#(this is literally a giant memory replaying for her SJHBFSH)

[vixlenxe]

Her sleep is peaceful despite all disposition, despite the beating she had taken. Despite earlier having surrendered her own body & soul to Diabolos, the darkness she held within & at bay for years now, her slumber was peaceful. Person tucked away in the Meghaduta, her mind wandered far in her sleep, playing back memories from her past. Her life before the adventure, to it's start, all the way to the now.

Tiffanie watched it all race by in the dream. From her earliest memories or Ivy arguing with her parents, to her departure from Ishgard, to her return to stop the Dragonsong War, to the day Diabolos & Tiffanie became one entity, to Ala Mhigo, to being transferred to The First, to battling Emet Selch, then Elidibus, then returning to The Source to battle the Lunar Primals, the Towers of Zot, going to the moon, The Final Days, Ultima Thule & giving herself up to make Ivy a path, battling Despair at the edge of the universe... & then adventuring to the Void & merging with Diabolos of her own will so that they might be beaten & seperate at last. So many adventures... so many trials... in them all, one thing always remained.

Ivy, her sister. Always returning to her side. Even after learning to fight for herself, Ivy always returned to her sister, no matter how much time passed.

'Tiffanie! Tiffanie! I am here for you! We are all here for you!'

This memory in itself was hazy, but the words cut through the fog like a knife through butter.

'I'm sorry I let you down in the past, I'm sorry I left you alone when you needed me just to save myself! I'm sorry! And I swear I will not leave you now! I promise I will save you!'

A recent & bitter memory that both brought tears into ocean eyes & filled her chest with a flurry of hope & warmth. Even as the sound of battle grew louder behind the weighted speech.

'My sister, I love you, you're family loves you, we all love you, & we are all waiting for you to come home!'

The clashing of swords & shields rang louder, nearly overshadowing the desperate call. The dark sneering of what one would call a demon, she would called Diabolos rung free in her mind.

'Family?! What would you know of family?! The Warrior of Darkness's own father & mother do not want her!'

'You are not your father's daughter, or your mother's daughter, you are your sister's sister. You are my sister, Tiffanie! You are my chosen family, I chose you, & I will always love you! I want you with me in this future we've created for our star. I want you to pen the next chapter in our story! I want to see the future with you!'

The shriveling of the voidsent cursed, but the Warrior of Light spoke as if she were talking only to Tiffanie, as if she were the only one who mattered. Her love for her family was all that mattered. And when the sounds of battle dimmed, still did only one person remain.

As the final blow is about to be struck, you must call out to her with all your might.

'TIFFANIE!!!'

...

"You're Ivy, she loves you very much."

Tiffanie shared a glace over her shoulder, the apparition of Styx's shade appearing there. Sharing this conversation with her in her dreamscape.

"There's no doubt of that, yes."

Styx tilted her head to the side.

"So, why have you denied yourself that love until now? Or any love for that matter? Even if you thought it pointless with Diabolos threatening to make your life a short one, you know in the end, that is still their choice."

"..."

She looked down & shallowed bitterly, despite there being nothing in her mouth to shallow, & took a deep breath as those tears she'd been holding on her eyelids fell.

"... I believed I was undeserving. Even after all I accomplished, how strong I've grown, how sure I've become, I always believed I did not deserve anyone's love. ... After all... my own father & mother did not love me... if I can not deserve the love of my own parents... then why did I deserve anyone else's?"

The shade was silent, allowing that piercing cry from Ivy to replay in the dreamscape. A desperate cry of someone in pain, in agony from having to do battle with someone they cared so much for, but also so full of their love & hope that they are doing the right thing. The younger sister's tear came harder, each drop echoing when they fell from her face & hit the floor she conquered within her mind. It also sounded like rain.

"You can not expect love from ones incapable of such."

The shade spoke at last.

"My dear shard, it is not that you are undeserving of love, for you so very much are, you simply can not expect it from those incapable of love. Never once has your parents fostered or grown love within them, they know not of such an emotion & do not care too."

Styx placed her hand on Tiffanie's shoulder.

"Nor should you want their love by now. Not only are you deserving of love, but you deserve better then whatever cheap imitation of such beauty they could ever muster up."

".......... This is what... everyone has been trying to tell me... for years.... Why... why did it take so long for it to full register now?"

"Indoctrination is not unseated in a day. It's been years, but I think you finally reached the acceptance stage of grief."

Styx smiled. As the realty swept into Tiffanie like the rain of tears that played in her head. She knew this deep down, deep in her soul, but acceptance was a difficult mistress. But maybe... maybe it's time she truly accept it. She... deserves love.

"Say it to yourself. You need to hear it."

"... It's..." Arms closed around herself, holding herself tightly, the sound of rain quietly slowly as she mustered the words. She needed to hear them from herself, to tell herself the truth. To put the ink of this chapter to rest.

"... It's... It's not my fault. I... I deserve the love I am given."

And begin a new one.

"... And...?"

The rain cleared in the pause, a deep breath released at the same time Tiffanie had no clue she was holding.

"And... now that... my own life is mine again... I will learn to accept it."

The orange-red glow of the sunrise shined over the horizon.