The Prince and his Blade

Chapter 3: A Meaningful Gift

The next morning came by faster than Pandoria had been expecting, before she knew it the chill of the snow blanketed area was making her shiver as light shined in her closed lids. Although in response to her shivering she felt something tighten around her body. Confused she opened her eyes slowly and blinked a few times before freezing and staring, Zeke's face was so.... Close to her own, he seemed to be holding her. A deep blush spread over her cheeks as she stared, hadn't she fallen asleep laying on his lap the night before? He must have moved her in her sleep without her knowing, but those thoughts didn't last long as she saw him starting to wake up himself. Quickly her eyes shut as she made herself look like she had simply been sleeping this whole time, it was rather convincing.

Zeke opened his eyes as he too woke up, he realised what he had done and gulped a little. He lightly let Pandoria go and sat up rubbing his eyes, he had remembered moving to hug her for the night but only because she seemed to be shivering every now and then and he was worried she was cold. However he pushed that past his mimd, at least she hadn't been awake to see that right? Placing his hand on her arm he shook her lightly, "Pandy, its morning we should probably head out if we want to get a ship from the docks" he said softly.

Pandoria opened her eyes lightly once again, pretending that this was indeed the first time she was waking up. "Okay, good morning Prince" she said softly as she pushed herself up and rubbed her eyes. They both felt a little achy from sleeping on the hard stone floor, not to mention hungry. Pandoria slipped her glasses back on and stood up beside Zeke nodding, she was ready.

The two left the cave and walked through the tundra towards the Tantalise docks where to their luck a ship was indeed docked. It didnt seem like it belonged to any merchent, meaning it probably was one of his peoples ships that couldn't use it after the isolation had begun many years prior. Bording the titan ship, Pandoria took the wheel first as they sailed out of Genbu and into the vast cloud sea.

They had been sailing for about a day surviving on whatever rations had been aboard the ship before they wound up on the Gormotti titan from what it seemed. At this point they were both hungry and tired, nither really being able to sleep on the ship while the other was steering it. However they made their way to the closest town, which seemed to also be the biggest town on Gormott.

"This is... Torigoth right?" Zeke muttered as he looked to Pandoria, she nodded a little before stumbling and falling a little. "Ah- Pandy!" He said catching her quickly and looking around, he did have money, he had made sure that he brought all his own money with him as they left. He quickly picked up Pandoria and hurried towards the inn. "Hey, do you have a room spare? My blade and I have been travelling for the past couple days and we really need some good food and sleep" Zeke asked the lady at the counter.

The Gormotti lady blinked and looked down to the young man carrying his exhausted blade, he looked exhausted himself. She smiled and stood up, "of course please follow me quickly" she said leading them through the halls to the back room that was indeed open. Zeke thanked her and paid for the room before lightly setting Pandoria on the bed and covering her with the blanket, smiling.

"Your exhausted... I know you were trying to hide it from me so I wouldn't worry but I saw through that mask" he muttered softly as he remived her glasses for her and he himself lay down. His eyes closed as he also got some rest it was nice to be welcomed instead of kicked out.

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10 Years Later
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10 years passed from the day the two wound up on the Gormott tighten, exiled and alone. Zeke was now 25 and had grown into a rather strong and able young man. He could now weild Pandoria's power perfectly and the two had continued to grow closer over the years.,Zeke had also grown much taller than Pandoria at this point so she didn't tease him anymore on that matter, in fact she really admired him these days.

The two had been exploring around the world, they had visited many titans and many cities and towns seeing and meeting new people, it had all been really interesting and fun now that they weren't tied to being at home. "Well here we are back again, Torigoth" Zeke said with enthusiasm as he looked around the familiar town.

"Yup! Gotta admit feels nice to be back here after all that time wandering the world" Pandoria said smiling. "Ooh! Look my prince they are having a fair! Looks like we came back at the right time!" She giggled and hurried into the crowd of people looking around the stalls in curiosity. Until a certain sometging caught her eye, she stopped and looked down at what seemed to be a handmade charm. A star type necklace but larger, for Pandoria it would seem to clip around her waist, the black wire like support holding 9 golden orbs of ore and a golden star of the same ore. It looked one of a kind and hand crafted it was beautiful.

"That little accessory caught your eye deary? My little daughter helped ne to make it, its the only one in the world" The male said smiling softly he seemed to be a loving father though he had limited wares thwy were all unique, Pandoria had a feeling him and his daughter didn't have a lot of money.

"All of your wares are beautiful sir I can.... Tell you and your daughter put your heart into everything that you make" Pandoria replied as she looked down to the charm again, she could buy it but her prince and her didn't have a lot of the saved up money left she didnt want to go buying things without checking with him first and foremost. "It really is pretty.... I need to think it over could... You hold it aside for me? I'll think over it at lunch if I'm back in an hour or two then I have decided to buy it" she asked softly.

The male gormotti smiled and nodded his head "Of cpurse please take all the time you need to think it over young lady" he said lifting the charm and setting it aside. Pandoria thanked him gratefully then turned and walked into the crowd to find Zeke. However Zeke had saw all of this, a smile on his face he walked to the stall keeper after she had left.

"Good day to you, I noticed my blade was looking at that charm thing, she would never ask for it herself so I want to buy it for her" Zeke said, after a short and pleseant conversation with the man he purchased the charm them hid it in his coat pocket before walking around to find Pandoria.

He found her away from the crowd to the right of the bridges looking over Alrest and the cloud sea, her eyes seemed locked on the world tree. Zeke walked over and was about to place his hands on her shoulders but stopped himself and instead stood beside her. "Its amazing right? No matter how many times I see the world tree... I'll never get used to this view" Zeke said making Pandoria look up to him.

"Yeah it really is amazing..... Hey my prince? Do you really think... That Elysium lies at the top of the world tree? With all the titans slowly dying off..... I guess I was just wondering if... All the stories could really be true" She said quietly looking back to the world tree.

"I don't know Pandy, though I suppose no one could really know for sure if all those tales were true or not..." Zeke muttered before looking back to her. "You must be getting hungry too, lets go to the usual cafe yeah?" he said smiling and lead her towards the cafe ordering some food for them and sitting at a table alone with her. He noticed that she seemed to be thinking hard as she was eating slower than normal, he knew what she was thinking about.

"I noticed you had your eye on this earlier, I think it would really look good on you" he said pulling the charm out of his pocket and holding it out to her.

Pandoria gasped and stared at it, "Are... You sure? I mean we don't have a lot of...-" But she was cut off by Zeke placing the charm belt into her hands and smiling.

"I'm positive Pandy, you have stayed with me for 10 years unconditionally, you never ask for anything and always follow where I go and what I want to do, you deserve to be treated every so often so thats what I'm doing, treating you" He said smiling as he watched her lightly clipping it around her waist and admiring its beatuy a light flush on her cheeks. "It looks good on you... Hey Pandy? Lets make a promise okay? You go where I go... Forever and always, I want to keep travellung by your side and as your driver, I want us to keep growing together too" Zeke said, his voice quiet barely over a whisper, she didn't even know just how important she was to him and vice versa.

Pandoria's smile only grew as she placed a hand to her cheek and looked down "Oh my prince your going to make me blush" she giggled she was never really subtle with her feelings not that she minded. "But okay, its a promise, I'll always go where you go no matter where it is or how far away I'll never leave your side my prince" she said her eyes sparkling behind her glasses as she happily tucked into her food, flustered and happy.