(no subject)
Title: Waterlogged
Genre: Angsty drama HO NOES
Pairing/Characters: JadexPeony
Rating: PG. OMG NOT PR0N?!
Summary: Jade had told Luke that he didn't comprehend death, but slowly it was dawning on him, trickling into his mind like the rain down his neck.
Grand Chokmah was flooding.
The very idea was preposterous, as the city was floating almost entirely in the ocean, for Score's sake, but lo and behold, the water level had been steadily rising with the constant rains, and suddenly the fonic arts that controlled the waterfalls became infused with so many fourth fonons that more water than necessary was being pulled in and spilled over, and now the entire city was drenched to the point of structural integrity being compromised. While the majority of Grand Chokmah was composed of stone, there were some wood structures that swelled and sagged and several roofs had already caved in.
Evacuation of the palace was taking place when Jade arrived with Guy, Luke and Tear. They hurried to the courtyard to slosh through knee-deep waters, up the slick steps and into the dripping castle that resembled a cave more than the prestigious and impressive building it had been before. "Jade!" called out a cheerful voice (that sounded horribly out of place amongst the scrambling maids, butlers and guards) and Emperor Peony IX hopped down the steps leading from the second floor with a rather bubbly disposition. "Isn't this exciting?!"
Jade pinched the bridge of his nose as Guy laughed.
"Your Majesty, aren't you worried at all?" Luke asked incredulously, watching as two maids with suitcases packed with belongings scurried through the doors, crying out as they splashed into the somewhat chilly water and soaked their skirts.
"Worried? Please. Once the fonists disable the artes around this place tomorrow, the water'll drain out and we'll dry up pretty quick." Peony frowned, as if he did not want this to happen.
"Then why are you evacuating?" Tear asked, watching as a guard sloshed down the steps and into the east wing.
"Someone has the silly notion that it's dangerous here." Peony ignored a servant that slipped down the last couple of steps on the staircase and sat in the water, dazed, until a guard came and helped him up.
"I'm afraid I must agree," Jade told Peony, giving him a pointed look over the rim of his spectacles. "You are prone to accidents without the added factor of damp and slick conditions, Your Majesty. I have no doubt that you would fall and break your neck."
"You have so little faith in me." Peony did not sound bothered by this.
"I have little faith in your balance, Your Majesty. Perhaps you recall a certain icy afternoon in Keterburg over ten years ago, where a young man insisted that he had his footing, but it turns out he did not have his footing and ended up knocking himself unconscious and scaring a certain person's sister half to death."
"Yeah," Peony responded fondly, a far-off look in his eyes. "She sat by my bed and fed me soup when I woke up. I should have done it again."
"Perhaps Your Majesty would have acquired some sense from one of those knocks." Jade's voice could have been considered severe, but despite the fact that Luke, Tear and Guy recoiled nervously away, Peony only laughed.
"I doubt it! Anyways, let's get out of here. We're in the way." Peony set his hands on Tear's shoulders and steered her out of the palace, Guy, Luke and Jade following closely behind him into the courtyard beneath the steadily increasing drizzle and dark, gloomy clouds.
"Where were you going to stay, Your Majesty?" Guy asked.
"I wanted to settle in Engave for a while, but Rose protested, spouting some nonsense about it not being fit for royalty," Peony explained breezily.
"You bullied her around and you're going to stay there anyways, aren't you Your Majesty," Guy asked dejectedly, unsure of whether or not he should be depressed by his monarch's strongarm tactics.
"You are correct on one count, Gailardia!" Peony congratulated him as they strolled -or rather, Peony strolled while the others waded- through the rising waters down the nearly abandoned streets. "I'm staying there. I wouldn't dream of bullying Rose, however; she's immune to that kind of thing. If I surprise her, she can't turn me away because that would be rude." The emperor sounded pleased with himself.
"That's...kind of sneaky," Luke realized worriedly.
"Isn't it?" Peony was practically glowing with pride.
Jade opened his mouth to interject when a cry rang out from one of the monuments set off from the walkway, nearly submerged. A young girl was crouched atop it, clutching a doll and sobbing. "Help, Emperor Peony!" she called tearfully, recognizing him and waving her arm desperately.
Jade turned to Guy to give an order but paused, trying to convince himself that he did not just feel a slight breeze or hear a loud splash from behind him. Emperor Peony did not just jump into the rushing waters.
"Your Majesty!" Guy shouted, dropping his belt and diving expertly into the tides.
Jade was going to kill Peony.
