Wingman

"If you are wanting help I would be offering my services as a how you say, wingman?"
Rider rolled off Fright's back and swung his halberd in an arc parallel with the ground to swipe the feet out from under the armored cyclops that had tried to attack him from the rear. "Now? You want to have this conversation now?" the undead jouster asked Flameslinger incredulously.
"Oui," the fire elf nodded. He altered the grip on his bow and struck another cyclops in the chin with it before he pulled an arrow from his quiver and jabbed the one-eyed creature in the shoulder. "Now is a good time as any." Flameslinger grunted as he popped the arrow back out, notched it and fired at a distant target that had a bow of his own.
"You're insane," Rider grumbled. His hands danced on the shaft of his halberd as he once again changed his grip and thrust it forward to hold another attacker at bay. The cyclops slapped at the weapon with his sword but all Rider had to do was turn his halberd slightly to the side and the cyclops' blade was jammed between the two that made up the elf's. Rider smirked and wrenched his halberd to the side and easily disarmed the cyclops. He pulled his weapon back, spun around and settled his weight on his back foot before he swung at the cyclops' side. The blow connected and the enemy cried out in pain.

"Why; is now not good for you?" Flameslinger laughed. He sighted three arrows at once and easily turned a thickly muscled cyclops into a pin cushion. Flameslinger's opponent grunted and fell over backwards. "You are not busy, are you?" the fire elf jeered.
"Only you, archer," Rider shouted back. He brought his halberd in perpendicular to his body and held it with both hands to meet and block a dual blade strike from a small but quick cyclops. "Only you would think I wasn't busy in the middle of combat." Rider let his arms fold in closer to his body and the cyclops eagerly followed with a lopsided grin. Rider kicked out suddenly and took his opponent in the gut. The cyclops let out a 'woof' sound as he stumbled backwards. With the opening present Rider turned his weapon shaft to his side and rammed the cyclops hard in the middle of his chest with the butt of the halberd. Rider let the butt fall down to near the ground before he stepped forward and brought it up swiftly between the cyclops' legs for a hard whack.

"Because you are not busy!" Flameslinger said lightly. He scuffed the ground with a heel of his boot and took off in a sprint suddenly with a trail of fire blazing behind him. "This, this is like the training! We are no match for them!" he shouted out as he wove circles and spirals around seven different opponents and trapped them inside infernos. The cyclops warriors howled out in agony as well as surprise. Flameslinger easily pulled and loosed arrows at new opponents that sought to join the fray.
"I think you mean they are no match for us," Rider shook his head and brought his halberd to his side as Fright looped back around and ran in towards the jouster with his head low. The undead elf grabbed the reins with his free hand and used the butt of his halberd as an aid to vault back into Fright's saddle. The ostrich cried out triumphantly as he turned back around with Rider's guiding knees and charged a group of confused enemies that milled about at a wall of fire. Rider moved around it effortlessly and knocked the cyclops warriors down like a line of dominoes. "Are you hearing this, Fright? Flame is off his rocker!" the elf scoffed. As if he understood the question the undead ostrich squawked and clicked his beak.

"Woo! Feel the burn, can you feel it?" Flameslinger cackled as he not only put up a wall of fire around three clustered enemies but fired several volley shots over the top of the flames. The elf jerked to the side as an arrow barely missed his face. "Oh so this is your game then?" he grumbled to himself before he shot back in the direction of the arrow without even looking. "Bullseye!" he laughed a moment later when the next shot fired at him came at a tremendously bad angle that missed him by several feet. "Rider, we are wiping the floor with these guys, non?"
Rider rolled his eyes, not that the action did much good since he lacked irises and pupils. "Showoff!" the undead elf shouted back. "It's just me, who are you putting on a show for?"
"For you of course!" Flameslinger laughed. He fired two arrows under Fright, one in front of his legs and the other behind to take down two separate targets. "I am wanting this job of wingman. You are sans espoir on the task of wooing the lady Hex."

