The Never-ending struggle of Van and Elaine
“Happy Endings only exist when you stop telling the story” For Van and Elaine, their happy ending happened when both were at Aramis. The springtime of youth, the scent of flowers in the air and two childhood friends confessing to each other underneath a blossoming tree in the courtyard. Things would have been perfect if time just stopped, if this moment of pure bliss could be preserved, but anyone who played Kuro no Kiseki, or as it has been officially localized, Trails Through Daybreak, knows that didn’t happen. time moved forward and eventually Elaine’s father and the wider society at large discovered the scandalous romance between the orphan from the Oracion slums and the heiress of the former count Auclair family.
In that scene on the Oracion terrace, their first time both back home in 14 years, Elaine wasn’t just lashing out at Van, she wants him to be angry at her, to lash out at her because Elaine blames herself for everything. for getting to close to van, for causing her dad to send van to “them”, and for not being able to chase after van each and every time he decided to shoulder the weight of everything, society ridiculed him for dating the student council president, the Auclair heiress, the rising star of the guild, and the diamond of the old nobility, but rather than burdening her with it, Van instead took it all to spare Elaine the sorrow, the pain and the estrangement from her father, not knowing that Elaine knew it all already and was already estranged from her entire family on his behalf. they were both willing to fight the whole world for each other and until they both learn to compromise and share the load, they will only serve hurt each other in the long run.
What I adore about their relationship is that despite having a happy ending ripped from them, they’re still willing to care, still willing to try. it isn’t a deconstruction or a subversion, merely a continuation of a story past its typical ending. in being a mere continuation though, Elaine and Van’s relationship reflect a message that alot of romances I think are too scared to tackle: that love isn’t a destination one reaches at the end of a long and treacherous road, but a practice that one must endeavor to maintain. to love someone to try regularly to care for them, to want to be with them, and to desire the best for them. it is this fundamental fact of any relationship that a lot of authors struggle to convey and that is sorely needed in this media landscape.