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When a certain young duelist was naught but a little girl playing in the gentle flower fields of Fontaine, she had only one aspiration in life that filled her soul with hope and brought a warm smile to those mysterious yet beautiful lips. To be a handsome, gallant knight, someone’s trusted sword and shield. To keep their heart tightly nestled next to hers and protected from all harm be it mental or physical, to remain a constant wall to lean on for the one she loved most no matter what blood must drip from the tip of her sword to do so.
The single most crucial petal adorning that flower known as her dream? A young princess by the name of Navia Caspar. From the moment she gazed upon the sunshine gleaming from those eyes that nearly blinded her, melting her heart into a puddle of loyalty and undying devotion…she had silently swore an oath to ensure her smile that feels as if it could heal even the deepest of gashes never fades from her lips.
The two became utterly inseparable as lady and knight, countless sleepless nights spent with her sword in a calloused hand jolting at even the most delicate of rustles from bushes far away. Navia became her whole world, her reason for being, her reason to wake up in the morning. She would never rest another blink if her Princess demanded it of her. She loved her…but it was that genuine love that brought it all crashing down like an aircraft caught in a relentless storm.
The two grew close, too close. Princess Navia was expected, no, required to be betrothed to a man and bear his heirs, her feelings on the matter as important as a singular grain of sand amongst the desolate, dry desert known as neverending patriarchy. Seeing Lady Navia value and adore her Knight over the line of nobles that would sell their every last possession to court her cut deep into the insecurities of those men with power. Eventually, Clorinde was cut straight through the heart in return.
The King no longer took no for an answer, grabbing the Princess sharply by the wrist as the noble slid a ring on her finger in a manner that made Clorinde’s blood boil like a dormant volcano seconds away from erupting. Her thoughts were no longer rational, a need to protect her lady ran deeper than that of a simple knight to her princess.
She barged the noble out of the way as if he were nothing but a worthless sack of pointless riches, she swung at the King himself with reckless abandon, cutting a gash in his cheek straight to the bone. She fought with all the might she could muster down to her last breath, through blood, sweat and most of all…desperate tears. It wasn’t enough, she was banished from the kingdom, banished from ever showing her face near the assortment of weathered bricks that make up Fontaine Castle ever again. As for Navia? The light in her eyes had faded away like a broken TV signal, forced into a marriage so devoid of love it’s sickening to the very core. The last time Clorinde ever saw her, that smile was long gone.
A decade has passed since that fateful day, a decade of agonising nothingness for the Knight. A sword with no purpose, a moon without her sunshine. She survived but she never truly lived, the second Navia’s heart was ripped from her chest it’s as if her own stopped beating alongside it, though her body somehow remains alive. Her hair was a disheveled mess of silk, her fingers trembled and shivered around the hilt of her sword in contrast to the way she would wear it like a badge of honor when she shielded her Princess so many years ago, the bags under her eyes had grown deeper despite now spending countless hours surgically glued to the sheets. Her reason to live was gone.
That was until the murmurs of the streets made a shot of hope course through her bones, a feeling so unfamiliar to her after years of nihility she nearly stumbled backwards. A messy divorce between the now Queen Navia and her husband? Her husband banished from Fontaine after attempting her assassination for the sake of reaping the hefty benefits of her will?
She didn’t need to hear a single other syllable, her legs strode towards the Castle, steel in hand. Not caring who tried to stop her, not caring the lengths she had to go to get in. Her lady needed her and now the controlling men that dictated their lives are no longer a factor.
She barged through every single guard that dared to stand between her and the now gentle ray of sunshine peaking through the curtains of her heart. Her heels clacking against the stone floors harmonising with her almost dangerously elevated heartbeat.
The utmost important trait taught to you as a royal knight is to always keep your composure and to never let your emotions dictate your actions. Right now, with her breath forcing itself out of her in mangled gasps and her shoulders crashing into her surroundings with haste, she isn’t acting as a royal guard, she’s acting as a direly lovesick girl. A wilted plant finally offered fresh rainfall.
Though, when her gaze finally meets the Queen, eyes heavy with responsibility and the sunshine now drained from her porcelain face, her footsteps grow more gradual. Navia is sat gracefully by a window in the endless halls of the castle, sunlight bathing on her, accentuating her now regal presence as she subconsciously strokes the head of her little baby. Even if her oceanic eyes no longer glimmer with hope and her shoulders sag as if the weight of the entire world rests upon them, she is still adorned in a gorgeous golden glow like a shell of that young princess Clorinde swore to protect.
The Knight freezes in place, what does she even say? What could she even say? Does the Queen even remember her? Should she bow to her? Should she get on her hands and knees and beg for forgiveness after failing to protect that smile that was previously sweet like sugar? Should she just walk up to her like nothing happened? Should she jump into her arms and kiss her senseless-uh, no definitely not that one. Focus, Clorinde!
