[fic] Wings of the Heart [Baten Kaitos][for the_fmk]
written for a request made by: the_fmk
Fandom: Baten Kaitos
Pairing/characters: faintly suggested Lyude/Kalas
Warnings/notes: first pov, and 100% guaranteed completely Guardian Spirit-free. Also short and a little weird, but hey, you can't have everything. (Well, I couldn't anyway; my muses just weren't up for it. Sorry.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean.
**********
Never before had I seen a person with only one wing, and a black one at that. It's strange, isn't it, the way we can feel an instantaneous liking for that which is alien to us, that which we have never seen before. I liked Kalas when I first met him - although I might not have shown it as clearly as I might have.
Diplomacy is the art of lying without speaking any words that are untrue. It is, I think, a form of art in this Empire which I once served against my will, as one more pawn in its army of pawns, then betrayed, and then served once more, willingly.
The greatest beauty hides the deadliest venom.
And this would be why, when Kalas betrayed us, I felt hurt, but unsurprised. The hurt was less than it might have been; I think that perhaps, it was the fact that the End Magnus gave him two white wings, at which point Kalas ceased to be the Kalas I had come to know, trust and be fascinated by.
Many people would claim that looks, the outside of things, should not affect one's feelings. If there was any lesson the Empire had taught me, it was that appearances were disguises more often than not.
Still, it is an undisputable fact that our eyes and hearts guide us more often than our minds. Logic might have told me it was futile to hope to bring an end to the Empire's unscrupulous aggression, yet logic would have been mistaken in this instance.
The only person who is never betrayed is the person who never trusts.
I've heard it said that happiness lies in following a cause, rather than a person. The significant flaw in this reasoning seems to be that no two people will be able to agree on a cause - oh, it is easy enough when it comes to the general shape of things, but an Empire can't be held together by a group of men unable to agree on the definition of 'justice'.
Kalas ripped off his own wing, that beautiful second wing, when he became aware of what he had become. I wonder if I would have had that courage, if I, too, should have made a gesture more strong than the ones that caused me to be sent to Diadem. Would my hands be less stained with the blood of my countrymen, had I spoken up sooner, or more loudly?
Had I shared my views with more others, might I have reached them? Kalas says no, tells me I survived and that I might not have done so, had I been more outspoken.
Death is the end of all choices. It's a place you can never return from.
I owe Kalas my life, and this is the one choice I shall never regret, because I see the Empire that's being rebuilt, and in spite of all my doubts, it looks like it will be a place worth living in. It's strange, because I have envied Xelha, and yet now I wish she was here.
The sea is as salty as the tears Kalas wept for her as she returned to the Ocean. I felt no joy then, only loss, as I knew that while those we may be accompanied by those we love in their life, in their death, they can only guide us. Certain as I was that Xelha would not tempt Kalas to follow her into death - being far more selfless than the people I once thought of as my family - I was also certain that Kalas would forever honor her memory, and never replace her in his heart.
I never tried to prove myself wrong. That, too, was all Kalas' doing; he seems to have made it his habit to prove me wrong, and how can I blame him for that, seeing what it has brought about?
A country is as strong as its people.
~OWARI~
Fandom: Baten Kaitos
Pairing/characters: faintly suggested Lyude/Kalas
Warnings/notes: first pov, and 100% guaranteed completely Guardian Spirit-free. Also short and a little weird, but hey, you can't have everything. (Well, I couldn't anyway; my muses just weren't up for it. Sorry.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean.
**********
Never before had I seen a person with only one wing, and a black one at that. It's strange, isn't it, the way we can feel an instantaneous liking for that which is alien to us, that which we have never seen before. I liked Kalas when I first met him - although I might not have shown it as clearly as I might have.
Diplomacy is the art of lying without speaking any words that are untrue. It is, I think, a form of art in this Empire which I once served against my will, as one more pawn in its army of pawns, then betrayed, and then served once more, willingly.
The greatest beauty hides the deadliest venom.
And this would be why, when Kalas betrayed us, I felt hurt, but unsurprised. The hurt was less than it might have been; I think that perhaps, it was the fact that the End Magnus gave him two white wings, at which point Kalas ceased to be the Kalas I had come to know, trust and be fascinated by.
Many people would claim that looks, the outside of things, should not affect one's feelings. If there was any lesson the Empire had taught me, it was that appearances were disguises more often than not.
Still, it is an undisputable fact that our eyes and hearts guide us more often than our minds. Logic might have told me it was futile to hope to bring an end to the Empire's unscrupulous aggression, yet logic would have been mistaken in this instance.
The only person who is never betrayed is the person who never trusts.
I've heard it said that happiness lies in following a cause, rather than a person. The significant flaw in this reasoning seems to be that no two people will be able to agree on a cause - oh, it is easy enough when it comes to the general shape of things, but an Empire can't be held together by a group of men unable to agree on the definition of 'justice'.
Kalas ripped off his own wing, that beautiful second wing, when he became aware of what he had become. I wonder if I would have had that courage, if I, too, should have made a gesture more strong than the ones that caused me to be sent to Diadem. Would my hands be less stained with the blood of my countrymen, had I spoken up sooner, or more loudly?
Had I shared my views with more others, might I have reached them? Kalas says no, tells me I survived and that I might not have done so, had I been more outspoken.
Death is the end of all choices. It's a place you can never return from.
I owe Kalas my life, and this is the one choice I shall never regret, because I see the Empire that's being rebuilt, and in spite of all my doubts, it looks like it will be a place worth living in. It's strange, because I have envied Xelha, and yet now I wish she was here.
The sea is as salty as the tears Kalas wept for her as she returned to the Ocean. I felt no joy then, only loss, as I knew that while those we may be accompanied by those we love in their life, in their death, they can only guide us. Certain as I was that Xelha would not tempt Kalas to follow her into death - being far more selfless than the people I once thought of as my family - I was also certain that Kalas would forever honor her memory, and never replace her in his heart.
I never tried to prove myself wrong. That, too, was all Kalas' doing; he seems to have made it his habit to prove me wrong, and how can I blame him for that, seeing what it has brought about?
A country is as strong as its people.
~OWARI~