❝I actually envy the size of your heart❞ asked by @cyra-the-blue​   | Fire Emblem: Three Houses Meme.

THE MIQO’TE PAUSED IN HIS MOTIONS, sanguine hues widening merely by a little – mayhap even  i n v i s i b l e  for the eyes of most – upon hearing such unexpected comment by his fellow Scion.

FOR DECADES HE WOULD HAVE BRUSHED OFF these kindly meant words as  f a l s e FLATTERY, not allowing them to ever pierce through the thick ice wall he had created to shield his very CORE. He had always taken such remarks with a soft, scarcely even visible smile beneath his cowl – and perchance, just very rarely, he even offered one small nod of gratitude. Yet eventually the man was pondering – particularly during the first years of his arrival in the First when he still so desperately attempted to  b u r y  his former life – evaluating what he had   d o n e. And albeit he had already begun to let his memories, his identity fade to OBLIVION as soon as he took the first breath after awakening from his almost two centuries long slumber deep inside the central spire of the Crystal Tower, not all of his former self has completely withered over the years.

WAS IT TRULY KINDNESS WHICH DROVE HIM to such extends, to reach out his hands and in  f o o l i s h   attempt to grasp the very stars which were so unreachable for so many years? Oh, he had to admit his intentions were not as noble in the very beginning albeit born from moments of true TRAGEDY. How odd it still sounded to his ears, after so many years… Well, for one part of his soul at least who was still so very used to swallow words, to hold himself back for the sake of childish dreams and hopes. This part of him who felt  s u f f o c a t e d  by the very world he lived in.

BUT NOW, AT LONG LAST, the very heart of him who had also awakened from its deep slumber finally understood what they meant. These were still exaggerations, to be sure, but without the  c o u n t l e s s  LESSONS he had painfully learned in the First he would have never seen so much value in any creation.

THOSE WERE LESSONS NOT EVEN HIM, an ARCHON, could have found between any forbidden page of a tome – it was not part of the worldly knowledge one had to seal away, unseen for many generations until the next curious minds discovered it once again. The lessons of anticipating the unknowing, of  f a i l i n g  – of  s e e i n g  the world slowly falling apart upon the choices one made. Truly – in the darkest hours even the faintest precious moments could be filled with light and hope alike. Kindness, love, warmth, companionship – all of that was never truly lost even in one  d y i n g  WORLD.

LIPS WERE CURLING INTO A SOFT SMILE, his gaze softening upon the realization that he no longer had to fear of becoming attached to the world – of feeling it slipping through his fingers like dry sand.