[identity profile] sarcasticfonist.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] abyssianmelody
Who: Jade, Guy
Where: Baticul
When: The night after the return to Baticul
Warnings: Guy and Jade are alone, need we say more?

Guy sighed, leaving his and Pere's room in the Fabre manor. Luke was back in Baticul, and the message had been delivered to Ingobert. Everyone had come back to the manor with them (Natalia had insisted on checking on Lady Suzanne, and Tear wanted to apologize. Guy had a feeling the others were just tagging along for the fun of it). But it was late now, and Luke was probably already in bed.

Guy couldn't sleep, though, especially not being back inside a city after so long in the wilderness. So he figured he'd take the time to work out a bit, knowing that old Miyagi kept his doors open late. He'd gone down before fairly late, and Miyagi had told him that as long as he kept it down, the old dojo master didn't mind if he worked out all night.

So Guy held onto his sword as he made his way to the entrance of the manor.

Jade was returning to the castle after having a nice relaxing drink at Baticul’s tavern. It was a relief that the message had made it here safe and sound and that he had been welcomed rather than imprisoned. However, he still had to wait on the results of his mission and that meant more time in the city before he could go back and report on his findings, including the extra things he found.

He saw a figure slip out of Luke’s manor and stopped in his tracks. Who could be out this late there? It obviously wasn’t Luke, his parents wouldn’t allow that. He could tell it wasn’t one of the maids, the figure definitely didn’t look female.

He waited for the person to come closer and then recognized who it was. And this wasn’t exactly a safe thing for Guy to be doing. True, Baticul was a safe enough city, but in Guy’s case, he had someone who would be perfectly happy to cause his death. It was obvious now that Guy had truly forgotten everything they discussed that night, since he forgot the warning to not go out alone.

He walked over to the blonde swordsman. “I’m quite surprised to see you here this late and by yourself. Baticul must be a safe city for you to feel confident that you will not have any chance of getting hurt along the way to wherever you are going.”

Guy nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Jade's voice. "Jade!" he called. "I'm going down to the dojo to work out. It's been a while since I've been down there, and I can't sleep anyway."

Guy looked at him. "Most everyone in the upper levels knows who I am. It's not like anyone's going to bother a servant. If they don't know where I'm headed, they'd just figure I'm on an errand. No one bothers servants."

Even a servant could be a likely target for someone looking to rob someone. Even if Guy didn’t have an enemy, he could be in danger. Of course, Guy’s skill with a sword would probably scare off the normal robber anyhow, so it wasn’t surprising he felt safe.

“Servants of nobles can make good targets even if they don’t have enemies like the God-Generals around. You should have more of a care for your own safety.”

Guy froze slightly. "The God-Generals wanted to keep Ion from reaching here. He's here, so there's no reason they should have any reason to go after us anymore," he said, not realizing that Jade knew who he was, and, more importantly, why Balir wanted to kill him.

“Revenge perhaps? That is a rather common reason to want someone dead.” Jade said with a smirk. If he had things right, that was Guy’s reason for even being here now. “Or there is jealousy too. But you wouldn’t know of such things, would you? Being a mere servant and all.”

He was sure Guy’s reasons were one of those two things. His cousin’s reason for wanting Guy dead was obvious enough, it was jealousy.

“Or there is the third common reason, the wish to silence someone who knows a secret.”

Guy froze in his tracks with this, turning to look straight at Jade. "Jade..." Guy knew, now, that more had been said when he was drunk. But how much.

"Come with me," he said, quickly turning away from the dojo. Guy had been living in Baticul for around 14 years now, he slipped away to explore as often as he could. He knew the perfect place to talk, without being overheard.

“I guess…” Jade said with a shrug. “As long as you aren’t taking me to some dark alley to do away with me for that third reason. You’d be taking rather unfair advantage of an old man who can’t defend himself properly thanks to the God-Generals.”

"You're the one who would take advantage of someone," Guy commented. "And you can take care of yourself just fine, don't try kidding me." Guy led the way to the upper levels, but instead of going to the Fabre manor, he passed by the gate and slipped around to the back. There was a forest behind the manor that no one ever went to, let alone at night.

