When the Day met the Night

For the brief moments that Zhalla was just with Nocti, the funny little magic cloud chirped excitedly over what she was showing off, both her brilliant empowered form and the stone that Nero had gifted her. Both of those things near enough caused Nocti to dance, but since Zhalla was the current passenger, Nocti chose not to do that. As for being in on it, Nocti made a few beeps and chirps that implied an over exaggerated and sarcastic attempt at seeming innocent. Yeah, they were in on it, at least to the point where the stone was important anyway, because they seemed a little surprised when it happened, not that Zhalla noticed at the time.

Speaking of the one that had given Zhalla the stone, Nero wasn’t too far behind! While talking to Dosu may have taken about a minute, Nero had caught up in a fraction of a tenth of that time. Nero flew by, twirled around in the air with some sparkly flair before flying around Zhalla and Nocti a few times. “Hey hey~!” Nero greeted in a sing-songy way before he too sat on top of Nocti. “Hmmmm hm hm hmmm~” He began to hum a tune to himself. The symbol on Nero’s chest faded in a way that looked as though it receded into his body now that there was no threat, no chaos, no battle to be had. Furthermore, Zhalla could get a good look at Nero’s newest form now, and vice versa. “Now I see I was toootally right to call you Sunshine~!”

“Heheh, I didn’t know you could get that red! I guess the gold in your hair helps out the contrast!” Nero teased lightheartedly. He was perfectly fine with Zhalla recounting the various nicknames she came up with for him. “Oh, no, no, go on. I know you’ve got more than those!” He winked, she would know well enough by now that if she took the bait that he would respond with more of his nicknames for her.

As for the mark on his chest, Nero gave a glance and shrugged. “I suppose the authority of a Guru isn’t needed right now? I dunno.” He didn’t feel any different actually, so that was his best educated guess on the matter. “The facial hair is new, probably something to do with my mum’s side of the family. I think it’s kinda cool. D’you like it?”

Zhalla had some concerns about her new power, whether or not it could be turned off, or something to that effect. “Huh? Well, yeah, absolutely. If you want help, I can help, but just... Feel the light it brings, for just a little bit?” Nero gently put a hand on Zhalla’s face. “For me, if nothing else? It’s really pretty coming from you.” There was also the matter of the proposal, Zhalla could call Nero as nuts as she wanted, but the fact remained— “You said yes, so what does that make you~? Heheh~!” Nero chuckled, but offered a soft smile afterward. “Told you that I didn’t need luck.” Oh, he remembered his declaration from when Zhalla and the shelter kids had properly moved to Namek, smooth!

“Hah! Not a chance, Sunshine~!” Nero flashed a toothy grin and gave a sparkly wink. Unfortunately for Zhalla, Nero was going to find her beautiful no matter what. Could she really blame him though? “Y’can’t stop me knowing that you’re the most dazzling person in all of existence.” He stuck out his tongue briefly, and chuckled when Zhalla had (probably unintentionally) mentioned yet another cute-sy nickname. “See? You had that one, didn’t you?”

Zhalla even complimented Nero’s sudden growth of facial hair, and he was right next to her so of course he heard her trailing off, regardless of his exceptional hearing abilities. “Well, I’m flattered~!” He said, reaching out for Zhalla’s hand to give it a kiss.

“Awesome.” Nero smiled softly when Zhalla said that she would leave her current form be as it was for a while longer. He would be happy to help her figure this one out too, and he likely didn’t need to say it, she probably already knew he would. Nero leaned in and gave Zhalla a quick kiss on the forehead. “Deal. You got it.”

As far as Nero was concerned, luck had very little if anything at all to do with how he just felt his feelings, as to him they were his truth— and they reached Zhalla all the same. “Maybe the smallest amount.” He shrugged.

A few moments later, Zhalla reached out to hold Nero’s hands. “Yeah, what’s up?” Hehe, she called him honey. He knew she was soft, he knew! Regarding her question, Nero quirked a brow. How did flying for the first time feel. “Ah, jeez, I was quite young at the time, lemme think...”

The front of Nocti’s mass shifted slightly as if they were looking at Zhalla directly. Nocti knew. Oh, they knew and they could tell Nero riiiight now if they wanted to. Maybe they would, assuming Zhalla didn’t request otherwise.

“Pfft, yeah right, you knew exactly what you were doing.” Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t. Would it stop Nero from teasing her? Nope. Either way, Nero chose not to comment on Zhalla progressively turning more and more red, despite the fact that he absolutely had several goofy phrases to use for just such an occasion.

