Hi! This story was a bit... odd in that I tried to write this in English class in response to a prompt (which required wishgranting and powers of some sort) and that this story centers around friends trying their hand at matchmaking rather than the pairing that normally has the spotlight. I started off writing it with the idea that it was going to be a funny story... and then a bunch of other things like angst got thrown in (my friend that I torture by making them read my fanfics said that all the angst burned his eyes. I know he was trying to be funny, but sometimes one has to wonder... a majority of my stories contain angst like I have chronic fanfic angst disorder of something... Oh well!) Plus I wrote it last year, turned it in to my teacher, never saw it again for five months, and finally found it yesterday. I was so happy when I found it!
At any rate, there might be some tiny little spoilers in here, but nothing too revealing. Speaking of which, be warned there is some suggestive content, a random OC (she's kind of minor), yaoi fangirls, and yaoi pairings/ OT3s (I should have not wrote this during an eleven day sugar-high binge... then again it was unavoidable since I needed it in order to finish the story for class). I hope you all enjoy this!
Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form control the rights to Tales of the Abyss. I just happen to have no life.
Anise was extremely exhausted by the time the group decided to set up camp. They were still a ways away from their current destination and it was getting late, leaving them to sleep under the stars once more. Anise wished she could rest on a nice comfortable bed, but that hope was obviously dashed away seeing as the camp was ready. The girl had wasted most of her time observing Guy help out Luke with cooking since it was his turn tonight until said dinner was served. Still, she noticed how close the blonde ex-servant was to his redhead former master; Guy was nearly touching Luke from where he was looking over his shoulder to see the food and the campfire, close enough that Anise was certain Luke felt Guy's breath go down his neck. She would like it to be true too.
Anise ate, as did Luke, Guy, Natalia, Jade, and Tear, who was also feeding Mieu the cute cyan and white furred Cheagle wearing the Sorcerer's Ring around his belly, yet everything was a blur. She couldn't remember what she ate not did she care as she nodded off to sleep hoping to see Guy and Luke loving each other on the other side… or when she woke up. Either way would work for her.
"Anise…" a disembodied female voice rang out. The Fon Master Guardian glanced around to see whom it was only seeing that she was floating in a mainly pink technicolor space. "Over here," the voice called from behind her. Anise then turned around to see a girl in her late teens that wore a lavender tank top with yellow underwear and rode on a trippy tie-dye rainbow colored cloud. Her hair was long, blonde, and messy like she had just woke up.
"Who are you?" Anise asked, puzzled and wondering if someone, maybe Jade, had snuck something into her food for laughs.
"I'm Keisha, yaoi obsessed anime otaku fangirl extraordinaire, plus part-time god!" the odd girl cheered as she floated upside-down on her cloud and stuck her hand out. Anise hesitantly shook Keisha's hand. "I'm here to offer you any kind of power you want, even more than one, for no charge at all!"
The offer sounded appealing, yet Anise couldn't help but question "Why? Did I do something?"
"Nah," the fangirl waved off, sitting right side-up once again. "I'm just randomly generous!"
Anise thought that since this was a dream she should stop asking questions and just go with it. But what to wish for? Creating money out of nowhere was, unsurprisingly, her first thought, but she always dreamed about money… and yaoi…
That was it! She had a plan, even if only to be shortly lived and fake and maybe even a bit lame, but entertaining nonetheless.
"I want to read people's minds!" Anise beamed.
"Ah, most say it's cliché, which it is, but everyone's gotta experience it. Especially when one has some awesome ulterior motives," Keisha giggled with a knowing grin. "Just fall down that hole and you're on your way!"
Anise was going to ask when she was going to get her power, be it real or fake, but was sucked into a circular vacuum and thrown into the dark. As Anise fell, the last thing she saw was the girl waving jovially before it all went black.
The lids to bright brown eyes blinked open, looking around at the orange hued scenery and her friends who were just waking up as well. Anise couldn't help but be a bit miffed about her dream last night as everyone got ready and set off for the next town or city. It turned out that they were all heading for Belkend, for what she completely spaced that out, but would probably find out later. Randomly she looked over to a party member, who just so happened to be Tear, and heard her speak.
"I wonder if I can buy another Cheagle plushie in Belkend? Mieu kind off… stole my other one," the Melodist said… or at least what Anise thought she said, but Tear had not moved her lips at all. This was weird. The Fon Master Guardian knew Tear wouldn't admit to liking cute things even though it was so blatantly obvious, especially when she spoiled Mieu with attention.
Curious, Anise looked over to Natalia next… she was loud without opening her mouth to speak as she constantly fretted over Asch, Luke's original, and something about a threesome. Anise looked away before calling upon any suspicion realizing that she could now read Jade's thoughts, since he was unpredictable when he switched from seriousness to sarcasm. Indeed she heard something, just not the colonel's voice. It sounded like odd elevator music with a group of people singing. Anise looked away and this time heard the squeaking rotation of a hamster wheel. Back and again, cymbals clashed and rang loudly. This was enough to cause Anise to stop, realizing that mind reading or no Jade could never be read. Ever. It almost seemed like he knew just what she was trying to do and was tossing in random sounds on purpose.
"I'm just glad he's on our side," Anise thought. Suddenly Mieu skipped into view carrying what seemed like another Cheagle that was cream colored, but was completely lifeless. That had to be Tear's plushie. "How did he 'steal' it anyway? Did he give Tear the puppy dog eyes treatment or something? On that thought, what does he want with it?"
