Been a LONG while since I last wrote…anyway this is my first attempt at White Knight Chronicles. I wanted to write one for my OC initially but since I like Kara more than my own character, I decided to just write this one instead. I am absolutely in love with Kara and Caesar and the fact that she dies in the end just pisses me off! My inspiration for this one would be during one of the cutscenes at Frass Chasm. I changed it for this story but it's for the sake of this fanfic's progression (plus it's not that bad!). If you want to see the video, check it on YouTube; it's not hard to find now since there's lots of people who put walkthroughs for WKC these days. I'll post a link if a lot of people request for it.

Do not own WKC, never have, never will.

She's always on my mind. It doesn't even bother me to know she's Ebonwings. Whether or not Leonard and the others think her counterpart is the enemy, I cannot wrest that fact to become my own.

It's never wise to turn your back on the enemy, literally or otherwise. Unfortunately, Caesar turned his on the worst of times. Amidst his musings, the enemy - a large one, mind you - focused its attention on Kara. He's been finding it extremely hard to focus ever since the little chat he had with her and so far that has not been helping the group at all.

"Caesar, get your mind off the clouds and help Kara!" Eldore shouted at the distance. He and Yulie were too occupied with healing Leonard's gashed side after he got trampled over by the huge arachnid. Apparently, huge spiders dislike having small objects lodged inside their web spout and that's what set the spider's agitation to a new high.

Caesar kicked himself out of his reverie and made a quick analysis of this surroundings; he saw Leonard's friend tangled in the spider silk spurted out by the Direspider's tail, leaving Kara to fend against its strikes.

"Ugh!" Kara managed to utter after one of the monsters thorny legs pinned her down. Meanwhile, somewhere in the deep recesses of Caesar's mind, a fuse broke and using his spear, he tore said leg off of his teammate.

"You're going to pay for this!" Taking out his Dragon Ark, the young noble turned into the Dragon Knight and launched himself at the Direspider; thrusting his spear through the giant adversary's tough head as a mighty display of his Knight's power. He helped Kara up, assuming that the battle would be over but despite having half of its skull torn apart, spiders are notoriously persevering. In a fit of rage, it covered the Dragon Knight's spear with its silk from the tip to the ground below it; then angrily sped towards the recuperating Knight. As Caesar makes a mad attempt to wrangle his spear free from its confines, the Direspider now launched itself at his direction and pinned his Knight down.

"Oh, no…" Kara muttered under her breath as she climbed on top of the distracted Direspider and, with all the strength she had left, sliced off the remaining parts of the large arachnid's head. The Direspider twitches in agony and flips over, giving Kara little time to properly jump off of its back. When she landed, her already swelling right knee gave out on her and she was tempted to just drop down on the ground but since adrenaline was still being pumped into her system, she shook the feeling off the best she could. Caesar took this opportunity and drove his spear into the Direspider's tail all the way through the monster's open hole where its head used to be.

"…Hah-hah-h-hah…" Caesar powered down and rushed to Kara's side as soon as he heard her seemingly frantic heavy breathing and panting. The adrenaline finally stopped pumping and she permitted herself to drop down on the floor, grimacing at the open wound at the side of her leg and the dull pain of an abused kneecap. Caesar did not know much in the line of Eldore's healing hoo-hahs, but what he did know is that Kara is as stubborn as a bull and will not admit being hurt even if it killed her. Without her consent, he took hold of her right arm and slung it over his and started slowly walking – limping in Kara's case – towards the group.

"But why are you helping me, when you know all about me?" That question cannot be helped. Caesar knew that, after all, what sane person would help the enemy? He asked himself the same thing over and over almost all of last night and most of the morning – all the time ever since he found Kara's dirty little secret.

"Do I?" He shot her his trademark cute but inquisitive look (with matching raised right eyebrow to boot), "And here I just stare and stare wishing I knew more." As much as she wanted to slap him and kick him in the shin for all his antics, she was in no condition to do anything hostile.

