~*A Snow Light*~
A chilly night reveals more for her than anything else ever had.
~*X*~
Flanoir was a breathtakingly beautiful place that existed within the kingdom of Tethe'alla. Snow constantly coated the ground year round, a beautiful shroud of white frost. Even now it came down from the sky, soft as angel feathers.
The city lights were bright gold spots against a backdrop of ebony, ivory, and the amber of the stone buildings. Streetlamps burned beneath the balcony and all down the street, promising warmth and shelter to anyone that had lost their way, if only they followed the lit path.
The air was freezing, and Presea leaned over the railing, acknowledging the cold but thinking nothing of it. She didn't even shiver.
A lone bird hopped from streetlamp to streetlamp, and she found herself wondering if its little feet were getting chilled. Or maybe it was just restless. It was a pretty, delicate thing, with radiant brown eyes and white feathers spotted with red. She watched it until it fluttered its wings and sailed away into the night.
One hand went up and absently rubbed some of the congealing ice off of her Exsphere, and she took in a deep lungful of the frozen air. When she exhaled, it was as if she had suddenly become part dragon, because a long stream of fog emerged from her.
A sound made her look down again. She watched as the door to the hotel they were in swung open, and Zelos poked his head out. He didn't bother looking up to see if someone was on the balcony. Instead, he started walking with his hands in his pockets.
Several heartbeats later, Sheena emerged, glanced worriedly after him, and then went in the same direction he had gone, moving silently with her ninja's tread.
Presea wondered idly where they had gone and what was on the Chosen's mind, and then she simply resigned herself to staring out over the city. Tomorrow, she was going to go into the Ginnungagap with Emil…Ratatosk…and help him claim his rightful place as its Guardian.
She pitied Marta and Emil at that moment. Their love was an obvious thing. This was an attempt from kindhearted Lloyd to buy the pair one more night…speaking of Lloyd, where had he gone?
Craning her head to the left, she saw another trail of footprints that led further into the city. That's right. He had gone off with Colette. Talking…everyone was talking tonight.
Suddenly remembering what she had been doing, she went back to carving the bear-shaped good luck totem she was making for Emil. She planned on leaving it with him in the Ginnungagap as a reminder that he had friends that cared about him and he wouldn't be alone in his heart. The sound of her knife scraping against the block of wood seemed overly loud in the silence of the evening.
She only paused once, and that was because she thought she had heard the oh so familiar sound of Sheena slapping Zelos.
A door creaked behind her, and Presea instinctively reached for the axe that was leaning against the railings.
"P-P-Presea, wait!"
She froze, and then slowly drew her arm back and returned to her whittling without turning around.
Genis walked towards her nervously, his fingers toying with the hem of his shirt. He said nothing for so long that she began to become concerned.
"Is something wrong?" Presea inquired casually, hesitating on the next slice of her knife to await his response.
"Well, I was just wondering, aren't you c-c-cold?" He wrapped his arms around himself and continued gazing at the moon. His nose was dusted with the barest hints of a blush.
She was reminded of his affections for her. His bumbling attempts at flirting, but his sincere concern for her welfare. His stammering seemed to vary in intensity though, with the situation…
Sighing, Presea shrugged."Yes. But I'm not bothered."
"Oh, wait! If you're cold, P-P-Presea, I'll light a fire."
Before she could object, he cupped his hands and muttered a quick incantation. A small, flaming globe materialized there and burned brilliantly, casting an orangey luminance that sent strange shadows dancing across the floor.
The warmth it gave off, however, was immediate.
"Thank you," she told him after a second of pause. Presea went back to carving the bear, and Genis plucked up his courage for another question.
"Who's that for?"
"Emil."
His tone became sharper. "Why?"
She lifted her eyes and met his gaze calmly. Almost immediately, he quailed, his face coloring such a deep shade of scarlet that she marveled at it.
Like a tomato.
"Emil will be left alone in the Ginnungagap," Presea said evenly. "This bear will represent our bond with him as his friends."
"…Why a bear?" His voice had returned to normal, soft and childish around the edges.
Presea frowned and rubbed at her carving's ear, thinking that she might have messed it up. "Bears represent a lot of things." Silence as she adjusted her grip on her knife and went back to work. "Strength, which Emil will need to guard the Ginnungagap…" She looked up and found that Genis was observing her closely, his arctic blue eyes curious. "…Patience, and tranquility…though that usually only works if they're hibernating…"
"A-Anything else?"
