[FIN] One Step at a Time

[Suudonym]

With great deliberation and reluctance, he eventually inclined timid, doubtful eyes towards her.  

[Blood_Goddess]

This was difficult, facing this pain, this fear. her composure faltered but with a wavering breath she gathered it up again, her fingers tensing a little more
"You can do this." She told him firmly.  

[Suudonym]

He shook his head in denial of the confidence she put in him, for he could only assume it was inspired by nothing more than blind faith. Nonetheless, he didn't want to disappoint her. He gave no verbal response, his gaze falling away easily as a hand moved to take hers. It was a while longer, but eventually he willed himself to move forward.  

[Blood_Goddess]

His only response was a shake of his head, further denying her assurance. Her posture fell into a gentle droop of her shoulders, but she didn't counter again, What else could she even say?
Nothing, and as painful as that was, she knew that.
The support of those around you can help, but what it all comes down to if oneself to decide where they were and where they wanted to be, especially when faced with something like the loss of a loved one.

In the end, this was going to come down to Luke, All Rosie could do was try and point him in the direction she knew, the only way she knew, and hope it wasn't wrong.

Her eyes turned down as well when she felt Luke's hand take hers, closing her own fingers around his hand.
She put a gentle smile on her face, despite the fact that she just wanted to cry, overwhelmed by not only the situation, and the empathy for her friend, but her own frustration that there really wasn't anything she could do. And she knew it.

Luke started walking again though, moving forward again, not back.
Rosie followed.  

[Suudonym]

He moved forward with the disposition of a man condemned - or of a man who had accepted condemnation. Steel himself, stone his heart, face it, accept it, and leave. The simple, idealized plan was more in the interest of self-preservation than healing, but he couldn't feel inclined to care. Though they approached the capitol building, and with it the surrounding noble households, Luke did not continue in the direction of the Fabre home. Instead, reluctant motions advanced them towards the large church in which too many funeral rites had been carried out, and beyond its gate towards the elaborate graveyard that housed generations of lords and ladies in soil adorned by summer blooms.  

[Blood_Goddess]

After a while Rosie realized that she wasn't exactly sure where they were going, this wasn't the rout that she was even remotely familiar with.
It wasn't until she noticed the church that she got an idea of where they were Luke was heading to first.
She said nothing to this, keeping up with Luke.

Rosie was no stranger to Memorial sites, Though her experience mainly consisted of the ones that were set aside within he cities. Very much an environment that contrasted the city, sometimes in a very artificial way, depending on how you looked at it.
But this was what she would imagine a memorial would look like, outside of the City.

Everything seemed so natural, so at peace, down to the old style structures and carved stones for family plots. a quiet, and beautiful final resting place.
She let her eyes wander as she followed Luke, though would space her glance over to him. "Its beautiful here."  

[Suudonym]

"It's an awful place," he countered in a voice that was little more than a murmur, almost surprising himself that he had produced the sound at all. The temperate sunlight was an affront, the slight, sweet scent of planted flowers mocking. He realized as they proceeded along the neatly kept gravel path that he had no idea where the Fabre grave and that the effort to locate it would require him to be less passive. Hands clenched so tightly it was likely he had forgotten he still had hold of Rosie's, he scanned the names carved into the stones. As they turned a corner, he stopped moving altogether, staring stoically ahead at the familiar form of his father standing a ways down the path with his hands folded behind his back.

"Lucien," the man spoke, looking mildly surprised. "You never replied to my summons. I assumed I was going to have to send the military after you." There was nothing to his tone to indicate whether or not he was serious.  

[Blood_Goddess]

She offered no comment to his words, being the first he spoke since they had stopped. The Trainer was silenced either by a lack of ability to argue, if she felt so inclined to, or just by the sheer surprise, shocking her silent. Though that much was indicated by the look she turned to him for that breif second, having not been expecting a response like that, or more realistically, having no way of knowing how to reply to a response like that.
Whatever uncertainly she had left her without another sound, and she returned her eyes to the path.

