This was Heather’s least favorite part. There was so much that was out of her control, so much that could go wrong in an instant, and the thrill of it barely outweighed how terrifying the cost of failure was.

It was honest work and had some nice benefits, though, so she wasn’t complaining too much.

Careful to be as quiet as she could, she lifted herself up to the high window she had been standing below and crouched on the sill.

She could see the three hostages -two kids and a young man- tied up near the door that’d lead back outside the shed. They looked a little roughed up, but none of them seemed to be in serious condition.

There was still the guard outside, but as long as they stayed quiet, this should be easy enough.

Heather lowered herself down to the floor and knocked quietly on the wood, trying to get their attention. The older child looked up, and Heather smiled and held a finger to her lips, trying to appear as non-threatening as she could be considering the situation.

The child’s eyes went wide, but they seemed to understand and didn’t say anything as Heather approached.

“I need the three of you to stay quiet, okay?” she whispered as she pulled out her knife, “We’ll get you out of here in no time.”

They nodded and Heather got to work on the ropes binding the three together.

“I’m helping out some mercenaries that were hired to free you,” she continued, keeping her voice quiet, “So I’d like you all to stay in here for now, got it? It’ll be safer while all the fighting’s going on outside.”

They nodded again.

“You’re good kids,” Heather said, finishing off the ropes and freeing the captives, “Just one more thing…”

She crept over to the door and gave the lock a good look. It was a simple one, one the kids over there could probably figure out how to pick if they had the tools available to them, but today her goal wasn’t to open it. She took out a small iron wedge, one that resembled a nail or a large needle, and drove it deep into the keyhole.

“They shouldn’t be able to unlock this door now, and I’ll be back in a moment.”

Heather flashed them another smile before she returned to the window and lifted herself back up. Instead of returning to the ground outside she maneuvered her way onto the roof where an old wind vane was waiting for her, watching the skies from its perch upon the peak. She kept low as she reached out and turned it, the old metal scraping against itself and letting out a dull groan.

It was a loud sound that would carry far on a quiet day like this. The perfect sound to be some sort of signal, perhaps to tell a dozen or so mercenaries that the captives were safe and they were free to leave their hiding places and descend upon some hapless brigands that maybe should have considered one of the countless career paths that wouldn’t have involved kidnapping.

 

---

 

The rescue operation concluded without any issues. Heather hung back as the hostages were reunited with their families on the edge of their village, not wanting to get in the way of the tears and the hugs and all that fun stuff, but it was still nice to see how happy they all were.

Most of all, she was waiting for the chance to speak with the commander, who was finishing up confirming and collecting their payment from the head of this village. Everyone else involved had either already headed back to base or made their way into town, but Heather had other plans.

“So!” she said as Titania drew near.

“So…?”

“I did pretty well this time, didn’t I?”

“You do a great job every time, Heather. A lot of companies have started looking for the skills you offer, but I’m glad you’ve kept working with us.”

“It helps that the pay’s good, but I’m always glad to be a help a cute gal,” Heather beamed at Titania, “How about joining me for a drink tonight to celebrate another job well done?”

“I’d love to, but I have to make sure everything is in order for tomorrow’s job.”

“Ah, maybe some other time, then?”

“Maybe…” Titania trailed off, biting her lip.

“Is something wrong?”

Titania looked conflicted, like she was still trying to convince herself to say whatever she wanted to say.

“Heather, you’re a nice girl, but…”

‘Oh no, here it comes,’ Heather thought.

No matter how much you braced yourself for it, rejection sucked. She had been turned down plenty of times before, but she knew this was going to sting more than usual.

“I think that I’m unable to give you what you’re looking for right now.”

There it was.

“But I want you to understand that I said ‘right now’.”

“Oh, no, it’s alright…” Heather did a double-take, “Wait, what?”

“I’m… not quite ready for another relationship, as embarrassing as it is to admit.”

She looked away from Heather and her voice fell a step above a whisper.

“Though it’s not like I really had been in a relationship to begin with...”

Heather’s mind was reeling from the implications of that incredibly loaded sentence and the one that had come right before it. She didn’t know all the details of Titania’s life, but what she was able to piece together drove her to try to keep the conversation going and, above all else, do whatever she could comfort her.

“You don’t have to make excuses for me, I totally understand if you’re not ready and if you’ll never be ready I’m okay with-”

“Heather.”

Titania looked back up to her, her gaze firm but in a way that felt forced, in a way that felt like it was an act that she was putting on.

Perhaps an act for Heather.

Perhaps an act for herself.

“First, I’d like to apologize. Part of the reason why it’s taken me this long to acknowledge your feelings was because, as silly as it may sound, I was afraid you weren’t serious. I’ve had some bad experiences with being on both ends of crushes, and wanted to make sure the me that you’ve been pursuing was actually me.

“Your tenacity and diligence over the past months, both in the work you have done for us and your… unrelenting courtship attempts, has convinced me that you’re not just chasing some idealized shadow of me, and I’m sorry for doubting you.”

Heather let out a giggle.

“There’s no need to make my flirting sound so dignified, but if it’s any consolation at the start I wasn’t exactly sure what I was feeling was the real deal either, y’know? Thanks for putting up with some of my worst, by the way.”

It was now Titania’s turn for a laugh as she recalled some of Heather’s more… creative pickup lines.

“If nothing else, you’ve yet to run out of original material.”

“I always take pride in my work, no matter how trivial it may seem,” Heather smiled.

“That you do. The other thing I wanted to say was that… I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be able to go at the pace that you want me to.”

“The pace I want to go at is whatever pace is comfortable for you, even if that means we keep going as we are or I take a few steps back. I just need to know what that pace is and I’ll do every single thing I can to accommodate you.”

“That’s…”

Titania’s expression softened, the toughness she was projecting forward, the toughness she was projecting onto herself melting away as she pulled Heather into a tight hug. Titania’s chestplate was hard against Heather’s face, but she couldn’t care less.

“That’s very sweet of you, Heather. You’ve already been so patient with me, and…”

Titania trailed off and Heather pulled her even closer.

Her armor was a sturdy shell that protected her from the dangers of the world, but Heather hoped that she could help Titania, in time, be more comfortable with shedding that armor around others.

“It’s more than okay, Titania. For you, I’d wait until the end of the world.”

 

---

 

Afterword

Wrote this for the 2020 fe christmas rarepair exchange, for Vault_Emblem.

There's tons of depth to the relationships Titania has, had, and will have, and it was a lot of fun exploring this little slice of her :)