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trensu · 1 year ago

Text

A part of a continuation of Hawkins Halfway House for Homeless Horrors which is also on AO3.

Robin liked to make fun of him but she didn’t understand his early bird tendencies. Steve grew up playing multiple sports. That kind of lifestyle gives the body expectations. If Steve didn’t do his morning jogs, he’d be crawling up the walls halfway through the day with all his pent up restlessness. He’d tried on multiple occasions to convince her to join him since it hadn’t escaped his notice that Robin was also full of restless energy. She laughed in his face every time.

Okay, she might also have been laughing at him for his jogging outfit, but screw Robin! What did she know about athletic clothes? And there was nothing wrong with yellow! It was a happy color! Why wouldn’t he want to wear his favorite color doing one of his favorite activities?

He ran his usual route. It took him down the main street where he got to see all the shop owners get their stores ready for the day. He waved at Mr. Newby as he jogged past his electronics shop. He liked Mr. Newby. He’d helped Steve pick out the walkman he used during his morning run, and then fixed it when Steve dropped it and Robin stepped on it two days after Steve bought it. When Steve jogged past the diner, Benny gave him his usual nod of acknowledgement, which Steve returned with a smile.

Steve mapped out his jog so it lasted him the better part of an hour and finished with a quick circuit around his neighborhood. Between the main street and his neighborhood was a pleasant patch of green. There were enough trees to attract small woodland critters but not so many trees as to block out the morning sunshine. It provided a nice division between living quarters and the modest shopping district Hawkins boasted.

Steve started to slow his strides now that he was entering the last leg of his route. He looked down to fiddle with the walkman clipped at his waist in order to fast-forward the tape to the next song. In the moment of distraction, Steve tripped over a ball, of all things. Steve managed to catch himself before earning what would’ve been his third concussion. Feeling a bit huffy, Steve bent down to grab the ball that nearly murdered him.

It was a well-loved thing. A red, white, and blue basketball, scuffed up and worn smooth from use. He had no idea what it was doing at the side of a road near the woods.

Except no, wait a minute.

Steve blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyes. He was on the sidewalk in front of an unfamiliar house. A black boy was peeking over the battered old fence surrounding the house. He had a bandana tied around his forehead and a sheepish expression on his face.

“Sorry!” the boy called. “I didn’t mean to throw it so hard! Can you give it back, mister?”

“Uh, sure,” Steve said, still trying to figure out how he arrived here. He didn’t recognize the street at all. Instead of throwing the ball back, he walked it over. The boy grinned at him when he handed the ball over the fence.

“Thanks!”

“No problem, kid,” Steve smiled back. The boy looked ready to dash back to the big tree off the driveway that had an old basketball hoop attached to the trunk. Steve cleared his throat. “Hey, could you tell me what street this is? I think I got myself turned around.”

“Oh, sure!” the boy said. “This is Upside Down Avenue. If you go that way and turn right, you’ll be on Flayer Drive, but if you go this way and turn left you’ll be on Creel Street.”

“...I don’t think I know those. Do you know which direction to get to the shopping district?”

The boy opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by barking. He let out an ‘oof’ when he was bowled over and out of view. The barking grew louder and more agitated. Was this a dog attack? Dogs could do some really bad damage on a kid. There wasn’t any screaming but what if the kid had hit his head and lost consciousness?

Steve, in his worry, ran and leapt over the fence. He barely cleared it but the fact he cleared it at all would be very impressive later when he wasn’t trying to save a kid.

When he landed on the other side, the boy was sprawled on the ground with a very, very large puppy on him. It growling and tugging at the collar of his shirt. It didn’t appear to have actually bitten the boy, though, so that was good.

“Erica, get off me! He was just asking for directions!” the boy said over the growling. He rolled over, taking the large puppy with him. He grabbed at the long black fur on the puppy’s neck and yanked her off him with surprising strength.

The puppy struggled out of the boy’s grasp and plopped down next to him. It had stopped growling and seemed to be sulking. The boy got to his feet and tried to dust himself off but the grass stains were not going to come out either, Steve knew this from experience. Steve crouched down next to the boy.

“Are you hurt?” Steve looked closely. He thought he had seen some scratches on the boy during the scuffle, but they were gone when he tried to find them now. “I thought that dog had you.”

“Nah, that’s just my dumb little sister. She can’t hurt me that bad,” the boy said with a shrug. The puppy let out a yappy sort of bark and the boy stuck his tongue out at it. Steve looked between the two of them.

“Your sister?” Steve asked. The boy’s eyes widened and a small growl started up in the dog.

