A/N: Sorry that the chapters haven't been coming out as fast as they
should be. It's just we're getting down to the crunch here, and the story
will be coming to an end in three chapters. This chapter especially has
some crucial moments in it, and I wanted to get it as perfect as I could.
As for plot holes... Shhhhh! We can just pretend they're not there. .
Straya, I owe you a drink or something. You've been so great with reviewing my fic and giving me feedback. It really does help with my future chapters/writing. *checks the quotation* ahh! I hate it when I do that! Well, the last chapter was thirteen pages long, and with my horrible editing skills, I suppose a few typos must be expected. -_-
Well, one last warning, there are some parts in this chapter in which you might find Chris out of character if you found her to be so in chapter five. What can I say, I did my best.
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Chapter Nine - Relief
_____________________
Nash sat in stunned silence as Chris cried softly into his chest for nearly half an hour. Despite the fact that he was utterly confused as to what happened, he said nothing and simply held her in his arms until she was ready to tell him what had upset her.
"Are you going to be alright, Chris?" he finally asked softly, after she had quieted down considerably.
Chris suddenly felt very self-conscious in his embrace, and withdrew from him hastily, wiping her eyes. "Yes I'm fine," she replied, her voice slightly hoarse from crying. "I'm sorry." She felt embarrassed and even a little ashamed that she had cried in front of him, and that she had thrown herself at him like that.
"For what?"
"I... Never mind..." She looked away, grateful for Nash's unusual sensitivity towards her.
"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked cautiously. He had never seen Chris quite so upset before, and decided to approach the topic carefully.
However, she nodded, and after taking a few deep breaths, she managed to tell him everything about her encounter with Percival's spirit and his memories. She had to stop a few times, whenever she feared her emotion would get the best of her again, but Nash allowed her to take her time, remaining silent until she was done.
Nash closed his eyes when she finally finished. "I had no idea... I would have never guessed that Percival had anything to do with Sierra's mission."
She nodded in agreement. "I never would have guessed either... I have released the seal with the True Water Rune when I was connected with Percival, so you can retrieve the rune now. Also, Percival said that he'd release the limiter on the True Rune's power after you fully adapt to the new power."
Nash turned back towards the sphere that contained the True Rune. "Let's do this then..."
Chris backed away a little, and Nash approached it, stopping when he felt the rune's power washing over him. He held out his right hand, and a bright light emanated from the seal and surrounded his hand. When the light faded, he gazed down at his hand, taking a few slow, deep breaths. He had it. He had the Blue Moon Rune.
"Are you alright, Nash?" Chris asked.
He turned around and smiled. "I'm just fine. Since I'm already a vampire, I don't feel much of a change in me. Percival's limiter must be working, because I don't feel overwhelmed by the rune's power."
Chris smiled back at him in relief. "Good. We should probably get out of here for now."
But now Nash was staring at something behind her. His face was a mask of anger and hatred.
"What...?" She didn't finish the question, for she turned around to see the cause of Nash's malicious expression.
It was Yuber. He was blocking the exit and he had his swords drawn.
"You!" she cried, drawing her sword upon seeing him.
"How disappointing, you're still alive!" the demon said to her. "Nash, how long are you going to deny of what you are? It's futile to try and continue to live as a human being. You know you are superior to them now, you are a demon!"
"He's no demon!" Chris spat in his defense. "But you! You're nothing but a savage beast!"
"I'd like to think so," Yuber said with a twisted smile. "At any rate, you two have been much too kind! You defeated the dragon, and released the seal for me! You can hand over the Moon Rune now."
"Forget it!" Nash said, whipping out the Grosser Fluss. "I'll use it to destroy you first!"
"Ha ha! I'd like to see you try!" Yuber charged them.
Chris and Nash managed to deflect the initial onslaught of attacks. However, all their own attacks were mostly in vain; they were still recovering from the fight they had with the dragon, and Yuber was simply too quick. Any hits they did get on him were too minor to inflict any real damage.
