Originally Written 9/03/07

Posted on fanlib . com on 9/08/07 under account name, wolf--shadow.

Pairing Gibari/Savyna

Rating: k+

The Rose of Frost and the Hidden Laugh

"Oh, man. It gets colder and colder the longer I'm here." Gibari moaned, rubbing his toned arms as he stomped down the carved ice floors, his headband giving him a small amount of heat. "I'm just glad the people of Wazen are generous with their warm clothes, or I'd be a frozen fish stick."

The fisherman's normally exposed chest was now wrapped in a thick animal skin coat. Beneath the fur was a hand knit sweater that had been kindly given to him by a friend of Xelha's, who had laughed at his chattering teeth.

As he began to walk up a flight of stairs, elegantly engraved with crystalline patterns, he noticed two small children chasing after an excited Graythorne. As he passed them by he smiled and gave them a small nod.

Both faces turned huge grins up at him, and the Graytorne squeaked happily.

"Hello, friend of Queen Xelha!" they chorused excitedly, looking at him as if he was the most interesting thing in the world, quite a contrast from the boy in the Imperial Capital, who had spoken of superiority, and of conquering.

"Hey." he waved a hand at them and returned their smiles as he continued up.

"Queen Xelha," he mumbled to himself, smile still on his face. "Didn't see that coming." His smile slipped into a frown. "but then again, didn't see that Kalas thing coming either."

He quickly shook his head as he stepped onto the landing of the second floor. "Not any use to think about what's done, we'll just have to see if we can help the blue head into sanity, that's all."

Folding his arms over his chest, he looked around the icy floor and tapped his newly booted foot against the floor. Truthfully, he was only wandering the blue halls because he had been unable to sleep and had been bored stiff just lying in the guest room bed.

He should be able to sleep, his body felt tired enough, his eyelids heavy. And yet, it seemed like he had something that needed done. This drive had forced him out of the comfortable bed, and away from the warm fire, pushing him towards… something.

The problem was that he didn't know what, so instead of lying in bed and squirming uncomfortably, he had decided to get up and see what the rest of the group was doing.

"Hey, wait up." He said to a young maid who carried a basket of laundry.

She turned around and looked up at him, puzzled. "Can I, help you, sir?" she sounded unsure.

"Yeah, do you know where my friends are? I, uh," he scratched the back of his head. "I had something I wanted to talk to them about."

She blinked, and shifted the basket higher on her hip. "Queen Xelha is speaking with Barnettein her room, she asked not to be disturbed, but if it's really important…"

"No, no." Gibari held up his hands, and shook his head. "They've probably got things to catch up on, it's not really that important."

The maid nodded her head. "I afraid I don't know the whereabouts of the others, sir; I'd assume they're all asleep."

He couldn't help but feel a little frustrated, sleep sounded so good to him, and somehow he was up bothering a maid instead of regaining his strength for the upcoming battles.

But he didn't let his mood show as he replied. "Well, thanks anyway."

She curtsied and walked off, leaving him standing in the middle of the second floor, and totally alone, unless the guards counted as company.

"Hey mister!" The sudden squeak of a voice would have made him jump had he not been used to children sneaking up from behind.

He swiveled around and looked down, the gold hoops on his headband cold against his skin.

The kids he had passed by on the stairs were staring up at him, still grinning. The black haired boy spoke up and it was obvious it had been he who called Gibari's attention.

"Are you looking for your friends?" his large eyes were dark blue, and sparkled like the ice around them.

"That's right." Gibari nodded, pulling his gloves tighter to his hands. "Do you know where they might be?"

"Uh hun," the little girl had bright lilac curls that bounced around her pale red eyes.

The fisherman waited a moment. When they both continued to stare up at him, he said, haltingly. "Um, then where are they?"

"Oh, right." The boy smacked himself on the forehead. "Well, the red head guy went to bed before anyone else, but I think he's asleep."

Gibari raised an eyebrow. "How can you tell?"

