Snow Alvar's Story

Snow sat alone at one of the nearby tables in the cafeteria, absentmindedly shoveling a forkful of grilled cod into his mouth while reading a magic text. Those who passed and saw this laughed to themselves and moved on. It was well known how horrendously bad Snow was when it came to spell casting, so why would he be studying it? He sighed and shut the book before the magicaly scrawled words gave him to bad of a headache. He forced some steamed vegetables onto the fork and ate them, chewing a bit more thoroughly than was probably necessary. He lay his head against the cool metal gauntlet on his right hand and tried to understand what he'd just read. One of his strange quirks, that gauntlet. He wore it in every class, along with his greaves and sabatons. Some speculated that he didn't own a normal pair of boots. They just so happened to be right, but that didn't mean it wasn't rude. He looked up and saw Ana, and he waved with a friendly smile. He'd known her for years and knew her to be a nice enough of a person. Secretly though, he envied the friendship she and her partner, Crystal, shared. He had no partner to speak of, and most students avoided him when partners were assigned. He pushed the thought from his head and returned to his meal, deciding in his mind to head to the practice room after classes.

Finally she noticed Crystal was busy, and shrugged, taking her spaghetti. Her body still covered in the blood she hummed to herself, only to see Snow, and smiled at him friendly. She knew him since kindergarten and though he thought of her as just a friend, she had a major crush on him for years. Noticing Crystal wasn't gonna be joining her any time soon she went over to Snow, and sat down. She noticed him deep in though, and nudged him teasingly, smiling.
"Hey, what's on your mind?| She said casually, though concern in her eyes. She never really wanted him to feel left out of place, and though he never saw it she wanted what was best for him. Awaiting for a response she chewed on a meatball, as it stuck to her fork and she watched him with careful eyes. She was starved, and could eat probably the whole food in the cafeteria without gaining an ounce, as she nibbled it quietly, her hair now pulled back into a ponytail, exposing a large scarr from behind her right ear and down her neck to her collarbone. she got it from a fight, almost dying to, but now it was a symbol of pride, and courage,and she damn well wasn't afraid to prove it either, always with her knife attatched to her thigh, strapped on tightly like her life depended on it.

He smiled when she came to sit down and returned her nudge, careful of the hard metal plates covering his arm. "Nothing important. Your arm okay?" He knew that she disliked not being able to use spells in class, and of her willingness to fight. This latest injury didn't come as to much of a surprise, but he did worry about her. It was moment's like this that he wished he could have been her partner, then at least he could take responsibility when she got hurt. But that wasn't very fair, Crystal was a great warrior. If she couldn't keep Ana from getting cut on the arm, than it must have been an extreme circumstance. Quietly, he pushed a small bag of cookies over to her, aware of how ravenous she got around lunch time. "Oh, before I forget, you wanted me to show you some knife fighting techniques later, right? How's after class sound?" Last time they'd trained, shed nearly managed to cut him, so she was definitely getting better.

He returned the hug, a little awkwardly. He grinned when she noticed the cookies, and knew what was going through her head. She'd brought cookies to class when they were younger for her birthday. "Ginger snaps!" She'd said. "The best cookies ever!" She'd given him two. They'd been delicious. He finished his meal in peace after she left, thinking about how she'd blushed. Had he embarrassed her somehow? It was easily a possibility, being as socially awkward as he was. Yet she continued to visit him, in and out of class, and he'd be a liar if he said it bothered him. After lunch he had magic class, during which (after teachers and students had securely barricaded themselves behind a pile of desks) he somehow managed to completely botch a simple slow spell, the result being that the hour long class lasted about five minutes. From the point of view of the students, it was his greatest magical success to date.
Classes were over, so he headed to the gym, where Ana would undoubtedly already be, and knowing her, she'd be doing crunches or pull ups or laps around the gym. He scratched his chin, wondering absentmindedly where she got all that pep. He managed to find his locker after about five minutes (about a year ago, someone placed a displacement spell on it, so it never appeared in the same place twice). His was one of the few full sized lockers, and had the best lock, since it was where he kept his training weapons. He pulled out a couple of wooden knives and the wooden replica of his bastard sword while he was at it. He didn't bother changing into gym clothes, as his everyday clothes allowed for plenty freedom of movement. He shut the locker door and sighed as it faded from view. It was quite a durable spell. He stopped by a vending machine, and grabbed himself and Ana some cold waters. Then, thinking for a second, got a third in case Crystal showed up. The two never seemed to stray to far apart, so she probably knew where Ana would be. He stepped into the gymnasium and spotted her, running laps like he'd figured she would. He waited for her to finish her last lap and offered her one of the waters. He knew what she was thinking too, he could read it on her face. "Of course you can. What they think isn't important, so long as you know your own limits."

