Author's Note: Another oneshot I wrote for a friend of mine on the Tales of Series Forums. It's pretty short, and it's also KeelexMeredy. There isn't a spoiler warning. It's also written for Tales of Eterniasince the Tales of Destiny section is the closest I could find for submission...
Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Eternia/Tales of Destiny II.
Ribbons and Bows
Meredy quietly opened the heavy doors of Imen's library. It was nearly morning and Keele hadn't come back to her house yet; she guessed that he was probably still studying.
'If Keele doesn't get any sleep, Keele will be more grumpy than usual tomorrow...' she thought as she navigated through the dimly lit library. The corridor-like mazes of bookcases seemed even taller in the dark...
"Keele?" she called, peering around the massive shelves.
A loud grumbling came from the back of the library. Meredy ran quickly past the shelves, knowing instantly what she find...
"Keele!" she exclaimed, bursting out from behind a shelf. As she expected, the Craymel scholar was sleeping over a pile of open books, just where she had left him hours ago. Meredy smiled and skipped to his side.
"Keele's hair is so messy... Keele should brush it so it's more like Farah's," she said, running her hands through his long, dark purple hair. "If Keele would let Meredy..."
She stopped in midsentence and looked back down at his untidy ponytail. "Maybe Meredy can redo Keele's hair! Then Keele will thank her when Keele finally wakes up!" she said excitedly as she pulled the band from his hair. She took a few bows and decorations from her pockets and got to work...
It was almost well past noon when Keele finally returned to consciousness, groggily running his hand over his face as he forced himself to wake up. For a moment the piles of books surrounding his workspace were a foggy blur as his eyes slowly came into focus.
'Oh, right...' he thought, recalling his late-night studying binge. Once he found a good set of books and an interesting topic – although admittedly, he considered just about every new topic in Celestia to be interesting because it was fresh and new to him – it was almost impossible for him to stop reading. He briefly remembered Meredy staying up translating short passages for him the night before and now noticed that she was nowhere in sight.
'She probably got tired and went back to her house late last night,' he told himself as he quietly picked up the books, trying (and failing) to stave the slight disappointment he felt.
As he put the books back in their respective shelves, Keele became more and more aware of how different he suddenly felt. His head seemed to be heavier – or was it lighter? – than normal. He wondered if his usual ponytail had come undone during the night or if Quickie had perched himself unceremoniously on his head again. But as he reached up to quickly run his fingers over his head, he dropped his armful of books, lost his balance, and hit the floor with a dull, painful thud.
"Just my luck," Keele muttered, wincing as he felt the sharp edge of a book cut into his side. Instead of quickly pushing himself to his feet again he laid on the floor, facedown, quietly seething as he tried to gather his bearings.
The doors to the library swung open again and he heard humming, much too loud and cheerful for such an early hour. "Keeeeeele?"
Within seconds Keele was clumsily jumping to his feet, hastily grabbing books and throwing them back in his arms. He could recognize that lightly accented, perpetually lively voice anywhere by now.
Meredy appeared from behind the nearby bookshelf, smiling widely as she caught sight of Keele haphazardly balancing the books in his arms, his robes disheveled and his face blotched red from frustration and slight embarrassment.
"Keele needs to be more careful with these old books," she said, quickly destroying his hope that she didn't know about his fall. "But Meredy won't tell anyone."
"Thanks," he muttered, returning a few books to their shelves. When all the tomes had been replaced, Meredy took his hand, still smiling.
"Let's go outside and see Reid and Farah!" she suggested innocently – too innocently, Keele thought as he saw an almost mischievous gleam in her bright lavender eyes.
"Reid's probably still asleep this early in the morning," he replied, letting her pull him out of the library and into the cold, crisp air outside. Although it was probably midmorning, he had a feeling that Reid was either eating or napping, his two favorite pastimes whenever Farah decided that they could finally relax in one area for longer than a few hours.
Meredy sighed. "Reid was eating one of Farah's oh-meh-lets the last time Meredy saw him."
"Omelets?" Keele corrected, raising an eyebrow.
Meredy ignored him and continued to pull him down the street towards her house, stopping every once in a while to wave at her friends as they passed them in the road. Keele noticed a few of them look at him strangely as he walked by; a few Celestian women loitering near one of the shops turned to whisper something to each other as they saw him, then snickered loudly amongst themselves.
