Title: Keeping up Appearances
Rating: PG13-ish, I suppose
Pairing: Overall Ky/Dizzy, mentions of previous Ky/Bridget, emotionally one-sided Bridget/Ky
Summary: Bridget, Ky, and the things that aren't always what they seem.
Warning(s): Mentions of guys getting it on, general mindfuckery, Bridget being kind of a bitch,
Disclaimer: I…. don't own Guilty Gear or any of its characters—because if I did, Ky/Bridget would be so canon it would make your eyes bleed.
If the servants are suspicious at all of the pretty, girl who appears at the breakfast table next to their king one early morning, they certainly know better than to show it. He introduces her as his cousin Brigitte, and they almost all breathe an audible sigh of relief. The girl does bear a slight resemblance- with wide, sweet green eyes, lovely, long champagne-blond hair and a complexion like honey in sunlight- but it's passing… but acceptable. After all, His Highness was once a man of the Church—
"Forgive us father for we are about to sin…"
A laugh sounded in that honeyed voice, somewhere around his belly, and the smaller blond looked up at his lover with a coy look in his eyes.
"You say that every time, like it will be the last, and yet again…"
There's nothing he can say to that of course- the other, sly little devil that he is, is right- as always. His former vocation had left him with a talent for observing people, and he can read the too-honest Officer like a book. That's why, when they've finished and he's lying on his desk, spent and sated, and Ky has yet to move, he immediately sits up, shoulders tense, and waits. It isn't long before the older blond looks up from where he's had his face buried in his hands, elbows braced on his knees, and speaks.
"They've given me Illurya. I'm taking her there with me."
He doesn't have to elaborate who he means by 'her', because the other already knows, the sound that escapes him torn between disgust and despair.
"The Gear," he murmurs bitterly, already tugging on stockings and skirts, fingers readying to cast the illusionary magic he needs. "You're- you're absconding with the bloody Gear…." And it's not the fact that she's a Gear that bothers him, he knows- it's the fact that it's her and not him… but that doesn't mean he wants to accept it, no matter how well they both get along.
"You know I cannot- if it were to be you, they would immediately-!"
"I know- I know… the Officials would have a field day with the Commander of the IPF being involved with a cross-dressing boy who's barely old enough to be legal. Politics are not something I am wholly unfamiliar with, you know."
"Then why are you so—you knew, didn't you?"
"Of course I knew- I never expected this to last. You have an image to maintain and it's not one I fit into, illusions or no. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."
And when the door slams behind him not a minute later, Ky is left in his office, looking at the only thing that remains of the his ever having been there- a small golden cross he'd given the other as a gift.
When he writes, not even a year later, to inform the blond of the birth of his son, he is unsurprised to receive no response. He is, however, surprised to receive another cross, this one with a rose in its center, to give to said child.
She takes over the household with an efficiency and poise that is undeniable, regulating expenses, schedules and meals like a true Lady if there ever was one. She helps with the shopping, enjoys being in the gardens, helping to tend the roses, and is more than content to scold His Highness when he misses meals from overworking. Had she not been his cousin, they all would have thought her more than a suitable replacement for their former Lady.
More than 'suitable', some have the gall to whisper, because kind and sweet though their Lady may have been, she was still- Far more suitable than a Gear, of all things.
And though she pretends not to notice, they all know she silently agrees.
Which is why, when His Highness goes on one of his sojourns to visit their Lady, they are unsurprised at the state in which the pretty blond finds herself, morose to be left behind by her kin for a woman who isn't even human. But she takes the opportunity presented to inquire about The Child, and though they would tell her, they all know better than to reveal His whereabouts, lest they be faced with His Highness' fury. They are not, however, prepared for how truly, frighteningly astute the young lady is, taking small hints and putting them together with a frightening accuracy. So when His Highness does return, he is faced with a crackling powderkeg of magical energy, five words making him take her by the arm and haul her up to his private chambers, dismissing anyone and everyone within hearing range for the rest of the evening:
"You left him to Sol?!"
When the doors are shut and locked behind them, the magic, all of it, dissipates, and Bridget is left standing there, arms crossed, legs akimbo, eyes narrowed to angry emerald slits.
"Of all people- him? Have you lost what little sense you had, Your Highness?" His disdain for the title is obvious- the only royalty Bridget will ever bow to are the ones from his own country, after all- though the fact that this is no more than a ploy doesn't help his estimation of Ky's sovereignty any.
"The boy was a liability- we both know that."
"Oh, like the entirety of the country doesn't know your wife's a Gear anyway?" Bridget snaps, and Ky spins, looking alarmed. "…you honestly think either of you managed to fool anyone? You're both far too honest- though I would have thought you, at least, would have lost that naïveté by now." He's condescending and cold, and Ky can't help but wonder what changed to make him that way, though a voice in the back of his mind informs him he should know exactly what did.
"I suppose I have always been one to believe in my own ability."
"Which is why they still follow you. Why they haven't revolted. You are Ky Kiske, you know. Though you may be naïve and trusting, you are still wise, still strong, and most importantly, still their King—no matter how you're wasting a perfectly good Holy Sword."
"You go too far!"
"Too far? I go too far? You're risking your power, your honor, your very life as well as Fuuraiken on a Gear whose existence would have ended whether you wanted it to or not, and you tell me I go too far?"
"She is well worth-!"
"She is not! Dear a friend as she once was, she is not worth the loss of Fuuraiken..!"
"Once was? I thought the two of you-?" His confusion is evident, and he is visibly glad to be able to change the subject- before her illness, she had always asked if there was anything he would like said to the young blond in the letters she wrote him. He refrained, of course, but she sent them anyway, and now…
"She wrote. I never wrote back. I read the letters once, then burned them. After a while, I stopped even bothering to read them… No hard feelings, she says- easy enough for her to say, isn't it..?"
Those last words are thick with and emotion he recognizes, and he's struck dumb even as his body reacts to it like they haven't spent years apart, immediately moving to wrap arms around the smaller frame.
"Don't you dare-!"
The palm that meets his sternum isn't unexpected—but the force behind it certainly is, and it's all he can do to catch himself midair. He stares at Bridget when he lands on his feet, taking in the familiar stance with some chagrin.
"…how is dear Miss Kuradoberri?"
"Hasn't stopped bitching about what a damned idiot you are since day one," comes the deadpan reply, and he realizes he can't fix things as easily as he once could. "Can't say I disagree either."
"Why did you come?"
"Because you asked."
"I've asked before, and you never-"
"No- you dictated messages, asking me to come. This time, you actually bothered to write it yourself. The real question is, why did you invite me? To give yourself time to recover from this? To try and make yourself feel better…?"
"I-!" He stops, because he doesn't know what to say, and Bridget is silently smug, even as he pulls up the illusion of Brigitte once more.
"If you don't have an answer by morning, I'm leaving."
The next morning, Brigitte doesn't appear at breakfast- instead, it's Bridget, short hair sliding almost messily into his face, that settles at her usual place at the table, and the staff is stunned, but not as surprised as he thought they would be, and Bridget smiles at every last one of them as he leaves, telling them all to take care- and he knows that they know he doesn't mean of themselves.
Ky may be unbearably naïve- though perhaps not as much as he once was- but it does Bridget's heart good to know that the people he sent to work for him are living up to his expectations. He sends Ky a letter once he arrives back in China, one simple sentence that conveys just how much Ky really can't hide from him.
Sol really should be a bit more patient with his teaching- Sin is just a child, after all.
R & R and Concrit always wanted/appreciated~