“My little sister’s dog!” the boy yelped. “That’s what I meant. This is my little sister’s dog.” The boy looked really nervous. He was probably embarrassed. Steve gave him a smile.

“That’s alright, I get my words mixed up sometimes, too,” he said easily. Steve thought the dog snorted at that, but that was ridiculous. He probably imagined it. He got up and went over to grab the battered basketball that had gone flying when the boy had been bowled over. He threw it to the boy who caught it with ease. “So, you like basketball?”

The boy’s face lit up. “Yeah! I wanna join the team when I go to school.”

“Heck yeah, bud,” Steve grinned. “I used to be captain of the basketball team when I was in high school. It’s a lot of fun. What grade are you in?”

“Fifth,” he said. “But I’ll be going to Hawkins Middle School next year so I wanna be ready to try out by then. Hey, hey, can I show you what I can do? And you can tell me if I’ll make the team or not?”

Steve checked his watch. His run had already gone longer than it should have, and he still had to figure out how to get back to familiar ground so he could get home. On the other hand, he was stuck with another lousy afternoon shift. He didn’t technically have anything urgent to get done before then. He ran a hand through his damp hair to clear it from his face. He wondered where the kid’s parents were; they’d probably freak out about having some random guy watching their son shoot hoops. The kid looked at him so hopefully, though.

“Sure, I can do that,” Steve said.

The kid pumped his fist in victory, but the puppy started barking loudly. It circled the boy agitatedly. The boy tried to shove the puppy away but the puppy pranced out of reach before circling him again.

“Shut up, Erica! You’re spazzing for no reason,” the kid snapped.

“Lucas!”

A red-haired girl stomped across the yard at an alarming speed. Wisps of hair not tied back with the rest whipped around her face as a gust blew over the yard. Lucas nearly dropped the basketball with how quick he turned to see the girl. He did trip over the–still shockingly big, seriously, Steve didn’t know puppies could get that big– puppy who had stopped circling him the minute the girl shouted but had sat directly behind Lucas. The ball rolled over to where Steve stood.

“Max!” Lucas said, flustered, as he picked himself up. But Max didn’t acknowledge him. Instead she planted herself firmly between him and Steve. She glared at Steve furiously.

“Who are you?” she demanded. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Max, it’s fine,” Lucas said, reaching out to touch her shoulder but she shrugged him off roughly, her wide eyes never leaving Steve even as the wind picked up.

“No, it isn’t. He could be anybody,” she said. Her hands were balled into fists and trembled slightly. She saw him noticing and paled. She crossed her arms defensively so her hands were completely hidden. In response, Steve relaxed his stance. He kept his hands in full view and kept his movements gentle. He knew what fear looked like when he saw it.

“You’re right,” Steve said calmly. “I’m Steve. I got lost and Lucas was nice enough to let me know where I was so I can try to find myself back.”

“You told him what?” Max asked, alarmed. It was Lucas’s turn to get defensive.

“He was on the other side of the fence! It wasn’t a big deal. And now the fence let him in, so it’s all okay anyway.”

“It will be,” Max hissed. “Eddie heard Erica barking. He’s on his way.”

“Shit,” Lucas groaned, burying his face in his hands.

“Language,” Steve scolded reflexively. A stronger gust of wind blew around him. His eyes started to water from all the wind. He rubbed his eyes to relieve some of the grittiness and kept them at a squint to protect them from the wind. He could barely see anything.

“How did you get here before Eddie?” he heard Lucas ask Max, apparently ignoring Steve’s scolding entirely.

“I told you, I’m a zoomer.” For the first time since she arrived, Max’s voice held a hint of playfulness.

“Zoomers aren’t a thing,” Lucas snorted in amusement.

The wind let up enough by then that Steve could open his eyes, just in time to see a man walking towards them. The puppy shot off towards the man and then kept pace with him, yipping the whole time. If it weren’t a dog, Steve would have thought it was tattling on him. With the wind whipping that dark curly hair around, Steve couldn’t get a good look at the man’s face, but he moved his body fluidly and with surety. Seeing such confidence in movement always made Steve’s stomach swoop pleasantly.

When the man reached them, he placed a gentle hand on Max’s shoulder.

“You can cool it now, Maxie,” the gorgeous man said, gesturing vaguely upwards. His voice was tender and low and Steve had the ridiculous desire to swim in it. Max didn’t look at Eddie but nodded firmly once. The wind around them finally died down. “Why don’t you three go inside?”

“But nothing happened! Erica is making it sound worse than it was,” Lucas protests. “And I still need to practice!”

