Comms and Other Long FE Oneshots

Beautifully Broken

A sickening crack echoing across the garden made Charlotte freeze for a moment at the entrance. Only for a moment, though. She took a deep breath, pulling the coat that Gerald had gifted her tighter around herself. "Come on, girl," she muttered. "You already went to the trouble of finding out where he is-" Crack! "Make this count." She closed her eyes, gathering her courage, and then stepped through the arch and into the snow covered garden. The paths were cleared of it, as were most of the benches, though judging by the small but steady flakes falling from the gray sky, they'd be covered soon enough.

Niles had said that his thinking spot was near the back, and judging from the cracking sounds, he was here. Not resting, like he should be, if he was leaving Ciel in charge of the observation tower. Charlotte continued on her way, noting with some grim amusement that there were no servants out here and that there was a definite oppressive feeling in the air. A feeling that gave her the sensation that she should have her axe in hand, her hair thrown up in the ponytail she wore when playing with Minerva, and not wearing this beautiful white winter gear that she had gotten both from the royal closets and Gerald.

Gods. Normally if she was interested in a man and they were in a bad mood, she'd leave them be. She normally couldn't be bothered to comfort those she was trying to win over. However, there was nothing normal about this situation... or her interest in the sorcerer. She had come here for the King, not one of his friends. She'd been kissed by the King, spoken to gently by the King, albeit with him telling her that he felt no romantic attraction to her whatsoever. She was just preferable over the rest of the girls clamoring for his hand and the title of queen, and he'd wanted to give her chance with such gestures. The fact that those had ended in failure wasn't for lack on trying on both ends, a romance between them simply wouldn't work. Marriage less so. She could undoubtedly call herself a friend to him, but the small interactions they'd had couldn't be called courting. Not in the slightest.

She stepped around a tree and found Odin focused on something in his hands, an expression as dark as the winter nights over this castle on his face. While not the most mysterious of King Leo's loyal circle- that award went to Lanela, in Charlotte's books- he was by far the most complicated and she dared say useful to Nohr as a whole. Also the hardest to seduce other than possibly Gerald, but she knew better than to go after a married man. Maybe it was the challenge that had drawn her to Odin, she couldn't say for certain. He wasn't bad-looking, and her telling him so the first time had left him completely nonplussed. So she'd done it a second time with the same result, and they'd been at it since, her trying to break through the shell of duty that he hid behind and him, while not completely pushing her away, not really giving her any sort of reaction that could be called victory in her eyes. They were playing a game here. He knew it, she knew it, and as the air grew colder with the change of the seasons, her part in it had become far more sincere.

Another sickening crack echoed through the garden, and low sigh escaped the sorcerer. "What are you doing out here?"

The words were quiet, almost resigned. They were a direct contrast to the way the purple tendrils of dark magic swirling around his boots arched aggressively and the air's oppressive feeling grew even heavier. She wasn't sure which one was the lie. "You have snow in your hair," she remarked, taking a step closer. It was the truth, flecks of white were clearly visible in his blond spikes and on the shoulders of his orange coat. He'd obviously been out here for a very long time.

"I'm sure there's snow in your hair as well," Odin bit back, looking up from whatever was in his hands to glare at her. "That wasn't an answer to my question."