Chapter 4: Looking Back, Looking Forward
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Spoilers to Episode 16
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It was inevitable, really. As large as Teppelin was, someone had to have found it someday. She just wished it had taken a bit longer.
"Wow, so this is your room, Nia-chan?" Attenborough asked, peering around over the tops of his glasses. "It's huge!"
"Yeah, and a little creepy," Yoko muttered. The furnishings were a strange blue-purple, giving an overall impression of the soft appearance of velvet. The drapes hung thick and heavy over windows that had never opened; the carpet was plush, almost ankle-deep. Yoko shifted around, unwilling for some reason to let her feet sink too deeply into the fibers.
"I can agree with you there," Dayakka mused, looking around himself. The room, while large, felt cramped; every available space was packed with dolls of every kind. Plush dolls and porcelain dolls, of every size and color; all were covered with a thin layer of dust. "Are all these yours, Nia-chan?"
"Yes," Nia replied softly, trailing a finger through the dust on the face of a nearby porcelain cat-Beastman.
"Well, we can leave 'em here for you if you want," Kittan offered. "Come on, everyone, back to work. We still have a lot of crap to clean out on the fifth floor. Move it, ya bastards!" Grumbling good-naturedly at the abuse, the Dai-Gurren Dan filtered out into the hall and back to the staircase. Nia took a few steps into the center of the room, sitting down on the familiar softness of the canopy bed.
"Nia?" Startled from her thoughts, she looked up. Simon stood in the doorway, looking rumpled from the effort the Dai-Gurren Dan had been putting into removing the trappings of the Beastmen from the conquered capital. "What are you doing in here?"
"Oh, hello, Simon," Nia replied, smiling faintly. "This was my room." She scooted aside and patted the deep purple bedspread, beckoning him over.
"It's very… nice," Simon tried, sitting awkwardly. "Are these dolls yours?"
"Yes, they are. My… my father gave most of them to me," she replied, hesitating only slightly. "I used to love playing with them, for hours every day. I gave them names, and told stories about them to oto-sama, and Adiane-san. Cytomander-san never wanted to hear them." She giggled, remembering the exasperated look on the Dai-Ganten General's face. "Isn't that silly?"
"Oto-sama always used to ask me," she murmured after a moment, "Every night after dinner, what kind of story I was making up for my Nia doll. I never understood what he meant, until…" Until she had been discarded like so much trash. Until Gaume had told her what it really meant to be the Spiral King's daughter.
She turned to Simon, smiling through the tears shining on her cheeks. "I'm very sorry, Simon, you didn't come here to talk about my father. Did you have something to say?"
Nia's eyes flew open as she felt Simon's hand brush her cheek. It was rough, cracked and calloused from long days digging and piloting Lagann, but his touch was gentle and his skin was warm against hers. Her father had never touched her. Not once.
All of a sudden she hurled herself at him, arms wrapped frantically around his chest and face buried in his shoulder. "Simon," she sobbed, voice muffled by his coat. Cytomander, exasperatedly stepping over a three-year-old girl. Cytomander, screaming as the bladed prow of the Dai-Gurren smashed into Shuzack and continued on into the Dai-Ganten.
Adiane, smirking as she smashed the volleyball past Thymilph for the winning point in the 'Girls vs. Boys' game nine-year-old Nia had set up. Adiane, blazing like a star in the center of the firestorm that had been Sayrune.
Oto-sama, smiling and benevolent, deep-voiced and powerful. Oto-sama, the fiery monstrosity that tore Lagann apart bare-handed and killed thousands of humans at a whim.
"Simon, I miss them," she whispered, balling her hands into Simon's coat. "They were my family. Adiane hit me sometimes, and Cytomander was always a little strange, but they were still my family." She looked up, meeting Simon's startled brown eyes. "He was still my father!"
She leaned into Simon's chest, crying quietly, and did not react when Simon put his arms around her. "I'm sorry, Nia," he murmured, his voice resonating against her face. "I'm sorry."
They sat there for a long time, the digger and the princess together in the ruins of a civilization. After a while, when she was confident that all her tears had been cried, Nia pulled gently away from Simon. "Thank you, Simon," she whispered, wiping gently at her eyes. She laughed quietly. "I am sorry. Your coat must be very wet."
"Oh, no, it's fine," Simon assured her hastily. He paused for a moment, as if thinking. "Nia, do you know why people have eyes in the front of their heads?"
Nia frowned. "Why?"
"Aniki used to say, it's so people can see the horizon in front of them and keep moving forward." Simon raised his hand, clenching it into a fist as if grabbing the sun. "But I've been thinking about it, and I realized something. It's not just for that. It's so you can see your friends walking into the unknown right next to you."
Simon let his hand fall and turned to Nia, sheepish. "At least, that's what I thou – Nia?!"
The kiss was awkward, rough; Nia could taste her own tears on Simon's lips. It was rushed, painful, really, as her lower lip was smashed against her teeth. She almost tasted blood.
It was perfect.
"Ni – Nia," Simon managed, when he could speak again. Nia stood, determination in her eyes. She walked to the nearest window and seized the velvet curtain, pulling it loose in one grand motion. The latch was harder to deal with, but it gave after a few moments of pulling. The window swung open.
"I've decided, Simon," she said, smiling as a gust of wind stirred the heavy air of the bedroom for the first time in a millennium. "I am not going to be a doll anymore. I will never forget oto-sama, or Adiane-san, or anyone else who helped to raise me. But it's time to move forward now." She held out her hand. "Will you come with me?"
"Anywhere." Simon's calloused hand grasped her smooth one, rough skin sliding against smooth.
Walking hand in hand, they left the ruins of her past behind, looking straight ahead to the future just now coming into view.
Phew! Okay, this was my first attempt to write from Nia's point of view. Was I successful? Did I make her too emotional? Please let me know! Just click 'Add Review', and don't be gentle with criticism. No one gets better through waffling.
