Author's Note: This fic is based on how I feel Stahn and Rutee's relationship works, considering their personalities and all they've been through. If you have a different perspective, that's great, but please don't flame me for mine.

Italics indicate present day, regular text is flashback or the past.

Disclaimer: Tales of Destiny and all of its characters belong to Namco.

The horizon was painted orange with sunset. A young man and woman watched the sun's final rays struggle against the impending nightfall through their living room window. The man, called Stahn Aileron, breathed a contented sigh and grinned at his wife. "The days are getting longer, Rutee," he announced, pleased by this discovery. "I can't wait for summer... especially since that's when the baby's going to be born."

"You can feel him kicking," said Rutee, grabbing Stahn's hand and placing it on the bulge that was her stomach. She was six months along now.

"How do you know it's going to be a boy?"

Rutee closed her eyes and made an exasperated sound. "I don't, but how would you like to be referred to as 'it' all the time?"

Stahn shrugged. "I guess that's a good point." A smile lit up his expression as he felt the light flutter of the baby kicking.

"I thought so." Rutee beamed. "What do you think the baby's going to be, Stahn?"

"Well, you've been calling it 'him' the whole time, so I picture it as a boy."

Rutee laughed. "Maybe we should start alternating between 'him' and 'her'... just in case."

Stahn chuckled at that. "...either way," he said, "I want to teach the baby how to use a sword as soon as I can!"

"I hope you'll at least wait until he's born."

"Yeah," Stahn agreed. "Might want to wait until he can walk, talk and understand what I'm saying, too."

Rutee just shook her head. "I'm sure he'll be eager to learn no matter when you start... especially if he's anything like his father."

Stahn smiled and kissed his wife's lips, wishing this moment could last forever. It was one of the rare calm periods in a relationship that had always been turbulent, a hurricane that they were both trapped in the eye of.

---

Their relationship was unique, forged by circumstance and held together by grief. Leon was Stahn's best friend and Rutee's little brother and even though all of their travel companions had been devastated at how things had ended, Stahn and Rutee bore the deepest scars.

They began sleeping together long before the journey was over. None of their friends knew and if they'd suspected, they'd never let on. Stahn's views of sex were idealistic. He believed the act to be something sacred that should only be shared by two people in love. His pain clouded his judgment and he never once considered their nightly escapades a vice. Instead, they showed that he loved her and she loved him and that belief soon became a reality and it held true... at least for a while.

They'd whisper "I love you"s and talk, kiss, fuck and cuddle until the break of dawn. They were running forward hand in hand, fleeing the tragedies that had rendered them weak and made them so vulnerable. By the end of their journey, their emotional wounds had scabbed over and finally started to heal. They were back to themselves.

Maybe that's why everything went straight to hell almost as soon as they moved in together.

The arguments started almost immediately. She picked at him as she'd always done before grief had silenced her and he refused to keep his frustrations to himself. Stahn wasn't a bottler. Both of their personalities could be likened to fire and together they burned. The days went by and neither would admit that they were the problem--not him, not her, but them. They preferred to point fingers and each blamed the other for their own unhappiness. In spite of this, they both stayed. Their relationship was based more on what was supposed to be than what really was and they were both too afraid to let go. They never made love anymore, they only had sex. At that point, it was the sole thread holding them together.

Things only worsened as their lives became stagnant. While they were travelling with their friends, there were plenty of distractions. Once they eased back into normalcy, things began to change and only got worse. They had lengthy, furious bouts where each refused to speak with the other and so they were left alone with nothing but their thoughts to keep them company. It was during that time that their common wound, a wound that had been healing so well, was rubbed raw and painful again by dark memories.

Finally, Stahn couldn't take it anymore and he left, telling Rutee that he was going but not letting her know where. She didn't care, or so she said. He travelled to the Straylize Temple and told his friend and favourite confidant, Philia Felice, everything. The young priestess listened patiently to his account of how difficult things were before wrapping her arms tightly around her friend.