“You can practice later. Go inside now,” Eddie said. Lucas looked ready to argue but Max grabbed his hand and started to drag him back. Lucas all but melted when her hand touched his, and he followed her, starry eyed. The puppy was close at their heels. In unspoken agreement, they both waited until the kids were out of sight before conversing. Steve reached out to shake Eddie’s hand.

“Hey, I’m Steve–”

“I know who you are,” Eddie scowled. “How did you get in here? That fence is warded and I know you don’t have Jeff’s card anymore.”

Warded was a weird way to say locked, and Steve had no idea how Eddie knew the guy that scammed him that time. Unless it was someone else? Jeff was a common name…but there was only one Jeff that gave him a card. Steve shook his head.

“I don’t know if the gate was locked or not. I sort of jumped the fence?”

Eddie blinked at him. “You…jumped the fence.”

“Yeah? I mean, I don’t go around jumping into people’s fenced off property, but I thought Lucas had gotten hurt so I kind of reacted without thinking.” Steve ran his hand nervously through his hair. Eddie had eyes that were…wow. They’d probably be prettier if they weren’t glaring at Steve, sure, but Steve wouldn’t survive if Eddie’s eyes looked at him with the same softness he had when he had spoken to Max.

Eddie stomped over to the fence and hovered his hands over the top of it. Then down the side of it without ever actually touching the wood. Whatever it was that he was doing, it made his brow furrow. He looked back to the house, scowl still firmly in place.

“What are you doing?” Eddie asked loudly.

“Nothing!” Steve responded. He was literally just standing there, confused as hell.

“I’m not talking to you,” Eddie snapped at him, then returned his attention to the house. “You let him jump over like it was a regular fence? What are you up to, huh?”

Steve felt a retroactive burst of fear when he remembered electric fences existed. He felt stupid a split second later because the fence was the plain wooden plank kind. It wasn’t even a good wooden fence. Frankly, it looked about ready to collapse in on itself.

Steve was about to say so when he saw the house shiver. It shifted like a guilty child shuffled their feet.

“What the fuck,” Steve said instead. “What the fuck.”

Eddie let out a long sigh.

“Seriously, did you see–”

A captivating song flooded his senses. There was a brief moment of ‘this has happened before’ but it was washed away before Steve could grasp it. It wasn’t important. What mattered was that beautiful Eddie was singing his beautiful song.

“Go home, Steve,” Eddie said while the song swirled around them. “Forget.”

–

Steve threw his keys in the bowl kept near the entry. Far more gently, he took off his headphones, coiled them around his walkman, and set it next to the bowl. On the couch, Robin lounged and read one of her weird literature books. Clearly she was enjoying her day off. She looked up when Steve entered.

“Hey dingus, what took you so long?” she asked.

Normally, Steve’s morning run cleared his head. It helped him get ready and focused for the day. Today, though, Steve’s mind felt like a muddy puddle. He half wanted to go on another run but that probably wouldn’t have made a difference.

“Steve?” Robin asked. She wore a concerned expression. Steve realized that he hadn’t answered her question.

“Got turned around,” Steve mumbled.

“You got lost,” Robin said in disbelief. “On the run you’ve been doing every day since we moved here?”

Steve shrugged. “Some kid gave me directions, I guess? But I'm home now.”

He didn’t know why he said that last part out loud. It seemed important but obviously Robin could see he was home. Robin’s expression became even more concerned.

“Are you okay?” she asked. Steve nodded numbly. He didn’t want her to worry. There wasn’t any need for it. He was home now.

“Yeah, I’m just tired,” Steve said. “I think I’m gonna take a nap before work.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

Robin did not sound convinced but she let it go, much to Steve’s relief. He headed to his room. A nap would help him get his head straight.

#trensu tells stories #hawkins halfway house for homeless horrors #stranger things #steve harrington #lucas sinclair #erica sinclair #max mayfield #eddie munson #steddie #this is one scene of maybe four total #Eddie is a very stubborn guy so it takes him a while to warm up to steve okay #he'll get there eventually

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avirael · 5 months ago

Text

The Frozen Lake

It was the third day since he had stopped feeling like dying.

About a week ago he had woken up from his far too lifelike fever dream and a few days later the last spikes of the fever itself had been gone too just like the hallucinations it had brought in his sleep.

He still had been sick though and welcomed Rael telling him to stay in bed until he was perfectly healthy again all too eagerly.

While he still sneezed every now and then, it was at least tolerable now, still annoying but he didn’t feel incredibly uncomfortable anymore.

