Chapter 11 - The Yuletide Ball

Hey guys, again this wasnt an easy chapter to do and actually ended up long over 4000 words so i've split it into rather uneven halves of which this is the longer one. Again i'm introducing a few new OC's, whether they will have a huge impact on the future story I don't know. I don't really want to make up some characters then just totally forget about them. I should warn you there is quite a bit of bad language this is probably the worst chapter for it so if your uncomfortable with it I apologise. Still I hope you enjoy the new chapter please follow, fave and the lot.

Thank you all for reading you guys are the best!


The ballroom was stunning. A small chamber orchestra played sweet yuletide carols from the left side of the hall, to the right were large arched windows leading out to a balcony. Around the edges of the room were various round tables for the guests to dine on and ahead was a more grand, raised table for the host and honoured guests. The whole room was ornately decorated with tinsel and well decorated pine trees. The whole place had a truly festive feel. Walter sat alone at the head table grimacing.

Link and Erza entered the large hall, to the right of the door stood Lord Francis who was chatting idly to some member of the gentry, he noticed the two mages.

"Ah, Jeffrey allow me introduce you, this is Erza Azure and Link Harkian. Two distant relatives from across the sea, they've travelled quite the distance to get here." Link wasn't fond of his new last name but he could see that Erza simply hated hers.

"Ah, Well Happy Yuletide to you," the man greeted "So where abouts are you from."

"My father owns an estate to the south of here, it's quite a way away not many people have heard of it." Erza replied creating the story so as to not arouse suspicion.

"Yes, well Jeffrey I will catch up with you later." Francis said dismissing the man quickly and without being too rude.

"Ah yes, see you in a bit then ol' chap." The man left to mingle with others at the ball.

"Right then you two, you know what you have to do, just stay undercover and watch out for anything suspicious. Try not to let anyone figure out who you are. If you would like to know where you are seated ask a butler. Now I will see you at the end of this evening with the payment."

"Yes sir." Erza replied as he walked off. Link felt rather out of place here, it was far more grand than he was used to, he was rather glad Erza was beside him, at least there was one person he knew. The pair entered the hall and were instantly greeted by Sir Walter who had wandered to the other end of the hall to meet Erza.

"Erza, may I say you look stunning this evening," he said bowing. "I have managed to save you a seat at the high table right next to mine, there is really no need to thank me." He gestured away from Link towards the high table. Erza gave an apologetic look as she was obliged to accept the promotion. She unlinked her arm with his and headed to the top of the room. Link glared daggers at Walter who returned with a victorious smirk.

Link sighed and decided to mingle for a bit, he was however shunned from numerous conversations as the elderly lords argued continually about politics and money ignoring Link completely. It wasn't long before Link noticed a group of young men skulking at the side of the room. He decided to join them, at least they were roughly his age. The young men were all tall and rather handsome and were chuckling about something. They were instantly silent when Link joined.

"Can we help you short stuff?" One asked examining Link. He was considerably taller than Link with short white-blonde hair with a rather unique cut.

"Probably not," Link answered, the group laughed.

"So who the hell are you, can't say we've seen you here before."

"Link Harkian, I'm a distant relation of Lord Francis." The group laughed again.

"What that midget? I feel sorry for you man."

"Why?"

"Why?" The blonde guy scoffed, "cos he's fucking mental man have you seen him, he's far too trusting, one day someones gonna just milk him for all he's worth and leave him in the gutter. Even his son Walter is a bit odd, still he's managed to get a pretty fit piece of meat tonight." Link could have hit him right then for refering to Erza, or anyone for that matter, in such a way. He looked up to Erza who was smiling as she chatted with Walter, Link still felt a pang of jealousy.

Suddenly the guys got excited nudging the blonde guy and pointing to a pretty woman who had just entered the hall. She was wearing a long golden ball gown, her brunette hair was pinned up with an assortment of jewelled accessories. She was joined by numerous other friends "So she came. Right then let's do this boys. Tonight she'll be mine." The man said with a smirk that disconcerted Link. Immediately a detachment of boys headed off and ushered the woman's friends away from her singling out the brunette. Then the blonde man moved in. Link noticed that the guys seemed quite experienced at this. They really did act like sharks. "So, who is she?" Link asked pointing towards the brunette.

