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º....Snipet.....º
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"Why the long face darling~? You should try to smile, it suits you more~..."
"T-thanks...its just...its just that I am looking for my brother.."
"Oh? I did not know you had a brother Lumine...though looking at you now I should have known a cutie like you would have a brother to keep her safe~.."
"Ah~please...don't tease me.."
"So..I take that he is a young nice fellow like you then.."
"Yes..though he can be quite stubborn when he wants to be..."
"With blond hair tied into a ponytail behind his back.."
"Actually..yes?"
"With gold eyes and an exotic more darker outfit than yours.."
"Yes..!"
"Who can fly with golden wings and wield a golden blade.."
"Yes, Yes..!"
"And that his name is Aether.."
"Wait-how did you-YES...! YES THATS HIM...! Have you seen him!? Do you know where he is!?"
"Never met the guy...no idea of who you are looking for.."
"FOR GODS SAKE CRUCABENA YOU JUST DESCRIBED HIM...!"
Moi~?
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"......" = Speech
[......] = Thoughts
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The moon was bright tonight
Or at least, that's how Clervie saw it.
Her emerald eyes, wide with that ever-fresh wonder only children possess, gazed up at the silver orb that bathed the world in soft light. Stars glittered around it like scattered gemstones, each shimmering more brilliantly than the last. She watched them without blinking, afraid that if she closed her eyes, even for a second, they might vanish.
A quiet wind rustled past her, tugging gently at her hair, at the edges of her nightdress. She barely noticed it as her mind was currently elsewhere.
It was a beautiful night.
They all were.
Each time she crept to her bedroom window to peek into the world beyond, it was like catching her breath after holding it all day. The suffocating silence, the heavy dread she carried deep inside....none of it followed her to the window. Not here. Not in the stillness of night.
Here, there were birds....soaring without restraint in the open skies, dancing above forests that stretched beyond the high, unyielding walls of the Hearth.
There were stars...kind and constant, glittering down on her like little promises. As if whispering, "One day, it'll be alright."
The world outside was so close, close enough to touch...
And yet, heart-breakingly far.
..
..
Or at least, that's how she used to feel.
For a moment, Clervie tore her gaze from the dark hued horizon, looking down at her hands folded in her lap. The soft smile on her lips faded into something quieter, smaller as thoughts led to memories..and those to conflicted emotions.
People thought she was foolish.
Too kind. Too trusting. Too naïve to understand what the Hearth really was. But that wasn't true. Maybe she was gentle, maybe she giggled too easily or believed too hard....but she wasn't blind.
She saw things others missed.
To see through the masks they wore and gaze at what laid underneath of a veneer of grace...
The way grownups softened their words when she was near as if hoping she would not catch them speaking on more torrid matters. The way some of children or servants offered half-truths, their voices light, their faces too careful.
Sometimes people said one thing.....but meant something entirely different.
It was something that should make sense..
And yet it did..
She never asked to notice it. She just... did, and as far as she knew it came as naturally as breathing.
And it was that very understanding and realization of the things that were happening around her that had prompted her to try set things right time and time again....despite the fear, despite the pain she kept trying to change things... even if that meant to anger her mother and bring her wrath on her body.
Her arms curled around her knees at the memory, as though she could hold herself together from the inside out. The sting of her mother's handiwork had long since faded, but the echo of those moments still lingered, soft and sharp all at once.
However...what hurt the most...had not been the bruises..and those had definitely hurt a lot...she would not lie about that...it had hurt. However, it was the very fact that it was her very own mother who had given them to her that hurt the most.
..
..
..
But lately.., something had shifted.
Clervie couldn't explain when or how....but one day, "that day", things just... felt different. The anger in her mother's voice had softened to a non existent presence. The cold glint in her eyes, dimmed, replaced by warmth.
What once made her flinch now made her feel safe.
Wanted.
Her lips once more curled upwards as she felt her heart throb with a feeling that she had noyet become used to yet, one that she had felt before, dimmed at times but now stronger than ever.
