Title: the land beneath us still lives
Fandom: Final Fantasy Type-0
Characters/Pairing: Emina Hanaharu, Kazusa Futahito (Kurasame Susaya/Kazusa Futahito)
Rating: PG13
Length: 3, 738 words
Warning: Spoilers through the end of Final Fantasy Type-0
Notes: Written for the "Silver Lining" square on my bingo card
Summary: The people of Orience are left to pick up the pieces. There, Emina and Kazusa meet once more.



Even within the city, the air of Ingram felt cooler than that of Rubrum - of that which Emina was most used to, Akademeia. That was something she'd always loved about her borrowed home, but to return to Ingram here, now, like this, somehow felt appropriate. It had snowed as she'd made her way through Azurr, the endless gray of the sky making her feel as if she might never see light again - as well I might not, she thought to herself.

That was, however, Emina's decision and her own decision alone. Or at least, one she'd been prepared for for as long as she could recall. Being discovered by Class Zero had never exactly been in her plans, but there had always been the part of her that had been waiting for that, or something entirely similar. The years she'd spent at Akademeia made her feel as if her fear of being entirely obvious had never been as founded as she'd thought, but there would always be somebody. She'd been in Akademeia for far too long already as it was; if she didn't return by herself, she knew it would only be a matter of time before she was brought back to White Tiger territory by force. Her array of options had rapidly decreased, but she still held her head high, determined to keep her dignity through to the end.

They never came for me, though. She couldn't shake that thought. She had been sent, all those years ago, to wait and make contact with her superior - a superior who never arrived. Perhaps they were caught before they'd had a chance to make contact? Perhaps, miles away from her subterfuge and any decision she had the power to make, the plan had been declared unnecessary? Whatever had happened, nobody had told her.

Emina knew, too, that that was no excuse. She'd been sent to Rubrum for a reason, to undertake one particular task; she had failed to carry out that task, and thus, her mission was a failure. It didn't matter that, somehow, communication had failed; as a member of Militesi intelligence, she - or anyone - would be expected to show initiative. She suspected that it should have become obvious after years - a decade, or more - had passed, that the original blueprint for the plan had to be amended. She had done all that had been asked of her, but could have done more - she knew that much. But you got used to it, didn't you?

Amongst those of the Dominion, who betrayed you so when you needed them most--

She arrived at Ingram, knowing it one of the last bastions of Militesi power; even from her detached position, she'd been able to watch as Rubrum - Akademeia - Class Zero - pushed back against the will of Aulstyne and his plans for a White Tiger-unified Orience. Ingram's surrounding snowfields had showed little sign of Dominion takeover, but it felt only a matter of time. She had been discovered - uncovered - by the Dominion, and the fall of the Militesi Empire felt almost like a foregone conclusion. "And yet, Hanaharu, you have returned. Might you tell us why that would be?"

There was no place left to run; the truth was as simple as that. Militesi time was, perhaps, limited, but they'd branded her in a way she'd never been able to rid herself of. Milites could fall, but her body held the potential to betray her with each and every day that she spent running from her fate: thus, the only solution she saw was to stop running.

They wasted little time in locking her up. Even then, she could feel that the atmosphere of Ingram was strange. Those that remained seemed more desperate than she'd ever seen them - but then, when was the last time I was here...? She was kept in isolation, but would be approached, on occasion, by men who seemed decorated but disorientated. It became obvious that, of all of the things that Milites wished to deal with at that moment in time, the matter of her was not as high a priority as she might have thought.

Maybe they'll get it over and done with quickly, in that case. She heard them talking - or heard echoed shouts along the corridors beyond her cell, at least. They said that they wanted to put her on trial, but that in itself felt like a foregone conclusion. It didn't take much thought to realize that more than any lofty ideals of justice, they wanted information. Each day brought new reports of the Rubrum army approaching. The mark of the Verboten Eidolon lay deep across the land, and deeper still in the hearts of those who remained firm in their desire to stand back against the forces of the Dominion. (If they are willing to summon Eidolons of that power and magnitude, what else might they be willing to do...?) The cities were practically on lockdown, their inhabitants either giddy with faith of Imperial might, or desolate at the thought of their prospects in the battles upcoming. (As such, it was very easy for Emina to get herself taken to where she needed to be.) Any advantage, no matter how small, was seized; what better than a spy who had spent so much time under the Dominion that it had taken her this long to return? The guards around her implied they'd stop at nothing to get her to spill what she knew; Emina wondered how useful anything she knew could actually be, but also knew that that wasn't the important part. Whatever happened, happened. Her life had ceased to be her own the moment they'd pressed the burning brand to her flesh.

