"Come on Veigar! Hurryyyy!" The Fae Sorceress, Lulu, shouted at her moping companion, who was currently refusing to budge from the comfort of shade on a particularly warm summer day. "No! There's no way I'm going out there, I'll catch on fire from the heat." Veigar objected in his unusually shrill voice from the shadows of a palm tree.
Lulu pouted, and a large frown began to form on her face. "Awee but why? It's so nice out here, the sun, the sand, the sea! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around her in the air as purple locks of hair flowed in the warm summer breeze.
Veigar's eyebrow twitched menacingly.
"I beg to differ. Evil finds nothing beautiful, for it will all be destroyed! Bahahaha!" He chuckled at his cleverness.
Lulu stomped her foot in the white sand, and her hands clenched to her sides in fists of anger. "Oh come on don't be such a spoil sport, we didn't come out all this way for nothing!" With a malicious smile she quickly approached the dark yordle. "You won't even know until you come out!" And while ignoring Veigar's groan of protest, she forcefully grabbed onto his hand and dragged him out of his shrouded sanctuary.
"Argh, stop you foolish girl! I will show you no mercy if you-" But he was cut short as they crossed the threshold into the light.
Before the two bickering yordles lay a tranquil, turquoise ocean that sparkled with light reflected from the mid-day sun; a warm breeze brushing stray strands of hair from Lulu's face, and rustling the edges of Veigar's wizard hat.
"AHH MY EYES, IT BURNSSS!" Veigar shrieked while attempting to shield his eyes with one armored hand; the other one was still captured in Lulu's iron grip. "It's so... AMAZING!" The Fae Sorceress's eyes lit up in bewilderment. She sprinted to the shore, dragging a suffering Veigar along with her.
Once they arrived at where the waves lapped at the pristine beach, the dark yordle wrenched free of Lulu's prison like grasp as she started giggling and haphazardly threw off her shoes and clothing and dashed into the water.
"LULU WHAT ARE... You.." But the yordle was cut short as he realized that she was covered by a frilly, purple, and after many failed attempts to reject the thought, a somewhat nicely fitting bikini swimsuit.
Veigar quickly became flustered, the warmth burning like a fire across his cheeks, and to his dismay, it would not go unnoticed.
"Veigie your face is glowing all pink!" Lulu gasped, pointing to the faint pinkish tint that indeed, did glow from under the shadow of the yordle's hat.
The Tiny Master Of Evil looked quite taken aback. "W-W-WwWHAT it is most CERTAINLY from the heat!" He stammered, crossing his arms in a futile attempt to defend his claim. "And do NOT call me Veigie!" He added, glaring at the pesky female in front of him.
Lulu pouted. "Awweee. You didn't even bring anything to swim in. You really are such the spoil sport!" And with a triumphant laugh, the yordle girl splashed a decent amount of water onto Veigar, who was standing a bit too close to the shore.
"AHH! You WITCH! I only agreed to this little excursion because I had nothing better to do on this vacation! Do not make me regret my decision." His shining yellow eyes glared menacingly at the yordle girl before him. With nothing to say to such a blunt remark, the Fae Sorceress frowned and looked down at the shimmering water below her, suddenly regretting what she had done; causing Veigar to smirk from his accomplishment of causing her sudden melancholy.
"I know.. I'm sorry.. I'm very glad that you came with me though, so it's fine even if you don't swim!" She suddenly brightened up at the end of her speech, giving the dark, and now water drenched, yordle a beaming smile.
Veigar looked stunned, his mind racing with two crucial questions.
"Can this girl's happiness ever be extinguished? And how can one be so jovial, in a world fringed with chaos and torture?"
Noticing her companion's shocked reaction, Lulu started giggling, which angered The Tiny Master Of Evil even further.
"Grrr... I'm going back to sit in the shade, away from this HELLISH sun! Have fun doing whatever it is that you find so amusing." His eyebrows furrowed as he turned his back to her and stomped off in the direction of the palm tree.
