Her Smile
Chapter 1: A Rocky Start
There are some things that we would never expect to happen in our lifetime - the joining together of two reluctant friends, or maybe learning something important about yourself and others along the way.
This story is about the light-hearted misadventures Erk and Serra have before the Great War with the Black Fang, their issues with each other during the war, and finally the results of it after the war. Only then do they find out that sometimes the unexpected can happen between each other, and that it can change their relationship forever, no matter what...
Serra is waiting in the forest near a stone wall in some ruins for her escort to Ostia. After waiting a long time, she's starting to get mad.
"Oooooh! Why must he be so late?" she fumes. "I have to get to Ostia as fast as possible, and this bumbling fool cannot possibly be taking any longer to get here!"
Meanwhile, on the other side of a stone wall in the ruins, Erk is starting to get annoyed that his employer has not shown up yet.
"Hmph. This is taking forever", he says, groaning. "Why did she agree to meet me in the woods by these ruins just to not show up?"
Let's jump back to Serra, who at this point is starting to get really mad.
"I'm going to SCREAM if he doesn't show up soon!"
After a few minutes...
"Ok, I'm officially angry."
Serra decides to let out a loud shriek that shakes half the forest. Apparently feeling better, she sits down and looks at a pretty flower in front of her.
Meanwhile, Erk's eardrums are now officially broken after hearing that loud shriek from the other side of the wall.
"What the heck is that? Maybe I should check it out... hmm, why do I have a very bad feeling about this..."
Erk slowly peeks around the corner of the wall, and sees Serra sitting cross-legged near her end of the wall, smiling happily at a flower she's just noticed. Erk's jaw nearly drops.
It's as if he is staring at an angel. With her beautiful white dress, her cute pigtails, and that divine smile of hers, it's hard for him to look away.
He also notices that her body is quite good looking.
Good thing she isn't looking his way, or she would notice him devouring the eye candy that is sitting before him. Erk shakes his head and starts walking towards her to see if she knows anything about his employer.
But she notices him before he can speak.
This isn't good for Erk.
"Are... are you Erk?"
"Why yes I am. You are Serra, correct?"
She punches him in the nose.
"You are sooooo late, why did you keep me waiting-"
Erk's eye starts twitching as Serra continues to shout at him. When she finally cools down, he starts speaking again.
"Ahem, I'm sorry, but I've been sitting on the other side of this wall since noon... and why did you pick the worst meeting place in the world to meet in?"
This only earns him an evil glare from Serra.
"Er... If we had met in, say, a town, and not in the middle of the forest, maybe we would have seen each other sooner."
"Well, excuse me, mister! That's not how you speak to a lady!"
YOU consider yourself a lady?
"R-right. Serra, let's not argue about this anymore. Let's just get going..."
"I quite agree. You know, I didn't expect my escort to be a rude pig with no consideration for a girl's feelings!"
And I didn't expect my employer to be a psychopath.
Of course, Erk doesn't say this out loud.
After walking for a while, they are hopelessly lost.
"Serra, how are we supposed to get out of this forest? You're supposed to be guiding!"
Serra gives him a guilty look. "I... do not remember at the moment."
You don't remember? You know, I could just "forget" to come back next time we stop for a bathroom break...
"What do you mean you don't remember?"
"Calm down. All we need to do is ask for directions", she says, the grin returning to her face. "Seriously Erk, don't you know anything?"
He looks around. "There's nobody here."
"What do you mean?" she questions him, as she points to a small figure far away. "There's a nice old man over there."
Erk squints and takes a look at the man she's pointing at. While Serra may see 'a nice old man', Erk sees 'a creepy old man with no teeth, a large head, and the ugliest nose you will ever find'.
"Uh, I wouldn't recommend talking to that man."
"Of course I wouldn't. I meant that you should go ask him for directions."
"Why me?" he shouts, throwing his hands in the air. "You're the one who doesn't know where to go!"
"Because I told you to. Go on now. Don't make me hurt you."
"…Fine."
Why is she SO ANNOYING?
Erk walks up to the old man. The old man starts wheezing and drooling.
Eww…
"Uh, hello good sir! Do you happen to know the way to the closest town?"
"Hee hee hee… no sir. But we can find out if you come to my shed…"
"Uh, no thank you. Bye…"
The old man snorts loudly as Erk quickly walks away.
That was definitely the creepiest thing I've ever seen.
As he walks back, Serra smiles at him. "So, did you find the way?"
Erk wrings his hands nervously. "Uh, yes! We go that way!" he says, a little too loudly, while randomly pointing to his left.
"Good! Let's go!"
Erk prays silently in his head, hoping that the direction he picked was correct.
And thankfully, after 10 minutes of walking, they finally see a town.
THANK GOODNESS.
Author's Notes
Yay! Got through the first chapter!
This story will eventually be nine chapters long. Don't let the length turn you away! At this point, the story is actually finished; it is just in the process of being edited. The next chapters will be posted at regular intervals, probably every three days.
I'm sorry if the characters at any point seem OOC. I tried my best to keep them in character, but everyone makes mistakes!
Special thanks to Kitten Kisses for being my beta-reader! Thanks to her, my work has improved dramatically, and now I can hopefully do a better job in future submissions.
Even so, I'm always open to suggestions! Feedback is greatly appreciated!
