"fighting with both hands" (FFIV, PG, Rydia/Edge/Kain)
Fighting with Both Hands
Author: seventhe
Fandom: FFIV
Pairing: Rydia/Edge/Kain
Rating: PG
Cliche: 4. double the fun: a threesome is the solution to a love triangle
Notes: Thanks go to lassarina for the beta.
Going for something light and "double the fun" here; FFIV deserves more than angst, sometimes.
- - -
fighting with both hands
(Rydia/Edge/Kain)
- - -
“Will you teach me to fight?” Rydia asks one day, idly, as she watches Edge and Kain spar in Baron’s training courtyard.
Kain chuckles. “I daresay you need no help in battle,” he says, parrying against the sudden onslaught of Edge’s wooden swords.
“You with a sword would be downright suicide,” Edge says with a grin. “In the beginning, suicide for you - or for the sword, really.”
Rydia frowns. “I’m not that bad, am I?”
“Not what I meant!” Edge says hastily, moving to block a hefty blow from Kain’s wooden spear. “I only mean - any sword that didn’t do what you wanted would get fried in seconds, babe.”
“I’m serious, though,” Rydia says, sitting up.
Kain raises a hand to stop the battle, turning to Rydia. “Why?” he asks, plainly. “Rydia, your magics are stronger than any one sword. I do not think you need to fear your ability to defend yourself. Besides,” he says slowly, “this is a time of peace. Why are there battles on your horizon?”
She shrugs. “You guys spar every morning, and I can’t spar with you. You have to be getting sick of each other, right? You keep ending in draws, anyway. And besides, I never really learnt to fight in the Land of Summons.” She pauses, and her eyes turn downwards.
Kain and Edge exchange a wary glance. They both know that Rydia has estranged herself from the Land of Summons, limiting herself to one short visit per year to keep the odd time-flow from punishing her body. It’s obvious that she misses her home, but it’s even more obvious how much she tries to avoid the subject.
The more frequent visits made her violently ill. In truth, it’s Rydia’s recovery that is keeping them all here, in Baron.
“Are you sure you’re-” Edge begins.
Rydia shoots him a fiery glare which speaks more for her health than the slightly-pasty colour of her skin.
“Never mind,” Edge says hastily, knowing that an apology is faster than Meteo and much less harmful to one’s dignity.
“Still, you fought in battle before,” Kain offers slowly.
“Never with a sword,” Rydia says. “Nor a shield.”
There is a long pause, and then she shrugs and turns back to the thick text resting beside her. “It’s alright,” she says softly, “you don’t have to.”
“Rydia,” Kain says, almost sharply. She turns, looking up at him, and Kain is surprised still by how young she looks.
“Come tomorrow morning,” Kain says finally. “Edge and I will see what we can do.”
- - -
The next morning she’s the first one there, dressed in her familiar warrior’s-garb and with more colour in her cheeks than she’s had in weeks.
Kain brings a simple wooden practice sword, which she scoffs at until he bids her take it and try to swing. Her face turns suddenly, comically pale as she stumbles, and when Edge laughs at her, she throws it at him.
Kain sends the suddenly white-faced castle page for Rosa, moves Edge’s unconscious body to the side, and patiently hands the sword to Rydia again.
“Your throwing arm certainly appears to be strong,” Kain says sardonically, thinking of the bruises Edge will certainly develop if Rosa doesn’t get here in time.
Rydia curses up a stream, but manages to swing it this time. Kain blocks her with one gauntlet, corrects her hand placement, gestures for her to do it again. She does, cursing the entire while.
“Rydia,” Kain says gently. “Calm yourself.”
“He makes me so angry,” Rydia seethes. “Does he seriously think I can’t do this?”
Kain smiles. “Of course not. He is here to help, is he not?”
“I’ll show him,” Rydia hisses, but she takes a deep breath and swallows most of her embarrassment. By the end of the morning, Kain has shown her how to swing the sword like a sword and not a dagger, and Rosa has managed to awaken Edge.
- - -
“Now look here,” Edge says. “I shouldn’t even be teaching you this stuff anyway, because it’s a super secret ninja secret. And I especially shouldn’t be teaching you because you hit me in the face with a sword.”
