A/N: I was feeling a call deep within my soul to write this for season 6. Be warned, major spoilers if you haven't seen the new episodes. Walk away, right now, if you haven't seen them. Come back when you've watched episode 63, then consider reading this. Unless you like spoilers, then I won't make you not read this.
Title: Velvet
Rating: T for mild swearing and Nadakhan's lust.
Summary: As he sat, locked in the room with the woman he knew was meant to complete his life, he kept replaying the scenario in Dr. Julien's old prison over and over again. He only had a few short minutes before she was gone forever. A few short minutes to make it count. With a deep in take of breath, he spoke her name, and the beginning of the last time she would ever hear him say "I love you."
Warnings: Major spoilers for season 6 and lots of feely angst.
Genre: Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Angst (Lots of angst)
Notes: I have a headcanon that even though a Djinn can have eternal wishes when they wed on Djinn land, that he can have wishes that don't have rules. Basically, rule free everlasting wishes. That's just how I feel, and this an AU, not canon. So, yeah. Also, I recommend you listen to Very sad music - "Goodbye, My Friend" - Crying music instrumental - Emotional Film Movie Soundtracks by FesliyanStuidios while you read this.
He ran his calloused, gloved hand over the wrinkled, velvet bedspread, feeling it's soft, thick fabric. It's silken, vast exterior felt lush to the delicate pressure his fingertips applied. It's hide, he perceived as thick and overwhelming, and it sent a chill down his spine. One that made him gulp as his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. He swallowed the bitterness that had become the truth, the irrepressible truth that had reeled in, in the past twenty-four hours, and had settled in nicely to breaking his heart bit by bit. It's so silky and dense. He thought sourly. Just like that dress she's going to wear. He balled his fist, taking the heavy, velvet blanket in his grasp as he choked back shaky sobs. He had promised to save her, and he failed.
The love of his life had taken a seat on the other end of the bed, running an upset hand through her short, smooth hair. She sighed in a melancholic manner, as if she were contemplating her life choices up to this point, wondering what she had done wrong. Of course she knew, she was just denying it was her fault. She figured that if she had taken the blame for everything that had happened to where she stood now, she would only break down in a disgusting fit of tears. She refused to be seen that way, especially when the man she wanted to spend her future with would be able to see her shoulders rack as she cried. But could she truly stay strong for so much longer?
"People cry, not because they're weak. It's because they've been strong for too long."
- Johnny Depp
He reached over the bed, his posture lounging lazily as he took her hand in his own. With a deep in take of breath, he spoke her name, preparing for the last time he would ever say "I love you."
"I love you too, Jay." She whimpered apathetically, turning her head so her watery, ocean blue eyes made contact with his moist, chocolate nougat colored irised. She still couldn't cry, as if she were still waiting for the shock. Or perhaps she had come to denial. Nya couldn't quite figure out why, but for a reason unknown to her, she couldn't shed a single tear. She couldn't cry. It was like she didn't feel anything, as if she had shut out every ounce of emotion. She felt no joy, no fear, no anger.
With only a few minutes, Jay adjusted his position, and Nya's position as well so they were facing each other. He had been wanting to do something like this for years, and yet he still couldn't find the guts to relieve his emotions into something that actually mattered. Something that wasn't words. He realized his last chance, and he seized it, planting his lips on her's. She seemed surprised at first, but she settled in to it. She had never quite felt this way before, the softness of his breakable lips pushed against her as she returned the kiss, gently pressing herself closer to him.
Nya could feel the shame and anguish radiating off of him, as if it were being poured into her mouth through an elegant tea pot. She swallowed the lump in her throat, tasting his salty tears as he cried, and his minty breath as he broke away for a mere few seconds, before going in for another kiss. She and Jay had only kissed a few times, and she had been disappointed most of those times because they had been small kisses on her cheek or lips. Nothing worth remembering because they had been all but meaningless to her. They had happened so many times that she hadn't even treasured them. Now she truly wished she had held those sweet moments close.
The sound of creaking hinges, and light flooding into the room interrupted their heartfelt moment, and they stared as the captain's former righthand stood in the doorway. His bristled mustache and stubble, as well as his clothes were stained with dirt and grime after being forced to the lowest point on the totem pole. He almost looked broken upon seeing the two lovers share the last of what intimacy they were allowed.
"Time is up." Flintlock urged the two apart, and began to leave with Nya in tow, who squirmed a bit under his strong hold, when Jay lurched forward and gripped Nya's wrist with surprising force. He scrunched up his face in a mixture of angst and fury, before settling down with a depressed sigh.