"Time heals all wounds," she soothed him in her usual kind way, releasing him from her embrace. "Be patient and things will work out. I promise..." There was a sadness in her voice that Stahn might have pondered had he picked up on it. It wasn't insensitivity on his part so much as preoccupation and a well known inability to pick up on subtlety. Philia was too shy to be more forward, so instead she swiftly ushered him out of the temple, urging him to go back home and try to work things out with Rutee one more time.

"Thanks, Philia. You're such a great friend."

"Y-you're welcome," Philia started to close the door before Stahn was even fully outside.

"You're really in a rush," Stahn noted.

"Rutee needs you. Go to her." And with that, the door was closed because the priestess didn't want to hurt Stahn with her tears.

Stahn heeded Philia's words. This was one of the many times he was truly grateful for her friendship.

---

Philia. Stahn shook his head. How long had it been since he'd last spoken to her? Not since the wedding. He wondered how she was holding up and wondered if she'd found herself a man yet. Guiltily, he hoped that she hadn't.

---

By the time he got home, it was dark outside. He pushed the door open and entered. There wasn't a single candle lit inside the house and that fact troubled Stahn.

"Rutee?" he called, but received no answer.

"Rutee!"

Again, nothing. Puzzlement gave way to fear as all the worst thoughts ran through his head. Had she been attacked by burglars? Maybe she'd gotten sick of the lie they'd been living and left to start anew. As Stahn walked through the hall, those thoughts continued to intensify until they almost consumed him. It took nearly tripping over something on the floor to bring him back to reality. He frowned and groped blindly in the darkness for the object for a few seconds before his hand grazed something cold and smooth. He picked it up and discovered that it was a glass bottle. It was uncapped and the smell of liquor assaulted his senses.

Had Rutee simply drank too much and passed out, or was it something worse? Stahn fumbled for a candle and, upon finding one, lit it. "RUTEE!"

Candle in hand, he walked down the hallway and into their bedroom. Sure enough, Rutee was laying on the bed, dead to the world but thankfully alive. Stahn smiled and went over to the bed. He leaned over and kissed her slightly parted lips. They tasted of rum. Guilt washed over him. He knew that he was what had driven her to drinking. But this was it. Philia was right, they could work it out. They loved each other, or at least clung to the assertion that they did.

As Stahn crawled under the covers, he put his mouth to Rutee's ear and whispered, "Tomorrow, everything's going to change."

---

"He kicked again!" Stahn exclaimed. "I have a feeling he's going to be an active one."

"He comes by it naturally." Rutee chuckled.

"That's true... hey, doesn't hurt when he does that?"

"No, but I have to admit that it feels pretty weird."

Stahn supposed that he had the baby to thank for the fact that they were still together. He could thank it bitterly for trapping them in a marriage neither really wanted but both felt was necessary. Or, the optimistic side of his brain took over, or he could thank it for bringing them moments like this. The battlefield was silent and both sides had called a truce. Still, Stahn knew it was going to be temporary. Their truces always were.

---

When Stahn awoke to what he thought was morning but was actually afternoon, Rutee was still in bed beside him. She had the blankets pulled up over her head, since the sunlight coming in through the window was unsympathetic to her hangover.

Stahn opened his mouth to speak, to ask her if she was okay, but before he got the chance, she rolled over to face him, peering up over the top of the blanket through squinting eyes.

"...where were you so long?" she asked with accusation in her tone.

"I was at the Straylize Temple."

Rutee raised an eyebrow, unamused. "...you were with her, weren't you?"

"Philia? Yeah, she was there." Stahn smiled congenially, hoping that he could avoid an argument, but failing to realize that the name he praised was the same one Rutee cursed.

"So that's why you didn't tell me where you were going." Rutee massaged her temples with her fingertips, staring balefully at Stahn.

Stahn shook his head. "No, I didn't tell you where I was going because you said that you didn't care."

"Well, I didn't expect Mister Honesty to spend the night with another woman!" If looks could kill, Stahn would have died right then and there. "Hypocrite."

"I didn't spend the night with her!" he protested. "I came right home!"

"Yeah?" Rutee asked him fiercely. "And how should I believe you when you can't even do something as simple as telling your girlfriend where the fuck you're going when you leave the house?"