That day, just like the last and also the ones before that, he had awoken late. Against Rael’s order to stay in bed he had found the courage to get up and take a look out of the window. It was a sunny day, which in Coerthas still meant that it was bitterly cold though. But the sun was shining brightly and already high in the sky too which meant it had to be almost midday. He had slept way too long again, way to many hours for a surprisingly dreamless sleep. Or maybe it was exactly the lack of dreams that allowed him to finally rest, after all in the past there rarely had been good ones…

For a moment he considered to go downstairs and ask for a late breakfast if that wasn’t too insolent given the late hour but then a knock sounded from the door.

Quickly he hurried back to bed, just in case it was Rael, but the person who carefully peeked into the room a few seconds later wasn’t a viera.

“Ah, you are awake! That’s good!”, Haurchefant exclaimed happily and brought a small tray with hot soup and also something warm to drink. “It is so late already, you must be horribly hungry. Alphinaud checked in on you earlier but you were still fast asleep and he didn’t have the heart to wake you.”

A little uncertain on how to answer to that, A’viloh just nodded. Haurchefant grinned, put down a mug on the bedside table and handed A‘viloh a comfortingly warm bowl filled with some rather delicious smelling stew.

Instead of fetching the chair from the small desk by the window, Haurchefant sat down at the lower end of the bed balancing the tray with his own lunch on his knees. Rael once told him that ishgardian society had an absurd amount of strict and antiquated rules and so A’viloh couldn’t help but wonder, that although it seemed like a very appropriate distance to him, in Haurchefant’s hometown the fact alone that he dared to sit on someone else’s bed was probably scandalous.

“I hope you don’t mind me having lunch with you.”, the Elezen asked as he noticed A‘viloh staring.

Quickly the Miqo’te lowered his gaze to his bowl of soup. “Not at all.”, he muttered and tried a spoonful of the food just to change the topic. “Mhh, this is very good!”, he mumbled, still chewing, surprised by how good this really was compared to the bland food and bitter teas Rael had usually brought him these last few days. It must have been the Viera’s way of punishing him for running away.

Haurchefant laughed and then for a while they ate in silence.

“You look a lot healthier already.”, the Elezen stated after a while with an amiable smile on his face before taking a sip from his mug.

A‘viloh shrugged a little embarrassed, since it had been his own fault that he hadn’t been well in the first place. “Only because all of you took so good care of me.”

Haurchefant nodded. “You know, you had us all horribly worried right?”

“Sorry about that.”, he said and guitily looked into his mug.

Curiously Haurchefant eyed him for a moment. “Why did you do that anyway? Run out into the storm.”

A bit surprised A’viloh looked up. Had they all thought he had done this on purpose? “There wasn’t a storm when I left! What do I know about weather? I didn’t expect it to start snowing, let alone that much!”

That made the Elezen chuckle again but he still looked at him expecting an answer.

“Still… why did you leave?”

“I assumed Rael told you…”, A’viloh replied not sure what Haurchefant wanted to hear exactly. He nodded. “Rael did. But maybe I want to hear it from you…”

A’viloh sighed. His plan hadn’t been very smart and he felt a little uncomfortable having to explain his reasons to someone else, when in retrospect it didn’t make much sense even to his own ears.

“You know the… circumstances under which we fled Ul’dah… I couldn’t… um… the fact that we didn’t even know what happened to our friends… I wanted to find out, because it doesn’t seem fair to me that we escaped while all of them didn’t…”

“Mhh…”, Haurchefant nodded thoughtfully but let go off the topic for now. Instead he asked, „And how are you feeling today?”

Somehow that question confused A’viloh even more.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a simple question, isn’t it?”, he said still smiling politely.

Of course it was a simple question. Just the answer felt unreasonable complicated to him. To make things even more difficult people who asked such a question usually wanted to hear “I‘m fine, and you?” or “Very good, thank you.” for an answer and rarely the truth. They certainly didn’t want to hear “A few days ago I was convinced I was going to die and honestly it wasn’t that bad, so now I‘m still not sure wether I am happy to still be alive or not”.

“Alright… I guess.”, he mumbled instead. He had never been a good liar and could only hope that this fact wasn’t too obvious for the Elezen.

“You know what?”, Haurchefant proclaimed after watching him thoughtfully for a second. “Today is a wonderful day. We should go for a walk.”

“A walk?!”, A’viloh exclaimed wide-eyed, as if he had just asked something unreasonable of him.

“Why not?”

A’viloh couldn’t think of a good reason why not, other than that he was supposed to stay in bed, so he shrugged.

“Where’s Rael?”, he asked instead.

