Author's Notes

First (actual) submission! (don't ask about the other one)

While waiting for his future children to be born, Jaffar has some memories about some events that happened years ago involving Matthew.

I'm not a writer, so there may be some places where it was written poorly. As well, I tried to get rid of as much OOC as I could, but some may remain.

And with that... enjoy! (hopefully)

Reminiscing

Jaffar sat in the room, alone, waiting for the screams of pain in the other room to stop. He couldn't stand to hear it, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was upset because Nino, the girl he protected with his life, was in that room.

She was bearing their first child.

Jaffar began to recall the day when he found out that Nino was pregnant.

"Jaffar... I need to tell you something."

He looked over at Nino and saw she was trembling.

"...What's wrong? You seem... upset."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this... I... I'm pregnant."

Suddenly she burst into tears.

"Oh Jaffar! I know this wasn't planned. Please forgive me..."

"Forgive you? What did you do wrong?"

"W-what?"

He started stroking her hair, and spoke in a reassuring voice. She slowly stopped crying.

"Nino, we've been married for a little over 4 years now. Did you... think I'd be upset if we had children?"

"But... you're just so serious all the time. I was afraid... that you wouldn't want..."

"That I wouldn't want to start a family with... the one I love? Nino, when you saved my life years ago, I suddenly began to feel that my life was... worth living. And I've changed a lot since then. Have you ever heard me talk this long before?"

She chuckled a little.

"Hee hee, no I haven't."

"Near the end of the war, I promised I'd love you with all my heart. And then, when we married, I vowed the same thing. Nino... I love you. I am honoured... to start a family with you."

"Oh Jaffar... I love you too!"

She jumps up and gives him a big hug, and Jaffar hugs her back.

"Thank you..."

Suddenly, he hears a baby crying. He rushes to the room where Nino is, but the housemaid comes out of the room and tells him to wait some more. Groaning, he walks back to the bench he was sitting on earlier.

Why do I have to keep waiting?

He starts thinking back to the wedding day now, eager to pass the time waiting...

It was a glorious day. The war had been won a couple of weeks ago, the sun was shining, and he was about to marry Nino, the girl he vowed to protect. There were only a few people in the vicinity; the three Lords plus Ninian; Lucius, for he was giving the ceremony; and Legault, the former Hurricane. Ninian and Lyn were helping Nino get ready, while Jaffar waited for the ceremony to start.

However, about ten minutes before it was time to start, Matthew appeared out of nowhere and pulled Jaffar silently into a corner.

"...Jaffar."

"..."

"...do you remember what I said to you when I first found out you were in this army?"

"...you said you were going to get revenge, kill me, and when I'm at my dying breath..."

"Well, that time has come. You took Leila away from me, and now, you will regret what you did! HA HA HA! Prepare to die!"

Jaffar closed his eyes and sighed.

"Fine. Just... don't hurt Nino..."

Matthew was about to plunge his knife into the assassin's heart, but that last comment made him stop and consider what he was doing. As he was thinking, he could hear the three girls and a messenger discussing something farther away. He looked over at them. Even though he missed the first half of the conversation, he caught the last part.

"But... where did he go? He... said he would never leave me. Have I been... fooled?"

Nino started crying softly. The other two girls tried to comfort her, but it was no use. Apparently, this messenger noticed Jaffar was missing (right about when Matthew ambushed him) and alerted the bride-to-be. She cried for several minutes.

Matthew looked at the knife in his hand, and, cursing to himself, threw it to the ground.

"Would this really be... what Leila wanted? To kill... for the sake of revenge? To cause pain to others because of it?"

Jaffar started to speak.

"Matthew... I know you may not believe me, or ever decide to forgive me, but... I'm sorry. I had no heart, no soul. But..."

"I know. I... just was hoping to get a sense of peace if I actually killed you. But I now know that I would feel an even greater guilt if I had gone through with it today. Nino... her heart would be shattered. And you... you didn't act on your own thinking that day."

"Matthew..."

"Go. Live. Start a new life. Be happy. Forgive me."

