#unsundered hali: urania

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To live is to suffer.

And in suffering find strength, and purpose.

And hope.

A HUGE thank you to @sasslett for graciously volunteering to make my long awaited swap gift! The juxtaposition of Urania’s sorrow with Hali’s hope is so beautiful and inspiring to me, and you captured it perfectly! Once again, thank you so much for the generous gift my friend!! And thank you for everything you do for the ffxiv swap community!! 💖

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Urania x Hermes

Ancients’ Modern AU

Two Astronomy PhD students grow close by watching the Northern Lights together late into the night…

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Now and then I think of when we were together,

Like when you said you felt so happy you could die,

Told myself that you were right for me—

But that was love, and it's an ache I still remember.

I guess that I don't need that, though—

Now you're just somebody that I used to know.

x

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Modern Coffee Shop AU

The Prompt-of-the-Day on the FFXIV Swap Discord was “Alternate Universe”, so I got the idea to put the Ancients in a modern setting where Hermes is a barista and meets Urania, who convinces him to make a special drink for her with an ingredient that’s out of season. She leaves quite the impression on him, and before he realizes it, he falls for her.

Might actually write something for this AU in the future, as it would be nice to have a happy ending for the Ancients for once.

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Oh, can't you see—

You belong to me?

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“There are all types of love in this world, but never the same love twice.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Reactions to Days Gone By, Days Yet to Come

Here are my reactions and thoughts about the encore side story from Tales From The Dawn, which you can read HERE before proceeding under the cut. Beware: MAJOR Endwalker spoilers ahead! Keep in mind that I’ll be discussing my own headcanons with my Azem, so if you don’t care about that, feel free to move along.

So I want to just say that this was the absolute best side story they’ve ever written so far! And because it’s also the one that the community voted on, it makes it even more special. I’ve re-read it twice already and I’m so beyond happy to have read this. I’m still crying from reading it and processing it all. In fact, they gave us so many little details about all our favorite Ancients that I’m eating it up!!

First of all, I LOVE that this is all from Hyth’s POV. It’s fantastic. Anyways, next we get a detail about Azem talking to Hyth about the fourteenth in a series of concepts helping with travel, and I NEED to know more!! What is it?? I have many questions about this one thing in particular. Then we have a brief appearance from Byregot himself in the form of Hyth’s secretary trying to stop him from leaving but I giggled at the fact that Hyth just ignores him and goes to do his own thing. This has such gremlin energy that is so perfect for Hyth, but I also giggle at the fact that this is exactly what Urania would do as well. The sibling vibes are over the top here and I love it.

Then we get a huge lore drop that I wasn’t expecting at all: Mitron is a woman!! Which means that Mitron and Loghrif are both women and with the tons of hint drops we have throughout the canon, I’m here to say I’m celebrating the lesbians today! In my head this is Mitron x Loghrif as confirmed as a lesbian couple as we are ever going to get, and I’m soooooo happy.

Next we get another lore drop, this time with Lahabrea and Igeyorhm, and we have confirmation that they are cousins! This makes so much sense now, as we already knew about them working closely with one another and then they joined together in their fight against WoL in Azys La. I was never a Lahabrea x Igeyorhm shipper, so having them be cousins makes way more sense to me. Nice to see someone scolding Lahabrea for all of his Pandaemonium shenanigans.

Then we get Elidibus and I just know all the Elidibus shippers are screaming with joy. Whether you are a Themis x Erich or a Themis x WoL shipper, you’ve been fed, and I’m happy for you all.

Skipping over the part where I’ll blab about forever (ahem Hermes and his existential dread ahem), we get yet another Emet smile as Azem departs on their journey!! Ahhhhhhhh my heart!!! I am so full of emotions with how Hyth talks about Emet here, and in the parts following this scene. No matter if you read Hyth x Hades x Azem as platonic or romantic, or if you romantically ship only one part of them or none at all, you can just feel how deeply Hyth, Hades, and Azem all love each other. I can feel the love coming out of the words and it’s absolutely tragic and beautiful. Especially when you find out that Emet was the one holding out till the last minute to not summon Zodiark until they received word from Azem. God my heart just shattered right there.

