Work Text:
Ionia is beautiful this time of year.
Milio was never calm enough to really admire it, but sometimes, on good days, he’d sit back and just relax. It was one of the unspoken perks that came with being a spirit, a kanmei in a world that constantly shifted and morphed to better adapt to the changing tides around it. The spirit world was no exception. Milio found that if you looked really closely, you could see how the moon and stars danced in a pink and purple sky, illuminated by a crystalized sun that never seemed to set. And then sometimes it didn’t look like a crystal at all! Sometimes the sky was just suns. Or it was just moons. And sometimes it looked like you were completely underwater!
He laughs at nothing in particular, leaning back against the soft grass of the land.
His fuemigos bumble over him, rolling in the pastel coloured grass. A few of them press against his arms while one is a bit more bold— it sits right on his chest, trilling happily.
“Hey, little guys!” the spirit says brightly, patting the smaller souls with his hand. They’re cool to touch but they purr like little cats, effortlessly happy with the young kanmei’s care. They roll around leisurely, and Milio sits up, sweeping them all up into his arms. “Take a look at that!” He says, looking up at the sky, and his fuemigos turn to look to. The pink moon makes the lands look like candy, the blades of glass glimmering endlessly as the sun sinks behind the tall hills of Ionia. “The sky is so pretty today,” Milio tells them. “I’m really happy we get to watch it together!”
His smile falls a bit, and when he glances down he finds one of his fuemigos, an older soul with a sleepy expression, looking up at him already.
Milio sighs heavily, standing with his little friends in his arms.
“But this is goodbye for one of us,” he continues, allowing all the fuemigos to float back down to the grass save for one. He holds up the sleepy soul, shaking him around fondly as he grins. “Gomoso! You’ve been with me for so long! But something tells me that you don’t travel with us anymore, will you?” He asks, and when Gomoso trills sadly, it’s all he needs to know.
“C’mon guys!” Milio cheers, trying to pick up their spirits as he puts on his backpack, waiting for his fuemigos to hop aboard. Once they’re all safe and secure, Milio skips across the candy-coloured field, his footsteps leaving illuminated footprints in the soil. Soon, he is skipping into the air itself, creating a staircase into the sky as the world goes from pink to purple, Gomoso making happy little sounds as Milio beams at the starry expanse.
He tries to ignore the way the soul in his arms begins to glow, brighter and brighter with each step he takes. It gets harder and harder to do so, however, and Milio fails to look away as Gomoso begins to disappear, a happy, happy smile on the sleepy fuemigo’s face.
“Goodbye, my friend! I hope your ride with me was as fun as I thought it was!”
Gomoso smiles at him as if to say ‘it was’ before vanishing in a flurry of light.
Milio stares at his empty arms for a moment, the thrill of the chase bringing him down to the ground on its own accord. When his feet touch the soil, his other fuemigos roll out of his backpack, spinning around and pressing against his ankles.
“Hi, Biscuit. Hi, Sock,” he says, his smile not quite as bright as it normally is. The young kanmei starts to walk, the little souls hopping alongside him. He sighs at their unspoken question, his shoulders falling. “I guess I’m just a bit bummed out. Gomoso has been with us for so long! Longer than you guys! It just doesn't feel right having only the two of you.” He huffs, pouting. “Maybe it’s my fault for getting so attached. Making friends is important, but at the end of the day, I am just helping you all along. One day, you two will reach your final destination too.”
He stops walking after he says this, the realization causing a frown to form on his face.
And then he is picking up Biscuit and Sock, squeezing them tightly in a hug that would’ve seriously injured someone who wasn’t as light and squishy as they were.
“But let’s not think about that for now, okay?” He says firmly, determined, and the fuemigos purr happily. “I don’t think I like that idea.”
There is nothing particularly different or strange to the route the trio walks, Milio holding his fuemigos as they try and fail to escape his grasp. The moonlight spills from behind the clouds, the sun having disappeared behind the horizon. The sky is littered with multicoloured stars— pinks, oranges, yellows— he hopes Gomoso is happy up there, in the spirit realm with the rest of their friends. The boy pouts, frowning as he hugs Sock a little tighter.