He winced as he watched her fall, but it didn't look to be to bad. However, he certainly wasn't expecting to be tackled to the ground so suddenly, and went down with a solid thud. He was about to say something, but choked on his tongue when she kissed his nose, and went beet red, which was doubly embarrassing, since he didn't like beets. He mumbled quietly as he was pulled to his feet. "How am I supposed to keep my guard up around my best friend?" She was the only person he could talk to openly besides Crystal, but that was only because of mutual warrior respect, and the one thing they had in common, Ana. Crystal understood what it was to be a warrior, and probably felt bad that he hadn't a partner of his own, but he doubted she understood him as a person, at least, not as well as Ana. He noticed her slim body, olive skin glistening with sweat, and something weird nagged at him from the back of his mind. He shook his head, her mention of Crystal not being able to attend breaking his chain of thought, and he tossed her one of the wooden knives. It was perfectly balanced, and weighed just as much as any other knife, since the higher grade training weapons had thick iron rods in the center. "Last time you nearly got me, but you over extended your body in your attack, and threw your center of gravity to far forward, so tripping you and pinning you was easier. You need to keep the knife closer to your body, and not lean forward with a slash. Watch, I'll show you." He stepped up to one of the training dummies and moved his body into whats addressed as "personal space". As he did, he drove the knife up under where the ribcage would be, and even with a wooden knife, it stuck into the plastic and foam man. "You need to get close and stab upwards, into the stomach or under the ribcage, but not the solar plexus, since there aren't any vital organs there. Alright then," He pulled the wooden knife out of the dummy. "Lets try it. Get close, then stab."

She watched him carefully, and felt herself wanting to prove she could do it. She only got off balance cause he tried showing her into her personal space. She watched him move, her veins pulsing while she continued to watch him move. She kept his words in her head; "How am I supposed to keep my guard up around my best friend?". She didn't realize how open he was with her, and how open she was with him. Maybe she did so, but maybe she shouldn't. I mean, she always got hurt when she brought someone closer to her, and she didn't want to get hurt...
Maybe change was good though.Change made things better. Maybe if...
She snapped out of her thoughts, hearing him explain, only for her to nod. She had the wooden knife in her hand, and went into her position- sword arm across her chest, and the other holding the shield. The shield weighed around 40-50 pounds, which made it heavy for her to support her feet on the ground. She narrowed her eyes, and was a few feet from the dummie. She charged at it, and swung her sword, it hitting the sword Snow put on it. She continued to slam the sword, and when she drove the sword through the ribcage of the dummie,a smile and accomplishment went onto her face. With that said, Ana looked over at her friend, happy. She wanted to learn more, but there was practice for a sport team or something like that, as she breathed quickly, and swung her sword around, trying to be casual, ending up getting off balance and falling onto the ground with a small Umph!

