"What do you remember of being human, Echo?" The question is out of the blue and unexpected. But Sora offers a patient smile and tilts her head in curiosity, just enough that one of her ears flops over. It's endearing, if anything.
But Echo wishes she hadn't asked.
"Not much. Distinct memories are cloudy." A tired tone says softly, a pained recollection in her eyes and an acrid haze in her soul that endures, endures, and endures, "But I remember the discomfort more than anything. My body always did feel wrong back then. Misshapen. Condensed. Like it was too small for everything buried underneath, and that ache went so deeply some days that it would make my skin crawl. I hated that part the most."
At that, Sora's expression falls. She looks inexplicably sad, as if she'd hoped for a different response, a gentler one despite knowing the harsh truth about the dark future and the struggles Echo must have suffered. "But you had Grovyle, right? I'm sure he took care of you."
"He did, Sora, of course he did." A sigh, a flick of an ear and claws clenched tightly into the churned earth pressed under her paws. "I doubt I deserved his attention, though. I was too busy being angry at the world to give any care back."
In my lore, Echo does not look fully human during their time in the dark future. Since they were Darkrai before becoming human, and as a result of Palkia's reckless shattering of the Dimensional Portal which distorted both time and space, Echo's transformation was broken and accidental. They ended up looking pretty messed up and definitely (not) human. A lot of their characteristics as Darkrai carried over but rather morphed into something else.
And Grovyle, growing up in a world where humans have been extinct for longer than any living pokémon has been alive, has no concept of what a "true" human looks like. The only thing he knows is descriptions of humans from glyphs and texts in old ruins. Thus, he mistakes Echo for an actual human. And Echo, not knowing what a human looks like themselves due to amnesia, accepts this identification with nothing better to use.
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𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖕𝖔𝖓𝖘𝖎𝖇𝖎𝖑𝖎𝖙𝖎𝖊𝖘
little oneshot in which miz'ri struggles with the responsibility of being the dragonborn and kaidan does his best to be comforting
»»————- ♡ ————-««
something i wrote in 2023, i think? sappy and cliche but whenever i open it and read it i'm like wowww this author knows exactly what i want omg <3
A muffled noise caught his attention. Kaidan was standing at the enchanting table, trying to understand exactly how the thing worked, and he looked at the doors to the bedroom curiously. There was silence for a moment. He was just about to turn back to the enchanter when–there was the noise again. It sounded pained. Furrowing his brow, he approached the door and rapped on it gently.
“Arach?”
No response.
Though part of him figured he should let it go–who knew what she was doing in there?--he felt drawn to investigate. The mercenary pushed open the door slowly and peered into the dim light of the room. He could make out the form of Miz’ri curled in the bed and, as his eyes adjusted, noticed she was covering her mouth with one hand. Maybe he was interrupting something. Awkwardly, he began to close the door again, but the sound of a shuddering breath made him pause.
“...Arach?”
A soft sob escaped Miz’ri, who was curling in on herself in what seemed to be an attempt to disappear entirely under the blanket. It was the same noise he had heard a moment before. Kaidan stepped through the doorway into the room and made his way toward her warily. Once he was standing next to her at the side of the bed, he reached out to touch her shoulder wordlessly. She didn’t lift her face from under the edge of the blanket.
“Go away.” Her voice, meant to be forceful, came out unsteady.
Any other time, he would do as she asked. He knew what it was like to need solitude. But he lingered there and hesitantly pulled back the furs enough to see her tear-streaked face, her eyes squeezed shut. She didn’t try to stop him, though she did turn to bury her face into the pillow.
He moved to sit on the edge of the bed and laid his hand on her shoulder again. “Is everything alright?” Stupid question, he thought. Clearly something was wrong, but damned if he had any idea what that was. The least he could do was ask.
Miz’ri peeked up at him with one eye, glassy with tears. Her brow was knit, but it was more pathetic than truly angry. She swallowed hard. “...Not really,” she admitted, barely audible.
That was a first. She never admitted to anything. Unsure how to proceed, he squeezed her arm lightly. “Tell me about it?”
