Work Text:
Jade was… exhausted.
These damned trials took a fair bit out of her, though she dared not complain as it was clear she had more endurance than some of her companions. But the truth was, she was wiped. They all were.
Their adventure had grown stranger and stranger— they passed into the realm between worlds and underwent various trials before meeting with the spirit of the late Drustan, companion of the former Luminary. She found his offer remarkable: that if the Luminary could complete the trial by vanquishing one final foe, he would be granted a wish.
The first fight proved none too difficult, really, and Eleven used his wish in a calm and level-headed fashion: a weapon that could stand against Calasmos, the horrid entity they would soon have to do battle with.
The second trial had all of them trudging through humid forest, then a gaudy and labyrinthine hall of gold… but they made it. After countless battles with dragons, winged gremlins, and slot machines of the damned, they finally made it.
And as Eleven cut through their second grand foe, dubbed by Drustan as the Unfathomable Anger… Jade breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally done. They had all agreed to take a respite after the second trial, to allow everyone to recover their strength, and the thought of being able to lie down in a cotton-soft bed. Perhaps if she were clever enough she could even convince the others to take their rest in Heliodor, where she knew she could sleep, well, like royalty.
Eleven was always rather soft-spoken, and this proved to be no exception. Actually, Jade thought, he seemed even quieter than normal as Drustan asked him for his second trial’s wish. Not only did he seem to quiet down, he looked… embarrassed.
But he collected himself, and cleared his throat, and spoke clearly to the knight before him.
“I wish… for someone. ...Someone to stay with me. Forever. … That is to say…”
The wish took everyone a bit off guard, and in a way it broke Jade’s heart: the boy was thrust out of his village to take on the role of world savior at the age of sixteen, and it left him no chance for a normal life from that point on. There was so much he’d already missed out on, and so much that he probably wouldn’t be able to experience because of the way his life had already changed course.
It makes sense, though… El does need someone. Someone to care for him, stay by his side as a companion while helping him find his place in the world again once we’re all done here.
More or less, it’s what she wanted to give to him since she first met him as a baby; Jade was an only child, and the birth of the Luminary meant that she would have someone to more or less look at as a younger brother, given their parents were well-acquainted.
But then, the fall of Dundrasil came.
And six-year-old Jade, who had been entrusted with bringing the young hero to a safe place, where he would not be slain by cruel men, lost him.
She failed, and was forced to watch in screaming tears as the infant child’s basket rushed away down the river and out of sight.
She never forgot the sight, nor the feeling in her gut. Not for fifteen long, cold years of searching.
Jade barely knew Eleven, and yet she would have died for him. Through those years she also cursed herself, and Lord Robert, and the gods themselves, that the child was lost to the current and not her. His safety was of the utmost importance to Lady Eleanor, the boy’s mother, and as she was like a mother to Jade, it was crucial to her too.
She vowed once she found him that she would never let him go again.
So… it was fine. It was good and proper that Eleven should have someone to fulfill that role for him now that he was grown. Gemma, the obvious choice, who was raised in his hometown alongside him and clearly seemed to fancy him.
A knot formed in Jade’s stomach.
Yes, Gemma was the one. They’d be perfect.
Never mind the rehearsals the party had run for the Briscolettis to help the planners nail down every detail perfectly, where Eleven stood in as the groom. When asked to pick someone to serve as the bride, Jade tried to rush him along into deciding, only to suddenly realize that he had been walking up to her for a reason. She was still embarrassed by it, and would probably remember how drastically she tripped over her own words until the day she died.
I mean, I'm basically your older sister. Is that really who you want as your bride?
It's not as if you'd want me to be your wife in real life or anything, is it? Could you even imagine!?
Perhaps, indeed, she had protested too much. Were she a bit more graceful, she could have articulated herself without seeming to berate him.
She… did love him like a little brother, once.
But that was long ago, when she held the infant in her arms, watching him in quiet awe.
It became more complicated once they had reunited, fifteen years later. They were, for all intents and purposes, meeting for the first time. And while Eleven didn’t exactly look like much of a hero, or seem particularly strong at a glance… she found herself quickly proven wrong.
Eleven was… quiet, yes, but brave. And strong, and surprisingly rather fun to be around, and
kind,
oh so kind.
And that was the problem.
In another life, where Dundrasil hadn’t fallen, and El wasn’t the Luminary, and the two of them were able to grow up together in royalty… she would have loved him like a brother.
But in this life, the one where she vowed to find him or die trying, where she became a sworn companion and protector of him, where she sometimes quietly watched him from a distance around the campfire, begging to know just what he was thinking, if he was burdened at all, if he needed more from her…
In this life, she had fallen in love with him.
So, Jade thought, nobody deserved companionship and affection more than Eleven, after all he’d been through. And she meant it. But deep down, as the curdling in her stomach intensified at his wish… her own wish, selfish as it may be, was that he could be happy with her.
“That is to say, you long for a partner in life to treasure til death…”
Drustan’s quiet laughter returned Jade’s focus to her once more. “Is that truly the wish you seek?”
Quietly, cheeks tinged with pink, Eleven nodded.
“...It is.”
The intimidating spirit of Drustan chuckled once more, with a quiet nod.
“It is the wish of many a knight to live out his rest of days alongside a true companion as the war ends. I cannot fault you in the least for such a decision. Now…” He lifted his head slightly, ensuring that his and Eleven’s eyes were focused on one another.
“...Who is the partner that you would choose, to stay by your side?”
Without realizing it, Jade’s grip tightened on her spear. She looked down and closed her eyes for a moment, drawing a long, slow breath to try and push away the thoughts, to be happy for El when he undoubtedly invited the lot of them to Cobblestone for a wedding.
And then, a quiet gasp. Jade could tell immediately that it was Sylvando, the man lived for drama… she opened her eyes to glance at him, amused by his theatrics as always, and then she froze.
A few feet in front of her stood Eleven, who was nothing but patient through the next ten seconds or so of Jade’s confused stammering and blushing, before holding out his hand for her own.
“Y-you’re sure?...”
She stared at him incredulously as he nodded. She didn’t truly understand
why—
but then again, she had berated herself over the last fifteen years for one brief moment as a child, so perhaps she wasn’t the best gauge of her own worth.
“O-oh… well… if that’s truly what you want, I…”
She swallowed hard, and hesitantly reached out a hand to his own. It was beyond obvious that she was shaking.
“... I accept.”
The words felt beyond idiotic leaving her mouth, but as soon as her hand touched his own all of those thoughts shattered like glass.
She had found the one she was looking for.