Jugement du Ciel
See disclaimer in Part 1
Epilogue
"FIA! CIERRA!"
Ein burst into the open room, gasping for breath, in a state of complete panic.
"You have to come quick! It's Ledah! He's… he's…!"
Witch and fencer, who had been translating a holy text they had discovered in some ancient ruin to the common tongue, looked at each other in alarm.
"What's happened?" Fia asked, standing. "What's wrong with Ledah? Is he sick?"
"He's… he's…" Ein shook his head, tears in his eyes. "I just don't know…! Please! He's in so much pain…"
The two women followed him without another word, back to the small home the angels shared.
It had been almost three months since Ein and Ledah had returned from their ordeal within Asgard. To all appearances, Ledah had recovered completely, recovering slowly but fully. However, Fia and Cierra, knowing healing, had worried that with his immune system still reeling from the magic and medicines used to help him, he might succumb to some new ailment and sicken badly. If that was the case…
Heading into the two angels' bedchamber, both of them stopped short. Whatever they had feared, they hadn't expected this.
Ledah sat trembling on the mattress, leaning back and easing his weight onto his hands, which were tightened into claws on the sheets. He didn't look ill, yet his face was tightened into a look of deep agony, his breathing taut and shallow with pain. There was a thin film of sweat over his face, and his chest heaved as he panted for breath.
"He hasn't been like this since we were in Asgard," Ein whispered, stricken. "Gods, I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
Fia hesitantly made her way to Ledah's side, sitting on the bed next to him and slipping her arm across his back, just beneath his wings. "Cierra?"
The witch nodded and knelt next to Ledah. "What feels wrong?"
"It's—the damn hip again—" The blonde seraph shuddered, letting out a sigh that carried a mostly-suppressed cry of pain beneath it.
"Don't try to support yourself, just lean on me," Fia murmured, her worry destroying her attempt to sound soothing. "We'll find out what's wrong."
Cierra placed a hand on the offending joint; Ledah tensed apprehensively as he watched, then yelled when she probed it, sounding both surprised and agonized.
"Ledah…" Ein murmured helplessly, unable to do anything but stand and watch.
"This is…" Cierra frowned, then probed again. Instead of shouting again, Ledah grabbed the comforter hard, twisting his head to the side and gritting his teeth almost viciously in an effort to bear the pain noiselessly. Cierra stood, looking puzzled. "I don't know how it can be, but I know what I'm seeing. Ein, this is…" She shook her head. "Ledah's developing arthritis."
Ein stared at her. "Cierra—Ledah's thirty-two! That's too young to get arthritis!"
"That may be the case, but…" She shook her head. "All the signs are there. His hip is painfully swollen, and it seems like the cartilage within the joint is starting to wear down. It must have started when it was dislocated so badly. This is the first instance since Asgard, correct?" Ledah nodded slowly. "It's taken its time to set in, and it probably won't get really bad for a while."
"Cierra and I can make potions or oils that can help with the swelling and the pain," Fia said softly. "But beyond that, there isn't much either of us can do about this. No wonder the Magi seemed so uncertain about Ledah's injuries. Even for us, this is hard to believe…"
All four of them were silent for a while.
"What can be done now?" Ledah asked at last.
"Well, that'll depend a lot on whether this is osteoarthritis or rheumatoid…" Fia said slowly.
"Um… what?" Ein said flatly. "Would you mind repeating that in Common?"
The young priestess sighed. "Rheumatoid is a lot more serious. Osteoarthritis can be dealt with. Right now, it's too early to tell. But like I said, Cierra and I can make things to help deal with the pain. Ledah will have to exercise it to make sure the muscles don't atrophy altogether, but he'll also need to rest it for a while. Depending on whether this gets better or worse in the future, you may have to hang up your Diviners for good."
Ein and Ledah stared at her, dumbstruck.
Fia looked from one angel to the other, flustered. "W-well, it'll take a while to see if this really is that serious… right? So don't jump to conclusions too quickly, please…"
"Either way, there's no complete cure," Cierra said softly. "I'm sorry, but this is going to be a problem for the two of you no matter what you decide to do in the future. Ledah, you'll want to keep your hip warm; it'll ease the pain until Fia and I manage to make you something to treat it with." She nodded. "Come on, Fia—let's leave these two alone for a while."
