Chapter Text
The second time, Cherri almost fainted herself.
“You’ll teach me?!” Cherri asked, practically bouncing in excitement. Scott chuckled slightly, taking a small step back as the princess stepped closer. “I mean.. I'll try”, he said, smiling softly and ignoring the glare burning into the back of his head. Apo was responsible for that one, no doubt. It was a rather hot day, and with the sun burning down on them in the very limited shade, Scott was admittedly a bit nervous about using so much energy and mana. But whatever, surely he'd be fine.
“Ohh, you're the best!” Cherri said happily, already beaming. She then quickly assumed a very proper stance, though it seemed a little bit dramatised for extra effect. “Right, Mage, teach me your ways”, she continued, taking on a sort of announcement tone. Scott giggled slightly, quickly forgetting his worries. “We should probably go somewhere more open”, he suggested, getting a quick nod from Cherri. “Come on, let's go”, she said, grabbing his wrist and starting to pull him away. They didn't get far, though, before Apo caught up with them, her spear just a bit too aimed towards Scott for his comfort. “Where are you going?” Apo quickly asked, eyeing Scott distastefully. “He's gonna teach me magic!” Cherri explained, pausing for just long enough for Scott to mumble a quiet ‘try to’. “We're just going somewhere more open”, she continued.
“You're taking her to your kingdom? And then what?” Apo practically demanded, now more obviously pointing her spear straight at Scott's neck. “I wasn't planning on taking her to blue- I was going to suggest the arena, but I'm fine with doing it here, in your kingdom, too”, Scott quickly said, admittedly getting a little bit defensive and returning Apo's glare. “Well, I'm not letting you take her out of the kingdom.” the knight said, her grip on her spear tightening. “Okay, that's fine with me, just like I said-” Scott said, getting a bit snippy now. Thankfully, Cherri clearly recognised the tension and quickly interrupted. “Is this open enough, Scott?” she suddenly asked, purposefully speaking louder to catch both Scott and Apo's attentions.
Scott quickly looked around the area, seeing that they'd ended up in a pretty much empty area of the space between the kingdoms. All there really was, was the little river in-between the kingdoms and grass. A few trees in the distance, but far enough. “Yeah, this is good”, Scott said with a small hum. “Great!” Cherri said happily. “Apo, go sit over there”, she quickly continued, pointing to a nearby boulder. “But-”, Apo quickly protested, even letting her spear fall from its pointed position. “Nope, no buts”, Cherri simply responded, hands on her hips. Apo hesitated, clearly conflicted, but eventually huffed and walked over to the rock, though not without sending a glare at Scott when he quickly covered a laugh.
“Now, tell me, what do I need to do to do magic like you?”, Cherri asked, practically beaming. “Well- My magic is instinctual, so it's a bit hard for me to say, but..”
~~~
God, it pissed Apo off to see some blue kingdom mage being all friendly with Cherri. And she couldn't even do anything about it! The princess seemed to have taken a liking to this damn mage, and Apo had been commanded to sit by the sidelines and watch as they had fun and ‘practiced magic’. She doubted this would actually lead to anything, but on one hand, it was making Cherri happy.. Still, Apo did not like this Scott guy.
He hadn't done anything, technically, but just looking at him brought this sense of anger to her, that she couldn't really explain with anything but a grudge. That was odd, given they hadn't really interacted before, but Apo really couldn't bring herself to care that much. All she knew was that she hated that stupid mage, and he seemed to return the sentiment, so.. Right now, Apo was glaring daggers at the aforementioned mage, watching him show his little plant growing spell to Cherri, apparently trying to teach her how it ‘felt’. It sounded like complete bullshit, and honestly, Apo was starting to believe the mage was purposefully stalling just to torture her.
The mage was explaining something to Cherri, when he suddenly went quiet, said a quiet ‘oh no’, and promptly collapsed. As you could imagine, Apo had not been expecting that. “Scott?!” Cherri quickly screamed, rushing to the mage's side. Even Apo found herself getting slightly worried and hurrying over. She crouched down by Scott's side, feeling for his pulse. “..his pulse is normal”, she reported soon, though it seemed to just make Cherri more worried. “Well what’s- What’s wrong with him then?!” the princess asked, audibly terrified. “Well-” Apo started, but quickly realised she had no idea either and couldn’t really answer the question. “..I.. I’ll make sure he’s alright” she eventually promised. It was probably obvious she didn’t really care for the mage, but she had sworn to do everything in her power to keep Cherri happy and safe..
Apo took a deep breath, thinking over her options. The two most logical answers were to first, get the healer, and second, get someone from the blue kingdom and pray they knew what was going on. If this was some kind of medical emergency, it was possibly one of the worst times for it to happen, and especially one of the worst places. Unfortunately, both of those solutions involved leaving Cherri alone. The princess had sat down, leaning against a rock. She was pale, and seemed lightheaded, so Apo definitely did not want to leave her alone. She was afraid Cherri would faint herself. Luckily, out of the corner of her eye, Apo saw Cam walking by the gates of the kingdom.
“Healer!” Apo called, luckily catching the mage’s attention. “Come here!” she quickly said, turning Scott onto his side just in case he threw up. Cam quickly ran over, his confusion turning to visible concern as he saw Scott, unconscious on the ground. “He passed out. Do something and stay with the Princess. I’m going to get a blue kingdom member.” she said sternly, not waiting for a response as she got up. Apo quickly set off running for the blue kingdom, praying that she’d find someone who would know what the hell was going on.
Luckily, Apo saw that like, five blue members were chatting just inside the gates. Nominal and Owain raised their weapons as she approached, but she ignored that and took a moment to catch her breath. “Your mage passed out.” she simply said. That immediately made Nominal visibly drop his guard. “Scott?” he asked, and Apo nodded in response. She was slightly surprised to get a simple sigh in response, but it was comforting in a way. Clearly, this was a regular occurrence, which meant it wasn’t something to worry about. “Show me where he is, please”, he continued, tone much softer. Apo raised an eyebrow, but quickly decided it wasn’t her business if the other knight had something with the mage. “Follow me”, she said simply, turning to leave.
Nominal followed her to where Cam was visibly sweating, trying to figure out what was wrong with Scott. Nominal though, simply walked over and calmly crouched down beside the mage. “Calm down, he's fine”, he said simply, immediately making Cam stop fussing. “Why- What..?” the healer asked quietly, drawing something like a chuckle from the knight. “It’s a condition, apparently. He just does this sometimes, he should wake up in a bit”, Nominal responded, and Apo saw Cherri let out a long, deep breath out in relief. She moved to crouch down beside the princess. “He’s okay?” Cherri asked, and Nominal nodded simply. “I’ll take him back, thanks for coming to get me”, he said, voice soft in a way that made it clear that he was genuinely grateful. Apo gave a small nod, avoiding eye contact.
Soon, both the knight and mage were gone, having left to their own kingdom. Apo held Cherri’s hand firmly, having been trying to calm the other down for the past five minutes or so. Luckily, the princess was starting to calm down, no longer breathing visibly fast. “Shall we return to the castle? I have a feeling it might rain soon”, she asked gently, and Cherri nodded slightly. “Yeah.. that sounds nice. I’d like some food about now..” the princess mused. Apo smiled slightly. “Of course. I can arrange that”, she responded, drawing a giggle from the other.
“Let’s go now..”