[FFML] [Rune Soldier] Stealing Happiness

Hey,

Here's a short little story I came up with based on
the Rune Soldier anime. I'd really like some feedback
on flow since I think this fic has a few rocky parts
in that department. Notes on any grammar mistakes are
welcome as well. As are, of course, comments on the
story itself.

Stealing Happiness

Continuity Note: This story is set just after episode
fifteen of the anime; �Flower Vendor & Flower Bride.�

I�m a thief. Getting into places I�m not supposed to
and taking off with something that doesn�t belong to
me is what I do. And I don�t mind saying that I�m
pretty damn good at what it is I do.
Now just because I�m a thief don�t think that I�m
into stealing. I tried my hand at being a cat burglar
for a while when I was first starting out but I wasn�t
too good at it. I almost got caught a couple times and
never made out very well even when I did grab
something and get away clean. Pickpocketing and
shoplifting I gave up a few years back.
The thing you gotta understand here is that taking
something that doesn�t belong to you and stealing are
totally different. For example, say you�re walking
down a road somewhere and suddenly see a gold coin
lying in the road. Is it wrong for you to take it? Of
course not! It may not belong to you, but since it�s
just sitting there in the road it doesn�t belong to
anyone else either. So you might as well take it
before someone else does.
On the other hand stealing is taking something that
you know belongs to someone else. I stopped being that
sort of thief years ago. Having a little voice in your
heading saying over and over again �You know this is
wrong!� kinda makes snatching stuff for a living
rough. I tried to ignore that voice for a while but
eventually it got to me and I gave up stealing.
Guilt is such a bitch.
But being a thief did give me something of an edge on
life. Stealing isn�t easy, you know. While my career
as a cat burglar might not have panned out too well
the techniques I used to train for that helped get my
body in shape. I�m a petite gal so I�ve learned to use
my speed and dexterity to their full potential. Not
that I�m weak or anything. I�m stronger than I look
and plenty dangerous with a dagger. I also can dish
out a nasty kick if I need to.
Another thing that being a thief teaches you is how
to deal with people. It�s a lot safer to con someone
into giving you their money than it is to break into
their house and steal it. A few sweet words and people
will hand over every bit of gold they have in their
pockets and thank you for the chance to do so. Of
course, when they realize they�ve been cheated they
tend to run right to the law and start shouting for
your head. Uh, did I mention I also had a short career
as a con woman too?
Anyway, these days I make a living two ways. One is
doing a lot of part time jobs. Usually this is just
someone needing an extra set of hands in a hurry and
me using some of the people manipulation skills I
picked up as a thief to convince them that I�m the
perfect person for the job. It�s not the best way to
earn a living but I�m not tied down to a job I hate
and I�m always learning something new.
Now the last really useful thing I learned being a
thief was how to get into places people wanted me to
stay out of. A long time ago I found out I was a
natural when it came to picking locks. Once you have
locks figured out all the other tricks and traps
people set up to try and keep out become easier to
deal with.
In fact, my skill at getting into places was what
lead me to becoming an adventurer. There are tons of
ruins setting around here on the continent of Alecrast
filled with treasure just waiting for someone to come
along and take it. Whoever owned that stuff has been
dead for ages so why shouldn�t that person be me,
right?
Being an adventurer is pretty nice. It lets me lead a
life far more interesting than most people will ever
have. Sure, it�s hard, dangerous and doesn�t always
pan out the way you hope. But damn if it�s not fun
too.
Like I said, adventuring ain�t easy. Which is why
I do it with a small team. Yeah, it means I have to
spilt the loot four ways, but it�s worth it for having
a few people I can trust watch my back.
Genie�s the muscle of our little group. Brick walls
could take lessons in being built from her. Nevermind
that she�s as good with a sword as anyone I�ve ever
seen. Genie�s kinda lacking in the people skills
department but she�s really a lot nicer than she lets
on.
Melissa is a cleric of Mylee, the god of battle. She�s
a decent fighter but what she�s best with is magic.
Holy magic is great for healing and dealing with
undead monsters. Needless to say, both Genie and I are
glad to have her around when things get tough.
Melissa is really a pretty sweet person but she can
also be really, really uptight at times. Maybe it�s