"Maybe if my girlfriend actually gave a damn about what I did--"

"I don't give a damn about what you do?" Rutee cut him off, raising an incredulous eyebrow. "If I didn't give a damn, then we wouldn't be having this conversation!"

"You only care if it involves other women," Stahn shot back. "You don't have to be jealous of Philia. She's just a friend and nothing happened between us! In fact, she's the one who told me to come back here to you."

"Leave it to Philia. She's just so considerate," Rutee said with venom in her voice and daggers in her eyes.

Stahn sat up. "You know what? Fuck it, just forget it," he said. "I can't talk to you when you're like this."

"Good. Go back to Philia. The only thing you've succeeded in doing here is making my headache worse," Rutee retorted.

"Rutee, I--"

"Get lost, Aileron."

With that, Rutee pulled the blankets back up over her head and refused to say anymore. Stahn reluctantly went out into the living room.

So much for a new start.

---

It was early evening before Rutee came out of the bedroom. Stahn was at the dining room table with a cup of coffee. Rutee joined him at the table and they sat in silence for several minutes. "How's your headache?" Stahn finally asked.

"Better, thanks..." Rutee looked down at the table top and Stahn stirred more sugar into his coffee. Finally, nearly simultaneously, both blurted out apologies.

"I know you didn't do anything with Philia... I doubt she knows how." Stahn decided it would be better to ignore what was supposed to be a subtle jab at the priestess. "I was just hungover and pissed at this whole damn situation and I took it out on you."

"What do you think we should do about it?" Stahn asked, bringing his coffee cup to his lips and taking a long sip.

"I don't know, Stahn." Rutee buried her head in her hands. "I just don't know."

---

To Stahn, the next four weeks were worse than any of their fights. They were awkwardly kind and polite to each other because they'd decided it was better than arguing. They'd rather let their relationship dwindle and fade than burn out completely. It was torturous. They were like two strangers living under the same roof. They rarely spoke and rarely had sex. They rarely argued too.

Rutee began throwing up in the mornings. Stahn expressed concern but he didn't put two and two together until she came to him one night and told him to sit down.

"What's this all about?" Stahn asked. He obediently sat on the couch, though, and Rutee paced the floor in front of him, wringing her hands anxiously. Stahn was afraid, afraid that she'd finally seen through the bullshit that was their relationship and was ready to call it quits. He was still holding onto the hope that they'd fix what was broken and go back to the way things used to be. It was easier for him to ignore the fact that their romance had never been what one would call normal or conventional.

"Stahn..."

He looked up. Rutee had stopped pacing and was looking him in the eye. "What is it?" he asked tentatively, unsure of whether or not he wanted an answer.

"...I... I'm pregnant."

"...what?"

Stahn couldn't have heard her right.

"You're... what? Are... are you... are you sure?"

Rutee nodded. "It's been nearly six weeks since I last... well... you know."

Stahn stared at her, his mouth agape, as he tried to process this. They'd created life...

He leapt up off the couch and threw his arms around Rutee, smothering her with kisses. "Rutee, this is great!" he exclaimed. Maybe this was what they needed to sew their relationship back together. "This is the best news I've ever heard!"

Rutee returned Stahn's embrace, her face radiating joy. "We're going to be parents..." she said breathlessly, as though the realization had just dawned on her.

Stahn's smile was so wide that his cheeks hurt. This was it, this was the new beginning Philia had told him to wait for all those weeks ago.

---

Stahn envied how naive he'd been back then. He'd proposed the next day and they were married within a week. Both of them were impulsive, so the consequences be damned attitude they'd went into the marriage with wasn't surprising at all. It wasn't long before everything regressed back to the state it was in before. Their constant arguments and harsh words were only amplified by the unpredictable moods the pregnancy put Rutee in.

As always, it was merely the hope that things would get better that held them together. Moments like this only enforced those hopes and made the impending fallout even more unbearable.

As much as he wanted it to, Stahn knew that the baby's birth wouldn't change anything between him and Rutee. The distance created between them by the wars that they'd already waged with each other was too wide, the damage sustained by both parties was too severe. They were both far too stubborn to change their ways and too success oriented to know when to quit.

They'd never get their fairytale ending.