A/N: And now for the chapter I had not ORIGINALLY planned for. I had the entire story planned out when I first started writing my first chapter, but perhaps around chapter 4, I got the idea to do a little something Gilder and Clara. My first thought was to make it a one-shot side-story fic. However, I instead decided to incorporate it into Under the Sky So Blue. 'sides, if everyone still wants to see more of the Silver and Blue saga (of which Under the Sky So Blue is the first "book"), then, heh… Gilder and Clara will have a much larger role later on.

Anyway, I hope no one was expecting too much fluff outta this chapter. Don't worry. It'll be good, but… well… you'll see. On with the show!

And as always, thank you very kindly for all of your reviews! Thanks to you all, after doing a quick scan of other stories, I seem to be already in the top 5-ish for number of reviews for a SoA story. I'll do my best to earn any further reviews!

-

Chapter 12: Esperanza Hermosa, Part 2

A foam dart struck the bulls-eye on a tiny, moving target and a buzzer went off. The owner of the game stand could only stand by and scratch his head as he watched his current customer hit bulls-eye after bulls-eye. At this rate, he would be cleaned out of prizes in no time. Behind the counter was an already impressive pile of various prizes that the customer had won, and its growth did look as if it would be stunted anytime soon.

This was just too much. "Unbelievable sir. Are you sure you've never fired a gun before?"

Gilder grinned. "Never. "I'm just a deck-hand for Cap'n Vyse." He was traveling incognito simply because he didn't feel like dealing with any "Gilder Groupies" or people who just wanted an autograph. He ditched his gun belts, red coat, and amber-tinted shades in favor of a white, long-sleeved button shirt, a Blue Rogues bandanna, and black-tinted shades. This truly did give him the appearance of something no better than a deckhand, and that's just the way he liked it. He just wanted to have a fun, yet quiet, night with Clara.

He fired another dart and, once again, struck a bulls-eye. "My only job is to swab the decks all day. People have always told me that I was lucky though."

Clara, also traveling incognito, giggled beside him. "Got that right!" She ditched her complete outfit, shoes included, and instead went with a very light get-up. It was a warm night, so she wore a white, short-sleeve t-shirt and a matching pair of jean-shorts to go with it. In addition, she wore sandals and let her hair drape down her back as opposed to tying it up as she normally did. She lovingly nuzzled his shoulder and he merely rolled his eyes, still grinning.

The owner of the game stand only shook his head. "I see. It's just that, ah… you remind me of someone."

Gilder took aim at another target. "Oh?" He fired, hitting yet another bulls-eye. "Who would that be?"

The owner looked to either side of him, possibly making sure that no one else was listening in. He leaned forward and whispered, "You remind me of that scoundrel, Gilder. You know, the captain of the Claudia?"

Clara wanted to giggle and Gilder wanted to protest but both held back. Instead, Clara leaned forward and whispered, "You mean that dopey jerk with the big guns?"

The man nodded. "Aye. He also has this crazy woman hanging onto him all the time. If she's not holding on, she's chasing him. Pretty nutty if you ask me."

Clara's eyes shot open and she felt the sudden urge to initiate several acts of violence against the game-keeper. Upon hearing this, Gilder had put the foam dart-gun on the counter, turned around, and chuckled to himself. "Oh really? Is that right?"

The man nodded, quite oblivious as to why his customers were acting the way that they were. "Yeah, that's right. By the way ma'am, are you ok? Your face is really red."

Clara did her best to cool down, but was having quite a bit of difficulty in doing so. "Ah, no."

Gilder turned back around and leaned forward to speak with the game-keeper. "Don't mind her. Just hearing about that woman makes her mad. Knowing what we know about "Clara", can you blame her? I mean that woman is a total nutcase!"

The man shook his head again while the turned Clara looked as if her head was going to explode. "Of course not sir. Anyway, putting that aside, will you be playing another game, sir?"

Gilder shook his head. He was starting to feel bad about hiding his identity and using his skill with guns to win so many prizes. "Nah, that's okay. That's enough for one day." He looked at the pile of prizes and decided to take only one. Other than being morally right, he couldn't carry that much stuff anyway. He spotted a very cute teddy bear holding a heart with both of its paws and thought it'd make a cute little gift for Clara. He pointed to the bear and said, "I'll just take that one. That should be more than enough for me."

