Author's Notes: My husband played Dragon Quest VIII, and I devotedly watched the story play out with a fascination I never before experienced with a video game. I love the fairy tale lore and the beautiful artwork. I was entirely enraptured in the animation and wanted to know so much more about the characters than what the game offered.
I hope this little tale has captured the characters appropriately. I apologize for any errors as I was only an observer, not a player. (This story depicts the way my husband equipped and skilled his characters Other players have used different weapons and abilities.)
There might be some spoilers for the game as I have seen how it ends. Advance apologies if I give too much away.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I make no money. I just write about what I enjoy.
Summary: One member of the party learns about trust and discovers more than planned.
Trust
Jessica sat on the bed with her arms folded. She could hear Yangus snoring in the room on her right. She was rarely surprised by the burly man's ability to fall asleep easily during their stays at the inns. He usually experienced the most physical exhaustion after the battles with the monsters. The party relied on his brute strength during their fights. Of course, Yangus never complained as he seemed to enjoy taking out his frustrations on something. The reformed thief had a surprisingly good heart despite his gruff exterior and his constant bantering with Trode.
Hero's room was across the hall. He was silent as usual while he slept. Jessica sometimes wondered if he ever had dreams. Even awake, he was a quiet young man. He took orders from King Trode with no questions and accepted every quest they had been asked to do. Jessica knew that if it wasn't for Hero's determined spirit, they would never have gotten this far. She hoped things would work out for him in the end with Princess Medea. The curse that turned the princess into a horse was a terrible fate to bear. Princess Medea would certainly be a lucky girl if they could ever lift her curse and find some way to avoid her pre-arranged marriage to Prince Charmles, or as Yangus preferred, Prince Charm-less.
Angelo's room was located to the left of Jessica's. The Templar knight was unusually quiet tonight as well. Then again, she couldn't remember when she really heard any racket from him. Usually, the only noise she heard from Angelo was when he was awake, using words to spar with her. With a sigh, Jessica figured the Templar knight found his way to the pub where he was enjoying a late night drink and companion.
The whip-mage looked out the window and noticed the shift in the stars. She had been unable to fall asleep for quite some time, probably an hour she figured. She decided that if Angelo could roam around with ill intentions, she could certainly do so with honest ones.
She grabbed her boots and pulled them on her feet. Then, she set the corset over her shirt again. She kept promising herself that if they could ever spare some extra change, she was going to find a shirt that wasn't so big. In her rush to leave Alexandria, she grabbed her brother's old shirt so she could have something of his. She didn't realize it would be the only shirt she would have for quite some time.
Jessica stopped in the midst of tying the corset strings. She truly missed Alastair. The last couple days left her with an urgency to find a way to talk to him from the beyond. She was growing worried they would never be able to defeat Rhapthorne. After all, how were four travelers who were haphazardly thrown together going to defeat a being of such evil potency that it originally required seven expert mages to sacrifice themselves?
Hurrying with the last few strings of the corset, Jessica tiptoed past her companions' rooms. She moved quietly down the staircase. As she neared the bottom, she heard the familiar scraping of stone against blade. She figured that was why Hero was so quiet tonight. He was down here attending to his newly-acquired Dragon blade instead of actually sleeping in his room.
She rounded the corner of the staircase. Where she expected to find Hero sitting, she saw a red overcoat laid neatly over the arm of the chair. Long, white strands of hair had slipped free of the bow that usually held them back. Light glinted off the circular earring Angelo habitually wore and Jessica found herself staring oddly. The Templar knight wasn't drinking and womanizing as she expected.
Angelo's concentration was deep into his rapier blade, each stroke of the stone a precise motion that would give maximum damage to every monster or enemy that was touched by the weapon.
Quietly, she stepped closer, fascinated by the technique. She had very limited knowledge of the blade arts, as she preferred magic and her whip.
An orange glow from the fireplace reflected on the silver rapier. It was a premonition of the dangers they were to face very soon. They were going to attempt to take down Hell before it took down the world.
"Don't you need to sleep?" Angelo asked unexpectedly without looking up from his work.