Indeed, a head of white-blonde hair was bobbing in the water, moving towards the little girl before tan hands grasped the pillar that served as her foothold and pulled the ruler half out of the water. He spoke to the little girl, a hand placed comfortingly atop her head, but the water was too loud to hear over.
Jade's hands clenched into fists. He was relatively sure he would be executed for murdering the emperor, but considered it a small price to pay.
Guy had already made it to Emperor Peony's position, and they were apparently now engaged in a very heated argument, Peony's brow furrowing deeper and deeper until finally he shouted loudly enough to be heard over the water, "Count Gardios, that is an order!" Guy bobbed silently for a moment, then reluctantly took the little girl atop his back and made for the walkway.
Forget waiting for Peony to get back, safe and sound. Jade was going to kill him now.
Luke and Tear (both who could not swim in fast waters, Luke having never learned to swim in the first place and Tear having lived in the Qliphoth and thus unable to) knelt at the edge, hands out and ready to take the girl from Guy so he could return and help Peony back.
There was a rumble as Jade felt a fonic discharge somewhere in the city, and suddenly a very loud rushing sound overpowered Guy and Luke's conversation. It took a moment for it to click, but when it did, Jade jumped forward towards Peony and shouted, "Peony!"
The fonists had just released the arte. Meaning that, with the waterfalls now deactivated, there was going to be a large rush of waves as the water previously falling through the air displaces itself around the city.
Something foreign and unpleasant seized the organs inside of Jade's chest and squeezed when a wall of water washed over his childhood friend. Guy cried out and would have been swept away if Luke hadn't shoved the little girl at Tear and grabbed his arms, nearly falling in himself.
The water level swelled and sank, and Jade scanned the water frantically, telling himself not to panic -Colonel Jade Curtiss does not panic- when there was no sight of the emperor. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered Guy choking and coughing, and came to the conclusion that he was in no conditon to search for Peony.
So, naturally, he dove in himself.
The water was quite cold, as he'd expected, but thankfully rather clean and despite the stinging from the salt, fairly easy to see in. A precursory sweep revealed nothing, so when Jade surfaced he gasped and dove back under immediately, thus unaware that the current had taken him much farther than he'd calculated it would.
Just as panic was again settling itself firmly in his stomach, a flash of brown, gold and blue caught his eye and he swam towards it with a vigor he hadn't known he had. Relief flooded through him as he wrapped an arm around Peony's torso and kicked towards the surface. Upon resurfacing, Jade side-stroked over to the pier -he'd washed all the way over here?!- and, thanking the sky silently that there were guards present, ignored how motionless the weight beneath his arm was and struggled to hand Peony to two knights, who gently lifted and laid their king atop the slightly submerged planks, another holding a hand out to Jade to offer assistance, which he ignored and climbed -he did not scramble- up onto the sodden pier, nudging -not shoving- aside the cadet beside his emperor and tugged -not ripped, damn it, he wasn't scared!- his gloves from his hands to press to fingers to Peony's neck.
Perhaps his fingers were too cold to feel a pulse. Jade sucked on them for a moment to warm them, and set them just below Peony's jaw again.
There was silence before Jade laid one hand atop the other, lacing his fingers together, and began to pump them against Peony's chest, feeling strangely detatched. "Are there any healers here?" he asked, surprised that his voice was so even and calm.
There was a murmur and a shout, and someone was calling for a seventh fonist, but apparently every available fonist other than himself -including those capable of using the seventh fonon- were commanded by Peony to remove the artes flooding his precious city. When the report reached him, Jade swore aloud, startling the guards with the vehemence in his tone. More than ever before -even more than what had happened to Nebilim- Jade wished he could use the seventh fonon. He wanted to use the power and skill he possessed with everything else to heal, damn it all, and hear Peony shoot off some casual remark, see him pop up and shake his head like a shaggy dog, water droplets flying like Jade knew he would if only he'd just open his mouth and breathe already!
His glasses slipped down his nose and Jade tore them from his face, tossing them to the side and not caring if they sunk to the bottom of the sea. He leaned down, opened Peony's mouth with his thumb on his chin and breathed into him once, twice. Peony's lips were salty and blue.
"Damn it, Peony!" Jade growled out through gritted teeth, throwing status to the wind -it wasn't as if he used the title 'Your Majesty' with any real reverence, and Peony knew it- as he pumped his chest again. Pinched his nose shut, breathed once, twice. Back to his chest. "Breathe, Peony! The only thing in life you give up on isn't going to be this!"
Apparently Peony didn't hear him. Jade slapped him, trying to shock him into breathing. "Breathe! Score damn it, Peony, you said you hated hearing me beg so don't make me and breathe!" He slapped him again.
