providence
This takes place after around the time of Jillia's wedding to Jowy. And yes, it's for Jillia (another member of Suikoden II's wonderful female cast).
Today, I will walk down the aisle to wed a man I barely know... yet already love.
Today, I will see my fate and become wife of Jowy Blight to rule the Highland Kingdom to war against the City-State of Jowston.
Today, I will lose myself, and I will do so willingly.
I lived within my brother's shadow when he was still alive. I was given the respect due to my position, but no power. I could do nothing as I watched my brother's armies ravage Jowston's lands, causing pain and suffering wherever they may land. I could do nothing when I saw my brother standing triumphantly over my father's corpse, his very aura resonating the fiend, the evil he had become.
Throughout my life, I have been able to do nothing but pray, and hope.
Not once have I complained. Not once. Perhaps my pride prevents me from doing so; pride is one of the few things I have left.
I have not complained, but I have hoped.
I have dreamed.
I have dreamed, and become a dream, a shadow hiding behind the light.
I hide no more.
He takes my hand, and it is warm despite the coldness in his heart. It is the coldness he has brought down upon himself, allowing him to fight past comrades, former friends.
We marry to further our own means.
We marry to find meaning in each other.
***
"Lady Jillia, the king requests for your presence."
"Inform him that I shall be with him shortly."
Through the hallways did she walk, drifting among memories and sadness, flittering across floors where light dared to spill it's grace.
Into the War Room, as she had done time and time again.
Her husband stood there among his loyal generals, discussing the tactics that would lead them to victory. They listened to him, paid rapt attention to his words, pledged their lives to a boy whose eyes were too old to fit his face.
Those eyes glanced upwards then, and noted her presence by the door. A secret smile and a gleaming glance was all she received before the coldness returned, and the warmth fled.
She leaned against the door, lowered her own eyes, and smiled.
Someday.