is older than the reckoning of time.
Rydia bows her head, weeping, over Edward's casket as she pays her last respects. They will follow the train to the Tomb of Damcyan. Desert fever, the same thing they tried so hard to save Rosa from, so long ago. Ironic that now Edward - and most of Damcyan itself - would fall prey to the disease, especially after surviving so much war.
She'd stopped having to say goodbye in the Land of Summons. It is a foolish thing, she knows, for death is part of life, but - she misses her childhood home. She misses its permanence.
- - -
"Here," Rosa says. The room is lit in gold.
Rydia, gently, takes the baby into her arms. "It's so small," she says without thinking, and then laughs. "Er. She's so small."
Rosa beams; nothing can bother a mother basking in the light of her daughter. She looks well, but different: Rydia watches as Rosa's eyes track every movement of her small child.
She realizes suddenly that she herself has lost yet another mother. Rosa was always her friend and caretaker and confidant, but now there is another to care for: a bond of flesh and blood, of descendance. Rydia's old enough now that she doesn't need mothering, not any more, but it still hurts, a little.
She misses her own mother. She misses Asura, the caring touch and fierce power of her summon-mother. She misses Leviathan, the only snake-father she'd ever known.
The child giggles, and Rydia turns back to the chubby face in her arms and sighs.
- - -
The spoon clatters off of Edge's nose and the children burst out laughing. Rydia tries to give him a stern look, but she can't hold the laughter in, herself. Even Cecil has cracked a smile. Rosa bounces her second son on her lap, giggling.
Edge stands with a ninja-like flourish and hangs the spoon back on his nose. Their son Edward Cid is trying to imitate his father; he throws a tentative look at her for approval.
Rydia nods, smiling. Moments like these, she is glad to be with her family - all of them. Not only her own growing family, but Cecil and Rosa, and Kain and his newly-wed Amazon wife, from Toroia. Young Edward manages to drop the spoon into his soup, spraying bisque all over the heir to Baron's throne, who sits primly across from him. The room erupts in laughter.
Edge asks her sometimes if she misses the Land of Summons. She does - certain things, really, like the thick sense of peace and magic that lay throughout Leviathan's calm country. However, there are things the Overworld holds that the Underground never will - powers humans have that even the greatest of Summons do not.
Rydia looks around her and smiles. Monsters never laugh; her own children do.