Nothing is going to happen between Emil and Light for a while at least not in that sense. unless you guys want it to.... To be honest I had that sleeping scene planned out a long time ago after Ratatosk/Emil promised to protect Light that one time. I think even though Marta wants to share a bed with Emil she is still uncomfortable with it. I think from her past she's used to having to jump up to run and having someone else there would cause a problem. That and it was like 11pm when I said screw it and just let the words pour onto the page in that one area.

Disclaimer: I do not own ToS sadly, but I do own my ocs.

Chapter Fifteen:

Nothing happened, morning came and when I woke up I found myself alone in the room. With such an empty room I thought the others were already getting something to eat. I was right. After changing again—my previous clothes still a bit wet so I had to wear a loose coral dress—I headed outside with my bag and walked through the inn. Upon reaching the small lounge I found them planning what they would do about the Light Frog.

"It seems the Light Frog likes seafood gels...but they don't have any more they can spare..." Marta sighed softly, resting her head on the palm of her hand.

Emil looked in thought as well as Regal as I walked over. They glanced at me and Regal pulled a chair over for me to sit down.

"We could always go catch the fish ourselves..." Tenebrae answered as calm as ever.

"That's a great idea! We can go catch the fish ourselves!" Marta stood up a grinning.

Regal thought it over, "That does seem like a good idea. Let's head to Triet to fish."

It seemed everyone was in agreement for once. After getting the things we need for the long walk we headed out of town.

Low Mana

Emil: *fretting some*
Light: *question mark appears* You alright Emil?
Emil: H-huh? Yeah! I was just wondering... *trails off some*
Light: About what?
Tenebrae: Lord Emil wants to know how you are doing. He's worried the low mana in your body is going to get to you. *appears next to Light startling her*
Emil: T-Tenebrae!
Light: You could have just told me if you were worried. *smiles softly* But don't worry, it seems it has stabilized for a while.
Emil: T-that's good...
Light: ... (Emil sure is fretting about me a lot more...) *sighs*
Low Mana

Rivalry

Marta: Grr! I won't lose to her! *seething*
Light: ...Marta something wrong?
Marta: Oh? Eheh, nothing!
Light: (why do I feel like we're rivals now.) *scratches cheek nervously*
Marta: (I will win Emil one way or another!) *gets a determined look*
Tenebrae: ...Can't be love without rivalry. *sighs*

Rivalry

Triet was just as cold as ever when we arrived, and the memories of last time flashed inside my head. Half way there, when the snow had started to fall I had pulled on a coat to keep warm. My legs however where freezing. How could Marta and everyone else deal with the constant fluctuating temperatures? Seeing my breath coming out in a foggy state made me pull the coat around me more. The villagers stared at us but we headed to the frozen pond.

"It's as c-cold as ever..." I heard Marta complain to my left.

I kept my gaze forward. This was where I had fled the others after feeling I hadn't fit in. And then later was when—my face darkened some and when asked I brushed it off as the cold. The water surprisingly hadn't frozen over the previous holes that were cut so it was easy to remake them.

Emil managed to catch the fish alone this time—well with the instruction of Regal. The man wasn't half bad. I had always found that the rich and respected where snobbish but he seemed the opposite. Maybe it was due to his ties to my brother.

"Light, Marta, I caught it!" Emil called over to us girls grinning proudly.

"That's great Emil!" I told him clapping.

Tenebrae reverted back to normal shape and shook himself.

"Well, now that we have the fish we should head back. The faster we take care of the Light Frog, the faster we can look for the cores," he stated indifferently.

Everyone stared at him for a minute. He seemed to not care much about humans and other things so it was slightly unsettling when he talked like that.

I cleared my throat, "Indeed. We need to help the town before something worse happens."

I received a round of nods and tucked my hands into my sleeves once again warding off the cold. I had my hair tucked into my coat as well so it was no longer flowing behind me. I needed to get it trimmed one of these days. It was growing a bit too long and acquiring split ends.

Walking past the half buried Inn I noticed a few kids playing in the snow.

Smack.

One snowball flew our way and Emil had just turned to talk to me when it landed against his face. A wave of silence hit before chuckles and giggles erupted. He looked so stunned before he quickly brushed it off himself.

