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@troubadorer had a midday bride/noonwraith jaskier au and maybe i went a lil ham.
jaskier who always wanted a summer wedding because of the sun and the flowers and the warmth that came with. jaskier who loves everyone but who fell in love only once.
jaskier who always wanted a summer wedding because of the sun and the flowers and the warmth that came with. jaskier who loves everyone but who fell in love only once.
after geralt pushes jaskier away they don’t see each other for years, but jaskier never stopped loving geralt because that's not how it works, and one day some bandits attack him and kill him brutally and in his dying moments all he
thinks of is geralt and how he never got the chance to have that summer wedding he wanted and that grief twists him into a monster, binding him to the land and taking with it all sense of peace he'd known.
and then geralt is hired to take out a noonwraith.
and then geralt is hired to take out a noonwraith.
geralt walks up to where the noonwraith is said to hang around. it's not quite noon, the sun isn't quite high enough but with each passing second it gets higher and higher and in the field there's a mirage forming, shimmering in the heat rising off the packed dirt.
and then he gets closer and the mirage gets more solid, and geralt recognizes it but he doesn't /want to/ because it /can't/ be /him/ he /cannot/ be dead.
"jaskier?" he asks, and it's not the voice of a witcher that comes from his throat, but the voice of a human, a man who has discovered that he is more broken than he realized.
and the spirit in the field stares at him, through him, and even though those baby blue eyes have been replaced with black pits, geralt would recognize jaskier anywhere
and geralt can't bring himself to move, not when the thing that used to be jaskier is watching him like that.
and geralt can't bring himself to move, not when the thing that used to be jaskier is watching him like that.
jaskier is sun baked and dry, scorched like the earth in the middle of a drought. his hair like straw, his pure white clothes turned a light shade of brown from the dust.
geralt can see the wound that killed him, can see through where jaskier was stabbed and he wasn't there to protect him. geralt realizes that for jaskier to be stuck here there must be something tying him here, but he pushed jaskier away years ago and he doesn't know what it is
and only a poet or the dead can talk to the dead and the only poet geralt knew is dead and isn't that just a cruel turn of events.
so he leaves the field, waits until the specter of jaskier vanishes under the setting sun before he makes his way
so he leaves the field, waits until the specter of jaskier vanishes under the setting sun before he makes his way
back, determined to at least find jaskier's bones.
he does find his bones, and the looted remains of his pack, and the sun bleached cracked wood of his lute and geralt assumes it must be that.
he does find his bones, and the looted remains of his pack, and the sun bleached cracked wood of his lute and geralt assumes it must be that.
jaskier would never leave without his lute, of course. so he buries jaskier's bones, waits until the next day and burns the lute, but it doesn't get rid of jaskier like it's supposed to, doesn't even make the specter waver.
something else then, but /what?/
something else then, but /what?/
in the bottom of jaskier’s pack, in a secret pouch sewn into the lining that has been torn loose by the elements is a note, surprisingly well intact for how long it had been sitting in the fields. geralt reads it and realizes jaskier wrote it shortly after geralt pushed him away
and it confesses everything jaskier never got the chance to say aloud.
and geralt realizes, /this is my fault/
burning something won't get rid of this noonwraith
and geralt realizes, /this is my fault/
burning something won't get rid of this noonwraith
there's a ring with the note, something silver and simple, and perfectly sized for geralt so he puts it on and makes his way back to the field. in a moment of insanity geralt briefly wonders if setting himself to a pyre would work.
at least he'd be dead then, and then he could talk to jaskier.
but that’s too far, even for him but maybe..maybe he can get his toxicity high enough for him to register as dead for a few minutes.
but that’s too far, even for him but maybe..maybe he can get his toxicity high enough for him to register as dead for a few minutes.
it takes several tries and several potions to find a mix that wont actually kill him but will leave him toeing the line between alive and dead. until now, jaskier had been docile, but when geralt took the first sip of the potion meant to almost kill him, jaskier had gone berserk
with one hand he traps jaskier with yrden, with the other he down the potions and sets himself to convulsing before he stills on the sun baked earth. he’s not dead, not yet, but he’s not alive either, and he uses that chance to talk to jaskier about what happened and
what's holding him here and this jaskier is all the rough sides of /his/ jaskier, all the anger and grief that geralt never really got the chance to see.
and at first this jaskier is just shrieking, loud and piercing, angry but sad.
and at first this jaskier is just shrieking, loud and piercing, angry but sad.
and then the specter catches sight of the ring on geralt's hand, recognizes the possession that was once his and calms down enough for geralt to talk, to apologize, to say that he understands now.
and maybe he can't get rid of jaskier the noonwraith, but he can at least get him
and maybe he can't get rid of jaskier the noonwraith, but he can at least get him
to become benevolent. and geralt knows that jaskier is bound to his bones so geralt digs them back up, sweltering under the unwavering gaze of the sun and the specter on his back.
he grinds them up, mixes the bone dust with sand, heats it and makes a pretty glass jewel,
he grinds them up, mixes the bone dust with sand, heats it and makes a pretty glass jewel,
the same shade of blue that jaskier’s eyes used to be. deft fingers make a cage for it out of thin wire and leather, and it becomes a bracelet, tucked underneath his armor and gloves, where his veins are closest to the surface.
and that’s how geralt gets a noonwraith as his shadow.
a year or so after that, when geralt realizes he's as in love with jaskier as jaskier had been—still is—with him, he promises him the summer wedding he'd wanted while he was alive, goes through with it with the help
a year or so after that, when geralt realizes he's as in love with jaskier as jaskier had been—still is—with him, he promises him the summer wedding he'd wanted while he was alive, goes through with it with the help
(and highly judgmental looks) of yen and ciri and his witcher family, and that, finally, is what allows jaskier to find the peace to let go and move on.
as soon as the binding ceremony is complete, jaskier returns to his normal appearance, the way he looked before he died,
as soon as the binding ceremony is complete, jaskier returns to his normal appearance, the way he looked before he died,
and he turns to geralt with a watery smile and apologizes for leaving him.
and geralt says “no, i'm sorry for abandoning you,” but jaskier is already fading.
and geralt is left with the warm scent of his bard and an ache in his heart and a silver ring that fits perfectly.
and geralt says “no, i'm sorry for abandoning you,” but jaskier is already fading.
and geralt is left with the warm scent of his bard and an ache in his heart and a silver ring that fits perfectly.