Rydia blows hair out of her face and levels her gaze at Edge over her two wooden swords. “But you will anyway, right?”
Edge bows extravagantly. “Anything for you, my lady,” he says with a grin. “Any and all of my secrets are available to you for the low price of a single kiss.”
“Do not accept, Rydia,” Kain says without looking up from his book. “The price is far too high."
“Shut up, dragon boy,” Edge retorts. “Alright, Ryds. The thing to remember about fighting with two swords is to stay balanced. For right now, just swing with your right and concentrate on holding the left one in place.”
Rydia swings the right sword. Her face is all scrunched up in concentration, and the sword in her left hand bobbles wildly as she struggles to keep her balance. “They’re heavy,” she complains, swinging again.
“Excellent backhand,” Kain praises, softly.
“Hey,” Edge shoots back, “this is my lesson, alright? Now, c’mon, Ryds, keep those swords up high. And I want you to try to run to me, okay? Without stabbing yourself. Or me.”
Rydia’s panting and her face is white, but she narrows her eyes and takes off towards Edge, swords raised high like a warrior.
- - -
Rosa shoots them both a condemning glance as she pauses at the door. “Rydia is still sleeping,” she says, her gentle voice unusually harsh. She closes the door behind her.
“You should be more careful with her,” Kain says softly. “She is still on the mend; she has never been physically strong, and especially now -”
“She isn’t a child any more,” Edge shoots back, and Kain blinks in surprise at Edge’s frustration. “She’s not a baby, and she certainly won’t appreciate being treated like one.”
The Eblani prince huffs off, and Kain stares for a moment at the door, wondering.
- - -
Edge brings her flowers the next day, a huge bouquet of ridiculously bright daisies from Barontown. Rydia laughs with delight to see them, and they spend the morning jousting at each other with what suspiciously appear to be stolen broomsticks. Rydia is forbidden to get out of bed, on pain of Rosa’s chiding tongue, but she still manages to stick Edge in the gut a few times as he dances around the room.
Edge bends down and kisses her before he leaves - a light brush on her lips, soft and warm.
When Edge is gone, Rydia looks at the flowers, and smiles despite herself.
- - -
Kain brings her dinner that evening, feeling uncharacteristically awkward. He cannot keep his gaze from her; she is grown-up, now, even more so after two years’-worth of frequent visits to the Land of Summons.
“Sorry,” she says with a soft laugh, gesturing helplessly at herself. “I guess I forgot-”
“Do not worry.” Kain’s voice is soft, and he shrugs. “I am not here to lecture you.”
“Good.” Her smile flashes, fleetingly.
Kain sits down. “Would you like company?”
Rydia blinks, but then grins. “It’d be nice,” she says, reaching for the soup he has brought her. “All Rosa does is lecture me about how stupid I am.”
“It was not your fault,” Kain says hastily; “Edge and I should have known-”
Rydia quirks an eyebrow. “Of course it was my fault, you idiot,” she says. As the silence stretches, she sighs, turning her gaze down into her soup.
Her voice drops. “They think I got so sick because - because of all the time-flow differences, my body didn’t know how old it was, and it got - confused.” She pokes at the soup with a spoon. “So I thought some physical activity would help my body figure out where it was - kind of ‘beat some sense into it’ style. Plan didn’t work very well.” She gives him a wan smile.
Kain reaches out and squeezes her hand.
- - -
The next day, Rydia returns to watch them spar.
“Rosa said the sun would be healthy,” she says by way of explanation, settling down on a warm rock and opening her book.
“You just can’t stay away from our sexy selves.” Edge grins. “Or mine, anyway. Glad you came out, because I’m about to give our Dragoon friend here a royal beating.”
Kain adjusts his grip on his spear, and says nothing.
"Watch the excellent advantage to fighting with both hands!" Edge calls as both his swords come up to block Kain's downward stroke.
"We both fight with both hands," Kain shoots back, straining against Edge's guard. He swings the spear in a sudden move, and it's all Edge can do to parry. "Simply in different ways."
The sparring this morning is different. Rydia finds the clashing of weapons and loud cries too much distraction; eventually, she is not even pretending to read the tome beside her. Edge and Kain are fighting, more fiercely than she’s ever seen before. Normally their fights are friendly, almost conversational, with verbal jabs as well as physical. Now, both are panting as they swing at each other, angrily. There is fire in their eyes.
