Guy x Dist Fanfic

Gailardia Galen Gardios, noble of Malkuth, never dreamed he would be babysitting again.

And Yet his feet were carrying him down the stares of the caste, prized pearl of Grand Chokema. His travel boots sounded odd on the valuable marble that was more familiar with elegant slippers. Even returned to his long forgotten noble status, Guy kept his casual style of dress, even though it had been months since his journey with Luke and the others had ended. Besides, though lavish outfits made the former servant uncomfortable.

Not that the dungeons were to his taste either.

It had been just a few weeks since he was given the assignment from Emperor Peony himself, though it was not so much as assignment as a favor. Former God General, Dist the Rose, now returned to his birth name, Saphir Neis, was a prisoner of Malkuth. Despite his many crimes against the kingdom of theft and hostility, the fact that he was a leader in the creation of Fontech for military as well as civilian use. Now, his Magasty was no fool, though if you would ask Dist he would have told you otherwise, he knew such abilities would be helpful to his people, as Malkuth was trailing behind Kimlasca in the area of technology. Dist had been a researcher for Malkuth before so it was decided that he would return to such a role, whether he wanted to or not.

But this lead to an intirly new source of problems. Though he didn't seem it, Dist was intelligent and resourceful, he was the highest escape risk the kingdom had ever know, and that was without tools. If he was to be allowed to work, he would need to be monitered every second.

And that was where Guy came in.

The blonde sighed to himself at the thought. Apperently his tittle of babysitter had spread, he was the first choice for such a job. The emperor said it was because of his own love of Fontech but he didn't believe him. Still, his love of Fontech was what made him except the offer in the end and the thought of learning from the master was an great opertunity.

His thoughts were interrupted when he nearly walked into the door of his destination. A large room in the lower dungeons and storerooms of the castle had been altered to use electricity and other needs that would come. It was now a workshop, makeshift but still quite advanced. Just the site off the shining silver and copper excited the young man as he swung the door open. He was just in time to see one of the local guard hauling in his new assignment.

The thin, lanky man was dragged in by his arm, obviously perturbed by the harsh treatment before he was half thrown into the room. He nearly stubbled into the boy himself but managed to find his balance just in time. With an angry huff he stood straight, pushing his round glasses up his nose and fixing his snow white hair, gathering all the dignity he had left before facing the other.

"Good Morning, Gailardia…" his voice wasn't hurtful, but it wasn't friendly either.

"Good Morning Saphir." His voice however was friendly, he had come to know through their short time together that the fact the mechanic wasn't rude to him was a sign he was glad to have his company.

Though Saphir was intent on hiding it, "I see you've been forced to babysit again?"

"Seems so."

"Well I rather have it be you then that idiot of a king."

He smiled, "Why thank you, Saphir."

The Mechanic seemed a bit taken aback by the fact the boy had found a compliment in his insult, but quickly put it to the back of his mind. There was work to be done.

Guy didn't tell anyone but he had been rather excited about working with the fontechnition. Since he first came to Kimlasca and set eyes on the wonders of its advanced technology he had been fascinated with ever cog and screw that made those marvelous machines spine, sing and even fly. Saphir was one of the leaders, if not the father of this generation's technology, his creations only rivaled by what he read in history books. He had hoped to learn all he could from him.

But getting close to Saphir, in fact just speeking to him was difficult at first. For the first day or so he couldn't get two words out of him and only received a glare when he tried to examine his work.

Yet as time went on, Saphir became aware of a kindred spirit in the other for Fontech. He allowed him to watch his process more and more closely as time went on until he was able to hover over his shoulder.

It might have been his imagination but prison also seemed to change the former god general. He seemed to leave his lavish, flashy clothes behind, usually favoring a simple dress shirt and tie when he saw him, probably because of the messes some of his machines made. He did keep his gloves however, and Guy saw why when he removed them one day. His thin fingers were heavily callused, and the fabric kept them bleeding. He could change his tools almost faster then he could see, twirling them rather like he did his chair before filing them away and starting on his next step.

Also he seemed to be calmer then he used to be, the monotony of prison life leaving him little to argue agenst, even if it was obvious he wasn't enjoying it. He was no less bitter then he had ever been, that would never change.

As the days went on, unless he was reading him wrong (and Saphir wasn't that hard to read), the mechanic was starting to take a liking to him.

"Its good to see at least one of Jade's anterage isn't a complete savage." He had said.

During the time Saphir had become tollernt of him, Guy began asking questions about his current projects, about his past creations, his theorys, everything he could think of when it came to Fontech. He was reluctant at first but it soon became clear that he was as eager to discus his past time as the other. He explained everything with enthusiastic detail. In fact they talked day in and day out until finally the noble couldn't think of anything else he needed to know.

So he decided to get to know the more personal details of his new companion.

