Inspired in part by this LOVELY piece of art [x] by tumblr user gunouflage!
"Why don't you stay and enjoy the festival?" Lady Uzume asks, gesturing out the window to where they can all see the celebration outside.
Felix makes a sort of noncommittal "eh" noise and turns away, and Jenna immediately elbows him in the stomach. "Felix, don't be rude!"
He shakes his head, and lowers his voice to speak to her. "We have to keep moving, you know that."
"It's only one night," Jenna says. "Please? Seriously, what were your big plans for tonight anyway?"
"Oh, I don't know, sailing to one of the five hundred places we have to be?"
"Please, don't feel pressured to stay on our account," Lady Uzume says. "We don't want to hinder your quest."
"It's fine. Sheba, you want to stay too, right?" Jenna looks at Sheba, who nods, and then bites her lip and glances away like she feels guilty.
"If Felix doesn't want to, we don't have to," she says, but her heart's not in the words at all and she doesn't try to hide it.
Felix realizes two things in the same instant: One, he's outnumbered. And two, he's unable to say no to Sheba—something she's not afraid to take advantage of. "Okay, all right," he says, throwing his hands up. "But just the one night."
Kushinada's face positively lights up. "We have enough spare yukata for all of you, if you'd like to get dressed up in traditional clothing?"
Jenna and Sheba are both all for it, and Piers agrees after a little prodding, so Felix just goes along with it. Susa does manage to find a simpler deep green yukata for him, which Felix appreciates. He'd been a little worried they would all be bright colors and patterns, which make him look ridiculous.
He's not sure if he likes the feeling of the yukata at first. His legs feel too open, and the airiness is sort of disconcerting. But Piers seems comfortable enough, and Susa of course looks completely natural, so soon enough Felix finds himself warming to it. It's freeing, in a way.
The girls are, of course, a little bit more dressed up, and it takes them a little longer to make their appearance. Jenna had actually allowed them to pin her hair into a pretty updo, and he has to smile at the sight—she'd worn nothing but simple ponytails since she had hair long enough to put in one, and the change reminds him that his baby sister had somehow turned into a young lady.
And Sheba...
Her hair's too short to do anything as elaborate as what Jenna has, but it's in soft waves around her face and she has a jeweled ornament tucked next to her ear. After a moment he realizes they'd put a little makeup on her too—her eyelashes are thicker, darker, and there's the slightest contouring around her cheekbones.
"You both look lovely," Piers says, and Felix just nods, feeling like an idiot for gaping at them (mostly Sheba). Kushinada fawns over him and Piers a little bit, then she and Susa lead them to the town square, where they're greeted with cheers and surrounded by grateful townsfolk.
As nice as it feels to be appreciated, Felix gets worn out quickly. He catches Susa's eye, and Venus bless him he understands, smoothly extricating Felix from the crowds and leading him over to what looks like a fully operational bar they've set up outside. Susa orders a round and shoves a drink towards Felix with little fanfare.
"I'm not much for people, either," he says, and Felix feels like he's found a friend. The two of them drink in silence, leaned up against the bar, as the crowd around the others slowly dissipates and people get back to celebrating in their own ways. Sheba and Kushinada are already deep into a discussion about something, Piers joins in a game of poker, Kraden finds a group of people his own age to ramble with, and Jenna—Felix sighs. His little sister is surrounded by a small crowd of men, all of whom are flirting with her with varying degrees of transparency.
Susa gestures for a second round, and Felix, who is aware of the prices bar drinks usually carry, winces. "Who's paying for this?"
"Not us," Susa says, shrugging. "We're the heroes, after all."
Hesitating only a little, Felix takes the second glass set in front of him, and swishes it around a little before taking a drink. It's bitter, but he kind of likes the taste.
"Don't you think you should keep an eye on your sister?" Susa says, nodding in the direction of Jenna who, by the look of things, is now having drinks bought for her by her crowd of admirers.
"You saying someone's gonna try putting something in her drink?"
"No, but doesn't it bother you that they're putting the moves on her?"
"Ha! No." He sips at his drink. "She's got her head on straight, and she can fight for herself."
"And you don't think you should be monitoring her alcohol intake?"
Felix snorts. "For one, she'd burn me alive if I tried. And for another, she's got the alcohol tolerance of a bear." Susa raises an eyebrow, obviously doubting it. "She once went drink-for-drink with me and a friend of ours. She carried us both home at the end of the night."
Susa laughs. "Now that, I'd like to see."
"Well then by all means, keep putting drinks in front of me."
They drink for a moment in comfortable silence, and then Susa says "Heads up, one of your sister's boys is heading over."
