Author's note: Hey everyone! Welcome to my first fanfiction, centered around Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny. You'll be following Sonja post-plot, and you will see many of the beloved Fenith Islanders making their appearances and contributions. There may or may not be post-plot spoilers concerning requests or events, but I may be changing the circumstances around the events and the dialogue. I am hoping you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. :)

After a year of being a soul trapped in Aden's body, Sonja found it to be both a blessing and a burden to be back in her own form.

Right now, she only saw it as a blessing. All of Fenith Island was shrouded in the quiet of the night with the exception of the Three Sisters Inn. Warm light pooled out of the windows and rambunctious laughter came from within. The whole town had gathered to celebrate the return of Sonja's body and Aden's new freedom. Lively music rested in the background of the excited chatter, glasses were clinked together, and there were enough smiles spread through the inn to last for centuries.

The ability to have her own conversation was something Sonja desperately missed and quickly took part in as soon as she could. She sat herself on the opposite side of the room from Aden, who was currently telling a story and gesturing to the table he was speaking to, and found she was able to say whatever she wanted without hearing her counterpart pipe in. No one to argue with over simple things, or to hear their little complaints, whines, mumbles – nothing. It was refreshing.

"How does it feel, Sonja?" The resident slacker sat down in the last unoccupied chair at the table Sonja was stationed at, sliding herself beside Electra. A broad grin stretched across her face and her red hair ruffled atop of her head. It seemed like Sierra could hardly sit down all night as she tried to catch up with every single person at the inn. Sonja had glanced her way a few times through the night to see her flitting back and forth between conversations.

"To be in my own body?" Sonja asked, watching Sierra nod. "It's like having been on a very long vacation and finally being able to sleep in your own bed again." She smiled before folding her arms onto the wooden table, "In other words, fantastic."

"Glad to hear it!" Sierra lightly giggled as she clapped her hands together, "Now we can finally have girls' nights! It's hard to invite you to things like that when Aden is forced to come along."

"I bet."

"A girls' night does sound like a fun idea." The blonde blacksmith to Sonja's left spoke up, leaning herself forward against the table. "Mainly because it's at night."

"So if it were a girls' morning, you wouldn't come, Elena?" Sierra asked, a smirk growing on her face that Sonja and Electra couldn't help but giggle at.

"No way!" Elena shouted, causing both of the girls to giggle even louder, "And you know that! So if you want me to come, it can't be any earlier than three in the afternoon!"

"Don't worry, Sierra was just teasing." Electra assured as she smoothed out the middle of her pink dress, "We wouldn't make you get up earlier."

"Damn right you won't!"

As more talk about a possible girls' night arose at the table, Sonja rested her chin in her hand, elbow against the table as she looked around the inn. Her glance shifted lazily from each table, curious as to what everyone was up to, until her eyes settled on Aden sitting across the room. She watched him as he listened to Bacchus, but feeling someone looking at him, his attention turned towards Sonja. She gave him a gentle wave of her free hand and, to her mild surprise, Aden excused himself from his table and made his way across the room towards her.

"Hey, girls." Aden greeted the table, to which they chimed a greeting in return before excitedly carrying on with their plans. Aden circled behind Sonja's chair, setting a hand on the back of it before leaning down towards her shoulder, "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure." Sonja nodded. She stood up, her chair sliding back before she followed Aden outside into the cool, night air, closing the inn doors behind them.

"Nice night, huh?" Aden asked. His eyes averted upwards towards the sky, watching the stars flicker against the dark blue sky. "Good time for a get together like this."

"C'mon, Aden."

Aden's gaze was brought back down to Sonja who had her arms crossed over her chest, "What?"

"I know you didn't bring me outside just to talk about the weather." Sonja let her back rest lightly against one of the support beams in front of the inn, "What's going on?"

Aden briefly glanced at the ground before crossing his arms over his chest like Sonja. He kicked at a loose pebble before breaking the brief silence that fell about them, "Y'know how I said I wanted to marry Odette, right?"

"Yep." Sonja nodded, "We've talked about it quite a bit."

"Kind of hard not to when you're in my head nagging me to tell you what's wrong."

"Hey!" Sonja piped up, shooting Aden a hard look, "I don't nag!"

"Whatever, that's not the point." Aden said, brushing off the subject before they steered themselves off track.

Sonja huffed, but let it go. She was sure she could badger him about it later. "Alright, so you want to marry Odette. What about it?"

"I want to propose tonight."

Sonja blinked, her green eyes widening in surprise. "T-tonight?"

"Yeah." Aden swallowed nervously as he kept his eyes towards the ground. "It just…it feels right." He let out a light sigh, "I don't know, I can't explain it."

"Well, you love her, right?"

"Of course. But what if…" Aden slowly raised his eyes from the ground to meet Sonja's, though he appeared to be having a hard time covering up his worry, "What if she doesn't feel the same?"

"I doubt that's a problem." Sonja scoffed as she loosened her arms from their crossed state just to wave a hand lazily in the air.

"What do you mean?"

"You're so oblivious to girl's feelings." Sonja smiled as she looked towards her childhood friend, "I learned that by being in your body for a whole year."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Odette has feelings for you, Aden." Sonja spoke a little quieter, though she doubted anyone inside could hear them over the sound of their own laughter and music. "It might not get through your thick skull, but I can see it. When you're around, she has a little more bounce in her step, a perk to her voice, a different smile…but of course, you would never notice these things."

"Hey, how am I supposed to be able to pick out a bounce in someone's step?"

"Regardless, I don't think you have to worry."

Aden looked back down at the ground. He slowly nodded, "Yeah. I think I'm ready, then. Thanks, Sonja."

"Anytime."

"One more thing, though, before you go back inside."

Sonja blinked as she stopped pulling herself out of her relaxed position against the support beam, "What is it?"

"Could…could you ask Odette to come outside? I don't want to propose in front of everyone…" Aden nervously rubbed the back of his head, a pink flush of embarrassment apparent on his cheeks even in the darkness of the night.

Sonja lightly giggled, "Sure. You owe me one, though."

"Yeah, yeah. Add it to my tab."

Opening the inn doors, Sonja was about to walk in, but stopped in her steps as she almost bumped right into the purple-haired chef that was on her way out. They both recoiled slightly before shooting the other an apologetic look.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Odette!" Sonja apologized over the noise that flooded out of the doors.

"No, that's ok! I didn't expect you to be there." Odette piped up, her head shaking back and forth.

"Good timing, though. I was just about to get you."

"Oh?"

Sonja gently placed a hand on Odette's back before guiding her outside. She gave Aden a quick wink before leaving the two alone and shutting the inn doors. Hopefully no one would go looking for either of them. The last thing Aden needed was to be interrupted. She was sure his heart was already going a mile a minute.

The pink-haired girl led herself over towards the bar to get herself another drink and perhaps exchange a few pleasantries with Maerwen, who had made herself comfortable there for the majority of the night. She couldn't help but think about Aden, though. Was he ok? Was he saying the right thing? She was positive Odette wouldn't turn him down, but the pair were both equally hot-headed when the wrong thing was said. One slip-up and they would have to make amends before Aden could attempt his proposal again.

Her thoughts ran through her head as she leaned against the bar. Outside, her friend's life might make a drastic change and in turn, hers would too.

Having her own body back was a blessing but also a burden, because now she couldn't stop her best friend from moving on without her.