Blade Over Magic

An... Interesting Situation

Xander: (・_・)

The words repeated themselves in his mind, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to react.

’I’m a female now’ and ’No thanks to you’. The words made sense, but they weren’t computing.

It was only after a full minute did Xander realize that Falael was looking at him as though they... she? Was trying to turn him into dust with her eyes.

Then he finally spoke.

"... How is this my fault?" The genuine bafflement in his voice would have been endearing in other situations, but...

Aubrey put down her cards and buried her face in her hands with a long exhales, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like ’Please tell me he’s joking...’

Meanwhile, Curtis turned away and let out a sound that was hard to distinguish between a laugh and a sob, his ears twitching erratically.

Falael just stared at Xander blankly for a few seconds, then she covered her mouth with a hand like she was considering something. Then she used that same hand to gesture at him and deadpanned.

"What if I just hit you with a Stellar Ray? Like, right now? Genuinely?" Xander threw his hands up.

"Look, I don’t understand what’s happening okay?!" He sounded both frustrated and confused. Mary let out a genuine sigh for the first time in, well, ever, and Mia took out a bag of meat from... wherever and started eating.

Falael looked 3 seconds from carrying out her ’suggestion’, which is when Aubrey stood.

"Alright, I am an observer but even I have limits." Aubrey walked over, and Xander huffed.

"Are you gonna explain?" She looked him up and down and first asked.

"I thought you said you can see people’s intent now." Xander frowned but nodded.

"Yeah, but I don’t use it around you guys since that would be invasive. I doubt any of you would want to have your approximate thoughts on display at all times." The answer was... surprisingly thoughtful, so much so that no one immediately knew how to react.

’Huh, so that’s why? That’s kinda sweet... wait what am I thinking about?!’ Falael caught her thoughts going in an annoying direction and she immediately chastised herself, her expression twisting

Meanwhile, Aubrey exhaled.

"Okay, that’s... sweet. But your refusal to use it also means you’ve missed a few important things." She gestured at Falael who was clearly having an internal battle.

"Elves remain genderless until they find someone they like. And what gender has Falael taken on?" Her tone was slow, calm, like she was talking to a child.

Xander folded his arms.

"A girl." Aubrey nodded.

"So for that to happen, the person she liked now needs to be...?" Xander sighed.

"A guy." Aubrey nodded again.

"Good. Now, in our squad, who are the only two guys?" Xander narrowed his eyes.

"Me and Curtis." Aubrey snapped her fingers.

"Exactly. So, what does that tell you?" Xander was silent for a moment, then he spoke.

"That means the guy she likes that made her change genders early is between him and I?" He sounded unsure, but Falael’s shoulders dropped marginally in... relief?

"Good, good. Now, her statement earlier was ’I’m a Female now. No thanks to you’. With everything i just said, what does that tell you?" A look of realization dawned on his face.

"I see. If it’s my fault, then it’s because I’m the one she likes!" He used one hand to hit his other palm in enlightenment, and Falael facepalmed.

"I refuse to believe that was an entire conversation just now." Hearing this, Xander turned to her with an odd expression, and she suddenly felt her heart start to pound when those green eyes locked onto her. She felt a sense of discomfort, trepidation, and... excitement?

How would Xander respond to this? Would be be angry? Happy? What?

Xander scratched his head, then he asked.

"... Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you like... hate me?" Falael blinked, then the question registered.

"Th-That’s..." She stuttered, then clicked her tongue and looked away.

"Well, that was initially. But if I still hated you then I wouldn’t have allowed you to get so close..." Her tone got quieter near then end, and Xander tilted his head.

"But all the times you insulted me. Or said condescending words about my swordsmanship. Or made snide comments. The passive-aggressive behavior, looking at me like I was an idiot when I said certain things, the sarcasm..." The more things Xander listed, the more Falael felt like her heart was getting stabbed.

"I-I didn’t... Th-That’s..." Her voice wavered. She had done all those things, and probably more. Oh no, was Xander secretly resentful for all those times?

Yet when she looked at him, he didn’t look angry or frustrated, just... perplexed. Like he couldn’t understand why someone who displayed such obvious distaste would actually develop feelings for him, such to the point that her body literally aligned itself to fit his tastes.

It should have been irritating, yet that earnest look he had, the one he always showed when he was attempting to figure something out... it was too, damn, endearing!

Falael continued to stutter, and her face felt like it was on fire. She suddenly wanted to hide somewhere. Preferably a hole. Forever, perhaps.

Aubrey sighed.

"Alright, note to self, someone as dense as a brick and another with severe emotional constipation being in this situation is genuinely painful to watch." She mumbled, then spoke up.

