The Ancient Magus' Bride

Learning to understand

Elias still struggled to understand humans. Although Chise was easily read when upset he couldn't understand the reason. And today was one of those days. Chise was hiding somewhere in the house after having a little outburst during lunch. He had noticed she was acting strangely during the morning. Slipping up with the simple practice and easily getting frustrated. In the end, he had called practice off early. And once they had sat down at lunch he decided to confront her.

"Chise? Are you okay? You've been acting strange today." Chise looked up at him from her meat sandwich, her eyes still looked slightly annoyed.

"I'm fine, sorry for the inconvenience." She mumbled before taking another bite. Elias looked at her eat in silence for a moment, the only sound was the sound of the kettle on the stove.

"Chise..." He started. "You don't seem fine." Suddenly she looked up glaring, her lovely green eyes holding back tears.

"I said I'm FINE!" She growls angerly. A single tear fell from her eye. Elias felt his heartache and he wanted to reach out to her.

"Chi-" She stood suddenly her glass of juice tipping over at the force. She quickly left the room as Elias quickly stood to avoid being spilled on. When he looked out of the kitchen she was gone. Elias quickly went to leave the room.

"Chis-!" Elias looked back at Silky grabbing his robe. She shook her head sadly and released him. He looked at her and back to where he'd last seen Chise. He wanted to go after her.

"But-"

"Leave her be for now.." Silky spoke sternly but gently. Elias was surprised she spoke and stood still staring at the stairs. Silky grabbed a cloth and walked to the table. She picked up the plates and cups and sighed as she mopped up the juice.

"Give her some time." She whispered. Elias nodded hoping she knew what she was saying. He felt the desire to run to her but fallowed Silkies rare words. He returned to his now cleaned seat and finished his lunch, still worrying slightly about his tiny apprentice.

-A few hours later, the present-

Elias sat in the living room in his chair tapping his foot. It had been three hours since lunch and Chise had yet to come out. This was greatly confusing. Nothing had happened to cause her to be upset. His gloved hand rubbed his muzzle very frustrated. There new emotions of his were making him antsy.

He stood, that's it! I'm finding her! He thought walking out of the room. He walked up the stairs to her room. He slowly opened the door to see her empty room. Puzzled he searched the other rooms upstairs. Not finding her in the bathroom or guest room, or any of the other extra rooms he went to his door and slowly opened it.

There she was. She was curled up on the far side of the bed. Quietly entering and closing the door he walked to the bed and laid out next to her. Her back faced him but he felt her shift once he laid down.

His eyes fell on her. She had her knees up close to her chest and her arms wound around her waist. her hair was messy and one of her socks nearly falling off her foot. But he couldn't see her face in the darkening room.

He sat up and removed his cloak gently placing it over her figure, then laying back down beside her. Still facing her back he watched her.

"Chise... I know you're not okay. And I'm not going to pretend I understand because I don't. My emotions are small and not very affecting. But... I'm here with you by your side. And I'm not sure how... but I want to help." He said turning more towards her. Chise lay there another moment then turned towards him. He raised his hand to her face moving her hair out of her face and then rubbed her cheek gently.

"I don't understand what I did or what happened to cause you to be so distressed. But I apologise." He whispered gently to her. She opened her eyes, slightly red, and looked up at him, placing her hand on his own.

"You didn't do anything Elias... just... sometimes humans have days where they're just not happy. Sometimes there's a reason, sometimes there isn't." She moved closer to him and rested her forehead against his chest.

"I see." He says hugging her gently.

"I'm sorry for how I acted during lunch. I shouldn't have burst like that. It was uncalled for." She whispered against his chest grabbing the fabric of his cloak and savoring his earthy scent.

"No need to fret Chise. Everyone has bad days. Remember when I threw a fit? That was a pretty bad day for me." He chuckled deeply at the memory. He heard Chise giggle and looked down at her as she laughed.

"Yeah, that was pretty bad." She laughed. "But I know it was because you were jealous." If Elias's skull head could blush he was sure it would have.

"Perhaps, Perhaps not." He retaliated gently. Chise leaned closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Thank you, Elias. For making me feel better." She whispered. Elias looked at her and felt his chest lighten.

"Of course Chise. I'll always be here for you." He hugged her back pressing her against him.

"But because of your fit, we have missed out on our afternoon. It's begging to get dark now." He said teasingly. Chise nodded.

"That's alright, we can just cuddle like this and go to sleep." She says yawning slightly. Elias nods and pulls her up higher so he can see her face better. She is slightly flushed but he pushes that away.

"Very well, if that's what you'd like." His orbs curve and he enjoys the light feeling in his chest.

"Glad to see you happy." She says before moving to be comfortable. She turned her back towards him and moved back till his chest and her back touched. Then she pulled the pillow down a bit and closed her eyes.

"Good night Elias." She said as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Good night my beloved." He whispered.