Jessica jumped silently. She had hoped to avoid his attention. Now that she had it, though, she wasn't quite sure what to do about it.
"I can't sleep," she admitted, not able to conjure a convincing lie.
Angelo lowered his rapier onto his lap. He looked to the usually pony-tailed girl. She actually had taken the ornaments from her hair. The red locks fell naturally around her face, and it made her look more mature. She no longer appeared like a girl, but instead she was a woman with intelligence and inner strength.
"What keeps you awake?" he asked, pleased to see something different about her.
Jessica caught the way Angelo's eyes assessed her appearance. The flash of approval in his blue irises left her both angry and relieved. He was the only man who ever made her think or feel contradictions in the same moment. She hated him for it, but she also found it strangely adoring.
"I have a lot on my mind," she replied. "Why aren't you sleeping?"
"I have a blade to sharpen." His smile was both infuriating and attracting. He could state the obvious with contempt while his eyes sparkled in humor.
Jessica turned from him. "Then, I'll leave you to your work."
Angelo looked at the rapier in his hands. He was only sharpening it because he didn't know what to do with himself and he wasn't in the mood to sleep just yet. Maybe he just needed a distraction other than fine wine, women, and battling.
"What's on your mind?" he asked, placing the rapier back into the sheath beside the chair.
Jessica froze in stunned silence. She couldn't believe he actually wanted to talk. She turned around abruptly, looking for something insincere on his face. There had to be something he wanted, something the women of the pub easily gave to him. Well, he was going to find something very disappointing about her. She wasn't liberated like those women.
"There has to be something that's troubling you so deeply that you can't sleep," he pressed.
"And, just why would you be interested?" she asked defensively.
"Let's just say I have ways to relax your mind," he offered.
Jessica wanted to slap the flirtation off him right then. "How dare you? You womanizing, conceited…"
Angelo stood from the chair to gather his overcoat, cutting her off. "Instantly, you brand me as a cad. I suppose there's nothing of real importance bothering you then."
The whip-mage took an angry breath, trying to calm down. He did this to her every time. They never had a conversation without his flirting or her anger getting in their way. He knew exactly what to say to get her upset. She never saw past the womanizing Templar to see when he was being genuine.
Angelo had his overcoat in one hand, and his rapier in the other. He had moved past her when she suddenly broke her silence.
"I miss my brother terribly tonight," she said with a sigh. She wondered what possessed her to finally reveal such intimate emotions.
He stopped. That had been his suspicion, but he was not going to force her to admit it until she was ready. He may enjoy the flirting with her, but he had immense respect for her. Angelo turned back to Jessica. There was something very real in his eyes now, an honesty she almost believed.
"I know a way you can talk to him one last time," he whispered.
She shook her head. "I've read so many books, talked to so many mages. Once someone has passed on, they are no longer reachable."
Angelo snorted at her naivety. "They won't show you those kinds of spells for a reason. Not every woman in my pleasure was a simple pub wench or a casino server."
Jessica looked to the Templar knight with a strange fascination. She was suddenly very intimidated but also very interested. "Necromancy?"
He smiled and shook his head. "It's not that dark. We're not raising the dead. We're just looking to talk with him."
"What do I need to do?"
"Join me in my room."
That put Jessica on the defensive again. "You will not give up your chase, will you?"
Angelo's laugh loosened more of his white hair. Jessica tried not to enjoy how it looked around him.
"I don't even try to chase you, my dear. You're just an easy target for such comments."
This was why Jessica hated talking with Angelo. It always led to the same conversation. She felt the angry heat in her cheeks. He loved embarrassing her, letting her own mind turn a simple word or phrase into something unbecoming.
"Forget it," she grumbled. "I should know I can't take you seriously."
Jessica moved to go past him and head up the stairs. He held out the sheathed rapier to block her path. The sincerity returned to his blue eyes, and he lowered his voice to an extreme quiet.
"I am offering you this one chance. If you truly want to talk to Alastair, the items we need are in my room. If not, then I won't wait up for you, and I'll see you tomorrow morning." With that, Angelo dropped the rapier to his side and ascended the stairs, disappearing from view.
