Chapter Text
Year of the realm, 873
Jill paced restlessly within the room Clive, Cid, and herself were staying in until nightfall. When the older man had told them of a safe place they can stay until it was time, she was thinking more along the lines of someone's home who is in the know, or perhaps an abandoned building inside the city.
But a brothel?
She had limits for what she will take, and this is severely over the line! She groans as she desperately tries to tune into the boy's banter rather than the erm, rather obscene noises echoing throughout the halls. How loud can they possibly be? You would expect a brothel of all places to have thicker walls. Perhaps the owners had been a Frugalist...
"Where the shards are loaded for transport?" Clive's voice breaks her out of her trance for a moment. Cid intends to take the Glass Gate? Is he mad? To her luck, Clive shared her sentiments. "That is one of the most heavily guarded points in all of Sanbreque." Cid huffs.
"But not the most." he winks as he raises his glass. "Which is a start. Besides, I know of a shortcut."
"A shortcut..." Clive trails off, before he scoffs. "And where did you come to find this... Fatal chink in the Empire's armor?"
"Let's just say, I... may have tried something like this before..." Jill lets out a groan as the moaning next door starts up again, and starts to pace again as she tries to block out all the noises. She hesitates before she sits down on the sofa, praying that they clean these things...They do obviously... Right?
'Nonono NO! Don't even think that, Jill!' Shaking her head, she stares off into space, before joining in on the conversation again. Luckily, their neighbors decided to quiet down.
As the day pressed on, Cid had ordered some food for the group, praising it up and down. 'Figures he'd been here before...' She thinks as she picks up a piece of bread, and to her surprise, it was soft and fluffy. She bit into it, and she sighed, it's been so long since she's had bread that wasn't hard as a rock!
"Well, the lass sure is in Lala-Land." Cid chuckles out as he pours some wine, offering a glass to Clive, who nods in agreement.
"It's been awhile since either of us had proper food..." he swirls the liquid in the glass, and watches as Cid hands Jill a glass as well. He lifts his glass to the two.
"Here's to a world without Mothercrystals, my friends." Cid declares, and she and Clive 'clinks' the three of their glasses together. Cid downs his glass, while Jill decides to sip at it, but as soon as the flavor registers on her tongue, she is hit with memories of that one day back when her and Clive were kids. This tasted exactly like...
"Falernian, huh..."
"What, you're telling me you got your grubby hands on this stuff while in the Imperial Army? Whose cock did you suck on for that?" Cid's crude comment makes Clive's face flush a bright red, but he doesn't comment on it.
"Er, No... Well, back when I was still training, a shield had given me a gift, and that happened to be a bottle of Falernian." Jill begins to giggle, and joins in.
"Indeed, you were 10 at the time, were you not?" His nod gets a louder laugh out of her. "Yes, I had been watching Metia when you had finished. If I recall correctly, you had tended to Ambrosia?"
"You saw that?" She nods.
"I did. Then you saw me and decided to share your gift with me, where we both had found it rather... Revolting."
"Indeed." Clive chuckles with her, "Then my father had visited you, and caught us with the bottle."
"Issat so? Bloody me, and here I thought that Lord Clive Rosfield was a 'good boy.'" Cid lights a cigar as he pours some more wine for himself.
"In my defense, I had thought it was some fancy juice." Her laugh is muffled by the glass, and Clive had given her a stare. "Hey, you drank that too." He turns his body towards her. "Actually, wasn't it you who drank the rest of my glass?" Jill smirks and shrugs her shoulders.
"Mayhaps. I couldn't just let my dearest friend have to deal with such a horrid taste on his tongue by himself." She ponders as she swirls her freshly poured drink. "You know, now that I'm drinking this once more, this does not taste like the dirt it had back then."
"Well, of course, your tastes have matured." Cid is on his, actually, Jill had stopped counting how many cups Cid had drunk. "How often did'ya drink in Drustanus?" Jill hummed as she sipped the last of her glass.