He watched her form, noting how it left her left side somewhat open. Her charge wasn't bad, at least no creating anymore openings, but still needed some work. A charge works better when one follows with a stab, not really a slash. Losses momentum. Her swings were good ones anyway, fast and fluid. She kept good control of the blade, but she only swung with her arms, not using her waist. He frowned when she stabbed the dummy, again she was leaning to far into the attack, and that put her off balance and left her open. He stepped up to explain these things, but had to drop his own practice weapons to catch her before she hit the floor. He blushed a little, feeling her warmth and her body in his arms. It was strange, as he didn't come into contact with other people all to often. "M-Maybe we should work on your b-balance first..."

He arched an eyebrow at the teacher, though he didn't really understand what she was upset about. She should be ecstatic that students were actually doing their own training, not punishing them. Then he realized what the teacher had seen, her in his arms, staring up at... He went beet red and hastily gathered up his weapons. "L-Let's g-g-go... Thats enough f-for today." He took her hand and half led half dragged her out of the gym, his mind racing. If anyone else but a teacher had seen that... He didn't want to think how that would go. Certainly, Ana would be the laughing stock of the school if they thought she liked him of all people.

She felt him dragged her by her hand, and turned red, smiling slightly. She felt ecstatic, and said to him "Um..I-I need to get changed" She didn't want him to see her naked, but knowing him since she was little, went quietly into the change room, as she went to her locker. She knew he wouldn't be too happy in his clothing, and shrugged when she unlocked her locker. She silently grabbed a towel, and embarrassed, though knowing she had to get it down, she slipped off her shirt, revealing her sports bra, and the large scar on her stomach, as well as many other little scars, and a bruise from today, as she put her shirt inside the locker. Just a shower, she thought to herself. He shouldn't care, I mean, it isn't like it's anything to be attracted to. Breathing deeply, she now removed her pants, and stood there in her panties and sports bra, before removing her bra, and wrapped the towel around herself. Her figure slim and nicely built she slipped off her panties, putting everything inside her locker and shutting it. She looked at him, beet red, and quickly went inside the shower room, turning it on hot. It steamed, and burned but felt nice, as she left the towel hanging outside of i. How stupid was she! Course she shouldn't have done that! He was just a friend, and she shouldn't even try to think of him. Sighing Ana let her thoughts ramble on, her forehead leaning on her arms, as she let the water wash over her head and body

He blushed and turned around when she started changing, trying not to think about what was happening just behind him. He relaxed a little when he heard her walk off to the showers, and looked around the locker room. It was very inconvenient at times, not knowing where ones own locker was. Naturally, with his luck, it happened to be right next to the girls showers. He banged his head on the metal door and sighed. This spell was most irritable. He shoved his things inside and pulled out his most precious possession, holding it close and sighing happily. This blade had been forged for a demonic warlord a couple thousand years ago, but now belonged to him, after his father who had bested the warlord in a duel, died seven years ago. He strapped the scabbard to his belt and sheathed the blade, feeling whole again. He shut was about to shut the locker door, when he saw a student passing by from magic class. After a little convincing, he agreed to place an anchoring spell on the locker. This time, after shutting it, the locker remained in place, much to his relief. Not knowing what else to do, he waited by Ana's locker. To avoid further awkwardness, he placed a blindfold over his eyes. His other senses let him know what was happening around him well enough.

After washing up, Ana walked out, and slightly laughed to herself when she saw him blindfolded. She said calmly as she put her hair up, and slipped back on her black "normal" bra, as well as her panties "You know you don't have to blindfold. Im not fully naked" She knew he might feel uncomfortable, but it wasn't the end of the world if he saw her naked. I mean their parents used to save water by having them bathe together when they were little.She smiled to herself, and slipped back on her jeans, as she brushed her hair and hung up her towel. She didn't mind having him hear, and once putting on her blouse she relaxed, putting on her boots. A dagger around six inches was attached to it on the inner side, and she put away her things, grabbing her bag and slamming the locker. Her blouse was too big for her, and exposed her skin and bra, as it was see through. She tucked it in, and buttoned it up, awaiting for him to take off his blind, her hair back in a tight clip, letting herself have some bangs, letting her eyes take a moment to look him over, biting her lip trying not to say anything. She did like him, and liked how he respected her. She liked how he made her feel, and with that shook herself mentally, before taking off his blindfold and smiled

