Just some brief notes before we begin. No, I have no idea why I wrote this besides the four songs listed at the end of this story (and who they're by/where I found them) prompted a really weird set of four-line poetry, and that in turn prompted this thing. It's set post-game-ish, if you look at the ending through really, really crazy glasses. Some things are metaphors, some are meant to be taken literally, and some... well, I'm sure you can read in between the lines. By the end of this, I'm referring to a very specific kind of 'dancing'.

Disclaimer: Bandai-Namco (or however you write that without the names being stacked on top of each other) owns ToA and all relevant characters, plot, and settings. I own a copy of the game that I stole from Blockbuster and only paid for now, over a year later. Fear me.

Warnings: First time writing in the ToA fandom. Been reading for a while, but writing.... Urg, I blame university (and waiting for laryna6 to finish The World to Me) for keeping me from writing. Also, I haven't been in a creative writing class in a while, nor have I written fiction in an equally long time. Beta reader? What beta reader? And the metaphors might be so vague that only I'll understand them, so if the entire thing seems literal, don't worry.

I know that 'The World Ends With You' portrays Pacts as a binding between people that seems temporary, but I belong to the older gaming circuit, and to me 'Pact' means "at least with marriage you could get a divorce". Technically, 'WEWY' follows this principle: the characters are stuck between worlds, neither alive nor (completely) dead. So when they win the Reaper's Game, their current existence gets destroyed and then replaced with either their ascended forms as Reaper, etc., or with the return of their human forms. And if they lose, they LOSE, and get erased/killed/overwritten/however you want to say it. So the whole 'Pact is binding until death' thing DOES exist in 'WEWY', which makes me very happy. [That's just a note for anyone coming into this with only the WEWY definition/appearance of a Pact. I haven't played Symphonia (you know how hard that game is to find?), so I'm using the Drakengard/Drakengard2/ToA(ish) definition. There are other games, but those are just the ones I've played in the last few months that mention Pacts.]

And, as stated above, this does play off the wonderfully vague ending. Is that Luke or Asch? Who is to say that one of them didn't come back before the ending, or perhaps afterwards? Yes, some people believe it's Luke, and others say that it's Asch because of Big Bang (personally I side with the latter), but there is no definites, no certainties, and best yet, who says that they even need bodies? Lets see how how THAT skews your reading of this.

When It Rains

Quoth: "And thus the stars fell one by one,
The light from Heaven dimmed,
And as rain fell like angel's tears,
The world was drowned in sin."

It didn't rain very often in Tataroo Valley.

Given its tropical appearance, an average of at least 100 ml of rainfall every month or so was expected, but its proximity to Chesedonia and the Zao Desert overruled even that rule. The ferns and plants, standard rain forest components, drew most of their water and nutrients from the plentiful rivers and streams.

The selenia, instead, drew from the Sephiroth.

Where water failed to reach and the rock and sheer cliffs dominated, springy, green grasses flourished during the day, and beautiful, delicate white petaled flowers bloomed in the night. The selenia's nourishment were the fonons and memory particles attracted to the Sephiroth below the ground, but with the cessation of the planet storm even that once--eternal source of energy was wearing thin.

It didn't rain often in Tataroo Valley and that had never been a problem before, but the selenia were learning to drink the water to supplement the fonons, and they would need to have more and more water as time went on.

Luke sat on one of the rocks in the valley, staring not out towards the ruins of Eldrant and Hod but the flowers at his feet.

"This might be one of the last times we can do this, you know."

"Do what?"

"Look at the selenia."

"Hn."

"Asch... can't you try to be pleasant?"

The man standing beside Luke, nearly identical but oh-so-different at the same time, levelled the isofon with a well-practiced glare. "I don't have to be anything considering coming all the way out here was YOUR idea in the first place, moron."

Yep--same old Asch. Luke was only partially grateful that dying hadn't changed either of them too much. It would have been too much to handle if Asch had awoken, preaching about happiness and fluffiness and singing 'sunshine, lollipops and rainbows'. No, Asch was an ass, and Luke was an idiot, and they still were and that was that.

But Luke had learned and Asch had toned himself down, so the two who sat and stood in the Valley, watching the selenia instead of the stars, were exactly the same and entirely different. And wouldn't Jade be proud of Luke, getting all philosophical?

...no, he'd be making fun of him. Still, it was a nice thought to have.

Asch grumbled. "Stop thinking so loudly."

Luke wasn't sure if Asch's mouth had moved or if that had been sent directly to him--it was hard to keep track of what was vocal and what was thought, the same as it was hard to remember what was himself and what was the rest of the world. But he could remember where he stopped and where Asch began, and vice versa, so there were never any complaints on that front anymore.

