FFBE Script part 74: Rain's Past

Previously...

OLDERION FEDERATION - RAIN'S PAST - VILLAGE OF AMORE 1

(The party enters the village of Amore, Nichol leading the way.)

Village Chief: Master Nichol. We have been expecting you. The aquapolis is in quite a state.

Nichol: Yes. That is why I intend to travel to the Water Shrine.

Village Chief: The Water Shrine, Master Nichol?

Fina: We're going to release the Water Crystal's power. It's the only way to save Olderion.

Rain: Ngh...

(He collapses on his knees.)

Fina(...): You still can't handle that light, can you? Why are you fighting it? It's a part of you.

Rain: I don't know what you mean. I'm not fighting anything. I mean... I don't think I am.

Fina: Look, I don't know what's going on inside your head. But I need to be straight with you about something. Rain. If you don't get this under control, it will kill you.

(The party gets alarmed at this, ! over their heads.)

Fina: Haven't you already felt it? The way the pain in your arm seems it's spreading throughout your whole body?

Rain: It's.... Killing me?

Fina: If I used the power of the crystal... I could save you. But... if I do that, we won't be able to save Olderion. The power held within the crystal has its limits. That's just the way it is. So what do you want to do?

Rain: What do I... Are you serious? We've got to use the crystal's power to save Olderion.

(Nichol gets a ! at this.)

Fina: ...Even if you're the one destined to save the world?

Rain: Ha ha ha! Come on, that's codswallop. Stop walloping all those cods, Fina. It's inhumane.

Fina: ...I do not lie.

Rain: Well... say it were true, then. It would be all the more reason to choose Olderion.

(Rain stands.)

Rain: If I'm supposed to save the whole world, I'd better at least be able to save myself, wouldn't you say?

Fina: Hmmm.... Fine.

(She walks off.)

Village Chief: It seems things are even more complicated than I'd thought. Well, at the very least, please get a good rest here tonight and restore your strength. It seems you have much ahead of you.

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OLDERION FEDERATION - RAIN'S PAST - VILLAGE OF AMORE 2

(Rain is in bed, Lasswell watching over him. Lid enters the room.)

Lid: Sorry for the hold up! I managed to piece something together using spare parts and ordinary household items. One partable fan, sir.

Lasswell: Thank you for this... Lid.

Lid: How's Rain doing? He's sweating buckets...

Lasswell: yes, but he's finally getting some sleep, at least.

Lid: hey, Lasswell... What's happen ing to him? Does creepy-Fina really know something?

Lasswell(...): Let me tell you about something that happened to Rain when we were children.

(The scene shifts to show child Rain, his arm glowing.)

Lasswell: He touched a powerful crystal, and a strange light too root in his arm, just as it has done now. Like an infection.

Lid: Just because he touched it? I've never heard of anything like that happening...

Lasswell: His arm pained him terribly, and nothing would relieve it. And the looks from people around town... It was horrible. Our misfortune was only just beginning, though. Soon after that, Rain's father, Sir Raegen, went missing...

Lid: So... so how did his arm get better that time, then?:

Lasswell: I wish I had even a flicker of an idea. That time, it simply got better on its own, somehow.

Lid(...): I don't wanna be the one to have to say this, Lasswell, but... If we don't do something, Rain really might die. At least according to Fina.

Lasswell: I... I don't know what will happen to him. How pathetic. I say that I will protect Rain, but now that he's in real danger, there is nothing I can do. (Sir Raegen... if only you were here....)

(The scene shifts to Elle walking alone in the hallway.)

Elle: (Do we save Rain? Or protect Olderion? Do we really have to choose just one?) (No... My brother will think of something. Nichol always does.)

(Elle gets a ! over his head. He's stopped outside a room with Nichol and Fina in it.)

Nichol: What are you doing here at this hour? I do not recall inviting you in.

Fina: You're not sure what to do, are you? With the crystal.

Nichol(...): All lives have equal value. Therefore we must decide a course of action based on minimizing the number of deaths. That is the creed of the tactician.

Fina: So a hundred lives are worth more than a single life... is that it?

Nichol: For years, I have put my life on the line to keep Olderion safe. It is my home. A great number of people live in the city. Elle's fiancee, Arsha, is still there. I cannot simply abandon them all.... (...) And yet... I find myself wavering. If Rain is truly fated to save the world, then the lives of the multitude he could save must outweigh the lives of Olderion's people.

Fina: Well put, tactician. Without Rain, we can't beat the Veritas.

Nichol: Fina... There must be another way. That is why you came to me tonight, I am sure.

Fina: (...)

Nichol: I don't care hwat it takes! I am prepared to do anything, if there is a way to save them both.

Fina: ... Anything? Are you sure?

Nichol: Certain. Whatever is required, I will do it. I will lay down my life, if need be.

Fina: Well... if you're sure... There is a way. But it's something only a Warden of the Waters can do.

(The scene pans up to Elle in th hallway.)

Elle(...): So it is possible... for someone... like me...

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