The owner of the stand heaved a sigh of relief and bent over to pick up the bear. He set it on the counter and said, "Here you go, sir. Good shooting today."

Gilder thanked the man, picked up his prize, and walked a bit away. Clara made every attempt to turn away from him, still angry at him for what he and the game-keeper said about her (despite the fact that she had talked about him first, but y'know…). He hid the bear behind his back with one hand and tapped on her slender shoulder with his other hand. "Hey Clara," he whispered, doing his best to keep quiet.

Clara wheeled around, letting the expression on her face explain just how mad she was. "Hmph! What do you want now, you jerk?"

Gilder smiled and brought the bear back around and held it with both hands. "This is for you. Hope you like it."

Clara's seething anger immediately went away when she saw the cute little bear. Her heart melted and a very large smile crossed her lips as she took the bear, spun around once, and cuddled it as she closed her eyes. "Oh Gilder! I love it!"

Gilder froze as everyone turned towards them. Clara had said his name a bit too loudly and didn't realize it until it was too late. "Uh… oh…" she said in a very low tone, feeling very sheepish now.

Several people around them said things like, "Gilder? THE Gilder?" and "Look everybody! It's Gilder!" A small group of girls immediately screamed with glee when they heard his name. "Gilder! Gilder! Marry us!" they cried as they walked towards him and Clara.

The game-keeper blinked in disbelief as he tried to piece this together. "Wait, wait… if that's Gilder, then she must be..." His eyes shot open. "Then that makes that weird lady Clara!"

A number of whispers ran through the crowd. "What? That's Clara?" and "What's he doing hanging out with her? I thought he always tried to avoid her," were among the most common things said.

Clara grew furious again and pointed at the game-keeper. "Hey! Who you calling weird!" Realizing what she had just said, she clasped her hands over her mouth. If her cover wasn't blown before, it was now.

The Gilder groupies immediately took notice of this and scoffed. "Clara? Ugh! What's SHE doing with him? And look at that outfit!"

Clara stomped her foot and yelled back. "Shut up! He's a lot better off with me than with a bunch of floozies like yourselves!"

The groupies, obviously very upset with her last comment, began walking towards them. "How dare you!"

Gilder shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "It's so hard being popular." He grabbed Clara's free hand and began dragging her away at a very quick pace. "C'mon Clara! Looks like our little night of fun has come to an abrupt end!"

Following close behind him, Clara could not help but smile. His protectiveness of her had developed quite greatly over the past few days, and she liked it. She had always known how much he cared for her, but his unwillingness to marry her was always quite frustrating to her. She never understood why he didn't want to, but tonight… tonight she was going to find out.

-

"Whew!" said Gilder as he closed the door to their hotel room. "Despite being very tiring, that chase was actually kinda fun!"

Clara was leaning over, trying to catch her breath. "E-easy for you to say! I haven't ran like that in a while!"

Gilder grinned. "Well y'know, if you stayed in tip-top condition like myself all the time…"

Clara waved him away and walked towards the open balcony of their room. "Oh puh-lease! It's completely different when you're the one being dragged around!" She rested her free hand on the rails as she continued to catch her breath, still holding on to her teddy bear.

"Heh," laughed Gilder as he followed Clara. He slid up next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry that our night was ruined. I was looking forward to a night with just the two of us."

Still breathing a bit heavily, Clara looked up at Gilder and smiled. "A-aww, thank you Gilder. This was my fault though. If I w-would've not talked so loud, then we c-could've kept having fun. Besides…" She proudly held up her teddy bear. "I got a souvenir."

Gilder smiled back at her. "I'm glad you like it." He looked into her eyes for a moment and then laughed. "Y'know, in retrospect, I can't believe our costumes actually fooled everyone."

She giggled. "Yeah. I thought everyone would recognize you for sure. I mean, at least I did my hair differently."

"Heh," he said in reply. "I can see why no one recognized you though."

Interested, Clara asked, "Why's that?"

He snickered and said, "'Cuz when everyone thinks of "that crazy lady, Clara", they probably picture with that pink dress you always wear."