The fight finally ends when Rosa calls them all for luncheon. Rydia stands, and finds her heart is racing.
- - -
The next day Rydia hangs back, in the hallway, watching through a slanted window as they prepare themselves. Edge seems to be limping, and Kain is favoring his right arm. And yet they are choosing their weapons from the wooden pile, again, and eyeing each other.
“Winner gets to do her lesson today,” Edge says, under his breath. “Loser goes inside.”
“Deal.” Kain’s voice is tight.
Rydia falls back against the wall, clutching her book to her breast as their wooden weapons clash. She does not move throughout the entire battle, although she hears the page tentatively declare Edge the victor.
Kain comes around the corner, sweaty and breathing hard, and when he sees her he stops, looking down at her like he’s seeing her for the first time.
He bends in and kisses her - fast, hard, and almost hungrily. When he breaks off, he smiles crookedly and says, "I win."
Then he’s gone, and she’s standing in the doorway, bemused.
"But I need you both," she says, quietly and to herself.
- - -
The mornings continue like this. Rydia tries to wake herself early, to get to the training field while they are both there, hoping to defuse this newfound angry rivalry and get back to the way her mornings were before. Kain and Edge simply wake earlier as well; by the time she reaches the courtyard, only one of them is there.
They both watch her in the halls. Sometimes, Edge tries to steal a kiss; Kain, occasionally, will grasp her hand as if he has something to say. The two of them nod as they pass in the hallways. She is learning to fight, yes, but her mornings have been ruined.
She wants it back, more badly than she's ever wanted anything in her life ever, which scares her somewhat. She's frighteningly close to pounding the both of them with high-potency Flare spells, because she doesn't know what's going on, and it makes her angry.
- - -
Autumnhale is her favourite of the year’s holidays, and has always been - the crisp scent of fall filling the air as the trees change to fire and gold. Autumnhale is near her birthday, too, although her years in the season-less Land of Summons have caused her to forget the actual day. She insists to Rosa that it does not matter, but Rosa has a small party for her, nonetheless.
She does not get a single chance to sit. Edge and Kain are always there - together, but separate - and the banter between them is unusually strained. She misses their jabs, their unusual cameraderie, and she does not know how to get it back. They had a friendship, the three of them, something close-forged - and then she got sick, and somehow, everything changed.
Kain dances with her like she's a princess, a queen. Edge dances with her like they're getting away with something dirty on the dance floor. Kain compliments her dress. Edge encourages her to kick off her shoes.
She is so confused. She needs them both, and together, in their different ways - not like this, always bickering and angry and over what? She does not know.
Finally Cid cuts in and Rydia gets a chance to simply rest her head against his arm and relax.
"Those two boys got you tired out," Cid says, chuckling at her. "It can't be easy when they're fighting over you like that."
Rydia suddenly blinks.
She's never been good at figuring out human behaviour - too many years with monsters will do that to one - but suddenly, it all falls into place.
- - -
"Go," she says, and pushes Edge into her room, frightfully and desperately angry but also happy, all at the same time in a confusing sort of whirlwind. Kain, already there, looks up as the flailing mass of ninja falls onto the bed. Kain winces, and stands to leave.
"Stay," Rydia hisses, and there's Fire sparking in her voice. They both freeze. The room is full of a tension which feels almost dirty as the three of them look at each other.
Finally, Rydia cracks a sardonic grin. "You're a pack of idiots."
Edge blinks. "Excuse me, ma'am?" he says smartly.
"Both of you," Rydia says. "I had wondered what the hell was up between you two."
It's Kain's turn to jolt, uncomfortably. "You were - unaware?"
"I told you," Edge whispers at him.
"Why are you fighting?" Rydia shakes her head, a little forlorn. "Was sharing me not good enough?"
They're both looking at her now, almost incredulously.
"I liked our mornings," Rydia continues, fiercely. "I liked our time together. And I know you two like each other - you did, and I'm sure you still do, underneath this most ridiculous fight."
Kain looks away. "It was - inappropriate for us to let our feelings get in the way," he begins. "You are truly our friend, Rydia, a valuable friend, and... it was unfair and inappropriate for us to discard that."
