Author's Note: Okay, it's 9:49, and I went into NaNoWriMo mode for this one. So My Favorite QQ was not allowed to edit this story. I am sure that in the morning when he sees this story uploaded that he will cringe at the sight. I'm sorry QQ. and I'm sorry to everyone else who has to read my errors, but the contest ends in 11 mins. So, have fun reading this story!

Marco's Strange Day

Marco hated taking a bath.

Sure, some days, bath taking was ok, but when he had to go during times like these, where he was just hanging out with Candy, but then Mom just made him go to get clean. Maybe he wanted to be messy once in a while.

As he walked into the bathhouse, Melody greeted him and his mother in her normal cheery nature. Why was she always so happy? Marco didn't know the answer.

Marco headed towards the men's bath, but he saw Nolan over there. He knew that his mom didn't like Nolan. He felt his mom's hand on his shoulder and felt her tug on him, as if to talk with him alone. He followed her a bit out of the men's bath.

"I need you to change and come over to the women's bath for a second. We need to talk about something."

Marco quickly changed into his shirt shorts swimming clothes and headed back with his mom.

On his way to the women's bath, he saw Raguna. He was talking, possibly flirting, with Melody. Why did that guy play with the hearts of practically every girl in Trampoli? Marco was glad that Raguna didn't flirt with Candy or any one of his buddies.

"I don't trust Nolan." His mom began. She was already dressed in her swimming suit. "You need to come in the women's bath with me."

"What?" Marco's mind panicked for a moment. "I'm not going into the women's bath!"

Ganesha walked into the ladies' bath. "Oh don't be embarrassed, it's only me."

"I don't want to go in the women's bath… at least, not with you."

"Are you sure? You could be in with any of the other girls too you know,"

Marco blushed brighter than Melody's hat. "What? Not Candy…"

"Candy?" Ganesha asked. "I didn't say anything about Candy."

It took a moment for this to settle in the young elf's overwhelmed head. "…What? Y-You tricked me! I'll get you back for this!"

He heard his mom laugh softly from behind the curtains.

"It's a mystery," someone said a ways off.

Marco turned around and saw Cinnamon and Candy standing with their bathing suits already on, both looking on at him in a curious manner.

"I didn't know that you were a pervert, Marco," Candy said.

"I-I'm not! My mom tricked me into doing this…" Marco flushed.

"…That's not what it looked like." Cinnamon said.

Marco looked from Cinnamon to Candy to the curtain hiding his mom. He was cornered.

"Augh!" Marco ran though the space between Cinnamon and Candy and ran into the men's bath to get his clothes. What was up with girls anyway?

As he walked into the men's bath, he saw Raguna being dragged out again by Melody. She was muttering something about staying in the bath too long and passing out. What was with that guy, how he'd always stay in too late. Marco didn't get what was everyone's problem today. Maybe it was him. Maybe.

He changed back into his regular clothes, and walked out of the bathhouse. Nolan was practically doing something that could only be described as a relationship with his cat, petting it and loving it and whatever, and everything was as normal in the bathhouse.

Everything… except for maybe one thing.

Candy was staring at him. And she did not look happy.

Marco tried to ease his way out of the door before his mom or Candy would notice, but since the young girl was staring at him, he was hard to miss. Plus, she got to the door before he did.

"What were you doing near the girl's bath just barely?" She asked.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Just talking to my mom." He responded.

"Thought the curtain?"

"It was her idea!"

"Uh-huh." Candy still wasn't pleased.

"You don't need to make a big deal about this, Candy. By tomorrow, everyone will forget about it, right?"

"Uh-huh."

Marco decided to put the 'We're-still-friends-so-lets-go-play-something-together' plan into action.

"Hey, Candy, do you want to play that gravestones game later today?"

"Sure! Just so long as you as you admit that you aren't a peeping tom or anything. My sister is worried."

Her sister was worried about that? "Don't worry, I have better things to do; like sword practicing, than to do stuff like that."

"Ok! Well, I'll see you soon then. How about we go to the church area after dinner?"

