There's no time to explain! {Closed/Frey} [Berlin]

The day dragged on with monotonous, boring, conversation in the war room. With the recent attack on the castle, the Quincy gathered to prepare strategies against the reapers and plans on making devices to rift to their realm. One council group of Quincy boasted of their ginto specialist and the other group went on that they could use Holy Artifacts - either way, both were great ideas, if only they wouldn’t argue who was better.

What the castle really needed was able body Quincy to be able to defend, but there were just a few teachers and medics on standby after the attack. Most of the work had to fall on Freyleif and her talents to pass down or her Sternritters when they weren't busy with their own problems.

Freyleif sighed inwardly and tried to suppress from just passing out on the table. She rubbed her eyes and tried focusing on her advisors as they droned on their invasion plan. In all honesty, she wished she just stayed in bed this morning but her duty as Queen could not be slacked. So much had happened she didn’t really have time for herself and her raccoon-ringed eyes made that apparent. There was no time to worry about her missing fiance - if you could call it that now - and the loss of her children, she couldn’t spend her time mourning when her people needed her the most.

Her thoughts suddenly came crashing when her advisors jumped to their feet from their seats and all stared at the flung double door, at the brown haired man named Raphael Laurent. Frey nearly jumped out of her skin from the noise shocking her and she gave a glare at her current lover.

“What-” Freyleif began in a serious tone before Raph placed his hands on her causing some redness to grow on her cheeks. It felt odd, kinda, that such a man had changed her life the moment he stepped into her room. The confused feelings still needed time to acclimate just how she felt about Raph since meeting him at the cafe for the first time and trying to help heal him.

“This better be good, Raph.” she let out a huff and stared into his eyes then slowly peeled away to look at her advisors with embarrassment. Looking into his eyes caused her heart to flutter and her arms twitched to pull him a hug but resisted such.

Oh if looks could kill… He would’ve been dead a hundred times over, but still smiling. There was that same redness that he saw in her whenever he made her at least a little embarrassed and he loved it, but didn’t let it show here.

“It is!” he said earnestly. “It’s imperative and requires your immediate attention!” He pulled her chair back a bit and lifted her from it, taking her with him. Moving her advisors further back so that they couldn’t stop the two of them and as they were about to leave, he shouted back, “Instead of fighting amongst one another, why don’t you work with each other?!” And with a flick of his wrist, the double doors slammed shut.

He began dragging her with him through the corridors smiling as they went. “I’ve got an entire clipboard of things that need gone over immediately! This needs your attention so much more!”

They passed knights, and trainers and were near the first of his points that needed attention when suddenly they passed a group of recruits. Raph knew of them, group D, though there were only four of them. He could hear them talking amongst each other in German. Gossiping about the two in German. He wasn’t sure whether or not Frey had heard, but he suddenly stopped and turned to her.

“A moment if I may, your highness,” he whispered to her rather sweetly and winked before wheeling around to the four girls. “Group 5-D!” he shouted, glaring at them. The four young women jumped before laughing. “Where is the rest of your group?”

One of them, a young woman from the French clans, Magnolia, he believed, spoke up. “They are at Study Hall, reading up on Ginto.”

He smirked seeing the books in their hands. “I see. Now, would you mind telling me what you’re doing not being there?!”

“We’ve already studied enough for one day,” said Mei from the Chinese clans. “We simply decided that we didn’t need to be there this time. We didn’t need additional study time.” Yuki and Agatha, from the Japanese and English clans respectively nodded in agreement.

“I see… I see,” Raph said nodding. “It’s funny, because I spoke to your Knight Instructor the other day and he said that group 5-D was woefully underperforming in ginto. So… It’s interesting that the four of you believe that you’re doing quite well. I’ll have to inform your instructor that you’re ready for even more advanced lessons.” Immediately the face of all four recruits dropped.

“No! Please!” Yuki shouted. “I haven’t grasped the fundamentals of ginto control!”

