Disclaimer: Skies of Arcadia and its characters are not mine. I'm just writing about them as a fan, OK?
Spoiler Alert: This fic takes place after the end of the game, so... y'know...
Author's Notes: I don't think it's really a M-rated fic. It's probably T-rated, but I'm just being safe. This fanfic contains mild spoiler a well-described scene of almost complete nudity, but no physical contact occurs end of spoiler. I don't know if some scenes were REALLY neccessary, but I just wanted to write this as is. It's what happens when you try to mix Skies of Arcadia with Video Girl Ai and Angelic Layer... XP (No, it's not a crossover! XD)
This fanfiction was translated from Portuguese. I'm sorry if some parts seem confusing, weird or plain gramatically wrong.
Musics that inspired me to write: "Lafiel Love Theme", from Crest of the Stars; "Okaa-san", from Angelic Layer.
Synopsis: Life goes on in Crescent Isle, and Vyse seems to keep an eye on Fina. It's not exactly what Aika would like, but what bothers her the most is something far beyond an aparently one-sided love...
Look at me! - by Alandria
Daily life was pacific at Crescent Isle. That, of course, if life in that adventurous community could really be called "pacific", or even "stable". Each day was a brand new day for that group of brave Blue Rogues, who alternated discoveries around the world with some traditional "rewarded services". Since Enrique was in charge of Valua, with Moegi by his side, there were no more attacks to Valuan ships. But they were still pirates, after all, and to attack some contrabandists' ships was always worth it... not only because of the reward, but because of all the cargo they seized, too. Thieves stealing from outlaws could not be something THAT bad...
At the end of that afternoon, after a good victory, the tripulation was reunited at the War Room and a great party was in course, with lots of loqua. At these parties, even the young captain allowed himself to drink a little more, but never to the point of not being able to stand up. After all, he had to be respected by all those people, some of them older, stronger or more intelligent than him.
But Vyse was the captain. And a living legend, too.
At that night, the loqua that was served had the fragrance of the Green Moon, which was said to sharpen someone's senses. Vyse was sharing one of the most sophisticated bottles with Aika, his childhood friend. She was as young as the captain, but was not hesitating to help herself with that loqua. She was laughing and talking about random silly things. She was feeling great for being able to share with him a moment of joy.
A little distant from all the uproar of that party, Fina, the elegant and polite Silvite, bent over the window, admiring the starry sky and breathing the fresh night air. Her expression was serene, and her presence was almost unnoticed. At that night, as always since she moved into Crescent Isle, she was wearing her new Blue Rogue outfit. The skirt, the boots, the bandana and, of course, the blue shirt, which revealed her abdomen almost entirely. And that was not being ignored by Vyse, specially after some glasses of green loqua...
"What are you looking at, Vyse?", asked Aika, very absent-minded.
"Do you really want to know?", he shoot back, waiting for some reaction from his friend, which never came. "I was looking at her...", he said, pointing discreetly with his head at the young woman by the window.
"Do you mean Fina? She seems so distant... what do you think she's thinking about?"
"I have no idea...", he said, but, deep inside, he was not even trying to guess.
Aika was not dense at all. She knew very well that he was looking at Fina for a lot of other reasons.
"Hey, Vyse... are you not curious?", she asked, picking on him.
He would be normally embarassed, but, at that night, he was feeling "courageous".
"Yeah, that's it. I'll go there. Stay here, Aika. I'm going to have a talk with her."
He got up and went to the window. Because of the distance and all the noise inside that closed room, Aika could not listen to those two talking. She could only look at them, from where she was. Vyse must had said something funny, because Fina soon started to laugh graciously. They seemed so at ease together... they even... seemed like a pretty couple...
The redhead had sent Vyse there, but now something inside her was telling her to regret that. She always picked on Vyse about that, because the attraction he felt towards the Silvite seemed obvious to her. But he rarely had listened to her, or simply would get embarassed and do nothing. But he was there, with Fina. And that, deep inside Aika, was stealing some air from her lungs...
