Disclaimer!: Soul Calibur and related franchises are not owned by Arashi-Enkou. I don't make any sort of cash from writing these things DON'T CHA KNOW~? :3

Notes: Okay so uh, this isn't so much a drabble as much as it is a drabble-turned-oneshot. So I guess these are now all the oneshots that won't ever make it to actual story-dom. XD So yeah.

Title of the Song: Fireflies: Owl City
Title of the Drabble: Awake and Still Asleep
Fandom: Soul Calibur
Character(s): Talim/Tira
Author: Arashi-Enkou
Rating: K

Tira liked it when she dreamed. She hadn't before (because she hadn't had nice dreams—the ones with the hall of mirrors and her own, cackling face and the chains were her least favorite) but then someone had leaped up and grabbed onto her and clung—like one of those annoying little hitchhiker plants, the spiky ones. The green kind that stuck onto your stockings and pierced your skin. But Talim wasn't annoying (much—she'd gotten over that over-formal, poetry-talk). And she didn't pierce the skin (unless Tira pressed that certain spot on the lower part of her spine—but that was the good kind of piercing, so she didn't mind). And though Talim wore a lot of green, she was more of a wind person than a plant person. So really the comparison was ridiculous.

But it was quite late at night and Tira was unable to get to sleep, so she had an excuse for making ridiculous comparisons. She huffed, squirmed beneath the burgundy blanket, and flipped onto her back. The straw mat wasn't at all comfortable, but it kept her off the cold. So it was sort of bearable.

Bah. Lies. It wasn't bearable at all.

She snorted through her nose, twisted onto her side, and made a cocoon of fabric to wrap herself in. Comfort, and thus sleep, alluded her. She gave up the fight and moaned sadly.

“Dammit,” she whined, reluctantly sitting up, the blanket pooling around her hips. “Tally. Come back in. I can't sleep.”

“Neither can I,” was the excited reply. Tira waited, then pouted when she realized Talim wasn't going to bounce in anytime soon.

“Maybe if you'd snuggle with me, we'd go to sleep.” She patted the mat loudly, for added emphasis.

“But tonight's the night.”

“Whatever,” Tira grumbled meanly. “I can't sleep if you're not here. And I'd really like to get some sleep. So get in here.”

The soft sound of feet on grass padded outside the meager hut. Talim poked her head in, her small face split in a wide grin and too peppy for the late hour. The girl was filled with energy, and she dashed in, grabbed Tira's wrist, and tugged her outside, crying, “It's time!” As she led Tira away from the hut (and the bed/mat/thingie), the former assassin noted that there was no moon hanging in the sky—that the only light came from the millions, billions of stars in the sky.

And then, with a flick of Talim's wrist and a quiet prayer, a breeze rolled in, stirring up the tall grass all around them.

And fireflies leaped and soared into the air, their bodies lighting up the world. They filled the open air, buzzing and humming, and endless shower of fallen stars rising back to the sky. Talim laughed and charged, graceful as a doe, stirring up more of the glowing insects. They danced around the wind priestess, swooping away and then dipping closer. They swarmed around Tira's body, lighting on her skin and glowing bright in her eyes. Tira laughed and brushed them from her hair, and it was like she was getting a million hugs from a million different people. Talim's hands found her shoulders and with a gentle push, they tumbled into the grass with a soft plop. They lay there, watched the millions of lights soar up and up and up, like a tornado. Then they left on yet another breeze, leaving only a hand-few of the bugs lazily cruising in the air.

Tira was a little sad at their goodbyes. Her lids fluttered and she yawned.

“We should head back,” she mumbled.

Talim's heart was warm where it lay across her own.

“Mm,” was the girl's response.

The grass meadow was a lot softer than the straw-mat. The warm silk of Talim's skin was better than the blanket. Tira sighed in defeat again, and turned on her side, tucking the smaller girl away into the nooks and dips of her body, delighting in the way they fit together. Talim giggled softly, and Tira wondered how long Talim had been planning this.

The End~

Notes: These bitches need to stop being my OTP, srsly. XD