Drops of Dew in Our Glass (Tales of Zestiria fanfiction)

Bubble Kisses

"Wow, Punleo. Never knew you had it in you." He heard Edna and Dezel snort in his head, and could feel Lailah just positively beaming at him. This was a terrible situation to be in.

"ANYWAY!" He said a little too loudly, causing Sorey and Rose to jump. "Like I said earlier, let's continue onward. The eyes are on both sides of the next corridor I assume?" The two humans nodded, and Mikleo pointed at the door, "Then let's go."

Sorey, Rose, and Mikleo made their way to the door, which opened up automatically as soon as they neared it. It revealed what Mikleo had predicted: numerous blue eyes that seemed to be painted onto the walls, with no visible break in between. Sorey and Rose went ahead of Mikleo to crouch at both sides of the doorway, trying to gain a better view of the eyes lining both sides of the corridor.

"I swear, if we get teleported back to the main entrance one more time... I am going to hold that Guardian Seraph at knifepoint and demand that he just fork over the spiritual powers to Sorey already." Rose grumbled a few words that were so-- so colorful , they made Mikleo's cheeks flare up in red. Though, if they did get caught and teleported back again, this would be... what, only the 24th time in the past hour?

Sorey let out a nervous chuckle, "Well, I guess we'll just have to keep trying."

"Keep trying, my ass." Rose muttered under her breath, which Sorey thankfully didn't hear. Mikleo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Hopefully they wouldn't mess it up this time, he wasn't sure how much more of Rose's complaining he could take. Though he couldn't say that he wasn't starting to get a bit fed up with the whole trial himself.

But for now, he just had to concentrate.

He walked towards the open doorway, until he was no less than a pace away from crossing over the threshold. Clutching his staff in front of him, he began to chant, letting himself be guided by the ancient tongue to focus his power into the Heavenly Arte.

Rose stood up from her position by the doorway to stand behind Mikleo, Sorey choosing to stand in front of him instead; both getting ready to walk into the corridor. The hall seemed like it would be nearly impossible to get through, but they had yet to find out.

Mikleo could feel the power surging and welling up inside of him, until it reached a breaking point. His eyes flew open, his gaze coming to an abrupt halt on the Shepherd standing before him, "Now, Sorey!"

Sorey threw his arm to the right as he started ahead, and the Spectral Cloak was cast. Mikleo and Rose followed suit, though Mikleo was quicker in reaching the barrier of the Heavenly Arte by Sorey's side.

"Sorey, wait a minute," Mikleo started. Sorey was walking far too fast for Rose to catch up. At this rate, she'd be left behind to the mercy of the eyes. "I need to expand the Cloak to Rose as well--" Sorey crossed over the threshold and into the corridor, right into the path of the eyes. "Sorey,slow down...!" Mikleo hissed as he gripped his staff, urging it to hurry up and expand already.

In his concentration, he failed to realize that Sorey had suddenly stopped walking when he abruptly bumped into him. "Oof!" Mikleo rubbed his nose in frustration, "Sorey, what are you doing--" He began to ask, eyes burning with indignation only to be met with the goofiest grin on Sorey's face as he leaned in, and oh, those were his lips-- "--mmph!"

In one swift motion, he found his lips gently captured by Sorey's. Amethyst eyes widened to look up to find Sorey's closed, a feeling of heat starting to blossom onto his cheeks and turning his face a splendid vermillion. The hand clutching his staff went slack, and it clattered to the floor.

Sorey leaned in, soft and warm, hair tickling the edges of Mikleo's cheeks. He felt his eyes start to flutter and then close, a hand reaching to cup the back of his head and pull him in closer, so much closer ---