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The duel that took place on the training grounds gathered, it seemed, almost the entire Hideaway as spectators. Each blow was met with an excited hubbub, each step that raised sand dust was met with an approving hum, because who would refuse to watch a fight between two masters of weapons, who had survived more than one serious battle. But there were two people who did not enjoy the spectacle at all: Joshua and Jill concentrated on watching the two figures circling in battle, trying to catch the slightest hint of a change in their faces or body language. For them, this was not just a friendly duel.
Clive and Dion were fighting on the grounds.
***
“I know everything about you and the Prince.”
Joshua choked on air and coughed, with a trembling hand putting aside the book he had been reading.
Clive stood at the threshold of the room, his arms folded across his chest. There was mistrust and some strange determination in his eyes. It didn't bode well.
"Good morning to you too," the Dominant of the Phoenix finally caught his breath. He had, of course, already guessed what Clive meant, but he was completely unprepared for such a conversation, so it was better to try to change the subject.
"Don't even start," Clive snapped unusually harshly, not giving his younger brother even a second to think and answer. There was a strange bitterness in his voice. "Please."
Joshua looked away, trying to look anywhere but into someone else's eyes.
"I know that you and Prince Dion... are in a relationship. I saw you."
"This conversation will take place after all, right?" Joshua muttered, still refusing to look at his older brother. But the oppressive silence that hung over him was too unbearable, so he had no choice but to continue. “Listen. I understand that for some reason you still don’t trust Dion…”
“Does that surprise you?” Clive’s eyes flashed. “I remember how much you valued your friendship as children, but he’s still the heir to the Empire, and it’s not entirely certain that he won’t try… to continue his father’s work.”
“Dion would never do that!” Joshua exclaimed hotly, throwing up his hands, causing the book lying nearby to fall to the floor with a dull thud. “The same could be said of me then, if you remember Mother.”
Clive turned away, shrugging his shoulders. It seemed to hurt him more than he could have imagined.
“I’m sorry,” Joshua sighed. “But I do trust Dion. I love him. Could this really cause us to quarrel in any way? I thought..." he swallowed hard. "That you'd be happy for me."
His brother didn't turn back to him, but his ears were noticeably pink.
"I'd be only too happy if you found someone after your own heart," Clive finally squeezed out. "But you're hiding. You didn't want me to know, so you're hiding something. It worries me."
Joshua rolled his eyes.
I assure you, there's no need for that. We're hiding... Because this is something we'd like to keep between us for now. And then tell him when we're ready," he tried to smile. "Can't you give him a chance?"
Clive crossed his arms and looked at the floor. His younger brother's safety and happiness had always come first for him, and now the loving older brother and the adult who understood that this was Joshua's choice and only he could decide were struggling inside him.
"Let's say you convinced me," Clive muttered reluctantly. "But I still can't fully trust Dion yet. He has a lot of work to do before I see him as a man worthy of you."
"Is that a compliment to me or a rudeness to Dion?" the another Dominant smirked.
"So," his older brother ignored him, "I hope your Prince convinces me of the sincerity of his intentions before you both do something truly indecent."
Joshua's smile faltered. His heart skipped a beat.
"...Joshua?" Clive asked incredulously. Then his gaze darkened, and his hands clenched into fists. "I swear by the Founder, you..."
Joshua froze in his tracks. The gears in his head were spinning at a furious speed, but he had no thoughts about how to end the conversation.
Unfortunately, his brother had found a solution faster and was heading for the door.
"I'll kill him."
"Wait!" Joshua jumped up and tried to grab his shoulder, but Clive didn't seem to notice and left the room with a face like he was going to fight Odin himself.
What should he do? Should he run after him? Go try to find Dion first?
"Okay then," Joshua snorted instead. After all, they were all adults, and he didn't have to dance around them to make them friends. He sighed tiredly, walked back to the bed and picked up the book that had fallen, wiping the dust off it.
Really, Dion and Clive could solve this on their own.
***
"They're going to fight."
Joshua looked up from the book he was not supposed to read today, annoyed. But Jill was standing in the doorway, out of breath, her eyes wide with concern bordering on panic.
"Clive and Dion?" It wasn't that it was hard to tell, but Joshua asked anyway.
Jill nodded.
He sighed wearily, for the umpteenth time that day. It wasn't even noon yet, and he was already exhausted.