Jessica listened to the fire crackling in the hearth behind her. The pull to talk with her brother grew in intensity. Angelo was her only link for this. She would never find anyone else willing to touch the dead. If she walked away now, she knew she would regret the decision. That regret would then tear away at her, leaving her without the necessary concentration they would need to win the battles.
She imagined the sneer she would receive from Angelo when she arrived at his door, but this was something personal she needed to do. She took a deep breath and quietly moved up the stairs.
She approached his door cautiously. Her fingers gently rapped on the wood.
Angelo appeared in the doorframe. He smiled without the sneer. Instead there was something inviting in it. "Please come in."
Jessica was taken aback momentarily by the courtesy. Slowly, she moved into the room and heard the door close behind her. She saw that he had already set up a small cloth on the floor with a statue of the Goddess. Candles were lit in four points farther out from the cloth. Incense sticks wafted smoke from either side of the Goddess statue. The aroma was sweet like vanilla but spicy like cloves.
She watched Angelo as he made some final preparations by sprinkling some herbs over the statue. He dripped scented oil over the flame of each of the four candles. The flames burst into vibrant life for a quick moment before fading back to normal. Then the Templar knelt on the floor on one side of the Goddess. He motioned for Jessica to kneel on the other side, facing him. She moved to her designated place on the floor and watched him in silence.
Angelo reached forward and took her hand in his. Jessica instinctively pulled her hand back. Their battle with words was superficial and manageable. His touch upon her was not welcomed without an invitation. And, she had no plans to become another notch on his bedpost.
"Do you trust me?" he asked. The tone of his voice was serious and even hurt. He thought for certain that she would realize his intentions were for her benefit only. He had no ulterior motives. He understood they all needed to be free of anxiety and the troubling thoughts they each carried. They needed to have clear heads and clear hearts for the battle of their lives. That was more important right now than the physical pleasures of bodies experimenting and discovering.
Jessica looked to the Goddess statue. Everything he set up tonight was for her with only the intent of speaking to Alastair again. Still, there was that nagging caution whenever she was in Angelo's close proximity. He set off the warning bells in her that kept her guarded.
"On the battlefield, I trust you explicitly," she told him. "Your reputation diminished any trust I could have while being isolated with you."
Angelo watched the swirls of the incense. That explained a lot about why she kept so distant. She has based her judgment solely on the rumors that passed around the Abbey. Most of them were true, of course, but there was always some exaggeration in hearsay.
"Fair enough," he agreed. "But, if you want to do this, Jessica, you need to clear your negative thoughts about me from your mind. Just this once you need to trust me on blind faith. I can get you to your brother and back, but you can't be troubled about me."
Jessica studied Angelo's blue eyes. There was an honesty in them that was pure. She knew he was right. The spell he was going to do with her required her trust and her participation. If she hesitated or felt anything other than the true need for the spell, they could find themselves in a disastrous situation. Contacting Alastair was going to bond them in a new way, and she needed to accept it.
Taking a deep breath, Jessica raised her hand to Angelo. He took it gently and pressed it against his chest. She gasped quietly, the soft shirt under her fingers the only barrier between her hand and his skin. The strength of the muscle beneath was always hidden under his Templar's uniform. She had no idea of his unseen physique. The heat of his body gave her an odd sense of nerves. She tried to fight the trembling of her hand, and for a brief moment she wondered if she had made a mistake after all.
"Feel for my heart," he whispered calmly.
She tried for a moment, but she could not feel his heart. All she could feel was the heat of his chest. "I can't."
His eyes held hers, instructing carefully. He touched the back of her hand gently, tapping his fingertips against her skin. "It's not literal. Imagine how it would feel."
Jessica found the simple rhythm in each gentle strike on her hand. She concentrated on it. The beats started to disappear from the back of her hand, and she could feel them under her palm.
Angelo watched her carefully. They could not afford mistakes, and he needed her to understand the spell. "Concentrate on the rhythm of the beating you feel. This will be your doorway back when the time comes to leave the Spirit Realm."
Her eyes remained steady on his, her trembling now stopped.
"Close your eyes," he whispered in a heavy voice.
