A/N: So... this isn't chapter 11, sorry. I was actually about to write it, but then this idea just popped into my head and as the Charoix shipper I am, I just couldn't resist XD. It's basically a (not so) little bonus chapter in whihc we see some bonding between our favorite girls. I hope you like it :)
Chapter 10.5: Flying is freedom.
"Chariot, what are you doing? I thought we'd see each other at six!" I look down upon hearing Croix's voice to effectively find my friend standing in the middle of the sports field, looking up at me with furrowed brows. Startled, I look at the sun and see it's lower on the horizon than I expected it to be and realize I must have lost track of time while practicing flying.
"Oh! I'm sorry Croix!" I exclaim, flying down towards the ground at top speed and barely managing to stop in time before coming crashing into the ground. It was a scary maneuver before, but I have it nailed now.
"Don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack." Croix protests, still glaring at me.
"Hm? So, you do care about me?" I tease, smiling widely as I hover on my broom before dangling myself upside down. Thankfully I practiced this so I'm able to keep myself from falling and my face is now at Croix's eye level.
"If you died I'd have to get another slave." She rolls her eyes, in classic Croix fashion, but by her blush I know I actually am onto something now. However, I don't think I fancy an angry Croix, so I decide to just leave it at that.
"So, anyways… any luck deciphering what went wrong last time?" I ask, returning to a normal sitting position on my broom.
"No…" She sighs. "I think you did everything well, but… I just don't get why the potion turned that color! Maybe my thermometer isn't working correctly."
"And you still want to give it another try?" I raise an eyebrow. "The past two attempts were supposedly successful, but the potion still didn't work for some reason."
"I mostly wanted to ask your opinion on what you think went wrong. You were the one making the potion, after all." Croix answers with a defeated expression. Come to think of it, the bags under her eyes seem even darker than normal, and her skin paler. Has she been sleeping lately? Or even eating? Somehow I doubt it. She can be pretty careless about her own physical state when she's obsessed with something. And that can't be good! I need to get her to relax. Actually, I could use a break too.
"Honestly Croix, I don't have any idea what happened last time." I answer honestly. "But I'm pretty sure if we try again today we'll get the same result." I sigh. "We're both tired, and stressed, and… I think we should just have fun today!" I finish with a bright smile, hoping to convince her.
"Fun?" She makes a face, like I just said a bad word. Typical of Croix!
"Yep! Just you and me, what do you say? Hey! I can show you some tricks with the broom!" I light up at my own suggestion. I haven't had time to do much except speed practice these past few days, thanks to Karen and Amelia hounding me to stick to safe maneuvers. And I really think it'll be a good way for Croix to unwind. Ha! sometimes I can be so clever.
"I don't know, Chariot." She looks to the side hesitantly. "It's almost curfew…"
"Yeah, in two hours." I roll my eyes, but then a mischievous smile appears on my face as I think of something that will surely convince her. "But I understand if you're scared. After all, a certain level of skill is required to perform these maneuvers."
"Are you insinuating you're better at flying than me?" She raises an eyebrow, taking the bait. "I'll have you know, I won the broom relay last year!"
"Yeah, but only because I wasn't there." I smirk, watching as a challenging expression appears on her face and determination burns brightly in her eyes.
"I'm so gonna make you eat your words!" And with that, she storms off towards the small nearby cabin where the brooms are kept, no doubt gong to retrieve her own. But I just laugh, happy to confirm I know Croix so well I can now get her to take some free time without her even noticing what I'm doing. Oh, Croix! You can be so competitive sometimes!
Soon enough she returns, broom in hand, getting in position as soon as she sets foot on the field and quickly flying towards me, flying higher so she can look down at me as usual. I quickly fly up to meet her and let out a giggle upon seeing how serious and determined she looks.
"Ready to fall flat on your butt?" I challenge once more to keep her motivated.
"Please, if you can do those tricks, I'm sure I'll be an expert in just a couple of minutes." She retorts, practically radiating confidence.
