Abandoned her own

“Old man!” Tiko clutched a hand to his chest, stumbling backwards a step or two. “Oh your words cut so deeply. I much preferred pretty boy.” He followed behind, grin blindingly bright and eyes fixed on her retreating form. 

She was good, that was for certain, but he knew that he could do better. While some of her rings had made it around the necks of the bottles, there were still a few scattered on the ground. Tiko liked his odds. 

It wasn’t that he was afraid of losing. He had no doubt that he would have fun baking for her–he’d offered to teach her whenever she wanted, of course, but he wasn’t sure that if he lost she would ever dance with him. Navi was nice, beautiful, confident, charming. The list went on. But for all their banter and flirting and teasing…he wasn’t convinced he’d won her over yet. If he wanted to dance with her, he’d have to do it tonight. He couldn’t let a chance like this slide.

A quick grin in Navi’s direction and the tossing began. His confidence wasn’t as justified as he’d claimed; while he’d made as many bottlenecks as Navi, many of his hit the floor as well. By the time he had two shots left, Navi was winning by only one. He tossed his second to last–and scored. All tied up. Tiko grinned, rubbing the ring between his hands in a show to warm it up. He brought it to his lips in a quick, over-exaggerated gesture of prayer, and tossed it. It went up, up, over, and landed with a clink around the neck of the furthest bottle. Tiko looked back at Navi with a cheeky grin. 

“Looks like I won, Bluebelle. You’re a better shot than I gave you credit for, but you’re no match for this old man’s years of practice.” 

     Navi definitely wasn’t pouting over his win. No--that sort of behavior was beneath her. She was more mature than that.        No, she had a grumpy expression on her face for other reasons. 

      “Yeah, you won, fair and square.” She huffed, twitching her wings. “I think it was luck, though.” 

      Her pout didn’t last long, however; and anyways, it was mostly in jest. She was happy to give Tiko a dance--she’d just have to wrangle a meal out of him some other way, before the night was over. Maybe if she complimented it more, he’d offer...? 

Tiko searched Navi’s face, purple eyes analyzing and picking apart her expression. Was she alright? She said she was. He wanted to make sure she was okay. He didn’t want her to be afraid…

When had he gotten so concerned? Usually he was so flippant, things like this rolled off of him. Something about Navi made him stop and worry. Something about her made him pause. Made him think.

Not that she seemed to want him to. Again, she took him by surprise (she continued to do so…) and spoke about her past. And… and Link? The Hero? She was with the Hero? She seemed to gloss over it, he didn’t have time to even react before she’d already bounced to the next topic. 

He blinked, and instinctually matched her smile. No, now wasn’t the time to be dwelling on things of the past. They were in the middle of the brightest festival of the year, together, under the light of the lamps and the night sky. He didn’t want to think of the Hero, or the fairy trade. Or the world before magic became taboo. He wanted to spend the time with Navi, to relish in what they had now. He wanted to watch her eyes light up and to spin her in circles until they both fell over. He wanted a night of peace.

He wanted to beat her at ring toss.

“Oh, are you sure you’d win? I’ve got a few years of practice on you. We should place a bet.” He jumped up, offering his hand. “You win, and I’ll make you any food you want. I win, and you’ll dance with me.” 

His hand stayed extended, smile wide. There was a twinkle in his eyes that made him seem like a fox, or a trickster spirit. One of those things might be true. 

“Unless, of course, you’re too afraid?” 

“Afraid? Of losing to you?” Navi’s smile broadened, and she took Tiko’s hand. In one fluid motion she stood up and marched past him, making her way to the ring toss booth. Fairy poachers all but forgotten, she turned to him with a wink and said, “You may have age on me, old man, but I’ve got pure skill on my side. Have fun baking for me.” 

Navi paid for two rounds and set off, taking her time to carefully aim each ring. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to dance with Tiko--in fact, even if she did win, she likely still would. But it was the principle of the thing. Besides, she did love his cooking. Maybe this time, she’d ask him for a nice dinner of steak and mashed potatoes. He had to have his own spin on that, right?

Besides, if he had to cook for her, that mean he’d have to come see her again. Perhaps that would help him break his usual habit of disappearing on her for months at a time. Tiko was many things, Navi was learning; a liar wasn’t one of them. If he said he’d do something, he’d always follow through. 

Even with his frequent (and long) disappearances, it was still fun, this thing they had. Tiko was becoming a good friend; Navi doubted very much that it would go beyond that. From what she could tell, Tiko was endlessly charming, but a hopeless flirt; it was likely that Navi was just a dalliance. Wherever else he went for months on end, it was likely he had a girl on his arm there, too. Navi didn’t mind; she just had to be realistic about the whole thing. 

