A/N: I co-wrote this fic with a friend last summer, so her writing is in there as much as mine. Credit to her, Logarithm. This story is post game (though technically, the very end of the game never happens as it is an alternate end) and basically Jade/Peony so, without further ado...

Curtiss Manor

So this is what 'peace' supposedly felt like, Jade mused, sinking deeper into the steaming bathwater. No more monsters, ambushes, camping, forests, deserts, skirmishes, close calls, and violently misguided plots to destroy the planet. Of course all of that was made things exciting , but one should never underestimate the value of hot water and an actual bed. It had been two weeks and Jade Curtiss was finally getting used to not having something to do.

No, that wasn't necessarily true - the household accounts have been grossly neglected, there was an obscene amount of paperwork to file, and he could not for the life of him find his good pen. But he felt entitled to put all of this on hold, if just for a little while.

Right now he just wanted to enjoy his return to clean civilization and the quiet of the dead.

And as if to spite him, someone began knocking rather impatiently on the bathroom door. "Jade, are you in there?" a suspiciously familiar voice called through the door.

"No."

"Okay, I'm coming in."

Jade sighed, regretting not having locked the door - but who would lock the bathroom door in an empty house? Someone who had friends like Peony who had no qualms about sneaking in and out of places he wasn't invited. And he was good at it. Practice makes perfect, it seemed.

"Normally, you wait for people to finish their baths before vying for their attention," Jade said smoothly, watching his old childhood friend stride in.

"Normally when you return from a quest to save the world where you could have died, you let people know," Peony replied starkly, crossing his arms.

"I'm sure your aides have given you enough reports - mine included - to answer any questions -"

"Jade, you insensitive clod, you know what you should have done."

The colonel simply shrugged, getting out of the large ceramic bathtub and grabbing the white bathrobe. "Would you like me to apolgize?"

"You can start with that," Peony said with a smirk.

"I apologize, your majesty, for my gross insensitivity to your inner thirteen year old girl - I'm sorry, your feelings," Jade said loftily.

"You're an ass," Peony answered, mollified regardless. But as Jade said that, something struck him as odd. Or rather, Jade's expression... it wasn't the sardonic smile that went with his words, but he simply looked focused, as if trying to work something out without letting anyone know.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing"

"Really?"

"Indeed."

The emperor pouted as he handed Jade an envelope. "Tell me."

"I didn't expect the Ispanian Inquisition," Jade mused, breaking the wax seal to reveal a card flourished with gold lettering. Peony sighed, realizing he'd never get an answer.

"No one does, but I am expecting you for dinner."

"The people would be upset to hear of such flagrant abuse of power."

Peony smiled, gesturing grandly. "I am the law," Indeed, he had just handed Jade a summons requesting his presence at that evening's meal; failure to comply would result in arrest.

"This is a little unnecessary, don't you think?"

"Oh, I agree. It's a shame I practically have to drag you kicking and screaming."

Jade feigned shock. "Your Highness, I would never."

"Of course," he said as he made his way through the door. "Especially not with a subpoena."

Jade half expected a comically long dinner table (he certainly wouldn't put it past Peony to force him to shout his responses), but when he arrived later that evening there was just a modest set up. Dinner for two and wine for three, the way Peony liked it. Speaking of which, his host was currently nowhere to be found.

"Thank you for so graciously accepting my invitation," Peony called from behind him. He must have been putting the rappigs to bed-Jade could smell it faintly, not unlike the few barnyards they had camped in on their journey. He also wondered if the next emperor of Malkuth was going to be a quadriped, considering the current line of succession.

"Did I have a choice?" he replied blithely, waiting for Peony to sit down.

"Maybe. Didn't you guys overthrow the score? I thought that meant we'd have to make our own choices now," the emperor countered lightly.

Too lightly for Jade's taste, whose expression darkened at that poorly made witticism. "Yes, of course, your majesty," he replied softly, taking a seat at the table.