“I see someone is still upset about that.” Truly, Jade could tell Guy was definitely angry. It would seem he had forgotten more than just what hints he had given while drunk.

“At least I can be relieved that you don’t seem to be planning to ambush me here.”

"I'm not that stupid," Guy muttered, but not addressing Jade directly. Once they got to the forest, and Guy made sure there was no one around to hear them, Guy turned on Jade. "What do you know?" he demanded.

“To tell the truth, what you said really told nothing definite. But it seems you forgot something else from a time further in the past. I merely put the pieces together to get the full picture.”
Truly, he hoped Guy wasn’t too angry about this. He had truly taken a liking to the young boy he had met in Hod and had regretted that he could not tell the boy of the future then. “But time does tend to change all of us, doesn’t it?”

Jade relaxed a slight bit seeing that Guy was actually pleading with him to hear what he knew. At the very least, he could refresh the young man’s memory of the past. “Before the war, I was stationed in Hod. Though I can’t divulge the details of what I was doing there, I can say that I found a lost child one day. A noble child who was the son of Count Gardios. I took the boy back to his home where he was happily reunited with his family.”

“What you told me the other night made me recall that. You are that boy I met, aren’t you?”

Guy blinked. That was... 17 years ago? Maybe 18. He remembered meeting up with a young soldier... That... that was Jade?

"Y-you...? You were that soldier?" Guy asked.

At least Guy did seem to remember now, though obviously he had forgotten details. Jade would hope that he was recognizable enough to anyone.

“I guess a young child would not recall such details that would allow you to remember me. But then we both have changed over the years, you obviously far more so. It is good to finally know what happened to that boy.”

Guy looked down. "If you know who I am, why haven't you said anything? I'm illegally in Kimlasca, and have failed to present myself to the Emperor for 16 years." Guy didn't mention his reasons for entering Duke Fabre's household, he was sure that Jade knew why that was. And he was equally as sure that Jade knew what the penalty for his actions could be, should he be discovered.

“Until the other night, I wasn’t sure about why you seemed somehow familiar.” Jade said with a shrug. “I don’t tend to tell what I know until I have confirmation of it. Though I knew his Imperial Majesty would have been glad to hear my thoughts, it wasn’t enough yet.”

“As far as anything else, your actions are your choice. I only would hope you can deal with the results of your actions. My only obligation is to report that I have evidence that you are indeed alive so the records can be up to date and his Imperial Majesty can officially refuse your cousin’s claim.”

Guy looked at Jade. "Claim?" he asked.

Jade shrugged. “You probably aren’t aware of it, but even with the destruction of the lands themselves, the Gardios estate is still a rich one. Your cousin would benefit greatly if you had been found to have not survived.”

"Oh..." Guy looked down. "Pere mentioned, once, about me eventually claiming my title, but never said anything else... And I didn't even know about Balir..."

“I’m sure his Imperial Majesty would be glad to know you are alive and well. But you do realize, you are in danger now that your cousin knows it as well.”

Guy looked down. "I know... I ran into him in Kaitzur..."

Jade smirked. “You actually mentioned that before you passed out. Until then I had no reason to even know if he had lived through that battle.”

It had made sense though, Van had been with them, of course a God-General would have to report to his commander about what happened in the battle and receive orders. “For now, we have no idea where he may be and jealousy is indeed a powerful reason to want someone dead.”

Guy sighed. "What all did I tell you that night?" Guy asked worriedly.

“Less that you would think. I happened to already have some information so your mention of the war and being the heir filled in what I was missing. Otherwise we discussed Luke and Choral Castle.”

Jade was considering telling Guy his suspicions about Luke. It could have an effect on things coming up rather soon, but it was just as possible that it would have no effect at all and would just cause undue stress for all involved.

Guy nodded absently. "So you got me drunk so I'd actually answer your questions?" Guy remembered the first conversation the two of them had had... Guy knew that Jade hadn't trusted him, because of how little he'd say.

