somehow always ending up in each other’s presence, even when you don't mean to
Ul'Dah at sunset. They bump into each other in the street outside the Gladiator guild, Match still dressed in his subligar, body still marked with dust from the Bloodsands, the winner's purse (or what's left of it after "sponsors" have taken their cut) clutched tight in his hand. Thancred smiles; apologizes; helps the m'iqote to his feet. "My mistake, good fellow. Wasn't looking where I walked." Not that he has waited all afternoon since the fight for Match to walk this way. Not that he has studied the young stranger from afar, appraising his potential for days now. "Here, I shall buy you a drink to apologize. No, no, I insist" They depart together, Thancred's hand loose on the young Gladiator's shoulder...
...
The Waking Sands, another slow afternoon. Match has returned from the outer reaches of Vylbrand, his slaying of Titan another potent triumph. Thancred sits near the door, an unexpected, awkward encounter. Neither one speaks.
Thank you for saving me from prison, Match does not say.
Why did you run away without telling me, Thancred does not ask.
"Well, well. There you are. Good. Good." Stumbling words. Inadequate. Foolish. Thancred is a trained man, a scholar of secrets and reading people. How is it that he is undone by one summer of rutting and regrets? And why does it taste so bitter, to think of it so now it is long since done?
It matters little; soon there will be other primals, other fights. Soon, Thancred's body will no longer be his own...
...
He is moving. Thancred feels, really feels for the first time in weeks, the wind in his hair, the thud of heavy, jolting footsteps shake through his torso. His body aches, cut and bruised from a fight he had no part in. The Ascian. That awful, whispered torturer in his skull. He's gone. Thancred's eyes flutter open, just for a moment.
A familiar figure carries him in his arms, one hand piloting a magitek walker that is running, no, galloping from wherever he has been plucked. "Matchstick..." With a shaking hand, and with fingers certain they are about to brush away a dream, Thancred reaches for his savior. Match glances down. The m'iqote's face is a bloody mess, half rent open in a vicious cut that runs its full length across one eye.
"Hold on, Than! Hold on!!" Match's voice is already echoing as if from far, far away, and Thancred wishes that he could, that he could stay, that they could talk just for another moment but he is already drifting away again, his eyes already fluttering closed once more...
...
The ceremony is a good one. Pretty words, spoken well. An accord restruck, a realm reforged and all that. Thancred shrugs to himself. All well and good to say aloud, but ultimately a little hollow until the rest of the world chooses to catch up. Still, a good start in the right direction. He says a few goodbyes, eager to return to Revenant's Toll and then on to Ul'Dah. It's been too long with that cold, heartless creature living in his skin; he would like to feel the true desert heat again if he may.
So eager to leave is he that he walks right into the young man of the hour. "Ouch!" Match rubs his skull where the pair collided. "Look where you're-" He stops, realizing who he's talking to. "Oh! I didn't know... I thought you were still..."
"The chirurgeons would rather I were still in bed, yes," Thancred says, forcing a smile. "But I thought it remiss of me to be absent for such an occasion. 'Champion of Eorzea'. The title suits you."
You look good, he does not say.
I missed you, Match does not reply.
"Well," Thancred coughs. "Best be off. Places to see, people to be, all that."
"Right."
"Be seeing you, Chamipion."
"Be seeing you, Than."
And so, Thancred leaves. Just as he was trained to, Just as he has so many times. Just as Match did back when all this started, without so much as a goodbye.
Maybe this is all they deserve.
...
Okay I'm gonna stop this one here for now! This was so much fun, well, not fun, but really cool getting to write out Match and Thancred's whole messy ARR story. I hope you liked it @mythandral and thank you for the ask!