Anise didn't have to wait long for her answer. "I'm so glad to have a special someone! We'll go out together to eat really tasty grass, chase butterflies, and then we'll have a big family!" Mieu hummed in his thoughts, saying them towards the Cheagle plushie. The Fon Master Guardian struggled to stifle a laugh, but also felt sorry for the little guy when he finds out that the doll is not real. She was hoping that was as far as that went and wasn't like the stray puppy she had taken in when she was younger. It violated her stuffed animals, not a pretty image.
Shaking the thoughts away, Anise looked over to Guy, who was walking next to Luke. She barely noticed the brief hard to spot glances he would give to Luke. "…It's hard to not be honest about everything, even though we're the best of friends," Guy paused form the previous thought, "but how would Luke react if I just walked up to him and said I loved him? What if that breaks our friendship if he doesn't take it well, like he avoids me? Maybe we're only meant to be just friends…"
The tone of the unspoken words made Anise feel sympathy towards Guy; his eyes looked sad now that she noticed, amplifying the small bit of pain she felt for the blonde male's situation. She wished she could help in some way, the two would be perfect for each other if Luke felt the same way about Guy… that was when Anise got an idea. She looked over to Luke immediately.
Hours had passed, hearing the redhead beat himself up over the incident of the many lost lives of Akzeriuth repeatedly, causing Anise some concern about Luke's mental stability since a few times the comments were borderline suicidal, mostly in essence of the death equals redemption idea. The Fon Master Guardian had to stop herself from punching Luke for believing such stupidity, what would that leave Guy with if he were to act on it? Anise waited some more, reading Luke's thoughts when not fighting monsters along the way; she had found out why the redhead was so focused on the past, because of the nightmares of Akzeriuth that constantly haunted him. "…And I was so lonely after what had happened, when everyone went away," Luke remembered. "It really hurt… but then Guy came back for me. I somehow mattered to him still. I wonder by how much… I really like him, love him, but he probably doesn't think of me that way-"
Bingo! That's (finally) all Anise needed to hear. She wasted no time in planning as the group approached Belkend.
At long last, a hotel with comfortable beds! Anise felt that she could do without the fon machine noises and hums, yet was relieved to have a solid roof over her head nonetheless. The party had arrived at Belkend early enough before nightfall to wander off wherever they desired. This was Anise's chance and was overjoyed that Guy and Luke were sharing a room. Jade and Tear were roomed together as was Anise with Natalia, but that didn't matter. Anise got out a piece of paper and set it on a nightstand and picked up a pen off of said furniture. She paused for a few minutes, thinking over what she was going to write: it had to be perfect and had to look like Guy's handwriting, and that was hard to get since Guy didn't write in a diary like Luke.
Soon she was done visualizing and carefully started on a letter that was to be from Guy, to Luke. Anise had to stop and think a few moments to make sure the letter was flawless. Eventually she finished it and looked it over. It read:
Luke, we've been the best of friends for a long time and I'm glad that we have been. I know you're all bummed out about your faults, anyone would be, but don't forget you're a person too, replica or no. Deep on the inside you're a really good person, just a little lost… and believe it or not, I'm a bit lost too. There's something I've been meaning to tell you but… you see, it's kind of hard to say. I'll tell you though, even if it comes out a bit odd and lame. I guess what I'm trying to say is that over the time that we've been friends somewhere along the line I thought of you as more than just a friend… that I love you. If you don't feel that way, I understand. I just wanted to take the time to be really honest with you. That's what friends do, right?
Your friend,
Guy
Anise grinned at her work. Not only did she keep to copying Guy's personality and handwriting in the letter, it tugged at the heartstrings too! Anise wanted to celebrate but it was too early, especially when she heard footsteps coming towards the room she was in: Guy and Luke's. Quickly, Anise placed the letter on the nightstand she was writing on and stealthily dove under the bed. It should have been Luke coming in to write in his diary, at least that was what Anise hoped along with praying that the redhead didn't notice the letter before he should, if that made any sense.
The door opened and closed. Anise peered out from her hiding spot to see who walked in. Judging from the bottom of the long white coattails with the yellow trim and the black pants, it was Luke. Holding her breath, Anise listened as legs and feet disappeared to the top of the bed and heard some shuffling and eventually the turning of pages that ended with the beginning sounds of scribbling thoughts onto paper. The session didn't last long, however. Understandably too, considering that the day was uneventful even with the occasional monster attacks. Anise watched and waited as Luke put his diary away somewhere on the bed, she couldn't quite tell where according to the sounds, yet when she heard "Huh? What's this?" she knew that by then he was picking up the phony letter and reading it over. The girl had to overcome the urge to get a glimpse of Luke's expression since that would ruin everything.
Silence reigned in the room; the atmosphere seemed to get heavier than normal. That same feeling stayed as Luke left out the door; Anise had done her job well. Now it was time for part two of her mission. She got out from under the bed and looked the bed over. There was no visible sign of Luke's diary, which meant he must have hid it. Carefully, Anise looked under the covers and saw no sign of it there so she checked under the pillows; she found her prize. Flipping the pages to today's date she read the entry. It was exactly what she expected it to be. Still holding the pen in hand from earlier, Anise made a move to start writing but had suddenly stopped.
