Part I, Chapter Three: Collide

Everybody had told her about a point when time froze. She thought it to be ludicrous, after all, how can the only continuous force in the world stop? It would throw off so many things: the karmatic balance, the flow of the Divine's energies, it may even change the seasons! Thus, whenever she was treating a love-struck young man who had gotten his eye blackened in a fight to protect his beloved or an old woman on her deathbed who went on about her dead husband; Natasha would smile and nod her head as they told her about how time had froze when they and their other half met. Even if she disagreed with their choice of phrasing, their was no need to interject over something as trivial as that. It was just a saying, something Magvel would work out of its system in another fifty years or so.

And yet...Here she stood, the trees with their colors of gold and brown swirling into a slow spiral around her, with her breath caught in her throat. Her heart, which was going like a frightened child's, had momentarily paused in her bosom, and her thoughts all paused. The only clear thing the cleric could see was him. And she thought, Ah...this is what they meant, as she hung suspended in a moment. That fleeting frozen second was lost soon, and with her chest pounding and mind whirling, Natasha looked at Joshua and formed a basic sentence after she managed to unglue her throat. "What?"

Not the most eloquent reply in the world, but enough to continue the conversation. Joshua took her delicate hand into his own, cradling it like it was a butterfly, and with his face still serious he spoke. "Natasha," There was her name again, and the same shivers jolted through her body, "I love you. Deeply, madly, dearly, I love you. I don't care that your country called you a traitor, you can come with me to Jehanna after this war, but I would lay down my life so that you didn't have to hurt anymore. You...you may not feel the same, but I am yours."

This was Joshua? The laid-back, grinning Cheshire cat of their army who juggled with her potions for lack of something to do with his hands? No, she reminded herself, Joshua was more than that, so much more than that, but even still...The man was standing in front of her was speaking so earnestly and from his soul that she wasn't sure how to respond to that. Sure, the question buzzed at the back of Natasha's mind whenever she thought of him, but to put it into words she would have to sort it out in her head first.

It was instant. Memories came flooding into her conscious so quickly they almost merged.

"Ow!" He hissed. Frowning apologetically, she set her needle down.

"I'm sorry, Joshua, but you have hundreds of splinters in your hands from catching that shelf. Why'd you catch it?"

He grinned. "Why would I let it crash to the floor after I ground so many plants?" She shook her head.

The bone walker was fast. Too fast to dodge, she knew. The best thing she could do would be to duck and hope that the blade only caught her arm.

Red flashed through her vision, and the animated body crumbled before her feet. "You really need to look out for yourself." Joshua chided, wiping the black sludge off of his blade with boot.

Earthernware slid across wood, and blue eyes glanced up from their vigil across the six patients in the tent. "Eat, Natasha. I'm sure they won't mind if you do."

"Joshua..." He frowned, and pointed to the bowl.

"No, eat." She sighed and took the fork he was offering her, reluctantly taking a bite of the salad.

The drunken man in front of her apparently didn't understand 'no, thank you'. "C'mon, Sister, I can show you a better time than whoever you've got in the temple." Natasha had to try not to retch.

"I think the lady said no, you sickening bastard. Get out." Joshua stepped in front of her firmly, boring into the drunk with a fiery red glare. The click of his blade leaving the sheath was enough to scare the burly man off, and Joshua muttered under his breath after he ran out the doors of the tavern. Turning to the cleric, he frowned. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled. "Thank you, Joshua. I came here to-" Natasha turned to the tavern owner and took the offered package. "Ah, thank you Karl." She looked back to the myrmidon. "I came here to get this," She held the brown bag up slightly, "Herbs."

"...Come get me next time. Let's go."

"Let me help you."

She knew. She had always known.

"Oh, Joshua...I'm not...You give me too much credit, and yourself too little. I'm no angel, and I'm not worth anybody's life. But I have to admit that..."

"...I feel the same way."

And his face changed. The mask of seriousness faded away as color flew into his cheeks, the very corners of his mouth turned up, and his ruby eyes flickered with a new light. Like watching a sunrise, she mused, as he still held her hand and asked a single question. "Really?"

Natasha smiled openly at this and shook off the last bindings her job had on her mind. "Of course." Then, with a small squeak, she was lifted half a foot off the ground as Joshua grabbed her around the waist and turned in a circle. He still held her suspended from the grass as he burrowed his tanned face into her hood and murmured 'I love you' repeatedly. Her chest felt like it would burst and the tingles had spread through her entire body, and still smiling broadly she lifted her head to look into his eyes. "Joshua...could you put me..."

