A/N: I do not own Tales of the Abyss, nor am I making any profit from this. Now that this is out of the way, enjoy!

Surprise

It wasn’t something that Tear was expecting to really happen. She had thought that she was completely in charge of her emotions – well, save for her brother, she was usually in control of those emotions. But right now, hidden behind the curtains, shut behind the door of the noble’s room, the melodist could relax for once and enjoy the gently embrace of the noble holding her.

“Tear.”

Tear separated from Natalia and looked down upon her, a blush creeping up on her face. She was whole-heartedly embarrassed that she was having these feelings – they weren’t normal. And she could tell that Natalia was still struggling with the same thing, though the princess seemed to have conquered a majority of those fears. Tear had wondered if she was strange for these feelings – for liking another woman.

“Is this alright?”

Tear studied Natalia’s expression pensively as the blonde walked to her nightstand and sat in the nearest chair. The princess looked flustered – bothered, maybe by Tear’s nervous words? She looked away. Tear knew that she had hit a sore spot. It had hurt her as well to ask. There was definitely a romantic attraction between the two of them, but neither could figure out why it was so difficult to accept.

“We…Everybody might be upset with us.”

Tear was disturbed that they were so worried about how people perceived them. If people were to find out, they would be looked down upon. “Yes…I’m aware of that.”

Natalia leveled her eyes on the brunette. “But…why should it matter? I mean, we…care about each other, right?”

Tear nodded her head. “But…are you sure you can go through with this? The king might not be happy with this.”

Natalia walked the distance to meet her lover face-to-face. She shook her head. “I don’t care what Father thinks…I’m not going to deny my feelings just because it’s looked down upon. That’s not right.”

“You might lose your throne.”

“Then, so be it. I’m not abandoning you, Tear.”

Tear smiled. Just hearing those words made it sound as if everything was going to be okay. Natalia’s hand pressed softly against her face, and Tear just wanted to lean in and kiss those lips. They’d been trying to figure out each other’s feelings for months now – right now seemed about the right time to take their relationship to the next step.

When their lips met, it was heavenly.

Short, their kiss was when the door suddenly flew open.

“Natalia, where have you-“

The two girls separated, their eyes widened in surprise as Luke stood there, his face also widened in surprise as well…