Final Fantasy V

Summary

Bartz finally finds what he's been searching for.

Passion: the essence of wind. These days Bartz often wondered why the wind crystal chose him. He hadn’t felt very passionate about anything for a while, not since…

…but that didn’t bear thinking about.

It was after the worlds merged, after they had defeated Neo Exdeath, after they had met a year later in the recovering Forest of Moore. It had been good to see Krile, Lenna, and Faris then; they had reminisced over their journey together, laughing over things that only close friends could. Yet Bartz couldn’t help feeling like something had been missing from their gathering, and after they had parted ways, he set off with Boko on another adventure, hoping that would spark his passion again.

It didn’t.

He spent time at Phoenix Tower first, hoping the challenging enemies there would stir him, but he found himself fighting mechanically and didn’t feel a thrill when he won.

He next visited the place where Fork Tower had stood, where he once had an epic battle against Omniscient that had seemed to last hours. But the tower was gone, and besides, it wasn’t what he was truly looking for anyway.

He spent some time at the Library of the Ancients, reading book after book. The researchers there would ask him what he was searching for, but he’d never respond. Was it embarrassment, perhaps, that prevented him from answering, “…Exdeath’s castle”? He wondered why he should feel embarrassed at that, but the answer didn’t come. Instead he read and read, but found nothing to change the knowledge deep in his heart that he knew to be true: that Exdeath’s castle did not exist in this merged world.

Finally, he found himself wandering to the castle where the Twelve Legendary Weapons were once sealed. Why he went there, he wasn’t sure; it couldn’t hold what he was seeking. But he had visited just about everywhere else – might as well finish the job, he thought.

He climbed the stairs to the chamber of the weapons. The gates to the shrines were open, the weapons gone, as he knew they would be. He was just telling himself this was pointless, it was stupid, when a voice sounded behind him.

“… Bartz?”

Bartz felt his heart skip a beat. He turned slowly. “Gilgamesh”, he said. “ What are you doing here?”

“I had heard something about legendary weapons. Thought I’d check them out,” Gilgamesh replied.

“They’re gone. We used them in the fight against Exdeath.”

“Oh.” Gilgamesh paused. “How are you?”

How am I? Bartz thought. What a totally asinine question, coming from him. But he ignored answering the question, saying instead, “Gilgamesh. You said in the rift you wanted to fight me one more time. Did you mean it?”

“I did.”

Bartz drew his weapon. “Then let us fight!”

“Gladly!” Gilgamesh said, and drew his sword.

They clashed together, again and again, and Bartz felt his blood singing as metal rang against metal. This was what he had been missing from his life. It wasn’t battle in general he had craved, but a duel against him, who seemed to read all his moves as if they shared one mind. Slash, cut, parry, slash again: Gilgamesh met him with each thrust.

He could do this forever.

Except he couldn’t. All the passion in the world was no match for the weakness of the flesh. They clashed one last time, swords screaming as their edges caught, faces inches apart, yet Bartz could not hold the position for long.

He found the sword slipping from his grasp. But Gilgamesh was RIGHT THERE, already dropping his arm so as not to hurt Bartz, and some instinct made Bartz reach his hands up to grab Gilgamesh face, and kissed him.

Bartz had expected to hear a soft sound of surprise from the other man, but it didn’t come. Instead, Gilgamesh took Bartz in his arms and kissed him back. All the longing Bartz had felt this year slipped away to a sense of rightness.

Perhaps the wind crystal had known what it was doing all along.

Notes

Written for the Final Fantasy Kiss Battle 2021, based on lassarina's prompt: Bartz/Gilgamesh, duel