Disclaimer: Sora no Kiseki will not belong to me. If I did, I had made animes out of them right now! OVAs seemed pretty rushed XD;
That day was supposed to be a normal day for Estelle Bright, or so she thought. She was walking while chatting happily with her adoptive sibling, Joshua, at Rolent City. The boy sheepishly replied her back, with sometimes reminded her to look at front since she could possibly hit other people.
Though, maybe the people she hit upon would forgive her anyway, since she was a cheerful, tomboyish daughter of Cassius Bright, the legendary S Class Bracer. To sum it up, her bubbly personality was indeed adorable for a twelve years old girl; however, the girl was oblivious of these things.
"...So then, the bunny starts running all over the place! Isn't it funny, Joshua?" Estelle remarked happily to her sibling.
The boy replied with a slight smile, albeit he found nothing funny of her joke, "It is."
She brushed her nose with pride, "He-eh, of course!" Before she found her friend, Tio Perzel, was walking at the opposite side of the road. "Eh, that's Tio!"
The boy remained calm and replied her with a nod. The girl immediately shouted a loud,
"TIOOO~!"
The said girl jolted when her name was shouted out loud, before she found her friend waving her hands happily, "...Ah, Estelle! Joshua!"
Unfortunately, when she wanted to go to them, she hit someone, "Awww...!"
"HEY! Look at the way you walk, brat!" The man whom she hit by wasn't nice at all. He wasn't a citizen of Rolent and his scary face didn't help but scared the poor Tio.
Estelle immediately went after her and said, "...Tio! Are you alright?"
Tio looked at her friend before replied her, bit shakily, "...Err, y-yeah. I guess." She then stood up before bowing politely to the man he hit upon, "I'm sorry sir. I didn't pay attention."
The gruff man, however, responded her in a bad way by shouting at her, "Sorry doesn't cut it! Look at my shirt! It's all mess now!"
"...Ah, err, I-I'm sorry, sir. I'm really sorry..." Tio didn't know how to respond in this situation. She never went into this kind of awkward and shameful condition right now, of course, since the citizens of Rolent were kind enough to her.
Tio's trembling body didn't go unnoticed by Estelle, who grip Tio's shoulder at the moment she arrived there. A vein popped up Estelle head, she was angry to that man, "Tio had said sorry, right? Forgive her, old man!"
"Che! What are you talking about, little brat?! She's the one who hit me!" The gruff man replied back sarcastically while playing with his knives. He seemed professional in using that knife, but Estelle didn't cut it.
"...What do you want?" Estelle prepared her staff, even though the chance was slim; she tried to fight the man. She was scared indeed, but Tio looked like she was about to collapse in any minute, so she needed to protect her friend in any matter and screaming won't be any help to them now. Her hands were trembling, but her eyes were still fierce as ever.
Before Estelle could even react, the man marched forward them with a knife on his hand. That happened in a flash, even Tio had closed her eyes and Estelle had no choice but to stand in a defense stance with her staff, however she flinched in the moment the man swung his knife.
"She's right. This is useless fight. Forgive her or you'll shame yourself in bullying girls."
There stood Joshua, with twin daggers on his hands, in front of Estelle, blocking the man's knife. With a single smooth movement, he rebound the knife to the ground. But when the man tried to take other knives in his clothes, Joshua tackled him hard and pinned him down to the ground. His hands suddenly were on the man's neck, his eyes were blank.
"Stop this in an instant."
Fortunately, the man stopped his movement, he was scared indeed. Then suddenly, a late-teen girl shouted at them, "What's all this about?! Are you picking a fight?"
When the man looked at the shouter, he looked bewildered, "Eep, that's...Silver Streak! Darn!" He left the place quickly at the sight of Scherazard Harvey-a new famous senior bracer-with her whip at her hand.
She let out a sigh before going to them, "You guys alright?"
Estelle reassured her, "No, its okay, Schera. We're alright."
"Thank goodness! Who is that man, anyway?" Schera replied as she let out another sigh-this time, a sigh of relief. She put her hand on her hip while her other hand was taking a medicine from her small bag and offered it to Tio.
After swallowing the pill, Tio relaxed a bit, even though she didn't stop stuttering, "I-I don't know... A traveler, perhaps...?"