"Yeah! I'd like that." Marco walked out of the bathhouse. He was headed home to the forge, but was quickly flanked by his mother.

With one somewhat annoyed sniff, she concluded: "You didn't have a bath, did you?"

Yep, you can't beat the nose of an elf.

"So? I don't need to bathe every day, do I?" he asked.

Ganesha dragged Marco back over to the bathhouse.

Cinnamon and Candy were walking by. Candy giggled a little as they passed by.

When he saw that, Marco squirmed faster in his mother's blacksmith-deathgrip. "Mom! Why are you embarrassing me?"

"Because." Ganesha began. "I'm your mother. It's my job to embarrass my children. Since I only have you, you have to make up for your lack of siblings."

"Ugh, MOM!"

***

Marco was walking up the church district, up to the church. He was hoping Lara wasn't there, she'd never approve of the tombstone games. When all he saw in front of the church was Candy, he gave a silent cheer.

Candy was smiling at him. The whole 'Bathhouse Incident' was forgiven, as far as Marco could tell.

"So, what do you want to do here?" Candy asked.

Marco thought for a moment. "How about we do Knight and Princess?"

"But we always play that!"

"I know; it's my favorite." He was the knight saving the princess during that game, attacking all of the ghosts with his sword. No wonder it was his favorite game.

"Okay, We can play that." Candy walked over to the tombstones. "Tell me when you're ready, okay Marco?"

"Gotcha." Marco closed his eyes and got himself in the zone of make-believe. He opened his eyes and went into the world of his imaginations. He became Sir Markus of the Land of the Elves. (Author's Note: The Land of the Elves has no country name, like Norad or Zzyzx! I actually looked it up. Ugh!) His role was to defend the Princess Candis of Norad. But the ghosts were everywhere. How would they get safely to the Elves' Forests now?

Marco nodded, saying that the game could begin.

The invisible monsters and ghosts were everywhere. They were invisible to the princesses eyes, but not to his. His Elf vision was great for this sort of thing.

"What can we do, Sir Markus?" Candis asked him.

"We fight our way though. I have to protect you. I promised your father that." Sir Markus said, unsheathing his powerful blade. The silver color of its brilliance glimmered in the moonlit sky.

"But there's thousands of invisible monsters out there! How are we going to get there alive?" Candis was shaking.

"Relax Candis; we will get out of this alive. I promised to the king that I would protect you, right?"

Sir Markus stood in front of the army of ghosts and monsters. "Charge! Attack wherever you can!"

While in reality, Marco was whacking his swinging his sword around and Candy was humming a simple tune that the Runeys liked, the kids were in no immediate danger. But, the two of them liked to pretend they were in 500 to 1 odds or more, and then when they imagined they won, it was a lot of fun. Candis and Sir Markus, the perfect team. For Marco, he wanted to be like his fictional character. How cool would it be fighting and protecting girls like Candy?

As Marco slashed around his wooden sword as Sir Markus, he felt a rush of movement near him, and Candy made a tiny yelp. It pulled him out of his fantasy.

"What happened?" he asked her.

"You hit a Runey with your sword! How could you Marco?" Candy ran after the Runey.

How is that even possible? Marco thought. "I'm sorry?"

Candy started to talk to the little spirit, a water Runey floating above her head. Marco only heard half of the conversation, which was mostly Candy apologizing to the spirit and saying that he wouldn't do it again. If Runeys could hold a grudge, then he needed to stay away from water for a while.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled beneath them, and the ground cracked below them. Candy fell to the ground, and Marco saw the ground crack below her.

"Candy! Watch out!" Marco shouted to her.

Candy got up an ran in his direction, but the ground began to give way under her, until the entire section she was standing under collapsed. Marco watched in horror as his greatest (and closest) friend began to fall. He reached out his hand and felt hers gripping tightly to his. He caught her.

"Okay, Candy, I'm going to lift you up and out of the hole. You're going to have to help me get you back up."

"O-Okay," Candy sounded terrified.

