In the days after he comes back to them, after twenty long years' absence, Rosa watches Kain.
Watches--- as the countless little attentions that he had always shown her in their youth, that she had always taken so much for granted (because he had never said whispers a bitter voice in the corner of her mind, which she dismisses) gradually fade into mere courtly courtesy. When the lingering touch of his lips on her hand cools to a courtier's proper tribute, and nothing more. (She remembers deliciously stolen kisses in corridors in their youth, when Cecil had been the more proper of the two, and held himself back after he donned the dark armor in particular; when Kain had been the one of them to oblige her.)
He has accepted what he wants and cannot have; and in accepting, finally let go.
Except that he could have had it; could have had it all along, if he had only asked.
And if she had never known it, never known the longing of his that lay beneath the friendship, she never would have missed it when it died.
That is the least of the crimes to lay at Zemus' feet--- but sometimes, in the dark before sunrise, it is the thing for which she blames their erstwhile enemy the most.
"Never Meant To Let It Die": FFIV, post-TAY, Kain/Rosa, G
Watches--- as the countless little attentions that he had always shown her in their youth, that she had always taken so much for granted (because he had never said whispers a bitter voice in the corner of her mind, which she dismisses) gradually fade into mere courtly courtesy. When the lingering touch of his lips on her hand cools to a courtier's proper tribute, and nothing more. (She remembers deliciously stolen kisses in corridors in their youth, when Cecil had been the more proper of the two, and held himself back after he donned the dark armor in particular; when Kain had been the one of them to oblige her.)
He has accepted what he wants and cannot have; and in accepting, finally let go.
Except that he could have had it; could have had it all along, if he had only asked.
And if she had never known it, never known the longing of his that lay beneath the friendship, she never would have missed it when it died.
That is the least of the crimes to lay at Zemus' feet--- but sometimes, in the dark before sunrise, it is the thing for which she blames their erstwhile enemy the most.