26 Chapter 26. The First Date.

-Godrick-

Godrick and Jeanne stood at the outskirts of the city. The pair had come here straight from the castle, accompanied by some other members of the Yggdmillennia faction. Caules, Archer, and Astolfo had come with them to investigate some clues they had on the assassin of black.

Finally reaching the city the pair broke off from the group and started to explore. Walking the streets of the city, the pair drew many gazes, though that didn't bother them much.

Finally reaching the coffee shop that Fiore had told them about, they walked in and started looking at their options.

"From what Fiore said, we just tell them what we want and they give it to us?" Jeanne said, but it sounded more like a question. The pair had never been to a shop like this before, and they were confused about what to do.

The shop was empty at the time, so Jeanne decided to walk to the woman behind the counter and ask for her assistance.

"Um… excuse me," Jeanne said, getting the woman's attention. "Oh yes, hello! What can I get for you?" The woman said. "Well, I'm not actually sure. We've never been here before." Jeanne said, motioning to Godrick and herself.

The woman then seemed to notice Godrick for the first time, and with her mouth hanging open she looked up and down his length. "Oh, I'm sorry! You are just very tall sir!" She said, regaining her decorum.

"We have a number of options for you to choose from. But with you having never been here before, I would just recommend the double chocolate fudge shake." The woman recommended.

"Sure, we will take that then!" Jeanne said enthusiastically.

"Very well, what sizes would you like?" The woman asked.

"Sizes?" Jeanne asked, confused. The woman gave them a look of pity then just said "i think i've got it, you won't be disappointed."

The woman told her the price to which Jeanne handed her the envelope Fiore had given them. The woman looked at it in confusion before taking and opening it up. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw how much the envelope held.

"There must be a mistake here Ma'am," the woman said, trying to push the envelope back into Jeannes hands. "Oh no, is there not enough? The young woman who gave this to us told us that all we needed was in there." Jeanne said apprehensively.

"No miss, that's not the problem. Quite the opposite actually, there's too much." The woman said. "I'll just take this one." She said pulling out how much they needed to cover the price. "Oh, well thank you then." Jeanne said, accepting the envelope back.

The woman told them to take a seat, and she would bring their drinks out to them. Picking seats that were near the window they sat and waited for their drinks. They didn't have to wait long, for after a couple minutes the woman running the small shop came out of the back with two drinks in her hand.

She set the biggest size they had in front of Godrick, while setting a smaller size in front of Jeanne, then put two straws on the table. "Enjoy!" She said and walked back into the backroom.

Godrick and Jeanne both looked at each other, before Jeanne grabbed one of the straws, while Godrick grabbed what was essentially the pitcher in front of him.

"Well, this is the first time either of us have had this… chocolate." She said.

"On three?" Jeanne asked with a playful smile on her face. Godrick smiled and nodded.

"One, two, three!" They both brought the drink to their lips and took a sip. After a moment they set their drinks down and looked at each other.

"OH MY GOSH!" Jeanne shouted, and slapped her hands on the table.

"THIS IS INCREDIBLE!" Godrick signed to her, bringing the shake back up to his lips.

The woman came running from the back room, hearing Jeanne shout, believing something was wrong.

"Is everything ok!?" She said in a panic, almost slipping as she came from the room in her haste.

The moment Jeanne saw her she pointed at the woman. "YOU!" She said, then pointed at the drink. "How did you make this?! This isn't just a drink, its, its… it's ART!" She yelled out.

Godrick hadn't pulled the drink from his mouth this whole time, and by the time Jeanne had finished her exclamation, he had finished it. He looked at the woman and held out his pitcher. He had the strong urge to smash the pitcher on the ground and shout for another one, but he resisted, not wanting to scare the woman.

She took it from him, not understanding what he wanted.

"He's asking for more!" Jeanne said as she slapped Godricks hand that had been sneaking over to her own drink. The slap was so strong it created a small shockwave that blew the woman's hair around.

The poor woman brought the pitcher to her chest in fear and backed away. "I'll- I'll bring it out right away!" She said, running into the back room.

Jeanne turned to Godrick, giving him a savage snarl. "You touch my drink, and I will rip your fingers from your hand!"

Feeling she was serious, Godrick pulled his hands back, letting them rest in his lap where they would be safe.

Jeanne sat down and gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry," She said. "Almost lost my composure." She finished. He raised his eyebrow at her. "Really, almost lost your composure hm?" He signed, then folded his arms. she looked away embarrassed before she started to laugh.

Godrick himself started to chuckle, before they were both laughing and pointing at each other, laughing even harder. After a while the woman brought another pitcher to Godrick, and even an extra one for Jeanne.

