[player]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1122072528819589190/1122072555960930354/NieR_Automata_Soundtrack_-_Kaine_Salvation_Emils_Memories_Lunar_Tear.mp3[/player]
time passes by in the blink of an eye. like a fast flowing river, they are all swept up in it’s vicious, unforgiving current. [break][break]
over the next several years, jayden works tirelessly at rebuilding ballonea back to it’s former glory. he takes it as seriously as he does everything – which shouldn’t be a surprise, considering the type of person he is. [break][break]
soon, hoenn’s people and past fade away, only to be forged by new memories in the city’s glowing palisades. time weaves it's tapestry as buildings are rebuilt, walls enforced. people marry, children are born. [break][break]
the city blooms and flourishes under the kingdom’s new rule. [break][break]
but for jayden, it's like returning home. [break][break]
he murmurs to fern one day at dawn as he buttons up his shirt.
his husband is sprawled across their shared bed, smiling up at them with an adoration that - even after ten years - still stirs his heart alight. [break][break]
in the early morning light, jayden’s smile is soft as he leans down to kiss them. [break][break]
[break]
when rhydia takes on a new lady in waiting. there is not much information about her, which is strange it of itself, but jayden has spent the last decade working alongside the mad queen to know the innerworkings of her mind. [break][break]
“queen rhydia.” [break][break]
he does not have to say much – years together alongside her have crafted an understanding. he will stay out of her way as long as she stays outside of his. [break][break]
the only problem in the last decade have been
Xenon Antheil, and even now, that problem has disappeared in the seeming blink of an eye. [break][break]
“may we talk?” [break][break]
-
[break]
“if she misbehaves, i’ll hand her head to you as a centerpiece of my new gallery.” [break][break]
it’s not the compromise jayden wants, but it’s the compromise he’ll allow. but he holds the line at allowing her in any special meeting. lady-in-waiting or not, if she’s a ballonea native, she’s just as much of a problem as any of the other memories. fragmented or real. [break][break]
“i’ll hold you to your word.” [break][break]
because in order for a monarchy to function, there must be an agreement of sorts. as much as he may resent it. [break][break]
“and jayden?” [break][break]
the mad queen’s smile is wide, sending a prickle down his spine. [break][break]
“she is just a decoration, you know.” a prize. a decoration. a thing for rhydia to use and look at, no different than her other art pieces. [break][break]
jayden looks at her, his gaze of unwavering steel. [break][break]
“of course she is.” [break][break]
but even decorations need to be burned alive if they have overstayed their welcome. [break][break]
-
[break]
“you know, for a moment there, i thought i loved you.”[break][break]
luka chêne confesses it to him one day, when the moon streaks through ballonea’s sky, and they are exiting the observatory, star scrolls crumpled in her hands. [break][break]
he stands there, blinking with surprise.
loved him? [break][break]
he thinks of how he used to feel when he looked at
luka chêne. after
Chu-e Choi. before
fern delaney. the way his heart used to feel when she smiled at him. [break][break]
“me too,” he says, after a moment.
“maybe - i don’t know. i didn’t know what love was, not back then.” [break][break]
his eyes soften, head tilted towards her. [break][break]
“but i think you and felix are good together.” [break][break]
“you'll make him happy.” [break][break]
-
[break]
maybe it is simply hope that drives him. maybe it's what jayden wants to happen.
[break][break] watching his best friend suffer for half a decade is enough time spent.
[break][break] illeana will forgive him.