She knew he was only kidding, but she decided to punch him in the arm anyway. "Hey!" She sighed and put her free hand back on the railing. "Gilder, I want to ask you something."

"Sure," he replied. "What's on your mind?"

She took a deep breath and gazed out at the beautiful sky ahead of her. Not even the Dark Rift could ruin this scene for her. She held the teddy bear close to her chest and asked, "Gilder, you, ah… care about me, right?"

Gilder smiled warmly. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"So far, so good," she thought to herself as she posed the next question. "Then why won't you marry me?" She looked at him with a half-hurt look in her eyes.

Gilder sighed and put his hands on the railing. He wasn't prepared for this question, even though he knew the answer. "Clara, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but…" He took a deep breath and wondered if what he was about to say would hurt her.

Clara assumed the worst but did her best to not show it. "But what?"

"Here goes nothing," he thought to himself. "Clara, I-… I just don't want to settle down. Not yet anyway. Too much adventure still flows through my veins. I'm still fairly young and there's still so much of the world I want to see. I'm… I'm sorry Clara."

Clara's smile took Gilder completely by surprise. "Is that all?"

Scratching his head in confusion, Gilder thought for a moment. "Er… yeah, I think so. Why do you look so happy though?"

She giggled and punched him in the arm again. "Silly! Who says we have to settle down?"

Now he was really confused. What was she getting at? "Uh? Isn't that the whole purpose of getting married?"

She shook her head happily. "Traditionally, yes. However, it's not like it's required or anything. I'm just like you, Gilder. There are still so many adventures that I want to take part in. I'm not ready to settle down either, honey."

Gilder took a step back. "What? Is she serious?" he thought to himself. He smirked. "Heh… I guess she really isn't like any other girl I've met."

He wrapped his arm around her and said, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind, then. Now the only problem is the timing. Once this business with Vicente and the NVA is settled, we'll approach the subject once more. How's that?"

She giggled again. She was just too happy for words. It looked as if she was finally going to get her wish. She threw her arms around Gilder's neck and kissed him on the cheek. "You got it."

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment until, out of the corner of their eyes, something caught their attention. They let go of each other and focused their gaze upon what caught their attention.

"Gilder, look," said Clara. She pointed a balcony only two doors down from their own. "It's Vyse and Fina!"

"Huh," said Gilder. "Wonder what they're talking about."

Clara nudged him in the ribs playfully. "I think we have a pretty good idea."

They watched the young couple for a few moments as they talked. At one point, Cupil appeared and turned into a little red heart.

"Aww! That is too cute!" cried Clara.

"Heh, looks like they finally told each other how they felt. It's about darn time," he said.

After a few more words were shared, they witnessed as the two young lovers came together for their first mutual kiss. Seeing this, Clara held on to Gilder more tightly. "How romantic," she whispered. "I'm so happy for them.

Gilder nudged her. "Hey, ya think they've seen us yet?"

Clara looked up and shook her head. "I don't think so. Why?"

He smirked evilly. "Wanna have one last bit of fun before we turn in for the night?"

She looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face. "What are yo-… oh! Hehe… sure!"

They silently counted to three and then yelled at the same time, "Woo-hoo! Way to go guys! All right!" They then broke into a hysterical fit of laughter as the two embarrassed lovers turned to the troublesome duo.

Vyse shook his fist in their direction. "Hey! Would it hurt to give us a little privacy! Yeesh!" The two joined hands and walked back inside with Cupil following close behind. They watched as the door slammed behind the couple.

After a few more chuckles, Clara took a deep breath and says, "We're bad."

Gilder flipped a lock of his hair and said, "'Course we are. Now then, I think it's high time we got cleaned up and went to bed. Got yet another big day comin' up tomorrow."

Clara pushed him lightly and said, "Ladies first!" She giggled and dashed towards the bathroom.

He shook his head and looked back out at the night sky. "Clara… I hope we both make it through this. If we do, I'll marry you without any hesitation on my part." He walked back inside and, before he closed the door, took one last look outside and said, "That's a guarantee."

-

How was it? I think they make a really nice couple. Looks like Gilder is willing, rather, wanting to marry Clara, but now just isn't a good time for that. Hopefully they'll both make it through this next battle together, eh? Stay tuned for chapter 13, and keep sending those reviews!