Wow. It's been really quite a while.
This is, in fact, my first Anise and Jade story. I just wanted to try it out, since I suddenly had the inspiration to write a TotA story. With that, I do not own Tales of the Abyss.
Picking up his pen, Jade began to write about the past day's events. It was quite a late hour, but it was only at this hour that he had the chance to report on the recent observations and updates that were currently happening. Call it a journal, he supposed, though it had no emotional attachment at all, as he did not include himself very often. Rather, he included the observations between the people he was surrounded by everyday, forced to put up with everyone's voiced opinions and ruckus on a daily basis. This was to not forget anything that had happened, for fear of what may happen to them presently with the events that they kept encountering.
The necromancer sighed, and allowed himself to sit back in his chair. The Tarturus creaked in several places as it skimmed over the ocean's waters, but overall, it was peacefully quiet in comparison to how it was during the daylight hours. It was exactly why at this time he did his paperwork; quiet peace, no one to disturb him. True that he did not get as many hours of sleep, but with the amount of military time he's had, it was nothing compared to such days.
Jade leaned forward once again and picked up his pen, ready to write again, when it struck him as odd that he did not need much to help him stay awake. He would occasionally have a drink or two, when he did not have any paperwork to complete, or take the regular, non-sweetened, no milk, coffee when absolutely needed. From the rest of his comrades, he came to know that eating sweets seemed to be the absolute stimulant nowadays in staying awake.
Sweets. It was the absolute food he did not intake, as he did not see a point in doing so. It was frivolous, fattening, and gave the benefits of sluggishness if anything at all. In his entire life, he had never consumed sweets. It wasn't until his meeting of a certain little guardian that allowed him to eat (or try) sweets for the first time. She had given him a small portion of sponge cake, which she claimed was not entirely that sweet, and in general, he agreed for the most part. However, since it was his first time trying something sweet, he did not take much of a liking to it, but to be the oh-so-kindhearted person he was, he finished the rest of his portion at the nagging of the small girl who overcame his sarcasm.
He shook his head. How her nagging and protesting could ever beat his demanding decisions and sarcasm was beyond him. How he even put up with her everyday was even more puzzling to him, more than how he could even put up with Luke everyday (which was, not much.). She was a complete opposite of him, and yet she still overcame him at times.
As if on cue, a light knock sounded upon his door. Slightly surprised but not fazed by the visit, he cleared his throat and allowed entrance to the visitor at the door.
He inwardly gave an expression of exasperation, as his eyes watched the visitor bounce towards him with what looked like a tray of some sort of food and a pitcher of some sort of drink. Her eyes smiled at him without her doing so physically, as she yelled his title name and stopped right in front of his desk.
He gave a small smirk at the young girl before her, before speaking. "And what business do I have with fon master's guardian who is currently not being a fon master guardian?"
Anise stuck her tongue out in response and placed the tray on his desk. "Please, Ion went to sleep ages ago, and I made sure he was tucked into bed. See what a great guardian I am?"
"Oh yes, I noticed very well, since the guardian obviously does not need a good amount of sleep to protect the fon master the next day, am I correct?"
She pouted. "Boo. You're no fun, Colonel."
"Sarcasm aside," Jade continued, "may I ask as to why you're up at this hour anyhow?"
"Hm, I wasn't going to tell you at all, but since you're the only one up, I decided that I should just use you for being my taste tester."
He pushed his glasses up. "You flatter me, being the last choice in your decisions."
She waved her hand. "Oh don't worry, you weren't even a decision, just an option that so happened to be available at the moment." With that, she uncovered the plate that a tissue was placed on top of, to reveal a loaf of bread - at least, that's what Jade had thought of it.
He looked at her with an expression of slight confusion. "Do you expect me to taste test at this late hour?"
She beamed. "And why not? Live a little, Colonel! Get out of your daily routine - I mean, how bad could it be?"
He put a thoughtful hand to his face. "Well, I don't know. Assuming that it is pretty late, and there was no one to monitor you as you baked this, there may be some sort of unknown substance that may have sneaked in."
She crossed her arms. "Hey! Don't be so cruel. I'm not that careless! This so happens to be a food that Mama used to bake, and she made the recipe herself. She baked this for me when she taught me a very important lesson."
