Genre: Humor/Romance
Pairing: Rue x Mint, Narcius x Kirielle (if you squint really hard)
Authors Note: Once again, this was typed, edited, and uploaded while I sit here at work. I cannot guarantee the absence of typos, grammatical errors and redundancy. I shall exert all efforts to clean this up as soon as I get the time but for now, enjoy…
Time's Up: Omake Chapter 2
A few nautical miles away from Ixpen's docks, aboard a passenger ship traveling across the Coral sea, stood one very angry future queen of the world. On the deck of The Siren sat a silver-haired youth who seemed to be just a little out of breath.
Bothe were drenched for head to foot and slightly shivering from their little night swim. Ruby red bangs plastered to the crystal at the center of her forehead and eyes shining dangerously, Mint shook a vengeful fist in the direction she was facing.
"WHAT THE FUCK PORCUPINE?!" She bellowed.
Also on The Siren's deck were three figures clad in hooded cloaks. One stood to the side with his eyes closed and lips curved in an amused smile. His platinum blonde hair was held back in three neat ponytails behind his head and the air that surrounded him seemed to stand still in a dead calm – serene as the smile on his peaceful features.
Next to the man was a busty young woman with her slender arms wrapped around her delicate frame. Unlike her companion, her beautiful face was contorted in laughter and her ample chest jiggled with every wave of her bursting chuckles.
A few steps from where she stood, a man sat in a most peculiar position on the ship's cold wooden floor. His palms were planted on either side of his body and his legs were splayed far apart to avoid contact with the giant silver and red axe that found itself lodged into the damp floorboards in between them.
Beads of sweat trickled down his face, frozen in abject horror as the Arc Edge's blade came just a few millimeters short of "de-manning" him - damned close for comfort. His hair, gravity-defying angry red spikes sticking out into the frigid night air, seemed to highlight the man's moment of terror.
"DAMMIT RED! WHA'DYA GO AND DO THAT FOR HUH?!" He managed to yell back at the enraged ex-princess.
Rue speechlessly watched as the pair got into another heated verbal battle. His frantically beating heart refused to slow down and his mint went into hyper drive, trying to process all that has just happened.
He had found Mint.
He seized the girl into a hug and then…
and then she kissed him.
And the world around them stopped and an eternity stretched on in what the silver-haired youth expects was the time it took for his body functions and brain processes to go back online.
His recovery was unfortunately too late when he heard a small click coming from under his feet and the warm body pressed up to his own. His instincts had screamed at him to jump out of the way but his arms wouldn't move –refused to let go. Partly because he didn't want to stop, mostly because he didn't want Mint to get hurt. He'd never allow anyone, Mint especially, to meet harm while he was around. Never again.
But then, before the explosion could so much as fry the soles of his mismatched boots, he was airborne. Suddenly, the world was a mess of white brown and blue - sky, wood and sea, in that order. And then there was nothing but the darkness threatening to suffocate him as it engulfed his slowly numbing body.
The blast had knocked the wind out of his burning lungs and the Arc Edge's weight on his back made it impossible to battle the fierce waves caused by the passing ship's rudder. With a cold sense of dread, the young man realized that it was the end.
He was going to drown.
And then he saw Mint. Her gem, the Dewcrystal on her forehead, exploded into color down in the depths of the inky blackness encasing them. Her hand reached out for his and her hair, like flames dancing in the night, drew his gaze to the threat burning in the girl's eyes.
"Don't you dare give up on me!" they told him.
The moment her small digits grasped his own, a blinding gold light wrapped itself around them and they were back on the ship. Drenched and shivering, but safe.
A few seconds passed before, in one surprising display of brute strength, the ex-princess lifted the Arc Edge from its case on Rue's back and swung the blade heavily downward. The savage attack barely missed the man sitting opposite them, the man responsible for the explosion – Trap Master.
"ALL I'M SAYIN' IS WE CAME OUT 'ERE TO SEE THIS PUNK ALL OVER 'YA!"
"HAS IT OCCURRED TO YOU THAT MAYBE, I WAS ENJOYING IT?"
The continuous screaming brought Rue's thoughts back to the steadily escalating fight before him. The anger in the tones of the two were dangerously bordering murderous.
"HA! THAT'S BULL! 'YA WERE BAWLIN' 'YER EYES OUT LIKE A BABY!" The man accused.
