Chapter Text
Three years. Greagor, it didn’t feel real. How was it possible it was three years since Clive, Joshua, and Dion had walked away from the Hideaway and not come back?
The last three years felt like a dream sometimes to Gav. When Origin fell, they all knew the fight against Ultima was over but none of the three Dominants ever returned. At first they had waited but weeks went by and there was no sign or rumor of any of them. Weeks turned to months and slowly the Hideaway moved on into mourning. The only one still watching for them was Torgal.
The hound had sat on the docks waiting for months. Jill tried to get him to come inside and eat and sleep. Charon tried to tempt him with bones. Gav had finally sat with him for three days and at the end of it, he had stood up and called him softly and Torgal had raised himself dejectedly and with his tail drooping between his legs and his head hung low, followed Gav into the Hideaway.
Torgal had taken to following Gav around as if he expected the man to disappear like Clive had. Like Cid had. Like Clive had a second time. He was always at Gav's side and slept at the end of his bed. Clive's bed.
The Hideaway had insisted. First they had tried to give the rooms to Jill but she refused, said that the room and the things in it deserved to go to their leader. And they all turned to Gav. He had tried to turn it down. But everyone, even Otto, insisted it was what Clive would want. What Cid would want.
Gav almost hated them all for that. For trying to put him up on a pedestal with those two beautifully perfect men. Not as much as he almost hated Jill though. For laughing and moving on and coming out of her shell after Clive died. Like she was now.
Gav was watching the Hideaway prepare for their yearly celebration of the destruction of Origin with a feast. The land without the Mothercrystal's leeching the aether from the land was blossoming with new life again and they had enough to spare. even with their higher numbers from increased rescues of Bearers. Even without their magic there were unscrupulous people still willing to use them as hard slave labor or worse yet just kill them. They weren’t useful any longer so they were just a mouth to feed in a dying land. The Cursebreakers had interrupted their fair share of slaughters in the past years.
And now they were all laughing and singing and decorating and Jill was there helping Tarja decorate the tables with centerpieces and singing like the world didn't fall apart and the best of them were dead. It felt like Gav was the only one who remembered, really remembered, Clive and Cid and even Joshua and Dion. Oh they said their speeches of remembrance but they also celebrated the moment of their deaths like it was some victory to be lauded instead of a loss of the most extraordinary lives and men and leaders Gav had ever had the privilege of knowing. Of loving. Even in secret.
He turned away from the tavern at his spot in front of Clive's room and turned to lean on the railing backwards, staring at the door to his room, Clive's room. His teeth clenched as the refrain of the song rose up and Torgal looked up at him sadly as Gav pushed off the railing and slipped unnoticed down the stairs towards the lift. Torgal, as always, at his heel. The Blightwater had faded into regular water and without the Blight eating away at the wood, they had gathered several more boats. Gav had considered building a settlement on the shoreline as the land regained it's life and potency if only to dig out a space for when the border disputes started.
Gav took one of the smaller row boats and as he pushed off, Torgal lept in, as eager to get away from the happy noise as Gav was. Or maybe that was just Gav. He tied up the boat at the dock and slipped away from the stables. Ambrosia had shown up not long after Origin, looking, it seemed, for Clive. No doubt wondering why she and her flock had not been called on. She'd been as depressed as Torgal and while she refused to stay in the stables, she was often seen in the area with her flock as if she too were waiting.
Gav didn't see her now as he and Torgal headed out. He planned to only be gone a few days, scout out some resources or the still enslaved Bearers to free and return when the celebration died down. To that end, it didn't much matter which direction he chose to head in so he picked at random and headed out.
The land was littered with Fallen ruins near the Lake Bennumere region and none of them had ever shown any signs of life. Until today?
Gav slowed as he caught sight of light coming from one of the ruins. White light. White as Bahamut's light. Definitely not from a torch or fire. He drew his sword as he slowly approached. The door was open into the ruin and Gav looked down to Torgal to judge if he saw a threat in the ruin before he entered. The halls were empty except for the light trailing in lines through the walls. He followed the light to a large open room and paused before he entered.
Torgal and Gav entered together and spun as the wall slid closed behind them, trapping them in the large hall with no other way out. Gav pounded on the wall where they had just entered but he couldn't see or feel any way out. It was solid.
The light was also getting brighter. Brighter and brighter until he felt blinded. Gav reached for Torgal and as the light went out like someone blew out a match, he wrapped an arm around Torgal's neck and held on. They had been standing in pure light and now they stood in pure darkness as the floor dropped out from under them and Gav screamed as they fell, holding on tighter to Torgal with both arms when it felt like they were going to be separated.
They finally landed with a thump, Gav's head making hard impact with the ground behind him before the light returned for a moment and then spun out into darkness again. He heard Torgal whine before the darkness took him under completely.