"Sure, it would be pretty embarrassing otherwise, don't you think?" I laugh, knowing there's no way she's anywhere near my skill level. "But let's start with something simple, alright? Let's see how well you do when we practice barrel rolls!"
I then start showing Croix some of my best tricks, but honestly? I didn't expect her to be so good at this! It's almost discouraging, to be honest. Sure, she doesn't always get them on the first try, but she's pretty damn close. Her technique isn't as good as mine, but it's not half bad considering it's her first time. Damn! What do I do now?
"Hey, Chariot, I thought you said you were going to show me some crazy maneuvers that required a lot of skill! This is a field trip for me." She mocks me, wearing that odious smirk on her face that I hate so much. But that's okay. I guess it's time to up my game.
"I just didn't want you to hurt yourself on the first five minutes." I lie, hoping to appear more confident than I feel. "That was the warmup, but now it's time for the fun stuff!"
With that I take off at max speed, ready to do my most dramatic move. It's second nature for me at this point, so I think nothing about it as I jump up from my broom and land on it with the soles of my feet, taking an outright position, if slightly crouched to reduce wind resistance and avoid falling down because of it.
"Look!" I yell at Croix, since this isn't even half of what I had planned.
Once I feel steady enough, I focus on my legs so I can make sure I don't screw this up. Then, as soon as I'm certain I remember what to do, I jump up once again and do a somersault, redirecting the broom to catch me slightly slower. Thankfully I manage to land on my two feet, though I do stumble a little, almost falling from it.
When that's done and my heart has stopped beating a thousand miles a minute, I descend next to where Croix still is, looking at me with a mixture of amazement and surprise, as her jaw almost hits the ground below.
"Not bad, huh?" I smirk, feeling a very pleasant emotion raising on my chest when I notice her dumbfounded expression. Could it be pride?
"A-ah… y-you…" She opens and closes her mouth like a fish out of water, and I chuckle at the sight, which finally breaks her out of her trance, and she starts yelling at me. "Sit down, you idiot! You almost gave me a heart attack!" I just laugh, however, because I know she's not actually mad at me; mostly worried.
"Relax, I do this all the time!" I wave off her concerns.
"That's way worse than if this was the first time!" She protests.
"You're such a worrywart." I scoff. "I thought you said my tricks were too easy for you, but now this one is suddenly too dangerous?"
"It freaking is, Chariot! Do you know how many meters above the ground we are?!"
"A lot?" I answer, giggling.
"And you are just jumping off your freaking broom and riding it while standing."
"Yeah." I shrug. "Are you going to do it too, or not?"
"Hell no! I want to live a long life, thank you very much." Her wide eyes and pale face as she looks down to the ground lets me know just how scared she's about this, so I decide to go easy on her for now.
"Okay, maybe without jumping. Just standing on the broom." I say with a comforting smile. "You can do that, right?"
"I guess?" She answers hesitantly, making a grimace.
"Come on." I say, smiling as reassuringly as I possibly can and extending my hand towards her. "I'll catch you if you fall."
"Great." She sighs. "Please destroy everything in my lab after I die." Still, despite her apparently skeptical attitude at my life-saving skills, she takes my hand and carefully starts to lower her broom as she positions first her knees and then her feet on the wooden handle. Despite how confident she usually appears; she's trembling like a jelly and her face is rather pale. Her hand is also getting kinda sweaty. But she has a look of determination on her face and clearly she doesn't want to admit she can't do something I'm very good at.
Seeing this part of Croix is nice. It makes her a little more human for me.
Suddenly, her feet slip and she almost ends up falling, but I'm fast enough to grab her waist and hold her in place. At the same time, she ends up gripping my hand and elbow like her life depends on it… and it quite literally does.
"You okay?" I ask, since I feel her trembling even more, and she has now closed her eyes. However, she just nods. "Alright, focus on your feet. They need to be perfectly balanced if you don't want to fall."
"This would be easier if brooms weren't thin sticks." She complains, visibly tensing up as a breeze passes by and moves our brooms slightly, at which I tighten my grip on her to give her a sense of security.