After a few minutes of this, Chris timed a perfect lunge at him, and her sword bit deeply into his right arm. Yuber howled and dropped one of his swords, but as an unexpected counter, he spun around with his other sword and cut deeply into her upper thigh. Chris stumbled, and he grabbed her wrist, twisting her arm behind her back, which forced her to drop her sword as well. Although Yuber's wounded arm had a fairly feeble grasp on her wrists, he held his other sword to her throat with his good arm, assuring instant death is she attempted to struggle or use her True Water Rune.
Nash froze in his tracks, staring helplessly at Yuber's hostage.
"This is rather familiar, isn't it?" Yuber let out a truly insane laugh. "Now give me the rune, or I'll kill her."
Nash slowly lowered his swords, trying to think of another option, and finding none. He looked despairingly at his right hand, which had only just obtained the True Rune.
"No! Nash, don't! He's going to kill me anyway! He'll kill us both!" Chris shouted.
"Shut up, you!" Yuber brought his wounded arm up and covered her mouth with his hand. He pulled her head sharply to the side, exposing her neck fully to his blade, which was precariously resting under her chin. "Hurry up! Or you'll be fighting your pathetic ethics to keep yourself from licking the blood off of her corpse!"
Nash hesitated. He held out his right hand in front of him slowly.
"That's it," Yuber said, pleased that Nash was beginning to comply.
Chris pushed desperately against his weak arm, freeing her mouth for a few seconds. "Nash, NO! Don't be foolish! My death will be nothing compared to the millions who will die if you give him the rune!"
Yuber kicked her to her knees, but continued to hold his blade to her neck by grabbing her hair and pulling her head back. "Not another word!" he growled. "This is your last chance. Give me the rune, NOW."
Nash met Chris' desperate gaze and shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry Chris..."
He began to emit a bright light and a beam of light appeared over Yuber. The demon held out his hand and the Blue Moon Rune transferred to him, and Nash stumbled back with the sudden loss of the rune's power.
Yuber let go of Chris as he staggered backwards trying to adapt to his newfound power. Chris scrambled to Nash's side, and stared at Yuber as he let out a maniacal laugh and faced them.
"She was right, you know," Yuber said, his eyes seeming to run rampant with evil. "I'm going to kill you anyway! And fear not about this feeble limiter on the rune! It's only a matter of time before I break it! And when I do, I'll make every being in this land become my personal undead servant! In the meantime, I think I shall begin to exercise this pathetic limiter by wrecking havoc on that weak little town, Iksay! And now, witness the power of the Eightfold rune combined with the Blue Moon Rune!"
Energy began to swirl around Yuber, and it was evident he planned to finish them off with a spell. However, the fatal blow never came, for at that moment an arrow whizzed through the air and sank right into Yuber's left shoulder.
Yuber staggered, and whirled around to join Chris and Nash in staring at the newcomers. It was Thomas, Cecile, Eike, and Louis, who had shot the arrow.
"Fools!" Yuber screamed, clutching his shoulder in pain. "You'll pay for this! I have the Blue Moon Rune, and once I overcome this ridiculous limiter you will see this entire land perish before your very eyes!"
A yellow portal opened beneath him, and he sank into it, making an escape.
The four who had just arrived hurried over to the two fighters. Louis kneeled in front of Chris and tried to help her up.
"Milady! Thank... Thank the Goddess... I found you in time!" He was panting heavily, as though he had been running a long time.
"Louis!? How did you... How did you find us?" Chris asked incredulously.
The knight smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Believe me, milady, it was no easy task. Ever since you went missing, I'd known you'd run off somewhere with him." He nodded at Nash before continuing. "Anyway, I left Vinay del Zexay to find you. I had to make sure you were okay! I couldn't just let my captain go wandering off with someone you hadn't seen in twenty years without knowing exactly what was going on!
"I managed to track you down to Alma Kinan, and that's when Yuiri told me that I had just missed you. Said she had no idea what you two were up to, but that she had heard you were headed west. I naturally came here, since it was the old base of the Fire Bringer. I got here a few hours ago. I found Thomas and Cecile, who had seemed to have lost track of you as well."
