What if?

Untitled Part 3

"Micott!" Ricca screamed in exasperation as she realized her friend was still with her.

Juggler took a quick hesitant step forward. "She's alive!" his heart instantly filled with hope as he watched her continue to take in deep breaths of air. He was about to go over when-

"Ricca!"

Juggler's attention was brought away for a moment as he heard Captain Shinra shouting to Ricca to warn her of the coming Bezelb. His instincts took over as he rushed forward with agility and with his reclaimed sword sliced off the Bezelb's poisonous stinger that was heading right for the girls. Together he and Shinra fought off the rest of the Bezelb. But instead of unlimited rage giving him the strength to fight, something else did instead. Something he had never felt before.

Somehow knowing Micott was still alive gave him the hope and push he needed to get him threw. But why? He had never felt this way before, and he didn't even know why he felt this way. All he knew was that it had something to do with how he felt about Micott obviously. But what was it about this girl? Was it because he just saw her as this helpless person who needed his protection? No, he had seen her fight and he could tell she could pull her own weight. But then what was it? Could it be what Gai was always jabbering about that was supposedly the strongest power of all? Could it be...No, It couldn't be! Could it? No! There was no way it could be...love?

Later that evening while all the casualties were being treated, Gai, and Juggler went to see how Micott was doing. They both walked through the treating area until they saw Ricca and Captain Shinra, who were standing by Micott's side as she sat on the edge of what looked like a stretcher. She had a white bandage wrapped around her waist were the Bezelb's stinger had penetrated. Despite her injuries, her happy disposition had apparently remained the same as she looked up and plastered a big smile on her face as she saw Gai and Juggler approaching. Juggler was almost tempted to smile back, knowing that she really was okay, but he refrained from doing so.

"Master!" she said in a perky voice as she tried to stand up. She winced in pain as she placed her hand over her abdomen and was quickly made to sit back down by Ricca. Seeing her still in pain seemed to hurt Juggler all over again knowing that he had failed to protect her.

"Micott!" Ricca said alarmed, "The doctor said you should rest as much as possible, any movement could cause more bleeding," Ricca fussed at her friend as she placed a hand on her shoulder to make her sit back down.

"Oh, you worry too much," Micott playfully commented.

"I'm not kidding. You may not be so lucky next time," the worry was evident in Ricca's voice.

"How is everything going for you guys over here?" Gai said cheerfully as he and Juggler walked up.

"Oh, just fine," Micott said confidently.

"What do you mean "just fine", who were stabbed by a Bezelb for crying out loud!" Ricca wined at her partner.

"It wasn't that bad, it didn't even go that deep," Micott replied.

"Are you okay?" Gai asked looking at Micott.

"Yeah, sure, my armor got most of it."

Ricca sighed in exasperation at how lightly Micott was treating this whole thing. I mean, she nearly died for crying out loud. The thought was something that should be taken seriously, not joked about. Ricca didn't know what she would do if she ever lost her best friend, and she didn't want to find out.

Noticing her friend's distress, Micott reached out taking Ricca's hand in hers and said in an assuring voice, "Please don't worry so much, I'm fine. I really am. I'm not going anywhere."

Ricca took comfort in her words and smiled overlapping Micott's hand with her other one. Micott then looked up at Juggler who had remained silent this entire time, and continuously averted his eyes from hers. He did this not out of anger, but out of guilt. Guilt that he had almost let her get killed. He blamed himself for putting her in such danger, because if he had taught her his fighting style all the times she had pleaded with him to in the first place, then maybe she would have been able to hold her ground better with that Bezelb. Juggler was pushed out of his thoughts as Micott addressed him.

"Hey, master, aren't you going to ask me how I'm doing too?" she asked him lightheartedly.

Barely making eye contact with her, Juggler coldly replied, "You should be more careful next time." Then without another word he briskly walked off, leaving the others stunned and confused. He already felt bad enough for putting her in such a position and being around her only reminded him of the pain and sadness he had felt when he thought he had lost her forever. If he couldn't even protect her then she was probably better off without him.

Micott looked down with a slightly saddened expression thinking she had somehow failed her master. "Where did I go wrong?" she thought within herself. She had never tried to please anyone more than she had tried to please him, but evidently she hadn't been successful which caused her heart to sink. Gai noticed this and attempted to cheer her up.

"I'm sure he's just worried about you," he said with a smile.

Giving him a brief look before averting her gaze back down she solemnly replied, "Yeah." She could tell that Gai was oblivious to her feelings towards his aloof partner, but she knew he meant well and appreciated the gesture. Though she would have appreciated it much more if she had heard it from Juggler himself.

"Oh, don't worry about that now," Ricca said cheerfully, leaning down to her friend's eye level and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's time for you to get some rest, okay." Micott simply nodded and put on a small fake smile in order to hide her true feelings from her friend.

Ricca stood up and with a demanding disposition firmly grasped the upper arms of both Captain Shinra and Gai.

"Hey!" Captain Shinra and Gai protested simultaneously.

She began pulling them away from Micott's bedside as she said, "Come on, let's go! Micott needs her rest."

"Okay, okay, we're going," Captain Shinra replied as he and Gai continued to be dragged away with force.