"What would you prefer? A chair?" I chuckle, trying to get her to think on something else.
"A chair, a table… anything flat and wide would be better right now." She says through clenched teeth, still tense as can be, but at least her trembling has diminished.
"That's not very witch-like, is it?" I tease.
"Nor is it flying while standing." She shots back, finally opening her eyes and looking directly into mine. And in that moment, I realize just how close we are. I can make out so many details about her that I'd never noticed before! Like, wow! Her eyelashes are so long! They're actually pretty. And her eyes are so green! But they also have some blue on them, so they're actually teal. And also…
Before I can continue contemplating… uh, I mean… observing my friend, she hastily leans back and lets go of my elbow, choosing to keep contact only with our hands instead, and looks to the side, blushing brightly since she's probably uncomfortable with the level of physical contact we were having.
"Sorry." I say almost automatically.
"No. It was my fault." She quickly answers, letting her gaze drop to her feet. "Now… How did you say you do this again?"
"Oh! You fly!" I exclaim. "Just as if you were sitting, but be careful not to lose your balance."
"Okay…" She takes a deep breath and tightens her grip on my hands, probably already regretting her decision.
"Come on, just follow my lead." I say cheerfully, hoping to covey my enthusiasm, and then I start moving my broom forward slowly, waiting for Croix to do the same. Her grip on my hands becomes even tighter, if possible, to the point of being painful, but I don't complain because she looks like she's getting paler by the second and her brows are scrunching too much.
"Croix. It's just like normal flying, really." I assure her. "Stop looking down like you're scared of falling."
"I'm not scared." She says almost too quickly.
"Right." I deadpan. "Well, in that case, I suppose I can leave you on your own." I make the motion to let go of her, but she instantly panics and pulls me a little closer.
"No!" She shouts, then blushing in embarrassment when she realizes she pretty much just admitted she's scared. "Fine, whatever." She looks to the side. "So I'm a little bit scared. Doesn't mean I can't do this."
"I never said you couldn't." I smile. "But you have to relax and actually try moving your broom, okay? I'll be here the whole time, I promise."
For a second it looks like she's going to say something sarcastic and then keep complaining about how reckless I am. But then her eyes lock with mine and I give her the best reassuring face I can muster, hoping to tell her without words that she can trust me. Then she closes her mouth, pouts and looks to the side, taking a deep breath as she consciously starts relaxing her tense muscles.
"Ready?" I ask.
"As I'll ever be." She mutters, still wearing a somewhat grumpy expression. But worry not, my dear friend! We'll turn that pout upside down in a second!
"Good. We'll start slow, okay?" After receiving a hesitant nod from Croix, I order my broom to start moving once more and she does the same.
We're going way too slow for my taste, but I know this is what Croix needs to start building up some confidence, so I don't try to push her to go faster at first. But after flying like this for a few minutes, just going in a straight line at a slow speed, I feel Croix's grip on my hands loosen up a little. I figure its time to pick up the pace, and my friend quickly catches up with me.
"Let's try some circles now, okay?" I suggest, once I sense she's relaxed enough to try something new.
"Y-yeah." She answers, still sounding a bit nervous, but her posture speaks volumes of how much more relaxed she's now compared to before. Her shoulders aren't so tense now, and her back isn't as stiff.
So, we try flying circles for a few more minutes before picking up the speed, now flying at the standard velocity according to safety rules. It's still too slow for me, but I guess it's enough for someone who isn't used to flying like this.
"Can you fly on your own now?" I ask, deviating my gaze to our joined hands. Truth to be told, I don't want to let go yet. For safety reasons, that is. But if I wanna show her how exhilarating flying like this can feel, I have to let her go free.
"I can try." She answers hesitantly, also looking at our hands.
"Alright. I'm going to let go now." I warn her, and she nods, getting ready by planting her feet a bit firmer on the broom's handle. "One, two… three."
As soon as I let go of her hands her posture wagers as she loses her equilibrium. However, when I'm about to lunge forward to grab her again, she manages to steady herself by making her posture wider and opening her arms to balance herself. Once I'm sure she's steady enough, I back up a bit, giving her more space.