"This is Luke's diary," Anise thought in realization. "His diary." Her lips curled into a large devious grin. She was going to read it and there was no one to stop her. Sure, she didn't have all the time in the world but she just had to help herself to it. Maybe there's something in there about Guy, there had to be…
…Disappointment was the best word to describe how Anise felt after skimming the pages of Luke's diary. There was nothing, nothing at all! Not a confession, a slip of the words during a ramble, not even a doodle of him and Guy together! What she did find that was anything close to Luke having any signs of a crush on anyone was in the earlier entries mentioning or revolving around Van. Gross. Back then Van had Luke wrapped so far around his finger it wasn't funny, creepy even. Really, it wasn't funny. That's how ten thousand people died.
Done with looking at past entries and a little put off Anise began writing in Luke's diary. Impersonating the redhead this time, she wrote:
This is not really related to today at all, well maybe a little bit as I've been thinking a lot to myself recently. Geez, I'm starting to babble right now. As I was saying though I have something on my mind… and it's about Guy. I know that I don't truly understand things like love and relationships, but every time I'm around him everything is… warm, everything feels better. It helps to have him around yet I wish I could at least give something back in return for being such a great friend to someone like me, who doesn't deserve such treatment. Gah, I'm getting too mushy with this! And it doesn't help that… that I love him as more than just a friend. It would be nice to wake up and see him everyday, to matter, to be held, to share happiness with him… but do I really deserve that kind of joy? What about Guy? Would he want to forever stay with me? I remember he said he wanted to revive his family name, even with his gynophobia issue so…if that's what he wants I don't want to interfere with that. He's probably grown tired of having to be around me almost every second of the day, even at night, especially at night since my nightmares would wake us both. Guy would help me calm down and I'm very thankful for that, among other countless things… it's just that I take away time for Guy to sleep, which makes me feel no different from a parasite. It's a horrible feeling.
Guy does so much for not only me, but everyone else as well. Sometime I need to repay him for always being there. He deserves that more than anything.
Thank you Guy.
Anise sighed. She had to dig into her memory to recapture the important thoughts she had read off Luke earlier while copying his handwriting, which was easier than trying to write Guy's. Lastly she had to make sure the flow connected well to what Luke really wrote before. It turned out that Luke was rambling earlier anyway, meaning no one would suspect a thing unless the redhead looked back at past entries. Anise left the diary opened to the page last written on as she laid it neatly on the bed with the pen beside it. Then she slipped back under the bed; she couldn't miss this, plus she had to confirm whether Guy was going to walk in next or not.
As if on cue a door swung open and from where Anise was she saw Guy's lower half walk in. The door shut then of course shut as Guy greeted "Hey Luke-" until he realized the redhead wasn't present in the room. "Huh, must not be back yet." Guy stepped towards the bed with the open diary on it. "That's odd. Luke forgot to put his diary away."
Although Anise couldn't see Guy entirely, mind reading was no problem. Listening, she heard the argument that lay within Guy. "I really shouldn't peek at this, but I am kind of curious… no, I'm his friend. I don't think reading the first few words would hurt though…"
Guy finally caved. He grabbed the diary and read its contents. The heavy atmosphere returned once more. Guy sighed outwardly, "… Stop beating yourself up about everything…"
Anise heard Guy put the book back down and then saw his feet move towards the door. Before the door opened and closed, the thought "I'm going to talk to him now" hung for a moment.
As soon as Guy was gone, Anise emerged out from under the bed to put the diary back beneath the pillow and tossed the pen to some random corner of the room to avoid suspicion. All Anise had to do was watch and make sure everything went as planned. Just as the girl walked out the door she was met with the sudden inquisitive stare from Natalia, who had happened to be standing next to the entry. "Why were you in Guy and Luke's room?"
Anise had to come up with a quick lie. "I was… looking for Luke! He looked kind of down, so I thought I'd go cheer him up. But it turns out he wasn't in there; then I decided to wait for him. It was taking too long, though. That's why I'm going to look for him again!"
"Really?" the Kimlascan Princess's gaze softened.
"Yep!" Anise cheered as she showed the cutest, sweetest smile she could muster.
"Oh, well I hope you succeed."
The Fon Master Guardian walked out of the inn saying "Thanks!" and smirked at the princess's naivety.
On the outskirts of Belkend is where Anise found Luke. She had hid behind a forgotten discarded crate from the city. Guy had soon walked into view going towards the redhead. "Hey," the blonde swordsman waved. Luke tore his eyes away from the night sky and looked upon Guy, who was now standing next to him.
Luke wanted to say so much right now, the urge was there, but the many words of his one confession died in his throat before they could babble out and ramble on. Even in the dark Guy could see this emotional roller coaster going on in the green windows to his soul.
"I want to talk about something…" Guy announced, breaking the almost suffocating silence.
"Hn? What is it?" Luke knew exactly what, but he didn't know how to carry the conversation without eventually breaking down into an emotional overdrive so he let Guy lead.
"…Not everything is all your fault. We played a part in it too," Guy started, "I know I've already said this a lot and you keep beating yourself up about it still, but if you really want to make it up to all those people you should focus on living." During the pause Luke noticed that Guy was the first one to hop on the emotional train he unknowingly seemed to push the redhead onto as well. An expression that he now wore on his face that wasn't quite rage, just deeply worried which carried an underlying message, said it all. "And not to live in misery! That's no way to live at all. People do care about you Luke… I care. You nor me would be here if that weren't true."
