AN: Just a little one-shot I came up with. This fic is supposed to be a collection of one-shots, most of which I've already written. Enjoy!
Protector
– He needs to be strong enough to protect them all.
Samurai. One of the three combat classes, strong and always in the front row of battle but with a long cool-down. Samurai, the Eastern heroes of old, noble and strong. In that moment, just a few days ago – or was it? Was this all just a dream or were they still in that dark street with Rudy lying motionless on the cold pavement? – he hadn't been any of those.
Toya was a samurai, wasn't he? So why had he been so useless back then? Why had he stood there without doing anything while Serara and his sister did everything in their power to keep Rudy alive?
Rudy. Rudy had almost died. No, Rudy had died. No reviving in the Chapel, no healing spells, no reviving spells just... gone.
It irked Toya. He'd gotten so used to the idea of their rebirth at the Chapel every time they died that it seemed down right unnatural to witness death so close to him.
He remembered standing in the background, unable to do anything, his limbs feeling too numb move.
And after Rudy had... died-but-not-died, he wanted nothing more than to run back home and burst into the Chapel, just so his racing heart would be reassured than yes, he was going to see Rudy-nii again and he definitely wasn't gone.
Rudy-nii... he wondered if Rudy even remembered him calling him that. He'd never called him that before, but even through his eccentricity and arrogance Toya couldn't imagine life without Rudy anymore – just like he could imagine it without Minori and others. But Rudy was special, because they'd almost lost him forever that night.
Master Naotsugu had been kind enough to let the four of them use Call of Home to get back to Akihabara, where Isuzu was already fussing over and lecturing Rudy on how stupid and reckless he was and how she was never going to let him out if her sight even if she had to put a leash around his neck.
They all felt the same really (okay, but without the leash, even he knew that was a bit over the top).
Rudy had smiled when he'd seen them and a moment later he had crashed to the ground with a blubbering Serara sitting atop him. When Serara had finally calmed down, Minori – who was often too shy to ever interact physically with any of their comrades – had hugged Rudy with such force that Toya had expected to see bruises after she let go. All the while Isuzu lingered just behind Rudy's shoulder.
Toya hadn't hugged Rudy, because that was such a girl thing to do, but he'd squeezed his shoulder with a relieved and grateful smile. If his grip may have been too tight or his hand lingered too long on the other boy's shoulder, Rudy hadn't said anything.
He'd have probably expected the mushiness to pass once their reunion was over, but Toya found himself uneasy whenever the blond was out of his sight. Isuzu followed him practically everywhere. Serara kept asking him if he needed anything and even Minori kept glancing at him non-too-subtly every few minutes until Rudy finally snapped.
"I'm not a baby!" he'd shouted, but even that didn't seem to deter his fellow party-members.
Ten days of this consistent behavior about the blond and Shiroe had come down one morning and told them to go train out in the areas surrounding the city. It seemed that Rudy wasn't the only one aggravated by his guild-mates behavior. If they managed to annoy even their indifferent Guild Master Toya was prepared to admit that they might have gone slightly overboard. When it came to problems they should really solve them by themselves and ask for help when only absolutely necessary, at least, that was what Shiroe always told them. He was not, however, prepared to let Rudy run around fighting monsters any time soon, No matter how low their level might have been.
But an order was an order and Shiroe seemed irritated as it was, so they wisely chose not to agitate the Villain in Glasses even further than they already had.
Midday found them in the forests surrounding Akihabara, in the area meant for the smaller guilds. They'd run into some level eleven Brier Weasels and a Triffid, but besides that, it appeared to be pretty peaceful today.
They were even contemplating going back home or finding a good place to relax for a while when Toya caught sight of something lurking in the foliage. Goblins. Ten of them. Alarm bells went off in his head and he froze, feeling as though he'd been hit by lightning. His instincts roared at him:
Distract them.
Don't let them attack the others.
Get Rudy out of here.
Those were the only three things that mattered, but somehow the last one seemed to weight the most.
He'd failed once.
He wouldn't fail again.
Without hesitation he charged, swinging his sword high. Red light filled the little clearing they had been occupying, drawing the attention of his teammates, who immediately took up battle stances upon spotting their new enemy.
They took up their usual formation. He, Toya, at the frontal line. Rudy and Isuzu on long range attacks. Serara and Minori in the back. That is, until they were forced to break up formation and Rudy stepped forward – intending to fight the green demi-humans head on.
A hand shot up to stop him, Toya's mouth was open with a protest on the tip of his tongue, but Rudy was faster. "I'm not a baby!" he shouted angrily, clearly offended by his teammates acting like mother-hens even in the midst of battle.
True, Toya knew Rudy wasn't a baby (though the other boy did act like one more often than not). Rudy was capable of defending himself, especially now that he was truly an Adventurer, but Toya had made up his mind long ago – I can't let him get hurt!
"But-!" he began to object again, but Rudy cut him off angrily.
"I can take care of myself now! I'm not useless!" the words were angry and raw, but something in Rudy's voice made Toya pause. There was something desperate in that tone, something determined.
"Of course you're not Rudy," he said, more calm than he aught to be in battle "But... I just..." can't let you out of my sight! Can't let you get hurt! Can't let you do something stupid and get yourself killed again! "...I just... want to help you." Even to himself, that had sounded pathetic.
Rudy seemed to agree, because he snorted. "Humph, if I needed your help I would have ask for it." So Rudy was giving him the cold shoulder again? Figures.
"Like you'd ever do that, you prat." He muttered under his breath, but Rudy had heard nonetheless.
"Hey!" was the indignant response.
Toya smiled cheekily at his friend, before his expression grew solemn "I have your back."
Rudy merely glared at him, but eventually he relented with a exasperated sigh. "Thanks." he grunted, and even though he didn't seem particularly grateful, Toya knew he'd be later. Besides, he'd rather go back to Hamelin than let Rudy get sent to the Chapel for the second time in less than two weeks.
Over. His. Dead. Body.
He gave a battle cry before running straight at the nearest goblin, confident that his party would back him up.
They battled for the better part of the next hour, but when they finally finished off all of the goblins – all of them tired and smiling triumphantly – Toya felt as though something heavy had been lifted off his chest.
He'd broken his promise once. He hadn't been able to protect his party-mates – no, his friends – when they'd been defenseless and laying dead before him. And every time he though about that night, that scene that filled him with dread and terror and denial, his resolve only grew stronger.
He would not fail again.
Table of Contents:
1. Protector – He needs to be strong enough to protect them all.
2. Sunshine – Isuzu decides her Guild Master needs to get out more.
3. Mother – They're her kids, after all.
4. A Distant Light – Lenessia thinks she's finally found what she'd been looking for all along.
5. A Hundred Masks to Behold – Akatsuki watches the many faces of her Lord.
6. Fairytale – Some legends are actually true.
7. Left Behind – Shiroe never expected fatherly talks were part of being a Guild Master.
8. Needed – Air is air, invisible wherever it goes.
9. Nightmare – Sometimes, in the dead of night, she wakes up screaming his name.
10. Sotto Voce – Isuzu the Bard doesn't really like to sing all that much.
11. The First Step – Minori doesn't remember, even though the squeaking of wheels and the cold handles of metal haunt her memory.
12. The Little Things – In the end, that's all that matters.
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