Kingship's Bond...
He felt someone grab his elbow and hiss, "Wil!"
He turned to find the green haired girl, staring up at him. "Oh, ah…you," he finished as he realized that he didn't actually know her name. "So, umm…what is your name?"
"Rebecca!" she said and she sounded annoyed.
"Hunh?" Wil exclaimed in surprise. "So your name IS Rebecca?" He grinned thinking back to the little girl with braided pigtails. "What a coincidence! I used to know a…"
Rebecca cut in with an exasperated sound. "That's what I'm saying! I am that Rebecca!"
Wil blinked at her for a second. "What? But didn't you say earlier that you didn't know me?" Wil asked. His lips twisted in a frown as he tried to make sense of what she was saying to him.
Now Rebecca dropped her gaze to the ground as she dug her toe into the dirt. "I did, but…" She trailed off as her gaze lifted. It wasn't far, but it was enough for Wil to see that she was biting her bottom lip and looking uncomfortable. Her shoulders drooped even more as she said, "Come on! How could I have the same face and the same name as her? Just believe me!" she pleaded at the end with her eyes brimmed with desperation.
Wil was still kind of confused, so he drawled, "So it is you, Rebecca?"
"Yes!" she cried as she rolled her eyes at him.
"Well, but…" Wil started to say as he rubbed the back of his head. He understood now that this was Rebecca, Dan's little sister. But he couldn't fathom why she'd pretended that she didn't recognize him. "Then why didn't you say so?! It's been so long!" he finished as he grinned at her anyway.
His grin faded as she snapped at him waspishly, "Don't give me that 'been so long' stuff!" Then she proceeded to lift her finger and poke him in the chest. She continued, "You left saying you were going on a journey, and I never even heard from you again!" Rebecca emphasized each word with a hard poke to his chest.
"Oh, yeah…" Wil said as he laughed sheepishly. He'd always meant to write a letter to his family but had never quite gotten around to it. Deep down, he knew that was only part of it. At first, he had never written was because he was so angry at Dan for walking out on him after only a month out. Then he never felt that he could after wandering for so long and accomplishing nothing that he had set out to do. But that was before he had joined up with Lyn...before he had finally found a purpose. He knew he should have written after that, especially since they had even gone to Pherae to talk to Lord Eliwood. But he kept putting it off. "I enlisted in the Caelin army…"
"In the army? You did?"
Wil was taken aback by how skeptical she sounded. He was, after all, here in Lord Eliwood's army. Shrugging, he said, "Yeah, I traveled for a few years, and now I work for Lyn."
When he said this, her eyes narrowed and darkened. "Lyn...You mean Lady Lyndis?" she asked in tone Wil recognized her using when they were younger. Usually right before she would bite him. He hoped that she had outgrown that behavior in that moment.
However, he brushed it off and said, "Yeah, right. I keep forgetting to use her full name and title." He laughed at himself. "You know, I am in her service…I really should get her title correct…"
Rebecca was silent as she glared at him with her lips pinched into a small white line. Her cheeks and forehead started to flush red. Wondering what he could have said wrong, he asked, "Rebecca? What's wrong? Why is your face all—"
Before he could finish, her foot lifted from the ground and slammed into his stomach. He hunched over with a groan and pressed his arm over it as Rebecca yelled, "Idiot!" Then she stomped away from him.
Wil weezed, "You…kicked me…in the stomach…" And he hadn't even done anything to deserve it!
Well, at least she hadn't bitten him.
Living Legend...
"It was hot" had to be the greatest understatement of all time at the moment, Wil was sure. The sand hindered most of the army's movement, especially those on horseback. Wil had been sent out as one of the select few who fared better. Also, he could take advantage of the enemies who suffered from the same disadvantages by attacking from far away. He envied the magic users; Erk, Canas, and Lucius all but flew across the sand as if it wasn't there at all. And the Pegasus knights who literally flew over the sand.
Wil wiped the sweat from his brow and took a swig of water from his canteen. From behind him, he heard someone start shouting. "I've finally found you, you cad! Today is the last day of your life! Prepare yourself!"
Whirling around and whipping out an arrow from his quiver, he expected to find an enemy. Yet, he only saw a giant (yet familiar) berserker approaching him. "Dan!" he yelled out instinctively as he lowered his bow. Then he remembered their last conversation and corrected himself. "I mean…not Dan…Pirate guy!" He racked his brain for the right name. He knew that it was something like Dan (weird as that was) but not quite the same. "Da—Da—Dark!"
"It's Dart, you idiot!" the pirate bellowed.
"Yeah, right," Wil agreed with a smile. "So, um…what do you want with me?" he asked.
"Well, I kind of owe you one from earlier…or maybe a few…" Dart said as he rubbed his chin in thought. Then he nodded as he said, "Yeah, I owe you a few whacks with this here axe!"
Wil's eyes widened with surprise. "A few whacks, huh…I'll, uhh, pass," he finished, hoping that would put the pirate off.
Dart lifted an eyebrow. "Who asked you, chum-for-brains? These people are driving me nuts!" he said swinging out his arm.
Wil ignored this as he saw something behind the pirate. "Look out! An enemy!" In a instant, he knocked the arrow in his hand onto his bow. Expertly, he pulled the string back and let the arrow fly, landing in the chest of the enemy mage, who fell back into the sand. He saw another mage off in the distance and knew that he was probably the closest one to it. He turned to the other man and said, "Look, I'm kind of busy right now. Maybe next time, eh, Darth?" he asked with a grin as he started away.
He still heard the pirate yell after him, "Hold on! It's Dart, you ignorant toad! Yarr! Come back here!"
Four-Fanged Offense...
"Umm…Dart!"
"Hm?" Dart turned at the sound of someone calling his name. He saw the green-haired girl whose name he hadn't learned yet approaching him. "What, you again?"
"My name is Rebecca," the girl introduced herself in a rush. "I wanted to apologize for earlier…"
"Apologize?" Dart repeated. He couldn't think of anything this little girl would need to apologize to him for.
"For…being afraid of you…I'm sorry," she admitted as her gaze rested on the ground.
Dart took a second to process that before he burst out laughing. Rebecca's gaze shot up as she looked at him in shock. "Don't worry about it," Dart said as he rested a hand on her head. "That is to say, it's a rare woman that don't fear pirates."
He grinned as she looked annoyed as she brushed his hand off her. She muttered, "I suppose so…but I'm still sorry."
"I said it's fine," he reafirmed. At that moment, his stomach rumbled with hunger. "The beast in my belly is growling again…" he muttered.
Rebecca brightened as she exclaimed, "Oh!" She reached into her pack and rustled around for a moment before she pulled out a small basket. "Here. Have this!" she said as she held it out to him.
Dart looked at it with a cocked eyebrow, as he asked, "What's in here?"
"It's a special lunch I make. Fresh fruit, roasted fowl, herbed bread, and…" She cut off as his stomach growled again. Rebecca pushed the basket into his hands and insisted, "Here you go."
"Uhh, all right then," he said as he took it from her. "So now we're even? Is that fair?"
"Sure!"