And we also get confirmation that Azem left the convocation in order to find the cause of the Final Days and to stop it without the sacrifice to Zodiark. This was my headcanon and it’s probably a headcanon many of you shared, so to see this confirmed as canon sparks joy. It’s absolutely perfect for Urania, although with the new information about Emet trying to have the Convocation wait until they heard from Azem, I will have to reconsider her departure from Amaurot and her feelings towards Hades and Hermes now that we have this new information.

Another tiny piece of detail also confirmed a headcanon I’ve held for years: Hyth and Hades are childhood friends! I’m so happy to see this be confirmed as canon.

Alright, I think I’ve held off long enough. It’s time to talk about Hermes.

So, overall I’m so goddamn happy that we got to have more Hermes in this short scene. Every little bit of him I can get I will gladly take it. And I especially love that we are getting to see the man who lived through the Kairos mind wiping and what he was like after all of it went down. And yet… I feel completely devastated for him.

He looks like a wreck, he’s buried into his work, and he’s also deep in mourning with no one around to understand him. He thinks he has killed Meteion and says he “murdered her”, and it is so upsetting to see him like that. He also I believe is discovering the beginnings of the Final Days and I think he somehow knows that there’s something else wrong, something that he should know and doesn’t remember, and it’s tearing him up. But it’s even more tragic when Hyth mentions that he and everyone else talks about the Kairos incident and the “death of Meteion” as an “amusing anecdote”, and mentions that no one talks about familiars as people, so it truly shows how utterly alone Hermes really is. My heart broke when Hyth says that after the loss of Meteion, Hermes never made another flying creation ever again, and god I just want to cry.

I do like how Hyth is trying to be a friend and get Hermes to rest, and he’s doing what he thinks will help him. But even with Hyth’s caring soul, he just can’t understand what Hermes is going through. And it’s such a tragedy. It reinforces that even Azem couldn’t help Hermes in his time: it’s not until the WoL can offer the answer to Amon of “next time we will find the answers together” that he finds a true friend that understands him. And yet Amon is only the sundered reincarnation of Hermes, not Hermes himself. And I’m sobbing in my room on a Thursday morning over it all.

Now more than ever do I want to write more for Hermes. Not just in the tragic canonverse, but for the Modern AU that I have brainworms for, and quite possibly in a Happy Ending AU for him… with maybe Hali shipping with him??? It’s just a thought.

Anyways, I think I’ve rambled on long enough. If you’ve survived reading all of this, I commend you and thank you wholeheartedly for doing so! If you have any further questions for me about any of my reactions, feel free to send me an ask or a message!! 🥰💖

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Shared Soul: Hali’s Shards

So I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot, and I really want to eventually have a list of all the shards of Hali’s soul… ahh well, it would be the shards of Urania’s soul technically speaking. I don’t have a full list yet, but I have some that I’ve decided on already, and I wanted to share those with you now.

Note: Because of Hali’s canon story having multiple Warriors of Light, my headcanons for Hali’s shards greatly differ from those in the MSQ with the default WoL. Also, due to the ongoing storyline, these might change in the future with new developments.

Unsundered: Urania, Seat of Azem

Urania was Hali’s past self at the time of the Sundering; therefore, Hali and all of the other shards are pieces of Urania’s sundered soul.

Source: Hali Aloke, Warrior of Light, 8 times rejoined

Hali being the sundered soul of the Source, is the one that most closely resembles Urania, though she differs from her in several fundamental ways, most notably she will not deny herself the happiness that she desires in her life for the sake of duty like Urania as Azem had done. Unlike Urania, Hali has found her happiness in adventuring, helping others, and building a life together with Aymeric.

First: Lamitt, rejoined during ShB 5.0

Unlike the default WoL’s shard of the First being Ardbert, Hali’s shard is Lamitt, the healer of Ardbert’s group. Lamitt and Hali actually have a lot in common, with both being outsiders from their homelands, having a desire to help others through the healing arts, and they both are in love with men who have no idea what their true feelings are, well until Hali confesses to Aymeric that is. Lamitt never gets the chance to tell Ardbert. She does get to live on through rejoining with Hali at the end of 5.0, and Lamitt is thrilled that Hali gets to have her happiness with her lover.

