Yay, new story! I really shouldn't considering I've got two more on the side…which I've been neglecting of the late… But I simply couldn't leave this story alone! It's an IsadoraxLegault story and starts off when Legault decides he's leaving. Isadora isn't too happy and this is where my story starts—amidst all the wondrous chaos! This fic is a response to Duderlybob's questions and to polliewollie (By the way, your beta-reading helped so much! Thank you!) who really wanted a love triangle…(wink, wink). This story is dedicated to you guys for all your help!
Leaving is Bad…Saying Goodbye is Worse
"Legault, what do you mean you're leaving? We—we just—I mean—we're…" It killed me to see her so distraught, sapphire locks framing her marred features I caused. This wasn't the reaction I wanted, but it was the one I foresaw.
She drew back from my body, gripping the sheets around her.
I found that I couldn't speak. No matter how I rehearsed my lines, nothing made sense. Nothing formed coherent thoughts. Her face was enough to make me feeble and weak minded.
"Legault, just give me one good reason why!" Confusion and pain crossed her eyes. "Is there…is there someone else…?" Her words were as soft as butter yet jagged with razored edges. Her grasp on the sheets tightened till her knuckles were white.
Her eyes, now pools of love and hate, blazed with unrepressed emotion.
"Speak to me, Legault! I-I deserve a reason! You-you at least owe me that!" She pounded her fists on my bare chest—I didn't stop her. Each blow reminded me how mad I clearly was, but also why I had to leave.
I spoke finally, my words as pathetic as my soul.
"Of course there isn't anyone else. No one could ever replace you in my heart." And no one ever will.
Her eyes softened a bit, but held the remains of a once strong bastion of her faith in me.
"You know I love you, Isadora. No woman has ever made me feel such…passion. You mean the world to me and that…that is why I must leave." My words cracked her last defense. She threw herself into my arms once again, bawling, her slim figure trembling with each raking sob.
I was close to tears, but I forced them back down. One of us has to be strong…one of us has to do what is right, I repeated to myself over and over; praying that each time I did would finally trick myself into thinking it true.
"If you love me…then why are you tearing my life apart…?"
It was more of a statement then a question and it pained me to answer. I paused from a spark of hope that she would not wish for an answer. But she waited and each word I spoke tasted like acid, burning my tongue.
If only I didn't have to speak.
"You wouldn't understand. You'd never understand. You're just— It's too complicated!" I found myself yelling at her for the first time in our life. Isadora glanced at me with melting crystalline orbs. Damn you for being so beautiful, I could have screamed. Damn you for making me love you.
"…You promised me, Legault."
That one sentence, those four words…were enough to make me discard all my carefully laid plans and schemes. To trash any dreams I had for our futures. Promise…I did promise her, but it—it… I'm such a knave, a horrible, wretched knave…and she will just have to live with that.
But conceding to that acknowledgment did nothing.
"I just have to go. That's all. I…I owe you no reason."
I loathed myself. Detested, hated, despised. But it didn't change the fact that I had to leave. Nothing could change that and nothing would. My mind was made up.
She slapped me—hard and fast with the strength of a Pheraen knight. I couldn't react. Her heated features tightened and she covered her mouth with tremulous hands. She seemed as dazed as I was.
She began throwing random pieces of clothing—some of it my own. Everything was a mess.
I didn't care, it didn't matter.
"Oh my…Saint Elimine…Legault…I'm…" She tugged herself away from my gaze, tears streaming down her face.
I had also promised to ensure she never wept again…
I failed there as well.
She whipped open the tent flap and ran out of it. I couldn't call her back or tell her to wait, to stop…to just listen. To tell her that I was right and she was wrong.
But I hardly convinced myself—how could I convince the one I loved?
I couldn't.
I watched her, through the flap of our tent, find solace in the embrace of her previous love—
—Harken. Whereas he brightened her future with golden and heavenly light, I just dimmed it with moonlight's shadow and midnight sorrows. There was a reason, after all, why he had captured her heart first. I was just there to fill that hole he caused, I reasoned with myself. I was nothing more than a replacement, someone to shower her in affection. She never truly loved me.
But maybe it's because he had been there first to lay claim to it, a part of me whispered. Perhaps nothing more than that…
I collapsed against the pillow of my cot and folded my arms beneath my head. It's done. I did it. I can go. It's over.
No matter how many times I repeated that in my head, I was unable to move from the spot Isadora once lay in. No matter how pressing my cause, fear of leaving asserted my mind rather than the fear of being late. I was leaving too much behind, risking too much by staying…risking too much by leaving.
