Alea Jacta Est Part 2-
Elise lowered her blade close enough for Noctis to see the grain of the blade, close enough to see how many times it had been folded to achieve that certain strength. She smirked as she pretended to take off a set of goggles, and suddenly disappeared. Noctis did the same, and as he did, the illusion of the hallway of his bedchambers had begun to shatter, and he remembered he was in a training room..
He looked up and saw Elise, who more recently had begun to criticize him for some of his weak spots..but no matter how much she criticized him, he still remained her friend. Usually she was right about his faults though. This time, she had been glaring daggers at him, her eyebrows furrowed in somewhat anger, but more of disappointment. He looked at her somewhat curiously, and she sighed. "Good sweet Mike, Nyx, help me out here man!" She complained in her head. "Don't let him get pissed at this…"
"You froze up,again!"
He sighed.. "Here begins her tirade…but she's right though…I did freeze"
"Your eyes were frickin' red man! I told you not to use the crystal unless it was a major emergency!"
"Why are you so upset, Elise?" Aero walked in with his gun over his shoulder and a smirk plastered on his pretty-boy face..and he had trouble written all over his face too…"Noctis did awesome! I couldn't do that even if I sold my soul!"
" Well DUH! This is YOU we're talking about!" Elise retorted harshly.
Aero and Elise got along until it comes down to Noctis' fighting techniques. He believes Noctis' fighting form is perfect. She believes otherwise: "There's always room for improvement…Even I need a lot.." She would always say…
"Well you're not exactly perfect either Little miss Mary Sue!"
" EXCUSE ME?! BESIDES, THAT'S NOT THE POINT I'M TRYING TO MAKE! He froze up when somebody close to his heart had become his enemy, by becoming a traitor, or taking part in a mutiny! That mistake alone, could cost him Tenebrae, The Crystal, and Ultimatley, his life. That's a risk even YOU wouldn't be willing to take, now is it? Or are you really as stupid as you look?"
" Yeah but…wait, what did you just call me?!"
" He also used the crystal as a first reaction. That's a probie's mistake. "
"Still, he- " Aero began to defend Noctis, until he himself cut off Aero:
" Aero, you need to cut it out." He looked away. "She's right" He left the training room without a trace. He glanced at Aero and Elise who were head to head, yelling and insulting each other in anger over the recent situation. He shook his head in dismay, and left to go to his actual bedchambers.
An hour later, Noctis had wandered off to the seventh floor, the floor where his friends stayed. He stood in front of an ivory door, that belonging to a certain amber eyed girl of the name Elise. He knocked tentatively, hoping he was allowed to come in. It was practically a tradition of Noctis and Elise that he was to go to Elise's door and talk about the things he struggles with in sparring. When there was no answer, he pried open the door carefully, hoping that she was actually there. When he realized the room seemed empty, he opened the door, allowing himself to fully come in. His azure eyes scanned the room, looking for the lanky 19-year-old.
"Elise?" he called aloud, mentally kicking himself. He's not usually like that, especially now, in this situation.
"I'm over here…" A quiet voice called out from the balcony. Noctis raised an eyebrow. Since when did Elise have a quiet voice? He walked over to the balcony and saw her sitting on the handrail and leaning on the wall. She looked up at the sky, closed her eyes, and sighed."The world can be so deceiving…" She mused.
" How so?"
"Well, take the sky for example. It looks so beautiful, but if you come too close, you can suffocate. Or a light. If a fly comes too close to it, the bug will die."
Noctis looked up, with surprising curiosity, but his voice didn't change. " I suppose beauty may be the one of the most deceiving things..can't it?"
She sighed. "I think I'm going off-topic…Would that mean I'm breaking the tradition?" She smiled, and gave a small, quick laugh.
"You're forgiven… I think…" Noctis replied, his eyes still fixed onto the sky. Elise laughed, this time, with more feeling. She looked away, as she closed her eyes and sighed. Not out of frustration, but out of relief. " He's not pissed..good…"
"Noctis, you can't let your guard down."
" I know."
Elise got jumped off of the handrail, but then her hands gripped the same railing, and it was a grip strong enough for her to snap it in two.
"And if someone was able to actually get the damn crystal, then what?"
" I'd never really thought of it…"
" You have to! How would you fight back?! I know you can fight well off without the crystal, but don't depend on the crystal. If you do, it's easier to detect."
" Alright. But promise you'll get some rest. I can see dark circles under your eyes."
"Fine…"she muttered... "man what a pain" she thought.
" We have a council meeting tomorrow. You need to come…"
"Wait…What?! There's no way I can go to one of your meetings! Most people there are sexist, racist, idiots!"
Elise wasn't from Tenebrae, she was from Acadia: One of the kingdoms in possession of a crystal, but long story short: It was obliterated. She came here for refuge when she was young, being the last protector of Acadia's crystal, which currently hung around her neck. She wasn't a princess, but she was beautiful enough to be one. Her auburn hair and amber eyes perfectly accented her heart-shaped face, and at the top of her hairline, she had a "tattoo", or a "Mark" resembling that of a princess' crown. It extended down to her ears as it was, but when she used her crystal, the tattoo extended down to her shoulders.
She sighed, and walked over to her pyjamas. Staring down at the nightgown and knee length shorts, she realized Noctis was still there. She cleared her throat. "So…Do you mind?" She asked a bit rudely. He rolled his eyes and left.
After changing into pyjamas, she turned on her lamp, pulled out her sketchbook, and began to draw wonders. By 2:30 AM, she had drawn five drawings, each of a person and a weapon they currently wield. By then she had also fallen asleep, her sketchbook lay open on her lap flipped to the first page.
Meanwhile, Noctis had walked down from the eighth floor, trying to get tired enough to go back upstairs to get some rest. He looked around and saw a dim light coming from Elise's room. He opened the door and said, "Elise, you need rest, otherwise you'd never…" He stopped when he realized she was sleeping while in a sitting position. He walked over to her, and lifted her body from the desk she was slumped sketchpad clattered onto the ground as he laid her down on the bed. He was about to turn off the lamp when he saw the book on the floor. Picking it up, he decided to look through the book.
He knew it was wrong, but he oh-so-badly needed to know what went on through her head. He shyly opened the book, and a smaller booklet fell out. Opening it, he saw the picture of himself, holding a sword. The next, the same as the first, but in a position slightly different than the previous. The pictures were like that for the whole pad, until he realized that it was a flip-motion book. Starting from the top, he flipped through the pages, as he realized that it was him, summoning his crystal. But as the book came closer to an end, he saw that the crystal had begun to overpower him, His eyes no longer had pupils, they had slits. Around him was a dark aura, and he was ready to kill Elise, his ally. The book suddenly went blank, as he noticed that she hadn't drawn anything else. He stared at Elise. "Had she really thought I'd be like that?" he wondered. He put the book back in it's spot, and left the room wondering.