"Alright, Xander, here’s the deal." They looked at her, and Aubrey explained.

"Falael is the type of person who finds it hard to be honest with their— her feelings. So all those times where she said something mean or acted shitty—"

"H-Hey!"

"... Were her ways of showing affection... Well not ALL those times, but a good amount of them. The issue is, she herself seems unaware of this fact. At the very least, she was probably in severe denial." Xander nodded slightly.

"So how should I know when she is and isn’t showing affection?" Aubrey’s eye twitched.

"Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps by Using The Ability that Lets You Read Intent?!" Her raising her voice caught them off-guard, and she cleared her throat.

"I lost my composure. Fine, if you really value our privacy that much, then next time Falael says something you don’t understand, ask her to elaborate. Or better yet, ask me." Xander blinked, nodded, then tilted his head.

"Right, doesn’t that mean you knew about her feelings towards me already?" The words snapped Falael out of her despair, and she looked at Aubrey sharply.

"Wait... that’s right. DID you know?" Aubrey adjusted her glasses calmly.

"Oh absolutely. I’ve known for a while now. And it was quite obvious in hindsight." Seeing her not even deny it, Falael gaped, and she looked at Curtis who was considering whether to disappear like Keir.

"... Did YOU know?" He flinched, tail wrapping around his thigh.

"A-Ah... W-Well... not initially...?" He saw Falael’s dark stare and forced a cough.

"I... didn’t think it was the case before... but after that day in Landor’s outpost when Xander joked about you guys doing... ’that’, I started to have some suspicions..." He looked down, sounding embarrassed on Falael’s behalf.

"... Also, I have good hearing. And Falael... you sometimes mutter things in your sleep, and our rooms were next to each other in the tent, so..." Falael’s body went rigid like a stone, and her face went even redder, if that was even possible, but she was at a complete loss of words, and Curtis smiled wryly.

"... Sorry." Meanwhile, Xander just stared into space.

"Huh... So I really am the only one who didn’t know. Damn." He looked at Aubrey.

"Why didn’t you mention anything sooner?" That made her scoff.

"I’m an observer, your affairs are non of my business." Xander just looked at her.

"You were enjoying it, weren’t you?" Aubrey met his gaze.

"Perchance."

"You can’t just say perchance!" Pinched the bridge of his nose before looking back at Falael.

After the continuous emotional attacks, she seemed to be out of words. Now she just stood there with a red face, ears twitching slightly, as she rubbed her arm. Looking anywhere but at Xander.

Xander sighed and considered his next words.

’I remember seeing that elves who get a gender before 18 always feel the most nervous because they have no way of knowing if the person who caused them to change will reciprocate their feelings, so it’s always a daunting situation for them. So I need to be careful about how I handle this.’ He rubbed his chin as he asked himself the core question.

’In that case... How do I feel about Falael?’ This was the crux of the matter. Because no matter what, if Xander did not feel the same way, he could not force himself to do so. At least not immediately.

He closed his eyes and simply allowed his thoughts to be filled with Falael.

He recalled the first time they interacted, when they were assigned as members of the same squad. Back then, Xander had thought of them... her? As an arrogant brat. The way she spoke of and looked down on his swordsmanship was especially irritating. However, on that same day when he realized she wanted to get a reaction out of him so that she wouldn’t feel like she was the only one looking for problems... perhaps he gelt amused, then.

Then the first time he thought of her as... cute, was ironically after he helped her form her star for the first time. The way she’d looked when she realized she succeeded. Xander would be lying if he said he didn’t find it endearing.

Then all the other times after that. The time they spent training together. The few times it was just the two of them close together. That one time she’d come to his dorm room to ask for something personally.

How she looked when she cooked, the panic and anger he felt when Aubrey’s information told him that she’d been stabbed by the ant. The way she tried to hide her embarrassment when he trained her...

With all of this said, it should have been clear, but Xander’s brows knitted together slightly, because he felt an odd sense of... conflict.

Clicking his tongue, he opened his eyes and activated Myriad Paths, but he focused solely on his own paths and intent.

He inspected them closely, then he found lines representing affection extending from himself to Falael, as well as intent extending from her to him.

Which is when he spotted the issue.

’Oh. Oh...’ His face did something strange.

"This is... an interesting situation." That caught all of their attention.

"Wh-What is? What happened?" Falael tried to sound nonchalant but failed miserably.

Xander didn’t answer nor look up. He simply focused on the lines of intent.

There were indeed lines extending from him to Falael and from her back to him...

But his lines didn’t extend only to her. Nor were the incoming lines only from Falael.

Instead, there was another set... and they extended from him to...

Aubrey...

And she had some extending to him as well.

’... Shit.’