Day 3

Glass Princess

(Sophie/Bao)

"You're staaaaaaring," Wales sang in her ear, and Sophie jumped.

"Wales!" she hissed. "Stop that!"

"It's true," he laughed, backing off before she could poke him. "The only time you haven't been sneaking glances at him is when the Director started his speech."

"You're a - " She didn't get the chance to complete the sentence, because Klaus suddenly leant into the conversation.

"I don't know how these Eastern boys show that they like someone, but he's been looking this way for a very long time," he said. "So unless he's analysing the construction of the display in the middle of our table, he's interested."

She looked very pointedly at the centrepiece of the table – a beautiful creation of twisting ribbons made of different-coloured glass that met and blossomed out into a shallow bowl full of water, floating candles lighting its surface. "Well, now I'm analysing its structure." Wales hid a snigger and she only restrained herself from punching him with the greatest of effort. "Seriously, you two. You don't need to try to pair me up with every boy I look at. I don't need the two of you trying to find me a boyfriend."

"Do you want one?" Wales asked, gesturing casually around the large hall at the huge group of bladers from all over the world who had gathered by invitation only for the celebratory one-year-since-Nemesis-was-defeated dinner (it was actually called that on the invitation. Sophie had just shaken her head and wondered how the Director had sneaked that one past Hikaru). "There's quite a lot of choice, after all."

"That's not the point. Why can't you follow Julian's example and treat me as if I'm just another boy?"

"Because you're not a boy, and Julian doesn't treat you like one," Klaus informed her. "He treats you as an excellent blader and a friend, just as we do."

She rolled her eyes at him and looked away again, conveniently sneaking a glance sideways at the boy she had been surreptitiously watching all evening. "Your attempts at playing matchmaker are as useless as they are transparent, Klaus. Stop it."

.

"Bao!" Aguma's voice was loud even at a whisper, and the red-haired boy nearly fell off his chair.

"What?"

"She's a member of Team Excalibur, her name is Sophie, she's the daughter of a famous fashion designer, her bey is a White Cetus WD145 and you have been staring at her for the past ten minutes without blinking."

He didn't bother arguing. Aguma knew him better than anyone else, and there had been times when Bao hadn't realised he was thinking something until Aguma had asked him about it. Of course, it worked in reverse as well, but that wasn't the issue right now. "And the rules of Beylin Fist clearly state that relationships can only begin once a warrior is removed from active duty."

Aguma actually rolled his eyes. "I think you're forgetting that you were made the leader of Beylin Fist two months ago and therefore you can make whatever rules you like. It's not as if there's very many of us left now, and we don't exactly have a reason for trying to dominate the world any more so active duty is more of a... tradition than a requirement."

Bao laughed. "If that's what you want, we'll have it your way."

At that, Aguma grinned at him. "So, you were interested."

"That means nothing. She is guarded by Wales, Klaus and Konzern – I have heard many rumours about what they did to one of her suitors and have no intention of the same thing happening to me."

"Hmm," Aguma said, pretending to look concerned. "I would have thought you would be more worried that she was out of your league."

Bao gave him a confused look. "Aguma, I don't think I have a league. And what's that got to do with anything?"

Aguma sighed and gave up. Bao clearly didn't have a romantic bone in his body.

.

At the end of the dinner, most of the bladers began to drift between tables to greet old friends and renew acquaintances. Wales was talking happily to Jack about a new art gallery opening in Britain that Jack wanted to visit, and Klaus was tuning out because it just wasn't his thing.

He was surprised by a tap on his shoulder. Turning, he saw the taller of the Beylin Fist pair standing behind him, his expression wary.

"You're Klaus," he said. It wasn't really a question.

"Yes. And you're Aguma, right?"

A brief nod. "This is going to be a very strange question, but... your team-mate, Sophie – is she - ?"

"Single, yes, interested in Bao, very probably." Klaus finished for him, suddenly realising just why Aguma had looked so hesitant. "And Bao?"

"Definitely interested," the other man confirmed, relaxing a little. "Either that, or he's decided that she's the reincarnation of Pluto and is trying to stare her into non-existence."

Klaus grinned. He liked this man. "I can assure you, she's nothing like that. So are we going to conveniently leave them at a table on their own and see what happens?"

"Isn't it girls who normally do this?" Aguma asked, confused but apparently resigned to his fate of matchmaker.

"Yes," Klaus admitted, "but it's not as if there's any girls who could actually do this instead, are there?"

Aguma frowned, but he had to agree. "We'll try to push them together then. Either it will explode, or it will fix something. Either way, it'll make this evening more entertaining."

