It wasn't the falling that hurt.
Falling was easy, and so long as there was still air beneath her, the Child of Perseverance could find a way to fly. She had spent so much time in the air, her head in the clouds just like they always said about her. She could breathe up high, and why should she ever want to come down when there was so much to see from up above?
Ashido Yukira had never needed the ground. It was hard and rough and cut into her every time she brushed against it, and she avoided it at all costs. The air was much gentler, tossing her this way and that, never staying in one place for too long. She was always moving, and home was just a word to her and not a place.
It wasn't the falling that hurt.
Falling was fun and exciting and brought her to amazing places. Falling brought her from her mother country France to California. Falling brought her to the Digital World. Falling brought her to Akiryomon, her Partner. Falling brought her to herself to learn who she was and what she was made of. It was never the falling that hurt.
It was the landing.
The first time she landed it shot the air from her lungs and shook her entire body. She hit the ground hard, felt every rough edge and coarse stone beneath her digging into her being and tearing at her. It didn't toss her like the air did–it knocked her every which way, beating against her in a relentless barrage as she collided with it.
That was how she'd met him.
Breathless and afraid, she'd locked with his earthy stare and felt the weight of it crushing her body. It was a boulder that held her down, made her stop moving, forced her to stay. It was an endless cave of earthgold stone that she had been flung into, and it held out a hand and pulled her to her feet and tethered her there. She couldn't fly away no matter how hard she tried.
The weight was heavy, and it slammed into her every so often and knocked her around, but she got used to it quickly. She grew stronger, tougher, and the pain wasn't as much anymore. She could push through it, like she pushed through the air she had grown so used to. She was able to notice more of it now, too–the way the sunlight glinted off the gold in the earth, the way it set alight with molten embers before a battle. The weight became easier to carry, and she found she rather liked the way it held onto her. She always knew where her next step was, and it felt safe.
She could see things from down here, too, new faces that remembered her name and pronounced it correctly, faces that became familiar to her and spoke to her in one of her native tongues, faces that fiercely protected her and held her close and called her friend. Here on the ground, she was the Chosen Child of Perseverance, no longer alone and drifting but one of nine who stayed together and made a place for themselves. For the first time in her life, here on the ground, she found in the eight of them a place to call home, and it was Taichi who anchored her there.
That anchor was cut loose too soon, and she was sent careening into the sky once more to fall again. It felt strange after being on the ground so long, but she let the air toss her wherever it pleased. It tossed her back to California and she fell, fell into normalcy and mundane and boring. She fell through trying to find the friends she'd made, fell over desperately trying to find their names from halfway across the world in a sea of complex symbols she could never be sure were the right ones, fell through dreams of their faces and fears that was all they had ever been. She fell around her parents divorcing and fell across the ocean to her mother's home in Japan. Falling became easy again, and she let the winds toss her through the sky and over and under and into this strange new world that was to be her home now. Falling didn't hurt.
Landing again did.
Three years of falling left her ill-prepared for the crash. She collided with the earth in much the same way she had the first time, breathless and confused and staring into a cavern of molten gold earth that looked just like it had in her dreams. Same as the first time, she was pulled to her feet, and as her eyes locked with his and they recognised each other and he threw his arms around her, the weight of it all bore down on her again and tethered her to the ground.
And just as it had the first time, the earth tossed her into every rough surface and craggy rock it had. She was flung back into the faces of the friends she had dreamed, crashing into their arms with tearful reunions and I-thought-I'd-never-see-you-agains. She was hurtled into three new friends, three new Chosen Children, and then a fourth only a few months later. She was smashed into new battles and new evolutions and new worlds, and just like the first time, each hit toughened her and made her strong enough to carry the weight that held her here on the ground.
Only it wasn't a weight anymore. It was a hand, reaching out to pull her to her feet, holding her close whenever she thought she might start falling again. It was long nights and early mornings and soccer games and recitals and coffee after every one. It was safe and it was home and she didn't want to fall anymore, because here on the ground she could see the earth and feel it beneath her and around her and keeping her steady. The air tossed her around, but the earth crashed into her and it was real.
