Characters: Gauche, Droite, Yeager

Genre: Family, Comfort

Summary: Gauche and Droite try to cope with the loss of their father figure.

Thousand

Yeager was dead, and Gauche didn't know what to do with herself.

The man had taken her and Droite in as kids, had loved them and treated them like they were his own daughters, and now he was gone forever. The mere thought of it filled Gauche with so much grief and anger and helplessness that just she wanted to get rid of, but it seemed like she never would, no matter how hard she tried. She and Droite had already fought Yeager's killers in an attempt to somehow ease their pain through revenge, but they'd lost in the end.

And even if they had won, Gauche had an inkling that they wouldn't actually have felt any better anyway.

Droite didn't know what to do with herself either, and in fact, seemed to be taking it even harder than Gauche was. It scared Gauche, really—Droite had always been the bubbly and cheerful one, but ever since Yeager died, it was like the life had been completely sucked out of her. Droite used to to endlessly chatter Gauche's ear off about senseless topics; now she closed herself off and barely talked at all. She used to laugh at the littlest things; now days would pass before Gauche saw even the slightest smile grace her lips.

And sometimes, in the middle of the night, Gauche would be awoken by the sounds of Droite sobbing into her pillow. The most Gauche could ever do was slip into the other's bed and hold her sister until Droite fell still and quiet, exhausted from having cried herself to sleep.

For a long time, neither of them knew what to do with themselves.

Until Droite came up with the idea.

"I'm gonna go see Yeager," Droite proclaimed one morning as she came through the door, and a surprised Gauche looked up from her book to see her twin holding a bundle of flowers behind her back as she bowed her head down towards the floor.

It took a few moments for the words to fully sink in, and when they did, Gauche frowned in concern. "Are you sure?" Where Yeager now lay was the very same place where he had been killed, his body buried deep beneath the ocean at the base of Zaude. That place certainly didn't bring up the best of memories.

But her sister just nodded. "I'm sure. We haven't visited Yeager in a long time, and I don't want him to be lonely." And even as Droite's eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill, there was an undeniable determination in her expression. "I'm gonna go see him," she declared again, bringing the bouquet in front of her chest. "And what I want to know is if you're gonna join me."

It was only now, with a much better view of the flowers themselves, that Gauche noticed exactly what type they were—the distinctive bell shape along with the unique orange-and-black coloring of the petals characterized them as fire lilies. Yeager loved those flowers, Gauche recalled him telling them when he'd been alive, because they had been Casey's favorites.

Yeager's with Casey now.

Gauche had to blink back her own tears at that thought, and as she met Droite's equally sorrowful gaze, she knew she needed this just as much as her sister did. Gauche nodded, her eyes wet, her voice trembling with her reply. "Of course I'll come with you."

Preparations were made hastily, but that very night, they traveled out to Zaude. Immediately the next morning, they took a rowboat out on the ocean, circling around the base of the structure and leaving flowers behind to float away in their wake. The vibrant petals danced beautifully amidst the waves, and Gauche wanted to believe that wherever he was now, Yeager could see them and appreciated them too.

And by the time they had let go of all the flowers, Gauche's heart felt just the tiniest bit lighter.

Droite must have felt the same way, because as they got out of the boat, she mustered a smile, small and timid and still sad but by far the warmest one Gauche had seen grace her face in a long time. "Hey," Droite murmured, shuffling her feet, "do you think you might want to do this again next week?"

Gauche let her lips quirk into a gentle smile of their own and reached out to give her sister a soft, affectionate squeeze to the shoulder. "Yes," she whispered, "I think I'd like that a lot."

The friendly old lady at the flower shop instantly took notice of the twins as they walked in and called out to them cheerfully. "Ah, you girls again. The usual, I take it?"

"Yes ma'am." Gauche smiled politely but otherwise couldn't bring herself to reflect the same chipper mood.

The woman, as always, didn't seem to notice her lack of enthusiasm. The twins had never bothered to tell her that the bouquets they bought every week were actually offerings for a dead man. "Oh, just wait right here, dearies, I'll have them out in a moment." She disappeared into the back of the shop, and within seconds, she returned with the fire lilies in hand.

"Thanks," Droite intoned with the same measured courtesy, and Gauche fumbled for the right amount of gald out of her wallet.

"Oh, you're quite welcome. You girls are a couple of our best customers after all. Why, this bundle makes just over a thousand flowers that you've bought from us!"

The words made Gauche pause in surprise just as she laid the coins on the counter. Oh sure, they'd been picking up bouquets regularly, but had they really bought that many? After a few moments, Gauche found it in herself to venture, "...A thousand? You're sure?"

The lady took the money and continued obliviously. "Why yes, of course. We keep records, you know."

Gauche pursed her lips, quickly grabbing the flowers so that the woman wouldn't notice her sudden discomfort. "I see. Thank you." She hastily turned and paced towards the door, the sound of footsteps indicating that Droite was just on her heels, and the old woman called something out to them as they left but Gauche was too absorbed in her own thoughts to make it out.

A thousand flowers. Only now that she really thought about it did Gauche realize just what that meant, how long and how religiously they'd been visiting Yeager. When they'd begun their little ritual, it had helped them cope and made them both feel a little bit better, but that had been about eight months ago. And remarkably, for the first time since, Gauche was beginning to worry.

How much longer would they have to do this? How many more times would they have to visit Yeager's grave until the pain stopped?

...Would it ever stop?

So occupied was Gauche with these concerns that didn't say a word the entire way home. Once they were inside headquarters, Gauche blankly moved to grab her bag, as she always did before they took off for Zaude, but a hand grabbed her sleeve and stopped her. Gauche looked up to see her green-haired sister and started a bit; she'd almost forgotten that Droite was there, and Gauche belatedly realized that her twin hadn't spoken a word all this way either.

"Hey, Gauche?" Droite bit her lip nervously. "Do you think we could...not go today?"

Gauche was taken aback, even if she had just been pondering the exact same thing herself. "A-are you sure you want that?"

"Well I've...had a lot to think about," Droite said, blushing. "I guess that lady got me thinking about how much we've been seeing Yeager. And about how we can't keep this up forever."

"...Yeah. I was thinking the same thing." Admitting it aloud gave Gauche the strength to swallow the lump of hesitation that had been blocking her throat. The notion of not visiting Yeager anymore was still uncomfortable, even a bit scary, because part of her wanted to keep holding onto him forever. Yet at the same time, another part of her felt oddly liberated, and maybe that was the part she needed to listen to right now. "So, we'll call it off?"

Droite nodded in affirmation. "It's worth a try at least." Gauche watched her sister muster a small but sincere smile, and then Droite's gaze shifted to the fire lilies in Gauche's hands and she let out a sigh. "Shame those pretty flowers will go to waste, though."

But as Gauche looked down at the bouquet herself, an idea formed in her head. "Not necessarily," she murmured, and when Droite shot her a questioning glance, Gauche just smiled in return.

And a while later, when every last fire lily had been weaved into one of the two flower crowns that now rested on their heads, when Gauche was truly having fun for the first time in a long time and her lips were curling into what was definitely her brightest grin since Yeager's death, when Droite pulled her sister into a bone-crushing hug and began crying in a strange mixture of sorrow and relief and love and joy, Gauche found it in herself to crack a little joke even as her own tears fell.

"Ugh, sister raid," she mock-groaned, the playful words familiar on her tongue even if she hadn't spoken them in months.

And as Droite suddenly burst into light, giddy giggles, Gauche knew they were both going to be okay.

A/N: Btw, Gauche is the redhead.

Voice what voice.

Prompt what prompt.