Suikoden - Cleo, post-game
Aug. 30th, 2010 06:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lirillithTitle: Memories
Fandom: Suikoden
Character: Cleo
Length: 502 words
****
It's been years since she had to fight. She spends most of her time in Gregminster, and she could always hire guards for the road - most of them know her and would give her a discount - though that's less and less a necessity for travelers, now. The forces of the Toran Republic patrol the major highways, and while monster attacks haven't been eliminated, they're less frequent than they were in the days of the Empire.
But she still keeps the fire rune, though she only uses it now to light candles, and she still has the hollow crystal it came in, years ago. She never thought of herself as sentimental, but once she retrieved it from a rubbish bin when an overzealous maid staged an assault on her room. The rune itself holds other memories, but she can't look at the crystal without remembering the day Leknaat gave it to her.
Back then, the name of the Scarlet Moon Empire didn't have echoes of corruption, abuse, dereliction of duty, soldiers lazing at checkpoints or stealing from civilians. Then, it meant Barabarosa, the man who commanded Master Teo's loyalty and her own, and it meant the war she'd fought to put him on the throne. Good memories and bad, but the most powerful memories she'd ever known; not for nothing did she stay in Teo's household with people who'd fought alongside her back then.
That day they'd been proud, because the Young Master, Tir, was joining the Imperial Army, becoming a man, following in his father's footsteps, and while the duty might have been a bit disappointing, it was still a landmark, something they'd always remember. And then Leknaat had spoken to the Young Master, had behaved as though something far more significant than an errand brought them to her, and gave Cleo a crystal. A simple fire rune, but one that she kept throughout the next war. They'd had no reason at all to suspect there would be a next war, but maybe they'd had reason and had ignored it - Odessa would have said so. So might Tir.
That day, they hadn't thought of war, of betrayal, death, or anything at all like destiny.
Her name on the tablet had looked almost burned into the stone, she sometimes thought, and at night in the room she shared with Pahn, once he came back, she'd stare at the rune in her palm. It was never rigid, though it looked as though it should be, and it almost never burned, though it could grow uncomfortably warm when she'd used it or when she was angry. When at rest it was dark, almost like a brand, though it was level with her skin, not carved into it or raised like a welt.
Leknaat had given her the rune with instructions to protect the Young Master. He's far beyond her protection now; he'd moved away before the war had even ended. But she still remembers when that was her first and only duty.
Fandom: Suikoden
Character: Cleo
Length: 502 words
****
It's been years since she had to fight. She spends most of her time in Gregminster, and she could always hire guards for the road - most of them know her and would give her a discount - though that's less and less a necessity for travelers, now. The forces of the Toran Republic patrol the major highways, and while monster attacks haven't been eliminated, they're less frequent than they were in the days of the Empire.
But she still keeps the fire rune, though she only uses it now to light candles, and she still has the hollow crystal it came in, years ago. She never thought of herself as sentimental, but once she retrieved it from a rubbish bin when an overzealous maid staged an assault on her room. The rune itself holds other memories, but she can't look at the crystal without remembering the day Leknaat gave it to her.
Back then, the name of the Scarlet Moon Empire didn't have echoes of corruption, abuse, dereliction of duty, soldiers lazing at checkpoints or stealing from civilians. Then, it meant Barabarosa, the man who commanded Master Teo's loyalty and her own, and it meant the war she'd fought to put him on the throne. Good memories and bad, but the most powerful memories she'd ever known; not for nothing did she stay in Teo's household with people who'd fought alongside her back then.
That day they'd been proud, because the Young Master, Tir, was joining the Imperial Army, becoming a man, following in his father's footsteps, and while the duty might have been a bit disappointing, it was still a landmark, something they'd always remember. And then Leknaat had spoken to the Young Master, had behaved as though something far more significant than an errand brought them to her, and gave Cleo a crystal. A simple fire rune, but one that she kept throughout the next war. They'd had no reason at all to suspect there would be a next war, but maybe they'd had reason and had ignored it - Odessa would have said so. So might Tir.
That day, they hadn't thought of war, of betrayal, death, or anything at all like destiny.
Her name on the tablet had looked almost burned into the stone, she sometimes thought, and at night in the room she shared with Pahn, once he came back, she'd stare at the rune in her palm. It was never rigid, though it looked as though it should be, and it almost never burned, though it could grow uncomfortably warm when she'd used it or when she was angry. When at rest it was dark, almost like a brand, though it was level with her skin, not carved into it or raised like a welt.
Leknaat had given her the rune with instructions to protect the Young Master. He's far beyond her protection now; he'd moved away before the war had even ended. But she still remembers when that was her first and only duty.
