Remnants {Fight Scene Fic Challenge Entry}

[breyzyyin.livejournal.com]

Username: Yin of breyzyyin
Class: White Mage
Fandom: Final Fantasy Tactics
Title: Remnants
Summary: Some time after the events of Final Fantasy Tactics, Delita encounters Agrias at a spot that has some very significant meaning for both of them...
Characters/Pairings: Delita and Agrias are the two main focuses of the fic, though Alicia and Lavian also show up in it later on. Ovelia is mentioned quite heavily too. Ramza, Simon Penn-Lachish, and Besrudio Bunansa are also mentioned.
Word count: 3,222
Rating/warnings: Alludes to an additional scene added to the FFT PSP port of the game, and contains some pretty big spoilers for the ending of Final Fantasy Tactics overall. Rating...um, maybe PG due to the fight scene? *is unsure*

----Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy Tactics or any of the game's characters, they are the rightful property of Square-Enix. This is just a fic I wrote for fun! :) Please don’t sue me you wouldn’t get much anyways, lolz.----

He wasn't sure why he continued to do so, but every few days he would steal away from the castle in the brief spare time he found himself having to come here. ...The spot itself was relatively unremarkable as far as the spacious land the castle grounds covered was concerned. At one point, a small chapel had existed there: nestled amongst the thick forest that covered the outskirts of the area. It had later on fallen into disuse due to a far more extravagant place of worship being built nearer to the castle proper and the constant, looming threat of skirmishes hanging overhead during turbulent times. All that remained of the structure now were pieces of rubble lying here and there, blocks of stone still placed in the vague outline of a building's foundation.

There had only been a few occasions in the past when he'd come here, and those memories lingered in the air now...unpleasant and wholly unwelcome. His side ached as he stood, a gauntleted hand on his stomach and the other absentmindedly resting on the stone of an eroding wall.

This had been one of her favorite spots, and it was too close to where she'd ultimately met her end for his liking. Whenever she went somewhere for privacy, he had found her somewhere nearby here. It was a bitter piece of irony that, though he often tried his hardest to avoid thinking of the past, he found himself always coming here unbidden: a place where he couldn't help but remember.

It was as though his unconscious mind refused to let him forget...to get so swept up in his goals that he could ignore his guilt. He was positive that was why the sharp ache he constantly felt never truly went away--the pain only growing somewhat dull when he focused on his present-day tasks of ruling and maintaining order.

Despite himself, the thought made Delita Heiral smile bitterly.

The rain was falling down steadily now: when he'd first ventured out it had been little more than a light drizzle. Rivulets of water made their way down his armor, the heavy fur cloak he wore as symbolic of his kingship feeling heavy and cumbersome on his back.

He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice the figure that emerged from the forest until he heard a twig snap under their boot--considering how stealthily they'd approached up until then, he halfway suspected the noise had been intentional in order to make their presence known.

Standing on the far side of the ruins was a figure covered practically from head-to-toe with a light brown woolen cape in order to conceal any identifying features from view. Their head was downcast, causing shadows to cover most of their face as droplets of rainwater splashed from the top of their hood to the cracked stone and grass beneath their feet.

For a long moment they stood there, statue-still. Delita waited, his hand moving to the sword sheathe at his side cautiously.

"...I heard that the Queen has passed."

Finally, a voice: flat and monotone. They spat out the words in a disinterested, almost casual way--the inflection, though oddly wooden, ringing somewhat familiar in his ears.

The pain in his side flared up again at the comment. His dark eyes narrowed, not liking how he was being addressed or the topic of conversation being drudged up.

"Aye...about five months ago to this day. It was a tragic loss." At the last part of his reply, he lowered his head slightly--averting his eyes to the ground.

"..." The figure said nothing, and he couldn't tell what expression was playing on their concealed face.

"Though I suspect most had heard about her passing much earlier." With this, he leveled a stare at the figure again…trying to decipher their reaction to his comment.

"A version of it, yes."

