You Lift Me Up

Inspired by this gorgeous art, thank you Rachel!!!

There wasn't much to the moment, a simple happenstance thing along their way to the Meyneth Shrine. Most of the party walked in hushed single file, Reyn and Dunban moving ahead of and behind (of? no) Sharla, respectively, highly conscious (perhaps overly so) of their most recent bout.

Everyone had their roles, by this point. Riki was, in some ways literally, their mascot, and if even he was being silent and plodding along, biter hanging lethargically from its pivot point in his backpack, that meant they were all somber, Shulk especially - the always-frail boy was just about all out of energy.

So of course Fiora, mulling for far from an insignificant amount of time on her own insignificance and her comfort as concerned the preexisting dynamics of the group, both before and after her disappearance, saw fit to create distraction.

She started in with an elbow and wink, only one of which was quite definitely caught. "Say, Melia, are you tired?"

"M-me?" The princess flushed as pink as her usual dress (she was orange-flavour, today, and Fiora a sort of deep cherry-maroon in frame to complement), laying absent hand to her cheek as her steps marched on, on, on.

"Well, sure!" Moving ahead, side to side and hip to hip, Fiora then turned back and splayed her arms out, all while continuing to keep pace. "Sharla's already got her escorts, so I figured you might be able to use a lift."

"A...lift?"

"You catch my drift, I think!" the half-ersatz half-erstwhile Homs girl proclaimed (to the half-Homs girl, indeed). She accompanied the cheery shout with a drift of her own on slick frame-bottoms, and Melia found herself caught staring when Fiora jerked so swiftly out of view. "So, how about it?"

Ah. Well. "Just because I am a princess does not mean that I am necessarily light on my feet, Fiora."

The reasoning was stiff, restrained, and it soured immediately after it had left Melia's lips. What was the reason not to commit to the moment? What was the reason not to...to have fun?

"And just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm a wimp!" came the ineffable rejoinder. "Come on, let me carry you, it'll be fun!"

To have fun. And just like that, up she went, spun around in a circle with chest precariously close to Fiora's face - and yet, the other girl didn't seem to mind...? Oh, so many questions.

"Whoa, check out Melia! C'mon Fiora, be careful before you drop 'er."

Oh oh. The peanut gallery. Peeling open one squinch-shut eye as barely as possible, Melia could see Shulk's agape mouth starting to perk into the shape of a smile, and Sharla's the same but more into a joyous laugh.

Such a quick success - that was Fiora's charm, then, wasn't it? Oh, Fiora...

"We will not be needing your assistance, Reyn," she found it within herself to snip out, rather down, from atop her perch. And just because I am a bird, or bird lady, or whichever, does not mean that I am necessarily light on my feet, either.

"Yeah!" Fiora joined her retort and made it boisterous to boot. "And not just because I've got this new body either!"

Indeed, the metal that coated Fiora's arms, while certainly not soft, wasn't entirely unforgiving either. The Mechon- no, the Machina frame was well-fit to its owner, indeed. Oh, stop saying "indeed", Melia, there's no need to be a princess out here. Out here on the Mechonis. Oh, dear.

On they went, everyone faster now with the literal buoying of their mood and figurehead, crimson and citrous the colors of sunset that they were so far from seeing in peace again...and of Egil's family whose affairs they had gotten so strangely mired into.

Would they really greet that sunset in peace? Would they really stop this horrible, senseless war? Would they really be able to avenge every last scrap of meaning to it all?

They would. They had to. That much of the future was so definitely assured. In this, of all things, Melia had confidence. She just didn't know how they'd all be, once they got there.

Fiora seemed so happy to be...useful. As if they didn't all appreciate her for what she could do even without the Machina frame - hadn't that been her point, even? Looking down, Melia tried to smile encouragingly, and was shocked to see how firmly Fiora's eyes were trained on her face.

She was searching for that smile. They all were. And after it all, would they still be? Would they be happy? Would they be carefree?

She hadn't felt so since before Aizel and Hogard and Garan and Damil had passed. Yes, not since, but moreover not until - not until now. It was, oh, impossible to feel down now.

There was everything to the moment, in fact. When Fiora's eyes, green as the most gorgeous grass and the most vivacious windy, breezy ether crystals, glimmered up at her, and then disappeared behind tanned eyelids as the other girl spun her around, let her down, and brought her in for a playful kiss, Melia's heart floated up, up, up, and then sprouted wings of its own and positively flew away.

this has been drafted with a small chunk done for months and months and months and ANYWAY MEL BIRTHDAY