because she was raised as a member of the nobility.
Maybe she�s just spent too much time praying. Whatever
the case I think she�d be a lot happier if she�d just
loosen up a bit.
And then we have Louie. None of us were keen on having
this guy around. But when a god says �This guy�s a
true champion!� well, that�s a hell of an endorsement.
Not to mention that Melissa is sorta stuck with him
like it or not. And boy does she �or not� a lot. As
sorry as I might feel for her even I wish she�d give
the whole �It�s against my will!� routine a break once
in a while.
Yeah, Louie was damn near useless as an adventurer
when we first ran into him. I don�t even want to think
about some of the stupid things he did when he first
started to hang around with us. But lately he�s
actually been doing better. He showed some real guts
when we had to deal with that crazy machine that was
making the weather go crazy. And guts are the one
thing I respect about as much as gold.
So yeah, those are the people I adventure with. We�re
an eclectic bunch I grant you. But we�re also damn
good.
Now back to the reason I�m having a bit of trouble
sleeping tonight. It all started one night a week ago
when I was out on my latest part-time job selling
flowers. Suddenly this absurdly handsome guy rides on
a horse and starts going on about how glad he was to
finally have found me again and how he was hoping I�ll
accept his �proposal�. I was still trying to figure
out where I knew guy from and if he�d really just
asked me to marry him when he grabbed me, pulled me
onto his horse and carried me off. At first I thought
I was being kidnapped. But pretty soon we arrived at
his estate and I realized I was wrong. He�d brought me
to the estate of the Wilder family, the wealthiest
family in the whole kingdom of Ohfun.
I�d never seen any place so posh in all my life. There
were more maids than I could count just waiting to do
anything asked of them. I was so overwhelmed by it all
I accidentally knocked over a really fancy looking
bust of some guy. I tried to say I was sorry but
William thought I�d done it because I hadn�t liked it
and said he could have it replaced with a piece of art
I did like. William being the absurdly handsome guy I
mentioned before. William then asked me if there was
anything, anything in the world I wanted. All I had to
do was ask.
I was at this point that my nature as a thief started
to kick in. So I decided to shoot for the moon and
asked to take a bath in gold coins. Sure enough,
within a few minutes I had a bathtub full of gold
coins waiting for me. I could hardly believe it so I
jumped right in.
It felt even better than when I used to sit in my
darling jar. I actually pinched myself to make sure it
wasn�t a dream. (Yes, I regularly dream about being
naked in big piles of gold coins. Everyone has their
kinks.)
I pinched myself in disbelief. The pain of the pinch
confirmed it was real. Oh, I don�t think I�d ever been
happier in my whole life. Or more turned on but let�s
not get into that.
After I somehow brought myself to leave the bath I was
told I�d be having dinner with William and his
parents. In no time a horde of maids showed up and
asked me to pick something from the six dozen or so
dress they brought with them. Each and every dress
looked fit for a princess and had enough jewels on
them to buy a villa in the country. Again, greed took
over and I tried putting on as many dresses as
possible just so I could have all that shiny goodness
close to my body. That, of course, didn�t work out too
well so eventually I settled on a single dress and was
escorted to the main dinning room where William and
his parents were waiting.
Since I was the topic of conversation at dinner what
was really going on became clear pretty quick. It
seemed William had mistaken me for some girl who�d
saved his life after he�d been in an accident in the
forest. He�d fallen in love with her while she took
care of him and wanted marry her more than anything.
He�d even said to me earlier that if his parents
didn�t like me he�d give up everything he had if he
could be with me. Needless to say I put the kibosh on
that idea as soon as he said it.
After hearing William�s story I knew I wasn�t the girl
he was talking about. It all really was a big mistake.
Part of me wanted to come clean right there. Even now
I�m not sure why I kept silent.
I know it wasn�t greed. At that point I wasn�t even
thinking about money, as strange as that might sound
for me. I think it was really me still being
overwhelmed by what was going on a being afraid of
hurting William�s feelings. I mean, no ever had ever
treated me that way before and it was really hard not
to like it.
The next thing I knew his parents were asking me if I
was okay with the idea of getting married on the next
holiday which was four days away. My mind was in such
