Disclaimer: If I owned Fire Emblem, I would die of happiness. As I am still alive and well, obviously I do not own it.
Title: Lillies
Pairing: JoshuaxNatasha, JoshuaxMarisa
Genre: Romance/Angst
Rating: K
Summary: FE8, JxN, JxM. Their love was like a desert flower; a beautiful Galbana Lily. It was a rare treasure, envied by all who saw it in bloom, and yet it quickly succumbed to its demise under the pressures of Jehannan life.
-Italics are quotes either from Joshua and Natasha's supports or from randoms I made up.
-Whoever guesses where Galbana lilies are from gets a cookie! (No Google searches allowed!)
"Lillies"
"Don't worry. In a pinch, I never lose. Well, I mean, I lose sometimes. But not this time."
Their love was like a desert flower; a beautiful Galbana Lily. It was a rare treasure, envied by all who saw it in bloom, and yet it quickly succumbed to its demise under the pressures of life in the harsh desert.
Joshua, King of Jehanna and Hero of the War of the Stones, understood the reasons for his love's departure, and, truth be told, he had seen it coming a long time in advance, yet his heart still mourned for Natasha, for the love they had shared and the life they might have had together.
The beginning of the end had been the day the Royal retinue had passed through a battlefield, and Joshua's retainers had denied Natasha's requests to help.
(The Queen of Jehanna doesn't need to do that, my Lady. Leave them to the ordinary clerics.)
(But there are so many wounded...)
It had been hastened by her anguish at the knowledge that people in her homeland were still suffering after the war, and as Queen of a nation on the far side of the continent, she could do almost nothing to help them.
(The King and Queen of Renais are doing far more than is necessary to help the likes of Grado, my Lady Natasha. Jehanna must see to its own hurts before those of the ones who caused them)
The final blow, however, came from the prejudice that she suffered as a native of Grado, from Jehanna's memories of the suffering that the war had caused.
(She's not of Noble Birth; She's not even Jehannan!)
(How dare a treacherous Grado snake like her steal our Prince's heart?)
So she left.
Years later, however, Natasha looked back and wondered whether she would have been better off to endure all the undeserved criticisms for the sake of her love.
She stared out the only window in her ramshackle hut, which she could barely afford because she so hated taking the precious gold from those she had healed. She stared towards the North-east, towards Jehanna, and towards Joshua.
(This is my future we're betting on. My happiness…)
But at the end of the day, it was the act of helping others that made Natasha happy. So she put Joshua out of her mind and concentrated on the small tasks before her, trying to convince herself that this life was worth the price she had paid for it. Eventually the hole in her heart began to heal. It didn't hurt as much as she had expected when word reached Grado that the King of Jehanna had been remarried, to a lavender haired Sword Mistress of great repute. It barely twinged when she heard of his son's birth, and, many, many years later, when Natasha was told of Joshua's death, she felt nothing at all.
(So what is it? Heads or tails?)
(What do you know?! It's tails. You win. Figures. I haven't won anything all day. Well, Lady Luck has spoken. Guess I'm on your side now.)
Their love could have been, should have been, an everlasting gemstone that endured in the face of the harshest blows. Instead, it crumbled like a fragile Galbana Lily in a passing sandstorm.
Fin