I'll be back as soon as I can.

_{(This is a story about Jasper/Lysander. It's slash. So if that's not your cup of tea, I suggest you don't read this. Also, I spellchecked this, but please keep in mind that English is not my native language. Feel free to point out if there's any major grammar flaw that I need fixing. Also please keep in mind that I let my imagination run wildly as I wrote this. Thank you. )}


As a Skylord, there are many rules and etiquettes to follow. Like; don't ever under any circumstance fly your airship while being drunk and don't let others fly you airship, for instance. Another one could be; don't speak of things concerning the Skylords to them without such rank.
It's important to follow these rules, especially since the Skylords are viewed with lots of respect and admiration by the citizens of Minecraftia.
When it comes to rules regarding relationships, it gets a bit complicated. In the old rulebook of the Skylords it is written that a Skylord may chose whatever female partner he desires, but that if that partner are not of a Skylord title at the time the partnership officially begins, the partner may not partake in certain information or traditional customs held by the Skylords.
If you know your Skylord history well and have read through the rulebook feverishly many times, you'd also know of certain exceptions to this particular rule, regarding the partner's sex. The rulebook states that it's accepted that a Skylord may have a same sex partner, as long as it's very discrete and do not interfere with that person's responsibilities as a Skylord.

Jasper knew all this too well, he couldn't even keep count on how many times he'd read trough that old rulebook anymore.
Why did he even bother reading it trough more then once to begin with? He was not sure. Perhaps he tried to assure himself. Perhaps he found some kind of vague comfort in knowing that his abnormality wasn't beyond salvation. Theree was a small loophole in the rules, just for people like him. The queer ones.

Over all, Jasper knew that his kind wasn't wide accepted in Minecraftia at that time, there were no witch hunts, luckily. However it was frowned upon, by most citizens. Flamboyancy on it's own was all right in most people's eyes, but to openly be seen with someone else, was a completely different matter.

Completely different.

Jasper sighed as he lay on the bed in his house, smoking up yet another dose of his drugs. He'd been doing so, more frequently these last couple of days. He watched with lazed eyes as the exhaled smoke faded away above his eyes.

"People like me, really aren't good for much more then this." He mumbled into the empty room.


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Just a few wheeks earlier was when it happened. It had been just another normal day, they'd been out patrolling over the city and the nearby region in Lysander's airship.

"It looks perfectly fine Jasper, let's head back! ...Jasper?"

Jasper, realizing he'd been lost in thought about the men who just now turned around with a concerned look on his face, stuttered; "Y-yeah! Let's do that."

Lysander grinned a bit, but then the concern reappeared in his eyes.  

"And here I thought I had the best Skylord steering my ship, but you've been awfully wish-washy during this whole trip. Is something wrong?"

Jasper gripped the wheel even tighter and tried to fight the frown that was slowly forming on his lips. "Like hell I'm the best Lysander, if anything, you are." He thought to himself, before he answered; ""No, nothing is wrong with me. I don't know where you've got that idea from!"

He almost instantly felt a wave of regret sweep over him, he didn't mean to be so mean to Lysander. It must have sounded like he didn't care for Lysander's concern, while honestly was quite the opposite. He cared in fact, probably too much even. He wanted to be perfect for Lysander, so Lysander would like him.

"Lysander raised his eyebrows a little. Well, okay then. Just tell me if you need help landing her later." The blue Skylord gave Jasper a small court smile, turned around and went to the front of the ship.

Thoughts suddenly crashed into Jasper's head; "...what If he KNOWS? How could he...? No, it's not possible. I'm wearing my goggles, he can't see how I look at him. It's fine...it's Fine." Jasper thought to himself and tried to focus on his current task instead.

When they finally reached back and managed to land at the sky platforms above Mistral, Jasper sighed in relief.

The more he was around Lysander, the more difficult it was, it seemed, to hide his true self. This had been their fifteenth flight together and what had before been just like any other airship tour had gradually turned out to be anything but ordinary, at least for Jasper. He thought he'd gotten over all those feelings he'd had in his youth. Once grown up, he'd been settling in to live a life in solitude, but then this man came around and pretty much swept away the rug underneath his feet. Jasper at this moment, basically felt like a fragile house of cards, ready to crumble and fall by the harsh winds at any second.

Lysander has just tied the airship to the sky platform as he turned around and looked at Jasper with a slightly apologetic look.

"Jasper. I'm sorry for earlier, I shouldn't have doubted that you'd be able to take her home safely..."

Jasper could barely even make out what Lysander said at that moment, all he knew was that he was, as if by a force stronger then his own, dragged towards Lysander. The few steps that were separating the two of them disappeared quickly as Jasper took a few short strides in Lysander's direction.

"Jasper's what are you-"

"SHUT UP LYSANDER."

Jasper desperately crushed his lips onto Lysander's as if foolishly hoping that this would make the other man kiss him back just as passionately, and even if he did not, it was still a few seconds of utter bliss.

Sadly those seconds quickly washed away and was replaced by fear and panic that made Jasper pull away from Lysander, who seemed to have a quite shocked look on his face.
He couldn't bear looking at Lysander any longer. Realizing that he suddenly felt completely defenseless and exposed by what he'd just did, Jasper quickly turned and ran away.


