Aranea, Biggs and Wedge reunion

NOT THE PROMPTO WEEK ONE I originally tagged it as such, sorry!

I love that Aranea isn’t really a touchy feely person, but I honestly feel like there’s more to the story of her and Biggs and Wedge. She states they’re not friends, but she trusts them in the game, and so I kind of built on that. 

It had been weeks since she’d seen them.

She sat alone in her chambers, arms crossed as she reclined against the back of the chair and stared at the ceiling. Her face was as bland as she felt. That day, she’d encountered the prince’s trio of guards coming back from Gralea. Sans prince and her friends.

They’d explained what’d happened, and that
they’d lost track of Biggs and Wedge. They’d been surprised the pair weren’t
back at her side already, considering it’d been almost two months of darkness
now.

She’d taken the news well enough, but then made an excuse to
leave their company. She had to prepare for more search and rescue flights, needed
her rest, something like that. She didn’t know what she told them, but she hoped it was something
close to the truth. The last thing she needed was for them to think she was upset. Her trio all denied being friends, because that could be used against them. So, let Gladiolus, Ignis, and Blondie believe that she wasn’t worried about them. That her mind was focused on
the task at hand. If they believed it then so could she.

She breathed slowly in and out, centering herself. Then she
stood, sweeping out of the room with her determination back in place. There was
work to be done. And unless she saw their bodies with her own eyes, she’d hold
onto the thought that they might still be out there, making their way back.

“We’d know,” she muttered to herself as she walked back to
her ship, “We’d know.

Words that had been said by the pair a long time ago. They’d
been young then, 15 at most, and Aranea had just been setting out for her training to
become a Dragoon. Most didn’t survive it. And since she was an orphan like them,
and Biggs and Wedge were legally nothing to her, there’d be no notification of
her death.

They all bumped their wrists against one another as a
goodbye, none of them enjoying long emotional good byes.

“We’d know.” Biggs had said, offering a lopsided smile. “If
you passed on I mean. We’d know.”

“Been through too much for us not to, I think.” Wedge added,
throwing an arm around both their shoulders as they walked her to the train
doors.

She’d only laughed and thrown them a two-fingered salute out
the window as the train had pulled away.

Here in the present, she could only hope that she’d share
that sense with her friends. They’d both been so sure that they were close
enough to know when one of the others had gone out of the world. Growing up
together, they’d always been the more optimistic out of the trio. Trust this.
Hold onto hope of that. She’d never trusted easy, but she sorely wished she
could trust that they were right. That she, like them, would know if they died.

Nothing felt out of place so far, so she kept her eyes on
the horizon for the moment she might see them.

~

More weeks past, and she was still alone.

Aranea stood at the back of the open hatch of her airship,
staring out over the darkened land below. Her eyes were combing over the rock
for survivors. But all she could see were the daemons. Her hand moved up to the
com unit pinned to the lapel of her jacket and pressed the button to speak.

“No sign of anyone, move to the next section,” she said.

The pilot didn’t response, choosing instead to engage the
ships engines and gunning it to the next plot of land they’d be combing
through. Survivors were being found less and less these days. Soon, she knew,
they’d stop sending out search and rescue missions. No point in wasting the fuel
if no one was left.

With her arm looped through a strap to keep her from
falling, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the air rushing by her. There was no
wind in this darkened world. Not even a breeze. The world was stagnant. As if
trapped in time the moment the sun stopped shining. The artificial wind the
airship created was a comfort in such a time. But she couldn’t dwell.

“Go ahead and shut it,” she called through her com.

She opened her eyes and the moment passed. She watched the
back of her ship close, and the air movement disappeared. Another section to
put behind her.

Another one without them.

~

Another week passed, and she sat in her room again, working
on plans for a mass evacuation of Lestallum in case the lights went out there
as well. Honestly, she had to refrain from writing that an evacuation was
pointless, because if Lestallum fell then life itself would end. Airships couldn’t
fly forever. It was a depressing thought and the lack of sleep didn’t help her mood.

But then there was a feeling on the back of her neck, making
her look up from her desk. The feeling left a frown on her face, and got her to
stand. She rubbed the spot as she walked out of the room and down the hall to
the outside. She dropped her arm back to her side once she stepped out the
doors, and surveyed what was going on. A truck of survivors had just arrived at
the encampment near the end of Lestallum.

Her gut was telling her to look for something, but she didn’t
know what.

So, she did. She went from survivor to survivor, some all
the way from Gralea, others picked up along the way, listening to them. There
was a certain peace of mind hearing them.

She knew.

She stood up from where she had been crouched down,
listening to a young girl. Her eyes felt drawn to the back of the truck, and
peace filled her for the first time in months.

Biggs and Wedge were helping a few others out of the back, working
together as if they’d never left. She crossed the distance between them all
easily, and crossed her arms.

“Took you long enough,” she said simply. But they could see
in her eyes the warmth she regarded them with.

“Sorry boss. We had a bit of a set-back.” Biggs said, giving
her a two-fingered salute and another lopsided smile.

Wedge finished helping another child down from the back, the
last person, and then walked over to join them. “We’ll tell you about it over a
drink, yeah?”

With her back to everyone but them, she smiled softly. “That
sounds good.”

As the two passed by her, she raised her arm. Both bumped
their arms against hers, and continued by as if nothing had happened. With a
relieved sigh and another moment to ground herself, she then turned around and followed
them.