-
[break]
fatherhood is not the life jayden imagined for himself. [break][break]
jayden had never once considered himself a father, not because he didn’t want to be one, but because he didn’t think it suited him. but in the same way that he didn’t think king had once suited him, and now it did; fatherhood hadn’t suited him, until it did. [break][break]
as a father, he was devoted yet king. relentless yet protective. the minute that he’d accepted the three adopted children into his life, they had become
his. and they had become a thing that ought to be protected. [break][break]
-
[break]
“this is a knife.” [break][break]
the moment she is old enough, jayden hands one to her. [break][break]
aoife has never been a fighter; in fact, she has always thrived in the opposite. she spends time with her da and
mint frost in the apothecary, memorizes herbs and cures with the ease of someone beyond her years. it surprises
John Sullivan and
Hideo Kino at first, before it becomes a part of their new normal, waving at the young herbalist as she introduces new customers into their shop. [break][break]
it becomes a common thing to see the king’s prince and aoife together as one. [break][break]
but as much as aoife is destined to be a healer, her father is determined to teach her how to protect herself. he sits her aside one day and teaches her the proper fighting stance, then to neutralize another’s and use their weight against them. [break][break]
“today, we will learn how to wield it.” [break][break]
-
[break]
maybe it’s his own upbringing — the shadows that he will never able to be fully run away from, no matter how many years that pass between dmitri’s death. [break][break]
protect yourself, mischa, no matter the cost. [break][break]
even though galar is no longer at war, at least not in the way that kanto or hoenn was, he can’t get over the feeling that they need to learn how to fight. to protect one another. especially with the acts of terrorism - even though they lessen over time - he needs to make sure that his family is protected no matter the cost. [break][break]
he approaches
Felix Gallagher first, then
Hideo Kino. with their help, jayden builds ballonea’s defense academy, titling it
BLACK CROW ROYAL ACADEMY OF DEFENSE & SAFETY. it’s meant to train all the children of ballonea, young and old, in the art of fighting and defense. [break][break]
each of the children are given official uniforms with tiny crows on their breasts. the instructors are ones that jayden chooses personally, the weapons are provided by experts like
genesis aria fox. [break][break]
later, when the towns open up, instructors from all over will come to visit. people such as
Felix Gallagher,
Belial Stone and
Hideo Kino become instrumental in training ballonea’s youth as well as it’s own royalty. [break][break]
ballonea is a city of art and renaissance, and with the help of
fern delaney and
John Sullivan, a capital of medicine and healing. however, it will also - eventually - become a city of promise and protection – at least, if ballonea’s militaristic king has anything to do with it. [break][break]
-
[break]
“it’s unnecessary,” fern argues hotly. [break][break]
maybe fern’s right. maybe it’s
not needed. but jayden still has nightmares sometimes of the fires of kanto, thinks about all the things that his father taught him, and he cannot let it die. [break][break]
“they need to learn to protect themselves.” [break][break]
“from what, duck? that’s what the guard is for. that’s what we are for. they’re kids — they need to be kids.” [break][break]
“it’s already done, fern. don’t argue with me.” [break][break]
“or what? jayden, we’re married. we have kids. we make decisions together. you can’t just -” [break][break]
when the voices rise, aoife and the twins huddle against the door. it’s their godfather who saves them. [break][break]
“c’mon ducklings,” mint hushes, pulling aoife and them away from the door, away from their parents bickering.
“let’s go find a place to play.” [break][break]
-
[break]
they bicker, they disagree, but he and fern never fight. [break][break]
not truly, because jayden loves fern far too much to hold anger against him. but when it comes to their kids, he knows this to be important, but he also knows that fern’s desires — their wants, their needs, their
words — are just as. [break][break]
eventually, they come to an agreement. their children will enroll into the school, but they will be sure to make enough time for fun. for childhood delights and glory. to attend a normal school like
Hideo Kino’s too, and even spend time playing sports with
Lucas Holden in the field.
-
[break]
“here.” [break][break]
jayden walks through the arch, two glasses of water in his hand, as his two toddlers coming right after him. maritza careens directly for
mint frost, climbing into her godfather’s lap, without any disregard for personal space. she babbles excitedly, beginning to tug on his long locks of hair. [break][break]
“what was it that you wanted to talk about?” [break][break]
mint looks contemplative.
constipated. it’s not really common for mint to be a person who is lost for words, but whatever it is that’s been bothering him has obviously been weighing on him for a long time. [break][break]
jayden looks sideways at the royal attendants who stand watch, gesturing for them to take aisling and maritza away. the latter whines as she’s pulled from her godfather’s lap. [break][break]
then back at his closest advisor. [break][break]
“tell me, mint.” [break][break]
-
[break]
“love is like that sometimes,” jayden says, after a heartbeat of silence.
