"What was he thinking, Lissa? Of all the stupid-"
"Calm down Maribelle, I'm sure he had a good reason for it."
Maribelle turned to face Lissa as the two women left the medical tent. This last battle had not gone smoothly. Both Gregor and Cordelia had sustained serious injuries, but they were stable and resting now. She was more focused on the third person currently occupying the medical tent.
"Ricken, why..." Maribelle wondered aloud as she bit her bottom lip. During the battle, she had been subconsciously keeping a close eye on him like she always did. She had taken her eyes off of him for a few moments to heal someone else, and when she had turned back around, she was met with an almost heart-stopping sight. Ricken had suddenly appeared next to her, placing himself in between her and an attacking risen. He had managed to set the risen on fire, but not before the fiend had managed to strike a blow to Ricken's left arm with a hammer, breaking it. Ricken's right ear was also hanging off of his head, blood gushing from the wound, and Maribelle had no idea how that had happened. Ricken had fallen unconscious shortly after, and she and Lissa had luckily been able to stop his bleeding right there on the battlefield.
Maribelle was still trying to mentally recover from how scared she had been, watching Ricken's blood gush from the wound on his head as he collapsed to the ground. Why hadn't he attacked the risen from a distance like he normally did? It didn't make sense to her.
"Are you okay, Maribelle? I know how much you care about Ricken. That must have scared you, seeing him so badly injured." Lissa said, taking her best friend's hands in hers and squeezing them gently.
"Thank you dear. I will be alright. He is safe now, but that does not mean that I will not give him the scolding that he deserves." Maribelle said, frowning as she sighed warily. She did care about Ricken a lot, and at a level higher than friendship at this point. He was brave and smart and she enjoyed the time that they spent together. She would have been devastated if anything worse had happened to him.
"Well, he must have had a reason to break formation. Maybe he saw some danger that we didn't? No one saw what happened to break his arm so badly. We'll just have to wait until he wakes up to find out." Lissa said with a shrug.
"You are right Lissa. I will have to be patient. Come now, let us go have some tea. It will help us calm down after this long day." Maribelle said, smiling at Lissa.
"Good idea! Let's go!" Lissa said. Lissa took Maribelle's hand and let her away from the tent. Maribelle glanced back for a moment and sighed.
'Sleep well, Ricken dear. We have a lot to talk about when you awaken.'
Maribelle returned to the medical tent later in the evening. Ricken was due for a bandage change, and Maribelle was hoping that he would be awake so they could talk. She stepped inside and immediately glowered at Gregor's bed, where he and Cordelia were sleeping together. Maribelle would apparently have to lecture the camp on how inappropriate it was to canoodle while recovering from life-threatening injuries. She decided to ignore them for now and instead made her way to Ricken's cot, and she sat down in the chair next to him.
Maribelle gazed down at Ricken's sleeping face for a moment. She reached down and brushed some of his hair away from his eyes, before her hands moved to his bandage as she worked to undo it. She had always thought that Ricken was adorable, and a good friend. Her feelings for him had begun to grow after he had saved her from Gangrel. They had spent more and more time together afterward, and even though they had their disagreements, their friendship was one that she treasured, and she found herself wanting more. Ricken was a noble, handsome young man, one that she wouldn't mind sharing her tea with for a very long time.
She winced when she had unwrapped his bandage completely. She and Lissa had managed to reattached Ricken's almost severed ear rather well, but it was looking rather gnarly as it tried to heal. She quickly grabbed clean bandages and re-wrapped the wound. As she was tying the bandage together, Ricken shifted on the bed, let out a groan, and slowly opened his eyes.
"M-Maribelle?" Ricken said warily as his brown eyes met hers. Her face flushed when a huge smile crossed his face. She frowned as she folded her hands in her lap.
"Ricken, dear, I am so glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?" she asked, her eyes moving from his bandaged head to his slung up arm. Ricken frowned and shifted a bit on the bed.
"Eh, I've been better. My head hurts a bit. Same with my arm. How bad was it?" Ricken said.
"You're arm was broken in two places, and you almost lost your ear." Maribelle said, narrowing her eyes as she looked back at him. "That was rather foolish of you, Ricken, breaking formation like you did. Why on earth did you place yourself in such danger, instead of attacking from a distance like a sensible mage?"
Ricken blinked at her for a moment, before he looked down at his good hand, which was now clenched into a fist.
"I-I did it for you, Maribelle." he said as he looked back up at her, with such an intense look in his eyes that left Maribelle at a loss for words.