He folded his arms as the other four admitted that they too were still having issues with the basics of ginto control. “I’ve got an idea then.” And he gestured in the direction of the library. “Get your asses to the library, with the rest of your group and study ginto!! Your instructor will be hearing about this. I’ll make sure that you are given double the normal work to make sure that you understand Ginto!” Then he walked back over to Frey, took her hand again and said, “Come. It’s not that far now.” He heard the giggling again and with a flick their books blew open to the page that they were to be studying. “Chapter 2, ladies!” he called over his shoulder. “There’s going to be a quiz tomorrow!”

As he led her on again, this time a bit slower and more side by side, he finally said, “I’m sorry about that. Those four are bad at studying, so I had to talk to their Instructor.” He looked back. “I’m going to have to talk to her again, it seems. Not enough instructors to go around, unfortunately.”

Finally they came to a stop in front of a large crack in the wall. It ran from the ceiling to the floor. “Ok, so here’s the first stop! You see this crack?” he said. “I’ve found at least seven more like this all through the castle. We need to fix these immediately! We need to talk to someone about these immediately!” He showed her detailed notes he’d made on the scratches: length, and height and even depth. “This one isn’t that deep, thankfully. It’s just that these cracks need fixed immediately, as they are weakening the structural integrity of the castle.” He stared at her, waiting on her response.

Words: 735

Freyleif blinked as her friend, or lover? Picked her right out of the chair with earnest behind his voice. She heard the disgruntled murmurings from her people and turned even redder like a balloon. The way he just barged through the Quincy was quite amusing though, and his barking command left her heart fluttering again. The door slamming made her jump a bit and she let out a sigh of such a prompt entering and exit.

“I’m going to beat your ass for this,” Freyleif said as they rushed through the guards. The tone was semi-serious until they were far enough from other ears. “You sure look happy.” she wondered what was so important. In all honesty, she hoped it was a special date than being dragged into the boring day-to-day life of  Quincy meetings.

The Queen’s ears did not pick up the gossiping from the group and blinked when Raph turned to her. Freyleif couldn’t help the growing redness along her cheeks whenever he looked at her and felt her heart nearly leap out of her chest whenever they held hands. This feeling, perhaps love, truly left the teen confused and she resisted from reaching out to hold his arm when he winked at her then started shouting out the four girls. Freyleif shimmed behind him, probably not helping her stance as Queen, and stared at the back of Raph’s uniform. He looked rather handsome all dressed up the more she took in. Raph was seriously doing his best even if she knew he was part of the Vigilance once he knew how to manage things and whip others when needed.

Freyleif listened when the four started to panic about their advancement in ginto and couldn’t help but smirk as Raph pushed them further to go study in the library than gossip around. When Raph turned around, Frey stopped staring at him and looked to the side and felt a tingle of excitement course through her when he nabbed her hand.

As they walked side by side at a slow pace, Freyleif dazed off into dreamland and held tightly in his hand. She barely heard him speak until she snapped herself out and shook her head with a goofy grin spreading through her lips. “Huh? Oh, thank you for that. Yeah, we don’t have many instructors and all honesty I didn’t think you would notice.” she trailed off with embarrassment.

They came upon a crack in the wall. At first, Freyleif looked on confused until Raph had explained that he had seen many of these throughout the castle. She gave an annoyed look at him but listened in any way. “What’s so important about this?” she let out a huff while looking at his clipboard then back to his face folding her arms. It hadn’t dawned on her that the castle was in dire need of repairment and she was still getting over the loss of her children. Why would this need so much attention when some places were made with soul synthesis? “I’ll have someone come look at these.” she then reached out for his free hand to take within hers and glanced around before moving in close to nuzzle her cheek against his chest.

The teen let out a content sigh before resting her head against his chest and looked at the wall pondering who would be best to send to fix the cracks. Raph might’ve had a better idea or maybe he was testing her leadership skills she lacked. Whichever it was, she was just too absorbed in wanting to cuddle him and wrapped her arms around him in an embrace.

Her threat of beating his ass made him smile and if he didn’t want to move them along as quickly as possible for the rest of his plan, he probably would have just kissed her immediately. As it was though, he didn’t want to undermine her position as queen any further, though such was the point of part of this. Still, whenever he took her hand, or whenever she took his, both of them quickly grew red in the face, though Raph still enjoyed it and was sure that she did as well.