"Well," she began as she filled another glass just after Clive did. Was his face a little more red than it was before? "The Ironblood see Dominants as an abomination, and treat us as such. They had only allowed me the bare minimum, which had usually been stale bread and poor wine." She took a long sip after recounting these horrid memories. "There had been a lady though, she would treat me as a human, and would sneak proper food to me. I rarely ever left the volcano, so I hadn't any other way to procure some." Cid nods understandingly, and Clive had remained silent and still.
"That's... Bloody hell... I ain't good with no sugary words, but I'm glad we got there when we did, aye?" he gestures to Clive, who can only nod.
"I'll," Clive's voice came out quiet and wavered, but he raises his head to her, eyes locked on hers. "I won't let that happen to you again." He grabs onto her hand. "I'll stick with you, as long as you'd let me, and never leave your side." His face is quite flushed, and Cid lets out a loud belly laugh.
"Wow, lad! Didn't think you'd have the balls!" he pats his back roughly. "Is this a confession to 'er?"
"Cid, you shouldn't tease him so." She giggles as she looks at Clive's lopsided frown, seemingly stuck on Cid's words.
"Hmgh, not yet..." He turns to the older man, "I'm not doing that just yet..." he speaks as if he forgets she was there. "Probably when this shit is over..." He mumbles that last part in his glass, but the other two in the room heard it very clearly. "...Do you think a necklace would be a nice gift?"
What.
Jill's face is probably redder than Martelle's bitter apples. Oh, he is absolutely some kind of drunk.
"Hah! Well, I think I'm just going to take my leave here! You two have fun, oh, but not too much fun, you hear. Haha!"
"Wait, wait, Cid, hold on..." his finger shoots up. "What if I--" but Cid was already gone, and he pouts, and throws a middle finger his way. Jill had to stop the laugh that threatened to come out, for his pouty face was just so cute... Clive had kind of swayed, and as if he had forgotten all about Cid's betrayal, he continued to softly talk to himself.
"Does she still like garlands? Would someone at the Hideaway teach me to weave one... Should I bring her to Mann's Hill? Does she even remember...?"
"I do." She had spoken before she could stop herself. Clive's head whipped and shouts out.
"Jill!" He sat there stunned for a moment, before squinting his eyes and leaned in close. In a whisper, he asks, "Hey... You didn't hear any of that... Did you?"
Jill cannot remember a time if she has ever had to hold her laughter in this much. She supposes she can play along, perhaps his drunken mind is taking his feeling out of proportion? "Don't worry, Clive. I hadn't heard a word." Clive sighs in relief, and relaxes in his seat.
"Okay... That's good... That's supposed to be a secret." he goes to pour some more wine, but the bottle had none left. "Oh."
"I believe you'd had enough, you're like an overgrown baby. Don't forget, we have an important mission tonight." She stands to help him up, and leads him to a soft sofa, which he had easily allowed her, as his body was too heavy to move himself. He groans and tries to get comfortable.
"...'M not a baby..." his eyes droop closed, and Jill's giggles surround the room. She sits down next to him, and places a hand on his head, pushing his hair out of his face. Thinking back to his drunken words, she remembers something she had heard. 'Drunken words are often sober thoughts.' Could he really...?
Cid had walked heavily on purpose, making noise to announce his return, careful not to spill any of the water from the pitcher. "Alright, you two, I better not see any more skin than I have to--" His words are cut off at the sight.
Clive had somehow maneuvered his head onto her lap, clutching onto her skirts. Jill's had been hunched over his body, hand resting gently in his hair.
"Well, more water for me, I guess."
Later on, Clive insists they proceed with the mission, stating he feels fine. Cid makes them wait a little later anyway, and they infiltrate the Mothercrystal's Sanctuary. None of them had been expecting the turn of events that would occur.
Jill was overwhelmed with grief, and couldn't feel anything else after Cid's death. Everything that happened that day had been pushed into the furthest crevice in her mind.