"THOSE WERE TEARS OF JOY YOU IDIOT!" the girl countered.
By that point, both redheads were facing off - shouting, cussing, and stomping after unleashing a number of slashes and explosions at each other. Mint's haloes orbited her spell casting arm and Trap Master's fingers were toying with invisible bombs hidden under his dark cloak.
Just before any more damage could be dealt to The Siren's wrecked woodwork, Psycho Master and Mode Master decided to step forward to cool the raging flames of the heated argument.
"That would be quite enough from the both of you." Karwyn's voice, although not all that demanding, bore twice as much threat as Mint's shouting or Trap Master's profanity.
"Kirielle restrain Narcius." He commanded.
Still fresh from a bout of mad giggling, the dark haired woman hooked an arm around the angry pyromaniac's left elbow. The slightest hint of red dusted the man's cheeks as his voice faltered. The most powerful of the three nodded in satisfaction and approached, rather, floated over to the furious ex-royal.
"You two should get dry. We shall be awaiting your presence at tonight's dinner." The man informed them, not once opening his eyes.
"I've got mah' eyes on 'ya pretty boy." Narcius managed to squeeze in before the trio vanished in a flash of pale blue light. Deep down, everyone knew that he was a good person and acted only to protect the people he considered to be his friends.
Once again, Rue was left standing alone with Mint on the ship's abused deck.
At once finding the strength to stand, the youth walked over to set a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down as well. She was busy brushing off the ashes from the burns left on her clothes by the short lived battle.
"I guess he's right." He told her.
Rue slowly walked forward to take hold of the Arc Edge's handle. His weapon was still standing with its sharp edge wedged into the splintered wood of the damaged floor.
Now that the danger was over, it was oddly amusing to note how some things didn't seem to change with Mint, even after she had gone missing for years. She still was, and always will be, one hell of a fighter. Of that he was sure.
With an audible sigh, the young man surveyed the totaled upper deck of the ship.
His hat was hanging on what was left of the wooden railing the girl had been leaning on before he approached her. It must have gotten caught there in the confusion of the explosion. Much to Rue's relief, its yellow ribbons were only slightly singed. Sadly, the same could not be said for the wreckage left in Mint's and Narcius' wake.
"It's a wonder you two didn't end up sinking us all." He found a little humor in that awkward realization.
His beloved hat back, safely atop his head, Rue then carefully maneuvered over the great hole in the middle of the floor to the girl's side.
"Um, how are we going to pay for all this damage Mint?" he dared to ask.
"Shouldn't you be asking me something else?"
"Uh…" he didn't know how to answer that.
Mint shook her head, holding both arms out to her side in a shrug as she did so. She then put her Magic Power to use with a combination of the whirlwind spell and red magic to 'blow dry' Rue and herself. A heavy silence hung around the two, whispering doubts and second thoughts into their pink tinged ears.
Even the simple task of drying themselves off seemed like the most sacred of rituals – as if the warm wind was trying to blow away more than just the cold saltwater still dripping from their clothes.
"Hey Mint?" Rue chose to begin.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for saving me back there."
Finally deciding to keep away the Dual Haloes, the ex-princess gave her silver-haired prince a smile – the first real one in months.
"Hell would freeze over before I let anything take you away from me again." The girl thought, shaking her head once more to dismiss the dark memories of her lonely past. The honest smile on her lips melted into a much more mischievous and familiar scheming smirk.
"Pssh, like I'd let you get away and leave me hanging with that sloppy kiss." She teased.
The response she got from Rue was all the girl needed to know that he was truly unharmed. It affirmed that she had not lost him before she could even begin to call him her own – something she had wanted for so long.
Blushing just as much as her friend, maybe soon to be something more, the girl took the other's hand and proceeded to drag her mortified partner back to the inviting warmth inside – to their prepared dinner.
"Forget about the damn ship, I've got loads of more important stuff to discuss with you. That, and a certain jerk owes the both of us an apology." Mint said.
"…and it looks like I'm gonna owe Maya for more than just that cannon orb too…" Rue thought he heard Mint mumble as he obediently allowed her to lead him into a new life -a new relationship with each other.
It was a whole new adventure just as he had promised, rather, been blackmailed into, and try as he might he couldn't stop smiling as he finally understood the emotions he could barely fathom before. It seems the runaway princess had managed to knock more than just a little sense into him all those years ago.
He was in love.
And at last, he was content.
~Owari~