Author's Note: Rosa. I was a child when FF4 got released. Most people today started with Aeris or someone later. They don't know. They either can't or don't want to. For you see, people go BACK to play FF4. They don't know what it was like, back when the white mage was a NEW concept. Back when Rosa was new. Unique. The first. To me, she's so many things. Devoted. Self-sacrificing. Nurturing. Kind. All the qualities of true love, romantic and not. Times have changed. Final Fantasy got popular. People don't think about the role of time, of how concepts evolve. No. They think only of what they get out of the moment. To most people, Rosa is nothing but a weak, vapid, clingy damsel-in-distress, among many other, worse claims and lies.
So while everyone worships Aeris, and Rydia, and countless other fan favorites... Rosa gets nothing. No appreciation for her place in the series. No notice of her willingness to sacrifice herself for the ones she loves. She's treated like a pox on the series, all for the crime of having her character traits become the staple of all female lead white mage types to follow. Even her love for Cecil, the one final vestige of good things people will allow her, is being torn away in favor of... you guessed it. That is my purpose for beginning my time on this site with this story. In the hopes of if nothing else, at least preserving one of the few tiny fragments of courtesy that she has left.
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Lady Farrell. Queen of Baron. Rosa Harvey. She had a number of names and titles throughout her life. Only one of them meant everything.
"I see you didn't wake me."
The mage blushed. True, she hadn't woken her betrothed. How could she? When Cecil slept, Rosa could look on his angelic face and trace the outline of his lips at her leisure. It was only curiosity that pried her from his side, peering out at the sights laid out for them to see from their honeymoon chamber. Turning, she embraced the man of her life, the man of her waking dreams, planting a warm and tender kiss that took her back a night. Back to the bed. Back to...
"You looked so peaceful. I didn't want to wake you," Rosa confided. She savored his scent as she huddled the blanket tighter around her body, a shiver running through her. It was almost too good to be true when Cecil pulled her closer, his arms wrapping around her, two lovers basking in the glow of a setting sun.
Cecil understood, more than he could say. As his wife turned to look at the lush expanse of green out their window, Cecil's hands pressed against her stomach. A few light pecks to Rosa's neck from him sent the new queen's head back with a soft, melodious gasp that somehow sounded to Cecil like something beyond the sweetest singing birds of Baron's courtyard.
They saw Mount Ordeals in the distance. From all the allies they gained during the struggle against Zemus' evil plot, Cecil and Rosa had their pick of anywhere in the world to take as their honeymoon spot. The eight cleric sisters of Troia promised a luxurious stay in their castle. Leviathan and Asura offered a place in their realm with grand festivities. Even the people of Mysidia opened their hearts to the new couple, each willing to make their stay a pleasant one. All were generous offers, but none of them quite compared to the final choice they made.
"Are you enjoying the view?" Cecil asked of his wife.
"Yes... it's better than I could have imagined." For the third time that hour, she watched and admired the sunset, their Lunarian ride hovering ever closer to the mountain's peak.