15 Chapter 15
Godrick.
Exiting the forest Godrick walked as Jeanne sat on his shoulder. She had a faint blush as she wrapped an arm around his helmet. She had hurt herself when she kicked him, and he simply picked her up and placed her on his shoulder as he brought her out of the forest.
"I'm ok to walk now Godrick." She said, using his name for the first time.
This made him stop as he turned his head to look at her. He held his hand out for her to step on, which she did. She then hopped from his hand to the ground.
"Thank you." She said turning from him so he wouldn't see her face.
As they walked the hillside in the moonlight they came to the summit of the hill.
"How beautiful." Jeanne said as they both looked out over the landscape. Bathed in the silver moonlight, the countryside lit up. The trees stood tall, the rivers and streams sparkled as the water seemed to dance. Grasslands and fields of wheat bent back and forth with the wind.
Godrick had only seen such beauty a handful of times.
He took his helmet off and let it and his halberd dematerialize from his hands. He looked across the land, and agreed with her. It was truly beautiful.
But as his gaze settled on her he had to admit. The land wasn't the only beauty he was looking at.
Soon she caught him staring at her.
"What?" She asked.
Godricks eyes widened as he realized she had caught him. He quickly turned back to the view in front of him, and continued surveying the landscape.
As he did he missed the small smile that grew on Jeannes face.
After a while Godrick heard the sound of a wrapper. Turning back to Jeanne, she had pulled a packet of crackers and a water bottle from her suitcase.
She looked up at him and met his eyes.
"What?" She said a second time.
"I still need to eat in this body. I may be a heroic spirit, but I had to possess this body to make it work." She said with a faint blush. She slowly ate her crackers and drank from her water bottle.
"Do you want one?" She asked the giant. He looked at her curiously, and held his hand out. She placed a cracker on his gauntleted hand, and watched as he brought it to his mouth.
Suddenly he looked down at her sharply and held out his hand again.
"You want another one?" She asked with a small chuckle.
He nodded, and she placed one more in his hand. He brought the cracker to his mouth and held out his hand again.
"No! I only have a couple of them. And unlike you I actually need to eat!" She said to him.
He crouched down to meet her eye level and held out a hand once more. She picked up her suitcase protectively, as she began to back away from him slowly.
"They're mine!" She said as she dashed away from him, running back down the hill.
Seeing her run, Godrick stood, then stretched as he prepared to chase after her. He enjoyed this playful nature. He hadn't had moments like this since his sister had disappeared.
As Godrock finished stretching he looked to where Jeanne was. He had let her get a good lead on him, but now it was time to hunt her down… for the vanilla flavored crackers.
He started chasing her down the hill, not caring about proper movement. He would slip and fall as he ran, but didn't care. Her laughter filled his ears as they indulged in their playful game of cat and mouse.
She entered the tree line, elegantly weaving through the trees as she ran. Godrick was much less elegant, crashing through the same trees trying to catch her.
After a while of the chase Godrick came to a clearing where he had lost Jeanne. Suddenly he felt someone land on his shoulder, then leap away.
As Jeanne landed she looked to him.
"OK, you can have one more. But thats it ok?" She said in a playful voice.
Holding out his hand she gave him one, which he brought to his mouth.
"Thank you for that." She said.
"I've been feeling so stressed, and that definitely helped me take my mind off of it. Now, we need to find a place to stay the night. Like my need to eat, I need sleep as well." She said.
Nodding, the two of them set off to look for a place to house her.
They left the forest and found fields of animals, wheat, and corn. After a while they found a couple of houses, and after asking two or three of them, Jeanne finally found one where she could rest. The home was owned by a kind old man, who had a spare room she could use.
After putting her suitcase down in the room she asked Godrick to materialize.
The room was small so when he did, he made sure he was kneeling down.
"We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. You might as well rest yourself and prepare. We're definitely going to be fighting, I can feel it." She said.
"OK, now leave… I need to get changed." She said. He dematerialized and let her have her privacy until she called him back. She stretched and got into the small bed, content to let Godrick watch over her as she rested.
The next morning Jeanne woke at dawn, and changed into her clothes she would wear for the day. After thanking the elderly man she left and called for Godrick once she was outside. He appeared, and listened to what she had to say.