turmoil I could only just mutter that it was fine by
me.
Then William�s parents told me that if I was going to
be a member of the Wilder family I�d have to learn how
to be a proper aristocratic lady. I�d had a feeling
something like this was coming. But Mr. and Ms. Wilder
were pretty nice about it so I didn�t protest.
To say my introduction to the ways of high society
women didn�t go well would be an understatement. My
lesson in walking with poise ended with me falling
flat on my face.
Greed got the better of me during my harp lesson and I
tried to hide a fancy vase under my dress. When the
harpist said something to me I got startled and the
thing slipped from where I�d been holding it between
my legs and landed right on my foot. That damn vase
was a lot heavier than it looked and it hurt my foot
like hell. The pain made me lose my balance and a fell
against a nearby table. My head caught the edge of the
table and I got knocked out cold.
I wasn�t hurt so once I came around it was time for
my next lesson. This turned out to be making a cake a
couple stories tall for the wedding reception. Ms.
Wilder told me it was a Wilder family tradition. I
worked for hours to make the cake as she instructed.
But just as I was putting the final bits of frosting
on Ms. Wilder told me that all the work I�d done
making that baked monstrosity wasn�t up to par and
than I�d have to do it again.
A few more backbreaking tries later Ms. Wilder said
it was all right to call it a night and I was shown to
a bedroom just a luxurious as the rest of the house. I
tried for an hour to sleep in the big four-poster bed
but it was just too damn fluffy. I�m used to sleeping
on cheap mattresses and the ground. Trying to sleep in
that bed was like trying to sleep on a cream puff.
Eventually I just said screw it, grabbed a pillow and
lay down to sleep on the floor. Before I somehow feel
asleep all I could think about was how much I wanted a
shot of whiskey and stick of beef jerky.
The next day I found myself standing on the balcony of
my room looking out over the beautiful garden of the
Wilder estate. Getting some sleep had helped to let me
think more clearly. At that moment I was essentially
engaged to a handsome, kind man who had pledged to do
anything I wanted to make me happy and who had more
money than just about anyone in the kingdom. All I had
to do was not tell him the truth and I�d be able to
live like a princess for the rest of my life.
But the fact that the girl who had really saved
William was still out there ate anyway at me like I�d
been tossed into a pit of acid. I wasn�t the girl
William loved. I was just Merrill the thief. I was the
thief who was stealing the happiness that belonged to
that other girl.
While I was trying to sort my feelings out William
came to tell me it was time to start my lessons for
the day. I tried to pretend nothing was wrong but
William turned out to be more perceptive than I�d
expected and asked if something was wrong. I bluffed
and told him I was just nervous about the wedding.
William didn�t seem to believe that fully. He asked if
I was feeling sick and said he�d cancel the day�s
lessons if I wanted.
It was him being kind to me that it. I yelled some
excuse and just ran from the room. The words
�opportunity of a lifetime� rang in my ears as I ran.
So did the word �thief!�
William must have made some excuse for me because no
one bothered me for the next few hours. In that time I
managed to pull myself together enough that I could at
least pass as being normal. I was in the garden still
trying to decide if I could bring myself to go through
with the wedding when a servant came and told me I had
guests. I�d been expecting this.
Sure enough it was Genie, Melissa and Louie. They were
polite about it but the �What the hell is going on?�
looks were pretty clear on their faces. Part of me
wanted to scream �Get me the hell out of here!� but I
just couldn�t. Guilt, greed and the world of the life
I�d know and the world of the life that could be mine
all coming together in one room at that sort of moment
was just too much for me. I just told them I was fine
and really did want to marry William. Louie and the
girls were puzzled but wished me well and left.
I wanted to cry.
Before I knew it the day of the wedding came. After
several tries I finally made a cake that Ms. Wilder
approved of so the show was on. Dozens of nobles,
wealthy merchants and other members of Ohfun�s social
elite were gathered for the ceremony.
I was pulling the buff of a lifetime as I walked down
the aisle. The conflict of staying silent and living a
fairytale life or telling the truth and going back to
being Merrill the thief was churning inside of me even
as the priest asked me if I�d take William as my
husband.
I was stuttering out some nonsense when the explosion
