Title: Now and Then

Characters: Mel, Te'ijal, Edward, Galahad, Stella, Lydia

Pairings: Te'ijal x Mel, Edward x Mel, Te'ijal x Galahad (we're going for open relationships here)

Rating: 15+

Summary: Mel's growing fascination with a vampress is getting out of hand.

Timeline: The world of Av3, during Mel's journey, but interspersed with references to Av1 and Av2.

Disclaimer: I don't own Aveyond nor any of the characters. I'm just a poor university student trying to cope with the injustices of life.

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Chapitre 1: Growing Realization

Looking closely at Te'ijal, Mel concluded that the vampress was very beautiful. Her pale skin contrasted well with her ruby-red eyes and lips. Besides, her perfectly chiseled jaw, her high cheekbones and her tall nose were, in human standards, very attractive. How could anyone not see her as beautiful? Mel thought it was impossible but then again, there was Te'ijal's difficult husband, the paladin Galahad.

Which is why on that rare peaceful night, as Stella and Lydia slept around the welcoming heat of the camp fire, as Edward was ruminating about his future under a tree, and as Te'ijal went off to scout the surrounding areas for spies, Mel asked Galahad.

The paladin was sitting on a piece of log near the camp fire, lost in thought.

"Hey, don't you find Te'ijal beautiful?"

His head snapped up and his brows creased to his usual frown. "Find that demon spawn beautiful?" he spat. "I would sooner be damned!"

Okay, that answers it, Mel thought. "But," she persisted, "taking aside the fact that she's a vampress who stole your soul, don't you think that physically, she's attractive?"

Galahad's lips twitched contemptuously. "She is attractive precisely because she is a vampress. It's always been like that with creatures of evil—they tempt you with their beauty."

It was then that Mel realized that it was useless to discuss the matter further. Galahad was so dead-set in his beliefs that there was no getting through him. He sees the world in plain black-and-white, no gray areas at all.

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Mel didn't know when it had started but one day she noticed that she had a habit of looking at Te'ijal from the corner of her eye. It was not that she would look at her every minute, but that every time something happened, like an attack from wild creatures, she would instinctively dart a glance towards the vampress.

Fascination with evil, tempted by their beauty, as Galahad would have put it. Mel didn't find anything wrong with it. After all, it wasn't everyday that one could have a vampress as a traveling companion.

"Hey Mel, are you alright?" somebody asked anxiously.

Mel snapped out of her reverie. They had just fought a pack of wolves which they dispatched quite easily. Which was why the question irritated her.

"Yes I am. I'm no weakling, Edward!"

The young man's face didn't lose the look of concern. At that moment, Mel thought how much she was grateful for Edward's patience. Surely it wasn't easy traveling with someone who snapped at you over small things (which Mel often did nowadays—she didn't exactly relish in the thought that she was a descendant of a demented evil sorcerer, or that she had helped in giving the Orb of Darkness to another demented psycho vampire, or that she had to take responsibility for the survival of humankind).

With that thought, she muttered an apology and was about to drag the carcasses of the wolves to skin them and chopped them off for dinner when Edward grabbed her arm.

"Mel, what's wrong?"

"Oh nothing's wrong, Edward," Mel answered sarcastically. "All's right with the world—no psycho vampire to stop, no Orb of Light to find, no mysteries about an amnesiac girl to unravel, no fighting for one's life to survive. No, nothing's wrong."

"You can tell me you know. If you're stressed about all of this."

Looking at those earnest green eyes, Mel thought of how she was being unfair to Edward. He had always been there, helping her (although she knew it was also because he was afraid of the responsibilities that come with becoming a king). And the fact that it was not really about Gyendal and his band of bloodthirsty followers or her relationship with Mordred Darkthrop or the mystery behind Stella's amnesia (and subtle flirting with Edward) which stressed her nowadays made her all the more guilty.

"Sorry, Edward. I'm just… tired." She looked up at the purplish sky tinged with the red rays of the setting sun. "Maybe we should camp out here."

Edward looked at her for a while longer then said, "Yes, I think we should."

"Camping out again?" a shrill voice sounded from behind Mel.

Mel let out an irritated sigh before turning to face the green-haired snob. "What is it this time, Lydia?"

"Well, let me tell you, rat-face, that with us camping out every night when we have been in this forest for, like, five days?—no, make that ten days—we will have made absolutely no progress in our journey to save the world!"

"Lydia—" Edward began.

""And you know what? I can see perfectly why you would prefer it this way: you do not really want to save the world; you only want to seduce my poor Edward so that you can become Queen of Thais. I can see right through you!"

"Lydia, please—"

"We will not ever make out of this forest until you can be sure that my darling Edward will make you his Queen after we defeat this loony vampire!"

"Lydia, stop it!" Edward yelled.

Whatever he said next didn't register in Mel's mind. She just stared at Lydia. Was it ten days already? Had it been that long? She didn't notice that such a long time has passed. Why did it slip out of her consciousness? Was she that absent-minded lately?

"She is right, rabbit."

Mel nearly jumped at the sound of the cool voice from just behind her. She turned around and saw the tall vampress looking at her. "We have been spending far too much time here. We should get going."

For the nth time that day, Mel was at a loss. Why was it that people have a way of sneaking up on her these days? She shook the thoughts out of her head and muttered, "Sure, let's go. You guys are up for an all-nighter right?"

"Of course we are," Lydia snorted.

"Yes, I'm up to it," Edward said as he gave her his encouraging smile.

"How about you, Stella?" Mel asked the dark-skinned girl sitting on a rock.

"Yes, I think I can make it."

"If she gets tired, I can carry her," Galahad proclaimed, his chest puffed out like a peacock. Mel darted a glance at Te'ijal and saw the same indifferent expression on her face.

"Okay then, let's pack up some meat then we'll be off."

As they picked their way out in the dense forest, Lydia led the way with her fire magic lighting their path (this time Mel didn't have the energy to pick a fight with her since she still couldn't get over the shock that she had been quite absent-minded these days, to the point that she was unaware that they had been in the forest far longer than they should have been).

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Edward darting glances to her direction, much like they way she glanced at Te'ijal these days.

Edward sidled beside her (leaving Stella's side, making the dark-skinned girl pout), and touched her arm lightly.

Mel jumped back, brandishing her dagger. "Edward! Don't scare me like that!"

"You were zoning out again!" Edward, who had also jumped back at her reaction, exclaimed.

The whole party had stopped. Lydia was glaring at her; Stella was staring at her; Galahad and Edward were having similar looks of concern (which struck Mel as so noble-like that it was annoying); and—here Mel tried her best to avoid looking at her—Te'ijal was looking at her with amusement.

And then Mel realized something. What disturbed her nowadays was the fact that she didn't think about saving the world and fighting evil anymore. With each passing day, she was more and more acutely aware of her growing fascination with a vampress, to the point that she could no longer act normally around her.

It was getting out of hand.

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