If Rose could see Dezel's eyes, she'd say he was watching more than just her back.
He wasn't quite as strong and silent a type as his appearance suggested, for which she was grateful. She'd never gotten the appeal in trying to seduce a brick wall, anyway. Flirtation was no fun if she didn't get a rise out of someone, hopefully in more senses than the one.
But, to be fair, the reason Rose was thinking along those lines in the first place had nothing to do with her own feelings. Really, it didn't. It was only because she had no other explanation for why Dezel kept staring at her so intently, assuming he even had eyes under those impenetrable bangs. Or why she had awakened on the stone floor with his soft leather jacket as a pillow. Or why he set her down more gently than the others when they sped across the gaps. Or, you know, why he kept pushing her to armatize, even when he hadn't let anything get close enough to hurt her. At least when she'd fought on her own, she could get a few hits in edgewise.
"I'm fine!" she had snapped, after Dezel's third offer to combine forces in as many battles. "Honestly, I think I liked it better when I couldn't hear you," she added under her breath, and was made painfully aware by the tightening of Dezel's jaw that her words did not escape his notice. She supposed, too late, that being a wind seraph probably came with extraordinary hearing. But if nothing else, that little exchange at least got him to shut up for a few minutes and stop suggesting that they merge their powers.
Which technique was still a little freaky to Rose, by the way, for a number of reasons. One, the whole concept of combining two people into one was a little weird any way you cut it. Two, she was still kind of exhausted from meshing with Lailah earlier, and she didn't want to overexert herself and end up unconscious again. The last thing she needed was to make herself a burden before their journey together even began.
And three? Well, combining with one of the girls was one thing, but she wasn't quite sure whether she was up for having Dezel inside her just yet. Sorey had two females in his body constantly, so clearly neither he nor the seraphim had too many qualms about coed cohabitation, but… well, let's just say it struck Rose as moving a little too fast for her comfort. And this coming from the queen of quickies.
Okay, so maybe the biggest issue she had was actually with being treated like a fragile flower, because she was definitely not used to being protected. Oh, and the voices in her head. Screw that. But at least they couldn't read her mind, right? Right? Because she had her doubts, since they sometimes responded so precisely to what she felt or thought that this was the most logical explanation.
She'd rather not think about it, honestly.
But anyway, another three battles later, Rose was ready to temporarily reconsider her stance on apologizing—namely, don't, unless you're wrong or you're acting. In this case, neither was especially true, but being ignored was more than she could take, and she did need to be on his good side if she wanted to know why he kept looking at her like that. Other than the logical conclusion, of course; weren't cross-species relations a form of bestiality?
You know what, never mind. She was not going down that path right now, no matter how close she came to taking the first step.
"Hey, Dezel?" began Rose, and though she heard his grunt in response, she couldn't figure out where it came from. Whose head was he in this time? He was supposed to live in Sorey, but if she could armatize, then maybe… Oh, whatever. "S-sorry. About the armatization thing."
"What are you apologizing for?" Sorey asked, quirking a confused eyebrow, and Rose barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. As much as she hated hearing disembodied voices, she'd probably still take that over never being able to have any privacy. "I understand why you'd be uncomfortable with it, especially so soon after you started seeing them. Don't worry about it."
Rose sighed. "I was apologizing to Dezel," she said, and—to her own surprise—was pleased to hear the seraph's semi-derisive snort in response. But he said no more, and Sorey only shrugged and kept moving. "There, I said it," added Rose, more impatiently, and hustled after the Shepherd. "You can stop ignoring me any time now."
There was a long enough pause that Rose decided she'd better try again in a few more minutes, but even as Sorey opened his mouth again, Dezel spoke. "I thought you wanted me to be quiet," he muttered, and Rose jumped. If he wasn't going to respond to conversational cues, couldn't he at least give her a little warning first? A bit of a breeze, maybe? It wouldn't have been all that difficult for a wind seraph to manage.
Dezel snickered at her shock, and Rose could hear the smirk in his voice as he continued, "For being so decisive, you really do change your mind a lot." She narrowed her eyes: how did he know that? He hadn't been traveling with Sorey before she'd met him. Did that mean he lived in these ruins, and they both just happened to happen upon him at the same time? Or had he been traveling with her?
"Dezel can't be expected to talk to you if you're not going to listen, you know," said Sorey mildly, passing her by to forge on ahead. Rose started as she realized the seraph had probably said something else while she was zoning out. His exaggerated sigh and indistinct complaint told her she was right.
"Ah, right," was all she could think to say, shaking her head, and scrambled hastily for an explanation as she realized that the seraphim were all focusing on her. How she knew that without any physical forms to give her a visual, she had no idea, but it was an extremely discomfiting impression. Like eyes in the back of Sorey's head. "I'm still feeling a little… off, I guess."