"Saphir?" he leaned over the seated man, supporting himself with a hand on his swivel chair, his flying chair had been confiscated when he was arrested. It was interesting to be so close to someone who used to be a such a dangerous enemy, but he was much less threatening without his pettles and machines. "You grew up in Ketterburg, right?"

"Yes…" the snow haired man didn't even look up from his work, but then again he never did. "What of it?"

"I was just wondering what it must have been like… your childhood. What was the Neis family like?"

"I wish I knew."

He cocked his head to the side. "What do you meen?"

Saphir hesitated for a moment, his tools actually pausing from their furious work, but then he returned to it, leaning closer to the machines as if they would hide his expression. "I lived at an orphanage when I was in Keterburg, right up to the day I left."

"Ah… I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

"Don't be, you can't miss what you never had."

His voice was disturbingly empty, almost like Jade's, it made him shiver. Quickly he tried to change the subject, "Is that why you became so fond of Professor Neblim?"

That he seemed more comfortable to talk about, "Yes, she was the one who saw any potential in. For a long time she was my only family… her and Jade…"

"…I know how painful it must have been to see her leave, I'm sorry."

The mechanic huffed angerly, his snow white locks sliding in front of his eyes. "I don't need the pitty of a noble. You have no idea what it is like to watch the only family you have die right in front of you."

"I know all too well." Guy's voice was so sturn compared to his usual friendly tone it made Saphir jump slightly in his seat. "My sister and servents gave their lives to save me on Hod."

"She didn't come back to attack you!" the former God General turned away from his work for once, his eyes alight with anger, "Twice I thought she had returned and twice I was struck down."

"I faced Mary again as well, if you remember."

He paused for a moment, then turned to the floor. Though he still seemed angry the noble noticed shame behind those thick specticals before they captured the light. "Oh yes… the replica's from Hod."

"Yes… but that's in the past, theres no point in bringing it up… Just think before you speak next time."

The Fontechnition looked up, Guy was surprised to see sincerity in his expression instead of the usual cover of anger he usually wore. "Still… … they were my creations. I wouldn't wish what I have ecperienced on anyone else. I apologize."

A smile couldn't be held back at the sight of such a formally powerful man with such a look on his face, he was like a child who had broken something, those thick glasses making his soft purple eyes all the larger. He was almost… cute. It was an odd thing to think about someone who was ten or more years older then himself. "Don't worry about it Saphir, really. I know why you did it as well… If I had your skill in Fontech I would have replicated Hod and be sitting in my old mansion right now."

The compliment pulled small smile at the corner of the machanic's purple tinted lips, a rare sight but they were becoming more frequent. His smiles were so unlike the psychotic ones from before when he was mad with power. His real ones were almost shy, as if they made him vonerable to the harsh world in some way and he often tried to hide them by changing the subject.

"You aren't going to try and reap revenge on me when we become close are you," he joked.

There he goes, mused the noble, "No, but I believe you still owe me."

Saphir smirked, "And what is it you want, Gailardia?"

He inhailed slowly through his nose and crossed his arms. He knew what he wanted, that wasn't the problem, there was a great chance he would spark the man's temper to such a rage it would shatter all their progress in one foul swing. Still, curiosity had been gnawing at him for far too long.

"What went on between you and Jade?"

The thin form of the other visiably stiffed at the mention of the colonel's name, "W… Why would you want to know about that snake?" he demanded.

"Not about Jade, I don't need to know any more about him then I do already… I want to know about what happened to make you so bitter to him… to each other. It you really were friends, what broke you apart?"

"No!" Silver locks blocked his expression again, hiding him behind a mask of rage, what was he fighting against? "I'm not going to have you and that traitor share a laugh at my expense! I've been through enough abuse already, I'm not giving you and him more fodder!"

"No, Saphir! Nothing like that!" he held out his leather gloves in defense, though he had seen this coming before hand. Hopefully he could repair what he had destroyed. "I only wish to know the trials of my new friend."

That did it. The word struck a cord in the older man. For a moment his mask dropped and again he took on the apperence of a child. He seemed to almost spark with excitement that was usally only directed at fonmachines. Quickly he attempted to cover it up, covering his hanging mouth with a gloved hand, but his composure was ruined. "You… you consider me a friend?"

"Of course! Is that wrong? Don't you like me Saphir?" he was only teasing, yet a small voice in the back of his mind was worried about what the answer to that question would be.

There was a long uncomfortable pause in the room, the only sound coming from the gentle hum of the surrounding machines. With each second of silence that little voice grew louder until it was almost deathening. Why was he so worried about what Saphir thought of him?

"…I enjoy you company… very much Guilardia." He answered finally, sending a small wave of relief over the boy, "I just… haven't had a friend since I was a child…"

"Then I'm honored you would consider me as one." The stress now behind him, he held out his hand with the brightest smile he could muster.

