beyond report cards comes sunlight??? i can hope right? Posting this in 2 halves because I just want people to talk to me before I go crazy over work. (What better way than to post about Adair's awesomeness) Like Drink Me Under, I decided I might as well post this as 2 parts. It worked out with the other fic, so hopefully it will work out for this fic too. |D;;
Title: Beyond the Storm Comes Sunlight Part 1
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1299
Summary: Before Grisia became the official Sun Knight, there was actually a period of time when Grisia didn't think Adair was all that. Or, the story in which Adair stalks Grisia.
Notes: Storm is not the focus despite the title. This story takes place when Grisia is eighteen. (Long time no oneshot about Adair! *tosses 2 year old fic at everyone* This has been collecting dust in my folder. Originally titled "Under the Sky in the Warmth of the Sun". This is a follow-up to "
Even in Darkness, the Sun Shines" and was meant to answer a prompt from No True Pair... uh, I think it was "Warmth of the Sun")
Part 1
"Grisia, do you know you have someone following you?" asked the future Blaze Knight in a loud voice one day.
It sounded more like: Do you know you have someone "stalking" you? Chikus Blaze darted his eyes at the person who was no more than twenty paces away from them. The future Blaze Knight narrowed his eyes. The person didn't even have the decency to hide and pretend he wasn't stalking Grisia! It was the least he could do after getting noticed.
What looked to be a grimace might have come over Grisia's face at Chikus's loud question, but the moment passed quickly. When Chikus glanced back at Grisia, the latter had a wide smile on his face. He opened his mouth to say, "The God of Light takes care of each of His children with benevolence and has bestowed His future Sun Knight with an accomplished and devoted...helper."
Was it just Chikus, or had Grisia's smile faltered at that last word?
Chikus blinked, scratched his face, and then asked after he turned Grisia's words over and over again, "So he's...?"
"My vice-captain," Grisia finally said plainly. He shot a withering look at the figure behind him. Chikus blinked again at that because Grisia never did withering looks. Not in public at least. And never as obviously as this. He was the future Sun Knight after all.
Behind Grisia, Adair stood his ground, completely unfazed. Once again, Chikus was taken aback by that.
Grisia muttered something under his breath that was too low for Chikus to catch. After that, he left in a huff, and Chikus watched as Grisia's vice-captain resolutely continued "stalking" Grisia in plain sight. When Grisia stopped in his tracks, Adair would do the same, always keeping the same distance between them. Despite how Grisia would sometimes turn his head, as if to warn Adair, the latter never made to hide.
Breaking out of his stupor, Chikus hurriedly caught up with Grisia's vice-captain and stopped him by the shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Chikus demanded. Grisia hadn't looked happy at being followed.
"I am trying to learn more about the captain," Adair replied respectfully, head bowing in acknowledgment of the future Blaze Knight.
"Why?" Chikus couldn't keep the suspicion from his voice. Is he trying to unearth Grisia's secrets?
"So I can better serve him."
At those words, Chikus looked carefully at Adair, appraising him from head to toe. Adair's face bore fierce determination, and he stared back in return, perhaps returning the favor, studying Chikus just as Chikus was studying him. When Adair started speaking again, Chikus thought that maybe this meant that he had passed in Adair's eyes, and that made Chikus guffaw with laughter. Only such a daring vice-captain would be able to keep up with Grisia.
He pounded Adair on the back, causing the latter to start coughing. Then, Chikus threw his arm around Adair's shoulders and leaned in to ask, "You're going to look after Grisia and do your utmost for him, right?"
"Y-Yes," Adair answered, voice still not completely recovered.
"Good," Chikus nodded before lowering his voice as best as he could, "then let me tell you..."
The future Blaze Knight was right.
Adair was stalking Grisia.
However, Adair would claim that he was merely following his captain like a second shadow. There was a difference, however slight. He also had a very good reason for doing so, or so Adair believed.