"I was right then, you didn't see him..." Ricken continued, shaking his head. "When I looked over to check on you, I saw a risen setting up to throw a javelin at you. You were looking in the other direction. But another risen with a hammer was also heading in your direction. I ran towards you, focusing on the one with the javelin first. He got his throw off as I let off my spell. I got in the path of the javelin and hit it with a spell, but I hit it in a way so that it managed to him me in the side of the head. Then I had to get in the way of the one with the hammer." Ricken paused for a moment as his face darkened and jaw clenched. "He probably would have killed you if I hadn't gotten in the way. I mean, look what he did to me, and I saw it coming."
"Maribelle, I-" Ricken began, but was interrupted when Maribelle suddenly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"Ricken, you silly boy." Maribelle said, tears quickly filling her eyes and falling down her face. "You have no idea how scared I was when I saw you so injured. Please never do anything that reckless again. I never wanted you to get hurt because of me." Ricken wrapped his good arm around her and hugged her back.
"It would have been so much worse if I hadn't done anything. I care so much about you, and if anything had happened to you, I don't think I could've handled it. I...I'm in love with you, Maribelle." Ricken said, pulling back to look her in the eyes.
Maribelle stared at him with disbelief, her crying ceasing as she reached up to wipe the moisture from her face.
"R-really?"
"Yes. I've been in love with you since the moment we met. I'm absolutely crazy about you. I would do anything you asked me to if it would make you happy." Ricken said, reaching over with his good hand and holding one of hers. Maribelle blushed and smiled brightly.
"My dear Ricken, you are quite the noble young man. I, well..." Maribelle began, adverting her gaze from embarrassment. Talking about her feelings was a bit awkward for her. "I'm...in love with you to, Ricken. It feels a bit silly to say..." Ricken laughed and lifted Maribelle's hand to his face, placing a light kiss onto her knuckles. She blushed madly and let a giggle slip out.
"I'm so happy that you feel the same, Maribelle! You're so wonderful." Ricken gushed, entwining his fingers with hers.
"Yes, well, be sure to be more careful in the battles to come, my dear. I would hate to lose the man that I love to one of those horrible monsters, or Plegian brutes." Maribelle said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
"I'll definitely be more careful, as long as you do the same." Ricken replied.
"Well, get some rest, Ricken. I shall make you some tea when you are fully recovered." Maribelle said. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on Ricken's cheek. His eyes went wide and his face flushed, causing Maribelle to giggle again as she stood and made her way to the tent entrance.
"I-I will. See you later, my love." Ricken said, a huge, goofy smile spreading across his face. Maribelle giggled again and waved an elegant hand at him as she stepped out of the tent.
"Wow...That went well..." Ricked said when Maribelle was gone, grinning like a madman as he leaned back against his pillow. A deep chuckle sounded throughout the tent and Ricken whipped his head around to find Gregor looking at him over Cordelia's head, which was settled on his chest as she still slept soundlessly.
"Hehe, Gregor is happy for little Ricken. Very smooth with the confessing of true love." Gregor said with a wink.
"Were you eavesdropping this entire time?" Ricken asked, frowning as he blushed with embarrassment.
"Oh yes, Gregor was awake when Maribelle arrived. Pretended to be sleeping because she gave Gregor very mean glare. She just jealous she not cuddling with Ricken like Gregor is with Cordelia." Gregor said, rubbing his cheek gently against Cordelia's hair.
"Gregor, please, I'm going to throw up here." Ricken said, rolling his eyes. "But, I would like to thank you, for giving me the confidence to finally tell Maribelle how I felt."
"Haha! Ricken is most welcome! Gregor is always happy to help others find true love!"
"You know Gregor, Maribelle is probably going to chew you out good for sharing a bed with Cordelia. She hates infirmary canoodling." Ricken said, raising an eyebrow at him.
Gregor shrugged. "Eh, it worth it to Gregor. Maribelle may change stance on issue when she finally cuddles with Ricken and see how wonderful it is!" Ricken blushed again as Gregor closed his eyes again.
"Goodnight, little Ricken. Rest well and make it quick with the healing, eh?"
"Yeah, you too Gregor." Ricken replied as he made himself comfortable. He smiled as he closed his eyes, imagining having Maribelle's arms wrapped around him, while he ran his hands through her beautiful blonde hair. He decided that he was a bit jealous of Gregor, and drifted off to sleep, thinking that he couldn't wait to find out if this cuddling thing was really as great as Gregor made it out to be.