It was silent. The lapping of the water on the stone steps leading up to the city was too loud. There was a slight clink of a sword against a shin guard as a knight shifted his weight. Something on a freighter docked nearby groaned, and the rain pitter-pattered on armor, Jade's hair and Peony's face.
Jade covered his eyes with a hand.
"His Majesty," one of the knights began, unsure. "He...he's not-"
"No, he isn't!" Jade was shaking, and the rain crawling down his cheeks was warm. He reached over Peony and resumed chest compressions. "Will someone please make himself useful and fetch a Score-damned healer?!" There was a scramble of movement and it made him feel better, because at least something was being done, Peony could not leave yet, he wasn't done and Jade couldn't lose him-
Jade pushed with the force of nearly a punch and Peony coughed.
Even the rain seemed to freeze in the air as Jade moved with a speed even faster than that he used in battle, grabbing Peony by the shoulders and yanking him into his lap, holding him, his back to Jade's chest and Jade's arms around his stomach to hold him up as he gagged and vomited sea water. Peony's fingers trembled as they clutched at Jade's arms, and he hacked and spat and said in a very rough voice, "Oh, gross."
Jade allowed his forehead to rest against the back of Peony's skull, barely registering the cheers and laughter as the knights celebrated, hugging each other and some even sobbing with relief, questioning their emperor, asking if he was all right and rushing to retrieve cups of fresh water, blankets and towels. Peony must have realized who was holding him, for he moved his head to the side, surprised when Jade's simply dropped to rest on his shoulder. "Jade? Are you okay?" he rasped out, poking the side of his friend's face.
"Don't." Jade's voice was muffled and low and thick. "Just...please give me a moment."
Peony didn't respond, but Jade knew, he somehow just knew that those damnably gentle eyes were softening, the eyelids were lowering to settle half-mast and the corners of those once-blue lips -thank Lorelei they were gaining color, just the mental imagery alone was frightening him again- were turned down in a sympathetic frown. A hand reached up and pressed to the side of Jade's head, and his fingers clenched around the cloth of Peony's shirt. "I'm all right," came the soft murmur, and Jade's breath hitched, fingers tightening nearly into fists. "Thank you."
And when he was certain that no guards were looking -Peony had become quite good at that for completely devious reasons- he placed a quick, chaste kiss to the Necromancer's temple.
Genre: Angsty drama HO NOES
Pairing/Characters: JadexPeony
Rating: PG. OMG NOT PR0N?!
Summary: Jade had told Luke that he didn't comprehend death, but slowly it was dawning on him, trickling into his mind like the rain down his neck.
Grand Chokmah was flooding.
The very idea was preposterous, as the city was floating almost entirely in the ocean, for Score's sake, but lo and behold, the water level had been steadily rising with the constant rains, and suddenly the fonic arts that controlled the waterfalls became infused with so many fourth fonons that more water than necessary was being pulled in and spilled over, and now the entire city was drenched to the point of structural integrity being compromised. While the majority of Grand Chokmah was composed of stone, there were some wood structures that swelled and sagged and several roofs had already caved in.
Evacuation of the palace was taking place when Jade arrived with Guy, Luke and Tear. They hurried to the courtyard to slosh through knee-deep waters, up the slick steps and into the dripping castle that resembled a cave more than the prestigious and impressive building it had been before. "Jade!" called out a cheerful voice (that sounded horribly out of place amongst the scrambling maids, butlers and guards) and Emperor Peony IX hopped down the steps leading from the second floor with a rather bubbly disposition. "Isn't this exciting?!"
Jade pinched the bridge of his nose as Guy laughed.
"Your Majesty, aren't you worried at all?" Luke asked incredulously, watching as two maids with suitcases packed with belongings scurried through the doors, crying out as they splashed into the somewhat chilly water and soaked their skirts.
"Worried? Please. Once the fonists disable the artes around this place tomorrow, the water'll drain out and we'll dry up pretty quick." Peony frowned, as if he did not want this to happen.
"Then why are you evacuating?" Tear asked, watching as a guard sloshed down the steps and into the east wing.
"Someone has the silly notion that it's dangerous here." Peony ignored a servant that slipped down the last couple of steps on the staircase and sat in the water, dazed, until a guard came and helped him up.
"I'm afraid I must agree," Jade told Peony, giving him a pointed look over the rim of his spectacles. "You are prone to accidents without the added factor of damp and slick conditions, Your Majesty. I have no doubt that you would fall and break your neck."
"You have so little faith in me." Peony did not sound bothered by this.
