In the distance, the night sky became even darker as clouds passed through, obscuring the light of the stars and moon. With the large, dark clouds came rain, a thunderstorm. The first rumble that rolled across the horizon was barely audible, like the distant growl of a slumbering beast. It wasn't until midway through the night that the slumbering beast awoke. Lightning flickered in the sky, illuminating and heralding the beast's arrival.
BANG!
"Woah!" Saori's scream was drowned out by the deafening thunder directly over her head. She jerked away, blankets flying from her body as she shot upright. She rested a hand over her thundering heart, feeling foolish. Then a second later, she remembered—"Wait… Sophia!"
For a second time, without thinking, Saori let her body take control. She catapulted from bed and raced down the little hall that connected to the living room of her little apartment. She skidded to a halt a second later. Huh…?!
The sofa was empty. "Sophia? Sophia?!" Saori was quiet at first, growing louder and more frantic. As if to taunt her, thunder rolled overhead again. She jumped, then cursed at the ceiling. It was then that she felt her phone finally vibrate in her hand.
Sorry. On roof.
"WHAT?!" For a third time, Saori went flying. The entire trip up the apartment stairwell was a blur, and the next thing she knew, she'd thrown up to heavy, metal door to the roof, wide-eyed and breathless. Sophia sat on the ledge, staring up at the rain. What…?!
Saori had just enough self-awareness to force herself to take a deep breath and try to calm down before she spoke. "Sophia. What are you doing?"
"O-oh… S-sorry… Saori…" Sophia drew in on herself, making herself smaller. She could sense the emotions of others like dogs sensing storms in the air. It was what years of neglect and emotional abuse did to someone. I can tell… I made her worried… I'm sorry, Saori… I'm bad…
She had not yet realized that her vaguely-worded text frightened Saori, but she could feel the tension radiating off Saori even through the downpour.
"I was just… listening to music… and admiring the rain…" Sophia continued softly, still too afraid to turn around. She raised a hand slowly to the rain, and even though it was night, Saori could see the outline of Sophia's arm rise. Saori could still only blink and shake her head.
Is she crazy? It's a very Sophia answer, but… Then again, maybe Saori was the crazy one. After all, after failing to convince Sophia to come with her back inside, she instead retreated inside alone. She came back a minute later with two raincoats and umbrellas.
Sophia's eyes went wide with awe, then she smiled. She was tearing up, but she knew Saori would never be able to tell. She was already soaked, and felt comfortable rather than cold, but the gesture meant more to Sophia than Saori would ever truly realize. It was also then that Saori realized why she was lucky enough that Sophia happened to have her phone on hand when Saori panic-texted her moments ago. As Sophia said, she was listening to music and watching the rain. Shielding her phone under her coat, she showed it to Saori.
"It's pouring, pouring, pouring, ahh!" The strains of soft, sweet, high-pitched vocalization cut through the storm and Saori's eyes lit up, both in recognition, and because of another flash of lightning above. Ah yes, the song that brought them together. The haphazardly-recorded, impromptu-cover of "Rainy AMEZA" that Saori's friend uploaded to her YouTube channel was what led Sophia to discover Saori, but it was Sophia/Abyssmare's "Raindrops" that allowed Saori to complete the connection and discover Sophia in return.
"I- I- I- I know w-w-we give Elsie a- a- a- a lot of… c-crap… s-sometimes…" Ok, a lot of the times. "But…" As a VJ and artist, she was undeniably talented. "The natural rain is beautiful, yes, but she has a way with it, a certain kind of magic… She can bring out the charm and beauty of every silver and crystal or diamond raindrop… shining…"
Then there was Weronika, who could embody the power of the tempest and thunder, the melancholy of the icy rain, and even the playfulness of rubber boots splashing in puddles. And of course, there was Neo, her siren-song voice tying them together on the winds of the storm. And Sophia was the running water of the eponymous raindrops, voice cascading behind Neo's. The song was always written to be a duet.
