shatteredlenses | LifeAfter Inbox

"Almost, I think it is deep enough now." And ready for the seads. He just hoped it worked. It would take quite a while for a tree to grow anyways but at least until then they had the marker that Ignis was making.

"Do you want to plant them? Or should I?" Shion is happy to do so, but this is for Ignis' friend. A way for Ignis to remember him and honour that memory. It might be that Ignis will feel better if he is the one who plants the seeds and starts the tree's life.

Ignis' coffee plants grew a lot faster than they should have, so he can't help but wonder if that will apply to these seeds as well. Of course, the only way to find out is to plant them and then see what happens.

"I would like to if you don't mind," Ignis has finished the 'm' at this point, the work going a little faster now that he has more confidence in himself. The troublesome 'a' can wait until after the seeds are planted, though. The bowl is carefully set to the side and then Ignis makes his way over to Shion, seeds in hand.

"If you can guide my hand to the hole, I would appreciate it."

"Of course." Shion waited for him to make his way over. As much as the memorial was for Soma the real benifit was for Ignis, his friend. Hopefully Soma was safe somewhere. It was unlikely. Shion had no idea where those that disappeared went. He had heard they went home. That might be true. After all those that disappeared from the Tower went home, they went home to a world that was dead, devoid of any life.

The Story Teller said their worlds were frozen and perhaps they remained so. Those that disappeared just entered a state of suspended animation.

It was worrying but better than wandering a dead world. He reached out for Ignis' hand and slowly guided him to the hole that he had dug.

Ignis lets his hand be guided, dropping the seeds in an evenly spaced pattern; he hopes it's evenly spaced anyway. It's hard to tell without being able to see where each seed lands. Once he's done, he gives Shion a grateful smile, only to pause as he senses a heaviness in the boy's silence.

"Is something bothering you? I've been doing all the talking, but you know I will listen as well."

They were even enough, when Ignis had dropped the final seed Shion directed his hands over to where the soil was so he could fill in the hole.

"I know..." That had been the promise after all, that they would listen to each other and talk to each other when they needed to. It was just... Hard to get out of his head. So many things that it's hard to pin point issues to actually talk about.

"I'm worried about Aster mostly. She's... not doing well since the bliss attack and I'm not sure... I don't know how to help her and I'm her brother, helping her is what I'm meant to do..."

While he listens to Shion explain his worries for Aster, Ignis slowly begins moving dirt back into the hole. Honestly, he wishes he could be surprised that she is one of Shion's main worries, but he's not. How can he be when he's noticed her absence and been worried himself?

"Sometimes the only thing we can do is make sure we are there for those we care about even when it doesn't feel like it's enough," Ignis pauses his actions for a moment, frowning. Of course, he doesn't like the idea anymore than Shion is libel to.

"Has she mentioned what happened with Bliss that's making her feel like she needs to stay solitary?"

Shion nodded, he understood that well. Not being enough. Not being able to do enough to help because problems were far too large, far too all encompasing for him to do anything about.

"Her world was... I went there, I was the one that broke it..." Grief and heartbreak the Story Teller had told them was needed to shatter the dreams and Shion and Aster shared a lot of that.

"It was... It wasn't a world where nothing had ever gone wrong." Not like Ceej's. In many ways as painful as it had been breaking Ceej's dream it had been simple, it had just required reality. Harsh truth. "It was a world where all the bad things... they had happened but now she was somewhere safe with all her friends... Reno... everyone."

Ignis was Aster's friend too and though Shion wouldn't give all the details, they were private to Aster after all giving him the basics would hopefully let Ignis understand.

"She was stuck there for a while... I broke out easily but she... It's really similar to some of the things that happened in the Tower... Used our minds against us."

Awfully similar, though it had been happiness rather than fear or pain it had still hurt them in the end. "I... I think she feels she shouldn't have been tricked so easily. She's angry but she's also upset at herself..."

"Oh..."

As Shion speaks, Ignis stops working completely, brushing the dirt from his hands and then holding one out in Shion's direction, not just for the usual pat or squeeze on the arm, but in offer of a hug. If Shion looks close enough, he might notice the hand is shaking a little.