"Because he stopped playing his instrument-thing." The girl chimed in.

The boy threw her a look, then went on "The clown guy-"

"Mizuti." Girbari corrected him.

"Mizuti, he talked himself to sleep, the guards had to try not to laugh at some of the things he said."

'Sounds like Mizuti, I think…' the angler mused.

"The lady is in the ice garden." The small girl spoke up as she adjusted her hold on the black and red Graythorne.

"No she isn't!" the boy turned to her, looking started. "Queen Xelha is in her room, and don't call her 'the lady'!"

The girl looked over at him annoyed. "Not Queen Xelha, ninny, the other lady, the one who doesn't smile."

Gibari felt a strange feeling of upsurge when he realized who she must be talking about. "Are you talking about Savyna?"

The girl looked up at him and tilted her head, expression confused.

"The woman with purple hair." He quickly corrected himself.

"Yea, she's standing all alone in the ice garden," the small face melted into a sad look. "I think she's lonely."

"She doesn't look lonely, she doesn't look like anything, her face is blank." The boy seemed determined to get into a fight.

"Whoa, hold on there, we don't need to get into an argument." Gibari interrupted placing a hand between the two.

The boy threw him a passive look, while the girl smiled up at him again.

"What is Savyna doing in the garden?" he asked her kindly.

She shrugged and adjusted her hold on the Graythorne. "Just standing there, staring at the ice." Her face fell into a puzzled expression. "She isn't really looking at it, its almost like she's looking at something else…" the girl shook her head making the Graythorne squeal. "She must be cold in there, her clothes are so thin."

Gibari frowned and glanced to the door of the garden. 'How long has she been in there?' he wondered to himself.

"Mister?" The boy asked, tilting his head.

Making up his mind, Gibari turned back to the two youths, his thick clothing toasting his skin comfortably. "Thanks for the information guys, I'm going to see what Savyna's up to."

"Welcome." The boy smiled while the girl giggled, both with strangely knowing looks on their faces.

Gibari watched them turn around and head back down the ice stairs, laughing at the strange sounds the Graythorne was making. He was just about to turn around himself, when a thought suddenly struck him.

"Hey!" he called after them.

Their laughter stopped as they looked up at him, confused.

"Why are you two up so late at night?" he folded his arms, looking concerned. "Aren't your parents worried about you?"

The two shared a glace, then the boy answered for both of them. "Na, they don't know we're here." Laughing, the two took off down the stairs and disappeared around a corner.

Shaking his head bemusedly, Gibari moved to the intricately carved blue doors that led to the icy garden where four statues stood, with hands strangely empty.

As softly as he could, the skyfarer pushed the heavy door open and glanced into the room. The round room seemed to be empty, the blue ice glittering in a mystic kind of way. Gibari grunted and pushed the door open farther.

He took a step into the room and his eye immediately fell upon the lone figure that stood, back to him, at the top of the round pedestal. Her tall ponytail of dark purple hair falling elegantly down her neck and cascading against her back, her tight black outfit clinging to all the right places and her gold shoulder pad glittering as she breathed slowly in and out, a soft cloud of mist floating away from her face.

For a moment, he stood in silence, just watching her breath, quietly enjoying his view as his eyes traced the lines of her back, flowing smoothly into her tight backside and into her shapely long legs…

He shook he head furiously. 'Gods, stop staring at her like that!' he reprimanded himself. 'She's not the kind of woman who'd take kindly to that.'

He took a few steps forward, and said softly as he moved. "Savyna?"

He could have sworn he saw her jump a little, her shoulders tighten just a little more than they already were. But she twisted around so fast it was almost like she expected to be attacked, as if she had known he was there.

There was an awkward pause as she stood above him, hands up and clenched, ready to fight.

"Umm…" he said lamely, glancing at her hands, then into her tight face.

Her vibrant violet eyes, as hard as the ice around them, softened just slightly. "Gibari, you're awake." She relaxed her stance as he looked up at her from the bottom of the stairs.

