Diritas wore his usual button down dark shirt rolled to the elbows. A pair of dark jeans paired with a cutlass and boots made up his lower half along with a few leather pouches. He was walking on the boardwalk, and contemplating the many things that had happened over the last few days. None of it pleased him at all, and it showed on his face. Looking up and out towards the ocean, he caught a glimpse of pink hair as he walked towards the last pier and saw a figure sitting on the end. His intent had been to go to the lighthouse for some solitude, but he couldn't pass up this chance. Hurrying down the final pier, he called out in a voice only slightly strangled.

"Serah?"

The figure inhaled. Slowly. "No." She said flatly. Somehow the sea breeze carried her voice to him, the inflection and tone remaining just as it had been when it left her lips. A turn on her heel, an arch of her brow, and a folding of her arms over her chest, and Diritas knew exactly who it was. Claire. Of course it was Claire. Whatever feeling had been on his face left immediately. Replaced by a stone mask.

"Farron." He says just as flatly. But then, she knew where Serah was, or at least knew how to get in touch with her. If not, she wouldn't have texted him. "Where is she?" He says when he gets close enough.

She waited until he neared, her gaze ticking back and forth as she catalogued details and stored them away for future use if needed. "Safe. That's all that matters." She says, her voice thinly veiling a heavily restrained fury at the pirate in front of her. Indicative of the tension was the rippling of the muscles along her jaw, her teeth clenching between her words. "You stay away from her from now on. You understand me?"

"That isn't your choice to make. If that's what she wants, I'll respect it. But from her lips alone." He says just as tensely. His own fury however wasn't directed at Claire. He returned her stare, taking in what details he could. His face was impassive and expressionless. Only his eyes gave any indication he still lived. His gaze was hollow. Empty.

Claire snorted in a rather unladylike fashion. Shaking her head, she put a hand up to stop him in his diatribe. "Nope, it's not going to come down to that because she's going to have nothing to do with you. I don't think you seem to understand the damage you've done and even you have said that I need to do better at looking out for her. So this is me, looking out for my devastated sister and keeping her from the likes of you." She said calmly. An eerie calm even. Unusual for her.

"She's capable of making her own choices. Looking out for her, doesn't mean making her choices for her. It means supporting whatever choice she makes. Even I know that." his voice was flat, barely any inflection at all. He shrugged, turning away and looking back down the pier. "You can't stop me. So "A" for effort' But you're wasting your time." His gaze wandered out past the pier to the bay. Still empty as it watched the waves.

"And I'm here, on her behalf, saying she wants nothing to do with you." Claire said, that calm still maintained despite what seemed to be growing rage. "And maybe, just maybe, had you been the one that had to listen to her cry over 'how stupid' she was for believing in the good in you....maybe had you been the one to have to listen to that, you might have a say in this. But you didn't." The edginess was starting to get into her words. "She. Is. Devastated. And it's your fault, Diritas. I haven't heard her cry that hard since Snow broke her heart." She practically spat the last words, her fingers curling into tightly clenched fists. Her gaze ticked upwards, like she was listening to something he couldn't hear. "She cared about you. And you ruined that."

He flinched visibly, but didn't say anything for a long moment and never looked at her. "I don't pretend to have a say in this. I'm just informing you I won't listen to you. If she doesn't want to see me, I understand. But I need to hear that from her. Not you. Not anyone else." He didn't know this Snow person, but Serah had spoken vaguely once of a man who had broken her heart. Was that the same man' "You think I don't know. But I do. I saw how she looked at me." he struggled to maintain the calm exterior. His voice was strained, pain streaking through the words.

Strangely, she didn't seem to be taking pleasure in this. Something that surprised him as she spoke. "It's not going to work that way, Diritas. You lost the privilege of her friendship. No, you lost the damn honor of her presence in your life and you have no one to blame but yourself. And when you've stripped yourself of that right, I refuse to give you even a moment's opportunity to do any further damage." Pain or not, it didn't seem to matter to her compared to her sister's anguish. "And you know what? Memorialize that, because it'll be the last time you see her. I'll make sure of that."