After being blasted off a cliff a hundred times, Adair had accepted his captain, but he still didn't feel he knew his captain well enough. What better way to learn more about his captain than to "follow" him?
More than once, Adair watched his captain disappear into his room for hours on end, only to resurface with his skin looking somehow smoother than before. There were times when people would knock on his captain's door, and when that happened, his captain would open the door with his hair damp, his expression slightly stiff though still pleasant. It wasn't that Adair was always present whenever his captain resurfaced, but if anyone mentioned needing to talk with the Sun Knight-in-training, Adair would follow along and make sure he was there when his captain left his room.
And then Adair would begin stalking, that was, "following" his captain.
His captain was full of mysteries, but this was what Adair knew about his captain.
He had brilliant blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and an ever-present smile, just like the Sun Knight of legends.
He appeared compassionate, the friendliest and most forgiving person you would ever meet.
However, Adair now knew the following to be true about his captain as well. The list was ever growing.
He didn't know how to wield a sword, but he knew magic.
He wasn't benevolent; in fact, he held terrible grudges.
He loved blueberries.
He possibly had several enemies who were his friends and several friends who were his enemies.
He was already picking up his teacher's slack.
More than anything, he was Adair's stubborn captain, and Adair his vice-captain.
In order to better serve his captain, Adair still had a lot to learn, including finding out more about his captain.
While Adair had been thinking, his captain had stopped walking. Adair stopped as well, maintaining a distance of twenty paces between them. Then, his captain started walking again.
So did Adair.
Truth to be told, Grisia somewhat regretted choosing Adair as his vice-captain.
Why didn't I choose someone stupider? Grisia lamented.
He had chosen Adair in a matter of minutes. As the only person who had dared to speak up and ask Grisia for clarification about what he had said, Grisia had immediately chosen him as his second-in-command. Why waste any time mulling over the decision? It was clear no one else could understand his words -- Grisia had no intention of spending the next twenty something years repeating his words over and over again!
What Grisia didn't know was the degree of Adair's stubbornness. At one point, Grisia had nearly thought that he wouldn’t be able to make Adair conform short of killing him. Stupid Adair had almost given Grisia a heart-attack, throwing himself off the cliff in the end like that before Grisia could even heal him.
"He is not obedient like Strawberry," Grisia grumbled. "Even Deatheo is more obedient."
Next to Grisia, his "enemy," one Lesus Judgment, wiped his hands dry on a handkerchief. Then, he sat down on one of the stools Grisia had brought with him and thought over Grisia's words. Finally, he said, "Isn't he making your breakfast everyday?"
"Well yes," Grisia admitted.
The sandwiches had been bland -- the only reason Grisia had continued to make him bring him breakfast was to spite him -- but lately they were getting tastier and tastier.
"I wouldn't call that disobedient," said Lesus.
Grisia pouted. "But, have you seen how he's been stalking me? It's gotten so bad that I'm afraid to open my door because the first thing I would see is probably his face! Who wants to see a guy's face first thing in the morning? In fact..."
Grisia narrowed his eyes at the bathroom door. "What if he's outside right now?"
He shivered at the thought. There was a time when Chikus had somehow gotten into his head that he should stick to him like a second shadow. Grisia would wake up, and Chikus would be huddled in the corner, watching him sleep. Creepy! That had been bad enough. He didn't need a repeat performance of that!
It was with that thought in mind that Grisia opened the door with dread weighing him down. He breathed a sigh of relief when his newly acquired and very annoying shadow wasn't outside, but sadly, his blessed solitude didn't last for long. As Grisia headed to the kitchens to grab himself a bag of apples, his shadow reappeared, persistently following twenty paces away.
Argh! That's it! I've had enough!
God of Light help him, but Grisia would make Adair regret stalking him even if that was the last thing he did!
to be continued
Adair. <3333 Adaaaaair. Okay there, I feel better now.