She did not understood, how could she? The sudden shift of gears was as sudden as it was disorienting. It was such that at first, Clervie told herself she imagined it. That she wanted it to be true so badly that she'd made it up.
That those moments of kindness were embellished..
That those scenes were true maternal love had been given without nothing asked in return were just pretty lies.
..
..
But she hadn't.
Her mother had changed.
Since the very first moment she laid eyes down on her in her room after the accident something had been amiss on her mother, in the way she held herself, acted and behaved more often than not. She smiled more. Laughed with her. Let her sit on her lap and braid her hair. Read her stories. Asked her about her drawings, her thoughts, her dreams.
She was gentle.
She was kind.
She was everything Clervie had wished for... and more. It felt as if she was living in a dream...or that the entire world had changed over night into what she had always wanted things to be.
Perry hadn't trusted it at first, the change of pace, the hugs... the pats..
She said people didn't change.
That they could not change..
Not that quickly...
And though she tried to believe her friend, even a part of her sensed the same troubling thoughts that run inside of her, that Perry too...wanted to believe. However, it seemed that among the two of them only she had come to welcome the belief instead of silently struggle with it.
Because Clervie knew....she knew her mother meant every word.
Every touch.
Every look.
And so, for the first time in so long... she felt loved.
She felt...happy.
Even though a part of her deep down chided her for doing that.., for even considering it because...that would mean that she loathed the previous version of her mother and instead preferred this new, gracious one. But she could not deny it..she was happy.
And that... was terrifying, because now she had something to lose.
She no longer felt the courage she had sensed inside of her to drive her ever forward to resist the darkness of the Hearth. No longer wanted to provoke or push back like she had before.... because if she did, if she tried to fight the Hearth like before, what if made "Good Mom" to vanish?
What if the old version came back?
Could she risk that?
Could she bear it?
She had not yet found the answer to those questions as every-time she tried..she only felt worse at her own selfishness..for she was not stopped by fear of punishment, but the possibility of losing this beautiful, honest stray beam of light.
.
.
.
But...maybe....just maybe she didn't have to.
Maybe she didn't need to fight anymore.
It had been a laughable idea at first, why should she stop? Would it not made anything she had done, everything she had suffered before this day be meaningless? However, as time went by...that idea came back again and again...and she saw more and more sense into it.
After all...all of her defiance had been borne from the knowledge that her mother would "never" see reason. If her mother had truly changed..., had seen the error of her ways..
Did that not meant that maybe she could help change the rest of the Hearth too..?
Maybe all Clervie had to do... was... ask
To open the doors.
To let the others see the stars. The forests. The world waiting beyond the walls.
Her heart fluttered at the thought, of the myriad of hues that now colored the grey and white reality of the Hearth. A world once so far away... now felt within reach.
"Clervie... are you worried again?"
The voice behind her was quiet, hesitant yet all quite familiar. However its sudden intrusion quite startled her just enough to let out a tiny yelp before she turned and found the owner of said voice standing right behind her.
Peruere.
Of course.
She'd snuck up on her again..... had she been in thought that much..?
"Yes....you were in deep thought.." The usually quiet girl muttered as she carefully climbed the edge of the window.
Clervie blinked, cheeks flushing. "Was I thinking out loud...?"
"No." Perry shook her head as she settled beside her on the window ledge, though her face did not usually denote much emotion, it was clear that her eyes were laced with concern....and maybe, just maybe, a flicker of amusement.
Clervie sighed in relief, then smiled. "I'm not worried. Actually... I'm quite happy." She mused.
Perry tilted her head.
"Are you sure?"
Clervie nodded with far too much energy, flinging her arms up like she could toss her joy into the sky. "Yes! Everything's going to be better now, Perry..."
Because with her mother like this, her dreams could finally come true. The world was waiting...and now, maybe, they'd be allowed to reach for it.
"How?" Perry asked, quiet and skeptical.
Clervie grinned, winking. "I just know it~."
Perry stared at her long and hard. Not in disbelief, but in the quiet way of someone who knew arguing was pointless when her unruly, mischief driven friend got a particular idea in her thick skull.
So instead, she looked to the stars, the same way they always did.
