Author note: I don't own Rune Factory 4, nor do I own The Last Story.

Oh gosh, this is another of my experimental pairing fics...I was playing Rune Factory 4, and I like Forte (the girl knight) a lot. I also like Therius (who is also a knight) from The Last Story. If these two were to meet...what would happen? A pairing could be possible between them, I think, because both are so similar in the fact that they would care for their duties and others above themselves. And be awkward around each other and such, too. XD

Also, for Therius-he has no actual backstory revealed in the game he comes from, so I just made one up for him. Hopefully it's alright with you Last Story fans out there that might be reading this.

Warning: Possible spoilers for both games, TheriusxForte, mentioned violence

Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope that you read, review and enjoy! Thanks!

Duties and Diversions

Forte and Therius had no idea that they would be meeting someone of the same profession when they met each other. It was the start of a week-long festival when they first met, as Lazulis City and the town of Selphia had decided to celebrate the new spring season together. Lady Calista Arganan, accompanied by her husband Zael, would be coming to Selphia to celebrate there. Therius was asked to accompany them-for what purpose besides making sure things didn't descend into chaos, he didn't know.

"Forte, this is Therius. Therius, this is Forte. You will be working together to make sure things don't get out of hand during the festival, so it would be best for the both of you to get along." Calista introduced.

Therius stared at the blonde knight in front of him. Forte did the same, staring at the white-haired knight that stood before her. Neither one really didn't know what to say at first, until they remembered their manners.

"A pleasure to meet you." Therius spoke, extending a hand towards Forte.

The other nodded in response. "Nice to meet you, too." Forte responded as they shook hands.

Forte and Therius had no idea that Calista and Frey had brought them together not just for sharing guard duty, but it was also an attempt to play matchmaker.

"What are the other knights like in Lazulis?"

Poor Forte. She did not realize, until asking that question, that it would stir up some negative reaction from the white knight sitting under a tree by Dragon Lake with her. Therius looked dismayed at the question, refusing to hold back any disappointment in his voice as he spoke.

"They are...for a lack of better words, terrible." Therius adjusted his long, white braid before he continued. "They are totally devoid of any aspirations to protect the people, and rather use their power to better themselves." There was a sharpness in his tone, too, emphasizing said disappointment. "I am glad that you are not one of them, Forte, but I do wonder why there is only one knight in Selphia. It seems almost troubling that you have to handle all of it alone."

"I know," Forte agreed, nodding once. "It can get a bit tedious, but I manage. Selphia is rarely threatened by any opposing forces, save for the Sechs Empire, but it's been eliminated since then. Because of such lesser threats we don't need as high security. And also," She added, "I'm not the only knight guarding Selphia, Therius. I just seem to be the only one because I'm more noticeable out of them all. There are other knights, but out of them all I'm the only female, so it probably explains that."

Oh. That hadn't really crossed his mind until now. He had never noticed, never realized that the other knights were all men. She was the only female knight he'd ever met in his life-

...The only female knight he'd ever met in his life?

...Goodness, this was getting awkward. He needed to say something. Now. Before it got too awkward to speak.

"...I see." He managed to say, before continuing. "Forte?"

"Yes?"

"Er..." Therius blurted out the first question that came to mind. "Why did you decide to become a knight?"

Forte bit her bottom lip lightly, diverting her gaze from the other knight. "Well," She started, "I-"

"Hey Forte! Therius!" The two turned to see Doug waving at them. "The Bean-Throwing Competition is about to begin! Are you two going to join?" The dwarf asked, grinning a bit.

"Oh-right! We'll be there soon!" Forte called back, before turning towards Therius. "I apologize, but I'm afraid we'll have to speak more later about the subject."

"Of course," Therius replied quickly, before the two ran to the town square to participate.

Forte finally told Therius why she became a knight...after several days of festival participation, talking with one another, and of course, running around Selphia and making sure that Doug and Dylas weren't trying to kill each other.

She used to have a mother and father. Mother died of disease, and the father died in battle-which left the blacksmith Bado to take care of them at the time. Her father had been the one to motivate her to become a knight just like him, because she wanted to protect others as well. No matter what, despite injury or the possibility of failure, she would keep fighting. Therius couldn't help but smile at that-the young woman was an admirable one to be willing to risk her life on the battlefield when the time came. In that sense she almost reminded him of the late General Asthar, of how he had been so willing to protect the people as well.

When Forte asked him why he became a knight, he knew it would make sense to answer-why not, considering that she told him of her past?