Here Thomas cut in. "He told us he was looking for you, but we had no idea where you went. Luckily, we had finally found Eike in the basement, and we began to question him on what he knew. You see, we thought maybe you and Nash had found some information and took off right away without telling us. Imagine our surprise when Eike showed us this secret passageway! He was very reluctant to tell us about it, but Louis' desperation managed to convince him in the end."
"How ever did you find the passageway!?" Cecile asked.
Chris and Nash looked at each other, and neither could suppress a chuckle, which confused the others immensely.
"I'll tell you another time, perhaps," Chris replied, and then turned to the knight. "Louis, I apologize for deceiving you, but I knew you would try to stop me."
Louis sighed. "Yes, you are right, I would have. It's too late now, though. Thomas and Cecile have filled me in on what is going on. Now that we're all here, I just want to help you in any way I can."
"You already have!" Chris exclaimed. "Louis, I knew you were a talented swordsman, but I had no idea you had such a good aim with the bow and arrow!"
Louis looked sheepish. "To be truthful, I don't. Sir Roland gave me a few lessons in my youth but gave up on me saying I was hopeless as an archer. I came not a moment too soon though, and the bow and arrow was my only chance if I was going to stop Yuber in time. It was sheer luck that I hit him with such accuracy."
The others all stared at him in bewilderment.
Finally, Thomas spoke up. "We should get back to the castle. By the way, what was this 'limiter' that Yuber spoke up just before he escaped?"
Nash shook his head. "It's too much to explain now, but basically Yuber doesn't have access to the ultimate power of the rune. There are spirits fighting on our side and will prevent Yuber from causing massive destruction for a while. For how long, probably depends on how strong the spirit protecting the rune is..." Here he gave Chris a reassuring glance. "Which in this case means we should have enough time to at least get the rune back before he can access the rune's true powers. But right now we have to worry about Iksay."
"Iksay?" Cecile asked. "Why there?"
Chris closed her eyes. "Yuber said that his next target would be Iksay. He wants to exercise the limiter by demolishing it. It makes sense. Iksay is close to here, and is also the weakest establishment in Zexen territory. By destroying it, Yuber may conquer the rune's limiter. This must be his plan. "
"I doubt he'll attack in the next twenty-four hours," Nash assured his comrade. "Yuber may be inhuman, but he needs time to recuperate as well as plan his attack. I think we'll still be able to arrive to Iksay tomorrow before he does."
"Right now, you two must get some rest! We must get that wound on your leg looked after, Chris!" Cecile exclaimed.
The others agreed, and started back out through the passageway. Before Chris let Louis help her walk out, she turned Eike, who until this point had remained completely silent throughout the discussion.
"It's okay Eike. I'm positive that Percival and Sierra don't mind that you broke your promise. I know they're happy that you kept it a secret for as long as you did. You've been a great help."
The strange librarian did not respond for a moment. Finally, he bowed his head slightly before starting down the passageway.
"Thank... You..."
******
Later that night, after Chris' wound was healed, and dinner had been eaten, Chris decided she would go to see Nash in his room. They hadn't been alone since Louis and the others had come to their rescue earlier, and she hadn't had the chance to give him a piece of her mind for giving up the rune to Yuber so easily.
In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but feel deeply touched that Nash had given up the rune in the faint hopes that Yuber would spare her. It was such a big risk for such a small chance, and yet he had found the sacrifice to be worth it.
Regardless, it had been a foolish thing to do. After all, had she not told him that Yuber would kill her regardless?
With what seemed to be a steely resolve, she headed for Nash's room to confront him about his foolish decision. She decided to make a point of not knocking on the door before entering in hopes of aggravating him as much as it had her when he did it the previous night.
She was not about to let this go without an argument.
However, as it was, there was no heated argument. There was no witty banter. There were no lengthy explanations. In fact, there was no speech at all. The instant that Chris met his gaze, nothing needed to be said.
He seemed mildly surprised to see her at first, but was not angry at her unannounced entrance. In fact, there was a subtle smile on his face, and his gaze was disarmingly gentle. It was clear from his expression that no matter what she had planned on saying to him, he would have done the same thing if he had to do it again, and Chris could no longer pretend to be angry.
