Fireworks
Disclaimer: Kitty does not own Tales of the Abyss

You are cordially invited to the New Year’s Eve celebration at Baticul Castle on Celsi-Decan 31, ND2022. Please confer with the host of the party as to your acceptance of this invitation.

Underneath the formal letter was a few lines added to it by the Crown Princess.

Please be sure to wear somethingfit for a royal gala.

Yours Royally,

Princess Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear.

The letter had come a week ago. Somehow, Natalia had managed to convince Noelle to take the Albiore to Yulia City, where Luke and Tear were currently staying at her home, to deliver the letter to the pair. And this next one, Tear had absolutely no idea, but Noelle had been persuaded to stay in Yulia City until the Gala, so she could fly Tear and Luke to Baticul.

“Tear?” called one red-haired male as he stared into the closet they supposed shared. In truth, it was Luke who had claimed the closet and Tear used the dresser. “Have you seen my formal wear?”

“They’re in the dresser,” she sighed with one hand on her hip and the other rubbing her temple.

Who knew something as simple as dressing yourself could be this complicated? Seeing as she had no fancy dresses, Tear had finally just settled with a plain black dress that went down to her knees. It was simple, easy to move in and had no unnecessary decorations. It was actually a bit similar to the dress Noir of the Dark Wings wore, minus all the…indecency.

Luke, unfortunately, seemed to have miraculously lost all of his suitable clothing at the last minute. Only Lorelei knows what would’ve happened if Tear hadn’t snatched a few clean shirts and pants, and hidden them in the dresser. He never used the dresser, and therefore couldn’t lose the clothing stashed in there.

Relief was on his face as Luke made his way to the dresser and pulled out a clean, white shirt and a pair of black pants. There was a black jacket on the coat hanger, off to the side, to wear over the shirt. It was a bit like his old white one, except it was black with white lining and there was no silly emblem on the back.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Tear,” he laughed with relief, looking far more relaxed now that he wouldn’t have to go to the party, excuse her, celebration naked. Lorelei knows how much that would disgrace House Fabre. The Seventh hymnist had to stifle a snicker at that thought. How would Duke Fabre ever live down the humiliation?

Luke gave her a quick hug before dashing downstairs to change. He’d come back about a year ago with his hair back to the length it had been at the start of the journey. He’d cut it back down after a while, confessing that it did get in the way quite a bit. To be honest, he did look very handsome and far friendlier with his hair shorter.

She picked up an earring from the dressing table and contemplated it for a moment before making up her mind and placed the earring back down with a sigh. The best she did with her hair was to run it through once with a comb. She could always put it up in a ponytail, Tear supposed, but that reminded her of her days back in training with Major Legretta. Letting out a sigh, she gave up on the accessories and just waited for Luke to finish changing and come back upstairs.

After he’d come back, he seemed determined to help the remaining replicas in the world. Help them to fend for themselves and help them to be accepted, though some replicas didn’t have that problem, like the ones in Yulia City. Strangely enough, the one helping out in the City Hall seemed fascinated by all the Fontech in Yulia City. It was quite amusing, actually, that the replica, Menous, and Guy got along very, very well. Too well. It was frightening to be in their presence when they were on one of their Fontech rants.

Tear gave an involuntary shudder before she moved towards the coat hanger and tugged on her beige cloak. It wasn’t fancy, by far, but it was warm. Besides, it wasn’t very likely that Castle Baticul would be cold enough that she’d have to wear her cloak inside the ballroom. Well, she hoped anyways.

There was a knock on her bedroom door and Tear knew it was Luke. He opened the door and what she had been planning on saying became lodged in her throat as she took in his appearance.

He’d worn the clean shirt underneath the black jacket but he’d left the jacket buttons undone. He’d tucked the shirt into his black pants, which were identical to the ones he’d worn years ago. Tear had her suspicions on that but passed it for the moment. From somewhere, she had no idea where, he’d managed to find a pair of white dress shoes. The Key of Lorelei was strapped to his back like usual. She absently noted that his hair was growing out again and to remind him to cut it soon.

“How do I look?” he asked, looking a bit worried as he turned around to try and look at his back. Tear had to suppress her laughter; instead, she went up and buttoned up his jacket. He looked a bit choked now. He quickly unbuttoned it and sucked in some air, gulping it down, before he turned to Tear’s inquisitive look. “Uh… it’s a bit…tight.”

