https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw4Kkw-huQU<span class="mu-i">"Gazing at my innermost thoughts borne on the surface of time,
I entrust my hopes to a fading light..."</span>
You are Gaius, a Water Mage from the Magical Kingdom of Zeal and you are very far from home. You and Princess Schala, along with your new friends Chrono, Marle and Lucca, have spent a day in Arris Dome, the last refugee of mankind in this dark, destroyed future you all have found yourselves into. You still haven't gotten around to the purpose of your visit in the Dome, namely seeing for your own eyes a video showing Lavos, your God of Magic, bringing ruin into the world. Yet your time here was well spent. You helped people, you defeated Chrono in a spar, and you learned much, the most important of those being something about yourself and your relationship with the Princess. You loved her - and she loved you. You loved her. The thought gave you strength. You loved her. You were ready to shout it from the rooftops if need be.
But at this moment, you were struggling with saying something altogether different. She had just asked you what you had been thinking, and even after buying time by filling her canteen with water, you were still unsure on your response. You watched silently as she raised it to her lips and drunk conservatively, unlike the greedy gulps she had used when you had first found her after you got separated by the time gate. You stared mesmerized at the movement of her slender neck and came to a decision.
"I..." you began speaking after she finished placing the canteen back in her Space, but your words failed you. You swallowed hard and tried again. "I love you. I will keep nothing secret from you, even when... when it's petty. I..." The sentence died in your mouth once again. She looked at you attentively, as if her large, emerald eyes were trying to pierce the mask of your face and reach the truth underneath. You couldn't take it. You couldn't look her in the eye. You shut your eyelids tight, turning to face down before your mouth opened for one more time and spoke quickly. "I wanted to be the one to gift you your first weapon, when we returned home, not them. Something else for you to treasure. But now..." You stopped, your courage faltering, then waited for her response with baited breath.
