The redheaded boy rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. Green eyes scanned the marketplace for any sign of his mentor, though he did not see one. The sun had begun to set and the bustling marketplace of Ylisstol began to thin. Soon, it was only himself and a few stragglers who milled about the closing shops.
He sighed before choosing to slump against the wall of the building. Snatch had told him to wait for him here under the pretense that he and Gaius would be storming into some stuffy noble's home in order to line their pockets with riches. However, that had been hours ago; Snatch had promised Gaius that he would be accompanying his disciple shortly after the lunch rush. Now with the moon soon to peak over the horizon, Gaius was forced to admit that Snatch was not coming at all.
After a moment's deliberation, Gaius pushed himself from the wall and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He fished for a lollipop and once found, he eagerly pulled it from its hiding place and made haste to unwrap it.
A flash of pink caught his eyes, causing the thief to stop indulging on his snack and instead focus on the object that had distracted him. When green eyes settled upon her form, they would widen and his jaw would go slack.
A noble? Here? What in the seven hells was a noble girl doing out this late on her own with nary a guard to accompany her?
She must have sensed his gaze boring into her, for the girl would then sharply turn her head and throw a withering glare at the street urchin who dared to stare at her as if she were some sort of piece of meat to ogle. Despite hardly being a teenager, the blonde certainly had no qualms in making her opinion on the stranger known.
Gaius felt his face heat up, causing him to hurriedly snap his face away and grimace in embarrassment. He hadn't meant to stare, but he was taken aback by the fact that this young girl was all on her lonesome in a rather shady part of town.
When he was certain she wasn't looking at him anymore, Gaius would slowly inch his face in her direction again. He noted her brisk walk and her hesitance as she rounded corners, causing Gaius to draw the conclusion that she was lost. Her pride, of course, refused to wipe the taut expression from her face. Gaius snorted at this display—nobles always did have such an odd way of behaving, even in daunting situations such as these.
When the girl pulled into another alley, Gaius ruminated over what to do. His conscience warred within him; on one hand, what did he care what happened to some snooty noble? On the other, he didn't want to subject her to whatever evils lay lurking within the shadows of the now empty marketplace.
Go to her, a small voice rang from the back of his mind.
And so sucking in a breath to calm his frazzled nerves, Gaius crept after the blonde noble girl. He didn't know what he would do, but he at least wanted to make sure she found her way out of the marketplace and back to whoever she had come with. Knowing the undesirables that lurked within the night, Gaius didn't doubt someone would want to lay claim upon her—a noble girl would fetch a high price in the slave trade.
He didn't know how long he had been following her, though it hardly seemed like any time at all before she came to a stop. Immediately, Gaius ducked behind a discarded rum barrel to avoid being spotted. He knew she didn't have the highest opinion on him. He also knew that should she see him tailing her from afar it would do little to ease her already troubled mind.
"Hey there, darlin'. You lost?" a voice purred from the shadows. Immediately, Gaius' blood ran cold at the sound. He knew that whoever had made his presence known had less than noble intentions in mind. An uncomfortable silence settled in the narrow alleyway and Gaius knew that the girl was looking for any escape route she could take to avoid this confrontation.
"T-Take one step closer and I will be forced to maim you!" the girl said. Even now, she refused to let her pride waver and appear as little more than a helpless waif in the eyes of this predator. Under normal circumstances, Gaius would have laughed out loud, but considering the grim situation, he wanted to do anything but. Silently, he willed her to keep her mouth shut as he tried to think of a way to get her out of her compromising position.
"Tsk. Got a big mouth on ya, ya little bitch?" Gaius heard the man take a heavy step forward while the girl took a step back. A bead of sweat clung to the boy's temple as he continued to wrack his brains for any solution. "Well, that works fine for me. It's always more fun to break 'em."
Silence settled for a moment before the girl gave a shriek and the sounds of a struggle were heard from behind the barrel.
"Unhand me! Unhand me, you unwashed brute! GUARDS!" she screamed.
A ringing slap echoed off the walls of the alleyway, accompanied by the hissing of the man who sought to harm her, "no one can hear your screams. They'll be music to my ears, I'll tell ya."
Able to stomach no more of this, Gaius scurried to his feet and launched himself towards the pair. His stomach dropped when he noticed the girl's blouse had been ripped which only prompted him to push himself in between the two and get her out of harm's way. He didn't know what he was doing, though the last thing Gaius ever expected to do was to run to the aid of a noble he didn't know. He tried to ignore the look of befuddlement on the girl's face as she recognized her saviour was the same boy she had stuck her nose up at in the marketplace.
"She said back off," Gaius said. Despite his smaller stature, the boy wasn't about to let the girl get herself hurt by the brute he stood before.
