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“Pha Repth!”
Kite’s spinning attack comes to a stop just as the healing spell takes effect, restoring him back to full health. It’s just the two of them, alone in this unexplored dungeon, and so far, they’ve made good progress.
“Thanks, Elk! Watch your back,” Kite shouts as he dashes toward another Pumpkin Head. “Staccatto!”
This floor is simply crawling with them, and it’s hard for Elk to focus on dodging them and keeping an eye on his Leader’s health bar at the same time. Somehow, he feels physically out of breath just running his PC around the room constantly. By the end of it, he is lightly panting, pressing a hand to his chest.
Kite approaches him, casually shielding his blades, and says with a bright smile, “You’re getting better at this!”
“R-Really?” Elk blinks up at the older boy, not quite sure that is true.
“Yeah. I didn’t need to ask you once to heal me! It’s like second nature.”
“...Oh,” well, that’s something Elk hadn’t noticed until now. He’s used to getting called upon, and it always startles him, then it takes him a while to remember which spells to use and how to cast them. But with just the two of them… it’s a bit easier to focus.
“Hey, so… one more floor, and then you’ll see,” Kite says, already heading towards the next floor. “The surprise I was telling you about.”
“O-Okay!”
Elk follows closely after, but the thought only occurs to him after they reach the next floor that this “surprise” Kite is talking about… Kite must have traveled through here before already, right? And likely not on his own, but with another, probably more useful companion… like Mistral or Wiseman. Somehow, even though Kite seems eager to share his find with Elk, Elk can’t help but feel sad that they hadn’t discovered whatever it is together…
It’s an incredibly petty thought to have, and one that he keeps to himself.
He doesn’t have time to feel sorry for himself, as the moment they step into the next room, they activate a Monster Crest. A new, more powerful horde appears, baring claws and fangs and already, Elk is terrified.
“Elk, pay attention!”
Kite’s voice calls out to him, snapping him out of his frozen position just in time to get hit by a flurry of tornadoes. Elk cries out as he is sent flying to the ground. A solid quarter of his health was gone in an instant, and the Twin Blade has to hurriedly redirect his attacks, aiming a Staccatto straight for the harpy-like beast lunging for the Wavemaster.
The creature, momentarily stunned by the critical hit, spins around to face Kite.
The Twin Blade shouts, “Elk! Now—use Earth magic!”
It’s almost a moment too long, but Elk hurriedly snaps back into action, pushing himself off the ground to cast his first spell. Only… “I… I don’t have enough SP!”
“What?!” Kite flinches as he is slammed by a Wood spell. He leaps back, gaining much-needed distance, and tries to quickly flip through his inventory for a restorative.
Pumpkin Heads float around them, caging them in together with the harpy-like beast that is already casting another spell. Elk’s pulse is thrumming, his mind racing a mile a minute yet unable to decide what to do. They are so close to where they need to be, but they are about to die just because he isn’t good enough! If it were Mistral or Wiseman, they’d… never let Kite down like this.
“Elk! Focus on the Pumpkin Heads and leave this one to me!”
Elk gasps as suddenly, his SP is restored. Though Kite suffers another blow at the same moment—losing a fifth of his health. Truthfully… Elk is scared. These monsters are all level 80, above his current level, and he isn’t sure his spells will even be effective… but losing here would be so much worse if he didn’t even try—at least, that’s what Mia would say.
“O—OrGan Zot!” he shouts with a thrust of his staff.
To his shock, the first spell takes out one Pumpkin Head in one shot, and the second does nearly the same. They are resistant to physical moves, not so much magical. In that moment, his chest swells and he finds it harder to breath—this time out of excitement rather than fear.
He finishes off the last monster with a lesser spell to save on SP. “Gan Zot!” The monsters are felled, saved for Kite’s foe, who is relatively matched with the Twin Blade in HP. Elk stutters through the next spell in his urgency, “Pha Repth!”
Luckily, he’d rushed for nothing, because Kite’s own Earth spell downed the beast once and for all.
As the dust settles, the two of them are left to look at each other, panting lightly. Kite grins in hard-won victory, and Elk returns the gesture with a shy smile of his own. “W-We did it…?”
Kite laughs. “Of course we did! Was there ever a doubt?”
“...Well,” Elk lowers his gaze.
In actuality, he is embarrassed. In that last room, Kite had just praised him for how much he’d improved. Yet here, he fell right back into his old patterns of hesitation and indecisiveness. He could have easily cost them the fight, had Kite not taken the time to find that restorative item.
Kite shifts his weight, placing a hand to his hip. “You don’t look too happy… What’s up?”
