Chapter Text
Fig learns early in her life that she has a spark in her chest. It grows when she gets to Augefort and becomes a flame when she meets her best friends. Sometimes, it gets scarily big. This mostly happens when she's on tour with Gorgug and the applause and the pressure is getting to her a bit too much. It becomes a wildfire, ravening the inside of her body until even her infernal legacy can’t fend it off.
When she meets Ayda, the flame roars, but it becomes a bonfire, warming instead of destroying. The warmth grows to a peak when she kisses Ayda, spreading from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and it doesn't die down for a long time after that.
Any time it starts to flicker, Ayda shoots a glance her way, or stumbles through some declaration of love, or describes an arcane ritual and the flame roars up once again.
Then she has to go back on tour.
Despite her and Ayda's best efforts, there is just no way to get a library onto a tour bus. They tried, several times but eventually they realized that the arcane energy that Ayda would be required to put out each day would simply be far too draining, and realized that almost everyday Ayda could teleport across any number of planes.
So, with tears in their eyes, they said goodbye, with the shadow of Mordred Manor looming over them almost like an omen. It feels wrong as Fig steps on the bus. Something inside of her
Despite the uneasy feeling in her gut, Fig sucked it up, and waved goodbye to her parents and Ayda through the decaled window. The bus picked up speed, going over the Thristlething spree tree where Gorgug and zelda were waiting, hand in hand.
For a second, Fig felt her stomach drop to the floor. IF Ayda wasn’t going to be there, there was no way she could handle having Zelda and Gorgug ridiculously happy in the bunk above her. So, shes ashamed to say, when Zelda drops Gorgug's hand to plant a kiss on his cheek, and then step back to wave goodbye with his parents, the wave of relief that courses through her feels amazing. The bus takes off towards Bastion City, the first stop on the Reborn tour. A few days pass without incident. Ayda is able to teleport the first three days, but on the final night, during dinner at a rooftop bar, Ayda drops a small bomb into Figs gullet. “I will not be able to teleport for the next week.”
“What? Why not”
“Well,” Ayda explained, “the spell slot is on the higher ones I have available and there is a small issue on leviathan that will require some more spell slots”
A look of pure terror crosses over Figs face, but before she can voice her concerns, Ayda cuts her off. “It’ll be okay, I promise. Well, I shouldn’t promise that. It’s possible something terrible will happen, but highly unlikely. It’s just an issue with some pirates trying to destroy the compass points, and when I killed them, it turned out that they were the part of a very powerful pirates team. So ijust need to go defend the library and make sure no one will bother it in the times when I am gone. But nothing to worry about! Garthy will be helping, and I'm sure we can handle it.”
Fig nods, swallowing the lump in her throat and says, “yeah, of course! You're super badass, I’m sure you’ve got this!”
And so, with the fuel to her fire staring away for a week, Fig focuses on her music and fans. However, the feeling she gets on stage is just no longer the same. The fire that is fueled by the obsession of her fans is so different that the one that Ayda lovingly tends to. It starts to feel like something that will eat her up inside, instead of something that keeps her warm and happy.
However, determined to not become codependent, Fig pushes down the feeling, going on stage with as much joy in her voice as she can gather, and for the first time in a while, she sings about the love of her life without knowing that Ayda will be there soon. It hurts, deeply, but Fig doesn’t quite know why. There’s been times without Ayda before, back in the forest of the nightmare king- the thought hollows out Fig. Ayda had said she’d be fine to go into the forest, but she wasn’t! She wasn’t at all. She got captured, and she got hurt and she needed someone to come save her. What if it happened again. Ayda is an incredible person, but everyone needs help. What if Garthy’s help wasn’t enough. What if Ayda was alone, and hurting, and no one could help her. Fig didn’t know how to teleport, it would take her days to get to Leviathan. What if by the time she got there, Ayda was already hurt? What if she had been killed and the Ayda that came back was a baby who had no idea who she was? What would she do?
As the panic heated to a boil inside of Fig, the stage manager called out, saying that it was time for Fig to get ready to go on stage.
Ayda was fine. Right?
The stage manager repeated her name again, louder and sounding annoyed. “Fig!”
Ayda was fine?
The panic inside of Fig seized her insides, and she slammed the door to her dressing room closed, calling out that she would be there in “just a minute!”
With the panic guiding her actions, without really thinking about it, she whipped out one of the phoenix feathers that Ayda had given her, and cried out “Ayda Auegrfort!”