Even she knew that there was little to be done with a traitor other than to kill them. More claustrophobic than before, each day brought the heightened awareness that this could be the day they'll call for me--. They would take her from her cell, sometimes. Take her to interrogation rooms. Grill her for what she knew. Return her to her cell, stay of execution prolonged for just that length of time.

Emina couldn't help but think of Kazusa, then. Of all the people she'd known at Akademeia, but Kazusa drifted through her mind the most. The last she'd seen him, he'd been hard at work on his research into the life that Kurasame had shared with the two of them. He'd wanted her help on the project; she'd said that she'd do what she could, and held some small regret that she'd never be able to fulfill that promise. Even more that she would leave him with more work to bury himself beneath - should he think me of any importance, that is. Each day she spent incarcerated was another day that he might wonder of her disappearance; she wondered if her secrets would filter through the classrooms and hallways like any other common gossip, or whether they would remain top secret, highly confidential, known only to Class Zero. In that case, it was possible that he would never know - perhaps that's for the best. And then, one day in the immediate future, the guards would come to her for an interrogation after which she wouldn't return to her cell, and that would be that. She could vanish, then, entirely. Nobody would remember the spy that sat on the terrace, hidden in plain sight. Kazusa would continue to devote himself to his research, perhaps with some passing confusion as to who that girl was in the picture - the one who had, at some point, supposedly stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Kurasame. Nobody would remember, and all would be well.

(On Cae. VI 842 RG, Ingram fell to Rubrum, in no small part due to the overwhelming strength of the cadets of Class Zero. Emina had little reason to track the passing of time, but there was nobody across the length and breadth of Orience who could have failed to notice the sky turning a blood-red hue--)


-----


Time passed, and the light of the Crystals faded from the land of Orience. Judgment had been inflicted upon the land - and yet, survivors were still able to pick themselves up and seek a way to continue. In time, they would come to be united under the shared banner of the four nations, but before that came the raw act of survival; learning how to adapt in a world abandoned by the Crystals, finding new ways to accomplish old tasks, putting aside the differences that once would have split the people apart. It was under these circumstances that, almost by chance, Emina came across Kazusa once more.

"... It's been so long since I last had fresh bread. Honestly, it's been so long since I last ate anything that didn't come out of a can. I'll give that to them, that military got pretty good at food preservation. But now they're making bread here?! That's really good, if the ground can sustain it. And better, because we get bread! God. It's really good." Emina tore a corner from the cob and held it out, nodding to Kazusa that he could take it. "Here."

"N-no, I'm--... I'm fine. Thank you, Emina."

"Akademeia, right? They've probably been baking bread since the moment the sky turned."

"It's not that, just--... you seem to be enjoying it, so..."

"Come on. When did you last eat something? You've got to keep your strength up. And like I said, they seem to have manageable crops here, so there's more where that came from...! Though it's not unlimited, of course." She held her hand closer, wafting the torn-off piece in front of Kazusa's face. "Still got some of the warmth on it. Don't want it to go cold, do you?"

Kazusa still seemed hesitant, but relented. Emina gave a wide grin as he did so.

"Dragons and bread. What more could you ask for? Maybe I'll settle down here."

"Emina--..."

"So glad to be away from the snow, too. It never stops, out in the west...! It snows, it's just cold all the time, the Crystal won't power the city heat anymore..." She ripped off a smaller piece of the bread, eating it indelicately. "But people are still determined to stay there, huh. Something to be said for 'homeland', right?... But I got here, and I'm fine with that. I'm more than fine! I've met you here! That's great!"

"Emina."

"... What? I don't think I've seen you smile once today. Is it that bad, seeing me again?" (She meant it as a joke, but realized that there were a number of reasons why that might be the case. The fact that Kazusa's expression remained unchanged only compounded this further; Emina's own expression fell as she fell back on deductive reasoning.) "So, I know I left Akademeia without saying anything. ...That feels like quite a long time ago, doesn't it? Like I can barely imagine it."