Haurchefant smirked. “Do you need Rael’s permission to go outside?”

“Of course not.”, the Miqo’te protested. “But Rael will be mad if I run off again, especially against their orders to stay in bed.”

“Rael and Alphinaud went to the observatory earlier.”, Haurchefant explained. “We’ll be back before they are, I promise.”

What was A’viloh supposed to say against that and also against the expectant look on the Elezen’s face. He took another glimpse towards the window and decided that it looked nice enough to go outside.

“Fine.”

“Good!”, Haurchefant exclaimed happily and collected their empty bowls and mugs. “There should be warm clothes for you in the wardrobe. If you need anything else just ask someone. I’ll wait for you by the northern gate.”

After Haurchefant had left, A’viloh remained sitting in his bed for a moment longer contemplating on the Elezen’s question. Yes, he felt better again. But better in what comparison? Better than a few days ago when he had felt and also been half-dead? Though he didn’t feel sick anymore now, there still was a weigh on his heart. From his plan that had failed so spectacularly and even more so from the dreams he wouldn’t have minded to keep on dreaming forever.

Vehemently he shook his head and decided not to think about that now or he would just crawl back under the blanket of his comfortably warm bed again. Instead he got up and took a look into the wardrobe. Almost none of these were his own clothes of course since all he possessed were the ones he had worn on his body that day they fled Ul’dah. Very unsuitable for this climate. But neither did he see the borrowed clothes he had worn that night when he had tried to run away. Everything in here looked even softer and warmer like someone had wanted to make sure he was feeling comfortable. To his surprise the things didn’t look that much too big for him either, unlike his last set of clothes. Besides a few Hyur most people here at Camp Dragonhead were grown up Elezen but these clothes looked like they belonged to neither. Maybe it were clothes for Elezen children, he wondered and also thought that in that case someone must have brought them here just for him.

Grateful for so much effort he picked a few pieces and got dressed. Lazily he ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of the worst knots but the look into the small mirror at the washbasin, where his tired face stared back at him reproachfully, just made him sigh. Once he was ready he took the warm coat out of the wardrobe too and went out to look for Haurchefant. Just as he had said, the Elezen was standing by the gate that led to the north-east, towards the ruins of the Steel Vigil.

From afar Haurchefant already recognised the Miqo’te, his bright red hair a singularity among all the people living here. Pleasantly smiling as always he waved at him and A’viloh couldn’t help but smile a little too and wave back as he hurriedly walked towards him.

“There you are! I see the clothes fit you nicely.”

A’viloh nodded.

“They do. Thank you very much for these.”

Haurchefant dismissively waved with one hand. “It’s the least I could do…”

But he had done a lot more than that, A’viloh thought. “I think there’s more I need to thank you for. Rael told me it was you who saved my life.”

“Mhhh…”, Haurchefant tilted his head as if he wasn’t sure if this statement was entirely the truth. “Rael is too humble. They played a bit of a role in that too. After all it was Rael who noticed you were gone. And it was also Rael who didn’t leave your bedside and tried their best to heal you.”

A’viloh remembered waking up and finding the usually quite touch-averse viera cuddled up to him with a look on their face so horribly sad like he had never seen on them before. Rael had pretended it was nothing but it had been a very unconvincing performance. Asked about it Alphinaud had only offered a few sentences about how worried Rael had looked and how they had used all kinds of spells he himself had never seen or heard of before, all of it to try and save him. It had made him feel even more guilty for his stupidity.

So maybe Haurchefant was right. But still it had been him who had risked going out into the storm to find him.

“Anyway. I still want to thank you! Honestly.”, he insisted. But how honestly was it really?

Sure, he was glad to still be alive. After all his plan hadn’t been to run out into a blizzard and freeze to death, although some of them seemed to think that was the case. But once he found himself in this situation he had to admit that he had welcomed his fate rather willingly. A fact that shocked even himself a little looking back at it now.

“You’re welcome. After all you wouldn’t be any help to your friends frozen to death out there.”, Haurchefant joked with a wry smile on his lips.

“I guess not...”, A’viloh muttered, the topic of his friends making his mood visibly sink again.

Of course the Elezen noticed and his smile turned into a playful grin. “But I acted a little selfish too, you know? I think Camp Dragonhead is a lot friendlier with your company and I would like to have you and your pretty smile around a little longer.”

For a moment A’viloh’s eyes shot up to look at the others face before he quickly pretended that something somewhere a little bit to his left was a lot more interesting. Sometimes Haurchefant randomly said things, A’viloh hadn’t had the slightest idea how to react to. Not because he was that oblivious but simply because it puzzled him. Nonetheless the air suddenly didn’t feel that cold anymore on his face.