Rydia can see that talking will do her no good - she's always been a girl of action, anyway, and so she takes two long hard steps across the room, grabs Kain by the shirt, and kisses him. Then, while Edge is gaping at her with surprise and betrayal, she stalks back over to him and does the same, yanking him up from her bed and planting her lips firmly on his.
They're looking at her as if she's grown Asura's three heads. "What's wrong with this?" she asks, planting her fists on her hips.
Edge lifts his fingers to his lips in almost-disbelief. Kain, still wary, says slowly: "Rydia, I am afraid you are going to have to choose..."
"Why?"
The question stops them both.
"No, seriously," Rydia says, gesturing wildly. "In the Land of Summons, you share your love with people, you don't split it up down ridiculous lines and only choose one person that you can care for, ever!" She bows her head. "Things were simpler there. You humans ...you confuse me." She bites her lip, and then spits out, angrily, "I need you both."
There is a long, drawn-out moment in which Edge and Kain look at each other over Rydia's head. The tension between them - that tightness that comes from the competition of two angry men - it morphs in the air, so thick that they can almost see it, into something - more.
And then Edge has thrown himself off the bed, and he kisses Kain - angrily, impetuously, like the ninja does anything, and it's as much of a punishment as it is a kiss. Kain, never to be undone, fists his hands in the air and kisses him back, hungrily.
When they break apart, Rydia is beaming.
- - -
"In the Land of Summons," Rydia says idly, staring upwards, "down there they don't have stars, of course, but the caves light up at night kind of like stars."
"Do they have night?" Edge asks, as he shifts his head around on her belly, looking for comfort. "Heavens, you're bony."
"Shut up," Rydia says. "And yes, they do. The Land of Summons is tuned to the center of the earth, and the cave-light kind of... waxes and wanes, like night and day."
Kain tightens his arm around her and turns his eyes to the constellations above them. It is as if this new - agreement - between them has healed something within Rydia, and she can now speak of the home she'd left behind freely, without feeling sad for it. It feels familiar.
He drops a kiss on her head as she plays with Edge's hair in her lap. Sometimes, Kain thinks, it's better to just let both hands go.
- - -
Author: seventhe
Fandom: FFIV
Pairing: Rydia/Edge/Kain
Rating: PG
Cliche: 4. double the fun: a threesome is the solution to a love triangle
Notes: Thanks go to lassarina for the beta.
Going for something light and "double the fun" here; FFIV deserves more than angst, sometimes.
- - -
fighting with both hands
(Rydia/Edge/Kain)
- - -
“Will you teach me to fight?” Rydia asks one day, idly, as she watches Edge and Kain spar in Baron’s training courtyard.
Kain chuckles. “I daresay you need no help in battle,” he says, parrying against the sudden onslaught of Edge’s wooden swords.
“You with a sword would be downright suicide,” Edge says with a grin. “In the beginning, suicide for you - or for the sword, really.”
Rydia frowns. “I’m not that bad, am I?”
“Not what I meant!” Edge says hastily, moving to block a hefty blow from Kain’s wooden spear. “I only mean - any sword that didn’t do what you wanted would get fried in seconds, babe.”
“I’m serious, though,” Rydia says, sitting up.
Kain raises a hand to stop the battle, turning to Rydia. “Why?” he asks, plainly. “Rydia, your magics are stronger than any one sword. I do not think you need to fear your ability to defend yourself. Besides,” he says slowly, “this is a time of peace. Why are there battles on your horizon?”
She shrugs. “You guys spar every morning, and I can’t spar with you. You have to be getting sick of each other, right? You keep ending in draws, anyway. And besides, I never really learnt to fight in the Land of Summons.” She pauses, and her eyes turn downwards.
Kain and Edge exchange a wary glance. They both know that Rydia has estranged herself from the Land of Summons, limiting herself to one short visit per year to keep the odd time-flow from punishing her body. It’s obvious that she misses her home, but it’s even more obvious how much she tries to avoid the subject.
The more frequent visits made her violently ill. In truth, it’s Rydia’s recovery that is keeping them all here, in Baron.
“Are you sure you’re-” Edge begins.
Rydia shoots him a fiery glare which speaks more for her health than the slightly-pasty colour of her skin.