She blew some shavings off of her creation, settling deep into her thoughts. "The duality of immense strength and gentleness. Like a mother with her children."
"Strength and gentleness…Ratatosk and Emil."
Pleased that he had figured it out, she nodded at him and smiled just a tiny bit. "Yes." Since this seemed to only deepen his blush, she made a point of getting back to work on the last of the bear. She liked him, but Genis was so silly sometimes. "Also, they have cute paw pads."
"Bears have paw pads?" The young mage wondered aloud.
"Yes. Did your lessons not teach you that?" Anyone else would have thought she was being mocking, but he knew her too well for that. She hoped. Presea wasn't the type to waste time with taunting others.
"They probably did, I just don't remember right now." Genis rubbed the back of his silver hair, causing a small shower of white to cascade down the back of his blue tunic. The fireball rested easily on the palm of one of his hands.
Presea, finished with the bear, held it up with a satisfied expression. "The star on its right front paw represents good luck," she told her companion, placing it down on the rail and sheathing her knife.
"I'm sure he'll appreciate it." Genis refused to look at her, just gazed down at the streets of Flanoir with the most curious expression she had ever seen. "Say, Presea, what animal do you think of when you think of me?" The words came out tentatively, but at least not as a full blown stammer. She really wished he'd not be so nervous around her. They'd known each other for years. He was a friend, and she'd never hurt him.
…Maybe not physically, anyway. She was a little afraid that she'd end up causing him pain if she kept ignoring his advances for much longer. But she didn't know what to do, how to react…Maybe Alicia would, but not her. Presea Combatir was definitely not the type of girl that doted over boys and read romances, like Marta.
"A fox," she replied in due time, once the name for the beast had surfaced in her mind. "Foxes usually represent cleverness…adaptability…" She put both of her hands on the guardrail, not minding the fact that the freezing metal was sucking the warmth from her skin. "Quick thinking. Sometimes wisdom. And…"
"And…?" Genis was looking at her again; she felt the weight of his eyes.
"Intensity, desire, and passion are not uncommon." Presea felt her heart slam suddenly against her ribcage, caught in the wild throes of surprise, as Genis unexpectedly went into an all out shock attack.
"M-M-Me? P-P-P-Presea, you think I'm clever and p-p-p-p-p-passionate?" He had one arm in front of him protectively as if bracing for impact, the other was busy trying to keep the fire from raging out of control as the flames flashed and expanded in his palm.
She arched one eyebrow at him. Yes, definitely a little strange. She nodded.
All of a sudden, he collected himself and she saw obvious pride and happiness on his face, touching his arctic eyes and changing them from ice blue to a warm, tropical cerulean. She had gladdened him. That was good.
"How do you know all of this stuff with animals?" Genis asked, stepping a little closer and putting his hand with the fireball between them.
She traced a mindless sketch on top of the ice that had built up on the rail. "When I started making good luck charms, I researched this so I knew exactly what to create to bring fortune upon others." Unexpectedly she added, "What animal do you think fits me?"
Genis stammered something, bit his tongue, and then shut his eyes tight. She could sense that he was frantically pouring through all of his extensive knowledge of the monsters in the world, and she wondered if her symbolic animal had paw pads or not.
Presea fixed her attention on the door to the hotel again as, beneath them, Emil and Marta departed together, hand in hand, and they never thought to look up and see the two on the balcony. Just like the others. They turned a corner and were gone, somewhere in the snowy wonderland that was Flanoir.
Genis hadn't even noticed. He faced her again, tugging at a strand of his hair as if he was worried about her reaction. "I don't know what it represents exactly," he admitted nervously. "Maybe you can tell me?"
"Okay." She studied him bemusedly. "What is it?"
"A lynx." He fluttered the fingers on one hand hurriedly, as if begging her to let him go on. She saw nothing wrong with that animal, and even if she had, she wouldn't have interrupted him. "Factually speaking, lynxes are solitary. Hard to find, live in the mountains…In the wild, they're patient, intelligent, superior hunters. But solitary."
"Solitary?"
"You're kind of aloof, Presea," Genis said softly, sounding to her ears somewhat sad.