Rider clicked his tongue and flapped the reins so Fright would leap up and over the attacker in front of him. The ostrich didn't quite clear the cyclops and both he and Rider went down in a jumble with the cyclops under them. Fright rolled off Rider with a loud screech and snapped his beak on the boot of the cyclops that had tried to take advantage of Rider's momentary weakness. The bird jerked his head back and the cyclops went down. Fright hissed at him and went to peck him in his one eye. At about the same time Flameslinger put an arrow through the raised wrist of the cyclops and caused him to drop the sword he had been about to slice into the back of Fright's neck with.
"You are sans espoir in flare too, mon ami!" Flameslinger was laughing so hard it wasn't difficult to imagine tears streaming out from his eyes.
With a huff Rider pushed himself to his feet by way of holding the butt of his halberd against the ground as he stood. "With Fright and I it is a team effort. If one of us is off then both of us fail."
"Oh yes, blame it on the bird!" Flameslinger laughed even harder. He had taken to clubbing nearby enemies again with his bow. More than one cyclops had looked to an ally in confusion, the Skylanders were really strange.

The rest of the short battle went much the same, Flameslinger made comments to both his opponents and Rider. The undead elf fired off retorts to his friend as often as he dropped attackers. In the end the cyclops had been forced into a hasty retreat with their wounded and fallen thereby leaving the two Skylanders in the grassy field by themselves.
"This was good exercise, non?" Flameslinger panted.
Rider tilted his head to either side; only one tilt resulted in a pop. "Yeah," he agreed. As a member of the undead ranks Rider didn't need to breathe and therefor neither he nor Fright was panting. Of course Flameslinger almost always claimed that it was because he had to do all the work himself while Rider tip-toed around the battle field with Fright so the bird wouldn't break a nail. Rider took his friend by surprise when he shoved him hard in the shoulder and actually managed to knock Flameslinger over.

"What was the meaning of that?" Flameslinger scowled and growled up at Rider from the ground. Fright made a sound that was strikingly similar to a chuckle.
"For laughing at us when we went down," Rider smirked at him. A moment later and he held his hand out to help Flameslinger up. The green skinned elf knocked it away and got up on his own before he stuck his chin up and strode away from Rider.
"Well maybe after all I am not wanting to help you woo your lady love." Flameslinger even added a little sniff to punctuate his statement.
"Oh yes, I can see the boundless wisdom you have, o wise cracker," Rider responded dryly. "Showing off to Stealth got you so far."

A tinge of red crept up into Flameslinger's cheeks and he cleared his throat. "Non, the point is that I eventually won her affection mon ami."
Rider held a finger up and smirked, "Eventually, the key word in that statement."
Flameslinger snorted and waved at his friend with both hands before he turned around. He stopped dead in his tracks when he came face to face with Fright. The bird tilted his head to the side and made a curious sound. "Get your boney chicken out of my way," the elf grunted.
Rider shrugged and held his hands out, "Fright won't stop you. Just step around him, archer."
"At least my eventually happily ever after has arrived. You, chevalier are still bumbling like the fool that you are."

With an overly dramatic sigh Rider finally took the bait. "Alright, spit it out. What is this great plan of yours to finally let me win Hex's affections?"
Flameslinger turned so fast on his heels that Rider would have sworn he had blinked and the archer had just popped into place. "She is not being that different from ma chère. Stealth, she told me I was trying too hard and made her feel like some prize that I was having to win. I did not want her to feel like an object but did not know this was how she was seeing my attempts. She set me straight and behold," Flameslinger held his arms out. "I won," he grinned stupidly.
Rider quirked a brow and folded his arms over his chest as Fright walked up to him, the ostrich's head bobbed along as he milled around without any threat to keep him on edge. "I am leaving Hex alone. She made my last attempt at impressing upon her my feelings very clear that it would never accomplish anything."
"And this is your problem!" Flameslinger said as he threw his arms up in the air. "You have stopped, you have given her the coldest of shoulders. You will never win like that!"

"Again, I ask you; what is your plan?"
Flameslinger grinned, "You must pay attention to what your lady is to be saying. If you can find something for her that she is not finding herself then you will make a point. If you can start to give her things that she is seeking she will like how you attend to her."
"I've heard enough," Rider said with his hand up. "Hex is a very independent woman. If she thinks I'm doing this because I believe she can't then I do the opposite of what you think I will do."
Flameslinger snorted. "If you are not to be trying it then how do you know? Fine, I have another idea. You are to be leaving it to me. I will work magic." The elf laced his fingers then stretched his arms out with his palms facing away. "You do not need to be in the magic element for making the sparks fly," he gave a sly grin.
"One more fire pun," Rider warned with a finger pointing at his friend, "just one more and I'm dousing you in the water at the citadel's beach."
"Save the wet t-shirt contests for the ladies!" Flameslinger grinned. Rider groaned and ran his hand over his face, was he really going to let Flameslinger go through with his cockamamie plan?