"What on earth," Felix says, finishing his drink and half-turning to confirm that yes, there is indeed a dark-haired young man walking in their direction.
"He's going to ask for her hand in marriage, probably," Susa says with a smirk, and Felix rolls his eyes.
The guy's about the same height as Felix, but he looks younger. "What do you want," Felix says, throwing every ounce of big scary older brother that he can muster into his voice. Jenna usually got upset with him if he tried to discourage any suitors outright, but Felix figures this guy is fair game since he's approaching him on his own.
The intimidation tactic works—the guy shifts on his feet uncomfortably and glances down at his feet. "I—you're Jenna's brother, yeah?"
"I am." Felix stares him down, happy inside that he hasn't lost his touch.
"Er. I, well, she's pretty."
"Look, are you going to get to the point or are you going to keep wasting my time?" He hears Susa smother a laugh.
"I just wanted to ask if I could court her?" His voice slides up at the end, turning it into an awkwardly-phrased question and betraying his complete lack of confidence.
"Court her," Felix repeats, nodding a quick acknowledgment to the bartender when she sets another drink down in front of him. "What'd Jenna say?"
"I didn't ask yet, but—" the kid starts, and Felix's eyebrows shoot up. He'd actually been planning on giving the poor guy a break, but not anymore.
"If you're asking me for permission instead of her, then you've lost both our respect. And the answer is no." Felix tosses back the new drink in one go—it burns, but he toughs it out—and Susa gapes at him.
"That was basically straight vodka," Susa says, and Felix shrugs like it was nothing.
"And?" Felix says. Jenna's admirer basically flees, and only after he's out of earshot does Felix let himself cough. "That was stronger than I was counting on."
"Get the man a chaser, would you?" Susa laughs, and the bartender, who is also laughing quietly to herself, obliges.
Sheba laughs at something, and Felix finds himself automatically turning to look for her. She's still engrossed in her conversation with Kushinada, though, so he turns back to the bar.
"She your girl?" Susa asks.
"Who?" Felix says, thinking that maybe if he plays dumb Susa will just drop it. He doesn't.
"Blondie. With the mind-reading."
"Sheba," Felix says automatically. "No."
"Why not?"
"Er." Felix stares at the assortment of bottles lined up behind the bar. "It's a little complicated."
"You like her, yeah? How complicated can it be?"
"I sort of...aided in her kidnapping."
Susa's eyebrows practically reach his hairline. "You what?"
"Look, it's a long story," Felix says. "I'm going to need another drink." In seconds another is set in front of him and Felix knows he's trapped. He gives Susa the very abridged version, glazing over the stuff about his parents being held hostage and the lighthouses and Isaac's group.
Susa looks satisfied with what he gets, though. "That'll be a great story to tell your kids when they ask how Mommy and Daddy met."
"Don't be ridiculous," Felix says, rolling his eyes.
"I guess'm just a bit of a romantic," Susa says, and Felix belatedly realizes how much alcohol they've both had. "I mean, I'd do anything for Kushinada, you know?"
"Up to and including saving her from a dragon," Felix says, and Susa nods.
"Right. Exactly. And you'd save Sheba from a dragon, right? That's love."
"I mean, I don't know if that's the best metric to be measuring relationships," he starts, but Susa's already shaking his head.
"The point is, you'd risk your life for her if you had to, right? Because you don't want a life she's not in."
Felix decides not to mention that he'd thrown himself off a lighthouse for Sheba's sake. But that didn't mean he was in love with her, did it?
He sneaks another glance over at Sheba and Kushinada. Kushinada's deep in the middle of a story involving weird hand gestures, and Sheba's laughing so hard she's gasping for breath. Her face is flushed red and the ornament in her hair is starting to slip out. She's beautiful.
And he knows he didn't love her when he jumped from Venus Lighthouse's aerie—he cared about what happened to her, certainly, but it wasn't love. He loves her now, with her point-blank honesty, her biting sarcasm, her intelligence beyond her years. Susa's put it exactly right—he doesn't ever want to live his life without Sheba at his side.
He turns back around to find Susa's eyes on him. There's something there that Felix doesn't quite trust, but before he can stop him Susa pushes himself away from the bar and walks (fairly steadily, Felix notes) over to the two girls. He says something, and suddenly Sheba's on her feet and walking over.
She leans next to him against the bar. Traitor, Felix thinks very loudly in Susa's direction as the man settles with a smirk into Sheba's vacated seat, next to Kushinada.