Nero hugged Zhalla softly as she rested her head on his shoulder without even so much as a second thought. Zhalla’s question was quite interesting as well, the only thing being it would take him a minute to really properly analyze his early memories and provide a truthful and worthwhile answer through the lens of his present self. “When I stopped being so attached to the idea of the ground, I think. From the perspective of being a little kid, it was proof that I was growing up, proof that I made real progress on my own terms through hard work.” Nero snorted. “A lot of words to use instead of ‘I surpassed my limitations’, I guess. Either way, there is nothing else like it.”

Nocti chirped a few times, to which Nero raised a brow. “Huh?” Nocti chirped a few more times with increasing rapidity. “Slow down, bud, slow down!” Nero chuckled, giving Zhalla a sly sort of look. “Hmm~! I suppose there is another way to answer that question, maybe the kind of answer you’re actually looking for~?” Yeah, Nocti just ratted her out on the spot without hesitation. “It feels like having wings, but not needing them to fly, yanno?” He explained, holding a hand over his heart. “It’s all here.”

Nero truly had to appreciate the absolute peace that Zhalla’s presence had given him— especially now. He was sure that this appreciation would only grow exponentially. Of course there was a certain sense of pride that he had over being the same thing for Zhalla from what he could tell. This was something that only they could give each other, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Learning to fly in the literal sense of the skill is different for everyone, you’ll figure it out. You always do.” That said, the skill itself wasn’t the point of discussion as Nocti had so gleefully and mischievously pointed out to Nero. “Maybe it means that you can fly, maybe it doesn’t. Though I will say, at least in my experience, how you feel can have an impact on skills such as flying. If you feel like you can... Who’s to say that you can’t, yanno?” Nero wouldn’t be too surprised if Zhalla was suddenly able to fly right now. Nero smiled back at Zhalla, keeping a hand over his chest. “You’re here too.”

Nero comically ‘fell’ off of the Nimbus with an exaggerated exclamation of being hit super hard, but in truth he flew at the exact same speed alongside it before he hopped back on. “I’m not sayin’ that you should try that, but if you did jump and started to fly I really wouldn’t be surprised. Something about you right now just gives off that kinda vibe that you can absolutely fly.” Regarding the facial hair, Nero just shrugged. “No idea. Won’t know til’ later.”

“To be fair, I don’t think you’d even be hurt from a fall from even higher than this just in general. You’re too tough for that.” Especially now that she has reached a legendary level of power. “I’d be more worried about the damage that could be done to the ground at this point.” Not that it would be hard to fix it up— hell, make it better than new in the process even, Namek had no shortage of skilled and kind mages.

Zhalla did seem somewhat interested in how Nero did his training to figure out flight though, and it may have been a long time since he mastered the art as she had said, however, he remembered the process and basics. “Hm. A lot of it had to do with controlling the ki around me first of all. You know how to call your aura for the most part, right? Well, it starts there in a sense. One of the things I was taught was to understand the flow of this aura so that I could direct it purposefully. A secondary thing was to try out long leaps and bounds in conjunction with directing the flow. Of course, that would be one of countless ways to do it. It worked for me because, well, I was a kid with a lot of energy without proper direction. So, it had to work with that. Eventually I stopped being subconsciously attached to landing if I didn’t want to, like I said.” Nero’s explanation touched on the methods, the reasons behind it and briefly that it may not work for everyone. “Another method is using meditation in order to focus inward rather than going for outward control, I’ve taught some people to do it that way as well lately.”

Even so, Zhalla wasn’t entirely confident about her chances in learning how to figure out flight. “Yeah. Plus, if it doesn’t work, I’ll catch you.” He promised with a bright smile. “If I had to guess, the sideburns might stick around, but not much else.” Nero commented, regarding his facial hair. “I wonder what a higher level of strength will bring as a change for me too. I feel like I both know, and don’t know, yanno?”

“Oh who cares about pride, you really think any random person is gonna try and start something with you even if you fumble? Yeah right! Since when’d you care about that?” Nero couldn’t really help himself with how vibrant his mood was right now.

“Sure, eventually I will land, but the choice at that point is mine. There’s a kind of freedom in that, you know? I think it’s beautiful in a way and you can’t really get it from anything else. If I can fly, then I won’t fall, because I choose not to.” Zhalla still wasn’t entirely convinced, but at least she seemed interested. “We can practice whenever you like and however you want, but most of all I think it’ll be fun to try. We can train for fun for once rather than prepare for some shit to go down.”

Nero let out a hearty laugh, why was Zhalla worried about him telling anyone if she slipped up? “You won’t make a fool of yourself.” He said confidently, and hell, even if she somehow managed to, it wasn’t as though he’d tell anyone.

“Yeah, a higher level of strength. Knowing that I can get to this point... I have this feeling that there is more within me, I just need time to get there.” It was an exciting feeling, he had to admit.

Zhalla eventually decided to just go for it and try the ‘into the flames’ strategy. Nocti chirped to confirm and Nero gave a thumbs up. “Ready when you are.”