Chapter 27

****It is I, 25MELISSA25!!  BACK FROM THE DEAD and the RECESSES of the HETALIA FANDOM to POST THE NEXT PART OF MY FANFIC!!  PART TWO WILL COMMENCE IN T-A PARAGRAPH!!!!!!

BUT FIRSTTTTT!!!!!!!  Just a little bit of stuff before hand to catch you up!  It's been a few weeks, and a few cycles since the end of Chapter 26!  The Chaos warriors have been silent lately and haven't really been carrying out the Emperor's plans, much to the Emperor's chagrin, but because of that, Rosa hasn't had any encounters with the cycle yet and is still in the dark about it.  However, she's been there a while, so she's regained a good bit of her memory.  EVERYBODY GOOD?? THEN HERE WE GO!!

Chapter 27
    "Rosa, we need a scout to find a moogle and round up some supplies for the general stock," Warrior told her.  "Would you be willing to go?"

    She nodded,  and started strapping her quiver and staff behind her back.  A shadow loomed over her and she turned quickly, coming face-to-face with Kain.

    "Oh!" she said, nearly dropping the handful of new arrows she made to put in her quiver.  While she regained her hand, she looked up at the Dragoon.  "Yes, Kain?"

    "My lady, I request to accompany you on your search," he said.

    She frowned, recalling her promise to herself to never go anywhere alone with Kain until she remembered more of him.  It wasn't that she didn't trust him, no, she trusted all of her allies.  But her sole memory of him that returned was different, and, as childish as it sounded, scary.  Her instincts told her to be uneasy around him.  Besides, only ONE memory of him alone returning was more than suspicious.  Why weren't there more if he was someone she could put her faith in?

    "Uum, sure, Kain," she said, realizing that she had been keeping him waiting.  "But may Cecil come as well?"

    "Cecil?" he asked.

    "Yes, Cecil," she dead-panned.  Before he could reply either way she turned and spotted the man's white armor easily.  "Cecil!  Join us as well?"

    "Excuse me," Kain said, walking away as Cecil approached.

    "Oh!  Kain's not coming?" Cecil asked, staring after Kain.

    "I suppose not."

    "Ah, well, he probably has other important things to do.  Kain's time is never squandered.  Shall we?" he asked, holding out his arm to her.  With a small smile she took his arm, and he led her like an escort.  "We'll be back shortly!" he called over his shoulder.

    "Have fun, you crazy kids!" Zidane yelled.  Both stopped to stare at the Genome before continuing out of Sanctuary.

    They walked together in comfortable silence, both lost in deep thought, though Rosa's surrounded Cecil.  He'd been her greatest ally and closest friend since she'd started fighting in the cycles (albeit a bit touchy at first).  He was always there when she had to talk out a new memory, or if she wanted to try to spark new memories, he was always the one to spar with her.  He'd helped most of her memories of her journey come back, and after a while she took to enjoying his company more than anyone else's.

    She didn't even realize they walked so far until the glare of the sun off the snow ahead caught her attention.  Of all the places she saw in this realm, the Elven Snow Fields were by far her favorite.  The quiet, soft snow left almost a feeling of security, if she could even call it that.  Maybe security wasn't the right word, no. . . peace, perhaps?  If the gentle, frail snow could blanket and thrive undisturbed, then surely it wasn't often an open battleground.  Nor were the gateways among the fields.  When she walked there, she felt serene, at peace.

    "You know," Cecil was the first to break the silence, "I'll wager that this whole realm looks even more beautiful from above as it does just walking through.  There was a time I would've simply flown an airship over this land instead of meandering through it."

    "Yes, I remember," she said.  "You were the captain of the Red Wings, the King's first in command.  You were the best navigator in Baron."

    "Well thank you!  What else do you recall?"

    "Something happened on your mission to Mysidia, and the King stripped you of your rank.  He sent you and Kain together on another mission, but it went awry."