"You good?" I ask.
"Y-yeah." She nods, visibly sweating. "But I guess it'll take me a while to get the hang of it."
"I'm right here, don't worry." I assure her and she nods again, her eyes fixed on her feet as she starts moving once more; this time without me grabbing her.
At first she's cautious and clumsy. And very slow, but that was to be expected. Her legs keep trembling, and her breath is ragged, but I figure that's because she's probably worrying too much and overthinking everything. So I start flying around her, laughing and cheering in hopes to grab her attention and get her to just fly using her instincts. At first it doesn't work, and it even looks like she's doing a conscious effort to ignore me (rude!), but after making a few summersaults again and laughing loudly, I manage to make her eyes follow me instead of her shoes.
"Can you stop that? It's distracting!" She pouts, but apparently my plan is working, since soon she's stopped trembling as all her concentration is centered on me.
"Yeah? Well, then I guess you'll just have to deal with it." I wink. "Or, you know, make me stop. But then again, you'd have to catch me for that, and right now you're being too much of a slug."
"Why am I even friends with you?" She grumbles.
"Because you don't have a choice." I blow her a raspberry and then fly away, laughing. Thankfully though, my little teasing worked and now she's going a little faster, no doubt trying to catch up with me and make me eat my words. Her legs are still a bit wobbly, but now she seems much surer of herself and she soon is going at an acceptable speed. Nowhere near mine though, so I decide to slow down and fly at her side.
"Neat, huh?" I say.
"Sure. More so when you're doing your best to annoy me." She rolls her eyes, but a smile actually manages to appear on her face, which makes me smile as well.
"Did it work?" I ask cheekily.
"More than I would've expected." She laughs. "But now that I'm actually flying in this strange way you invented… care to go for a race? I can't wait to make you eat my dust."
"Last one to get to the New Moon tower is a fried chicken!" I shout as I take off, laughing loudly after seeing Croix's dumbfounded and confused face.
"Hey, wait a minute! Come back, you little cheater! I'm so making you clean up my lab after this!"
But despite her angry words, she actually has a smile on her face, and she seems a lot less tense than before. She's still as slow as a slug, at least while flying like this, but she seems happier, less serious. Like an actual teenager. I enjoy seeing this side of her, and I hope I can see it more often. She looks… cute like this; smiley, sweaty, flustered and with her hair all messy. Granted, she'd probably kill me if I ever said that out loud.
Oh, well! Would you look at that? I'm already at the New Moon tower! There's no way Croix can win now, I'll just have to…
Wait.
My broom doesn't move. Why doesn't it move? Come on! I'm like a meter away from victory! What's going on?
Before I can properly decipher what's happening, Croix speeds past me (while, standing on her broom, which is actually kind of impressive) and then calmly touches the tower before turning around and looking down at me from her position a few meters above, while giving me one of her odious smirks and crossing her arms over her chest. She actually looks kinda intimidating… in a good way. Wait. Is there actually a good way?
"You cheat, I cheat." She says simply before pulling out her wand and waving it, releasing the spell and allowing me to cover the last bit of distance and touch the white stones of the tower.
"Croix!" I pout. "You're so mean! We were just having fun!"
"Oh, I'm having fun, alright." She laughs. "Now, come on, let's go inside before Finnelan catches us out here during curfew."
"Last one is a fried egg!" I shout, already speeding through the fields and towards the main building of Luna Nova.
"Oh, for fucks sake!" I hear her curse before taking off after me. "You never learn, do you?"
"I think I do!" I reply as I take off my wand and move it, creating a fog illusion that will hopefully confuse Croix and keep her from catching up with me before I make it to the school.
Gosh, it's so much fun messing with her! I'm sure this will have grave consequences for me tomorrow, but hey, I'll let future Chariot worry about that, and for now I'll just enjoy these rare bonding moments we have.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you liked this little idea, or favorite/follow if you haven't. See you soon :)
Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.
