The Heart’s Rage
Butler Jade x reader
Your fingers trembled.
Digging them into the walls, plaster cutting deep into your nails. Hands closing around a hilt, squeezing tight. Clad in leather, wrinkled with age. An old sword, framed onto the walls of your mansion.
For too long has it stood upon its lofty perch, staring down at you tantalisingly. The gleam of the metal mocking you, in the gentle morning light. It taunts you, challenging you to grasp its hilt.
Today, you shall.
A metallic stench wafted into your nostrils, stinging like a thousand wasps. The stench of rust, a crimson red along the blade. A metal that once was stainless, now crumpling to dust, bit by bit. Nothing could stand against the gruelling march of time forever, yet you hoped. You dared to hope.
Hoping that this blade had some life to it yet.
Storming down to the courtyard, you fling that insufferable letter down. With a heave, you thread it underfoot, stomping it into disarray. Sword held ready, you swing it down, that blunt blade stabbing through the papers. Absolutely skewering its contents into nothingness.
That flowery prose that sent shivers down your spine. That self assured manner which the sender carried themselves with, the sheer confidence that you would accept their proposal. The audacity of them to make plans for a wedding, without even consulting you.
It disgusted you.
Expletives were uttered as you stabbed, pressing your body weight into every blow. Sword striking again, again, and again. Sweat dripped down your brow, slipping into your eyes.
The salt stung, tears dripping out of your eyes. Emotions burning red hot, searing your veins like molten lava. Everything hurts. Your arms, aching from the exertion. Your back, throbbing away incessantly.
Your heart, slighted and offended. Doomed to be married off to another, without a single thought given to your opinion.
Planting the sword firmly onto the ground, your legs give way. Crashing to the earth, hands still grasping the hilt desperately. Your forehead brushes against the blade, weighed down with despair.
Your lips part, to form a single word. A curse, a plea, just something. Anything to release that stifling pressure pressing down on your chest.
“Fuck.”
Soft. A handkerchief was brushed gently over your forehead, down to your cheeks, before finally wiping your neck. Gathering all the sweat with one fluid motion. A gloved hand cupped your cheek, the linen brushing against your skin. A pair of mismatched eyes peered into yours, brows pressed together in concern.
“Master, you really shouldn’t use such crass words.”
His gaze flickered towards the letter. Or rather, what remained of it. Moving his shoes over the scattered remains, he nudged the pieces in place. A sigh, as fragments form into readable words. A name was all Jade needed, before his feet planted themselves firmly into the paper.
“That family is certainly… determined, are they not?”
You groan, an insufferable sound.
“Determined isn’t the word I’ll use. More like desperate. I’ve shot them down again, and again. Yet they haven’t taken a single hint.”
Jade shrugs. A casual movement that has his shoulders rippling through his suit. Smooth, like the crystal clear waters rushing down a stream.
“Perhaps they were… a little too blinded by your prestige, my dear. Perhaps your wealth was another factor.”
A sharp click fell from your tongue.
“They’ll never have it. They’ll never have me.”
A low chuckle. Jade brings his fist upwards, laughing into his glove.
“How admirable, Master. Yet the longer you remain unwed, more and more… suitors will come crawling out of the woodwork.”
The word suitors was said in a low, menacing voice. Positively dripping with venom. For a moment, a shadow shrouded Jade’s face. A sinister expression one might find in a horror film… on the killer himself.
However, one blink and it was gone. Wiped cleanly off his face like it never existed. Although a deathly chill still ran down your spine, all the same.
“Honestly, Jade. I’m tired of this.”
Leaning back, you plonk yourself on the ground. Arms stretched out behind you, supporting your weight. Dirt and grass presses into the plush of your palms. Silvers of pain stabbing through your skin.
Although, compared to the pain of a sword’s hilt? You prefer these emerald blades of grass instead.
A rustle of cloth, as Jade takes a seat next to you. His slender legs bumping against yours, shoulders just barely grazing your own. Hand sneaking towards yours, Jade threads his fingers through yours. Clutching it firmly.
Not tightly enough to hurt, but not loose enough for you to slip out of his hold.
You shoot him a quizzical gaze, holding up his hand. Jade gently presses his other hand over yours, folding your fingers into the back of his palm.
His touch was cold. The refreshing temperature of a lake in the summer, transparent drops of water twinkling in the sunlight. They lap against your skin, delightfully cool. Unconsciously, your fingers grow just a smidge tighter.
Pulling his palm closer.
Pulling him closer.
Closer to you.
Jade lowers his head, lips pressing into your fingertips. Light, fleeting kisses alighting upon your skin. First, they’re on the very tips of your fingers. Then, he slowly moves up, the plush of his lips resting on each of your knuckles. Before he slips to the back of your palm.
Pressing a gentlemanly kiss into your hand.
His glance flickers up, eyes gleaming in the sunlight. Filled to the brim with adoration, a certain slyness lurking deep within. He holds you ever so gently, a lover’s touch.
“Well, if I may be so bold…”
Moving a little closer, Jade’s voice lowers into a sultry purr. Velvet, wrapping you within his arms. Yanking you closer to him, a mere fish in the clutches of an eel.
Honestly? You don’t really mind.
He could squeeze you to death, if it meant you’ll live the rest of your days in his embrace.
“Perhaps the best way to avoid any more.. suitors would be to.. elope, ourselves.”
His grip grows tighter.
A silent threat?
A promise of passion?
A gesture of affection?
Either way, he’ll never let you say no.
“What do you say, Master?
Would you grant me the honour of your hand?”
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Oh dear. Echo episode 4 has certainly made the timeline possibility even more messy than it already is.
Easy solution: chalk the current timeline up to being an alteration thanks to Endgame time shenanigans. In the MCU 2008 as we knew it before, Fisk was NOT the White-Suit version and he was always always always wearing his father's cufflinks. He didn't change until he started dating Vanessa. Also, there's no Wesley. At that date, based on the fierce friendship from Daredevil Season 1, it's unthinkable Wesley would not also be there. (And lbr HE would be the translator for Maya. And he would love Maya just as much as he loved Fisk. Bet me)
Difficult solution: no alternate timeline, somehow fold in this lapse in design with the existing Daredevil Netflix version as a treat for the audience to see White Suit Kingpin and the lapse in Wesley presence to.....maybe it's the year before he met Fisk, idk. I don't know any other reason Wesley wouldn't be there at that time if this is the same timeline.
Mmmmmmm there's a very easy solution, just keep the continuity or confirm this is a different timeline. But then, Loki is all about the fact that the MCU is the Sacred Timeline and all that jazz, and if Daredevil is officially MCU, it's part of the Timeline. So just keep with the continuity, it's not hard.
This just makes it even more difficult for the poor writers honestly.
Unrelated to all of this though, Alaqua Cox is incredible and I love Maya's growth. Don't know what the hell is going on with Kingpin and the Daredevil continuity, but Echo herself is doing great. Keep going sweetie, you're slaying.
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