Title: His Return
Author: Garnet Eyes
Archived: fanfiction. net
Last Updated: 28 Jan 2011
Summary: His return had been cause for celebration as far as the king and queen of Baron were concerned, but Kain was no longer so certain that he deserved that much.
Rating: M
Characters/Pairings: Kain x Cecil x Rosa
Author Notes: I really like these three characters, although the game doesn't do a terribly good job of fleshing out Rosa's personality. This is the first script I ever really sat down and wrote out after playing the game through last year, and I've tweaked it to my satisfaction now.
Disclaimers: Final Fantasy IV is owned by Square-Enix and I in no way, shape, or form profit off of my writing. This is simply for my own pleasure, and may at any time be removed and/or modified as I see fit.
...
He'd not thought his actions through completely. He'd been caught up in the moment and had taken full advantage of the situation, and Cecil had been too tipsy to even think to struggle or fight back, but Kain had not been drunk. And now it was morning, and the paladin was deeply unconscious, smelling of dried sweat and sex, half exposed under the twisted bed linens and holding onto the dragoon with surprising strength in his sleep. It had been amazing, drinking in the passion exuding from the smaller frame, tasting salty flesh and listening to incoherent moans. Just thinking about it was arousing, and a part of Kain would have been happy to force Cecil onto his back and sink into the younger man again, to provoke those titillating moans once more.
The dragoon had thought himself cleansed. He had struggled righteously to overcome his faults and make peace with himself. After many years, he had succeeded in casting aside his old weaknesses; he had returned a holy dragoon, ready and willing to serve the royal crown of Baron. But it was suddenly apparent to him that he was not ready to be back, to see the man and woman he cherished above all else, because there was still a weakness in him. He loved Cecil and Rosa more than anything, but they loved each other more, and he had thought himself prepared and settled on the matter. Their son was charming, and Kain was content to see that their lives were happy and healthy. Yet he had done a foul thing at the first presented opportunity, taking advantage of Cecil in such a way and betraying Rosa's trusting heart.
Rosa wasn't aware of what had transpired the night before, of course. She had treated their disappearance as she always had, as if everything was just as it was before Kain had left, when Cecil and Kain would vanish for hours at a time and return happier than when they left, if sweaty and filthy from their games and spars. The dragoon felt bile rise in the back of his throat, his chocolate gaze casting about the room generously given to him inside the castle walls, finding evidence of desperation in every article of clothing strewn across or hanging from every available surface. He remembered how he longed to bare the paladin's flesh, to touch every centimeter of powder white skin, and how the drunken man had clutched and pulled at Kain's garments with equal fervor. The dragoon could almost pretend that the night had been mutual, that some of those incomplete vocalizations had been his name, but he could not bring any more shame onto himself with such rationalizations. He needed to leave, to collect his belongings and vanish once more, because he obviously was not as prepared as he had thought.
The delicate tap of knuckles against his chamber door was enough to cause him surging horror, but he was pinned to the bed with no where to hide even if he wasn't.
"Kain...?"
Despite his best attempts, his voice would not work, and the blonde felt growing despondency that dear Rosa would discover his treachery like this. As he expected, the door opened after a pause and the white mage peered inside. Kain watched grimly as she took in the haphazard mess of clothing, eventually leading her blue gaze to the bed and the scene thereon. Her brows arched in surprise before furrowing, and the dragoon felt ashamed of his mental plea that she run away so he would not be forced to handle the consequences of his actions now. She was stronger than that, as he knew, and very calmly stepped into the room fully so that she might shut the door behind herself. The quiet latch of shutting egress felt far too final, but Kain took a deep breath and resigned himself to the fate his folly had caused.
"So he finally acted."
Chocolate eyes blinked, surprised first by the serenity of her voice and then by the words themselves.
"Pardon?"
Blue eyes sparkled as they locked briefly with brown before Rosa stooped to pick up a white tunic and fold it properly.
"I was hoping he had come to terms with his feelings over the years, and I'm glad to see proof that he has."
To say he was shocked by the white mage's acceptance of his intrusion into her happy marriage was an understatement; Kain hardly knew where to begin to question what was going on in his world. Rosa continued to collect their scattered clothing, folding it as she reached each piece and placing it all on top of the desk near the bed. The dragoon knight looked on silently until the last article had been neatly added to the stack, struggling with the proper way to apologize for his newest betrayal.
"Rosa..."
Sharp azure eyes turned to lock with chocolates and the dragoon felt his throat seize.
"Don't apologize."
Her expression warmed as she continued, stepping over to the head of the bed and seating herself primly at the edge. As though sensing her at his back, Cecil made a soft sound in his sleep and shifted, settling now almost childishly curled into Kain's side but no longer pinning him, nestled between the knight and the queen. The bed linens tugged but did not follow, leaving very little of the paladin's strong frame to the imagination.
"You don't realize how much we've missed you over the years, Kain. It was hard on Cecil, often wanting to ask your counsel but not having it. It took nearly two years for him to cease pausing and turning in the midst of doing something, a half-articulated question to you on his lips. Equally, I missed seeing you each day and spending time with the man I'd grown with, discussing what I would not speak with Cecil about. Cecil did not realize the full extent of his sorrow for years, and I believe that made it worse for him; he'd had a growing desire to head off and search you out, you know. His duties as king can only tie his hands for so long. I fear he would have left those duties fall to me. I would have taken them gladly, of course, but then I had never hidden my feelings from myself. I am not lying when I tell you once more that I am thrilled to see you back where you belong, with us."
Kain swallowed several times, unwilling to break with the mage's gaze. His heart stuttered in his chest as he turned onto his side and leveraged himself up with his forearm so that he might face her. Cecil murmured softly in his sleep, nuzzling into the added warmth of the dragoon's chest as it brushed against his face, and Rosa brought a hand up to gently sift through tangled moon-pale tresses absently.