    This was the first time she recounted any of it in succession before, and it startled even her.

    Cecil nodded eagerly.  "What else, Rosa?"

    "We went later to Fabul to warn them after hearing of Golbez's plan to steal the crystals, and while we were there, Golbez attacked.  He kidnapped me and took me away after he beat all of you.  But you rescued me.  You, and I think Kain, and-"

    "Kain?"  Cecil's smile faltered.  "Is that how you remember it?"

    "Well, yes.  There's a few gaps, and bits and pieces missing, but I think so. . . why?  What happened to Kain?" she asked.

    She recalled her first memory of the Dragoon when she first met him.  She was tied up, and he was standing alongside Golbez.  But there had been nothing else to prove either good or bad of Kain, so she dismissed the memory.

    "Nothing, Rosa.  I just remember it a little. . . differently is all."

    She was about to question how it was that Cecil remembered it when her boot crunched on her first step in the Snow Fields.  She slid her arms from Cecil's to run ahead and take in the sudden change to brisk air, and feel the first gust of winter wind that blew through.  She scooped up a handful of fine snow, clenching it between her fingertips.

    "I love this snow!  It just doesn't fall like this in Baron," she told Cecil, forgetting that he would already know that.  "The crystals prevented any sort of weather from damaging the crops and water supplies.  I remember as much."  She held the snow until the cold that bit her fingers and wrists became too much.  She dropped the snow and shook the rest from her hands, trying at the same time to shake a little feeling back to her fingertips.

    Realizing Cecil's prolonged silence, she looked up right as he stepped up to her.  Without a word he reached out and clasped her frozen hand between his strong, warm, gently calloused hands.  He chafed her hand with his, warming her from her palm to her fingertips, then back to her palm.

    She looked up into his eyes only to find him already staring at her.  His hands slowly stopped to just rest overtop of hers.  That royal blue, so pretty a color.  And so familiar a color.  His gaze so trusting and warm. . . whatever cold she'd been feeling just ebbed away from his light.  She realized how close they were, the steam of his breath and hers swirling together in the small space between them, and she felt that she had to be closer, that she wanted to throw her arms around him, and never let go.

    She felt like she loved him.

    Love? Easy there, Rosa!  Ever since she lost herself with him that one time, she started to get these different emotions.  They would flare up every time she was around him, but then disappear as suddenly as they came.  And she had no memories to back them up.  That was one huge gap that had yet to be filled.  She had no memory of ever loving Cecil, of ever losing herself in his eyes the way she sometimes did now.  She wanted to think that they were just stubborn emotions that failed to come with her memories, and were just catching up now.

    Besides, it was impossible for her to bring herself to love him as anything more than friends.

    "Jumping to conclusions?" she asked herself.  "They could be for someone else, who you just don't remember yet."  She had to stop indulging her own tangents.

    Sensing Rosa's retreat, Cecil backed away and pulled her by the hand over to a snow bank.  He took his hand from hers and reached for his shoulders, unclasping the cape from his back.  He laid it on the ground on the snow bank, motioning for her to sit.

    "What else, Rosa?  What else do you remember?"

    "I remember. . . my relief when you rescued me.  I remember the dread I felt knowing that if you came for me you'd fall into their trap.  But you still came despite the danger.  You know, it's been a few weeks since I've been here, and it's thanks to you that I've remembered so much.  Thank you for being such a friend to me.  I truly appreciate everything."

    He put his arm around her shoulder and smiled, but for the first time, Rosa realized, it didn't reach his eyes.

    "Absolutely, Rose.  You can always count on me.  I'll always be here for you."

    She leaned into him, sharing the heat between them, just enjoying the comfort despite her inner conflict.  But why was HE so sad?

    She shivered with a gust that blew through her, and Cecil stood, pulling her up with him.  "I think we should go back before we both wind up with frostbite."

    They walked back to Sanctuary with an odd sort of new silence that they hadn't left with.  By then their original goal was long forgotten.