"I'm sorry for my outburst earlier, I've just never had something so incredible. I'm not used to sweet things, and this is the first thing that we've had that's been so rich in flavor!" Jeanne told the woman, who just nodded then backed away till she reached the backroom which she then ran into.

"I think I messed up…" Jeanne said looking at the scene.

She turned back to Godrick. "Tell me a story from your childhood that makes you laugh." She asked. Godrick was caught off guard, and lowered his head while he thought for a moment. He quickly slapped the table before looking back up at Jeanne.

"I've got it. my first wild Boar hunt!" He signed.

-flash back-

"Come on! I think I saw it go this way!" A young Godrick said enthusiastically, urging his horse to go even faster.

"Don't stray too far from us Godrick, we don't want to lose you!" Lancelot shouted, seeing the young boy riding ahead of them.

"He will never listen to you, you know that." Artoria said from her horse, riding next to Lancelot. They were riding in a small hunting party, celebrating the turning of the new year by hunting wild Boar in the snow near the river Severn for the coming feast that night.

Artorias small hunting party consisted of herself, Lancelot, Mordred, Godrick, and a few of her knights from the round table.

"I know that, but we have to at least try." The older man said.

Godrick was racing through the forest, holding his ashwood spear as he did. The snow was only about a foot deep or so, so the tracks were extremely noticeable. He slowed his horse, seeing that the tracks were becoming more fresh as he followed them.

As his horse came to a complete stop, he dismounted into the snow which came up to about his shins. He crouched down to stay low, not wanting to alert the boar to his presence. He held his bow and spear in different hands, ready to use either one at a moment's notice. He started to creep forward, staying as silent as he could.

He heard the others come to where his horse was, and looked back to see Artoria dismount. She motioned to Lancelot and the remaining member to stay back as she too crouched down and began to make her way to where Godrick was.

Artoria let her fur cloak drag behind her, leaving a wide drag mark In the snow. She came right next to Godrick and whispered to him.

"I thought I told you that you need to stay with us." She chided softly.

"But you were all taking so long, mother, I couldn't wait while you all lagged behind!" He replied in a whisper.

She just shook her head as she began to examine the tracks. "We'll discuss this later." She finished.

"Now, tell me what you've found." She said. "Well, I've tracked it to this area, and the tracks go this way. I think it's a really really big one!" Godrick whispered energetically.

"Good work," She said to him with a smile. "Now lead on, my little hunter!" She whispered to him.

He gave her a bright smile and a gigglr before he started to follow the tracks.

Artoria smiled to herself. It wasn't often that she got to act so freely, like a mother. It was these moments with Mordred and Godrick that she truly free.

Following the boy she let him lead her to a small cliff that led to a clearing with a cave mouth in the middle of the forest. He had stopped at the cliff, looking, searching for his prey. She could tell he was getting impatient, but she trusted that what she had taught him would win over his emotions.

"I think it's in the cave." He whispered to her. "OK, and now what do we do?" She asked him.

"We wait until we see movement, to make sure it's what we've been hunting." He replied. "Very good!" She whispered to him, patting his back gently.

After a while of waiting, a boar came from the cave, confirming their prey.

Godrick shifted around in excitement, readying his bow. Artoria took this moment to calm him down before he let the arrow fly.

"Deep breaths," She said, placing her chest against his back so she could look down the arrow with him. She wrapped a hand around his waist and placed it on his stomach for support, as she felt his breathing.

"Remember to make your core strong." She whispered while fixing his posture a bit with her free hand.

"Breathe in deep," She said, feeling his lungs Inflate.

"And breathe out." His lungs decompressed.

"Now loose." She said, not feeling him breath. She knew he was ready to fire so she gave the command. He let the arrow fly, and it struck true, burying Itself just behind the shoulder. The boar gave a squeal, then fell to the ground unmoving.

"Beautiful shot!" She said. He turned towards her, revealing a huge smile. He pumped his fist then as he was standing and walking to go get his prize, a chunk of the ice broke from the cliff taking him with him.

"Godrick!" Artoria shouted, reaching a hand out to him, but it was already too late. He fell to the cliff bottom with a thud, knocking the air from his lungs. A moment later he gasped and sat up, looking into the cave mouth.

"Mother!" He shouted, quickly getting to his feet and backing away.

Artoria looked at the cave mouth and saw the biggest boar she had ever seen. It was at least as tall as she was, maybe a bit bigger.

"Twrch Trwyth." She whispered to herself, looking at the boar. It was an enchanted boar with fur said to be as tough as iron.

The boar seemed to look to its dead mate or child, and gave a great squeal of anger.

Artoria acted fast, drawing Excalibur and leaping down to the bottom of the cliff in front of Godrick. She stood in front of him protectively, ready to meet the boar.

Twrch Trwyth stomped at the ground, preparing to charge. Artoria raised her blade ready to stop him.