"Caesar…"

Said person continued to help his limping ally and tried speeding up in order to join the others who were already a few ways ahead of them.

"…Caesar…"

Still, said person was too busy trying to figure out how the two of them were going to be able to catch up with the others with the pace that they were keeping all the while increasing the length of his steps.

"Caesar!" Kara's head (and knee cap) wanted to explode with her helper's apparent deafness.

"Huh, w-what?" She was thankful for the first time in quite a long while. He repeated his question, and this time, they stopped walking, "What's wrong?"

"I can't walk anymore."

"Uh, ahem…ahhh, do you want me to…carry you…?" It almost seemed like he whispered the last part amidst the giant blush forming on his cheeks. Unfortunately, Kara heard it and gave him the "evil" look.

"No, you don't need to do that." Then, she pointed to a small opening which led to a dead end, "Just leave me in there and I'll take care of it myself." Caesar immediately refused.

"And you really expect me to just leave you all by yourself?"

"Well, yes." She nonchalantly replied. He laughed sarcastically and proceeded to lift her up bridal style, "Hahaha! I didn't know you like telling jokes Kara."

"CAESAR! Put me down now!" Kara flailed her arms and hands around and punched Caesar's shoulder.

"That's not gonna work, sister!" After a few seconds, Kara tired herself out and just gave up trying, to Caesar's enjoyment. When they got to the cave, Caesar carefully set her to a soft patch next to a wall a little ways off the entrance so she can lean on to something.

"So? Start doing your healing magic crap so we can get going!"

"Hmm? Oh…about that." Kara looked down to avoid eye contact, "I lied," Then, looked up again, "I just needed some time for myself, and besides," She pointed to a small green patch with white flowers, "The herbs that grow in these mossy caves are used as makeshift first aid so just leave me here because it takes a while for the herbs to actually help; all that waiting will just bore you to death."

Kara thought Caesar listened to her for once when he ran all the way to the entrance. Sadly, her fortunes never last more than a second because he ran right back inside after peeking his head out of the cave for just a few seconds. Turns out he just wanted to make sure that he knows where everyone else was headed so they could catch up later; this could be the only opportunity he can convince her to stay with them – with him.

"Hahaha, thought I was gonna leave huh?"

"Sadly, yes." Even though her face had a sad expression on because of her disappointment, his dragonsight was having a hard time trying to figure out what was really troubling her other than what she was letting on. Instead of making wild guesses, he went straight to picking up some of the herbs that Kara mentioned earlier. He squeezed the juice out of the fat root crop he found and applied it like a salve onto her open wound and swelling kneecap. He then proceeded to wrap the wound in makeshift gauze made out of large leaves.

"But…why?"

"Because Kara, we're all friends here." He smiled and held her hand. He saw the gleam in her eyes; she wanted to get up and go as far away as possible as if she already knows what he was planning to do. In his eyes, this was the perfect opportunity so he helped her up and put his plan into action, "I'm your friend. I care about you."

She knew this was bound to come sooner or later; of all the times to pick, though, it had to be when she was vulnerable, "Don't start with me, Caesar! Don't do this to me."

"Listen to me; j-just hear me out okay?" He held her shoulders; he wanted to see her eyes, take in her scent – but most importantly – he wanted to know what she truly felt, "I just met you. We've only been together for a short period of time but somehow, it feels like I've known you all my life."

"Caesar, stop!"

Tears threatened to fall down her eyes but she held them in their place. A simple assassination: that's what it should've been. Why is it so complicated? Why do his words cause her so much confusion and grief?

Caesar's grip loosened when he felt the stiffness in Kara's shoulders disappear almost suddenly. Kara felt weak – powerless. Every word uttered by this man confused and pained her even worse now that he confronted her. True, the time she spent with her targets was irreplaceable, but her brother's promise kept pulling at her reins. He promised a world that will accept people like us. My brother loves me; he's the only one who ever did…

"…I…can't. Please don't do this to me." She practically begged. Her eyes gaze at the grass below, too afraid of how long – or short – her control on her emotions was. Caesar wanted to do something bold – something that can truly convince her that he can be trusted; that he can be her friend – maybe even more.