...The voice was indeed very familiar to him now. He just couldn't quite place it with a face yet.

"...A version?" he echoed, eyes sharpening into icy daggers as he glared at the mysterious figure before him. His fingers were already gripping the hilt of his sword as he pulled...releasing the blade from its scabbard, "What exactly are you implying?"

The person lifted their head slightly at his actions, their mouth a thin grim line. From their body language, it seemed that even this threatening gesture from the King was vastly unimpressive.

"...Only that the real events leading to her death were not fully told, Lord Delita." As she spoke, a furious undertone crept its way into her words.

There was a flourish of movement behind the cape, and the front of it opened to reveal silver armor interspersed with blue and brown materials of various shades...two gloved hands brandishing a broadsword that had only been unsheathed moments before. The cape's hood fell away to reveal long blond hair: the two pieces framing her face outside of the braid that held the rest of it behind her head already becoming plastered to finely chiseled facial features due to the unrelenting rain.

Agrias Oaks glared at him with an intensity that could have burnt a man's skin off with the force of an inferno--the very same look she'd given him the last time they'd met here after she'd entrusted Ovelia to his care.

"And I am here to learn the truth of it!"

Before he could even fully recover his shock at seeing before him a woman he'd half-thought likely to be dead, the Holy Knight charged with the ferocity of a maddened Behemoth. She brought her sword down on his skull, Delita barely able to block the attack in time with his own weapon. Even still, his hands almost became numb with the ringing that went through them due to the force of the impact.

The aching at his side grew more insistent. He grimaced, attempting to move past it without his adversary noting his weakness.

Agrias moved quickly to follow through on her initial assault, quickly pulling her sword from where it rested on his own: slicing the air in an attempted strike at his torso. His sodden cloak made moving fast difficult, and the point of her weapon nearly grazed him as he stepped back.

Not wanting to stay on the defensive, Delita countered with a sword thrust of his own. He aimed for her neck with practiced precision, though Agrias expertly weaved past his blade--a few strands of blond hair falling to the ground.

"...I told you I would come back if anything happened to her, did I not?"

Delita kicked out with his leg, halting Agrias's charge. His sword cleared the space between them and suddenly it was her who was forced to act defensively: taking a few steps back and using her broadsword to deflect most of Delita's relentless assault afterwards.

"That you did, milady. Though you are a bit late in coming." He managed to say in-between strikes.

He could see her eyes narrow darkly at this comment, his own surprisingly haggard-looking face reflected back at him in the metallic shine of the weapon she was using momentarily as a shield.

"It takes a while for news to reach the dead. And even longer for corpses to travel undetected."

The words she uttered were spiteful, and he understood her meaning clearly. Ramza and his band had tried to remain dead to the world in order to avoid being hunted as heretics once more. Living in hiding made things difficult when it came to traveling.

...Much of the blame for that too undoubtedly laid on him. Ovelia had accused him of it as well in her desperate final moments. Even then, he'd refused to accept it vocally. And he would continue to do so now.

"So the dead have come back to life to exact vengeance on me?" he asked coldly, moving away from sword strikes to attempt another thrust--this time aiming for just above her armored knee, "Tell me, Agrias...would you have me join her?"

"...You could never join her where she is now!" At the last second, Agrias moved--a small speck of blood coming from where his sword barely grazed her leg, "You and I both know that!"

Gripping her sword in one hand, Agrias held her other hand out in front of her, the open palm pointing directly at Delita's chest plate. Sparks of lightning flared up and danced around her fingertips.

The Thunder spell hit him head-on: white-hot fire finding its way through the openings of his armor. He cried out despite himself as he pulled back, tears stinging his eyes.

...He'd forgotten that Agrias had been in the process of learning Black Magick spells the last time he had encountered Ramza's party. Apparently she was using them as support to her physical attacks now. Fortunately, his armor had shielded him from most of the blow--though his body still stung and throbbed all the way to the tips of his hair, the air burning in his lungs.

