Chapter Text
Ericht’s life had been interesting, to say the least. When she was a little girl, her entire world was basically ripped away from her, and it had only gotten worse and worse as her body continued to deteriorate in the harsh climate of space.
Once her little body was no longer fit, Mother had done something… terrible, but Ericht couldn’t find it within herself to be mad. Mom was grieving, she was desperate, and she refused to lose more of her family.
So, Ericht became Aerial, a giant, fifty-three-ton metal mobile suit, but more than that, Suletta came to be.
Suletta was always a bright young girl, often reminding Ericht of herself when she was little. As Aerial, Ericht, unfortunately, was not able to interact with Suletta like an older sister usually would, but it was the little things—the little moments—that allowed them to form as strong of a bond as they did.
Aerial was family, even if she was just metal and wires. Suletta always treated her as an equal, despite never knowing her true origins. Ericht always appreciated her for that.
Once Suletta did eventually know the truth, years and years later, Ericht expected her to get angry. She expected Suletta to be heartbroken that Mom and she had been lying for her entire life—but Suletta wasn’t. She never is.
Even when Miorine abandoned her, Suletta never held it against her, and neither did she hold it against Ericht or Mom when they eventually abandoned her, too.
Suletta is too good for this world. She is too sweet, too forgiving, too kind—she’s the strongest person Ericht knows.
But strong people do cry. Strong people aren't strong all the time. Ericht had been strong once… once upon a time, years and years ago when she was Aerial and not…
Not a keychain. Not simply a soul trapped in a space between mortal planes, her only window to the outside world being the small, black beady eyes of the Hots-san keychain she calls home.
Ericht likes to think she's still strong, but there's always something weighing on her, nagging at her, something akin to guilt and shame, but she isn't sure if that's what it is, exactly…
Perhaps she could ask the one person who knows those emotions inside and out.
“Miorine, come here.”
Miorine swivels in her desk chair to glare at the keychain currently hanging on a hook in the lovebird’s shared bedroom.
“I'm not taking you to the living room so you can bully Suletta while she tries to nap.”
Opening the school has been tiring for the girl, so much so that she often comes home just to pass out on the couch. Not to mention her physical therapy—which has been going well but is still tiring—takes a lot out of Suletta.
But she’s strong. Stronger than Ericht ever has been. But even someone as strong as Suletta Mercury needs some rest.
“That's not what I was going to ask,” Ericht finally responds. Miorine gives her a look, a knowing one, even if she doesn't know anything.
“Fine. What do you want?”
Ericht debates saying what she had originally planned to, but now that the time is here, now that it's an option, beating at the seams of her faux heart, she can't find the courage to say it out loud. “...I'm bored. Tell me a joke.”
“No.” Miorine swivels around and goes back to work. Ericht bites back a sigh.
“You're a horrible comedian,” she teases, enjoying the way Miorine's ears redden from anger. She's so easily riled up—how could Ericht not constantly tease her?
“You're a horrible sister-in-law, Ericht Samaya,” Miorine growls back. It's funny just how much animosity the woman has toward her, a keychain, but Ericht knows that deep down, it's all just an act.
“Ooh, full name. Scary,” she mocks, adding an aggravating giggle to the mix to really annoy the fire out of Miorine.
“You know, Ericht. I've been meaning to test out the new paper shredder I just got… would you like to be a test subject?” Miorine asks, voice dripping with saccharinely sweet sarcasm.
“You wouldn't.”
Miorine clicks her tongue. “Try me.”
Ericht can't help but allow herself to cackle. She enjoys the conversations she has with Miorine, even if they mostly bog down to light quips and eager threats. Still, she appreciates the woman for everything she’s done for her little sister.
It’s hard not to be a little jealous at times, though, when Ericht watches them love like no one else. She wonders what it would be like to be able to experience that for herself, to be able to wrap her own arms around her little sister and hug her close, to comfort her in a way she has never been able to.
In Aerial, all she could use was words. As a keychain, nothing has changed. And Ericht feels… disappointed by that.
It's a weird feeling. She thinks it could be similar to dread. As if the brain she has is finally coming to terms with the fact that she'll never be human.
And Ericht… hates that. Despite her lack of a body, she shudders.
“Miorine. I have another question.”
“Hm?” Miorine doesn't look up at her this time. What's the point, anyway? She's just a keychain, after all.
“What are hugs like?”
The silence that follows is… deafening. Ericht swallows back an excuse, another joke, a defense, afraid that maybe she's been a bit too vulnerable. She's supposed to be strong, after all.
“Have you… never been hugged?”
Miorine has this superpower. The ability to ask the right question while it's most definitely wrong.
“No… no, I have; it's just, uh, it was a long time ago.” Ericht clears her throat, even if there's nothing to clear. “That's not the point, though.”
Miorine sits in silence for another minute, torturously making Ericht wait.
