Heart Of Steel

Four years ago…

The sound of bustling chatter fills the warm, champagne-stained air, as heels and dress shoes thump on the floor to classical and

calm music, drowning out the sound of laughing and the clink of cups. The atmosphere here is quite lovely…

Hiro would normally say.

Hiro shifts in his armour, sighing. Of all nights, he had to be on in-palace guard. He would rather be on guard at the border of freaking Parothria instead of here! But, alas, you can’t always have your way…

He sighs once more, blue eyes flicking all over the crowded ballroom. A smile creeps onto his lips as he sees a familiar and friendly face.

Finally…

His friend Ruby stands across from him, around 30 meters away, also in her uniform. She looks bored too, but smiles as well as they make eye contact. She furrows her brows at him and sneers, her expression screaming;

This sucks!

Hiro chuckles and nods with the same expression.

I know right?

He looks down again, shaking his head. It’s not until at least a minute later he hears a rushed, quick “AHEM.” From the direction Ruby is in. He looks up. He gives her a questioning look.

What?

Ruby is furiously flicking her eyes to a spot in the room, her cheeks flushed red. Hiro chuckles.

Ah.

She spotted a girl.

Hiro smirks and looks in the direction that her eyes are pointing, and his jaw immediately almost drops agape.

Holy…

A girl—no, a woman around his age is standing, glass in hand, nodding along slowly to a conversation. She has dark navy-ish hair, her lips stained red from wine. Or is it lipstick? Either way, he’s paying way too much attention to her lips.

He looks at her whole figure. She’s not tall, not short, average for his estimation of her age. She has lots of jewels on her body, presumably a rich girl then. Her dress is medium-length and black, and then fades to a deep red at the hem, as if it was dipped in wine (or blood of you wanted to be a bit darker). She has doubles piercings on her ears, black and shiny. This immediately draws his attention right back to her face again.

Then, he sees the cold, piercing purple eyes that seem to tear through everything. Hiro looks back at Ruby with the same expression.

Holy sh—

I know right???

Ruby smiles and blushes. Hiro smirks at her, same expression, just dripping with more smugness. She frowns.

What? No! Hey, what the hell, I saw her first!

Her face screams.

And you made me look at her!

His face retorts.

Then you should be thanking me!

I’ll be thanking you when I ask her out!

You don’t have the balls to.

You—!!

They frown at each other, silently and telepathically arguing over who should ask out the girl. Ruby then smirks, and so does Hiro. They both end up giggling to themselves.

This always happens. They spot a cute girl, and immediately argue over who gets to ask her out first.

Most of the time Ruby wins.

Then the king walks in.

“Thank you all for coming, I appreciate that you took the time out of your evening to come to this ball, my gratitude is forever blah blah blah…”

He keeps rambling and preaching “thank you”s and “so happy you’re all here”s, and Hiro just moves his gaze back to the dance floor. He can actually see the girl mouth the words mockingly to herself, rolling her eyes. She must’ve sensed something, because her eyes flick to his.

Crap…

Hiro goes red and immediately looks away, not helping with the whole “try not to be suspicious and act like you weren’t just staring at her” act, and he can hear the smallest chuckle. He flicks his eyes over again.

She’s laughing softly to herself.

“Pfft…”

She folds her arms and turns to the king, listening this time, smiling to herself.

The king keeps talking, about new treasures or money, or something like that.

But all Hiro can think is…

What is her name?