“Never mind,” Edge says hastily, knowing that an apology is faster than Meteo and much less harmful to one’s dignity.
“Still, you fought in battle before,” Kain offers slowly.
“Never with a sword,” Rydia says. “Nor a shield.”
There is a long pause, and then she shrugs and turns back to the thick text resting beside her. “It’s alright,” she says softly, “you don’t have to.”
“Rydia,” Kain says, almost sharply. She turns, looking up at him, and Kain is surprised still by how young she looks.
“Come tomorrow morning,” Kain says finally. “Edge and I will see what we can do.”
- - -
The next morning she’s the first one there, dressed in her familiar warrior’s-garb and with more colour in her cheeks than she’s had in weeks.
Kain brings a simple wooden practice sword, which she scoffs at until he bids her take it and try to swing. Her face turns suddenly, comically pale as she stumbles, and when Edge laughs at her, she throws it at him.
Kain sends the suddenly white-faced castle page for Rosa, moves Edge’s unconscious body to the side, and patiently hands the sword to Rydia again.
“Your throwing arm certainly appears to be strong,” Kain says sardonically, thinking of the bruises Edge will certainly develop if Rosa doesn’t get here in time.
Rydia curses up a stream, but manages to swing it this time. Kain blocks her with one gauntlet, corrects her hand placement, gestures for her to do it again. She does, cursing the entire while.
“Rydia,” Kain says gently. “Calm yourself.”
“He makes me so angry,” Rydia seethes. “Does he seriously think I can’t do this?”
Kain smiles. “Of course not. He is here to help, is he not?”
“I’ll show him,” Rydia hisses, but she takes a deep breath and swallows most of her embarrassment. By the end of the morning, Kain has shown her how to swing the sword like a sword and not a dagger, and Rosa has managed to awaken Edge.
- - -
“Now look here,” Edge says. “I shouldn’t even be teaching you this stuff anyway, because it’s a super secret ninja secret. And I especially shouldn’t be teaching you because you hit me in the face with a sword.”
Rydia blows hair out of her face and levels her gaze at Edge over her two wooden swords. “But you will anyway, right?”
Edge bows extravagantly. “Anything for you, my lady,” he says with a grin. “Any and all of my secrets are available to you for the low price of a single kiss.”
“Do not accept, Rydia,” Kain says without looking up from his book. “The price is far too high."
“Shut up, dragon boy,” Edge retorts. “Alright, Ryds. The thing to remember about fighting with two swords is to stay balanced. For right now, just swing with your right and concentrate on holding the left one in place.”
Rydia swings the right sword. Her face is all scrunched up in concentration, and the sword in her left hand bobbles wildly as she struggles to keep her balance. “They’re heavy,” she complains, swinging again.
“Excellent backhand,” Kain praises, softly.
“Hey,” Edge shoots back, “this is my lesson, alright? Now, c’mon, Ryds, keep those swords up high. And I want you to try to run to me, okay? Without stabbing yourself. Or me.”
Rydia’s panting and her face is white, but she narrows her eyes and takes off towards Edge, swords raised high like a warrior.
- - -
Rosa shoots them both a condemning glance as she pauses at the door. “Rydia is still sleeping,” she says, her gentle voice unusually harsh. She closes the door behind her.
“You should be more careful with her,” Kain says softly. “She is still on the mend; she has never been physically strong, and especially now -”
“She isn’t a child any more,” Edge shoots back, and Kain blinks in surprise at Edge’s frustration. “She’s not a baby, and she certainly won’t appreciate being treated like one.”
The Eblani prince huffs off, and Kain stares for a moment at the door, wondering.
- - -
Edge brings her flowers the next day, a huge bouquet of ridiculously bright daisies from Barontown. Rydia laughs with delight to see them, and they spend the morning jousting at each other with what suspiciously appear to be stolen broomsticks. Rydia is forbidden to get out of bed, on pain of Rosa’s chiding tongue, but she still manages to stick Edge in the gut a few times as he dances around the room.
Edge bends down and kisses her before he leaves - a light brush on her lips, soft and warm.
When Edge is gone, Rydia looks at the flowers, and smiles despite herself.