Anise, viewing the scene, couldn't help but want a bag of popcorn. This was getting good and dramatic with all the angst displayed here! Returning to Luke and Guy, the redhead stammered a bit, unsure of what to say but he definitely understood what his friend was saying. Luke stared at the ground shuffling words around in his mind when Guy put his hand on Luke's shoulder, his emotions calmed. "You matter a lot to me, I don't want to see you in pain… and when you are I want to be there to help you through it."
"T- thanks Guy," Luke's voice cracked. "I just wish I could do something for you for once… I…" The redhead hugged Guy, holding on as if for dear life, and buried his face into the blonde's shoulder. Guy pet Luke, gloved fingers carding through his hair, in their embrace to ease him from his crying. He had been holding it in for a while, Guy could tell.
They had stood there for a few minutes in each other's arms when Luke finally looked up, gazing into Guy's cerulean eyes. With a smile meant only for Luke, Guy closed the distance between them and their lips had met. From behind the abandoned crate, Anise desperately tried to calm herself before acting on the urge to spring up, dance and cheer. Not only was she successful in bring the two together but she might soon be graced with watching a full-blown make out session, just like in her dreams.
She had spoke too soon though, as Guy and Luke were walking back to the inn at Belkend. As she watched them go by the two seemed closer than ever, which gave her a joyful bubbly feeling, if that was even possible. All they needed was a little push, which Anise was more than happy to give. After the lovely couple was out of sight Anise started making her way back to the inn as well.
Nine days had passed since Guy and Luke had officially got together, though the other people (and Cheagle) in their party had not been given any knowledge of it. The overall mood as they traveled was pleasant, Anise thought. Now the party was at the inn in Grand Chokmah getting settled for the night, yet Anise had already fallen asleep.
For the second time Anise had found herself floating in the odd technicolor sky with the cloud-riding fangirl. She wanted to be here though, to wish once more. But something was off. The trippy tie-dye cloud was there, yet no Keisha. Instead she was replaced by a bathtub with her in it.
"What do you want?" She spat, only her head peeking out of the water and fluffy white bubbles. "I'm kind busy here, so make it quick!"
"I want to be able to see though objects!" Anise answered, not wanting to bother with any bickering that would have ensued under any other circumstance. The yaoi fangirl lifted one of her eyebrows in interest.
"Someone seems to be a bit of a voyeur, eh?" Keisha smirked.
"Well it's hard not to notice the new noises coming from Guy and Luke's room since the last few days," Anise said, paying the fangirl's game.
"Wow, really? Awesome! I love the way you think! Alright, crazy voyeur powers granted!" Like last time, Anise fell and faded into the big black hole.
Anise's eyes fluttered open, noticing that it was still nighttime. Perfect! Anise focused on the wall her bed was near expecting to see Guy and Luke in the middle of getting it on 'til the break of dawn… but, much to Anise's disappointment, they were not. I t wasn't even their room she was looking at. All she saw was Tear sleeping like a log with Mieu cuddled to her big bouncy chest and Jade resting silently.
"Some people just have all the luck," Anise growled as she glanced at Tear, hearing something about a sanctuary for cute things, when she looked over to Jade and face-palmed after hearing Twinkle Little Star sang by someone that sounded like Arietta, which made it extremely annoying. She snapped her head to the other wall and saw a vacant room. "They must be across the hall…"
Just before Anise got out of bed she scanned the room in order to be conscious of her surroundings. Natalia was found to be in the bed on the other side of the room snoozing away. The Fon Master Guardian then quickly made her way off the bed and out the door. Just as she had guessed their room was across the hall, what was happening in that room made the idea more concrete. Guy and Luke were hungrily kissing each other as well as stripping each other when –
"Anise, what are you doing out here?" Tear asked with a small yawn. Anise looked to Tear, which was a very careless move… and she paid for it dearly. She could only manage to flinch since she had been spotted and all she could see in front of her was a very nude Tear, though in reality she was fully clothed; she knew this but it didn't help as she stared at the most outstanding feature on the Melodist. "Anise?"
The girl shook her head. "Oh, uh… me? I was just getting a glass of water!"
"Then why are you sitting in the middle of the hall?"
"I got dizzy, that's all!" Anise smiled innocently, putting her hands up to her head. Tear gave Anise a meaningful look that contained thoughts of suspicion; she could even hear it (literally).
"Alright, get your water and go to back to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day." The brunette Melodist then retreated back to her room, leaving Anise to herself. Sighing soundlessly with relief the Fon Master Guardian went back to watching her private show. Hopefully there would be no more interruptions. Now Guy and Luke were fully naked and –
"So what are you still doing out here?" a familiar voice questioned with a hint of dry humor.
"Oh uh, Colonel! Why are you up?" Anise squeaked. She stared only at Jade's bare feet, not daring to look up any further.
"I could ask the same about you. By the way, it's a bit rude to not face who you're talking to, is it not?"
Anise gulped. She shot her eyes up to his face and just his face. At least she didn't have to stare at giant melons this time while failing miserably to keep a straight face. "Sorry about that."
"And I believe what you're doing isn't very ladylike."
"What do you mean?" Like some cruel joke a muffled moan came from the other side of the door.