She moved her eyes away from him, and that's when she noticed what she had traced into the rime. A little maple leaf—the emblem of lovers, something that she had carved often enough. There was typically one hidden somewhere on any of the iron maidens she had put together.
"Presea?" The worry in his tone made it clear that he thought he had offended her.
Wiping the small sigil off of the metal with a single finger, she commented, "The lynx is a good choice. It's considered a sign of patience, but also encourages flexibility." A pause. "It represents the importance of developing skills to a higher value. And it…means that it is time to consider some passions that have been kept a secret."
Genis made something that sounded like a combination of "Eeep!" and "What?"
Clever, Genis.
However, when Presea turned to look him in the eyes, she could tell that he had honestly just picked an animal and had not been aware of the spiritual values that went along with it. She herself wasn't certain if she fully believed them…but her good luck charms had worked so far, so would not the thing they represented be true also?
He was so red in the face that it was unbelievable. Presea decided to put him out of his misery and changed topics. She extended her hand towards him, and he gawked at it before lifting his gaze to hers.
"Is it possible for me to hold the fire as well?"
The young mage blinked at the request. "Are you cold? Do you want me to—"
"No. I'm just curious."
Slowly, he nodded. "O-Okay." He cupped the fire in his hands again and added another line of protection onto his previously existing spell. Then, slowly, he slid the little globe of flame into her open palms.
Presea couldn't help but let out a small murmur of wonder. It was warm and impossibly soft feeling, hovering above her skin, yet she could feel the friction it gave off, as if an invisible barrier had been generated between it and herself. "This is implausible, Genis."
He brightened. "Do you think so? Heh, it wasn't that hard to learn."
There was a long period of emptiness—no words were said, not much movement was done. Snow continued to fall in elegant white sheets from the sky, and a numbing wind caused a chill to run down to Presea's bones. But still, she found herself entirely entranced by the magical fire that glimmered and sparked so marvelously on top of her very hands.
"Presea…" Genis moved a bit closer.
"Yes?"
"I-I-I-I…"
Oh, he was stuttering again. She needed to make eye contact or she'd never read his expression right…Looking up, she read what he was trying to say off of his face as he struggled to continue.
"I think…you're really p-p-pretty and smart, so…I mean…I guess what I'm trying to say is, I r-r-r-really like you. Do you l-l-like me?"
She sighed deeply, using one hand to anxiously stroke the surface of her Exsphere—(though that was the only outward sign of her unease)—before replying. "Yes, I like you, Genis."
He was no fool. Strange maybe, but no fool. The light left the mage's eyes, morphing from tropical cerulean to abyssal azure. "B-But not like that, right?"
Did she? Did she like him like that? She wanted to say yes, and she wanted to say no, because two parts of herself were at disagreement and she was too busy feeling conflicted to form a coherent response. Presea said simply, "Genis…"
Her heart exploded into a wakkawakkawakka rhythm as the fireball abruptly flared up, tongues of fire reaching so high and burning so vividly that she had to shut her eyes, though the darkness behind her closed lids was still seared with marks of flame.
Then, as fast as it had come, it died down as Genis closed his fist tightly and dismissed the spell. He had his head lowered, silver bangs mostly obscuring his face. "S-S-S-S-Sorry, P-Presea…I need to go." With that, he turned and swiftly entered the hotel, closing the door.
…Less than a minute later, she listened as the bottom entryway swung open. The snow crunched underfoot as Genis walked away, wandering the streets of Flanoir at an ungodly hour.
Presea went over to the railway and leaned out, gazing at the whitewashed city.
The first thing she noticed was that it had stopped snowing. The clouds had cleared a smidgen, not a lot but just enough to glimpse the moon and the stars. They seemed colder and larger here than anywhere else in Tethe'alla, as if they too were victims of the everlasting winter.
The second thing she noticed was the footprints. Trails of footprints made by her friends, smiling kindly and talking to one another as they went off with their loved ones for a night alone. When she blinked, she saw alternating images of Lloyd leading Colette away by her hand, his blue gaze warm…Zelos stalking off into the snow alone, and Sheena faithfully following, and if the sound of the smack was anything to go by, attempting to resolve his problem…Emil being strong for Marta and swinging their intertwined fingers between them as a young couple in love, even if only for this night.