- - -
Kain brings her dinner that evening, feeling uncharacteristically awkward. He cannot keep his gaze from her; she is grown-up, now, even more so after two years’-worth of frequent visits to the Land of Summons.
“Sorry,” she says with a soft laugh, gesturing helplessly at herself. “I guess I forgot-”
“Do not worry.” Kain’s voice is soft, and he shrugs. “I am not here to lecture you.”
“Good.” Her smile flashes, fleetingly.
Kain sits down. “Would you like company?”
Rydia blinks, but then grins. “It’d be nice,” she says, reaching for the soup he has brought her. “All Rosa does is lecture me about how stupid I am.”
“It was not your fault,” Kain says hastily; “Edge and I should have known-”
Rydia quirks an eyebrow. “Of course it was my fault, you idiot,” she says. As the silence stretches, she sighs, turning her gaze down into her soup.
Her voice drops. “They think I got so sick because - because of all the time-flow differences, my body didn’t know how old it was, and it got - confused.” She pokes at the soup with a spoon. “So I thought some physical activity would help my body figure out where it was - kind of ‘beat some sense into it’ style. Plan didn’t work very well.” She gives him a wan smile.
Kain reaches out and squeezes her hand.
- - -
The next day, Rydia returns to watch them spar.
“Rosa said the sun would be healthy,” she says by way of explanation, settling down on a warm rock and opening her book.
“You just can’t stay away from our sexy selves.” Edge grins. “Or mine, anyway. Glad you came out, because I’m about to give our Dragoon friend here a royal beating.”
Kain adjusts his grip on his spear, and says nothing.
"Watch the excellent advantage to fighting with both hands!" Edge calls as both his swords come up to block Kain's downward stroke.
"We both fight with both hands," Kain shoots back, straining against Edge's guard. He swings the spear in a sudden move, and it's all Edge can do to parry. "Simply in different ways."
The sparring this morning is different. Rydia finds the clashing of weapons and loud cries too much distraction; eventually, she is not even pretending to read the tome beside her. Edge and Kain are fighting, more fiercely than she’s ever seen before. Normally their fights are friendly, almost conversational, with verbal jabs as well as physical. Now, both are panting as they swing at each other, angrily. There is fire in their eyes.
The fight finally ends when Rosa calls them all for luncheon. Rydia stands, and finds her heart is racing.
- - -
The next day Rydia hangs back, in the hallway, watching through a slanted window as they prepare themselves. Edge seems to be limping, and Kain is favoring his right arm. And yet they are choosing their weapons from the wooden pile, again, and eyeing each other.
“Winner gets to do her lesson today,” Edge says, under his breath. “Loser goes inside.”
“Deal.” Kain’s voice is tight.
Rydia falls back against the wall, clutching her book to her breast as their wooden weapons clash. She does not move throughout the entire battle, although she hears the page tentatively declare Edge the victor.
Kain comes around the corner, sweaty and breathing hard, and when he sees her he stops, looking down at her like he’s seeing her for the first time.
He bends in and kisses her - fast, hard, and almost hungrily. When he breaks off, he smiles crookedly and says, "I win."
Then he’s gone, and she’s standing in the doorway, bemused.
"But I need you both," she says, quietly and to herself.
- - -
The mornings continue like this. Rydia tries to wake herself early, to get to the training field while they are both there, hoping to defuse this newfound angry rivalry and get back to the way her mornings were before. Kain and Edge simply wake earlier as well; by the time she reaches the courtyard, only one of them is there.
They both watch her in the halls. Sometimes, Edge tries to steal a kiss; Kain, occasionally, will grasp her hand as if he has something to say. The two of them nod as they pass in the hallways. She is learning to fight, yes, but her mornings have been ruined.
She wants it back, more badly than she's ever wanted anything in her life ever, which scares her somewhat. She's frighteningly close to pounding the both of them with high-potency Flare spells, because she doesn't know what's going on, and it makes her angry.
- - -
Autumnhale is her favourite of the year’s holidays, and has always been - the crisp scent of fall filling the air as the trees change to fire and gold. Autumnhale is near her birthday, too, although her years in the season-less Land of Summons have caused her to forget the actual day. She insists to Rosa that it does not matter, but Rosa has a small party for her, nonetheless.