"B-b-but in t-t-truth…" For a time, Sophia's stutter vanished, as she got lost in the conversation with Saori. Now, though, it was back. "T-t-to m-m-me… Th-th-the most important… person… in th-th-this song is… you."
"Me?!" Saori reared back, and the weather again toyed with her, thunder and lightning occurring at the same time.
"W-w-well, w-w-without you… I never w-w-w-would've written th-that s-song… And w-w-we… might never have… m-m-m-met this way…!" Sophia couldn't meet Saori's eyes, thankful for the raindrops that obscured her vision so she had an excuse to blink and look down.
As Sophia continued to reveal to Saori, although it was painfully and stereotypically emo, she found solace and comfort in raindrops and teardrops. It was a rare case where facing her fear brought her more comfort rather than less. Long before Abyssmare's song came into existence, Sophia felt a special connection to rain and storms. Now, when she saw raindrops and teardrops, she thought of Saori.
The girl who went from being a nobody to me, to someone I vague knew, to a rival, to an unexpected friend and roommate… Sophia's lips finally twitched into a smile, rainwater running off the corners of them. I think of her, and the song she wrote for me. It's the only cover I need…
Her eyes darted to the two umbrellas resting against the ledge. Saori was in her coat, and Sophia's was loosely draped around her shoulders. I wonder… is it intentional that neither of us felt the need for the umbrellas too, or am I reading too much into this?
It was what musicians, poets, songwriters, and storywriters did. Sophia and Saori's "Raindrop AMEZA" remix echoed first in Sophia's mind, then her phone, and she and Saori's voice. This was the original duet she thought of when she first heard "Rainy AMEZA" all those years ago.
Hidin' 'neath no umbrella… They would walk through that rain—face painful memories of the past—gladly, together.
Sophia's connection to storms was strengthened, and it created an unwittingly comedic contrast in different parts of her personality. She was completely unruffled by the storm, even though it was hanging right over their heads, the lightning blinding and the thunder deafening, but she'd nearly panicked and dropped her phone off the ledge as she got Saori's panicked text. Instead of backing off the ledge first, with shaking hands, Sophia immediately began typing on her phone, and then the raindrops interfered, but she was too panicked panic-texting Saori to stop, and instead only shrieked as she and her phone nearly slipped off the rainy ledge. Nearly.
Despite her near-death-experience—which she would be forever relieved that Saori did not witness, even though it made her feel guilty to think that—Sophia insisted on staying in the rain and storm until it passed. It was too loud and frequent for either of them to go back to bed anyway. But once the storm finished passing over, the two girls finally retreated indoors, the last of their duet fading with the last of the thunder and rain.
Half an hour later, they lay side by side in Saori's bed. The reason Sophia typically slept on the couch was not because of any bad blood between them, but a mutual shyness. The roommate situation was rather sudden, after all. The raindrops, though, resolidified their connection, and at least for that night, they shared Saori's bed with only Sophia's phone between them. Emanating from it was an alternating solo, quartet, and duet. "Rainy AMEZA", "Raindrops", "Raindrop AMEZA". In their biased opinion, the third song had the most charm.
Let it rain a little, little, little, little. Walk with me through that rain, for as it is, we'll always drop, won't hide 'neath an umbrella. These raindrops, teardrops, in my heart!
AN: Based on an IRL storm that woke me up like nine hrs ago, LOL! I legit couldn't go back to bed, not because I was scared, but because the thunder was so loud, so I legit just got up and wrote this story LOL! I got the random, funny idea of Sophia being completely unafraid of a raging, violet Storm, but then panicking when Saori appears, LOL!
This also uses a bit of canon from my "Abyssmare and Unichord Rarepair Week 2023" fic I posted about a year ago today, in that I have no reason for these 2 to be roommates, but since the Rarepair was an AU, they became friends and Sophia spent an increasing amount of time at Saori's apartment because they were falling in love.
That said, feel free to change their ages in your head to whatever makes you comfortable. IMO this chapter can be platonic or romantic.
