'til death do us part

12

Neuvillette opened his eyes to darkness. He sat up and a faded image became clearer. It was somehow Wriothesley, but not Wriothesley... 

"Who are you?" 

"I'm the Duke of the North," he placed his hand over his chest. "But, perhaps, not the Duke you currently know..." he smiled. "Do these look familiar?" he asked, taking out a small stack of carefully handwritten notes. 

"I'm also the Duke of the North," a second Wriothesley appeared next to him, with his own letters in hand. Similar but different. 

"The dukes of my past lives?" Neuvillette stared back and forth between them. Not much difference except one was sopping wet with various water creatures stuck to him while the second was soaked in blood with bruised knuckles. 

"When I heard you were lost at sea, I spent the rest of my life trying to find you. Some form of you, some proof that what they said was true... Even though we'd never met. You were my most trusted friend, my deepest ally." 

The blood soaked Wriothesley nodded. "It was a similar case for me. I heard that you'd been killed so I spent the rest of my life seeking revenge for you. Fontaine became a wasteland stomped under my foot for having betrayed you."

Sea-Wrio nodded in agreement. "I would've done something similar." 

"The truth of the matter is..." Blood-Wrio glanced at Sea-Wrio and the two nodded in unison before speaking at the same time: "We loved you then, just as we love you now, so please don't doubt our affections for you this time." 

"But we'd never met... so how...?" 

"It is our greatest regret that we did not leave the north to meet you sooner..." 

"What you mean to say is...it's okay, then?" Neuvillette stared at the wolf imprint on the back of his hand, bringing it close to his chest. 

"There is no need to hold yourself back," the two placed a hand on Neuvillette's shoulders. "He too, would've come to love you either way. You didn't steal him by going to him so early. There was no one in our lives but you." 

It was as if a dam inside him broke. The darkness around quickly became soaked with the feelings he'd been holding back. Try as he might to keep them from showing, he knew the dam had been cracked some time ago. 

"Neuvillette!" His eyes snapped open to the sight of Wriothesley shaking him by the shoulders. "You weren't waking up...you scared me..." he turned his head toward the direction of the vishap at the cave's entrance. "That giant vishap hasn't moved since he dropped us here..." Neuvillette pulled Wriothesley down on top of him, holding him close. "Ehh? What's this about?" Wriothesley struggled under the dragon's tight grip. 

"I'm so glad you're safe."

"Really?" Wriothesley laughed nervously. "That would've been a perfect chance to get rid of the fealty contract, don't you think?" 

"No," Neuvillette shook his head, "even if death were to part us, I will love you beyond death." 

The Wriothesley was too stunned to speak.