He smiled. “Of course I noticed! This is important to you, and so its important to me!” She was being silly and he just loved hearing her. It made him smile in all the best ways. Her eyes gleamed with those emeralds until he showed her and as her face dropped a bit in annoyance, his only opened in a grin. She would have someone look at it. Her answer was quick and suggested that it wasn’t a topic she was really focused on. When she looked around and then took his hand in hers and snuggled against his chest he smile and wrapped his arms gently around her.

“Don’t worry, love,” he said with a smile. “I’ve only got a few of these, and then I thought that we could go out to the campsite.”

He wasn’t telling her what his point here; there were things that he wanted to assess and questions that needed answers. At the end, she would know, and then there were things that he wanted to talk about.

“I actually hollowed out a few more places and put a small generator and a fridge! I’ve got lots of food stocked up there, and tons of things to cook. All kinds of new recipes!” He smiled. “Ok, so we’ve taken care of that. Next,” and he smiled. “We’re going to the dining hall. There’s a big banquet coming up soon with the Chinese clans and I need your opinion on what kinds of plates you would like and what dishes should be prepared for them." He took her by the hand and again, side by side, led her to the banquet hall where a group of maids and butlers were standing at the ready. 

"Ok," Raphael said. One was a set of fine plates, well made and lavishly decorated and round, while the other plates were square and had dragons across them. "Ok, your majesty," he said bowing. "We just need to know which one to use."

Words: 427

The sight of seeing him grated on her nerves. One, she thought it was cute and second she truly wished she could have taken the day off to just be with him. It was one of the flaws of being Queen when you knew you had to take things seriously; even with this, Raph showing her the fractures of the castle even if she wasn’t interested in such cracks, so she kept it simple from her view.

She was expecting Raph to get serious when she hugged him but was met with the opposite. She let out a soft ‘mmm’ sound and squeezed him before letting him go with a dejected exhale. Back to Queenly business. “Sounds like fun, I can’t wait to see your camp again,” she said smiling up at him and following him to the next destination moving hand in hand.She didn’t care if they got looks; being with her friend made her much more reassured.

When they moved to the banquet, Freyleif’s emeralds danced with excitement. Apparently, she had to choose what set of food should be served for the Chinese Clans, one she almost forgot about, and tensed up uncertain what to really say. If she let Raph decide then the maids and servers would doubt her reign further. So, she had to puff out her chest and put aside her thoughts on dating and stepped forward to look at all the lavish silverware.

She did like Chinese cuisine and the dragon-like plates were to die for. Her finger brushed along the dragon statue in the middle of one of the tables with glee spreading along her face. Dragons in the Eastern lands meant purity and were high regard and less violent than the western counterpart.

“Hmm these plates are nice” she picked up the square one with a dragon art along with it before setting it back down. “But let’s use these round ones. As for food, what do you think, Raph?” she moved back to him and looked at him with those sparkling eyes. Once again reaching out to take his hand if he accepted.

She snuggled into him for a moment, as they hugged and Raphael felt his heart beat quicken. This was one of the best things about being here, with her; this was a piece of his puzzle that he’d been missing that part that was never there. She was different than anyone that he’d met before and it was this very fact that made him excited and clumsy and silly whenever he was around her. Even just taking her hand to lead her to the banquet had made his heart jump a few hundred times. And when she agreed that she’d love to go to the camp with him again… He was lucky he wasn’t any older.

When he gave her the choice she stepped forward, rather cutely he would have to tease her about later, and did her best to be the queen that he knew that she was. She picked the round ones and he nodded, before stepping forward. There was a slight pause from the staff, he could see each and every one of them watching their queen and this unconventional young man that had led her here. The rumors were flying, he knew, but he didn’t care. To him it was one of the best parts, this forbiddenness that everyone kept thinking about the two of them. Just to further cement it, he reached out and took hold of her hand. He heard a sharp intake of breath from everyone in the room. This was, apparently, extremely unheard of for them.

