6author's note: I originally published this on my tumblr ages ago, I think after I saw an anonymous confession on some blog or another about someone wanting to see more AsbelxPascal. While I don't think it's a plausible pairing after the game ends - for obvious reasons - I do feel like the two of them were probably pretty chummy early on. So I wrote this!
Takes place during main arc, right after Pascal joins the party. Title is from Sleeping With Sirens, because post-hardcore music inspires the best of fics.
Upon meeting Pascal, Asbel, Richard, and Sophie learned very quickly that their new friend needed constant watch to ensure she didn't wander off somewhere or get distracted by some ruin or another.
Asbel was uncerimoniously nominated for the task.
"But why do I have to watch her?" he asked, jabbing a finger back in the direction of the white and red-haired girl, who was currently bouncing all over the place hollering something about the significance of a symbol carved into a large block of stone. "I'm supposed to be the leader!"
"I hardly think I am suitable for the task." Richard glanced at Pascal once - perhaps disdainfully - before shaking his head slightly. "I am afraid I lack the substantial amount of energy required to control such a busy girl."
"But - "
"Pascal is loud." Sophie - or the imitation Sophie, whatever she was, Asbel still wasn't sure - had placed her hands over her ears quite some time ago, and hadn't yet lifted them. "I don't want to be near her."
"But - !"
"The responsibility falls to you, my old friend." Richard reached out to gently pat Asbel on one shoulder. "Don't worry. I am certain you are up to it. It will merely take some... convincing... on your part to ensure that she listens to your requests."
The blue-eyed teen stomped one foot, hands balling into fists at his sides. "But - !"
Richard chuckled, lifting his hand in a wave as if to sweep away the objection. "Come now, Asbel. I recall you being quite willing to look after Cheria, as a child. This should not be any different."
"Th - this is totally different!"
"We should be off." The king turned with a fluttering of his cape - and a smile that was headed in the direction of a smirk, if one looked close enough - and cleared his throat. "Pascal, come along. We must continue through these ruins."
"Oh, yeah, cool beans! But I just wanna look at this thingie a little more." The girl was bent over the stone, squinting at the symbol, so close that her nose nearly touched the hard surface. "You guys aren't in a super big hurry, are you? 'cuz I'm pretty sure this is of Amarcian origin, and if that's the case, I have got to study it."
"Well, Asbel," Richard remarked, chuckling as he glanced over one shoulder, "I have done my best. Now I must leave it to you."
"What? Are you kidding me? You didn't even try!"
"Sophie and I will go on ahead. Please hurry along."
"Aw, Richard, come on!"
"Come with me, Sophie." Richard gestured to his side, and the girl who looked like but probably wasn't Sophie obediently took her place beside him, her hands dropping immediately from her ears. The two proceeded to walk down the path that stretched out before them, brushing past Pascal (who didn't even notice). Asbel glared after them as they moved away, wishing immediately for some kind of magical power that would allow him to light people on fire with his eyes -
"Alright." He sighed, shaking away those thoughts, and walked reluctantly in the direction of his strange new friend, arriving by her side. "Pascal," he began; then, when she didn't even appear to notice, raised his voice a notch - or eight. He couldn't help it, he was frustrated. "PASCAL!"
"Hey! What's the big idea, bub? You don't have to shout." She straightened, cocking her head as she looked up at him. "I heard ya. What's wrong?"
"We need to keep moving." He pointed in the direction of probably-not-Sophie and Richard's retreating figures. "Before long, we're going to have no clue where we're going. We really need you to tell us how to get through this place."
"Ohh, yeah, I did agree to that, but..." Her amber eyes shifted back in the direction of the block in front of her. "I really, really need to study this - "
"Now is really not the time."
"Pleeeeease?" She pouted ever-so-slightly, clasping her hands together, her eyes widening, and - oh, geez, messy hair and questionable choice in dye jobs aside, Asbel knew a cute girl when he saw one. "It'll only take a couple minutes, I promise! Then we'll get going through the rest of this wacky dungeon type place and poof on out on the other side of the big ol' bridge, just like you guys wanted."
He prayed to whatever god was willing to listen for strength. "Sorry, Pascal. We need to go now."
Her lower lip jutted out just a little more. "C'mon, don't be a meanie, Asbel. I don't like meanies. Just gimme like two minutes - no, three minutes tops, I promise - "
"No," he answered, directly this time, looking in the direction of where Richard and obviously-fake-Sophie had gone; he saw only the briefest glimpse of a black cape and purple hair turning a corner, and he groaned inwardly, knowing he would have to run to catch up to them. And could this tiny little girl even run without falling over? She looked off-balance, with a huge staff and huge... er, boots, that was what he had meant to think. He was suddenly very glad that Cheria had not been there to see his gaze stray a certain somewhere. "No," he said again, cleaning his throat, "we really need to go. Now."
"Meanie." She made a face. "I'm the one nice enough to show you guys through here, yeah? So you should - "
"Come on, Pascal, don't be like this." He shook his head. "Can we please just go? Before Richard and Sophie get too far ahead of us?"
"Weelllll..."
"Please?"
"Okay, look." She bent abruptly over the stone again. "Just like thirty seconds - "
Asbel's patience had run out. Richard had charged him with looking after Pascal, and that was what he was going to do. But, he noted to himself, the next time they picked up some stranger while they were traveling, Richard would be the one playing babysitter. With a grunt, he bent and rather carelessly hoisted the girl over his shoulder, rolling his eyes at the sound of a surprised shriek. "Hey!" she objected, wiggling. "Put me down!"
"I told you," he said, and wound an arm around her calves, pinning them tight to his chest - because if she kicked him, so help her, he would drop her to the floor like a sack of potatoes - before beginning to walk steadily down the path that his companions had taken. "You can come back and study your Amar... Armarc... Amar-whatever ruins later. Your first priority should be getting us through here."
"Asbellllll!" She continued to wiggle, beating his back with small hands curled into fists. "Put me down!"
"I don't like this any more than you do!" He huffed, annoyed, but was at least thankful that she was light and easy to carry. Captain Malik and Major Victoria had made him carry far, far heavier things over the course of his training, after all. "I'm not putting you down until we're away from that block thing. I don't trust you not to go running back to it."
"Hrmph!" He could hear the disappointment in her voice, and although she abruptly stopped jerking about in his grasp, he was certain she had begun pouting again. "I'm never gonna get another chance to inspect that ruin. It's not every day I get to come through this place, you know? Once we get outta here, I bet you guys are gonna be so attached to me that you beg me to stay - "
"Yeah, sure, whatever," Asbel interrupted, and adjusted his hold on her, trying not to pay attention to the way her, er, assets were pressed into the back of his shoulder. "Could you just sit still until we catch up to Richard?"
"... meanie," she muttered, sourly - but for some reason she obeyed, and once they'd caught up to the king and Sophie's weird clone or twin sister or whatever she was, Asbel placed her on the ground and found himself on the receiving end of a rib-crushing hug. "Sorry, Asbel!" she exclaimed, oblivious to the fact that she'd probably shattered a bone or two upon throwing her arms around him. "I totally didn't mean to piss you off! We're still friends, yeah?"
He winced and choked out something that was meant to be a protest and sounded nothing like one. Richard laughed heartily at the two of them, and even Sophie-not-Sophie smiled. And Pascal giggled, delighted with herself, before bounding away to operate a switch without even checking to see what it would do, all the while rambling on about what good friends the four of them were going to be, because nothing brought people closer together than being stuck together in a dungeon for a couple hours.
Asbel wanted to protest, but he had a funny feeling that she would grow on him. And strangely enough, in the end, they both were right.
