Eternal
As much as this is going to pain you to do, you need to end your relationship with Alison, if only to save her life. The more you think about it, who knows what the hell Mistress could do next and she’s already proven to ignore the Emperor’s warnings before. Then there’s the Emperor himself. It’s obvious he doesn’t approve of the relationship, and continuing it could potentially be problematic. You certainly wouldn’t want to fall out of favor with the Emperor even if you do love Alison.
You’re going to keep this as short as possible and hopefully Alison will too. What’s going to make this worse is the fact that this will be the first time you’ve seen each other in years.
You leave the palace and the capital to make your way to where Alison is currently stationed, which means a long ride back to the new eastern frontier of the Empire. You eventually arrive at Fort Stalwart, which is actually just a renamed and rebuilt fort once held by the ex-Felkan Kingdom.
Given your reputation, the gates are immediately opened for you. A few of the older soldiers are also probably aware of your relationship with their commanding officer so orders are already given to alert Alison of your sudden arrival. She meets you even before you make it to her office.
She flashes a smile when she sees you and goes to put her arms around you presumably to kiss you. While you’d love for her to do so, you stop Alison, which confuses the hell out her.
“What’s this? Oh. The other soldiers around. You and your insistence on keeping protocol. Very well let’s get to my quarters so we can get you back into your comfort zone, because its been too damn long.”
“It has and we should get back to your quarters, but I’m fairly sure you’re not going to be in the mood for what you probably had in mind after I tell you what I have to tell you.”
Alison steps back and gives you a tilted look.
“Hmm, sounds serious. You look even more grim than usual. Well let’s get this over with.” Alison says and the pair of you head towards her quarters.
Her private quarters are neat and clean, as you’d expect, on the right wall you see your portrait, which is right across from her bed. Placed in such a way so the first thing she sees when she wakes up is you.
“Alright. Out with it and let’s see exactly how mad you think I’m going to be at you.” Alison remarks closing her door. You sit on the bed and take a deep breath then exhale giving her a look on your face, which contains a hint of regret.
“Geez…this must be bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this. Its almost like you’re afraid to tell me. Shit, maybe I better sit down too.” Alison says taking a seat in one her chairs.
“Alison…I love you. I want you to know that before I say anything else. I never thought I could ever feel this way at all about anyone. It just wasn’t something I was taught or even learned. (whew) Okay enough stalling. Here it is…”
You tell her that you want to end this relationship. You don’t offer too much of an explanation though, just some vague reason that your duties to the Emperor are always going to take precedence and its not fair to her to have a steady relationship with you because who knows where you’re going to be sent to next and for how long.
You expect Alison to show some sign of emotion at this point. For the most part she remains stoically silent just listening to everything, but you can tell she is a little surprised by this news.
“I see…well if that’s what you want I won’t try to argue with you about it. Everyone is an adult here and has the freedom of choice. I must admit this has taken me a bit off guard. I sort of thought our relationship was a bit more than just the occasional tumble, but apparently I was wrong. Wish I’d known before though, I could’ve…never mind.
“I knew you were going to be angry.”
“I’m not exactly angry, I’m not sure how I feel. Look just tell me one thing because I have to know. Are you still having a sexual relationship with Mistress?”
Now this statement catches you off guard.
“What? No! I don’t love Mistress! You know that!”
“I didn’t ask you that. I asked you if you were still having some sort of sexual relationship with her. You don’t need to be in love with her. Hell, you don’t even need to like her. But you’ve told me enough of your past with her to know that you both have some sort of twisted attachment to one another. Now I’m going to just ask you one more time. Have you had any sort of intimate contact with her since we parted company?”
You muster up all your confidence and put on a straight face.
“No. I swear to you. I haven’t.”
Alison stares at you for a long time. Looking into your eyes and trying to ascertain if you’re lying or not. You get the impression she doesn’t believe you, however since you’ve never been known to be a liar (especially not to her) and your facial expression exhibits a look of truthfulness she can’t completely jump to that conclusion.
“I want to believe you. I suppose if I really wanted to know, I’d tell you to swear on the life of the Emperor, but I won’t do that. It wouldn’t make any difference anyway, because in the scheme of things what does it matter if you’re lying or not. You still came to tell me that our relationship isn’t going to work even if we do have strong feelings for each other, and you’re probably right. The funny thing is before I met you; I was pretty much a free spirited type when it came to relationships. I suppose I’ll return to that mindset, but I’ll always wonder what if?”
“Alison…”
“Goodbye Eternal, I don’t want you to see what is going to come next.” Alison remarks as her voice starts to crack.
