Part Two: Zieg

"Even if one of us dies, our bonds of affection are forever."

Bum, bum, bum-bum. Sighing and drumming the fingers of my free hand on the desk in front of me, staring mindlessly at the window, I tried not to think about the audience I had had with Lord Diaz earlier that day. Like I was the person to lead the humans to victory against the Winglies in full-scale war. Riiight. And humans can fly.

A sound reached my ears - a soft scraping sound. Quickly looking up, annoyed at being disturbed when I had asked not to be, I blinked quickly upon noticing who my visitor was. Rose. I probably smiled then.

Black hair spilled over her shoulders as she tilted her head forward slightly, looking a little  shy - an expression that really didn't belong on her face, but always seemed to find itself there, around me. "Sorry to disturb you."

"Don't worry about it. I think I needed to be disturbed. 'Cause, ya know, thinking disturbing thoughts."

She rolled those violet eyes of hers, but I grinned at her expression. I loved making her laugh, even if it was only inside.

She shook her head and smiled a bit. "That was a bad joke, Zieg."

Heheh, well, if it works…"I know."

We fell into one of those long pauses that seemed to be happening a lot more often, and my thoughts had started to turn inward again, when she spoke up again. "Say, Zieg, want to go for a walk?"

What was she getting at..? Women are confusing. "It's raining."

"So? Don't you like to play in the rain sometimes?"

Ah. I guess I had been brooding earlier. Perhaps this was a distraction. "Well, if you want to…Let me go change. Rain and leather armor don't mix well, but we may run into monsters." Turning away from the already armor-clad teenager, I walked quickly into my bedroom - barely big enough for a bed, as space was scarce, here in Magrad. Quickly and efficiently I pulled on the fire-red armor that was a present from Lord Diaz, and hurried out to meet Rose. It wasn't the best idea to keep her waiting for too long.

"Red. Is that all you wear?"

I grinned a bit at the common "argument" between us. "Yup. You don't have any room to talk, Miss Black and Blue."

She smirked, just slightly. "Purple, too. At least I have a little variety." Walking out the door, I couldn't help but watch her hips swish in front of me for a moment. I stuck my tongue out at her when she tossed a glance over her shoulder. It was a good thing that she didn't seem to notice my blush.

Bouncing off a bit ahead, she spun a circle, arms flung out and eyes closed. Not many people got a chance to see this side of Rose - I liked to think that I was special.

It was cold outside, and rain wasn't exactly my favorite weather, but since Rose had been avoiding me for the most part lately…She stopped, and after a moment, I shortened my stride to match hers, walking side-by-side as we had done many times before.

I don't know how we ended up there, but before I knew it, Rose and I had reached the edge of the plateau. She tilted her head back, eyes closed once again, and rose-colored lips parted slightly, moistened by the spring mist.

After a time, I forced myself to tear my eyes away from the woman next to me, glancing around. A rainbow arced across the sky, and the sun shone a fire-red, giving Rose's hair a scarlet tint. "Hey, look, a rainbow!"

She looked rather disinterested as she opened her eyes, glancing around rather lazily, before taking a step back and onto the low rock behind her, putting her only a few inches shorter than me.

What in the world..? I took a step forward, closing the distance between the black-clad woman and myself. "What are you-"

I never had time to say anything else. She leaned forward and rendered me utterly speechless with just one kiss. My hand cradled her cheek almost of its own accord, and her arm wrapped around my neck.

Rose's lips gently pulled away from mine, and then she tilted her head at me and LAUGHED! She…My cheeks burned in embarassment, and I stepped away from her, expecting her to let go. Instead, there was a heavy weight around my neck for a moment, then, the next thing I knew, Rose was sitting on the ground, glaring up at me.

I blinked. "Why didn't you let go?"

Slightly mud-splattered and looking considerably less dignified than usual, Rose gave me a look that clearly said she had never considered the thought. "Why would I?"

"You laughed at me."

Her lips twitched in the way that they always did when she tried not to laugh, and shook her head. "Not at you. Never AT you." I must have not looked convinced, because she grinned a little and asked me if I believed her.

Of course I did, I always do. I must have been an idiot to truly think she had set me up or something. "You kissed me."

"Yes, I did."

Sometimes, there are just these moments when you feel your heart is going to burst, and this was one of them (even if that's awfully poetic of me, and I usually leave that to Syuveil), so I did the only thing I could do - offered her some help in rising to her feet. When her hand seized mine, I pulled her both to her feet and into my arms - all I really wanted was to kiss her again.

The End.

Author's Notes: Can someone say WAFF? I can! Heh. Well, that ends this little fic..thing. ^_^; Expect more ficcage involving Rose and Zieg soon, since I'm obsessive. And no, I have no idea as to why I wrote the same event from both perspectives. Guess I'm just crazy like that.