"Please, let me come with her." Jay begged. "Let me see her for the last time, as who she really is before Nadakhan changes her."
Flintlock narrowed his eyes, and nodded curtly before allowing both Nya and Jay to follow towards to what would ultimately be their permanent separation.
Nya, now adorned in silk, a velvet dress that flowed smoothly behind her, felt her chest swell in agony.
Jay took in every ounce of her body that had changed dramatically in just a few hours.
A dress the color of blood that dragged across the floor, the top made of a thin, yet comfortable netting that showed off some of her upper back and shoulders, and revealing more than what Nya was pleased with. Taffeta gloves of the same color hugged her arms, running up to just above her elbows. Her slippers, no doubt made of fine glass like in the story of the maid and the fairy godmother, were hidden underneath the pongee skirt. Her thin lips were now as red as a ruby gem, glimmering in the light, her eyes were shiny with sapphire contacts, long, black eyelashes that fell like a curtain, and her cheeks now seemed to be made of earthenware, a snow white that made Jay shiver.
She looked like a china doll.
This new beauty, artificial, made by the hands of humans, and it triggered anger within Jay.
Damn you, Nadakhan. He thought savagely. You couldn't even see her true beauty. You only wanted her because she looked like your long lost love. Damn you! Die, damn you! Why won't you just let her be?
At the isle, Jay watched, squinting his eyes to keep the tears from falling. He was forced to do nothing but watch helplessly. He wanted to fight for her, to challenge Nadakhan for her love and heart, even if the captain only lusted after her for the rule-free, eternal wishes he could have. Even if he was all powerful, he wanted to fight for her. He didn't want to give up. But one simple threat, "I will cut out the hearts of everyone you hold dear." coerced Jay into staying silent, no matter how much it hurt. He loved Nya with all his heart, no matter how many times she broke it. No matter how many times it ached with stabbing pain when someone else competed for her attention.
When Nya reached the stand where a stout priest read off the boring, drab speech everyone knew so well as the vows made between husband and wife, the ceremony began. Nya stiffened when she felt Nadakhan's unrelenting hand curl around her's. She squeezed her eyes shut as she tensed, hating how close he was getting, inching close enough that she could smell the sickly sweet scent of a thick ocean spray and sweat clouding his body.
"Don't look so down, my dear." He whispered in her ear, his smooth voice like poisoned honey. "It is our wedding day."
"Do you promise to take each other, in sickness and in health, in difficult and easy, and for better or for worse, until death do you part?" The priest murmured something along those lines, though Jay couldn't hear. He didn't care though, he only sought out feelings for Nya. Her twisted emotions were bottled up inside of her, and Jay couldn't help her. Jay knew, he could predict and pinpoint perfectly the exact moment when her heart was going to shatter. The task, simple, but it felt like Jay had been stabbed.
"I do." Nadakhan hissed, nonexistent venom dripping off his vampire-like fangs. He awaited Nya's answer as the priest milled on, and the former cut him off, her voice cracking.
"Shut up, I do." She cried.
The priest spoke the words Nadakhan had been waiting for, his permission to kiss the bride. Without even a warning, he smashed his lips onto her, tasting her sweet flesh in his mouth as her words of protest were swallowed whole. He moaned in delight as he tasted her lips, her tongue, her teeth. She was even prettier than Delara. She tasted like cherries, and damn did he want more of her sweet, succulent flavor.
The clouds overhead were grey and lifeless, dark and disgusting. Jay hated it, yet it was so fitting for a day of tragedy. Jay almost wanted to vomit at how much lust the Djinn gave off. He felt sickened by those sins of evil, and he loathed every last enemy here that encouraged such a wicked ceremony. He clamped his eyes shut, only for them to open at the wrong time. His breath hitched in his throat. Despite how far away his love was, he could see her emotion so clearly, so much that he felt it himself, and he shared every drop of revulsion, every twinge of horror and nausea. Nya looked sick, and Jay could empathize. He knew exactly how she felt, and it abused him, tore his soul and heart to shreds. It mutilated his voice of protest in the matter. He almost screamed.
A glass tear streaked down her porcelain cheeks.
Nadakhan chuckled at her sorrow. At her utter distaste and violation. And that sorry, sickening djinn made a wish.
"I wish..." He whispered. Nya would have no choice but to grant his wishes, she was in the palm of his hand, and forced to be at his side, at his beck-and-call to his every whim. Nya refrained from cursing profoundly as he awaited the demand.
"...For another kiss."