Haurchefant was always very kind to him. Well, he mostly was kind to everybody but sometimes he seemed to admire him especially. Him of all people, although there was nothing special about him. Haurchefant sometimes spoke of him like he was one of the greatest heroes of all time and it felt so ridiculous to him. He was just silly, cowardly A‘viloh! What had he ever achieved in his miserable life to justify such admiration? The people called him a Warrior of Light but wasn’t that some grand overstatement? Some days he thought all of this had been a horrible mistake. A great misunderstanding! Then he wondered how he had ever gotten entangled in this madness in the first place and also if he ever would get out of it again. But what else should he do with his life anyway...

While A’viloh’s brain still screeched in desperate search for a proper response, Haurchefant seemed to realise he had flustered him and glossed it over by gesturing to the gate.

“How about we walk a few yalms? There’s something you need to see!”

Still too dumbstruck to speak or to even wonder what the Elezen was talking about, A’viloh nodded and then proceeded to follow him out into the snowy landscape.

After a few minutes Haurchefant paused and took a deep breath. “Isn’t the air wonderful today?”

A’viloh followed his example, breathed deeply and let his gaze wander over the snow covered landscape with a few pines here and there and the mountains and ruins of the Steel Vigil in the distance. The air was cool and fresh, still cold enough that the warm sun couldn’t melt the snow. Instead the rays of sunshine made the scenery shine and sparkle as if everything was covered not in ice but in millions over millions of tiny diamonds.

“It is.”, he answered and smiled, surprised how beautiful this inhospitable landscape could be, before with a sudden spark of curiosity he finally asked. “Where are we going?”

“It’s not far anymore.”, Haurchefant said with a grin on his face and pointed into another direction. Shortly after and only a bit further ahead they reached a small lake.

As they got closer A‘viloh noticed that it not only was covered in a layer of snow and ice but also that quite a few off-duty soldiers, given the proximity to the camp he assumed they had to be, were standing right on top of the frozen lake. No, they were not quite standing. It looked more like they were dancing or flying maybe. More or less gracefully they moved over the lake‘s surface in fluid swift strides, some just moving in wide circles and other swirling around this way or that. A’viloh had never seen something like this and it looked strange and impossible but at the same time very beautiful to him.

The two of them had almost reached the lake by then, A’viloh a few steps ahead to get a better look at the wondrous people on the ice and he already wanted to ask how they did that, when his attention was drawn elsewhere by a curious squawking sound.

“Oh! Look at them!”, the Miqo’te exclaimed, his fascinated smile still turning a little brighter, as he gestured to a small flock of wild geese resting at the shore of the lake. With ruffled feathers they sat closely huddled together at the edge of the ice and suddenly A‘viloh couldn’t help but worry about them. They looked so unbothered by his presence, sleeping through the day and all the hubbub around them, looking all exhausted and frozen with their puffed up feathers. Like anything could happen to them and they wouldn’t even mind.

Strangely he wondered what he himself had looked like when Haurchefant had found him unconscious in the snow. He must have been a pitiful sight. Had the Elezen thought him beyond saving too, just like he himself had. What if he had found him a little later or not at all? Maybe that would have been better, a voice murmured to him just like it had so many times before and for a moment, tempted by the grief heavy on his heart once again, he almost believed it.

But no, he would be dead then and while he would have liked to imagine that this would mean he could be with his loved ones again, it was not exactly what either of the tribes he had lived with believed.

Vaguely he remembered his father working for hours, digging a grave at what used to be Wellwick Wood. An elderly woman too exhausted by their long journey, his grandmother if he remembered correctly, had died shortly after they had arrived there. With a sad smile on his face his father had explained to his children, who had stared down into the hole in the ground with confusion in their eyes, how by returning her body to the earth there could still grow new life from this death.

Or the drake tribe of the Sagolii Desert, who always burned their dead and left the ashes to be carried away by the desert wind, believing that it would make it easier for the deceased‘s aether to return to the Aetheric Sea and create something new elsewhere.

With a sudden sharp pain in his heart A’viloh realised that neither of the people he loved had gotten the burial they would have wanted for themselves. And neither had A‘viloh himself wanted to die in the coldness of Coerthas and be forever forgotten under a thick layer of snow and ice. He had thought about dying before but never had he been this close to it. For a second he wondered if this was something worth speaking to Rael about, but he wasn’t sure they wouldn’t misunderstand and get mad at him again.

