#I walk in late like SUP MFS and dump some angst on the GROUND

[nuclearanomaly]

PROMPT 29 – PATERNAL

wc. 700  | Ninira Nira & Estinien Wyrmblood | Some vague near future AU where Ninira reunites with her parents. 

“Estinien.”

Her voice was raw, and though she spoke barely above a whisper her words ripped through the silence of their inn room. Prior to speaking she had become so still that Estinien had thought, hoped, that she had exhausted herself to the point of sleep. Evidently that was not the case.

“Hmm.” He acknowledged as she pressed her face closer against his chest. 

“Can I ask you a favour.” Somehow she spoke even softer than before and despite the situation, and all that had happened that day his mouth quirked into a small smile. Ninira’s favours were ever mundane, rub my back, scratch my head, were the first that came to mind in this moment, neither warranting a favour.

“Of course.” He replied quietly, his hand already moving to her back anticipating her request. 

Ninira’s grip on his shirt tightened. “Can you tell me about your parents… please…”

Estinien froze. The all too familiar ache blossoming in his chest. He had not anticipated that. Though, perhaps he should have, considering…

Ninira obviously felt the way his whole body had tensed at the request as she quietly added, “you don’t have to, I understand.”

The old and familiar ache when he thought of his family was just that, old and familiar. It never truly left, thought there were days, especially in the recent years, when he barely felt the ache at all. It has dulled, healed, scabbed over. 

By comparison, Ninira lay bleeding raw on the bed beside him. Her wound, still fresh. Her hurt, far beyond his own. 

He exhaled slowly, releasing some of the tension in his chest. “What do you want to know.” 

“Anything…” Her grip on his shirt slackened though she kept her face pressed close. “What were they like?”

How did one properly describe…

“They were… nice.” It was a poor answer and he knew it. “Friendly. Caring. They were well known within the village and always willing to lend a hand.” He added. He could visualize his father helping a neighbour with an unruly chocobo; or his mother listening with a calm patience as a friend sat in their kitchen describing their woes. 

Ninira lay still for a moment before shifting and bringing a hand up to wipe roughly at her bloodshot eyes. “What were they like… as parents.” She asked.

He shrugged. “They were… parents. And I was a brat of a child.” He’d hoped to earn at least the hit of a laugh at that comment but Ninira didn’t react. “I’m unsure how else to describe it. I of course thought them annoying and demanding. Especially as I got older. Yet I know now that they were not. They were guiding and caring. They worked hard to give my brother and I a foundation to build our lives on, and a safe home to return to.”

He fought back the image of said home caved in and burning.

“And… they loved you?” 

Estinien’s brow furrowed slightly. “Yes, Ninira. They did. Unconditionally.”

He could still picture his father guiding his hand as he learned to use the axe to chop wood for the first time. Or watching with a quiet pride as he helped an ewe birth her first lamb. The warm drink his mother would have waiting for him when he returned from a cold day with the sheep in the hills. Or the way she would tousle his hair when he complained about Hamignant. 

“And with their whole hearts.”

The memory of his parents were a stark contrast to the two he’d met earlier that day. There had been no joy at the prospect of reuniting with their long lost daughter. No hint of affection behind their disapproving gaze. Only Ninira’s quiet request for him to remain calm, even as she nursed her hurt ear, had saved them. Ninira who was too good and too kind, especially in that moment. Ninira who deserved the world but who had been given them in return. 

“They would have loved you as well.” He added, running his hand gently through Ninira’s hair as she shook with a fresh sob. “How could they not. You would have been a welcome addition to our family.”