Fia murmured something to Ledah before she stood up and followed her friend. The door to the house swung closed a few moments later, with an audible sound of finality.
The silence in the room was so brittle that it could've shattered if so much of a feather had fallen.
"Ein, this isn't your fault," Ledah said softly.
"Like hell it isn't." Ein's voice and breathing were both tight. "If it weren't for me—"
"That's bullshit. This was my choice all along. I had a bad feeling at the beginning, but I decided that this was too important to pass up. These are my consequences. And you know what? I'm not sorry. Never for a moment would I give up your smile, your wonder when you could finally fly again on your own power. If there's any fault in this, it's mine for letting my guard down in that fight. I knew what I was getting into all along."
Ein was silent.
"I can't tell you to stop feeling guilty. You'll go on doing that because that's just the way you are. So long as you understand that this is none of your own fault, I won't interfere with your own thoughts."
"I love you," Ein said bleakly.
Ledah looked up at him. There were frustrated tears on his lover's face.
"I hate not being able to do anything to help you."
Ledah reached out to Ein, holding out both hands and trying not to wince as he jarred his hip. With a soft moan, the brunet dropped to his knees at Ledah's bedside, burying his face in the blonde's chest. His shoulders shook with dry sobs as the seraph held him close, folding black protective wings around the two of them.
"It'll be okay," Ledah murmured, smiling. "It's always been okay in the end. We'll make it alright through all this… we always do. Trust in that… trust in us, Ecthel. I'll be fine."
Ein clung to his lover, trying painfully to believe in Ledah's words.
owari
THANK YOU
Readers who bothered to review. Fanfics that start out rated M don't seem to get too much attention in the Riviera section, so thanks for what little reviews I managed to get.
Bri-chan. It's great to know you have friends who care about what you're writing. Now if only I could get you to go online and review it… :3
All my fandoms for entertaining me while I've written my latest monster. These include FMA (Lust, hon, you know the world needs a lot more "good" bad girls like you), NGE (props to Rei-II and Kaworu for being SO! DAMN! CUTE!), Final Fantasy Tactics, and all the other crap.
Tamora Pierce, for making Daja gay. Okay, so maybe that doesn't have much to do with JdC, but I went nuts when she macked Rizu. W00t yuri.
Everyone else for doing their thing. And stuff.
Author's Note
Jugement du Ciel is in many ways a rather unorthodox fanfiction. I already referenced its story near the end of AVRC, so people knew how it was going to turn out; it begins with an already well-established pairing; and it, like AVRC, has a "realistic" ending that I know readers don't necessarily like. Well, heroes Ein and Ledah may be, but they're "human" heroes. They bleed, and it pays to remind readers that the damage that's done in climactic battles can be very, very permanent.
In addition to all that, JdC is an exploration of Ledah's past and character. He's a man with many sides, game-explored and potential—Grim Angel, soldier, priest, flautist, druggie, and even drag queen (no, you don't want to know. You do, don't you? It's a RENT thing… Ledah wound up being Angel…). His personality is very complex, though he doesn't get fully explored in Riviera itself. I didn't even know the full extents of his messed-up-ness until I started writing. :3 But I guess the bottom line is, he'll do anything and everything for Ein, which is why Chapter 6 in the game turned out the way it did. Ledah's a good boy. I like being able to play around with him.
As far as the Magi go, the six who remain are named (in this fanfic) Celina, Ashcroft, Samael, Minerva, Agrias, and Velsper. I borrowed the name "Ashcroft" from another fic in the section; Samael is a fallen angel, Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom, Agrias is one of my favorite characters in Final Fantasy Tactics, and Velsper is a recurring guest character in the Ah! My Goddess series who first appeared in Volume 17, "Mystery Child". Celina is the best developed out of all of them, and she's one of my trademark "strong women with a good heart" characters. I really like her and you'll likely see a lot more of her in my other Riviera fanfictions.
Yggdra and Milanor, referenced in the second chapter, are from Sting's upcoming game Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone for the GBA. It seems to have distant connections to Riviera, so I took a few liberties with the characters to add some flavor to Asgard's festival.
Well, it's been fun. I'll see you all in The Tainted (which you better pay more attention to, MEANIE-BUTTS), in which I'll get to play a little with an unusual pairing idea…
Review, or be prog'd. (Yep, I've been watching too much EVA. So sue me, it's a good show.)
-Feral Phoenix