"It started in the dining room," Jill said. "Clive came up to Prince Dion and started talking to him about something. I couldn't hear what it was, but he looked really angry, and Dion was tense, too. And eventually they challenged each other to a duel."
Joshua groaned, placing his fingers on the bridge of his nose.
"And of course no one stopped them?"
“Everyone is happy,” Warrick nodded. “Gav even volunteered to watch the fight. I think there will be a decent crowd.”
“Well… not a scuffle, but a duel. Not so bad,” muttered Joshua.
“A fight between two Dominants who have lost control over strong emotions before,” Jill sounded worried, and she did not take her eyes off Joshua. “I felt it, Joshua. They are both furious.”
Founder. The Dominant froze. Only now did he realize that the situation was catastrophic.
“Did your conversation with Clive go somewhere?” the girl asked softly, obviously trying to calm them both down, but her voice was still shaking a little.
“Do you know what we were talking about?” Joshua buried his face in his hands.
"About your sweet walk with Dion yesterday, when you held hands and looked into each other's eyes, did I guess?" she smiled, but then her face darkened. "Or has your relationship gone further?"
The Dominant of Fire remained silent, turning away and hoping that Jill would not see the color flood his face.
"...I see." she sighed. "Then we must hurry, before only ruins remain of the training site."
Joshua swallowed and nodded. Time was indeed short.
***
And here they were, among the roaring crowd, not so much watching the fight as trying to feel the splashes of Clive and Dion's magic. It was not that Joshua did not believe in their ability to control the eikons, but he felt responsible for the possible sad outcome of the battle. Because he was the one who had asked Dion to keep their relationship a secret, he was the one who had been afraid to open up to Clive, and now he had to watch as the two people he cared about so much tried to hurt each other. His throat was still tight, making it hard to breathe, Joshua was literally a bundle of nerves. A sudden pain slid through his arm as Jill grabbed his arm, her gaze fixed on the two fighting figures. Despite the fact that she had awakened as a Dominant much later, she was much better at focusing on other people's magic, which required considerable control. Even the emotions raging in her heart did not interfere with this; perhaps it was because her Eikon was bound to ice? Either way, while the Joshua tried to cope with the growing anxiety, Jill wasted no time in trying to sense the slightest vibrations in the ether of Ifrit and Bahamut. Even Thorgal, who had tagged along, seemed to be watching his master's fight, whining occasionally. Joshua patted his head, burying his fingers in the dog's thick fur. It was calming.
So far, the fight had been purely with weapons: thanks to the length of his halberd, Dion could keep Clive at bay, and the lightness and agility of a dragoon helped him dodge particularly vicious attacks, but Clive compensated for his own weight and speed with strength and endurance. They both knew their strengths and weaknesses, and years of training and hard fighting were evident in every movement. But this was not a competition or a sparring, this was a real fight, and if something happened to Clive or Dion, Joshua would simply not forgive himself.
Suddenly, Jill tensed, tightening her grip on Joshua's arm and then he felt, almost physically, the crackle of the ether in the air. The faces of both opponents reflected a frightening determination.
The girl stared at Gav, who was standing at the edge of the arena, also watching the fight. Another burst of air, but this time much closer and as if it were freezing. It seemed that Jill was trying to signal Gav to stop the fight, Joshua realized, but could a non-Dominant sense such a thing?
Either Jill had truly amazing abilities, or Gav was not telling them something, but he turned his head in her direction. He gave her a questioning look, but Jill only frowned more.
“That’s it! The fight is over!” Gav shouted, running up to Dion and Clive before they could launch another attack.
The spectators hummed in displeasure, but both Joshua and Jill simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.
“I think everyone agrees to a draw?” Gav chuckled, turning to the assembled group. "It was really interesting, but you must admit, we can watch this for a long time, and there is a lot of work to do."
The people stood there for a while, but soon began to disperse reluctantly. Clive and Dion followed Gav, but stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Joshua and Jill's gazes.
"Get ready to accept congratulations," the scout smiled, waving his hand at them one last time.
Oh, Joshua has already prepared the words for "congratulations".
***
"I really do congratulate you," the Dominant of the Phoenix began without preamble, as soon as they found themselves in his room. "I congratulate you on being two morons."
"Joshua..." Dion began.
"Moreover," Joshua interrupted him, "you are also two egoists. You... what were you even thinking!?" he finally broke into a scream, tears in his eyes, which he had been holding back all this time. "Do you even understand what you've done!?"
