.0. The Fool.
Decus was the fool.
Not just a fool, but the fool. He was so completely uncaring about the opinions of others, so completely free of any despairing feelings that he couldn't possibly be anything less than a fool. What sort of person failed to care about what others thought? What sort of person was able to be only optimistic even when faced with rejection every single time? He was a fool in every possible sense of the word. And of course, everyone knew that. No one would ever deny that.
Was he not a fool to pursue Alice so ardently when he was rejected every time? Could he not see his love was unattainable? Did that not make him sad, upset, hurt, angry, despairing? Did not her rejection—her sadistic, cold rejection—wound his heart every single time? Why did he not just give up on her? Clearly, she wasn't ever going to be his. Alice was far from being anyone's, and Decus was surely the very last person she would ever give her heart to.
So why did he not give up? Not turn his sights to other women?
Only such a fool as Decus, The Fool as he was often called (except by Alice, to whom he would always be 'Dumbo-Decus' and not such a fool as he was to others), would continue to pursue the one person in the world he could never have. His journey that had begun long ago (the journey in which his ultimate goal was to win Alice but his contentment would be just being able to remain by her side as her constant protector) was far from over, far from its inevitable end.
And only The Fool himself would continue on this impossible journey.
At the entrance to the Vanguard's base of operations in Palmacosta (which barely counted as such because it was so very small) there stood a guard at either side of the entrance, standing stock still and throwing around angry, self-righteous glares at all who dared glance their way. Vanguard members almost always looked this way, of course, but it doubly important to appear so when high-importance officers were in town.
On this day, there were two, which was something of a rare occurrence. It was rare for two high-end officials to have business on the same day at the same city. The officials had large areas of their own to oversee and not much time for travelling at all. Oftentimes, business matters were handed down to their subordinates because there was simply too much else to do elsewhere in the world. Regular members, therefore, had to ensure they looked and acted the part of a proud Vanguard member even more so than usual so as to not attract the notice of the officials, whose punishments for anything less than perfect conduct befitting their membership were fearsome at best (and certainly not desirable).
At about midday, when the sun had reached its zenith, the two officials in question came strolling down the street from the direction of the Governor General's house in the centre of town. They stopped at the foot of the bridge, still far enough away as to not be overheard by the guards but close enough to see their behaviour, if they cared to glance in the direction of headquarters. Both guards knew the Lady Alice very well, if not on a personal basis but rather as her subordinates. Even when they had been new recruits, tales of her sadistic tendencies were common knowledge and all the more frightening because she seemed to possess no inhibitions about punishing anyone in the middle of the street for even the most insignificant of crimes.
Her companion, on the other hand, neither had seen before, although tales centring on him were as common as those of Lady Alice, and usually went hand-in-hand with hers. The two were almost inseparable in the telling of tales, and supposedly nearly inseparable in reality as well. The stories of Decus painted him as quite the opposite of Alice: carefree, happy, love-blinded, and foolish in the extreme. Where Alice specialized in fighting, and was thus the head of the Vanguard's Combat Unit, Decus was a master of disguise, and held the office of Head of Espionage. This was not to say, so the stories went, that he was an incompetent fighter; quite the opposite in fact. It was simply that he excelled in the finding of information, rather like the ninja's of Mizuho.
Lady Alice was apparently agitated in her talk with Decus. She was waving her toy rapier around animatedly and by way of leaning towards him, suggested she were hissing angrily at him. Decus, whose face was completely visible to the guards, seemed quite unaffected by her anger and merely smiled, waving his hands as if to say "It's not what you think!"
"Lady Alice hates him," the taller of the two guards whispered to his companion with an air of supreme knowledge. He had, after all, heard all the stories.
"But he loves her, I heard," said the younger guard in a confused tone. "Shouldn't she be flattered?"
"One would think. But the fact remains, she hates him." The taller one nodded sagely to himself in the most inconspicuous movement possible. "He's a fool not to accept it."
"A fool..." the other murmured. Decus indeed looked the part, waving his arms around and grinning like a slobbering, love-sick idiot at Lady Alice. He wiggled his torso quite suggestively at her (although Lady Alice appeared unfazed, neither guard could be sure since her back was to them) at brought his arm around in a wide arc only to end with his index finger pointing at her. They could almost hear him saying "You're the only one for me, Alice!"
"Look how he acts in front of her!" the taller guard said in a slightly higher, more incredulous voice than before, "No wonder she hates him! Only a fool would act so in front of Lady Alice!"
"Only a fool in love," remarked the other, keeping his voice as low as possible. "And although his movements are rather...odd...he doesn't seem all that bad..."
The taller opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment the Lady Alice turned sharply, and walked briskly towards them. Decus stayed frozen on the spot, his eyes following her as she came to a sudden stop in front of the two guards. Despite being shorter than both of them (and quite possibly younger than either of them) she was strikingly intimidating with her cute face scrunched up in a lovely scowl. One dainty foot tapped impatiently on the ground and her toy rapier seemed to be deadly still in her hand. Neither guard moved; ice seemed to have invaded their bodies although she had cast no spell.
"If I hear either of you utter 'fool' one more time," she threatened in dangerously low voice, "You'll live to regret the day you ever saw Decus and spoke in my presence. As it is," she added coldly, "You'll be receiving punishment immediately. Your first lesson as members of the Vanguard: Never speak ill of your superiors. I will know if you speak like this about Decus again."
A sudden viper-like movement brought her toy rapier across their faces. "Hawkie!" she called. Her direct subordinate appeared by her side. "Have these two fools taken in for punishment. I will deal with them personally as soon as my business with Dumbo-Decus is finished."
"Yes, ma'am!"
And just like that, the Lady Alice turned and hurried back to where the still-frozen Decus awaited her. Fool though he presented himself to the world, evidently Lady Alice thought otherwise of his antics. Evidently, he wasn't such a fool in her eyes. Perhaps his impossible journey and his impossible goal had just a little shred of hope for success.
Author's Note: I was going to do an entire series of these, but since I have a ton of schoolwork and I'm also working on another Knight of Ratatosk fanfic, it probably won't be done unless I feel up to it. Please allow for some differences between your own views of the meaning of each card and my own, all right? I can't promise anything will be how you interpret it, and anyway, this is only a little experiment for fun, and will probably be a bit of a character study.
Please note that since Alice is a half-elf, her hearing is sharper than that of a regular human, if not so good as an angel's. So I don't think it would be impossible for her to overhear a conversation she was somewhat distanced from. Also note that it's very likely this story will have hints (and probably obvious overtones) of various pairings (assuming I ever actually finish it of course). Most possibilities can be found on my profile, since I write the pairings I like the best.
That's it for now :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, or any related items to this fanfic.