"Are you thick. That is Helena Pontefract the daughter and heiress of probably the wealthiest family in Fiore. Jason and her have had a thing for years this is the night that he's finally going to claim her." Link turned to the man who spoke with a disgusted expression he didn't want to know what he meant. Link looked back at the woman, she seemed distressed as the blonde man spoke to her. He seemed to have backed her into a corner not letting her escape. After a few seconds she physically pushed him away. Link decided to step in. He walked forward.

"Oy dude, what do you think you're doing? don't interfere." A man grabbed onto Link's shoulder. Link looked back there was an anger in his eyes these guys were jerks and Link knew it. He imitated Erza's death stare making the man back down. "It's your funeral man but I wouldn't pick a fight with Jason he's a demon,"

"That's good then, i'll send him back to hell like the last two i fought." Link said then continued walking towards the scene. As he approached, the woman, Helena, tried to walk away but Jason grabbed her wrist almost violently, she tried to break free but his grip was strong. Link knew at this point he had made the right decision. He put his hand on Jason's shoulder.

"Hey, maybe you should lay off." Link suggested.

"Excuse me but I'm failing to see how it's any of your business." Jason bit back.

"I'm afraid to say no sane woman wants a guy whose ego is bigger than his dick, although that's not exactly hard for you is it." Link calmly said, Jason's eyes filled with rage.

"You've asked for it now." He grinned as he swung round to deliver a punch to Link's face. There was a smack as flesh hit flesh and the whole dance hall looked immediately stopped to view the commotion. As the dust settled Jason's face fell as he noticed his hand had been stopped in midair, Link had caught the fist in a vice grip before it had even got close to his face.

Link leaned in close. "If I were you I'd stop before you make anymore of a scene." Jason pulled his fist out of Link's grasp. The atmosphere was tense at this point Jason could do anything. Link realised he was risking his cover massively and should probably escape the situation. Before Jason could retaliate a butler with a large bushy moustache tapped Jason on the shoulder. "Sir, your table is ready." Jason didn't have much choice so with a scowl he followed the butler out into the dining hall. He looked back and mouthed "This isn't the end." Link marked the man in his head as a suspicious character and decided he would have to keep a close eye on him. Link sighed and relaxed slightly, he looked at the woman he had just defended she was surrounded by her friends who were bustling around her but she was just staring intently at Link in slight confusion. He smiled and curtly nodded at the woman before walking away.

Link decided to find his table and lay low for a while, asking a butler he was directed to a table in the corner near the door, it seemed shorter then the others. He went over and sat down, his mind was working a mile a minute, he was far too stressed, he realised the butler had just saved him from revealing his identity. Maybe making him angry was a bad idea Link thought. He looked over to the head table where Erza and Walter were laughing together over some joke Walter had made. It didn't make Link feel any better, Mira offered the job so Erza would be with me not him. Link complained, his conflicted feelings returning. He grabbed his hair with both hands and rested his elbows on the table.

Link heard a shuffle next to him and saw a young blonde girl wearing a frilly pink dress looking up at him.

"Why are you on the kids table?" She said rather directly.

"This is my seat I guess." Link sighed was there a mistake?

"But you're not a kid, you're old." That hit Link like a ton of bricks.

"Well your nice. Whats the name of my little bully then?"

"I'm Ysolda and I'm not a bully."

"Sure you aren't, I'm Link nice to meet you." Link said ruffling her hair, his mind was beginning to clear.

"Hey," she complained Link stopped, she looked at him confused, "Your not like the other people here are you."

"No I guess I'm not."

"So who are you then."

Link grinned "I'll tell you but you have to keep it a secret okay."

"Okay"

"Pinky swear" Link held out his pinky. She took it nodding.

"Well, truth is I'm a secret agent here to stop anything bad happening." The girls eyes lit up and she giggled "But I'm going to need a hand, you see my friend is occupied over there so I need someone else to help me," Link could see she was hooked "Let's see, they need to be as sneaky as a thief, smart as a wizard and most importantly they must have the courage of a lion. Any ideas?"

"Oo pick me I can be sneaky." The girl put her hand up.

"I dunno,"

"Pleeeeease." Ysolda begged

"Ok go find your friends and we'll all work together."