It never hit her harder than the first time he kissed her. That was when she knew without a doubt that she never wanted to leave the ground again. She found a strength in him that she'd never had before, a strength she could lean on when she felt like she couldn't keep going. Where her Perseverance faltered, his Courage ignited, and the two could move stars together with that power.
He grounded her and tethered her to reality, and when he'd cut that loose so suddenly she couldn't remember how to fall. She was lost and afraid and couldn't reach the ground, and try though she might to reach out to him, he wasn't there. She fell for a long time, tossed through the air back to France and hoping she could find something to hold onto there. Nothing held her like he did, though, and she knew she'd just have to get used to falling for the rest of her life.
The thing about falling, though, is that what goes up must come back down. The third time she collided with him he was there to catch her, and the landing didn't hurt so much this time. It wasn't just one hand that he held out to her now, but both of them, and one of them had a ring on it and the other held open the door to their apartment and they both stayed clasped tightly to her and held her on the ground, refusing to let go.
She needed that strength now more than ever. She could feel herself starting to float again, and she stared at the golden earth he carried to try and ground herself in them as she spoke the words that threatened to carry her away with the air in her voice. "I'm pregnant."
She saw the tremor roll through his eyes before she felt it, saw how it unsettled the aurelian stone. Courage took over and he offered it to her with a quiet steadiness. "Are you serious?"
"Y-Yeah." She felt so light, and she reached for his arm to steady herself. Another tremor rolled through the earth beneath her and she clung to him tightly, unwilling to let go and start falling again.
"You-you're sure?"
She couldn't help but laugh, and for a moment she was able to let go of him to reach into her pocket. She pulled out the small white envelope that held the two sonogram photos and handed it to him. Another quake rolled through the earth and she reached out to him again, her hand shaking against his arm with the strain of trying to keep her feet on the ground. He looked at her and his gaze knocked her back, and she couldn't help but smile at the impact.
His arms wrapped tightly around her, and she leaned into him. She needed him to hold her here right now. Words, however, were not so easy to hold onto for him. "H-How–how long–?"
She'd never needed much from him to know what he wanted, and after all these years she could understand him so easily. The ground was much easier to navigate. "The doctor says about twelve weeks."
"I-I don't–I don't know what that means."
She looked up at him, burying herself in the deep earth of his eyes to keep from flying away. "It means that I'm due around the middle of June."
He leaned in close and he kissed her, once more anchoring her to him. The ground quaked and rolled beneath her, but it was hard and real and his kiss held her steady and she stayed. He pressed his forehead against hers and kept her close and she clung to him tightly as if begging him to never let her fall again. His eyes were wide and a shock trembled through the agate depths and she felt weak, but he never let go.
"We're gonna need a bigger place."
She laughed, and she could already feel herself slowly coming back down. She pressed herself into him to feel the earth beneath her, to feel his hands holding her down and refusing to let the sky take her again. So long as he held onto her and kept her from falling, she knew she could find her way. The earth was so much easier to navigate than the air, after all, and with him she had a wonderful guide. She looked up at him and watched as the aftershocks dwindled and the earth became steady again, and she asked him, "You okay?"
His answer was solid and firm. "Yeah. Are you?"
"Are you kidding? I'm scared out of my mind."
He laughed, and the sound echoed through her chest and rumbled through her being and knocked into her to fling her against the earth. It was strong and safe and she could lean on it to hold herself up, and with his hands on her she couldn't float away or fall. He locked his eyes with hers and she dug herself deep into the earthy caverns until she was buried in their safety and strength. He met her there with both hands clasped firmly around her and he smiled and it held her in place.
He knew the strength she was asking for and he gave it without hesitation. "I love you."
"I love you too."
That was all she needed. It was all she'd ever needed. Her Perseverance had pushed through a lot and kept her going, but it was his Courage that gave her the strength to do it. So long as she could rely on that, she knew that they could take on anything–even being a mother. She could see the glimmer of fear in his eyes, and she knew he needed her to keep going. She watched as the embers in his eyes were stoked into a flame, and with that beside her she could find whatever strength she needed to carry on.
He was smiling at her, and she couldn't help but smile too. After spending so much time falling, she'd been so afraid to hit the ground, so afraid of the pain of the collision. Now that she was standing on the earth, she couldn't imagine ever leaving.
Landing was the best thing she'd ever done.