While Tiko was convinced of his own victory and speed–Navi had posed more of a challenge than he had thought. They reached the lake at almost the same time (but of course he was going easy on her, he would have tried much harder had the race been fair… of this he was certain.) He wasn’t always so spontaneous, but he wanted to be. He wanted to be open for this, for her. Maybe he had grown tired of always being surface level…maybe this was a chance to build something that he wouldn’t fear to lose. 

While Navi opted to stay hovering when they reached their destination, Tiko fell with a hard thump to his feet, grinning as he looked around for a good spot. Thankfully, they had landed in a small bay that was relatively out of sight from prying eyes, right by the water. No, this was perfect. 

“What’s next is for you to close your eyes.” Tiko answered, a glint in his eyes. “Go on. No peeking.” 

Once that was out of the way, he reached into his pack and pulled out a large blanket, and parcel after parcel of cooked food, each wrapped delicately into perfect portion sizes. Two sets of silverware, two water skins filled with hydromelon juice. Also a small bouquet of flowers, tied with twine, and rested in the middle of the blanket… just for aesthetics sake. 

By the time he was done there was a whole meal set out for them. None of it was particularly warm anymore, but all of it had been made fresh just last night. Not that Navi would know that. 

“Alright, Bluebelle, you can go ahead and look now.” 

     Navi couldn’t help but let out a small gasp at the the sight of the picnic. It looked delightful--and he’d put so much effort into it! Navi landed and sat on the blanket, then expectantly waited for Tiko to do the same.       “Tiko, this is amazing! Did you make all of this yourself?” She took one of the flasks and took a drink. Her eyes widened; Although she’d spent a fair amount of time in Gerudo Desert, she’d never tried hydromelon. It was sweet and refreshing, and she very much enjoyed it. 

      Once Tiko had joined her on the blanket, Navi eagerly--but not too eagerly-- began to tuck in to the meal. Even though it wasn’t warm, all of it was delectable; once again, Tiko’s cooking prowess shone through. 

          Tiko’s eyes shone as Navi quipped back at him, the unexpected banter making his heart flip. A retort had already formed in his mouth when he noticed the mood suddenly shift. Navi had dimmed–but why? He looked around until he caught the eye of the Hylians, two brutes no doubt knee-deep in the fairy trade. His smile widened, not in glee, but as a baring of teeth. He made sure to maintain eye contact as he wrapped an arm around Navi’s shoulders, drawing her in. 

          “Eyes up, bluebelle.” He murmured gently to her. “Don’t let them see your fear. You have every right to be here as they do. If you look them in the eye, they assume you’ve got something up your sleeve, and you’re not worth their time.” As if to reinforce his point, the two Hylians murmured something to one another and turned their backs, disappearing into the crowd. 

          Tiko returned his gaze to Navi’s, smile softening into something more tender than the vicious wolf’s grin it had been just seconds before. His arm didn’t move from around her shoulders, however, offering whatever nonverbal support he could give. 

          “See? Nothing to be worried about. Couple of cowards. Are you alright? Should we move somewhere else?”  

     Navi leaned into Tiko when he put his arm around her, and she did her best to follow his advice--but something within her still felt uneasy. 

     After they’d been having such a lovely time, too... No, she could’t let this ruin it. 

     “It’s all right--I’m fine.” She forced a smile, as bright and cheery as she could manage. “It’s just difficult, sometimes, seeing people like that here. This place...when I was younger, it was one of our safe havens--Link’s and mine, I mean. No matter what dangers we faced, we always knew we could come back here for a warm meal and friendly faces.” 

“That’s a demon…” Hugh absentmindedly muttered in response. He otherwise ignored Navi’s concerns, he had bigger problems now.

The Seraphim in front of them still looked relatively human, having stolen the body of one of the club members for a host, but the student’s face was now distorted by the demon’s mask. Further adding to the frightening image, the demon was in the process of summoning their wings to make an escape- black smoke swirled around them before finally solidifying into enormous bird wings. They opened them wide, poised to escape through the window they had melted open, but paused when Hugh and Navi entered the room to stare at them curiously.

Another demon? Friend or foe? Well, it didn’t matter. But Navi was a fresh source of energy, and the Seraphim was still weak from transferring hosts. In a flurry of motion they ran to Navi, picked up her small form, jumped through the window, and took flight.

Hugh was too busy assessing the state of the Occult Club to react in time. Many students had been burned, some quite severely, but they were all alive. Hopefully the students could take care of themselves, because Hugh had bigger problems- Navi just got kidnapped. 