How could she when what he had done was because of his love for her?
And he did love her. She no longer doubted it. Or perhaps it had never been doubt, but denial. Denial that anyone such as Nash could love her as Percival had, or that she could love him back. But she could deny these things no longer.
For a full minute, they just stood there staring at each other from across the room in silence.
Eventually, he crossed the room to where she stood, stopping only when they were less than an inch apart. Her heart was pounding hard from being so close to him, but she felt no desire to move away.
His eyes continued to hold hers in an understanding gaze, and so much seemed to be said between them without a single word being spoken.
His hand came up to gently brush her cheek, and she closed her eyes. After a long moment, he lifted her chin, slowly leaned in, and caught her lips gently with his.
There was both an intense hunger and a vast relief in the kiss. There were no more battles with pride, fear, and guilt. They had finally surrendered to each other in this action that reflected their mutual emotions.
It was very delicate to begin with. They had both been waiting a long time for this moment, and so they did not rush the sensation of their lips brushing lightly against each other. However, as they slid their arms around each other, the kiss became fuller and more fervent until their faces flushed with heated desire.
Eventually, he withdrew from her face to trail light kisses down her neck. She was certain that his lips must be able to feel her pulse, fast and strong with stimulation, but she trusted him and did not stop him from proceeding. He kissed down to her shoulders, but did not stray further before bringing his face back up to hers.
He had just brought his mouth back to hers, when there was an untimely knock at the door. They were so lost in each other that they didn't pay attention to it at first.
"Nash?" It was Thomas.
It took until the second knock before they reluctantly withdrew from each other, breathing heavily as they tried to regain some composure. Nash cursed under his breath. Chris scurried over to a window, opening it to let some cool night air in, and kept her back to both Nash and the door.
A third knock. "Hello?"
Nash finally cleared his throat. "Yes Thomas, come in."
Thomas opened the door and entered, a look of mild surprise coming to his face when he saw Chris by the window. "Oh, lady Chris! I didn't know you were in here," he stated, and then after thinking for a moment, seemed very embarrassed. "Erm... I didn't interrupt anything did I?"
"Not at all," Nash replied, straining with great difficulty to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "We were just about to discuss our plans for going to Iksay tomorrow."
"I see." Thomas seemed to accept this response readily enough. "That's what I came about. I just wanted to say that Cecile and I would like to go with you tomorrow."
Nash shook his head. "That will not be necessary. You two need to stay here and protect Budehuc if Yuber ever decides to spring a surprise attack. You have that unborn child to look after as well."
"But we can't just let you two deal with Yuber by yourselves!" protested Thomas.
"Chris and I should have sufficient means to deal with Yuber. You have your obligations and we have ours. We are eternally grateful for all your help and hospitality." Nash smiled at the castle master and bowed his head slightly.
Thomas nodded reluctantly. "Yes, I suppose you can handle yourselves. And Louis will be there for you as well... Lady Chris, is something the matter?"
Chris, who had been silent until this time, turned around and smiled awkwardly. "No, I'm fine. I'm... I'm concerned about Iksay is all..." Her speech was noticeably rushed.
"I understand," replied Thomas sympathetically. "But everything's going to work out, I know it will. I believe in you two. At any rate, I'll be saying goodnight so you two can get a good night's rest for tomorrow."
Nash and Chris bid Thomas goodnight and he left. Chris turned around to find Nash staring at her. There was a long moment of silence.
"Goodnight Nash," she murmured finally, and then hurried out of the room.
Nash stared after her, rooted to the spot where they had shared a passionate kiss only a few minutes earlier, a slight smile on his face.
"Goodnight Chris," he said quietly when the door closed behind her.
_______________________________________________________________________
A/N: This kissing scene was really hard to write... I revised it numerous times. It's one of the most challenging things I've had to write in this fic yet. I guess it's because I really wanted it to seem special, and that's hard to do without making it sound too cliché. Anyway, I truly hope it came out okay.