"Hehehe okay, but make sure you watch me, so that no sharks will swim up and try to bite me!" She exclaimed.
Veigar finished his trek and sat down with his back to the palm tree. "Are you an idiot?! I don't think there's any sharks this close to the shore, but I sure hope they get you!"
"Hey that's meaannnn!" Lulu wailed, trying to fling more ocean water upon him, but to no avail for the dark yordle was too far from her range.
"I'm very glad that you came with me though..."
"NO! Such idiotic statements should be EXPELLED from my mind!" Veigar spat the words out, quiet enough so that she could not hear, as he remembered what Lulu had said to him.
He then spent his time sitting in the sand beneath the palm tree, analyzing the previous encounters, and watching Lulu make such large splashes that he didn't think a yordle could ever possibly make.
"That Lulu..."
-
The sky was overcast when Veigar awoke. Dark, billowing clouds advanced over the vast, dim ocean, and he could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. He rubbed his eyes wearily, realizing that he must have dozed off in boredom of watching Lulu frolic in the sea.
Speaking of which, where was the Fae Sorceress? The question hung over him as he stood and walked down onto the beach in search of his companion. However she was no where to be seen. Curses. The stubborn girl could be anywhere. He stopped, squinting his eyes in the decreasing daylight.
Maybe she decided to leave...
Yes, that would be for the better, he decided.
But he squinted his gleaming yellow eyes and scanned the ocean again, ignoring the sudden strikes of lightning upon the water, and how the wind had considerably picked up its pace. Then his eyes caught sight of a small figure in the churning waters, which was rapidly being carried further away from the shore.
"LULU!" He yelled, suddenly sprinting forward to save his small friend.
He paused for a moment at the shore's edge, contemplating. Were he and Lulu even 'friends'? He couldn't quite remember what having a friend was like, but he also couldn't even count the times that she had been a nuisance more than a friend...
Well, it didn't matter now, because If she perished in the waves, he'd have some explaining to do when he returned to the Institute of War alone.
Taking a deep breath, Veigar steeled himself and quickly jumped into the fray of the ocean. He was not a strong swimmer, but something pathetic as water would not stop him.
"LULU!" He yelled again as he caught up to her, and up close he could see how frantic her movements were.
She replied with a fearful "VEIGAR!" Before a colossal wave swelled up and engulfed her. Panic fluttered in Veigar's heart for much longer than he would have liked to admit. Moving forward against the crashing waves, he frantically called Lulu's name again once he saw her head suddenly burst out of the water, her arm reaching out of the ocean to him as the other struggled against the waves that threatened to envelop her once again.
He wasted no time as he launched his gloved hand out and embraced hers, and he pulled her with all the strength that he had back towards the shore. Salty water threatened to choke him as he fought his way back, and for a split second he hated how physically weak he was. Water was not something that he would perceive as a threatening force, but right now, it was. He tightened his grasp around Lulu's hand and kept fighting the ocean that violently thrashed around him, and ignored the piercing strikes of lightning and the furious wind that roared in his ear.
After what seemed like an eternity, he dragged himself and Lulu onto the shore, but he didn't stop there, still having a tight hold on her hand until they were far away from the edge of the ocean and protected from the fierce rain under the canopy of trees.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" He shouted as menacingly as his high pitched voice would allow, while small drops of a combined mixture of rain and ocean water dripped off of his trembling, drenched body.
Lulu opened her mouth to say something, but then realized that any excuse would not falter Veigar's anger. "I.. I'm sorry..."
He grimaced, glaring at her. "Apologizes are meaningless to me. This... 'Vacation' is over." His gaze became softer as he offered a hand to Lulu, who was sitting on the dusty ground, attempting to hide the large drops that trickled from her eyes.
He sighed.
"Let's just go back to the Institute."
She sniffed, rubbing her eyes and nose hurriedly, and then grasped her now slick hand in his, which made the dark sorcerer frown. "Okay!" She looked up at him and gave a small smile. "Thank you for saving me."
But before he could respond, her expression fluctuated, and she shot up and released his hand, pointing at his face in bewilderment.