Yep. Klaus had definitely found his new best friend.

.

"Your team-mate has stolen my seat," said a voice from above her head. "I assume it's no problem if I steal his?"

Sophie looked up at the red-headed man she had been sneaking glances at all evening (yes, alright, she admitted it – he was pretty!) and shrugged. "Fair is fair."

Bao dropped into the seat opposite her and pointedly looked the other way. She did the same. After all, they'd never really communicated before, and it would be very awkward if she started the wrong sort of conversation. What kinds of things did he like, anyway? Was he a fighter, an artist (probably not or he'd have stuck around with Jack and Wales, who were getting along like a red-headed house on fire), an athlete – what? She knew nothing about him other than his name, his position in the Beylin Fist hierarchy, the name of his bey, and some titbits of information she had gleaned about his life in the days after Nemesis, when he had been storming around the WBBA headquarters in a fury half-born from worry as Aguma had disappeared off to fight Nemesis without consulting him or even allowing him to come along.

She was entirely unaware of the argument going on at the table Team Excalibur had originally been seated at, where Aguma and Klaus were now sitting and looking very disgruntled.

"This isn't very entertaining at all," Aguma muttered.

"If this was a movie, someone would make him spill his drink all over her," Klaus hissed back. "Then he'd have to apologise and help her clear up and their eyes would meet and there would be fireworks."

Aguma stifled a laugh. "That would never work. Bao would whip round, find out who had made him spill the drink, and go beat them up, actually."

"True..."

"Remind me why we thought this was a good idea, again?"

But Klaus' eyes had suddenly lit up. "I've got an idea," he said slowly, and quickly outlined it to his co-conspirator.

"That's twisted," Aguma spluttered. "Twisted, but... but brilliant."

The two matchmakers grinned at each other.

Sophie was just about to get up to go and see Madoka, who was on the far side of the hall, when a hand fell on her shoulder. "Hello, Sophie!" Klaus said, and his expression and voice were suspiciously bright. "You looked very lonely over here, so I thought I'd come and say hello!"

She frowned at him. "Klaus, you've been sitting with me all evening."

"Oh, hello!" Klaus continued, ignoring her completely. "You must be Bao. Just so you know, you have to defeat me, Wales and Konzern before you're allowed to date Sophie."

"What?" Sophie spluttered. "Klaus, that's not - "

"And you have to defeat me before you can date the leader of Beylin Fist," said another voice, as Aguma materialised behind his oldest friend's shoulder.

"Aguma!" Bao yelped.

Aguma ignored him, frowning slightly. "But that's a bit unfair, because you're usually a tag-teamer, Sophie. How about you elect a champion? I'll fight him instead." He paused. "Or her."

Now both Sophie and Bao were staring at their friends in unabashed horror. "Aguma, what is this about?" Bao snarled, voice controlled and dangerous.

"I'd be more than happy to take on your challenge," Klaus interrupted, eyes fixed on Aguma. "You'll never defeat my Capricorn."

Aguma snorted. "Clearly you've never faced my Kronos. I'll wipe the floor with you."

"We'll go and get started then," Klaus said. "If you beat me, Bao can date Sophie. If I beat you, Sophie can date Bao, right?"

"That sounds about right. Let's go."

Sophie and Bao exchanged baffled looks. Klaus glanced down at Bao.

"Oh, and Bao? You're welcome to come and check out our table anytime! Bye!"

And both of them disappeared off into the crowd, grinning.

A stunned silence settled over the two who remained in their seats, utterly confused. "I am so sorry about that," Bao muttered. "I have no idea what got into him. Maybe he just wanted to fight Klaus."

"Probably." Sophie offered him a commiserating grin. "Hopefully they won't blow up too much stuff battling. Klaus can be quite enthusiastic at times."

Bao nodded, relaxing a little. Then he asked "What did Klaus mean, 'you're welcome to come and check out our table anytime'?"

Sophie covered her face with one hand. Trust Klaus to be the joker tonight of all nights. "He was suggesting earlier that you might have been looking over at our table so often because you wanted to know how the centrepiece was put together," she said. "Just ignore him."

But Bao suddenly wouldn't meet her eyes. "Actually..."

She stared at him. "Wait, seriously? The centrepiece?"

His shoulders slumped in apparent defeat, or maybe embarrassment. "Sort of. It's made of blown glass, right?"

"Yes... why?"

"I know most people think that Beylin Fist don't have a permanent base, but we have one for winter."

"I thought your people were all for showing how tough they were?" she asked, puzzled.

