Legend Reborn

Chapter 32: Actions Speak Loudly

It takes us about a week to reach the border between Wolf and Eagle Territory. The weather continued to get colder and colder in the meantime, which is highly unusual. Yes, summer is over, but it shouldn't be getting this cold so quickly. I try not to think about what this odd weather foreshadows. I also try not to think about Florumpum.

Almost all of the warm clothing my group is wearing was scavenged from the desolate town. I do my best not to wonder what happened to the previous owners of my jacket and gloves. It's better that way. We had left the town almost as soon as we had arrived, but it couldn't have been soon enough. The images of the broken bodies and empty houses that filled the town are still burned into my eyelids. I see them every time I close my eyes.

"...zie! Hey, Lizzie! Snap out of it!"

"Huh? What?" I look to Gilbert in surprise.

"I called your name like five times! What the heck are you doing way over here?" The Bear approaches me and takes a seat next to me in the cool grass. Our group has decided to take a break before crossing the border, and I must have wandered off farther than I though if Gilbert's come to look for me.

"Oh, I don't know. Thinking," I answer vaguely.

"Why are you sitting out here all by yourself?" he asks. "You're going to catch a cold."

I look down at my warm gloves and swallow back the guilt threatening to rise to the surface. "It's not the worst thing that could happen."

Gil frowns at my emotionless answers. "What's really the matter, Lizzie? You've been off ever since we got here."

"I don't know," I say with a shrug. "A lot on my mind I guess. We've been through a lot since this whole thing started."

The Bear moves closer and wraps his arm around me. I lean my head against his shoulder and sigh contently. "If anyone had told me before the ceremony that this is what was going to happen, I would've laughed in their face and called them crazy," he says after a while.

"You and me both," I tell him with a small, amused grin. "Never in a million years would I have imagined I could be like this. With friends, happy, saving the world."

"You forgot something."

I frown in confusion. "What?"

"The awesome me, of course!" Gilbert says with a laugh. "Kesesese! You'd be so lonely without me."

"Oh, I don't know," I say teasingly. "I think Lovino's pretty cute when he's not scowling."

"What? No! That Wolf brat's got nothing on me!" the Bear shouts indignantly.

I laugh at how bent out of shape Gil becomes. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" He narrows his eyes at me. "Oh come on! Don't be that way. I love you, and no one else."

"Prove it."

My playful expression falters. Proof? How can I prove something like that? "Um...I think you're the most awesome person in the world?"

"That's weak!" Gilbert says with a huff. "And why did that sound like a question?"

I wrack my brain for anything useful. That's when it suddenly dawns on me. "Hey, Gil?"

"Yeah?"

Neither of us say anything else because our lips are currently occupied. I lean into the kiss, and Gilbert responds in kind. Nothing so far has done a better job of warming me up from the inside out than kissing the white haired Bear. His hand settles on my waist and pulls me closer as our lips dance in unison. My arms wrap around his neck, and a hand makes it's way into his silvery white hair.