Having no idea where they were going, she replied souly on Luke's guidance, she could only guess he knew, and even more she could only guess they were getting closer, since the grip on her hand became tighter and tighter, to the point that it started to hurt.
"Luke-" Her other hand reached out to take his wrist, trying to draw attention to the fact that he was clenching on her hand. She opened her mouth to say something more when Luke suddenly stopped, and another voice drew her attention away from her friend.
Blue eyes blinked, a man was standing there. She felt the breath start coming more stiffly to her lungs.  

[Suudonym]

Luke gave no answer to his father's words, standing unmovingly and staring straight ahead.

The response he achieved was frosty, "Well? You came all this way to pay your respects, correct?" The lord stood aside, sweeping his arm in a gesture to indicate the small mausoleum and the collection of stones outside of it. The area was wreathed in flowers.

Reflexively the young noble numbed himself, the tension relaxing from his fingers as his hand slipped away from Rosie's. He trudged forward, each step feeling heavier than the last, until he stood in a place where he was able to witness the pair of stone monuments, one bearing the inscription of Susanne fon Fabre and the other Luke fon Fabre, each with their respective dates.  

[Blood_Goddess]

As Luke let go, and moved away, Rosie hesitated, unsure of what do to, or where to place herself. Feeling like a oddity, somewhere that puts her out of place with little indication as to where she should go, or where she should be.
Deciding that the reason she was here was for Luke alone, she decided to stick with that.
While she let Luke go, she followed a few steps behind, though minding her space.

Aware that this man was with little doubt Luke's father, here to see the site of his wife's grave on er birthday.
It couldn't really surprise her.
After a couple of seconds, she looked from the older man, toward Luke, as he stepped up the two stones.
Rosie fell still, her hands holding the straps of her bag on her shoulders.
Luke fon Fabre, the one grave said, Rosie knew that this was Asch, but there was something unsettling about seeing that name used.
And then there was Susanne fon Fabre, She had a beautiful name.  

[Suudonym]

Lord Fabre regarded Rosie with a gaze that could be called scrutinizing, evidently evaluation this stranger who appeared to be accompanying his son, but he said nothing to her.

Luke's expression was one of cool apathy, as though mentally disconnected from the fact of his location. He remained there for several moments, his thoughts at a total standstill. Eventually, unsure of what more to do, he moved to step away and was fixed with a frown from his father.

"You must hate this family," he said suddenly, accusatorially. "The first time you ever visit Susanne's or Luke's grave, and this is how you behave? Have you no gratitude for what your mother did for you for all those years, or for what your brother sacrificed?"

The words tested Luke's defenses, and he stood stiffly, facing from his father.

"And just who, might I ask," the older man's irritable gaze fell to Rosie, "are you?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Luke was not there for very long before he turned away. Being addressed by his father who made it very clear that he wasn't pleased.
She was able to hold back a flinch, though she did not agree with the way he handled that.

He addressed her next. Holding her breath for a couple of seconds, she gathered herself.
Blinking a couple of times she shifted her stance, bringing her heels closer together. "Rosie... Sir, My name is Rosie Ewell, I'm one of Luke's friends."  

[Suudonym]

Though he remained silent, Luke tensed at the knowledge that his father was addressing Rosie, listening critically to what was said between them.

"Rosie Ewell," the man repeated. "If you've come here with my son, I assume you have some understanding of the situation. What are your thoughts on Lucien's present behavior?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie glanced at Luke following his question, and a hesitance before she chose her words, carefully.
"I think that... people have different ways of dealing with their pain... Being here-." a hand lightly lifted off her skirt to gesture weakly at the aria they were in. "is difficult, and he's brave, to be coming this far."  

[Suudonym]

"I'm sure you think that's sweet," Lord Fabre replied coolly, "but if you coddle him, he'll just take advantage of it. Lucien--"

"Will you stop calling me that." Pushed to the limits of his endurance by his father's continuing foul mood, Luke turned to face him suddenly, his posture tense with an amalgam of different emotions. "Don't call me that, and don't drag Rosie into this."

"It's your name," the older man returned sharply. "That is the name your mother chose for you. Don't tell me you still have people call you by your brother's name?"