"Okay, people, this party of us are going into the Tower of Valni for extra training; Franz, Amelia—" the two high-fived, "Joshua, Natasha, Lute, Forde, Kyle, Vanessa."

Natasha bit her lip, and Joshua grinned at her and waved from a ways away. She smiled a little and waved slightly at him. The roguish myrmidon winked at her, and she flushed pink, making him chuckle. She shot him a glare, and then the party entered the tower.

Natasha's first impression was that it was dark. She HATED the dark. The cleric clutched her staff and shuddered, glad to be behind her comrades, safe. Then she saw something slinking towards her, and she shrieked. Vanessa turned, Amelia jumped, Lute fired a thunderbolt in the entirely wrong direction, Kyle dodged the bolt, and Forde shouted at Lute for nearly killing them. Natasha saw Joshua looking disgruntled, saying, "I was going to scare you. Uh, I didn't mean to really scare you, though. Sorry, 'Tash. Is it okay if I call you that?"

"O-oh, Joshua! I… Please don't do that!" she exclaimed, still frightened out of her wits. He could tell, and apologized again, "Tash, I'm really sorry. Really. TRULY sorry—oh, don't look at me like that, you're making me feel guilty!"

She shuffled from foot to foot and mumbled, "It's okay, I'm just, uh…"

"What?"

"I'm-scared-of-the-dark!" she exclaimed, turning bright red.

Joshua raised his eyebrows. "Scared of the dark? Well… Would you feel better if I stayed with you, then? Nothing scary's going to get to you if I'm around, Natasha," he said seriously, his fingers touching her cheek gently. Then he tweaked her nose and chuckled, saying, "I do mean it."

Natasha nodded, smiling at him, and replied, "Thank you, Joshua… But you don't have to be right here all the time. I won't hold you down."

He nodded back at her. "Okay. I'll get in some monster-whacking when I'm sure you're safe. Like right now; stick with Kyle, and I'll be right back. There's an entombed that's beating up Amelia, and Franz hasn't noticed yet."

Natasha beamed at him, and he winked and moved off with a Killing Edge in his hand, ready to whoop a very unsuspecting Entombed. The party was splitting up, finishing off the last few monsters. Natasha saw the shadow before she saw it, and turned around. The Bael clicked its pincers at her, and was about to strike. Natasha screamed and attempted to protect herself with her staff.

Joshua's head snapped around when he heard her scream. He gasped and swore, seeing Natasha cornered. He leapt over the re-dead undead towards her and shouted, "Oi! Bael! Over here, you great brute!"

The spider turned and clicked its pincers at him, then scuttled over. Natasha's eyes were shut tight, and she was biting her lip still, but she opened one eye to see why it hadn't struck yet. The cleric opened her eyes fully when she saw it wasn't there still, and looked around. There it was—fighting Joshua, who was swearing at it, something about "don't you—slash!—dare—slash!—hurt Natasha, you—slash! slash!—overgrown—slash!—cockroach!"

She had to smile slightly, but she was still concerned for him, and seconds after he dealt an amazing hit, quicker than she'd thought possible, he jumped over the body (now cleaved in two) towards her. Joshua nearly tackled her in a hug, saying quickly, "Gods, Natasha, I'm not leaving your side. You attract too much trouble."

Natasha laughed into his chest, replying, "You worry too much, Joshua… And aren't you trouble, as you yourself admitted?"

"Uh, yeah... But this is on a whole new scale—oh, forget it. We'll flip a coin. Heads, you keep yourself safe; Tails, I get to keep you safe," replied the myrmidon, grinning.

She smiled. "All right. Go."

He flipped a coin in his pocket into his hand and then laughed victoriously. "Hah! Tails. It's my lucky day!"

Natasha smiled at him. "All right, you win. Thank you. You saved my life back there."

"Don't flatter me, 'Tash, you'll make me blush."

"… Flirt."