Finally, she speaks. “Hm, it feels like… the warmth of the sun. Wrapping up in a weighted blanket on a cold winter night… It's like… I can't explain it—it’s just really nice.”
Ericht hates that response. She despises it. She can't remember what the sun feels like, what it's like to be wrapped in a warm blanket… she doesn't know any of that.
“Sounds lame.”
“Well, sorry,” Miorine scoffs. “You wouldn't understand.”
Ericht feels something cold and heavy drop into her stomach. Her voice cracks. “You're right… I don't. I don't have a fucking clue, Miorine.”
Miorine finally, finally turns to look at her, and Ericht swears that her eyes are shining. “I didn't mean—”
“Yeah, you did. But you're right, so there's no need to apologize.” With her heart beating in her throat, Ericht closes her eyes and goes quiet. She lets herself drift between worlds, lying back as if she didn't have a care at all, but all she can do right now is care.
She wants to know what it would feel like to hug someone—to hug Suletta.
Miorine says something, but Ericht can't hear it; she's too busy lost in her own self-loathing.
“ You'll feel it… someday.”
Miorine got a text from Suletta. She will be here in about ten minutes.
Miorine's in her office, clicking through files and sorting spreadsheets as she waits. Nika sits across from her, silent, contemplating—they’re both completely quiet.
That is until Suletta bursts through the door, red and sweaty from exertion, and she approaches the desk.
Miorine stands up and meets her half way for a gentle hug and a passionate kiss, and if they weren't currently in the presence of company, it likely would have continued. It’s a little embarrassing the number of times she has let Suletta take her on this very desk, but for once, her wife isn’t here to relieve some stress. She’s here for a more important reason.
“Good to see you, Miss Nika,” Suletta separates from her and greets the other woman in the room, who waves politely. Miorine takes a seat, and Suletta stays standing next to her, arms crossed in preparation for the conversation. “Is it ready?”
Nika and Miorine share a look and then nod. Suletta sighs. It had taken quite a few months, with lots of resources and time sunk into the project, but Miorine believes it has definitely been worth all the effort.
She really hadn't been sure how it would turn out, given that creating an entire body is a little more complex than just part of it. There was a lot that went into each individual segment, but even more into connecting them all together to create what was basically a vessel.
The only thing left to do now was personalize it, and who better to model Ericht's body than her younger sister?
Miorine knows that they're one-to-one, Suletta being an actual clone of the older woman. It makes it a lot easier on her, really, to be able to simply model the vessel after her wife's body in a sort of pseudo-reverse of how Suletta had been created.
It will definitely still be a challenge, though, but Miorine won't give up. Ericht deserves to have a chance of a real life, and it only makes sense that it would be her and Suletta who will give that opportunity to her.
More than that, perhaps Miorine is a bit selfish. It's hard to say, really, because even though she's doing this for Ericht, she—selfishly—wants to see Suletta happy.
Is it really selfish? Miorine doesn't know. Should it be considered selfish to do something for another’s happiness?
What a stupid question.
Miorine ignores it.
“Whenever you're ready, Suletta, we can begin,” Nika finally says. She has been a big help throughout this project, and it will be she who sets up the database that will allow the vessel to copy Suletta's look. Miorine thought it best not to have herself around her wife when she would be… well, naked.
Now, Miorine can hold herself back… she just doesn't want to. She knows herself well enough to know the second she gets a glimpse of that perfect ass or those soft, round tits, she'll pounce on Suletta, and nothing will get done.
So, for the sake of Eri—and Suletta, to a degree—Miorine will only monitor from a safe, non-pounceable distance as Nika takes the necessary measurements and puts them into the system.
After all, it’s not about her—it’s not even about Suletta—all of this… all of this work—months and months of progress…
It’s for Eri… it’s for Ericht to finally get to hug her little sister.
Ericht stays hooked on the belt loop of Suletta's jeans, walking with her sister through fields of wildflowers, enjoying the sunlight any way she can.
It's bright; she wonders if it's hot, but, of course, Ericht doesn't know. The only tell she has is the light amount of sweat accumulating on her sister's brow.
“What's all this about, Suletta?” Ericht asks. Suletta had said something about meeting up with Miorine for a surprise, but all they've done so far is stroll through the fields of Earth. Don't get her wrong, Ericht enjoys it, but she can't help her curiosity.
“It'll just be a few more minutes, Eri,” Suletta checks her phone. “They're on their way.” That’s all Suletta says before she’s back to frolicking, and before Ericht is back to wishing she could run through the fields with her.
It’s a depressing thought, one Ericht can’t shake. She tries distracting herself with Suletta’s eager and loving smile when a van pulls around the corner and stops just before the tall rows of flourishing flowers.
“Here they are!” Suletta runs over, Ericht having no choice but to follow, and she watches as the van opens and Miorine steps out. She’s in her usual CEO getup—a nice suit jacket and slacks, along with dress shoes, but there’s something else with her.
Ericht’s eyes widen.
“Suletta, who is that?”
