#{...what if fae was still there in dalmasca when basch was first deployed to help nabradia?}

[tarnishedxknight]

"Because I love you!"

Basch hadn't been ordered to lend support to Nabradia, he'd volunteered. King Raminas would have been just as happy to have his knight captain remain close at hand inside the capital, for there were plenty of other knights and generals who could lead a Dalmascan battalion in solidarity with their sister nation. But Basch was not one to sit idle while people were dying.

The architects of Archadian warfare cared nothing for civilian casualties or destruction of infrastructure. Their particular brand of war, he knew firsthand as one of Landisian blood, was brutal and cruel. In his mind, if he was present, then that was one less soul who might have died or been gravely injured in his place. One less soul who might have been traumatized or haunted by what he saw on the battlefield. It was why Basch became a career soldier in the first place... to fight so that others would not have to.

He knew the risks, and he knew the horrors of what Archadia had waiting in the wings. It was entirely possible they would choose to use nethicite again, as Raminas feared, as the Nabradian king feared, and even as the Elves feared. Still, he asked to be given leave to go to the front, to fight as much to defend Nabradia as Dalmasca, for if Nabradia fell, Dalmasca would be next. He just could not sit idle. His conscience would not allow it.

Faegalad had seemed... troubled with the news that Basch would be leaving to head straight into the fire. As the battalion prepared to leave, loading an airship with supplies, Basch told himself that it was the implications of it all that made her so nervous. It was the idea that the war was progressing, escalating, and the threat of nethicite doing harm to lands all over the world that upset her, surely. But as he questioned her as to why she seemed to not want him specifically to go while he headed towards the ship that would take him away... her answer was one he was not prepared for.

Basch looked back at Faegalad when she'd said it, showing her a soft smile. How could he not smile when someone he'd come to care so much for had spoken those words to him. And yet, the smile faded almost as soon as it was formed, for he knew he could not let her confession be a reason why he stayed.

"Then, if I leave my heart here with you and in your tender care, will you keep it safe for me, my lady?" he said warmly. "For I love you as well, dear Fae." And yet... "But I cannot remain here, safe and with your smile to light my days as brightly as would make jealous the sun... while our Nabradian brothers are dying."

He wished he could stay here in Rabanastre, with Fae and with all else he held dear, but the consequences of his misguided youth had all but beaten the selfishness right out of him long ago. "We do not embark until dawn," he said. "We've the rest of this day..." he then whispered.

So short a time for so new a love.