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31_days2020-05-16 03:00 pm
gershom_onyx) wrote in 31_days2020-05-16 03:00 pm
Entry tags:
[05 / 16 / 20] [Fire Emblem Heroes] Book of Red
Title: Book of Red
Day / Prompt: 16 / Let Me Sleep So I May Dream
Fandom: Fire Emblem Heroes
Character(s) / Pairing(s): Alfonse, Celica
Rating / Warning(s): Mature / Implied naughtiness.
Word Count: 930
Notes: No harm in a quick romantic cliché, I say.
Before going to bed and resting up for the infiltration of Castle Askr, Alfonse follows a suggestion from Sharena and goes to visit Celica. It is true that the two of them have traveled together for months, depending on the reckoning of time from one world to the next, but their relationship, started in a struggle on the beaches of Valentia, did not begin on a foundation of trust, and so Alfonse does not know where he stands with her.
* * * *
The reinforced door opened before Alfonse had a chance to knock, and he stood there, his fist raised, as Celica looked at him, illuminated by the thick candles she had set up in the chambers behind her, her face impassive.
"Talked to Sharena, did you?" she said. "Because I doubt this is a decision that you'd have made on your own. If I've learned anything about you, Prince Alfonse, it's that you're not good about coming out and saying what you want."
"It's ... not about what I want," he replied, feeling sheepish, "but Sharena's got a point: With what we're going to attempt tomorrow, I didn't want to leave any regrets in the air between us." He sighed. "I ... honestly don't even know what those regrets would be, at this point. Maybe how I recruited you."
She shook her head. "If it's going to be a serious conversation, you should come inside." He hesitated. "Now's not the time to be proper. Just come in."
"A-All right." He crossed the threshold and quietly shut the door behind him. "We've ... never really been on equal footing, Celica. I've known a lot about you, including things that, in your world, were still secret. It isn't fair."
"You're in a unique position to know those things," Celica said, folding her hands in front of her. "It wasn't fair, but I've come to understand the why of it. If you're still embarrassed that we got off to a rough start, don't. There's nothing to forgive. It's the way of your world versus the way of mine."
"Thank you for understanding." Silence. She looked at him, studying his face, and that silence turned to awkwardness. "I, um, perhaps I should —"
"I'm going to ask you a question," she interrupted, "and it's an important question, so think very hard before you answer it: Of all the Heroes, dozens, hundreds, maybe a thousand, why did you come looking for me first?"
Alfonse took her advice and considered his response – not for the first time, since he had asked himself the same question multiple times. She waited until he was ready, and then he said, "Because I knew that, of all the Heroes, you would be the one most likely to take my word at face value, the one least likely to have a separate agenda –" He caught himself. "I'm using too many words to say something simple: Of all the Heroes, I knew you'd help me."
"And is that the only reason, Alfonse?" A hint of emotion in her eyes, but he could not quite guess at it – he had never been the best at reading her.
"I –" He took a deep breath. "– if I say more, I'll be saying too much, and I don't even know, in my heart, if what I'll be saying will be right."
"Say it anyway. Even if it offends, all I will do is tell you good night and send you on your way." A smile at the edges of her mouth. "I'm an adult."
"Then –" He looked down at the floor, forced himself to look up at her again. "When I think of the ideal Princess, from all the stories I've read, all the worlds I've visited, I keep coming back to you, and I've had so much time to get to know you as a person, and everything I've learned –" His breath caught. "A Princess is just an ideal, just a picture in a storybook, and even my sister, the one who's grown up with me, she doesn't think the title means anything, but you –" A smile, genuine and unforced. "You're every bit as strong and inspiring as I could have hoped. I can't help it if I —"
Celica cut him off by kissing him, and that lingered for a long moment.
When she separated from him, she said, still holding his hands, "I've watched you learn and grow as I've learned and grown. If there's one thing that the two of us have in common, it's that we know we don't have all the answers. When you found me, my journey was only beginning, and you've since taken me places that I would never have seen, otherwise." She smiled. "You've tested my faith and shown me that there's more to it than I thought possible."
"So –" He had trouble hearing himself over the noise of his heartbeat.
"So, if how we met is your only regret –" Hard to tell if she might be blushing in the candlelight. "– then put that aside if you want to stay here with me tonight." He caught her up in a tight embrace. "If it's too much for you, you don't have to, but ... know that I'm giving you the choice."