It seemed contages, even Saphir laughed lightly, "It was you who considered me." Yet he took his palm and shook it, trying to hide how greatful he was. And Guy gave him no pitty for his statement, he knew he wouldn't want any.

"I suppose I shouldn't have asked what I did, I was out of line."

The mechanic was quiet for another painful length of time and the noble cursed himself. A friendship with Saphir was going to be like walking on eggshells and he kept taking wrong turns.

"I don't see any reason to keep it from you, I suppose."

"Are you sure Saphir?"

He nodded, but when he finally spoke his voice was low and slightly hoarse, as if what he was to say hurt his throat. "I was never the most popular among my piers," Guy noticed he didn't state the reasons but he could assume for himself. "I was abused horribly… until Jade came, he protected me. Of course he only did so that he might have me for his own personal punching bag, but it was better then having everyone gang up on me…"

"He was the only one intelligent enough to carry on a conversation with, though he mad me look like an idiot most of the time in the process… He was so skilled at everything he did; I would have given anything to just get a complement from him…"

It wasn't hard for the noble to imagion such a thing, apparently the mechanic never really grew up, the words he spoke could have easily have been current events.

"When the professor did die, Jade finally needed me for something and for a while we were inseparable…" fingers dug into silk gloves as his hands clenched at some unknown memory, "Had it not been for Peony messing with his head he would still be on my side."

"It wasn't entirely his magasty's fault." Guy felt he needed to protect his former employer.

Saphir huffed, "Way what you will… What ever it was when Jade outlawed Fomacracy I fled the capital for Daath."

"Why Daath?"

"Mohs had come to me earlier, he needed a replacement for the son of a duke and I was to perfict candidate to make him one."

"Luke…" he said to himself, feeling a bit homesick for his old friend.

"Yes, the boy, then the Fon Master, then replica after replica, just so I could get Jade and the professor back…" He sighed heavily, laying his face in his hands, perched on the table by his elbows, "All that work and I only pushed myself further away from them both."

The noble looked down at the frail main with pitty, "It was probably much nobler then revenge… if you look at it from my view…"

A short sniff could be heard before the mechanic grumbled and pulled off his glasses, rubbing his eyes with the base of his palm, so bitter toward the tears that were breaking through. "I don't need to be patronized…" he growled

"I'm not…" His boots clicked as he circled around the bent over form of his companion, "I know how it feels to want something back to badly… I'm sorry too."

"Well…" his voice cracked but he fought back the tears as stubernly as he used to fight Jade, though the noble wished he wouldn't, there was no shame in crying when you were in pain. "That's more then anyone else has ever said… thank you."

Guy's heart was heavy with sorrow for the other, he could feel it weighted down in his chest, it was almost painful. Though their paths had been similar, Saphir had traversed his alone. Where would he be now if it had not been for Luke and the others? Probably in this very prison or even rotting away with the bodies of the other God generals, who knew? He felt almost guilty that Lorieli had chosen such different and unjust fates for them when they were so singular in intention.

Without even being aware of his actions, the noble leaned against the other's chair and flung his arms around him, capturing him in a sympathetic embrace. He felt so small and fragile in his arms he almost feared he would break.

And when he heard a shrill cry he thought he might have.

The mechanic flinched so violently it seemed he had been stabbed, but Guy had no weapon on him. Thin fingers clentched his head in defence from the unknown, mussing his straight locks.

"Saphir?" he questioned with worry stung in his voice. H released the other and slowly backed away, whatever he had done was wrong… but what exactly was it.

It took a moment for the fontechnition to apparently realize he wasn't under attack. His body relaxed, though how much was unsure, he always seemed overly tense. "I-I Appoligize…" a tint of pink came to his pale face at his own over reacting, "I'm not used to things like that."

"Things like what?" he couldn't help but smirk, it reminded him of his fear of women. "Are you frightened of a little hug?"

"I-I-I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid of anything!" he stammered, returning to his old self. Guy just laughed at the reaction. Leaning down he captured him in his arms again, though Saphir cringed, he was expecting it this time and just grumbled in frustration and relented, as fighting would only further the boy's point.

"Did you think I was going to hurt you?" he asked as he set his chin on top of the other's head, feeling a bit hurt himself if that was the case.

"No… its nothing like that Gailardia, its…" the smaller man looked down at his arms, rubbing them as if they were cold. "… its nothing, that all."

A frown came to the noble's face, he didn't want anymore dwelling on the past, dwelling on whatever pains he had experienced. Leather gloves clentched silk and he relized his thin hands were shaking at whatever he was remembering. Guy inhailed to sigh but instead got a wiff of roses. Not surpising that the cologne he wore would match his former name, but still he chuckled at the idea.

"Gailardia, stop that…"

Guy blinked, he didn't realize he had been nuzzling down into his snow white hair.