The Dragon Bride

Loose ends

The room fell into an uneasy quiet as everyone processed what had just happened. Jade's eyes were squarely placed on Lucina, half relieved that she had survived her quest and half enraged about everything else. The knight's eyes were also pointed at her, afraid of what her bride-to-be was thinking, or if she was even still willing to marry her. Richard's gaze was pointed at the goblin, his grip tightening around his blade while his brother, Alastor, had a similar idea but aimed at Lucina. Adwin and Celine still hid behind their older brother, peeking above his shoulders, waiting for someone to make the first move. Dorothea split her attention among every inhabitant of the room, worrying someone was about to make the wrong move.

The tension was so thick Lucina thought that she might've been able to cut it with Devilsbane. She cleared her throat in an attempt to fill the room with anything other than silence. "So..." She began. "Funny seeing all of you here..."

"In our home?" Asked Adwin. "The one you just dug a hole through?"

Lucina looked down at her newly formed entrance. "Y-yeah..." She said as she slowly climbed up to the floor, Rika following closely behind. "I'll fix it later, I suppose."

A singular laugh rang through the room which started to pick up with every subsequent chuckle. Soon enough Alastor was howling at the scene. "As if we needed more proof that commoners will always be commoners!" He loudly mocked the knight. "This! Oh I will enjoy watching you pay for this transgression!". He started walking towards Lucina with a killer's stare adorning his eyes, causing her to instinctively reach for Devilsbane.

"Enough!" Jade's voice echoed through the room, causing both would-be combatants to stop their duel before it started. "Everyone... out..." She got out between ragged, angry breaths. Slowly, everyone of her siblings started to walk towards the door, their eyes fixated on Rika as they did. Alastor was the last to move as a way to silently protest.

When Lucina started to head towards the door, she was stopped by Jade's hand upon her shoulder.

"Do I... uh..." Rika was confused if the order applied to her as well, she was met with the princess' iconic stare, causing every hair in her small body to stand. "I'll be outside hehe..." She nervously laughed as she climbed back into the hole, crawling far enough where she was out of earshot.

Silence took over once again as Jade paced towards an ornate chair in the room, gently sitting on top of it, facing her back towards Lucina. The knight looked around, making sure they were alone, reaching towards the door and locking it to make sure. Once it was apparent that no one would bother them, she removed her helmet to reveal her true face.

"Jade?" She called out to her fiancée. She did not respond. Lucina sighed deeply as it seemed her worst fears were materializing in front of her. "I'm sorry alright? But please, try to understand that I couldn't risk your life! I will never do that!"

"So instead you risk yours?" Jade finally broke her silence, a deep sadness in her voice. "You would condemn me to live alone for the rest of my days, or worse, to be married off to the highest bidder? That's your idea of saving me?"

"I..." The knight hesitated, for all her life, sacrificing herself only ever meant losing her life. She was certain Marilyn would miss her and so would her parents if they ever found out, but they'd be able to move on. It was a strange feeling for someone to depend on her being alive like Jade had just explained. "I wasn't planning on actually dying..."

The princess' hand slammed against the armrest of the chair she was sitting on causing a loud noise that startled Lucina. "No one plans to die!" She loudly argued. "It just happens! People leave and then they never come back and you're forced to live with the last thing you said to them and with everything you couldn't tell them!" She stood up and turned to meet Lucina's gaze, staring at her fiancée with glassy, tearful eyes. She brought the back of her hand up to her face and wiped the tears from it. "I thought eventually I'd meet someone different... That you'd be different. But I guess I just don't know you."