Estelle stood; her face was red of angry, "He's better be, since I don't want to see his face again!"
"Oh yeah, thank you for defending me earlier, Estelle..." Tio thanked her best friend, trying to calm down her angry friend.
Estelle immediately brushed her off, "Oh don't be! It's Joshua and Schera that you should be thanking for." She gestured both of them who stood next to them. The bracer smiled reassuringly at Tio, but the boy's eyebrows knitted for some reason. His eyes were still emotionless as ever, but Estelle could tell something was definitely off.
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Schera then took them inside Bracer Guild and explained it to Aina, Rolent Bracer Guild's Receptionist. Aina looked tense, but she kept them hidden since she was in front of children. She then ordered Scherazard to take Tio back safely to her home, while leaving the two Brights in her care. Surprisingly enough, Schera agreed about it.
Before Schera left, she gripped Estelle's shoulder tightly, "Honestly, Estelle! You made my heart stop beating that time! You should NOT, EVER, do that again, alright?"
"But Schera-!" However, before she could reply, Silverstreak had gone out of the Bracer Guild. She then went to Aina, "Aina, can we go home now?"
"I'm afraid you had to stay here for a while, Estelle, Joshua. Cassius isn't at home for a couple of months, right?" Aina looked worry. "You need to wait for Schera to come back here."
"I understand. I'll wait for Schera on the 2nd floor, okay?" Estelle replied casually before added, "I'm bored here. I want to get some fresh air. I have Joshua accompany me, right?"
Estelle tighten her grip on Joshua's clothes. "Uh... Yeah, right." He added more to make it more believable, "I'll watch over her, miss Aina. Don't worry."
"...Alright."
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"We're finally here!" Estelle cheerfully exclaimed when she had arrived on 2nd floor balcony. She looked at the fairly red sky and the sunset. "Look Joshua! A sunset!"
Estelle ran to the railing with excitement, while the boy just merely stood behind her, his eyes was fixed on her. She smiled brightly and enjoyed the scenery. She looked at her step-brother with amusement, "Hello? Earth to Joshua! Why are you looking at me like that?"
"...Why..."
"Hmm?"
"...Why did you protect her like that...?"
"Joshua...?"
"...Back then...you could die. You were trembling...and yet, you still protected her." His beautiful amber eyes looked through to Estelle's radiant orange eyes. "...Why...?"
A moment passed before Estelle finally replied his question with a gentle smile, "You know, I... I had lost someone that's important to me once... I was with her...but the only thing...I could do was crying... So-" Her voice trailed off. She was in moment of tears, but she continued, "...So, I don't want to lose...someone...that is important to me..."
"...I understand." Joshua's clear voice replied Estelle gently. The empty eyes from before had gone off. He patted Estelle's shoulder. "You don't...have to force yourself...Estelle."
She brightens up a bit. "I'm alright, Joshua. Really, you worry about me too much! Did Dad bring you home so you could be my baby-sitter or something?"
Joshua replied sheepishly, "I guess...?"
"Joshua!" Before he got a light punch on his stomach from her.
"Ha ha. But I guess we should get back now, right?"
"...Wait! Please, just a moment, okay?"
"Estelle...?"
Estelle gestured him to come by. So Joshua went next to her and stayed there to see the sunset too. Not long after that, a sound of bell echoed through the City of Rolent. It came from the clock tower. The bell sounded clear, tranquil, and peace. At that same time too, couple of birds were flying through them and headed to where the sun rest, made the wind softly went through them. The guild's balcony might be not too high, but he could ever see the citizens were chatting at each other and most of the buildings around them.
This was the first time Joshua ever saw the scene. But a simple thing that he vowed never to forget and made Joshua's heartbeat stopped for a moment was the gentle smile of Estelle Bright that day.
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Damnit. I can't hold it. I really, REALLY love the pairing! But he's a jerk on leaving her AFTER kissing scene. And you have to see Joshua's art at Zero/Ao no Kiseki or Ys vs Sora no Kiseki! Not that I dislike Sora no Kiseki FC/SC/TT's art but he looks manly in that series. Review if you like, please. There's hardly a fan fiction about this pairing. In fact, I am the first one in this site. There are indeed few arts of them together, but we need more fan fiction of them! Please, at least hear my request out there!