The boar charged, shaking its tusks wildly as it did. Artoria stepped forward bringing her sword downwards in a vertical slash. Things didn't go as planned however as she slipped on the ice as she stepped forward. This caused her to miss her swing while Twrch Trwyth charged into her, hitting her with one of its massive tusks sending her sprawling across the ice.

She did manage to cut one of the tusks in half however, before Excalibur was knocked from her hands, sending it to where Godrick was. The boy had backed into the cliff wall, trying to get as far away from the boar as possible. The boar however, rammed straight into the cliff wall where he was sitting, forcing Godrick to slip and fall to the ground underneath it.

The boar had driven its one remaining tusk into the stone behind Godrick, and now was trying to free itself by violently shaking its head. It succeeded and ripped its tusk free before shaking its head around, trying to impale the little being it had lost sight of.

Artoria got to her knees, seeing the boy shifting around, coving his head with his hands and trying to stay away from the mad boar's feet as it's tusk attacked the wall just above him.

"Godrick!" Artoria shouted again. She saw his fallen ash spear next to her, and grabbed it. She got to one knee and suddenly she blitzed towards the boar. To her surprise she buried the spear head in its neck, eliciting a squeal of pain from it.

The boar reared up, clawing at the air before slamming its hooves back down on the ground.

Godrick gave a shout of pain as one of its hooves clipped his side on its way down.

Artoria, hearing the fearful shout of pain, pushed the spear deeper into its neck, trying to kill the beast. It reared up once more, and to her dismay the ash shaft of the spear broke, leaving her with nothing but a stick.

Twrch Trwyth fell back to the ground, and gave one more mighty squeal, then collapsed to the ground.

Artoria was shocked, as she felt that the strike with the spear wouldn't have been enough to kill the beast, but suddenly remembered that Godrick was under the beast.

With a mighty heave, she pulled the beast from the ground and let its body fall to one side revealing a bloodied boy, who held Excalibur In his hands.

Artoria quickly knelt next to him, fearful that the blood Might be his. To her relief the boy had only one wound on his, that being on his side.

Godrick had seen Excalibur when the boar reared up for the second time. He had grabbed the blade and put the pommel of it against the icy stone below him, then let the boar fall on it. Excalibur had taken most of the boar's weight, but left Godrick drenched in blood.

He slowly looked up at his mother.

"Mom… it peed on me." He said.

-flash back end-

"My mother was not happy with me that day. From then on I always had to hunt with Lancelot, Tristan, or one of the other knights." Godrick signed.

"We took it back to the castle and had a huge feast that night. Everyone was congratulating me on killing the boar, but I still think it was my mothers doing." He finished.

Jeanne laughed as she listened to his story, feeling like things were going really well.

"Now you tell me one." He signed to her.

"Alright, well, there was this time when I was a little girl when i-" She started to say.

They were interrupted by Chiron bursting through the doors.

"Assassin is at the Castle!" He shouted.

Jeanne and Godrick immediately stood up and ran outside with Chiron.

Godrick materialized his halberd and motioned Chiron to step onto it.

Chiron looked at Jeanne in confusion, not wanting to waste more time.

"Just get on, He'll launch you to the castle!" She said to him in a hurry.

Not wanting to waste more time, Chiron decided to trust them. He just got onto Godrick halberd, and with a heave the Juggernaut sent him into the sky. With the combined force of Godricks throw, and his jump, Chiron made it to the castle just as his master flew from her study window. He landed next to her as the figure appeared from the surrounding fog that had enveloped the castle.

"More friends!" The child in front of him said.

Suddenly she backed away as another figure landed in front of Chiron as his master.

"You must be the ruler." The little girl said.

"I am, and you must be the assassin of black." Jeanne said, looking at the child in front of her.

"Well mommy said I can have as much fun here as I want, so I want you to move so I can play with them." The little psycho said.

Suddenly a third figure appeared from above them all and landed on top of the assassin. She had been too distracted by her playmates being blocked from her to notice a figure was coming towards her till it was too late.

Godrick used his halberd to blow away the fog that had gathered in the area, revealing that he had one foot pinning the assassin by the chest. In reality his foot was the size of her whole torso, but that didn't matter at the moment.

Seeing that it was a child under his foot, Godrick quickly stepped off of her, letting her quickly disengage from the group. She immediately fled the castle, fearfully looking at the massive knight that had almost killed her.

"We'll make you regret getting in the way of our playtime!" a voice shouted from the surrounding fog before it was withdrawn from the area, leaving everything visible once more.

"What took you so long?" Jeanne asked him as she walked over to stand by his side.

Godrick just shook his head. He would never tell her that after throwing Chiron and her, he went back into the shop to finish not only his drink. But hers as well.