Seventh: Aerith Gainsborough, rejoined in 7th Umbral Calamity (Bahamut)

Though Hali herself is unaware of any of her other shards that rejoined with her during each calamity, the most recent shard to rejoin with her before Lamitt was a young woman named Aerith who had lived on the Seventh and was rejoined during the Seventh Umbral Calamity. Aerith was a healer who brought joy to all who knew her. She was kind, caring, and sweet, yet feisty, passionate, brave, and strong-willed, all traits that her Source counterpart shares.

Tenth: Tidus, rejoined in 6th Umbral Calamity (Water)

The shard that rejoined back during the Sixth Umbral Calamity, centuries before Hali would be born, held the soul of a young man named Tidus who had lived on the Tenth. He was a famous Blitzball star, but most notably he was a guardian to Summoner Yuna who he had fallen in love with and was willing to give his life for. Same as his Source counterpart, he was kind, brave, outspoken, outgoing, and a bright ray of sunshine in a world in desperate need of joy and laughter.

Thirteenth: Durante, AKA: Golbez, alive

Durante is the shard of Urania’s soul on the Thirteenth who took on the name and armor of his dear friend Golbez after the original Golbez was corrupted by the darkness. Durante was a knight from Baron who tried to save the world during the Contramemoria along with Golbez, but he brought ruin to the world he tried to save instead. His unflinching resolve to save his world no matter the cost, but doubting himself that he could never be the hero that his friend was, are traits that Hali shares, and Durante is a reflection of what Hali could become if she went down a dark path.

That’s all I have for now! I’ll add to this list in the future when I decide to add more! Subject to change if we get more information on the other shards.

Published: 11/30/2023

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If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart… I’ll stay there forever. ~💚🩷

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FFXIVWrite 2023 #26: Last

Idiom: at last; after a lengthy pause or delay.

In ancient times, before the Final Days and the Sundering; Hermes arrives in Amaurot in order to take over the Seat of Fandaniel, and is given a very warm welcome from Azem herself.

As Hermes admired the morning sunlight dancing on the windows, illuminating the towering heights and highlighting the sheer magnificence that was Amaurot’s capital building exterior, Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus held the doors to the building open for Hermes to walk through first. A moment later, the three men, who were now wearing their masks and full robes with the hoods over their heads, stood in the lobby with about a dozen Amaurotines going about their business, Hythlodaeus was the first to speak.

“Now that we have fully recovered from the incident with the Kairos, missing memories aside, allow me to show you around the Capital building, and you can see where the Convocation offices are. I shall be happy to introduce you to everyone along the way.” Hythlodaeus gestured with his hands in an open and welcoming manner, ready to play tour guide for the future Fandaniel.

Before Hermes could answer properly, Emet-Selch replied with a shake of his head and a touch of sleepiness in his voice, “If you both don’t mind, I shall take my leave. I need to speak with Fandaniel and inform him of Hermes’ arrival.”

Hythlodaeus nodded with a gentle smile. “Of course! We will be along in a little while.”

Hermes was prepared to follow Hythlodaeus when suddenly a rather loud yet feminine voice rang out, which caught the attention of everyone in the vicinity. “Hyth! Emet! Wait!”

With a chuckle, Hythlodaeus turned around and confirmed where the voice was coming from, a familiar figure who had just walked through the same doors that they had moments ago. “Ah! Right on time.”

“Huh?” Hermes also spun around towards the source of the voice, but his confusion soon melted away once he realized who it was that called out.

Hermes’ heart leapt out of his chest and his breath caught in his throat as he stared at the woman in front of him, the woman that had stolen his heart and that he could never forget, no matter how much he tried.

She was much shorter than average, more than a fulm shorter than himself, and she wore a distinctive black mask. Though he could not see her eyes, he instantly spotted strands of pink hair peaking out from underneath her hood, and she had the most stunningly beautiful smile he had ever seen.

He had let slip her personal nickname, but quickly caught himself. “Rani… I-I mean, Azem?”

With a squeal and a hop on the balls of her feet, she exclaimed in reply, “Hermes! You’re here at last!”