“To be perfectly honest…” he began, while looking into her eyes. “I’d say that a meal like this would benefit from a blending of the two cultures. A meeting and marriage of East and West cuisine!” Though he blushed a bit at the word marriage. Not that it wasn’t a typical word to use in such instances. “Perhaps a dish or two from your homeland, a few from China and…a dessert from Germany! Bring in all of the wonderful places we’ve been to.” He watched her for a few moments. “Is there anything else you think we should add? Or is it time to move on to our last item for the day?”

Words: 367

Soft whispers filled the young Queen’s ears and made them twitch. She focused on the energy that lingered in the air and the harsh rumor mill that was going around between the butlers and maids. Freyleif’s right eyebrow twitched; it wasn’t just the words that she picked up, but the energy the Quincy had leaked out in their true intent towards their Queen’s forbidden love towards this mortal.

It all didn’t matter when Raph took her hand and the sudden intake inhale from the Quincy just made her smile. The bond had cemented, there was no need to concern herself with the tension in the room. It didn’t matter in the end. She was engaged with a spiritualist who suddenly disappeared leaving her devastated over the few months after the event with the singing Shinigami.

Redness spread in a higher degree along the teen’s cheeks as they held eyes for a moment. She listened to what Raph suggested; a marriage between different culture foods. Now that was a great idea, one she also thought. It was great how their minds melded on the same thoughts, and this made her smile grow.

“An excellent idea, Raph!” she beamed then leaned in speaking in her native tongue. “I love how you can read my mind. I thought the same thing, love,” she added in a sing-songy tone regardless if he understood her.

“We’re done here,” she then addressed the lot. “You heard the man, cuisines from Iceland, China, and desserts in German fashion.” she clapped her hands before snatching Raph’s hand again and looked into his eyes. “Where to next?”

She beamed at him, telling him that it was an excellent idea so that all could understand and then spoke to him alone in her language. He smiled back at her and he knew that everyone in the room was about to have a heart attack, well except for himself and Frey. The two of them, at least as far as Raphael was concerned, were having the time of their lives.

She turned and addressed her staff, telling them the new plan moving forward, and he smiled. There it was. There were the shining emeralds that he knew and loved so well. He watched her, smiling, as she gave her new orders. Then when she turned to him, he couldn’t help but smile widely. Ever since she’d surprised him and spilled his coffee all that time ago, he’d developed such a bond with her… The chance meetings of fate, she might have said; Raph himself didn’t believe in fate as so many others did. He’d seen too much coincidence for it.

He looked at his clipboard, took her hand and left the banquet hall with her. “This next one is a bit of a twofer,” he said looking over at her. “See one of my biggest duties when I was in Vigilance was to make sure that instructors were matched up to the students that needed them the most. If you think that the quincy are understaffed, you should have seen Vigilance when Adimus, Weylin and Yamane disappeared.” He shook his head turning away. “If you knew how much damn time I spent with paparazzi…”

They exited the castle and came to the main training grounds. Groups of students were gathered around a few instructors, unfortunately it was several groups at the same time. This was one of the main problems. And the instructors were having to teach different groups at the same time. Meaning that one group would be waiting for longer than the others.

“So here’s the next big problem, and this is one that I’ve actually been having a problem with, the instructors aren’t being used as efficiently as possible. Not every group is on the same level, and some groups have needed more instruction in some things than the others.” He released her hand and turned to her. “So, here’s the issue, do we have the instructors work with students that are having trouble with the same subjects, or do we have the instructors work with different groups that are at the same level?” He looked to her with a sense of urgency. Even he hadn’t come up with a good option for this one and this was something he’d been meaning to bring to her anyways, they just hadn’t had the time. Which was why he’d made some this time. He smiled to her. “What do you think, your majesty?”

Words: 475

“It seems a lot of the Legends just disappear, even Weylin,” Freyleif said as she listened to Raph speak of the Vigilance and the three main people he listed, though she didn't know a Yamane. “Ohhh, tell me! Tell me!” she giggled squeezing his hand wishing to know of the paparazzi.

