Seishuku Skuld 
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Saidan no Hitsuji
Chapter Thirteen: Preghiera della
Morte (Prayer of Death)
By Seishuku Skuld
(skuldsai@magicgirl.com)
The second to the last chapter! **sniffles** How
sad, I won't have this fanfic obsessively weighing on my mind anymore. ;_; Hope
you guys like this, the last chapters are going to be rather short,
gomen!Saidan no Hitsuji Part 13
This is the end for me.
Yevon is defeated
and Spira is free.
I can finally set down my burden.
The faces of the
children are flushed, they revel in their recent victory, their minds spinning,
unable yet to contemplate the eternal calm. There is a joy that rushes through
their bodies, as they wonder what to do now. Yevon is gone, and Sin has been
destroyed, never to be reborn again. They wonder what the people of Spira will
do now. I smile sadly, none of that concerns me. My task is finished.
We
are back on the platform, facing Jecht's dream of Zanarkand. It is quickly
fading already as Yuna dances her sending ceremony. She extends her arms
gracefully, eyes closed, her face a perfect mask of peaceful concentration
framed by soft brown hair.
She dances in the way that Braska used to, her
rod spinning deftly in circles. I can still remember it well though I feel the
Farplane rushing towards me with furor. The link between Braska, Jecht, and me
is intensifying, it burns like a brand in my mind, a tumultuous river which
threatens to pull me down and drown me. They beckon to me, standing at the brink
of the Farplane. They smile, and extend their hands, wishing to clasp me close.
I close my eyes and sigh, there is only endless peace awaiting me.
My
body weakens as my spirit does likewise, and I am unable to retain the pyreflies
from escaping. They leave my body with small, joyous cries. They too, are weary
of this world and wish to depart.
The children gasp when they see this,
and Yuna stops her dance to look at me. There are tears in her eyes, a
reflection of an endless spectrum of greens and blues.
"Don't stop," I
say softly, my heart a maelstrom of serenity and relief that I have felt only
while in Jecht's arms. He is close, I can almost feel him around me again. It is
my time.
"But I..." Yuna protests softly, looking at me with sadness in
her eyes. Though Yevon has been defeated, they are still forced to part with a
member of their party.
"It's all right," I tell them. I look at the
children, one by one, sad to see me go. For that short while, I was part of
them, one of their group. They are stricken to see that the first thing they
have to do is learn to live without one of their number. Soon it will be
two.
I tap Kimahri on the chest. I owe him too much. He kept my secret,
he kept his promise to me. He raised Yuna, protected her, hardly left her
side.
Finally, my eyes rest on Tidus, my son. He stares back at me, a
small smile on his face. He knows what will happen to me, and what will happen
to him, but he has yet to say his goodbye. I go first.
"It's been long
enough," I sigh, lifting my sword upon my shoulders. "I've waited ten years for
this." The world begins to numb as more of my pyreflies fly from me. My
connections with this world fade and I feel myself being drawn stronger towards
the Farplane. I walk to the center of the platform, the place where Jecht died
not too long ago. It is fitting for me to make my exit here.
I feel his
ghost-like arms wrap around my chest, and I begin dissolving. There is no pain,
only comfort and a feeling of long-awaited escape. He entwines my legs, holding
me still. I feel his grasping hands liberating the pyreflies. I can no longer
see, but I know the children are watching me.
"This is your world now," I
say to the children, as Jecht travels back up my body, his hands like passion's
hot irons on my chest. Now everything I feel is gone, except him. The blindness
blankets me, submerges me in its waters. The world explodes in white and there
is a strange floating sensation for a moment, but after that, even the white
melts into nothingness. Spira means nothing to me any longer, it is a dream, a
fragment of recollection shrouded in a mysterious, impenetrable mist.
He
turns me around, and presses a gentle kiss to my lips. I sigh, my burden lifted,
my pains washed away, and I sink into his eternal embrace.
Seishuku Skuld
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