She was Vyse's friend, but she had no doubts that what she felt for him was something stronger. And that feeling was not something new. But...
Aika always disguised the uncomfortable situation of getting Vyse looking at or thinking about Fina picking on him, but that day, this was not working.
And, pretty soon, that bottle of loqua was completely empty...
"Hey... Aika!? Aika, are you awake?"
That was all that the girl could get from the voice she was hearing. It was all too much confusing, and her head hurted. Badly.
"Huh? What?", she asked, a little lost. "That's you, Vyse?"
"Yup, that's me. It's morning already. Are you all right?"
"It depends on what you mean by 'all right'. I'm alive and my body is in one piece. Besides that..."
"Well, that's quite obvious. You're quite sick", he said, with all of his sincerity. "I left your side for some time and you drank two whole bottles of loqua! Then you passed out, and I brought you here. It's not normal for you to drink too much..."
"Hehe... well, remember well this rare vision of your friend with a hangover!", he said playfully, sitting on the bed. But, deep inside, she was happy. "Were you worried about me?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"You have your blonde lady to run after..."
Vyse understood the meaning of that phrase, but was not able to understand the girl's intentions. Trusting that her intentions were good, he said back:
"These are completely different things", he declared, also sitting on the bed.
Aika was surprised, but was not letting him realize that.
"Why?"
"How many years ago did we know each other? Even before I could read a map, we already played of drawing imaginary islands and pretended to explore each one of them. I've become your friend even before I was part of a tripulation. There's no way I could forget you... but Fina... she... it's different..."
"I get it. You can stop now."
"Aika? Did I say something wrong?"
"Nooo, of course not, silly! I'm glad that you're here, but as you so clearly said to me, I'm not well at all, so I think it's better if I get back to sleep."
"OK, then...", he said as he was going to the door of his friend's room. "Take care, will ya?"
When the door was closed, Aika felt her heart breaking apart. Vyse would always be with her, but would always bring with him the idea that she was like the sister he never had.
And that was even harder to handle with than his feelings for Fina. For some reason, that was something that she was not certain if she could handle for much more time.
On that day, people of Crescent Isle gave themselves a day off. Aika stood in her room the entire day, sleeping a lot, but mainly because she needed some time for thinking. About everything. The only one time she put her feet outside the room was when she took a shower, and even then, for such a short time that almost no one noticed.
Vyse went back to her room once or twice, bringing food and talking about random things. But the time she spent by the window during that afternoon showed her that his behavior around Fina was totally different, like he had said to her previously.
Then Aika remembered all the adventures the trio had faced, specially the greatest of them all: the one that decided their destinies. She was Vyse's partner for anything, but only with Fina, he was a gentleman.
No, the problem wasn't Fina. She and Aika were great friends, and the redhead would never want anything bad to happen to the blonde. It was not a matter of jealously, like in "he gives attention only to her", neither a matter of envy, like in "if I was beautiful like her, he would notice me". Aika could be the most beautiful girl in the world, and, in fact, was beautiful enough to attract a man's attention, even if she was not perfectly lady-like. But, for Vyse, she was and would forever be the girl who followed him in his adventures. Even whe she dared to kiss him in the cheek, to him it seemed nothing more than affection - of an unusual kind for her, but, even then...
That was it. Because of that, during all that time, Aika never got the attention she wanted from him.
Vyse had never seen Aika as a woman.
When the evening arrived, Aika finally decided to get herself together and go out to see the others. Maybe she could have a talk with Vyse.
The girl put on her dress and, still without her boots on, she sat on the bed and started to brush her hair. On that moment, she heard someone knocking at the door.
"It's me! Can I come in, Aika?"
Just as she expected, her friend had arrived again, to talk to her for the third time.
"Yeah, come in..."