Jade shrugged. “You needed to relax, that was the reason I invited you to discuss things further. I admit I wanted to confirm some thoughts I had, but nothing more than that.”

Guy rolled his eyes. "You're not denying you got me drunk."

“You can make what assumptions you wish, they may or may not be valid. I can assure you that no harm will come to you from myself for what you told me.”

At this point, Jade really didn’t care that much if Guy was mad at him for having any part in this. The confirmation of some things was needed, it was better to have gotten the information through devious means than for the young man to end up seriously injured or dead because he underestimated his only family.

Guy sighed. He supposed that was the best he'd get from Jade. "Regardless, I'm well known in Baticul, and people would question if I suddenly didn't go around on my own. I am a servant, I do have my duties that I have to fulfill."

And that was truly a shame. Though he did initially distrust Guy, it was more because he didn’t know the connections. But even then, he didn’t want the young man to get hurt.

“Your actions are your own choice. If what brought you here is more important than your own life, then there is nothing more I can say.”

"I have my reasons for being here," Guy admitted. "But if I break out of my 'role', I'll be lucky if the worse that happens is that I'm arrested. Impersonating a servant to get close to part of the royal family? I'd be put to death."

“And what about when your goal is fulfilled? You’ll be in greater danger then if my guess is right.” That brought another thought to Jade’s mind. Obviously Guy’s cousin knows his secret and the resemblance would be enough to identify who he was speaking of. He could very neatly pull off killing the Gardios heir by revealing what the young man himself did.

All very neat and the God-General wouldn’t even have to do a thing. His rank could well gain an audience with the king, and even if it could not, he could easily bring the story to someone who could tell him, like Mohs for instance. “There is another thing, who is to say your identity will be kept a secret by your own family? That would accomplish the same thing with far less trouble.”

Guy froze. He hadn't even thought of that. Guy stumbled slightly, until he reached the brick wall surrounding Fabre Manor, and used it to prop himself up.

Jade could tell from Guy’s reaction that such an idea hadn’t been considered, and truly, it wasn’t the most obvious thing, but it was a possibility. It all depended on what sort of person Guy’s cousin truly was. If he didn’t want to kill directly, he’d use the political route. If he preferred to do things himself, then the more obvious route of murder would happen. “You may wish to reconsider things. As it stands now, you could be in great danger no matter what you do. You aren’t in so far that you cannot get out of this, but the longer you stay here, the harder it will become.”

Guy looked up at Jade. "What would you suggest?"

“Ultimately, it is up to you to decide. If it were me, I’d find some way to leave without raising suspicion. A simple one, like wanting to seek work elsewhere would be enough. The less said, the better.”

Truly, explaining his long absence when he reclaimed his title would be harder than removing him as a servant from Kimlasca. Then there would be the fact that Kimlasca could eventually find out about him, but a story could be made to explain that easily enough. Once he was away from Kimlasca, he was far less likely to have any problems, since he would have his title and his country to protect him. A noble is far more likely to be punished in a less harsh way than a mere servant would be. “A bit of embellishment would go a long way, and you are in a far better position to be forgiven if you are a noble than if you are a mere servant.”

"What about Luke?" Guy asked. As difficult as the boy was... he was still Luke's friend. And he didn't want anything to happen to the boy.

“You know him better than I do. But if you remain here and you either accomplish your goal, die at our cousin’s hands, or your secret comes out, would he not be hurt by any of that?” Jade asked in response.

Guy hated this. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. And that wasn't even taking Pere into account. Pere was the only one left who had never abandoned him, he couldn't just leave without him.

It was probably best for Jade to give Guy some time to think about all this. In the end, the decision was his. “I’ll leave you now to think about all this. If you do decide to reclaim your title, don’t forget that you would have your Emperor to support you. If you decide to remain here, Luke and his family will not find out that you are a Malkuth noble from me.”

At that point, since there was nothing more to say, Jade left the area and left Guy alone with his thoughts. What happened now was truly up to the young man, and he could only hope that it all ended well.
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Melody of the Abyss

January 2011

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