Chariot stretched her arms as she finally finished grading the pile of papers on her desk. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, feeling tired. When she was young, she has never thought that being a teacher would be this hard.
She looked at the clock, and decided it was time for bed. She gently petted a sleeping Alcor, and shut off all lights, before heading to her bed.
She lied down, covering herself with her blankets. She pulled her phone and stared at it.
Right on cue, it started vibrating, and she didn't hesitate to answer the call.
"Hi." A calm and low voice brought the biggest smile to Chariot's face. "It's way past your bedtime, no wonder you're always tired." The voice teased her and she found herself chuckling.
"As if you have the right to talk." Chariot said, and brought a hand to her chest, resting it against her racing heart. "How was your day?" She asked.
"The usual research, except this time a raccoon adopted me." Croix sighed. "In case you're wondering, he kept clinging to me the whole day, then stole my phone, and now he's outside, staring from the window…"
"What?" The red head chuckled. "That's cute!"
"How was your day?"
"Akko almost sat the school on fire today. Diana had to fix everything." Chariot stated, and the memory still gave her stress. One of these days, her heart might not take all the trouble Akko gets into.
"Reminds me of a certain red head back in the day who actually sat the school on fire." Croix laughed through the phone, causing her girlfriend to blush in embarrassment.
"Croix!"
"What? You've done worse!"
"Croix…"
The two laughed, and started talking about all kinds of topics, and it didn't matter what they were, they just wanted to hear each other's voices.
Eventually, Chariot started feeling too tired to continue the conversation.
"You should go to bed."
"I am in bed." Chariot muttered, before sighing. "I miss you." She said softly, and there was a pause after that.
"I miss you too, but I'll be back before you know it. I'm close to finding the cure." Croix explained. "I have to do this Chariot." What she meant to say was that she wanted to prove to herself that she could do better, but this wasn't the time to talk about this.
"I love you." Chariot sighed, but this time, she smiled.
"I love you too, Char."
Their call ended, and they were both left with the feeling of emptiness. Chariot extended her hand to the rest of her bed, and imagined Croix sleeping next to her. All she wished for was to have her near, and to hold her.
But she'll wait for her, she has already waited so long.
Croix on the other side, looked at her notes one last time, then at a small box on her desk. She opened it, revealing a ring. She smiled as she closed it, and lied on her bed.
Soon, she'll go home to Chariot.