"Sorry. I'll try to whisper my thoughts."

"You better."

Complaints about other things--the apparent 'noise' being one of them--were things that Luke had resigned himself to dealing with, just as Asch was stuck with Luke's dichotomy between god-like knowledge and complete ignorance.

The breeze that swept hair off their backs and cooled the sweat on their skin carried with it the scent of rain. Clouds of a storm that had yet to reach them began covering the darkened sky, stars disappearing one by one and two by two. Without their faint light, the Valley looked different, a bit less happy and a bit more mysterious.

"I wonder what the Valley will look like in fifty years?"

"I'm sure you'll get to see it, now stop thinking."

"Meanie."

Chesedonia would get a kick out of this storm, as would the Desert Oasis. They got less rain than Tataroo Valley, and that was saying something. But there was a Sephiroth below the Zao Ruins, so why didn't the selenia grow there, too? Not that it would matter now, with the ever-decreasing fonon supply, but it was something to consider. As far as Luke knew, selenia only grew in Tataroo Valley and Yulia City. Why not in the rest of the world? Yulia City was understandable--they had cultivated the gardens there because selenia were the only plant that would have been able to survive beneath the Outer Lands in the Qliphoth for two thousand years. Tataroo Valley, meanwhile, was wild, and untamed, and, except for the presence of the Sephiroth, apparently completely random.

But now that Luke thought about it, the Zao Ruins really weren't a place any plant could grow, and the only animals that lived there were the cave-dwelling monsters. Underground ruins in the middle of the desert really weren't the most hospitable place to live. And selenia wouldn't grow in the Meggioria Highlands, which were all rocks and caves and cliffs, nor in or around Mt. Roneal, covered with snow and ice, or Mt. Zaleho, which was purely lava and more rock.

The selenia obviously couldn't grow around the Radiation or Absorption Gates, located in the poles as they were and even worse than a combination of Mt. Roneal, the Meggiorgia Highlands and the Zao Ruins. Hod had been destroyed before Luke was born, but the only area in Eldrant where selenia bloomed was around Yulia's grave, and that made enough sense by itself. Also, Luke hadn't really had a chance to look around Akzeriuth before it had Fallen, but there hadn't been any selenia there. Of course, the miasmia might have poisoned them all before hand and killed them off before Luke's group made it there, but he hadn't seen any dead plants in Akzeriuth--he hadn't seen any plants, living or dead, besides those already mixed into the gels.

And then there was Shurrey Hill, and that was another question mark. Shurrey Hill, while being around the same latitude as Tataroo Valley, was of an entirely differently climate, true. All the same, selenia were supposed to be able to grow as long as there was an adequate supply of fonons. Why wouldn't the selenia grow there? The soil was infinitely more fertile around the Soil Tree of St. Binah than in rocky Tataroo Valley.

"That's exactly why," and Asch sounded pissed off again--had Luke been thinking too loudly?

"No shit," and no, Asch wasn't pissed off, he was seething, "and to answer your question, the Soil Tree uses up all the fonons of the Sephiroth, so the selenia -can't- grow there."

"Oh. Well, thanks for explaining that."

"Just shut up, dreck."

While Luke worked to master the art of not speaking and not thinking (too loudly), Asch climbed onto the rock and sat beside him, looking out towards Eldrant and Hod and the sea, ignoring the white flowers. Yes, they were beautiful, but he didn't care for beauty. A person could be the ugliest person in the world, and as long as they measured up to his other standards he didn't give a damn if they looked and dressed like Dist, even.

Luke picked up on that thought and giggled.

"What?"

"Dist? Who else would honestly dress like Dist?"

"Peony."

"...damn. Gotta give you that one."

No, Asch was not going to snicker or laugh or show any amusement regarding his replica, because Luke, while admittedly being quite a looker (he was practically identical to Asch, thank you) did not quite measure up elsewhere.

He was strong, yes, and gifted with the sword, on par with Asch if he had to honestly rate the other's skills. (If he was being honestly honest, mind you, he would say that perhaps Luke beat him at swordplay, but there was that little tiny voice in the back of his head that tended to smack the voice that was Asch's conscience/people skills/honesty and then lock it away when it got a bit too carried away with its job--meaning, if it was doing its job whatsoever.) Luke was generous, and kind, and knew how to give and take. He was someone that, in a fight, Asch wouldn't really mind having at his back.