She does not get a single chance to sit. Edge and Kain are always there - together, but separate - and the banter between them is unusually strained. She misses their jabs, their unusual cameraderie, and she does not know how to get it back. They had a friendship, the three of them, something close-forged - and then she got sick, and somehow, everything changed.
Kain dances with her like she's a princess, a queen. Edge dances with her like they're getting away with something dirty on the dance floor. Kain compliments her dress. Edge encourages her to kick off her shoes.
She is so confused. She needs them both, and together, in their different ways - not like this, always bickering and angry and over what? She does not know.
Finally Cid cuts in and Rydia gets a chance to simply rest her head against his arm and relax.
"Those two boys got you tired out," Cid says, chuckling at her. "It can't be easy when they're fighting over you like that."
Rydia suddenly blinks.
She's never been good at figuring out human behaviour - too many years with monsters will do that to one - but suddenly, it all falls into place.
- - -
"Go," she says, and pushes Edge into her room, frightfully and desperately angry but also happy, all at the same time in a confusing sort of whirlwind. Kain, already there, looks up as the flailing mass of ninja falls onto the bed. Kain winces, and stands to leave.
"Stay," Rydia hisses, and there's Fire sparking in her voice. They both freeze. The room is full of a tension which feels almost dirty as the three of them look at each other.
Finally, Rydia cracks a sardonic grin. "You're a pack of idiots."
Edge blinks. "Excuse me, ma'am?" he says smartly.
"Both of you," Rydia says. "I had wondered what the hell was up between you two."
It's Kain's turn to jolt, uncomfortably. "You were - unaware?"
"I told you," Edge whispers at him.
"Why are you fighting?" Rydia shakes her head, a little forlorn. "Was sharing me not good enough?"
They're both looking at her now, almost incredulously.
"I liked our mornings," Rydia continues, fiercely. "I liked our time together. And I know you two like each other - you did, and I'm sure you still do, underneath this most ridiculous fight."
Kain looks away. "It was - inappropriate for us to let our feelings get in the way," he begins. "You are truly our friend, Rydia, a valuable friend, and... it was unfair and inappropriate for us to discard that."
Rydia can see that talking will do her no good - she's always been a girl of action, anyway, and so she takes two long hard steps across the room, grabs Kain by the shirt, and kisses him. Then, while Edge is gaping at her with surprise and betrayal, she stalks back over to him and does the same, yanking him up from her bed and planting her lips firmly on his.
They're looking at her as if she's grown Asura's three heads. "What's wrong with this?" she asks, planting her fists on her hips.
Edge lifts his fingers to his lips in almost-disbelief. Kain, still wary, says slowly: "Rydia, I am afraid you are going to have to choose..."
"Why?"
The question stops them both.
"No, seriously," Rydia says, gesturing wildly. "In the Land of Summons, you share your love with people, you don't split it up down ridiculous lines and only choose one person that you can care for, ever!" She bows her head. "Things were simpler there. You humans ...you confuse me." She bites her lip, and then spits out, angrily, "I need you both."
There is a long, drawn-out moment in which Edge and Kain look at each other over Rydia's head. The tension between them - that tightness that comes from the competition of two angry men - it morphs in the air, so thick that they can almost see it, into something - more.
And then Edge has thrown himself off the bed, and he kisses Kain - angrily, impetuously, like the ninja does anything, and it's as much of a punishment as it is a kiss. Kain, never to be undone, fists his hands in the air and kisses him back, hungrily.
When they break apart, Rydia is beaming.
- - -
"In the Land of Summons," Rydia says idly, staring upwards, "down there they don't have stars, of course, but the caves light up at night kind of like stars."
"Do they have night?" Edge asks, as he shifts his head around on her belly, looking for comfort. "Heavens, you're bony."
"Shut up," Rydia says. "And yes, they do. The Land of Summons is tuned to the center of the earth, and the cave-light kind of... waxes and wanes, like night and day."
Kain tightens his arm around her and turns his eyes to the constellations above them. It is as if this new - agreement - between them has healed something within Rydia, and she can now speak of the home she'd left behind freely, without feeling sad for it. It feels familiar.
He drops a kiss on her head as she plays with Edge's hair in her lap. Sometimes, Kain thinks, it's better to just let both hands go.
- - -