Bartz didn’t remember. It was as simple as that. He didn’t remember, he didn’t care, he didn’t love. It all felt so obvious now that Faris could’ve hit himself for not seeing it sooner. In truth, he’d still held out hope that maybe if they found him again, if they brought him to his senses, if they connected the same way they had before that maybe it would all change. He hadn’t wanted to accept it because it would mean losing the Bartz he knew for good.

Then Bartz had an idea.

”Your chocobo?” Faris gaped at him in disbelief. No, not disbelief. He could believe it just fine. Maybe it was shock. Maybe he was reeling by the force of its stupidity. Either way, Faris felt his jaw go slack and his eyebrows furrow. ”Of all the-! You remember the bird?”

Hadn’t he and Krile already guessed as much? He thought he’d been joking when he’d suggested it was Boko that would jog the lout’s memories, but here it was slapping him straight in the face. The person closest to him wasn’t him and it wasn’t Lenna and it wasn’t Krile. No, it was his damned chocobo.

Faris touched his forehead, took a breath, and then laughed. Loud. He didn’t even know why. It was absurd. It was insulting. It was just all so very Bartz. ”You dolt.” Faris ran a hand back through his hair and tossed it over his shoulder. ”Fine. If that’s how it is, I’ll search the ends of the earth for that bird. You might not think a thing of me, but I’d throw myself into the sea before I turned down a friend.”

Faris angled his head towards the sun. To stand just a few paces away from someone he’d lost, that was the cruelest fate he could imagine. Still, he’d weather through it for Bartz. No matter what he felt, his friend needed him, and he’d be damned before he turned him away.

”About Krile.” Faris glanced at him. The light had gone out of his eyes. ”She’ll be thrilled to see you, memory or not, but she’ll figure out sooner or later that you’re not the same. She’s already lost someone she loved to amnesia before. Seeing it again’ll tear her apart.” Faris rubbed at the side of his head, twisting his hair between his fingers. ”I’ll not ask you to lie, but if you could keep quiet on it, aye, that might make the blow softer.”

It was the choice between a whirlpool and a cliff’s edge. Either Krile would go on worrying or she’d see for herself just how little Bartz cared. Faris could only steer course and hope he’d made the right call.

”Well, that’s enough of that.” Faris stretched out his shoulders. ”We’ll find that bird before you know it! There’s not a person alive who’s learned this world better than me!” He took a few paces forward before he stopped and glanced at Bartz over his shoulder.

”I’m glad to have you back,” he said before he turned and started towards the city. No matter the course, there was a wind at his sails and he felt it picking up speed. There was no turning back now.

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