That got his attention. He turned to her, taking a deep breath. "I won't repeat myself again Claire. You can't stop me." He says flatly. Without another word, he turns and starts off the pier. He should leave, before his control broke again. If he fought Claire....there would be nothing he could do to make it up to Serah. He knew it was a long shot as it was. And long shot meant close to impossible. But he wanted to teach Claire her place. Wanted it badly. So leaving was a good choice.

"Tell me the truth, Diritas. What did you do that broke her so badly?" She said her voice deadly calm as he turned away from her. "Tell me, because you even had me fooled. And that's saying something." She put a hand on her hip, staring after him as he took what she must have seen as the coward's way out, trying to walk away. He stopped, her words cut through him like no blade ever could. He couldn't find the words to reply, so he just looked over his shoulder. The look in his eyes was of a truly broken man.

When he finally spoke" his voice was hoarse. "What I had to." He says quietly. He turned away again, hiding the tear that fell from his eye and froze against his cheek. It clattered to the wood beneath. He hadn't been acting. Never with Serah. But who would believe that"

Wrong answer. There was a faint crackle of energy around her fingertips and she snuffed it quickly before it got out of hand. "What you had to"! WHAT YOU HAD TO"!" She stared toward him, following after him with a firm shove to his shoulder. "She cared about you, Diritas!" Another shove. "She cared about you more than you ever deserved!" And another shove. "You convinced her you had changed only to ruin that trust. Never mind the whole kidnapping that one girl for no reason. Why you thought that was okay is beyond me!" Another shove, it seemed to be taking everything she had not to haul off and clock him. "You snuffed out the epitome of sunshine and all you can tell me is that you did what you had to"! Oh f*ck no."

He lets her shove him, barely registering the pushes as he looks at the pier beneath them. Finally, he looked up at her. "I didn't have a choice. They would have killed me." he says softly. He didn't want to have this conversation, but she wasn't going to let him off the hook. He saw that now. Standing straight, her last shove met solid chest as he finally held his ground. "I work for people who can have me executed at a word. They say jump, and it's either how high or I get sized for a noose. "

"Then why lie and act like you've changed" You lied to her. You lied to her and that broke her heart." It seemed standing his ground or not, she was determined to put all one hundred and fifteen pounds of her weight behind the next shove. "You know what, so do I. And still, I'd rather stand before a firing squad than bear knowing that I hurt her. Do you know how rare good people like her are" What about your pardon' What about the help from the Senator" What about that girl you've taken as your daughter" How many people are you going to ruin when you fall?" She shook her head at him, venom and anger in every word. "Not Serah. I'm not letting you take her down with you."

"What about the pardon' The senator" THINK CLAIRE!!" He roared. "Who do you think ordered me to do this" Who do you think could make me do a damn thing other than two people who hold an axe over my head"! Gods damn you Claire! Think for once in your life! You think I wanted any of this"! That I don't know she is the most perfect thing I've ever seen"! That she isn't the one person who saw the best in me and I ruined it!?" Tears streaked down his face. "I loved her." he says, breathing hard. "I loved her like I love my daughter. I was faced with a choice. Either she lost her father, or I did what I had to and I lost Serah. You think I don't know. But I do. I know." his voice is broken, and all the fight seemed to leave him at once. "I made an impossible choice. But I can't regret it, if I do....I won't be able to live with it."