He pouted a little, almost childishly. "It's rude to watch others dress. I think I read that somewhere..." He blinked and covered his eyes with his hand at the sudden light when she took off the blindfold, but smiled when he saw her. She always made him smile. He wondered why as he stood up and led her out of the locker rooms. "It's almost time for dinner. I don't know if you have p-plans or anything but.. I have some meatloaf I can cook up... If your n-not busy or anything." He didn't know why he was stuttering, they'd been eating dinner together almost every night since they'd been kids. Maybe it was the awkward situation in the gym that was making him act strangely. But she was acting kind of odd to, now that he thought about it, and wearing a rather odd blouse that he tried not to look at for extended periods of time.

He blinked and watched as she ran off, not noticing what she'd seen until she had left. When he did see it, his eyes darkened, and met those of the male posting the picture. He watched as he cowered and fell to hysterics. Everyone in the school knew the face he had on right now, and knew that it meant he was about to go into one of his rages. Last time had been around three years ago, after he'd found some bastards punch Ana. He'd lost it, and they'd wound up in the hospital for three weeks. He wore that face now, and he grabbed the taller man by the neck, slamming him into the board and the wall behind it. The wall cracked, the board was destroyed. "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT PICTURE, YOU SWINE OF MAN!?" But he couldn't answer, that slam had knocked him unconscious. He screamed in fustration and threw the man down the hall. He flew a good thirty yards. He found the picture and looked at it for a little while. He didn't know why, but he very carefully put it in his coat pocket and buttoned it. He walked off as people started to show up, and those who saw him hastily moved out of arms reach. He didn't know where to go, so he went to the park near where Ana lived, his apartment only being a few blocks away, and sat on one of the benches. He'd lost it again. He'd promised Ana he wouldn't, and there he went. He could've killed that bastard. His thoughts drifted as the sun set.

She laid there quietly, and she let the tears continue to fall, until she was out of tears. Maybe she over reacted, maybe she shouldn't have ran off. Sighing, she got up, and slowly brushed her hair. She had to make up for ditching him, but right now she needed to relax. Her glasses now on her face to read, she used them to see better, slipping on an elegant red dress, it flowing softly as she curled her hair, making it flow and wave down her body, cupping her small breast. She removed the glasses, and slipped on her black heels, before grabbing her coat and purse, locking up the house. She started to walk, not noticing Snow as she made her way to his apartment, breathing slowly. She looked sophisticated, and dangerous at the same time, wearing red lipstick, and mascara, hiding that she had been crying. Once passing the park, she noticed him, and her heart leaped. She had to tell him. Not yet, but soon. She took a deep breath, and walked down. He looked cold, and was a good thing she had a baggy jacket, maybe too big for him even. Walking over slowly she put on a small smile, and said teasingly "What? The picnic table wasn't classy enough?" Her eyes lit up, and put the sweater along his body, letting its warmth heat him up, and sat down near him. He looked upset, and she frowned, her legs crossed saying calmly "What's wrong?" Is it cause I left?" She didn't want him feeling bad, and she searched him, afraid he might have been hurt.

He looked up, surprised to see her, and blushed. She looked... stunning. Even in the dim light, she glowed. He blushed a little when she gave him her coat and rested his head in his hands, hiding his blush. If he looked at her again, he'd probably never pull his eyes away. "N-No, it wasn't you.. I... I lost it today. I'm sorry... I saw it and... lost it." He slowly pulled the picture out of his pocket and handed it to her without looking. He stared at the ground in silence, feeling the intense weight of his own guilt crushing him like a cockroach underfoot. He blinked, seeing a small drop of water fall in front of him, then another. He realized then that he was crying. Why am I crying? He muttered to himself. His heart ached and he didn't know why, only that he felt cold and alone. But Ana was there. He leaned against her a little, and felt better for it.

