Sym-Bionic Shorts

Short No: 6
Prompt: Walk
Characters: Ilana, Lance
Words: 572
Author's Note: This takes place quite early on when they land on earth, so imagine that Lance and Ilana aren't really close yet :)

Ilana could see Lance was troubled. She knew him well enough now to tell when he was. He was on the sofa, watching TV, but his eyes wandered elsewhere, and his nails dug into the stuffing of the sofa's arm. Deciding to forget trying to decipher Shakespeare's "Othello" for school tomorrow, she put down her book, and stood up. The tension in the room was killing her. She had to find out what was wrong.

"Octus" she called into the kitchen, where their robot father was no doubt trying some new strange earthling recipe. "Me and Lance are going out for a walk." Lance's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Sure, be back in time for dinner." Octus called back, as the sound of what seemed like a blender filled with nails filled the house. Before Lance could argue, Ilana had grabbed his arm, and pulled him out the front door.

Once the sound of cooking-gone-wrong was in the distance, Lance yanked his arm from Ilana's grasp.

"What's the meaning of this, Princess?" he asked.

"For the last time Lance, call me Ilana. Princess is too… formal." She huffed, and grabbed his arm once more. Lance sighed, and let her lead the way. When she was determined like this, he knew it wouldn't be worth the effort trying to get away.

Ilana eventually towed him into a playground a couple of streets over. The sky was just starting to show the first specks of stars. It was deserted. Ilana plopped herself down on a swing, and Lance winced as it made a rusty squeak. He slumped against the fence surrounding the playground, until Ilana's coy patting of the sing next to her made him get up a join her.

After a few minutes of pointless swinging and feeling awkwardly stupid, Lance finally asked. "So why did you, uh, bring me here?" It came out more snappy and annoyed than he had anticipated, but Ilana didn't seem fazed by it.

"Lance… are you okay?" she asked suddenly. Lance almost fell off the swing in surprise. Why was she, the Princess of Galaluna, asking if he was alright? He was her bodyguard, nothing more. She shouldn't' have to worry about his feelings, and he felt guilty for causing her this trouble.

"I- uh, nothing. I'm fine, Princess."

"Stop calling me that." Ilana responded, with a surprisingly annoyed tone. Lance hadn't known her long enough to realise how much she cared for the others around her. The fact that he was closing up to her had hurt her.

"You know…" her voice trailed off for a second. "You can…. Talk to me, if you're troubled with something." Lance, once again, almost fell over with surprise. She didn't need to care like this! She must already have enough on her mind. Her father, her home, and she didn't need to worry about him on top of it.

"Lance?" she asked tentatively, after getting no response, and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned away.

"It's nothing." He replied coldly, and rose to walk home, leaving Ilana, alone on the swing set. She gazed after him, her brow furrowed with worry, until he turned his head slightly, and said, silhouetted against the fading sun. "But thanks." She smiled as she followed him back to their house. She had done all he could. He knew she was their for him, and he'd tell her... when he was ready.

Anyone else have issues with FF? Cuz it wouldn't let me upload this for a couple of days :/ But it's here now, and that's another one down :D YEAH! xD R and R makes me happy :)