Originally Posted by
Alius_Neo
Final Fantasy VII: Emerald Dusk
Part I: Dawn
Chapter I: Silver Moon Festival
19 Years Ealier
I had been waiting all summer for this night. The Silver Moon Festival only came once every fifteen years. The last one was here when I was only a year old, so I didn’t get to fully appreciate it then, but now I was going to be able to share it with Akemi. It was strange; we had only met at the beginning of the summer, and after only two months I felt closer to her than I had with anyone else recently.
Akemi was a traveler from Wutai, and she seemed really bent on seeing the world as quickly as she could. I first met her four months ago: I had been working on the construction of the Rocket and had fallen off the support beam. I broke 6 ribs and fractured my collar bone. The only reason I walked away that day was because she was carrying materia with her. She saved my life, that day and I wanted to do everything I could to show her my gratitude
She promised that once she was done traveling the world that she would come back to our little village, and she did. She had been here for a week; I had shown her the river on the other side of the forest. I showed her the sunrise from the top of the mountain. Now I was going to be able to share the firework lit sky on the night when the moon shines brighter than it does in fifteen years.
I took another glance at myself in the mirror before I left to meet her. I began to examine myself and make sure I was ‘date appropriate’. My dark red hair was brushed back around my ears. I gazed into the mirror and my deep brown eyes, why a girl could get lost in those beautiful puppies. Plus all that work at the launch pad had really been helping to tone my body. I was sure Akemi would love it.
I almost went running out the door. I couldn’t stop thinking about what I’d say to her. “The sky is pale in comparison to your beauty.” No, I shouldn’t say that. Only an idiot would say that. People who think about saying that should be shot. Nothing seemed right; I must have run through a thousand different things in my head. Anything I could say so she would know I was serious about us. But everything either sounded too cheesy or too cliché. Nothing was good enough to say to her.
Before I knew what was going on I was at the festival. People were running around, laughing, cheering, and enjoying each others company. Suddenly I was jerked back by the arm by someone laughing and yelling my name.
“Alius! Where the hell have you been buddy? The parties just getting started!”
Cid Highwind was probably my oldest friend. Although he would never admit it, he and I were like brothers. We told each other everything. Every sappy story and emotional thing that Cid has ever done I, and I alone knew about. He of course denies anything I say, but that’s ok, he knows the truth.
“Cid, hey! You haven’t seen Akemi around have you? She was supposed to meet me here.”
Cid seemed to be thinking pretty hard. Maybe he had had a few too many drinks. He was smoking again. He usually only smoked when he had been drinking.
“I think I seen her up Millers Hill. She looked like somethin’ was tuggen on ‘er pantyhose. Everything alright?”
“I sure hope so Cid.”
It wasn’t often that I felt a need to display public concern. But what could possibly be wrong with Akemi? I just hoped she was alright. I raced through the crowd of people and found my way through the tree line and up to Millers Hill. There she was, sitting on a plaid blanket which had been spread out across the grass. She was wearing a simple outfit; a white sweater with a pink skirt, her long black hair waved in the wind, and the silver moon light danced across her hair. Just then a loud crackle of the first firework went up in the sky. Her head turned to watch the bursting colors. I watched the light bounce off her hair. The blues, the reds, the greens all gleaming off of her hair, making the perfect ensemble of beauty.
She turned at the crackling of the next explosion of gunpowder and saw me standing there.
“Hey silly, how long have you been standing there?”
Forever if I had had it my way. It seemed like all I had wanted to do recently was be with her. But I had to play it cool, had to be suave.
“Only a moment.” Was that the best I could come up with? Oh God I was an idiot. Hopefully it would go over well. She would hear it and think it was witty. She would love me for it.
“Well quit standing around like a moron and come sit with me.”
I moved with the speed of a panther. If one thing could have been said for me to forget about how stupid I was, it was that.
I sat down next to her and immediately started to feel more nervous and anxious than I had in a long while. She hugged my arm and let out a girlish sigh. My heart began to beat a thousand beats a minute. Was this it? Was it love? It didn’t matter what it was, I don’t think it ever would have. Then I remembered what Cid had told me.
“Has something been bothering you Akemi?”
Akemi looked over at me with puzzlement in her eyes. Then a look of serenity returned to her face, “How could anything be bothering me when I’m with you?”
Her answer did well to quench my paranoia, but I had gotten to know her quite well, and could tell when she was hiding something.
“Akemi…what’s troubling you?”
There was a very long silence, disturbed only by the explosion of the fireworks. She seemed to be gathering her nerve. Whatever it was it wasn’t good.
“I…I’m leaving from here tomorrow. I’m going back home to Wutai.”
As much as it hurt I always knew it would come. I had tried not to get too attached but I couldn’t help it.
“That’s ok; I mean it’ll be ok. I can always buy a plane ticket and come down to visit you. Heck I could even get Cid to fly me down once his plane is done.”
I thought I had found a way around it, but the more I spoke the more she began to tear up.
“No Alius…I haven’t been totally honest with you.”
She was fighting off the tears. I took her hands in mine. “Don’t worry Akemi, its ok. You can tell me.”
She took a deep breath and looked into my eyes.
“I’m getting married.”
It felt like my heart had just fallen out of my chest and threw itself into oncoming traffic. My mouth went dry and I was suddenly laughing at myself for being so worried on what to say to her, when she must have been boggling her mind on how to let me know this.
“But Alius I don’t want to marry him,” Akemi wrapped her arms around me and began to kiss me passionately. “I want to be here with you. I’ve seen the world in the last six months and the most beautiful things I’ve seen in it are here with you.”
I just sat there like an idiot not, not knowing what to say or how to handle this information. Akemi just looked at me, waiting for my response. I could only think of one thing to do.
I gave that girl the most electric and passionate kiss that I had in me. The light from the silver moon, with the added color of the fireworks set the perfect mood, and we lost ourselves in it.
We sat there under the moon and the festival on our plaid blanket, and became lost in each other. We stayed there until the sun came up and lit up our exposed bodies. She sighed gently as I held her in my arms. In only a few hours she would be gone. But that didn’t stop me from living forever in this moment.
Two lovers under the rising sun, atop of Millers Hill. It was like something from those stories my older sister used to tell me.
It was when she left that afternoon that I learned one of the most painful lessons that you have to learn in life, that day I learned that a happy ending is the hardest thing in life to come by.
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