Red's Valentine- Part 3 FINALE

It's high time!

First, I want to thank everyone who's commented on either part so far. It's been nothing but kind words in the comments. Perhaps I'll do something else like this in the future depending on the reception. But enough of that; lets get on with the story!

If you haven't read the other two parts, be sure to read them here:

Part 1!

Part 2!

Like the parts before, this is a LONG read.

(Also, Genealogy spoilers, care.)

Red and Ayra were enjoying their stroll through town, albeit one of them being more apparent about it. It was weird seeing Ayra in her battle outfit, but Red didn't really see any point in trying to get her to try anything new. She was beautiful as is, so no sense in trying to change that. Red saw a stall with a lot of goodies for sale, so he convinced Ayra to walk over and see if she wanted anything.

"I'm not sure what the purpose of these are." said Ayra. "I couldn't even slice a tree branch off with this." she was holding a toy sword.

"It looks cute though, doesn't it?" asked Red. He was really happy to just be here with Ayra, but he didn't plan much out and afraid that she was really bored.

"This isn't super practical." replied Ayra. Red started to panic a bit. He looked around and saw a clothing store down the street. An idea hatched in his mind.

"I think that store might have better things that would suit you a lot better!" said Red. He featured towards the clothes store. "Let's head over there!"

"Very well." said Ayra, who started on her way over. Red, before catching up, quickly bought a toy dragonstone that resembled one that enabled Lightning Breath, slipped it away, then caught up to Ayra.

The two walked into the store together. It was a refreshing atmosphere, and a massive store nonetheless. There were a variety of options; it seemed to difficult to choose!

"Why did you take me here, again" asked Ayra. She didn't seem very amused.

"I just feel like you could pick something new to wear, here! It must be really boring to wear the same thing every day." replied Red. It did initially seem like a good idea.

"There's a reason for that." said Ayra. "I like this outfit. I can keep it simple."

A store clerk approached the two of them. "Hello! My name is Anna. Can I help either of you?"

"Not really." said Ayra. She didn't seem too excited about this whole ordeal one bit.

"Aww, really? We just got in this new purple jacket that would look really good on you." said Anna. "I think you'll love it!" She took them to the display. Ayra stared at it for a moment.

"I think I'll give it a try." said Ayra.

"Awesome!" said Red and Anna in sync. "Here, come this way with me, ma'am. I have some other things that would compliment it nicely..."

Red decided to wait for her. "See you soon!" he said.

It had been about five minutes. Red was waiting very impatiently. He really wondered how much Anna had gotten for Ayra to try on. Hopefully, it wasn't too much for her; Red saw how she was reacting initially. He was honestly surprised to see her even try. "Red." he heard from behind. He turned around to meet what may have been the most beautiful sight in his life.

Ayra was standing there in a white t-shirt and the aforementioned purple jacket, with black sweatpants and sneakers to compliment them. Red was honestly drawn back to not only see her try it on, but how beautiful she looked. It was an amazing sight. "I don't like it." said Ayra. Red was taken very far aback.

".....why not?" asked Red.

"I feel vulnerable in this." replied Ayra. This upset Red, but he understood. "I'm going to return this, then we can go to that fencing place I saw on the way here." That sounds like something more up her alley. Oh well. At least this trip was worth it.

...

"What do they mean, I was too harsh?" said Ayra.

"They were CHILDREN, Ayra!" cried Red.

"I don't see the point. I did this stuff when I was a child." said Ayra. "I could have taken the instructor on when I was their age."

"Look....why don't we get something to eat and talk about things?" said Red, trying to steer off the subject.

"Sounds good to me." said Ayra. They walked into a nicer place and were quickly seated. The place was lit with some nice candles, and the center of the table had a vase with two roses in it. "You picked a nice place, Red. I like it."

"Thanks." replied Red. "It is quite nice. But back on to a previous topic, you said you could've aced the instructor at the kids' age?"

"Yes." said Ayra. "In my past world, I never knew much of anything besides war and sword fighting. I had a really rough start, more so than most people...."

"Do go on." said Red.

"Well, it all started when Issach was under attack. I was ordered to go to Verdane where I would be safe with my nephew, Shannan. We struggled there, and I sold myself as a mercenary to this jackass named Cimbaeth. He took Shannan hostage."

"Yikes...." chimed Red.

"Luckily, Sigurd was a very nice person who helped look after Shannan as we went about the war. I stuck with him to repay him, all the way up until the Battle of Belhalla, which was the last time I saw Sigurd. I told him I would fight the war to repay my debt to him, and I did. Word finally got around that he was dead. I miss him. He really did a lot for us all..." Ayra trailed off, but her facial expression hadn't changed for a second.