"On the count of three, I need you to hold onto the edge of the grass still there and I'll lift you up. We have to work together, okay?"

"Hurry up, I'm slipping!" Candy yelled back.

"Count with me" Marco said. "One… Two… Three!" Both of them pushed or pulled their way to make Candy go back up to the surface. Finally, Candy got her knee back up and fell back down on the ground. As she got to her feet, she shakily hugged Marco. He felt a little awkward, but he didn't mind it much. It was Candy, after all.

"Thank you for saving me Marco." She pulled out of the hug. "You're a better hero then Sir Markus."

"I wouldn't say that. He can slay over a thousand ghosts when there is only him and his princess friend."

"You're better. Because you are real." Candy looked around. "Where's my doll?"

"Your doll?"

"The one Sis made for me. It's really important." Candy gasped. "It must have fallen into the hole! Oh no, what do we do?"

An idea formed in Marco's head. His mom might kill him, and he'd probably be in an extreme amount of trouble, but he had to do it.

"I'll get your doll." Marco said.

Candy blinked. "Are you sure? It looks scary down there."

"Sure, I'd be happy to help you out!" If it meant bonus points with Candy, then sure he could do it!

Candy started shoving a rock towards the hole.

"Wait, why are you doing that?" Marco asked.

"So that I can tie a rope to the rock so that you can go down and not fall."

"That's fine then. Let me help you out." Marco shoved the rock to the edge.

Candy fastened a cord on the stone and let it fall down the gaping hole. "It's 15 feet long. If it doesn't reach the ground then climb back up and I'll find more.

"Thanks, but why do you have rope with you?"

"I always bring an emergency kit around just in case I need it. It's very important. Sis says its good to keep on hand too."

"You really admire your sister don't you?" Marco said.

"She's my hero." Candy said plainly.

Marco smiled at that for a moment, before realizing that he wasn't her hero. "Oh."

"Are you going to go down there or not?"

"Oh, right. See ya!" he slid down the rope.

"Be careful!"

***

Marco landed on the ground with a thump. There was light in this tunnel, thought how it was he didn't know. He walked on what felt like cobblestone-like rock flooring the cave, his feet echoing as he walked.

"Hey, Candy!" He called up to her. "It's like there's this tunnel underground!"

"Hurry up, I don't know what's down there." Candy shouted back.

Marco walked right into a tree stump.

He yelped as he tripped, falling face forward into a plot of land. How did you find tree stumps in a tunnel? Marco didn't know. What he did know was that there was a little shimmer of light that was different from the normal light in the tunnel. Marco got up and walked over to it. It was the doll!

"Candy, I think I found the d-" Marco was interrupted as another shaking began. This time, it was above him instead of below. He stumbled backwards as part of the ceiling crumbled around him. He closed his eyes and covered his head with his hands, praying that nothing would fall on him.

When the shaking stopped, Marco got back up. In front of him was a lot of debris and sharp looking objects jutting out from the ground. Behind was pretty much the same thing. He was confined in a little area with nothing but Candy's doll and a wooden sword. He tried to go over the objects, but as he was about to pull himself over, something sharp jabbed into his palm and he flinched back in pain. There was no climbing over it. Marco sucked on his hand as red blood came out of it.

Marco then pulled out his sword with his other hand and started whacking at the spiky debris. No such luck. In fact, the sword was getting damaged more then the ceiling stuff!

Marco looked around his space. Why did he have to get stuck in there anyway?

He decided that there was no other way out. So he did the only thing he could do in that situation.

"Help! Candy, I'm stuck! Help!" he shouted.

She couldn't here him.

***

So cold.

Marco didn't know how long he had been trapped in the tunnel, but he knew that it was cold. He was cold, and hungry too. And he had no way of showing how long he'd been stuck there.

Plus it was so much colder then he was used to.

He was sitting down, rocking back and forth with the doll in hand as if to not lose his sanity in this horrible place. This was a stupid idea. How was he supposed to know that Nature would capture him? This never would have happened if he didn't slash that Runey, and it was just a doll for crying out loud. What did he do to deserve this?

