An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: Teen
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Fandom: Tales of Arise
Relationship: Alphen/Shionne Imeris
Language: English
Words: 2073
Summary: "Oh no, he's hot." Shionne dealing with her attraction to Alphen after seeing (half of) his face for the first time. Post-Balseph, pre-Rinwell, but with hints at bits of lore not explained until much later in the game so beware of spoilers.
Notes: I was inspired by @kaysper 's post a few days back about Shionne's reaction when she first sees Alphen's face, and made a little fic about her dealing with that.
Preview:
Oh no, Shionne thought to herself as she crouched beside Iron Mask and began healing him. The Gates of Fire sizzled in the distance, and an odd, sharply pungent odor in the air from melting rocks was stinging her nose. Balseph was dead, consumed by astral energy which was then used to tear down one of the symbols of his oppression. She wasn’t worried about being attacked now, just making sure that Alphen survived that massive flow of energy. How had he managed to channel so much astral energy, anyway? A Dahnan, with no astral artes to speak of?
That didn’t matter right then. What did matter was keeping him alive, and not losing herself in the determined gray gaze that had been exposed, at least partially, when Balseph had broken that mask. When had that happened? She hadn’t noticed until just now, and her thoughts were a mess because she just kept thinking, Oh no. He’s hot. She already liked his voice, his muscled body, and now to find such a handsome face had been hiding under that full helmet?
He stood up, ignoring her concern, ignoring his injuries and the fact that he was burning from the inside due to all that fire coursing through him. He looked out over the trench he had created by sending all of that energy outward in a singular, powerful blaze, and shouted the name he had recalled.
Alphen.
Then, he collapsed.
She cried out, called his name, the one he just remembered, the one she had just learned.
Alphen.
Her eyes lit up as she sent powerful healing through him, desperate to keep him alive. She needed him if she was to complete her goals. She couldn’t let him die here and now, not when the way forward finally seemed to clear to her. So she healed him, channeling every bit of energy she had into him, only barely keeping him alive.
It wasn’t until much later, back in Ulzebeck with the help of Zephyr and the other Crimson Crows, that she thought to herself that it had been in bad taste to think of his attractiveness as hot at a time when he had nearly turned his organs into charcoal.