Matthew slinks away quietly before Jaffar can reply. After a minute, he walks over to the group of women and the messenger, and tells them not to worry; he merely had a bad experience with the food last night and was paying for it a couple of minutes ago. He tells Nino to finish getting ready and reassures her that everything is going to be all right.

He never told her about his encounter with Matthew.

The housemaid calls out to Jaffar.

"You may come in within a few minutes. Just hang tight, ok?"

Groaning again, he now thinks about the actual ceremony on the wedding day...

Lucius had finished giving his speech and asked the two of them to state their vows. Nino went first.

"Jaffar, when we met, I saw more than an empty shell. I saw a kind, compassionate man who had just made a few mistakes in his life. That's why I couldn't let you die. Little did I know that it would lead to this day, but now that I look back, I know I made the right choice."

Lucius looks over to Jaffar.

"Your turn."

"Well, when you saved me, I couldn't understand why. But after being with you... you gave me life; you gave me emotions. You changed me. Nino, you are my savoir. You saved me from a life of death and despair. Until recently, I had no idea what love was, but now that I stand here with you, I finally understand what it is: you.

Nino blushed, and Lucius started speaking again.

"If anyone has any reason for these two not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace."

No one spoke.

"Well, by the power vested in me by the St. Elimine church, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now..."

"Jaffar! You can come in now!"

He runs into Nino's room, and sees her holding two babies, one in each arm.

"They're... twin boys."

Jaffar walks over to the bed and looks at the two boys in her arms. Jaffar smiled when he saw that they both had her green hair, and one of them had the same curious eyes as his mother's. The other's eyes were determined, like his father.

"Jaffar, I... I can't believe it. We're parents! We're actually parents! We're really going to start a family!"

"They are... beautiful."

He picks up the one with the curious eyes and holds him in his arms.

"Well Jaffar, what should we name them?"

"I think this one... should be named Lugh."

"Yeah! And this little one over here, let's name him Ray. Lugh and Ray! I like the sound of that!"

"Yes... those are very nice names."

She hugs him.

"Thank you Jaffar. You've made my dreams come true. I love you so much!"

"I love you too Nino."

The two of them are about to leave the inn where the twins were born, but before they do, Jaffar sees a man sitting on a bench, about 15 feet away from them, looking in their direction. He tells Nino he'll be there in a minute, and as she waits for him outside, he walks up to the man on the bench.

"Matthew... what are you doing here?"

"The same thing you were doing earlier, my friend. Waiting for a miracle to be born."

"Oh... congratulations."

"Thank you. Somehow, after the war, I started spending time with Serra, however annoying she was, and then, before I knew it, I... I was in love again Jaffar. I didn't believe it could happen, but somehow, I was able to move on. To forget the pain..."

He looks up at Jaffar.

"It was because of you... even though you did some terrible things, later on, you made me able to finally be at peace with myself. So Jaffar... thank you."

"...You're welcome. Even though I'm happy with how things are now, I am truly sorry for the pain I have caused. I hope you two have much happiness."

"And you too old friend. I hope we see each other again soon."

"I will make sure of it. Take care."

Jaffar goes back outside to join Nino so they can return home. She looks at him quizzically.

"What was that about Jaffar?"

"I was making amends with an old friend of mine."

"Who was it?"

"...Matthew."

"But... what happened?"

"It's a long story... It started way back, before we met, on the Dread Isle..."

THE END

Author's Notes

At first, the entire Matthew part was not going to be included. But as I started writing this, the idea just popped into my head and I ran with it. It kind of doubled the length, but I think it worked.

I love happy endings! I had to resolve everything, including Matthew, making sure he was able to fall in love again. I only picked Serra because I couldn't think of anyone else to pair him with. :)

Jaffar may seem out of character, so I tried to stress multiple times how Nino has changed him and made him a different person to try and avoid that.

If you want to say something about this story, review it! As mentioned earlier, I'm not a writer, so if there are places in the story where it was not written well, I'm sorry. Constructive criticism only, please. Oh yeah, good things are also appreciated as well! What did everyone like? Was it cute enough? Perhaps a different genre choice? It took me forever to decide which genres to put this in.

Hope you enjoyed it!