I made the actual fighting in this a bit more brief, because as you know from chapter 7, action isn't really my thing.
As usual, thank you sooo much for reading!
Next Chapter: "No More Vengeance"
As for plot holes... Shhhhh! We can just pretend they're not there. .
Straya, I owe you a drink or something. You've been so great with reviewing my fic and giving me feedback. It really does help with my future chapters/writing. *checks the quotation* ahh! I hate it when I do that! Well, the last chapter was thirteen pages long, and with my horrible editing skills, I suppose a few typos must be expected. -_-
Well, one last warning, there are some parts in this chapter in which you might find Chris out of character if you found her to be so in chapter five. What can I say, I did my best.
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Chapter Nine - Relief
_____________________
Nash sat in stunned silence as Chris cried softly into his chest for nearly half an hour. Despite the fact that he was utterly confused as to what happened, he said nothing and simply held her in his arms until she was ready to tell him what had upset her.
"Are you going to be alright, Chris?" he finally asked softly, after she had quieted down considerably.
Chris suddenly felt very self-conscious in his embrace, and withdrew from him hastily, wiping her eyes. "Yes I'm fine," she replied, her voice slightly hoarse from crying. "I'm sorry." She felt embarrassed and even a little ashamed that she had cried in front of him, and that she had thrown herself at him like that.
"For what?"
"I... Never mind..." She looked away, grateful for Nash's unusual sensitivity towards her.
"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked cautiously. He had never seen Chris quite so upset before, and decided to approach the topic carefully.
However, she nodded, and after taking a few deep breaths, she managed to tell him everything about her encounter with Percival's spirit and his memories. She had to stop a few times, whenever she feared her emotion would get the best of her again, but Nash allowed her to take her time, remaining silent until she was done.
Nash closed his eyes when she finally finished. "I had no idea... I would have never guessed that Percival had anything to do with Sierra's mission."
She nodded in agreement. "I never would have guessed either... I have released the seal with the True Water Rune when I was connected with Percival, so you can retrieve the rune now. Also, Percival said that he'd release the limiter on the True Rune's power after you fully adapt to the new power."
Nash turned back towards the sphere that contained the True Rune. "Let's do this then..."
Chris backed away a little, and Nash approached it, stopping when he felt the rune's power washing over him. He held out his right hand, and a bright light emanated from the seal and surrounded his hand. When the light faded, he gazed down at his hand, taking a few slow, deep breaths. He had it. He had the Blue Moon Rune.
"Are you alright, Nash?" Chris asked.
He turned around and smiled. "I'm just fine. Since I'm already a vampire, I don't feel much of a change in me. Percival's limiter must be working, because I don't feel overwhelmed by the rune's power."
Chris smiled back at him in relief. "Good. We should probably get out of here for now."
But now Nash was staring at something behind her. His face was a mask of anger and hatred.
"What...?" She didn't finish the question, for she turned around to see the cause of Nash's malicious expression.
It was Yuber. He was blocking the exit and he had his swords drawn.
"You!" she cried, drawing her sword upon seeing him.
"How disappointing, you're still alive!" the demon said to her. "Nash, how long are you going to deny of what you are? It's futile to try and continue to live as a human being. You know you are superior to them now, you are a demon!"
"He's no demon!" Chris spat in his defense. "But you! You're nothing but a savage beast!"
"I'd like to think so," Yuber said with a twisted smile. "At any rate, you two have been much too kind! You defeated the dragon, and released the seal for me! You can hand over the Moon Rune now."
"Forget it!" Nash said, whipping out the Grosser Fluss. "I'll use it to destroy you first!"
"Ha ha! I'd like to see you try!" Yuber charged them.
Chris and Nash managed to deflect the initial onslaught of attacks. However, all their own attacks were mostly in vain; they were still recovering from the fight they had with the dragon, and Yuber was simply too quick. Any hits they did get on him were too minor to inflict any real damage.
