She'd beaten him. Again. Blast! And Bartre had been so sure he'd do it this time!
"Bartre," Karla said, "Why do you continue to challenge me?"
"Because one day, I will win!" he answered, picking himself up off the ground and ignoring the many aches in his body. A true warrior would be able to ignore such minor injuries!
Karla watched him for a few moments as he retrieved his axe and inspected it for damage. It looked fine to him... why was she looking at him like that? Did he do something wrong? He didn't think he'd done anything to make her look that sad, but...
"Bartre," she said again. There was a pause. She seemed to hesitate. Bartre wanted to tell her that a true warrior shouldn't hesitate, whether they were fighting or not, but he wondered if that would make the sad look on her face worse, so he decided not to. Karla eventually asked, "What will you do... if you win?"
"What will I do?" He blinked at her, confused. What sort of question was that? Wasn't it obvious? He'd... celebrate his victory! Yes, of course. But... what would he do then? Maybe he wouldn't ever see Karla again. Well, that would make sense, right? If he beat her, he'd have to find someone stronger to challenge if he wanted to carry on getting stronger. It would make sense, but...
"If you win, will you... kill me?"
"No!" he answered. For some reason the thought made him feel sick. He wouldn't kill Karla, because...
"Why not?" Karla asked. She looked so serious.
"B-Because..." Obviously he wouldn't do that, ever, because... because she was a great warrior! And... it wouldn't be right to kill her when she could get so much better! That was a good reason, right?
He was about to say this out loud when Karla said, "My brother would."
"Your brother... would kill you?" Bartre suddenly wanted to tear Karla's brother to pieces. A brother shouldn't be like that! Especially Karla's brother. (He wasn't sure why Karla should have a better brother than that, but he was very sure that it didn't need a good reason.)
"My family lived by the sword," Karla said, a far-away look on her face. Bartre thought that was much better than her sad look. "My brother just seeks to defeat the strong... to bathe his sword in blood. He wasn't always like that..."
He frowned, listening very carefully to what she said and repeating the words in his mind. "So..." This was much harder than it should be! People should speak more clearly.
Eventually, he said, "So your brother... changed?"
Karla suddenly laughed. Bartre frowned, more confused than ever. What was she laughing at? He didn't think she'd done that before... but her laughter was beautiful.
"I'm sorry, Bartre," she said, smiling. "It's just that you don't seem to change at all."
"Why would that make you laugh?" Bartre asked aloud, scratching his head. Well, anyway, if he made her laugh, that was good! "Doesn't matter. At least you don't look so sad now." But he would have to think about it more, so he could make her laugh again. Someone like Karla should laugh more.
She looked at him, her head slightly to one side. She was still smiling. "Does it make a difference how I look?"
"I don't like it when you look sad," he said.
Karla was silent for a few seconds. "Thank you for caring, Bartre."
What should he say to that? He didn't feel like he needed thanking. Bartre wanted to take care of her - even though she was stronger than him, so she probably didn't need him to take care of her. Maybe she didn't need him at all. Well, he didn't need her either! ...But he wanted to stay with her anyway.
"Bartre--" Why was he acting like this? He'd fought strong warriors before, and... "--Would you like to travel with me?"
He stopped mid-thought and just stared at her for a seconds.
Travel with Karla?
They wouldn't go for several months without seeing each other. They would be able to fight together. And, maybe, he would get to make her laugh again.
"Yes," he answered slowly. "I can't think of anything I'd want more."
She smiled at him. It was different to her other smiles, and even more beautiful than her laughter. Bartre wanted to see more smiles like that.
If he really was in love, it didn't seem like such a bad thing at all.
A/N: Whoo, terrible pacing! :D But yeah, I tried to correct it and it didn't want to work. This pairing deserves more love (it's canon!). Maybe I'll write something proper for them one of these days.