AN: At long last; Estelle/Joshua content!
Weather (Dorothee, Emily, Stefan)
"I can't believe you two kept practicing after it started coming down!" Dorothee exclaimed, quickly wrapping a shivering Emily in a blanket. "It's awful out there."
"Y-Yeah, but it was a matter of principle, y'know? There was zero chance I was gonna leave before her and I'm guessing she felt the same way about me, so…"
"Ah, yes. I'd forgotten about the cold war you were currently part of," she sighed, handing Emily a towel to dry her hair. "Here."
"I do hope you had fun, at least?" Stefan offered, raising an eyebrow when she looked away.
"… Wasn't awful."
Faith (Estelle/Joshua)
Even after everything, the shadows still occasionally seek him out when night falls.
He'll thrash and groan and gasp, fighting enemies long gone and living memories long past, and it always ends the same way; with a gentle touch alighting on his face and stirring him from his fitful slumber, banishing the dark from wherever it came.
When he opens his eyes, he sees her gazing down at him, her fingers gently running their way through his dark hair.
She's here. Of course she's here, because she's Estelle and she always is.
He falls back asleep, dreaming of the sun.
Cover (Vivi, Linde)
"Not a word," Vivi warned, dramatically pointing at a giggling Linde.
"I wasn't going to say anything," she replied innocently, taking in the sight of her twin's normally pristine uniform covered in soil. "I think your outfit sort of speaks for itself, doesn't it?"
"Hilarious." Making a face, she strode over and plopped herself in a chair, exhausted. "The Gardening Club got a new shipment of seeds in and Edel was determined to have them all planted by sundown, so naturally me and Fie said we'd help… "
"Naturally," Linde echoed, smiling at the fondness she heard in Vivi's voice.
Dawn (Elliot)
It shouldn't have been so different.
He'd rolled out of the same bed in the same room in the same house he'd lived in his whole life, having been awoken by the sun shining through the window that he'd always looked out of. It should have been routine, like a symphony he'd played countless times… but it wasn't. Not at all.
Where was the bickering of Jusis and Machias? Where was Emma asking Fie if she'd done her homework? Where were Alisa and Rean dancing around each other as they always did?
Home had never felt quite so lonely before.