Chapter Text
It felt like it had been forever ago, now. But it was something Gilda still thought about every now and then.
How she and Maritte first met. How it all began, and how it developed.
It’s funny. Funny how it all just started over her looks. She was indeed gorgeous, with that flowing red hair and freckled face of hers, with those unique red irises.
But Gilda learned there was WAY more to her than just that.
She grew to truly respect her. And... her heart also ached for her.
Maritte was and still is hands down the kindest, most honest, and downright sweetest girl she’s ever met.
...not to mention she was also a walking space heater.
Gilda had just met Maritte for the first time, completely blown away by how exceedingly cute she was. Naturally, she wanted to impress her and win her over. Girls liked strong, right?
What she didn’t expect was to lose.
Despite her powerful new lightning magic, this unknown redhead with a literal fire in her heart totally embarrassed her.
But she didn’t let that get her down. There was no denying that she had already begun crushing on this mysterious outsider. So she started dropping hints.
To her dismay however, Maritte seemed entirely indifferent to her first attempt. But Gilda wouldn’t give up so easily.
Gilda had been practicing her teleportation spell later that day, still thinking about Maritte.
True, Maritte had bested her earlier. But this time, she’d just challenge her to a one on one, a true show of strength. This time she couldn’t let someone else cover for her like the first time!
As her mind continued wandering on about the subject, Gilda forgot to do the critical thing you’re supposed to do when teleporting.
Envisioning your destination.
Gilda had somehow teleported into the Northern Dorms, by complete accident. She was on the ceiling, in one of the corners, resting on a light. Her leg appeared to be stuck on something.
She then heard voices. Out of them she picked out belonged to Maritte.
She grinned, rubbing her hands together.
Great! She’d make a surprise entrance and challenge her to a duel!
As she heard Maritte’s voice get closer and closer, she prepared herself to make an entrance. Except…
Her leg was still stuck.
She was running out of time, so she started trying to get it free.
And she did, after much shaking. But unfortunately for her, it caused her to fall down from her vantage point, and unceremoniously flop onto the floor with a thud.
Not wanting to lose face, Gilda hastily challenged Maritte to a duel.
But unfortunately for her, the words came out wrong.
It took her two tries to actually say the word “duel”, and by this time her face was bright red.
Worse, once the duel actually happened, Maritte seemed to have gotten much stronger than before. It was almost embarrassing.
She was distraught. Maritte looked like she had something to say, but… she just stormed off before she could hear it.
At this point, Gilda was close to giving up. She had made a fool of herself three times now. Not just in front of everyone, but in front of MARITTE.
She just had to impress her! Maritte wouldn’t accept her if she never accomplished anything or stood out from the rest. And raw strength was the only thing she knew.
She was quite disconnected from what had been going on around her at Ikenfell. All she knew is that Maritte and who Gilda believed to be her friends were going to fight a pair of Coven wizards. So, she decided to side with them, even though she didn’t fully understand what was happening. It mattered not to her, she had something to prove to Maritte!
But as the battle went on, and the Coven wizards fell to their combined might, Gilda was the last one left.
Gilda became frustrated.
She was going to lose for the third time in a row. Well, she might as well just-
Maritte slowly approached her.
Gilda was too busy in her own head to fully understand what Maritte was doing.
When Gilda realized, she was surprised to see Maritte wasn’t attacking her. But…
Maritte stuck her hand in one of her pockets, looking for something. Her hand found an orange blossom.
Gilda was puzzled. Didn’t those have healing properties? Why would she-
With the blossom in hand, Maritte leaned in. “Hold still for a sec,” She said as she lifted the blossom up towards Gilda’s hair.
Gilda just stood there in total shock as her crush just weaved the blossom into her hair, finally tucking it under her hairband.
Maritte widely grinned, clapping her hands together, thoroughly pleased with her handiwork. “You look great!”
Gilda’s face was beet red. She was still as a statue, internally screaming.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED.
DID... SHE… SHE JUST-
She had lost her will to fight after that. She just awkwardly shuffled off to a corner as she slowly slid down into a sitting position, her hair now adorning a cute orange flower.
She buried her still burning red face into her knees, and let out a muffled scream.
…
In her first three encounters, Gilda had still thought of Maritte very much the same way. In her initial meeting, she first thought she was just cute. But didn’t think much more than that. But then it turned out she was both strong and cute.
But now? She was really starting to make herself out as the full package.
Strong, cute, AND sweet!
She didn’t even have to finish her off with another attack like she could’ve. She instead chose to just do something absolutely adorable and, above all else, innocent. Sweet.
But she was about to learn much more about her.
Maritte, despite being a complete outsider, was very upbeat and confident. When she didn’t go up to her directly, she always saw her talking and laughing with her friends, just being an absolute shining beacon of happiness. But she knew when to get serious. And Gilda loved that about her.
So when she saw her in complete emotional shock, immobile, in tears, and completely broken, she was devastated.