And with those words she turns her back on you. You leave her to her sadness and feel awful about it, but you know it’ll be better for her this way.
As for you, you’ll just keep serving the Emperor as you always have.
You’re going to keep this as short as possible and hopefully Alison will too. What’s going to make this worse is the fact that this will be the first time you’ve seen each other in years.
You leave the palace and the capital to make your way to where Alison is currently stationed, which means a long ride back to the new eastern frontier of the Empire. You eventually arrive at Fort Stalwart, which is actually just a renamed and rebuilt fort once held by the ex-Felkan Kingdom.
Given your reputation, the gates are immediately opened for you. A few of the older soldiers are also probably aware of your relationship with their commanding officer so orders are already given to alert Alison of your sudden arrival. She meets you even before you make it to her office.
She flashes a smile when she sees you and goes to put her arms around you presumably to kiss you. While you’d love for her to do so, you stop Alison, which confuses the hell out her.
“What’s this? Oh. The other soldiers around. You and your insistence on keeping protocol. Very well let’s get to my quarters so we can get you back into your comfort zone, because its been too damn long.”
“It has and we should get back to your quarters, but I’m fairly sure you’re not going to be in the mood for what you probably had in mind after I tell you what I have to tell you.”
Alison steps back and gives you a tilted look.
“Hmm, sounds serious. You look even more grim than usual. Well let’s get this over with.” Alison says and the pair of you head towards her quarters.
Her private quarters are neat and clean, as you’d expect, on the right wall you see your portrait, which is right across from her bed. Placed in such a way so the first thing she sees when she wakes up is you.
“Alright. Out with it and let’s see exactly how mad you think I’m going to be at you.” Alison remarks closing her door. You sit on the bed and take a deep breath then exhale giving her a look on your face, which contains a hint of regret.
“Geez…this must be bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this. Its almost like you’re afraid to tell me. Shit, maybe I better sit down too.” Alison says taking a seat in one her chairs.
“Alison…I love you. I want you to know that before I say anything else. I never thought I could ever feel this way at all about anyone. It just wasn’t something I was taught or even learned. (whew) Okay enough stalling. Here it is…”
You tell her that you want to end this relationship. You don’t offer too much of an explanation though, just some vague reason that your duties to the Emperor are always going to take precedence and its not fair to her to have a steady relationship with you because who knows where you’re going to be sent to next and for how long.
You expect Alison to show some sign of emotion at this point. For the most part she remains stoically silent just listening to everything, but you can tell she is a little surprised by this news.
“I see…well if that’s what you want I won’t try to argue with you about it. Everyone is an adult here and has the freedom of choice. I must admit this has taken me a bit off guard. I sort of thought our relationship was a bit more than just the occasional tumble, but apparently I was wrong. Wish I’d known before though, I could’ve…never mind.
“I knew you were going to be angry.”
“I’m not exactly angry, I’m not sure how I feel. Look just tell me one thing because I have to know. Are you still having a sexual relationship with Mistress?”
Now this statement catches you off guard.
“What? No! I don’t love Mistress! You know that!”
“I didn’t ask you that. I asked you if you were still having some sort of sexual relationship with her. You don’t need to be in love with her. Hell, you don’t even need to like her. But you’ve told me enough of your past with her to know that you both have some sort of twisted attachment to one another. Now I’m going to just ask you one more time. Have you had any sort of intimate contact with her since we parted company?”
You muster up all your confidence and put on a straight face.
“No. I swear to you. I haven’t.”
Alison stares at you for a long time. Looking into your eyes and trying to ascertain if you’re lying or not. You get the impression she doesn’t believe you, however since you’ve never been known to be a liar (especially not to her) and your facial expression exhibits a look of truthfulness she can’t completely jump to that conclusion.
“I want to believe you. I suppose if I really wanted to know, I’d tell you to swear on the life of the Emperor, but I won’t do that. It wouldn’t make any difference anyway, because in the scheme of things what does it matter if you’re lying or not. You still came to tell me that our relationship isn’t going to work even if we do have strong feelings for each other, and you’re probably right. The funny thing is before I met you; I was pretty much a free spirited type when it came to relationships. I suppose I’ll return to that mindset, but I’ll always wonder what if?”
“Alison…”
“Goodbye Eternal, I don’t want you to see what is going to come next.” Alison remarks as her voice starts to crack.
And with those words she turns her back on you. You leave her to her sadness and feel awful about it, but you know it’ll be better for her this way.
As for you, you’ll just keep serving the Emperor as you always have.