Moonlight

"I don't know why," Croix muttered one evening, "But for some reason I hate going out after it's dark. I mean, I'm not scared of it; if a big wind were to snuff out all our candles I'd be perfectly fine. But I just don't like being away from either a building or a tent in my camp site when night falls."

He was sitting in the barracks for the La Pucelle agents. Most everyone else had left the common room and headed for bed, claiming to want an early start on their assignments in the morning. However, Prier and he had remained behind to relax a little more. She was shining her baton and he was polishing his twin handguns; they both were preparing for another day on the job.

"Oh really…" his fiery 16-year-old companion shot back. She could just picture Croix coming into her room in the middle of the night because his candle had been blown out by the wind. He wanted comfort that only she could provide…yeah right! Like Prier actually was falling for this guy. Or, at least that's what she was telling herself. In reality, it was a vision of not joking parody, but of hope.

There was just something about that mop of rusty hair and those crystal blue eyes that screamed for her, causing her inner self to plead with her to take the initiative and say something to him. Then there was the way he covered his eyes all the time with a pair of dark sunglasses; which, though preventing people from seeing those sapphire spheres, shrouded him in a mystique that made her thrill. Prier shook her head, causing her magenta hair to fly around, and blinked her chocolate eyes. She was officially going to shut down at this rate. Since when did Sister Prier of La Pucelle think that way about men?

He explained, "It's just something that came over me the first night I was on my own. I'd gotten lost and couldn't find an Inn or even a town before sunset. All of a sudden, there was this nervousness about me; I began feeling as if I was afraid of nothing at all. It might sound silly to you but it was serious back then. I've always wondered if whatever took my memory was a tragedy that resulted from staying out too late at night. If that's the case, then discovering my fear might be a way to find my past."

Croix suddenly realized his mistake in mentioning that. For not a second passed before Prier's mouth snaked upwards in a smirk. "Then you should go outside! C'mon, I'll go with you, you big baby. There's nothing to be scared of in the darkness; wandering Demons don't come into the city after all."

Before he could protest, the amnesiac freelancer was being pushed out the door and into the quiet streets of Pot au Feu City by his energetic companion. He felt a pounding in his head; it was the same one that accompanied that first great trip outdoors when his journey began. Something inside was trying to push its way out; a feeling, a memory, or a power…he didn't know what. Being out here in the cool night air only intensified those strange sensations.

"Earth to Criox!" yelled Prier, "Just take a look at the sky. The moon is shining down upon the town and providing light…blah…blah…blah…scientific lecture that I don't care about. But the point I'm trying to make is that even in the darkest of nights, a beauty can shine through. I sometimes wonder if there are Demons out there with a good heart, ones that aren't like the beasts we've fought. It's just something I remember Sister Cherrie blabbing about the other day. She was mentioning that there's a potential for goodness in every being, whether they are human, Demon, and cross-breeds."

And look up he did, half curious and half terrified of making Prier mad. The young man saw the stars as they danced across the night's sky. It was far more beautiful than looking from out the window or through a tent flap. Plus, the second he caught sight of that speckled canvas, that burning sensation inside his head began to go away. Calmness and stability settled into Croix's body.

"It's nice Prier. You brought up an interesting point though; about beauty found in any Darkness. We've fought to protect humans from Demons for some time. But what if there are Demons out there who are fighting to protect their own family and friends from humans?" he inquired.

Prier replied, "It could very well possibly happen. I mean, we work as Demon Hunters in response to a particular threat that comes about. However, there are people who work only to satisfy the feelings of vengeance after some sort of tragedy. Those people might threaten the Demons that don't care to fight humans and would much rather stay among their own kind. It's an interesting thought, the person we'd all think was in the right would most likely not be. Just like when those hunters tried to kill the Lord of Meuniere Forest. Alouette wanted to defend the humans because she believed that only our race was the innocent one. But in that case, they were about to disrupt the order of the forest for cash."