Red sat there for a second. This was a lot to take in. "Well, I'm incredibly sorry you had to go through all of that." he responded, really just trying to find any response at that point.

"Thanks. I know it's a lot to take in." responded Ayra. "You're really good about these things. That's why I tell you. Ever since I was summoned here, I've been doing my best to keep up with the sword. I must be the best I can for you at all times."

"Have you ever decided to take up a hobby for fun?" asked Red.

"Yes. The sword is my favorite hobby." Red internally rolled his eyes. "That fencing place seemed cool, though. If only they had stronger foes." A brief silence followed that comment. Red stared at the roses in the nude of the table, carefully examining them. Another lightbulb went off in his head.

Red carefully went to grab the rose by the stem in the vase with his thumb and index finger. The stem was rather firm. This made Red smile. He twirled it around so the tip of thr stem was pointed outwards, then pointed it at Ayra. "Care for a worthy opponent?"

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you." replied Ayra. Before Red could blink, she grabbed the other rose out of the vase, flicked it around, and knocked the rose out of Red's hand. Flustered, he looked in the direction she knocked the rose. When he looked back, Ayra was sitting there with the rose back in the vase.

"You're cute." she followed up. She cracked another smile. Albeit only for a brief second, it felt like another eternity. Red thought he had seen it all in the clothes store, but what initially seemed impossible formed in front of his very eyes. The moment ended as soon as it started.

"Not quite as cute as you." Red followed.

"Come on, master tactician. You have to be faster next time." snarked Ayra. It's evident she was quite comfortable around him, which set his mind at all sorts of ease. At that moment, the food arrived, and they ate up.

After a long day, the two approached the doors to the barracks. What initially dragged on went by in a flash, but it was very safe to assume that this was the best Valentine's Day Red had spent to this day. As Red reaches towards the door, Ayra pauses.

"Is something wrong?" asked Red.

"I want to do this before we go in so as to not cause a scene." said Ayra. She reached over to Red and put her arms around him. Red did the same. It felt very nice. Her hair was very soft. After a second, they let go. "Thank you for everything today." Ayra steps inside ahead of time, and Red follows after a brief period. He lets her resume her sword training, as she hadn't had much time today to do so.

A duo of voices greets Red. "Red!" It was the dancer and Micaiah! "Go you, you sly dog!" said the dancer. They were both quite proud of him.

"Come outside and tell us all about it!" chimed Micaiah.

"Gladly!" replied Red. "It's not like I have much else to do today." He followed the duo outside to see a nice blanket spread on the hillside for a nice view of the sunset. It was a relaxing evening, so he understood why this was the case.

"Well, I think I'll go get the prepared snacks." said the dancer. She went back to get them, leaving Red and Micaiah.

"I'm so glad you're the person the lead us all." said Micaiah. "You're intelligent, sweet, and caring, and you deserved all the good things that happened to you today."

"I wasn't sure it would all work, I'm going to be honest..." replied Red.

"Nonsense!" said Micaiah. "Nothing catches you off guard."

"Do you really th-" Red's mind immediately flashed to the last time Micaiah said that. He frantically started looking around. Out of the corner of his eye, from above, with a split second's notice, he saw a purple and yellow blur moving straight for him.

WHAM.

Red was greeted by Myrrh, who decided to dive bomb hug him again. Micaiah giggled at the irony. "Hi Red! I missed you today!" said Myrrh. She seemed back to normal.

"Is....everything okay?" asked Red. He didn't anticipate seeing her like this after their last conversation.

"Yeah, I'm all better now!" said Myrrh. "I was sad that night, but then Ephraim magically appeared today! We talked about a lot of things today, but I was just really happy to see him! And I know who's to thank for that!" Myrrh gave Red another hug as she said that.

"Well, I always look after my friends." replied Red. It technically wasn't him that summoned Ephraim, but he decided to leave that part of the story out.

"Anyways, I made you food! Cookies! The dancer is coming with them now!" said Myrrh. She was adorable in her own right.

The dancer walked back into view. "I have the cookies here! They're peanut butter!" she said. Red's eyes lit up; his favorite! "It's weird, though. I ed Ayra on the way over here, but she walked out the front door without much word....normally, she's practicing with her sword in her room."

"Well, just be sure to save a couple cookies for her." said Red.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Myrrh. "My cookies are the BEST!"

"Well, anyways, Red, did you have a good day?" asked Micaiah.

"Yeah, Red! Did you! Tell us everything!" said Myrrh.

