Final Fantasy VII : The Final Pledge

Chapter 20: Finale

Once again I hurt a friend. Once again I was a puppet and followed him. Once again I tried to stain my hands of the blood of a loved one. I hated myself.

When I reached Kyra she was smiling at me languidly, though I could see the pain in her twisted face. "I'm not going to die, dummy," she said and coughed. I opened her waist bag and found a healing materia. Placed it on the scar and watched it dissolve in her body. I knew the bleeding would stop and the pain would cease.

When she felt better, she held my hand and stood up; her legs almost gave up but she pushed herself up and looked at my face, then to my shoulder. I remembered that I was injured in my shoulder but I couldn't care less at that moment. She tried to find another materia but there was none. I'd used the last on her. "It's OK," I reassured her. She looked at the scar once again worried. It really wasn't hurting that much and the fact that she was at that stage was being worried about me was making me annoyed.

"Let's sit while we have time," she said and went to a rock to sit on it. I followed her. "What will happen now?" I managed to ask even though I was scared of the answer. "We will go through the ceremony, I will leave, my wishes will come true. Everything back to normal."

- "Will you come back and see me?" I wanted to know. She shook her head. "I don't want you to hang on the hope of seeing me. I cannot be here for more than a few seconds anyway."

"I will cherish those few moments," I persisted. She shook her head again and held my hand. "False hope is your enemy. I belong to your memory. You should move on."

"Remember," she said after a pause, "we have a pact. If you intend of not taking care of yourself and die sooner that you are supposed to or have a sad life, trust me I will remove your memory," she looked into my eyes and continued, "and will never forgive you." She was serious and that scared me. I nodded. "I will live my life properly," I assured her.

Kyra took a deep breath and stood up. "What about your wishes?" I asked, "can't you wish for staying?" she chuckled sadly, "that is the only thing I cannot wish for," she answered, "but you'll see my wishes, soon. But now, it is time."

She stepped toward the lake and I followed her obediently; she was still holding my hand. By the lake, she opened the leather of her sword from around her waist and shovelled it on the ground. "Do me a favour," she said while entering the lake, "later on please return the sword to back where it was, will you?" I agreed silently by nodding and following her into the warm water.

It was not summer, or the weather was not hot. But the water was enjoyably warm. Kyra led me to a deeper spot where the water was as high as our waist. The memory of my dream formed in front of my eyes. I could see all the Cetra around the lake looking at us. I was standing exactly where Ohan was.

"Before we begin," she said, "you need to know that you will be the only person who knows the entire truth. The planet has changed some memories. Just node along when you hear them and do not speak of the truth or you will just make them worried," she paused for a moment, "You are lucky, remember that. You are surrounded by the people who love you and take care of you. You should take care of yourself too. And now, the main thing."

Kyra held my hand and lifted it to place a knife in the palm of my hand. "The first part of the ceremony is done once," she explained, "you should do the rest." I looked at her terrified. I did not want to be Ohan. I didn't want to stab her. But I realised that my hand is now out of my control. I gripped the dagger firmly in my hand. "I don't want to," I could feel tears in my eyes and I was struggling painfully to stop my injured shoulder from lifting the dagger. Kyra put her arms around my shoulder and held me tightly. I could feel the warmth of her body and the beating of her heart right in front of my own. My arm was going up without my permission as I was still struggling. I could feel all the veins in my arm popping out.

"Don't be scared," she whispered by my ear, "It will not hurt." I felt the tear slid down my cheek as the failed effort of my hand. Kyra wiped the tears and pushed her lips on mine passionately. When I drowned into that kiss I lost the focus on my arm. It lifted the dagger and landed it on her back. I felt her twitch.

She placed her head on my shoulder as she was getting lighter and lighter by turning into the mako dust. Right before she left me I heard her whisper in my ear: "Tifa can have you all she wants, once you are back to the promised land, you are mine." I smiled at her last sentence and saw her smiling face before it evaporated.

I stood there for a few seconds. I was crying shamelessly for the first time in my life. I was not only crying for Kyra but for everyone that I had lost and kept the grief of their loss in my heart.

When I calmed down, I went back to the shore to take Zola back to where it belonged. I was dragging my feet but I knew that I had to stand on my words. I didn't want to forget her or make her hate me. "I can't erase your memory now even if I want to," I remembered her saying. But was it really like that? I didn't want to give the slightest chance of forgetting her. I made a pact and she had given me her words: not to erase my memories. She was right, I was surrounded by people who loved me. I was supposed to live a life for the both of us, Zack and I and now I had to live properly for her sake too.

Finding the stone that opened the door on the wall was not difficult. As I dragged myself around in the place, I arrived at the throne room and put the sword away. Before leaving, I went to the family painting and looked at the young Kyra. The painting was drawn probably close to her death. I could come back here anytime and look at that picture, I thought. She did not ban me from that. But when I climbed the stairs up to the ground floor. The moment the door was closed behind me, the handle of the door was pushed back into the wall. "Of course," I said to myself, not surprised. Of course, she wouldn't want that.

When I went outside, I saw the water of the lake forming as two high walls making a path between them. I looked at the way and saw two figures coming out, holding hands. I narrowed my eyes to see better but I could not see. And when I could, I couldn't believe my eyes. I could feel my heartbeat faster and I felt my steps go forwards in their direction slowly. "You didn't..." I murmured. "you'll see my wishes, soon" I heard her voice in my head.

It seemed that those two just saw me. They ran towards me and put their hands around my body for a group hug. At that moment I believed my eyes. Aerith and Zack were embracing me. Once again my tears slid out and I couldn't stop them. I wasn't sure if it was the sadness of losing Kyra or the happiness of gaining these two back. Finally, I lifted my arm as well to return the hug.

"Why you crying, buddy?" Zack asked when he saw my face, "We should cry. Tifa said you came here to kill Sephiroth. We came to help."

"Tifa said?" I repeated. I was sure that she did not know where I was.

"Yes, we went to the bar to celebrate Denzel's birthday," Aerith remembered. "Just nod along," Kyra had said. I smiled and nodded, "You are late," I said, "I already killed him, this time for good."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND I have finished my first fanfiction! I'm so sad that I'm done with it. I really loved it!

How did you like it? leave comments and vote it if you liked it. 

The new story will be out soon; completely different from this one.