The wind playing with those mismatched locks of pure silver hair and black strands, the bags underneath Peruere's eyes a more less noticeable than they usually were as she held her gaze up to the starry sky.
Unlike other times...
It was moment like this that she looked....at peace.
"Have I ever told you the sky looks beautiful...?"
"Yes..."
"And that I wish we could go far away someday...?"
"You have."
Clervie's smile softened at the reply, slowly nodding back as she switched her attention back to the moon and its silvery glow. "Ever since I saw that picture of the lights in the sky... I've wanted to see them in real life."
"It was just a picture.."
"But Perry... don't tell me you're not at the very least a little bit curious." She said with a pout.
"..."
"Not even a little..?" She whispered, half playfully and half curious as she went to nest her head on her friends shoulder. The strands of white and black hair poking gently at her ears
"...It would be nice," Perry finally admitted, her voice low. "To see the world outside..."
Clervie's heart swelled.
"I know right..? The thing see could see, of what we could do...the two of us together, the world under our feet.." She started to say...only to halt briefly. "However, I am sure that whatever I would see, no matter if its the highest mountain or those colorful auroras..it would not feel half as nice as it would....if you were not there by my side to enjoy them too.."
A flicker of redness spreads on Perures pale features as she looks at her with eyes wide open and her mouth slack with surprise.
"Clervie...that-"
"Well, if you are planing to go out there be sure to bring along a lot of warm clothes my dears.."
A soft, motherly voice spoke from behind them, halting her immediate thoughts on the spot. However, before she could even managed to half tilt her head to the sound she and Peruere found themselves gently tuckered by a comfy, silky black cape, its warmth a welcome reprieve form the coolness of the air at night before a set of slim, yet elegant arms wrapped around the two girls and pressed them kindly against a warm chest.
Finally turning around, Clervie was met with a pair of silvery eyes and dark pink hair that she knew all too well.
"M-Mother?" Clervie murmured, her voice a blend of curiosity, joy, and quiet awe. She nestled in closer, her small arms wrapping around her mother's neck as she rested her head against her chest, savoring the warmth and comfort.
Her mother chuckled softly, her hand gently patting Clervie's hair.
"Who else would it be? The Cookie Monster~?"
"Cookie Monster...? That sounds yummy."
Of course Clervie had no idea what her mother was referencing, but the mental image of a monster made entirely of cookies didn't sound scary at all. On the contrary, it sounded absolutely delicious. Maybe chocolate chip? Or caramel swirls?
She turned to ask Perry what she thought only to be met with the flat, unimpressed stare of her white-haired friend.
"Clervie," Perry said with deadpan certainty, "you can't eat the monster."
"Eh? Ah! I-I wasn't thinking that!" Clervie flailed slightly, her cheeks warming.
"Mmm..." Her mother tapped her chin, eyes glinting mischievously. "Now that Perry mentions it, you do have a bit of a sweet tooth. Maybe it's time I put you on a diet..."
Diet?
The word sounded strange, foreign and cold. Clervie wasn't entirely sure what it meant, but from the way it was used, she could tell one thing:
It meant less sweets.
And that was bad.
Reaaaally bad.
So, in the only reasonable response a sugar-loving child could give, she clung to her mother even tighter, eyes glistening as she looked up at her with the saddest, most heart-wrenching puppy-dog stare she could manage.
"N-no! Please! Anything but that!"
Her mother grinned playfully. "Then you'll start eating your vegetables, my dear~"
"But they taste bad!"
"Well then," she said with faux solemnity, "no more cake for a month."
"Nooooo! I'll eat them, I swear! Just...Just don't take my sweets away please mom..!"
"Moderation might actually do you some good," Perry chimed in with a tiny smirk.
Clervie gasped in betrayal and pointed an accusing finger. "Perry!? How could you! You love sweets too!"
Her mother's laughter interrupted her outrage, a hand raised to her lips as she tried and failed to contain it.
"Aahahaha... oh Clervie, you're too easy. But a promise is a promise, alright? You better keep it."
"I will!" she chirped, nodding so hard her hair bounced.