"Well, for starters, I did get you a gift, Myrrh. It's not real, but I know you'll love it." said Red. He pulled the toy Dragonstone out of the bag. As soon as it clicked what it was, Myrrh dive bomb hugged Red again.

"ILOVEITILOVEITILOVEIT!!!" yelled Myrrh.

"I think she liked your gift, Red." replied the dancer. It was a good day for everyone. Red sat and told the story of how his day went. It really was one of the greatest days of his life. But alas, all good things come to an end.

After eating cookies outside, it started to get dark, so Red retired to his room. It was a little early to go to sleep, so he decided to try something out.

He pulled out a device he had made and wanted to try. It had a microUSB out attached to a device with a half sphere indent just the right side to fit an orb. He grabbed his cell phone from another world, plugged in the microUSB device, and put an orb in. With some flashes, he saw the phone light up, and the battery was at 100%! This is the first time Red got to use his phone since it died after arrival! The orb was gone, but success!

Since there was no signal, Red didn't have many options as to what to do. He just opened his music and sorted through the library. Don't Stop Me Now by Queen seemed like a great option. He turned the phone volume up, set the phone down, and closed his eyes. He truly missed having music with him.

I'm a shooting star, leaping through the sky, like a tiger defying the laws of gravity! I'm a racing car, ing by lik-

There was another knock on the door, but no accompanying voice. Red paused the music, sat his phone on the bed, and went up to get the door. When he opened it, he was greeted by Ayra, who was wearing the outfit from the clothes store. Red was not expecting such a beautiful sight.

"Hello." said Ayra. "I changed my mind. I see the appeal to these clothes now. They are quite comfortable."

"I'm...glad you went to get them." responded Red, with a beet red face.

"I didn't realize you liked it THAT much." said Ayra. She could slap Red in the face and he seemed unfazed. Ayra caught a glance over Red's shoulder at the device on the bed. "Red, what is that?" asked Ayra, pointing at his phone laying on the bed. Red snapped out of his trance.

"Oh, that. That's a trinket from my home world. Wanna see?" asked Red, as be sat on the bed to pick it up to look at it. He motioned for Ayra to have a seat next to him, and she proceeded to do so. "This is what we call a cell phone where I'm from."

"That's an odd name for it." said Ayra.

"It's based off of a device we have called a phone, which you could use to talk with someone from a long distance. This puts that in the power of your pocket!"

"That sounds pretty cool." replied Ayra. She took a glance at the screen. "What do all those things do?"

"Those perform a variety of tasks. Cell phones can do a lot, but I mainly use mine to listen to music." Red opened a music app up. "You can save any song you want to listen to and play it back whenever you want. Like this!" Red opens up Andrew Hulshult's remix of E1M1 from DOOM. Ayra is drawn aback at first, but really gets into it after a few seconds.

"This is some really good music to practice with." said Ayra. "You'll have to play it again some time." Red chuckled and stopped the song.

"Well, I'm glad you liked that. I have another one I'd like you to listen to as well." said Red.

"Can I train to this one as well?" asked Ayra.

"Probably not." replied Red. "This song is from a band named Queen, who had one of the greatest singers people from our world knew. It's a really good song that I've been playing a lot recently. It's called  Somebody to Love."

Red started the song and hit play. It started out rather slow and anticlimactic, and Red was afraid, but when he looked at Ayra, her expression looked really intense. It was the same face she made when she was practicing with her sword. The chorus finally hits, and Ayra is super absorbed in the song. The second verse is starting.

"Would you like to dance?" asked Red.

"What is that?" replied Ayra.

"Stand and allow me to show you." said Red. Ayra stood up. Red wrapped one arm around Ayra's waist and used the opposite to hold her opposite hand out, and he started swaying to the music. This was an awkward slow dance choice, but Ayra seemed to be enjoying it, as she moved along with Red quite well. She reached her hand over and pressed it on Red's shoulder. Once again, Ayra cracked a smile. It was the most beautiful sight Red had ever seen, right in front of him. He never let his eyes off of Ayra's.

"You're definitely a ladies man." said Ayra with her beautiful smile. At that moment, Ayra moved her face closer to Red's. Was she...was she going to try and kis-

NNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Sam instinctively lunged towards his phone to shut off the alarm. He wondered if his room mate would get sick of the Lion King opening as his alarm. Sam looked at the date; Februrary 14th. This meant a programming test.

I need help, he thought to himself...

END

Thanks everyone for reading, and PLEASE let me know if you want anything like this in the future, as I had a BLAST doing this! I won't hold you up much longer, so have a great day! May your arena runs be deathless and your summons be five stars!