They then entered the training grounds and Freyleif gave a sigh, she dreaded having to deal with rude trainees and ones that just wasted her time thinking they were better to seek help.Even with this group there just wasn’t enough instructors and many had to wait. The teen’s reiatsu formed a blue cloud over her head and it started to rain spiritual particulars on her head for a moment before it disappeared.

Raphael turned to her and she let out an exhale before he even started questioning. She just wanted to run away than have to deal with this. She stationed her feet to stay in place even though her muscles tensed like steel.

Now she had to take his words into thoughtful concentration. Emeralds gazed towards the group of instructors who looked mostly worn out or fighting off their overworking. Having low level, untrained, teachers that had no clue what they were doing didn’t seem fitting. This was one of the fractures of the Order and it needed looking into.

“We need a stable Education Curriculum, this is something we’re missing,” Freyleif nodded. “For now we will have the instructors work with the different groups that are at the same level. Adepts will learn from the higher up teachers. They will learn Basic Archery, and Bow Information and Quincy Laws, and Punishments then onto Ginto basic training.” the teen concentrated on the spiritual matter and formed filers that hovered to the teachers with their new instructions.

“There, that should do it,” she smiled proudly then looked to Raph. “Come on let’s go to the camp!” she tugged on him and looked up at him pleadingly and pouty lips.

He nodded, solemnly. She’d spoken the truth of it; everyone who hit a fabled point seemed to vanish as if they didn’t want to be involved with the world’s troubles anymore. He couldn’t blame them. There had been many a time where he simply wanted to vanish from everyone’s sight, let no one find him. A number of times he almost had, but always found himself pulled inexplicably back into the fold. Good thing too, he wouldn’t have fallen in love with this fiery young queen otherwise.

He felt her squeeze his hand and ask him to tell her about his dealings with the paparazzi. He wasn’t exactly in the mood for most people, but with Frey… “There’s not a lot to tell, truthfully. I had to answer questions as the acting leader of Vigilance. I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. They were looking for leadership and I was the only one that stayed. Weylin became king and Adimus and Yamane vanished… I hated the cameras… I’d hate doing your job just as much, I believe. I don’t know how you do it.”

The moment that they entered the training grounds he could sense the annoyance and frustration seeping off of her. He even suppressed a chuckle as a small cloud formed over her head and rained spirit particles down on her. In all honesty Raph didn’t like this any better than her, but these were things that she needed to take care of at once.

She made the same logical decision that he would have made and as she beamed with pride and looked over at him, he smiled back at her. He was incredibly proud of her and as she tugged on his shirt, begging to go to the campsite, he smiled at her and nodded. He reached down and picked her up into his arms, gave a grin to the recruits and instructors and floated up into the air.

When they’d floated high enough he gave her a deep kiss. “I’m so proud of you, love! I couldn’t have made those decisions better if I tried!” Then he started flying them in the direction of the camp. “I’ve made a few changes to the campsite to make it a bit more… homely?” As they neared it she would be able to see a small table and pair of chairs. And a fire pit instead of campfire with a large bowl.

“There’ve been some changes, like I said. I built the table and chairs, widened the fire pit, and added a fridge and light fixture!” He landed on the ground, gestured at the tent, opening it and looked at her. “What would you like dinner? I got some beef, some pork, some fish a bit of wine and some mushrooms, carrots and potatoes! Not to mention some cheesecakes and a Black Forest Cake!” He smiled and added, “Oh! But first a drink! Would you like some water, a soda or some of the wine?”

Words: 499

There wasn’t much more he wanted to touch on the paparazzi and she could understand not being in the mood to be in a leadership twenty-four hours. Even Raph doing all the work while everyone just up and vanished and being the one dumped of responsibility.

Half the time she wondered what she was doing here; even Raph was the only one having time to drag her away from the squabbles of the Quincy, which was amusing how he barged in. Seeing him smile gave her goosebumps when they looked at each other and left her heart beating faster like drums. “What am I doing here.” she thought glumly and held onto Raph as he began to float into the sky then cheeks fired red when he gave her a deep kiss.