Shock flitted across the man's features before he'd get in Gaius' face and remark, "oh yeah? Whaddya gonna do about it, pipsqueak? This your girlfriend here? It'd be easy enough to kill ya, maybe feed ya to the stray dogs when I'm done."
As Gaius opened his mouth to answer, he was surprised when it was the girl who piped up instead.
"Callous! Of course, only a filthy troglodyte like yourself would stoop so low!"
Gaius fought off the urge to groan loudly in exasperation. Gods, couldn't she keep her big mouth shut? He was trying to get her out of this mess, not push her further into it.
"Twinkles, do me a solid and keep your mouth shut," he murmured over his shoulder. Still, Gaius refused to take his eyes off the bristling man before the pair.
He felt the girl's befuddlement at being addressed so casually and with such a silly nickname.
"'Twinkles?' My name is Maribelle and you would do well to remember that!" she retorted.
Gaius grit his teeth in both annoyance and fear. This Maribelle was proving to be more of a handful the more time he spent with her. Gods, despite being no older than fourteen by the looks of it, she refused to lay low and allow herself to be talked down by either male in the vicinity.
"I'm growin' tired o' this..." the assailant rumbled. Cracking his neck from side to side, he quickly brandished a rusty knife and shot Gaius a toothless grin. "Don't worry, kid. I'll make sure it'll be painful."
Eyeing the rusted knife in the man's gripe, Gaius began to fumble for his own. Once wielding his dagger, he held it before the criminal's face and began to back away with Maribelle in tow. Mercifully, the noble girl had enough sense to keep quiet this time—perhaps the gravity of the situation finally sunk into her.
As the brute lunged forward and made to swipe at Gaius' neck, the redheaded boy would hurriedly duck while pushing Maribelle away from the blunt edge of the weapon. With a short scream, she fell into the piles of rubbish, hurriedly picking herself up to watch the unfolding fight with wide, fearful eyes. Each time the rusted dagger moved to stab or slice at Gaius, she'd suck in a breath and squeeze her eyes shut. Mercifully, the smell of blood never hit her nostrils.
"Fuckin'—why won't you die!?" the brute shouted as he once again made to impale the teenager upon his weapon.
Deftly evading yet another blow, Gaius then sprung forward in a sudden burst of speed. He didn't intend to kill the man, just maim him enough so that he and Maribelle could flee to safety.
His plan worked, for the man hadn't expected the thief to suddenly lunge towards him with such frightening quickness.
Before he could react, he felt cold steel graze his skin and impale his abdomen. A cry escaped his mouth and within moments he had stumbled backward to eye the damage that had been done. Even now, the knife protruded from his waist like some grotesque body part that had suddenly latched itself onto him like a parasite, slowly sapping him of his strength.
"B-Bastard...!" he spat.
Gaius didn't respond. Instead, the thief whipped around to grab Maribelle by the wrist and sprint out of the alleyway. Mercifully, Maribelle did not object. Instead, she tried her best to keep up with him, albeit stumbling every so often.
"Get b-back here! Damn you to hell!" the cries of the bandit would be heard from behind. Gaius refused to stop, rather he pushed himself to run faster before the brute would regain some of his strength to lumber after them. As a thief, Gaius' expertise relied on his speed rather than his strength; he doubted he would be able to successfully kill the man without sustaining heavy injuries himself.
From the corner of the alleyway, neither teenager was aware of the eyes that watched the two scamper away for their lives.
He didn't know how long he had run for until the wheezing behind him caused him to skid to a stop and quickly glance behind his shoulder to his new companion. His eyes grazed her form, looking for any sign that she had been hurt. When he found none save for the redness on her face, he'd visibly relax. His relief didn't last long, however, when he heard Maribelle begin to sniffle.
"Er..."
What could he say? What she had gone through just now had been a traumatic experience, one he wouldn't wish upon anyone.
Noticing her torn shirt, the thief felt his ears burn at her immodesty before he quickly shrugged off his cape and wordlessly handed it over to her. He kept his eyes averted to spare her the shame, though he could feel her curious gaze boring into his features. After what seemed like hours, Maribelle hesitantly pulled the cloth from his grip and wrapped it around herself. Nothing was said between the pair, save for Maribelle's occasional sniffling.
He sucked in a breath through his teeth, trying to think of what he could possibly say to make the grim situation even a little bit lighter. When he could think of nothing, he would sigh and finally turn his gaze back to her. Immediately, he felt a pang in his gut at her sorry state: the welt on her face was angry and puffy, her neat hair was a mess of tangles, and her clothes lay in tatters.
"...I'm sorry," she suddenly murmured.
Her apology caused confusion to course through him, prompting Gaius to blink in an effort to stave it off. When that didn't work, he stupidly pointed at himself and asked, "muh? Me? Sorry for what? Crivens, Twinkles, you're the one who got herself into some crap and you're the one apologizing to me?" While her earlier actions had befitted one of her status, her current ones did nothing to ease Gaius' feelings of bewilderment.
