WARNING! This story will contain Arc 2 and 3 spoilers! Repeat! This story will contain Arc 2 and 3 spoilers!
And in other News it will also involve DylasXFrey, LeonXForte and DougXXaio Pai and a few more TBA
Plot: Things in town go haywire when Arthur is told that Frey has a price on her head. Frey could care less, but everyone else is going nuts trying to protect her. At the same time Frey begins a new quest, Dylas seriously contemplates their relationship, a few new romances bloom and someone gets knocked up- WAIT WHAT?! As if life in Selphia wasn't unexpected enough!
"What in God's name is that?"
Doug turned around and saw Leon standing behind him looking at the Melon he was stocking in shock.
"Um, pink Melon?" He raised an eyebrows at the man and held it up for inspection. "Frey just delivered us more for the store." Leon hesitantly grabbed it and inspected it. "Is something wrong?"
"It smells like a strawberry."
Doug gave a soft laugh as he took the fruit back from the bewildered Priest. "That's good! It's a hybrid of the two. It's a newer fruit, so to speak, so I guess I could understand if you aren't familiar with it..." Doug narrowed his eyes a little. "You aren't familiar with it right? You aren't just messing with me?"
"Sadly no, not this time." Leon shook his head and looked at the others. "I had hoped though, that even though everything changed food would have stayed the same." He gave a small sigh and begrudgingly smiled at Doug. "And I had finally thought I was catching up."
Doug stared at the man for a moment before he smiled. "Tell ya what, why don't we cut up one of these bad boys and have some for lunch? Granny's making Salmon Onigiri."
"I shouldn't intrude..."
"Aw come on! Granny loves feeding everyone! She even feeds that horse bastard when he's around."
Leon looked at Doug for a moment more before he smirked a little. "Since you put it so elegantly, how can I refuse?"
"Alright!" Doug went back to stocking some more melons when he stopped and looked back at Leon annoyed. "The elegant thing was sarcasm huh?"
"This time yes."
"Hey you two!" Both men turned around and saw Forte staking towards them. "Have you seen Frey?"
"Frey? Not as of late." Leon gave a soft yet dramatic sigh and looked wistful. "It does make it hard to steal her away."
Doug chuckled. "Have you asked Dylas? Perhaps he kidnapped her!"
The boys both gave a small laugh and Forte stomped her foot a little to quiet them. "This is serious! No one has seen her since yesterday." Both grew silent and looked at each other surprised. "We checked to be sure and she isn't in a dungeon flower, and no one can think of any requests she could be on either! Meg went to look for Dylas, but normally he tells her when Frey and he have a date..."
Doug gave a small huff. "The bastard normally boasts to me too... but if Frey is just out exploring he might not know. I mean, when she went in the Dungeon Flower we didn't know until Clorca went in and found her there."
"Yes, but Dylas and I made her promise to tell us f she left."
"If I may," both looked at Leon, who seemed as calm as ever. "Why are you so worried?"
"Huh?!" Forte stared at him uncomprehending.
"Frey is an adult woman and has proven many times to be able to care of herself. If Amber was missing like this, then I could see why you would be so anxious." He moved his head over and fanned himself a little. "However Frey… She did defeated Ethelberd after all. Why are you so much more worried now?"
Forte opened her mouth to respond when Margaret came rushing in. "We have a problem! Dylas is missing too!"
"Well there you go, they eloped together!"
Forte growled a little as Meg looked concerned. "Please Leon, this is serious! According to Porco, Dylas left work yesterday to accompany Frey somewhere! Arthur never saw him come home last night and he hasn't shown up for work either!"
"Oh, this is bad!"
"It still sounds like an elopement to me."
"...well.." Meg looked at Leon a little worried. "I don't know."She thought about it for a moment and looked hopefully towards Forte, "I guess we didn't think about that." As the other three looked at her surprised, she backtracked. "I don't mean to say they, er, eloped, but what if they left for some, well, alone time?"
Leon and Forte both looked scandalized at her and Doug shook his head. "Nah, Dylas wouldn't do that. He keeps saying Frey's way too innocent and vulnerable to even think of doing anything before they get married." As the surprised glances turned his way Doug sputtered, "Look I was hanging around with him and Arthur one day and he mentioned it, it's not like I make a habit of letting him talk about personal stuff with me!"
"...So," Leon looked at Forte, who was still a little in shock at the dwarf's announcement, "if we can rule out alone time, then we can probably rule out eloping. A man with that sort of moral compass wouldn't want her to miss having traditional ceremony." He shook his head again, "Though, I still do not see any major issue. Frey and Dylas are both competent warriors."
"Arg!" Forte turned around and glared at him, "It's not that simple!"
"Forte, Margaret!" the group turned in time to see Arthur racing into the shop. "Any luck?"
Forte bowed a little and reported, "No, all we have found out that is that Dylas is missing along with her."