Feeling him lean against her as she stared at the image carefully, she blushed, and wrapped an arm around him, resting her hand on his shoulder, and put her head against his, while looking at the image. She did like this image, and whispered quietly, as her hand rubbed along his shoulder soothingly, like a mother comforting a son. "Do you want me to get rid of it?" She knew, if he agreed, it'd probably end in her room, as well as every other image of them. She liked the pictures they took, and treasured them. This one may be her favourite, and tucked it in her purse. She let the shoes fall off, as well as her purse, and leaned against the bench slightly, putting him between her legs , allowing his head on her chest, and stroked his hair softly, as she stared down at him. His back was upon her stomach, and she hummed softly, as if ti relaxed them both, and wiped his tears softly, feeling a few of her own fall.

He felt her arm go around him and relaxed, shutting his eyes. "No... I like it." He didn't care about anything right now, and felt her hold him, and let himself fall against her limply. He was tired, of body and mind, and wanted to sleep. And just sitting there with her, being held like this, felt nice. He wished moments like these weren't so far between. He wished for a lot of things though, so for now, he was happy. He knew he'd be in huge trouble later, but that didn't matter right now, and he started to doze. She was warm and he was tired. He needed... to... sleep.

Feeling him fall asleep she allowed him to, and smiled. She didn't want the moment to last, but it started to rain, and she sighed. He was already asleep, and she lifted him, well, sorta. Her heels and purse were around her arm, and she put him over her shoulders, carrying him to the house. God he was heavier than she thought. Her hair fell over her face, till they got to her house, and opened the door. luckily she left some lights on, and put him on the couch, wiping her forehead. He looked cute when he slept, and he needed it. She put her purse and shoes down, before heading to the kitchen, and made herself some tea, while she started the oven. It was no doubt she was starving, and so probably was hungry too. Letting her small feet pad quietly along the tile she went to the fridge, and grabbed eggs,bacon, as well as fruit, red wine, and looked around for the flour, as she hummed softly, the bacon already sizzling, and the tea poured. She liked cooking for him, and usually when one ate at her house they ended up staying the night, talking. As he slept she would look upon him a few times, smiling to herself before going back to cooking.

He slept more soundly than should be possible when flung over someones shoulder, and didn't utter a sound when he was dumped on the couch. He rolled over once to get his sword out of his side, then his nose twitched once or twice. Bacon. Eggs. Wine? They were to young to drink. Why did she have wine? He groaned and opened his eyes, blinking at the ceiling. When did he get into Ana's house? Had she carried him here? Maybe all those pull ups she did were starting to pay off! He flipped onto his stomach and stared tiredly at her from over the arm of the couch, and rubbed Lucky's ears when he came to say hi. He always liked Lucky, one of the few things they still had from when they were kids. He yawned and rubbed his eyes with his gauntlet covered hand and continued to watch. Again, something at the back of his mind nagged at him as he watched her slim little body scurry around the kitchen.

Her humming echoed the room, and once the bacon and eggs were cooked she focused on making a fruit salad. The dog was sniffing and licking Snow, making her almost giggle, but instead she finished up the salad, and went over to the kitchen table. She always ate the the table, company or not, and set the table carefully. She had lilacs in the middle, as well as candles that glowed, and with the food upon their dishes, she poured red wine into her glass, leaving it in ice in case if he wanted some. It had a bit of fairie blood, which helped her heal her body and relax, though she never told him, but sipped her tea quietly, sitting curled up in the arm chair and waiting for him to wake up. She liked it when he was over, it made her relax, and Lucky went over to her, hopping onto the armchair, and curling into her lap, making her smile. The dog knew when she had something on her mind, and she sipped her tea a bit more, before putting it down and petting the dog, Anas crystal green eyes watching Snow while he slept, not yet realizing that he was awake.