Jade looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, and his mouth formed a thin line. "And I'm assuming that you're wanting to teach me a lesson, then?"
She rolled her eyes. "Not necessarily. Just try this! You're awake already, and just take a break from what you're doing!"
With a fast motion, she quickly cut a piece of the bread and instantly stuck a piece into the Colonel's mouth. Surprised (for once in his life) by such quickness, he nearly choked, but grabbed hold of the bread that Anise had so wonderfully stuffed into his mouth. She stood back, smiling, and awaited for his answer.
On his part, he was not most pleased. He was a very closed-centered man; actions such as these often left him somewhat irritated. Moreover, the taste of the bread was not what he had expected; it was sweet. Not too sweet, but there was at least a hint of sugar that he could detect, and it made him wonder what in the world type of food he was tasting. With some displeasure, he gently took a bite of the bread and held the rest of the piece and silently chewed, forcing himself to swallow.
Anise smiled. "Well?"
He cleared his throat. "I would have appreciated it greatly if I was warned as to what measures I was going to consume this bread." His eyebrow slightly twitched; not intentionally, but from the sweetness he tasted.
She frowned. "You don't like it." Sighing, she walked to the window of Jade's office and looked thoughtfully out towards the darkness of the waters.
Standing, he took a small stroll around the room towards his bookshelf and pulled a book out. "What is it that your mother taught you from this?"
At this, Anise smiled. "When I was younger, all I loved to eat were sweets. My mother, knowing my sweet tooth, tried to refrain me from eating so much of it. I ate normal meals, of course, but I absolutely loved sweets."
He remarked on this. "Not a wonder as to why you're always out of breath whenever you try to look for Ion."
Though not facing him, she gave a small, playful smile. "That's not very nice. I'm always at least keeping track of him." Her smile disappeared once more, as she continued. "Anyway, I come home to her one day and during dinner we ate the usual meal. After every dinner, she usually had dessert prepared; my favorite time of the meal. But on this day, instead of a sweet-looking food, she took out this bread instead. Of course I was just a kid then-"
"Just a kid then? And only then?" Jade interrupted.
She huffed and turned to face him. "You want me to finish this, or what?"
He shrugged, and allowed her to do so.
She calmed once more and continued. "So I didn't really have the greatest mentality back then. When my mom said it was dessert, I claimed that it wasn't, that it was just bread. She gave me a look of disappointment, I guess, but I didn't pay attention. I didn't eat it, and I nearly cried. For the next three days, that's all she kept giving as dessert, so I finally decided to try it on the third day. By this time, there was only one piece left, so I forcibly tried it, and well, to my surprise, it was really sweet. It was so good, that I wanted to have another. But by the time I wanted another, there was no more left, and I ended up crying again, wishing there was more."
She looked at Jade, who just watched her intently. Surprised by his non interruptions, she looked at him quizzically for a moment before continuing on.
"That night, Mama came to me and told me what she did. She knew that I loved sweet things too much, and she tried to stop me from eating so much. But when that didn't stop me, she decided to make a food that didn't look sweet, to deceive me into trying something new. She already expected me that I wouldn't try it, but when I did, it was expected that I would act in such a way. She knew just how shallow I am when it came to outer appearances." She smiled. "Basically, Mama taught me something important." She looked up towards the Necromancer. "Don't judge just by the outlooks of something."
At that moment of her smile, Jade, the Necromancer, Colonel, the heartless man that everyone knew him as, was slightly taken aback. His body did not move, but his eyes slightly wavered at the sight of her smile. It was so genuine, true, pure, innocent; yet, her tone was filled with an unspeakable burden that she cleverly hid from everyone. What was it about that smile? Was it because it was so different from his own? Because it was honest and sincere?
Jade cleared his throat and walked back to his desk once more where the bread and the pitcher stood. The bread was still out, left the way they had left it.
"What is in the pitcher, may I ask?"
Anise perked up by his asking, and came bounding to the desk. "It's plain coffee. Unsweetened, with no milk, just as you like it." She stuck her tongue out. "See! I do keep track of these things, and do the best I can for everyone!"
Jade shook his head as he poured himself a cup of the coffee. "You haven't quite convinced me yet, but we will see in the future."
Anise sighed, and put a thoughtful expression on her face. They stood in comfortable silence for what seemed like five or so minutes, until the silence was broken. Jade had not sipped the coffee yet when he spoke to her.