Agrias gazed at him with the same repulsed look one might give if they found something unpleasant on their shoe. His side continued to ache relentlessly as he tried to collect himself. Unconsciously, his free hand moved there of his own accord.

The action was not lost on Agrias.

"...You're injured." She spoke plainly, making it fairly evident that she wasn't terribly concerned about seeing him as such.

He grimaced, lowering his hand once more, "Aye."

"An old injury, from the look of it." She tilted her head slightly to the side as she stared at him. A small amount of curiosity was glistening in her eyes and expression now.

"...Old enough." The pain from her assault subsided somewhat, and Delita stood up fully again--his sword at the ready, "Are we to continue?"

"..." Agrias gripped her sword tightly in both hands once more, the curiosity vanishing from her face to be replaced by a determined look--showcasing her readiness.

With a loud cry, Delita charged forward...his feet creating large splashes in the puddles surrounding them. He brought his blade down in a swinging arc towards Agrias's neck, the water sliding off of it in a shining ribbon that stayed momentarily in the air.

Agrias deflected the blow, and as the impact of his move drew the King close, his sword now safely kept away by her side...the swordswoman changed tactics. Her right hand left the hilt of her weapon and, before Delita could blink, he felt the full impact of her gloved fist striking his cheek. The impact caused his vision to go blurry as the punch's force knocked him off his feet: the ground forcibly halting his fall.

He sputtered, mud and rainwater mixing with the salty taste of blood in his cut mouth as he struggled to rise. The feeling of steel against the exposed flesh of his neck halted him, however.

"...I'd like to learn the truth of it, Delita." Agrias echoed her earlier sentiment from when she had began her onslaught.

Though the words were spoken bluntly, the force of a command wasn't in them this time. Wiping ineffectually at the grime on his face, Delita glared up at his attacker. She stared down at him in much the same manner, the edge of her sword pressing even more at his skin--making her point all the more effective.

"...What is there to learn?"

She allowed him enough free movement to sit down on the ground. His sword lay a few feet away--the shock of her punch causing him to have lost his grip on it. He spat, a not very kingly gesture to be sure but a necessary one due to the blood that had pooled in his mouth. She didn't seem to care anyway.

"...If you wish to ask if I killed her, I suspect you already know the answer. I doubt you would have bothered coming here otherwise."

The blade shook slightly, a thin line of crimson welling at its edge. Keeping her eyes leveled at him and her expression impassive, Agrias managed to steady her hand with a great deal of effort.

"...And your injury?" She asked in a steady voice.

He had to admit, he was impressed with her composure. The look in her eyes alone let him know she could feasibly kill him, but the intent didn't show elsewhere.

"It was from the dagger you thoughtfully gave to her as protection that one day here. The one I thought was a good idea for her to carry as well." There was a wry tone to his voice at this: it was almost ironic to look back on in a way, given the circumstances.

"..."

"She attacked me after the news of your deaths." He elaborated.

His side ached at the ferocity of the memories this conversation was bringing up. He averted his gaze, not wanting to see Agrias's expression or to have the Holy Knight see the troubled look crossing over his own features as he reminisced.

"That was five months ago." Agrias’s voice was wooden still, but puzzled, "...The wound should have healed by now."

"Aye, it did. The wound itself healed quite some time ago." He smiled faintly, though it appeared more as a bitter grimace, "Though some scars run very deep."

"..."

"Lady Agrias!"

Two voices called out her name at the exact same time. There was movement from behind them in the forest, and two figures appeared: Delita recognized them as the two knight attendants who had pledged loyalty to Ovelia. He wasn't quite sure of their names, though he remembered that both had stayed at Agrias's side when she joined Ramza's quest.

"You went too far ahead, milady." One of them said, though the comment held more concern in it than reprimand. The female knight bowed to her superior as she spoke the words--further indicating that they were not meant in anger.

