Twenty Days of Tears: Prologue
She couldn't say it was the easiest job in the world, but it was something she enjoyed and took pride in, the years she'd proceeded in her doll making. The Albisian girl was one to rush for deadlines and scramble for creativity; she was one to create "adorable masterpieces", as she worded them - that would attract the hearts of innocent young girls. True to her wording, her dolls sold in Catan was famous across Yodaka and the Yussari districts, and it was how she settled her living during her life of solitude at a young age.
It was such in how the life of a young, orphaned girl - Sylvette Suede, had proceeded with every day, this being another of her tranquil evenings she spent at home through every day. It was always her alone in the kitchen, and as she continued fiddling with her stitches of yarn, she waited for the soup to cook in the old pot, that had rusted over the years with every day she used it. The table appeared slightly untidy with her tools and pieces of yarn scattered around, as she continued with another base of her dolls, this time being another one of her trademark teddy bears. She had the basic structures with the limbs and shapes ready, but adding the detail itself was inevitably difficult. Challenging as it was, the enjoyment of her completing a doll was something she'd always look forward to.
Halting her work temporarily again in response to the rubbling sound of the pot, she decided the soup would be different today; apart from her standard vegetables and the original recipe from the canned soup, she decided to top off a few extra ingredients to nourish the flavour. Apart from doll making, the young girl also had a passion for cooking, and it wasn't surprising that she was also talented at it, and would get visitors to her house, even if only to share a meal with. Particularly Connor, and as she continued with her soup she remembered he and Zazie would arrive in two days time for dinner. (Of course, with the exception of her soup, in which again no one has had the courage to be frank to her yet). Taking a small portion with a wooden spoon, she tantalized her tongue softly on the small sip of her newly made soup, feeling satisfied with her improvisation.
She turned to the nearby clock that informed her that Lag and the others would be back very soon, deciding to set up the table for dinner, setting aside her undone work. Subconsciously, she suddenly felt mildly more down, as if she anticipated something dreadful were too happen. It hindered her for a brief moment before she disregarded it, setting down three bowls of her special soup on the table.
"We're back!" The front door opened and welcomed the familiar footsteps of a certain Albisian Bee boy and his golden-haired Maka dingo that entered Sylvette's residence. As if she had anticipated their arrival perfectly - wondering perhaps how habitually such a thing had grown for the extensive time they had shared together - she rolled herself to the door, and, with a nostalgic phrase, "Welcome back!" She replied them, pleased at their return. For a girl that spent most of her life in solitude, their company was certainly something she treasured and looked forward to with every day.
It wasn't long until she got closer to the young Letter Bee that she realized something was different with him as he returned that evening. Sylvette examined Lag, her housemate for nearly four years on end, and the shine of his Letter Bee uniform seemingly dirtied, dampened by what seemed to be rain water or mud. His Albisian white hair that grew over the years admittedly needed a trim at this point, and like his clothes, mud seemed to stain his thick layers of white, fine strands. Sylvette barely held her nose on the mild, unpleasant stench of sweat along with the displeasing odour of the dirt from outside. What in Amberground had he been doing?
Niche, with her morphing golden hair, seemingly untainted by the toils of their journey, gently stroked Steak, who appeared rather tired, on the head.
"You're very tired, Lag..." Sylvette said. "And look at you, you're in quite a mess, are you not? But if you're so worked up like this, why isn't Niche like that as well? Did something happen?"
Niche suddenly began to rant frustratingly, rotating her golden pigtails as if they were windmills - rather, their sharp edges made them more like razor blades, since their sharp edges meant that cutting through anything in the house would require little effort. Thankfully, she didn't manage to break anything - Lag and Sylvette would cringe at the expenses that cost them in an effort to relieve the damage Niche dealt sometimes.
"Niche was forced to not help Lag for one full day of deliveries! Niche was really bored! Niche hated it!" Even after so long, Niche's ways remained child-like, and Lag knew better than anyone in that it would take more than time itself for the Maka-born girl to grow. Sylvette giggled slightly, amused as she understood her frustration.
"Oh, I'm sorry..." Lag apologized, sheepishly smiling. "I suppose I kind of got roughed up in today's delivery. After all, I had to cross Shark Cape, so there was a lot of climbing involved, and I had to fight a Gaichuu as well. Simultaneously, it was also a sudden test to that of which I would make deliveries without Niche's help, in accord to a request from the government..."
"A request?" Sylvette was more concerned than curious. Lag had been working himself off his own limits lately; it was hard enough to find him in the morning since he'd leave the house with Niche before she woke up.
"My Akatsuki promotion. I just got it today."
"You're...being promoted to Akatsuki?" Her words came out slowly as her tone grew faint, as if her surprise had manifested into something and strangled her neck. Inevitably, parts of her also began to shiver, although she tried to keep it in.
"Yup!" Lag's embarrassment shifted to prideful excitement. "I finally got it after all my hard work! Isn't that great?"
"And...when are you being promoted?"
"I'll be heading there in say...twenty days. On the 313th day, two days after the Day of the Flicker, on the eleventh Niku Bifrost train."
"I see...That's...great, isn't it? Congratulations, Lag, Niche." Sylvette found it hard to excite herself over the matter. Pleased as she was for her friend - no, family -for his achievement, her heart began to peel beneath the happy facade she responded Lag with.
"Thank you, Sylvette. I should be grateful to you, for taking care of us for so long. We wouldn't have done it without you, of course."
"The soup's ready on the table! I'll just go settle something in my room and I'll set up the bread and cheese, OK?" Finishing her response somewhat hastily, Sylvette rolled to the halls towards her room, leaving the Albisian boy mildly curious.
She made sure the door was closed as she stared out into the balcony, watching the dark, starless evening sky. She stayed inside the darkness of the room, as she could restrain herself no longer. Her body began to quiver as a teardrop slid down her cheek as if a transparent knife of sadness had sliced through her, before her azure eyes succumbed to the streams of water that were no longer held back. Having heard such news made her sad.
She wanted not to progress through the toils of losing someone she loved yet again. Within every day Lag spent with her, her untouched feelings only continued to expand. She saw in him the brother she had lost, yet at times there was the wall of uneasiness that separated from him, that made her heart race with everything he had done for her - he had been her beacon of hope, and through time and time, he had evidenced it with his many deeds. When her brother Gauche had disappeared, it was Lag who helped her escape from the shackles she enveloped herself with, and better yet, Lag's effort had actually returned her brother back to her, even if it was merely his own shell. Noir had visited her once in a while throughout the years, and maintaining their connections was something that made her very happy. Of course, all the happy things that happened in her life had Lag as the common denominator; it was thus throughout the years did the Albisian girl realized in her current age she had truly fallen for the boy.
Yet for a girl with the bitter past of losing someone she loved at a young age, Sylvette feared she was seeing in Lag her brother Gauche's adamant determination all over again. She remembered the day when the rainfall signified the day Aria revealed to her with the heartbreaking news of her brother's disappearance, and how she delusionally tried to bear with it as the years passed. Even if things turned out well in the end, having lost someone so dear - having been hurt like that - and having that repeat itself would give her only the pain beyond salt in an open wound. And would her ever stronger feelings for Lag - the boy she loved but would lose in three weeks - hurt more than her relinquished resolve towards her brother?
At that moment, what saddened her above all else, however, was that she was sad towards Lag's happiness. She blamed herself for tearing up in response to one of the widest smiles Lag had given her in the time they shared.
Why should it be - for her to face Lag's genuine smile with teardrops of such sorrowful, perhaps selfish remembrance?