"Is it not time you go to sleep?"
She looked at him and smiled. "Oh? Is the great Necromancer expressing some concern to a fellow comrade?"
He pushed up his glasses. "Not nearly. I just don't want people holding us down tomorrow for whatever event may occur. Unlike myself, you do head-to-head combat, while I can merely cast spells off on the side."
She gritted her teeth, and mumbled under her breath. "Should've known...stupid colonel, not ever knowing that I-"
"What was that, Anise? Mumbling isn't very good, you know." Jade threw a small smirk on his face at the troubled puppeteer.
Putting on her most sarcastic smile, she tilted her head to the side and spoke. "Nothing, Colonel! I was just saying how I should get to bed now and protect Ion, since that's my duty!" Giving a small salute, she then walked towards the direction of the door. Before opening the door however, she gave one last message with her back turned on Jade.
"Colonel. Just..." She inhaled, then stomped her foot in frustration. "Arg, nevermind! Just don't loose yourself, ok?" And with that she quickly opened the door. Before leaving though, Jade opened his mouth to speak.
"On a side note, I did not say anything about your bread tasting horrible." He turned to face her, with what looked like a sarcastic and smirking expression. "I have no idea where that frivolous idea had come from."
Anise, who did not turn around, suppressed a small smile. She straightened up once more and exhaled before yelling, "Good night!" The door closed just as fast as she had spoken, and with that, Jade was left alone to the quietness of his room once more.
The low hum of the Tarturus was heard once again around him as he slowly took a sip of the coffee, and inhaled deeply before giving a heavy sigh. A small smirk formed on his face.
There was something he couldn't understand, yet at the same time, it was all so understandable. The smile on her face. The way she lit up the room. Her little sarcastic remarks, unafraid of his responses. How her bubbly personality didn't bug him one bit. He, in fact, didn't know what to think of it. But he did know of one thing - he accepted her; very, very much at that. To accept someone without the slightest annoyance...it's something that the Necromancer himself has never done. There were times where her loud side came out, but it was almost as if...as if he didn't mind.
And he concluded, as he picked up the sweet bread, that she was, in fact, trying to teach him a lesson. His first impression of her was one of annoyance; he never really bothered to exchange words with her, until they were forcibly paired to go to Kimlasca. What he saw when he was finally introduced to her was a spirit of determination, no matter her smiling yet sarcastic remarks towards him the first time she met him.
Call it a pet, best friend, sibling, daughter, lover's interest...whichever it was, he did not know. For the first time, the Necromancer did not know what this was. But what he did know was that he accepted her, and he enjoyed her company every time she was around. And that was all he needed to know to feel this interesting relationship it has now put him in. Maybe it will develop, grow, or simply stay put. Whichever it was, he did not intend to change anything, until something else changed it.
He stared at the contents in his hands and merely smiled, a genuine one that no one ever saw. The coffee he drank was plain; it was bitter, unsweetened, had close to not a single readable character about it. Still tasting the aftertaste of the bread, it was sweet, filled with a joy and kindness he knew that he did not for sure have. The two apart were complete opposites and they were nearly something that one would not want to consume separately.
Taking the slice of bread, he bit into its sweet and moist taste. Before swallowing, he accompanied the bread with a sip of coffee.
Eating the two was a perfect match. Almost a perfect match. It was blissful; not too sweet, not too bitter, and had plenty enough character when the two mashed together.
Swallowing, he smirked. This may work after all.
Yes, no? I haven't written a story in quite a while, so this is the best I could do at the moment.
On a side note, the bread that Anise was referring to has a similar taste to zucchini bread. Zucchini bread looks like normal bread, yet it has a strange taste, despite its name. So I decided to use this bread as a type of food that somewhat matches Anise and enough to fool Jade.
I'm hoping the small metaphor of the sweet bread and the bitter coffee made sense. They were supposed to represent Anise and Jade, if it was not clear enough. I know that it was written slightly vague, but yes, that is the meaning of it.
As for the pairing, I'll leave that to the imagination of the readers out there. Anise as a little sister, best friend, lover's interest...up to anyone's opinion. Do tell your opinion if you wish to in a review!
Anyhow, hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading and reviewing if you do!