“Thank you, love,” she said, it felt odd to call him that. Still confused and unsure about everything that had transpired. A sigh escaped her lips and once again gloomy cloud hung over her when her thoughts went south. Here she was trying to put together a unity and her fiance’ was missing or even killed. She knew she couldn’t be happy for too long with her children dead.

When they landed at their special camp place, Freyleif glanced around making sure no one had followed them then stared at the large bowl with a chuckle before looking back at Raph when he asked what she wanted for dinner. “Uhm, some wine would be fine and I would love to have dinner!” she moved inside the tent making herself comfortable to sit down at.

“So,” she began watching Raph move about to make dinner for them. “What was all that urgency about?” she was honestly curious if he dragged her out because he sensed her tiredness or getting her away from starting a war with the Shinigami.

As she said that she would like some wine and would love dinner, two glasses flew from the cut out shelves and the fridge opened where a bottle of wine flew towards them. It popped open and poured first her a glass and then him one where it flew back and he took a small sip of it. Some of the mushrooms came out and with a few waves of his fingers sliced them and poured a bit of wine into the bowl then dropped the slice mushrooms into the bowl with them.

Her question stopped him as the mushrooms began to sizzle. Slowly moving the fungi around in the bowl, he opened his mouth a few times to speak but found himself unable to.

“Well…” The mushrooms flew into the air with a flourish of his hand and then he sighed. “I realized that you were tired and I know that coming out here, with me, always made you just a little happier. So, I did what any…” He trailed off realizing that neither of the two of them really knew what they were to the other. There was a lot of conflict, and he looked away and blushed furiously.

He turned to her. “Frey… There are two reasons that I did this. The first is because…” He paused. “I know that things are weird between us, and I know that you sometimes don’t know what to think of what you and I are. I know how I feel about you…and I know that I can’t replace who you lost. I could never take the place of your fiancé, and I don’t want to. I want to be here when you need me and I want to…” Trailing off again he blushed and coughed before flipping the mushrooms and pulled some of the beef out of the fridge, sliced it in two and laid the two into the pan. “I want to love you. I love you, like I’ve said. I just want to…I just want to be with you.”

He turned to her grinning and blushing. “I know that I sound silly, don’t I?” He laughed a bit, a tear forming in his eyes. “Whenever I’m with you I-I can feel my heart beat faster and faster. I can feel as if… There’s something special between you and I. I don’t know if y-you feel the same way, but…” And he started laughing. “I know that we said we loved each other. I know the rumors are spreading like wildfire… But I know that things are still a bit weird between us and I just wanted to tell you that I still love you. Whenever you decide on what you want, on how you feel. I’ll be here and I’ll always be here with you, no matter what you decide in the end.”

His heart was beating fiercely and he was blushing the same color as an apple. “Just, ya know, be honest about how you feel.” And he laughed nervously.

Words: 503

How cute. When the glass floated off its cut shelf and the fridge door opening, Freyleif squirmed with excitement. Eyes blinked when the cork popped open from the wine bottle and began to pour itself into the glasses, her’s first. She gingerly reached out for the glass for a sip and grinned.

She wondered if she could move things around with reishi strings and half thought to try it herself as she watched the mushrooms split and dropped into a bowl. Her mouth began to leak with drool and quickly wiped it away with her sleeve as her cheeks turned red like a balloon. She wondered when her cheeks would pop as she felt embarrassed when Raph spoke of noticing her being happier when she was here. In a way it was true, whenever she could get away from the drawl of people, she would sneak out to sleep at the camp for peace and quiet.

The Quincy also wondered what they were; a couple or friends? They jumped into a shaky relationship after her children had passed and she wanted comfort at least from one of her friends to reach out for, and Raph fit that bill as he was unlike the other Quincy. Well, he had been one at one point. Regardless, it was cute when he turned away blushing.

For now, Freyleif let him speak on until he was finished and contemplated on how she truly felt for him. He could have walked out that day and left her to mourn in silence. There was no malicious intent to use her when they connected in their lovemaking, and she felt the emotions pour off him spiritually.

