Title: Dilemma
Author: B.J.B. Freya-sama
Pairing: Luc x Viki
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Suikoden is the property of Konami, not me. (Waah... )
---
"ACHOO"
Viki popped out of nowhere and landed square on her backside with a thud, dropping her bowl of pudding face down in the process.
"Oh no, no, NO! After Mr. Hai Yo went to the trouble of making it. What a mess!"
The nervous teleportress observed her surroundings very closely, just to make sure she wasn't in Zexen, or Lorimar, or the moon, or a male's dressing room, or whatever before she stood. She was relieved to find the spot where she usually stood by the blinking mirror just a few paces away. Next, she took a look to her left to find Lady Leknaat's apprentice, Luc, standing in front of the Stone Tablet in a meditative state. She rushed up to him and grabbed a hold of his left arm, jolting him right out of his concentrated peace.
"E-excuse me. You wouldn't happen to have a hanky or something? I-I sneezed, and then I spilled my pudding, and... oh, won't you please help me?"
Luc gave her a bemused "What, are you kidding me?" kind of look, until he saw the hint of tears in her eyes. He hated that about some girls. Just the mere threat of tears and people were putty in their hands. Luc wasn't going to buy it... he didn't want to buy it...
Bah, damn it all! He used his Wind Rune to fling the pudding into the nearest waste basket and returned to his peaceful state... well, tried to, anyway. What a ridiculous way to use a rune! Especially the great Wind Rune! Girls were perfectly capable of managing themselves, too. Just look at Valeria and Anita, using their time to get some sparring done outside. Then, there's also Wakaba, who practically lived in the dojo. Millie had the balls to swing around the scariest damned animal... monster... thing Luc had ever seen like it was some kind of fuzzy kitten. Nanami could be her very own battle unit with the mad way she swung her Tonfar. And, of course, Lady Leknaat was the most powerful of them all, being the Overseer of Balance and all. Yet... Viki couldn't even wipe her own spills without becoming a basket case... and Luc used his rune for THAT? If she thanked him for it one more time...
---
"What do you suppose that noise is?" asked Viki, after awhile of awkward silence between Luc and herself. She thanked him more times for his service than he could handle, so he caved and told her to shut up. Since then, she stood there silently, trying to think of some way to beg for forgiveness, without actually begging since he wanted her quiet. After awhile, her mind wandered, and she thought of how pretty the butterfly that landed on Lord Riou's nose last month looked, and how nice Kinnison's singing voice was while he skinned and cooked rabbits with Shiro. Another thing she often thought about was why almost every time she greeted Rikimaru, she'd wanted to call him Master Mathiu. There was something fishy about that guy...
And there were those noises again.
"All this raucous over a few stupid flurries," Luc mumbled to himself, trying his damndest to ignore Viki, though she'd been standing there on Cloud 9 for well over an hour. Was she mocking him? He could sleep standing up, too, you know. In fact, he could stand up and not do anything but guard the tablet for days! Weeks! Months even! And that's exactly what he did. He was the bearer of the True Wind Rune, and Viki... Viki was just a little ninny who could only sneeze herself halfway across the world... but there she stood, mocking him, as if she were as important as Lord Riou himself!
Well, if that's the way it's going to be, then let the stand off begin!
"I hear commotion coming from the Great Hall upstairs, and some coming from the tavern, and some girls faraway giggling, and... do you hear all that?"
"I'm trying not to," Luc stated through bared teeth. Like girls with their teary eyes demanding a man's help came ones with the googly eyes, demanding a man's tolerance.
He couldn't hit Viki with his rod, no matter how tempted it was. He could only hope she'd sneeze herself to the room farthest away from this one.
As they heard the winds outside to pick up, Viki started getting a little tingle around her neck, and around her ankles; a mean draft was leaking in the room. Viki just couldn't leave Luc standing there all by himself, he always did. He just stood there, and stood there, and stood there, and stood there some more, with nobody to talk to. It seemed awfully lonely. In fact, it seemed so lonely, Viki let out a morose moan just thinking about it.
"What's your problem?" said Luc, purely on reflex. Drat, there it went again! Girls making him feel inexplicable things for inexplicable reasons! He didn't even care what her problem was! He just wanted her to leave and stop making fun of him.
"I... just thought of how sad you... you must feel not to have any friends."
Oh yeah, she was mocking him all right. Nobody, not even a girl, mocked him to his face.
"What do you mean I don't have friends? I joined this stupid army, didn't I?"
"Well... "
Luc opened his mouth to yell some more, but the crack in Viki's voice trapped his speech right in the middle of his throat. Shit. Was she using sorcery? There had to be some... SOME logical reason as to HOW she could just... just... stand there and be irritating while all he was trying to do is stand there and do what he does, and...