Trust Luke to purchase clothes without even trying them on. Honestly. Tear shook her head before glancing out the window. “We should get going. Natalia will have a fit if we’re late, not to mention that Noelle is waiting for us outside.”

“Right,” Luke nodded, following her down the stairs and out the screen of light. Noelle wasn’t too far off. She was waiting on the landing pad, next to her precious Albiore II. Tear couldn’t help but wonder if all pilots were this attached to their flying machines.

“It’s about time!” Noelle noticed them. Natalia had extended an invitation Noelle’s way as well to the party but the pilot had declined, for whatever personal reasons the girl had. “You guys ready to go?”

“Yes, we are,” the sandy-haired woman glanced at the redhead beside her for a moment before nodding. They followed Noelle into the Albiore and Tear sat down on the seat next to the pilot’s, fastening her seat belt securely. Luke, in the meanwhile, had settled for merely grabbing onto the back of Noelle’s chair as he always did, standing, of course.

“Luke, sit down,” Tear commanded, grabbing back of his jacket and pulling him down into one of the seats as Noelle started up the Albiore. As it was, she had to plant her feet firmly on the ground to stay seated. There was no doubt what would’ve happened to Luke if he’d stayed standing. “You’ll fall over if you stay like that.”

“Fine,” he gave up, buckling the seat belt across his torso. He looked out the little round window on the side of the Albiore. It was already starting to get dark outside and it would take at least half an hour or so to get to Baticul. At this rate, they were sure to be late and Natalia would be at their throats. “Can’t we get there any faster?”

“Luke!” Tear scolded, crossing her arms. “I’m sure Noelle’s going as fast as she can. Besides, we wouldn’t be late if you hadn’t misplaced all of your clean clothing and didn’t ask for help until the last moment.”

“Well, I didn’t even notice they were missing until the last moment!” the redhead protested weakly. Even Noelle gave a barely concealed snort at that argument. Tear sighed and shook her head in mock sadness. “What?”

“Nothing, Luke,” Tear suppressed a smile as she looked at his dismayed face. The rest of the trip passed in peaceful silence and, only did Noelle start to head the Albiore downwards, did Luke perk up again as he peered out the little porthole of a window. From her own window, Tear could already see the shining lights of Baticul. How fitting for the City of Light.

“I’m gonna set us down a little bit to the north of the city, alright?” Noelle called over her shoulder, already veering the Albiore a bit off. Natalia was still working on trying to persuade her father to give the finances to support the construction of an Albiore landing pad in Baticul. So far, there was no luck on that; King Ingobert’s reasoning being that there were currently only two functioning Albiores, seeing as Ginji’s Albiore had crashed into Hod during that last battle. There was Noelle’s and Guy’s left.

Tear braced herself as Noelle coaxed the Albiore into landing nice and gently in a plain not too far from Baticul. The pilot shut the vehicle down before spinning around in her seat.

“Noelle, would you like to come with us?” Tear offered, unbuckling her seat belt. The pilot shook her head firmly.

“I can’t just leave my beloved Albiore out here!” Noelle stroked the steering wheel lovingly. You could almost see the hearts in her eyes. Luke made a strangled, choking noise at that gesture before Tear shot him a look. “What if some monsters come and decide that she’s dinner? What if they scratch her?! …Thanks, but no thanks, Tear.”

The hymnist almost sighed in exasperation when Noelle started to get paranoid about the monsters attacking the Albiore II. The girl was in love with her machine. She wouldn’t leave the Albiore anywhere and insisted on staying with it no matter what. Just like her brother, from what the group had heard from Class M of Sheridan.

“All right, thank you for taking us here, Noelle,” she gave the girl a smile before moving to step out of the Albiore. Luke mimicked her movements, following her down after waving goodbye to Noelle. “We’ll be sure to give Natalia your regards.”

“I can’t believe it’s already the start of a new year,” Luke mused, putting his hands behind his head. His flaming red hair was a sharp contrast to the dark around them and it was like a shining beacon of light.

“Yes, time does seem like it’s flown by, doesn’t it?” Tear agreed, looking at the redhead with some amusement.

They reached the gates of the city and the guards acknowledged them with curt nods before returning to their duties. It seemed that Luke hadn’t quite been forgotten just yet. After all, he was the sole heir to House Fabre and second in line for the throne to Kimlasca, even if he wasn’t around all that much anymore.

