White Lilies and Hopeful Heroes
Disclaimer: I dont own this. Tri-Ace and Square did. If I did...there'd be a sequel, and the endings wouldn't have sucked so bad.
A soft sigh escaped the boy's lips, he was absolutely exhausted from what was quite possibly the longest few days of his young life.... he and his friends challenged, and defeated, the mighty dragon of Fire, Parsec, after an exhaustive trek through the most inhospitable region in all of the world, fighting innumerable fire lizards, and the mighty blood orcs...all he wanted at this point, was to sleep, but it seemed that was not to be, as a soft tap-tap-tap on his door roused him from his quite comfortable bed....stretching with a groan, he hadn't even changed from his Samurai Armor, save for the headpiece, which was somewhere...wherever he'd thrown it, as well as his Bizenosafune, the large nodachi he'd bought before his most recent challenge...laying a hand on the door handle he pushed it open...and the lettuce green eyes that met his own brown orbs shocked him enough he almost fell down, a soft shout escaping his lips "Ridley!" he gasped, before ushering her quickly inside, once she reminded him that most of Radiata City considered her a traitor of the worst kind....
After the short, but strange discussion of her wanting to make sure she was still Human....which of course, our young hero didn't understand most of...she moved to leave, and after but a moment's hesitation, Jack followed...gasping as he found what he didn't want to see, more than anything. "Gawain!!!" he shouted, drawing his sword...his father's murderer only few feet away and this time, Jack had no intention of losing..he frowned, sizing up the man, he'd faced him once before, but an instantaneous use of Gawain's Leo Smash Royale had ended the fight rather quickly..and it'd taken Ridley's intervention to keep him alive, when Gawain had moved to finish him.
"Keep your voice down...you want the whole city to find us!?" Gawain growled as he turned to face the young man gripping the blade in his right hand....and almost faltered....it was his father's blade...the Arbitrator....and the appearance of that blade shocked the mohawk-wearing Lion...."You...dare weild -that- blade against me boy?" he turned, facing off with Jack on the bridge as he shoved Ridley behind him, glaring at the young man, he reflected on how much Jack resembled his father..the same stance....the same stubborn, but eager look in his eyes, even when faced with terrible odds...but the moment of nostalgia wasn't meant to last, as the boy spoke up again.
"It seems the most fitting....that my dad's sword kills you!" Jack hissed as he gripped the old, comfortable hilt of the broadsword he finally felt he was ready to weild, frowning a bit as he saw Gawain ready his mace.....as Ridley drew her axe. Jack sighed, he was used to fighting more than one enemy..but...Gawain was amazingly strong, and Ridley was powerful, especially with what looked like a Glory Axe...he knew she was strong...but he had no idea of how much she had improved since he'd been fired from the Knights. "So it's two on one..." he stared right at Ridley, a depressed look on his face as he crouched slightly...the rage he'd built up about challenging his father's murderer was enough..he could use one of his powerful "Limit Break" attacks...but..who to use it on...he knew if they meant to knock him out....they'd succeed, simple numbers, and the reach of Gawain, combined with the close range power of Ridley...he thought he could take Ridley down with it...though...
"Oh, all that talk and now you dont plan on doing anything? Shaking in your boots are ya?" Gawain knew the boy's temper wouldn't allow him to get away with talking like that, and he was not disappointed as he saw the young man rush in angrily, sword's tip grating on the ground as he prepared to strike...blinded by the rage at the older man's taunting, he never saw Ridley step forward, eyes strangely blank as she swung her axe toward him, the tip moving closer...until a white blur came from Gawain's peripheral vision, and kick the blonde square in the jaw as the scrape of metal on metal was heard, the axe thunking into the ground, the blonde staggering and falling onto her back...distracting Gawain long enough for Jack to knock him off balance.....and shout "Limit Break!" What followed was a strange sensation to the armored "Lion"...physical pain. Jack hacking away at him with the powerful attack reminded him a lot of Cairn, and after Jack uppercutted him, while he flew, he reflected on how proud Cairn would be...as he saw Ridley being pushed back by a spinning, flashing blur of white.