happened. The next thing I knew I was laying on my
back, I couldn�t see and everything smelled like angel
food cake. After sitting up and wiping my face the
first thing I saw was Louie grinning his head off
telling and me that he was there to rescue me.
I wasn�t totally sure what my friends had done but I
knew somehow that everything would be okay and that it
was time for me to get the hell out of there. Maybe it
was because he thought I�d been through a lot, maybe
it was something he saw in my eyes or maybe he was
just being nicer than usual but Louie carried me out
of the estate piggyback before anyone could see him.
Being emotionally exhausted I just let him.
Once we were safely outside the Wilder estate I felt
like my old self again. Louie told me he and the
others were glad to have me back. I just smiled and
told him what torture it had been not to run off with
everything that wasn�t nailed down back at the
Wilders� place. I guess I was exaggerating a bit, but
there was no need for the others to know about what
I�d been going through.
Then Louie decided to ruin the moment by asking if I�d
eaten a lot of good food at the Wilders. It seemed he
thought I�d put on weight. Which I might well have
considering all the rich food they served me. But like
a lot of girls I�m touchy about my weight so I slugged
him one on principle.
This turned out to be a mistake. I nailed Louie right
in the temple which totally knocked him stupid. So I
dragged his heavy butt back to the inn I had been
staying at, slipped the innkeeper a few gold pieces to
let Louie spend the night on a bench in the back room
(no way in hell was I letting stay in my room!), went
back to my room, washed up as best I could, knocked
back half a bottle of whisky I�d been saving for a
special occasion, had some beef jerky and went to bed.
Genie, Melissa and Louie filled me in on the details
of what had happed last night the next morning. They�d
stumbled across the girl who�d really saved William�s
life not long after talking to me. It turns out that
her name was Odessa and that she had been employed as
a maid at the Wilder estate. While working there she�d
fallen in love with William. But, thinking that it
would never work because they were from such different
worlds, she quite and decided to focus on helping
raise her ten brothers and sisters. Not long after
that she�d found William hurt in the woods and nursed
him back to health just like he�d said. She then took
him back home and run off before anyone could
recognize her. Given the dozens of maids the Wilders
employed I guess it�s also not that strange that
William didn�t recognize her while she was taking care
of him.
It had taken a bit of convincing but finally the
others convinced her to come with them to make sure
William really could marry the girl he loved. After
the wedding cake explosion William had spotted Odessa
in the crowd and thought she was me. In the confusion
Melissa picked up the ceremony where it had left off.
The priest who had been performing the ceremony, like
pretty much everyone else there, was too in shock from
the explosion and almost drowning in frosting to
protest Melissa hijacking the ceremony. William
apparently was also confused, but managed to put
things together after taking one good look at Odessa.
So the vows were made and the most memorial wedding in
Ohfun since King Rijarl and Queen Meledi tied the knot
came to an end.
All�s well that ends well, I suppose. Melissa, Genie
and Odessa got William alone after the ceremony and
explained everything to him. He quickly came up with a
plan to tell his parents that Odessa had been nervous
about being a former servant of the family and had
been using a fake name for the last few days to try
and hide that fact. William wasn�t too happy about
telling his parents a lie, but apparently he didn�t
want to risk them getting mad at me so he was willing
to do it in the best interests of everyone.
Tomorrow I�ll have to send him and Odessa a letter
apologizing for what I did and wishing them a lifetime
of happiness together. I don�t think either of them
hold any ill will towards me, but I let my greed
almost steal their happy future together from them and
for that I should at least say I�m sorry.
The day after tomorrow the four of us will be heading
out on our next adventure. This afternoon I bought a
map to a ruin in the lake country not far from the
city that sounds like a good prospect for treasure.
Which means it�ll be another chance for Merrill the
thief to do her thing. And believe me, after what
happened the last few days I�m going to stick only to
taking things that don�t belong to me. Because in my
heart that�s the type of thief I am.

Skyrocket

=====
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
-William Jennings Bryan

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