After a few minutes of this, Chris timed a perfect lunge at him, and her sword bit deeply into his right arm. Yuber howled and dropped one of his swords, but as an unexpected counter, he spun around with his other sword and cut deeply into her upper thigh. Chris stumbled, and he grabbed her wrist, twisting her arm behind her back, which forced her to drop her sword as well. Although Yuber's wounded arm had a fairly feeble grasp on her wrists, he held his other sword to her throat with his good arm, assuring instant death is she attempted to struggle or use her True Water Rune.
Nash froze in his tracks, staring helplessly at Yuber's hostage.
"This is rather familiar, isn't it?" Yuber let out a truly insane laugh. "Now give me the rune, or I'll kill her."
Nash slowly lowered his swords, trying to think of another option, and finding none. He looked despairingly at his right hand, which had only just obtained the True Rune.
"No! Nash, don't! He's going to kill me anyway! He'll kill us both!" Chris shouted.
"Shut up, you!" Yuber brought his wounded arm up and covered her mouth with his hand. He pulled her head sharply to the side, exposing her neck fully to his blade, which was precariously resting under her chin. "Hurry up! Or you'll be fighting your pathetic ethics to keep yourself from licking the blood off of her corpse!"
Nash hesitated. He held out his right hand in front of him slowly.
"That's it," Yuber said, pleased that Nash was beginning to comply.
Chris pushed desperately against his weak arm, freeing her mouth for a few seconds. "Nash, NO! Don't be foolish! My death will be nothing compared to the millions who will die if you give him the rune!"
Yuber kicked her to her knees, but continued to hold his blade to her neck by grabbing her hair and pulling her head back. "Not another word!" he growled. "This is your last chance. Give me the rune, NOW."
Nash met Chris' desperate gaze and shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry Chris..."
He began to emit a bright light and a beam of light appeared over Yuber. The demon held out his hand and the Blue Moon Rune transferred to him, and Nash stumbled back with the sudden loss of the rune's power.
Yuber let go of Chris as he staggered backwards trying to adapt to his newfound power. Chris scrambled to Nash's side, and stared at Yuber as he let out a maniacal laugh and faced them.
"She was right, you know," Yuber said, his eyes seeming to run rampant with evil. "I'm going to kill you anyway! And fear not about this feeble limiter on the rune! It's only a matter of time before I break it! And when I do, I'll make every being in this land become my personal undead servant! In the meantime, I think I shall begin to exercise this pathetic limiter by wrecking havoc on that weak little town, Iksay! And now, witness the power of the Eightfold rune combined with the Blue Moon Rune!"
Energy began to swirl around Yuber, and it was evident he planned to finish them off with a spell. However, the fatal blow never came, for at that moment an arrow whizzed through the air and sank right into Yuber's left shoulder.
Yuber staggered, and whirled around to join Chris and Nash in staring at the newcomers. It was Thomas, Cecile, Eike, and Louis, who had shot the arrow.
"Fools!" Yuber screamed, clutching his shoulder in pain. "You'll pay for this! I have the Blue Moon Rune, and once I overcome this ridiculous limiter you will see this entire land perish before your very eyes!"
A yellow portal opened beneath him, and he sank into it, making an escape.
The four who had just arrived hurried over to the two fighters. Louis kneeled in front of Chris and tried to help her up.
"Milady! Thank... Thank the Goddess... I found you in time!" He was panting heavily, as though he had been running a long time.
"Louis!? How did you... How did you find us?" Chris asked incredulously.
The knight smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Believe me, milady, it was no easy task. Ever since you went missing, I'd known you'd run off somewhere with him." He nodded at Nash before continuing. "Anyway, I left Vinay del Zexay to find you. I had to make sure you were okay! I couldn't just let my captain go wandering off with someone you hadn't seen in twenty years without knowing exactly what was going on!
"I managed to track you down to Alma Kinan, and that's when Yuiri told me that I had just missed you. Said she had no idea what you two were up to, but that she had heard you were headed west. I naturally came here, since it was the old base of the Fire Bringer. I got here a few hours ago. I found Thomas and Cecile, who had seemed to have lost track of you as well."