He came from a wealthy family-not enough to be considered nobles, but still wealthy. Everything seemed alright at first-with hired knights to protect them, going to all those fancy parties-that kind of thing. And then...enemies set fire to the manor, and the knights did nothing but run away. Therius couldn't believe it-couldn't believe that someone as chivalrous as a knight would just run from their enemies. That was completely outrageous! How could they be so cowardly and careless about such an important duty to protect the people?

He was extremely grateful when General Asthar decided to take him in as his pupil, to help him become a knight. Therius was so determined to become a real, true knight-one that never ran away from battle and stayed to true to helping the people, not himself.

"Heeyy...Where are you two going?"

Therius glanced at Kiel, who had bumped into them.

"Forte and I need to get to Dragon Lake, Kiel. Apparently Doug and Dylas are at it again..." He responded quietly with a nod. What he meant was that the two were fighting, as per usual...

Leon, the cat/fox-like Guardian who was with Kiel, merely smirked a bit. "Are you sure you two aren't on a secret date?" He teased, crossing his arms a bit with a wicked grin on his face.

Forte's face went slightly red at this. "Shut up!" She muttered quietly, stomping away from the other two. "We should hurry, Therius-we can't let those two go kill each other."

"Agreed." Therius muttered quietly, his face heating up slightly as Kiel and Leon high-fived each other with proud grins on their faces. Thankfully, it didn't take the two long to separate Dylas and Doug, which was good. This meant that the dwarf nor former Guardian could notice their faces, still red from embarrassment.

"He's sick!?"

Calista nodded. "Yes."

"He's sick and he insisted on staying on with his duties anyway!?"

"Yeah. Uh...Forte, you don't mind if you help track down Therius?"

"I don't mind. At all."

Forte walked through Selphia, trying to find the white knight. How could he stick with his duties when sick!? A knight had to know his or her limits-and obviously Therius was ignoring his limits.

It was then that Forte literally ran around town, and finally found a sickly Therius attempting to separate Doug and Dylas before they could kill each other. Forte quickly helped Therius to clear up that fight, before literally dragging him back to his guest house, throwing him into bed and tucking him in before he could protest.

"And sleep." Forte told him, before giving him medicine and leaving.

Then she came back half an hour (mainly out of worrying for him) and stayed with him the whole day to make sure he was alright. Just in case.

Therius couldn't help but watch Forte carefully while training.

Well, since he was training with her, he didn't really have much of a choice with that unless he wanted to be beaten easily, and he hated to lose.

There was something about Forte's skill as a knight, obviously. She was quick on her feet, could strategize as of what to do when facing most sorts of foes, and she seemed to know when the right time was to slash at the enemy or raise her shield to guard herself.

Also, she was pretty with her long, blonde hair and sharp blue eyes.

...and she was adorable when she was blushing out of embarrasment. He happened to notice that, too.

Wait, wait, why was he noticing those last three things? Was he becoming some creeper? No, he decided, he couldn't be some creeper if he was simply trying to protect her from being too embarrassed from Leon and Kiel's teasing. Or wondering what Forte and Vishnal could be talking about. Nope, not at all. He hoped so at least.

Therius couldn't believe his luck (What was he thinking!? This wasn't lucky! Right?).

He was stuck in a closet. With Forte.

Kiel and Leon had decided to throw a little prank on them, and, well, this was the end result.

"Forte?"

"Yes, Sir Therius?"

"Do I have permission to possibly murder Leon by accident while training tomorrow morning?"

"...I'll consider it."

Note that the closet they were stuck in was pretty small, so they were really crammed in there. Therius already felt himself start to sweat a bit. It must be getting warm quickly in the closet because of their body heat and the fact that they were in a small space. "I do hope that Lady Frey finds us soon-"

That was when he felt Forte kiss him. Therius instinctively froze, hesitantly kissing her in return.

This went on for another moment before Forte finally pulled away, letting out an incoherent noise of possible panic and/or embarrassment.

"W-what was that for!?"

Therius felt his face heat up. "I-I should be the one saying that!"

"I was trying to turn around to face you properly, I swear!"

"Why!?"

"So it would be less awkward talking to me with my back to you!"

When they got out of the closet thanks to Volkanon, the two were so embarrassed that they just ran back to their houses, unable to look at each other for the rest of the night.

There was always going to be an awkwardness between them, Forte figured, whether they were friends or in a relationship. And she was aware that she like him and he liked her. So...why not try?

She approached him the next morning, knocking at his door. He opened it, and the two stared at each other before she spoke.

"I think I love you."

Therius seemed to blush, before a faint smile appeared on his face.

"I believe I love you, too."