"Right." Her eyes flooded with determination as she ran off to find the other children at the party. Link relaxed into his chair, telling kids his identity probably wasn't the best thing to do but kids are far more observant than adults and he would soon have a small army at his side. He relaxed in his chair. How do innocent kids like this become so sour? He thought back to Jason and his 'gang'. He sighed trying not to think about it, this mission was a lot of work.

Ysolda soon returned with 5 other children, 3 boys and two girls all under ten. Of the two girls one was wearing a red dress with black hair she had a bored uninterested look, the second girl was wearing a pale blue dress she looked the youngest and had her little finger in her mouth as she looked up at Link. Two of the boys were obviously twins and were sporting matching purple suits and ridiculously spiked-up hair, both bore mischievous grins.

"Reporting for duty, sir." The final boy said giving a smart salute. He wore large glasses and a green velvet suit he had neat black hair.

"At ease agents, right, Today we have special mission and I need your help. Okay, This is what I need you to do." He told the children the plan and they ran off excitedly. Link got up from the children's table watching them go. He sighed and relaxed into his chair before he felt a presence next to him. He opened his eyes and was met by the woman he had saved.

"Well, your pretty good with kids Mr. Secret agent." She greeted smiling.

Link had little idea what to do so just said, "Yeh, I guess I have a way with children."

"So it seems, well then Mr. Agent aren't you going to introduce yourself." Link got flustered bowed and said "Um, Good evening, my name is Link, it's a pleasure to meet you." The woman giggled at his attempt to appear upperclass.

"The pleasure is all mine, my name is Helena." Link grinned awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, as she curtsied.

"Listen I came here to thank you for what you did earlier, and to apologise. I've known Jason all my life, recently he's been more possessive over me. I'm terribly sorry you had to be caught up in it." Link smiled.

"I was just trying to help, there is really no need to thank me."

"Still, to be able to stop a punch like that you must be pretty strong, who are you really." Helena took a step forward closing the gap between them, Link laughed awkwardly he was totally unused to these situations he hid the triforce from her view. "No one important."

"Oh really? I'm afraid I'm not buying that," Out of the corner of his eye he could see Ysolda and the other kids giggling as they watched the scene. "Let me see, you hold yourself proudly like a knight, you are hiding your identity from everyone at the ball which means you don't want to be discovered and finally your eyes show every emotion you feel; all that loss, all that love. How could any woman resist a hero like you?" Helena leaned in and whispered in his ear. "This is where you invite me to dance." Link stuttered he hadn't even considered dancing tonight. She laughed took his hand and lead him to the dance floor.

Erza looked down from the head table, and saw Link dancing, surprisingly well, with some unknown beauty. She sighed, somehow, seeing that had made her evening that much worse, somewhere inside her she wished she was dancing with him instead of the strange woman. At least he was having a good time, she was stuck with Sir. Walter Wentle who was a rather closed up man, they had made polite conversation which Sir. Walter found rather difficult, yet Sir. Walter seemed to want her close by and wouldn't let her leave for too long, it was suspicious but he may just be paranoid for the safety of his father. It wasn't long before dinner was being served. The woman left Link with, to Erza's dislike, a light kiss on the cheek. Erza could see his blush from where she was sitting. She watched as he went back to sit with the children who all noisily made fun of him. What ever happened to keeping a low profile? Link had managed to catch the eyes of almost every woman in the hall as well as piss off all the guys. Erza turned to her meal pretending not to be too bothered by it all. As a starter she had been given an ornate cup and saucer filled with pea soup, it was very stylish and probably tasted great but Erza had totally lost her appetite.

Before the main course began the host of the party Lord Francis stood up and tapped his glass. The room went silent. "Ladies and gentlemen," he started. "I would very much like to thank you for attending the Yuletide Ball and I do hope you are having a wonderful evening." With that there was a polite applause. "I would also like to thank the long table foundation for allowing me to host this prestigious event. So before I bore you all with my many thanks, I would like to propose a toast." Erza saw as everyone reached for their glasses, next to her Walter was smirking as he watched his father reach for his cup. The whole hall stood up, even Link with his apple juice. "To a wondrous Yuletide," everyone raised their glasses and repeated all drinking except Erza, she was watching Walter closely, was Link right? What was Walter up to?

Francis rose his glass to his lips and was about to sip before a flash flew straight past him smashing through the glass in the man's hands spraying red liquid and glass shards everywhere.


Dun dun daaaaa! Cliffhanger! See you next week! :P