So, I decided to try my hand at some TotA. I'm not too happy how this turned out—not enough fluff—but anyhoo, I'll try to improve. This is a series of short, related chapters about GuyxNatalia. Cuz I love them. Well, I was thinking about sprinting through long dungeons, and this kind of sprouted from there. More chapters later maybe. O.o
(oOo)
The dungeons had rapidly becoming longer as of late, and even though she considered herself to be in prime shape, she had found herself growing more and more tired.
The party ran through the stone labyrinth impatiently, stopping only to slay whatever enemies were unfortunate enough to stay across their paths. Luke led at the front of the formation, short hair flopping in and out of his face. Tear stuck close by on one side, Mieu clinging to her shoulder, with Guy on the other, effortlessly keeping up the pace. Jade, despite his constant allusions to his senescence, glided through effortlessly without breaking a sweat. Anise, perched comfortably atop Tokunaga, was rather enjoying the ride. But Natalia was lagging behind, a little bit more each minute.
They had praised her at the abandoned factory for her surprising resilience in battle, but all in all, she was still a princess. These people had spent all their lives training, and even though she had taken regular archery lessons and jogged often enough to keep her figure, she couldn't keep up.
A few enemies stopped, curiously regarding the party before deciding to attack. Without breaking stride, the party entered battle. Luke and Guy flew forward, finessed slashes destroying the enemies' guard; Anise charged to the nearest enemy and allowed her doll to brutally beat it to the ground; Jade and Tear began casting rapidly, incantations clear and powerful. Natalia drew an arrow, strung it, and let it fly, her shoulder snapping back with force. She winced, dodged a curious enemy, and shot another arrow. Archery wasn't considered the most strenuous type of fighting, but even so, she felt drained.
The battle ended, and it was good Tear had been so alert, because Natalia wasn't up for the tiring rush of healing artes. They set off running again, down a narrow corridor she thought would never end. Were they noticing her exhaustion?
The corridor was a dead end. All they got from it was a Lemon Gel in a corner chest. They reversed direction, leaving her at the front of the group. She jogged valiantly, not wanting to slow down the group. A different path this time. She began to notice how cold the dungeon air was.
The staircase was intimidating, looming and steep, but she tried not to let it bother her. At this point, she would do anything to lie down and rest for a few hours, or at least a few minutes, but they were in too much of a hurry to waste time with that. She started up the stairs, picking up the pace to encourage herself. Her legs were burning, as were her lungs.
She was aware of the party behind her, slowly overcoming her feeble pace. She sorely wished she had exercised more in Baticul.
A warm fluffy bed…a fire….a nice blanket…
All it took was a moment of blissful ignorance, and her feet lost her grip on the stairs.
She slipped, felt herself falling backwards, onto open air. She wondered how badly it would hurt to hit the steeply slanted stairs.
Probably very much.
There was a moment of heart-escaping distress, and then…
She did not hit the stairs, but something soft.
She tilted her head up, looking backwards to see her unexpected savior. Startled blue eyes stared at her. With a lurch, she realized that the party had been expecting her to slip just as much as she had, which was to say not at all, and she had fallen backwards onto Guy, who had caught her without even realizing it.
She glanced down. He was gently supporting her, hands on her waist. Oh, dear. Oh, wow.
"Um…." she said tentatively, tilting her head all the way back to look at him. "Guy…." Her nose brushed against his. This time, he fell backwards, out of shock. Unfortunately, there was no one to catch him, and unfortunately, no one to support her.
So she did end up falling after all.
But he made a good cushion.
That much, she was thankful for.
(oOo)
Not very fluffy, huh? Well, I'll write more! It's get better! CHAAARGE:D