"THINK"! How the f*ck can you tell me to think when you've clearly not done a lick of that! How DARE you ask me to think, let alone of you, when you've done NOTHING but think of yourself. You selfish, selfish man." He had the size advantage but she had fury backing her. And she didn't care if he budged, she still directed the weight of her rage upon him. "If you loved her, you wouldn't have subjected her to this. Do you know how AWFUL it is to have to sit and listen to my sister sobbing in my head and being completely unable to do anything about because she wants nothing except to be left alone" She's convinced at this point that she's not meant to be happy. That she can't have good in her life. And I'll be damned if I allow that to happen. I refuse to let her end up like me." She snarled the words at him, glaring up at him with a fire burning in those aquamarines that would have matched the sea had the sun been up. "Do you know all Serah has already lost' And now she loses you because she can't bear to watch you send assassins after people. Because she can't bear to see what happens to her friend." She stopped with her diatribe, pausing to listen and wincing. "Shit." She muttered and murmured something back before redirecting her fury back at the pirate. "You're a bad man, Diritas Ashin. I've known that since the first time I laid eyes on you and STILL Serah tried to find the good in you. And I let her. So I'm just as much to blame, but I swear to every god in existence that I will end you myself. I f*cking swear it."

His eyes held no more fight as he sighed. "I can't let you do that. For my daughter. Believe what you want. But I did this for Lydia, not for you, or Serah, or myself. So come, but know without Serah....nothing will hold me back." his voice was steady, and held no anger. Only resignation. "Lydia is the only reason I'm still alive. I'm sorry you have to listen to her, you have no idea how much I wish I could have done things differently. But I can't change the past."

Another tick of her gaze skywards, her lips moving wordlessly. With that accomplished, her line of sight returned to ground level and she stared daggers at him. "And tell me why you should be allowed to try to raise a child" What happens when you cross the wrong person and you get your dumb arse killed and that child ends up alone" What then" See. You're a selfish, pathetic man. You dare try to tell me to think when you haven't. Not in the least." Her nostrils flared and she took a breath in an attempt to calm down at the urging of forces unknown. Still, little arcs of midnight blue electricity bounced from fingertip to fingertip without her knowledge as she stared him down. "You can't change the past, but I can certainly change the future. And your future is one without Serah. So enjoy that. I just pray to the gods that you don't ruin that poor girl in your misguided attempt at redeeming yourself to someone who doesn't know better."

"I told you Claire. She will have to make that choice. Not you. Don't get in my way. Consider this a friendly warning. The last one you'll get. You seem surprised that I dare tell you anything. You don't know me. You think you do, but you've never even tried. Serah was disappointed in me because she knew me. The best part of me. My shame is that part wasn't all of me. That I am what I am. You are right about one thing. I'm a bad man. She saw the best in me, because she brought it out. But you....you know only how to destroy. Just like me. Even in your attempts to fix your damage you fail. I know what that's like. I know what it's like to try and be better and constantly fall short. The best part of me, the part Serah could have loved....was torn from me at the gates of a monastery. I am a bad man. But I had hoped....that maybe she could have helped me heal. I was wrong. She saw the best in me and watched it disappear. So forgive me if I choose the one person who has seen all of me and still loves me. The one person who knows me and still calls me father. Say what you will. But I don't have to redeem myself to Lydia. She knows me, and accepts me for all my faults. Something I doubt even you have." He turned, ready to walk away again.

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't give a sh*t about your stupid warnings. I don't fear you Diritas. I never have and I never will because at the end of the day, I have far more than you. I have people that care about me and I about them. And while I've made my mistakes, I've remedied them and continue to do so to this day." She shook her head at him, making no move to stop him this time. Her lips pressed into a fine line as she seemed to be resisting the urge to inflict every ounce of bodily harm upon him that she could. "And when you ruin that little girl like you've ruined everything else, I won't even be smug enough to say I told you so, because that's how much pity I have for you, Diritas. I pity you."

That stopped him. He turned....looking at her with a broken expression. "You're right. But I have to try." The fact was....she'd cut deeper than she could even have known. It took every effort of will for him to stay standing. The urge to fall on his own sword was nearly overwhelming. "Otherwise....what?s the point' I envy you. Happy' You have everything I don't. You'll always be better. Looking at you is like seeing a 'what if' of my life. But no one else is going to fix my problems. No one else will help. As you said. I've got no one. Just that little girl now. Please Claire. If there's any shred of decency in you....kill me before I hurt her."

