Summary: What it means to be apart of something delicate as friendship. This is the relationship between a crusader and a cleric.
Disclaimer: Maple Story belongs to Wizet and Nexon.
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"Lia… you lazy noob!" the blonde haired girl on the ground gave no response. Her short hair was framed around an attractive face.
Even when he gave it a sturdy kick, the haystack supported her weight. The crusader got up and started to leave.
"You called me all the way from El Nath to train after your lazy butt?" He demanded. They had met casually in the free market only weeks
before. The dark-haired crusader had quickly gotten used to her fiery personality. After their first argument in the snow fields, Lia stole his
kills with a single teleport. They agreed to a truce after she healed his wounds that were inflicted by white pangs. She was busy mastering
holy theorems while he was perfecting his crusader arts.
"Lia … I'm going to mess with some beginners." Marco stated half-heartedly. Her body hardly shifted to the sound of his voice. Messing
with level ten occupations is usually Lia's favorite pastime. If she heard, she gave no response.
His dark mithril armor contrasted with the natural colors of Henesys. By now, locals had been attracted by the professional warrior
appearance. His clashing armor instigated a small gathering.
"Spare some mesos," shouted a nearby archer. Judging from his lack of shoes, he had no funds.
"Mesos please," a new mage was in need of mana pots.
A huge crowd had then formed around the heavily equipped crusader. Marco couldn't run with layers of heavy platine armor.
"Shit…" The crusader swore under his breath.
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"I'm awake." Lolia blinked through her dilated blue eyes. She always had a supply of pills to keep her awake during a fainting spell. This
one caught her by surprise. Lolia raised her head groggily from the haystack. The archery town seems swirled in orange by her blurring
eyesight.
There was no sign her crusader was nearby.
"I gave him two hours to show up." She draped her black magic cape back into the traveler's bag and walked to their special meeting
place in town.
"Mesos!"
"Can I have some steelies?"
"Ethers please?"
"Money?!" The last beggar didn't even have a clue what Windian currency was called. Lolia was glad to be disguised as a starter and only
equipped with a simple white cotton top and red skirt. Only high levels have the sense to notice her cleric holy brand. The blonde girl was
bemused by this spectacle. About thirty people had cornered someone against the potion shop sign.
"They're probably attacking some sniper." The cleric laughed under her breath. Archers and assassins have a hard time getting away at close
range. Lolia started to walk into the market stalls.
At the center of the crowd was a familiar mass of dark hair smothered by the sea of beginners.
"Marco!" The crusader gave no response after being traumatized by the savage Henesys mob. Lolia checked his injuries and
pressed her palm to his back. His face was covered with a few scrapes from the clawing by desperate starters. Nothing serious, she
concluded. She chanted the hymn for heal and checked his pulse. A flash of sparkling green light spread through her fingertips and
into the warrior.
The crowd suddenly became very quiet.
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"Honestly, Marco…" Lolia dragged the crusader's limp figure into the Amorian hair salon. "You hit level eighty in warrior mastery and
you're still afraid of starters."
The pair was forced to release summonings from Ludibrium. A minature army of teddie bears and ticks were wreaking havoc in henesys.
The crusader eyed the red and white shag furniture in the room. Amoria had a dull color scheme compared to his bright home town in
Ludibrium.
Marco's hazel eyes flashed with annoyance. "At least I'm not level sixty."
The mage stuck out her tongue at her self-proclaimed protector and older brother.
They were surrounded by superficial, illustrious pictures of models for the salon.
"I'm getting a new hair style." The blonde cleric put on her confidant face.
"You mean that one?" Marco pointed to the hideous short puffy strands of hair in a picture frame.
She was unfazed by the suggestion and calmly handed the coupon to the assistant manager.
"Cross your fingers." Lolia hinted, even though she had chosen the style months before.
"Oh my god…you blonde." Although the sader would never admit it, he said this in an admiring tone. Lolia reached around to fluff
the crimson ribbons that held her long blonde curls in place.
"You look like my mom." Marco said teasingly. The crusader stopped laughing as he realized where the target of her holy arrow
would land. He fell off the side of the parlour banisters.
"I mean you look beautiful." This time it was said with all the sincerity he could muster.
Lolia's steady poise vanished.
"What's wrong?" Worry clouded his face. The girl swayed and fell from the fifth step of the staircase.
"Ooof," Marco grunted under the weight of her mage garment.
His arms extended to catch her falling figure. Her item pouch ripped open as it snagged on the railing and
countless pills and bottle spilled on the ceramic floor.
"Lia… you never told me you were this sick."
The raven sader had always assumed her weakness was due to a mistake made while training to become a magician.
Lolia spoke with her parched throat, choking off her words.
"I don't like to admit I'm weak." She smirked even while barely breathing. Her guardian unclipped her heavy black mantle and laid
her on the ground. He hoped that the garment didn't restrict her shallow breathing.
"Heal yourself." He begged the dying cleric. Lolia's sky-blue eyes stared straight past him.
"I feel lazy today." To emphasize her statement, she yawned, not shedding a tear.
"Marco, I'm selfish." The smiling mage shuffled her thick anakarune robe.
"But I still want to know...Is it wrong to love your brother?"
"No…not at all." Her sader replied.
"Okay." She closed her eyes and surrendered to silence.
The black haired warrior knew that when you have found something as precious and delicate as paper snow, you should never let it go.
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Leave me a review if you feel I did a good job after listening to Billy Talent-Red Flag while typing this story. Great, Gwen Stefani- 4 in the morning is also stuck in my head.
I did a re-generation of the characters used in this story. Feel free to check out the awesome 8x crusader and 6x cleric on my profile.