Of Blooming Hearts and Stubbornness
Disclaimer: Don't own Yggdra Union. As if that's news to anyone…
There was a resounding crash that rolled almost cheerfully through the halls of the infirmary, instantly reaching the ears of the girl who'd been walking down them.
Following it came a vehement exclamation almost obscured in the snarl that accompanied it. Due to the distortion of sound through the empty hall, it was unclear what was being said, but the voice and the sentiment behind it were unmistakable.
Yggdra Yuril Artwaltz, queen of Fantasinia, groaned and facepalmed. It sounded like Gulcasa was in full battle spirits again.
It had been a little over a month since the war had ended in the Imperial Army's defeat, and ever since that awful battle—in which she'd barely managed to restrain Gulcasa from violently sacrificing himself to awaken his dragon ancestor Brongaa—she'd been helping to take care of the Emperor while ostensibly overseeing the care of both armies' wounded. It had been tough going at first—the strain of the battle and the Ritual of Soul Unbinding had all but shattered Gulcasa's mind, and adding to that the severe depression he'd suffered under the impression that he'd failed his country by failing in the ritual, he'd been… well…
He'd been a nearly-psychotic, desperately suicidal, highly unwilling patient, prone to unfortunate bursts of inhuman strength which allowed him to alternately try to kill himself with whatever sharp object happened to be closest or attack whoever came near him, based on his mental state at the moment. Whenever he seemed to be getting any better, he'd manage to almost commit suicide and push himself back to the brink of death. And needless to say, grief-crazed half-dragon emperors were a little difficult to reason with. Yggdra and the Imperial doctors had fought him tooth and nail to pull him back from the abyss, prevailing mostly due to liberal application of sedatives.
Milanor and several other members of her army had advised her to give up on him, but Yggdra hadn't been willing to. Why, exactly—well, she herself didn't even completely understand that. It was partially, she knew, out of her guilt at everything she'd done to the people of Bronquia and a desire to atone. And it was partially because she didn't want to see any more death. But—something of Gulcasa's obstinate pride and his wry, prickly cynic's humor compelled her.
They'd always been drawn to each other, since they'd first set eyes on each other at the beginning of the war. Yggdra was beginning to think it was fate. Fate, or a strange kind of attraction. Either way, she wouldn't give up on Gulcasa because there was no possible way she could.
Then, only about a week ago, she'd finally made a breakthrough when she'd come to relay the news that Gulcasa's half-sister Emilia was going to live. She'd caught Gulcasa more or less lucid, and they'd actually been able to carry on something like a rational conversation. Later, after she'd been able to take him to see Emilia, everything that had held him together had suddenly and quite startlingly unraveled, and she'd given him a shoulder in which he could attempt to stifle his tears.
Seeing him that way, suffering so deeply yet stubbornly silent—it had wrought a change over both of them, and it seemed as though Gulcasa had resolved himself to cooperate… or mostly, anyway. After one last failed effort, his suicide attempts had trailed off and subsided, he hadn't attacked anyone at all, and he was mostly doing as his doctors told him.
Mostly.
Then, Yggdra thought wryly, there came moments like this one, where Gulcasa got his back up and put all his considerable obstinacy into resisting everyone's attempts to help him.
Resigned, the young queen reached Gulcasa's room and pulled open the door.
He was sitting up in bed with his sheets tossed haphazardly around his body, his flaming hair thrown wildly over his shoulders, his eyes narrowed, his face creased in defiant anger, and a low growl rumbling in his throat. A few feet away from him were the two chief doctors in the Imperial Army. Between them, on the floor, lay an overturned wicker tray and a shattered plate and glass.
"Throw tantrums all you like, but you have got to eat if you want to keep your strength up," the male healer—Derek, wasn't it?—was saying sternly. "You're acting like a two-year-old, and you're making a mess of this room."
"Don't tell me what to do!" Gulcasa snarled, his eyes taking on that mad battle glow Yggdra knew so well. "I can do whatever I like! Damn the food, and damn keeping my strength up! I want to see my sisters. Don't get in my way!"
