Granger & Silvanna One Shots

The Eyes of the Storm

(Written for MGL.)

(Click next chapter for Bahasa Indonesia translation.)

Her first memory was of a storm above her.

Her face was submerged in the water, as the waves whirled above her, but in the next second her mouth broke the surface and she could breathe. She saw blue skies covered by angry grey clouds.

She saw stormy eyes, wide open with worry, as they gazed back at her.

Princess Silvanna was barely four years old when she had been playing by the river. Swept away by an unexpected current, the distracted guard was too far away to reach her.

Yelling out loud, he had fortunately attracted the attention of a young boy playing on the other side of the riverbank. The boy quickly splashed out to the prone figure, lifting her head above the water.

Silvanna did not remember the moment she lost control of her limbs. She did not remember the shouting or the fear. She did not remember the boy carrying her out of the water.

All she remembered was his eyes.

***

Saving the Princess had immediately lifted the prestige of the young boy, in the King and Queen's eyes. Young Granger, they found out, was the only son of two of Moniyan's most esteemed Imperial Knights.

They were quick to issue invitations to Granger's family for tea, to thank him for saving the young Princess's life.

The invitations would later arrive every week, for the young Princess Silvanna always demanded to see her new friend again.

But months later, Granger's parents were killed during a vicious demon attack, and Granger was sent to live at the Monastery of Light.

The young quiet boy became even more withdrawn, and showed up less and less at the Imperial Sanctuary. When the demons killed Princess Silvanna's younger brother one day, the Imperial Sanctuary stopped accepting visitors.

***

It would be many years before Princess Silvanna saw him again. Now an Imperial Knightess commanding a battalion, her eyes drew across the batch of new recruits before they landed on stormy orbs.

She had grown much taller now, and so did he. His skin was still pale and his hair was still messy. And his eyes. His eyes were still the same, the storm gazing back at her.

He was different though. Years of isolation had made him tougher, quieter, less playful. He wouldn't hang out with the other recruits, he wouldn't speak to her the same way he did when they were young.

The boy who was her friend was gone.

***

"Who was your first kiss?" Silvanna asked Alucard.

They were playing a game of Truth or Drink. Alucard didn't lift his drink to his lips.

"Margo." he said honestly.

"Who's that?" another knight asked.

"The girl who kicked your ass in school?" Granger suddenly said.

"She could kick everyone's ass." Alucard defended.

"But she only kicked yours." was the marksman's reply, as the knights laughed.

"What happened to her?" Silvanna asked curiously.

"She became a demon hunter." was the blonde's answer. "Left to travel the world."

"Yikes." was the Princess's eloquent response.

"That's okay. You know what they say..." Alucard was dreamy. "You never forget your first love."

Silvanna's eyes caught Granger's, then they both looked away.

***

Training was hard, but the recruits were taking it well. The last few days had been miserable, training under the never-ending rain, but today the sun was peeking out and the day was finally nice and warm.

She took a little time to herself, sitting alone in the field. Laying on her back, staring at the white clouds in the sky, she dozed off.

***

She woke up to a storm above her.

They didn't belong to the sky, though. They belonged to a man, no a young boy. A boy who ran through the fields with her and taught her how to fish and shoot darts.

He was leaning over her, a hand in her hair, brushing blonde wisps away from her face. And oh, this she hadn't seen in a long time, a soft smile was there too. One that few people ever had the chance to see.

And all of a sudden, it felt like she was four again, and these eyes formed the first memory she could ever remember.

"Hi," Silvanna said, trying to blink the sleep from her eyes.

"Hi," Granger echoed, his lips parted, the smile growing wider.

"Is it late?"

"A little." Granger gazed up for a second. "They were getting antsy when they realized no one knew where the Princess was."

She didn't know what possessed her to say it, but she did anyway.

"I've missed you."

"You did?"

"I never saw you again. Not after-" she didn't finish her sentence but she didn't have to. The death of her younger brother weighed heavily on the Moniyan Empire, even after all these years.

"I'd see you at the marketplace sometimes. Some days I thought about going up to talk to you."

"Why didn't you?"

Granger hesitated.

"Because... things changed. I had to change. And so did you."

There seemed to be a lump in her throat.

"Is that why you left me?"

"Did you think I left you?"

"It felt like it."

"I..." he exhaled. "It was hard. When I realized things couldn't ever go back to the way they were again."

And just like that, she could see the stormy orbs darken, as he withdrew away from her, both physically and emotionally. She caught his hand before it left her hair.

"Maybe..." she stroked the flesh on his hand, feeling the calluses on his palm from training, "maybe that doesn't have to be a bad thing."

Stormy eyes met hers again. "How come?"

"Sometimes things change," she says, echoing something her mother told her years ago, "and they can change for the better."

The hand hesitantly reached out to cup her cheek.

"Do you think so?"

"If we do it together," she said softly.

Granger swallowed hard as he thought about it.

"I wish I came back sooner."

"You're here now, aren't you?"

And to seal that, Silvanna rose slightly, so that she could press her lips to his.