"Nope. You're staying right here."

"Oh...?" She pulled a copper penny from her belt pouch and held it up. "Heads I get put down, tails I don't?"

"Damn you woman!" Joshua chuckled, nodding. "Sure." The coin left her hand, flipped once...twice...thrice...and a final time before sailing into her waiting palm. Flipping it over, she held her hand out for the man to see. And groaning, he set her lightly on the ground again. Smiling contentedly, Natasha put her coin back and laced her slender fingers with his, setting off on their walk.

The rustle of leaves was the only sound for a few paces before she spoke. "...This feels much better than having everything bottled up."

He raised the eyebrow that wasn't blocked by his tattered hat. "The whole loving thing, or the getting the Liam-thing off your chest?"

"Mmm...both, I think. The first one more so," She smiled, sighing. "Truly, it goes against the clerical principals. Your love is supposed to be focused on the entire populous, not a single person."

Joshua snorted, a I-can't-believe-you-said-that snort. "Oh, bah. You love the rest of them enough as it is."

"Maybe so. And, after all, I left the wounded-Master Liam-to die without trying, and I am a traitor to Grado...Why not abandon the cleric order altogether, then? I can still heal without being a holy woman." The red-head nodded sharply, tracing a design on her wrist with his thumb.

"Now you're thinking. Spread the love and not the Light!...What's that look for? Jehannan's aren't particularly religious, as you can see."

"...That was blasphemy."

Joshua rolled his eyes. "Yes, it was. But if a divinity doesn't know how to take a joke, then why did he invent people?" The blonde looked up at him, then with a sudden intake of breath began to laugh, a pale rosy color rising to her cheeks.

"You have a point," She chuckled, shaking her head, "You have a point. We are funny creatures, aren't we?"

The man paused with a smirk, tilting his head to the side. "Mmph? I was talking about people, 'Tash, not angels."

"Oh, will you stop it? I'm no angel."

"You are to me."

"...Well, I can't control your thoughts, now can I?"

"Master Saleh could!"

The pair stopped and turned slowly around, staring at Ewan and his wooden whistle (which, Joshua noted, was floating behind the boy like a puppy). The child grinned and waved his index finger at them clicking his tongue. Natasha smiled at the impish boy. "Ah, hello Ewan. I'm sure Saleh could control our thoughts. Now, how long have you been following us?"

"Mmm...Three minutes?"

"Three minutes..."

"Yup!"The spirited figure chirped, trotting ahead of them. "And won't the princess flip when I tell her you're off canoodling!" Laughing, the pupil ran off.

"You, oh you fool!" Joshua snarled, beginning to seethe. "Ewan! Get back here!" The cleric only sighed and patted his hand with a smile.

"Oh, come now Joshua. He doesn't know what canoodle means. And the rest of the camp can wonder, now can't they?" Looking wearily at the tents that just entered his line of vision, the Jehannan shook his head.

"I suppose he can't do too much harm..."

"Hey! Guess what! Joshua and Miss Natasha are canoodling!"

"...Isn't that, um, sex?"

"ROSS!"

"Sorry, Dad..."

"Nuh-uh, no way Natasha'd be kissing that rogue."

"Mm...you never know, Tana."

Scarlet eyes locking with blue, the two lovers stared at each other for a long, frozen moment. Natasha cleared her throat. "Well...it appears the rest of the camp doesn't know the word, either." Growling, Joshua set off at a brisk trot towards the army campsite.

"C'mon, we need to get back before things get too bad!" Nodding, the lady followed suit. Thus, the desert-dwelling gambling man and his partner, the seaside cleric, leaped back into the fray of fighters they called an army.

And who knew what the army would speak of at dinner that night.

End Part I, Chapter Three.

Here, I give you a summary of Part II. Because I can.

He takes life with a grain of salt, and she takes it with every superstition in the book. Interested with the lore involved in the dancer's tale, he asks her to teach him more...but apparently, some things cannot be taught.

This one may be a bit late-I have a major project to do for school. It'll be up before or on Cinco De Mayo, hopefully. (And for my readers not in Texas, Cinco De Mayo is he fifth of May, the holiday that celebrates Mexico's independence from Spain.) ((And for my curious readers out there, I am not Hispanic. Just Texan)).