second prayer ❧ video/action

[wingsofvirtue.livejournal.com]

[ Colette loves nature, so she's spent much of her time here exploring the Gardens. But when she hears a rustle behind her, she turns, and her gaze meets a familiar figure: a small, elderly woman leaning her small frame on a cane. ]

Chosen One... What are you doing here?

Gran... Grandmother? I'm sorry, I had no idea you were here.

Why are you here, Chosen One? [ The old woman repeats herself, ignoring Colette's apology. ] I see... So you have abandoned your journey.

[ The words hit Colette like a slap across the face, and her eyes widen in confusion as her shy smile vanishes. ]

What? No I didn't. [ They reunited the worlds and planted a new world tree, didn't they? So they did regenerate it...

But her grandmother shakes her head. ]

We raised you to fulfill the duty of a Chosen of Mana, but you failed. Rather than give your life for the sake of the world that needed your sacrifice, you fled. Rather than the certainty of the future your sacrifice would have brought us, your failure has set us on an uncertain path. You very may well have doomed us all.

No... [ Colette curls her fingers, pressing them into her empty palms and clutching her hands against her breast. Why is her grandmother saying these things? ] That future was wrong! That's why...

Even so, the moment you embraced your friends' goal to free you from your duty, you abandoned Sylvarant. Didn't you tell Lloyd that you heard everything that was spoken around you while your soul was trapped within the Cruxis Crystal? Then, did you not hear him and Raine agree that they were willing to save your life at the cost of the entire world of Sylvarant?

That's-- But that's not Lloyd's dream. He wants a world where no one has to be a sacrifice. [ Something seems off, though. ] Wait... How do you know about that? I never mentioned that to you or Father.

Oh, Colette, we raised you. Of course we know. But we raised you to be a sacrifice, knowing after only sixteen years you would be gone. We raised you, looked out for your physical well-being... But in the end you failed us.

I thought... I thought you wanted me to live. [ For a moment her voice wavers. ] Me as Colette, not as the Chosen who would regenerate the world.

[ Phaidra closes her eyes, resting her weight on her cane, and sighs. ] To love an ill-fated girl would bring us nothing but pain. Better not to care at all, or at least only to care about the Chosen One, not about Colette. We despised the burden you brought upon us. Your death would have freed your family as well as the world.

But you abandoned the world and fled from your duty. I'm sorry, Colette, but there is no family left for you.

[ For a moment it looks as if Colette is going to cry, but then her mouth creases into a smile and she bows, letting her hair fall to cover her eyes. Her voice is remarkably calm, if a little toneless. ]

I see. I'm sorry to have been such a burden.

[ The feed clicks off. ]

Comments

[Action]

[phobophage]

[Something about this was striking a nerve in her. She'd been created for a specific purpose herself. One nowhere as depressing, but still an irritating expectation. So after the feed ended, she made her way over just to snap at the old woman:]

Hey, stupid oldbag, why're you pushing it off on her? Because you're afraid to do it yourself?

[video]

[persical]

[Claire watches in horror, unable to imagine why someone's own family member would speak to them that way. When the mirror darkens, she waves it frantically back on again.]

Your own granddaughter...she should be loved and cherished for who she is, not shunned for her mistakes!