fanfic; light up

[acperience]

Title: Light Up
Series: The Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Fire Emblem: Awakening
Game: havenrpg
Character(s): Noire, Zohra, Morgan.
Warnings: None.
Summary: NO YOU DON'T GET A SUMMARY.
Notes: Happy birthday, starswing! I'm sorry, I can't write Noire.



—

Light Up

—

Altogether, the party thrown for Noire's birthday (courtesy of Morgan, of course) goes well, with Noire enjoying herself up until the point where she sees Zohra attempting to sneak out the door.

"Zohra?" She asks, at which point he gives her a deer-in-headlights look—before he promptly flees.

"Z-Zohra!?"

She tries to go after him, but is quickly stopped by Morgan. Her friend drags her away while saying something about "Gifts!", even though Noire is pretty sure that everyone (minus Zohra, for some reason, but she assumes he must be busy with things) has already given her gifts—

She manages to slip out of the party as well, looking around for a bit until she locates Zohra in front of the apartment building.

Or, perhaps more accurately said, up the building wall.

With one hand holding onto a rope of light, he's moving about past the windows, appearing to scribble something into the air. Noire has absolutely no idea what he's doing, and so calls his name:

"... Zohra?"

"N-Noire!?" It's Zohra's turn to stammer over her name now, whirling around in mid-air and again giving her the sort of face that suggests he was just caught in the middle of a crime. "W-What are you doing here!? Morgan was supposed to be distracting you!?"

"... Wait, what? Distracting me from what?"

"Ugggh, never mind! Damn it, for a genius, she sure is bad at the one job I give her! Anyway, shoooooo!" Zohra waves his hand at her, as if trying to get a stubborn animal to leave.

"S-Shoo? A... Am I being a bother to you...?"

This time, Zohra makes a face like he just said something he really shouldn't have. "W-What!? No! I meant... I meant—ack!"

Somewhere in the middle of his flailing, Zohra began to actually flail, thus letting of his rope. Noire panicks for a moment, before running forward to catch him, even though that can't go well when he's up five floors—though her intentions are ultimately rendered moot, as he lands softly with the use of Kuen.

"A-Are you all right!?" She asks anyway, looking him over any injuries. He holds his arms up in front of him, nodding frantically.

"Fine, fine! Don't worry! Anyway, uh... just go back to the party! Don't you have gifts to open?"

"No, actually—"

"And food to eat—"

"Actually, Morgan ate most of it already—"

"People to talk to! You're the birthday girl!"

"The crowd was making me a little light-headed—"

"But don't you—"

"Cease your mindless chatter, foolish ant! I have given you my reasons; now give me yours or you will give it to my bow!"

Zohra cowers a little, as per usual, staring at Noire wide-eyed. They stare at each other like that for a while, Noire in all her typical (atypical?) fury, while Zohra looks as if he's contemplating fleeing.

And then:

"... Nope," Zohra says simply, before pointing a finger at her. "No way! Even if you do your... Noire thing! I'm not gonna tell you, so go back to the party!"

Noire is momentarily stunned at that, blinking as she fades out of her alternate mode.

"... I think that's the first time you've ever refused me like that when I'm like... that."

Zohra nods, grinning broadly. "'Cause I'm super serious right now, y'know? Hehe, you're not gonna get me to back down on this!"

Noire isn't quite sure what to say to this, but all she can tell is that this (swinging in front of the apartment building?) is apparently very important to him, and so—

"... All right. If you insist... I'll go back to the party."

"Completely serious! And you'd better, or else I'm calling Morgan so she can actually do her job!"

Zohra begins drawing a magic circle, which Noire takes as a sign for her to leave. Giving Zohra a parting look, she heads back into the building (and runs face-first into Morgan, running out of the apartment building).

—

Fifteen minutes later, Morgan drags Noire once again, but this time not to open non-existent gifts, but out of the building (they both may or may not have red noses). Noire can't spot Zohra immediately, and she wonder if he left—before she notices him on top of the building.

He waves at her, as she meekly waves back, not entirely sure what's going on here.

"Morgan, what...?"

"Just wait and see!" Morgan says, beaming. She waves at Zohra as well, albeit far more enthusiastically than Noire, at which point Zohra stops waving, and though Noire can't tell for sure, she's fairly certain he's now scowling.

"Are you mad because I couldn't keep Noire? Haha, sorry, I guess I was the one who got a little distracted instead!"

Zohra turns his head away, with Noire almost able to hear the 'humph'.

"Zohraaaa, don't be like that! We don't have much time left, remember?"

"Huh? Time for what?" Noire really has no idea what her friends are up to now, and she's pretty sure anything Morgan and Zohra are both in on can't be anything mild.

That said, this appears to snap Zohra out of his I'm-angry-at-Morgan mood, as he looks down at them again, before giving a thumbs up. Morgan grins at that, bouncing on the heels of her feet.

"All right! Commence Operation: Noire's Birthday Celebration!"

"My what? But wait, didn't we already—"

This apparently makes perfect sense to Zohra, though, who gives Morgan a mock salute. He appears to say something, though Noire isn't entirely positive—until the magic circles start glowing.

They cover most of the front of the apartment building, with gaps of a few feet in between them. In the dark of the night, their blue light shines brightly, with each and one of them of the same design. Glowing with an even stronger radiance, however, is the sphere of light in the center of each.

It takes Noire a moment, but once each magic circle lights up, she sees the (slightly squished and lopsided) message written out in the spheres of light quite clearly:

Happy birthday!