The Deck of Destiny - A Caraval Oneshot Collection

too late to save her

     A request for if Julian was too late, and Scarlett and Nicolas married. (Plus Julian looking at his tat sadly).

      Rain dropped hard outside, a gloomy day for a gloomy mood. Julian kept to the back of the chapel, hiding along the walls among the large crowd. He shouldn't have been surprised by the number of people who gathered to see the marriage of Scarlett Dragna and Nicolas D'Arcy. But he was.

     Scarlett looked painfully gorgeous in her white wedding gown, even from afar. Her hair was in a fancy up-do, but it was hard to see what kind from the distance and her veil. Scarlett was looking at Nicolas, who was ultimately taller than Julian would have thought.

Julian liked to picture him as a short, ugly old man. But he was not short, ugly, or old. It made Julian hate him even more. How this... this count had stolen Scarlett's heart from Julian's grasp. His absence was supposed to make her miss him, not make her want to move on to another man.

This was torture. Watching the girl he loved marry someone else. His eyes began to sting, his stomach hollow, and his heart beating fast. Tears built up in his eyes but didn't fall. They just welled there, reminding him of his pain.

Julian had everything planned out. What he was going to say, how he was going to say it, how he would kiss her to remind her that his kisses were unmatched by anyone. He would show her his tattoo after she said she loved him, and Scarlett would be his again. He would tell her he loved her more than anything else in the world.

But fucking Nicolas had to mess everything up.

He didn't know what the count was like, but Julian already knew he didn't like him. He was probably a pretentious asshole, and Julian couldn't fathom why Scarlett would marry him.

And so quickly too. Julian had only been gone three months, and when he returned, Legend heard from Tella that Scarlett was engaged. Engaged. But not to Julian. To Nicolas. And Julian knew he had waited too long. The love he never knew he needed slipped right through his fingers.

Maybe that's our problem. I don't want you trying to 'keep me.' I want to know who you really are.

Julian was the match for Scarlett. He was the boy who wanted to hold her when she was happy, hold her when she was sad. He wanted to be the boy who she chose to kiss, the boy who she chose to love. He wanted to share all his secrets with her, and have her share her secrets in return. He was her soulmate, and she was his. Julian knew it. He just knew it.

But Scarlett chose Nicolas, and Julian was too late. She must have gotten sick of waiting for Julian. Maybe she never waited at all.

Julian usually had his sleeves rolled up on hot days. Today it was especially humid with the rain, so his forearms were revealed, along with his crimson tattoo.

Even more pain withered its way into Julian's soul. The tattoo he would never show Scarlett, even though it was for her. The brightest star in his life. She was happy now without him. It was evident he was not the brightest star in her life.

"If there are any objections, speak now or forever hold your peace."

The priest's voice boomed across the chapel as if warning anyone not to. Although Julian was rather tempted to scream at the top of his lungs

I love Scarlett Dragna!

But he did not. Julian felt warm tears slip down his face as Scarlett Marie Dragna was now pronounced the wife of Nicolas D'Arcy, a blissful couple. Scarlett Marie Dragna was now Scarlett Marie D'Arcy.