[break][break] he doesn’t try to imagine what the relationship between
mint frost and
bryan delarosa was like. he wasn’t privy to their private affairs, and even worse,
love was not an area he considered his expertise. [break][break]
but being with
fern delaney, being with their kids, being king of ballonea – perhaps that made people see him differently. [break][break]
in the ten years had passed, perhaps jayden
had changed, but he hadn’t forgotten. not completely. when mint asks him about love, he thinks about the people in his life that he’d loved - or almost loved. he thinks about
luka chêne. thinks about
Chu-e Choi. not everyone was like him and fern. [break][break]
“love can hurt.” [break][break]
-
[break]
he doesn’t realize how much his words will have an impact on mint. not until fern explains it to him later, in the recluse of their shared bedroom. [break][break]
but by then, it is too late. the damage already done. [break][break]
-
[break]
suddenly and seemingly out of dream,
WISHING STARS land. they crash into the observatory walls, injuring those within. [break][break]
“is everyone okay?” the ballonea king is the first to arrive on the scene, eyes fierce with alarm as he looks to everyone within it’s walls. behind him, his royal guard push in afterward. [break][break]
when all is said is done, they have their best scientists and astronomers observe the
WISHING STARS. after some time, they find out that all of these abnormalities have something in connection. the residual energy that ties them all together. [break][break]
eventually, they find it all comes from the same source. [break][break]
the poison that pulses through the region, blooming like a tumor from the land’s corruption. it reminds jayden of something all too similar, of the abnormalities that magledena once spoke about. [break][break]
was history about to repeat itself? [break][break]
-
[break]
“hey.” [break][break]
his fist knocks gently against axel’s door, looking down at the blacksmith who had slowly become his friend over the last several years. things had not always been easy between the two of them, since both enjoyed silence more than anything else, but there were so similar in personality that there were often many things they could commiserate over. [break][break]
jayden walked through the room towards the other’s bed, where his friend was laying. [break][break]
“i brought some books for you.” [break][break]
he knew that axel loved the stars, the observatory. but without anyone to help him up those sprawling steps, he’d stopped attending. [break][break]
jayden was no healer. he wasn’t like
John Sullivan or
bryan delarosa. but at the very least, he thought he could help in some sort of small way. [break][break]
if
absalom steel couldn’t see the stars, then jayden would bring the stars to him. [break][break]
-
[break]
jayden learns about them from the other astronomers. although he was by no means an expert, the sprawling night sky had always been a thing of curiosity for him – even before galar, before the battle between the wild cat and galarian dog, before their lives had changed forever. [break][break]
the stars in ballonea remind him of sootopolis’ night sky, that he would look at late at night when
fern delaney was asleep, when the rest of the world was. [break][break]
alongside people like
samuel carter and
luka chêne he spends hours studying the wishing stars or retrieving samples from things like the max mushrooms to compare them to the wishing stars. he writes letter after letter to
Elisabeth Fiorelli, asking her of her thoughts on the prophecy. [break][break]
-
[break]
“this one - ” he says, pointing to a drawing of
★CMa.
“is zamazenta and zacian.” [break][break]
“zaza - wha?” [break][break]
aisling holds his hand, pushing a handful of graham crackers into his mouth. his eyes are wide and silver, moonlit, as he looks at his father. maritza is far away, tugging her favorite godfather
mint frost around the observatory. [break][break]
“zamazenta. galarian dogs of old,” he says. perhaps one day he’d take aisling to the statue in the town’s square, though it wasn’t quite complete. [break][break]
★Cntn reminds him of
MATIAS SILPH, and the memory burns a hot fire in his chest. though it’s been years, though he’d buried most resentments away, all it takes is a small fire to lick the flame of
HATRED once more. [break][break]
they walk along the observatory walls, pulling out picturesque notes from their astronomers that depict even more constellations. [break][break]
★VStr and
★JnVr remind him of his journey to the borders with
fern delaney, of the VICTINI spirit that they had once fought. ★Alph and ★Symb remind him of unnown, and unnown remind him of
Naomi Sato. a hurt unfurls in his chest, and he kneels down to the floor where aisling has pulled out a scroll. [break][break]
“what’s this one, papa?” [break][break]
jayden looks. [break][break]
a feline and fish-like pokemon tearing apart a kingdom and the earth below. yet another memory unfurls. how dangerous could those beasts of ruin be? [break][break]
is that why
declan walsh wanted rocket to subdue them? [break][break]
jayden pulls the scroll from his son’s grip, staring upon the feline that crashed against the fish, like rocks upon a shore. [break][break]
“it’s chien-pao.” [break][break]
he remembered the ending of
dahlia goode’s route. how the beast has led them all to ruin. [break][break]
when the solstice came, would it lead them to ruin again? [break][break]
-
[break]
parenthood isn’t easy, nor is it perfect. jayden didn’t ask
fern delaney’s opinion when he opened the
BLACK CROWS, and so fern didn’t ask him of his when aisling asks to dye his hair. [break][break]
having spent years dying their own, and even helping
mint frost with his, it should come as no surprise that this is something that fern does easily. [break][break]
they don’t think - not exactly - of the effect that it’ll have on their husband. [break][break]
who would? [break][break]
but that evening, when jayden is returning home from a day-long meeting, and he spots his son across the room, his face goes ash-white. pale, as if he’s seen a ghost. [break][break]
“pa?” [break][break]
aisling’s hair is silver.