While that was most certainly an excuse, it was by no means a lie. Her head had felt a little fuzzy ever since her awakening. Nothing she couldn't power through, of course—it was really no worse than your average headache, or perhaps a mild fever—but the sensation did serve to scatter the senses somewhat. Seriously, as soon as she grabbed some grub, she was headed to bed, and nobody, be they human or seraph, could stop her.
Almost immediately after the words left her mouth, Dezel manifested at Sorey's side, and Rose shuddered as a breath-like breeze billowed over her from his direction. "Are you all right?" he asked, crossing his arms and waiting for her to catch up, apparently so he could walk beside her. She blinked, startled at the strange sort of warmth within his voice, so like the wind wrapping around her.
What the actual hell.
"U-uh," was Rose's brilliant response, as she stopped to stare up at him, scrutinizing his sharp features (literally and figuratively). Sorey paused as if to turn back, but Dezel gestured for him to walk on, so the Shepherd nodded and obeyed with only a curious glance or two over his shoulder. And rampant speculation from the other seraphim, of course.
"Don't overexert yourself," growled Dezel. "You're not ready for this."
Rose made it a point to take neither orders nor insults, and Dezel had just given both, but the worst part was that there were elements of truth in each, so she couldn't disregard them this time. She scowled over at him, but he seemed supremely unperturbed. He was such an insufferable prick! Why would Sorey agree to take him with them?!
"Fine," said Rose after a long silence, glowering. "But you owe me!"
Dezel chuckled humorlessly. "I owe you?" he repeated, sending Sorey across the next gap a bit more gustily than usual, and leaned against the wall with crossed arms—apparently in no hurry to do the same for Rose. "I should have known trying to keep you safe is more trouble than it's worth."
"You don't give a damn about Sorey," said Rose, standing on one hip, and did her best to glare at him, but it was weak by her usual standards. That wasn't surprising, given her condition, which Dezel had very kindly pointed out to her. "So why do you care so much about me?" They locked eyes, at least as far as Rose could tell. His hairstyle was totally stupid—how he could see through it? She had a sudden urge to reach up and brush his hair out of his face, but…
"Come on, guys, is this really the time?" asked Sorey, waving his arms in exasperation to catch their attention from the other side of the gap. "Let's keep moving! We're almost there!"
Dezel gave a light sigh and finally sent Rose across the chasm, perhaps a little more forcefully than necessary. She yelped as he dropped her very close to the edge on the opposite side, and she staggered, flailing. But just as she cried out, along with Sorey, feeling herself fall backwards into nothingness—someone with incredible strength grabbed her forearm and pulled her effortlessly up, almost off her feet.
Ow. Well, Lailah might say that it used to be her forearm, but now it was more like a sore arm. Damn it, she'd barely met the girl—seraph, whatever—and she was already starting to learn exactly what she'd say.
Rose looked up slowly to see Dezel regarding her impassively, and almost took an instinctive step backwards right back down into the abyss, but restrained herself. Or, more accurately, he restrained her, given that he hadn't let go of her arm yet. "See, you need me," he said, dragging her around so that he stood between her and the gap, and finally released her.
"I wouldn't have been in that fix in the first place if it hadn't been for you!" snapped Rose, marching forward, and refused to look back at Dezel as he brought up the rear. "Now you owe me two." She rubbed her aching arm pointedly, but he only offered a soft 'tch' as response.
"What exactly does he owe you, Rose?" asked Sorey curiously.
Edna sighed, and Rose could all too easily imagine her roll those bright blue eyes. "I think a better question is whether he actually owes her anything," she said, as deadpan as ever. "She clearly doesn't value her life, if that's not repayment enough for his meddling." She paused, a smile in her voice. "I would be more than happy to take it away for her."
Lailah sighed Edna's name reproachfully, but her gentle voice was barely audible under Dezel's menacing snarl. "Don't touch her!"
As Rose turned to look at him in astonishment, she noticed his fists remained clenched in fervor, and his lip was slightly raised to reveal those creepy sharp teeth. Okay, so they did come stranger than Sorey. Good to know.
But why the hell was he so attached to her already? Whatever he felt for her obviously transcended attraction; nobody who'd ever wanted to get into her pants before had acted like she was their property. She was pretty sure that being this overprotective and controlling was one of the warning signs of an abusive relationship. Not that she'd ever had a boyfriend, which made this even weirder.
But they'd just met. Hadn't they? She'd never been able to see seraphim before today, so she had no way of verifying… ugh, all this speculation was making her headache worse. "Just get back in the Shepherd," she told Dezel as they walked through the door to the central chamber, realizing with a jolt that he was still following her, even though he had no real reason to do so anymore. "I told you, I'm fine. I can handle mysel—"
And of course she had to stumble at that exact time. Over her own feet, no less. Thank gods Sorey's back was turned, though she had her doubts about whether the other seraphim were just as oblivious, because Lailah at least was giggling. And this time, Dezel didn't catch her. He just crossed his arms and watched as she tripped, ran forward several feet to try and regain balance, and sprawled flat on the ground about a yard away from another of those bottomless gaps.