"How much have they given you?" Sheba asks, and she's leaning forward just enough that if Felix was brave enough to look, he could probably see down the front of her yukata where it's gotten loose. But he's not that brave, he tells himself, and looks at her mouth instead. (Which might be just as bad, because now he just wants to know what her lips taste like.)
"I'm feeling it," he says. "I don't remember ordering a blonde half-pint with that last round, though." He means it to come off as sort of brusque, but when she giggles and brushes an errant curl behind her ear, he realizes it came off flirty. He also wishes he could've brushed her hair behind her ear himself.
"Well, you got one free of charge," she says, shrugging, which draws his attention back down to the collar of her yukata again. She catches his eyes as they travel back up the column of her slender neck and smiles a little, the same careful, mysterious smile she's always had that leaves him wondering what she's thinking.
He looks away, back down at the bar, eyes following the curls and knots in the wood. It calms him, and he thinks he's anchored himself, until he looks back up and meets her eyes again, and it all flies out the metaphorical window.
"Felix?" she says, and he leans forward. "Dance with me."
"What?!" His spluttering is just met with a laugh.
"Come on, it'll be fun!"
"I was having fun," he says, and Sheba just shakes her head.
"What, sulking over here with Susa?" She glances back over at Susa and Kushinada. "They're occupied now, anyway."
Felix follows her gaze and then immediately looks away. He'd only seen Kushinada's arms wrapped around Susa's neck but that, combined with her basically being on his lap, was all he needed to see.
"Fine. But I'm not really in any shape to dance right now."
"Well, I've been warned, then," Sheba says, taking his hand and pulling him away from the bar. (It's been so long since they held hands while he wasn't wearing gloves, he'd forgotten how tiny and warm her hands are.) He lets her lead him off into the large area they've set aside for dancing, and then she pauses, eyes locked on another woman nearby. She stares for about fifteen seconds, then releases Felix's hand and starts mimicking the woman's moves with nearly exact precision.
Even drunk, Felix is impressed.
Sheba spins once, and then abruptly stops and turns back around when she sees him standing still. "Come on, you have to at least try it!"
"Sheba, I told you, I can't dance," he says, but she's already taking his arms and trying to move them in an approximation of someone else dancing nearby.
"You're not even trying, you're just letting me move you," she says, clearly trying to look annoyed but laughing in spite of herself. He realizes a second too late that he's laughing too.
"All right, all right, let go," he says, gently shaking her off and trying the dance on his own to make her happy.
"Your stance is all wrong," she says, reaching out and nudging one of his feet with hers. He has to catch himself on her shoulder, laughing again. "It's like fighting, Felix, if you don't get the foundation right all the rest of it is gonna come out wrong too."
"You just told me I had to try it, not that I had to be good at it!" Regardless, he adjusts his feet to more closely match hers, and has to admit it does feel more natural.
"Much better." She nods approvingly. "I'll make a dancer of you yet, Felix, just you wait." And with that she effortlessly joins back in with everyone else, pausing only to tuck her hairpin in more securely so it doesn't slide off.
As he dances (somewhat half-heartedly, but at least it's enough that Sheba won't hound him about it), he watches all the people of Izumo in their celebration. Jenna has left her little posse behind at the bar and joined Piers at the poker table, which might actually be worse given her track record for gambling. Kraden is still at the table with the rest of the older men, and it seems someone has brought them drinks as well. Felix, now that he's thinking about it, can't remember if he's ever seen Kraden drunk. First time for everything, he supposes.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Sheba asks from right next to him, and he jumps, not realizing she'd moved.
"Have you ever seen Kraden drunk?"
She narrows her eyes, and then shakes her head. "I don't think I've seen him drink alcohol at all, actually."
"He used to drink every once in a while when we were traveling with Saturos and Menardi," Felix says, "but even then it was nothing too strong. Saturos used to pick on him for it."
Sheba makes a little "hmm" noise, and Felix immediately feels guilty.
"Sorry. I shouldn't've brought them up."
"No, it's not that," she says, then grabs his hand. "Let's find somewhere to talk."
He follows obediently along behind her, trying not to think too hard about how the light of the torches and the setting sun plays off her hair, just in case she decides to read his mind. Eventually they find a little clearing that has several tall stones arranged in an approximation of a circle, and Sheba apparently deems that good enough. She kicks off her sandals and sits down, letting her bare feet dangle into the stream. Felix sits next to her, though it takes him a minute to find a way to arrange his legs so that he's not accidentally exposing himself one way or another.
"What did you want to talk about?" he asks, studying the slowly darkening purple sky for the first sign of stars.
"I just wondered," she says, and then hesitates. "Um. You and Saturos and Menardi…were you friends?"