"Eh, Meredy? Is there something-"
"No, Keele looks all right," she interrupted him, smiling reassuringly, although it almost appeared as though she were stifling a giggle herself.
The usually short walk to Meredy's house felt even longer than normal as Keele noticed the unusual looks from the Celestians around them. He wondered if they were still confused by his Inferian clothing, his pale skin, or his apparent lack of an elara. He noticed that his head still felt strange, but as he put his hand to his hair, Meredy yanked him through the front door of her house.
But for the briefest moment, he thought he felt his fingertips brush against something soft and silky – definitely not his hair.
"Farah! Keele and Meredy are back home!" she called, finally relinquishing her light grip on Keele's wrist as she skipped through the room.
"Hey! I was wondering when you would come back," Farah's voice called from somewhere in the house. "Where you at the library again all night, Ke-"
Keele looked up and saw Farah at the top of the stairs, her eyes wide and her hand slapped over her mouth as she tried to choke back an involuntary laugh.
He scowled, "What?"
"N-Nothing! I was just surprised to see you back so...early," she said, taking slow steps as she descended the staircase. She hadn't taken her eyes off him.
"Is Reid still here?" Meredy asked, exchanging a quick glance with Farah before turning back to smile at Keele.
"Yeah, he should be coming back any minute. I actually sent him out to get you from the library."
"I wonder why we didn't meet him on the way back," Keele mused.
"He probably got distracted. You know how Reid can be."
"True, true..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the front door was flung open as Reid stepped inside. "I didn't find th... Ha, ha!"
Reid put a hand to his mouth, snickering wickedly as he stared at the back of Keele's head.
"Wh-What? Why is everyone doing that to me today?!" Keele demanded, clenching his hands into tight fists. "Why won't you just tell me-"
"G-Go look in the mirror or something," Reid said, no longer trying to hold back his laugher, "y-you'll see."
Keele stormed up the stairs and into the room he and Reid had been sharing for the past few days, fuming angrily as he threw the slammed the door.
"Meredy, what did you do?" Farah demanded, finally allowing herself to laugh. "That was your doing, wasn't it?"
"Of course it was Meredy's work! Did Farah like it?"
"Oh, I know I did." Reid said, smiling widely. "I'll make sure I never, ever let go of that mental picture."
"I wonder what he'll do when he notices his hair..." Farah said, sounding somewhat concerned. "I don't think he would...take something like that well."
There was a long, awkward pause when they realized that Keele was still looking in the mirror upstairs. There was a loud shout – possibly a violent curse – and then...
"GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Reid shrugged. "Well, there's his reaction for you."
Keele reappeared at the top of the stairs, breathing heavily and clutching the railing for support. "You... Who...?!" he stammered, unable to finish each sentence as he struggled to find the correct wording. His eyes were locked on Reid's, outraged and accusing.
Reid raised his hands in defense. "It wasn't me."
"Even Reid couldn't think of something that creative." Farah added, smiling mirthfully.
Keele pulled at the pastel ribbons adorning his hair; there must have been at least half a dozen of the bows hanging out from all sorts of odd ends. However, each one seemed to have been tied with loving and careful hands.
Meredy stepped up, clasping her hands behind her back. "Meredy did Keele's hair! What does Keele think?"
Keele paused, his hand poised over one of the bows as he prepared to rip it out. Her smile was so innocent and sincere...
"I...well..."
"He loves it, Meredy," Reid said, quickly interrupting Keele. "But I bet all your Celestian friends think that's what he always looks like..."
"B-But it isn't! I don't always wear ribbons and bows!" Keele protested, gripping the banister again with white-knuckled fists.
"Meredy thinks that Keele looks just fine!" Meredy said, running up the stairs to meet him at the top. "Keele should wear these all the time!"
"Er..."
She took his hands, grinning. "Meredy and Keele can go outside on a walk. Keele's face looks very red."
He nodded awkwardly. "A-All right, I suppose it wouldn't hurt..."
As they walked out the door together, Keele quietly pulled the ribbons out, one by one. However, he left his ponytail in place, as well as the pastel purple bow holding it up.