Smiling warmly, her mother brushed a hand over the back of Clervie's head, fingers threading gently through her hair. For a moment, her gaze drifted....soft, nostalgic.
Did...something happen..?
She would not know as her mother continue on, not noticing her gaze. "You two really are a handful, you know that?" Crucabena said quietly. "One day I might not be able to resist your cuteness anymore.."
"Mom?"
Her mother bit her lip just as she started to shake for a brief moment her head "So, you two were asking about the auroras..?"
"Yeah! They look really pretty in the books..and so we got curious," Clervie answered eagerly.
Her mother tilted her head, turning toward Perry. "And you too, Peruere?"
"They're... interesting," Perry replied, her tone guarded, but not entirely indifferent. Clervie could've sworn she saw the faintest blush dust her friend's cheeks.
It was... adorable.
Their mother noticed it too, her eyes narrowing playfully as she rubbed her chin, a sly grin tugging at her lips.
"They are. And as vivid as books can be, nothing compares to seeing them in person."
"Really? How much prettier?" Clervie asked, leaning in.
"To the point," her mother said, her voice soft and sure, "that you realize you've never truly seen color until that moment."
Clervie's eyes widened to an absolute comical size. She'd already been captivated by the images in the books, but to be told those pale in comparison to the real thing?
She was sold. Completely and absolutely.
She had to see them.
Then came the crushing blow.
"Sadly, you won't find them here in Fontaine... you can't really see them from this region."
Clervie deflated immediately. Just her luck, the thing she wanted most to see lived nowhere near her..?
"Buuuut," her mother continued, drawing out the word with a teasing lilt, "If you really want to see them... they're more common in Snenezvaya~"
"Shene....what?"
"Snenezcaya Clervie..." Her mother repeated with a soft smirk, more amused than bothered, not scolding, just gently entertained by her daughter's struggle to pronounce the word.
"Picture it," she continued, eyes glinting with memory. "A land bathed in white, blue, and silver. Trees so tall they could rival houses, and mountains rising like sleeping giants in the distance, their snowy peaks catching the light, visible no matter where you stand. The wind, cold and clean brushing past your cheeks, teasing you as you walk through endless fields of snow..."
"That sounds... really cool!" Clervie said, eyes wide.
"Of course it is," her mother replied, chuckling. "There's ice."
"Eh?"
"Anyway," she carried on, a sparkle in her voice, "Shenevaya is breathtaking. Harsh and cold, yes, but beautiful in a way that makes you feel small in the best possible sense. Just be careful, or you'll end up sneezing....and before you know it, your poor little snoot will be frozen solid!"
"Whaaa! I don't want ice on my nose! Mom, I don't want ice on my nose!"
Beside her, Perry muttered under her breath with a crooked grin, "Hmph... I'm not a fan of the cold..."
Huh.
She tried to play it off, of course. But her discomfort lightly masked by sarcasm was one of Perry's quiet tells.
Their mother caught it too, but simply smiled. "I know neither of you are. Still, if you can look past the frost and discomfort, you might see it for what it truly is a world apart from this one. Strange, pristine, and completely new. And if you ever feel homesick," she added with a playful wink, "just think of the snow as an endless river of Perry's hair."
Clervie's face lit up. "The snow's that pretty?"
"My hair isn't pretty... it's just hair," Perry muttered, looking away.
"But it is pretty!" Clervie insisted.
"It really is," their mother agreed gently. "Sometimes, I wish my own hair could be as pure and luminous as hers."
Both girls turned to look at her Clervie with curiosity, Perry with startled disbelief.
"You... do?" Perry asked, her voice almost too soft to hear.
Their mother nodded, calm and certain. "Why wouldn't I? In stories, the hero or heroine often has white hair. It means you're special powerful, graceful, a little mysterious. It makes you stand out. It's... cool."
"But I'm not any of those things..."
You are," Crucabena said softly, drawing both girls into her arms with ease, one on each side like she'd always known where they belonged. "To me, you are. And to Clervie, you're the most important thing in the world."
Peruere shifted awkwardly, her pale cheeks tinged with colour. "Th-that's... if you say so..."