"You don't trust my judgment?" Peony asked, feigning offense as he smoothed the napkin on his lap. Jade smiled, allowing the discomfort to pass. "I think that question is best left rhetorical." Over the first course, Peony conveyed a condensed account of the past months' Malkuthian politics before insisting on a detailed narration of Jade's adventure.

Jade gave the abbreviated account of their journey over the appetizer and the first bottle of wine. When he mentioned Ion's death, Peony interrupted him.

"They forced him to read the Closed Score?" he asked, regret pervading his voice.

Jaded nodded in reply. Trying to steer the topic away from potential disaster, he offered, "At least Luke's sacrifice ensured that the Close Score has become irrelevant." Or else you and I would not be sitting here like this, most likely, he finished silently.

"But how are you so sure?" Peony badgered him with his usual brand of irreverent interrogation. "If we never knew what was in the score, how will we know it won't fulfill itself anyway?"

"Peony, you are a monarch, not an intellectual." Jade said with a smirk.

"But it's like that tree falling in an empty forest business-"

Jade remembered the day Nebilim posed that question to the class of children, some a bit more wide eyed than others. Peony almost drove him to accidental regicide by not letting the question go for weeks.

"The answer remains the same and it is still correct," he said softly, the candlelight reflecting off his glasses and illuminating his scarlet eyes in disturbingly demonic way. "It's irrelevant now."

"Heard you the first time," said Peony, his mind still stuck on the question even as the main course was brought out. Steamed Kaitzur trout with vegetables- simple fare that would have been grossly out of place at an official function, but perfect for a meal between friends.

"I thought you'd grown out of that," Jade noted with some amusement, interrupting the other's train of thought.

Indeed, force of habit had relegated the eggplant on Peony's plate to the very edge; and though he fully intended to eat what remained in front of him, it seemed that emperor couldn't resist being the architect. "And I thought you'd find a better favorite vegetable," Peony said somewhat sheepishly, reluctantly leveling a castle of carrots.

"Eggplant is tolerable and nutritious- only small children refuse like that,"Jade countered, offering to refill the other's glass. They were on the second bottle of excellent wine- dining with the emperor did have certain perks, one of which being the privledge of enjoying Engeve's finest merlot. "Well your diet is not my responsibility, thank goodness."

But what was his responsibility? He should be impartial as a subordinate, putting his duty first.

But as a friend, doesn't something else come first? This was why he hated dealing with personal relationships- the clear course of action was less than clear. And he was letting it show as Peony brought out dessert- nothing special, since the real treat was the dusty bottle he procured from seemingly nowhere. Jade loved bourbon that could have its own coming of age ceremony and Peony knew it.

He couldn't help but grin at Jade's knowing smile. They'd been waiting for this one since they could legally drink.

And he was make him wait just a little longer.

"Beautiful bottle, isn't it? Handcrafted from the finest Chesedonian glass. I can barely see the candles through it. Oh, and the cork!-"

"While we're still young, Your Highness," Jade said with utmost politeness.

"Of course," the other replied with equal regard. Still, anyone could have observed that Peony was taking his sweet imperial time choosing a corkscrew and being quite deliberate in using it.

"Pardon the inquiry," Jade said, following a small sigh, "but is this intended some sort of metaphor?"

Peony nearly lost his grip on the bottle, fumbling with it briefly before finally opening it with a bit more haste. "Well, you know," he said as he filled the other's glass, "patience is a virtue. That's the moral of the story." He followed with his own before sitting again, staring across the table with his glass swirling idly. "Besides, we've got all the time in the world."

Jade took a sip, feeling it burn pleasantly, leaving a very smooth aftertaste. "All the time in the world you say?" he murmured softly, gazing intently at his drink. For once, he wished he didn't have to meet someone's eyes and deliver the news. At least, not his. He was being foolish, he knew, lingering on this vague possibility, but the unpleasant feeling it gave him was hard to ignore. Years of life or death gut feelings was hard to ignore. And right now, his instincts were telling him something was wrong.

It didn't mean Peony had to know.

