Author's notes: This is (finally) the third and last part of "Three Sides of the Moon" and as such the sequel to "Trust" and "Betrayal". Nevertheless, it is not necessary to have read these two parts in order to understand "Hope". Reviews are as always very welcome and please feel free to email further comments or questions to DTitania@aol.com.

Final Fantasy 2/IV and all FFIV characters are the property of Square. Characters such as Dawn, Jonas and Mallack are my own creations, so please do not use them without asking me first. I hope that you will have as much fun reading the story as I had writing it:

Three sides of the moon

Part 3: Hope

Prologue

Lovers

It was cold and the darkness of the night seemed even darker than usual. The silver haired woman who ran through the woods was shivering, though the fire of determination was keeping her warm from inside: "I must see... him..."

Although her legs seemed to give way under her every momentfrom exhaustion, she still used all her strength to run past the barren trees with their skeletal twigs in order to reach the space behind them. Finally she reached a clearing, her senses nearly failing due to the joy she felt as she spotted a familiar figure across the field... In the glittering moonlight a tall man was standing, strands of black hair falling before his high forehead, eyes so sparkling that they shone brighter than the stars. The woman stood still, suddenly looking at the man with big, curious, sea blue eyes as if savouring every moment of this night - though there was also a fearful expression in her look as if she wondered, if all this was just a dream. As the dark haired man smiled at her and opened his arms, she started to run, throwing herself into her lover's embrace.

"Finally I have found you, my love..." the man said soothingly, stroking the silky fair strands of her hair carefully.

"No... I have found you..." the woman replied, closing her eyes to savour the joy of this moment. "I've missed you so much..."

The man was still stroking her hair, curling a lock around his finger as he asked calmly: "Have you really? What could you see in me that would make you miss me?" His question sounded not accusingly, but rather sad.

The woman looked at him, surprised. Then, her cheeks blushing slightly, she embraced him even more firmly: "Because you are everything for me..."

The man smiled, his elegant features shining in the twilight and he reached out to stroke slowly the satin cheek of the woman. "I want to be more than that for you... Let my love be the beginning..." he stroked his thumb softly across her chin.

"Yes... the beginning..." the woman whispered, lost in his gaze.

The man carefully traced with his finger her jawbone, then traced it down her slender neck, stopping just at her Adam's apple. "Let my love be the end," he whispered.

"The end..." the woman repeated, every touch of the man making her spine shiver.

"You are the beginning and the end... You are everything..."

The man smiled even more and he touched her cheek once again, feeling her exquisite skin, every feature of her face. The woman closed her eyes, her body giving in completely to the sensation of his touch.

"I love you..." she whispered, feeling as if this moment was the most precious in all her life.

"I love you, too..." the man answered - suddenly his hands were around her neck, pressing violently.

The woman's eyes snapped open. "What...? No...don’t..." Her words were stifled as the man started to tighten his grip, still smiling at her in the sweetest of all ways possible.

"We were meant for each other, my precious diamond..." he continued, as if he was not aware of what he was doing, his grip getting stronger and stronger every minute.

Tears filled the eyes of the woman, even more so as the appearance of her lover started to change, his hair changing from black to white. Then her vision started to blur from the suffocation. She tried one last time to struggle against the strong man's grip, but it was no use.

"Let me go..." she wanted to say, but it only came out as an inaudiblewhisper.

The man showed no reaction, not looseninghis merciless grip for just a minute. The woman's eyes were still filled with tears as everything went black -- her last sight being a white-haired man, features strangely distorted, a tender smile on his lips....