Hermes could not stop himself as he smiled brightly and opened his arms, anticipating that he would be met with a hug.

As he held his arms out, Azem ran forward at full speed, which surprised the curious onlookers.

Emet-Selch went back to stand at Hythlodaeus’ side, his finger wagging furiously as he reprimanded his friend and colleague in vain, “Azem! How many times have I told you to stop running in the lobby!”

Completely ignoring Emet-Selch’s scolding and everyone else around her, Azem leapt into Hermes’ arms and the two embraced each other, both filled with joy. Azem then reached up and planted her lips onto Hermes’, which surprised him, but he quickly melted into the kiss.

The onlookers gasped and began whispering to one another. Surely the news of Azem kissing the man who is to become Fandaniel would spread like wildfire, but Azem nor Hermes didn’t seem to worry about that fact now.

Emet-Selch sighed and held his head as Hythlodaeus laughed with glee.

“Now that’s a warm welcome,” Hythlodaeus said as he struggled to maintain composure from laughing much harder than he already was.

As he turned to make his retreat, Emet-Selch sighed even deeper. “I’m too tired for this…”

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Introducing…

Urania (AKA: Hali’s Azem)!

I’ve finally been able to create Urania, and boy I adore her so much already!! I might be tweaking the Urania headcanons… again… but you can read what I have written at the moment HERE, if you were curious about her. I’m hoping to write a bit for Urania, in hopes of strengthening Hali’s story as a whole, with Hali making some different life choices than her Unsundered counterpart.

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Random Hali Headcanon

Hali’s reactions to Hermes in Elpis

So, Hali has no memories (as of 6.55) of her past life as Urania (Azem), but she already knows a lot about it without actually remembering it herself. One main reason is because Hermes tells Hali of his feelings for Urania, and that he and Urania were once lovers. Hali is in complete shock, just like 😱😱😱

Hermes also sees Hali and can’t help but be attracted to her, as she is the spitting image of the woman he loves, only much smaller. Basically this conversation happens:

Hermes: She looks just like you actually, just… taller.

Hali: ((trying not to show how much she’s freaking out)) 😨 Oh wow, that is so interesting! Hahaha… 😰

Oh and yes, Hali does find Hermes attractive, but she knows nothing could come of it, and she still is in love with Aymeric of course.

Cue adding more depression onto Hermes once Hali tells him the truth, however.

Hali: Oh you shouldn’t fall in love with me by the way. Why is that? I actually have Urania’s reincarnated sundered soul, and uhhh your sundered self tried to kill me several times and just caused the final days to come back. Soooooo sorry about that!

As you can see, Elpis and it’s revelations hit Hali like a ton of bricks, and though she doesn’t have the same feelings for Hermes as she does for Aymeric, she still holds a great amount of compassion for her past self’s ex-lover, and she still wishes that she could’ve help him. Alas, that wasn’t meant to be.

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Urania x Hermes

Azem x Fandaniel ✨💚🪽

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I saw this cute Picrew from @disciple-of-frost so I decided to give it a go. They didn’t have many features close enough to Hali or Aymeric that were to my liking, so I went with Urania and Hermes instead! I think Urania came out really cute, and Hermes is channeling not only his transformation a bit, but also Meteion.

Open tag so feel free to do this if you’d like! You can find the Picrew HERE! 💖

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Urania: Unsundered Hali

This is the completely revamped version of Unsundered Hali! I might expand on these details at a later date, but for now here is some initial headcanons!

Hali’s Unsundered self is named Urania, whose name means “Heavenly One” in Greek.

In Greek Mythology, Urania was one of the Nine Muses and she was known as the Muse of Astronomy and astronomical writings; she was commonly depicted pointing at a celestial globe with a rod.

Urania is very much like her sundered counterpart, in that their personalities are nearly identical, she looks just like Hali except she’s not a lalafell, and she’s an expert in several fields of magic, including the equivalent of Astromancy and Geomancy.

She is the younger sister of Hythlodaeus, and she and Hyth grew up with Hades. The three were inseparable and the best of friends until the Final Days, when Urania refused to go along with the Convocation’s plans to summon Zodiark.

