[ For one last time he breaks through the gloom, leaning in close as that painfully innocent expression permits, his hands on her shoulders again, though it seems they haven't moved at all. And solid ground collides with the soles of two sets of boots in the same instant he presses a kiss to her forehead, dark strands of hair swept aside by some errant spectral breeze.
There's more in the simple, chaste gesture than in the solid support he's been, so far, a glimpse of the kinder nature of the Lifestream. The very same souls it tears down and repurposes, it draws together and intermingles, as well, and though the brush of memory isn't all light or pleasant, there is a sense of overwhelmingly persistent hope threaded through it all. And he doesn't expect her to forgive him, but there's a hint of that in it, too, like some bittersweet aftertaste.
The gates of Nibelheim are still there when he opens his eyes, now nothing but a shadow in the shape of a SOLDIER. The world of darkness around them has opened up upon an island of glowing green and cobbled together fragments of the past, but somewhere beneath that enshrouding black, his gaze is still steady on her. ]
Pass it on.
[ And then his hands fall away, and he becomes somehow more insubstantial, reaching back to touch the shape of the sword on his back almost unconsciously. ]
...Well, I guess that's my cue. I'd better not keep you-know-who waiting any longer, anyway.
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There's more in the simple, chaste gesture than in the solid support he's been, so far, a glimpse of the kinder nature of the Lifestream. The very same souls it tears down and repurposes, it draws together and intermingles, as well, and though the brush of memory isn't all light or pleasant, there is a sense of overwhelmingly persistent hope threaded through it all. And he doesn't expect her to forgive him, but there's a hint of that in it, too, like some bittersweet aftertaste.
The gates of Nibelheim are still there when he opens his eyes, now nothing but a shadow in the shape of a SOLDIER. The world of darkness around them has opened up upon an island of glowing green and cobbled together fragments of the past, but somewhere beneath that enshrouding black, his gaze is still steady on her. ]
Pass it on.
[ And then his hands fall away, and he becomes somehow more insubstantial, reaching back to touch the shape of the sword on his back almost unconsciously. ]
...Well, I guess that's my cue. I'd better not keep you-know-who waiting any longer, anyway.