Notes: That's it, I must sleep, hee hee... I almost made it!
Stats: 500 words for ChromGaius. Not as shippy as usual, but I liked how it turned out!
Gaius trailed after Chrom as the prince left the camp in the middle of the night without company, his body wandering as his mind possibly replayed the fall time and again. He still looked so hurt and lost, and he seemed to have forgotten everything else, including how risky it was for him to be alone like that.
Though with that kind of horrors haunting him, it didn't surprise the thief at all.
He kept some distance between them, to give the lord some privacy. The man ahead of him occasionally stopped and let out a shuddering sigh, but no sobs or cries, and he didn't seem to be shedding any tears. His grief was far more heartbreaking to witness like that.
...he took out his sword and rushed a Risen archer, before it let its arrow loose at Chrom.
"Gaius?" the prince asked, finally taking notice of the thief as he sent the undead back to hell.
"What's up, Blue?"
He didn't get an answer, just a confused expression.
"Look, I don't like seeing other people mope around the world, but someone needed to watch your back before it..." The horrible image of the three pegasus knights full of arrows flashed through his mind. "Never mind. You know what I mean," he finished hastily, taking out a lollipop and sticking it in his mouth.
"Yes," Chrom replied softly, looking guilty. "We should head back. I didn't notice I had walked out this far."
"You nobles and your carefree..." He heard again the sadistic terms the Mad King imposed, and Emmeryn's calm acceptance before she... "Ugh, sorry, Blue. Come on, let's go."
They walked side by side in silence for a while, seeing the campsite ahead as a black shadow against both the moonlit night sky and the pale ground. But something was bothering him; there was a complaint he hoped the gods would hear for once.
"The Exalt should have died the night I snuck into the castle," Gaius muttered.
Not a second later, the Falchion was pressing against his throat. "Shut up."
"She shouldn't have been pushed to make that choice. Better to have her throat slit, maybe her back or chest stabbed, than ending up like she did."
Chrom's eyes were filled with pain at those words, but he sheathed his sword. He nodded.
"Sorry again, Blue. I meant well."
"I know," the prince said with a sigh, one hand rubbing at his eyes. "There were better ways for her to die, if she had to die at all."
"Yes, Blue, we would all have preferred if she was safe and sound among us." He reached out to give Chrom's shoulder a tight squeeze.
Gloved hands touched his face suddenly, and he looked into those blue eyes. "Help me avenge her, Gaius. Your words tell me you know how I feel!"
He blushed lightly, his heart skipping a beat due to the intensity of that gaze, those words... "I wouldn't ever let you do it alone, Blue."