Oh, no—does he think I’m upset? What should I say… Elk hesitates before shaking his head. “I’m…” he hesitates again, afraid to let his feelings out. If there is one thing that scares him most, it’s being useless. But… he’s also secure in the knowledge that Kite would never look down on him for it, so he decides to stay honest. “I feel like I’m pulling you down.”
The answer seems to surprise his Leader, whose eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “What are you talking about?” He doesn’t give Elk the chance to elaborate and speaks animatedly, “We wouldn’t have gotten through that scrape without your powerful spells! I didn’t even take down one Pumpkin Head…”
“W-Well…” That’s true, but Elk doesn’t think that’s all that impressive. Kite basically solo’d the toughest monster, and besides, “It wouldn’t have been so difficult with… Mistral or…”
Kite furrows his brows and tilts his head, utterly confused where any of this is coming from. “I don’t know about that… I haven’t played with either of them in a good while.”
Oh? But then… who did Kite come here with before? BlackRose? Balmung?
“Actually, I came here alone last time and… I didn’t run into this many monsters… guess I got lucky that time,” Kite admits with a scratch of his cheek.
Elk stares at him in shock. “You came alone?”
“Hm? Well… yeah, I explore alone sometimes.”
That is genuinely so… cool. Elk is terrified to go through dungeons alone—he only ever does so when Mia pushes him. But to think Kite does that all the time just for fun, in such high level areas… That’s really cool. Also, the thought Kite hadn’t chosen another companion over him alleviates his worries a bit… he’s not sure why, and he refuses to examine it, but the idea Kite wants to show Elk something that only the two of them will know about is just…
“...Seems you’re feeling better.”
Elk jumps in place, gazing up to find Kite beaming at him like the ray of sunshine he is. “Eh?”
“You’re smiling.”
“Huh?!” Elk blushes, feeling his face to check if that’s true. God, that’s so embarrassing!
Kite spares him any further fluster by pointing down another hall, “We’re almost there. Let’s go!”
Elk swallows nervously, half expecting even more powerful monsters to spawn upon entering the next room. However, what he sees next is nothing short of stunning.
There are no monsters here, but rather, a crimson crystal lake. It takes up nearly the entire floor, and by all accounts appears to be a special area. He’d never seen anything like it and didn’t even know dungeons could contain such features.
“Ahem… B-Beautiful, isn’t it?” Kite asks, throwing his hands behind his head.
All of a sudden, he is nervous and restless, which is very much unlike him. Elk doesn’t notice, however, as he gazes out at the lake in awe. He doesn’t notice Kite’s movements at all—not until he feels the brown glove brush against his hand. Immediately, he jumps away, holding his staff tightly and staring back at Kite in shock.
Kite stares back at him wide-eyed, apparently just as shocked, and quickly pulls his hand behind his back. “Sorry! I just…”
Elk blinks at him, caught in a daze. Did Kite just… try to hold his hand?
He’s not crazy, right? That’s totally what just happened, right?
“I thought this atmosphere is just kind of…” Kite struggles for words, for once he is the one blushing shyly and too flustered to speak.
His nervous energy spills over to Elk, who is now blushing all over. No waaaay Kite brought him all the way out here for something like this. There is just no way. Elk would sooner believe the Twin Blade standing before him is a projection one of the admins created as a cruel prank… Yes, pranking Elk specifically. In all of Elk’s shock, he doesn’t even realize his silence had answered for him, and Kite pulls back completely.
“Sorry, Elk. I hope I didn’t make you too uncomfortable,” Kite says calmly, looking out over the beautiful, glittering lake. “I understand if you want to call it a night--”
“No!” Elk blurts out, dropping his staff and reaching out with both hands to grab Kite’s. All his shyness all but evaporates in his desperate to correct the Twin Blade, that no, “I’m not uncomfortable! I--” then he catches himself, and ducks his gaze down, admitting much more quietly, “I… W-Well, I am a little but I… really want to… hold your hand. If that’s okay?”
For the second time that night, Kite is stunned into silence. For a moment, he just stares back at Elk, until Elk starts to sweat and worry that maybe he’d said something wrong and--
“Elk, you know I…” Kite starts quietly, making the Wavemaster’s heart stop. The moment drags on unbearably long, till Kite can feel the younger boy’s hand shake in his own. Anxious, anticipating, and so, so adorable. Kite smiles softly, holding Elk’s hands instead and brushing his thumbs over the boy’s knuckles. “I’m glad you liked the surprise.”
He’ll just keep the fact this beautiful, glistening lake reminds him of Elk’s eyes to himself...
After a time, Elk nods emphatically, even if he can’t quite meet Kite’s eyes any longer. He is blushing ear to ear, staring down at their joined hands, and just like that, all those lingering doubts and insecurities mean nothing now.
For the first time in his life, his heart feels full and he can honestly say he is… happy.