“Why do you make such a sad face now?”, Haurchefant asked having noticed the smile slip from the Miqo’te’s face. But A’viloh just vehemently shook his head and focused on the geese again.

“They must be horribly cold.”, he wondered in a voice that suggested he already planned to take all of them to the safety of his comfortably warm room.

Haurchefant chuckled. “Don’t worry, they survived the storm out here after all. They keep each other warm, that’s why you‘ll rarely see one of them alone. A bit like you and your friends.”

“Maybe…”, A’viloh answered thinking about this comparison for a moment. “I just wish it wouldn’t always be me who needs to be taken care of. But as proven in Ul’dah and now once again I am simply too weak and useless to keep myself alive, not to mention anyone else.”

The Elezen’s face got a little stern as he folded his arms in front of his chest. “Don’t say that, I am sure it’s not true! This was just bad luck! You are neither weak nor useless!”

A’viloh shrugged. “But that’s how I feel right now...”

Slowly Haurchefant nodded before speaking again with a silent but determined voice. “Listen. I‘ll never forget how bravely you fought for Francel although you barely knew him. You could have gotten yourself in trouble with that and you helped him anyway.”

“It’s not like I did that on my own -”, A’viloh tried to protest but was immediately interrupted. “But you still helped! And I’m sure even without Rael you would have done so!”

Another shrug was all Haurchefant got in response, so the Elezen thought for a second before making an offer. “You want to make yourself useful, right? Get stronger? I could teach you how to fight like a real ishgardian knight, with sword and shield. Or we have some dragoons at Camp Dragonhead too! I’m sure there’s a lot you could learn from them.”

A‘viloh‘s face turned to disbelief. “I really don’t think I could fight with armor and weapons this heavy…”

“You can’t say so if you don’t try! And I have you know that dragoon armors are surprisingly light. How do you think they could still be this agile otherwise? Promise me to at least try training with them a little!”

He didn’t really want to agree to that. He knew he would make a fool of himself. But how could he say no with Haurchefant trying everything in his power to cheer him up. Weakly he shook his head and muttered: “Fine…”

“Perfect!”, Haurchefant exclaimed with a bright smile on his face. “I think an early reward for your efforts is appropriate then!”

Confused A’viloh watched him take a small bag off of his shoulders, which he hadn’t even noticed until now. For a moment the Elezen was busy undoing a knot before he opened the bag and presented to A‘viloh a set of two weirdly shaped blades attached to pieces of wood with leather straps. He had no idea what these constructs were meant to do and that was plainly visible on his face. “What’s that?”

“Ice skates of course!”, Haurchefant said as if that would explain it all but the Miqo’te‘s face remained clueless, so Haurchefant gestured to the lake behind them. “You attach them to your boots so you can walk on the ice like this!”

“Oh!”, A’viloh exclaimed as he understood what Haurchefant was planning. “I don’t think-… I mean I‘ve never-… You don’t really want me to step on that lake do you?” The idea somehow scared him.

“Why not?”, Haurchefant asked for the second time today with this smile that made the question sound like a challenge.

“It’s just a bit of ice!”, A‘vi objected. “What if it breaks?”

The Elezen shook his head and proceeded to fasten the metal blades beneath his boots. “Ah, don’t worry. The ice is thick enough, it will take at least a few more days to melt.”

“I don’t know…”, was all A’viloh replied as Haurchefant pressed another pair of skates into his hands. But the Elezen remained determined and took a few wobbly steps through the snow and onto the ice. “See! I can stand on it and it doesn’t break! You are a lot lighter than me, so why wouldn’t you be able to?”

Oh, you don’t know my bad luck!, A‘viloh thought but Haurchefant didn’t look like he would take that for an excuse. Instead he stretched out a hand towards the Miqo’te. “Come one! Believe me, this is going to be funny!”

For a second A‘viloh pondered his options. The idea of nothing but a little bit of ice between him and the water still terrified him but Haurchefant seemed so excited about this and the other people actually seemed to have fun too. Maybe he should at least pretend to try... Reluctantly he sat down on a rock and tried to put on the skates just like Haurchefant had done a moment ago.

“The clasp on the back too. Make sure none of them are loose… Yes, that looks fine!”, Haurchefant helpfully explained. As A’viloh got up, he almost flopped right back down into the snow. It was a weird feeling to balance his whole weight on only two thin pieces of metal. As he carefully took the first few steps towards the lake Haurchefant reached out for him once more. “Here! Take my hand! I don’t want you to fall…”

Hesitantly A‘vi stepped onto the ice and immediately felt like the ground was being pulled away beneath his feet. He struggled for balance, feeling himself falling backwards, so Haurchefants arm was a very welcome thing to hold on to.