"I have little faith in your balance, Your Majesty. Perhaps you recall a certain icy afternoon in Keterburg over ten years ago, where a young man insisted that he had his footing, but it turns out he did not have his footing and ended up knocking himself unconscious and scaring a certain person's sister half to death."
"Yeah," Peony responded fondly, a far-off look in his eyes. "She sat by my bed and fed me soup when I woke up. I should have done it again."
"Perhaps Your Majesty would have acquired some sense from one of those knocks." Jade's voice could have been considered severe, but despite the fact that Luke, Tear and Guy recoiled nervously away, Peony only laughed.
"I doubt it! Anyways, let's get out of here. We're in the way." Peony set his hands on Tear's shoulders and steered her out of the palace, Guy, Luke and Jade following closely behind him into the courtyard beneath the steadily increasing drizzle and dark, gloomy clouds.
"Where were you going to stay, Your Majesty?" Guy asked.
"I wanted to settle in Engave for a while, but Rose protested, spouting some nonsense about it not being fit for royalty," Peony explained breezily.
"You bullied her around and you're going to stay there anyways, aren't you Your Majesty," Guy asked dejectedly, unsure of whether or not he should be depressed by his monarch's strongarm tactics.
"You are correct on one count, Gailardia!" Peony congratulated him as they strolled -or rather, Peony strolled while the others waded- through the rising waters down the nearly abandoned streets. "I'm staying there. I wouldn't dream of bullying Rose, however; she's immune to that kind of thing. If I surprise her, she can't turn me away because that would be rude." The emperor sounded pleased with himself.
"That's...kind of sneaky," Luke realized worriedly.
"Isn't it?" Peony was practically glowing with pride.
Jade opened his mouth to interject when a cry rang out from one of the monuments set off from the walkway, nearly submerged. A young girl was crouched atop it, clutching a doll and sobbing. "Help, Emperor Peony!" she called tearfully, recognizing him and waving her arm desperately.
Jade turned to Guy to give an order but paused, trying to convince himself that he did not just feel a slight breeze or hear a loud splash from behind him. Emperor Peony did not just jump into the rushing waters.
"Your Majesty!" Guy shouted, dropping his belt and diving expertly into the tides.
Jade was going to kill Peony.
Indeed, a head of white-blonde hair was bobbing in the water, moving towards the little girl before tan hands grasped the pillar that served as her foothold and pulled the ruler half out of the water. He spoke to the little girl, a hand placed comfortingly atop her head, but the water was too loud to hear over.
Jade's hands clenched into fists. He was relatively sure he would be executed for murdering the emperor, but considered it a small price to pay.
Guy had already made it to Emperor Peony's position, and they were apparently now engaged in a very heated argument, Peony's brow furrowing deeper and deeper until finally he shouted loudly enough to be heard over the water, "Count Gardios, that is an order!" Guy bobbed silently for a moment, then reluctantly took the little girl atop his back and made for the walkway.
Forget waiting for Peony to get back, safe and sound. Jade was going to kill him now.
Luke and Tear (both who could not swim in fast waters, Luke having never learned to swim in the first place and Tear having lived in the Qliphoth and thus unable to) knelt at the edge, hands out and ready to take the girl from Guy so he could return and help Peony back.
There was a rumble as Jade felt a fonic discharge somewhere in the city, and suddenly a very loud rushing sound overpowered Guy and Luke's conversation. It took a moment for it to click, but when it did, Jade jumped forward towards Peony and shouted, "Peony!"
The fonists had just released the arte. Meaning that, with the waterfalls now deactivated, there was going to be a large rush of waves as the water previously falling through the air displaces itself around the city.
Something foreign and unpleasant seized the organs inside of Jade's chest and squeezed when a wall of water washed over his childhood friend. Guy cried out and would have been swept away if Luke hadn't shoved the little girl at Tear and grabbed his arms, nearly falling in himself.
The water level swelled and sank, and Jade scanned the water frantically, telling himself not to panic -Colonel Jade Curtiss does not panic- when there was no sight of the emperor. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered Guy choking and coughing, and came to the conclusion that he was in no conditon to search for Peony.
So, naturally, he dove in himself.
The water was quite cold, as he'd expected, but thankfully rather clean and despite the stinging from the salt, fairly easy to see in. A precursory sweep revealed nothing, so when Jade surfaced he gasped and dove back under immediately, thus unaware that the current had taken him much farther than he'd calculated it would.
