The Edge Life
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It was then that Lloyd realized with a vague regret that he was going to die.
This wasn't the boy he had faced in Lohan; the slow, awkward, boy who took too long to attack and blanched away from return strikes. He'd beaten him effortlessly, and left Dart bleeding and broken in the dust of the arena.
Now things were different. The boy could move.
Dart's mouth was hard and flat, and his eyes were more than cold, more than angry, they were focused. Lloyd could see Dart's knee shake very slightly underneath him from where he'd wrenched it, and his shoulder moved stiffly into the position for a strike.
Dart paused for far too short a time, then rushed forward.
He'll have me, thought Lloyd in a moment of perfect clarity. No matter how I move, he will have me.
A green flash dimly registered on his frozen mind, but it didn't matter, as his death was running towards him and the least he could do was to stare it in the eye and try to meet it as best he could.
If only I'd done more. he thought viciously. If only I'd never involved him.
The sword raised, judged, then fell.
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Oh, shit, thought Dart giddily, which in itself was amazing, because Dart was only giddy that one time when he found out that Albert not only knew seven dead languages, but could also bake cake, and because Dart never, ever, swore.
Ever.
Wink made a nnngggh sound deep in the back of her throat, and fell against Lloyd, who, despite being an emotionally dead bastard from the depths of hell, actually managed to look very, very confused about all of this while he caught her.
"I-" said Dart (Not his most articulate moment). His mouth gaped wide, and his eyes spoke dire puzzlement. Then, "Wink?"
Wink drew herself up as best she could, considering that his sword was dripping with her blood, and that it was very fortunate that he hadn't managed to slice her backbone in half.
She looked him in the eye, and he was reminded, strongly reminded, of Shana. Later he found this ironic.
She asked him not to kill Lloyd
Dart settled for punching him in the face.
Wink seemed relieved.
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Lloyd rubbed his chin. Surprisingly, Dart's fist wasn't made of butter and confectioner's sugar. Huh.
Wink, despite having been hacked open twenty minutes before, clicked her tongue and looked concerned over him. He didn't know whether to be touched, or back away quickly.
Her braid was thick and caked with blood that was rapidly becoming brown. He found that disturbing and he didn't know why.
The tiny blue one had healed Wink; the water dragoon that was thin where Lenus was muscled, fragile whereas Lenus was nothing but spiteful and obstinate strength, and gentle while Lenus would happily toss a baby to a rabid bear while laughing her head off. He thought it rather refreshing.
Meru had splintered Lloyd's kneecap with one blow of her hammer, and he'd barely managed to twist away before she crushed his skull with it. He'd choked down a healing fog and felt his veins boil and his eyes dilate, and had flexed his knee once or twice before calling up a spell to snap her legs and break her hammer and make her stop, fucking, hitting him.
Now he was sitting away from the others, with Wink, and realized that while his armor was cool as fucking hell, it didn't retain any heat.
Lloyd always swore more in his head when he was cold. He'd launched into a stream of silent expletives that cursed everything from Dart's invisible downy beard that he knew the boy was trying to grow out to impress girls, to Meru's hammer again, to the thunder dragoon's sash, and to the pure nonsensical wtf-ry that was Rose's earpieces, when he noticed that Wink was very quietly and very unobtrusively crying into her scarf.
This almost bothered him as much as having her fall against him with Dart's sword in her back.
She noticed him looking at her with a strange look on his face, and she squeaked, and wiped her face quickly. It was such a swift and utterly Wink-like move that he felt something echo inside of some empty, sterile place inside of him that he hadn't felt since the first day he'd first seen Lenus, all hard elbows and toothy grins, before he'd stopped finding her remotely interesting.
Wink, who was short and small and wore the longest, thickest wool skirts imaginable and took such a secret, lovely pride in the length of her hair.
She sniffed, then took a deep breath, smiling at him. "I'm sorry," she said.
Lloyd nodded slowly. Wait, what?
"...what for?" he asked quietly. His voice was raspy from the fight.
Wink shrugged, with her shoulders and arms and wrists even. She put a lot into her shrugs. "For getting in the way like that." She said, and her eyes gleamed too much. She smiled perkily. "I'm sorry- I just... thought that he was actually going to kill you." She laughed a little bit. "Now isn't that silly?"
Lloyd didn't know what to think. "He was trying to kill me." he said, and immediately realized how thick that sounded.
Wink looked down immediately, knotting her scarf with her hands in her lap. "Yes, I know." she whispered quietly. "I know that."
Lloyd felt like an idiot.
Wink exhaled for what seemed like forever, then drew herself up again, smoothing down her braid with one slender hand. She looked like she had made up her mind that come what may, she was not going to cry again. "I... I'm going to accompany the Queen back to Deningrad." She said.
He suddenly felt like things were splintering out of control. Like the battle had- where they'd been too hard, too fast, and too full of rage, and it was just one telling blow after another and soon he just couldn't recover anymore. The more Wink pulled herself together and shut herself away and put a brave face on everything, the more he felt like that battle; the more he felt he was losing something terribly important.
Wink rose to her feet, and began to walk away. She paused midstep, then turned back to say something, her brows drawn up the slightest bit, and the last small vestiges of hurt on her face, but whatever it was never got to be said, because he hauled himself to his feet, cold clanky armor or no, grabbed her arm above the elbow and drew her in for kiss.
Yes, it was a desperate move.
But it seemed to be working as the words died on her lips and her back arched where his hand was and there seemed to be some kind of current traveling up and down his spine as well, like a thousand bolts of magic streaming down from their lips.
It ended far too soon, he thought. But eventually it ended with her head tucked into his neck and his lips resting on her hair and the vague feeling in his brain that he was both unable to get enough air, and that he really wanted to do that again sometime.
She wasn't crying anymore. All right, her shoulders were shaking and she was making some wet noises, but when she pulled her head back and looked him in the eye, there was a look in her tear streaked face and crinkled eyes of such sunny, complete joy that Lloyd felt something he hadn't felt in years, and that was wonder.
They stood that way for a moment. Somewhat shyly, Wink pressed her lips against his cheek one last time while he was still reeling in the wake of that smile, and pulled away.
Lloyd did not like this. Lloyd wanted her to stay. But his treacherous hand let go of the small of her back and swung back to his side while she paused a foot or two away from him.
"I've... got to go," she said. "Theresa needs me, since Miranda isn't coming." She ducked her head down and smoothed her braid. Reflex gesture, he realized. "But..." she looked up again, and that same smile was in her eyes and in her face, "Come back safe," she murmured.
"I will," he answered. He surprised himself by meaning it. Or rather, by how much he meant it.
He was going to come back to her.
She ducked her head in response and smiled, then began picking her way down the ice to rejoin her queen.
Lloyd watched her for a moment more. Then he turned and began limping down to Dart and company.
Who knew. Maybe he could shave him while the boy slept or something.
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Author's Note: Well... there ya go. I think that Lloyd and Wink are cute, and they should have gotten more screentime. Also, I'm giving up trying to write seriously, as it doesn't seem to work for me. I know that the game was rarely humorous (except for the ending. Hilarious) but I thought I'd try my hand at fluff. My first fluff. Mesoproud.
And if you saw something you did like, something you didn't like, or are articulate enough to tell me how to fix the damned thing so that it transforms into a good piece of writing, tell me. Suffice it to say that I'm not exactlycontent with this piece, but it's been sitting on my computer for months and I've been tweaking it all day. But I do like the idea.