Blessed Release

"Come here, Vivi. This is an age-old ritual between male friends." Vivi walked up to Zidane curiously, still encapsulated in his shell of doubts and fears. Zidane knelt down and slowly pulled Vivi into a warm hug.

At first, Vivi was scared. What was this? Why was he doing this? What was happening? Vivi resisted at first, but only at first. A second passed and Vivi broke down. At first, the only thing he could hear was the soft sound of Zidane's breathing, Then warm tears dripped down his face, making a light tinkling sound as they struck the buttons on Zidane's vest. Another few seconds passed and the tears began to cascade down the young Black Mage's face. His eyes were screwed shut and he collapsed into Zidane, clinging onto his friend for fear that he would fall. Sobs racked Vivi's body, quaking with blissful release.

Everything was being lifted off his shoulders. His fear of dying shrunk away as the warmth of Zidane's kindness flooded through him. Zidane gripped his little friend tighter, encouraging him to let it all out. Vivi's sobs were muffled from the thief's clothing, and the little mage found himself unable to think. His world was shrinking; everything else was drowned out in this one moment.

Fragments of thoughts pervaded Vivi's mind before fading away. What is my purpose? Zidane's friendship erased that. What did his purpose matter when being with his friends was such a release? Where did I come from? That no longer mattered. All that mattered was that he was here, now, and that his friend was doing something so simply complex to help him. Why do we die? Death was not important anymore. Life wasn't about death, it was about living and accepting the end. Where do we go? Irrelevant; did his destination matter? Was not the journey the important thing, rather than the destination? Do we exist? Vivi had to believe that, for this moment, he did. The conflicting emotions he was feeling were evidence enough to him.

But none of this could be articulated by either the mage or the thief. Vivi could no more have said all of this to Zidane than Dagger could deny her mother's atrocities. All that mattered now was getting through the emotional crucible. This was what friendship was about; not the fights or the worries, but the altruism and generosity. Zidane did not have to be there for Vivi; it was a fear that haunted the mage daily. Would his 'friends' up and abandon him? How long before Dagger or Zidane looked at him as little more than a soulless golem? Vivi couldn't entirely understand why Zidane and Dagger stuck with him, but they did.

Zidane was just proving that they were his friends. And friends are there for each other, regardless of the consequences. True friends are, as Zidane and Vivi, emotional siblings. Empathy had little place in their relationship, much like sympathy. It didn't matter if they were different, they were there to help them through the dark times.

A month later, when Vivi searched high and low for Zidane in Pandemonium, the same thought crossed his mind. I'll be there for my brother.

Author's Note

Inspiration hit me like a brick wall here, guys and gals. I was playing IX for inspiration for my Discovery series when this scene came up (I apologize if the script accuracy is a bit faulty, but I couldn't remember exact words), and the very idea of it just got my mind spinning. How could I interpret this? What was going on? How would Vivi react to x situation? This was just LOADED with questions to be answered.

This scene from FFIX is very much a scene open to interpretation. There is NOTHING romantic about this situation to me, though I do use necessarily romanticized language. Yes, necessarily, as in the effect won't be as good unless I make it more touchy-feely. Romanticized just means flashier or more prettied-up language; it does not mean kissy-kissy or other less appropriate…things.

As usual, read and review etc. I LIVE for reviews, and if I don't get back to you a day or so after you review, chances are I did but forgot to send. Or my computer crapped out, because that tends to happen a lot.

Until next time, readers!

~Hera Ledro