Me:Before starting I would like to say something I feel is very very important. Well yes... I am awesome, but beside that. I would like to thank AnimeGirl very much. Soo soo much! I thought no one really read Noel or cared about it. Well if you check her review, you can see she does apparently. So thank you very much AnimeGirl you helped me write this one.


Chapter 3

The seventeen year old carried Noel on his back grumbling. He had picked the coins back into Noel's pouch under the careful eye of Yuki. She may be new, but she's no idiot. So why make a break for it when she knew his face? They reached the inn and reserved a room from Piaras. Yuki glanced at the boy uneasily.

"I am grateful for you helping my master, but who are you?"

"Jeffer... Jeff. I'm Jeff."

"You're awfully proud if you won't even tell me your real name." She frowned.

"Whatever. Just wake up that shrimp."

Yuki nodded with an insulted look and tried to wake Noel once more. He didn't respond and remained laying flat on his stomach. She glanced and Jeff, who had his eyes latched onto Noel's pouch.

"Jeff. Can't you help him? Please?"

He tore his eyes away from the leather sack. "Eh? Yea sure..." He ran off toward the healers.

"If I was human I could help..." Yuki whined.

Noel was lying on his back in a pitch black void. It seemed as if time had frozen. There was nothing in the area. Nothing to make a sound, nothing that was moving. Noel seemed perfectly fine and cradled his head in his arms. He sat in silent bliss and closed his eyes. As relaxed as he was, he felt very upset.

"Something wrong? You are alone, as you have always wished. I have granted you your wish child. Why do you still frown upon my good deed?"

"Thank you sir... Or ma'am. I do wish to be alone, but not forever. I want friends, but I don't want it to hurt." The words echoed around the room, but Noels lips hadn't move.

"It hurts to hate. It hurts even more to love."

Noel shook his head and said with unmoving lips, "I don't hate, and I don't have love. What's there to do? Every since I was brought by Nao I've lived a meticulous life. I have nothing to live or work for. My life is a endless boring loop. An empty loop."

"Mabinogi doesn't force you into an adventure. You join it. There are those who live peacefully, yet accomplish nothing. And there are those who achieve; reach their full potential. Understand that the great ones are like water. They all begin still. When something disturbs them they must be able to freely flow. They cannot stay rigid and stuck in their ways. Adapt, learn, fail. It's life. However remember, a single disturbance ripples. You aren't the only one who suffers. When you see the wave of adventure brush by you, jump in."

He sat up, interested by the ominous voice. It held evil, but kindness. Noel couldn't understand if the voice was guiding him down a dark or light path.

"Until you find the object that causes the ripple in your life, you cannot ride the wave it creates. Patience. For now you must wake."

Noel was standing up and looking around. "You're confusing me. You're telling me to wait? If I wait than I'll end up being dragged into something. And-" He felt an invisible force wrap around him and shake. "O-ouch. Quit shaking me! That hurts!" The entire void shook along with Noel. He opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar person with their unfamiliar arms violently rattling him.

"Hey man, wake up already!" Jeff was very aggravated by how Noel didn't seem to wake for the past three minutes of shaking him. "You're not in a freakin' coma! It's just a damn fever!"

"I asked you to wake up the boy not make him a maraca!" Dily fussed. "Sit him up."

Jeff glared at the older lady, sat up Noel, and grumbled to the back of the room.

"Oh Noel, Noel, Noel what did you do this time? You even have a bandage on your hand. I tell you to visit me and you keep going around..." Dily continued her nagging while properly mending his previous snake mark that had left a scar. "Tsk tsk tsk, we have to clean that spot and get rid of that scar. The venom is probably what made you weaker. Now hold still and bear with me." She slowly poured a thin stream of green liquid from a small bottle she pulled out from her potion kit. As soon at it made contact with Noels skin it disappeared. You wouldn't even know the liquid was being poured on Noel unless you heard the grinding of his teeth and saw his grimacing face.

"Hey I'm no genius with feelings but I know what most of them are by now. And that is definitely pain!" Yuki swung her intangible arms through Dily trying to stop her.

"Hush. I know what I'm doing and if you care for Noel than you'll let me continue."

Yuki obliged, slightly red in the face. After all was done, Dily prepared for her leave. Noel seemed to be awake enough to respond to everything that was happening.

"Ah- Thank you very much, Dily." He said softly while rubbing his burning hand.

"Noel! What happened to Miss. Dily!?" Dily spoke with a strong, defiant voice.

"I-I-I-I'm, I-I-I! Um! I-!" He flushed.