"Spying on those two while they're getting comfortable with each other – what would the neighbors think?" Jade had to be pulling one of his jokes though it was all true. Still, this was embarrassing for Anise, joke or not, to be caught. "Maybe you could have asked them nicely to perform right in front of you. That would at least be more courteous." The Fon Master Guardian was right, Jade was getting his laughs and milking it for what it was worth. It didn't make her feel any better with the situation she was in though.
Tear walked out of the room she was currently residing in once more and said, "Anise, would you please go back to bed?" She probably couldn't go to sleep with first being woke up and then being alarmed when Jade wandered out. Anise could only simply obey since this was getting nowhere, so she went back to her room to fall asleep on her bed.
Natalia had to do a double take without flailing around too much as she floated in the cloudy scenery. This was way different from her dreams about Asch. She tried glancing both ways for something other than a big expanse of colorful sky. There was nothing.
"Hey! Yoo-hoo! Up here," a messy haired blonde girl in nothing but a lavender tank top and yellow underwear called out from above whilst hanging upside-down from a tie-dye cloud. The Kimlascan Princess clearly saw this as bizarre, but what dream has she ever had that wasn't odd in some way?
She recalled the memory of a dream where she was running away from a pack of undead wolves (why they were the living dead, she had not a clue) and jumped off a cliff into the ocean. When she hit the water she turned into a mermaid, swam around for a little bit before getting caught in a giant fishing net, was thrown onto a deck of a ship controlled by mermaid eating ligers, and was saved by Asch who fought them all away. Then they kissed, sailed over to Baticul and got married as they lived happily ever after. It sounded like some five-year old's crazy imagination… something she had forever possessed over the years.
The girl was now snapping her fingers in front of Natalia's face. Natalia finally came to after eighteen or so snaps. "I'm gonna make this fast so listen up," the floating cloud girl started, "I'm Keisha; part-time god, full time yaoi fangirl. I already know your name so don't even bother, and I've been sent here to grant you any and as many powers as you wish at no cost at all. So pick your poison already!"
The princess wanted to chew this yaoi fangirl out for her rudeness yet held her tongue at the mention of wishes. "You have my attention."
"I said pick some!"
"Well if you insist!" Natalia spat back. She was already infuriated with this girl's poor behavior. "How about being able to understand other's underlying emotions at a glance, especially towards another, and becoming extremely stealthy like a world class thief, maybe even better?"
"Ok, I understand the super thief one, but the first one you want to be like mind reading, just emotions-wise?"
"Yes." Natalia crossed her arms.
"I know it's a different variation, but this whole 'what's in their mind' thing is getting old. Phenomenal cosmic powers, itty-bitty minds to work with! I mean, come on! Maybe I should switch to the Fairy Godparent gig instead…"
Natalia frowned, impatiently tapping her foot. "Excuse me?"
"Fine, fine! Powers granted as soon as you wake up. Oh, quick question! Are you going to steal Asch's underwear or something with your new thief powers? I was just wondering," Keisha grinned.
"N-no! Of course not! That would be disgraceful!" Natalia sputtered as she blushed uncontrollably. "Why were you being pushy earlier? It's really not the best way to communicate with people."
The yaoi fangirl ignored Natalia as she slumped over, resting her head on her hand, and said, "You wake up in three… two… one - "
Gravity seemed to have returned as the princess fell into a big black chasm she had not seen upon arriving in the dream world. She started to kick and grab by instinct, searching for something, anything to hold onto.
Suddenly Natalia tipped off her bed and crashed to the floor, promptly waking Anise.
"What happened?" the Fon Master Guardian yawned.
"I fell out of bed, what do you think happened?" Natalia lightly growled out of both pain and irritation.
Anise paid no mind to the jab and smirked. "Was it about Asch again?"
"What?" the princess gasped. Sure, it definitely wasn't about Asch, but how did the younger girl know about any of her dreams? She had not told her anything about it.
"Never mind," Anise yawned once more. "We've got to go get ready to leave."
After the group reassembled at the hotel's lobby they made their way towards the exit of Grand Chokmah. It seemed like it would be an easy leave…
"Hey dreck!" a voice snarled from behind. The first to respond and turn around to the familiar insult was Luke before everyone else did the same. The angry voice belonged to Asch.
"What is it now Asch?" Luke asked, slightly on edge as usual whenever his original was around.
"What are you doing taking your sweet little time strolling about?" This speech again. Soon Asch and Luke would be arguing and result in Asch storming off even more pissed than before and Luke feeling like more of a reject. It was a vicious circle. Natalia tuned out the conversation, more in favor of testing out one of her new powers. Looking over to both Asch and Luke, who were in the middle of a shouting match with each other, their initial feelings rang clear, the obvious being Asch becoming furious and Luke trying to be repentant. There was an odd mix of emotions they did share, but it was hard to pinpoint what they were. It was an odd combination of impatience, denial, and… attraction? Didn't Asch love her? Then again those were old childhood memories, but she couldn't help always searching for that time when things seemed right with the world… their world.
"People change," Natalia thought to herself, "and I can't always have my way. I'd be lying if I said I'm not upset at all, but I still need to think of Asch's feelings here. Plus, that doesn't throw my dreams of a threesome completely out the window…" If she slacked the leash she had on Asch a little bit, maybe they could work things out. Secretly she thought that Asch and Luke together would be cute, among other things. The image in her mind of the two pressed up against each other made her turn red in arousal.