Here Thomas cut in. "He told us he was looking for you, but we had no idea where you went. Luckily, we had finally found Eike in the basement, and we began to question him on what he knew. You see, we thought maybe you and Nash had found some information and took off right away without telling us. Imagine our surprise when Eike showed us this secret passageway! He was very reluctant to tell us about it, but Louis' desperation managed to convince him in the end."
"How ever did you find the passageway!?" Cecile asked.
Chris and Nash looked at each other, and neither could suppress a chuckle, which confused the others immensely.
"I'll tell you another time, perhaps," Chris replied, and then turned to the knight. "Louis, I apologize for deceiving you, but I knew you would try to stop me."
Louis sighed. "Yes, you are right, I would have. It's too late now, though. Thomas and Cecile have filled me in on what is going on. Now that we're all here, I just want to help you in any way I can."
"You already have!" Chris exclaimed. "Louis, I knew you were a talented swordsman, but I had no idea you had such a good aim with the bow and arrow!"
Louis looked sheepish. "To be truthful, I don't. Sir Roland gave me a few lessons in my youth but gave up on me saying I was hopeless as an archer. I came not a moment too soon though, and the bow and arrow was my only chance if I was going to stop Yuber in time. It was sheer luck that I hit him with such accuracy."
The others all stared at him in bewilderment.
Finally, Thomas spoke up. "We should get back to the castle. By the way, what was this 'limiter' that Yuber spoke up just before he escaped?"
Nash shook his head. "It's too much to explain now, but basically Yuber doesn't have access to the ultimate power of the rune. There are spirits fighting on our side and will prevent Yuber from causing massive destruction for a while. For how long, probably depends on how strong the spirit protecting the rune is..." Here he gave Chris a reassuring glance. "Which in this case means we should have enough time to at least get the rune back before he can access the rune's true powers. But right now we have to worry about Iksay."
"Iksay?" Cecile asked. "Why there?"
Chris closed her eyes. "Yuber said that his next target would be Iksay. He wants to exercise the limiter by demolishing it. It makes sense. Iksay is close to here, and is also the weakest establishment in Zexen territory. By destroying it, Yuber may conquer the rune's limiter. This must be his plan. "
"I doubt he'll attack in the next twenty-four hours," Nash assured his comrade. "Yuber may be inhuman, but he needs time to recuperate as well as plan his attack. I think we'll still be able to arrive to Iksay tomorrow before he does."
"Right now, you two must get some rest! We must get that wound on your leg looked after, Chris!" Cecile exclaimed.
The others agreed, and started back out through the passageway. Before Chris let Louis help her walk out, she turned Eike, who until this point had remained completely silent throughout the discussion.
"It's okay Eike. I'm positive that Percival and Sierra don't mind that you broke your promise. I know they're happy that you kept it a secret for as long as you did. You've been a great help."
The strange librarian did not respond for a moment. Finally, he bowed his head slightly before starting down the passageway.
"Thank... You..."
******
Later that night, after Chris' wound was healed, and dinner had been eaten, Chris decided she would go to see Nash in his room. They hadn't been alone since Louis and the others had come to their rescue earlier, and she hadn't had the chance to give him a piece of her mind for giving up the rune to Yuber so easily.
In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but feel deeply touched that Nash had given up the rune in the faint hopes that Yuber would spare her. It was such a big risk for such a small chance, and yet he had found the sacrifice to be worth it.
Regardless, it had been a foolish thing to do. After all, had she not told him that Yuber would kill her regardless?
With what seemed to be a steely resolve, she headed for Nash's room to confront him about his foolish decision. She decided to make a point of not knocking on the door before entering in hopes of aggravating him as much as it had her when he did it the previous night.
She was not about to let this go without an argument.
However, as it was, there was no heated argument. There was no witty banter. There were no lengthy explanations. In fact, there was no speech at all. The instant that Chris met his gaze, nothing needed to be said.
He seemed mildly surprised to see her at first, but was not angry at her unannounced entrance. In fact, there was a subtle smile on his face, and his gaze was disarmingly gentle. It was clear from his expression that no matter what she had planned on saying to him, he would have done the same thing if he had to do it again, and Chris could no longer pretend to be angry.