"Could you just--... stop, for a moment?" (She did so, staring at Kazusa as she waited for him to continue.) "I--... I never forgot you. So, I knew you had to be somewhere, but--... I heard tell of where you'd gone, after the fact. I didn't know what to think, but there wasn't much I could do about that - you were no longer around to ask, and there were few in Akademeia I could really go to for the pertinent information..."

"What did you hear?"

"That, as a Militesi spy, you'd returned to the capital. There had been suspicion around you for a while, supposedly. They approached me - of course, we'd made no secret of the friendship we shared, back in our youth... naturally, that made me suspect. What more could I tell them, but the truth? I had no idea. You never told us anything."

"You really had no idea?"

Kazusa paused, then sighed, closing his eyes briefly. "It didn't seem to matter, back then. At the time, I just thought you enjoyed the idea of being mysterious. Like it might give you some form of allure."

"I'm not going to say that's untrue, honestly...! Isn't a girl cuter if she's got a few secrets?" Emina gave a wink and a cute hand gesture, but received no reaction in turn.

"We simply accepted you at face value. I came to wonder - were we perhaps mistaken in doing so?... And then there were far more immediate things to worry about. I've hardly had the time for a thought to myself, and then - suddenly, out of nowhere, here you are. I--... it's rather overwhelming."

Having finished off the last of her bread, Emina leant back against the large tree branch that stretched out behind the wall that she sat against. Their reunion, as it had been, had been quite sudden; she'd been in Roshana for a couple of days when word came of supplies from Rubrum. That seemed to be something worth waiting for, and even moreso when she'd looked across the square to see a familiar face assisting the locals. Following this, she'd practically dragged him away; there was always something to be done, but everybody else was busy enough that nobody was likely to pick them up on sitting to the side, taking a break with the newly-baked bread of the region.

To be alone with Kazusa once more, Emina had felt unsure as to how to judge the conversation. 'Bright and cheery, as if nothing had ever happened' didn't seem as if it had worked, and Emina wasn't sure where to go from there. And there, those words - mistaken? After everything that had occurred in the time since they'd last seen one another, Emina was surprised at how much that sentiment hurt - immediate and painful, like something falling away from her. At the same time, she knew that she couldn't blame Kazusa for feeling that way - after all, hadn't she spent most of her time, incarcerated in the deepest cells at Ingram, thinking about how she deserved whatever it was the military court decreed upon her, and it would be better if anybody she'd known from Akademeia were to forget her...? It had seemed so easy and simple, then. Dying and then being forgotten, those left behind then unshackled from any wayward feeling of betrayal.

"... I don't really know where to start. Although, if nothing else--... the time we spent together made me really happy, Kazusa. I wouldn't lie about that... if you can believe me. We were so young, back then. You, me... Kurasame..."

Kazusa had almost studiously avoided eye contact before that point, but on hearing that name, he looked up - sudden and desperate, as if the mere mention was something hard to believe. "You--... you remember?!"

Like everything else, it had been gradual. Just as easily as the dead had been forgotten, so too did those memories slowly return. Emina had been halfway across the Azurr region when that particular recollection had resurfaced - waking up one morning, as if remembering a dream. Remembering Kurasame, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Suddenly feeling the urge to find Kazusa, and to tell him--... but of course, at that time, she'd thought that impossible. Again, some measure of joy bubbled up within Emina to know that she'd been proved wrong after all, but the look in Kazusa's eyes told her that replying in the affirmative was unlikely to send the two of them on a happy trip down memory lane.

"Of course I remember. Him and everybody else, right?... All those people we knew. I don't know about you, but... suddenly remembering, out of nowhere..." She gave a sad smile. "I almost feel lucky. It--... barely felt like it changed anything, to be honest. I'd been driven by loss from the very beginning, so what more did it get me to be able to remember? It brought some things into clarity, but... I'd known from the start that I'd lost my family. Being able to remember their faces doesn't do anything to change that. ...Then once I came to Akademeia, I was quite intent not to get close to anybody. After all, I could have been called to act at any moment, so what was the point? But then there was this one student, all serious and straightforward, suddenly yelling at me to be his friend... what else could I do? It was really rather charming."