They all stood there for a few minutes as the two redheads sniped at one another back and forth until Asch deemed it necessary to leave like usual.
Natalia wanted to call out to Asch, to reason with him, but decided against it. No matter what she did things would turn out the same. Plus, he was definitely not in the mood to talk, meaning he wouldn't listen for anything. She was surprised she successfully ignored the two redheads during their squabble.
Luke sighed, an air of melancholy pervaded about him as he watched his original stomp off. Guy was already by his side trying to get Luke's mind off of the recent argument and the hurt that came with it by telling him not to linger on the thought, that it wouldn't solve anything and that was just the way Asch was; stubborn and always yelling. Before long the party finally left Grand Chokmah.
As they traveled towards their next destination, Chesedonia, Natalia tried to come up with a way to pair Asch and Luke together. She could simply talk to Asch about it, but she knew he would vehemently deny it all because of their being betrothed since they were younger and whatever other reason he would try to use. Yet she also knew Asch wouldn't have much of a peace of mind (he barely had any) if he didn't know what she would think of them being together, so she had to tell him in some sort of way. She had to somehow get Asch to admit his feelings to Luke, but she couldn't be directly in front of both redheads trying to push the confession out of one and having the other believe him.
For hours the princess strived to come up with a plan but nothing was clicking. It stressed her out so much just trying to come up with a way to unite the two. "This is starting to become hopeless…" Natalia muttered to herself.
Abruptly Luke had fell to the ground clutching his hands to his head as if something had just knocked him in the skull. From the looks of it Luke was having another one of his headaches.
"Asch…" Luke growled, answering everyone else's question as to who was invading his mind. Judging from Luke's expression and his earlier collapse, Asch was chewing him out for something. "What the hell are you saying? We're not following you at all!"
At this very moment Natalia at last had come up with her plan. They were talking. They weren't in front of the other to do so. This was wonderful! Plus, that took care of locating Asch. She just hoped he wouldn't try to up and bolt to a different area.
"I'm not lying! Why the hell are you being so paranoid?" Luke snapped. Asch seemed to be in a real argumentative mood today. "I told you, we are not following you!"
The princess would have to put Asch in some type of corner when they got there. She would spare him the audience aside from her, meaning: make up an excuse to separate from the party to go angry-redhead hunting. As Natalia thought of the scenario Luke finally got back up and after everyone asked if he was ok or what he and Asch were talking about they continued their path to Chesedonia. The others noticed that she was off somewhere in her own little world, being air headed as usual, so they thought nothing of it.
Despite this morning's late start, the party arrived fairly early at Chesedonia. It was a little bit past dusk, cooling the normally blazing hot streets of the autonomous state crawling with merchants. Everyone, except for Anise and Natalia, was out and about buying something. Anise had mysteriously disappeared at the moment. Natalia, of course knew where she was despite being high on the daydreams her plan would hopefully make come true. Her first thought after settling at the inn on the Malkuth side of Chesedonia was to search for Asch in that very area. She went and checked outside and even walked into Din's Shop, but the normally angry redhead was nowhere to be sighted. She then searched every alley, stand, crate, and even a small jar on the Kimlascan side, yet no cigar.
"Where could Asch be?" Natalia wondered out loud. "Hopefully he did not try to vacate the town before we got here." She pondered where she would find him, if he was still there, when Natalia realized she forgot to look in the tavern. The princess paled at the thought that Asch would be (illegally) drowning his sorrows in such a place and prayed for it not to be true. Asch couldn't have fallen that far! Either way, the princess walked to the tavern, half-hoping he wasn't there. "Then again, maybe if he were under the influence it would make it easier to – what are you thinking Natalia? That's shameful!"
Anise couldn't let it happen. She had heard the multiple blathering thoughts Natalia had cycled through all through their trip earlier. As much as she wanted a threesome between Guy, Luke, and Asch to happen, there would be a few issues complicating that from becoming reality. If it did have a chance of happening and Natalia was willing to help out, life would be perfect! But she could tell that wasn't the princess's intention. It still puzzled her as to why Natalia wanted Asch to be with Luke now instead of her being with Asch, though the mention of a different kind of threesome in Natalia's mind clued her in.
The Fon Master Guardian decided to go out for some fresh air, remaining deep in her own thoughts. Natalia was as gullible and naïve as ever for not noticing the obvious signs that pointed to Guy and Luke being happily together. Did she not get the memo? Of course, this was Natalia she was talking about here, no wonder she didn't get it. Anise had to at least find Asch and make it obvious that they were there and cause the grumpy redhead to leave before the princess had a chance to pull off her idea. In order to make it completely work she would have to, dare she say it, immensely piss off Asch the Bloody by being beyond annoying. She didn't see this as a good thing for her health but it had to be done. At least Asch couldn't punt her like a football like Luke used to do to Mieu… but that probably wouldn't stop him from trying.
Suddenly a blur of long red hair made itself visible as Asch passed by the other crowds of people, heading for the Kimlascan side of Chesedonia. In a hurry Anise focused on finding the normally moody redhead by trying to see through everything else… quite literally so. Luckily there were no naked people this time (she had practiced on making what she wanted to see more precise yet it still had tendency to fail, especially when see-though shirts were involved) and she thought she had a clear path to run. She had started to make a dash towards Asch but something large knocked her down.