"As we've been telling you, Luciana and Aegina are in no state to receive visitors, and it will do you no good at all to get up and try to find Emilia's room only to fall on your face when you get there," the female healer—Angie, she was called—snapped, clearly unamused by her Emperor's attitude. "You're not doing them any favors by acting like this."
"So is that what all this is about?" Yggdra asked defeatedly, looking back and forth between the combatants.
"Hello, Queen Yggdra," Derek said pleasantly, still glaring at Gulcasa.
Gulcasa turned towards her, seething. His color was up, Yggdra noted, and was willing to bet that under that disheveled shock of scarlet hair his ears were pinned back as well. "Are you going to come over here and start ordering me around, too? Get out of here—nobody invited you, you interfering little wretch! Away with you!"
Yggdra ignored his hostility and walked up to his bedside, staring levelly at him.
"Is it really that bad to want to see my family?" Gulcasa demanded, annoyed, looking from her to the healers and back again. "Is it really that much fun for all of you to order me around? I won't have it—I'm going to see them, you can't make—"
Before he could get any further, Yggdra took a deep breath, braced herself, and swung at him in a wide and perfect arc, slapping him squarely across the face.
Gulcasa stayed that way for a brief moment, wide-eyed with shock, then slowly raised one hand to the angry red mark on his cheek. He turned towards Yggdra, staring up at her as lack of comprehension resolved into boiling fury in his eyes.
With an outraged cry, he lunged at her, flinging himself out of bed. Yggdra, who'd anticipated as much, jumped back. But instead of pursuing her, Gulcasa crumpled to the ground with a yelp, catching himself awkwardly on hands and knees: His legs had given out on him, leaving him sprawled next to the bed, breathing hard, the lines of anger on his face changing to lines of pain as his face slowly drained of color.
"How do you expect to go see your sisters or even attack me when you don't even have the energy to stand?" Yggdra asked, trying to balance sternness and compassion in her words. Fairly sure he wouldn't lash out again, she knelt down next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You have to eat something so you can see Emilia and the twins when they're ready." She hesitated a moment, then very carefully touched the side of his bandaged throat, presenting her bloody fingertips to him. "See, look—these are already opening back up. Think about your condition and get a little rest. You'll be back to normal again soon, I promise, so take care of yourself."
"…Ah… ugh…… ugh." Gulcasa lifted his face to look at her, somewhere between dazed and sullen, his pupils dilated wide enough to make the gold of his eyes look so dark it almost seemed brown.
"Just get back up and sit down, okay?" Yggdra asked him simply, almost wanting to lean in and punctuate her words with a light kiss on his forehead. It seemed the thing to do here, but… "Remember, breathe deeply but slowly. You don't want to start hyperventilating."
Gulcasa put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it almost hard enough to leave a bruise, and used her to lever himself back up to the bed. He kept looking at her through heavy eyes, tired but still sullen.
"Are you ready to eat now?" Derek asked critically. "It's obvious you're in no state to get up and go anywhere. Angie, go get His Majesty another plate?"
Angie nodded and left. Yggdra stood up and watched as Gulcasa slowly steadied his breathing, giving her that same bitter look.
"…Later," he said at last, his words slow, as he looked away from her. "I'll… eat later. Just leave it on the table… I don't care. Go away."
Yggdra had seen that sulky face before. It was interesting, and a little amusing, to know that this was where Emilia had gotten it. Still, she couldn't show that amusement—only her relief that he'd finally given in. She smiled and laid her small hand on his shoulder; he scowled, a light flush covering his face.
"If you need me, call," she told him softly. "I'll be nearby."
"…whatever…"
Yggdra's smile grew as she stepped back, deciding to leave him be. She knew he wouldn't cause any more trouble—for today, at least.
But they had to take things a day at a time. As long as they dealt with things as they came, then… they would be able to make it.
There was hardly any other way to coax a flower into bloom, after all.
Owari.