"I see." Arthur looked troubled. "Then something is defiantly wrong. I spoke to Xiao Pai and she appears to have asked Frey about finding an Emerald for her. The farthest they should have had to go was maybe Autumn Road..."
Finally everyone let that information sink in. "Perhaps... Horse-face and her.. um... maybe they got lost?" As everyone turned to look at Doug he held up his hands in defense. "Look, I know it's reaching, but Frey has a real shitty sense of direction, and if it's a dungeon Dylas isn't familiar with then it would take time for them to get out."
"Frey knows an excellent Escape Spell though."
"... I said it was reaching..."
Arthur turned to leave, "I'm going to get some people and start a search party. We need to find them."
"A search party?" Leon ran forward and put his staff in front of Arthur blocking his path.
"Uh!" Arthur looked over at Leon, almost looking angry now.
"What is going on?" As Arthur stared at him bemused, Leon gave a small fox-like growl. "Frey is a competent warrior, she saved numerous people's lives many times. Dylas is skilled enough to keep up with her and helped in the defeat of the shadow water Dragon and Dolce's Guardian Form. Why are you panicking?"
Arthur looked at Leon and finally gave a small sigh. He adjusted his glasses and simply stated, "I have received word from the capital that some of Ethelberd's follower's are looking for Frey." Leon blinked in surprise and moved his staff down a little. "Apparently they don't believe their former King is dead and believe our Kingdom to be holding him somewhere. Since Frey is the one who defeated him, they believe capturing her will help them find him." Leon continued to stare at Arthur before finally giving his head a slight nod. Arthur returned the gesture and left.
"I'm going to go find Vishnal." Doug decided, getting up. "He has an Airship License. He could fly me and probably Illuminata around to look for them."
Meg nodded at him. "I'm going to let Porcoline know what's going on and have him keep a look out for them as well."
"Very well." Forte sighed as they left and looked at Leon expectantly. "I know Frey is fond of Autumn Road, and since she went with Dylas there is a higher chance she went there. I wish you to accompany me there, as you are a skilled enough fighter."
"...Thanks, I think. However, what if they aren't there?"
"The only other area might be the forest, but since the monsters there are weaker, other villager's should be able to handle that area."
"I see. Then perhaps we should go find Arthur and let him know our plan so they don't start looking for us as well." Forte reluctantly nodded. As they headed out Leon smirked. "I still think you're going overboard though."
"Everyone! Everyone please calm down!" Arthur stood at the front of the gathered crowd looking tired. "Please! We don't need any more confusion than we already have!" Finally people began to quiet. "Thank you." Arthur looked at his book and cleared his throat. "Now as many of you are aware Frey and Dylas have been missing since yesterday morning. They left to go find an Emerald and haven't returned to town."
"This is my fault, yes." Xiao Pai said, looking glum. "If I hadn't asked for the emerald..."
"Xiao Pai, we don't know that anything has happened." Keil reassured her. "Like Arthur said, it's just a precaution! Just like they would do for us!" He laughed a little. "I still remember when I was studying Mushrooms and Frey went out to find me. I was only gone half a day!"
"Forte contributed to that." Clorica stated.
"Oh."
"..." Leon looked at Forte, who was shaking her head a bit. "Are we not telling them?" She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and looked forward. "No. Everyone would panic more than they already are."
"I see."
"Now then!" Arthur called out, "Vishnal, Illuminata, Doug and Jones are going on the Airship to search from the Yokmir Forrest to the Lava Ruins. Dolce, Bado and Raven will be searching Autumn Road. Barret, Lin Fa, and Volkanon will be searching Selphia Plains. Amber, Keil and Xiao Pai will check out the Forrest and Leon and Forte will search Leon Karnak." He closed his book and looked around. "The rest of us will stay here in case they return. Any questions?"
"Yeah," Arthur opened his mouth in surprise and Forte whipped around to look at the confused and slightly battered looking Frey and Dylas. "Who are you all looking for?"
"Princess!" "Frey!" "Dylas you asshole!" "Funny Face!"
In a matter of seconds the two were surrounded as people hugged or smacked them.
"You morons!" Meg said as she hit them both on the heads. "Don't you ever make me worry like that again!"
"OW!" "Hey!"
Meg stamped her foot angrily, "Where were you two?!" Dylas rubbed his head and Meg's expression softened. "Your wrist... what happened?"
"Well," Frey shuffled her foot a little. "I needed to go get some minerals and decided to take Dylas with me. I thought we'd just go to Yokmir forrest and maybe have a picnic but..." She looked down at her cut clothing and various scratches. "Things got complicated."
"I'll say." Dylas interjected as Nancy hurried over to look at his wrist. "Some Sech Soldiers ambushed outside the forest. We went in to lose them and ended up fighting near a cliff. One of them went to push Frey off and,"
"Like an idiot!" Frey all but yelled at Dylas, who looked away from her, "He pushed me away and got knocked over himself!" She seemed to forget herself a little and smacked his head in a very similar fashion to Meg. "You're lucky I could heal you up a little with that seal on me!"