"Hey, watch where yer goin'!" a gruff voice from nowhere barked. Anise had looked everywhere but didn't see the owner of the clearly peeved voice. As she uttered an apology she got back up to chase after Asch, but not before bumping into all of the unseen bodies. She continued to try and catch up with him, yet eventually had to stop and rest near a door as well as get out of the way of everyone else after a bit of stumbling.
"From here on, unless if it's absolutely needed, I'm not gonna do that stupid eye trick anymore," Anise muttered to herself before getting ready to find Asch amongst the crowds. "This is now strictly for peeking on Guy and Luke in the bedroom."
Just as the Fon Master Guardian began her approach once more the opening of one of the tavern doors she was leaning close to but a second ago grabbed her attention as it swung open, revealing a distressed Natalia. They both saw each other at that moment with a feeling of dread hanging about them…
…When the two bolted down the road after Asch. Like two horses trying so hard to get to the finish line of the derby, Anise and Natalia were neck-and-neck sprinting towards the key with awesome red hair to one's hope and the other's undoing. They definitely caused quite a scene as the tried to push and shove past each other, people lining up in isles along building walls in an attempt to get out of the way of the two warring females. Natalia finally pushed Anise off her feet and into a stand, nearly going on ahead to claim victory when Anise had gotten a hold of the princess's clothing and yanked her back, thus causing her current rival to fall flat on her butt. The two crazed girls lunged at each other, Anise trying to go from being a frontal target to trying to constrict Natalia with her arms and legs as well as being difficult to hit and Natalia repeatedly bonked Anise on the head with a raised fist, both snarling insults to each other. This went on for a minute or so until the realization that people are probably watching kicked in. Anise and Natalia froze and looked around at their surroundings and at the people. Undoubtedly they were staring.
After some more prolonged looking Natalia and Anise noticed that Asch was standing nearby and he had seen the whole thing. Both didn't know what to think, except Natalia's inner alarms started going berserk about the fact that she is the Princess of Kimlasca and she had just now done something un-princess like in front of many people. Not to mention before Asch no less. Anise was embarrassed to be the center of attention this time, it was surely unwanted and not all that positive. She had to seem cute and innocent damn it!
Asch huffily walked over to Natalia and stiffly offered a hand after Anise was a good five feet away from her, the Fon Master Guardian still not keen on the idea of being punted like Mieu. Plus, she had done her job and she need not interfere anymore. Asch was going to leave since they were there. She did feel bad about it though and made a quick note not to read the princess's mind for a few weeks, already knowing she wouldn't find anything nice in there for a long time.
Natalia took Asch's hand and was helped up. She was then led to a shadowed side of a building to get out of the passersby's stares. "What were you doing?" Asch asked, barely keeping the agitation in his voice in check.
"I… I wanted to talk to you about something but… well the argument between Anise and I kind of got out of hand," Natalia mumbled. What could Natalia and Anise fought over, he didn't know, and it didn't make sense. It better have not been because of Anise's fangirling over him a long time ago. That almost rivaled the headache of Luke being so damn depressed all the time along with some of the hard feelings that followed along with that.
"Go and resolve your issue with Anise. I have to go somewhere right now," Asch sighed as he turned on his heel to leave.
"Asch, please wait!" Natalia called out of habit. She never got to see him as much and when she did he had to go somewhere else not too long afterwards and right now she just wanted him to be happy if only he could admit what he felt about some certain people. Of course, Asch just had to be stubborn about everything.
While Natalia looked at the distant form of the usually troubled (scratch that, they were both troubled) redhead she couldn't help but get the feeling that he was planning on talking to someone… or was it what he was feeling? This was getting way too confusing on telling what was intuition and what the crazy mind powers from her dream were. Maybe there was hope for her dream yet. On that thought as motivation Natalia began following Asch.
Anise saw what was going on, still set on the thought that she had done enough damage. She didn't want to seem like the bad girl in this situation anymore and plus she had now figured that she should leave the decisions left to those involved, not freak out about outside influences. "Yep, I should've had more faith in them than that," Anise thought. Just noticing some people were still gawking at her from earlier, she walked away while putting on her best cute apologetic smile.
The redhead had disappeared around a corner before Natalia glanced around it noting that no one populated the alley Asch had walked into, which seemed like a great place to talk to someone alone.
"Hey dreck…"
The Kimlascan Princess didn't see the other redhead, not anywhere. She then realized Asch was throwing some more headache-inducing thoughts to Luke, and since he was doing so out loud rather than silently with a scowl that probably meant he was fuming about something. The moment she had been waiting for.
Before Natalia went to approach Asch she heard him snapping about not to follow him (again) with some insults knitted in between. She had to hurry up with this lest Asch cut off the link with Luke out of frustration once more.
"Asch… could we talk for a moment please?" the princess asked in the midst of Asch's conversation (more like a snarling match with one true winner), causing the angry redhead to turn some of his attention to her, with embarrassment that he was yelling out loud to seemingly no one of course, while sustaining the link between him and Luke, meaning he was intending to get back to arguing with Luke real soon…
"Not right now Natalia. Let me get done chewing the dreck out here and – "
"No, we have to talk right now! It's about you and Luke…" Natalia sighed. "I know how you truly feel about him."
"Everyone does, Natalia. It's called hate."