Jessica felt her eyelids blink in heaviness. She could still feel Angelo's figurative heart beating against her hand. The aroma around her grew heavy, and the pale candlelight faded to darkness. She heard him speak phrases in an ancient language she had never heard before. The sound of his trained voice surrounded her. She was drawn to the precision of everything he said. She listened to every breath he took between the words.
Then, she was surrounded by silence. Momentary panic filled her until she felt the rhythm of a heartbeat in her hand. She opened her eyes slowly, remembering the spell and Angelo.
A gray fog surrounded her. Indistinguishable shapes swirled past. They were the shadows of the lives that once existed.
Jessica studied every specter, trying to see if there were any unique traits about any of them. Maybe one of them knew her brother if she couldn't find him directly.
The shapes slowed their movement. Some materialized into the faces of human beings. Others remained in the formless shapes they had become. They spun around her, trying to understand how one with flesh could be in their realm.
"Alastair!" she shouted, looking about the specters.
The shapes began swirling quicker. Jessica found them suddenly dizzying. She closed her eyes, trying to look away from so many spirits. "Alastair, where are you?"
Warmth and cold surrounded her all at once.
"Jessica?" a voice asked.
She opened her eyes, seeing an image of what used to be her brother. He was now a faded vision of the man she remembered from the living world.
"Alastair?" she asked, reaching out with the hand that didn't feel the beating heart.
The ghostly image pulled backward. "Don't touch," he warned. "Touching a spirit in our realm takes ten years off your life."
Jessica looked dumbly at her hand before turning back to the ghost.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
"I needed to see you again, Alastair," she explained. "I missed you so much!"
"You shouldn't be here, Jessica," he said calmly. "You're not dead."
She took a moment to collect her thoughts. She knew their time was limited. "I need to know how my friends and I can possibly defeat Rhapthorne. We're not the powerful mages that first defeated him."
"You already know the answer to that," he told her. "The bond among the four of you is more powerful and personal than what the seven mages ever knew."
"No, Alastair, isn't there a spell or weapon that we need?"
"You have each other," he insisted. "Don't resist the bond. Don't dismiss any of your party. You four are all you need. You have the weapons and the spells. Finalize your trust and your feelings."
"We do trust each other!" she insisted.
He moved closer, but stayed far enough away to keep her from harm. "You do not fully trust one of them. He is the one you need to find the most trust for."
"Angelo?" she asked disbelieving. "But, I trusted him to bring me here."
"Now put the confidence in him that he has for you."
Her eyes widened. "He trusts me?"
"He has faith in all of you," the ghost of Alastair explained. "In you, Angelo finds a common spirit. You have honed your magic to help attack. He has honed it to help heal. In a sense, this makes both of you the ebb and flow for your party."
She looked into nothing, not sure how to comprehend the things her brother told her.
Alastair pressed one last point. "What you probably don't know is that he has remained grounded since he left the Abbey with you."
Jessica felt her heart suddenly beat faster. The invisible heart in her hand matched the rhythm. She took a heavy breath, not wanting to believe what she knew was the truth.
"You have been here too long, Jessica, and I have said too much," Alaistair quickly realized. "You must go back now."
"I don't want you to leave yet," she begged.
"Our time is over. You cannot visit again until you have passed on from the Living Realm."
"No!" she shouted. She didn't want to leave her brother again. They were only together for mere moments. She needed more time.
"I love you." The shadow of Alastair began to swirl into the darkness. He slipped into the current of spirits and disappeared from her sight.
"I love you, too," she sighed.
Darkness began to overcome her. The shadows were fading around her. Jessica felt a second of panic. Then, her hand reached for the doorway back. She felt the rhythm of a beating heart in her hand, the world of life, the Realm of the Living. She concentrated on it, seeking the way out of the darkness that had flooded around her. The scent of the vanilla and cloves slowly surrounded her senses. Dizziness filled her head as the darkness dissolved into dim candlelight. She felt heavy and disoriented. She tried to clutch to the warmth pressed against her hand, but it had become too much. Overwhelmed by the experience of magic beyond what even she knew, Jessica began to fall to the floor.
