AN: Another drabble exchange with sagesoren/MilesTailsPrower-007! :D In celebration of the holidays and the two-year anniversary of this collection, a request post has been posted over at my lj (link is in my profile). For those who don't have lj accounts, anonymous commenting has also been enabled. Feel free to request as many as you want~ And have a safe and joyous holiday!

Summary: Luke just needs someone to cheer him up. Ion tries to help.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss.

Dynamics- the levels of sound in a piece of music

There was an annoying crick in his neck that would not go away. Luke groaned, rolling his shoulders, as he drained the noodles and randomly added sauce here and there. The monsters they ran into earlier that day were stronger and more numerous than usual and it had taken the combined forces of the whole team to just run away. It didn't help that they kept reappearing either.

Ion quietly set the dishes and passed around the forks. It was the least he could do, especially with the way Anise was complaining ("I'M HUNGRY DARNIT," she screamed, pounding the earth with her fists with a surprising amount of force).

"We can't even beat those things." Luke frowned. "How do we beat the God Generals?"

Jade-green eyes follow the swordsman's gait, noticing how his self-deprecating manner was resurfacing again. Ever since Luke had found out he was a replica, the confident, arrogant Luke was replaced by one that constantly downgraded himself with pessimistic views. Having finished setting things up, Ion sat down next to his flailing Guardian and pondered ways to cheer him up.

"We just have to work harder," Tear replied, adding more firewood to the burning centerpiece of their meal. The light and shadows from the fire danced across the contours of her face, casting a grim look in her eyes.

"Ion, what do you think?" Luke asked, completely ignoring the melodist. (Tear shot him a quiet, reprimanding look.) Luke moved around tenderly, sloppily distributing the food so that he could finally sit down. It was just his luck that it was his turn to cook that day.

Ion took one look at the soggy noodles that Luke had just placed in front of him and replied, "We could always just feed them your cooking."

Extra:

Natalia clapped her hands together, miraculously rejuvenated from their earlier battle, and positively sparkled, "That's actually not a bad idea!"

No one had the heart to tell the princess that her cooking wasn't any better.