View source for The Long Wait (Testarossa Fate)

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2014/05/09
|Location=The Garden of Time
|Synopsis=Fate talks to her mother Precia about upcoming troubles, seeking reassurance.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=401
|Tinyplot=None
}}
The darkened chamber upon the Garden of Time as as dreary as ever. Bare and dark walled, dominated by the work desk and imposing throne-like chair behind it. Though she poured herself into her research, the elegant woman at work tapping away on the holographic screens hovering before her was tired. Dark bags hung under her eyes, and she was thin. Far too thin despite the grace that pervaded in her every movement, down to the quickest flit of fingers across keys.

There was a knock on the door.

With a casual wave, Precia urged the door open without looking up from her calculations.

"... Mother?"

The small figure lingering uncertain and indecisive in the doorway was fidgeting, scarlet eyes downcast.

"Mother, may I... I wanted to talk." The blonde managed in a whisper, hesitant and daring, as she took a step further.

The woman's expression was a stone mask, neutral and cold, eyes boring into the child slowly making way to stand before her, small and vulnerable without her Barrier Jacket, and quivering in fear.

"Yes?"

Precia's voice cut like a knife, waiting to hear the reason for this interruption when she had told Fate so many times before to not interrupt her work. And then she saw it. There was fear in the child's eyes, that much she knew, but this was different. It was a fear .for. her. Not of her. She already knew what this was about. The last coughing fit had been much more violent than the ones prior, a result of exerting herself in unleashing that spell across dimensional space, and she could see the girl was distraught.

"Your health... It's... Not..."

"Yes."

Again, her reply was glacial, already beginning to look back to the calculations on the screen before her. There was simply no point in lying now and she knew it. "It is terminal. But I will have enough time to do what must be done."

"You are a good girl. You do not disappoint me. Now you must be strong for Alicia."

It was all she ever wanted. And now that it was so close... Fate knew, that no matter how much she always reached for those things she wanted...

She feared could never grasp them now.

Another fidget, and Fate stood silent, seemingly shrinking where she stood upon the confirmation of her greatest of fears, twin rivers of tears beginning to slowly roll down cheeks, until the cool feeling of palm cupped to cheek.

"Fate."

The murmur was soft, almost inaudible if not for the accoustics of the immense chamber was, for the first time, Precia testarossa did something Fate could never remember her doing, ever since those early days of thinking she was Alicia.

Warm and silken, violet hair cascaded over the child's shoulder as Precia pulled her into an embrace. An entirely unfamiliar sensation washed over the child with it. This is what she had wanted, for so long, and yet she couldn't help but tense, flinching on the contact, knowing it would only be so fleeting.