How could she when what he had done was because of his love for her?
And he did love her. She no longer doubted it. Or perhaps it had never been doubt, but denial. Denial that anyone such as Nash could love her as Percival had, or that she could love him back. But she could deny these things no longer.
For a full minute, they just stood there staring at each other from across the room in silence.
Eventually, he crossed the room to where she stood, stopping only when they were less than an inch apart. Her heart was pounding hard from being so close to him, but she felt no desire to move away.
His eyes continued to hold hers in an understanding gaze, and so much seemed to be said between them without a single word being spoken.
His hand came up to gently brush her cheek, and she closed her eyes. After a long moment, he lifted her chin, slowly leaned in, and caught her lips gently with his.
There was both an intense hunger and a vast relief in the kiss. There were no more battles with pride, fear, and guilt. They had finally surrendered to each other in this action that reflected their mutual emotions.
It was very delicate to begin with. They had both been waiting a long time for this moment, and so they did not rush the sensation of their lips brushing lightly against each other. However, as they slid their arms around each other, the kiss became fuller and more fervent until their faces flushed with heated desire.
Eventually, he withdrew from her face to trail light kisses down her neck. She was certain that his lips must be able to feel her pulse, fast and strong with stimulation, but she trusted him and did not stop him from proceeding. He kissed down to her shoulders, but did not stray further before bringing his face back up to hers.
He had just brought his mouth back to hers, when there was an untimely knock at the door. They were so lost in each other that they didn't pay attention to it at first.
"Nash?" It was Thomas.
It took until the second knock before they reluctantly withdrew from each other, breathing heavily as they tried to regain some composure. Nash cursed under his breath. Chris scurried over to a window, opening it to let some cool night air in, and kept her back to both Nash and the door.
A third knock. "Hello?"
Nash finally cleared his throat. "Yes Thomas, come in."
Thomas opened the door and entered, a look of mild surprise coming to his face when he saw Chris by the window. "Oh, lady Chris! I didn't know you were in here," he stated, and then after thinking for a moment, seemed very embarrassed. "Erm... I didn't interrupt anything did I?"
"Not at all," Nash replied, straining with great difficulty to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "We were just about to discuss our plans for going to Iksay tomorrow."
"I see." Thomas seemed to accept this response readily enough. "That's what I came about. I just wanted to say that Cecile and I would like to go with you tomorrow."
Nash shook his head. "That will not be necessary. You two need to stay here and protect Budehuc if Yuber ever decides to spring a surprise attack. You have that unborn child to look after as well."
"But we can't just let you two deal with Yuber by yourselves!" protested Thomas.
"Chris and I should have sufficient means to deal with Yuber. You have your obligations and we have ours. We are eternally grateful for all your help and hospitality." Nash smiled at the castle master and bowed his head slightly.
Thomas nodded reluctantly. "Yes, I suppose you can handle yourselves. And Louis will be there for you as well... Lady Chris, is something the matter?"
Chris, who had been silent until this time, turned around and smiled awkwardly. "No, I'm fine. I'm... I'm concerned about Iksay is all..." Her speech was noticeably rushed.
"I understand," replied Thomas sympathetically. "But everything's going to work out, I know it will. I believe in you two. At any rate, I'll be saying goodnight so you two can get a good night's rest for tomorrow."
Nash and Chris bid Thomas goodnight and he left. Chris turned around to find Nash staring at her. There was a long moment of silence.
"Goodnight Nash," she murmured finally, and then hurried out of the room.
Nash stared after her, rooted to the spot where they had shared a passionate kiss only a few minutes earlier, a slight smile on his face.
"Goodnight Chris," he said quietly when the door closed behind her.
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A/N: This kissing scene was really hard to write... I revised it numerous times. It's one of the most challenging things I've had to write in this fic yet. I guess it's because I really wanted it to seem special, and that's hard to do without making it sound too cliché. Anyway, I truly hope it came out okay.
I made the actual fighting in this a bit more brief, because as you know from chapter 7, action isn't really my thing.
As usual, thank you sooo much for reading!
Next Chapter: "No More Vengeance"
