Fandom: Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken
Written for: 30 Smiles. Theme: 7 (Flashdance; What a Feeling), 10 (All for us) and 16 (Endless)
Characters: Ninian the Dancer, Nils the Bard, Lord Eliwood of Pherae, Nergal, etc.
Pairing: Onesided Ninian/Eliwood. Tiny hints of Sain/Priscilla, Erk/Serra, Hector/Lyndis and Rebecca/Wil.
Rating: PG.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Nintendo's.
Summary: Ninian hopes that, someday, she'll be able to dance freely. HEAVY SPOILERS for Ninian and Nils' backstory. Extended version of a drabble written for Sara Jaye.
---
Someday, Ninian will dance only for herself.
Dancing was a part of her and Nils' cover, the disguise they took to save their lives and sanities. Nergal and the Black Fang called out for them through time and space and they replied, thinkling they had found friends... only to be imprisoned and have their quintessence sucked out from them.
The siblings had to run away. Their fake identities and talent for music and dancing served them well to hide their real selves, but it did no good when it came to keeping the Black Fang away from them. Thye had to constantly hide, to travel through the whole continent, to ask people like Lyn and Eliwood for help and protection and re-pay them with the invigorizing power of either Nils' music or Ninian's dances.
And while she knows her effect on others and thanks the Gods for being able to pay her debts to her saviors, Ninian still wishes to have a chance to simply dance. To do so without any boundaries to anybody but herself, just enjoying how her whole body moves to the tune that Nils plays with his flute and how she feels free, beautiful... just alive.
Lord Eliwood told her, in their way to the Nabata wasteland, that every year the Pheraeans hold a beautiful Harvest Festival and that his mother is also a great, fervorous and skilled dancer. The mother who raised him... along with the father that died to save Ninian and Nils, after he supported them during the months they spent as Nergal's prisioners in the Dread Island. Ninian still feels the guilt coming from those circumstances, even when Lord Eliwood himself told her many times not to blame herself, since she had also went through lots of pain. She still thinks that, in a sense, Lord Elbert died for her own actions and sins... and for being who she is. The ice dragon trapped in the form of a young girl, which may or may not be unleashed sooner or later, if they don't stop Nergal. Or even if they do stop him and the Black Fang.
That's a reason and some more to push her own needs aside for the time being, and steel herself for the day she'll have to tell her loved one the truth.
So, while Ninian still longs for her own dance, in those hard times she dances for others. To, through her sacred dance and her magical rings, give them energy and morale boosts, to pay her debts to Lord Eliwood, to protect them as she can despite being no fighter in this current form...
And right in this moment, she's gracefully performing near to the camp's bonfire, in an attempt to make the lord's group feel better after a specially hard battle against the Black Fang. Nils plays, Ninian dances, and each member of Lord Eliwood's company (including Lord Eliwood, Lady Lyndis and Lord Hector themselves) follows the spactacle in their own ways. Hardened and older warriors listen to the music and observe her performance in a respectful silence, the younger fighters of all kinds are more expressive and show their opinion more openly (out of the corner of her eye, she can see Florina staring in awe, and Serra grinning and slightly tapping her fingertip on her knee...)
As Nils' melody goes slower, meaning that the song's almost over, Ninian's dance step also become slow and more cadencious, until she stops completely and bows at her audience. There's complete silence for some seconds... Ninian wonders to herself what happens...
She's startled when everyone breaks into applause and cheers. The loudest and more sincere ones she's ever heard.
The white-haired dancer stands up her full height and looks at the others. Sain is whistling and already asking for an encore much to Kent's shock and Priscilla's amusement, Serra tries to hide her mixed feelings (admiration and jealousy are not good friends, no no) by telling something to Erk that somehow makes him blush madly, Marcus nods approvingly and smiles at her, Rebecca is still kinda entranced and Wil is poking her with the tip of his bow to make her react, Lady Lyndis and Lord Hector practically fight to be the one who claps the loudest...
In between the happy crowd, Ninian sees Lord Eliwood clearly. For some seconds, everthing fades away, as all of her senses are focused on the redhead young man standing right in front of her...
So, when Eliwood smiles at Ninian and joins the clapping, she bows again at him and tries to hide her tears of happiness.