Author's Note: Well, since I seem to have hit a bit of a slow spot in writing FEHC, I decided to write something for the Royalty challenge at the Magvel community over at LJ. It didn't take me too long to think of the interpretation of 'royalty' that I wanted, but I was wondering which character to use. Alternatively, I could have written about Ephraim, but I feel that Joshua's feelings about his succession would be more interesting to write about, especially since I also get to put in a bit of the Joshua / Natasha pairing ^^ Enjoy!

To Bear the Mantle

by Lacunose

'Tails.'

Flip. Heads.

'Tails.'

Flip. Heads.

'... Tails.'

Flip. Heads again. A sigh escaped his lips as he flipped the coin back into the air for the - well, he'd lost count a long time ago. Just as well, he'd lost every single one so far, and putting a number to that particular statistic would just leave a bad taste in his mouth. He hadn't had a losing streak this bad since he lost practically all his money to a con man in a pub in Jehanna, just when he was starting out as a mercenary. Yeah, that had been pretty awful. But he'd heard that the toughest lessons were the best ones, and to attest to that, he'd never lost quite as badly as he had done back then. Maybe until now.

The man currently flipping continued losses was at that moment leaning against one of the royal chambers at Jehanna Hall. He was a mercenary of some renown, and he had recently returned in relative triumph after felling a monstrous evil from ages past, to the equally general jubilation of the people of Jehanna. This mercenary also by extraordinary coincidence happened to be Joshua, the Crown Prince of Jehanna. Although, he thought glumly, that was soon to change in about an hour's time.

'Tails... nope, looks like it's heads again... oh, brother. Lady Luck, you really know how to kick a guy where it hurts,' he muttered as the coin flew into the air again, his eyes following its path as it fell back towards his hand.

'Joshua?' came a voice from outside.

The red-haired prince started and he fumbled with the coin, which dropped to the floor. Heads. Joshua groaned. 'Oh man... that one looked like it could've been it.'

The person who had called his name stepped into the room, and Joshua was treated to the sight of a white-clad cleric with waves of golden hair falling over her shoulders. A smile broke involuntarily over his face as he recognised her as his fiancé, Natasha. Looking at the coin on the floor, she shook her head in amused exasperation. 'Gambling even now?' she asked as she walked over to pick up the coin.

'Of course,' he said.'When do I ever stop? And anyway, this isn't just for the sake of it, I'm practising.'

Natasha raised an eyebrow. 'Oh? May I ask what for?'

'For the time when they start making the new coins,' he said, the mock depression in his voice only half-feigned. 'Imagine - every single time I call a gamble from now on, I have to make the awful choice of either betting to see my own face grinning back at me or to continually call tails and be the victim of every single cheat and swindler from here to Frelia.'

'... Joshua, please be sensible,' Natasha said placatingly. 'What would the people of Jehanna think if the King himself was unprepared for his own coronation?'

'I'm thoroughly prepared, the high priest has made quite sure of that,' he said, shuddering at the long hours spent on trying to remember all the words for the ceremony. He vowed that he would have at least five of those unnecessarily long sentences removed from the ceremonial rites as his first royal decree.

'Then why are you only half-dressed?'

'Because these robes feels so stiff that it feels like it's made of wood, and I can think of several mountains that weigh less than mantle,' he said almost obstinately. 'Don't worry, I won't forget to put it on later. There's still plenty of time left till the ceremony, but everyone's rushing around...'

He collapsed on the nearby divan, where his aforementioned ceremonial outer robe was draped over it not quite as ceremoniously. The royal tailor would have a fit at the unspeakable creasing Joshua was inflicting on it, but he didn't care. He hated ceremonial clothing anyway - even what he was wearing he had been forced into under pain of death. Evil did, indeed, work in mysterious ways. 'I almost feel like this is happening too fast,' he admitted. 'I know I said that I wanted to help my people, and I do, really. But... I don't know. Maybe I just really dislike the idea of seeing my mug every time I flip a coin.'

