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What fuels the mind and body when all things seem dim and pointless? Life is often full of failures and rejections that sometimes it feels pointless to even continue. This is especially true during times of radical failures, when everything seems to feel as though it's crashing down, with no way of rebuilding from the ashes. It is natural to want to give up if logic seems to dictate that continuing has no meaning, and yet even then, some struggle to continue. Despite the odds, despite the failure, men continue their struggle to seek an end to their suffering or to a rediscovery of their success. What is sometimes more surprising is that they are even more driven than before, as if to say that tragedy has made them stronger rather than weaker. It is like weakness strengthens them; where they find courage where fear should propagate. What keeps these people going when all things seem lost?
Some call it hope. Hope is perhaps the one thing that cannot be taken from anyone, it can only be gone when one chooses to discard it. Men find hope in hopelessness. It is because, during times where they feel directionless drifting, they find a Star in the sky that keeps them going. This Star is Hope itself.
Hope, above all other things, is what keeps people going.
The Star has always been symbolic. Humans in ages past looked to the stars in the heavens as guideposts to help them on their way. Seafarers of old relied on the stars to navigate their way through nights at sea, where even maps and other tools do nothing. Even today no matter where you are, some stars point the way and keep you going when technology fails. Looking at the stars fill men with hope as they traverse the darkness, finding a guide through the times when it feels even hope is lost.
The Fool must find such a Star as he picks up the pieces. He rebuilds his fallen Tower, but where shall he aim it? He searches for a true Star that will light up his way once again, to point him towards a new direction and goal that will allow him to continue his journey. More often than not the Star isn't always there. Sometimes it is hidden behind the clouds. Perhaps he may need to paint the starry sky himself. Whatever the case, once he finds his Star, he can go back on his journey.
And so he admits to his friends the truth about his life. He was never in soldier, he copied his friend's story to hide his shame, and lived out that lie as if it were the truth. “No more”, he says. He was controlled because his true self was lost, but now he is slowly regaining it. Meteor is falling and, after retaking the huge materia, he and his companions find no other way to stop it. He recalls his lost loved one who sacrificed herself to call upon Holy to save the world from destruction. Was she successful or not? Holy was their only hope, but they are unsure if Holy will come. With this in mind they return to that forgotten city of ancients in search of answers, an answer they found: She had called on Holy the day she died, but now their mortal enemy is preventing it's arrival. This is the hope they have been searching for. Now they know, to give the planet one last fighting chance, they have to defeat him and set Holy free. It is the only way now to stop the Meteor.
Can he continue on? The sister he had loved so much had fallen to the arrows of battle, and once again his heart and soul are thrust into the light of questioning as he once again must face the truth. Can he continue on with the battle despite everything? He knows he has no time to fret. He isn't the only one who has lost dear family to this wretched war. Others like him have suffered, perhaps even more. His sister was likewise close to others in the army and it has also hit them hard. His strategist tells him that the capital city of Jowston has been abandoned by the Highland army and ripe for the pickings. If they attack now, they will be in striking distance of the Highland capital. He makes his decision quickly as he puts his grief inside his heart. He can see the opportunity that cannot be missed, and by doing this they will be but one step to peace. He gives the order to attack.
The Star is shining for the Fool, and it is his choice if he will follow it. Sometimes it is new, at times it has always been there. The end to his journey feels so close and it would not do him well to fall now. Hope is there if he would choose to believe in it and follow it to the end. Hope is something that cannot be taken from him. Hope has always been there.
The Star is there, his hope is there. The shining twinkle of eternity that will never fade, no matter when.
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