Just as panic was again settling itself firmly in his stomach, a flash of brown, gold and blue caught his eye and he swam towards it with a vigor he hadn't known he had. Relief flooded through him as he wrapped an arm around Peony's torso and kicked towards the surface. Upon resurfacing, Jade side-stroked over to the pier -he'd washed all the way over here?!- and, thanking the sky silently that there were guards present, ignored how motionless the weight beneath his arm was and struggled to hand Peony to two knights, who gently lifted and laid their king atop the slightly submerged planks, another holding a hand out to Jade to offer assistance, which he ignored and climbed -he did not scramble- up onto the sodden pier, nudging -not shoving- aside the cadet beside his emperor and tugged -not ripped, damn it, he wasn't scared!- his gloves from his hands to press to fingers to Peony's neck.
Perhaps his fingers were too cold to feel a pulse. Jade sucked on them for a moment to warm them, and set them just below Peony's jaw again.
There was silence before Jade laid one hand atop the other, lacing his fingers together, and began to pump them against Peony's chest, feeling strangely detatched. "Are there any healers here?" he asked, surprised that his voice was so even and calm.
There was a murmur and a shout, and someone was calling for a seventh fonist, but apparently every available fonist other than himself -including those capable of using the seventh fonon- were commanded by Peony to remove the artes flooding his precious city. When the report reached him, Jade swore aloud, startling the guards with the vehemence in his tone. More than ever before -even more than what had happened to Nebilim- Jade wished he could use the seventh fonon. He wanted to use the power and skill he possessed with everything else to heal, damn it all, and hear Peony shoot off some casual remark, see him pop up and shake his head like a shaggy dog, water droplets flying like Jade knew he would if only he'd just open his mouth and breathe already!
His glasses slipped down his nose and Jade tore them from his face, tossing them to the side and not caring if they sunk to the bottom of the sea. He leaned down, opened Peony's mouth with his thumb on his chin and breathed into him once, twice. Peony's lips were salty and blue.
"Damn it, Peony!" Jade growled out through gritted teeth, throwing status to the wind -it wasn't as if he used the title 'Your Majesty' with any real reverence, and Peony knew it- as he pumped his chest again. Pinched his nose shut, breathed once, twice. Back to his chest. "Breathe, Peony! The only thing in life you give up on isn't going to be this!"
Apparently Peony didn't hear him. Jade slapped him, trying to shock him into breathing. "Breathe! Score damn it, Peony, you said you hated hearing me beg so don't make me and breathe!" He slapped him again.
It was silent. The lapping of the water on the stone steps leading up to the city was too loud. There was a slight clink of a sword against a shin guard as a knight shifted his weight. Something on a freighter docked nearby groaned, and the rain pitter-pattered on armor, Jade's hair and Peony's face.
Jade covered his eyes with a hand.
"His Majesty," one of the knights began, unsure. "He...he's not-"
"No, he isn't!" Jade was shaking, and the rain crawling down his cheeks was warm. He reached over Peony and resumed chest compressions. "Will someone please make himself useful and fetch a Score-damned healer?!" There was a scramble of movement and it made him feel better, because at least something was being done, Peony could not leave yet, he wasn't done and Jade couldn't lose him-
Jade pushed with the force of nearly a punch and Peony coughed.
Even the rain seemed to freeze in the air as Jade moved with a speed even faster than that he used in battle, grabbing Peony by the shoulders and yanking him into his lap, holding him, his back to Jade's chest and Jade's arms around his stomach to hold him up as he gagged and vomited sea water. Peony's fingers trembled as they clutched at Jade's arms, and he hacked and spat and said in a very rough voice, "Oh, gross."
Jade allowed his forehead to rest against the back of Peony's skull, barely registering the cheers and laughter as the knights celebrated, hugging each other and some even sobbing with relief, questioning their emperor, asking if he was all right and rushing to retrieve cups of fresh water, blankets and towels. Peony must have realized who was holding him, for he moved his head to the side, surprised when Jade's simply dropped to rest on his shoulder. "Jade? Are you okay?" he rasped out, poking the side of his friend's face.
"Don't." Jade's voice was muffled and low and thick. "Just...please give me a moment."
Peony didn't respond, but Jade knew, he somehow just knew that those damnably gentle eyes were softening, the eyelids were lowering to settle half-mast and the corners of those once-blue lips -thank Lorelei they were gaining color, just the mental imagery alone was frightening him again- were turned down in a sympathetic frown. A hand reached up and pressed to the side of Jade's head, and his fingers clenched around the cloth of Peony's shirt. "I'm all right," came the soft murmur, and Jade's breath hitched, fingers tightening nearly into fists. "Thank you."
And when he was certain that no guards were looking -Peony had become quite good at that for completely devious reasons- he placed a quick, chaste kiss to the Necromancer's temple.