But Luke also took things to extremes, and even now couldn't understand that sometimes it was necessary to take another's life. If he was sad he was actually depressed, if he was happy he was as excited as a seven year old in a candy store AFTER having eaten half the store and was now looking for round two. And if he killed someone, or had something to do with their deaths, he didn't just offer prayers for a peaceful rest and go on with his life--Akzeriuth was enough to prove that.

Perhaps that was why he took everything to extremes--in trying to live his life fully for those whose lives he carried with him, he tried to do everything, to feel everything, and there was no two ways about it.

And there was also that problem about the knowing everything but not knowing anything thing.

"Well, I'm so sorry. Blame Lorelei, if you must point fingers. ...and NOW who's thinking too loudly?!"

Asch ignored him, continuing to stare at the ruins on the horizon, only visible as a dark mass against a not-so-dark sky.

The breeze blew again, and this time it carried the first few drops of rain. The selenias, slightly wilting in their place on the ground, lapped up the water like a man lost in the desert.

Lighting crashed. Thunder roared. Little streams of water formed down the side of the rock and the cliffs and the fields, running to the sea and the river and everywhere and nowhere. Asch sat on the rock, watching the display of nature, quickly soaked through. Luke....

Luke laughed like a child, and danced like a professional, hands callused as a swordsman and a blacksmith, face as soft as a newborn baby or the most pampered noble, as swift as a bird in the sky or a fish in the sea, as steady as a mountain or the greatest of monsters or cities, as wanting as a young man just starting out in life by himself, as content as an old man who had lived a long, full life, as free as the wind and the sea and earth and sky and fire, but never, ever imprisoned.

Asch watched him, dancing of life and death and rebirth, of giving and taking and all things in the world, and knew. Luke was not imprisoned, could -not- be chained down, but he was still bound, just as Asch himself was. Just as Lorelei had been to Yulia and Yulia to Lorelei. As they had been to Van and Tear because Lorelei and Yulia had been bound two thousand years ago.

Because unless both sides were to die, a Pact was all-binding, even between descendants hundreds of generations down the line.

"Asch! Come join me!"

And a Pact was exactly what Asch had never wanted, but... well, there was always a 'but'. It was just that this time, the 'but' consisted of everyone and everything, and when put in the scale of 'Asch vs. [insert here]' the 'Asch' side was far outweighed.

He had never wanted to be a hero--he was a God-General, the Commander of Special Operations! No one who wanted to be a hero joined the Oracle Knights.

"Asch...!"

And no, he wasn't a hero. Luke was the hero. Luke was the hero and the villain, the beginning and the end, alpha and omega. Male and female, old and young, children and grandparents and the living and the dead. Luke, against every possible sane and rational belief, was Lorelei, and that wasn't going to change in the near future.

But he was also Luke, and they were in a Pact, and they were perfect isofons. Asch wasn't a hero, or even really a villain, or any of those things. He was just Asch, with all his human insecurities and ridiculously high standards, and Luke knew this--and didn't care. Couldn't care, now, and that care free dancing looked really, really... well, Asch would never use the word 'fun', but Luke had stripped off his sodden jacket and shirt and shoes and looked pretty set on just dancing around naked, in the rain and among the selenia and a part of everything and nothing and All.

And if Asch wasn't allowed to join in, human or not, he wouldn't have been allowed to make the Pact in the first place.

"Asch, get your butt off that rock!"

Not that that was any consolation--the only rule they could have followed was Lorelei, and Lorelei had been killed, or as 'killed' as an Aggregate Sentience could be, by Luke after killing Van. So Luke was the new Lorelei and made all his own rules, and because of the Pact Asch made rules, too. Killing gods, becoming one, that didn't matter. Not to them.

He was careful to avoid the selenias, stripped down to nothing and joining Luke in whatever dance he next partook in. The ground was muddy, the air was sweet, the landscape a blur of black and white and the faintest of greys and greens and browns. Luke was red and gold, shimmering and shining and yet still matte, still able to fit in with the scenery. The next day, or the day after that, or the day a thousand trillion days from now, Luke would still be the same and Asch would get to witness it, but the scenery might be different and the rain might not be so sweet.

He thought he might understand what Luke was thinking.

It didn't rain very often in Tataroo Valley. But when it did, Asch knew Luke would be there, and it would be the most beautiful day of them all.

The aforementioned songs which prompted this:

"Akatsuki no kuruma" -- FictionJunctionYUUKA and/or Ailyn (An Ling) -- ToA version (YouTube, kthx.)
"Glass no Kaze" -- Kotoko
"Meaning of Birth"
"Fulfill the Promise"

The last two, of course, being from ToA. "Karma" by Bump of Chicken and the Grand Fonic Hymn also helped with this, too.