Thus, the above may be the reason why Duke Fabre always looked at her disapprovingly. He obviously didn’t like the idea of his only son fraternizing with a mere soldier. To be honest, it was a bit unnerving, really, how the man could hold such an impersonal grudge. But Madame Susanne made up for it, with her warm demeanor.

Luke obviously knew his way around Baticul more than she did, so the hymnist was content to merely follow him up to the castle. The city had certainly changed in the past year. It was…livelier. It seemed like the population had grown over the past few months by a large margin.

“Welcome, Master Luke,” the guards in front of the castle bowed their heads as they approached Castle Baticul. They pushed open the door for the duo and the pair stepped into the entrance hall of the elegant castle.

Tear honestly had no idea where this so-called ballroom was, seeing as they never really bothered to explore the castle during their adventures, so she let Luke lead the way. Or rather, she let Luke ask one of the guards for directions to the ballroom. It seemed that was the only thing Natalia had forgotten. The hymnist wondered how the others would find their way to the ballroom.

“Okay, I got it!” Luke nodded confidently as he started off to the left. Tear raised one eyebrow before following after him. This was going to be a long walk.

After several misdirections and Luke had to ask for help numerous times, they finally made it to the ballroom. As they entered, one of the maids reached out to take Tear’s cloak. Feeling a bit insecure without the safety blanket of something familiar, the Fonist followed Luke to where he had spied Anise and Jade talking.

“Whoa, Tear!” Anise looked shocked by their appearance. The young Fon Master herself was wearing what looked like a variation of her normal outfit. It was a dark pink off the shoulder dress that looked suspiciously like what she normally wore, minus the dagger, except instead of the normal white and brown tabard-like cloak she wore, it was pure white. To put together the dressy outfit was a pair of white knee-high boots with dark pink lining. In short, very minor color changes to her normal outfit. “You dressed up!”

“W-what’s wrong with me dressing up?” Tear replied defensively. She was already aware of the other noble women’s lingering stares at her, the one who dared show up with Luke fon Fabre, who’d been the fancy of their interest for many a years.

“But I’ve never seen you wear anything than your uniform!” Anise spluttered, obviously still in shock. The sandy-haired woman almost flushed with embarrassment. Was she really that predictable? She tried to remember the last time she’d worn something that wasn’t uniform to the Order of Lorelei.

“Oh, dear, you’ve gone and embarrassed her, Anise,” Jade chuckled, taking a sip from the wine glass he held in his hand. The Malkuth Colonel hadn’t changed at all. He was still wearing his navy military uniform.

“J-Jade!”

“My apologies. I simply felt the need to point out the obvious.”

Meanwhile, Luke was standing to the side watching the amusing exchange of words that Tear was sure to lose, with Jade as her opponent. As such, he jumped several feet into the air when a gloved hand came down on his shoulder.

“How’ve you been, Luke?” one blonde pilot chuckled as his best friend tried to calm himself down from the miniature heart attack he’d just been forced to experience.

“Guy!” Anise took a flying leap at the count from the back, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I missed yoouuuuu!”

“GUAH!” That certainly turned the stares from Tear to the two, who looked absolutely ridiculous. Guy was shaking and looking like he was about to faint.

“We are one princess short, I believe,” Jade pushed his glasses up a bit, his eyes as red as the wine he was drinking, an amused expression on his face. Everyone automatically turned to where two large ornate chairs had been placed at the head of the room. King Ingobert was sitting upon his; every now and then a guest would go up and greet the king. But the slightly smaller one, reserved for the princess, was empty.

“Yeah! Yeah! Where’s Natalia?” Anise jumped off of the blonde, growing bored with his reaction, and put her hands on her hips.

“I-I passed…I passed her on the way in,” Guy gasped, practically on the ground. It never got old, really, Tear mused. “Her dress had something on it and she looked furious.”

“I wonder what happened.” Tear put a finger on her cheek. When Guy turned to her, whatever he had been planning to say slipped out of his tongue as he gaped at her. That reaction was really getting old. Tear sighed. “What is it, Guy?”

“Tear…is that you?!” he stared at her in awe. Tear let out another sigh. How on Auldrant had Luke convinced her into wearing this dress? She’d ORIGINALLY been planning not to dress up or anything but a certain redhead got in the way of that plan. “Wow… I never thought you’d dress up.”

“Apparently no one expected me to dress up,” Tear commented dryly.