Ericht feels her heart pulse, staring into ocean blue eyes and at fluffy eyebrows. The person has short hair, red and curly like Suletta’s, and they’re tanned and built similarly.
“It’s your new body, Eri!”
And, despite herself, despite her biology, Ericht stares; she stares and stares at herself—a spitting image—and she cries .
“Welcome home, sister.”
The first thing Ericht notices is that the smell of pollen irritates her. She once imagined it to be nice and comforting, the smell of flowers, but each time she bends over in her new body to take a whiff, she finds herself sneezing a storm until it finally subsides.
The other thing is how warm the sun feels. Ericht doesn’t remember what it was like when she was young, only that it does produce heat. It’s definitely a lot more than she expected.
“How does it feel?”
But despite it—despite all that—Ericht keeps smelling the flowers and keeps basking in the sunlight because fuck , it’s all she's ever wanted.
“Amazing.”
Ericht’s body moves seamlessly, her consciousness having transferred over without any problems. She holds her hand out in front of her and flexes her fingers, marveling at just how smoothly the digits do exactly as she commands.
“It feels so… real.”
Miorine comes up behind her and places a hand on her shoulder. “How about balance? Everything feels how it should?”
How it should ? Ericht holds back a laugh. She has no idea if it feels how it should, but she hopes it does because it feels so, so good .
A tear, a real one—made of water and salt—falls from her eye. “I love it.”
“I’m glad,” Miorine sighs, as if a ton of bricks have just been lifted from her shoulders. “It took a lot of work, but I think it was worth it. What do you think, Suletta?”
Ericht stills, seemingly only just now remembering that her sister is still here. She turns her head to see her and takes in the woman who looks exactly like her but different in her own way. The person she used to share a face with but now has one of her own.
“Suletta,” Ericht breathes, and it’s so full of emotion that she’s uncertain how it was even able to pass her trembling throat. Something warm bubbles in her chest, something Ericht can’t place because she’s never felt it before, but it feels nice; it feels safe, so she lets it out.
And Ericht runs. Her legs move without problem, taking her new body away and toward her younger sister. She doesn’t slow down, even when Suletta is right there. No, she speeds up.
“Suletta!” Ericht laughs. She laughs and laughs until her lungs tremble. She runs right into Suletta, taking the girl down to the grass and wrapping her arms around her younger sister’s torso, and laughter turns to choked, horrid sobs as she finally feels what it’s like to hug.
To be wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold, winter night, to be caressed by the sun, to know, to understand that this is what she’s been craving for so long.
Ericht nuzzles her head into Suletta’s chin, and she cries. She can’t stop the floodgates. Not even a god could, she thinks. It’s even better when Suletta’s arms, warm and strong, come around her shoulders and embrace her tightly, and all at once, Ericht feels like she’s made it.
Everything in her life. Everything she has been through. Each time she sat alone in that damn hangar, in that damn mobile suit, yearning to be a child again. All of it was to feel this moment. To feel this as she squeezes Suletta so tightly, she’s almost afraid her younger sister will break.
“Eri…” Suletta pats her back—a slow, consistent motion—and Ericht feels it. She feels how Suletta’s fingers rub against her skin, feels how her chest rises and falls under her, she feels the soft, warm breaths in her ear.
Ericht finally gets off of her, jumps to her feet, and pulls Suletta up, using the momentum to bring her into another crushing hug. Suletta doesn’t fight her—she lets it happen, gently holding onto the small of Ericht’s back as they stand in the field of flowers and embrace.
It's only when Miorine finally approaches that she lets go, and to everyone's surprise, especially Ericht's, she turns right around and hugs Miorine, too.
“You're the best sister-in-law ever, Mio-Mio!”
“Hah? What did you just call me?” Miorine tries to push her off, scratching and grasping at Ericht's arms which refuse to budge. Ericht starts kissing her forehead, her cheek, her nose, and now Miorine's punching her and Suletta's doubled over laughing.
Ericht lets her go after another kiss to her temple, and the woman looks like a frazzled cat. Ericht doesn't focus on it for long, instead, her attention is back on Suletta, and she weaves their fingers together and pulls.
And she runs.
Suletta makes a yelping sound, but Ericht is already in a full-blown sprint. The flowers part as she runs through them, making way for her bare feet and her body, bending to her weight like she's never felt before.
Suletta eventually catches up—she’s practically completely healed—and the sisters frolic through the fields, hand in hand, enjoying the sun on their backs and the grass between her toes.
Ericht knows the feeling now. It's joy. For the first time in years, she's feeling real, true, unadulterated joy .
Miorine storms out of the bathroom, her face as red as Suletta's hair, and her hands dripping with the exact same color.
“Who the HELL put ketchup in the soap dispenser?!”
Ericht, who has been playing Jenga with Suletta—and losing—makes her sister knock over the tower, jumps up, and runs out of the house, a very angry Miorine hot on her heels.