And the Clock Struck Twelve
By seraphimstarlight
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Tales of the Abyss or any of its characters.
Author's Note: Thank you all for your reviews! They were so inspiring! I worked extra hard on this part just for all of you guys!
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Natalia nearly dropped her glass. That, she reflected briefly, would have been bad, but still, nothing could be worse than this. Curious partygoers were already gathering around them to see what was transpiring and the music had ground to a halt mid-stanza at Walter's sudden shout.
The object of her consternation, however, seemed to be blissfully unaware of all the attention he was attracting.
"Princess!" he continued with an ostentatious bow that nearly flattened some unfortunate bystander, "it is such a pleasure. To tell the truth, I did not expect to see you."
She hated to admit it, but she had not expected to see him either. In fact, she had forgotten entirely that he would be here, so caught up was she in her own thoughts. But still, she should have expected this. After all, wasn't the rule of the world: if something could go wrong it would?
She pasted her specially-reserved-for-diplomatic-events smile on her face and turned to address Walter. "It is…a pleasure to see you as well." She had to force herself to not only say the words but to maintain a pleasant tone as well.
Social niceties were never something that she liked, but she disliked them even more in this situaiton. Undoubtedly, he would misinterpret her politeness for interest, and that could only lead to another hour or so of unbearable conversation during which he would undoubtedly ask her to dance. And of course, she would feel terrible for refusing no matter how much she wished to, so she would end up dancing with him. That of course would lead to a whole other series of misunderstandings that she most certainly did not wish to think about now.
For a moment, he did not respond, and she dared to hope that he would leave without incident. Her luck, however, was not to be that good.
Instead of him turning away and leaving as she desperately wished him to, he responded with a fawning, "Oh, Princess!" and, taking her hand which a moment ago had hung limply by her side, placed a kiss on her knuckles.
She tried not to flinch. She tried not to toss her wine in his face. She tried not to want to beat him to a bloody pulp with her own two hands. Instead, she focused on wishing that, like Jade and Anise or even Tear, she could cast offensive fonic artes rather than just healing spells and status altering spells.
In the midst of her attempt to figure out how to cast something resembling Thunder Blade or Holy Lance, spells whose incantations both contained rather lovely lines about "running enemies through", she dimly noticed that someone else had laid a hand on her shoulder. In her current state, she could not think who it would be. It certainly could not be Guy. After all, he wasn't here, was he? He wasn't here when she both needed and wanted him to be.
"Oh my," drawled a smooth voice, "and who might you be?"
The sudden speech startled her back to full awareness, and she turned suddenly to see who was standing beside her. To her surprise, it was Jade who stood beside her, his hand resting heavily on her shoulder, giving Walter a rather displeased glare.
The moment seemed surreal somehow. Here was Jade, defending her? Not only that, but seeming sincere about it? As she tried to figure out how "sincere" and "Jade" went together, she failed to notice that her glass had slipped from her hand.
In a movement so quick and so precise that she doubted even the onlookers had seen it, Jade reached forward with his free hand and caught the glass without even spilling a drop of the wine before turning to her and saying, "You should be more careful, Princess," as his gaze jumped briefly from her face to the wine glass then up to Alpine's son.
Something in his words and gaze caused a chill to ripple across her shoulder blades, and she unconciously freed her hand from Walter's to pull her shawl closer around her. Briefly, she was reminded of that day in Sheridan when Jade had taken off his glasses and, for the briefest of moments, she had thought him handsome.
Maybe he had to be lying about wearing contact lenses, and this was a side effect of his fonic sight. Come to think of it, what did Fonic Sight do anyway? She realized she hadn't a clue, but, it probably had something to why a smile was now tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Whispered rippled through the crowd—something about a love triangle. Immediately words of denial sprang to her lips, but the calculating part of her mind reigned in the impulse. She dared a glance over at Walter who was simmering quite nicely at the crowd's words and decided that she would play along despite how ludicrous the idea seemed to her.
She turned to Jade and placed a matching hand on his shoulder, shooting him a desperate glance and hoping he would understand. For a moment, he seemed confused, but quickly relaxed, slipping flawlessly into his role.
He turned his attention to her, and she felt her insides knot up at the smile he gave her. She knew she was blushing and that it was thoroughly foolish for her to be doing so, especially since she knew what he was really like, but still, she couldn't help it. Some part of her seethed at the thought that he could manipulate her like this, but the rest of her was overjoyed at the reaction that it was drawing from Walter.