With a chuckle the Elezen tried to loosen A‘vi‘s desperate grip on his arm and instead took each of his hand in one of his own before carefully making slow steps backwards pulling A‘viloh over the ice, which A’vi could swear was making suspicious crackling sounds below them. There was no way to tell the blades beneath his feet not to move, so all A’viloh could do was try not to fall and plead to Haurchefant with ears flat on his head and panic in his eyes, as he slowly was pulled further onto the lake. “No, no, no. Take me back, that’s a horrible idea!”

“Calm down. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I promise.”, Haurchefant said soothingly and continued to explain to him how to move on the ice skates. And in fact the Elezen’s calm voice slowly made A’viloh feel less anxious. His hands, frantically clasping at Haurchefant’s, relaxed along with his legs. It was still a weird feeling to be standing on the ice but now it felt a lot easier to remain balanced. He glanced at the people around them while remaining as still as possible, studied their movements for a moment and then tentatively tried to mimic the way they slowly pushed their feet above the slippery surface. To his surprise he really moved forward without much effort and also without feeling the sensation of falling again, closer to Haurchefant who had steadied him with his outstretched arms so far.

“See! It’s not that difficult.”, he said while making another step backwards so A’viloh had to follow with another step forward. The Miqo’te, strangely excited about the fact that he was actually moving on these weird ice-blades, laughed happily. “You are even going backwards!”

Haurchefants laughed. “One step after the other. Let’s teach you how to go forward first, hm? I‘ll let go off one of your hands but don’t worry, I still got you. One feet after the other just like you did before…”

In fact it almost felt easier now that he could use one of his arms to balance himself. Very slowly at first they floated above the icy surface of the lake but soon A‘viloh got braver. Once he almost lost his balance but for a comparably tall and strong person like Haurchefant it seemed like a very easy task to keep a small Miqo’te on his feet. Almost falling had felt like a shock for a second but only moments later they were laughing about it and in the end A’viloh was surprised and also a little proud how quickly he had learned and how much fun this was.

He wasn’t sure how much time they spent there on the frozen lake but at some point a bell sounded from the nearby Camp. Startled A’viloh looked up (and almost lost his balance again). “How late is it? I’m sure you have more important things to do than this! I’m sorry if I’m keeping you from doing your work.”

But Haurchefant just laughed and teased, “What could be more important than prove to you that not all of Coerthas is a deadly wasteland trying to kill you? But I think we really should return soon. I don’t want you to get cold again and after all we also don’t want Rael to find out about this little excursion, do we?”

For a second A’viloh wished the viera could see him now and wondered what their reaction would be like. The thought made him chuckle.

And as they floated, one last circle around the lake, A’viloh couldn’t help but wonder that maybe it was happy moments like this. The reason he was still here. Moments that made his life worth living.

---

inspired by the poem The Reversal by Leila Chatti

#ffxiv #ff14 #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14 #ffxiv writing #ffxiv screenshots #gpose #Aviloh Tia #Haurchefant Greystone #This ended up sadder than I wanted actually XD #But at least it ends on a good note and thats worth something huh?#I read that poem while I was still writing the last story and thought it fitted A'vi's mood quite well #and that it would be sweet to make him go ice skating although he has no clue what that is and how to do it :D #Did I ever tell you A'vi is his own worst enemy sometimes? I probably did or you figured that out by yourself by now...#If he thinks he can't do something he won't even try #I like to blame that on the expectactions people had for him and which he failed repeatedly but it's probably a bit of a character flaw too #However before late HW it is probably also very easy to talk him into pretty much anything if you have the slightest bit of persuasion skil #oops thats probably a character flaw too... but in this case it is useful at last :D #A'vi will get better soon I promise!#Well obviously he will get worse first for obvious reasons but then he'll get better eventually!#Maybe... I hope... Oh boy I am seriously trying but this sad cat doesn't want to be happy D:#I think getting the Scions back will help a little and so will the happenings of Stormblood I think...#And regarding Haurchefant: I don't think I see this as particularly romantic (I mean from Haurchefant's side maybe given his character)#I should probably make a post one of these days giving some iside look on A'vi's emotions! because it's complicated! XD #he's been alive but not really living for so long now and maybe this near-death-expierence was necessary to make him think about that...#rant over! I'll make a different post another day! this already got out of hand again...#and once again I’m posting this on a Friday! i might just start calling it FanficFriday! which doesn’t mean you get something each week XD

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