What You Need To Do

^{“Come on, Rhapsody, keep up, your legs are nearly as long as mine.” The blonde lion looked back at his red fox friend who was analyzing a ladybug crawling up a tree trunk. She turned her head to cast him a tired, defeated glance. He could tell that Rhapsody was thinking about Ignis, about how much she missed him. He couldn’t argue with her, she was mourning. Stepping around Rhapsody to sit on her opposite side, he laid his tassel tipped tail around her body.}

^{He watched her face as she stared at the bug. No matter how hard Erdrick had tried, he couldn’t seem to get Rhapsody to perk up here. It held too many bad memories for her, too much loss and too much heartache. He could relate. He’d moved countless times for the same reason.}

^{Perhaps this was another one. “Let’s go on an adventure.” He nudged her shoulder with his one and lifted himself to his paws. Walking a few paces, he turned to look at Rhapsody, staring at him with that miserable gaze that he hated so much.“You’ll like it, I promise. Have I ever led you to anything that you didn’t like?” If worse came to worst, he could just pick her up and carry her.}

^{“Why does everyone keep leaving me here? When are you going to up and leave me here too?” She questioned, glowering at him.}

^{Part of Erdrick wanted to yell at her for being such an idiot and putting herself through so much stress of keeping the medic position she had no idea how to work. But he couldn’t do that. Not after she had lost her son and seen what a monster her only daughter had become. With a soft sigh, he turned back yet again and planted himself down in front of the fox, towering over her. “Listen, do you think I’d get anywhere by just leaving people left and right? I’d never get anything done if I just left you here. Why would I leave you? Give me a good reason.”}

^{Erdrick didn’t have to look into Rhapsody’s thoughts to know that she was drawing a blank. “Besides,” he continued. “You’d just bother me with your silly thoughts from across the map anyway, so I might as well just keep you around.”}

^{About to stand up again, he paused when Rhapsody asked another question. “Am I being punished because I left my parents?”}

^{Wow, they were getting dumber. “No, you are not. That’s dumb. You leaving had no effect on whether they lived or died. If you had stayed there, you probably would have ended up dead as well. You didn’t do anything to get punished for anything. Besides make a few dumb choices, but those are forgivable.” Standing up at last, Erdrick ended the conversation.}

^{“Now, are you coming with me, or are you staying here?” He questioned, raising an eyebrow at her. “It’s time to go and you can stay here and mope around or come with me.” He prompted as he started his walk away. He couldn’t help the smile creeping onto his face when he heard the little fox following after him.}

^{“Where are we going?” Rhapsody questioned.}

^{“I don’t know, Rhapsody, I don’t know everything!” The winged lion grumbled in reply.}

^{“Well, you know quite a bit and that’s good enough for me.”}

^{“Thanks, Rhapsody.”}

^{He wasn’t going to tell Rhapsody where they were going until they were almost there. Erdrick was afraid that would make the little fox change her mind. He knew, given the choice, that she would stay here and put herself through endless stress and misery just to say she had done something good for the group. Rhapsody didn’t believe in her worth as a person in the slightest. Erdrick couldn’t recall a time she had ever spoken about just herself. It was always about someone else and, frankly, he was sick of it. He didn’t come here to listen to what everyone else had to say. He had come here for Rhapsody, not for the Flights.}

^{Really, the lion hadn’t been prepared for the amount of emotional baggage the little fox had carried with her from her home to the Exiles and now to here. It seemed as if more just kept being piled on. Despite what Rhapsody insisted, she didn’t deserve any of this. Any strange curse or debt she had had should have been paid off the second her litter of foxes died.}

^{It was strange to notice parallels between Rhapsody and Merriam Rose. Rhapsody had been born long after Merriam had died. To Rhapsody, Merriam is just a legend that existed somewhere in the world. They were strikingly similar, not in looks, but in their temperament. Bull-headed and horribly stubborn, always testing his patience, annoying in this strangely endearing way that he couldn’t bring himself to be mad at. Merriam had lost her life fighting for her people in a job that she hadn’t asked for, nor wanted. She had never taken a break or let herself rest and that had been her ultimate downfall. That wasn’t going to happen to Rhapsody. It couldn’t happen to Rhapsody.}

^{“You’re a good medic, Rhap.” He mumbled, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.}

^{Rhapsody cast him a weird, bewildered look. “I’m a horrible medic.”}

^{“Oh, I know. I would never want you to treat my wounds, you’d probably poison me. But you try very hard. You should put all of that into something you love. You’d be much happier.” He turned his head to look down at her. She stared back at him. Sadness crept at the corners of her mind.}

^{“I can’t do that. The Flights--”}

^{“Enough about the Flights! Was I talking about them? No, I was talking about you. You need to do what if best for you, Rhapsody, or else you’ll regret it. You need to choose for yourself. You don’t need to do something just because it makes other people happy. That’s dumb. You’re more important than that. I don’t want to see you end up dead from stress.” He scolded, furrowing his brow. They were on the border now.}

^{His words seemed to have hit something in Rhapsody’s brain. He could feel the floodgates of realization open up. She understood now. Bending down, Erdrick pressed his nose to the top of Rhapsody’s head. “You don’t know how important you are, Rhapsody. I came all the way out here for you. I don’t make special trips for just anyone.”}

^{“What’re you saying?” Rhapsody asked, blinking at him.}

^{“That I care about you? What else would I be saying?”}

^{“I thought this is the moment you’re going to leave.”}

^{“I am. You’re coming with me.”}

^{“Erdrick, I can’t, I have Ignis and medic stuff--”}

^{He stopped her. “Do you want to come?”}

^{A pause. “Yes.”}

^{“Then come on. You don’t have wings, it’s going to take forever to walk all the way there.” Erdrick told her, making his way across the border and through the trees.}

^{Rhapsody paused, glancing back behind her and then to Erdrick. “Aren’t we going to say goodbye?” She asked, her heart racing in her chest. Could she really leave forever? She trusted Erdrick more than anything. She knew he wouldn’t kill her or take her back to the Exiles but… Where else would they go? There wasn’t really any other place that she knew of?}

^{The answer was simple. “No, you don't owe them anything, Rhap.”}

^{Rhapsody rocked back and forth on her paws, weighing her options and bargaining with him as the blonde lion continued his walk away. “And what about my things? And Ignis?”}

^{“I’ll get them.”}

^{He seemed to have it all figured out. She envied that about Erdrick. He always seemed to be put together when he wasn’t. Maybe that was what had made her admire him in the first place. He was stoic and business-like, but he wasn’t cold. Grouchy, but not frigid and unwelcoming.}

^{Without another thought, Rhapsody knew what she needed to do.}

^{“Stop walking so fast!” She huffed, kicking up leaf litter as she bounded to Erdrick’s side and fell into step with him. “My legs are still shorter than yours, I don’t care what you say!” Her words earned a soft chuckle from the winged lion.}

^{“I love you, Erdrick. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”}

^{“Love you too, Rhap. You’re an okay friend, yourself. I think you’ll like where we’re going.”}

^{“I know I will.”}