Sorrow
Note: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of its characters.

"That's game. Another perfect." Vivi said, laying down the last card.

"What? How did that happen?" Zidane said as he scratched his head. They had arrived at Treno to participate in the card tournament and Vivi was trying to teach Zidane some good strategies with the cards they had. Vivi explained how that worked and Zidane was starting to grasp the concept. Suddenly, Eiko burst thru the Inn door and tugged on Zidane's sleeve.

"Come on, Zidane. You've been stuck up in here all day. Come play with me." The small summoner pleaded.

"Sorry, Eiko, but Vivi is trying to help me on my card game." He commented.

"Well, actually, I've taught you all I know. All we can really do is play some games to get better." Vivi said as he cleaned up the cards. Eiko jumped up and down.

"Yay! That means you can play with me!" Eiko cried. Zidane sighed.

"Not today, my head hurts from all that info. I think I'll go upstairs and lie down." He said, standing up and holding his forehead. Eiko pouted, but then grabbed Vivi's sleeve and dragged him with her.

"Let's play, Vivi." Eiko smiled as the bewildered Vivi was pulled along. Zidane shook his head, chuckling softly, and walked upstairs. (This is a different inn than the one in the game. It's similar to the one in Lindblum.).

Freya had been sitting on the bed upstairs for hours now, thinking, her silver hair slightly flowing as the cool breeze from the night air passed through the window. Her hat and spear were cast off to one side. She thought back to that moment when she had finally met Fratley again, after so many years, and he didn't remember her. Her one true love, and he couldn't even recall her name. She sighed, incredibly sad. She felt like jumping off a bridge. She then felt something she hadn't felt in years, tears. They slowly rolled down her cheek and fell onto her robes.

She tried to wipe them away, but they just kept coming. She put her face in her hands and started to sob quietly. When Fratley had left her all those years ago, she had cried all the time. But soon, she had grown hard and stopped, but now the pain was just overwhelming, and she couldn't stop. Then, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs and tried to compose herself. She turned away from the door and wiped away the tears. She was till crying, but you couldn't tell if you just entered the room.

Then Zidane opened the door and stepped inside. "Oh, hi, Freya. I didn't know you were here." He said, rubbing the side of his head.

"Hey." She said, trying to keep her voice from cracking.

"Are you all right, Freya?" He asked with concern, he could sense something was amiss.

"Yeah." She said, quickly.

"You sure?" He inquired, still worried.

"I'm positive." Her voice cracked, giving away her state of emotion.

"Freya? Did someone hurt you?" Zidane cried as he ran over to her side. Without thinking, Freya swung around and grabbed Zidane's sword in his sheath. She ripped it out and swung it towards her neck. Despite how fast Freya acted, Zidane acted faster. He quickly grabbed the blade with his right and her arm with his left. He grimaced as he felt his blade slice through his fingers, but he held on. He twisted her arm and forced her to drop his sword. She suddenly broke down and cried loudly into her hands.

"Oh, Zidane. I'm sorry, but I just can't take it anymore. Not when Fratley can't even remember who I am." She sobbed. Zidane pulled her up and pulled into a tight embrace.

"It's okay, Freya. Just let it all out." He said soothingly, patting her back with his good hand. She cried into his shoulder as he whispered over and over to her it would be all right. He felt blood dripping off his hand, but he didn't care, Freya was in worse shape than he was. He moved his tail so it was softly stroking Freya's tail. She slowly started to calm down, her cries becoming softer, until she was just resting her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, Zidane." She began softly. "How could he forget me? Being forgotten is worse than death." A few more tears slipped down, but that was all.

"Freya..." He didn't know what to tell her. He slowly pulled away from her and held her hands in his. He could at least comfort her. Her eyes were bloodshot and the fur under them was all wet. She felt a thick liquid dripping through her fingers.

"Oh my, Zidane. You're bleeding. We need to fix that." She said, forgetting her grief. She detached and got some rolled up bandages. Then she moved back and began to roll up his right hand to stop the bleeding.

"Freya..." Zidane tried again, but couldn't find the words. When Freya was done, she turned away.

"I'm sorry, Zidane. I...I just lost it." She said, her voice quavering. Zidane shook his head.

"No, Freya. It's good that you got that off your chest. You shouldn't keep you feelings hidden." He softly grabbed her cheeks and turned her towards him. "You can always be honest with me." Then Freya did something that blew Zidane away, she smiled. It wasn't really like her to smile.

"Oh, thank you, Zidane." She whispered as she brought him into a tight hug. Zidane smiled and wrapped his arms around her. Then he tenderly pushed her away until they were face to face. Building up the courage to do something he'd wanted to do for a very long time, Zidane then gradually leaned forward and kissed her gently on the cheek. He moved back so he could see the look on her face.

"Freya...I love you." He breathed out finally. She leaned in and resting her head on his chest.

"I love you, too, Zidane." She whispered. He sat down, holding her head and slowly stroking her silver hair.

End

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