Pictures

Clef was at the balcony that night. He looked at the three Crescent Moons. There were beautiful. He glanced beside him and saw that nobody was there beside him to watch the sky. He heard the waves crash the rocks below them but nobody was there to listen to it sing. We glanced behind him and he saw an empty corridor. He knew that Umi wouldn't be walking tonight. Clef sighed and started to walk out of that balcony thinking it's going to be hard to sleep tonight because he's been awake until dawn for the past days.

He started to reexamine the paintings that captured Umi on his own. The Dragon Tamer would look closely at them in awe. Her presence makes him smile. He looked back at the balcony and wondered if he could ever enter that place and watch the dawn without her. She would be with Fuu, comforting her and trying her best to console her friend's heart. Clef knows that the Wind Glider would be weeping tonight. Fuu was heart broken after all.

The Guru sighs remembering the little 'game' he had had with the White Prince. It could have gotten out of control but thank the heavens that he had a millisecond to attack Ferio.

When Ferio fell down from the wall, which Clef had thrown him to, he let go of the hilt of his broken sword and kneeled with his eyes on the ground. His thoughts did not just bother him of his defeat but more of the Wind Glider's memories… good AND bad.

Guru Clef sighed. He went near the White Prince as Lantis came forward them. "She's afraid," took deep breaths of fatigue. Clef was also human and his body also was recharging for energy at that time.

Ferio looked at Clef and the Guru continued, "She's afraid to move forward. She's scared to allow both of you to be completely happy. She's terrified because she loves you. She loves you so much that she wants you to be happy without her."

"Doesn't she know," Ferio's voice shivered as he answered, " That she has given me more pain by what she had said." Clef could see that Fuu's voice was ringing in his head.

"She only said that she will not marry you Ferio," Clef guessed and confirmed by Ferio's actions that it was so, "she didn't say that she didn't love you. She wants you to be free."

"Free from what?" Ferio shouted in anger.

Clef gulped. He knew exactly from what. He can sympathize with Fuu. He knows why Fuu had done it. He, Clef, has never said to Umi his true feelings because of similar reasons. "To be free from loving her. So you and she," Clef paused and now he knew he was also talking about Umi. 'She' wasn't Fuu but Umi, " … so that you can forget her. And move on easier. She can never forget you Ferio." Clef's heart ached as he thought about the Dragon Tamer, "never".

Ferio stood up-still with a bitter face, "If she had truly loved me. She would have risked being hurt. She should have known I would have. She should have known that if ever I would have become depressed when she's gone. I'll smile knowing that her heart belongs me. And smile again because my heart will always belong to her. I don't think she was thinking of me Clef, no, I don't think so. She was also thinking of herself, Love isn't just about one person's feelings, not just about the person you love, and not just yours. Love is about the relationship of the hearts of the two persons in-love and how they can survive through life's obstacles." The White Prince walked in the training hall taking the pieces of his swords. He went forward the Black Knight who just watched the drama between him and the Guru. Ferio looked at Lantis' eyes, "I will carry your sword if you forgive my arrogance and jealousy at the ceremony." Lantis nodded silently. Ferio then moved his head towards the relaxed Clef, "Fuu will always wonder restlessly if I could have given her everything, that will be her curse. And your will be if Umi ever felt the same way."

Clef frowned, "Yes. You are lucky to know that she loves you back."

"My curse," Ferio said painfully, "that she didn't love me back enough." And he walked away with his broken heart and broken sword.

Lantis walked towards Clef, "My happiest day turns out to be a philosophical one. I never thought I would have outdone Ferio's romance."

Clef chuckled to brighten the tight air, "Leave us brokenhearted fools to doom. You are fortunate. I'm happy for your luck." Clef left the Black Knight. He didn't want to enter into more details on how Lucky Lantis was. Ferio was an honest man. He could tell Lantis out front that he would envy the Black Knight's wedding. Clef would too.

Now Guru Clef was in the hallway of pictures alone. He sighed again remembering what Ferio had said. It was true. Maybe if he had loved Umi more, he would have told her and risked being hurt in the end. He looked at the empty corridors before him and the lonely balcony that he had left. Umi wasn't there anymore. He couldn't tell her anymore. It was too late, as he had always thought.