"My apologies, Lavian. But when I caught sight of him I could no longer wait." Agrias seemed to look slightly guilty that she'd caused her subordinates worry for a moment, though she quickly overcame that when she glanced over at the other female knight and noticed her drawn sword, "Alicia, report?"

"There are no guards for quite some acres, Lady Agrias. He traveled here alone."

"...So you have the perfect opportunity to exact vengeance on me and leave before anyone else sees you." Delita was surprised by how calm he felt as he voiced the realization out loud, "Hurry up and be done with it, milady."

Agrias stared at him for a few more moments, her darkened expression becoming more and more unreadable by the second. Her hand shook slightly, but she didn't move it or the blade closer in order to deliver a final blow.

After quite some time, she let out a sigh and moved her sword away from his neck entirely.

"No."

Delita and the two knights stared at her in open surprise. Agrias remained silent and stiff, averting her gaze.

Finally, Delita recovered enough to ask, "What do you mean…'No'? Wasn't that why you came here?"

"...Initially, yes. I wanted to know what truly caused the Queen's death, and to make you suffer for it." She said it plainly, her hand on her sword hilt tightening.

"So...why?" Delita was truly perplexed now.

"Because if I killed you now, that would be the end of it." A barely controlled anger was seeping into her voice--the chill in her words enough to freeze blood as it was pumping through veins, "You would be free from the suffering and guilt your own actions have caused you."

"..." The pain in his side became a stabbing ache now. His heart sank to the very bottom of his gut with her words. But he schooled his expression into an emotionless one and fixed his eyes on Agrias's face as she spoke--his pride and stubbornness not allowing him to do anything else.

"I want you to live with that guilt and pain for a very long time, Delita. Help this kingdom become a better place if you can...but always know what your actions have truly brought you."

With a sense of finality after she spat out those last words, Agrias moved towards the forest again. Alicia and Lavian followed in her wake as she said over her shoulder, "For your sake and my own, I hope that scar never heals."

Delita made no effort to stop them as they left...though it would have been an easy enough thing for him to collect his sword at the very least. Instead, he sat where he was on the muddy ground.

The rain continued to pour down as Agrias's final words sunk in--the cut on his neck stinging somewhat as blood flowed freely from it now without the sword pressure upon it. He wondered briefly about whether or not to report the incident when he returned to the castle...but the pain at his side and overall aching condition of his body made him reconsider as he stood there in his solitude.

There was no need to dig up the ghosts of the dead if they weren't going to pose a problem for him in the future, after all.

...Even that notion didn't seem to offer him much comfort as he slowly started to pick himself up once more.

********

For a long while the three knights walked in silence through the forest...Alicia and Lavian both casting worried glances first at Agrias, who was lost in her own thoughts, and then at one another.

The rain had become a soft drizzle once again, though the three kept their hoods up regardless to conceal their faces. It wasn't until they'd left the woodland area behind and approached a dirt road that Alicia had an idea.

"Lady Agrias?" she asked tentatively, afraid to intrude on her superior's privacy.

"...Yes?"

Alicia glanced again at Lavian who nodded to her encouragingly, "I was thinking...why don't we visit Orbonne Monastery next? We haven’t been there in awhile--and it would be a nice tribute to the Queen and Father Simon, don’t you think?"

Lavian chimed in eagerly afterwards, "And then we could go to Goug for awhile: Besrudio and the other engineers said we'd always be welcome there if we need to rest for a time, after all. And who knows? Some of the others might have the same idea as us too."

"...It would be nice to see any one of them again." Alicia agreed.

"..." Agrias stared at the hopeful faces of the two younger knights--knowing how desperately hard they'd been trying to cheer her up over the past few months despite being incredibly saddened by the news of Ovelia's death as well. She felt somewhat guilty in a way for dragging them with her as she had, though the two had very persistently insisted on accompanying her when they found out that she meant to confront Delita. Ovelia would have wanted the three of them to be able to make peace with whatever life they could have, that she had no doubt of.

"Yes," For the first time in a very long while, Agrias couldn't help but smile slightly, "That sounds like a very good plan."