It would be nice, wouldn't it, for Arialla to have a grand death? To face Wessex defiantly in battle -- as if they could ever be equal combatants, as if she had a hope of so much as scratching the Wraith. To get in some action against the people she so hates, something meaningful; to even manage some last words, bitter as the woman she's become. Something that would hang in Wessex's mind and taunt her, outliving Arialla herself.
It would be nice. But Caido isn't nice to Arialla; it never has been. So instead of a dramatic battle, instead of harsh words forced through gritted teeth, Arialla takes a chakram to the back and collapses into the now-bloody surf. She doesn't have time to speak; she doesn't feel anything. That's it. Arialla's time in Caido is over, and isn't that all she ever wanted, really?
- FIN
please don't take my sunshine away
