Author's note: I had the idea in my head for this fanfic since a few months already but heck only managed to write it down today D:
So yea, the story is going to revolve around Frantz and Tude. This should be multichapters if everything goes well (XD) so yea I hope everyone will enjoy =)
Disclaimer: I don't own Rusty Hearts, it belongs to PWE/WindySoft; If I did own it, Amelia would have died from the beginning of the game already :3
« Aw man… »
Tude passed his left gauntleted hand through his hair, and he looked annoyed at the rainy weather which had appeared not too long ago, from the door of Nadia's office. Looking back inside, he saw the glass-wearing woman still diving in books the ones being bigger than the others, still searching for more information about Vlad and how to efficiently kill him.
Tude had to give her credit. Although he admitted he had to steal from the Golden Seal Team several times some food and blankets (he may be a werewolf, but he wasn't going to die of starvation or frozen in the Rumanian plains which were colder at night than, say, French Provence), he had always respected their work.
Except for that goddamn Seal blocking off the castle. He had been on his way to Rocini for business, but had wanted to rest for the night in the castle –he had hoped for some comfy bad stayed behind-. Oh sure he had found a bed, but when waking up, he'd found he was stuck inside the castle. While annoyed, he had decided still to explore more in detail the castle hoping things would evolve.
And they did.
On the fourth day, he had heard voices from the main hall, and curious, assisted behind one of the pillars to the confrontation with a young blonde and an enormous bone-made beast looking down on two persons on the other side of the room. Being a werewolf, Tude could smell the vampire blood from the axe-wielding man miles away (he didn't have anything personal with vampires however, he never had had business with them) and sensed a strong magical power within the young girl accompanying him. He then saw the two of them beginning to fight the monster and had wanted to go downstairs to catch more of the fight.
However, as soon as he was hiding behind another pillar in the lower section, he saw the vampire being slapped unconscious to the wall a few meters from his position, and the girl about to be smashed by the monster's hand.
And then his wolf side had decided to kick "mother hen" mode.
He was himself still surprised he went to save people he barely knew, but his gut feeling told him to do so. After a few minutes, the monster's pressing on his gauntlet had vanished, as it was called back by his mistress, and he went –finally- back to town when the presentation between him and the other two –Frantz the half-vampire and Angela the witch, from what he gathered- were exchanged.
This led him back to his main current problem. Nadia, the sick twisted woman that she was (well all women had a sick and twisted mind for Tude anyways), had told him that he was now to join the Specialists (in other words Frantz and Angela) in exchange for letting him free of charges. Now that he minded, knowing he could lend them their forces, but she hadn't given him directions as to where they were resting for the night.
Which only annoyed him more.
It took him a few seconds, when he finished gathering his thoughts, to spot a young boy with a blue beret, cradling something in his arms and protecting it from the heavy rain. Mother hen instincts kicking in again, he worried as to why this kid wasn't going back into his warm home with his parents, and decided, after checking up on the rain (which dulled a little), he walked in direction of the out-of-place character.
"I swear, Tom, this is all that woman's and your fault."
"-Meow."
"-Don't you dare contradict me! And stop scratching my tie!"
"-Me-ow." Tom pointed at Crudelitas, which was at Edgar's feet.
"-*sigh* Alright, I admit that I wouldn't be in this mess at all if I hadn't been sent on this contract to steal Crudelitas, but still…"
Tom got up from his sitting position in an instant, turning around as he had felt someone coming. And seeing the person coming, he began to hiss quietly. The man, noticing this, held back a small sad laugh and looked at Edgar.
"-So THIS is what you are trying to protect under this rain? Man, I've never been a cat person…"
"-Stupid cat doesn't want to enter a house."
"-Meow!" Tom looked back offended at Edgar.
"-Well it's the truth! I wasn't given the task of taking care of you to only let you die of cold in this rain!" Edgar crossed his arms and gave a dirty look at Tom, who had sat back and was staring intently at Tude, before focusing back his attention to the man in front of him. "Oh, pardon my manners. I still didn't ask who you were."
"-The name's Tude. And you're…?"
"-I'm Edgar Grosvenor" –he pointed at himself-, "and this is Tom." –he pointed at the cat. "We were sent here as help to fight the invasion from within the castle." He concluded, pointing at the scythe still as his feet.
Edgar clearly expected this man –Tude- would, like every other soldier, laugh at his goal in the city. He however just nodded knowingly, to his great surprise.
"-I see. But I think it'd be safe for you two to go back to where it's warmer."