When she answered, her voice was small, defeated. “...I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be dragonborn.”
He wasn’t sure how to respond. It was an honor to be dragonborn, at least according to every Nord legend he’d heard from Brynjar; he hadn’t given the weight of the responsibility much thought until that moment. She bore the weight with poise–or, at least, he hadn’t seen her falter under it before. Miz’ri dragged her hand across her face wearily.
“I only came to attend the College. I expected dungeon crawling–looked forward to it, really–but this pressure…” She roughly wiped away tears with the heel of her palm. “All of these people, they expect miracles from me. I’m not a miracle worker, and now it’s my duty to slay the world eater?” She gave a bitter laugh.
Deciding to test the boundary between them, Kaidan moved his hand to tuck a shaggy lock of hair behind her ear. He half expected her to push him away, but she only closed her eyes again and breathed out shakily. If nothing else, it seemed the small gesture was welcome. That was a step in the right direction. He just needed to be gentle, though it had never quite been his strong suit.
“Can I…?”
He motioned toward the bed, trailing off. Miz’ri considered him for a few seconds before inching away from the edge of the bed. Watching carefully for any sign of disapproval, he laid next to her so they could be face to face and curled his arm under his head. Heat rushed to his cheeks when she looked at him fully, searching for something in his expression. She was fidgeting anxiously with the furs on the bed as she looked at him silently. His chest ached when he noticed tears welling up again.
“...I don’t know how I’m gonna manage this.”
He lifted his free hand to her face to brush away tears with his thumb. She blinked in surprise at the tender gesture; he almost pulled away–Is this too far?–but instead rested his palm on her wet cheek.
“You don’t have to do it alone,” he murmured. Miz’ri leaned into his touch, and it made his heart stammer.
“I don’t want to drag others into my own mess,” she whispered.
“It’s not just your mess.” It was anything but. He wasn’t sure when his fondness for her had started, but he’d become accustomed to being at her side–found it purposeful. Rewarding, even. It made Kaidan wonder how much he had held back for her to think she had to face fate all by herself. He smoothed her hair away from her flushed face and looked at her seriously. “Miz’ri. Look at me.”
She obliged. For so long now, he’d seen her power through it all with intense ambition. Seen her refuse to back down from a fight, to give up on a mission, and, despite any circumstances, she would always stop to offer him her hand. The dragonborn had pulled him up and out of the darkness. Perhaps it was time he learned to swallow his pride. He slipped his arm around her, pulling her closer, and murmured into her hair.
“I’m here. And I won’t let anything happen to you.” Her breath tickled on his skin. She didn’t answer immediately, melting into the touch. “Alright? Whatever you have to fight, we fight together.”
Relief washed over him as he realized she wasn’t going to push him away. He’d thought about this many times before, what it would be like to hold her and savor the closeness. It wasn’t until she pressed her face into his chest that he realized just how starved he’d been for touch.
She mumbled into the fabric of his tunic. “D’you promise?”
“I promise.” Kaidan tightened his grip slightly in reassurance. When he didn’t have to make eye contact, it was easier to open up. He rested his chin on the top of her head.
“...Kai.”
“Mm?”
“Can you…” Her fingers curled into his tunic tightly, which sent a little thrill through him. “...Will you stay with me for a while? It’s been difficult to fall asleep,” she said quietly.
“Yeah. Of course I will.” He didn’t dare say he would stay as long as she asked, for however many nights she would have him. He let go of the mage long enough to pull the comforter up over their shoulders, then settled back down into the soft warmth of the bed and stroked her hair one last time. “Try and get some sleep.”
Her crying jag seemed to have finally settled into calmness, judging by the even rise and fall of her chest. Kaidan closed his eyes, content, as she rested her hand against his collarbone. He almost didn’t hear her murmur, “...Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do here without you.”
He smirked. “I’ll remember that the next time you’re annoyed with me.”
With that, they fell into a comfortable silence. It wasn’t long before sleep overtook them both, faster than it ever had when they slept apart. No matter what happened beyond this, they could belong to each other for one night.
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