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Jugger x Candira

She listened carefully as he told her the truth about his earlier intentions, feeling a pang in her heart. The feeling was a negative one, but she couldn't quite put her finger an what it was she was feeling. And said he wouldn't lie anymore and she looked at him curiously as his eyes locked on hers. She held his gaze and found that it was as intense as the words that came out of his mouth. He...he actually cared about her. Surprise registered on her face as he told her flat out that he liked her.

"Ever since...no way..." Soft-spoken and awe-struck, Sapphire stared at him. He really did like her. And all those things he'd said...she could hardly believe he'd said them. This couldn't be the same guy she'd met a handful of days ago. But it was. And now she didn't know what to do with what she'd learned. "I..." and she understood now, why she felt so guilty. She was guiding the man she cared most about toward almost certain death. "I like you too," she said, though it was soft. As soon as she said it she looked away.

"I'm just worried I guess. And anyway, when I make a promise I keep my word. I stopped you and I made it look like we were married...just not in the way you probably would have liked." She smiled a little and looked up at him. "I like you, Nathan, though I'm not really sure why sometimes. I guess it hurt my feelings when you lied to me about it before because I really didn't want you to go there." She took the spell off of him now and came toward him, just about a step away.

"I'm sorry..."
 
When he was released from the spell that was on him to hold him to the bed, Nathan dropped down and hugged her closely. "Its okay...Don't worry..." He told her silently as he sat down on the bed, having her sit on his lap. "Don't worry about it Sapphire...don't be sorry...I'm the one that should be sorry..." He smiled and began to rock her in his arms as he continued to hold her, feeling the warmth of something between them keep him going on this long mission of his. Eventually, he laid her down on the bed and smiled to her. "Alright...so now that we got the tears and guilt out of the way...lets get some rest, alright? We should be in Yokai in two days if we go there with your broom." He laid down beside her and draped his arm over her. "Good night...Sapphire."
 
He had no way of knowing how sorry she was, or what she was sorry for. She felt even worse about her predicament, now. Sapphire knew that she had to find a way to protect him. Anyone who could hold her like that and make her feel so at peace was worth protecting--even if he was an ass-hole sometimes. She sat in his lap with his arms around her, returning his embrace for as long as she could, a few tears working their way out of her.

She made sure she held tight enough to let him know that she cared about him too. And as he rocked her, she tried to soothe herself, finding that it was something of a lost cause. When he lay her down, she looked up at him and smiled back at him. "Okay, Nathan..." With that, she put her arm around him and snuggled close as well, using some magic to cover them up. "Good night," she whispered. Surprisingly, she didn't have a hard time getting to sleep at all. His presence was such a comfort.
 
The next morning, Nathan awoke slowly. He had the same dream as he had before...flashes of the 'erased' memories that continued to haunt him. The king getting murdered because he wasn't able to stop the assailant in time. This time...the dream was more clear...and the assailant had a form now. It was him. He shot up all of a sudden when he realized it in his dream and he looked around, sweating hard. "What...what the hell was that..." He said to himself as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Why...Why do I keep having that dream..." He said to himself silently before going into the bathroom to wash his face and wake up more.
 
Somehow, the fact that he wasn't near her anymore jostled Sapphire out of her sleep. Groaning softly, she rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Nathan?" Her voice was still soft and gentle from sleep. Her eyes weren't used to the light in the room just yet, but she still looked around the room for him. She saw him head into the bathroom and looked after him, slowly standing and following after him.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly, her bare feet on the cool floor barely making noise as she walked to him.
 
He looked to her in the mirror of the bathroom and then turned around to face him. "Sapphire...I think I'm kicking myself in the ass because of what happened to the King..." He murmured as he wiped the water off his face with a towel. "I keep having dreams...of the same thing. The king's death...except this time it was more clear...It was that I killed the king...I think I'm so guilty that I let him die, its as if I just killed him myself..."
 
His words made her feel wretched, though she was actually quite pretty in the morning. She frowned and stood there for a moment, debating about whether or not she should tell him the truth...disobeying her queen would mean she'd be guilty of treason and they would both be caught at some point and put to a speedy death. And she wanted to protect him in any way possible. She had to follow through on the mission and get him out alive at all costs. There was no other option.

She took a few steps closer and put her arms around him, pulling him close. "Everything will be all right," she said softly. "It'll be all over soon. He'll be avenged, and we can go back to the way things were..." Although, that was probably not much of an option if he got caught again. Or if he found out what he'd been forced to do. If he did, she sincerely doubted he'd ever want to see her again. And it seemed as though each night he came closer to the truth. "Those dreams must be awful. I'm sorry you have to keep reliving such a terrible event." She tightened her hold on him a little and hoped that she was comforting him.
 
Nathan smiled as he held her close to him. "Alright then Sapphire...thanks for the support and comfort baby..." He said as he kissed her gently before turning back into the mirror. "Sapphire...can't you do something about it? Can't you use that magic of yours to stop me from having these dreams? They keep taunting me...I can't keep myself asleep without sweating and squirming through the night because of these accursed nightmares...Why...Why do I have these nightmares...?"
 