At least Sorey, bless his pure sweet heart, rushed forward to kneel next to her. "You okay?" he asked anxiously. "Does anything hurt? Mikleo," he added, and the water seraph shimmered into existence with concern in his lavender eyes, apparently ready to heal her at a moment's notice.
Rose shook her head. "Pride's bruised, but that's about it." She accepted Sorey's proffered hand somewhat tentatively, and Mikleo supported her gently as she got back to her feet, but vanished again almost immediately afterwards. Honestly, she might appreciate Dezel's efforts more if he had a slightly lighter touch; he could do with taking a leaf out of Mikleo's book. (The Art of Not Being Scary as Hell or maybe How to Be Less Possessive of Girls You May or May Not Have Just Met would make good titles, she thought.)
"Thanks," Rose added somewhat reluctantly, almost as an afterthought. If there was one thing she hated, it was being beholden to other people. And, if there was one thing she loved, it was making other people beholden to her. Rose glanced back at Dezel as she remembered he owed her, but he was nowhere to be found. Had he gone back to Sorey? She found herself oddly disappointed at the thought. Even if she'd told him to do so, she wasn't done with him yet.
But any wish to keep Dezel in corporeal form immediately vanished as she caught peripheral sight of him standing right behind her. She gasped, whirling around, and backed up right into Sorey. Oops. Thank gods the collision wasn't strong enough to send them both tumbling to their untimely demise. She opened her mouth to yell at Dezel, but quickly thought better of it. That one wasn't totally his fault, after all.
"This is why I watch you," said Dezel simply, inclining his head to look down at her. "Even the strongest humans can't fight through exhaustion forever… and then they become dangerous to their friends as well as their foes. Even with a few hours' rest, you're still in a weakened state." He paused, adjusting the brim of his hat with one hand. "You'd do well to learn your limits, so I don't have to manage them in your stead."
Though Rose's initial impulse was to deny the truth of his words yet again, this time she pursed her lips in thought. His phrasing was everything. Really, he had a point; she hadn't considered how much had happened to her today. Only that morning, she'd never heard so much as a whisper from the seraphim, and now she could literally take them into her body and use their powers. The thought of how far she'd come in a single day was enough to tire her out, and she swayed slightly in place.
"Do you want to go back to the base?" asked Sorey, resting a hand on Rose's shoulder with a light and comforting touch, and she turned her head to regard the huge stone door before instead contemplating the platforms leading to the end. Gaps notwithstanding, it looked like a pretty straight shot to what was probably the last room in the ruins…
"Nah," said Rose, braving a smile, and Dezel gave a low groan. She stuck her tongue out at him briefly before returning her attention to Sorey. "I'm seeing this dumb dungeon thing through to the end! But only because it's probably my sacred duty as a Squire to accompany the Shepherd, yadda yadda yadda. Now, let's go, before I change my mind."
Sorey nodded once. "Dezel," he began, and the wind seraph shifted in place, awaiting his orders with an almost tangible aura of resentment. "Do the, um… the windy thing." Rose raised a hand to her mouth in a futile effort to suppress a laugh. To think this adorkable idiot was supposed to be the almighty Shepherd!
As Dezel sent Sorey and the other seraphim across, however, Rose sobered. Attitude notwithstanding, Dezel did a lot more for her than she gave him credit for. Yeah, it was sort of annoying to be treated like some precious princess, but he really was trying to look out out for her, wasn't he? That was actually pretty nice of him, even if he seemed like he was a little too into it sometimes.
Okay, most of the time. They'd have to have a little talk about that later…
"All right, I guess you only owe me one," said Rose, and Dezel tilted his head slightly in apparent confusion. "For dropping me too close to the chasm a few minutes ago. Do we have a deal?"
But Dezel shook his head. "That depends on what you say I owe you," he said, running his fingers along the brim of his hat in something of a nervous tic.
Rose only smiled up at him mischievously; if that was the case, she'd think of something totally awesome once she'd rested awhile. "Then we'll have to haggle later." Dezel sighed as if he had been expecting her to say that. "But for now, you can blow me!" She giggled helplessly, gesturing to the gap, and grinned up at him as obnoxiously as she could; she'd been saving that one ever since she found out he had the powers.
Dezel crossed his arms again. "I hate you," he told her with conviction, and shunted her off to Sorey's side with a gentle gale, but his lips tugged slightly up in the beginnings of a smile before he forced them down again, and Rose couldn't help but feel that he wasn't being quite as sincere as he sounded. Maybe she could work on him after all.
Thinking of an adequate favor was going to be a lot of fun.