Heat

The Favor

The young taguel nervously twiddled his fingers as he slowly approached the stoic Wyvern Rider who stationed himself at the edge of camp, feeding his beloved wyvern Minerva some of her favorite treats. As he got closer and closer, Yarne started to breath heavily as he began to panic.

Since yesterday, Yarne had begun to feel a burning sensation within his body, a symptom that haunted him in the future, which always resulted in something bad to anyone around him. As he felt this change happening within him, he quickly stressed out. Having not telling his mother, nor any of his friends about it since it was extremely embarrassing, and he didn't want his mother to think ill of him. He didn't want anyone to know about it really, but at this point in time since it was happening so rapidly, someone had to know. And even though they didn't talk very frequently in the future, though often wished they did, he figured Gerome was the perfect candidate, and he could only hope he would agree.

He finally approached the scarlet-haired boy, who after noticing his presence immediately stopped feeding Minerva and glared at taguel. Even though the other couldn't see his face through his mask, Gerome was furrowing his eyebrows.

"What do you want, Yarne?" He asked, his standard monotone voice ever present, with a hint of annoyance.

Yarne stuttered in response. "Uh ummm, I uh…" His eyes were darting all around to avoid reaching eye contact with Gerome. A faint red now staining his cheeks.

Gerome frowned and squinted his eyes under his mask. "Spit it out or leave." He replied bluntly. He knew the boy was a nervous wreck, but never really spent much time with him to see it for himself.

"Ahh! Sorry!" He winced under the harshness of Gerome's words. 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.' Soon after he shook his head lightly, and steeled himself the best he could taking a big, calming breath.

"U-uh Gerome, I uh, have a big favor to ask you! A really big, IMPORTANT, and slightly embarrassing favor I have to ask you!" Yarne's body tensed up, anticipating a harsh, or rude response. Instead, Gerome crossed his arms.

"Why don't you ask Brady or Owain to help you? They're your friends, aren't they?" Yarne noticed a slight tinge of sadness in Gerome's voice as he finished his sentence, which in turn caused the taguel's shoulders to sink in guilt.

"Y-you're my friend too! O-or at least I thought we were…kinda. B-but I can't ask them!"

The Wyvern Rider's arms remained crossed as he stood up, coming up Yarne's chin. He wasn't convinced.

"Why not?"

Yarne slightly turned his head away from the other boy and rubbed the back of his head, his cheeks flushing a deeper red. 'Gods his bluntness unnerving! Hnngh..' He thought as he slowly brought his eyes to focus on Gerome again, his voice quieter than before.

"I…I can't rely on them like I can rely on you, Gerome. You're…you're tougher and more responsible then they are…I haven't even told Chrom or my mother about this. I know I'll be safe with your help, because you make me feel safe…"

Gerome's hidden eyes widened in surprise as he uncrossed his arms. He never thought he would hear such sincerity and urgency come from Yarne's mouth. The boy was always going on and on about how worried he was about going extinct, but never had he heard him speak in such a tone before. He sighed, slightly feeling a bit bad on how dismissive he had been a few moments ago. Gerome set one hand upon his waist and looked Yarne directly in the eyes.

"Clearly it must be a serious enough ordeal for you to put complete trust in me…but fine. I will help you."

Yarne didn't get enough time say an ecstatic thank you before an armored hand was raised in front of his face to silent him. "But FIRST, tell me what I am helping you with. If it has anything to do with learning how to seduce a woman, I WILL hit you and leave!"

The taguel laughed nervously as he rapidly waved his hands side to side, brushing off the serious tone of Gerome's statement. His face getting even redder.

"Ha hahaha nononno! Gods nothing -nothing, nothing like that! Ha ha ha…" he trailed off, crossing his arms and hunching forward, returning to his worried posture.

He took a deep breath. "Okay so…in the future when I…we were…all alone, every couple months my uh…my body would…start to change. I notice it when I start to just feel…hot out of nowhere. And It wasn't a fever or anything! Every single part of me started to burn up, and then I black out. And when I woke up, EVERYTHING around me was destroyed! At the time I was in the woods near a lake trying to cool off, so the only thing I really destroyed were trees and bushes I guess, but I ended up nearly a mile away from where I was. Sometimes it just happens once, but one time I went missing for a week! This sort of thing never happened to my mom, so I'm guessing it was another half-human, half-Taguel thing but…I never told anyone about it THEN either…"

Gerome raised a brow, putting his other hand on his waist. "So, what do you require of me then?"

Yarne sighed as he straightened up his back. "I-I need you to look after me. Keep me calm till it happens, watch me so I won't take my rampage to camp, knock me out if I get too dangerous! I've seen you in battle! You're strong, and can take out enemies twice your size! Plus you can handle Minerva! Please Gerome, I'm too unpredictable when I get like this, and I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone! I would never forgive myself if I did! And-and I know I'm asking a LOT of you, but-but I wouldn't have asked you unless I was sure you were capable enough to handle me, which you are! So please Gerome…will you help me? I need you!"

At this point the desperation in Yarne's voice were reaching the highest point, his hands were intertwined in a praying position as he got up closer to Gerome's face. His eyes were full of truth and fear, something not even Gerome could say no too. And the fact that he said that he 'needed him' well...It wasn't everyday that he got to hear that someone needed him. It was nice.

The scarlet-haired boy sighed and nodded, removing both hands from his waists. "Very well Yarne. I will aid you. You have my word."

A relief filled, warm smiled filled Yarne's face as he rushed in to give Gerome a hug, picking him up as he did so.

"THANK you Gerome! Thank you thank you thank you!"

A deep pink rose to Gerome's cheeks as the taguel suspended him in the air, feeling his strong arms around him. He then scowled and began to struggle in his grip. "Enough! That's enough put me down!"

Yarne immediately put him down and apologized as the armored boy took a jerky step backwards, away from him. Gerome coughed irritably and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Ahem…so…when is this 'change' of yours supposed to happen?"

Yarne looked at the ground sheepishly, and rubbed his arm. "It's uh, gonna happen tonight actually… I felt my body burn earlier today and uh…the change usually happens a few hours later.."

The Wyvern Rider shook his head and glanced at the sky. The sun had began to set during their conversation. He didn't even notice that the light was getting dimmer and dimmer. Gerome gave an exasperated breath and started walking toward the hill that was nearby.

He made a 'come here' motion with his hand without glancing back at Yarne. "This way, we need to get you somewhere isolated."

The taguel nodded in agreement and followed, his arms shaking in anxiety. 'I hope everything turns out okay…'