"-… You're not… laughing at us?"
"-Why would I?" He tilted his head to the side, confused. "You seem to emanate the same kind of aura as that girl I saved a few hours ago… Oh! That reminds me, do you know where the Specialists are stationed tonight?"
Baffled by the change of topic, he pointed at the hotel where he had seen the duo enter a few hours ago. "Thanks a lot! Well see you when I see you again, buddy!" And on this, he ran in the hotel's direction, not before waving a goodbye with his gauntleted hand.
"-People in this town are weird…" Tom mewed in agreement.
"-Edgar! So that is where you were hiding all this time!"
The blonde boy sighed. "Oh isn't that just great. After Father Hen, it's now Overprotective Mother to the rescue…" He then looked in the direction of Roselle running in his direction, a worried and relieved look on her face. "Jesus I'm not some 10 years old who needs to be looked after ..."
A pause.
"Fuck, I forgot that I DO look like a 10 years old."
"-Meoooow!"
"-Stop laughing!"
Tude, relieved, had finally hit the door of the Specialists' hotel. He had turned his head earlier to check Edgar, only to see him following a young woman –or rather being dragged by her- into house safety. Although the rain dulled the smell, he still felt she was like the axe-wielding man – a vampire. Nonetheless it didn't really disturb him as it wasn't his business to attend to.
Speaking of business…
"-It's about time you show up, mister werewolf."
Tude cringed at the way Frantz had named him. But also surprised. He hadn't revealed his … animalistic side to anyone in this town, nor even in a perimeter of 40 kilometres, hiding his claw under his bulky gauntlet to avoid rising suspicions.
"-Eh, it's not a nice way to call me, ya know…"
"-This is what you are though, no?" Before Tude could add something, Frantz continued. "And before you ask, it was easy for Angela and me to guess you were a werewolf. From the fact you were able to stay 4 days in the castle and not be easily slain, to the superhuman strength you displayed back then with holding Fluffy's hand to save Angela… And most of all, your smell."
"-My… smell?" Tude looked suspiciously at Frantz, who had crossed his arms, smirking with sparks of glee dancing in his eyes.
"-You smell – and look- like a wet puppy."
It took five seconds for Tude to register the insult (werewolves in general disliked being compared to their civilized versions, aka dogs, and the blonde man was no exception). A flash of anger passed over his face and eyes, and he hurled at Frantz and pinned him down to the floor. However, before any of the two could do anything further except staring intently at each other (Tude pissed, Frantz stoic), they heard footsteps coming down from the stairs.
"Sheesh, would you two just shut up and kiss already?"
Angela wasn't usually one to meddle in Frantz's business unless she was invited to do so. But to see her teammate and their new companion, one over the other, all she heard was her demon sword Gaestra howling in laughter after she said that sentence. The two men looked at her, then at each other, and then at Angela again, before hurriedly moving away from each other, which only fuelled Gaestra's roaring laugh.
"-Angela, stop joking around." Frantz started, visibly annoyed to be caught in that position. Tude seemed to shrug it off, although Angela still noticed a little spark of anger left in his eyes.
"-Bah. Anyways, now that Tude is here, we got to speak of a problem I just found out."
Tude perked up. "And which is…?"
"-Where is he going to sleep?"
"-Well, in our room I suppose. If you do not see objections to this, Tude." He turned to the now calmed werewolf, who shook his head. Angela rolled her eyes though.
"-Dude Frantzie-pants" –Frantz cringed at the nickname; Tude snickered- "In case you forgot, we got only two beds in our room. How are we…?"
Tude then waved his left hand in a sign of dismissal. "As long as you have a couch or a sofa, that'll be great for me. I haven't been able to sleep properly for days –heck I did find a bed, but skeletons kept trying to jump at my throat every bloody 5 minutes, so sleeping was out of the question for survival- so I just want something to have a good night rest."
"-Fair enough, buddy~" Angela answered, yawning a little. "We happen to have a sofa aside, so that should be ok then! Anyways, I'm off to bed, so good night!"
"-Good night, Angela. Take a good rest."
While she was getting upstairs, Frantz turned his head at Tude. "I apologize for earlier, Tude."
The werewolf shook his head. "Neh, it's alright. To be frank you're right, I really need a shower before crashing down anyways. So…"
Tude extended his right arm to the half-vampire.
"-Partners?"
Frantz shook his hand, a small –true- smile on his lips.
"Partners."
This is going to be some fun, hopefully.