He sort of laughs, though it's more out of surprise than anything. "I'm not sober enough for this."
"Which is exactly why I'm asking now," she says, and Felix (not for the first time) is caught off guard by how conniving she can be sometimes, when she wants to be.
"'Friends' is a strong word… I admired them a great deal."
"Do you miss them?"
"Venus above, Sheba, what part of 'not sober enough' did you not get?"
"I'm just trying to understand you, Felix," she says with an agitated little huff. "You never talk about your time with them."
"I couldn't! I don't want to bring them up because you were so clearly unhappy for all that time, and it was only after they—um. It was only after Venus Lighthouse that you finally started to open up to us."
"They made it pretty obvious they only wanted me for my powers. But you just wanted me to be safe." She kicks her feet in the water a little, disturbing some of the fish. "You never answered my question."
Felix sighs heavily, watching the celebrators in the distance. "They were almost like parents to me, in a twisted way. They taught me so much."
"About what?"
"Lots of things—healing, traveling, fighting. I never would've learned to fight if it hadn't been for them. And watching them with their Psynergy, I was able to learn things about Mars Adepts."
Sheba's watching him intently, he can feel it. But he can't turn and look at her, not now, or he'll lose his nerve.
"I used to think to myself, 'I have to remember how they did that, so I can tell Jenna when I see her again.' Fire is so unpredictable, unlike earth—as a kid Jenna always said she wished she'd been born a Venus Adept. But Saturos and Menardi had such control over their powers, and it gave me hope for her."
"You thought they were gonna let you see her again?" Sheba asks, and she doesn't hide the surprise in her voice.
"They told me I could. They said they'd take me back home themselves."
"What? But you were a hostage, right? You and your parents, and Isaac's father."
"Not at first." He shakes his head. "At first they were just trying to heal us, fix us up after being half-drowned thanks to their mistake. They felt personally responsible, and they wanted to return us to our families as soon as possible."
"They said that?!" This time he does turn to look at her, and her eyes are so huge with surprise that he almost smiles.
"They did. But then Alex showed up from Imil." He watches her expression abruptly change to disgust, her nose wrinkling and a little line appearing between her eyebrows. "He convinced them we had value as hostages, and as Adepts. And that we needed to pay them back for rescuing us. The plan was to take my father with them on their journey, since he had the most experience with fighting. And…"
"They needed a Venus Adept," Sheba finishes, and he nods.
"Exactly. Two Mars and one Mercury isn't exactly a balanced set."
"What changed?"
"He got sick out of nowhere. Even though he was recovering when we left, he could barely stand long enough to see us off. My mother practically had to carry him from the house."
Sheba touches his arm. "Felix…"
"Anyway, when he first got sick someone said, 'why not just take the son along instead,' and I wasn't really in a position to refuse. Saturos and Menardi felt sort of guilty about that, I think."
"So they taught you to fight and everything because they felt bad?"
"That was part of it, at least. They knew I was no use to them with my current skill set, so they tried to make me into something they could use. And I think they did genuinely try to be kind. But at the same time I was always afraid of—of doing or saying the wrong thing. Getting on their bad side."
"And Alex was there," she says, and he nods.
"Yeah. They were always less friendly when he was around. And even though they taught me so much, they were never quite so kind to Jenna. Kraden was obviously just a tool, same as you. I had to decide for myself what my biggest priority was, and it wasn't them."
There's a long, contemplative silence, until finally she scoots a little closer to him and leans her head on his shoulder, and he barely hesitates before sliding his arm around her waist.
"I'm glad it was you that came with them," she says. "Not that I wouldn't want to meet your dad. Just…you know. I'm glad it was you."
That startles another laugh out of him, and it's more genuine this time. "Thanks."
"And I'll get to meet your dad anyway, right? Once we get up to Prox."
"Mm-hmm. My parents are going to love you."
"Are you going to tell them you kidnapped me?" she says, and Felix feels a brief jolt of panic as he wonders if she'd overheard his conversation with Susa. But then he remembers how she'd been at least ten feet away, and deep into a separate conversation with Kushinada.
"I'll…have to think of something, I guess," he manages, and she laughs.
"We can just tell them you rescued me when I was lost in the desert," she says. "That's true enough, right? And it makes you sound so gallant."
"Well, I do my best," he says, standing and sweeping into the deepest bow he can manage. She gets to her feet as well, giggling, and curtsies in answer, though the movement is hampered a bit by the yukata. On impulse, he takes her hand and twirls her around, and in a movement that surprises even him with its smoothness, spins her into his arms.