"I don't care if you envy me. I'm nothing to envy. I've done far more bad in my life than good, but at the end of the day I refuse to put those I care about at risk. Not anymore. Never again. If that meant dying before allowing them to suffer, so be it." There was no satisfaction. No retribution. No...anything, really. There was nothing fun or good about this conversation, a lose-lose situation that she seemed so familiar with. Conflict was evident in her gaze and she shook her head. "That's not my place...and if there ever comes a day Serah finds it in her heart to forgive you, I can't be the one that took that from her. I've taken too much from her, I won't be responsible for that." A quiet murmur as she wrapped her arms around herself. "We're renovating the Dragon's Gate baronial manor into a children's' home...she would be cared for there..."

His gaze was pleading as he looked into her eyes. "You know me well enough Claire. Do you think I would give her up" Someday, I would change my mind. Go after her." He took his cutlass from his belt, still in its sheath. He held it out to her by the blade, offering her the hilt. "You know this is the only way. You said it yourself. Even if Serah could forgive me....you are right. I'll only hurt her again unless I can change. And without Serah, without Lydia..." He didn't finish. Didn't need to. Without them, he wouldn't change.

Aquamarines that had lost their fire ticked down to the offered cutlass but she made no move to take it. "Unless you're dead by then..." She pointed out, probably knowing the likelihood of an untimely demise was excessively high for him. So much hung on this moment. Her relationship with Serah. The well being of the child Diritas had taken as his own. Her own conscience. All of it hung in the balance. "A catch twenty two...you can't change without them but you can't be around them to change without hurting them in the process." She shook her head. The solution was clear. So why did she hesitate" Eventually, she reached out to take the cutlass by the hilt, unsheathing it and eyeing the blade. "Understand that I do this not out of malice or contempt but out of mercy and pity..."

He held her gaze. "I don't need your pity. I don't want it. Just do it. Before I lose sight of what?s important." he spoke of that little light inside him, the darkness constantly trying to snuff it out. Even now. "Thank you though. If she's mad at you, tell her the truth. Do that for me?" He didn't specify who. His crew had orders on what to do with his daughter should something happen to him.

She bit hard at her lip, set her shoulders and gave him a single nod. A quiet blessing flowed from her lips, indecipherable and most definitely not in the common tongue. With that, she drove the cutlass forward into his body, no fire or fury behind the thrust of the blade, just simple mercy. It had to be done, a necessary evil. The motion didn't stop until the hilt met his body and she was a bit too close for comfort to him. She exhaled slowly as she drew the blade back until it was free again. "I'm sorry it came down to this." Genuine. She was actually being genuine with him.

He gasped, the blade passing through his chest, puncturing at least one lung. Blood ran down his chest and back, and his knees buckled as she pulled the blade free. Dropping to his knees, he looked up at Claire. There was no fury in those eyes. Only a broken spirit. Blood dripped from his lips as he spoke softly....his arms falling to his side limply. "It couldn't have....gone any different." he manages. Suddenly urgent, he looks up at her. "You....kno....I....ared....r....Se...h" his eyes didn't close, glassing over as the lung filled and speech was impossible. He was drowning in his own blood, slumping downward as his pulse slowed.

Death was nothing new to her, not in the least but there was nothing fulfilling about this one. No satisfaction. Jet black tendrils of an inky smoke like substance trickled from her fingertips, snaking around the blood soaked cutlass until it was fully enveloped in the ink spill that wasn't quite shadow and wasn't quite night. When the fog cleared the cutlass was gone, devoured by Chaos and she looked down at him, empty handed and empty hearted. "I'm sorry." She said one last time, leaning down just long enough to pass her fingertips over his eyelids in an attempt to close them before turning on her heel and walking away before she got too much blood on her shoes.

Diritas lost consciousness as his eyes closed. Blessed darkness overwhelming him. He was not aware of anything that transpired after that. He was not aware when his soul left his body. He did not see the woman down the docks who watched him die. Did not recognize her as part of his crew. He yearned for this, he deserved this, and he welcomed death as an old friend as his heart stopped beating, and he took his last breath.