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A knock on the door. Jasper wasn't sure if he heard it for real or if he was just hallucinating.

No, there it was again.

He slowly got up from his bed and started making his way down to the first floor of his fancy apartment.

"Who is it?" He said in a grumpy voice as he opened his front door nonchalantly.  

Outside the door stood Father_Braeburn, with his usual sparkly smile.

"Skylord_Jasper, pardon me, but I've come here with a message."

Jasper made a very forced smile, he did not like being interrupted, it better be something important. "Yes?"

"As I'm sure you're aware of, quite recently rumors of bad things that have happened over at Terrorvale and outside of Mistral city have reached us."

Jasper crossed his arms and shifted impatiently, he already knew this. "Yes? So what Father, that is old news."

Father_Braeburn paused for a few seconds as if taking that into account, then continued; "I guess I'd better cut to the point. Skylord_Lysander is going on a trip with a man named Old_Peculier from Terrorvale in order to search and find the who missing heroes."

At that, Jasper slowly let his arms fall back to his sides again. "...really?" Was all he managed to say.

He couldn't understand it. Ever since, that happened, they had not talked, not once. Not that Jasper had made any form of effort to talk to Lysander, no. How could he possibly face him again? He'd expected Lysander to be mad, or worse, disgusted by him. Then why? Why did he want him to know of his departure?

Father_Braeburn could sense that the red Skylord was in deep thought and waited for awhile before he spoke up again and said; "Yes. The message Lysander asked me to give you was: Please meet me on top of the sky platforms, I'll be leaving at sunset."

Jasper felt a bit taken aback by this. "...thanks."

Father_Braeburn replied; "You're welco-

Jasper slammed the door shut in his face.


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"So, he's leaving tonight." Jasper mumbled to himself as he sat on the side of his bed a few hours later. The drug he'd smoked earlier had started to wear off and he felt his mind getting clearer again.

"This might be my last chance to see him...and to ask for forgiveness. But what should I say? Should I try laughing about it and blame that I must've not been feeling well? ...what should I do?"  Jasper thought and looked out the window, the sun was sinking.  

The streets of Mistral at sunset are truly beautiful, the stone clad ground gets a warm orange tint to it. Jasper just wished he could feel as warm and beautiful inside as the streets at that moment, instead, he felt a huge nervous knot in his stomache as he walked up the tower that lead to the sky platforms.

Jasper has just walked up on the first bridge when he saw him. He was standing right there, as if he'd been waiting for him for a while. All the courage he'd summed up within him in order just to get up there, depleted instantly like a popped balloon and he froze in his steps.

Lysander started walking towards him and stopped a few meters away.

Jasper didn't know what to say or do with himself, part of him right then just wished to jump of the bridge, fall right trough the earth and never be seen again.

Lysander leaned against the bridge's railing and looked up into the sky.

"Jasper."

Jasper who'd been staring down at his feet, now looked up and met the glance of the blue Skylord. Was it hostile? Judging? He couldn't tell.

"Lysander...?"

Lysander continued to look at the red Skylord, wishing he could see the other's eyes, but as always, they were veiled behind those goggles.

"...I'll be leaving this evening. I don't know how long it will be until I'm back."

"I know."  Jasper answered. He almost thought he could see a glimpse of sadness in Lysander's eyes when he'd said that, but he dismissed it as probably just his drugs still playing pranks on his mind.

"I fear something's wrong in the world. Something I can't dismiss, therefore I'm taking the old man on my ship to look for the two heroes." Lysander paused and then added; "Jasper, I need you to look after Mistral as best as you can while I'm gone. It's our duty as Skylords."

Jasper understood now, this was all just about him being needed to fulfill his responsibilities. The city must be guarded, after all. It was all there was to it. "Yes." He answered, as his heart sank a little, and added; "I will keep it safe...until your return."

Lysander stepped away from the bridge's railing and turned to face Jasper head on.

"I knew I could count on you." He said and smiled.

Jasper couldn't help it, his cheeks turned red, and he took a step back.

"Of course...I-I'm Sorry." He tried to look at anything but Lysander.

Then, suddenly Lysander took a step forward. He went down on his knees and grabbed Jasper's hand.

"Please!"

Lysander looked up and Jasper, his eyes widened, almost pleadingly. "Be safe." He mumbled and kissed Jasper's hand softly.

Jasper couldn't believe it, was this Lysander being affectionate with him now? After all these agonizing days of not knowing, all these days of worry? What if he only did this because he had a use in him right now? What if?

For some reason Jasper's chest filled up of frustration and anger and many other emotions all at once. All of them he didn't even begin to know how to express, so he just stood there, staring down at the other man, not knowing what to say.

Lysander, who didn't know what the silence in the other man meant, decided it was best for him to make his leave. He rose up from his kneeling position, turned and started walking of towards his ship.

"Farewell Jasper, I-" He paused in his steps for a moment. "No, it's too early for that." He thought.  

"I'll be back as soon as I can!"  



The end(for now? :'D)