Natasha moved to where Joshua lay sprawled with one leg dangling over the side, and seated herself at the foot of the divan. '... Joshua, becoming the King of Jehanna isn't a small thing, I know,' she said gently. 'But remember what you said to me during the war? You said "This bet is going to be a tough one. I'm going to have to work at it". When we made that bet, where I put my future on the line, I agreed because I had faith that you were a man who I could entrust my happiness to - a man who would never go back on his word, even if it were to mean he would strive for it to the end of his days.'

'You mean it wasn't for my stunning good looks and my irresistible charm?' he said in feigned shock. 'Natasha, you wound me!'

The cleric pushed his other leg off the divan so that he slipped and landed on the floor. 'However, I know for a fact that a man who continues to gamble away the contents treasury is unlikely to get very far,' she said with only very small hint of ire. 'Maybe your little issue with the coins may prove to be a blessing after all if it will put even a slight rein on your habits.'

'Little issue?' he said indignantly. 'The whole thing could ruin life as I know it! And anyway, a little gamble here and there never hurt anyone, and certainly won't go a ways to define a king.'

'Is that so?' Natasha said, the edge of her lip curling ever so slightly. 'And what do you think defines a king?'

Joshua straightened out the front of his clothes (there was really no need, as they were already stiffer than steel armour, but he did it for effect) and he seated himself next to the cleric. 'Well, for starters, an ideal king would have the luck of the gods so that he never lost a gamble,' he said with a grin even as a disapproving glint appeared in Natasha's eyes. 'And he would have to be a warrior of great skill, of course, so that he may protect his people from whatever foes may come their way. Oh, but never uses his power to threaten or persecute. And all he does must be for the benefit of the nation, and all his strength must be used to provide the best for his citizens.'

The prince's deep scarlet gaze seemed to drift past Natasha, staring at something else - or someone else - who was standing right behind her, and yet from the look in Joshua's eyes, seemed to be millions of miles away. 'Her life was dedicated solely to filling the shoes of that man,' he said quietly. 'Everything she was she poured into working to a better Jehanna. After my father's death, after that mantle fell onto her shoulders, every breath she took was put into bearing it for her country. Even neglecting her own son...'

He turned back to the blonde-haired cleric before him. 'I promised my mother,' he went on, 'That I would continue her work, to defend Jehanna. I promised that all I'd learnt over the years I spent wandering selfishly had not been worthless. I promised... that I'd be a son that she could be proud of.'

Joshua gave a sigh, unable to completely keep the shudder out of the sound. 'But now that I'm here, about to take that mantle which my mother bore before me... how can I match what she achieved, to rule as she ruled? After all those years, how could I call myself a prince then, and how can I call myself a king now?'

Natasha wordlessly drew him into an embrace, a movement which she did quickly so that neither she nor Joshua had time to think about it. '... Joshua,' she murmured quietly, 'You will be a great king. You will be a ruler who your people will love, and you will lead the nation to great places. I have faith in you.'

The red-haired prince buried his face in her yellow hair. 'You have faith in a lot of things,' came his muffled reply.

'I have faith in this most of all,' she said back.

Joshua held her in that position for a moment longer, drawing strength from the smell of her presence, as if trying to feel some of the same conviction that she professed. He then straightened up so that he could look at her face to face, and her clear, azure gaze locked with his own, and he was himself again. A deep laugh made its way out of its own accord up from his chest. 'Sorry, I had a bit of a moment there,' he said, the cheer in his voice not entirely forced. 'Not really like me, was it? Don't worry, I'm fine now. I'll be fine.'

He rubbed his forehead with his palm, shooting Natasha his characteristic grin. 'Can't be getting worry marks all over my forehead this early on, can I?' he said light-heartedly. 'I'm going to start getting grey hairs before my time at this rate. If I'm ever going to be a great king, it's going to take a lot longer than the years I'll have left if I start getting old now.'

Natasha smiled compassionately. ''No matter how long it takes, I will always be at your side,' she said.

