Chapter 13

Odin and Elise trudged together up the seemingly endless stairs, hearing faint yells from the chambers up ahead.

"Strange, Corrin had already finished defeating Lady Hinoka…I wonder what could be going on?"

Elise shrugged nonchalantly, much more concerned pressing some questions at Odin. "Maybe they've met up with the Rainbow sage, finally? Or perhaps there's someone else up there…either way, I'm sure they've got it under control. Anyways, um…"

"Yes?"

Elise paused, blushing heavily. She was planning on asking Odin a few questions to try and determine his relationship with Selena, but it was much harder to do than she thought. She would have to think out her questions, even though she was likely to stutter and bumble her way through actually asking them.

"Was there a fatal piece of information you wished to tell me, Milady?" Odin pressed. "Is it some sort of encrypted clue you can only tell me through silence? I've never been good with sign language, but I can try to interpret your messages! Tug on one of your pigtails if you can still hear me, because if you have gone deaf, I will need to use my dark magic right away to cure it-"

"Oh no, not that!" Elise quickly replied with an awkward giggle. "I just wanted to say…uh…you and Selena looked really close today! How do you know each other?"

"That's…um…a long story, let's put it that way," Odin retorted, twinges of nervousness beginning to show in his voice. "We um…met a long time ago. Selena, Lawzard, and myself – Lawzard of course being one of Xander's retainers, but I suppose you already knew that. Childhood friends, I guess? That's the best way I can think of to describe it."

"Just friends?" Elise quickly prodded.

"…Yes. Just friends. Though I'm not sure if Selena and Lawzard will remain 'just friends' with each other for much longer…but anyways, why the sudden interest, if I may ask?" Odin curiously replied, raising an eyebrow at the short princess.

"Uh…just because you and Selena s-seemed so close and all! Wouldn't uh…want other people to be trying to date you if you're already dating someone!"

Odin scratched his head, a look of flustered confusion on his face. "Er…right." He slowly muttered back. The dark mage was beginning to grow more and more suspicious of Elise. Something told him his feelings of affection were not unrequited.

"A-anyways…next question!" The Princess managed to sputter, her heart beating out of her chest at this point. "Are…are you um…"

"Am I single? My lip-reading techniques may need work, but my peerless intuition tells me that was your question," The dark mage smoothly replied. "And the answer to your question…well, it depends on who's asking."

Now slightly concerned but more importantly, confused, Elise raised an eyebrow and continued to press for answers.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Odin paused for a moment, before replying with a slight chuckle, "Nothing, actually. I just thought it might sound cool to say. Although, I don't think it did…"

"Well, I'd prefer a straight answer, actually, as cool as the last one sounded," Elise teased, giving Odin a playful wink, while thoroughly impressed with her own response.

"The straight answer? I'm single. Very single. I'm, er…in a bit of an odd position right now, though. There's someone I like, but I can't exactly ask her to date me, or marry me, or anything like that. It's a…quite complex situation, to say the least."

This answer had Elise very, very intrigued – but also very, very nervous. She was hoping to be the person he was talking about, but was equally worried about what he meant by not being able to actually confess his feelings to whomever it was he was talking about.

At the same time, she could not be the person he was talking about, which would make her feel horrible, and also feel bad for whoever the mystery girl actually was – as odd as that would be.

Meanwhile, Odin was going through a very similar dilemma in his own head. It was just like the battles between light and dark, good and evil that he would always play out in his mind, except this one had real world consequences. While he would love to confess his feelings to Elise, the sad reality was that it simply seemed unrealistic. But the more time he spent around the girl, the harder it was becoming to hide these emotions – and even harder to imagine spending time without her by his side. Perhaps she was the light that could brighten his soul filled with darkness.

"Such torment…" The man muttered to himself, earning a concerned look from Elise.

"Sorry?"

"Oh! Nothing, milady…just muttering an incantation to ward off evil spirits from the nethers of my soul!"

The Princess giggled. "You know, you still have to teach me how to talk like that," She told the man, "And I'm not gonna stop asking until you do."

Odin smirked slightly at the girl. "Perhaps, one day, I shall. One day, I'm sure, I will be able to reveal to you all of my dark secrets, but alas! Today is not that day. Someday, all will be made clear to you, my precious Princess."

Elise blushed heavily once more at Odin's final compliment, playfully bumping him with her hips. "One day, Odin Dark, I'll get you to spill all of your clouded and shadowed secrets!" She teased.

"Hey, not bad, not bad!" Odin praised, giving Elise an impressed look. "It won't take you long at all to figure out how to speak in my accursed dark tongue!"

"Ha ha!" I knew I would be a natural!" The princess excitedly exclaimed, smiling broadly.

"How about we meet up bright and early tomorrow morning, on the training grounds. That way we can train together, and then afterwards, I will teach you the ancient language of Odin Dark! Sound like a deal?"

"Anytime, any place!" The Princess quickly giggled in reply, giving the man a quick surprise hug, which caught Odin off guard at first but he quickly managed to return.

"All right! We've got plans for tomorrow, then!"

Elise and Odin continued their talk as they trudged up the rest of the stairs, but all Elise could think about for the rest of the trip was her meet up with Odin they had finally planned. She wasn't sure of what to expect, but there was one thing she knew already: she would hardly be able to sleep tonight.