“We didn’t do anything,” Clive growled. “You’re my brother, and it’s only natural that I’d want to hold Dion accountable for what he did to you.”
Both Dion and Joshua glared at him, but while the prince seemed merely annoyed, the Dominant of Fire looked as if he was about to seethe with anger.
“What did he do to me?” he hissed. “So you think Dion just took advantage of me, and I was frivolous enough to give myself to someone just because that person was my childhood friend?”
“No!” Clive was embarrassed, looking away. “Of course not! I…”
“And now you,” Joshua turned to Dion, not even listening to his brother. “You gave in to an absolutely ridiculous provocation. What did you want? To protect your honor? Instead of just talking, you decided to have this stupid duel too. Have you seen yourselves!? You almost killed each other there!"
"Everything was under control," Dion and Clive were indignant in one voice. At least they were in solidarity on something.
"It wasn't," Jill said quietly. She was sitting on Joshua's bed, stroking Torgal, and, frankly, in his outburst, Joshua even forgot that they were there too. "Maybe you didn't feel it, but you almost used priming. Right away, without spells, you were ready to summon the eikons." She didn't look up, just covered her face with her hands, and her shoulders shook. "It's a miracle that Gav was able to stop you. I thought... I thought that..." Jill never finished, her voice turning into quiet sobs.
The room fell silent. Clive started to go to Jill, but Joshua pinned him to the spot with his gaze.
“It was only because of Jill that the fight was stopped. She sensed something was wrong,” he explained. “You made her worry. You even made Torgal worry, damn it.”
“And don’t speak for Thorgal,” Clive said, but the dog looked up at his name, and his eyes were filled with a completely human condemnation.
“You didn’t think about us,” Joshua spoke again. “It all started because of me, and maybe you were both trying to protect me. But didn’t you think about what would happen to me if the people I love most in the world became enemies? Hurt each other?”
Jill’s sobs grew louder. Thorgal laid his head on her lap and whined softly. And now Joshua gave in to his tears, too. Clive and Dion stood silently.
"...Forgive us," Dion finally said. "You're right, Phoenix. We didn't think at all."
"I only wanted to protect you," Clive added quietly, but through the veil of tears Joshua saw his gaze fall every now and then on Jill. "I didn't mean to hurt you. And I didn't mean to hurt you either, Jill."
Thorgal barked softly.
“And especially you,” Clive nodded seriously. The prince coughed, suppressing a smile, and even one of Jill’s sobs sounded suspiciously like a giggle. Joshua smiled tiredly, wiping away his tears.
“I don’t hold it against you,” he said afterward. “I just want you two to get along. I don’t want to… I can’t choose between you.”
The older brother walked over silently and hugged him tightly. Jill seemed to calm down as well, and came over with a cautious hug, muttering an apology for the tears on her face and hands. Dion remained standing. The girl, hugging Joshua from the side, could see this and winked.
“I think we should separate for a while, to cool off completely,” she said, nudging Clive’s shoulder so that he would let go of Joshua. "As Gav said, we all still have work to do today. Clive, can you help me?"
"But..." Clive wanted to object, but Jill had already taken his hand (no matter how he tried to hide it, it was noticeable how he instantly became embarrassed even from such a simple gesture) and carefully led him along. Thorgal trotted after them, poking his wet nose into Joshua's palm as if encouraging him.
Now Dion and Joshua were alone, and only then did they fell into each other's embraces.
"Forgive me" the prince repeated. "I'm guilty before you all."
"I'm guilty too," Joshua hugged him tighter. "But what did Clive tell you?"
"Well... he said that I simply took advantage of you, and I want to seize Rosaria through you again," Dion laughed quietly, but Joshua, looking up, saw bitterness in his gaze. "I was afraid... that he wouldn't accept our relationship, and when he challenged me to a duel, I thought that by winning I would prove my loyalty to you."
Joshua rolled his eyes.
"Amazing. What a brilliant plan. But I don't see any logic in it."
"Clive and I are warriors, after all," the prince shrugged. "For us, everything is decided first and foremost in a good fight."
"Oh, the fight was really good," Joshua chuckled.
"Really?" Dion raised his eyebrows. "And who were you rooting for?"
Joshua smiled and put his finger to his lips.
"Let's keep that a secret."