Croix looked down at a small puddle that had formed from a passing shower they'd had earlier. In it, he could see both Prier and his faces. Then, the puddle distorted, and he could see the girl from his visions, long flowing brown hair and the same face as Prier staring back at him. Suddenly, he thought he saw the puddle turning red, seeping from the image of the girl.

Distraught, Croix backed up. What was that he saw? Prier, noticing his distress, turned on a dime. "Calm down Croix. What could be so wrong that you'd panic like that? You're always the one who keeps his cool when something goes wrong."

"It's nothing," he stammered out, "Just my eyes playing tricks on me." With that, he went back inside the church, trying to shake the horrible vision out of his eyes.

S...S

A small bottle of beer lay on the table. Croix, now stripped down to his shorts, grasped it into his hands and began to drink. Though he wasn't prone to getting drunk, the young man still loved a nice glass of liquor now and then. Especially when he had one of his now frequent visions. The young man had long since stopped seeing Prier turn into the mysterious brown haired girl, but he still had several flashbacks that disturbed him; tonight's being the worst yet.

"You'd better not wake up with a hangover tomorrow! Because I don't want to deal with it," Prier yelled as she came back in and saw him with the bottle. But then, she stopped; deep crimson beginning to paint itself across her face. Prier wasn't used to seeing a man with his shirt off before.

Upon realizing that she had come back inside, Croix immediately grabbed for the navy overcoat he'd tossed across the couch. He'd assumed she'd be out a little later than he and the others in the barracks would all keep themselves in their rooms. Never had the young man even dreamed of putting Prier in a situation where she could potentially embarrass herself.

He watched as she passed him on her way back to her bedroom. Croix took another swig from his bottle and began to think. He pondered, 'How much of that reaction was pure embarrassment? I mean, it's not like my chest needs to be covered up like a woman's. So what's there to be embarrassed about?' Putting his beer down on the table, the young man let out a sigh.

S...S

The next day, Prier woke up at the ungodly hour of 5:30; normally she slept until at least 9. None of the others in La Pucelle were up at that time, so she set her sights on lounging on the couch and muttering to herself about how unfair life could be. However, when she arrived in the common area, she found those plans dashed. Croix never made it back to his room and had fallen asleep while stuck in thought after having his drink. Considering his track record with alcohol tolerance, she figured there was a 99.999 chance that he was still sober when he fell asleep.

She smiled as she saw him lying there. 'He looks as innocent as a child when he's asleep. But still with the prowess of a superb Demon Hunter. You can't tell by this picture of him that he's suffering; his pastlessness and what appear to be strange visions are making him almost neurotic at times. Others don't see that even though they might have met him. However, I see through that hideaway exterior and feel the pain inside of him. I guess it pays to be someone who hides her true feelings away.'

Prier took another look at Croix and then returned to her room. Going into her closet, the fiery teen found her spare blanket and brought it back into the common room where she promptly draped it over Croix's body. Instinctively, the young man began pulling it closer like a lifeline; perhaps guarding him against an unseen nightmare…

S...S

Though Croix's dreams had been extra painful that night, the second he felt that blanket cover him they began to subside. He never found out that the timing of the act coincided with the weakening of his nightmares. Nor did he realize the blanket was Prier's; when he returned to his room, she snuck out and brought it back to her own.

However, following the events of the previous night, Croix's nerves began to subside a little. He didn't feel jittery when he was out in the nighttime and his nightmares were somewhat less frequent, though he never could stop the painful voice inside his head completely. For Prier, she felt a newfound closeness to him; a closeness that would eventually grow into the love they both longed for.

Teefa's Last Words...

This chapter was made to be filled with a lot of Prier/Croix fluff. Fluff is good. And Croix without his shirt on is even better. I also was aiming at a friendship building experience with this. Seeing as the game doesn't show the little interactions outside of the main story, I wanted to explore things that may have happened between Prier and Croix in between the chapters.

This is also based on the fact that in Chapter 10 Angelique was talking about how night isn't good for Croix; he may not remember his past issues but it doesn't mean he can't still feel them. It also shows how Prier breaks him through a problem that haunted him when he was younger.