Title: Sticking Together
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: PG
Length: 1200 words
Content notes: Ascot's backstory's not that happy but there's nothing more about it here than there is in canon?
Author notes: Caldina and Ascot! Because theirs is an adorable adopting-you-as-my-sibling relationships and I wanted to have a go at writing the scene where they meet up again for the first time after each fighting (and then choosing not to fight) the Knights?
Summary: Caldina's curious. That's the only reason she's stuck about to see if Ascot'll turn up.

oOo

“Hey, kid.” Caldina called, staring down over the forest from her perch on one of the scattered outcrops of rock which dotted Cephiro. There wasn’t much visible in front of her except for trees and rocks, a few creatures wandering about, a drift of smoke in the far distance from the chimneys of some village.

Behind her, there was a moment’s silence, then a slight rustling from one of the trees which made it up this high. She turned back to see the boy shuffle closer, one hand raised towards her with magic starting to glint about it, biting his lip. “Did you hurt them?” He demanded, voice shaking a little.

“Nope.” Caldina turned away again, resting her elbows on her legs and staring out over the horizon. The ragged ends of her cloak fluttered about her, a lot shorter than it had been before the fight. “I let them go, same as you did.”

“Y-you did?” Ascot came closer again, she could hear the branch creaking slightly. “Why?”

“Because even Zagato can’t pay me enough to risk my life!” She shrugged. “Besides, they were kinda cool, I guess. …Why’d you let them go, kid?”

“My name isn’t kid!” Ascot snapped, and the branch he stood on creaked loudly, making him yelp and grab at the tree trunk. Caldina snorted, and turned about to face him, patting the stone beside her.

“Whatever your name, you’d better get over here before you break that poor tree, bouncing on it like that.” He paused, narrowing his eyes at her, and she sighed as dramatically as possible. “What?”

“How do I know you didn’t kill them then come to kill me, too?”

Caldina snorted. “Because Zagato definitely didn’t pay me enough to fight those monsters of yours, kid.” He bristled, and she waved her hand. “Ascot, whatever. Look, just – get off that thing, okay? You’re gonna fall off in a minute, and I don’t want to have to fuss getting down and finding someone to heal you when you’ve broken your leg or something. I don’t think Zagato’s gonna be paying me anymore, I’m not wasting my cash when I don’t have to!”

Ascot hesitated a moment longer, then reluctantly shuffled along the branch towards the rock. He had a decent grip on one a little higher up for most of the way, but it got out of reach at the end; Caldina reached out, and he took her hand to jump the rest of the distance.

“Come on, sit down. If you’ve been following them since they left the first shrine, then you must be pretty worn out.” Caldina waited while he settled beside her, then asked what had been niggling at the back of her mind since they’d seen him stop fighting, on Zagato’s water-mirror. They’d been able to watch, but not to hear; she knew the long-haired girl had been yelling at him, but no idea what she’d done to make Ascot go from the manic brat she’d been used to into the unhappy looking one she’d only caught glimpses of, when he thought no one was watching him. “Why didn’t you do what you were meant to, anyway?”

“…My friends were getting hurt, because of me.” He muttered, looking down, and Caldina knew that the kid was probably, technically, older than she was – but he wasn’t like the Princess, or like that mage that had given the Knights their magic. Ascot really was a kid.

“…Your friends? Those big monsters?”

“Yes!” His head came up, and he glared at her, eyes starting to gleam with tears. “And they’re not monsters! They’re my friends and they care about me and I won’t let them go and I won’t let them get hurt anymore and we’re going to live together and I don’t care what people say because I’ll protect them from everyone and-“

“Whoa, whoa! Slow down! I’m not arguing with you!” She patted him on the shoulder, and he stared at her, then seemed to deflate, getting smaller.

“…You’re not?”

“Nope. Why shouldn’t they be your friends? They’re creepy-looking, sure, but what’s that got to do with anything? Not everyone can look as good as I do!” She gestured at herself, then frowned at the ragged edges of her cloak. “Even when I really need some new clothes. I ain’t got nothing against your friends, kid. Just didn’t realise they were. I’ve never seen you talking to them.”

“I… they don’t have to appear, for me to talk to them, and back there – there were people around, people don’t-“ He broke off, rubbed angrily at his eyes. “They look like nightmares. So people are scared. But they don’t hurt people – not unless I ask them to, or-“

“Well, don’t ask them to hurt me, and we’ll be fine!” Caldina patted him on the head – his hat squished flat when she did so, and he looked like he wasn’t sure whether he should be offended by that or not. “Come on, then. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to stay out here all night. You got any food left, or do we need to make it as far as that village over there and buy something tonight? I’m out, and I want a bed, unless you really don’t want to get close to people yet. If so, there’s some caves back that way which looked pretty dry…”

Ascot stared at her, confusion written across his face. “I was going to- you- what?”

Caldina stood up, and stretched. “Well, I don’t know anyone else about here, and I’m not gonna go back to Zagato. Figure we might as well stick together for now – you can keep chasing those girls, if you want, but I don’t think you’re going to be able to catch up to them. So we need to get some food, and I want a decent night’s sleep! That place of Zagato’s had terrible beds, I swear my back’s started creaking! So – I figure we get to a village, get some supplies, get a good night’s rest in an inn or something then we can head out in the morning and find somewhere to stay with your friends until we’ve decided what we’re gonna do next. That okay with you?”

“…Yes?” He was still staring at her, and she wasn’t quite sure what to make of the uncertainty in his expression. But then, she’d been waiting a couple of hours for him to get this far, he must have known by now he wasn’t catching those girls up until it was all over. At least she had a plan. A start of a plan. She wasn't going to get out of here until this was over, anyway, she might as well stick around with Ascot.

“Alright then! Come on, kid. Let’s find us a place to stay.”

oOo