Sapphire kissed his lips softly in return. She let him go when he finally turned around, feeling bad that she was part of what was causing him the most trouble. At least for this answer, she could be honest with him.

"I'm not really sure why you're having dreams. I can only guess the reason--stress, or guilt maybe. The nightmares you have...they're really causing you trouble?" She paused for a moment to think it over. Surely there was something she could do to make him sleep--there were several spells that allowed her to do so--but she feared locking him in the dream. "I could make it so that you still get your rest, but I'm afraid of trapping you there till morning...If we could find a white mage, they could perform a spell to stop you from dreaming altogether. But since we're so close to Yokai, it'll be harder to find one...It'll set us back a bit, but do you want to try to find a white mage?"

Hopefully, if she stalled their progress it would help as well. She couldn't make them wait too long, but hopefully it would be all right. "There should be one serving at a temple for witches, but I'm not sure where that would be in this place."
 
(lol. White Mage.)

Nathan shook his head. "I don't want to find one...There's no point in it all. If I kill the bastardly king of Yokai...my dreams will forever be pure again and I won't have that horrible nightmare..." He said as he looked down into the sink. "I sometimes fear that if...by some horrible chance that this is the truth and reality of my being...I don't know what I'd do..." He wiped his eye of a small tear forming. The queen's spell was to make it so Nathan was loyal to the Kingdom of Florensia, as if it were to come before his own life. "Worst possible scenario for sadness...I'd kill myself...Mostly because the people I thought I could trust....lied to me this whole time, since my 'birth'." By 'birth', he meant his fictional memories the Queen's implanted of him being born and raised into Florensia. Turning to her, he smiled to her. "But I know its not the truth...because I trust you to never lie to me Sapphire."
 
((It was all I could come up with!))

And then she knew: she was going to Hell. He may have killed people for a living, but she had done something truly awful. She'd gone along with a plan that involved making a man turn against himself and his very nature. She was intentionally deceiving him. She was making him believe in her, only to betray him in the end. And he'd just told her he trusted her.

Immediately her heart felt like it had been torn in two. She stared at him in silence, surprise on her face, and tears threatening to join the party. "Then....Then I..." She shouldn't...she really shouldn't. She'd just end up being punished. She wondered if it meant death. It was a fleeting, numb thought that passed through her mind. But she couldn't stand to see him like this anymore. If he hated her it was fine, but the way things were now--it made her hate herself.

"I can't lie to you. Ask me anything at all, and I'll tell you the truth."
 
(Its fine haha. It just reminded me of Final Fantasy instantly.)

"Uh...okay..." He said as he looked at her. He wondered what to ask her... Shrugging, he figured it was something best left later. "I'll just...hold on to that little offer you've given me for later." He patted her head and began to walk back into the bedroom to get dressed. "Come on Sapphire. We've gotta get going. We won't get to Yokai if we just sit around and console me about my nightmares haha." He knew something was wrong with her...but he didn't want to hurt her by bringing it up. "Lets get going baby. Time is wasting."
 
((It's probably because I've been playing Final Fantasy hehe))

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. She became a bit sluggish as he patted her head and then started to get dressed. She looked back at him and sighed. With a snap of her fingers, she was in a fresh dress, a bit more like her old one--showing enough skin to be sexy, and not enough to really catch a lot of attention. Her hair was clean and pulled back and she waited for him. "I need some breakfast...Wanna come with me?" she asked, standing in the doorway to the bathroom.
 
(Ha. I wish Final Fantasy 14 wasn't pay to play though...I'd have bought it by now, for the PS3 or the PC. I don't think its for Xbox.)

After he was dressed, he nodded and smiled as he walked after her. "Sure, lets go baby." He held his arm around her hips loosely as he walked with her to the lobby of the inn. He had paid enough to get them a nice inn with a breakfast diner within it, so all they had to do was get some food for free. "I hope the food didn't stand out long so its all hard or stale...I don't know if they keep it warm as it sits out."
 
((I haven't played anything past 10-2. I just haven't kept up))

So she was his baby now, huh? She could deal with that. She leaned against him a little and smiled as they walked to breakfast. "It sure smells like they make fresh food," she said, sniffing at the air. Sapphire was a sucker for a good breakfast. And this was the first time in awhile she'd actually been able to enjoy such a treat. She forced herself to be light, or the situation she was in would swallow her whole.
 
(You aren't missing much. Really, you aren't. 10-2 was the last GOOD one they made thats to the original Final Fantasy feel. Past that, they just put it all to good graphics, thinking that would make a good game when we know it doesn't. And sorry for a small reply...Kinda feeling down at the moment... :\ )

Nathan smiled and walked her over to the table and sat her down. "Wait here...I'll get you whatever you want." He said as he pecked her cheek gently. "So...what exactly is it that you're wanting to eat babe?" He said, forcing a smile when he still felt like she was keeping something from him.
 