"Calm down. I'm only playing with you. It's good to see you've lightened up. Now take care, okay? Noel stay healthy and strong. A little more confident too. Yuki, stay intangible. My word, if by some miracle you were to be tangible, you would make the biggest ruckus in all of Erinn. But a eiry turning tangible is totally unheard of so I don't need to stress over that matter. As for you Jeff. Stay away..." She hissed. Boy or no boy, she's treated many people and she couldn't help but feel he was anything but someone who got hurt. On the contrary he was the opposite. It's just sickening seeing that kind of person in front of you. Strange how it's usually men who keep sending the injured to her house. "Men..." She groaned and promptly marched out.

There was silence in the room along with great tension. Yuki comfortably sat next to Noel on the bed, even if she still was just hovering centimeters away from the surface. Noel realized the stranger was still in the room. He turned to the tan man in a black zig-zag tunic who looked at him with eyebrows raised.

"So... I'm Noel. You are...?" he spoke with caution and extended his hand. Jeff turned his head to him and cocked and eyebrow.

"Jeff." He grunted, "I'm the guy who carried your sweaty, dying body here." Noel's hand remained suspended in the air but Jeff ignored it. He slowly pulled his hand back.

"Oh..." Noel mumbled, unsure of what to say.

"You're welcome." Jeff spoke monotone.

Once again the silence emerged. Without a word, Noel swiftly collected his belongings and left the room with Yuki silently, closely following. Then there was only one. One Jeff and Noel's forgotten gold pouch. Much to his joy of course. He slowly made his way toward where the pouch sat on the lamp table and reached out. Then the door opened and Jeff withdrew his hand in the blink of an eye.

"... Almost forgot my gold..." Noel murmured as he stepped into the room, not seeing Jeff's retreating arm. Though Yuki was sharp enough to spot it behind Noel's shoulder. As he grabbed his pouch and began to leave, Jeff stood.

"You look weak, but I mean that in a good way..." He searched for an excuse, "I can... I can train you at the arena!"

Noel, halfway out the door, tried to get out the other half. It already sounded like a bad idea. "Yuki, you hungry? I'll buy you something now."

"No! Really I'll train you! Help you in the dungeons, with your quests and junk!" he put on his best 'It's true' look.

With regret, Noel accepted Jeff's offer. It was the only way to stop him from making Noel any more embarrassed. So with the group of three now, they moved to the weapon shop for Yuki's meal. The weirdest thing Noel noticed was when Jeff cringed with every coin he handed to Ferghus. Nevertheless they continued to ciar dungeon, however Jeff had other plans.

"Oh no, if we're gonna train you, we're not going to the sissy dungeon. We're going use the basics, starting with, the basic." He pulled out a brown slip of paper. "There's nothing to worry about kid, if you die than I'll bring you right back to life with a feather."

"You're just a kid too..." Yuki grumbled. Jeff retaliated with a scoff.

With a weak nod, they entered the dungeon. It was a lot easier than Noel thought. Sure the took a bit longer than goblins, but not as long as he thought. He felt much more powerful with the mace.

"Wow Yuki, you seem much stronger! What did you do, work out?"

"Don't be silly, Noel, I get stronger with the items I eat." She giggled giving Noel a small smile. "But are you sure you're okay to be up and fighting? You just recovered from being sick."

He gave a confident smile and went to catch up with Jeff, who hadn't waited for them. Jeff looked over his shoulder when hearing Noel approach, standing with his arms crossed and raised eyebrows. The door in front of him was locked and he was getting agitated waiting for them. They had already reached the third floor without being knocked out and were nearing the boss room. Jeff stood on edge wanting to kill the golem desperately. Noel hastily clicked open the door and prepared for battle. He took care of the skeletons, as most people would, but he saw in the corner of his eye Jeff running straight for the golem with his two galdius' prepred to swing. Noel stood in horror as Jeff was knocked out after only two hits. Yuki looked over Noels head, though she is floating, she's just a few centimeters taller than him.

"Do you have any feathers?" She inquired.

"No! He didn't say too and I didn't think he'd die! Oh no oh no."

"Come on, Noel be a man! We can take that golem down," Yuki clenched her fists for emphasis, "it's only a little bigger than the last one! You can do it!"

Noel scrunched his forehead in determination, and charged. With a shout and a smash, the golem was against a wall. He windmilled it and used his defense. Whether it looks like it or not, Noel's defense is very good, considering he never had a decent weapon. After the golem hitting him in defensive mode, Noel smacked him once and windmilled him again. This worked a few times, however it retorted with a windmill. Noel was knocked over and laid there, unmoving. Yuki's eyes widened and tried to get Noel to move, though her hands fazed through him.

"Noel! Are you okay!? Noel!" she cried to him. His body didn't move. A very dense air could be felt around the room. The golem continued to rampage around Noel's unmoving body.

"Noel! Why! We only met a few days ago! Not yet!" Yuki sobbed, kneeling by him, "I haven't learned all the emotions yet... Never became strong together..." her voice trailed off as she felt her energy leave her.

