Work Text:
Sora's eyes blew wide open when she heard the short ringing sound emit from the oven, she quickly zoomed over to witness her baking masterpiece... Or at least so she thought as she feasted her eyes on a mediocre pie that was blacker than the Imperium uniform. She rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Come on, seriously!?" Sora complained, bored and tired. She used her robotic arm to just simply pull the tin out of the flaming hot oven unfazed. She carelessly tossed the burnt pie onto the untidy kitchen counter, bored and exhausted from the ridiculous amount of failed experiments she had formed with her limited baking experience.
✦ ✦ ✦
Lloyd whistled as he peacefully strolled down his (for once) neat monastery until an out of place smell caught the attention of his sensitive nostrils, he smelt what seemed to be a fire roaring from his kitchen.
Guessing the cause, he groaned in irritation and clenched his light-blonde hair. "Aw Wyldfyre, this is the third time this week!" He complained out loud. Lloyd ran to the closest corner of the hall and grabbed a fire extinguisher, he lifted it up and gently shook it to minorly examine if it was useable. After he heard the liquid shaking in it's bright red bottle, he began to charge into the kitchen, the liquid from his fire extinguisher constantly rambled as he did, every place in the Monastery had to have one ever since Wyldfyre had started living with the ninja thanks to her common incinerating outbursts.
Lloyd ran into the kitchen alarmed and frustrated, he held the fire extinguisher upwards, it's bottom in line with his waist. Ready to put out the flames, Lloyd turned the corner and instantly-without even a singular thought, sprayed short bursts of carbon dioxide inside the kitchen, and finished off with a longer dosage.
But to his surprise and also slight relief, there wasn't a fire at all. Lloyd's eyes screeched open and his ears rang at the sound of timid coughing. He instantly recognized the silhouette and rushed to his student, Sora. Lloyd grabbed onto her shoulders and pat her back to assist her in dispersing of the air in her lungs "Oh my FSM! Sora! Are you okay!? Are you hurt!? I'm sorry! What are you even doing in here!?" He rapidly threw questions at her, receiving no answers but more coughing.
His student's coughing began to calm and Sora shrieked, "Lloyd? What the heck!?" Sora cleared her throat and demanded. "I- I thought there was a fire, the alarm was going off and-" Lloyd looked to his side and dusted the residue from the fire extinguisher off Sora's shirt and apron.
"Are you okay? Does it hurt?" Lloyd asked sheepishly, putting a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and raised her eyebrow, giving her master a disappointed look. "Lloyd... You shot a FIRE EXTINGUISHER AT ME!" She lowered her tone immediately in realization and sighed, "Of course it doesn't hurt."
"Right, sorry." Lloyd muttered, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. He looked to his left at the kitchen counter, the sight of flour and burnt pie confused him. "Are you uh, trying to bake?" Lloyd had heard stories of Sora's abortive attempts at trying to bake from Arin, he was surprised that the entire Monastery hadn't been burnt to the ground yet.
If it wasn't Kai or Wyldfyre's chaotic antics, it was Sora's crummy attempts at trying to bake he reckoned.
"Yeah?" She replied goofily, trying to pretend like she wasn't close to burning the entire kitchen down to the ground.
Lloyd shook his head at her, half amused, half disappointed. "What's the matter?" Sora asked sarcastically. "You can't bake." Her master fired unforgivingly.
Sora rolled her eyes, she was frustrated and Lloyd giving her a reminder that she was a 'total screw-up' really wasn't helping her rage abide containment. "Yeah I know! I know, okay!?" She snapped. Unable to keep eye contact with Lloyd, she clenched her fists and violently gritted her teeth.
"Why are you trying to bake a pie?" Lloyd reluctantly asked.
Sora tensed abruptly then threw her hands behind her back and sighed. She shifted her gaze to the messy counter, then down at the ground. "I didn't have anyone that paid any attention to me back in Imperium. If I wasn't picture perfect then I was a disappointment, nothing ever truly made my parents proud. They always wanted more." Sora explained, Lloyd figured she was going on a slight tangent but ultimately decided to let her continue her story, he wanted to be respectful but he was also curious.
"We know we don't say it much."
"Or ever..."
Lloyd was about to speak but he swallowed hard, and his words drowned. He gave his student a reassuring look, he was willing to listen to Sora, she just had to be willing to share.
Sora loosened her bones and unsheathed the nails dug into her palms. She sighed and continued, her confidence thinned through her speech, "My parents..."
Sora gulped, she thought for a second, years of being isolated and forced to be silent, washed over her cold, thin body.
Sora looked down at the glossy ground and held her left arm. She muttered, "They gave birth to me, they fed me and bathed me, they gave me a house to stay in." Lloyd nodded quickly at her words, encouraging her to continue but allowing her to explain at her own safe pace.
Suddenly, the girl looked up at her teacher, the truth burned through her eyes and water washed the fire out. "But despite that, I only feel at home with you, Master Lloyd."
Lloyd's eyes bloomed, he kneeled down and gently placed his palm on her right shoulder and ran his fingers down her shoulder blades. "Sora..." He took her left hand in his. "That's amazing, and I'm honoured." He sniffled then chuckled. "But what does that have to do with the pies?"
Sora knelt her neck downwards onto her right shoulder and wiped her own tears, laughing in symphony with her crying. "I guess I just wanted to say... Thank you?" She answered.
"Everyone's always loved Arin's pies, but I can't do anything like that, I can't find the on-switch for my stupid- stupid powers! But everyone here loves me."
"They love me even though I'm a burden who almost got you all and a bunch of dragons killed." Sora finished.
Lloyd looked down at her, he was disappointed. Sora recognized his disapproval and shook.
...
"It's okay if you wanna get rid of me now."
...
"It's okay if you wanna throw me away."
Lloyd stared at her, he clenched his fists. "Sora, I'd never throw you out. I'm not a good teacher but I promise, I'll be better than them. No matter how useless you think you are, no matter how hard it is to gain a grasp on your element, no matter if you can bake pies like Arin or not."
"I promise, I'll never get rid of you, you never have to thank us with food, or strength or success. Because... you're the best thank you anyone could ever ask for, you're a blessing, Sora." Lloyd concluded and cupped her cheek.
She cried and threw herself onto Lloyd, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Her tears dripped viciously and ran down Lloyd's shoulder. "It's okay." He reassured her.
"It's okay." Lloyd repeated.