When Vyse entered the room, he was facing her back, but he didn't bother. He greeted her, making Aika turn only her face to him.
"Here once again, Vyse?"
"Dinner's ready. I'm here to take you to eat with us."
"All right, I was about to go there. I just need to finish tidying up my hair", she said, showing the brush in her hand.
Facing him already, Aika continued to brush her hair while Vyse observed her, sitting on the bed, in front of her. He had a warm, carefree look in his eyes, like someone waiting patiently.
"I will never understand women, y'know."
"Why's that?"
"Your hair is always fine, and even then you're always with that brush of yours when you have any free time to spend."
"I like my hair, so what?", she said, playfully.
"It's not just the hair. It's everything... Maybe...", he started, without caring about what he was saying, "... maybe I should ask you for help about all that someday. Y'know, Fina has some habits, too..."
"Yeah, I can imagine that...". She looked down a little. She knew where that was going. "But why do you think you need help?"
"Well, I don't know...", he said, a bit lost. "Who knows, maybe I'm not the interesting type..."
Aika gave him her back again, choosing her words.
"You shouldn't worry about that, Vyse. You're the kind of guy that girls definitely notice."
If she wasn't looking at the opposite direction, she would be able to see her friend's expression of surprise.
"R-Really?"
"Yeah, I think that you are...". And, in the end, she was grateful for not be looking at him, or he would see her intense blushing.
"Why do you think that?"
Aika opened her eyes in surprise - or fright. "Don't you get it, Vyse? I can judge something like that as well as Fina...", she thought. She would never say that out loud, though.
"Well... I can see that. There's no reason for someone to not like you."
"If you were a woman and were interested in me, would you find some problem in what I am?"
Aika could be confused by the "would you find some problem". Could be embarrased by the "interested in me".
But what shocked her the most was the "if you were a woman" part. That was it. She needed to say it all.
"IF I was a woman, Vyse?"
It was only then that he noticed what he had said. He never intended to say something that could hurt her friend. It was something he let out naturally. Of course she was a woman, but...
"Uh... my bad, sorry, I never intended to say..."
"But you said it."
"Yeah, I said it."
During some moments, there was only silence, and it grew until it was unbearable.
"I knew it already, Vyse", Aika finally broke that silence. "I imagined that".
She got up, then, stooding two steps from him, still with her back to him.
"Fina is a lady. She's a beautiful woman. Everyone in the world know that. But, please, don't act like she's the only woman you know. I'm tired of this."
Vyse did not understand why she was so angry. Normally, she would simply laugh, then mock him for the entire day. But she was angry. REALLY angry with him. Probably, he hadn't noticed, but that was not just because of a simple misunderstanding. It was result of a growing sorrow.
The young man was at a state of pure confusion. Not being able of comprehend anything that was happening, he never noticed when Aika, completely mute, moved away. And he didn't get what she was doing, until he saw that, from her shoulders, a strap went down, and it went down because her dress was getting loose over her back...
"Aika, what are you...?"
But he never finished that question. When her open dress went down all the way to her hips, Vyse was speechless.
He turned away quickly, feeling hot blood rush to his face. It didn't make any sense! Why in the hell was she... undressing?
All kinds of answers to that question crossed his mind. The most absurd ones, and the most hormonal-driven ones. But any of those were making any sense. He tried to understand, to find a solution to this, but none ever came.
"Aika, what are you doing?", he tried to ask her again, still looking at the lifeless wall. But the redhead said nothing, and the situation stopped him from doing any other thing than stand still, waiting for something he wasn't sure what was, exactly.
Until...
"Vyse, turn back...!", she said, at first in a calm tone. He didn't know if she was asking him, ordering him, or...
"But, Aika, you're..."
"Look at me, Vyse!"
He couldn't imagine what she was thinking, but... he had no choice, unless to turn back. And look at Aika.
Vyse looked at Aika's direction, and was not able to fight against his lips parting, or his pupils dilating, or the blood in his veins getting hot, too hot...
