The Far Edge of Fate (Final Fantasy XV)

CHAPTER 34 - THE WEIGHT OF LIFE

chapter title comes from "The Weight of Life" from the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 OST. it is a fantastic track and i highly recommend it.

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Eight years into the Night and Cindy gave her old motorbike to Solara for her sixteenth birthday. 

Aaralyn had been there when it happened, watched Cindy give a rundown of the bike's specs—sidecar included—and insisted that she come by any time the bike needed a tuneup. Then, as soon as Cindy had gone, Solara turned to Aaralyn, declared that the bike was the best gift she'd ever been given, saying she wasn't coming to training that day, and then went speeding off the road. It had been awkward news to give Aranea when she came back, to say the least. She'd swore colorfully and promised to give her daughter the scolding of a lifetime when she came back. It was more dangerous than ever to leave town unattended. Eight years of darkness had emboldened the daemons to attack their settlements a little more frequently—it hadn't been that long ago since they lost Cape Caem and Meldacio to the onslaught.

Aranea let out a mighty sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I suppose I'll just have Biggs and Wedge go out looking for her," she mumbled.

"Sorry I didn't stop her," Aaralyn apologized. "She looked so excited about Regina that I-"

"Regina?" Aranea cut her off.

Aaralyn looked at her. "The bike."

"She named the bike?"

"Yeah?" Aaralyn raised an eyebrow. Was naming your vehicles so uncommon? Aaralyn's own car had been named 'Tad Cooper' until it had gone up in an inferno in Insomnia what felt like a lifetime ago.

Aranea pinched the bridge of her nose. "Of course she'd name it," she mumbled. She heaved out a great sigh, putting her hands on her hips. "Kid better not have gotten herself into trouble."

Aaralyn shrugged, glancing out over the Lestallum barricade. As dangerous as it was, she was confident Solara would make it back in one piece. She was starting to get to be damn good with her lance and was becoming an adept shot with a shotgun of all things. She had every faith that Solara would get out of whatever trouble she got herself into.

"She'll be fine," she told Aranea. "Just, y'know, try to make sure she takes someone next time."

"You try telling her that," the dragoon shot her a somewhat annoyed look. "She listens to you more than she listens to me."

"Eh, perks of being a mom," Aaralyn shrugged. "Your kid never listens to you." Aranea let out a long-suffering sigh, putting her hands on her hips. Her expression was pinched into an annoyed frown. Aaralyn glanced at the time on her phone, making a face when she saw it.

"I'd better get going," she said. "I'm due for my rotation."

"Don't die," Aranea said.

"I'll try not to," Aaralyn said, turning to descend the latter. She made her way to the truck already waiting for her, Nyx, and Libertus by the city exit, unconsciously finding her thoughts drifting to Aranea and her wayward daughter. As long as she could remember, she'd always wanted to be a mother—start a family and get ignored by kids of her own. Before the world had gone to shit, she would have liked to be married with said kids by now, as she was nearing her twenty-seventh birthday, but that was before the love of her life vanished inside of a crystal and the apocalypse had started.

Maybe once this was over—whenever that was—she'd be able to have that family.

Well, she just had to survive first.