"Hey! I was not about to let you get knocked off a cliff, if that's what your suggesting I should have done!"
"I'm an earthmate! I can handle falls better than you!"
"I'm not a weakling! Being a guardian gave me a higher fighting and defense than a normal human!" He grabbed one of his ears dramatically and glared. "These aren't just for show!"
"YOU! Arg!" Frey and Dylas glared at each other for a moment longer until Frey's expression begn to soften "It's just... you... you were falling and I couldn't do anything. All I could think of was... you losing your memory like me or... not being able to help you and-and-you..." Dylas sighed and hugged Frey with his free arm.
"I'm sorry, kay?" She nodded a little and he smirked. "Next time I'll take you down with me.
"Good."
"You're not supposed to agree with that!"
Arthur coughed a little and the two both jumped in surprise, obviously forgetting that they were surrounded by the entire town. Dylas sputtered a bit at the look Doug and Leon where giving him and Frey looked at Arthur, drying her eyes with her glove.
"Well, after Dylas... fell... I uh, well I may have gone berserk." She gave a nervous laugh and looked at her hands. "The whole cliff thing was sort of a last ditch effort on their part anyway. Dylas had knocked out one of them and I was making short work of another. Anyway... I knocked them out and jumped down to check on Dylas."
"You... jumped?" Jones looked a tad surprised before he shook his head. "I'm not overly surprised I suppose."
"Yeah, she landed next to me, patched us up the best she could and we tried to head to the other end of the caverns we were in to get out. We both have seals on us-"
"Not anymore." Dolce said from where she had sneaked behind them.
"...We both had seals on us and it took awhile."
Arthur nodded. "I see..." He smiled a little and looked over at Doug happily. "It appears you were right. Frey got them lost."
"Hey! You just assumed I'd get us lost!"
Amber laughed, "Frey you always get lost!" Frey glared for a moment before smiling back at the butterfly girl.
"I guess that is true."
Volkanon clapped his hands together and yelled out, "Alright, crisis is over, everyone can disperse back to their homes. I'm sure Frey and Dylas will need to be examined by Jones and Nancy more thoroughly and will want to rest. Dismissed!"
"Yes sir!" Everyone looked as Vishnal and Clorica left, almost on reflex. Soon everyone was following their example, Arthur staying behind to talk to Frey and Dylas more about the soldiers. Finally only Forte and Leon were left. Forte looked over at Leon awkwardly before turning to go herself. Leon smirked and followed her.
"I told you."
"That's your best come back? I told you so? In case you weren't listening they were attacked! It was like we feared! And with Ventuswill gone..." She stopped and composed herself a little.
Leon grunted in annoyance. "I'm not saying that loosing Frey wouldn't be bad for the town, or Dylas, for that matter, as he brings her some odd sort of joy... but I am saying that you were worrying too much."
"Worrying too much!" She huffed and held her head up higher. "Just because I decided to worry, whereas you never worry at all, that doesn't mean I worried too much!"
Leon was quiet and Forte smirked a little, then she felt a small yank on her arm and she was turned around to face Leon. "What gives you the right to assume I wasn't worried?"
"Oh please!" Forte said angrily. "You kept saying how they could both defend themselves just fine!"
"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I was just reassuring myself?" Forte opened her mouth and stared at the man towering over her looking haughty and sad. "...I see not."
"Well, if you were nervous why didn't you say so?"
He now smirked at the girl, "As you should be well aware, no one here is very good at expressing themselves... except," He said with a playful light in his eyes, "perhaps Procoline."
"I-I... you're right."
"I am?" Leon asked letting go of the knight's arm.
"Yes." She looked down a little and sighed. "It was foolish of me to assume you didn't care. I mean... I know how much Frey means to you... she saved you after all...and you feel, very strongly about her."
Leon smiled sadly at her. "Yes, I do. It seems that somehow Frey has worked her way into my heart... as that of what I can only call," Forte braced herself a little as he took a breath, "My best friend."
"...huh?"
Leon looked back at her cheekily. "Frey is a very good friend of mine. She reacts well to my teasing and seems to enjoy it as much as me." Forte blinked a little as he leaned in, "But no worries, you're reactions are far more entertaining."
"WHAT! Wait, I- why would you think I would be worried about that."
"Well," Leon said as he began to walk away, "I suppose you know why."
"You-You! Why would you assume!" She stopped as he turned around and looked at her.
"Really?" He moved closer to her and Forte stood in bemusement. "Are you truly going to play the clueless card?"
"What-What are you talking about?"
He stopped once his chest was almost touching hers. "Perhaps," he reached over and gently placed his hands on her face, "I could show you just what I mean."
Forte saw him leaning in towards her face and felt her heart skip a beat as she realized what he was going to do. Then, to as much her surprise as Leon's, she moved her own head forward so her lips would meet his. For a second there was a surprised stillness. Then, just when she thought Leon would pull back, he began to kiss her again, and she let him.