He lifts her chin up and gently forces her to look at him, "Then stop torturing yourself, Kara," Using his other hand, he wipes away a stubborn tear that subconsciously fell from her cheek, "A beautiful face deserves a beautiful smile."

"Caesar – I – I can't stay," Her voice started shaking; soon after, her entire body started lightly shaking as well. "Please don't make this harder than it already is."

Soon after, she found herself in Caesar's arms, "Then don't force yourself to do this!" He held her closer; his left hand caressed her hair while his other hand held Kara by the small of her back, "I'll be here, always."

She needed time to think, time to reflect upon events passed, she needed to vent. She had countless opportunities in the past to kill them but deep in her heart, she knew she couldn't do it; adding Caesar's coaxing into the mix only weakened her resolve even further. These past few days had been nothing but pure mental and psychological torture for her; she longed for a moment like this so whether she knew it or not, she returned his gesture two-fold.

Time never stands still for anyone but to Caesar and Kara, it seemed like that moment would last forever. They didn't really do anything; Kara simply held him back and the only difference would be the fact that she held him tighter. Even with his dragonsight, he cannot determine if he succeeded in convincing her to stop or not; that was his primary objective, but for now he just wanted her to give her a little bit more time, a shoulder to lean on, and a chance to tell her what he really felt.

"Can you give me just this then? Can you give me this one chance to show you what I feel about you?" This confused Kara a bit – until Caesar softly pressed his lips on hers. It looked as if the feat struck a chord somewhere inside Kara because her knees buckled and weakened below her shortly afterwards; whether this was due to her injury or not was never discovered. Caesar cut it off short and tried to catch her as soon as he felt her slipping from underneath him, but what he didn't expect was – the moment his left hand went to her waist in his attempt to catch her – her hands abruptly but softly caressing his face and Kara actually returning his affection.

He slowly set her down until the two of them were on their knees, lips still locked in and his arms never leaving her side. He was the first to part after a few seconds; he knew deep down that Kara was still not ready and he didn't want to put any more stress on her so he just held her in a soft embrace, feeling her warm breath on his chest as a way of telling her that he will never leave her.

I love you…yet I only met you now. A desert flower that flew with the wind until somebody chipped away at her petals, slowly trapping and killing her. I only wish to mend the pieces together, to see this desert flower fly freely again.

"Caesar, I wish we didn't have to meet in these circumstances…I wish…I wish time would stand still again."

"For you Kara, I'll make oceans still and mountains move!"

She couldn't help but chuckle at his cheesy pick-up line, "Caesar, you just ruined the moment."

"But I made you smile, didn't I? Usually I just piss you off."

"…I suppose…" He noticed her mood suddenly change.

"What's wrong?"

She closed her eyes and lowered her head, "…this."

"Kara, there's nothing wrong with being happy."

"But why are you trying so hard to make me happy?"

…Because you mean that much to me.

The last part would never be heard because the next time he will hold her will be at her last moments; one wherein he will be the one to give the deathblow.

I just noticed this but apparently I have already written for three games from Level 5: Dark Cloud 2, Jeanne D'Arc, and this one. Hahaha I'm a Level 5 junkie :P

A/N: I wrote this in an attempt to quell my own questions about how Caesar just artlessly tells Kara that she means "so much more" in the end, and yet there's not enough physical evidence (the in-between conversations in Frass Chasm don't count as physical evidence) that anything developed between them. Moreover, the scene at Thaumus Rock – Caesar: "You can stay; with me." – I mean that's what I call abrasive – and gutsy!

Okay now I'm done with my spiel! Please review after reading if possible. Anonymous reviewers are welcome so long as it is story and/or author related. Constructive criticism would be extra nice. Thank you!