Hugh’s job was done here (even if he screwed it up) and he finally got to tap out. Orev took over, summoned his own wings, and followed the Seraphim into the sky above the school.

     At Hugh’s nonchalant response, Navi turned, aghast. “A-a DEMON? A real, actual--” 

     Navi’s response was cut short, however, when she was scooped up and whisked away by the demon in question. She didn’t even have time to scream--not that she would have, obviously. 

     By the time Navi had recovered her wits, she was high in the air. Well, that suited her just fine; but the supposed demon that had captured her--and the being currently in pursuit--didn’t know that. Wait, the being in pursuit?        It was hard to tell from her current position, but from what she could see, it looked a lot like Hugh. But something was different...his face was wrong--or, at least, not the same as it’d been before. And he had big, black, wings. 

      In fact, he looked quite a lot like the so-called demon that was holding her now. 

      What was it about near-death situations that gave Navi so much clarity? 

“Well we definitely can’t just wait around,” Hugh started, “those kids are already-”

The sound on an explosion came from the classroom they were trying to break into, and a wave of hot air rushed past them. Hugh didn’t even think, he just spun around and ran back to the door to investigate the damage.

“A Seraphim?! Why does it always have to be a Seraphim?!” He cried out to nobody in particular. Or Navi, if she had followed him back there.

The door was no longer an obstacle for them- its metal hinges were warped and melted, and the door hung at an angle, easy to push aside. Inside the classroom they will find parts of the walls and windows burned away as well, but no active fires. The Seraphim who caused this didn’t actually want to burn the building down, but rather intimidate the students who summoned them in order to feed on their fear. And it sure was effective, the Seraphim was going to need a minute to absorb it all.

      If the explosion didn’t catch Navi’s attention (it did), the suddenly-not-so-timid-boy running towards it certainly did. She dashed after him, a knot of fear forming in her stomach that only grew when she saw the wreckage of the door. What would be behind that? Would her classmates inside still be alive? What on earth had caused it?

       The boy, Hugh, seemed to know. This had been why he came-- not some made-up drugs case. Navi pushed through the doorway after him, intent on getting answers--when she came face-to-face with a thing. She had no idea what it was-- she’d never seen anything like it before--and suddenly, she was quite nearly speechless. Nearly.

          Twila laughed a bit as Navi admitted she had no idea what to do from this point on. It was reassuring in a way–the one person who seemed to know everything suddenly knowing nothing at all. Part of it was very reassuring, part of it was scary. But either way, Twila was just glad that she had someone to share the burden with. 

          “I would… prefer this to be a secret, honestly.” Twila muttered, a bit sheepish, but unwilling to give up her security for the chance at information. “I have spent too long in hiding to come out now…” 

          The rest of it? Twila had no idea what to say, except…

          “I do want you to be a part of it. Of course I’ll have you. I know I wasn’t… I know you didn’t get the chance to be here earlier, but that wasn’t because I didn’t want you. It was because I didn’t want to hurt you. I wanted you safe so I could have you now.”

          A pause. 

          “But I wouldn’t argue if you were a bit nicer to vir meus. Just for Raisa’s sake.” 

     Still keeping one arm securely wrapped around the sleeping infant, Navi used the other to draw Twila into a tight hug. She had no words--not now-- all she had was herself, to show Twila that she was there, that she would support her, that she always would. Though, after a moment, she did grudgingly add: 

       “I’ll try if he does.” 

        Helm would take advantage of her kindness if she were to show it--of that, Navi was certain. it was unfortunate, but the two of them were simply from different sides of the same battle. It was unlikely that they would ever get along. Unless Twila were to intervene, that is. 

          Tiko didn’t have time to stop Navi from buying the food–by the time he’d realized she’d made a selection, she’d already paid for it. He gave her a side eye, but accepted the gift graciously. 

          “Oh but it was me who invited you, Bluebelle. That’s hardly fair. But I’ll thank you for your generosity all the same.” He smiled and took the plate anyway, leading her to the side of a fountain with a big enough rim to sit on. “I’ll just have to remember to pay you back somehow. Can’t be leaving any debts, after all. I suppose I’ll have to be seeing you again. I have no choice.” 

     At Tiko’s invitation, Navi sat, and she smirked at his words. “Oh, a little debt is all it takes for you to stay? I’ll have to keep that in mind, now, won’t I?” 

     It was rare to see Navi this brazen; in fact, she’d never spoken to someone like this before. But something about Tiko had a way of drawing it out of her, of nurturing her confidence and allowing it to flourish.