He gave a short laugh. "I would hope I'm awake, it'd be pretty weird if I was sleepwalking around the ice palace."

The faintest trace of an unsure grin flickered across Savyna's face as quickly and as hauntingly as a ghost, then it was gone again. "What are you doing anyway?" her deep voice was silky and rang with a quiet melody.

He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep." His grin was wide and he felt totally at ease speaking with her. "So I decided to take a look around."

A quiet "Hmmm." Was her only response.

He shuffled his booted feet, becoming uncomfortable with the situation. "What about you, why aren't you wrapped up in bed?"

She raised her left shoulder very slightly, the multi-colored ruffle gleaming with rainbow life against the pale blue all around them. "I needed to think, I suppose…"

"Oh." Was the only reply he could think of.

For a few moments, the two stood watching each other with hesitant airs.

Gibari stood, mostly content to stand in silence, and as he watched her, he could see her eyes slowly slid out of focus until she seemed to be staring at something over his shoulder. So lost was she in her own mind, that she slowly twisted back around to resume the same stance that she had held when he first entered the room. Once again, he felt his dark brown eyes slither down her body, caressing her soft curves…

He blinked and looked closer at the bare skin on the back of her legs. Shaking his head, he walked up the short steps until he was also standing on the pedestal, right behind her. Slowly, and with a tenderness he didn't quite understand, he pulled off one of his gloves, then reached out his hand and gently landed his large tanned palm against a bare spot on her arm.

This time he knew she had jumped, he could feel it underneath his fingers, but he ignored it in favor of the temperature of her white skin. "Savyna! You're freezing, why haven't you gotten some warmer clothes?"

He looked up into her face, and for a very brief instant her face registered shock, and, fear?

"I…" she muttered, and it felt like half of her wanted to pull away from his warm hands, yet the rest of her wanted him to stay where he was. "I haven't really noticed it."

He made an incredulous sound in his throat as he pulled his hand back and folded his arms. "Yea, right, somehow I actually believe that."

She shrugged again, acting as if she really didn't care how cold she was. "I'll find something warmer later."

He grunted. "Wait any longer and you'll catch a nasty illness. We can't have our fastest fighter sick, not after…" he trailed off.

"Not after Kalas." She ended bluntly.

"We have a lot that needs to get done, and we won't want you trying to fight if you catch cold." He gently reached out again and placed the back of his hand against the side of her neck, her icy skin instantly chilling his warm knuckles.

She had flinched when he touched her, but now she stood very still, not fighting the hand lain against her flesh. Then she suddenly swallowed and turned away from him, hiding the light blush that had flared up her cheeks. She hadn't been touched for a long while, and even longer had it been since a man had touched her in a way other than a punch or kick.

Gibrai gave the back of her head a frown, then brought his hands up to his chest and began to unbutton the heavy coat. He slid the warmth-laden fur off his shoulders and instantly felt the chill twine between the tendrils of his sweater; he gave the coat a slight shake, letting the wrinkles fall out of the material. He tenderly pulled at the shoulders, then leaned forward and laid the warm brown fur over Savyna's shoulders, adjusting it so that if fell forward and covered her front.

She quickly twisted around and looked at him with wide, puzzled eyes and high eyebrows.

"There, now you'll stay a bit warmer." He answered her unasked question.

She reached a hand up and grasped at the slit in the front, holding it tighter together. Her eyes roved over the material as if it would give her a way to respond to him.

At last, she looked back up at him and was opening her mouth to say something when her violet eyes caught the sweater that had been beneath the coat she now wore. She stared.

"What?" he asked, baffled.

Savyna looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" he asked again, becoming more perturbed.

"Pink." She stated after a moment, pulling the coat closer to her body.

He looked down at the sleeve of the sweater, the bright pink color starkly contrasting the cool blue of the floor, and clashing with his light brown skin. He shrugged looking back into her beautiful eyes. "So it's pink, I knew that."