The return to the citadel had been uneventful. Checking in with Spyro, Hugo and finally Eon had been a breeze. Hugo added another red push pin to the map that marked areas where platoons of cyclops warriors had been spotted. Kaos was up to something but what no one had yet figured out. The two elves found their paths separated them as they visited with other allies. Rider and Fright had just climbed the stairs that led down to the beach when the familiar sight of two other Skylander elves drew the undead jouster's attention.
Rider hadn't even realized he had been yanking on the reins until Fright made a pitiful wail. The elf jumped and let his mount's head go before he stroked the bird's skull and let his eyes follow Flameslinger as he tailed Hex. More like preceded her; Flameslinger walked ahead of Hex and backwards as he spoke animatedly with her. Whatever he was saying didn't phase the sorceress one bit. She had her best poker face on as she calmly floated forward and didn't even seem to acknowledge Flameslinger in the least.
"What in the name of the Core of Light is he doing now?"
Rider nearly jumped out of his skin before he glared at Fright, the bird was supposed to warn him if anyone approached them. Fright acted like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Stealth adjusted one of the fingerless gloves that covered her hands and forearms. "Did I scare you?" her tone was nonchalant but under the cover of her mask a smirk played on her lips. "What where you doing that made you jump so? Spying on Hex? Oogling the girl from afar?" Stealth made a tsking sound. "She wouldn't like that."
"Loverboy," Rider cocked his head in the direction of Flameslinger, "is playing matchmaker. He thinks I need help."
Stealth blinked and snorted in laughter before she erupted in a short bark of it and schooled her features easily. "You do!" she gasped for breath and chuckled. Tears had formed in her eyes from how hard she had to suppress her giggle fit.
"The faith everyone has in me," Rider grunted.
Stealth put a hand on the undead elf's shoulder. He made a move to brush it off but she swat his hand away with her other. "No, seriously. You do need help. But Hex needs it too. Look, you repeat anything I'm about to say to you to anyone and I'll kill you. Again. I will have Whirlwind revive you so I can kill you yet again. Understand?"
Rider gave Stealth a flat stare, "I always keep my word."

"She likes you."
"I find this hard to believe."
"Just shut up and listen, Rider. Hex has this idea that the undead aren't meant to love. Why? I don't really understand, something about living forever and nothing ever separating undead lovers that scares the living daylights out of her. She thinks that for an undead being love would be forever. And love is a thing of beauty while the undead are known to be fearsome and loathsome. Beauty isn't used to describe anything the undead do."
"I think Hex is beautiful, the fact she is undead cannot hide that. It doesn't mar it either, it will preserve it forever."
Stealth smiled, the way her eyes crinkled was the only clue Rider needed to know it was true, "She's been undead longer than you. She's been through things you haven't. I know no one expects her and me to be the great friends that we are. I know most don't even know how tight a bond we have. Hex has fears, Rider. Things she doesn't want to admit as she thinks they make her weaker. You're different than most undead. You have integrity and no dark history looming over you. Most see your transformation into an undead being as a jealous competitor's low-brow reply to your success. You're still respected, trusted. Hex doesn't have that. She's a dark presence and even her position as a Skylander hasn't erased that memory from the minds of others. She doesn't think she's good enough for you. She thinks that being with you would soil how others look at you. She can't drag you down with her."

Rider took a moment to let what Stealth had told him soak in. "I don't care what others think of me," he said softly.
"But Hex does," Stealth squeezed Rider's shoulder before she finally withdrew her hand. "Whatever damage Flame does I'll correct. Don't worry. He thinks he knows everything but he's just as much, what's he always telling you? Sans espoir, without hope? That phrase fits him like a glove and he doesn't even realize it."
Rider had no idea how to respond. He kept his solid white eyes locked on Stealth as he shifted from foot to foot. "Flame tells me to act, what do you say?"
"Don't give up," Stealth tilted her chin up. "Don't be annoying like Flameslinger was," something about her tone seemed to indicate she had rolled her solid white eyes, "but don't let Hex think you've given up on her. She'll come around eventually, Rider. She just needs to swallow her pride. And that's something that neither Flame nor I can make her do. Give it time. You've got plenty of that." Stealth slugged Rider gently in the shoulder and gave him a slight wave as she moved down the stairs towards the beach.
"Time," Rider murmured as Fright moved in to nuzzle him. "We've got plenty of that don't we?" he murmured softly to his oldest friend.