[break][break] in the living room, his boyish cut gleams like molten silver, the tousled locks falling across his forehead and framing his sweet face with charm. it is his son, inexplicably so, and yet it
isn’t. [break][break]
“i - ” jayden’s voice is stiff, as he steps backwards onto the carpeted floor.
“i can't -” [break][break]
“duck?” [break][break]
fern appears from the kitchen, concerned, as he holds a baking pan in theirs hands. but before fern can make their hands free, jayden is disappearing around the corner, shutting his bedroom door behind him. [break][break]
-
[break]
his throat closes around itself, tears streaking his face. [break][break]
it’s not ash. it’s not ash. it’s not ash. [break][break]
it can’t be.
Ashley Shepard, who’s stuck back in hoenn, who’s stuck back in a memory. feelings of guilt and self-hate rise like a flowing tide, unbidden, as jayden is thrust back into a nightmare of his past. [break][break]
his sweet son’s face imposed on his ex-best friend’s. [break][break]
it’s like staring at a reflection. [break][break]
-
[break]
after
fern delaney calms him down, he writes to
Isaac Merlo in a panic. [break][break]
he’s the only one who can understand. [break][break]
-
[break]
“felix, do you ever think about the past?” [break][break]
by now, it seems like most everyone has already forgotten everything they’ve left behind in hoenn. on most days, jayden does too. but while he’s gotten used to the sight of his son running around with
Felix Gallagher and
luka chêne’s children, of his son’s silver-locked hair, he can’t forget the nightmares. [break][break]
“what do you mean,” the knight answers. [break][break]
together, they stand atop the castle’s balcony, looking out at the townscape. the glowing mushrooms illuminate the the city just as brightly as it did back then, when they’d first landed here. [break][break]
he looks skyward, and he sees the sprawling sky. he glances northward, and notices a flash of pink, where his best friend’s wife appears from the astronomy tower. [break][break]
under swaths of silver starlight, from this distance away, she almost looks like
illeana reyes. [break][break]
“do you love her?” [break][break]
do you still think about her? [break][break]
in the quiet space between them both,
Felix Gallagher’s words ring clear and true. [break][break]
“with my entire life, i love her.” [break][break]
-
[break]
he is lucky, he thinks. [break][break]
he doesn’t know if he would be able to survive, the way
Felix Gallagher did, if
fern delaney hadn’t come here with him. [break][break]
-
[break]
when
Hideo Kino tells them that the poison recedes, it should be no surprise that jayden declares that he’s going to visit the other cities. [break][break]
there are few who protest. half-because they have similar plans, but also because jayden has become a king who’s word is difficult to question. [break][break]
especially when he speaks in such a way that breaks little room for argument. [break][break]
“felix,” he says, turning to his captain of the guard and his children’s godfather. years of trust and loyalty exist between them, but even more than that, a decade of friendship that words cannot even begin to explain. [break][break]
“protect them when i’m gone.” [break][break]
he means ballonea, but he also means his family. [break][break]
they’ve become one and the same, after all. [break][break]
-
[break]
[break]
in motostoke, he meets
Caleb Harcourt and
Isaac Merlo. [break][break]
jayden only has words for the latter, having spent the majority of the previous decade writing letters to him. with no one’s surprise, isaac gets along easily with jayden’s children and they him. [break][break]
“uncle isaac!” they call him, jubilant, and jayden is filled with relief that - at least in this world - isaac never struck true on his doubts. part of him wonders also, what isaac must think of aisling – if isaac sees in his son a piece of their shared friend,
Ashley Shepard. [break][break]
when he sees
Caleb Harcourt, he only looks upon him with a curious gaze.
