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Rose breaths out softly as she lays in bed. There's a low thrum in the back of her mind, in her bones, in her blood. There's a steady, deep beat vibrating through the house, low enough to be muffled, but the bass shook the house. Dave was awake, it seemed. Just like her. Rising from her bed, stretching limbs sore from a long day of training, of writing and of running, she walks from her lavender-decked room into the cool hallway. Mother was out for the night, deep in the laboratory. Only her and Dave were in the house tonight.
Padding along through storied halls and the living room, she crept quietly into the wing that belonged to Dave and formerly Bro. He had divorced their mother three months ago and had left, leaving Dave with Roxanna and Rose. As she approaches the door to her brother's room, she notices the glow beneath the door; vibrant, red, and pulsing. As she stretches a hand out to it, it swings open of its own volition. Looking up, she spots Dave, and breaths out. He looks like hell. Bags underneath bright, red eyes, scars along the bridge of his nose, over his eyes; piercings on his left eyebrow, both ears... Hair unkempt and so vividly blonde.
"Rose? Can't sleep either?" He asks, and she nods. Without another word, he steps aside, letting his sister into his room. She was surprised that it wasn't a mess; hers was unkempt and unruly, horrid. Taking a breath for what feels like the first time in five years, she turns to face her brother. "You miss her," he states simply, and she quietly nods. It had been two years since Kanaya had left her broken and unfixable when her death suddenly crashed into the pair. She hadn't been that old; Rainbow Drinkers never aged, as far as she understood. "I get it. I still think about Karkat," the Strider admits, and Rose gasps softly, looking at him. There's a pause, before she smiles softly and moves to take his hand. He squeezes her hand gently, and the pair move to the bed, settling down. Empty silence aside from the deep thrumming of his bass fills the room as the pair hold each other. Without any warning, Dave breaks first, a sob rising from his throat. She holds him close, pressing his face into her chest, letting him cry into her shirt; it was one of Kanaya's, soft black fabric with a gentle v-neck. There's more silence as the pair quietly cries and holds each other.
As dawn breaks over the horizon, Roxanna arrives back into the house, exhausted. She isn't surprised when she realizes Rose isn't in her room; stepping quietly into the hallway leading to Dave's room, she gently opens the door, smiling at the sight of her children clutching tightly to each other as if their very lives depended on it. They had been through so much; it was time for them to heal. She took her heels off so to not make any noise, walking into her son's room, gently pulling a blanket over the pair and dimming the lights. She didn't turn his music off, knowing it helped them sleep, and she enjoyed feeling the bass in her room.
Slipping into her own room next to her wife, she sighed. "They'll be alright, Callie. They're young," she says, turning to wrap her arms around Calliope, who snuggled into the other woman, purring. "The days of childhood youth are long gone. The time for healing is now," she whispers, slipping slowly into peaceful slumber. For the very first time, the Strilonde household felt true peace, as a brother and sister healed together, in each other's embrace.