It felt strange to try to be happy and know that she was lying to him by omission...by telling him his dreams were about guilt. Despite the cost--which was probably going to be her life--she had to tell him the truth. Sapphire couldn't bring herself to do it at the moment. Whether she was afraid of losing him or just afraid, she wasn't sure, but something was holding her back. And he was being so nice to her. Damn it. She was a terrible person. She deserved whatever she got.

"Eggs and toast, please. And some bacon if there's any. I'll drink whatever you're having." She smiled and sat there, letting him kiss her cheek. Another option came to mind. This time, she could leave him there and take care of the king herself. No one would come after him then, and she would accept whatever came her way...but that left the guilt of leaving him alone without a reason... and in the end she was just running away again. No, she had to tell him the truth sooner or later.
 
Nathan smiled as he left the table to grab her the food she wanted. After returning with her plate of food and two glasses of milk, Nathan sat down and just drank it slowly and didn't bother to eat anything. "So Sapphire. Exactly how do you do that magic stuff? Why can some people do it, and others not?"

(Sorry for a one liner...I can't sleep and I'm so tired right now...I feel horrible.)
 
The redhead snapped out of a daze when he came back to her with her food. She wasn't all that hungry, but she decided she should eat. When she saw that he didn't have a plate she worried instantly, and just as she was about to voice her concern, he asked about magic.

"Hm? Well, it's sort of hard to explain." Sapphire picked up a strip of crisp bacon and munched on it as she thought aloud. "It's really complicated because some people can learn it if they just try hard enough, but some people don't have the innate sort of....spirit for it. It has a lot to do with intelligence, so most people could learn if they really wanted, but they wouldn't be particularly talented."

She frowned and finished the bacon. "I'm not really sure of the specifics. But from what our studies have told us, witchcraft is actually about harnessing one's will power using intelligence and spirit...I think. I'd have to look again. There are a lot of studies on this and many different theories, so it's hard to say, really." With a shrug, she ate another strip and offered him one, wishing that he would just eat it. She was really worried about him--not sleeping well and now not eating? This was not a good pattern at all.
 
Taking the strip of bacon that she offered him, he began to eat it as he drank his milk and began to wonder about it. "People do say that the normal human only uses ten percent of his brain...Maybe you witches are able to harness the other ninety percent of your brain to give you the ability of Mind over Matter...But I don't know. Its all too complicated for me." He shrugged and finished off eating the bacon and his drink. He sat there, silent as he looked into the cup and turned it around as he watched the small amount of milk inside shift from end to end of the cup. He didn't know why he felt this way...He felt depressed...Not because of the horrid dreams that he had been having...but because she was holding back. She wouldn't tell him something he knew was important...something important about his dreams. He wondered if it was a prank by her, maybe she was doing something to him in his sleep that she was either being forced to do, or wanted to do...He didn't know, and he didn't want to ask. 'Some questions are better left unasked...'
 
Sapphire nodded in agreement. It was all she could really do besides share her breakfast. "I'd feel much better if you'd eat something. You haven't been sleeping well, so you should try and keep your energy up." She smiled softly and took some of her eggs now, glad they'd been scrambled rather than fried. It was just easier to deal with them this way. If only scrambling up your problems made them easier. Once they finished breakfast, she'd tell him, and then she'd take off to kill the king without him. Whether he wanted her to or not.
 
Nathan sighed and smiled to her. "I'm not hungry, really. I'm just really tired...I can't eat when I'm tired Sapphire." He smiled before sipping up the last few drops of milk in his cup before giving it back to the owners. Returning to her, he frowned as he saw her face...so troubled. "Alright Sapphire...whats wrong...? Why are you so down?"
 
He was worried. Of course he was worried! Sighing she looked up at him and kissed him softly. "Let's go outside and talk about it," she said softly, tugging on his hand as she finished her breakfast as well. Once the dishes were returned and they were safely outside, she told him the truth. "I know--or at least I'm pretty sure I know why you're not sleeping well. Why those nightmares keep occurring? I'm afraid to tell you because I really do care about you, and I want you to know that that will probably never change." Taking a deep breath, she stopped them and looked right into his eyes.

"The reason you're having those nightmares is because your memories have been altered."
 
He blinked as he looked at her, not believing what she said. He took it...as a practical joke...so a small chuckle and a smile appeared on his face. "Ah cmon Sapphire...you can do better than that can't you? Thats kind of a low blow to joke around with a man and his horrible nightmares like that. Though...everyone needs improvement." He said shrugging. "Anyway...Ready to go?"
 
All that stress and he didn't even believe her. Of course he didn't. Why would she hold something like this back from him? It didn't really make sense. He thought she was kidding. Why would she joke about that? He was going to make it difficult for her. And she was going to have to be mean.

"Do you think I would lie to you about something like this?"
 
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