Savyna tipped her head as if looking at him sideways would rectify the strange color blend. "Did, you choose that?" she asked haltingly. In truth, she really didn't mind, but it didn't seem to fit her image of the fisherman.

"Xelha's friend lent it to me, said it was the only large one she had on hand, and I was cold!" he justified, spreading out his hands. "Besides, I like it; it reminds me of the clouds of Dianam, of my home."

Savyna bit her lower lip, the lightest hint of a smile on her face. "Well, if you like it…" the ghost of a grin was still there as she made a move to take off the coat. Gibari quickly reached forward and set his hand on her shoulder, stopping her movement.

"Keep that on until you get some thicker clothes, you can give it back in the morning." He said with a wide grin.

She tilted her head, then seemed to give in. "Alright."

"Good," he pulled back and smiled warmly at her "and get some rest, we've got a lot to do later, and we'll need all the energy we can get."

He waited until she nodded at him and softly said. "I will." Before he turned around and walked down the steps, tugging at a corner of his pink sweater. At the bottom of the steps, he turned and looked back up at her. "Good night Savyna, I hope you sleep well."

She just watched him as he strode cheerfully down the short hall, then, just as he reached the door, called after him. "You sleep well yourself!"

He stopped, hand on the door, and looked back at her, eyes full of merriment. "Oh, I'm sure I will." Then the tall man slid between the doors and disappeared from view.

Savyna stood looking at the heavy ice doors, and thinking about what had just transpired between her and Gibari. The man clearly had more to him then he let on, she knew that much. And she knew it because she also had more to her then she let the others see. Yet, there was always a feeling of welcome about him, as if it didn't matter where you had come from, only what you were doing. Somewhere, deep within herself, Savyna recognized the fact that she really liked Gibari for that.

Then she remembered his choice of colors, and allowed a soft unhidden smile to spread across her face. Sliding her arms into the still warm sleeves of the coat, a small, deep chuckled escaped from her throat, recalling the goofy look he had on his face when she had questioned him, remembering the gentleness of his touch, the warmth of his skin…

Savyna blinked and shook her head. 'Where did that feeling come from?' she thought, then realized with slight shock that a deep, hot blush had spread over her cheeks. "The coat must be too warm." She mumbled to herself, trying to think of a good reason why Lady Death would be flushing. "Although it was kind of him to lend it to me."

She strode down the ice steps as she buttoned up the front of the coat, marveling at how much warmer she felt and wondering why she hadn't noticed the cold until Gibari had come into the room.

"Xelha the Queen of Ice," Savyna said aloud, fitting the last button it place. "And Gibari wearing pink, I had thought I'd seen all there was to see.", and almost as surprising as the truth of Wazan , definitely as shocking the as colors of a certain fisherman, Lady Death laughed. A true, deep trill of a laugh that spread through the room and made the ice seem less harsh, even as short as the laugh was.

By the time the elegant woman walked through the door, her pale face once again resembled the ice all around, cold, hard and indissoluble. As determined and set as she had ever been, it seemed the only thing that had even remotely changed was the dark brown coat pulled close to her body.

But the tanned man who peeked out from behind a pillar knew better. Gibari watched Savyna lightly walk down the icy staircase. Still in the pink sweater and still smiling, the Syfarer waited until the light tap of her footsteps had faded out, then slid his hands into the deep pockets of his pants and followed her down.

"She does laugh," he mused. "And very prettily too."

Gibari walked to his guest room with a light feeling in his chest, the memory of her laugh replaying in his head like a song that he had just discovered. The ice of Wazan felt no warmer, but now he knew that beneath her ice, there was still a bright flare of fire.

He fell into the soft guest bed, still wearing the sweater, and drifted off to sleep with the image of Savyna's beautiful face opened up with a delicate laugh.

Author's Notes: Baten Kaitos belongs to Namco and Monothie (sp?) Soft.

This story is MINE, please do not steal or post anywhere else :).

Gibari/Savyna is my favorite pairing in the game, I just love both of those characters.