Prompt: Bravery

W/C: 478

For kateflowrchild13 who requested some Jeddie :o)


A year ago if someone had asked him who the bravest person he knew was, he would have answered without hesitation; he would have named Rose Hathaway as soon as the question had been asked. After all, at fifteen she had done the unthinkable, escaping the Academy with Lissa and going on the run—and she'd kept them alive for two years all on her own. He would have brought up Spokane—though his voice might have trembled at the memories—then mentioned how she'd fought in the Battle of Saint Vlad's before setting out to find Dimitri on her own, or he'd point out how bravely she'd stood trial for High Treason, never wavering and letting the situation break her down.

But now, watching Jill from across the field as she runs laps around the track, he contemplated the meaning of bravery in an entirely new way. Her hair is pulled back in a tight ponytail, but a few stubborn strands have escaped their restraint, curly and damp with perspiration and her skin is flushed from its exposure to the bright desert sun; he can tell that she is suffering—but she never voices a single word of complaint, even when asked how she is feeling. She fulfills her duty in silence, the same was he does, with a single minded tenacity that gives her a maturity far beyond her years—something he can't help but admire, though he knows it's wrong for him to do so.

As if she feels the weight of his gaze, she looks up, her green eyes betraying her exhaustion, but still, as tired as she is, she offers him a weary smile. Seeing him distracts her, making her stumble; she falls forward onto the rough gravel of the track, catching herself on her hands and her knees. It makes him wince, imagining the small stones abrading her soft, tender skin—but determined as ever, she gets to her feet and starts running again, waving off her classmates concerned words as she narrows her eyes, focusing on the task at hand. Her expression one of such sheer determination that he can't help but feel a surge of pride at her stubborn resolve to keep up with the others.

In a million little ways, Jillian Dragomir has shown him that sometimes bravery isn't always about doing daring things or throwing yourself into the middle of a fight you know you might lose; it's sometimes it's just facing the everyday obstacles life throws in your way and managing to keep your head up as you try to overcome them. It's one of the many reasons he's fallen more and more in love with her with every day that passes—despite the fact he knows that their being together as anything other than Guardian and Charge is nothing more than an unattainable, completely impossible dream.