In front of him, she was almost completely naked. Her red hair, unbraided, covered her back. Only one piece of cloth, the most intimate of all, avoided her complete exposal. Except for these details, nothing more covered her skin.
None of them said anything. It was obvious that Aika was also terribly embarassed for what she was doing. She was aware of her body exposed to his eyes, and that alone brought a deep blush to her face. But she remained firm.
Free from the initial shock, Vyse was not really sure about to where he should look at. When it came to him, he had his eyes on her feet. Something inside him told his eyes to look up and proceed on what seemed like climbing a tall, risky mountain. He wasn't sure of what he was truly looking at, but at the same time, he paid attention to all the details.
His sight followed Aika's long legs, then he hesitated, but forced himself to avoid looking at what was coming next, not sure why. He continued looking up, trailing the contours of her hips, which quickly changed into her waist. The sinuous lines which were bringing his sight up filled him with a weird expectation. He knew well what he would find.
Aika knew it as well.
There was no better proof to Vyse that, in front of him, stood a woman.
At the same height of his eyes, her pure, white breasts were enhanced by the rosy color that now invaded her body. They had no imperfections whatsoever. They were somewhat small, but he thought that they needed to be like that, or they would not match all he had just seen.
At last, he found her eyes on her red face, and that seemed like the hardest mission of them all. After all he had seen... to face the one he knew for years and pretend it was nothing... it was something very, very hard. She remained still, without saying a word, as if she was waiting to be read. And, behind all the embarassment that moment caused, her eyes were determined and showed no regrets.
That was Aika. But, at the same time, she seemed like some other completely different person. A invisible barrier was formed by the link between his and her eyes. Vyse would never get closer to her than he currently was. But taking clothes off and allowing no touch... he really didn't understand.
"Vyse, pay attention, please...", she finally said, and to the young man, it was like a double relief. First, because maybe he would have some answers. And, second, that forced him to look at her in the eyes. It was not easy to look at his best friend... that way...
"... This was most difficult thing I've ever done. I don't know what you may be thinking of me after this, or if what I did was right. I'm not asking you something special for me, nor I'm asking you to stop thinking about Fina. I just want you to open your eyes and pay more attention to the people around you. You don't seem to do that."
Once more, there was silence. Instants seemed like whole minutes.
"Aika, I..."
"It's OK, Vyse", she said, really embarassed. "I swear I'll never do this again. It was so crazy of me, I know...", she completed, while pulling a towel and covering herself with it.
Vyse was relieved, because now he could look at her without all the embarassment. But, deep inside, some part of him wouldn't mind if it happened again...
"So...", he said, "I think I should go, before someone start to look for me, and I don't want to explain... uh... this. If... if you feel like eating dinner, you can go down, we will be waiting..."
"Uh, OK".
"U-hu..."
"Uh, yeah..."
It was more than obvious that both were feeling very uncomfortable. Vyse went to the door slowly, without knowing to where he should look at. Aika just stood there, not sure of what to do, observing him go.
He opened the door, but, before leaving, never facing her, he said one last thing.
"Aika?"
"What's it, Vyse?"
"I don't know if you want to hear this from me or not, but... you're way more beautiful than I thought. Really."
With the door closed, Aika sat on the bed to put on her clothes again. The redhead was not sure of from where did she come with such a crazy idea, but what was done, was done. That was something that neither of the two would forget. She was well aware that it would be impossible for both, during some time, to look at one another and talk like never had happened. She knew she would stutter, blush, lost her words, almost die from shame.
But something she woudn't do. She would not run away from him.
Because, on that day, Aika pulled a weight off her back. She felt, more than ever, a beautiful woman. And that thanks to Vyse.
Ironically, the smile she gave in that moment was as pure and innocent as a child's.
Alandria
Nov. 21st, 2003 (story) / Apr. 6th, 2008 (translation)