She started out as a student and researcher in Akadaemia Anyder, where she first met Hermes. They grew close and eventually became lovers. They both had fallen in love with the other, but their relationship soon ended when Urania became a member of the Words of Azem and began to travel the world, and Hermes left Amaurot to become a researcher in Elpis.

Hermes was the one to end the relationship, believing that Urania was destined to go on and accomplish great things, and he didn’t want to hold her back. He also felt great insecurities and didn’t think that he was worthy to be Urania’s lover or eventual husband. Urania was devastated and heartbroken, and she never fully recovered from the breakup, still holding feelings for Hermes for the rest of her life.

Urania eventually took over the Seat of Azem from Venat, and Hermes took over the position of Chief Overseer of Elpis. Their duties kept them apart and they only saw each other on the rarest of occasions. They would be together as lovers for these brief visits, only to return to their duties shortly after, despite Urania always trying to mend their broken relationship and officially be together again. Yet, Hermes refused every time.

In their time apart, Hermes fell deep into depression and he became disillusioned with how the Ancients’ society would so easily disregard and abandon creations deemed to be “flawed”. Once, when she was able to visit Hermes, Urania asked him to leave Elpis and come with her, but he refused, as he felt guilty for abandoning his work and the creatures in Elpis.

When Hermes took over the Seat of Fandaniel, though Urania still spent most of her time traveling the world, she still had to return to Amaurot for her duties as Azem, so she and Hermes continued their love affair during this time, but it was not meant to last.

Unbeknownst to her at the time, Urania did begin to have feelings for a man named Boreas who she had met on her travels. He lead a city on the far side of the world from Amaurot, but she never realized that she had indeed fallen in love with him until it was too late, as he died from the blasphemies during the Final Days. Yes, Boreas is Unsundered Aymeric.

Urania found Boreas near death. She tried to heal him, but she couldn’t and he ended up dying in her arms. She was inconsolable, and regretted never having told him how she felt about him.

Urania was devastated when Hyth volunteered to be a part of the sacrifice to summon Zodiark, and she was inconsolable and enraged at not only Emet-Selch, her best friend, but Fandaniel, her lover, as they both went along with the plan to sacrifice her brother. She gave up her seat as Azem and left Amaurot behind.

Right before the Sundering, Urania questioned if she was truly happy with constantly putting her duty before her own personal wants and desires, and wondered if things would’ve been different if she hadn’t been so singular minded about her duty as Azem. She hoped that she would meet Boreas again in their next lives and she prayed that they could actually be together and find the happiness that they couldn’t have in this life.

That’s all I have so far! Thank you all for reading!! 🥰💖

Updated: 04/22/2023

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Trick or treat!

Trick or Treat Asks!

Here’s a sneak peek of some plans I have in the works! This is me thinking out loud, because I’m still in the planning stage of all this.

Though I haven’t written much for Urania, Hali’s Azem, I really do want to write some more for her, as I believe that it will only emphasize the themes of Hali’s story overall, and how her past life has echoes in her present life. This includes not only her rocky relationship with Hermes and her feelings for Boreas, Aymeric’s ancient self, but also her friendship with Emet-Selch and a very important relationship that should not be overlooked: her brother Hythlodaeus. Every single one of these relationships is important to Urania, and ultimately Hali’s story, so I do want to flesh them all out.

I also have some details to iron out, which include:

1. Should Hythlodaeus be Urania’s older brother or should they be twins? If I did make them twins, that could impact Urania’s, and Hali’s soul deeply for the loss of her twin, and it’s tempting to be sure. I’m just not sure if that’s too cliche or not, so I keep going back and forth on this.

2. Who is the one that breaks up with whom first, Urania or Hermes, and how much does this break up affect Hermes’ mental health? Does he keep them apart further by pushing Urania away, or does Urania stay away from him?

3. How does Urania’s feelings for Boreas develop and does Hermes ever figure out Urania’s love for Boreas? How does this affect Hermes?

Okay, so that’s probably several treats, a treat bundle if you will, but I had a lot on my mind, so here you go! Thank you so much for the ask @scholarlostintime!! Happy Halloween!! 💖🎃