There was a beat of nothing. Silence surrounded her, and all she could hear was her own heart beating.
The silence continued, and Fig felt her breath catch in her throat. Oh gods, Ayda was hurt or had died or something very very bad had happened. There was nothing the Fig could do, and a sob escaped her throat.
The room was so loud, her cries echoing off the walls, knocking at the door, a voice (was that Gorgug? She wasn’t sure), a stage manager freaking out outside her door, the distant noises of a crowd cheering were leaking into the room.
And then there was a familiar whoosh, and through her tears she saw a glowing orange light almost blind her and the subtle, but comforting smell of fire filling the room.
“Figeroth? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
The panic in her throat died down, but her tears continued, and she couldn’t bring herself to speak, trying her best to nod instead.
Through blurred eyes, she saw Ayda look around the room, and when she saw no threat, she cautiously walked over to the door, pulling it open. When she saw Gorgug, she quickly waved the stage manager away and had a hushed conversation that Fig could only catch snippets of.
“...She okay?...Happened, she was fine and then...should cancel the show...yeah, of course...okay.”
A few minutes passed, and then Gorgug walked away, and Ayda gently closed the door and walked back over to Fig, stopping a few feet away, and squatted down so they were on the same level.
“Are you alright Fig?” Ayda asked, her eyes so full of concern and her tone so soft.
Fig nodded, bangs falling in her eyes.
“It just…” Fig trailed over, fidgeting in her seat. “In the Nightmare Forest, the version of me that I pretend I am on stage was the one who imprisoned me, and I have to keep pretending to be her. And it’s scary, because what if i forget that i hate that part of myself, and instead I just become a version of me that I know I don’t like, and I know you don’t like, and I don’t realize it. And what if-”
Ayda placed her hand over Figs, which had begun to bounce up and down in anxiety and cut her off.
“Fig. First off, there is no part of you, and no person you could become that I would not love with my whole heart. I love you, which, according to several books in the Friendship section, and my own personal experiences, means that I love all of you. And secondly, if it scares you, you don't have to do it. If being a musician isn’t right for you right now, that’s okay. But if it really brings you joy, then we can work together and figure out a way for you to perform without hurting yourself.
Fig looked across at Ayda with tears in her eyes. “Really?”
“I would do anything for you Fig, you know this!”
“Yeah,” Fig nodded, “I guess I do.”
There were only three stops left on the tour, and everyone agreed it would be best to cancel them, including the show that night . Emails with apologies and vouchers were sent out, and Fig returned home a few weeks early.
It was a relief, in a way that she hadn’t expected. She really did enjoy music, and performing, but it just got to be too much. Maybe a break would be good.
Thinking back, in the peace of her own room after Ayda teleported them back, Fig realizes that she did jump pretty quickly into the Archdevil tour after everything that happened over . Her hopes of an album about ‘a phoenix who made everyone she touched better’ wasn’t exactly what the label was looking for. After the version of her in the Nightmare Forest, the literal depiction of all of her worst fears, kidnapped her, it was somewhat understandable that she was wary about going back on stage. But she loved music. Right?
As Fig began to fall asleep, she remembered something.
She did love music. She loved it when she had performed for her family when she was little. She loved it when she and Gorgug were having a jam session in the garage. She loved writing, and although it was relatively new, she loved singing to Ayda more than anything else in the world.
With a small smile on her face, Fig found herself in a peaceful sleep for the first time in a while.
The next morning came, and unsurprisingly, there was a lot to deal with. But first things first, they had to figure out if Fig would even keep performing.
Sandralynn, Gilear, Jawbone, Ayda and Fig all sat around the smaller breakfast table in the room off the kitchen, with some coffee and breakfast, and they talked.
Fig, for the first time in a while, talked about exactly what had happened in the Nightmare forest. How she still became that version of herself when she went on stage, and she didn’t want to do that anymore.
In the softest tone she had spoken in all morning, Fig said. “Sometimes I really think that I only want to sing to Ayda.”
A small smile creeped across the adults face, but Ayda simply turned to her. “What if you did? What if I was there, at every show, and you just sang to me?”
Fig smiled, and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I can do that. And I’m the archdevil of rebellion, I can write the songs I want to, and they're not gonna stop me!”
There were more details (including some long-overdue therapy appointments) to be hashed out, but for the moment, with her family with her, and a plan, Fig felt calm. Who gave a crap if she wasn’t who they wanted her to be on stage. She’d be her, and she knew that even if none else liked it, Ayda would. And that was more than enough.