“Why do I get the feeling that Luke had something to do with this?” Guy quirked an eyebrow, turning to said redhead, who gave a sheepish grin. Before Luke could say anything to defend himself, there were several murmurs behind them.

“Good evening, Princess,” Jade greeted, looking behind Guy, who promptly jumped out of the way of the oncoming Natalia, who, indeed, still looked very angry.

“The nerve of some people!” she proclaimed furiously as she reached the group, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. She was wearing a pale gold and blue off the shoulder dress with a golden band around her neck. For the occasion, it seemed that she’d worn her tiara. It was a small gold thing with a small sapphire set into it. A pair of strappy blue heels was on her feet. “Some drunk just spilled their wine across my good dress! I had to go back to my room and change!”

“How ghastly,” Jade agreed with a tiny smirk, taking another sip from his wine glass. That remark earned him a glare from the princess, who just noticed the arrival of Tear and Luke.

“Oh, Tear, Luke, you’re finally here!” the blonde princess smiled before it slid off. “You’re very late, you know!”

“Er, see, about that, I, uh-“ Tear put a hand on the red haired noble’s chest to stop his stammering. The stammering did indeed stop immediately.

“Noelle sends her regards,” the hymnist smiled, to the royal’s annoyance.

“Oooh, I bet I can guess what they were doing!” Anise snickered; effectively turning Luke’s face the same shade as his hair.

“Anise, honestly, do try to keep your mind out of the gutter,” Natalia sighed in exasperation.

“Indeed,” Jade agreed, tilting his head down to look at the young Fon Master. “It wouldn’t do for the world to find that its first ever female Fon Master has a dirty mind, now would it?”

“Boooooo.”

The young Fon Master’s physical appearance may have grown but her mind stayed a child.

“Hey, Tear, do you want to come outside with me?” Luke asked, a nervous gleam in his emerald eyes. What could that be about, Tear wondered, but she nodded nonetheless. The Fonist followed the redhead out onto one of the castle’s balconies, where she leaned on the rail. “It’s, uh, a nice night, isn’t it?”

“Yes…it is,” Tear looked up at the crescent moon that hung in the sky that evening. Then Luke made some sort of garbled sound beside her. She glanced at him questioningly. “Did… did you say something?”

“Um…” he looked a bit unsure of himself as he rummaged around in his pockets. All of them. That is to say, the two inside his jacket, the two outside his jacket and the two on his pants. He found whatever he’d been looking for in the last one and slowly lowered one knee to the ground, holding out said object to her. “Tear-uh, Mystearica Grants, um, m-marry me?”

Tear could only stare at the ring in his hand, dumbfounded and speechless. Luke seemed to have closed his eyes, nervous of what her reaction would be. There was a long stretch of silence.

“You really should answer him, Tear,” came a smooth voice from inside the ballroom. Both heads snapped to see Jade, Anise, Natalia and Guy standing there, most of which had amused looks. Tear regained her voice immediately.

“Were you four spying on us?!” she advanced on them, her arms folded tightly across her chest as she waited for some kind of explanation.

“Of course not,” Jade replied smoothly, still holding the same wine glass from earlier. How slow did this man drink? “We were taking a stroll and simply happened upon you two.”

“Right,” Tear quirked an eyebrow dubiously. At the moment, Anise had started jumping up and down impatiently.

“Are you going to give your answer or what?!” she cried out, attracting more stares than they would’ve liked. Tear sighed. It can’t be helped, she supposed.

The sandy-haired woman turned back to Luke, who was still on one knee, by the way. She grasped his hands in hers; feeling their warmth, despite the night chill. He must’ve been more nervous than she’d thought. Her lips twitched as if to smile.

“Luke fon Fabre, I, Mystearica Grants, do so accept your offer of marriage,” she breathed out quietly, seeing her own breath for a moment, lingering in the air before it faded away. In doing so, she almost missed his look of surprise and then utter joy as he slipped the ring onto her finger. He stood up and pulled her gently into an embrace, giving her a chaste kiss on the cheek, just as the clock hit midnight and the fireworks began.

The others brushed past the couple to look out at the brilliant fireworks lighting up the night sky. At very last, there was only one red-eyed Colonel to contemplate on one last thing as he toyed with his now-empty wine glass, a small frown on his face for the first time that night.

“Well, this feels oddly like a cliché.”

Happy New Years!
Yeah…I meant to have this up yesterday but things got hectic…
Review?