Work Text:
5 years.
Something about that time frame felt surreal to Joshua. It has been 5 years since his entire world shattered.
It was so sudden. One moment, he’s enjoying himself with his sister Karin and close friend Loewe in Hamel. Only for that to all crumble to dust in mere moments. Soldiers captured Joshua and Karin; Loewe was missing, and their entire home was wiped off the map as if it never existed. Those days of being dragged around helplessly into occupied land, locked in those cold cells, waiting for their captors to decide what to do with them were the most terrifying days in his life. The smell of blood from outside the cells, most likely from the other captured victims of that war. The screaming. It was horrific.
If it weren’t for Cassius Bright, he and Karin wouldn’t be alive to this day.
They were escorted to the Mercia Orphanage near Ruan. And since then, they have been trying to adjust. They chose to remain at the orphanage. There was nowhere else for them to go; their home no longer existed. Erebonia left them to die, and they had no desire to return to that country if their home wasn’t there to return to. So the two remained at the orphanage for the last 5 years.
“Joshua?” A gentle voice echoed. He turned his head to look towards the voice and spotted Karin standing at the door of their bedroom. “Have you seen Miss Theresa anywhere?”
Joshua looked outside the window, noticing a rainy night clouding the sky. He didn’t even notice how late it was. He had an unfortunate habit of getting lost in his thoughts.
“No. I haven’t.” He answered, before standing up from his bed. “Is something wrong?
Karin shook her head. “It’s just late. She’s usually back by now.”
Joshua looked down in worry. Could something have happened to her?
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Karin reassured before grabbing Joshua’s hand gently. “Let’s try practicing my harmonica while we wait. You’ve been bugging me about how you want to get good at it.”
“Okay.” He nodded, and the two of them went downstairs to the first floor of the orphanage. As they walked, Joshua spotted one of those Liberl News articles opened up on the counter, and he quickly peered over to look at it. He always liked keeping up with the news, and strangely, he couldn’t find this week's paper in the morning. It seems someone else had grabbed it first. He went over to look at it before Karin snatched it out of his hands.
“Sorry. There’s nothing to see in this one; I’ve read it already.” Karin quickly explained as she lifted it away from him. Joshua looked puzzled as to why she was keeping the article away from him. All it did was make him more curious. Karin seemed to notice his growing curiosity as well, but she refused to budge.
“Let’s focus on the harmonica practice, okay?” She said sweetly with a smile, putting the article on the kitchen counter.
“Why are you hiding it in the first place?” Joshua asked. Karin looked downwards and sighed.
“I…I just don’t…. It’s a lot to take in, what happened.…" Karin explained. “You’ll find out eventually, so I’ll let you read it, but please, let’s enjoy practicing in peace before.” She turns to look at the paper. “Before that becomes all we think about for the rest of the night.”
Joshua noticed how sad Karin looked. Whatever was on that news article must’ve been some major accident. He decided to stop pushing since she said she would tell him eventually.
“I understand,” Joshua responded, and Karin gave him a relieved smile. Two of them walked to the nearby table, and she handed Joshua her harmonica. He held it gently in his hands, staring at it. He remembered how often she used to play it in Hamel, but now she rarely does. Perhaps it brought back memories that were too much for her to bear.
“The Whereabouts of Light?” Joshua asked, wondering if that was the song she wanted him to practice today. She nodded, and so he began playing it.
It didn’t take long for him to become fully absorbed in the song. The song was a reminder of what he had lost: Loewe and his home. He made a few mistakes here and there, but for the most part, he played the song well. The tune brought him back to the outskirts of Hamel, where they used to all spend time together. Karin would sit there, playing the harmonica while he and Loewe would sit nearby listening to her beautiful playing. Joshua doubted he would ever reach the same level as his sister, but he wanted to be able to do justice to the song that meant so much to both of them. As Joshua was nearing the end of the song, he was startled as someone burst through the door.
Karin jumped out of the chair in surprise. “Miss Theresa, what happened…” Her eyes trailed down to what their caretaker was carrying in her arms. It was a young girl with brown hair, covered in a blanket. “Is she okay?!” Karin ran up to Theresa, looking down at the shivering girl.
“I found her unconscious outside of Ruan, soaking wet from the rain. Ready one of the beds for her. We can find her parents tomorrow; she might have gotten lost.” Miss Theresa explained. Karin nodded and quickly ran upstairs to get one of the empty beds ready. Joshua was staring at the girl, specifically at her face.
“Who is she?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen the girl in Ruan before; maybe her family was visiting town and she got lost. Don’t worry, she’ll be okay.”
Joshua nodded and watched as she took the mystery girl upstairs. He was about to follow, before he noticed the Liberl news article hanging near the edge of the kitchen counter. Karin did say he could look at it once he finished practicing, so he did just that. He walked over to the counter, grabbed the article, and opened it up. His face froze the moment he read the breaking headline.
He couldn’t believe what it said. It sounded like something truly impossible. He rubbed his eyes, trying to make sure he was reading it right. But the text was still there.
“Divine Blade of Liberl, Cassius Bright found dead outside home.” Was the headline. And the details just got worse the more he read.
“It is unfortunate for us to deliver this news, but it’s been discovered that Cassius Bright, the lead commander of the Liberl Royal military during the Hundred Days War, was found dead outside his home last week. The cause of death or the identity of the culprit is unknown as of now; the only publicly available info is that the body was discovered the following morning by a member of the bracer guild that had recently been stationed in Rolent. The military wishes for their identity to remain anonymous for now, which we will respect, of course. Currently, the military and Bracer Guild are conducting a joint investigation to discover the culprit behind this horrible tragedy. The queen had this to say about the incident.”