He turned to look at her, and her words filled him with such intense affection that he could not help but to place his arms around her and hold her tightly once more. 'You know that I love you, right?' he said as he kissed the parting in her hair.

'Yes...' she replied into his chest as she embraced him back. 'But if you keep stalling like this, you really are going to be late for the ceremony.'

Joshua winced. 'Ah, saw right through me, huh?'

'I think I'm beginning to learn how to read you,' she replied with a smile.

'Alright, I'd better watch out then,' he said with a mischievous gleam in his eye. 'Well, no point trying to put it off any longer then - we'd better get moving.'

As Joshua made towards the door, Natasha's clear voice called after him, 'Joshua, you've left your mantle behind.'

Caught red-handed, the guilty prince turned to see the blonde-haired cleric hold out the hated mantle towards him. 'You really are learning,' he said with a pained look as he turned around so that she could put the outer robe over him.

'Thank you,' she said as she secured the clasp underneath his chin and smoothing down his robes before she took a step back to look at him. 'You look...'

'Dashing? Handsome? Utterly irresistible?' he offered in quick succession.

A tinkling laugh briefly brushed her lips before she said, 'You look like a king.'

Joshua's shoulder slumped, not entirely from the weight of the mantle. 'That doesn't really help ease the pressure.'

Natasha seemed to contemplate this for a moment, then an idea seemed to strike her as she took out the coin that Joshua had been flipping before she had come in and picked it up off the floor. Now she held it out to him.

'Here. Test your luck one more time,' she said as she placed the coin in his hand. Joshua rolled it around in his hand for a moment, then clasped his fingers around it.

'I've been on a losing streak since this morning,' the prince said as he glumly.

'But if you remember, it's because you lost that we were brought together,' the cleric reminded him gently. 'Maybe, like back then, those losses are the beginning of gaining something new.'

'... You're right. I'll give it another toss later. I'll probably need all the luck I can get, after all,' he admitted as he made his way towards the door.

'Don't worry,' Natasha said encouragingly. 'In a pinch, you never lose.'

A full, unrestrained laugh left his throat at the cleric's remark. 'You got it,' he said cheerfully as he walked out of the door. His personal guard was waiting outside to escort him to the throne room where the ceremony would be held. The room had been one of the first sections of Jehanna Hall to be reconstructed, for the sole purpose of the coronation ceremony, and he knew much work had gone into it to make sure that it was ready for this day. So many people had put in great effort so that they could celebrate the official arrival of a new king, and with him, a new beginning. However, as he walked down the still-ruined corridors, the past leapt out at him to remind him what had been lost in the course of reaching this moment - the tell-tale burn marks and the charred memories left in the stone took him back to what had happened not so long ago, where his mother had fought and died to protect their Sacred Stone - a true queen to the end, they said.

Joshua silently lifted up a prayer to the heavens. Mother, I will be a man you can proudly call your son. I will carry the same mantle you bore on your shoulders, and I will strive to protect our people with the same strength and dedication as you showed from the first time you felt the weight of the crown to your final breath. So rest easy, Mother... I'll take care of everything.

As they neared the throne room, he turned to one of his guards. 'Hey, you,' he said to him.

'Yes, your Majesty?'

The red-haired prince held up a coin in his hand. 'I call tails,' he said as he flipped it towards him.

The soldier, although taken off-guard, reacted quickly and caught it. He examined in his hand for a moment, before looking up to say, 'It's tails, my lord.'

Joshua couldn't stop the infectious feeling of triumphant satisfaction from overtaking him as he stepped into the throne room, where is subjects waited to begin the ceremony. The beginning of something new, huh? I don't know how well-prepared I'll be for it, but I'll meet it with all I've got when it comes. Watch me - I'm going to be a king that all of Jehanna can be proud to call its ruler.

He paused momentarily as he tried to inconspicuously shift his robes about into a slightly more comfortable position.

I've got to do something about all this ceremonial garb. I don't know how you did it, Mother - this thing weighs a ton.