When Flameslinger finally found Rider in the common room of the citadel the fire element was looking a little rough around the edges. His blue hair had started to come out of the tight bind he had it in at the back of his head. Long shoulder length strands of azure hair blew gently in the slightest breeze as the elf flopped down into a thickly padded chair across from where Rider was sitting in one of his own with an open book.
The undead elf marked his place in his book, closed it in his lap and propped one elbow up on the arm of the chair before he cradled his chin in an upturned palm. "Well?" he asked with a raised brow.
"I just spent the last two hours tapping an arrow head against a cage made of bone as I tried to be making my escape," the archer snapped. His clothing showed signs of small rips, tears and snags. The bone cage had spurs on it, he had really annoyed Hex. "Chop Chop finally let me out only after I told him why Hex had locked me up."
The undead elf winced; he really didn't want Chop Chop to think he had put Flameslinger up to it. "What did he do?"
"He scoffed at me, called me an idiot and said that I was not knowing how to leave things alone. Like the arkeyan skeleton knows better!"
"How mad was Hex?" Rider ventured forth.
Flameslinger waved, "She said nothing about you. It is me that has her ire." The archer picked at a loose thread on his trousers and scowled when it began to unravel and widen the hole.

Rider drummed his fingers on the book cover a few times before he surged to his feet and tossed the book at Flameslinger. The fire elf sputtered as he tried to catch it and only managed to bounce it between his hands a few times before it landed with a thump on the floor.
"Watch where you are to be throwing these things!" Flameslinger growled in a feral manner before he picked it up. He read the cover and made a face, Rider loved books about knights and quests to protect kingdoms and or a woman. When he looked up Rider was gone. "Yeah, you're welcome," Flameslinger muttered before he cracked open the cover, lifted a corner of his blindfold and skimmed the first page. Before long he was reading on to see where the main character, a golding knight named Galahad, would find himself next.

Fright was currently stabled for the night so Rider found himself walking in the growing twilight. He murmured greetings to other Skylanders as he passed them, most were on their way to the mess hall for the last meal of the day. Neither Rider nor any of the undead really needed to eat; they only did it to be social. They didn't exactly need to sleep as much as the living did either but it was a good way to pass the time when there was nothing else to do. Rider would probably spend most of the night out walking the whole of the island. A few times he had sat on the beach but he almost always found himself in the company of Chill. She liked to watch the moon on the waves, she said it reminded her of the glittering armor of her people when they marched to battle. She was quiet and respectful company, she never tried to spark conversation with Rider unless he seemed to want to widdle away the hours with chatter.

At the moment Rider didn't really want conversation so he stayed away from the beach. He stayed on the upper level of the island terrace and moved towards the Far Viewer. Not many Skylanders visited it since it was plain and in the open. In other words it was the perfect place to find space and be alone because it was so obviously open.
What a mess things had turned into. Rider more or less flopped down heavily into the grass around the giant telescope. He knew he should have harped on Flameslinger to just drop the whole thing. But Rider couldn't let go of that sliver of hope. Perhaps he was a fool for seeking Hex's affection. Perhaps he was an even bigger fool for allowing Flameslinger to make him look childish. And he couldn't even begin to imagine how Stealth would smooth it all out. He had an inkling though that the life elf would make unflattering comments about Rider to get Hex to listen to her. Rider shook his head, no, Stealth wasn't like that. She could be called a friend to both Hex and him even if he and Hex never spoke about anything other than missions with each other. Stealth was a mutual friend and preferred to stay on everyone's good side; she wouldn't bad mouth one party to do it.