Four different sets of footprints, each going in a different direction, headed for a place of uncertain origin somewhere deep in Flanoir.
But there was only one person heading to the far east of town. He had no extra set of prints beside his own. He was the only one walking the night alone.
It bothered her.
Presea sighed, brushed some snow off of her axe, and sheathed the thing across her back. Turning, she picked up Emil's good bye gift and placed it securely in her bag back in her room before she, too, exited the hotel and went after Genis.
It was awfully cold without his fire.
There was no one else out. The streetlamps were her only companions as she traveled down the deserted streets, listening to the sound of her axe-blade clinking against her back. Once, she glimpsed the gaudy red feathers of the bird she had spotted earlier, but after that it was nowhere to be seen.
It wasn't terribly difficult to find Genis—his footprints led straight to him. He had his back to her, legs drawn up to his chest and arms folded across them as he rested his chin there. He was gazing out at the Flanoir Harbor; the icy water sparkled majestically in the ivory moonlight. The stars were nothing but ethereal chips of ice against the sea, though they existed in their own ocean far away from here. A void as black as a demon's heart and thrice as cold.
Wordlessly, Presea came up beside him and sat next to him. She, for once, put up with close contact and let her shoulder brush his own. That earned his attention. He blushed furiously but refused to acknowledge her otherwise.
"I'm sorry," she said.
Nothing.
"It's not that I don't like you, Genis…But, I don't know what to do." This time she saw him peek at her, confused. Encouraged, she went on. "I didn't mean to hurt you. But if you want my honest response, I'd like a little time before I have to answer your question."
"…Okay," he sighed.
Presea felt relieved. It was hard for her to express herself after so long of not being able to. At least Genis understood. He always had. "Can we still be friends?"
"Huh? Of course, P-Presea!" Genis let his hands fall to his sides, and he leaned back on them, seemingly not that bothered by the frost that was clinging to his legs and arms.
That…was good. She didn't know how to properly reply to his question, what with her own feelings still so badly sidetracked from her mind. They needed to both be in unison before she…told him whatever she would tell him later on. She looked up and judged that the moon's progress across the sky meant that it was very late indeed. Sleep would be wise at this point, since who knew what terrors the Ginnungagap would throw at them, come the morning sun?
Presea stood, and Genis did the same.
That's when she decided that her friend's crestfallen face couldn't stay that way. Especially since she was the one to have made him like that. So she borrowed a leaf out of Marta's book and another from elsewhere.
She didn't say anything, just took his hand in hers—his skin was very cold, he needed to buy some gloves when they stayed here—and led him back towards the hotel, walking slowly and nonchalantly.
"P-P-Presea…"
She ignored him.
They weren't the first ones to return…Zelos and Sheena actually were. The pair was in the parlor, and as they passed, they both stopped their quiet conversation and blinked in surprise at the sight.
"Well I'll be," Presea heard Zelos chuckle. "About time."
They climbed the stairs and entered the hallway reserved for the party. Lloyd, Colette, Emil, and Marta were still out. Presumably Tenebrae was with the latter. Regal and Raine slept on peacefully. Once outside of Genis's room, Presea released his hand and nodded, smiling a little wider than she had earlier.
"Good night, Genis."
"G-Good night, Presea." Genis gave her a shy wave, but before he could duck into his chamber, she kissed him very lightly on the cheek before departing for her own quarters.
His stuttering could have awakened the dead.
Once alone, Presea fretted for a few seconds over whether or not she had done the kiss right. She hoped so. Just something to reassure him, she told herself, though she hadn't disliked the action personally.
She actually kind of enjoyed it.
Tugging her axe off and leaning it against the wall nearest her bed, she froze in the process of getting ready to sleep.
She tried to ignore it, but once the notion entered her head, there was no chance of succeeding.
With a sigh and another slight smile, she rummaged through her bag, found another smooth block of wood, and took her knife out.
Fox faces are difficult to perfect…
~*X*~
Author's Note: This was written at around 2 AM, so apologies for any typos. Right, I've only played Dawn of the New World as a heads up so I'm sorry for any OOC-ness, it wasn't intentional. By the way, all of that stuff with the symbolism? It isn't made up, that stuff I actually know about from some books I read. I thought I'd throw that in there mixed with Presea's good luck charms for a bit of fun. Reviews are greatly appreciated!