His stomach began to flutter, and his face grew hot. It had to be sorcery, it HAD to be! Viki was evil! She was working for Highland the whole time! The resemblance between her and Luca Blight was uncanny, the way they both had... hair and... eyes... and...
"A-are you okay, Mr. Luc? You're very red."
"I'm... "
This was his chance to stop the sorcery once and for all; the chance to rid himself of this demon: a googly-eyed magician who possessed the Blinking Rune was no friend of his. And she was right! He had no friends! Friends were overrated, as was the Highland Army. He could wipe them all out by unleashing the true power of his rune, but did anybody ask? No. So he just stood there, alone, not doing anything, besides occasionally thinking of how to defeat Bishop Sasarai in the most painful, inhumane way possible, and currently, how to make Viki go away.
Though, quite unlike Sasarai (to whom he'd never show weakness) he'd proven weak against Viki. His defense was shattered; his offense was inert. He wouldn't stop blushing and his heart wouldn't stop pounding. She was pure evil.
"I'm... fine."
---
"Aren't you cold, Mr. Luc?" asked Viki, her shivers becoming more and more noticeable as the draft from the storm's wind rushed into the lobby. She'd gone to the warehouse to fetch a blanket from Barbara and got Luc one, too, though he refused to take it. He'd be damned if he let some woman hold a gracious gesture over his head. Besides, he wasn't even cold. Well, not THAT cold, anyway. Not cold enough to let it show.
"No, not in the least. I'm a master of wind, this weather is nothing to me."
"R-really? You're such an amazing guy. I'm supposed to be a master of teleportation and I always screw up."
"I... " Oh no. No, no, no! He wasn't about to tell her about the time he almost destroyed Magician's Island when he tried to unleash the true potential of his rune, just to see what it was like, and lost control of it. Only, he just did, and couldn't look at Viki straight since. Great, now that she knew about it, so would everybody, and then he'd be the laughing stock of Tonfar Castle. This sure was a fine mess he'd gotten himself into. He didn't even know his secret weakness for girls was this severe until tonight, especially for those a cut... err... evil as Viki.
"If you tell ANYONE I told you that, I swear I'll blow so much dust in your face you'll sneeze yourself into another dimension!"
"Oh! You want it to just be a-a secret? B-between us?"
Trying not to blush again at the words "between us" he nodded. "Yes, it'll remain a secret, forever. GOT THAT!"
"I-I might screw up a lot, but I promise to do my best, Mr. Luc. I want to be your friend. Good friends keep secrets."
"They'd better... HEY!" Viki wrapped the extra blanket around his shoulders, having finally become immune to his sudden surprised outbreaks. He was half-tempted to toss the blanket off, but then came the eyes, and he was frozen in place. This was becoming as bad as a shitty romance novel, and he was stuck right in the middle of it.
"There you go. You started to shiver, so I thought you'd like to have the blanket now."
Knowing damn well he hadn't the means or even the will to rebuild his wall of defense, he murmured a silent thanks to Viki and resumed his nightly guarding of the Stone Tablet.
"Shouldn't you be heading back to the mirror?" asked Luc.
"I doubt Lord Riou will need to use it tonight, though I suppose I should be standing by it." She bounced back and forth from heal to toe, considering reclamation of her vacant post. However, not only was it colder over there, but...
"W-won't you be lonely here, in the dark, with nobody to talk to, and... I know how it feels to be alone. I'm alone over there everyday, and... and you're alone over here. So, wouldn't you rather... "
"Stop talking!" said Luc, rubbing his head with one hand while wrapping his free arm around Viki's shoulders. Anything to get her to shut up; anything to drive these foreboding "feelings" he had away; anything... to get warm, and have peace. "Just... shut... up."
"M-Mr. Luc? I... " Her face flushed a deep shade of red, and she nearly dropped the blanket she had draped around her own shoulders. "I... I... "
"Shut up... " He wrapped his other arm around her and drew her close. "... shut up... " He leaned his cheek into her hair and sighed, feeling every knot in his stomach pull tighter as he felt her lithe body pressed against his own. "... just stop talking... " He flinched when her reluctant hands reached his shoulders, and sighed. She was so warm, or maybe it was just him. "... I can't take it anymore."
Viki didn't know what was happening or why. He was telling her to shut up, and... hugging her? Was he feeling all right? Was he cold? Was he scared of something? The wind outside was howling mighty hard. If wind scared him, like teleporting scared her, then maybe... maybe they actually shared something. Maybe... they really could be good friends. But Luc didn't want her to talk right now, and a faithful friend always did what was asked of them, like how he helped her with the pudding incident when she asked for it.
Viki actually smiled, and tightened their little hug. All Luc needed was company, and that was something Viki knew she wouldn't screw up at...
... until a lock of his hair started to tickle her sensitive nose.
"Oh no... AH ACHOO!"
---
END