The golem had stopped stomping madly and resumed it's position on the floor. Yuki cursed at the piece of rock and looked at Noel with her red eyes. Surprised, she saw one eyelid looking at her. It seemed to be smiling at her too. Not moving, but alive, Noel gave her a small smile. Groaning and moaning, he crawled to the corner of the room.

"Oh thank Nao! I thought you were dead Noel!" she tried to hug him.

Noel felt his face light up a bit and scratched his cheek with a finger, "Ah, well I'm close to death, but I'm not going to leave you alone Yuki." He gave her an honest smile.

Yuki flushed and quickly turned away feeling her face flushed. "W-why didn't you at least let me know you were okay?" Trying her best to not make eye contact, fiddling with her skirt rimming.

He swallowed the last of his potion, "I can't let that golem know I'm still breathing and let him stomp me to death!"

Turning her back to him, Yuki mumbled something. Noel leaned in towards her to hear her better. Her head whipped back and she screamed "I Hate You!"

"Y-y-... why..." not sure why, Noel could feel his heart tightening, and it hurt.

"You made me say all those embarrassing things for nothing!" her face turned a deeper shade of red and she flew through the ceiling of the dungeon.

Alarmed, Noel jumped up and called to her. Instead the golem responded. Noel got ready to wipe out the golem who was worn down more than halfway through. Only problem was that his mace had lost absolutely all of it's power now. He looked at his hands with only gloves on as protection. Powerless mace definitely overruled bare hands. Noel looked up and saw the golem was already in his face. His reflexes made him go into defense mode. After getting a few scratches, Noel was able to turn the tide. Windmilling and hitting and going into defense mode just as before ended the golem. Exhausted, Noel flopped to the ground. If Jeff was suppose to train him, he wasn't doing a very good job.

'Jeff! I forgot about him!' Noel rushed to where Jeff's body was. Noel checked his heart rate. He let out a sigh of relief at the sound of the pumping.

There was nothing Noel could do until his energy returned. So he sat for awhile and thought. The eerie quiet of the dungeon was unbearable. It was cold and lonely. Noel huddled into a fetal position and tried to comfort himself. Why did Yuki hate him so much? Was what he did really that wrong. He rested his head on his knees. It frustrated him so much. He was mad at the golem, he was mad at Jeff, and of course he was mad at himself. He can't even figure out why Yuki left him. Noel could never be mad at Yuki though. She was his only friend, and cared for him. The thoughts kept running through his head until he felt well enough to get up. With Jeff's unconscious body latched onto his back, Noel went to open the chests for them. Inside was a decent amount of gold, plus he got an enchanted broad stick. It didn't make him happy though. Without Yuki around, there's no one to fill the area she had made in his heart. Noel let out a long depressed sigh.

"Something wrong?" A small interested voice chirped.

Noel screamed in surprise. Right behind him, standing with her hands on her hips, was a girl. A sixteen year old with a high school cut that was blond, and black confident eyes. And was wearing A black Cores' knit cap, white idol ribbon dress, and black Ella Strap boots.

He looked at her up and down. She was very cute. She noticed his staring and giggled and winked at him.


High above the Ciar entrance, sat an ego marinating in her ego.(Pun) Yuki had her legs crossed with an arm propped up on one knee and her head resting in her palm. Sure Noel should have somehow told her he was okay. It was all so embarrassing though. She covered her face with her hands, slapping herself in the process, and shook her head to try to get the embarrassment to go away. Right now nothing seemed better than being by Noel's side. Yuki felt too abash to approach him directly now. She was sure he could see her when her face blushed. This feeling... the base of it was in Yuki's hand, but the major things slipped between her fingers. What and why she's feeling is something maybe Noel can explain. There's absolutely no way she was going to fly right up to him. So she decided to wait outside the dungeon, hoping he'd come back okay. And there he was. Noel walking out with a small limp, carry Jeff on his back. Yuki want to fly right over to him but couldn't. For some odd reason, she wanted to just stare at him for a bit. Whatever happened to her at the dungeon was something starting to scare her. All she wants to do his stare at him. It scared her, but she felt so warm and comfortable inside. Her eyes became out of focus and her mind blanked as she continued to stare at him. Then she noticed a blond girl bouncing up to Noel and giving him a smile. He returned her smile with his own sweet smile. Yuki felt her blood boil and a pang in her heart.

"What?!"


Me: So I added some twists as I wrote the story. I didn't really plan for it to be like this. A lot more Yuki feelings here than I intended. I'm bad with mushi gooey love. It makes me feel embarrassed to write it...

Yuki: What am I feeling?

Me: Well I'll tell you what I'm feeling! I'm sick again! I seem to only update when I'm sick...