"It's a nice night, isn't it?"
If his heart still beat it would have just stopped. Rider froze for a moment as his mind whirled slowly on telling him what to do. All at once it kicked in and he launched himself to his feet. "Yes! Yes, it's a very nice night. Would you like to join me, Hex?" the elf said as he held a hand out to an area next to him. Hex was as unreadable as ever. She hovered just barely inches above the ground with her trademark purple mist billowing out from under her gown. The way the moonlight gave her pale blue skin a silver sheen really was pleasing to Rider's eyes. Not for the first time he thanked the fact he lacked visible pupils and irises so she couldn't tell he was staring right at her. Hex tilted her head just barely and Rider thought he would melt at the way the light caressed her cheekbones.
Hex glided up silently and gracefully like a black swan and lowered herself into a seated position. She folded her hands in her lap and patiently waited for Rider's brain to catch up with current events again before he dropped down like a sack of potatoes into a seated position beside her. "About this afternoon," she began softly.
"Oh light, I'm so sorry!" Rider murmured around the hands that had suddenly snapped into place over his face. "I swear I didn't ask Flame to do or say anyth-"
"Silence," Hex said softly. It was said without malice or harshness. It was lightly spoken as if a request rather than demand. It worked though and Rider fell silent as well as moved his hands to look at the sorceress. "That flaming idiot's antics are nothing out of the ordinary. I never once thought you had employed him; rather he simply stuck his nose where it didn't belong. I did however speak to Stealth."
If possible the color further drained from Rider's face. He planted his hands firmly in the grass and curled his fingers around the blades as he waited for whatever Hex was about to unleash.

"I think I've been unfair about the whole thing." Even Hex seemed to have trouble looking at Rider. Unflappable, unshakeable Hex was unable to meet Rider's eyes. "I've been a fool, Rider."
She fell silent after that and Rider glanced down to his feet stretched out in the grass before him then to the side. He had never been so close to Hex in such a relaxed situation. He had been back to back with her in battle before but casually they had always kept their distance. It felt strained and forced when Rider would move out to give Hex a wide berth or when she would do the same for him. But now all he had to do was extend his arm only half its length and he could touch her. "It's alright." Lame, lamest thing he could have said. No it wasn't alright but the whole situation had completely blindsided him. "I mean I can understand where you're coming from."
"A selfish place," she snorted. "Look, Rider. The fact you haven't given up on me when I've been such a rotten apple gives me a case of the warm fuzzies. It's been so long since I've had a feeling like that. I think, what I'm trying to say is I made a mistake. I think there's something more to this unlife than what I know and I'm finally ready to face it."
They were talking; at long last Rider was having a friendly conversation with Hex. "It's scary, I know. But nothing we can't handle, right?" he chanced a smile at her. There in the dark with only the moon to witness it other than Rider, Hex smiled.

The atmosphere changed suddenly and Stealth relaxed. She allowed herself a smile of victory, sometimes all Hex needed was a good verbal assault to get through her thick skull. Stealth watched the whole thing from a perfect vantage point near the stairs but far enough away so that she couldn't hear the conversation.
"It was totally a team effort."
Stealth elbowed Flameslinger in the gut and he doubled over with a groan. "Yeah, team effort alright," the life elf said sourly.
"Oh, my poumons. I think you bruised them."
"I hit you in the belly!" Stealth replied in a scandalized tone.
"Oui, poumons. Lungs. They are hurting," the fire elf winced.
Stealth swore he was grinning. Idiot. She reached out and pulled his blindfold down over his mouth with a smirk. In the pale moonlight Flameslinger's beautiful eyes splashed his face and the immediate area in a warm orange glow. The eternal flames concealed within danced in amusement, he enjoyed the fact she had thought he said something dirty.

Flameslinger complained as he untied his blindfold. Of course with the fabric in the way it sounded like a series of muffled mutterings. When Stealth least expected it he reached out to yank her mask down to the point where it looked like a bandana tied around her neck. "Ma chère, your lips are being so beautiful when puffed out like that."
"It's an expression of annoyance!" she grumbled as she untied her mask and watched Flameslinger out the corner of her eye.
"But it is so beautiful," Flameslinger murmured as he reached out to stroke her cheek gingerly. The fire element was surprised when she shied away.
"I don't think so; you're still in the dog house for what you did."
Flameslinger looked baffled, "But they are talking! I have done something right!" he insisted.
"Yes, of course," Stealth replied flatly as she tied her mask back in place. "After I convinced Hex not to return to where she had left you to kill you I smoothed things out. You owe me. And tomorrow morning you need to apologize to Rider and Hex for your antics." Stealth stood up and turned to walk away.
"It is because of me that they are even right there!" Flameslinger exclaimed with both hands stretched out towards the silhouettes of the other two elves. "I have gotten the ball rolling!"
"Oh it's rolling alright!" Stealth called over her shoulder as she walked off.
With a huff and shake of his head Flameslinger rose to his feet. Women, life's strangest creatures.

Merry Christmas Xandy! This took off in directions I hadn't expected when I first got the idea of a battle and teasing quips between Rider and Flame. I hope you enjoy it; I tried to incorporate everything we had talked about into it.