She looks at him with eyes that are too old for her sixteen years. Eyes that have seen Pain, Suffering and Horror—and become numb to it all. Eyes that haven't forgotten the sight of Happiness, but find the possibility of it now to be highly unlikely.
Eyes like his.
"I remember you," she says, no hostility or anger in her tired green eyes. "You were with Cecil at Mist."
"Yes." He still can't believe, even after Cecil has told him, that this young woman is the little girl who was the soul survivor of the massacre of the village Mist. "You must hate me."
"No. I don't hate you. It hurts, to see you and Cecil and remember what happened, but I don't hate you." Her eyes take on a hint of hurt, but nothing really directed at him.
"Thank you." He doesn't know what else to say.
"Actually, I was glad to see that you were all right. He wouldn't say it, but Cecil worried about you a lot. So did Rosa. It was good to see them smile again."
"I don't know why they would, after what I did."
Her eyes turn from slightly pained to quizzical. "What did you do?"
"You have to ask?"
"The only things I can think of are things that Golbez did, not you. Its true that you were present for a lot of bad things, but were you the one in control?"
He is silent for a long time before answering. "Golbez only let me have free will when it wouldn't endanger his plans."
"See?" Her smile reaches her eyes, giving them a radiance that almost makes him want to do anything to keep seeing it.
When she smiles, her eyes become the age they should be.
He smiles back at her, the first genuine smile that he has conjured in a long time. "Thanks."
"You should do that more. It makes your eyes look younger."
He is confused for a moment as she walks away from him to sit with Edge. Her words are almost identical to his thoughts about her, and it is beyond strange. Then he laughs—truly laughs—with the irony of how similar they really are. Perhaps it isn't too late to regain the man he once was.
"Is everything all right, Kain?" For the first time, he realizes that there is no accusation or tolerance in his best friend's eyes, only concern for is well being.
"Everything's fine, Cecil." He moves from his self-imposed place in the darkness and into the circle of firelight, taking a seat next to Rosa that has always been left open for him.
Edge's eyes are filled with thinly veiled distrust, but that is all right—Rosa's and Rydia's are warm and welcoming. Cecil's eyes become relieved as he smiles a them.
"Everything's going to be just fine."