"You're doing it again," Peony said with a warning.

"Doing what, your majesty?"

"Staring. At something else."

"I didn't know that was illegal."

"It's not, but I want to know why."

"No, you don't." Jade said sharply, using the tone reserved for ending arguments with insubordinates and occasionally Luke.

But Peony belonged to neither of those categories. In fact, even in their childhood he had a curious resistance to the intensity Jade used to get his way with most people. At first, Jade just assumed the emperor was too stupid, a lot like how some people tried to hand feed ligers.

But he was starting to feel differently. Maybe Peony threw up walls the same way Jade did. It certainly led to some cases of underestimation. The puzzle of the emperor, his friend, Peony, was intriguing him. Maybe it was worth the trouble to crack the code, see the truth. Nevermind he was witholding his own truths.

It was probably just the bourbon talking now. Same for Peony.

"Now what makes you say that?" he asked with a cocky grin, though Jade was less than amused. "Something's been eating at you, hasn't it?"

"I know what was in the closed score," Jade finally said quietly, finishing his drink so he wouldn't have to say anymore. He shouldn't have said anything to begin with. Must be senility setting in, he thought.

"You can't leave me hanging like that!" Peony complained loudly. "So, spill. What was in that fonstone that was worth so much bloodshed?"

The emperor leaned in expectantly, certain he'd found the source of his friend's discomfort. Jade closed his eyes, contemplating in the silence.

"It's quite complex," said he finally said, pensively. "Without much context, it makes very little sense at all."

"Don't let it get you."

Jade now stared darkly across the table, looking over Peony carefully. There was no way he could have known...but why else would he be looking so sullen?

"Dammit, Jade, just let it go," Peony continued, somewhat flustered. "I know you think everything's a puzzle, and everyone's a puzzle, and you try your best to be puzzling, you love puzzles, but you need to stop."
"Your majes-"

"Don't," Peony interrupted, almost immediately regretting how loudly he'd done so. "I'm not finished. You just...You need to let this one go. It's not fonons, or math or sewing or a jigsaw or that tree thing or whatever. You just said it yourself, you know you're not going to figure it out."

He finished with his face partially in his hands and another weary sigh. He avoided the other's gaze entirely; perhaps one glance would be all Jade needed to see the hypocrisy in the entire speech.

What Jade did next surprised the both of them. He laughed. But it was not an amused sound in the least. It was harsh and hollow and Peony almost winced at the sound.

"What's so funny?" the emperor ventured cautiously. Jade laughing was never a good thing for at least one person.

"Nothing. Nothing is funny about anything. What is so funny about knowing how the world was going to end?"

"I figured the closed score would be something dramatic like that. Unlimited prosperity just sounded too good to be true," Peony said with a sigh. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think that would unsettle you this much-"

"You are going to die," Jade said softly before he could stop himself. "Were," he tried to correct quickly, but the difference in his two statements were like the day and night. "You were going to die, according to the closed score. At the hands of a war with Kimlasca and a plague that will wipe this city out." Jade continued, figuring with the damage already done, he might as well explain it all. "In the end, one man will bring the plague to Kimlasca and so on and so forth."

Jade fell silent, the warmth of the liquor becoming almost uncomfortable. He didn't avoid Peony's gaze - if the other wanted to look him in the eye then he could, but he wouldn't start.

"That's...explicit," was all Peony could manage. He reached for the bottle, only to watch the last dozen drops fall into the glass. "Figures this would end so soon," he said with a small laugh at the coincidence that ceased immediately when he saw the grim look on the other's face.

"Peony-"

"It's getting late," he interjected, rising from his chair as if he hadn't heard Jade at all, hadn't been listening to him for the last 15 minutes. "I didn't mean to keep you this long or get you this drunk." Not that Peony was any more coordinated; he had to admit that Jade was far more apt to moderation.

Jade nodded, following emperor then passing him at his insistence on holding the door open. Thus, it was Jade who appeared to lead them on their tense walk, silent through the halls save for their resounding footsteps.

