Work Text:
Tell me this, and tell me true.
Has your journey been good?
Has it been worthwhile?
You have never really asked yourself that question. Why would you? It's not like you are in this for a specific achievement. You do what you do to help - and who are you to determine the worth of that?
But once asked, questions linger. In the depth of night, when you try to sleep, eyes closed but your heart wide open, you can not help but wonder.
After the battle, you don't pick up your weapon for a very long time. You need to recover, in both body and mind, but most of all - there is no necessity. Not for you, at least. Others are rising to the task, and for the first time in a decade, you are not the first line of defense anymore. You are free. To do whatever you want. The possibilities are endless.
You start with a place no one would have expected you to go. When someone asks you why, you only smile, and they don't bother you further. Those who were with you at the edge of the universe know, though. And they smile along, for they know what path you are on.
Tell me, have you been to the rings beneath the waters of the Bounty? Or the treasure islands beyond the frozen waters of Blindfrost, Othand's north? The fabled golden cities of the New World? The sacred sites of the forgotten people of the south sea isles? I thought not. All of which is to say: expand your horizons. Go forth and seek discovery. Some of the civilizations in the reflections will surprise you.
As the bearer of Azem's crystal, you may consider it your duty to see at least that much.
I certainly did.
You go out into the world, no longer the Warrior of Light, but just yourself. You see places you've never heard of before, learn new customs, make new friends. One by one, you explore the places Emet-Selch had suggested, and you find a great many things. Among them, that you can never stop. Standing still and staying in one place isn't in your nature. The road goes ever on, as does your journey - it doesn't matter if it's good or bad - as long as it doesn't stop.
And through it all, you often find yourself alone. On your own, just wandering, exploring, learning, understanding. Alone, but never lonely. You know you are loved. You can feel it every hour of every day, by so many people. Still, you miss him . All of them, but him the most, if you are honest. In those nights, all on your own, you can admit it to yourself. You miss the golden eyes that watch you ever so carefully, the deep voice that can be both so scathing and gentle, and you even miss the words that can be ever so sharp.
Even in your most solitary nights, when you lie awake for hours thinking back to a handful of days during the end of the world that you got to spend in paradise, you long for something - but it isn't always painful. Longing with the absence of pressing need and urgency turns sorrow into anticipation. Slowly at first, a low hum whenever you think about those days and those people, but it grows over time.
When Y'shtola finds a way to travel to the shards years later, you continue your journey. You see the many wonders each of those worlds holds. Looking at each one of them in awe, and your anticipation is still there, stronger than before.
You still lie awake at night sometimes. Those memories never fade. How could they, when they are so filled with love?
There comes a point when you don't fight at all anymore. It isn't a conscious decision. One day you simply stop. You have no desire to fight anymore, and you have a duty to those who love you, in this world and on any other plane. After all, Alisaie would never let you hear the end of it if you got killed on a battlefield, and she'd be powerless to stop it.
As you get older, you find you don't miss it at all. You miss being the battle-hardened warrior that could put their body through anything on some days when you feel old injuries simply by a change of the weather. But you don't miss the fighting itself. You travel calmly, from place to place, growing wiser, growing older, never stopping until, one day, time catches up.
It slows you down, but even that doesn't stop you. When you can't travel anymore, you listen to others who do, collect their stories, and send them on their way with gentle guidance.
And when death finally comes for you, it's not the brutal and violent end on a battlefield you've feared so often in your youth. Instead, it is the gentle embrace of your warm bed and friends soothingly holding your hand. The world is certainly emptier without you, but the memories you leave with those who knew you continue your work. They guide and assure and remind them of hope, and they always make someone's day a little better.
But every journey ends so that another one can start, and when you open your eyes, it is almost blindingly bright for a moment before you find yourself looking at a warm smile.
"There you are."
White hair frames Venat's face as her smile widens and she draws you into her arms.
"Took you long enough," comes another voice from behind you. "Did you never stop to think how rude it is to make people wait, dear?"
You hear Hytholdaeus chuckle at your friend's indignation, and Venat lets out an indulgent sigh as she lets go of you.
When you turn around, Hades has his arms crossed in front of his chest and his eyebrows raised at you in a challenging look that makes the long harbored anticipation in you almost burst. But if he's not making it easy on you, why should you be so kind?
"You gave me a damn list!"
You take a step towards him to jab his chest with an accusing finger.
"A long one! Do you know how hard some of those places were to reach?"
When you meet his frown with one of your own, something on his face softens.
"You have visited them all?"
"Of course I have," you scoff. "You told me to!"
For a brief moment, his eyes betray him. Warmth seeps out before he shakes his head in return.
"You are not usually that accommodating, or did you simply have nothing better to do?"
It's soothing, you think, how you fall right back into familiar banter - no matter how much time has passed.
"Now, now, don't make someone regret coming at all," Hythladeus tries to appease with a bright smile. "It's not like you haven't been most eagerly awaiting this day."
Hades scrunches his nose, looking like he has every intention of uttering some choice words, probably of denial, when Venat places a hand on your shoulder.
"You know, you owe me an answer still," she says softly, and she doesn't need to say more - you know exactly what she speaks about.
The lingering questions from so long ago.
They have never left you. You've carried them in your heart ever since.
Tell me this, and tell me true.
Has your journey been good?
Has it been worthwhile?
All these years, you thought about these questions. Now Venat and Hythladeus regard you with expectation, while Hades has a look on his face that is clearly trying to say he doesn't care. His eyes are on you, though, telling a different story, and you smile as you realize just how ridiculously easy the answer actually is.
Without thought, you reach out to draw two eager friends and one very reluctant one into an embrace, whether they want to or not.
"Of course it was," you murmur. "It brought me home."
And if Hades holds on just a little tighter than he would ever admit, you are content to say nothing about it, for now.
You have the better part of forever, after all.