October 30, 2003 – 18:36
Frank got up his seat and followed them. He tried not to think about what he just heard and focused on what he needed to accomplish. He knew that they would have a lot of catching up to do when they would finally be able to talk.
They took him to an entry point of the field and stopped there. As soon as the siren announced the end of the first period and both teams reached their field entry point, the announcer silenced the crowd.
Both teams stopped where they were to figure out what was going on. The stadium staff standing next to Frank ushered him to go to the middle of the field. They weren't at ground level, but he saw a gangway forming from where he stood, leading to the middle of the field. Everyone stared silently at him.
Coralis was shocked and confused. She wasn't expecting to see Frank standing in the middle of their field. She looked at Sebastian, wondering if he knew what he was doing there. Sebastian was sporting a wide grin on his face and she frowned at him. The crowd broke the silence and Coralis's attention quickly turned to them.
Reactions were mixed. Before Coralis could decide on what to do next, the stadium staff silenced the crowd. Her attention turned to Frank. She wanted to get him out of there. Seeing her looking at him, Frank became even more nervous. He was comfortable with addressing crowds, but he underestimated his own reaction when he would see her, and she was staring at him with a look he couldn't describe.
He closed his eyes for a moment and started his speech. His proposal speech where this time, she wouldn't say no to him. So he hoped.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," he said in a clear voice, before opening his eyes and addressing the crowd, forcing himself not to look at her, "I am aware that at the moment, I am the last person you want to see standing in the middle of your flyball field, as I'm sure most of you are raging against humans right now. Truth is, the majority of us don't even understand what is going on."
He paused for a moment. Slowly turning around to take in the entire crowd.
"I know very well that you aren't witches, nothing like what the press is trying to sell us, but the majority of humans out there don't know that. We know your world through children's tales and movies, and nothing comes close to the truth. That being said, even if we tend to hate what we don't understand, most of us don't agree with the so-called witch hunt and think that governments are lying to us. War against you all isn't the solution, but lunatics are everywhere."
The crowd shily laughed. Some whispered and some stood up, wanting to show their respect to the courage that this human was displaying. They didn't know who he was, but they agreed with his statements so far. Coralis didn't know where to look or what to do. A part of her wanted to go to him and pull him out of there, but she was too confused to act on it.
"For over 3 years," he continued, and the crowd became quiet again, "I have been intimately seeing one of you, and she means the world to me. Even as she opened my eyes and removed the veil, showing me the truth about what she was, I didn't stop loving her. I wanted to know more. I was thrilled to be able, finally, to fill in the blanks. All I ever wanted, was for her to open up to me, and she was doing exactly that."
The crowd started whispering again in admiration. Awwww could be heard above the crowd and more stood up, wanting to hear more. They loved and appreciated a human talking that way about one of them. Coralis glanced at Sebastian, whose grin was wider than it was when she first looked at him.
Frank took a deep breath and kept going, encouraged by the crowd's reaction.
"You see, it didn't matter to me that she was different that way, and it still doesn't. I love her just the same. Even now, as global governments are working hard at trying to paint her as an evil being that needs to be taken down, the last thing I want to do is desert her," he said, pausing for a few seconds as he turned to face a different portion of the crowd.
"There is no way he's going to get a no," said Victoria while looking at her friend standing in the middle of the field.
"If he gets a no, it can only mean something is going horribly wrong that we're all failing to see," said Marita.
Everyone was on their feet. Coralis stared at him. She felt a tear coming down her left eye, but she ignored it. She started to see where he was going with his speech. She swore to herself that if this was what she thought it was, she wasn't going to turn him down, no matter what it meant. If she ever was to take a mate, it was going to be him, she knew that, but it would mean that she needed to figure out a Plan B and talk to him after the game.
"No matter how dark it gets, and even the gods from above can see how dark it got, I will keep trying to find ways to protect her from my people. I am selfish. The entire world needs her, but I need her more, by my side. In other words, what I'm trying to say is," he paused and turned to look at her, and this time, he could read some emotions in her and was hoping it was in his favour, "Blue Thunder, will you accept me as your mate and husband?"
The crowd was silent. Their beloved captain never publicly said that she was seeing a human. They were shocked, but still in awe at what that human dared say in the middle of their sacred ground. Everyone was eager to hear how she would respond to him.
Coralis wasn't thinking at that point, her mind was already made up and she acted on that.
"Yes," she said, looking at him, "I accept you as my mate and husband."
While the crowd erupted in cheers and applauded loudly, everyone still on their feet, she flew up to him. When her feet touched the ground, she put her left hand on his cheek and pulled him down for a short but lingering kiss. Before letting him go and returning to her teammates, she whispered to his ear, just loud enough for him to hear.
"We'll talk after the game."
The crowd chanted her name in cheers as she returned to her field entry point.
"You do realize, sister," said Sebastian, lifting his left hand and rubbing his left thumb over the branding where his ring was going to be, "with how deep Frank' speech was, there is no way that the CMMA will question his willingness. Bet you that there were some agents in the crowd and that you'll be branded before we all go home, so we're family now."