This was the point where she cast aside her original goal. Sure, she still had a massive crush on her, but there were more pressing matters now.
Seeing as Maritte wasn’t moving at all or even responding to anyone or anything, she had to be carried, at least for awhile.
And Gilda had volunteered to do just that.
…
After Maritte’s initial shock wore off, she broke down all at once.
Gilda did her very best to comfort her and try to cheer her up. But it wasn’t easy.
She occassionally stopped. Offered comfort to her in any way she knew how. Tried talking to her. Even did simpler things like just giving her a hug.
Maritte didn’t say it, but she appreciated it. And it did indeed help.
Maritte did eventually break out of her shock entirely, but unfortunately plunged into a state of despair. Expressed desires to leave Ikenfell, and to go back home.
But to do what? And come back to who?
Gilda didn’t dare think of the possibilities.
…
A little later after going to the ruins, Maritte had been separated from the group, but Gilda managed to save her in the nick of time.
She began to learn how tragic Maritte’s past was after her emotional outburst. It gave some much needed context to Maritte’s condition.
But Gilda was quick to reassure her. She also decided to just carry her to the end of the ruins herself, like it or not.
That was also the first time Maritte called her “Gildy”, which was an extremely cute nickname. One that Gilda all but melted when she heard it for the first time.
She also felt that Maritte had begun to trust her. She had no trouble just falling asleep in her arms.
Gilda sang little victories in her head.
…
Maritte’s resolve to save her sister had been restored, and her spirits seemed to have lifted considerably.
Not to mention she took on a new appearance which… Gilda absolutely adored.
Her hair was now this beautiful purple gradient which seemed to sparkle and shine depending on how the light hit it, the likes of which she had NEVER seen before! And she had these unique mismatched irises, pink and blue.
After the sapling had been destroyed and Ikenfell was safe, she set out to find Maritte. She saw her reunite with Safina, which warmed her heart, but Safina had vanished in a flash of light.
She had to make sure she was okay. She recognized that her mood had improved in leaps and bounds, but she also knew that what had happened hours prior wasn’t just nothing.
She was lucky that Maritte was in the first place she had predicted; Safina’s room.
Safina was very protective of her, expectedly. Albeit a bit too much.
Gilda had been angered by her ignorance of the situation. She couldn’t get too mad as Safina wasn’t and couldn’t be awake to have witnessed what had happened, but nonetheless she did get into a bit of a fight with her.
In which Safina had, to Gilda’s surprise, admitted defeat. And left shortly after, saying she had some things to “investigate”. Which just left her and Maritte alone.
So she took this time to just gaze upon her, as she slept.
She looked so tired. Vulnerable, as if she was just teetering between bliss and torment.
Unfortunately, she seemed to tip towards the latter.
As Gilda had been deep in her own head again, Maritte had started tossing and turning in her sleep, muttering incomprehensibly.
Gilda’s heart all but shattered as Maritte started to softly cry before her, her breaths starting to become panicked.
Maritte started to frantically grab around her, with one of her hands meeting hers.
The other met her arm, and began tugging on it desperately.
Heat began rising in Gilda’s face, but she pushed it down as she got up.
In one quick, albeit careful motion, she scooped Maritte up from out under the covers, cradling her in her arms. She carried her over to her room.
She gently set Maritte down on her bed, as Gilda lied down with her, pulling up the blankets.
She nearly broke when Maritte instantly snuggled against her.
The moment that Maritte, in her sleep, had found Gilda, she seemed to visibly relax.
Her cries slowly ceased. Her panicked breaths calmed down. Her body relaxed, having been tensed up before. She went silent, save for the soft snoozing that Gilda could hear.
Gilda breathed a sigh of relief.
She didn’t think Safina would like the implications of what she was doing. But she didn’t care.
She just cared that Maritte was happy. And if this is what it required, so be it. She cared not for the consequences. Because they’d be worth it.
...plus, she certainly wasn’t complaining.
Gilda readjusted herself, getting comfortable. She audibly hummed as she noticed just how warm Maritte was.
She tilted her head towards hers.
Although her face was stained with fresh tear marks, there was indeed a contented smile on it. She looked peaceful.
Gilda mirrored her smile, turning her gaze back up to the ceiling.
She closed her eyes, letting her tired body relax, as she snuggled Maritte back.
…
Gilda had woken up a few hours later to see an intensely blushing Maritte.
Gilda tried to awkwardly explain why she was in bed with her. But to her great relief, Maritte was fine with it, just a bit flustered. Apparently this was fairly normal for her, the supposed nightmare she was having. She ultimately appreciated it. Gilda expected much worse, but she’d take it.
But that was not before Maritte called her “Gildy” again.
Safina seemed surprisingly relaxed about it, too. She thought they were cute. But Gilda decided to not overstay her welcome, lest she gets any more flustered. She knew those two had a lot of talking to do anyway.
But Gilda was giddy with excitement all the same.
Maritte was truly beginning to trust her.