If he was simmering before, he was at full boil now. For some reason, however, he hadn't left yet. She would, unfortunately, have to push things a little farther. Truly, she felt a little cruel for first deceiving him and then dismissing him like this, but, if she didn't get rid of him now, he would likely be following her around all three nights. And that was something she definitely didn't want.
"Princess," began Walter in a strained voice, "who, might I ask is that?"
Ah. There it was. That same demanding tone of voice that she so hated in his father. Quickly, she banished all sympathetic thoughts for the man and opened her mouth to respond when Jade cut her off.
"I believe that I should be asking that question," he challenged, narrowing his eyes and drawing himself up to his full, formidable height.
Walter puffed his chest out and tried to look brave. Jade, however, remained unruffled as always. Not that Jade would be affected by something as meaningless as this. After all, the man had stared death in the face hundreds, if not thousands of times and had remained unmoved. The only time that his mask had slipped was when they had first encountered Nebilim. For a moment, she had witnessed a myriad of emotions pass over the man's face before the mask was replaced and he was his normal, calm self.
Seriously, she doubted if they would have survived the battle if not for him. When someone like her would have become distressed over a sudden bad turn in the battle or become overwhelmed by the task of keeping her friends alive and well in the face of Nebilim's sheer might, he had remained a pillar of strength and calm for the group. When even Tear had said that they could not win, he alone had refused to retreat and had started casting another fonic arte as though he had not heard her. For every hit he took, he delivered the damage back tenfold, as though the very pain that would have crippled others gave him strength. He had refused to relent—refused to yield even one inch to the monster who bore the face of woman he had once respected more than any other in the world.
His conviction to see that fight through had given the rest of them incalculable strength, and in the end, they had stood by his side, refusing to abandon their comrade—their friend. They found the strength to persevere, just as he had, and together, they had triumphed—the finishing blow delivered by none other than Jade himself.
As the dazzling light of Mystic Cage faded, Jade had quickly invoked the Planetary Fonic Arte before Nebilim could resume her onslaught. Later, in Keterbrug, when the group was celebrating their skin-of-the-teeth victory, he had silently disappeared into the snowy town—to see his sister, everyone presumed. But he had never shared in the praise dsitributed amongst the group, even though, to tell the truth, he had deserved praise more than any of them. Even after that, he had never allowed any of them—not even Anise—to praise him for his strength and conviction in that battle. Instead, he deflected all attempts with a sacrasm that was more biting than usual.
Because of that and the worry that praising him after any other battle would only inflate his ego more, she had never told him that she had admired him. Instead, she had kept it in her pocket, as one would blackmail, so that if another, suitable occasion arose, she could offer her praise then instead.
But, in the time since that battle, there had not been another such occasion, excepting the final battle with Van, and, afterwards, everyone had been so busy, attending to their duties not only as emmissaries between countries but as activists for the rights of replicas—at Luke's specific request of course.
Needless to say, she had lost contact with everyone for a time, and when things had finally calmed down enough for letter-writing, she had found that the Colonel had returned to his usual self. The one letter he had written had irritated her so that she had, as usual, buried away all sympathetic feelings and written back an equally sarcastic letter.
They had not talked at all since then, and she had assumed that he had gone back to being indifferent towards everyone but the Emperor and his sister as before. But, maybe she had been wrong. He was here helping her, after all, even though she had done nothing to deserve his help.
Briefly, her thoughts drifted back to Guy, but she quickly pushed him out of her mind. Now was not the time to be dwelling on such things. She could not think of him here, not now. She shoved the thought away again, locking it behind a mental barrier so she could deal with it later, at a more appropriate time, in a more appropriate place.
It was not the same thing. After all, Jade probably had ulterior motives for being so nice—like matching her up with the Emperor.
She tried to focus on what Walter was saying, hoping it would, at least irritate her suitably if not distract her entirely.
"I asked first!" he insisted in a rather childish tone.
She had half a mind to berate him for embarassing Kimlascan nobility in such a way but thought better of it. After all, there was still a chance that some of the people in the crowd did not know who he was, and it would be best if it could remain that way. After all, it meant less damage control for her later.
Beside her, Jade sighed dramatically and reached up to the bridge of his nose, electing to cover his face with his hand when he realized that his glasses were not there. He shook his head slowly and made a loud—but not obnoxious—disapproving sound.
"Very well then," he said, "I am Colonel Jade Curtiss of the Third Division Malkuth Imperial Forces."
More whispers percolated through the crowd, including a few of surprise.
Jade leaned forward and, in a low, almost threatening voice added quietly, "But you might know me better as Jade the Necromancer." He punctuated his statement with an eeriely pleasant smile.