At the last door before the vestibule, Jade paused, fingers resting lightly on the door handle. The revelation had been poorly timed and, given his current state, would not have been well explained. Given his dear friend's state, it would have been even more poorly understood. Still, it felt wrong to leave without at least saying-

"I'm sorry."

Jade turned, having not expected Peony to say anything, or to be standing so close.

Peony stared, having not expected Jade to react to his apology, or to appear so concerned.

By the same token, he hadn't expected to feel Jade's heart pounding through the fabric of his uniform. He hadn't expected Jade not to flinch. And he certainly hadn't expected him to have such enviably soft lips.

If this were some grand tale to be told to generation of nobles to come, Jade would have been overwhelmed (in a good way) by Peony's suavity and passion and would have reacted in kind, culminating in the night they consummated their long burning feelings for each other - but it wasn't. It wasn't some ridiculous fairytale or a harlequin romance. Jade was overwhelmed, but not in a good way. Not necessarily bad, just awkward. If Peony meant to kiss Jade intensely, it was intensely awkward. An excess of bourbon had a tendency to do that. And if Jade was meant to respond in kind, well, it was a good thing Peony didn't wait too long before pulling away, expression shadowed by the night and the alcohol.

At that moment, Jade realized two things: one, he had backed into the wall, which was bad because he doesn't back into things but good because it was probably the only thing holding him up, and two, Peony had just kissed him.

Jade was used to delivering bad news, as he rose in rank, so did the number of families he had to visit and announce their someone was never coming home. The reactions were mixed, ranging from wracking sorrow to violence. And even though he was not necessarily delivering that speech, being kissed was certainly not the reaction he expected. And by Peony, for goodness sake, he was... Peony was...

Before he could answer his own question, Peony had pulled away already, and he realized that there wasn't an answer. Peony was Peony and he was himself. So then, what remained between them?

"Your move, Jade."

"I wasn't aware that we were playing a game."

"Would that make it easier for you," Peony asked, bitter, sarcastic and pleading at the same time.

Jade's unresponsiveness was worse than any negative reaction. There was no such thing as being 'at a loss for words' for Jade, Peony believed. Just moments of silent calculation and walls going up.

"Would it be easier if this were just a game? Would you rather play chess? Poker? Rugnican Roulette? Pretend?" Each suggestion more was desperate than the one before.

Jade was doing it again, staring, but this time directly at him. As if this were a lab, like he was an experiment. Scientific. Sterile. Impersonal. Jade was hiding again.

It was as if he'd dried his well of his liquid courage with that kiss. He didn't know what else to say. He didn't know how to ask him not to leave again. He didn't know how to tell him to let him in. He was scared, scared of the next day and the next and however long this exchange would hang over them.

So he did all he could do, walk away as he whispered "good night," when he wanted so much to apologize again, for the second and millionth time. He glanced back only when he heard the door shut again, relieved and dismayed to find himself alone.

Jade stood on the other side of the door with only the silent midnight guard for company. On one hand he wanted to open the door and demand an explanation from Peony- but he didn't trust his tongue at the moment. So the only other option was to simply go home, sober up, and work from there. It would be like a tactical retreat. No shame in that, he had learned quickly in the military. Better to live to fight another day than die for the glory of one. But was this a war, or a game? As Jade quickly crossed the vestibule to leave the palace entirely, he remembered the pain in Peony's voice, a mixture of confusion and injured feelings. What was he supposed to have done?

Probably not tell Peony the contents of the closed score, for one. He wasn't even quite sure Peony understood the gravity of that statement. People consistently oversimplified the score: it wasn't a strict telling of the future like the doctrine of the Order would make you think. If Jade hadn't been so enamoured with fomicry he probably would have pursued studies of the score. He wish he did now, because maybe he wouldn't feel so apprehensive over its contents. Maybe it really didn't mean anything now that Lorelei was freed. Maybe Peony's kiss didn't mean anything under the circumstances.

Jade was a confident gambler, but he would not bet on either of those.