"Aw, are you flustered, Perry?" Clervie teased, resting her head against her friend's shoulder with a wide grin.
"I—I am not. It's just... the fever..."
"Oh? Is that so?" Crucabena raised a brow, her tone feather-light and playful. "Then you wouldn't mind if I checked your temperature?"
Peruere stiffened. "Please... don't..."
"Too late~" Crucabena chimed with faux mischief as she placed a cool hand against the girl's forehead.
"M-Mother!" Peruere whined prompting Clervie to laugh much to her friends dismay, unable to hide her delight.
"Oh, you're both so adorable," Crucabena chuckled, her voice full of affection. "But enough tomfoolery, when the day comes that you go see those things, you should be careful. With how white and bright everything is over there you might lose sight of Perry among all the snow."
Clervie's eyes lit up at the mention of it. "Don't worry, Mom! I'll hold onto Perry so tight she won't get the chance to disappear!"
"C-Clervie...not you t-too..." Peruere mumbled, flustered even further as she tried to shrank into their mothers cape as if it could shield her from all of this attention.
Crucabena laughed again, the sound full of life, as though it echoed from a heart that hadn't laughed so freely in years. "Now then... it's getting late, little ones. No slow-pokes allowed in this house, remember? Off to bed with you."
"Right, Mom-uhm..." Clervie paused, glancing up, brows drawn together slightly. "Wait, before we go... about what we were talking about earlier..."
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"When the day comes... would you.."
"Yes..?"
"Would you come with us to see the auroras..?"
Against all odds...
A flick of unease flared in her mothers eyes.
The smile that she bore just now becoming a little more thinner, fragile.
"I... I don't think I will."
"What?" Clervie's voice faltered. "Why not..?"
A soft smile curved Crucabena's lips as she looked between them. "Because I don't want to spoil the moment for you. It should be yours....yours and Perry's. Something beautiful and free, without a mother in the background complaining about cold fingers or tired feet."
"Mom..."
"Oh, don't give me that look," Crucabena said with a wink. "Besides... someone has to stay behind to make sure the Hearth doesn't burn itself down."
Silence settled for a moment. Gentle. Thoughtful.
Then Crucabena spoke again, her voice touched with something quieter. Something tender.
"Though... now that we're talking about going places..." Her eyes shimmered as they caught the moonlight. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you both."
"What is it, Mother?" Clervie asked, lifting her head.
Crucabena leaned down just enough to meet their eyes..hers filled with something almost childlike.
"Would you like to go on an adventure tomorrow..?"
.
..
Adventure..?
Did mother said...adventure..?
No..
That could not be..
Surely...surely she meant a different thing, right...?
Peruere blinked, eyes closing a moment later to a half lid. "You mean... like a game of some sort..?"
Surprisingly...their mother shook her head.
The amusement in her expression never waving though.
"Nop, its not a game of any sort at all at that. In fact, what I mean is...would you like going with me to the city of Fontaine..?"
Clervies heart skipped a beat, her breath hitching where she stood while the world seemed to blur out of existence as her mind zeroed in the last part of her mother's request.
After days of arguing with herself..
Nights questioning if she could or should...
Was it..
Was it really happening..?
"Outside...outside of the Hearth..?" Clervie whispered, hope flickering in her voice like a candle caught in wind that would be snuff out at the smallest thing, and yet her heart burn greater than ever before.
Crucabena smiled.
From that moment forward, Clervie knew that dreams could come true...
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A/N
News
I have decided that the story here will be about the ten years that Clervie was in the House of the Hearth before her canon death (technically there are 9 years remaining before that confrontation that took place between Arlecchino and OG Crucabena). This decision its to help me just focus on this story and not make think about what may come next.
.
The following story will be called How NOT to be a Sugarmommy in a doomed Gatcha game (I hope Ffnet lets me write all of that) where we will take it after a lengthy time-skip to the Travellers (Lumine) arrival in Mondstat (ten years after the ending of the first story). So dont worry, we will have our Fontaine Archon quest one day. I just dont want to make a 200 chapter story that may scare or bore anyone.