Jack gasped for breath, he'd seen the white blur, but what it was hadn't registered until he saw Gawain catch an impressively thrown Ridley, as her axe landed at their feet....Jack staring in shock at the dark haired young woman, dressed in the white bodysuit, and weilding two gleaming blades...."Lily?!" he called, as she crouched and glared across at the two...the shining citrine eyes locked on Gawain and the barely concious young blonde in his arms "Dont worry Jack...It's time...I protect you....from someone you cant defeat." Gawain laughed at the two, hefting his mighty mace in one hand, the man's mohawk swaying as he smirked derisively. "Still hiding behind a woman, eh Jack?!" After his insulting comment, Lily rushed in, rolling to the side as Gawain's massive mace hit the ground one-handed, as he had to hold Ridley under the other arm, shocked by the ferocity of Lily's attack, he never saw her attack coming as she planted a hand on his mace's shaft, and backflipped off his chest, kicking him in the jaw, staggering him as she landed...she knew surprise was lost..and fighting Gawain was an eventual losing battle..but...as she'd hoped, the battle had made enough noise that the rapid clank of armor could be heard...guards coming from the castle...Gawain glared at Jack and Lily a moment. " We're going to the end of the world." he turned and began to move away as quick as he can. " Hope the weather's nice there..." he said, and was gone.
Jack slowly turned to face the girl who had just, for all intents and purposes, saved his life, "Lily..what're you doing here?" he asked of the young Assassin, as he watched the Light Guardsmen charge past, chasing after the traitors...and to his surprise, her cheeks pinkened a bit, though he really had no clue why as she stepped over beside him. " I was...er...just wandering through the town...saw you, and figured you could use some help...it's like what you tell us in the Acht Squad...y'know..what you learned in the knights...." As Jack looked down, looking utterly lost, the brunette giggled softly and shook her head, then in a pretty good imitation of his own voice, replied " Knights of the same brigade are as family!" she laughed softly as he blinked and looked surprised, then shook his head at her. " I guess. " he replied, looking at her a moment, then crossed his arms. " Uh..Lily...there's..this thing...tomorrow night..." he scratched his arm lightly. " Uh..y'know..if you dont want to, you dont have to..but tomorrow's the Fireworks Festival and I was-" he was cut off as her hands grasped his shoulders in a light hug. " Of course Jack! I'd love to go!" she smiled brightly, though he couldn't see it....as his hands flailed in panic for a moment at the sudden hug...then gently, and wisely, settled on her lower back, patting her back gently as she seemed to hug him tighter.
After a few lingering moments, Lily smiled a bit, then, fixing her bored, dazed mask back on her face, she released him, nodding. " I guess I'll...see you tomorrow then..." she mumbled idly, looking around to try and force her blush down....as Jack smiled eagerly. " Okay! I'll see you tomorrow!" he called, as he marched back down the stairs to his under-the-bridge apartment.....Lily stared at the stairs...wondering what his house looked like....then after giving him a few moments, she jumped onto the edge, grabbed the edge, and leaned down, peering upside down through his lonely window...and letting out an eep as he came face to face with the object of her crush..er..not crush...definately not..he was just nice...and very cute...no..not cute! She cursed her thoughts...as she slipped and fell with a thud, as Jack opened the door and peered out "I'm okay Lily..you dont have to check on me...er..are you okay?" he stepped out, dressed in his loose, comfortable pajamas, helping her up as she blushed and shook her head, "I just..wondered where you lived...I mean..I've never seen your house..." Jack blinked and shrugged. " You can come in if you want...." Lily considered it a moment, then nodded. "Er..." she just closed her mouth, then gestured. " Lead the way."
Jack held the door open with a smile "Er..here it is!" he laughed a bit, as Void's White Princess looked around the room. " I like it..it's cluttered but that's part of it.....it fits you...you're not clean and orderly....you're...rough and tumble..and kinda wild...so it fits." she looked over with a lazy tilt of her head, the hair covering half of her face as she gazed at the other side of the room....noting the assorted weapons and armor scattered around. " Quite...a collection..." she drawled, before laughing softly, as while she'd been looking around....he'd flopped onto his bed...and fallen asleep in only a few seconds...she turned to leave, then turned to look at him, moving over to the bed, she chewed her lip a bit, before sitting at his little table and watching him sleep for a while, smiling, she leaned over and pulled the covers over his shoulders. She had no clue why she really liked him so much...he really wasn't bad looking, a bit scrawny, but he was brave and honest...that's the only reason she could think of...sighing at her internal monologue, she leaned down and whispered goodnight as she turned to leave, closing the door quietly.
A/N Hope you enjoy, R/R :D