Still the doll was really cute in its own way. He wasn't really into dolls, but for a doll, the one Cinnamon made for Candy was rather nice. You could tell that it was hand made, and well loved. The doll really helped him out to keep warm. Maybe this was worth it, because he'd have the doll and everything.

He heard footsteps on the echoing floors he got up just in time to see his lifesaver.

"Hey! Hey, Raguna! Help! The ceiling collapsed, and now I'm stuck! Maybe if you had a hammer or something, you could get me out of here, because my mom said I'm too young to use one."

Raguna got out his hammer. "Stand back Marco, I don't want you to get hurt."

Marco backed up and Raguna slammed all of the sharp bits of stuff to the ground. He stepped towards Raguna, the doll falling from his hands at the joy of freedom.

"Thanks! I was getting kinda scared, thinking I might never get out… Oh, yeah, don't tell my mom about this, okay? It's our secret!"

Marco ran off before Raguna could reply. He climbed up the rope with only a slight amount of stinging in his hands as he climbed.

He was free! He was alive!

***

Candy clasped her hands as he climbed up to safety. When he got onto safe ground, she hugged him again. Marco liked Candy's hugs.

"I was so scared. Raguna came over at the right time. I didn't know what to do. What took so long?" she asked.

"I got stuck, but Raguna was able to save me. How long was I down there?"

"I don't know, a half hour, an hour tops?" Candy guessed.

"What?" Marco exclaimed. "It felt like years!"

"I'm sorry I made you go and get the doll. I wont make you do anything that dumb again, okay?" Candy started walking away from the gaping hole near the tombstones.

"The doll…" Marco looked around. Uh oh. "I think I lost it…"

"You lost it? Oh no! Sis gave me that doll." Candy calmed down a little though. "But that's okay, because you made it out okay. I don't need the doll anymore."

"Candy… I'm sorry." Marco looked down at his feet as he walked over to her.

"It's okay, you're better then a doll. Marco, look out!"

Marco walked headfirst into one of the large gravestones. "Ow…" he said, back on the ground. Why did the have to be so stupid?

Candy ran over to help. "Are you all right?" she asked, hiding a laugh.

"Yeah." He got up quickly to hide the blushing of his cheeks. "Just fine."

"That's good… Marco, you're bleeding!" Candy pointed at his hand.

Oh yeah, that. "It's okay, just a little scratch."

"We should go and check that out with Lara at the infirmary, okay?"

"Maybe you could do the song thingy you like to do to heal me,"

"What?"

"When you sing and stuff…" Marco didn't know what it was called.

"Do you have any Runeys for that?" she asked.

"No."

"Then I can't do it without any Runeys, and it doesn't heal. Sorry, Marco. Let's get you to the infirmary to heal you up." Candy started shoving him over to the church building.

Even though Candy was bossing him around a little, Marco didn't mind. In a way, he liked it. He had fun with her, and the fact that she cared about his well-being was enough for now.

But then the dread hit. How bad would it be if his mom found out about all of this? He had to trust Raguna with the secret.

"Hey, Candy, you're not going to tell anyone will you?" he asked her.

"Maybe. I'm going to have to make a good story to tell why you're like this to Lara if I don't tell the truth." Candy responded.

"Whatever, just don't let mom know, okay?" He trusted Candy with the secret.

"Okay Marco, I'll keep a promise!"

Of course she would. Because she was Candy, his greatest friend.

Author's note: Again, that was a NaNoWriMo style ending. It was the fastest thing I could come up with in a few minutes. so I'm sorry. This was written for the March Contest for the Rune Haven's Contests. I am done! And now I can soon submit my almost done with Selphy's Birthday for Birthday Parties!

Plus, I have found a new-found pairing obsession! MarcoxCandy is sooooo cute! I couldn't get into detail, but I want to rewrite this into a multi chapter story. but right now it's 9:53, and I don't have time. So maybe you guys will have fun seeing more of this in the future. Hooray!

Fairy of the Flames