Never Said Good Bye

[zen_monk]

 Fandom: Final Fantasy VI

Characters: Sabin and Cyan

Summary:  The feelings Cyan held when he saw the passengers going on-board the Phantom Train. Good bye, Cyan, good bye.

Written in an RP response for blackjackfalcon. 

Upon rolling into the stop, the train let out a great bellow of steam from its engines, spilling from its sides like a sigh. 

It was as much of a relief for Sabin and Cyan, whose furious and fantastical battle with the being was like playing out the stuff of legends. Cyan made note of everything they had done, what the Phantom Train had said, and which techniques he used that go in compliment with Sabin’s iron-fisted style. He would regale it one day. 

The train station was empty and lonely save for lit lamps. It was neither forbidding nor unwelcoming. It was, as though stepping into a painting. 

From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw people. They were dressed in familiar clothes and were moving as though going out for a day to the city. They were dressed in clothes that were bright, some fine and some ordinary. He had half a mind to call out to them “No, do not get onboard, ‘tis the train to your final call.” And he thought that was exactly where they were going, and he couldn’t let out a sound, either out of shock at the revelation or at the feeling that doing so is not his place.

But then he saw the woman and child, and a sound was let out.

"Elayne! Owain!"

He thought the crowd was familiar and, egads it should be as plain as day they were his friends and family, co-workers and fellow guardsmen, regular citizens that he had walked by day after day, but it is Owain and Elayne stepping onboard and he rushed after them. He placed his hands on the rail but he made no move to go after them. It was as though his legs were lead. 

"Oh, my dear," cried out Elayne. Her expression was ecstatic, as though she hadn’t seen him in a long time. "You’ve made me so happy; I’ll always love you, you and your clumsy words and your strict shoulders. Don’t ever forget that."

"Papa!" chirped Owain, and it was almost ghastly the way he so cheerfully looked up at Cyan when it felt just moments before he was in his bed, face frozen in pain. "I’ll keep practicing my sword and keep mom safe! Nothing is going to stop me, now!" 

The boy waved his hand as though swinging an imaginary sword, and Cyan’s throat was choking at the sight. 

The train began to roll away, slowly, and then picking up speed. The railing was wrenched from his grip and Cyan found himself stalking and then jogging alongside the train. 

He stretched out his hand, wanting to reach out and grab them and maybe be alongside them. He wanted to say they’re going to die and not to a day trip, that they can’t die yet he just saw them, and this was all just a mistake. 

He was running now, and there’s so little of the station left to run to. He wanted to say that he’s sorry for being so clumsy when Elayne flirts, and that he promises Owain that he’ll make more time for him to help with his swordsmanship if he can just get off the train. He would go home from his duties early, he would eat with them more at the family table for dinner, and that he read to them in the evening. In his frenzied mind, he made promises to give up Doma and retire early, to go have their own homestead, just him and Elayne and Owain and no one would bother them ever again.

Cyan made no sound, though his lips formed words. Elayne… Owain… over and over again until the similarity in their names jumbled over silent tongue and there was only wait… wait…

They are further away, now, but he could see Elayne taking out her handkerchief to wave back at him. 

"Good bye! Good bye!"

And everyone on the train was saying good bye. The entirety of Doma was saying good bye.

Owain’s little legs jumped onto a slightly higher part of the railing so he can lean out further to wave back at him. Cyan wanted to say to the boy to get his feet back on the ground. He wanted to say to jump off. 

The last of the platform stopped him. Train car after train car rolled past him. He kept his eyes on the fading forms of his wife and son, until the caboose light was the only thing shining in the darkness.

He forgot to say to Owain that he stopped the Phantom Train and stopped his and Sabin’s deaths. 

The heavy footfalls of Sabin slowly walked up to him. It was neither comfort nor distraction. 

In the quiet train station, there was the sound of heavy, uneven breathing and uncertain pacing to show there was something alive there. 

 

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