Zev Harcourt’s brother. one that he had known, once upon a time, in kanto. [break][break]
jayden has no words for him, but when they catch eyes one day – he thinks he may understand. [break][break]
after all, in another lifetime, his own brother could have lived. he could have suffered, just like caleb once had. [break][break]
-
[break]
people change over time, but some people don’t. [break][break]
maybe it’s because of
BARNABY FINCH’s frequent visits that he doesn’t think staring upon
Elisabeth Fiorelli has changed her visage at all. perhaps a little older than before, but it is just as he remembers it being. [break][break]
the strangest thing about her is her “daughter”. even stranger is the way that aoife and lisette seem to get along like old friends, chatting amicably at the happening of motostoke, but it is aisling that stands behind corners and peeks out from behind jayden’s leg. [break][break]
“do you want to say hi?” he asks his son, hand soft upon the boy’s head. his eyes are round as the moon, a fierce blush on his young face. [break][break]
“no, ” his son mumbles, before adding.
“i don’t know herbs. not the way aoife does.” [break][break]
i have nothing to give. i have nothing to share. [break][break]
a sentiment that jayden has once felt many times before, but he will not let his son fall into the same loops. he grabs his son’s hand, smiling warmly. [break][break]
“come on. i will introduce you.” [break][break]
-
[break]
on their way home, jayden cocks his head to the side, thinking about the conversation that he just shared with
Elisabeth Fiorelli. [break][break]
is she your daughter? [break][break]
motostoke’s witch had responded with a viciousness that was enough to lash. had jayden not been raised under such cruelty, he would have reacted differently. but since he had been, all he had done was merely blink at her and assent to her words. [break][break]
lisette, her apprentice. lisette, her ward. [break][break]
but as far as jayden was concerned, lisette - the girl with the doves, the girl with eyes blue as sapphires like
BARNABY FINCH, or hair as golden as the former florist herself - was just as much her daughter as his was to him. [break][break]
he looks upon aoife, sleeping in his lap, as she lays between her and
fern delaney both. his hands affectionately thread through her flaxen hair. gold hair and green eyes, she looked nothing like him or
fern delaney. yet, there was no denying it. the excited way she talked about herbal remedies spoke of
fern delaney. the way she handled herself with care and thought spoke of
jayden cross. [break][break]
and the cleverness, the quickness, of her words were all aoife. [break][break]
-
[break]
in hammerlocke, there is king
kyle lopez and
Zev Harcourt. [break][break]
he and
Zev Harcourt have never been talkative, but with endless time at their disposal, it only proves right that he would bring his children to visit the assassin. there is something about the way that
Zev Harcourt remains unchanged that brings a comfort in jayden. [break][break]
something that reminds him of home. [break][break]
watching his children clamber into the city proper, jayden watches as the former beast’s eyebrows raise at the sight of his children. ballonea’s king pauses, wondering what it was that the other had to say. [break][break]
“children? i never would have guessed,” the king of hammerlocke said, disdain slicing through the usual coldness of his tone. a corner of his mouth curled in contempt. [break][break]
it reminds him of
Elisabeth Fiorelli, and in the same way, jayden’s cruel upbringing had prepared him for such a moment. he did not even balk. [break][break]
“i never would have guessed either,” he admits honestly.