"That's not what I saw. I may not be a psychic of any sort and I don't claim to be, but if you truly hated Luke you wouldn't take the time out of you own life to yell at him. The true definition of hatred is indifference, or did you not know that?" Asch looked at Natalia's serious expression; it was now meaningless to try and say it was something else, and reluctantly admitted defeat. The current circumstances horrified him in that Luke was hearing all this and now he was going to hear more, as well as not knowing how the replica was going to respond. Not only that, but Natalia had found out about his once well hidden secret… his feelings for his replica, and felt as if he betrayed her in some way.
He turned away, seeming ashamed. "…How much do you know?" On the other side of the mind link Luke was drawing really huge blanks in his mind at the sudden change of the conversation.
The princess put a hand on his shoulder. "It doesn't matter how much I know, I just want you to be happy."
"But what about you, Natalia?"
"I'd be lieing if I said this didn't hurt even a little, but it would hurt worse if I denied you your happiness. Your happiness is my priority. If I tried to keep you to myself without you feeling the same way that's not love at all." Her hand retreating to her side, Natalia stood in silence for the moment. "…It's okay. Just tell him."
Natalia gave a gentle, sweet smile and nod towards Asch, who was now deep in thought, before leaving Asch to talk to Luke.
"Luke, I need to tell you something… you can let Guy know too…"
Natalia cheerfully pranced into her hotel room for the night carrying some type of cloth. Who knew thief powers included teleporting to Asch's room in Daath to steal some underwear? It was dark so she turned the lights on only to see Anise sitting on one of the beds in a slight melancholy way. The princess quickly hid Asch's underwear behing her back as she moved to sit on her own bed. "Are you ok Anise?"
"I'm ok. Um, sorry about earlier…" Anise sighed. "I… I was being stupid acting that way. I was just so intent on keeping Guy and Luke together and thought that throwing Asch in would upset the balance."
Natalia was quite surprised that Anise was actually apologizing. She was usually too stubborn to. Though, Anise's words gave some insight to why she acted the way she did, yet also a question had been formed.
"What about Luke and Guy?" Natalia asked. "I don't know anything about them except that they are friends."
"They're a lot more than that now. And as much as I would love to get three guys together, I would really love to, relationships like that are complicated."
"Why didn't you help though?"
Anise sighed. "Do you really see Guy being comfortable with having Asch going anywhere near Luke, much less anyone else? And I remember Guy wanted nothing to do with Asch when he decided to wait for Luke at Aramis Spring."
Shoving the stolen underwear under her pillow, Natalia weakly retorted, "It could still happen."
"I wish! This is probably one of the only ideas I would want to agree with you on…" The two girls sighed, obviously crushed from the result of attempting to pursue their ambitions.
"Want to go see everything explode in our faces?" Natalia inquired.
"Might as well, but can we wait 'til tomorrow?"
"Sure." Turning off the lights they went to bed, more tired than they had ever been.
A loud thump to the wall was heard. Both Natalia and Anise woke up choosing to investigate the sound, despite the fact that they were still drowsy. Dragging their feet across the floor like zombies the girls went out of their room and into another, forgetting to knock first.
The sight before them immediately woke them right up. They had finally noticed it was still nighttime, but that was the least of their worries. Anise and Natalia stared at the three people in one bed. It looked like Luke and Guy were helping Asch get settled in early. Luke grinding against Asch while Guy bit and teased his neck from behind. That is… until they all saw the two female intruders in the room.
"Um, sorry about that! We… we just heard a sound on the other side of the wall so we went to check it out and, uh, well… sorry!" Natalia blathered on nervously before grabbing Anise's hand and slipping out the door and back into their own room, the Fon Master Guardian protesting along the way.
"Well that worked out better than we thought!" Anise grinned. "Except for the part where they spotted us and you dragged me away!"
"It did work out!" Natalia agreed with the first response. "And I don't think they would have continued if we did stay in there so don't blame me for anything!"
"Indeed it did!" a familiar cheery female voice rang from the middle of the room. Natalia flicked on the lights, something that was forgotten up to now. "Tada~! It's me again! Keisha, at your service!"
"What are you doing here?" Anise and Natalia asked before they exchanged questioning glances at each other.
"Thank you for your assistance!" the yaoi fangirl clapped excitedly as she sat on her cloud.
"What do you mean? Did we do something?" Natalia was clueless.
"Well to tell you the truth my real job is to bring people in love together, but every time I try to directly bring people together I… fail miserably. It's quite embarrassing, and I'm constantly made fun of for it by my peers," Keisha explained. "So then one day I got lazy and decided to have others do my work for me, with some perks of course. Love's not written in the stars or the Score, which is wonderful yet it's hard to make matches, so it was a fortunate thing to find people willing to bring others together. You guys just happened to be my lucky break in getting Guy, Luke, and Asch together."
"So we were used?" Anise huffed.
"I wasn't ever going to get my threesome of me, Asch, and Luke?" Natalia growled.
"It would seem that way. Eheheheh…" Keisha nervously rubbed the back of her neck. "You're going to kill me now, aren't you?"
Anise and Natalia slowly advanced in the direction of the yaoi fangirl, causing her to bolt out the window on he flying tie-dye cloud while shouting, "I thought that you would want them together, that this was a favor!" This was true that they did want them together. They just thought they could have done just as well without being set up.