Hobbling to the door, Norbert looked about, something feeling not quite right. Swaying slightly as he stood, the weight on his shoulders to light. Rubbing his hand against his chin, feeling the smooth skin underneath his gloved hand.
“Where is my helmet?” Norbert whispered out.
Turning back around, Norbert scanned the room, looking for the pieces of metal. Confirming it wasn’t on the chair, Norbert rested his hand on the bed as he bent over, looking underneath it.
Seeing nothing there, Norbert slowly made his way, standing up and looking around at the others, wondering what he would be doing there.
“Looking for something?” A voice came from the curtain.
Norbert turned around as Vivienne stood there, leaning against the doorway; in her hand, Norbert saw his helmet spinning, the two pieces together. He moved his hand, reaching out to grasp onto its helmet and stumbling as he did so, crashing into Vivienne and slouching as he did, feeling her take his weight as it came out from under him.
Half a hand grasping for the mask, Vivienne held onto the back of Norbert's shirt, stopping him from falling to the ground. Lifting him up without a groan, she walked him towards the bed, laying him down on it before sitting on the side of the bed, legs crossed over each other as she placed his helmet on his chest.
“You really shouldn’t be moving. Didn’t the medics here tell you that?” Vivienne asked Norbert, a smile tugging at her lips.
“They said to lie low, not that I can’t move.”
“And how does this helmet of yours?” tapping the helmet, something metal on her hand ringing out as the two pieces hit each other, a bell awakening something within Norbert, a part of him that told him to listen to the words about to come from the witch’s mouth “one of the pieces that are iconic to you and everyone knows about lets you… lie low?”
Norbert placed his hand on the helmet, angling it up as he stared into its black eyes. “What happened after the fight?”
“Well, after you tore yourself apart from the inside, you lost, unable to win. Your strike is amazing, but it did not hit your opponent. After you’ve been here for half a day, told by Commander Sally to leave you be after dousing you in a single mana potion.”
Norbert looked down at himself, feeling his body move again, and turned to Vivienne. “Do you have another one?”
With a shake of her head, she lifted the helmet up. Sitting on his chest was a round bottle that could easily fit in the palm of his hand. The stopper was dipped in emerald wax; spinning it around, she saw a cauldron bubbling on top.
Taking it, Norbert undid the stopper, the cork popping free as he held it against his lips. Vivienne held onto his hand. “Only take a sip, or else you could damage yourself even more.”
Nodding his head in understanding as he tipped it back briefly, a trickle of liquid came out. He quickly corked it again, instantly feeling it rush inside. Places that was sore before now no longer feeling bad, a weight off his mind lifted.
Placing the bottle next to him, not even trying to send energy through his pathways, he turned his head to Vivienne. “How come you came to find me?”
Vivienne leaned forward, brushing Norbert’s hair out of his face, resting her hand on his forehead, Norbert feeling her ice-cold hand against his skin. Nodding her head, she thought, “Needed to return the rest of your clothes and items you kept in the manor.”
Norbert leans up, looks at the sack and chest, and realizes it is the same one kept in his room. Turning back to Vivienne, he asks, “How many more days until the tournaments are over?”
“It's already over. It's time for you to go back and for us to part ways. Celebrations are never held here, and the different groups get very bristly afterwards.”
Norbert nodded his head, smiling as he groaned, his muscles getting slightly stuck after his lack of movement. “So, did Finekus win?”
“No, one of the Northern Frosters defeated the dark mage you were against.”
Norbert nodded, “So, you made it to the semi-finals, so it must mean something at least.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“A great achievement is what it is. Now, you best unlock the chest and get moving. The parade is starting, and you're expected to be there.”
Norbert nodded, taking another sip of the magic potion, giving him the boost needed to go to the chest. Opening it up, Norbert looked inside at the clothes and spare weapons where they had been before. Taking Obsius’s coin pouch and moving it over, the clothes he used for disguise, he would need it several times.
The cape with the dual design, the gloves he had been forced to take, his thoughts going to the sun hat, and he wondered what Count von Count was doing with it.
“No pets inside; this needs to be clean.” Someone from outside spoke, interrupting Norbert’s train of thought as he continued mechanically moving his items out of the chest, conscious of the time he spent still.
I heard the commotion outside getting louder and louder. One of the staff members was walking backward, and Norbert heard a set of whistling in no harmony at all.
