~Always~
A Brigadoon Fanfic
=Chapter Three=
When he returned to the committee room to explain his actions, Lolo was rather surprised to find it wasn't the committee, or even Erin or Pyon he should of worried about.
It was Lala.
"Lolo, you idiot!" Lolo flinched and attempted to avoid the fist that swung out of nowhere at his face. To his great dismay, he failed spectacularly.
SMACK.
"OWW! Lala, what was that for?!" Reeling from the hard punch to his cheek, Lolo stared incredulously at Lala. The pink chairwoman was currently towering over Lolo, eyes narrowed dangerously. Lolo gulped. That was the look Lala got when ever she got the urge to strangle somebody. *cough*lolo*cough*
"That one was for existing! This one -SMACK- is for sending Melan off with letting Pyon and Erin say goodbye! And this one -SMACK- is for sending him off in the first place!"
"Gah! Oh come on! It not like they won't ever see each other again! Well, as long as Melan doesn't get himself killed..."
-SMACK-
"OOOOOWWWWWWW! LALA! THAT HURT!"
"I HOPE IT DID, YOU IDIOTIC IDIOT! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"
"Thinking..? Eh heheh..." Lala's left eye twitched, and Lolo sighed, his careless and goofy act vanishing the moment he realized that he'd have to explain himself entirely to Lala and everyone else in the committee room. "Melan was dying."
Melan woke for the first time in twenty years not from a certain nightmare, but the gentle tweets of earth avians. The soft glance of the morning sun upon his armor made him sigh in satisfaction, stretching limbs until they gave satisfying pops. Pulling himself to his feet, blankets falling quietly upon the floor. Melan reflected upon the previous day, eyes lazily scanning the scenery about him.
Once Marin had decided that he truly was standing right in front of her, the two had gotten off the roof to tell the rest of the tenement. The triplets had been the first to see them, and had reacted quite vocally.
"Melan!"
"Darling!"
"Our growing boy!"
Their cries quickly brought out the rest of the gang, and Melan found himself, for the first time in his life at the bottom of a dog pile. Their tears of joy and yells of laughter flabbergasted Melan.
While he had been gone for over 20 years, for them, he had only been gone for a few days. And yet... "Did you all truly miss me so?" They all looked at each other, then back at Melan.
"YES!"
The warmth that he had though filled his heart when he saw Marin again suddenly grew tenfold, and kept growing as he was once again swept into hugs by the family. The family that, apparently, was his as well.
After a wild party that only ended when Uncle Takashi started dancing on the table with a bottle of booze in either hand, he found that they didn't have enough room for him to sleep at the moment. In the end, Melan decided that the roof would be an excellent second option, much to Marin's dismay. She had wanted him to sleep with her.
For some reason, the triplets wouldn't let Marin sleep with him in the same room. Plus, the instant the conversation started, all them men promptly ran from the room, leaving June and her mother laughing in the background.
"You are much too young for such activities, Marin."
"Melan darling, we know you have good intentions, but not yet!"
"Oh, naughty kids these days!"
Melan had been thoroughly confused. Naughty? Activities? All he wanted was to hold Marin in his arms as he slept. When he told them as much, the three sisters had giggled together, and a furiously blushing Marin dragged Melan away.
When Melan asked her what they meant, Marin had only mumbled something under her breath, gave him a quick hug, and said that someday he would understand. Melan highly doubted it.
Females were just to confusing.
"Melan!"
Melan blinked out of his memoir as a certain girl glomped him, sending him crashing to the ground. "Good morning!" Marin glanced up at him, and Melan was startled to find her eyes misty with tears.
"Marin, what is wrong? Are you hurt?" His paws quickly reached out, the top two gently wiping her eyes, while the bottom set began to poke and prod for hidden injuries. The middle schooler giggled at the ticklish feeling and shook her head, hair flopping around wildly.
"No, no. I just woke up this morning afraid that I had dreamed you coming back. I'm so glad that your actually here!" Melan sighed happily and nuzzled Marin's hair, breathing in her sweet scent, arms drawing her closer.
"As am I."
"I said he was dying, I SAID WAS!" Lolo gasped desperately, eying the sharp point of Erin's sword. It was currently resting against his throat.
Huh. He should have remembered how crazy she was.
"What do you mean Melan was dying?! He has been well and better continue to do so, Lolo!" Lolo pushed the tip of her sword away from him, and glanced at Pyon. The silver and black monomokia was silent, eyes downcast. Lolo felt his eyes narrow.
"Ask Pyon. He obviously knows what I'm talking about." Erin whirled instantly, staring at Pyon almost fearfully. The gunswordsman did not meet her gaze.
"Pyon..?"
"He wasn't dying physically, but spiritually."
"Pyon?!" Pyon continued as if Erin had said nothing, eyes closed.
"He could not be truly happy here in Brigadoon: not when his heart lay upon Earth, fair from his reach." Pyon nodded his head at Lolo. "I requested Lolo to find a way for Melan to return to Marin." He paused, and said almost gently to Erin, "He loves her too much to continue on with out her. Surely you saw the signs, Erin. Though he was trying his best to do his duty, he forgot to do another: his duty to himself."
Lala stared back and forth between the Lolo, Pyon and Erin, almost speechless, only to jump when Erin suddenly spoke.
"I... saw the signs... I just wanted... I just had hoped that he could be happy, here, with us..." That maybe he could find his heart here. Her unheard wish silently weighed upon her. Lolo and Lala could only stare at Erin, who shuddered in the air before Pyon. About them, the committee silently watched, unable to say or do anything.
Then Pyon smiled sadly. "I understand."
And Erin cried.
~0~~0~~0~~0~End Chapter Three~0~~0~~0~~0~