"Y-YOUR HAT.. IT'S GONE!"
"WHAT?!" Veigar panicked, realizing that it must of blew off when he dove into the ocean to save Lulu. He had been so caught up in rescuing her that he didn't take a moment to notice that one of his worst fears had come true. Frantically touching his face, his heart nearly stopped when he realized that each and every normally shrouded scar was visible.
And to Lulu, of all people.
He quickly bolted around, turning his back to Lulu. Crouching to the ground, he screwed shut his gleaming yellow eyes, and covered his small, feline ears with gloved hands in fear.
"DON'T LOOK AT ME." The Dark Sorcerer shrieked above the roar of the rain, in a tone that was normally only heard on the battlefield.
Lulu slowly approached him, unsure of what to do. "Veigar... Who did this to you? Where did those scars come from?"
Vividly unpleasant memories flashed through his mind, and he remembered his cries of agony and pain during his time spent trapped and tortured in the prison. The suffering caused there had corrupted him beyond repair, and it had damaged Veigar to the point where he was sure no one would think of him as a normal yordle ever again. He had become an outcast, and even though he assured himself that it didn't bother him, and that it was for the better, deep, deep down, there was a shard of him that was troubled by it. Perhaps it was that shard, that allowed him to grow closer to the Fae Sorceress.
His voice became quieter, almost a whisper, although with each word, it shook a little more. "I'm unsightly... I'm revolting... I'm h-hideo..." But his words were hindered when he felt Lulu place a soft hand on his shoulder.
"You're very handsome! Those scars... I'm sorry... I can tell that you've been through a lot of pain. But that's what makes you so strong now." Even though Veigar could not see her face, he knew that she was smiling.
Although, he was not as shocked as he thought he would be at her response. He knew that her up-beat personality and joviality acted as a sort of buffer from the horrors of the world, and he knew that she was accepting and saw everything in an unusually positive way, but he did not know to what extent. Perhaps the small shard of him had hoped to hear something like that from Lulu for a long time. And that is what drew him to her.
But he knew now that when others hadn't, she would accept him. Maybe because she truly saw the small glimmer of good that remained in him.
Hold on, had she called him... 'Handsome'?
He had certainly been called strong before, for his dark magics would make anyone cower in fear, but handsome? That was something... Pleasantly new.
"Lulu..." Veigar slowly stood, and turned around to face her, hoping that the sudden feeling of warmth on his cheeks would disappear soon.
"No one's ever said anything like that to me. Thank you."
She gave him one of her trademark smiles that was crazy, yet beaming with happiness "Well, It's true! And you're welcome." Her smile disappeared, and was replaced by a shy, embarrassed expression. "Oh, and have you seen what happened to my clothes? I think that the wind blew them off of the beach..."
Veigar groaned, putting a hand to his face in disappointment. His sudden happiness was ruined. Even though she was a nice yordle, (yes, he admitted it) She was still a pain in the...
"VEIGAR! I found your hat!" Lulu exclaimed pointing way up to a canopy of foliage that was located not too far from them. To his dismay, his indigo colored wizard cap was stuck between a very, very tall palm tree.
He suddenly felt as if he had been groaning way too much. "Your clothes are probably way off in the distance by now, and just leave it." He said as Lulu raced off to the palm tree, attempting to climb the colossal thing. "I've had enough... adventuring.. for one day. I have more hats back at the Institute anyway. Let's go back now." He said, offering a hand to her.
She hopped down from the tiny amount of distance that she had traveled up the tree. "Oh, oka-"
Lulu started, however a blinding strike of lightning interrupted her, and it was soon followed by the cacophonous sound of thunder that seemed to shake the ground with it's furious strength.
"EEEEEEKKK!" She had quickly latched onto The Dark Sorcerer in a tight embrace of utter fear, her barely covered by a bikini top breasts smooshing against him.
He groaned, yet again, although he couldn't hide the astounding shade of red that his face had become. This had definitely not been his idea of a vacation.
But he didn't regret going.
