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It’s not that Alisaie enjoyed picking locks or breaking into people’s rooms as they slept, truly. It just was a way to put her racing mind to rest, she assured herself, tucking the pins that made up her lockpick set back into her pocket. Since their last battle, Alisaie’s mind had been plagued with concern for Mint’a, each fight the man taking on showed a heavier and heavier toll on his body. Tonight in particular, she had woke in a fit at images of Mint’a twisted in pain, light seeping from every orifice as he transformed into another pitiful, unrecognizable monster.
Alsaie’s hands slid along the wood of the door, shutting it softly behind her. The Warrior didn’t stir from his slumber, his penchant for warmth keeping him huddled under a mountain of blankets to fight the Crystarium’s chill. She approached as soft as could be, grateful now for the quiet her smallclothes lended her. Reaching the bed, she pulled back a layer of blanket ever so slowly to peer at Mint’a’s face. To her relief, no light leaked from his eyes or lips, both shuttered in sleep. A sigh escaped her lips, brushing strands of hair and causing the Miqo’te to stir. Mismatched eyes blinked open as Alisaie leapt back, her espionage found out. Mint’a blinked sleep from his eyes, sitting up among the nest of blankets he made a home in, the everlasting Sun of the First no longer burning his eyes at first light. Bleary from sleep, Mint’a took a second to recognize the stranger in his room.
“Leveilleur…Alisaie…” he murmured, “Is something the matter? Sin eaters?” Mint’a’s ears swiveled to attention from their resting position, the surrounding hair and fur ruffled from sleep. The look of horror that grew on Alisaie’s face surely didn’t calm Mint’a’s panic. Sleeping shirtless, Alisaie now had a full view of the great hero - including the glowing veins that ran under his skin, pure light snaking from his hands, up his arms, across his chest and up his neck, stopping at his chin so none lay visible on his face. It was as Y’shtola said - consuming the Lightwardens put a toll on him below the surface, even if it didn’t seem as such.
“Alisaie?” Mint’a’s voice called again softly, his features relaxing as her gaze focused back on his face, drawing away from his chest where his glowing heart beat rhythmically from under his skin.
“No, it’s nothing. I’m sorry for interrupting your sleep. I was merely too anxious for rest myself. Now, I’ll just excuse myse-” Alisaie felt herself flush in multitudes of embarrassment - of sneaking into another’s chambers, of witnessing the Warrior of Light in such an intimate state, and, from the smile on his face, learning something about him he appeared to be blind to.
“Company, for your sleeplessness?” He grinned, bearing non-threatening fangs, opening his blanketed arms in a hugging gesture, “You’ve come all this way, after all.”
Alisaie hesitated, ringing her hands. Mint’a was known for his intimate nature with all the Scions - Alisaie recalling having often seen him holding hands with Alphinaud and hanging on Urianger’s shoulders - to both of their displeasures. Surely a hug for her wasn’t yet crossing any lines for him.
Alisaie made her way to the bed, slowly climbing onto the mattress and into the blanket fort created by Mint’a’s posture. Doing something like this under the light of the Sun still felt somewhat wrong, despite Alisaie’s heart knowing it was the dead of night. His arms enclosed around her, sandwiching her between wool blankets and his broad chest. Both skin and fluff were warm, and Alisaie watched as the light in his veins on his wrist thrummed, timed to each heartbeat pressed against her back. Slowly, it faded, and Alisaie learned why the Miqo’te himself was unaware of the light poison circulating in his blood. In his drowsiness, once again, Mint’a seemed to have not noticed the light shining in his veins. Alisaie was not about to tell the man after he so gratefully indulged her, biting her tongue as a gentle purr grew in the man’s chest. It tickled softly against her back and head, Mint’a letting his chin rest atop her head and mussed hair. Feeling her shoulders relax into him, Alisaie finally managed to speak.
“I had a dream.”
“Oh? What was it about?”
“You.”
“Only good things, I hope.”
“You were sick. Light - it was everywhere,” she felt her voice tremble, “It poured from your eyes like tears, and I couldn’t do anything when you became a monster.”
“So you came to check on me?”
“Mn…”
“Thank you,” Mint’a said, voice calm and soft, but Alisaie felt a gulp and shuttered breath ripple through the man from their connected back and chest.
“I’m no more monster today than I was yesterday, I assure you.” He let out a breath so soft, Alisaie mistook it for a laugh. His veins no longer shone, but the sight was burned into her bran, his unusually long nails digging into the flesh of her arms. She had to cure him. To rid the poisonous light from him, no matter the cost.
Interrupting her thoughts, Mint’a tumbled flat onto the bed, his arms locked around her dragging her down with him. He let out an exhale large enough to make her believe he hadn’t been breathing at all during their conversation.
“I’ve grown tired. Let’s sleep until the day breaks.”
“Wha- Let me return to my chambers if you are to sleep, then --!” Alisaie grasped at his forearms, the strength of primal-slaying arms holding her hostage, “Also, day is always broken here!”
His chest rumbled again with laughter.
“But it is so cold out, Alisaie. I miss the warmth of another, so stay close.”
She froze at his words, imagining another in her place as he continued, “My sister, when we were kittens, we would sleep in a pile just like this. She was much warmer than I, just as you are.” Slowly, she rolled over to face him. Mint’a’s eyes squinted in a grin at her, one tear glimmering with light caught on the bridge of his nose as he looked at her. That, at least, Alisaie knew was not a gaze nor tear for her. Though fear licked at the edges of her heart, tear rolling off his face to meld with his blankets, Alisaie could find no more words until slept crept up on her.
Just as Mint’a had said, the pair didn’t wake until daybreak, neverending light streaming through the window and stirring their internal clocks to wake them. Mint’a slowly pulled himself free of a sleepy Alisaie, sitting up and glancing between his hands and the sleeping girl under him. Light ran bright in his veins, pumping all the way to his heart, each beat visible through his skin as the light threatened to escape. He could only wonder if this was the same fear his sister had held all those years ago, as she too became something unrecognizable in front of him. The last thing he wished to do was inflict that same suffering on another, particularly the one sleeping beside him so peacefully.