JL Sigman (jlsigman) wrote in kinkfest, @ 2008-07-14 05:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | a: jlsigman, f: suikoden v, july 14, p: arshtat/ferid |
Save Me [Suikoden V - Arshtat/Ferid]
Title: Save Me
Author: jlsigman
Rating: G
Warnings: minor pre-game spoilers
Word count: 654
Prompt: July 14 - Suikoden V - Arshtat/Ferid - barbarism/exoticism - never seen anything quite like him before
Arshtat was going to kill Sialeeds, as soon as she could bear to open her eyes. It had been her sister's idea to get their sympathetic bodyguards to run into town and bring back something from a tavern. Arshtat hadn't known, although she was sure Sialeeds did, that the beer that went so well with the sausages packed a subtle punch that went unnoticed until the next morning.
It was just Arshtat's bad luck, or perhaps her sister's small revenge, that this morning was the opening of her own Sacred Games, and she would have to sit in the sun in front of all of the nobles, commoners, and foreign dignitaries all day. Any sign of weakness from her would be disastrous in more ways than one. Arshtat sighed and pulled herself out of bed. She thought things would get better when her mother took the throne she had so desperately wanted. She had still been naïve then...
She couldn't repress the gasp when the sun struck her between the eyes as she stepped into the royal box. But she smiled at her mother, hoping to calm that fury for a couple of hours, anyways, and showed teeth to her sister, who smirked back, before carefully sitting down. Her father complimented her on how beautiful she was, and pointed out his cousin's champion. She murmured that yes, it would be wonderful if he won. Anything to get him away from her throbbing head.
She drifted in and out of awareness – not fully asleep, she didn't dare, but unconscious enough that her hangover didn't cause her to whimper. She was aware of her mother, her sister, the Queen's Knights, but nothing beyond the royal box. The sun prevented her from focusing any further than her lap. She eagerly sipped the cool fruit drinks brought, but refused anything more than a morsel of food.
“Oh, you should see this one,” her sister whispered late in the afternoon.
Arshtat roused herself to glare at her sister. She couldn't snap, “What's the point?” Not with her mother and father close by. Why look at what you couldn't have? The gladiators wouldn't be her husband, whoever they were representing would be. Her sister merely smiled and pointed to the arena floor.
The sun was behind her now, which made it easier to focus. Her head was still sore, and her eyes felt swollen, but she was able to focus on the two figures facing each other, waiting for the judges' signal. One had the white mark of a gladiator, tall and muscled, but otherwise plain. The other... the other caused the rest of the world to fall away, to narrow, and for the first time in too long Arshtat felt her heart beat in her chest.
“Who is he?” she asked.
“Some barbarian from the Island Nations,” one of the Knights behind her sneered.
“Too poor to get someone to fight for him...” another clucked. “I do wish they wouldn't allow such things.”
Sialeeds leaned over and put her mouth next to her sister's ear. “His name is Ferid.”
Ferid, she thought. Two syllables, two sounds, like a heartbeat. Ferid...
He fought like the barbarian he had been named, bare-chested and bare-footed. His dark hair was soon plastered to his neck and back, but the smile never left his face. When he won, he turned to the box and gave a bow that was just shy of mocking, but caught the future Queen's eye and, for a heartbeat, softened into something more.
That evening, alone in her room, Arshtat's heart beat his name.
And...
Save me...
Two words, two sounds, the only prayer she'd had since her mother had taken the throne.
Save me...
The politics, the threats both spoken and implied, the tears that silently ran down her face.
Save me... save me... save me... savemesavemesaveme...