Author's Note: Goddamit. I am very sorry for not updating this earlier. I thought I'd have more free time now that I'm on a vacation, but my friends thought otherwise. Recent exploits include driving 4 hours at 5 AM to get pancakes. 4 hours. For pancakes.

Rare Item on Sale

A few weeks ago Merle would have thought the marketplace was depressingly empty. Only a few of the buildings, the stores, had survived the attack of Zaibach and still stood after the abandonment of Fanelia. That left many of the surviving store owners without a building to sale their wares from, and of these only a few even had the means to acquire wares to sell in the first place. The result was that out of the near fifty stores that thrived before the attack only six stores were open. And due to the troubled times that Fanelia was experiencing the stores didn't have much to sell. A few still had the odd toy or dress that had survived, but most had switched to selling extra food or medicines.

But now…

Merle smiled, holding on to Van's arm as he talked to an ecstatic trader who had just re-opened her store. She was looking out towards the market, happy that so many people had already moved in, the commotion of several stores being reopened filling the area with the sounds of laughter, talking and people calling out prices. Only a few of the shops were opened, and only a few more would be opened, but Merle knew that it was a start.

She kept looking at through the window, until her eyes fell on Allen.

Ugh. What's he doing in my view? What does he want?

Allen was nodding at something behind her.

Huh?

She turned around and saw Van and the shop owner looking at her, waiting for her to say something. Merle sighed embarrassedly, cursing herself for tuning out their conversation. "I'm sorry, but I really wasn't paying attention." She giggled at herself, hoping her beautifully charming laughter would keep them from yelling at her.

The store owner simply laughed too, oblivious to the stare Van was giving Merle and the smirk from Allen. "What Miss Lor her was saying Merle, is that she's very happy to be able to open her father's store while he is in the hospital. And she's invited us to a drink."

"A drink?"

From behind her Allen spoke up, "We are in a wine shop Merle."

She quickly shot glanced around the shop, noting several bottles of wine stacked in racks along walls. Unlike other stores, wine shops didn't have to worry about their stocks going bad with time.

"Oh, so we are… A drink? Isn't it a bit early in the morning to be drinking Lord Van?"

The owner wasn't paying attention to her worries; she had already pulled out a bottle and motioned the group to sit down. "Oh good gods, I never expected to drink with royalty before. Is a '82 Torni Fields good enough?"

Van and Merle exchanged glances and shrugged. Allen, eyeing the bottle of wine spoke up as he took a seat near them. "Torni Fields makes good wine, and '82 was a good year for them. I'm surprised you have one of these, they are quite valuable."

The blonde noted the looks of surprise on his friends, and before taking a sip of his wine he continued, "As a Knight of Caeli I am usually posted at ballroom parties and gatherings of royals in Asturia, and over the years I've picked up a fondness for wine."

"What a surprise" Merle drawled, "flirty knight knows how to drink wine. Bet all your girlfriends were drunk when they said yes to you." She started laughing at her own joke, and thankfully Lor joined her. "Yeah, I heard Sir Allen is a lady killer, is that right?" "It is," Merle cut in, ignoring the glare Allen was giving her and the amused look on Van's face, "he flirts with anyone with a pulse."

The two girls laughed together, making joke's at Allen's expense for a while before Lor noticed Van's glass was relatively untouched. "Lord Fanel, you don't like the wine? I can try another bottle if you want me to?" she jabbed a finger at the racks of wines behind her.

"No, it's quite fine Miss; I'm just not too fond of drinking." Van said, looking down at his glass.

"Lord Van just can't hold his liquor," Merle chimed in, obviously a little tipsy from the drinks she had been downing. "Plus, he's had terrible experiences with alcohol before. Remember Lord Van, when your dad caught you drinking ale when you were 13?"

Allen, finally glad to have the topic drift away from him, jumped on the chance to hear embarrassing stories about his friend. "I haven't heard this story, what happened?"