After a very long time, Clorinde lets out a guttural sigh. No, she can’t do this, she can’t even look her in the eye after she failed her. She turns away, but the moment she begins to walk the other direction a firm hand grips her wrist. Her heart leaps and her entire body jolts so drastically you would think she had grabbed a power line with her bare hands. A gentle, pained voice rings throughout the hall.
“C-Clorinde…? Is that…?”
Clorinde can’t move, can’t mutter even a noise despite how desperately she wants to feel her ladies arms soothing her exhausted muscles once more. The baby nestled in Navia’s arms whines in its slumber, almost as if the tension is so thick it weighs on its own tiny mind.
“P-Please say something…” Navia’s voice was meek and completely unfitting of a Queen in this moment. Her old retainer’s presence is like a flood that immediately breaks her fragile dam, tears streaming down her face from how badly this decade apart has wounded her, too. Clorinde's head immediately snaps to Navia at the rare sound of her sob, effortlessly beautiful even when she’s wracked in distraught.
“N-Nav…Y-Your Majesty, I-I.” Clorinde hopelessly attempts to mumble out some meaningless words, before her knees buckle out beneath her. A flood of tears escapes from the Knight, a decade’s worth of façade crumbling away at the gentle grip of a wrist.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty…I-I’m so damn sorry. I should’ve been there, I should’ve been stronger! I-I…”
“Stop, stop that. You damn, foolish…roguishly handsome girl.” Navia gently chuckles as she kneels to the level of the weeping knight, for once, she needs to be strong for her. When the gates are closed and the shed of armor is no longer shielding Clorinde from the wounds of the world, Navia had promised her she would be there to mend it, even if only by the flimsy tape known as her words of reassurance. She pulls the Knight into a crushing hug, though not as tight as she would like due to her daughter still sleeping soundly in between them.
“Don’t you dare blame yourself for what happened, you were gushing crimson kicking and screaming trying to prevent my fate. They surrounded you, that isn’t your fault.”
“B-But still-! I-I promised never to let that smile be torn off your face and I failed-”
“Enough, you failed no one. Besides, darling…” Navia snakes a hand beneath Clorinde’s chin, tilting her eyes drenched in despair up to meet hers. She delicately smiles, though it may be slightly practiced and failing to reach her eyes, it’s still every bit as genuine. A balm to Clorinde’s injured soul.
“Perhaps my smile got lost along the way, maybe it was simply taking a break or parked somewhere far from here? Or maybe…it was still with you, waiting for you to reunite with me, to bring it back to me. You never let my smile leave my face, sweetheart, you just kept it safe.”
Clorinde shudders, her eyes still lost in a river of despair though show a glint of something almost daring to resemble hope. Her steel shines at the tip in the sunlight as the flames of her vow reignite at the sound of her ladies' firm reassurance.
“Up you go, no more apologising and certainly no more kneeling.” The Queen keeps a strong hold of Clorinde as she gently lifts her back to her shaky feet. Navia strokes the tender skin of Clorinde’s cheek like she's the most expensive, precious ornament in the world.
“...May I kiss you? My gallant knight who protected me oh, so fiercely."
Clorinde pupils dilate so drastically it’s as if the revolver holstered on her belt had shot her straight in the temple. She stammers, her cheeks rose tinted and adorable as her tears are lost to the past.
“Y-Yes…Please, Your Majesty.”
Navia purrs lightly as Clorinde hurriedly agrees, adjusting her daughter in her arms as she leans closer. The world around them goes utterly still, there’s no one to interfere anymore, the words and the snatching arms of patriarchy crumbling beneath their hearts beating in unison. Their lips delicately meet, pressing a long kiss that feels as if it bathes Fontaine in the optimistic sunlights of old. Navia reluctantly retracts, her smile finally connecting to her eyes that look at her knight half-lidded.
Clorinde’s attention turns to the little baby nestled in her mother’s arms. Perhaps the only gorgeous gift bestowed upon that decade of nihilistic hell.
“Could I hold her for a moment?”
Navia nods, graciously passing her daughter to Clorinde. She holds her with maternal reverence, ghosting a finger across her tiny cheek as the Queen leans on her knight’s shoulders once more.
“She needs you, just as badly as I need you, Clor.”
Clorinde inhales sharply, equal parts vibrating with excitement and squished under the weight of newfound responsibility. Just like those sleepless nights a decade before this, however? She will bear that responsibility, for her Queen…for her love.
“Right.” Clorinde nods slowly, carefully passing the baby back to Navia. As Navia turns to walk away, gesturing for her knight to follow…she interrupts one last time. Forcing the Queen to a screeching halt.
“...May I kiss you? My beautiful sunlight who shines even upon the most damp of nights.” Navia blushes all across her heavenly face. Turning meekly like a highschool girl with a fleeting crush.
“Yes…Please.”
Clorinde’s face lights up like the moon, as she leans in one last time. The whole night is theirs to spend it however they like. Their lives are no longer dictated by the men around them, they live how they want to live, with their hearts forever intertwined as one and their daughter snuggled between them.