"You are too kind to a man who has done nothing to deserve it."
Blue eyes twinkled before the white mage dipped her head. Kain knew he should stop her, should pull back, collect his clothing along with what was left of his dignity, but he was weak to her – weak to them. Rosa's lips were soft and smooth against his, the fall of her hair tickling his neck and chest. He hadn't realized that his eyes had fallen shut until he opened them once more as she pulled back. Brief, flickering worry entered his gaze, confusion warring with disbelief in his mind. A sleepy, soft chuckle against his chest caused the dragoon to lower his eyes, finding half open warm emerald eyes in turn. He wondered when Cecil had finally awoken, but the paladin was relaxed and kittenish in his half coherent state and positively unperturbed by whatever he had seen or heard.
"You'll stay, I hope?"
Kain blinked, his chocolate gaze scanning the younger man's drowsy face in surprise.
"...I likely shouldn't."
Cecil frowned, but his expression couldn't have been any less intimidating had he tried, far more reminiscent of the sullen pouts of his youth.
"What would cause you to leave?"
The dragoon sighed heavily, feeling as though he might actually be worse off now than he was before he left years ago.
"I have taken advantage of you."
Thin white brows arched, emerald eyes blinking once before a wry expression overtook the paladin's features.
"Then it was the type of advantage you should take again."
Chocolate eyes blinked slowly, and Kain found himself connecting Rosa's and Cecil's words in a way that he'd never dared. Eyes darting between the paladin and white mage, the dragoon swallowed once to wet his suddenly dry mouth.
"You are..."
Rosa smiled, her eyes crinkling in the corners, and Cecil brought up a hand to rub the remnants of sleep from his otherwise steady gaze before he spoke.
"Nothing could have stopped you from leaving, and I am sincerely pleased on your behalf that you conquered yourself and overcame your own darkness. I... can only imagine how awkward life would have been had we not been separated, and I must question whether I ever would have fully understood my own feelings had you stayed by my side all the while. But seventeen years is too much time for a long overdue discussion. I should apologize, first and foremost, for the stress you were forced to endure while I remained oblivious to your feelings as well as my own. I hope to be forgiven for taking so long to understand myself. You are important to me, Kain. More so than you realize, and it is my hope that you will stay here, with Rosa and I, and be with us."
The dragoon parted his lips, but no sound escaped. It was Rosa who moved next, bringing a hand up to cradle his cheek, redirecting his gaze to hers in that motion.
"We both love you, Kain, and our lives would be more complete with you enriching them. As long as you want, you will always have a home in Baron, a home with us."
Of all of the possible scenarios he had concocted in his mind, about his own behavior, about his reception, about the remainder of his life, he had not once dared to hope for what he was being freely given. His response must have been visible in his expression, because Rosa leaned over to kiss him once more, and this time he kissed back. Her hair was as soft as her skin under his palm, her lips delicate, and her taste like honey from the first moment he delved into her unresisting mouth. When he retreated from the kiss after a short eternity, he took a moment to savor this unexpected life change before looking down at Cecil still lying comfortably next to him on the bed. The paladin smiled, an odd kind of relief in his gaze, and Kain felt the compulsion to lean down and kiss him. Eagerly, the younger man responded, his vivid blue lips parting under the first sign of the dragoon's tongue, and Kain exploited the opportunity with equal fervor. Cecil tasted a lot like the bourbon and the rice mead he had partaken the night before, with an undertone that the blonde man couldn't find proper words to describe – perhaps, if he wished to be poetic, he would say that Cecil tasted like the moon.
He hardly realized that he was in motion, even as the paladin groaned against his mouth, until Rosa hummed beside them. Even then Kain had to take a moment after he released now plump blue lips to notice that Cecil was a lot more underneath him than beside him now, one of Kain's legs pressed between muscular thighs, the sheet that twisted atop the bed barely covering the small of the dragoon's back and one of Cecil's shins. One small hand touched his shoulder as the white mage leaned down to kiss her husband, and chocolate eyes watched the interaction with a glimmer of satisfaction in their depths. He wasn't about to question why the king and queen of Baron had not thought to doubt whether the dragoon would hold equal affection for both; Rosa had known Kain practically since birth and it was rare for anything to slip by her.
When the white mage drew back, her hand moving in gentle caress before retreating from Kain's shoulder, Cecil spent a moment glancing about before noting where his clothing was. Pale, muscular arms pushed against the bed behind him with clear intention of propping him into a seated position, and Kain obliged by shifting back onto his heels. Modesty, at this point, was of little relevance. Cecil was about halfway upright before he groaned softly and sank back against the bed with a wince. A very light pink tinged his cheeks even as a wry smirk tugged at blue lips, a mixture of pain and mischief clouding his warm gaze.
"It seems that I am ill prepared to handle the holy dragoon's spear."
As if his point required any further illustration, the paladin drew his left hand under himself against the small of his back and the blue-white glow of a cure spell shimmered in the air. Kain felt heat on his face, but he did not think to apologize for his actions. Without fully realizing it himself, the dragoon's lips stretched into a grin as the old camaraderie that he had feared had been lost to time came to the forefront.
"Then we must be sure to practice until it is second nature to you."
Emerald eyes blinked before the color on the paladin's face darkened even as he laughed, Rosa at their side pressing a hand to her lips to hide her smile as her azure gaze twinkled. Watching those closest to his heart, Kain felt that the last pieces of his life – pieces that he had not even fully recognized himself – had fallen into place. His heart was lighter now then perhaps it had ever been. Bring what may come, he had found his home and shed all weakness.