Miss Lor leaned in, sharing Allen's eagerness to hear the story. The King can't hold his alcohol!

"Well…" Merle started, her face slightly flushed from all her drinks, "if I recall, Lord Van here was trying to impress me by showing how grown up he is by drinking some of the "adult drinks" in the castle kitchen."

"I don't remember it going that way Merle." Van cut in, trying to stop her story.

"Nonsense Lord Van!" Merle countered, wrapping her arms around him, making 'shush' noises at him, much to the amusement of the others, "It was back when you kept trying to impress me all the time remember? You tried showing me you could swing a sword, you tried flying, you tried singing and you tried drawing!" She nuzzled his chest, hugging him tightly, "He was sooo cute! Trying to impress me. If I didn't know better I'd say he had a crush on me back then."

Van blushed; attempting to look away from Merle's knowing eyes.

"Speaking of which," Lor cut in, pouring himself another glass of the ruby liquid. "How did you and the kingdom's favorite little gatita end up together?" Van and Merle were about to begin talking when she pre-empted them with a correction, "Wait, let me rephrase that. What took you so long?"

They both looked at each other, unsure of how to continue. Both knew it had to do with Hitomi and Van's relationship, but didn't want to actually say anything. Merle didn't want to bring it up because she always had a nagging voice at the back of her mind telling her that Van is only with her because he can't be with Hitomi. It was stupid, she knew, but it continuously bugged her. She'd never tell this to Van, she'd kept her worries hidden, but she knew sooner or later she'd have to tell him. Van, for his part, didn't want to say anything but he knew about Merle's worry. She could read him like an open book, but Van often thought that she wasn't aware that he could do the same to her. He'd let her talk when she was ready though.

They both realized, however, that this wasn't the place to bring up such a topic, and thankfully so did Lor and Allen.

"Well Lord Fanel, Sir Allen and Merle," Lord said, clapping her hands and standing up, "I think I've kept you here long enough. Why don't you go out and visit some of the other stores? Gods know you need to relax sometimes, you do enough hard work."

The group thanked Lor for her hospitality, with Van and Allen surreptitiously leaving behind some money to pay for their drinks, and soon they found themselves outside again.

"Well she was nice." Allen said afterwards, stepping out with his friends to the marketplace. Van and Merle merely nodded, Merle sighing again and squeezing Van's hand.

"We're just walking around today?" He asked, smiling at the backs of his two friends, their closeness giving him a sense of happiness.

"That's the plan isn't it Lord Van?" Merle hugged herself closer to her love; she could never be too close to him. She always wanted to be a bit closer. "Allen, what are you doing walking behind us? We aren't kids to be looked after you know!"

"Really? I wouldn't know that from your behavior."

They two continued to playfully bicker all throughout the day. Van made it a point to visit every single store and ask the owners how they were doing, if they needed anything and asked if they had any other. And the shop owners, for their part, would always invite him to stay a while, thanking him for this opportunity to restart their businesses, to help out their country by being the backbone of their entire land's commerce. They would always attempt to give him, Allen or Merle free gifts. Van and Allen would always reluctantly refuse, while secretly leaving money behind to pay back for the gift. Merle, on the other hand, would eagerly accept them, leaving Van to leave extra money to pay for her gifts too.

"Oh, that place looks great!" Merle ran off towards one of the trader stalls, one of many that had been set up alongside the reopened buildings. She stopped at a nearby stall, eyeing some of the items on display.

"Van, if you don't mind me asking…" the tall man began, looking at his friend. They had both stayed back, letting Merle look at the stall by herself. "Well, when you all came aboard the Crusade, it was pretty obvious that you were close to Merle. You were never far from each other, and she always talked about you." Van fidgeted under Allen's words. "It was pretty obvious to anyone that she was smitten by you… very much so in fact. So what held you back from returning those feelings?"

"Well…" he began, his eyes falling over the catgirl in front of them. It felt quite odd for him, and at the same time quite good, to finally notice her features.