After some quiet deliberation, I decided to move. If the deed is done there isn't much reason to stay. She was the only reason for staying.
I cleaned up my cot, and tidied up the tent, placing her armor nicely on the sheets. I almost picked up a quill and parchment, to explain in words what I couldn't to her face. No words came to me, none made sense—my actions would have to be enough. Her armor blinded me for a second, making me hesitate.
It shined like the silver of the moon—but only when in sunlight.
I gathered my belongings, making sure I left nothing to trace me by. Opening the flap, I made sure no one was up and about. The coast was clear save a blue bird that had perched herself on a mahogany branch. The large tree seemed overwhelmingly big, like it could smother both me and the bird should it fall. Her melody was a soft, melancholy tune, one that drifted through the air on weightless notes. Her beady eyes seemed to watch me as I walked.
I got three feet from my makeshift home before cold steel kissed my neck.
It didn't take me long to realize who it was.
"Hello, Isadora." She didn't remove the blade, but instead pressed it harder against my skin. Any closer and it'd break skin.
"I want a reason." Her voice mimicked her weapon. My mind raced with options. Draw my daggers, disarm her, run, lie, tell her the truth…
The last choice scared me.
"Let me go." I tried to sound callous and indifferent, and it worked, a little too well. I could feel tremors originating from the hilt.
"Am I not trustworthy enough, Legault? I am not the traitor here…once a traitor, always a traitor." Her words seethed with resentment caused by and aimed at me.
"I am sorry Isadora, but this is the way it has to be." I took the dull side of the blade and twisted it sharply, wrenching it from her grip. I saw pain flash across her eyes but I knew if I lingered, I would never leave and that pain would multiply tenfold. I sheathed her sword in my hilt, realizing that it was my own. Helplessness resurfaced in her gaze…which cued me to run, run as far as I could. If I didn't, I'd surely stay.
And that was not an option.
I reached the dense forestry and collapsed near a tree. My breath was short and raspy from the running; I clutched the coarse trunk for stability. Damn you, Tamesis.
"I'll make you pay dearly for this," I said out loud as I touched the satchel that held that cursed burden.
Touched it…and realized it wasn't there anymore.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I lifted myself from the dusty floor, glancing at my throbbing wrist. He had never hurt me before…nor had he ever lied. And all this in one day, what happened?
"Isadora! Are you alright?" The concern was unmistakable, as was his voice, one that used to make me weak at the knees.
"I'm fine," I said curtly. I didn't mean to be, but he just wasn't him.
"Should we run after him? Where is he going? We should alert Lord—"
"It's fine, Harken. Let him go," I interrupted.
"I should go find Lord Eliwood anyway, he must be alerted to the fact that the traitor has betrayed—"
"He's not a traitor!" The words were out of my mouth before I even thought to defend him. I could almost feel tension rising within his body, curling and unfurling. Harken never rises to rage easily, but once there he is…volatile.
"I'm sorry, Harken, I didn't mean to raise my voice." I hoped his resentment would subside; it would do me no good to have him incensed as such.
"I beg your leave," he said indifferently and turned on his heel. I will worry about him later, he cannot stay mad for too long. It wasn't until I couldn't hear his footsteps that I took out a pilfered souvenir.
Magnificent jewels of all colors were set into its gilded hilt, and the blade, aquiline symbols etched into the gleaming metal, was securely sheathed in an ancient scabbard. This was the dagger so carefully tucked beneath Legault's belongings. So this is the treasure so carefully hidden; what's so important about this knife? It seems ordinary enough save its exceptional quality. But knowing Legault, it must be something more than that…and something that probably does not belong to him.
I slid out the blade, careful not to slice myself. The tip grazed my finger and drew blood. A few droplets dripped onto the dry dirt. It was sharp—very sharp. The silversmith who crafted this must have been very skilled. So how is it that Legault came across it?
A piece of parchment feathered its way down to the ground from the sheath. Curious…what is this? I picked it up, opening it slowly. The handwriting, I noticed, was definitely female. It was a letter to Legault.
My heart tightened and then froze as I read the words scripted:
Dearest Legault,
Your time is up. The dagger is either mine or the blue haired one is dead—it's your choice. Make it in haste. You have one week from now. My people are tracking her as you are reading this and they are ready to kill her at my command. And don't think she can escape either, your precious Isadora is at my disposal now…
With love,
So what do you readers think of it so far? I hope you like it! This is a sequel to my other Isadora fic called I Promise (feel free to read that too!), but you don't have to read that to read this! Next chapter is going to be fun to write and I hope you guys review because they're always welcome!