He smiled. "There's tough, and then there's idiotic. Our elders realised that, past a certain age, there are storms that not even the toughest can weather. It was better to retreat to the mountains for the winter, because otherwise the most experienced bladers tended to die before handing over their knowledge."

She thought back to her blading tutor. He'd been a strong man, that was for certain, but a fierce mountain storm wouldn't have had any problem chewing him up and spitting him back out as an icicle. Maybe the Beylin Fist weren't as insane as she'd first believed. "So what has this got to do with the glass centrepiece?"

"We couldn't practice all the time, because it would burn us out. So the elders had us choose some kind of craft to make or at least keep our fingers occupied so that we didn't run riot inside the fortress and - "

"The fortress?"

"That's what we called it. It was built into the side of a cliff, and it was pretty impregnable. Anyway, the best crafts would get sold at the markets we passed through, to get us money for food. Aguma learnt metalwork. I learnt glass-blowing."

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, and of course the furnaces could be used to provide heat for the rest of the group, right?"

He nodded. "You're getting the hang of this. So that's how I learnt to blow glass. I mostly make animals." He glanced at her, almost sheepishly. "Actually, mostly whales and dolphins."

She couldn't hide the smile. "I'd love to see them. Is there a reason why you make those?"

The chatter in the hall suddenly vanished into one of those strange, simultaneous silences that occasionally happen in large groups. Bao stood there with his mouth open, clearly about to say something and not wanting the rest of the room to hear it.

"And that's when Yo-yo fell off the boat!" came Yuu's clear voice, carrying through the stillness, and almost everyone laughed (except Kyouya, but that was to be expected). Normal noise levels quickly resumed, slightly amplified after the silence.

"You were saying?" Sophie prompted. Bao shifted awkwardly.

"It's not really a good reason," he muttered.

She shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I'm interested."

He met her eyes and his gaze sharpened, though she thought it was with humour rather than suspicion. "It has nothing to do with you, if that's what you wanted to know. I'm... I'm not very good at textures. I've managed fur once or twice, and scales if it's a big enough object, but I've never managed to get clothing to work. I try to get the glass to drape like cloth and it just looks like they're wearing sacks. Doesn't help that the only models I ever had were pretty much wearing sacks, with cloaks on top, because it was the middle of winter even if we were down by the fires."

The first flicker of an idea appeared at the back of her mind. "You know my mother's a fashion designer?" Sophie asked slowly.

"I was aware of the fact."

"She might have some old sketch books with designs in from all angles that you could use for reference. I could ask her if you could borrow them."

Instantly something at the back of his eyes closed. "I don't need charity. Especially not from some rich little European princess like you."

"I wasn't offering you charity," she snapped, instantly on the defensive. "You're a fellow blader, talented in an area I have always loved, and that is all. If you don't take the notebooks, they'll probably be burned in the next spring cleaning."

"Fine." His shoulders relaxed slightly, but he still seemed rather on edge. "I'm sorry, alright? I'm not used to people offering things without wanting something in return."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "And what makes you think that I'm going to do this for you for nothing?"

His eyes suddenly cleared, and he actually looked interested. "A businesswoman, I see. Well, maybe we can work out a deal of some sort..."

He wasn't her type. He certainly wasn't her class. But in that second, Sophie saw in him a kindred spirit, someone else who wore the expectations on his shoulders as easily as clothing. Someone else who knew who they were, what they wanted, and how far they were willing to go to get it.

"I've always wanted to try designing something with glass panels or buttons," she said as carelessly as she could manage. "But I've never found someone skilled enough to make them."

The moment that the words were out of her mouth, she knew that Bao had read her exactly the same way she had just read him. The smile tilted up just one corner of his mouth, enough to be endearing without being condescending. "Your place or mine?"

"Doesn't that depend on whether Aguma or Klaus wins?"

He laughed for the first time, and it was surprisingly soft. "Aguma's won. Trust me."

She knew how strong the friendship was between Aguma and Bao, so much that they could almost read each others' minds. But that wasn't why she believed him. Because, strangely enough, she did trust him. And that wasn't something she'd known before.

.

Three years later, the centrepiece of the wedding feast was a blown-glass couple, the man clothed in a set of intricate ceremonial robes and the woman wearing an exact replica of the bride's dress, right down to the tiny glass pearls that were scattered across the skirts. The lace train from the dress swirled around the two figures like frozen, glassy flame.

And sketched into the glass-lace were eight words.

For Sophie, my inspiration and my glass princess.

There is a related piece of music for this - link at top of profile.