Title: Merines
Prompt: what is it that drives a man and sustains him, after he's left everything he's ever known
Character/Pairing: Shirley, Senel
A/N: When I played the game and got to the part where Shirley left after realizing Senel was a spy, I thought she had decided to ditch both the Ferines and her brother. And so I wanted to write what would have happened had she decided to just run away from it all instead of activating the wings of light.
Summary: She would carve a path all her own.
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"So Stella knew?" Shirely asked, her voice delicate. Everything felt ethereal, as though she were in a dream.
Maybe she was, maybe this was all a fever-dream and she'd wake up on the boat, still trying to escape her captors.
"I…" Senel looked away. "She knew."
Shirely closed her eyes. Her heart, it felt like glass breaking.
"Was I the only one who didn't?"
Senel bit his lip, unable to speak.
"I see. So I was the only who didn't…" Shirley opened her eyes, activating her powers.
"Shirely?" Senel took a step forward, and she smiled.
"Goodbye, brother."
-x-
Shirley collapsed to her knees, panting hard. Teleporting all the way to the edge of the ship took too much energy. More so when Nerifes was fighting her every step of the way.
The sea's voice whispered in her, reminding her of her duty.
"No," she gasped, trying to get to her legs. "No, I won't."
The sea's voice raged, a warning of what could happen. Of what had happened.
The Orerines must die, it commanded.
But for all of their faults, for all of his faults, he was still her brother. They were still people, some good and some bad.
"No!" Her voice was weak, her mouth dry.
Swallowing her fear, she repeated, "No!"
Shirley was tired of playing the puppet.
-x-
Maritus had used her. Nerifes was trying to use her.
And Senel had lied.
Shirley gritted her teeth and stood on wobbly legs.
It was time she did what she wanted to.
-x-
Stella's powers still lingered on the ship. Between the two of them, she had always been the talented one and it was no surprise that she had amassed this much power over the years.
"I wish you could talk to me," Shirley said, extending her reach throughout the ship. She could see Stella's grave, see Senel running through the forests looking for her. "You always knew what to say."
Stella's powers were not her sister, she knew. But Shirley swallowed every last bit anyways.
"It's warm," she murmured.
-x-
Shirley! Senel called for her through the shell. Desperate, raw, she could hear the worry and fear in his voice.
If she were a better person, a better sister, she'd answer. She almost did, sometimes, it was hard to resist the answering call in her own heart.
But she couldn't go back and she had to move forward. Her hand clenched, covering the shell entirely.
His heartbeat rang loud and clear through the connection, a reminder of just how alive he was. Closing her eyes, she fell asleep to the sound.
-x-
It took her a few days to get to the Ferines village.
"Merines?" Walter stared at her in surprise. He was covered in bandages, unable to move at faster than a slow walk. "You came back?"
Maritus watched her from a distance and she wondered what he told everyone.
"Of course I did, I'm the Merines." She smiled sadly.
"Then, then we can still activate—"
"No." She shook her head and repeated, firmly, "No."
"What?"
"I will help the Ferines and I will protect us, but I will not kill everyone else to do so." She stared at Maritus. "Do you understand?"
He swallowed and bowed. "As you wish."
"But," Walter took a step toward her, desperate. "We can't just—"
"We can. I am the Merines and that is my command."
She couldn't be Shirley, not anymore. And maybe she couldn't be a great Merines or a great sister.
But she could still protect what she wanted to protect.
She could still carve a path that was purely her own.