She has to tilt her head back to look up at him, bringing his attention to the fact that her hair ornament has slid a bit out of place yet again. He fixes it for her, and his hand lingers on the side of her face as he slowly loses himself in the sparkling green of her eyes. Without really realizing it he's moving closer to her, and it's only when their noses touch that he pauses.
"Felix?" Her voice is very soft, barely above a whisper, and he feels her readjust her grip on the front of his yukata. Those green eyes are his whole world, filling his vision. He can read the question in them, too—Are you going to kiss me, or not?
"Yeah," he says, and moves to close the gap between them.
At first it's just the slightest brush of lips, then he tightens his arm around her waist to pull her closer and she tilts her head a little to the side and it all just clicks. He strokes along the shell of her ear with the hand that's still resting on her face, then moves it to cradle the back of her neck. Her hands, sliding up his chest, leave fizzy little trails of friction in their wake, and then he feels her fingers running through his hair.
He's the first one to pull away, because he needs oxygen, and as nice as it would be to breathe her in forever he doesn't like the idea of fainting at a time like this. Her eyes flutter open, and she laughs to herself.
"This is might be a problem," she says quietly, and he's not quite sure what she means until she runs her hands along the awkward slope of his shoulders and back. "You're so tall!"
"We could get you something to stand on," he quips. She gasps, feigning offense, and bumps her head lightly against his in retribution.
"See if I help you out after that," she says, and drops a few inches—he realizes belatedly she'd been standing on her toes.
"That's all right, I can help myself." He lifts her, arms around her waist, and she wraps her arms around his neck with a startled squeak.
"Don't drop me!"
"I won't. Not ever again."
And he means it, with every fiber of his being. He can tell she knows that too, because she rests her forehead on his and just looks at him for a moment with something like wonder in her eyes.
"I still can't believe you jumped."
He shrugs, or at least he tries to. "This quest has taken enough from me. It's not getting anyone else."
She kisses him, easy and slow, and when she pulls back she says, "They might be missing us by now, don't you think?"
"You're probably right," he says, and lets her down, but grabs her hand as soon as her feet touch the ground. She slides her sandals back on and they walk back like that together, breathing in the humid night air in comfortable silence. Jenna meets them as they reach the edge of the town square, gushing excitedly about the fireworks that are about to be set off. Apparently they're another staple of traditional Izumo festivals.
"You're just excited to see stuff get lit on fire," Sheba teases, and Felix grins. Even as grown up as his sister had become, some things, he imagined, would never change.
"Yeah, but it's pretty," Jenna says, laughing and grabbing her hand. Felix is about to follow, let himself be pulled along, but then he catches Susa's eye from where the other man stands amidst the crowd.
Felix releases Sheba and waves the girls off. "Go ahead, I'll catch up."
Susa has a knowing smirk on his face as Felix draws closer. "Have fun?"
"None of your business," Felix shoots back. "You just looked like you were pretty busy with Kushinada, we didn't want to interrupt."
He laughs. "How thoughtful of you."
The first firework shoots off into the sky, and Felix hears Jenna shout at him to hurry up from somewhere behind him. He half-turns, then looks back at Susa. "Hey, I just wanted to say thanks. For your help with the dragon, I mean."
"I did what I could. You guys had it pretty damn well under control, though." He shrugs, nonchalant. "If you feel like going back to the mountain again before you leave, there's a legend about a sword that rests under the dragon's tail."
"You don't want to check that out for yourself?"
"No need. I'm planning on living the rest of my days as a husband and father… No more weapons."
Felix nods, pleasantly surprised by the admission of the man who had seemed so merciless and angry just that morning. "Good luck—I'm told that's difficult in its own way."
"Kushinada's got my back," he answers. "Just as your friends have yours. We'll see you again when your quest is over."
"I'm looking forward to it. Thank you again, for everything."
They shake on it, but it almost feels too formal. Susa obviously thinks the same thing, because he pulls Felix in for a hug. "Take care of yourself."
"I will."
Felix returns to the others, and Jenna nudges him playfully. "Aww, did you make a friend?"
"Susa's a good man," he says, sitting down on the grass with them. "Sorry I was a jerk earlier. Thanks for making me stay."
"Just doing my job as your sister," Jenna says, tossing him a grin, and then leans back to keep watching the fireworks.
Sheba leans against his side again, and he grabs her hand and squeezes it gently. As they watch the sparks fly into the night sky, he realizes that he's grateful, in a strange way, for all the sacrifices he's made. Without them, he never would have arrived at this perfect moment—even if it was temporary, even if tomorrow they would have to go back to traveling and feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders—at least for now, he could feel at peace.