Disclaimer: I don't own the manga "Dragon Knights" or the song "She Said Yes"! I think this gym belongs to my school. However... This does not mean I own it, either...
Warnings: Teenagers, song lyrics. Parts of this were written at band camp! =D
::But something moved him across that old gym floor::
The night darkened into a coiling mass of silver blades wrapped black silk, their dampened tendrils snaking down from the heavens in a shroud of midnight fears and fantasies.
They leaked through the open doors and windows of the large gymnasium, penetrating it's thick walls and soaking up the laughter; both fake and all too real.
A muffled silence filled the gym.
Shifty bodies stood and casually, with an unmistakable air of nervousness, headed towards the rows of seats, those that housed the other gender.
Most were able to neatly contain their awkwardness, but there were a few; a small dark haired boy who stumbled over his own feet, a lanky Asian teenager who almost went up to the wrong girl, a freckled youth who could be heard muttering the words he had chosen to say under his breath, that let their sudden worries get the better of them.
For fear was spread thickly across the room.
It created a wave of tension that washed across the shaking floor, drenching all that it touched, drowning them beneath it's icy currents.
Nagging doubts suddenly seemed to appear, although they had been, in reality, hidden in the shadows of their minds all night.
A lucky few were spared of the rushing spray.
And yet a few more were able to rinse it's salty grime from their faces, rising to the challenge that their own egos and pubescent feelings(and, in some cases, raging hormones,) had created and set before them.
Besides, it wasn't a matter of keeping the fear away indefinitely, just of holding it at bay for the next few minutes.
Just of shielding themselves from it's harsh blows until they had crossed the mere twenty feet that separated the two sexes.
These rare exceptions would stand, wiping traces of doubts from their minds. They would wring the fear from their souls, finding themselves able to instead clearly focus on the one goal before them.
Crossing twenty feet of ground.
Rune sighed.
He wasn't one of those lucky people.
And he never knew that twenty feet could look so far.
He could feel the salty ice water that had been poured over him, freezing him to the spot, clinging to every insecurity he had and enlarging them, turning his self image into a bent and twisted picture, and throwing his self esteem out the window.
A furtive glance across the room showed him what he had both hoped for and prayed against.
There was a pretty girl with long curling blonde hair, dressed in her best dance clothes, sitting by herself on the first row on the far end of the girl's half of the bleachers. She looked down at her lap, then out at the people passing by, then finally tilted her head upwards, looking to the high gym ceiling.
There was a wide berth of space around her; both her friends were missing.
Now would be the best time to ask her, when there was the smallest audience possible.
But still Rune found that he was unable to move, drenched to the core.
He saw people around him rise, albeit shakily, and walk off the bleachers, heading to find a dance partner or date.
And still he found himself glued to the cool metal bench, tethered down by a steel chain of liquid fear.
His heart beat in his throat, a voice in his head telling him to hurry, to ask for a dance-just one-before the night was over.
Telling him that he would regret it otherwise.
That she would regret it otherwise.
But that voice was drowned out by the roar of the crashing waves, pulled away by the rough tides.
"Rune?"
His dampened hearing and frightened gaze picked up the sound of his friend's voice.
"You gonna ask Tintlett to dance, Rune?"
His voice seemed to be stuck in his throat.
"Rune?"
It was no use. He couldn't do it.
He felt like he was drowning at the bottom of a pool of melted flames, stark still as the smell of fear filled the room in front of him.
The world grew hazy around him, all shapes disappearing into gray mist, as the snaking smoke of quicksilver wrapped around all before him. It stopped short, however, of obscuring the girl in his direct line of sight, instead creating a sort of tunnel vision, one through which only she was visible.
Her face was still tilted skywards, almost unnaturally blue eyes focused on some unseen object with startling intensity.
Rune was entranced.
And then the spell was broken, settling in it's place a new aura of magic, as the azure lights he had found himself drifting in lowered themselves from the heavens.
He watched, freshly spellbound, as her gaze drifted slowly across the dance floor, resting once or twice upon various dancing couples, then continued on it's languid journey.
His heart suddenly skipped a beat.
He was no longer drowning in molten flames of bright ice.
Instead, he found himself lost in twin stars made of the warm limpid waters of tropical seas, flecked with a white light, the glow of the moon on her almost questioning face.
Their eyes had met across the span of distance, and the wave of fear that had drenched his body to the soul slowly melted away, leaking off his inner self, and taking the biting nervousness with it.
And then a sense of urgency awoke in him, a strange new pride began to burn, telling him to get a move on, to walk the twenty feet necessary.
To ask her to dance.
Rune took a deep breath.
And he stood.
And suddenly...
Twenty feet didn't look quite so far.
Kat: Yes! Everybody must go to our site! ...Once we actually get DK stuff up! Yeah, I know it got messed up.::glares at :: We are NOT getting along too well at the moment...::mutters something under breath that sounds strangely like "sabotage"::
Ginsing: No, I didn't do anything bad. ...Unless you count making that crap tea as bad. I DID write "And this one time, at band camp..." on my Tenors and Euphs shirt, however.
Lisa: Yup! This chapter was Rune and the next is gonna be everyone's favorite Elven princess! =D
Yokai Cesia(and Chi): Ok, updated! This chapter is fairly long... Good enough?(And yes, they will. Well... Yes and no, actually. D Don't worry, I've got it all planned out...)
Harbinger Loki: Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! POCKY!!!::munches pocky:: I'm writing more, but am slowing down as school as started! x-X; Oh, and Thats, Kitchel and Ringleys say THANKS for the pocky!(Actually, Ringleys says thanks, Thats says to send more, and Kitchel says that he's an idiot, but...) Tintlett thanks you for the salad as well!(::Rune has given the salad to chibi spirit form Tintlett::)
Rath Lover: Whoa, dancing? o-O; Cool! n-n It's updated, just as you requested!
ShadowDown: Yes!! My 40th reviewer! Like I promised, since I now have 40 reviews, I'm updating!! nn Be honest... Did you review just to get me to update?