"I...had to do the same for Ardyn and Prompto. Neither of them wanted to leave. Both of them wanted me to just let things go and..." Ignis presses his lips into a tight line as he violently pushes back the memory of Prompto's tears and Ardyn's pleas. He hadn't set out to save them, merely had fallen asleep due to exhaustion and been pulled in. Still, the net result had been the same, "Their worlds were perfect ones, though. Everything they always wanted or deserved and no pain or betrayal. I think I left part of my heart in each of them."

Ardyn's had been especially hard since they were together and happy and there was just so much that should have been. It was right where the Astrals and fate had made everything wrong in reality.

"I can't blame her for wanting to withdraw then. The dreams themselves were bad enough, but to have had similar experiences in that horrible place you came from had to have made it so much worse."

Shion moved closer, stepping into Ignis' arm and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. He could feel Ignis shaking and he blinked hard to stop his tears from spilling.

It was cruel. The dreams dangling their hopes in front of them. Holding their desires hostage. He agreed with Ignis, part of his heart had been left in both Aster and Ceej's dreams.

"Not knowing what's true... Being fooled. I think she feels she should have realised, but it's so hard. She wanted to believe it... That made it harder."

Prompto had been caught to. And Ardyn. Shion didn't know the latter well at all except that Ignis loved him and that told him much of what he needed to know. Prompto though, he knew Prom and knew he probably would take such a thhing as hard as Aster did.

Ignis nods in agreement, taking a deep breath to try and calm himself after Shion settles against him. It scares him to think that if he hadn't stumbled into the flaw that made him realize Ardyn's dream world was wrong, he would have been completely happy to remain there. After having had to fight for so long, the peace and the happiness was a siren's song.

Very, very literally.

"So many of us are just so tired of fighting and seeing those we love hurt. Even when we don't care as much about ourselves, seeing them happy makes it hard to want to do anything but believe."

"It's tempting just to stop. To not fight anymore." Ever since arriving here he's been fighting. Spurred by their victory in the Tower not allowing himself to give up and to stop struggling. They would find a way out, a way home. Then fight some more. It felt often that it would never end.

The dreams were it had ended, where peace could be found had been so painful to break. But necessary because as tempting as stopping was it was not something Shion could bring himself to do. Reno had taught him better than that.

"One day it will be reality. They won't have to struggle anymore. I promised myself I would make Aster's dream a reality. So I can't stop fighting yet."

"I promised Ardyn the same thing, but I'm starting to wonder if that promise is going to end up just another broken one among all those that have been made to him during the years," Ignis turns his blind gaze back toward the memorial they are constructing. It's been almost a year. Noctis has come and gone. Nyx has come and gone. Who will be next? Ardyn? Himself? What happens with their promises then?

He feels wetness at the corner of his eyes, but he doesn't dare wipe it away with how dirty his hands are.

"I don't want to stop fighting, but if it's hurting him in the process, wouldn't it be better if I did?"

Shion's hands are a little cleaner as he hadn't been the one to plant the seed. But still he wiped them on his shirt before reaching out to wipe the tears from Igni's cheek.

Feeling like you would always let down those you loved, feeling that whatever you did you would hurt those you cared about. These were things Shion understood.

"Sometimes... The things that are necessary are things that hurt the most. Giving up because something is painful... Even..."

He took a shakey breath. "Even if it hurts someone you love. The pain would be worse if you stopped fighting for them... It's often. You want to do the kindest thing. The thing that will cause them least pain but that's not always the right thing..."

It was still something Shion struggled with. It was... It was what he was doing with Aster. Letting her hide because that was less painful for her than dragging her out.

Once again he was failing as her big brother.

"The easy way is not always the right way," Ignis' voice is soft when he finally answers. How many times has he given that advice? How many times has he lived it and probably will continue to live it? There is no way he can deny the truth of those words no matter how much he may want to.

Though Shion doesn't say out loud that he is in the same boat, it's not hard to realize he is, especially not with their earlier discussions. Ignis' arm tightens around the boy and then he gives him a small smile, "Lets finish this off and then we can head back to the cottage. I think we deserve a treat after all this hard work."

A treat and a rest. Good things to help soothe troubled souls.

More often than not the easy way was the wrong way and the right way was the difficult painful path.

He hugged Ignis tightly in return and then moved to pick up the bowl that Ignis had written Soma's name with shells in. Very carefully he carried it over to where they had planted the apricot tree and set it next to the basket made for Asch.

"There. Once the tree grows it will provide shade for them both."

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