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

Trapped Innside

Mikleo wasn't going to put up with this. He stood up and walked over to the door, summoning his staff with a quick movement of his arm.

"Uh, Mikleo? What are you doing?"

"I'm going to break down the door." Mikleo said, voice level and calm.

"Mikleo, please don't. That'd inconvenience the innkeeper."

"Sorey, I'm invisible. I don't care."

"But I'm not!"

"That's your problem." Mikleo let a sly smirk slide onto his face, a cocky glimmer in his eyes like he'd won one of their competitions in days of old. He widened his stance and raised his staff. Soon enough, a light blue glow began to surround him, exuding a mystical aura.

"Waitwaitwaitwait," Sorey started to run towards him, waving his hands in front of himself. "You can't possibly be serious--"

"Come forth, blades of ice!"

Sorey felt a scream rise up in his throat as he rushed forward and stopped his best friend the only way he knew how.

He hugged him.

Both of his arms wrapped themselves snugly around Mikleo's torso, and Sorey pressed himself into his back, eyes squeezed shut.

As expected, Mikleo squeaked and his stance faltered. The casting circle underneath him flickered and vanished. "S-Sorey?! What are you doing?!" His voice came out high-pitched with embarrassment.

Sorey squeezed tighter. "Please don't break down the door. If we take the easy way out now then we won't be able to solve the puzzle!"

Mikleo relaxed as he slumped in his hold. "Seriously Sorey? There is no puzzle!" he groaned, but he withdrew his staff. A small victory.

"Nooo." Sorey nuzzled into the space between Mikleo's shoulder blades, causing the other to tense up in his arms again. "The others wouldn't trap us in like this. There's no point and you know it. Actually, now that I think about it--"

He separated himself from Mikleo, not noticing how the other put a hand to his chest and breathed out a sigh of relief. Sorey took a few steps back and raised his hand up in the air. "Fethmus Mioma!"

A warm glow washed over him as he donned the armatus, pure energy filling his entire being. The sacred blade appeared in a burning blaze in his outstretched hand, and he felt Lailah's spirit return to its place inside his soul. Adrenaline surged through him, but it quickly dissolved when he deactivated the armatization. Lailah appeared before him then, an apologetic look on her face.

And then she turned into a tiny blue ball of light and flew away.

What.

He and Mikleo looked at each other, confused. Nevertheless, Sorey reached up and tried once more.

"Hephsin Yulind!"

The same thing happened again.

"Filk Zadeya!"

And again.

"Huh?" Sorey looked at his hand, slowly opening and closing his fist where each of the armatus' weapons had been. "Is this supposed to be happening?" Was he somehow losing his capability as a Shepherd, if he couldn't even hold a conversation with his seraphim?

"Rose." Mikleo realized, pacing the length of the room. "She's calling them back after you call off the armatus."

"But why-- Oh." His words from before struck Sorey's mind. That the others wouldn't let them out. He crossed his arms, biting his lip in thought. Even the puzzle excuse didn't seem good enough to use anymore. They'd at least tell them if it was a puzzle, right?