It had been a long day for Asbel, the 19 year old lord of Lhant. The teenager had been in a horribly boring meeting for the majority of the morning and he was exhausted. Asbel pushed open the main doors of the manor with a heave, soaking in the mid-day sunshine. His eyes immediately locked on to Sophie. Asbel's adoptive daughter was currently sitting in the courtyard tending to her ever growing flower beds.
Asbel smiled at her as he took a seat on the steps. At the sound of his footsteps Sophie looked up, a smile spreading across her face as she noticed Asbel. "Hi Asbel! How did the meeting go?" Sophie asked cheerily. "Oh, it was fine. How are the sopherias doing?" he inquired, attempting to change the subject form his horrible boring morning activities. Sophie turned her attention back to the bright purple blossoms next to her. "They will turn into blossomgales soon. Maybe Cheria will be back in time to see them transform?" Sophie's voice was quiet but hopeful.
Cheria. The name flowed through Asbel's mind like a forgotten promise. Had it really been 3 whole months since she had left to help her relief organization? Had it really been 3 months since he had asked her if she had wanted to live with him and Sophie at Lhant Manor, and she had accepted? Had it really been that long? To Asbel it felt like longer, much much longer. It felt like endless years had gone by since he'd seen her face last. He missed her smile, her big brown eyes, but most of all, Asbel just missed having Cheria around...
Had it really been 3 months since Cheria had last been in Lhant? As she walked back into town it looked exactly as she had left it. But Cheria didn't stop to enjoy it; she had only one place on her mind now. As she walked the familiar streets of her hometown, Cheria was to consumed by her thoughts to thing about where she was walking, her feet knew where to take her. The redhead had had plenty of time as she wandered to think over a million different scenarios of what would happen when she saw Asbel again, but she still didn't feel ready to face him.
Nervousness made Cheria's stomach churn as she rounded the bend up to Lhant Manor. Cheria smiled as she took in the sight of the manor, forever a plesant sight for her sore eyes. The first thing Cheria laid eyes on as she stepped into the lush courtyard was a mass of purple hair. Sophie's hair to be exact. The Fodran girl looked up just in time to shout an excited "Cheria!" before running over to embrace her. Cheria smiled as she wrapped her arms around Sophie, planting a tender kiss on top of the girls flowing lavender locks.
As the two pulled away Cheria asked an excited "Hi Sophie! HOw have you been?" "I'm fine but..." Sophie trailed off as her ever present smile was averted in a different direction. As Sophie trailed off Cheria's eye was caught by something else. The first thing she saw was his eyes. One a startling ocean blue and the other a haunting violet color. Asbel quickly rose to his feet a shocked expression on his face as he ran a nervous hand through his already ruffled crimson hair.
"Asbel" Cheria breathed as tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. A huge, goofy grin spread across his face as Asbel darted down the steps towards Cheria. The redhead laughed as she was suddenly swept up into his arms, a warm embrace that finally secured the fact for her that she was home. "I missed you" Asbel whispered in her ear as he hugged her tighter still. Cheria buried her head into his shoulder, a few happy tears falling onto the fabric of his coat.
Cheria pulled back to wipe the tears off her cheeks as she smiled up at Asbel. "You got taller" she laughed as she tilted her head up to look him. Asbel pulled away from Cheria, holding up a finger in response to her eybrows arched in question. Asbel suddenly dropped onto one knee in front of a very stunned Cheria, pulling out a radiantly sparkling diamond ring "Cheria, I never did this properly before you left, and I don't think I could wait any longer to ask. Will you marry me Cheria Barnes?" An excited Sophie, watching from the sidelines, let an excited noise escape from her in anticipation of what was going to happen next.
Cheria felt new tears spring into her eyes as she nodded her head, completely at a loss for anything to say. Out of all the possible ways she had expected her homecoming to go, this was not one of them, but probably the best outcome she could've hoped for. Asbel slid the ring onto Cheria's hand as he stood up. He cupped her face gently in his hands, pulling her into a tender kiss. At that exact point, as if nature had forseen this moment coming, all the sopheria flowers residing in the garden suddenly bloomed into blossomgales, bursting their shining pruple confetti all over the courtyard. Asbel wrapped an arm around Cheria's waist as they pulled away from the kiss, taking Sophie's hand with his other hand.
Everything suddenly felt peaceful for the first time in 3 long months. Their family was finally together again. Everyone was finally home.
Twiz: I hope you guys liked my Cheribel story! It was fun to write after my recent Tales of Graces kick! this was lots of fun to write so I hope you guys liked reading it as much as I liked writing it! This and HubertxPascal were the cutest couples in the game imho! (maybe there's a HubertxPascal fic somewhere in the future? We shall see!)