All Along
Tales of the Abyss
Slash One-Shot: Luke fon Fabre / Jade Curtiss
Non-Canon follow of events
Disclaimers: I do not own Tales of the Abyss, nor the characters of said game.
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The soft, perpetual humming of machines filled the air, flowing freely into the room through an open window. The small inn was the most comfortable place in the whole town, considering how the rest of Belkend was covered by machinery of all sorts. Every single engine was dutifully working, even the most lazy workers out of bed by this time of the afternoon.
But not even the soft clanking could run over the fast and loud sound of Luke's heart, and not the brightest of sunrays could pry a smile out of his lips.
The red-haired aristocrat was sitting alone in his room at the inn, bending over a worn-out notebook. Mieu's paw prints could be seen in several of the pages, and sinks where it had fallen over or been mishandled also marked it, though those were a bit less obvious. More than half of the pages were full of script, less dutiful through the last few months than it had been for several years and far more journals.
For the tenth time that day, the sound of crumpling paper interrupted the little silence there was. And for the eleventh time, the date and location were written on the top of a new page of the notebook. It was done with finality, but as he got past the first few lines, the curves of the letters became slower, the short lines hasty, and the whole handwriting was uneven.
His hands were shaking.
He dropped the quill and held his forehead with a heavy, shaky sigh.
"Just get over it..." he murmured sternly, a tone much like Tear's when Luke did something stupid.
They had arrived to Belkend not too long ago, specifically so Luke could see a doctor. He had hoped to be reassured by the visit, be told that there was nothing wrong with him... Alas, he had instead received word of his unavoidable fate. He could not recall the exact words right now, for he was too troubled, but it had something to do with his fonons not being able to stick together. He was going to disappear from this world, quite literally. And it just had to happen right when he was starting to enjoy life. Karma had finally caught up with him.
"The man said I'm probably overdoing it – I just need some rest and we'll be ready to go."
The lie had been pretty easy, as well as smiling at Guy when the blond patted his shoulder and sent him off to his room to sleep. But writing about the issue in his journal was proving to be more difficult than he had thought. Because now it seemed kind of useless. He didn't really know how long it was until he died, so why should he bother trying to keep track of the last few months, maybe days?
In the end, the noise of his quill scrapping against the paper was heard once more. His hand was still shaking, but it was easier to continue the entry by deciding to skip the whole meeting with the doctor. He was halfway through with their arrival to the city, when a brief knock on his door made him snap his head around, a bit too violently.
He cursed, closing the journal with one hand and rubbing the back of his neck with the other. Whoever had knocked didn't wait for an answer, and he looked again just in time to see Colonel Curtiss walking into the room. The door hinges didn't make a sound as it closed, a movement so watchful that it would appear the Colonel did not want to be noticed.
"Shouldn't you be resting, Luke?" he asked, arching an eyebrow at him as he advanced further into the room.
Luke gave him a wary glance, but he was unable to look straight at the man for long.
"I was just going to," he stated, closing the ink bottle resting by his left side and roughly pushing everything into his bag.
"You seem upset," Jade pointed out. Those eyes didn't move away from Luke as he kicked his bag under the bed. "Did I interrupt something?"
"No," Luke said briskly. He was ready to lay down and play unconscious, but he found he was unable to with Colonel Curtiss still standing there. "Anything you needed?" The redhead didn't look at the man while asking. He couldn't stand Jade's gaze – it was as if the man could see right through everyone. And he was pretty sure he didn't want a vicious psychoanalysis.
"Why, if 'overdoing it' is what made you sick, I must say you're far more frail than I thought." It seemed Jade would not let him have any of that. Of course. This would be so much easier if Jade was not the type to make jabbing comments...
"Fine! I caught a small cold and didn't want to seem weak. A little rest will..."
"And yet he didn't give you any medicine," Jade continued, using Luke's words against him.
"I don't need any." His hands were shaking again, and the shivers were climbing to his arms and shoulders. He braved a glance up to the brunette, but the glare of his glasses made it impossible to read his expression.
"Could it be that there's no cure for what you have?"
The next thing he knew, Luke was gripping Jade's military robe from the neck, so tight his knuckles were turning white. He turned a faltering but fierce look up at the man. Father of Fomicry, Jade the Necromancer, of course he would know of this. How many replicas had he not seen die of the same thing? Jade tilted his head just slightly, and the light reflecting on his glasses changed enough that Luke could see a pair of red eyes staring back at him. The cold, dispassionate look was harsher than any witty remark could have been.
"You know," he growled, his nails pressing his own palms through the conventional military clothes. "You always knew!"
Jade didn't say anything: he just stood there, accepting Luke's heated glare with such unruffled stillness that the teen felt a strong desire to punch him in the face. A strangled sob died in Luke's throat, and he just had to lower his face when he felt the corners of his eyes burn, feebly punching the taller male's chest in resentment.
"I never found a successful way to stop it completely," Jade finally said, while Luke's hits died away, the hand falling to his side limply. There was still one shaky hand holding on to his uniform, but he made no move to displace it or step away from the redhead.
"Since when?" he murmured, a soft hiccup making his frame shudder.
"I suspected for a while. I couldn't really be certain until a few days ago." And surely Luke's façade had given Jade's suspicion the last nudge it needed to become accurate.
Why Jade had suddenly decided to face Luke about it, though, was a complete mystery. The boy wouldn't even bother with trying to figure it out. A small patch at the front of Jade's shirt soon became stained by Luke's steadily-flowing tears. No matter how hard he tried to hold them in, once they started, they seemed impossible to control. And perhaps it was for the best: he would rather run out of tears now and never cry again when faced by this issue, than feel light-headed and insecure if it ever came up again.
He nearly choked, though, and coughed briefly to regain his breath, when he felt a reassuring hand stroke his back slowly. His shoulders tense, Luke half-expected something weird to happen. He wasn't sure what – a hit, maybe? Perhaps the hand would close on his clothes and jerk him away? But no, all Jade's hand ventured to do was rub Luke's back, slowly easing the male's nerves and uncertainties.
Almost coyly, Luke leaned against the colonel, and after a few seconds without complain, his arms drifted up in a weak hug. To his surprise, Jade actually returned it.
"I'm sorry, Luke."
It was most shocking to see just how comforting the cool-minded man could get to be, and the apology made Luke's back a bit stiff. "Why are you apologizing?" he muttered, his tone almost annoyed through the little quivers the tears had left.
"Was that not what you wanted to hear?" Jade sounded almost amused, now, and Luke tightened his embrace. He couldn't tell if it was out of embarrassment, anger, or shared hilarity.
Luke pulled away after a few more seconds of silence, hastily cleaning his face with the back of his hand.
"...Thank you," he bit out, peeking up at Jade. The man wore a calm smile, a little perk in the corner of his lip making it seem like he was laughing inwardly, as usual.
"Don't mention it," Jade waved the matter off easily, turning towards the door. "I won't, either," he added, correctly reading Luke's mind – the teenager had been fearing blackmail.
The brunette placed a hand on the knob, and was turning it when Luke called him:
"Wait! Jade..." The man's head tilted to the side lightly, acknowledging him. "Don't tell the others. Please"
There was a moment of silence, and a low sigh before Jade nodded in agreement. "As you wish, Luke."
The door opened and closed a moment later, and Luke went to lay down on the bed farthest from the window. The latest encounter had been extremely odd, but very pleasing. And well... even with the possibility of just disappearing someday, Luke was not too worried anymore. After all, death couldn't be more disturbing than Jade's sweetness that afternoon.
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Thanks for reading.