The grass shines with his every step, the ground illuminated with glitter. Biscuit squeezes out of his grasp, bouncing around in front of him and, soon, Sock is slipping away from him too to join their fuemigo friend. The sight makes him laugh, watching as they roll around and leave soul-sized shaped in the tall grass. After an adequate amount of rolling and giggling, Sock and Biscuit turn to Milio expectantly, their bright eyes shining in anticipation.
Milio grins, rolling his eyes before dropping his pack.
“I guess we can play for a bit! But not for long!”
It’s no use: they spend what feels like an eternity playing in the grass. The suns, moons, and stars spin endlessly above them, but they pay it no mind. The young kanmei laughs until he’s out of breath, his fuemigos bouncing onto his chest as he grins.
His smile wanes, however, as the spirit realm begins to change in front of his very eyes, the open valley they found themselves in replaced with a dense forest.
Milio wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, holding his friends close as he stands.
“They never bring us anywhere without reason,” he says quietly, focused despite the curious gazes of the souls in his arms. Pack secured against his back once more, Milio begins to walk, each step carrying the weight of his mission; a literal representation of his duty as a kanmei.
The forest seems to thicken, its leaves growing bigger, its trees taller, as they navigate the winding path. In the distance, Milio hears the sound of flowing water, an inviting rush that promises fun. It hurts to do so but he ignores it, oddly determined, as he hugs his fuemigos, the two of them taking refuge in his arms again. Over the cacophony of a steady stream, bird calls, and the whistling wind, the young kanmei hears what he’s looking for: a soft cry.
Gently, Milio places Sock and Biscuit on the ground, smiling at them once they begin to float after him.
He takes a deep breath, schooling his expression, before pushing through the foliage.
There, in a small clearing, is a weeping fuemigo. Dim in comparison to her vibrant surroundings.
He expected it nonetheless, but it’s still a surprise every time. “Oh no!” Milio exclaims, unable to help himself. He’s never found a sad soul before, only ones that were ever receptive to the idea of an eternity full of play. “Are you alright?” he asks, dropping his pack and opening his hands.
The soul watches him wearily, her large eyes wet with unshed tears.
“I won’t hurt you,” he promises, wiggling his fingers and offering her a small smile. When he sees Sock and Biscuit out of the corner of his eye, he pulls them in front of him, patting their heads lovingly. “These are my friends! They helped me find you. We were playing together when we heard you crying,” he tells the sad soul. It’s not an accurate retelling of what happens but it seems to do the job, for the bleak spirit brightens up minutely. “We can be your friends, if you’d like. Keep you company until you’re ready to go home.”
Milio holds his breath as the soul watches his outstretched hand, her eyes flickering between him and the fuemigos before she ultimately hops over. Safe in his hands, the young kanmei lifts her up. “There you go!” He cheers, and his new fuemigo trills happily.
She’s a lot smaller than Sock and Biscuit but they don’t seem to mind at all, bouncing around his legs happily.
“I’m gonna call you ‘Sniffle’! Because you’re still sniffling even though you’re not sad anymore!”
Sniffle seems to like her name, buzzing in his hands.
Milio gives her a big hug then, gathering Sock and Biscuit into his arms too. The three souls purr happily, content and safe in his warm embrace. He isn’t sure how long they stay like that, Milio holding on to his fuemigos as tight as he can, but the kanmei is sure of one thing by the time they pull apart.
“You guys are real important to me, do you know that?” Milio asks, looking down at his friends. “I know it’s my job to take you guys to where you gotta be, and even though it makes me really sad to know you’ll leave me one day, we’ve gotta do our best to make all the happy memories we can, okay?”
The fuemigos purr happily, their chittering sounding like cheers.
When he places them on the ground again, the little souls rolling around his feet excitedly, he can’t help but smile. The future of Milio and his friends was inevitable. As the kanmei of friendship, he’d have no choice but to see them off on their long journey in the spirit realm.
But for now, he’ll do his best to keep them all happy and healthy as they cross the ever-changing cotton-candy coloured realms together, having all the fun they could ever dream of as they add more and more friends to their ever-growing group.