Walter paled several shades and took an unconcious step backwards as more murmuring traced through the crowd.
"Y—you mean…!" he stammered, "th—that you…!"
Jade sighed again. "Why is everyone so surprised by that?"
"Maybe because it's not the kind of thing they hear every day?" she suggested, hiding her words behind a smile. "Or maybe you just really, really scare them?"
He let out a low, throaty chuckle. "Well, if that's the case, then I take their reaction as a compliment."
"Of course you would."
"Of course I would," he echoed.
She looked at him, confused for a moment by his good-humored response, until she realized that he was not looking at her. In fact, he was no longer even standing beside her and had, instead, chosen to advance rather menacingly on Alpine's son who was now taking his rather graceless leave of the party. In other words, he was running like a horde of Fiendlins was on his tail.
She let out a sigh of relief when she was certain that the crowd, which had already begun to drift away, would not hear. After a long moment, he turned back to her and extended his hand, bowing far more gracefully than Alpine's son had, asking her if she would like to dance.
Though she could not explicitly remember agreeing, she was certain that she must have because moments later they were on the dance floor keeping time to a waltz. She blinked a couple times and looked around at the various couples surrounding them. Most of the glances she received, oddly enough, were from women. A few seemed fearful, likely because they were wondering why she was currently dancing with someone who was rumored to be so dangerous, but more were the sharp stares of jealousy. Several of those women looked like they could kill, but she was certain she was more than a match for them.
"How are you feeling?" he asked suddenly.
She snapped her eyes back to him, an unwelcome blush spreading across her face when she noticed that he was again regarding her with a curious smile.
"Like a schoolgirl with a crush on her teacher," she muttered, displeased,
To her surprise, his expression turned momentarily serious, before his diplomatic smile reappeared on his face. "Well," he mused, "that's an interesting way of putting things, but, I suppose I must warn you that I am notorious for breaking hearts."
"Among other things," she jibed, thinking of how he fought in battle.
" I suppose you're right about that," he said as they slowed to a stop, waiting for the next song to begin.
In the brief interlude, she turned to him and asked, "Why are you being so nice to me?"
He arched an eyebrow and considered her for a moment before asking, "And why are you being so abrupt?"
"I'm being serious," she said.
"No," he countered, "you're being abrupt. That comment didn't logically flow from the previous one you made. Thus, your statement was abrupt. A complete non sequitur if you ask me."
She scowled. "I wasn't asking you."
The music started up again—another waltz. She was grateful, at least, that Jade had to lead so she could focus on arguing with him.
"I'm waiting for an answer," she reminded him after a few minutes.
He looked surprised. "I thought you weren't asking me."
"I wasn't," she said, "at least not about non sequiturs anyway. I was asking you why—"
"Why I was being so nice to you?"
"Yes."
He remained silent for a moment, then said, "Is there something wrong with my being nice?"
She pulled back, a little surprised. "No," she admitted at last, "but, it's just a bit strange for you, I suppose."
The eyebrow went up again, but he said nothing.
"Look," she said after a moment, "we've never been the best of friends…."
"Really? I never knew we were friends at all," he said.
Normally, the words would have dripped with sarcasm, but this time, he sounded genuinely curious. She, meanwhile, was genuinely furious.
"Of course we are!" she said a bit more loudly than she would have liked, "after all we've been through alongside Luke and the others, I would think we would be!"
"Do you really think shared experience means that much?"
The question startled her. "What do you mean?"
He sighed again. "I wish Guy were here."
An untimely blush flooded her face at the sudden mention of the Count's name. "W-why?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
Jade considered her for a moment before answering, "Because then I wouldn't have to explain everything myself."
"Oh," she said, disappointment tinging her tone.
Jade remained ominously silent for a moment.
"Well, aren't you going to explain?" she asked at last.
He hesitated. "Shared experience—well, how should I put this? Shared experience alone does not determine one's relationship. Having a shared experience does not mean that you will automatically be comfortable expressing things around your comrade or that you know that person completely, nor does not having shared experience mean that you'd always be uncomfortable around a person—that you you could never get to know them. Shared experience just tends to—help things along.
"Think about it. You and I have fought together, yet I daresay that you do not know me as well as might know Tear or Guy, perhaps."
Her face flushed again, and she looked away involuntarily.
"Is this…about the Emperor?" she asked, hoping it would distract Jade.
"Perhaps," he said vaguely, "or perhaps not. I was just making a general statement—only saying that having such a shared experience—no matter how profound—does not mean that everything will work out from the beginning. Sometimes, you will have to fight, to push, to cross boundaries that you think you cannot cross. Do not surrender at the first signs of defeat. That should be a lesson you learned long ago."