"I'd be a fool to say no!" He whispered in a rush, reaching up and running his fingers through the flame-like red of her hair, made bright by the candles.
"Then don't be a fool." She kissed him again, and the night wound onwards.
END.
Day / Prompt: 16 / Let Me Sleep So I May Dream
Fandom: Fire Emblem Heroes
Character(s) / Pairing(s): Alfonse, Celica
Rating / Warning(s): Mature / Implied naughtiness.
Word Count: 930
Notes: No harm in a quick romantic cliché, I say.
* * * *
The reinforced door opened before Alfonse had a chance to knock, and he stood there, his fist raised, as Celica looked at him, illuminated by the thick candles she had set up in the chambers behind her, her face impassive.
"Talked to Sharena, did you?" she said. "Because I doubt this is a decision that you'd have made on your own. If I've learned anything about you, Prince Alfonse, it's that you're not good about coming out and saying what you want."
"It's ... not about what I want," he replied, feeling sheepish, "but Sharena's got a point: With what we're going to attempt tomorrow, I didn't want to leave any regrets in the air between us." He sighed. "I ... honestly don't even know what those regrets would be, at this point. Maybe how I recruited you."
She shook her head. "If it's going to be a serious conversation, you should come inside." He hesitated. "Now's not the time to be proper. Just come in."
"A-All right." He crossed the threshold and quietly shut the door behind him. "We've ... never really been on equal footing, Celica. I've known a lot about you, including things that, in your world, were still secret. It isn't fair."
"You're in a unique position to know those things," Celica said, folding her hands in front of her. "It wasn't fair, but I've come to understand the why of it. If you're still embarrassed that we got off to a rough start, don't. There's nothing to forgive. It's the way of your world versus the way of mine."
"Thank you for understanding." Silence. She looked at him, studying his face, and that silence turned to awkwardness. "I, um, perhaps I should —"
"I'm going to ask you a question," she interrupted, "and it's an important question, so think very hard before you answer it: Of all the Heroes, dozens, hundreds, maybe a thousand, why did you come looking for me first?"
Alfonse took her advice and considered his response – not for the first time, since he had asked himself the same question multiple times. She waited until he was ready, and then he said, "Because I knew that, of all the Heroes, you would be the one most likely to take my word at face value, the one least likely to have a separate agenda –" He caught himself. "I'm using too many words to say something simple: Of all the Heroes, I knew you'd help me."
"And is that the only reason, Alfonse?" A hint of emotion in her eyes, but he could not quite guess at it – he had never been the best at reading her.
"I –" He took a deep breath. "– if I say more, I'll be saying too much, and I don't even know, in my heart, if what I'll be saying will be right."
"Say it anyway. Even if it offends, all I will do is tell you good night and send you on your way." A smile at the edges of her mouth. "I'm an adult."
"Then –" He looked down at the floor, forced himself to look up at her again. "When I think of the ideal Princess, from all the stories I've read, all the worlds I've visited, I keep coming back to you, and I've had so much time to get to know you as a person, and everything I've learned –" His breath caught. "A Princess is just an ideal, just a picture in a storybook, and even my sister, the one who's grown up with me, she doesn't think the title means anything, but you –" A smile, genuine and unforced. "You're every bit as strong and inspiring as I could have hoped. I can't help it if I —"
Celica cut him off by kissing him, and that lingered for a long moment.
When she separated from him, she said, still holding his hands, "I've watched you learn and grow as I've learned and grown. If there's one thing that the two of us have in common, it's that we know we don't have all the answers. When you found me, my journey was only beginning, and you've since taken me places that I would never have seen, otherwise." She smiled. "You've tested my faith and shown me that there's more to it than I thought possible."
"So –" He had trouble hearing himself over the noise of his heartbeat.
"So, if how we met is your only regret –" Hard to tell if she might be blushing in the candlelight. "– then put that aside if you want to stay here with me tonight." He caught her up in a tight embrace. "If it's too much for you, you don't have to, but ... know that I'm giving you the choice."
"I'd be a fool to say no!" He whispered in a rush, reaching up and running his fingers through the flame-like red of her hair, made bright by the candles.
"Then don't be a fool." She kissed him again, and the night wound onwards.
END.