A Prince's Prophetic Switch

Christian (Suspenseful with LOTS of UST)

"Choose not to be harmed, and you
won't feel harmed. Don't feel
harmed, and you haven't been."
~Marcus Aurelius

He trusts me? Why? I am not his son, Ishan is, so why not entrust him instead? Christian ponders the events of the day as he lay awake on the grass, looking to the stars, listening as crickets chirp and Ishan snores nearby.

The three of them had left to search and rescue Helius as the sun was starting to set, and though Jade told them to head North, neither herself nor the Emperor would speak of their destination. Christian couldn't help wonder if they even knew where they were going, or if they were just following the prophecy.

He thought back to the words Neptune had spoken to him earlier that day. Go North of Rome in caverns deep, and save the sun, try not to weep. Those lines hadn't confused him them, but they did now. What if they misread the prophecy, if the weren't thinking deep enough into it? What did weeping have to do with going North?

He didn't dwell on that thought much longer, because just then Jade appeared behind him. "You're up." she stated, putting her hands on her knees and squatting down to look at me.

"I thought I was asleep! Thank you for the breakthrough!" she laughed a bit, rolling her eyes as she did so.

"If you think you're asleep then you're not very smart."

"I am too smart!" Christian said, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Now that," she said, with a look telling Christian she was about to come at him with a witty remark. "is where you start dreaming." she finished, and at first, Christian was quiet, not quite comprehending the joke. When he does, he subtly clenched his fist on the ground, picking up grass. He quickly throws it at her, and she falls down and onto her back, startled.

Christian saw her shaking, and quickly walked over to her, making sure she didn't hurt herself.

"Hey, you good?" he asked, worried slightly.

She rolled over, and he watched as Jade clenched her stomach silently. She was laughing! He realized after a moment, wondering how he could have been so ignorant.

Once she regained composure, Christian offered a hand up, which she took. Just as he lowers his guard, though, she jumps on him, pinning him down, pressing her elbow in the crook of his neck.

After staying like that for a moment, breathing heavy, Jade quickly scrambles up. It's as if she just realized the situation at hand. "Sorry," she said, stepping back and away from Christian.

Christian got up and apologized. "You're fine, I shouldn't have thrown grass at you." He knew the words sounded as silly to Jade as they did to him when she cracked a smile.

"Yeah," she said, elbowing him in the shoulder. "Never start a fight with a girl." she laughed, and Christian did, too.

"Yeah, yeah..." he trailed off, then got an idea. "But I will start a race!" he yelled, running over to the nearby docks, a worn-out replica of those by the palace.

"Oh I am so winning!" Jade called back, dashing up to try to pass him.

As they reached the end of the bridge, Christian jumped in, and, unable to stop running quickly enough, Jade falls in as well.

Christian isn't falling for her tricks this time, though, so he climbs out of the water, waiting for Jade to do the same.

Only she doesn't.

It takes Christian a moment to realize this, but Jade doesn't have a choice on whether she resurfaces or not. He quickly dives into the water, and sees Jade's foot caught in a piece of coral, quickly running out of air.

I can't let her drown, can't let her drown, he thinks as he loosens the coral around her ankle as she stills. When he does, though, he watches the air leaving her mouth fly back down, bubbling around her nose. Christian doesn't know what's going on, but he figures it can't be good.

That is, until he saw her start to move again, struggling to escape. Finally, Christian breaks the coral around her skin, and holds her as he swims back to the surface.

"Are you okay?" he asks, worried.

"Yeah," she starts, then breaks out into a fit of coughs. When she finishes, she added, "It was like I lost all air, but then it just kind of... floated back to me."

Christian nodded, though he truly had no idea what could have happened. Unless...

"I think I did it." Christian says, and Jade replies, "What?" But Christian doesn't have a good answer for her.

"I just..." he trailed off, but when Jade's voice didn't fill the silence, he continued. "I guess I just knew I couldn't let you drown, so the water forced your air back down so you could breathe."

Christian waited for her to call his bluff, but she didn't. Instead, she nodded, saying, "Well it makes sense, you are a son of Neptune, after all."

"I guess so, yeah. But I didn't realize I could do... whatever that was."

"Well whatever it was just saved my life, so I think we'll go with it for now."

Christian laughed. "Yeah," he said, then, "We should head back. If Ishan woke up, he might have gone into the woods to look for us."

"You're right, come on!" she says, getting up, walking when she fails to run. Even then, she has an obvious limp. "Let me help you," said Christian, putting an arm around her waist and resting one of hers upon his shoulders, walking her back to where they set up camp.

They returned to Ishan snoring peacefully and drifted into a deep sleep filled with images of what would come.