“You called?” The vampire asked, poking his head through the curtains, through the flap Norbert seeing Obsius fly towards him, landing straight for his head and into his hair. Roosting around until getting comfortable, the tweets of confirmation that he wasn’t hurt.
“I’m not that bad, Obsius. I'm not dying on you today.”
Feeling a depression in the bed, turned his sight as he saw the fox approaching him. He opened his hands as it stopped just before him, “Don’t be a stranger even though I haven’t seen you in ages.” Norbert reached forward and picked it up by the scruff of its neck.
“How come you’re here?” Norbert asked, nodding his head to Count von Count. Vivienne stood up, heading for the exit, giving a slight wave to Norbert, picking up the chest as she stepped up. Norbert turned to Count von Count, waiting to hear his reasoning. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Vivienne pause for a moment, eyes fluttering as her lips moved, no sound coming out before he could even ask her what; she was already gone.
Only the thought of the witch who had used and given him both in possessions and the use of her name to be thrown around, thinking of what she had done for him, getting him into slight trouble, but protecting him from much more of what he created himself. Enid’s Father’s comment lightly echoed what he had been able to give her, what magic-less brute could ever give to someone with such deft control.
“Think I’ll ever see her again?” Norbert asked, nodding towards the exit where Vivienne disappeared from, still imagining her blonde hair trailing behind her.
Count von Count turned to where Norbert had indicated, “If you’re lucky, then no. But knowing how your luck goes, you will see her again.”
“What do you have against witches? The vampire Count von Count that nobody knows what you will do next. A bloodthirsty monster ready to take anything and everything down?” Norbert asked, remembering when someone had given a tale of the vampire's past antics.
“Nobody in Grimm likes witches, people that turned themselves for the power given. Always ambitious, and they never let go once they have you in their claws.”
Norbert shook his head. “But Vivienne isn’t like that.”
“Maybe it's because those claws have already sunken into its prize and are now dragging it back to their den?” Count von Count asked, turning to leave. “But you best be going; you are needed at the ceremony.”
Norbert nodded, slowly moved his feet around, and stood up, slinging the sack over a shoulder. The fox crawled up his body and sat on the other. Norbert stood there, blank face.
“I'll show you the way.”
***
Norbert stood in the arena again, looking around as his face moved over the crowd before him. Standing to the side on a dais, to the side, there were three more platforms waiting to be filled.
Looking across the crowd, a bit of blonde hair poking out from a hood, up the persons arm a snake slithered out, Norbert smile painting his face as he saw Vivienne under the sun.
“And now for the winners, tied third place with Norbert is Actrican.” Norbert looked, smiling, as he saw someone completely wrapped up standing on one of the other platforms. With the white and yellow bindings covering their body, Norbert could only see their brown eyes staring back at him.
He gave a slight nod as he stood there, watching as the crowd encouraged the third place.
“In the second place, the defeater of Norbert, slayer of Arzlan” Norbert saw as a black orb appeared, and Finekus stepped out. “Finekus from Morenas”
Norbert smiled as he nodded, stopping halfway through. Half of Finekus’s face was a twist of noted scars and burnt flesh. Purple veins ran down his face and neck, turning into a collar on the man’s pale white skin.
The smile painted on Finekus’s face as he gave a slight nod to Norbert.
“Quite a surprise to see not one but two from the same country. But now to announce the winner, defeater of all, champion of this tournament from the blistering lands of the North Frosters, Casper!”
The name echoed in the back of his head, the air visibly chilling, snow appearing, and fog billowing out of Norbert’s mouth.
“And now a quick word from the winner himself.”
Casper, Norbert’s classmate, was standing there, garbed in coats from animals, the grey and white dots as the man stood there.
“Thank you. I want to thank you all for coming to make this tournament a success. And as a gift from North Frosters and myself to everyone here. A little piece of fun to be had.” Casper spoke, Norbert, seeing their staff rise into the air. The foxes claws digging into Norbert shoulder, Obsius scampering into Norbert’s clothes as he stood there, a pit forming in his stomach.
“Let the war truly begin!” he shouted, the ball of light falling from the sky, Norbert looking around the colosseum, and countless people also in the same position.
He turned, hand extended, his feet stopping as he looked down, seeing them snap frozen to the dais he was standing on, stopping him from moving.
Finekus and Actrican reach for him, a smile on Casper’s face, smashing his staff into the ground as a white light enveloped Norbert, feeling his body move in, only to be replaced by darkness.