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He listened to the man’s tale and at the mention of a ‘dragon’, he could only think of the kingdom of Concordia and his battles against them with his siblings. Wind and sea? He remembered the battle in the sky, above the and on frozen clouds - of the soldiers from both sides screaming as they fell, shaken from dragon and ship alike. Many died that day - many more from Rubrum had the l’cie Zhuyu not responded to their distress - and many more followed with the summoning of Alexander in their next battle. But the clearest memory from that time was the battle - hard-fought, barely won - against the l’cie Celestia in her dragon form.
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Celestia…he remembered her. She had helped them escape Ingram when they had been framed for her queen’s assassination and then helped them again when Tempus Finis began. He could only assume that, like all the other l’cie, she too fell to the Rursus. The l’cie…even Rem and Machina - he winced, sighing, as the memory flashed in his mind. It could have been them and then the cycle would have repeated, over and over…but not that time. That time, they chose right, even if the ending wasn’t what Mother had in mind. Finally, they freed Orience.[break][break]

He glanced at Faris when the other trailed of. Instead…? He wondered what would have followed, had Faris chosen to finish the thought out loud. But he didn’t push it - he was a little busy thinking on what would have happened had the Crystals never been there in the first place, had they been able to remember the dead. Would things have been different or would they still have danced to the tune played? Eyes fluttered shut for a brief moment and he delved in his thoughts, only opening them again when the other said they were close.
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What would he see? What would he hear? Already he could feel a gentle breeze and the freshness it carried in the air, the distinctive smell of the ocean - he wouldn’t forget that, not when Akademeia itself was built near the shore. Of course, it was different but there was no doubt in that - this was no Orience, it wasn’t the same, it couldn’t be. Following behind Faris, he turned the corner and…[break][break]

Wow, that was a lot of chatter. The port was busy - on the broad-walks, people of all types scampered back and forth. There were obviously those who just came for a stroll - an elderly couple walking around and a few kids running up and down. Then there were the workers - busy lifting and moving boxes and barrels, yelling at each other and coordinating…various things Ace wasn’t sure about. Then there were also those who seemed to have come to port for sightseeing - a couple dressed too finely departed from a boat and began heading to the square area.[break][break]

Eye flickered back and forth, scanning, searching…but he never stopped listening. He heard Faris, heard the wistfulness in voice and knew how much the man wanted to go back - back to the place he called home, back to where friends and family would be waiting. He must have been so lonely out here, after all this time… Even if he had made friends here, Ace reckoned that there would always have been that longing to return - this wasn’t the man’s home and neither was it Ace’s. It would never feel the same, never be the same and for Faris, someone who no doubt was used to working in groups, it must have been so hard.[break][break]

“You never know until you try.” He replied, voice soft. Not that he was encouraging the man to simply take a boat without permission but hopefully to give the man some…hope - then Ace suddenly realised, oh, pirate, ship, steal…he started to piece together just what Faris might have had in mind for them and was slightly apprehensive. Of course, if it did come down to stealing a ship, he probably would end up stopping Faris. Would the two of them be enough though? Even the airships the Dominion used needed more than a pair of hands to work![break][break]

“I would... like that very much.” A boat in the air was one thing but a boat in the sea? No, he didn’t recall ever being on one like that before, but perhaps in a past life…? While he could remember everything that happened in Orience, it was only the memories of his latest life that he recalled - memories from the past cycles, the experiences, the pain…it was there, but not to be summoned to the forefront of his mind. He couldn’t picture the memories from the other cycles, but he could visualise those from the latest - and last - one. And in that one, no, he hadn’t been on a sea boat.[break][break]

“…I do have my own gil, you know.” He muttered, somewhat upset that someone was thinking of paying for him. It was like….adults trying to pamper a child because they didn’t believe the child could do anything on its own! But he definitely could and he didn’t want to be treated like someone who couldn’t hold their own weight. It was just…demeaning.


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