"I--..." Kazusa pressed his fingertips together, staring pointedly at them (and away from Emina once more) as he spoke. "It felt, at first, as if I was losing my mind. In the rush of everything, even I was forced to put my research to one side... and then, suddenly, to feel those memories return - knowing, then, that I remembered him...! And knowing, too, what I had lost..." (He met her line of sight.) "It hurts. It hurt then, as it hurts now. I feel--... I feel like it might never lessen."

"Would you want it to?"

That suggestion gave Kazusa pause for a moment - but only for a moment. "To feel this pain... is proof that he was with us. Isn't it?"

"Maybe that's just the price you pay for loving somebody."

"... I really loved him, Emina."

"I know."

Those memories almost seemed too innocent, in retrospect. Emina knew, because she had been there. Because Kazusa had been there. Because Kurasame, too, had been there. Because she had let down her guard long enough to let them in, and neither one of them had had any reason to doubt her. With those two, she could play at being a normal student. Proud cadets of Akademeia, known amongst all their peers for their attributes - throwing themselves into their studies, letting themselves get caught up in wayward adolescent feelings, living as any student did. They'd loved one another, because what was to stop them?

For Emina, it had been strange to think that all of that had happened. That she'd let things go that far. That those memories shone so brightly within her own recollection. And Kurasame was gone - but so were many others. Emina, too, felt a tightness in her chest to think of the time they'd spent together, but that had been the case long before Kurasame had left for Meroë on that fateful day. The more time they'd spent together, the more Emina had dreaded the thought of getting the call. (A call that, in the end, never came.)

"To say that, after all this time..." Kazusa smiled, then, as if he barely dared to. "We've had so much going on, what with all the reconstruction efforts. There's been so much. And who would I say it to? It isn't something I would expect anybody else to care about. We're here to help the people, after all. ...And I feel like if I were to start talking about him--... I don't know if I'd have it in me to stop. I can't expect them to be interested in that...!"

Emina pushed herself away from where she'd been perched on the wall, landing neatly on her feet. She clapped her hands together, as if declaring something. "Well, I'm here now, so... if you don't mind that it's me, I don't mind listening. So long as I can offer up a few memories of my own, of course."

"Emina..." Kazusa reached to touch her shoulder, haltingly, as if she might disappear if he did so. He patted her; she remained in place, still offering up the same defiant stare she ever had. "... I missed you."

"Glad to hear it." She put her hand over his. "I missed you too. ...Although, you've still not asked how I got here."

"Oh! Well--... how did you get here?"

She took a few steps back, letting his hand drop away. "It's a long story, I've got to warn you...! I was imprisoned, I was set to be court-martialed... one thing led to another, the literal Apocalypse, turns out the people who wanted me dead aren't really around anymore to be wanting to act that out. Lucky break, don't you think?"

"I'd say you summed that up quite succinctly."

"Hey, there's more to it than that...! I'm just saying, I've got a lot to tell you. So don't go anywhere. Right?"

Kazusa glanced in the direction of the path that would take them back towards the main square of the town. "I'm not sure how long we're going to be staying here. We want to cover the region before the end of the week, and then we'll need to return to replenish our supplies..."

"That's okay with me. I'm good at making myself useful, so just tell me what needs to be done...!"

"... It'll mean going back to Akademeia."

"That's fine. That's totally fine! I'm fine with that." (Kazusa gave her a long stare.) "Really! Just, you know. Maybe some people there would be less fine with me coming back... depends on who's still around, I suppose..."

"I couldn't say. I don't know who knew about you, after all."

"Hm. Well, I'll see what happens when I get there. I've survived this long, haven't I?" Emina nodded, as if confirming the idea to herself. "In the meantime, we should go and check out if they've finished the next batch of bread yet. If we're going back to Rubrum, we should grab our opportunities when we can, shouldn't we? And the bread. Grab the bread."

"They've successfully grown wheat at Rubrum, too. Just so you know."

"Even better!" (She glared, but the smile never left her eyes.) "Look, didn't I tell you? Canned food, all the way from Ingram to here. By foot! That's a long way!"

"I look forward to hearing all about it."

"You'd better--...!"

Somehow, it was easy to fall back into their old patterns. There were still questions to be asked, and stories to be told - but for both of them, those things could wait. The most immediate thing was bringing aid to the townsfolk of Roshana - and doing so together, smiles turning warmer with each passing moment.