Prompts: 25 Sunlight + 49 Coming Home.
Notes: This is my first Bixanna, (though one of my Miraxus fics is somewhat Bixanna-ish) made by request on my Tumblr. Also, I don't know if this has been done before because I've read only a few Bixanna fics… Well, I hope you guys will like this.
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Sol
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Bixlow had always noticed the girl with the platinum-colored hair, the youngest of the Take Over siblings, the one called Lisanna.
It is impossible for him not to spot her even in a crowd; the way her soul shimmers and stand out. It's always as if a ray of sunlight follows her around, continually illuminating her presence. He would squint behind his visor when he looks at her; he keeps his distance because he does not belong with such a light presence; it makes him feel uncomfortable.
She comes to him, anyway.
"So, the Raijinshuu are back, huh?" she approaches him in his corner of the guild casually, clad in that deep pink dress that she frequently wore, her blue eyes sparkling in the same way her soul does—as if playing in rays of sunlight. It is but a week since she turned fourteen. "You guys rarely stay here long though," she adds when he doesn't answer.
He scans the surroundings for her brother and sister: the brother is currently in the middle of a guild brawl, and her older sister is nowhere in sight. He frowns when he hears her laugh.
"You're not afraid of my siblings, are you?"
"Why'd I be afraid of Crybaby Elf-bro?" he quickly retorts. Had this kid forgotten that he is a member of the Raijinshuu? "And, I can take on the Demon chick anytime, anywhere," he added, sure that if he insulted or said anything suggestive about her siblings, she would just go away.
Lisanna laughs, instead. "If you say so." She doesn't give him a chance to question the statement. She takes the seat across him, and, leaning over the table towards him, she smiles. "You wouldn't mind if I hang out here, then."
It's not a request, but a command: don't make me leave. Bixlow frowns under his visor, trying to read the teenage girl's mind. "Tired of playing house with your slayer friend?" he tries to tease her, thinking he's found a trick to drive her away. "Or maybe you two had a lovers' quarrel…"
Lisanna isn't a sensitive one, he finds out. Sticking out her tongue, she declares, "Natsu is my friend. You know, just like you are friends with your team mate, Evergreen. I mean, unless you have something else going on?" She winks.
He shakes his head at the audacity of this girl, who not only is the first one to tease him back, but also poses that unfathomable idea of him having something going on with Evergreen, of all the women in the guild. He winces at the thought.
She laughs and he knew that she got him.
She doesn't ask permission when she takes one immobile doll that was lying on the table between them, but to his surprise, he doesn't mind. Partly because she held it as if it was delicate, and partly because he wanted to know what she had in mind when she inspected it. He has four of his dolls lying on the table, and while three looks fine, that one obviously took some bad beating; he was fixing it when she arrived.
"How did this baby get injured?" she asks.
He's surprised by how pleased he is to hear someone other than himself call his dolls 'baby', but he doesn't comment on it. Instead, he tells her of their latest mission, of how one of his babies got badly injured.
She listened like she cares. And afterwards when she asks him, "Would you let me help fix them?", Bixlow finally accepts that she does.
He couldn't say no, even though he feels like she has stayed far too long; longer that he usually allows any guild mate outside their team. He finds that he enjoys her company, and feels strangely reluctant to pursue the urge to make her leave. She seems intent to stay, and then again, how do you chase sunlight away?
He looks around them and the scene is still the same, and he believes that if he let her, just this one time, there isn't anything that can change.
And so together they fixed the wooden doll, replacing the badly burned little slabs and repainting some sides.
Less than an hour later, they are in the same spot admiring their handiwork. When he's sure that the paint has dried, he hands the doll to his new helper.
Lisanna lines up all four dolls and beams at them, "Now they're all happy and healthy."
He watches her and basks in her disposition, marveling at her brightness; at the light in her eyes radiating happiness. Then he spots her older sister arriving and Bixlow knew that this borrowed time in the sun is about to end.
He hands her the doll that they fixed, "This baby's name is Sol. You keep it."
"…! Why? And wouldn't the others be lonely?" she asks in surprise.
He shakes his head, "I have others," and he shoves the doll in her hands, walking away with the remaining three before the girl can react. He does this because he knew that one like him couldn't contain this light, and he had let himself bask in it long enough.
Lisanna's sister calls her and she reluctantly walks the other way with Sol in hand.
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When he hears of her death he lays the three dolls side by side and stared at them for hours.
"Wouldn't the others be lonely?"
He admits to himself that she was right.
The others are sad now that sunlight is gone.
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It is a week after she returns from Edoras – alive and unharmed – that Lisanna remembers the doll.
Her siblings kept her room intact in the two years they believed her dead; and Lisanna remembers exactly where she kept it.
She takes it out of a box, remembering the day she and the seith mage Bixlow fixed it. She stared at it for a long time.
And all of a sudden she's making a dash to the guild, clutching the precious package to her chest, not stopping to tell her brother where she's going, not stopping to catch her breath.
When she reaches the guild, she finds him on his usual corner, poking fun at his team mates.
He takes one look at her and leaves the table; he meets her halfway.
Lisanna unwraps the doll and offers it to him, eyes misty with tears.
She couldn't speak, but he understood. He made three of his dolls – clearly Sol's old companions – fly towards her, and gave life to the doll in her hand with his magic.
They watched the four wooden dolls breeze around the guild, as if playing tag, as if reacquainting themselves with their long lost friend. A happy sight.
Lisanna watched the scene silently, contently, feeling that this is the last piece of the puzzle she's been trying to complete since she returned.
Because the sight assures her that despite being gone two years, there are still things that haven't changed; that old ties can still be put together, that there's always something, someone waiting for her return.
She looks back to Bixlow and realizes that he has been watching her, and she doesn't doubt that he understands what's going on in her mind.
Bixlow watches her smile slowly forming, and he knew that sunlight has come back to illuminate his life. And he promises to himself that this time around, he will not chase it away.
So he gives her his most sincere smile back and says it one more time, "Welcome home, Lisanna."
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Sol – another word for sun, sunlight, 'to shine'.
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So, tell me what you think? Any feedback or critique will be greatly appreciated. I'm a bit apprehensive because I'm not that familiar with Bixlow...
Anyhow, thank you for reading!