“I,” she began then stared up at Raph’s eyes. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ve been conflicted about my feelings lately and-.” an exhaled escaped her lips and she shook her head lightly. “What if Wraith comes back and I’m with you? I-I hope he didn’t die.” she wiped away a stray tear and looked down at her glass in hand.

How honest could she feel if she was still torn? Her own heart drummed on the more she gazed upon Raph and fidgeted. “Please, just stay with me,” she pleaded. “You make me feel like I belong and I love the time we spend time together.” her cheeks flared up again and she quickly took another sip of her wine.

He nodded as she spoke about her conflicted feelings. He could understand that quite well, having experienced that himself, once upon a time, though that was a lifetime ago. Still, when she spoke of her fiancé… When…she asked about him coming back and Raph felt his breath catch in his throat. He didn’t want the man dead either, would never wish ill on the man that had made Frey feel alive when the darkness closed in. He’d read the reports, though… Everyone that he sent, even Donny couldn’t find him. He’d found traces, of the thief Wraith, but all sightings of him had vanished since an incident at a hospital… That one Raph knew.

She asked him to stay with her, and said that he made her feel like she belonged and that she enjoyed the time they spent together. He mirrored her sentiments, even if he wouldn’t say it. He listened to her, as she took another sip of wine. And he chuckled a little bit. He couldn’t blame her for feeling torn like she did… How would he have felt, were their situations reversed?

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said slowly. But...what would he do...if Wraith came back…? “Not even if he comes back…” he muttered silently. He smiled getting up. He would stay with her, regardless. It didn’t matter what they were to one another, in the end. Raph cared for her, and that was all that mattered.

He gave a quick flick of his wrist and a slab of beef flew from the fridge, divided into two and slammed down into the pot behind them. Every now and then he’d give a small flick of his wrist, causing both to jump and flip over.

“I just want you to be honest with yourself, and be honest with me,” he said as he sat down beside her smiling and holding up his wine glass. “That’s all that I ask. If you think we’re fine where we are, then we’re fine where we are!”

Inwardly, his heart beat fast, even though it had deflated a bit. He knew that he shouldn’t say some things. Yeah, he told her to be honest...but what about himself? Hell, he’d been honest with her, and that was all that mattered in the end...wasn’t it?

Words: 383

Freyleif beamed when he had said he wasn’t going anywhere. A glimmer of hope she wouldn’t lose any more friends from all the chaos that had to happen. She took another sip of her wine and swirled it about in her cup and let out a sigh and said, “Let’s not linger on the bad thoughts.” an amused smile graced her lips when he said he wouldn’t leave even if her fiancé returned.

The teen chuckled as the slab of meat flew from the fridge then bounced in the pot behind them. He had great concentration over his powers and it didn’t take much thought as he multitasked. She half wondered if she could distract him but then discarded that idea as it would be rude.

She smiled when he sat beside her and nodded, of course, she had her confusion on being honest. “You’ve been a really great friend, Raphy,” she said in teasing tone. “I can count on you to be there for me and I’m glad you had called me when you were in your little crisis. Aodh seemed pretty moody about me sending him.” she chuckled.

Redness spread deeper on the teen's face and she idly sipped her wine here and there whenever she gazed at the man beside her. A finger brushed along the glass’ edges before she finally set the glass down before her and looked at Raph once again with a smile.

“What about you? Will you be honest in how you feel about me?” she asked and took his free hand into her’s and leaned to kiss his cheek.

She smiled, though he couldn’t see, and blushed when she called him not only a really great friend, but Raphy. Her nickname for him probably? Who knew. Though he didn’t show it, he was a little surprised when she said that she could count on him to be there for her. Did… Was… She relying on him? Was she relying on him as much as he was on her? But he let the thought pass from his mind and smiled as she mentioned ‘Stick up his ass Aidan’, and mentioned how annoyed he’d seemed.

“Not all of us are big fans of people, I suppose that he just isn’t. Or maybe it was the fact that my abilities are almost constantly turned on. Can’t shut them off if I wanted…” Still he did need to learn to use them more sparingly.