‘We owe so much to Cassius Bright. Without his effort, Liberl wouldn’t be in the time of peace it is now. It’s truly shocking to think we would lose a brilliant man so suddenly. May he rest in peace along with his wife and daughter, who were lost in the war.’
“The queen has announced that a funeral will be held in the coming week to honor the Divine Blade.”
Joshua stopped reading the article there. It felt so impossible. The thought that someone as strong as the Divine Blade could be killed was astounding to him. Without him, he and Karin would've been dead. He felt his hands trembling as he stared at the article and quickly placed it back onto the counter, where Karin had left it. He understood why she was so horrified by this article and why she wanted to hide it from him. Because somewhere, there is someone who was able to best and murder the Divine Blade of Liberl. Who could possibly be skilled enough to be capable of that? No common thug would have been able to achieve that feat, and that was an unnerving truth.
Joshua lay silently on his bed as the night grew darker. Karin and Theresa had laid the girl down on the bed on the other side of the room. The two of them were downstairs discussing things Joshua wasn’t allowed to hear; his eyes were locked onto the girl. She looked afraid in her sleep, like she was having a nightmare. It might be the coldness of the rain causing that though.
“I’m sorry.” The girl whispered out in her sleep, much to Joshua’s surprise. Then it was followed up by tears coming down her closed eyelids. “I-I’m sorry.”
Joshua got out of bed and walked up to the girl. He wondered what the girl must be dreaming about to make her cry in her sleep. He used to experience something similar after he arrived here during the Hundred Days War. Karin would always gently wake him up and remind him that they were okay. So he tried doing that since ignoring her obvious distress felt wrong to him.
It was a bit odd being on the other side of it now, instead of being one who got comforted. He had no idea how to go about it as he stood next to the girl. He raised his hand and gently tried shaking the girl awake. Not too hard, but enough to have her stir slightly. He didn’t want to scare her accidentally and make things worse. After a couple of gentle shakes, he noticed the girl’s eyes start to open slightly, revealing that they were crimson-colored.
“Are you okay?” Joshua asked the crying girl. Her eyes suddenly jolted awake, and she looked horrified. She looked almost like she was about to jump at him and attack, which startled Joshua.
“Where am I?! Who are- Ow!!” The girl jumped up, hitting her forehead on the bed above. Joshua visibly winced hearing the loud sound; that must’ve been painful. The girl grasped her head tightly, wincing in pain.
“A-Are you okay?” Joshua was slightly intimidated by this loud girl, but he tried approaching her again.
“Who are you?! How did I get here?!” The girl asked, looking around the room she was in.
“The Matron found you alone outside unconscious, so she brought you to the orphanage.”
“The orphanage… Right.. I’m in Ruan…” She thought aloud to herself before trying to step out of bed.
“Where are you going?” Joshua asked.
“Outside, I can’t be here. You’ll get hurt; being around me at all is a terrible idea. So I’ll do you a favor and leave. Thanks, but I’ll only bring you all trouble.” The girl tried walking out of bed before stumbling over her feet. She clearly was exhausted.
“Can’t you tell you need to rest?” Joshua asked.
“Can’t you mind your own business?” She retorted with a glare, trying to force herself onto her feet.
“If you want to leave, you can tomorrow. The Matron said she’ll look for your parents tomorrow. And if nothing turns up, she can submit a request for the Bracer Guild to help you. It’s raining and dark out. You should stay the night.” Joshua tried to reassure her, although he noticed the girl zone out the moment he said the word “parents”.
She let out a small laugh before smiling at Joshua, although he could tell she was forcing it. “Don’t worry, there’s no point in exhausting yourselves over that. I don’t have any parents… Not anymore.”
“You're an orphan?” Joshua asked aloud. It would explain why she was alone at all, but why was she alone in the middle of the night? Did her parents just leave her to rot on the side of the road and were done with it? The idea of that angered him even more.
“I guess,” she answered, almost as if she hadn’t fully realized that until now.
“Then you should stay. Where are you even going to go if you leave? Back to sleep in the rain?”
The brown-haired girl stayed silent for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. “Fine, if that’s only to make you happy, alright?” She slowly stood up from the floor and walked back to the bed she had been lying on before.
“What’s your name?” The girl asked as she lay back down on the bed.
“Joshua, Joshua Astray. What about you?”
The girl went silent for a moment, almost as if she were trying her best to figure out the right words for her answer. It was odd because surely your name would come to mind immediately when asked about it. But she sat there, deliberately considering how she was going to answer the question until she did a soft nod and said:
“Estelle.”
Joshua waited a moment to hear her last name, but that never came out of her mouth.
“Just Estelle?” He asked.
“Yeah… just Estelle.” She answered before letting out a soft yawn. She sounded really sad as she said that. She looked out the nearby window; the rain was starting to clear up, and the bright moon was visible, its light brightening the sky.
“It’s nice to meet you then, Estelle.” Joshua went to his own bed and lay down. He heard the girl shift to her side to sleep. Something about Estelle stood out to Joshua. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he kept thinking about how she was crying in her sleep and the brief expression of horror she had in her eyes when she woke up. That all disappeared the moment she noticed him. It was like she was expecting to see something far more dangerous. Joshua had a feeling there was way more to this girl than it seemed. Well, there’s no point in worrying about it tonight; he could always ask more questions tomorrow.
“Goodnight, Estelle,” Joshua said before his eyes started drifting off to sleep. Unfortunately for Estelle, her night terrors refused to let her sleep for the rest of the night, something Joshua would grow familiar with in the coming days.