As he drifted off into silence, and she found herself smiling again.
"Did I say something amusing, Your Highness?" he asked after a moment.
She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head slowly. "You were being nice again," she teased.
He mock gasped. "Was I? Oh my, that is a habit I must stop at once!"
"I suppose so," she laughed, "or you just wouldn't be yourself."
"And I certainly wouldn't want that. I must distinguish myself from the Lukes and Guys of this world."
She let his words drift away and tried to immerse herself in the music—tried to forget that he had ever mentioned the Count when suddenly the music stopped and a figure clad in rather flamboyant robes and wearing a rappig mask stepped into the hall.
The knot that had been turning in her gut all night tightened in a sudden spasm.
As if the strange clothes and the…bizzare mask weren't enough to tell, a rappig wandered into the room behind him. He shooed it with a gesture usually reserved for redirecting a wayward child, all the while saying in an unnecessarily loud voice, "Oh no, my darling, cute Jade! Don't follow me in here! Go back to your room now, you hear me?"
All eyes in the room were suddenly focused upon the Colonel who had paled visibly. A few of the ladies were giggling behind their fans or their hands while the majority of the men in the room seemed content to look vaguely amused. Even Natalia had to stifle a giggle. After all, it wasn't every day you heard the words "Jade" and "cute" in the same sentence even if it was said of a rappig.
Jade cleared his throat rather loudly, effectively silencing the room, and cut quickly through the crowd to where the Emperor stood, giving a maid directions as to where to take the rappig. Natalia followed him at a short distance.
"Now make sure to take my oh-so-cute Jade straight back to the room, you hear?" he told the maid who was stifling giggles since she had noticed that a very irate Jade was quickly advancing on a very unaware Emperor. "Make sure he doesn't get lost, okay, because only Lorelei knows what I would do without my cute, little Jade."
The maid bowed to the Emperor and quickly led the rappig away before bursting into a fit of laughter somewhere down the hall. The Emperor peered down the hallway, seemingly unaware of the terror than was about to befall him.
"Your Majesty," Jade began icily, "it is a pleasure that you could join us tonight."
The Emperor spun around quickly, looking as frightened as a man in a rappig mask and fur lined cape could, and raised his hands in mock defense. "Oh my," he said quickly, "what a pleasure to see you, non-cute Jade. You're certainly looking…ah, non-cute this evening." He gave an uncharacteristically nervous laugh.
"Why thank you, Your Majesty," Jade continued, his tone still glacial, "now if you don't mind, I'm certain your guests would like to speak with you. It would be a pity if you…lost…your voice because of all that yelling, now wouldn't it?" He punctuated his sentence with another of his trademark smiles.
"O-of course," the Emperor agreed quickly. "A real tragedy that would be. A real tragedy." He laughed nervously.
"Well," Jade said smugly, "I'm glad you think so, your Majesty. Now," he said, raising his voice several levels, "everyone. It is my pleasure to introduce your host, His Majesty, Emperor Peony the Ninth of the Malkuth Empire."
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Author's Note:
So, yeah, I had so much fun writing this part, especially since it was so Jade-centric. In case you couldn't tell, I really adore him! He was so awesome in both my fights against Nebilim. The first time I fought her wasn't so bad; I fought her at level 86 on Hard Mode. Jade ruled there! I don't know if he's the only one who can deal the final blow, but both times he did. The first time he killed her with Thunder Blade, and the second time with Mystic Cage.
Man, the second time I fought her was torture cause I didn't know that the max level was 200, so I fought Nebilim on Very Hard mode at level 86! It took me an hour and half and nearly all my items (including all my Treats and Specifics –cries-) to kill her. But in the end, it was so awesome! It was so hard to keep my team (Tear, Natalia, Jade, and Luke) alive, but somehow I managed, and then at the end Jade used Mystic Cage and finished her!
I mean, it's one thing to beat her, and another thing to beat her with a Mystic Arte, but it was so completely awesome to have Jade beat her with his Mystic Arte (especially after an hour and a half of fighting lol!).
Ah man, now I'm just feeling so fangirly for Jade that I'm almost tempted to write some sort of fanfic for him. I don't know what to write for him though.
Oh, and I know that in this part it seemed like I was shipping Natalia with him, but don't worry, I'm not. I just wanted to write something other than animosity between the two characters. That's all. I'm not shipping them, I swear! Well, at least not here anyway. It's a tempting idea to write based on how this part went. –ducks away from hurled objects- Well, I'll only write it if I have time.
Anyways, until next time!