He noticed her stealing glances at him from her wine, but when she sat it down came the question that seemed to have been burning in her eyes. She asked him if he would as well be honest with his feelings for her. Her hand slowly wrapped around his. Without a hint of hesitation Raphael lifted his hand and allowed hers to wrap fully over it, and squeezed it once before turning and kissing her, as she went for his cheek.

“Of course I’m going to be honest with how I feel about you, Frey! I’m in love with you, after all!” He chuckled as if that was something that she should have known, which in a way she should have. But he had no idea how she’d respond. He cleared his throat and flipped the meat again with a simple glance. “That was actually another reason that I invited you out here.” He breathed. This was a sensitive topic to broach, but he felt like it had to be done. Someone had to talk to her about it.

“There’s a reason that I was having you give those orders and go over these issues that I saw in the castle.” He stopped again. “You did fantastically, by the way! Perfect score, as far as I’m concerned.” He turned and looked her dead in the eyes, the fire lit up the world around them and her face for a few moments giving her beauty an almost somber look.

“This isn’t an easy topic to broach, but I’m going to do so anyways… Frey, do you actually want to be queen? You’re doing a good job at it, but…when I look at you here and when I look at you in the castle I’m not looking at the same woman. When we’re here, when it’s just you and me there’s a light in your eyes, a fire in your soul that makes you shine like the most beautiful emerald that has ever existed.” He paused a moment, hoping that his words were at least sinking in. “But when we return to the castle… You aren’t the same woman. Love… These masks that you wear for your people. It’s admirable that you’re brave for them, but I don’t want you to lose sight of who you are because of these masks.” The meat jumped again and there was a sizzling sound that broke the silence. “So I ask you again: Are you certain that you want to be queen? We could... I mean, we could leave the quincy, just you and me! We could…” There were so many things that they could do but the situation she was still in, missing lover, children gone, none of these were good things to be certain.
“We could find a place in Berlin, if you didn’t wanna go too far away, or Karakura; hell even Iceland! We could just…live together you and me, be… Well, this, for each other.”

Then he looked at her. He wanted to talk about her desires. Not her dreams. What did she really want?

Words: 657

Her face burned again when his lips touched hers just as he turned when she went for his cheek. She wondered if it was a trick from Loki in the background, but as he spoke she truly believed his feelings towards her. There was no deceiving from his tongue, something she had been guarded against her kin, and a smile came to her lips.

“I - sorry I’m just not used to believing people,” she said glumly. “Another reason?” she then went silent as she watched him.

Then came the touchy subject. With a heavy sigh, Freyleif watched the meat flop about and turn in the pot and pondered on his words letting the silence sink in further. Did she really want to be Queen? It was obvious he saw through her masks as he so verbally put it, this was the first time anyone questioned her like this.

“I,” she strained. “I did want to be Queen but...I can see how prideful the Quincy are.” she didn’t even see them as her people anymore, even if a few tried to protect her. She sighed once again and clenched her hands into a fist as she went on. “It’s true I put on masks to hide how I truly feel. Every time I look at the Quincy I see - well I don’t know how to put it - yet whatever I do it’s still not good enough. Weylin was right to step away when Cress so boasted to challenge him.”

Then came the moment of truth; did she really want to continue this? The teen’s eyes soften when she looked back at Raph. “I’m going, to be honest with you; no, I don’t really wish this title anymore. I promised Erek I wouldn’t turn back and I felt lighter, but something is still wrong and I can’t fix it. I want to go to France and live a peaceful life and figure out what my true calling is.” she gave a shrug of her shoulder and smiled at Raph, feeling lighter as if something peeled away from her chest and could actually trust someone else than lying.

"Maybe continue my dream back in Iceland to continue my family's bakery," she continued. "Y'know my friend was right; I did change too much when I became Queen. I let pride overtake me thinking I could lead the Quincy to a 'Golden Era', alas that doesn't seem to be the case and we'll continue to fall." she then went silent before scooting closer to Raph and wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her cheek into his chest.