Angelo quickly slid around the Goddess statue. He reached out and caught Jessica as she returned to the living world. His hand cupped her head and eased her onto the floor. He leaned over her and silently prayed he did not make any mistakes on the spell. If she was caught between worlds or left in the Spirit Realm, he didn't know how to bring her back. He pulled her hair from her face and ran his fingers through the flame-colored locks.
She was breathing easy. He knew that was a good sign. Angelo considered trying a healing spell when he saw her eyelids flutter.
"Alastair?" she asked.
"No," he answered.
Jessica opened her eyes. The Templar knight's blue irises filled her vision. She felt one of his hands holding her face, the other lightly on her back.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly.
Slowly, she tried to sit up. "I think so."
"You were gone for nearly two hours."
Jessica looked to him in shock. "I barely talked with him for a few moments."
He helped her sit up, surprised when she didn't push his hands away. He decided not to question it. "Time runs differently between the realms."
"I can't go back," she said, heartbreak evident on her face. "I can't see him again. Alastair said I can't return until it's my time."
"You had a chance most of us will never get," he reminded gently. "Your concerns were alleviated, I hope."
Jessica looked upon the Templar knight with a new respect. He didn't move his hands inappropriately, nor did he take them away. She felt some new comfort around him that was not present before. There were speckles in his blue eyes that she never stopped to notice previously. His white hair had fallen completely loose of the ribbon. The strands were much thicker than she always thought. She realized then her hand had never left his chest even when she fainted. She still clutched to his shirt, feeling the warmth of his chest.
Angelo sat completely still. He feared the slightest movement would destroy this newfound faith. She was allowing them to be in close contact. The slightest motion could lead to another dispute or it could be the start of something very different. He felt the softness of her skin beneath his hands but this time it had nothing to do with a friendly conquest. Her eyes no longer held a defensive darkness in them. There was something kind and confiding in them.
"It's very late," he said trying not to think about how much closer he wanted to move to her.
"I need to thank you," she answered softly.
"It's one of the few things I could do that you allowed me to."
Jessica felt her heart race suddenly. Why wasn't she pushing him away? Why was she just sitting like an immobile lump?
Angelo stayed still. Her hand remained upon his chest, a reminder of the trust she granted him. He kissed many women, usually for fun. But, this would be different. This would be a trust far beyond giving a flower to a fair maiden at the end of an evening. He risked a glance at Jessica's lips. There was a time he would have wanted to taste them, just for her embarrassment and anger. Now, he would strike a fist at the man who would dare treat her in such a manner.
"Angelo…" Jessica paused. She could not think of anything to say. The silence had been heavy and thick. She thought that maybe breaking the silence would alter their stalemate and they would be liberated from the spell they were under. She didn't think it would alter them closer.
"I'm sorry," he said gently. He figured apologizing first might spare some of her wrath later. He had to know. He leaned forward, taking the kiss that hung before them. He expected that her hand would have pushed him away. He waited for her fist to strike his jaw. Instead, she clutched his shirt, pulling him closer. She was no novice, he realized, and she had kissed her share of men. He was mildly surprised about that since she was so prudent around him. Angelo felt himself amusedly shy for once. He was not going to take advantage of such a sweet moment, but he was going to be sure to tease her about it later.
Jessica didn't understand why she was allowing this kiss. She just knew it had to be done. It was a seal on a secret. It was a promise on a moment. It was something she no longer wanted to deny. He was much warmer and softer than she would have expected. It drew her in further. The men she kissed previously weren't like this. Most of them had been dares and games. Angelo was different. She could feel all the experience in his touch, but there was a kindness she did not think he was capable of offering.
The moment began to fade. Both of them knew the timing of how a kiss worked. In unison, they eased away. Their eyes met again. Sincerity and a bond they never expected from each other shone in their eyes.
Jessica's hand released her hold on the Templar knight. He let his hands drop from her. They stood in silence.
Angelo led her to the door. "Sleep well," he whispered.
"You, too," Jessica responded. Then, she slipped out of his room. They were going to find Rhapthorne and defeat him. She knew that now. She found she could trust Angelo without question.