A/N: Well, supposedly there's an extra novel about how Wilhelm and Theresia fall in love, but seeing as how I can't find it… and episode 20 made me ship these two way too much… I had to do something about it, right? So here's part 1 of many, basically an extended version of that first scene with Theresia… I hope you like it!

Wilhelm Trias

If there was another way…

A way beyond the sword… A way beyond war to protect those you love…

A way to refuse the path of bloodshed…A peaceful way to peace…

A thousand people have thought those thoughts… And those thousand men may have gone home in despair…

But one of those thousand men, I am surely not.

Pushing aside the door of my humble abode, I stepped outside, fully equipped with everything I could possibly need. My feet lightly treaded on the unpaved ground as I walked a path few had the necessity of.

I inhaled the crisp morning air and lifted my head to the skies. My hair began to touch the nape of my neck, and I immediately tilted my face forward. Such untrimmed locks were considered uncouth amongst the royal guard, but what mattered more that mannerisms were skills.

Today was a good a day as ever to begin practicing.

The site was abandoned, not a person in sight, no sign of life to the naked eye… And why shouldn't it be?

I had heard that it used to be a small castle, quaint, the playground of a prince of this land from time to time… Eventually, portions of it were reduced to rubble, the prince grew up, and saw no need to maintain the castle any further. There was no cause for its use, and thus the necessity to rebuild it never arose.

As such, it was the perfect arena to train in… Not that others wouldn't have had the same idea, but there were much more choice facilities open to the nobility's use. Even for a petty commoner like myself, a place like this could easily be found in certain unsavory parts of town; there was no purpose to coming here, on the outskirts of the city.

Here, I could pursue anything, without the careful gaze of omnipresent government eyes. In this field, I was as much a king as a pauper.

I took my stance, placing my feet shoulder-width apart… Okay, maybe I overestimated how wide my shoulders were, but by just a tiny bit, I promise.

Unsheathing my sword, I raised it above my head to prepare for a strike. As I brought it down, I saw a faint crimson glow and paused, turning to my right to see what had caused it.

I exhaled sharply as I lowered my blade to my side and found a slender young woman, not older than myself, sitting nonchalantly atop stone brick, as if she was unbothered by my arrival.

It was undoubtedly strange that I had not discovered the girl upon my coming here, but in light of the impending mystery, I found this far more intriguing.

She seemed unnerved even at my continual gazing upon her, so I attempted calling out to her in the nicest way I thought possible.

"I haven't seen you before… What is a woman doing here so early in the morning?"

Her head flicked up slightly, finally aware that I existed. She turned her upper body to face me, then paused for a moment, lost in thought. She brought her finger up to her chin and narrowed her eyes, gazing at the sky. It seemed that she knew why she was here just as well as I did, or to put it plainly, neither of us was in possession of the foggiest idea.

She gave up, bringing her hands into her lap and smiled cheerfully at me. The sun shining brightly behind her granted her an additional glow as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Oh, don't worry about it," she replied simplistically, as if it was enough to satisfy my curiousity. "Just come here."

Normally, I would have refused such a request, but this girl was anything but one to refuse.

I strode over to where she was, calmly, filled with certainty that nothing would come of such an encounter. The girl smiled widely at me again before she began hesitantly.

"Hey… Do you like flowers?"

My mouth opened in confusion at such a simplistic question and my mind went blank, incapable of coherent thought. I tried to speak, to say anything, but nothing came out. Finally, a slight stutter came out and my proud head fell to the ground, eager to glance at the condition of my feet.

"You don't have to decide right away if you don't want to, you know?" the crimson-haired girl chimed in, moving her legs back and forth as she sat on the layered brick.

"I-I," I began to say, but quickly gave up, believing any interaction with this girl to be futile and fruitless. Instead of responding, I simply picked up the sword and poised the blade, ready to strike should anything worthy of tasting its steel edge show up.

"So… have you figured out whether or not you like flowers yet?"

Something told me the girl wouldn't be silenced until she received a proper response to her pertinent question. I sighed, lowered my weapon, and turned to face her again. She blinked twice and huffed, bringing her head down to rest on her arms.

"I'll get words out of you yet, just you wait… I bet you really do like the flowers, don't you?" the words came out in an interrogative manner as she turned towards me, allowing me the fullest view of the golden field of flowers behind her as the wind brushed past us both.

I sheathed my sword, realizing that nothing would come of ignoring her. Rolling my eyes, I made my way over and brushed dust off of the layered brick, taking a seat next to her.

A/N: Well, I didn't know how to really end this first one without making it too long but I think that was enough detail about these two for one chapter… Hoping to have the next one up in a week, maybe 2 if I have to work a lot…Expect them to be short and sweet though… At least now I can go to school peacefully before I die, yay…

Theresia is best girl,

~Lefauxlucifer