She's very pretty. He thought, noticing her womanly body.

"Van?"

"Oh right. I was just thinking about what you asked me. And, I'm not sure myself."

Allen folded his arms across his chest, deep in thought. "Maybe you were just so used to her being there, that you never considered her anything more?"

A frown appeared over Van's face. He's right. That's exactly what it was. "I feel so stupid." He looked up when he felt a hand fall on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Van. You realized it, and you are both young. Some people never realized the feelings of others throughout their whole lives."

The younger man nodded, Allen's words relieving some of his guilt, "Yeah. You are right. I should talk to her about this soon; I know she's picked up that I've felt this way for a while now. While I'm at it I should ask her when she started seeing me as more than a friend." Van's train of thought was cut off when Allen suddenly laughed, causing a few of the nearby village people to stare at him

"I'm sure you should Van. But I think I can take a guess."

"Lord Vaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Merle's yell stopped Van from asking what Allen meant by that, instead he turned his view to see his girlfriend frantically waving him over. Neither of them had any idea what could make her even more excited, much less required her to yell him over from across the market. They walked over to her, catching her by a stall that seemed to sell all manner or miscellaneous items. Toys, trinkets, souvenirs, and the like. The owner, an old and graying wolf-man bowed before his king and the knight.

"What is it Merle?" Van asked, noting some of the odder wares the man sold, including shrunk and dried lizards and an old rusted sword.

"Look," she said, pointing at a heap of objects piled on a blanket the man had set up. Van wasn't sure what exactly he was looking for, it all seemed like random items to him. Then, finally, after Merle pointed and gestured again, he caught it.

A gasp from nearby told him that Allen had also seen it.

"Where did you get this?" he breathlessly asked the man, kneeling down to examine the object up close.

"Lord Fanel, I found it a few nights ago along a road as I came back here. I thought it looked interesting, so I picked it up. It caught your eye did it?" he added, smiling.

Merle and Allen huddled around Van, paying almost no attention to the old wolfman's words. The object Van held in his hand would seem completely bizarre to any other Fanelian, to any other Gaean.

Its top was grey while its bottom was black, and made of a material not known to the science on Gaea. Off to one of the sides were hanging strings that were attached to what looked to be ear warmers. There was a small mirror near the front of the object, flanked by a few recessed squares on the sides. Symbols were engraved on these squares, though none of the three knew what they were for. The only recognizable symbols were arrows, though why one was simply the point, why two were followed by lines and why one faced the opposite direction was beyond them.

Pressing one of these squares popped open the lid on the object, prompting Merle to let out a quick cry of surprise.

"That's pretty odd. Whoever built that chest doesn't know much about boxes do they? It doesn't seem to be able to hold anything." The owner added, catching sight of the entire event. Merle simply nodded, though she knew this wasn't meant to be a box.

"I'll take it." Van suddenly said, "I don't care about the price." Merle and Allen nodded, they knew this was important.

"Lord Fanel, I don't want to second guess my King but, I don't really recommend it. It's a pretty terrible box. It can't hold anything…"

"It's fine sir, but this item is very important. How much do you want for it?"

The old one sighed, if his King, the King's mate and the tall knight wanted an item, who was he to say no? He rubbed his chin, trying to think up of a price. "How about 4?"

"4 is fine." Van said, handing the object to Merle, who began fiddling with it and examining it closely. He reached into his pocket and drew 4 gold coins, along with 4 extra.

"Oh no Lord Fanel, I couldn't.

"It's fine sir. Take it."

While Van tried to persuade the old wolfman to take the extra tip, Allen looked over Merle's shoulder at the object, both of them trying to comprehend the alien writing that dominated most of the black underside of the object.

"What do you think it means?"

Merle shrugged, turning the thing over in her hand, her eyes falling on the words that dominated the top grey area.

SONY

WALKMAN

ESPMAX CD-R/RW