"I have treated you horribly... only for you to save me when I needed someone the most," she said.
At this, Gaius felt his face burn. He coughed into his fist awkwardly and cast his gaze aside. While he wouldn't admit it, it did feel good to be acknowledged for his good intentions.
"Yeah, well... no use in apologizing." Looking to her again, he offered her a warm smile, "you got nothing to thank me for. But... save the token of gratitude and what have you till we get you home." Glancing around the darkened streets, Gaius struggled to pinpoint where exactly they were. "I reckon a guard's station oughta be somewhere close by. Luckily, I got a feeling we're close to the heart of Ylisstol."
Noticing that he hadn't yet let go of her wrist, Gaius felt his face burn again. Instead of apologizing though, Gaius hurriedly let go and gestured for her to follow him. To his surprise, the girl giggled in amusement at his odd behaviour.
"Right, uh... you might wanna follow me. Quickly, we don't want another run-in with that sap." To save himself from further discomfort, Gaius hurriedly turned on his heel and set off down the street. To his astonishment, Maribelle quickly fell in step with him and curled her fingers around his own. Again, Gaius felt his neck heat up.
The two walked in silence until Maribelle spoke up, "what is your name? I would like to know the name of my savior so that he might be handsomely rewarded for saving my life tonight."
Gaius blinked, looking down to the girl who walked beside him. Gone were her prior feelings of disgust only to be replaced by something warm within her eyes.
He felt a smile tug at his lips.
"Gaius. The name's Gaius." Noting his casual air, he grimaced before hastily tacking on, "er... milady."
Again, Maribelle laughed and Gaius felt his heart lurch. He liked when she laughed, it was a pleasant sound and by the gods she deserved a modicum of happiness for the hellish experience she had just suffered through.
"Gaius... hmm, I shall remember your name, Sir Gaius."
"Heh... appreciated, Twi—Lady Maribelle."
Again, the two settled into silence, though it was a comfortable one. Soon the torches of Ylisstol lit the way to the Ylissean Palace, causing Maribelle to gasp lightly. Even in the dark night, the splendour of the castle was enough to take anyone's breath away. In his heart, Gaius felt a pang of jealousy; no doubt the royals all lived coddled lives and never spent a day going hungry.
"I suppose this is my stop," she murmured. These words elicited a surprised reaction from Gaius. He was so certain they were on the hunt for a guard's station, not the Royal Family's home. Noting his expression, she smiled wryly and said, "my friend, Lissa, will keep me shelter for the night. Undoubtedly my father is worried about my well being, and had I known the palace was this way, I wouldn't have wandered through the streets so late in the day."
Gaius could do no more than nod dumbly, as if he trying to process just how powerful the girl who stood before him was.
She began unfurling her fingers from his own, pulling his cloak tighter over her body. She seemed to be silently warring with herself until she decided to finally pull his cloak from herself and wordlessly hand it to Gaius. Despite this gesture, the boy shook his head and pushed it back towards her.
"You keep it. Just a little keepsake to remember me by." Looking back up the palace, Gaius' brow furrowed. Gods, and to think he'd saved a good friend of the Princess of Ylisse, herself.
"You are too kind, Sir Gaius," she said. When he looked back to her, she wore a bright smile on her face. "I do hope we meet again in the future. After all, I do have to make good on my promise to reward you, do I not?"
"Heh, normally I'd agree, but just this once, I'll let it slide." With this said, he gave a teasing wink and a mocking bow, "anything for a fair maiden, huh?"
"Hmm, indeed."
When he straightened up, Maribelle fidgeted awkwardly. By now, they had caught the attention of the guards doing their patrols. Several of them recognized the noble girl, though none recognized the scamp she had affiliated herself with.
Heaving a sigh, Maribelle decided against whatever it was she wanted to do before giving a polite curtsy. As she made her way up towards the heavy gates, she turned to offer him one last smile. Even from the distance they stood at, Gaius couldn't help but be warmed by his new friend's look.
"I should hope we meet again in the future. Do not forget me, Gaius, and I shan't forget you."
With a silly grin lighting his features, he offered a two fingered salute and replied, "I won't forget you so easily, Twinkles. You can bet on that much."
Surprisingly, Maribelle did not turn her nose up at her new nickname that Gaius had bestowed her with. When the doors opened, Maribelle offered Gaius a fleeting look as she stepped over the terrace and made her way up the steps towards the castle looming in the distance.
Gaius' eyes never left her form until the darkness swallowed her whole.
"We'll meet again, Maribelle. This time, I'll be the one betting on it."
It was then that Gaius made the promise to himself to always be there when she needed him should their fates ever entwine again.