#jessleto 4life

[atrxides]

Book Jessica x Leto <3

I think one of my favourite things about Jessica x Leto in the Dune book is the fact that they are so secure in their love for each other:

You have Jessica; who is a very well trained Bene Gesserit, who can control every cell in her body, that when it comes to Leto instinctually let's herself feel and emote naturally. (Conceives Alia out of "instinct", cries/breaks down when Leto is in danger/dies, visibly gets upset when people ask her about them getting married etc.)

But Jessica is also very secure in her knowledge that Leto loves her and only her, she says to Hawat that "he'll not marry anyone else, not as long as I live." And she is very confident in that which suggests through words/actions that Leto has assured her of this before.

Similarly with Leto, he's very secure in knowing Jessica loves him and he doesn't consider even for a minute that she is the actual traitor. He says "she's opened/showed her heart to me" and that he "knows her", he also tells Paul himself that he'd sooner distrust himself than Jessica.

And so I think that while we didn't get a lot of them speaking directly to each other in the book, the conversations they have with other characters about their relationship is very telling. There is a sense of communication and deep understanding between them, whether it's verbal/non verbal/physical, that they love each other very much and that they are it for each other.

Then there's an aspect of their relationship that is a bit more tragic to me;

From the start of the book through to the end, even after Leto has died, there is this sense of defence that is constantly surrounding their relationship.

It starts with the Reverend Mother accusing Jessica of having a son purely because of Leto and Jessica has to defend that decision.

Then it's everyone thinking Jessica is the traitor and Leto has to defend her (obvi he gives into the plan for his own schemes but anyway).

Jessica has to defend her love for Leto to Yueh, Hawat, and eventually Gurney later on in the novel. She has to fight off all these accusations and questions about why she hasn't married him or why he didn't marry her.

Paul has to defend his parents' love as well to Gurney when Jessica can't convince him she's not the traitor. (Gurney was a real one for wanting to die for doing that lol.)

And it's really sad that that was something that consistently happened, like after 15/16/17 years they were still having to defend what they had. They were probably very private people and while they did have their own love and understanding of each other, other people just didn't get to see that and so there's this constant sense of protection for both of them for who they love and their family.

And especially for Jessica, who at that point had betrayed the Bene Gesserit more than once, being accused and having to defend her loyalty when everything she had done was out of love for Leto.

There's something so visceral about their story and the way they love each other that really resonates with me idk

[atrxides]

Posted the first chapter to my Jessica x Leto prequel, definitely nervous about this one lol, but also I love them so much and hope this story does them justice <3

[atrxides]

So joking aside, I did actually start to write that 200k+ word slow burn prequel fic for Jessica x Leto. I've been writing for a month now and I have posted anything yet sadly but I hope to soon, and also if anyone want to send prompts to help me practice writing my inbox is open.

Anyway I have been enjoying establishing their characters pre-dune and I hope to do them & their story justice