Final Fantasy XII (Vayne/Larsa)
Title: Unquiet Dreams
Author: Gigabomb
Rating: PG
Word count: 339
Prompt: Darkness - "unquiet dreams"
Author's Note: I stole the title from the prompt, if it isn't obvious.
Ever since his elder brothers had died, Vayne had resigned himself to watching Archades in flames, night after night. Rozarrian battle cruisers, Archadian defectors, air pirate fleet, it varied seemingly randomly, according to his mind’s whim. The identity of the attackers was the only thing that did. Everything else had a dull, horrifying sameness to it. The inability on the part of Archades to mount any sort of effective defense. The screaming. And as the grand finale, the collapse of the palace into rubble.
Or at least that was usually how the dream would end, the part where he could normally force himself awake. But not always. Sometimes, the dream went on.
Next, Vayne would hear a voice that invariably made his blood run cold. Such innocence did not belong in his nightmares.
“Brother…”
A tearstained face, as it never was in life. Larsa, brave Larsa, three years old and so easy to give trust that its recipients did not always deserve. It was then, if it ever reached that point at all, that Vayne ceased any effort to wake. It was impossible to remember it was just a dream when he was watching his brother’s descent, a crescendo reached under the cacophony of enemy guns. Vayne watched, too far away to catch Larsa as he fell. A Solidor through and through, for their family was Archades, as much as Arcades was Solidor. When one was destroyed, so was the other.
He was lucky then to wake in nothing more than a cold sweat, far more likely to open his eyes with a shudder wracking his body that would not stop. In the end, it was always the black that comforted him, the darkness that greeted his eyes instead of fire, the silence that met his ears instead of Archades’-Larsa’s-last breaths.
In the end, he could always tell himself, convince himself, that it was only a dream. That his brother was still alive and well, and that he could see to it that Archades would never burn.
Author: Gigabomb
Rating: PG
Word count: 339
Prompt: Darkness - "unquiet dreams"
Author's Note: I stole the title from the prompt, if it isn't obvious.
Ever since his elder brothers had died, Vayne had resigned himself to watching Archades in flames, night after night. Rozarrian battle cruisers, Archadian defectors, air pirate fleet, it varied seemingly randomly, according to his mind’s whim. The identity of the attackers was the only thing that did. Everything else had a dull, horrifying sameness to it. The inability on the part of Archades to mount any sort of effective defense. The screaming. And as the grand finale, the collapse of the palace into rubble.
Or at least that was usually how the dream would end, the part where he could normally force himself awake. But not always. Sometimes, the dream went on.
Next, Vayne would hear a voice that invariably made his blood run cold. Such innocence did not belong in his nightmares.
“Brother…”
A tearstained face, as it never was in life. Larsa, brave Larsa, three years old and so easy to give trust that its recipients did not always deserve. It was then, if it ever reached that point at all, that Vayne ceased any effort to wake. It was impossible to remember it was just a dream when he was watching his brother’s descent, a crescendo reached under the cacophony of enemy guns. Vayne watched, too far away to catch Larsa as he fell. A Solidor through and through, for their family was Archades, as much as Arcades was Solidor. When one was destroyed, so was the other.
He was lucky then to wake in nothing more than a cold sweat, far more likely to open his eyes with a shudder wracking his body that would not stop. In the end, it was always the black that comforted him, the darkness that greeted his eyes instead of fire, the silence that met his ears instead of Archades’-Larsa’s-last breaths.
In the end, he could always tell himself, convince himself, that it was only a dream. That his brother was still alive and well, and that he could see to it that Archades would never burn.