"Sorry!" One of the boys called over before they went back into their little 'fight'.

I reached a hand covered sleeve to brush some of the whiteness off Emil's hair. Tenebrae found Emil's face highly amusing to say the least as the centurion wasn't trying to hide his laughter at all. He chuckled letting out small remarks here and there.

"Are you...snorts...alright Emil?" I asked chuckled before he blushed.

"Y-yeah!" He sputtered out wiping the rest of the snow away.

Waving a goodbye to the kids we left town easily. The snow wasn't as much of a hindrance to us this time. Maybe it was because we awakened Ignis.

Snowball Fight

Emil: *finally has all snow gone*
Tenebrae: *can't stop his laughing*
Emil: S-shut up Tenebrae!
Tenebrae: How comical! The great knight of Ratatosk couldn't protect himself from snow! *more laughing*
Emil: I didn't see it coming!
Tenebrae: *laughing way too hard now* Can't breathe!
*snow flies into Tenebrae's face and he sputters shaking his head*
Light: Got him!
Regal: ... *watching out of the way*

Snowball Fight

When we reached Izoold again it seemed like we came before the Light Frog had a chance to show up again. We brought the ingredients to that man again before he made us some seafood Gels.

"Now to see if it will bring out the Light Frog!"

"I believe it will, since everything has been centered around seafood gels."

I grimaced, really, why did those things not sound appealing. Then again, some people had weird tastes. Getting everything together we set up just on the dock, waiting for the monster to show up. It did, and everyone quickly rushed to fight it.

Emil's eyes turned red and he charged first.

"Demon Fang!" The mana charged attack hit the Light Frog's side and the thing turned head butting Emil in the stomach.

He stumbled and I dug my feet into the ground standing next to the active monster we had. It was a fire element from the Triet Ruins.

"...Oh God of healing...First Aid!" Marta shouted using her healing spells to help the various scratches Emil had gotten as he went in for another strike.

I couldn't anything again. At least not without putting myself at risk, but I was not weak.

"Deep Darkness that consumes all...destroy my enemies with your dark pillows of shadow...Black Judgment!" A sudden draining effect washed over me, but the energy managed to deal some burns to the Light Frog and it whipped it's head in my direction.

I became startled when it looked light it would lung for me and took a step back.

"Crescent Dance!" Marta easily got in front of it, slicing it back with her spinner.

"Havoc Strike!" Both of them where making a really good pair in battle.

Every now and again I'd become nervous as the fight raged on, but Emil was winning. Using that spell however seemed to cause my sense of balance to tip and I held my head groaning. Regal seemed to notice first and backed off the fighting to help me stand.

Finally, the battle ended and Emil slipped his sword back into its sheath with an arrogant smirk before quickly moving over to me.

"You shouldn't have done that Light!" He scolded before hugging me. "What would have happened if you had used up all your mana?!"

"D-don't...don't worry Emil...I just wanted to help...," I mumbled out knowing full well what I did was beyond stupid.

He muttered something in response and held me tighter.

"...Emil...?" I questioned with no answer before slowly returning the hug.

He was warm compared to me. Must be his special clothes helping him. Marta scowled and turned away from us. I closed my eyes.

"You shouldn't ignore Marta either..."

His grip tightened even more and I winced.

"She's fine...," I heard him whisper, "Don't scare me like that though."

Scare him? The strong headed Ratatosk-Mode Emil was scared? That was a new one.

"Don't worry, I won't. I promise."

"Liar."

He had me there. I couldn't help it when I had said I didn't want to be weak. One had to care as much about themselves as they did others. They had to have some self-respect.

Emil shifted and brought his lips inches from mine. I thought he was going to kiss me again, like that time he had before, but instead he placed a gently kiss to my cheek before pulling away. That was different. Ratatosk-Mode Emil wasn't shy, so why did it seem like he hesitated on kissing me? I brushed it off and went over to check on Marta. Can't leave the poor girl to her thoughts too long. She mostly ignored me, but she said she was alright. That was good.

"Now we can head to Flanoir..." Regal announced fixing his suit.

He definitely looked different in that thing, it was a lot better than prison clothes.

"Yeah, onto Flanoir."