Zexion, Axel, PG

[euphonious-glow.livejournal.com]

Challenge: [125] Requiem
Title: Ashes to Ashes
Word Count: 315
Spoilers: none
Rating: PG-ish.


Zexion had never liked funerals. They always seemed too full of pomp and forced emotions, as though the Church was selling heartbreak to the mourners. "Tearful reminiscence for the price of your tears." A funeral was always the talk of the town, black-garbed attendants forming a line of melancholy behind the hearse. The coffin would be unloaded, white flowers a stark anomoly. He knew when the procession was coming, because he had to shut his bedroom window when the sobs got too bothersome. The boy had never understood all the fuss. Everyone died, didn't they know? And then the war happened, and no one bothered with funerals anymore.

One day, Axel and Zexion were on a mission to a small and relatively unknown world. They chanced upon a funeral. The crowd was so large they could not pass through the street, so both silently agreed to wait until the affair was over.

"Such a sad occasion," an older gentleman nearby them said. "He was so young. Had his whole life ahead of him."

"Don't we all at some point?" Zexion replied, watching with mild interest as the coffin was laid into the ground. "And yet few ever make something of their lives."

A woman nearby gasped in anger. "Don't speak such things at a funeral!"

Zexion shrugged. The clergywoman finished her long and tiresome eulogy, and he and Axel finally moved on. As they passed the black-garbed crowd, Axel gestured toward the dead man's tombstone.

"They're doing it all wrong," he said. "Earth swallows the bones and leaves them for the worms." Zexion regarded his comrade with narrowed eyes. "And what would you suggest, Axel?"

The red haired man grinned. "If it's eternal life they're after, fire is the way to go. It's the source of death and light, but also rebirth."

Zexion turned his back on the graveyard and continued up the hill. "Everything turns to ash in the end."

Comments

[fox_the_kitsune]

Axel would know the symbolic connotations of his element, wouldn't he? And Zexion's thoughts on funerals are quite interesting.

Er, I think I'm trying to say I like this, but my brain's hollering at me to finish eating and go to bed.

[sexpress.livejournal.com]

For a drabble, it seemed to speak a lot more words than it actually had. Awesome job, man.

[lindskaba.livejournal.com]

I have to agree, this piece does sort of say more than its few words. I like Axel and Zexion's conversation at the end the best. Very eloquent ♥