“but now i cannot imagine a life without them.” [break][break]
he glances fondly upon aisling, pushing the boy lightly in the back so that he would join his sisters in the town square. [break][break]
“you should see maritza’s knife hold. you would be impressed.” [break][break]
-
[break]
as of
kyle lopez, jayden doesn’t know much to think of the former league champion, and it’s clear that the king doesn’t know much to think of him either. perhaps once upon a time, they could have burned with the same passion, with the same
HATRED for one another. [break][break]
but time had blurred old ties, and when jayden gazes upon the hammerlocke king, he only finds himself wondering how strong a man must have been to stand alongside someone like
Zev Harcourt and live. [break][break]
-
[break]
not
all old ties die. not
all resentments fade. [break][break]
some are strong enough to withstand even the passage of time, as long as it may be. when jayden exits the castle walls, he stares upon a scene that he never thought he’d see before. [break][break]
his ten-year old daughter chatting happily with one
MATIAS SILPH. [break][break]
“ooh! tell me again, uncle matias! how did you slay the dragon?” [break][break]
it is as if being brought back in time. a surge of
HATRED and resentment flow through ballonea’s king at the sight of maritza getting along with the man that had once been his nemesis. it is not strong enough for him to want to attack, but he does stalk across the hammerlocke cobblestone. [break][break]
he pulls maritza to him, protective, as he looks upon
MATIAS SILPH with a thin smile. [break][break]
“thank you for keeping her company,” he says, evenly. these last ten years have at least taught him to withhold his tongue. perhaps
THEO BECKETT would be proud of him.
“but we’ll be leaving now.” [break][break]
as ballonea’s king stalks away with his youngest daughter, perhaps their words can be caught on the breadth of air: [break][break]
“that man is not your uncle, maritza.” [break][break]
-
[break]
MATIAS SILPH is not the only nightmare that follows them into the shield. it’s
freya morningstar. [break][break]
years have worn away at them both, but the moment that jayden sees the dragon queen at circhester’s gates, he knows it to be the same woman that he faced at the edge of the ultra deep sea. vodnik remembers it too, roaring with defiance as his wings take beat. [break][break]
he’s anchoring for a fight. jayden tenses, ready to support him. [break][break]
but it’s then that tiny roaring moons echo out of the queen’s behest, and it is with wide eyes that jayden’s fiercest war machine is subdued. [break][break]
all because of tiny niece and nephews that come clambering atop of him. [break][break]
jayden had departed for circhester to find old family, but vodnik is the one who finds it. [break][break]
-
[break]
a peace offering, jayden hands
freya morningstar a poison arrow crafted by one of their city’s artisans. [break][break]
“if you need any dynite ore,” he says.
“send word. we’ll help as much as we are able.” [break][break]
because time has worn them away, and she stands by his brother’s side now, as monarch of the snowy city. [break][break]
she becomes family to him, whether she wants it or not. [break][break]
-
[break]
“are you happy here, jay?” [break][break]
it’s been a longtime since that nickname resurfaced, and an even longer time since it evoked the same feelings that it once had. but when it comes to
Cillian Quinn, it’s never been negative. [break][break]
jayden is relieved to see his brother again in the flesh, and even more endeared to his daughter, when he meets her. [break][break]
when
Cillian Quinn gives him his answer, jayden cannot help but be honest. his thumb rubs against the wound that
declan walsh once gave him, now blurred with time. [break][break]
“i don’t know.” [break][break]
because he doesn’t. he
is happy here, but is it real? is it deserved? as he watches diot show off her weapons to maritza and aisling both. [break][break]
he loves them, his children, and his new family here. his new life here. he likes it even more, knowing that he can visit
Cillian Quinn and
Tempest Quinn whenever he wants. but there’s a part of him, a very small part — [break][break]
“but i do miss it sometimes.” [break][break]
he misses
Ashley Shepard, misses
Naomi Sato, misses
Asriel Pryde. [break][break]
“but i miss you too,” he says, lips twisted into a smile.
“visit more. i want to show you the town where i grew up, cil.”[break][break]
ten years fold into twenty, and jayden still remains king of the city where he was once born. he wonders what his father would have thought, if his father would have been impressed by his accomplishments or disdained by his failures. [break][break]
. [break][break]
to craft weapons for his children in the upcoming battle. he thanks
and the others against dynamaxed and terrastalized pokemon alike. [break][break]
earthquakes shake the earth, threatening decades of peace. the skies darken, and jayden’s heart clenches in his chest as he stares out at ballonea’s starlit sky. [break][break]
his husband’s hand slides into his, and jayden turns to them. his fingers tighten around theirs, his other hand sliding lovingly against their cheek. [break][break]
he murmurs.
fern laughs, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. [break][break]