"Would you like to walk around with me?" She questioned. Godrick nodded and dematerialized his armor, leaving him in a linen shirt that exposed his neck and a good portion of his chest. He wore the bottom half of his armor, without the metal parts leaving him looking like a poor farmer. In reality these clothes were quite nice in his lifetime, but here…
"We are going to need to find you some new pants." Jeanne said as she averted her eyes from his chest to hide her deep blush. Godrick looked at himself and gave a questioning look to her. She didn't answer as she quickly walked by him, as she started towards the small city.
Reaching the small city, they walked down the street looking for a clothing shop. As they walked, the locals of the city would stop and stare as they gazed at Jeanne and Godrick. One for her beauty, and one for his massive size. They would stop and speak in Romanian, commencing about the two. It got to the point that Jeanne grabbed his hand and pulled him into one of the back alley ways, so the crowds would leave them alone.
Soon enough they found a small clothing store which she pulled him into. Ducking into the store the store clerk was shocked to see him, and even more shocked when Jeanne asked if she had any clothing that might fit him. The woman asked to take Godricks measurements, then went into the back room. She came back a while later, and told them she had only one pair of jeans that might fit. Taking the pants, Godrick when to one of the changing rooms and found he couldn't fit in any of them.
Motioning to Jeanne, he showed her his predicament, and she couldn't help but laugh at his plight.
"You know, you can just travel in spirit form. It's not that big of a deal." She said to him. He wanted to be out and about and see this new world he was in, so he shook his head.
"OK, let me go ask her what she thinks." She said as she walked over to the store clerk.
"So, my friend has a problem getting changed… he can't really fit into the changing room…" Jeanne said.
The clerk looked back at Godrick who gave a sheepish smile.
"He can try the back room then." The woman said in romaine. She led Godrick to the back storage room where he was able to try the pants on. They fit pretty well, though they were a little tight in some places. Coming to the front desk to pay Jeanne looked to Godrick, who stared back at her.
"You need to pay for the pants…" Jeanne said to Godrick awkwardly.
Godrick gaped at her, thinking that she would pay for them. He didn't have any money, he had just been summoned the night before!
"Well I don't have any money either!" Jeanne practically shouted at him.
Slapping his forehead, Godrick put the pants back down on the table, nodded at the store clerk and began to walk out of the store.
"Wait!" The store clerk said.
Turning back the pair looked to the woman who had an exasperated expression.
"You can just take the pants. They wouldn't fit anyone else anyway, and they are just taking up space in the back room. They'll get more use from you then sitting back there." She said.
"Are you sure?" Jeanne said.
"We don't want to take advantage of your kindness."
The store clerk simply shook her head.
"Just take them. It's ok." She said.
"Very well then." Jeanne said.
"Thank you." She said as she handed the pants to Godrick. He went into the storage room and changed once more.
As he walked out into the room Jeanne had a hard time taking her eyes away from his chest.
He still wore his normal linen shirt that showed his chest, It's sleeves stopping at his forearms. He wore his new jeans, and his leather boots.
Now walking through the city once more Jeanne turned to Godrick with a serious look.
"I'm feeling remnants of magic in the area. Let's look around and see what we can find." She said.
Nodding Godrick followed after her as they began to follow magic traces. Soon enough they came to a part of the city that looked as if it had been destroyed.
The brick road was torn up in some places, ruined walls, and shattered glass was scattered all around. A very damaged car was being moved onto a tow truck so they could move it out of the way.
As Godrick looked closer at the car he noticed the bullet holes.
Walking away from the scene they came to an intersection where Jeanne crouched down. She looked around to see if anyone was watching, and when she was sure no one was, she placed her hand on the ground. A golden magic circle lit up around her hand and shot down one of the streets before disappearing.
"Up there." She said as she pointed to the church on the hill.
Quickly making their way to the church they walked in expecting to find something related to the masters of red.
As Jeanne stepped into the room a purple magic circle formed on the ground.
Godrick had just lowered his head to step through the doorway, as the trap activated. Chains shot from the trap and wrapped themselves around Jeanne who had been surprised by the trap. It didn't take her much effort to break free from them though, as she flexed her arms outwards and materialized her armor. The chains broke and the magic circle faded as she turned back to Godrick. He lifted one foot and brought it back down as he stomped on the stone floor, destroying a good majority of it. In doing so he set off the other traps that had been set, activating them harmlessly.
Suddenly Jeanne reared back as if she had been physically struck by something and grabbed her head with her hands. Godrick was by her side in a moment, making sure she was alright. She looked up to see him standing next to her, concerned expression on his face.
"I just had a revelation. We must meet with the master of the red faction!"
