imperial_stage | A Valentine's Date

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A Valentine's Date

Who: Athrun Zala and Euphemia li Britannia
What: The engaged couple spend the day together. It's the Feast of Valentine, after all.
Where: Tsuwano province -- first in the capital's cemetery, then in the town of Rishiri.
When: February 14th. All day.

Athrun sat waiting in the living room of the estate. He was ready to go, but still apprehensive about the whole thing. The idea of having fun on the anniversary of his mother's death felt off to him, even if he should be trying to move on from her death. He was fine with visiting her grave, at least.

Athrun tried to distract himself by looking outside. It looked like a beautiful day for mid-winter, though the islands had mild winters anyway. It would be a good day for this sort of excursion. All he had to do was wait for Euphemia to finish getting ready.

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There was a light shake of her head as an answer. Then she gave him a small smile to comfort him from his pain.

"You do not need to apologize for anything." She spoke calmly, watching him for a few seconds once more. "It is alright to cry when you are feeling like this, Athrun. But this time, instead of shedding the tears alone..." Euphemia gave another light squeeze to the hand that was holding this.

"I am here to wipe them away."

"Well...thank you." Without letting go of Euphemia's hand, Athrun returned to his feet. "I'm sure my mother is thankful for you being here, too."

Watching still hold her hand makes her feel happy inside. "It makes me happy to know that. I shall be always at your side."

"Thank you." Athrun is not one who prefers to depend on another person, but knowing he has the option provides him with a certain degree of relief.

"What do you say we get going? It'll take some time to get to Rishiri from here."

She give a small nod as a reply.

"Could you please go ahead? I wish to speak some words with your mother before departing." Her request was simple, though she would understand if he wanted to deny it.

Euphemia's request earned a surprised look from Athrun. However, his facial expression soon changed to a more serious yet gentle one. He nodded.

"Of course. I'll go wait by the carriage."

"Thank you."

Once he started walking, Euphemia knelt down once more in front of flowers. Her expression was serene, smiling fondly at the memory of Athrun's mother. Her hand softly reached to place the flowers better as she started to speak.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." She begun, her voice still calm as ever. "Your son is such a wonderful person, I am truly glad that I could met him, Madam." Because after all this time she spent with him, she could learn to see many faces of him that she was not aware of it first.

She could see the man that worried for others, a man that was ready to fight for what he believed it was the right thing. A man that could cry for the loss of his loved ones. Even if Athrun tried to act though or just didn't know how to communicate well with others about his own self... Euphemia learned a bit to see what was behind that.

The small breeze felt nice, making the 'princess' to come back from her thoughts once more. "Please, do not worry. As I will do everything I can to protect him from any harm. I know there are battles that cannot be avoided... but as long as I live, you have my word that Athrun will not be alone. That he will see a peaceful world where he will not need to fight."

Her pink hair moved sightly with the wind as did the flowers. She held them gently enough to not damage them, and then give a small smile to them once more. The sweet voice spoke once more before standing up in her place.

"Until that day, I ask you to believe in me."

She gave a small bow with her dress. "Thank you for listening, Madam. I promise you that your son will be safe."

And with that said, Euphemia walked to the carriage where her fiancee was waiting for her.

When Euphemia approached, Athrun helped her into the carriage and climbed in after her. Then, they left the cemetery.

Two hours later, the carriage arrived at a hamlet on the coast south of the capital. The village seemed to be based around fishing, but there was also a beautiful beach there. It was on that beach where Athrun began spreading the blanket. Once it was spread, he took a seat on it and invited Euphemia to do the same.

"So, what are we having today?"

She accepted the offer and took a seat on the blanket with a smile in her face. Then she gently pulled out some dishes and placed everything in the blanket.

"I hope you find this of your liking."

Athrun smiled as he watched Euphemia set the food out. "It's off to a good start. Everything here looks delicious." He begins to serve himself portions of food and put them on his dish.

Euphemia served herself as well with a big smile. Even if he was having a hard time for this day, he still could smile at her for this little date.

"I did not know your favorite, so I had to improvise and asked around the city what would be the best for this situation!"

Athrun took a morsel and placed it in his mouth. After swallowing, he smiled again.

"Well, whoever you asked really knows their stuff. It's as delicious as it looks."

After saying that, he resumed eating.

Euphemia giggled at that.

"Sorry, I promised to not tell the secret about such wonderful food."

Then she started eating once more.

Athrun kept eating at a decent pace. Once he finished everything on his plate, he added more, then finished that. However, after that, he was done.

"I think that's enough. How about you?"

Euphemia couldn't help but to laugh a bit at that. He seemed to be enjoying it so much that it made her really happy. She finished eating a bit later than his, but she didn't eat as much as him.

"I am fine now. You really looked pleased with the food."

"How could I not be? It was absolutely delicious." Athrun began wrapping up the leftovers. They could be saved for another day. "This is something we should try doing more often."

"I would love to do this more often as well. Spending time with you is really pleasant." Euphemia said with a smile.

"The view here is quite lovely."

Athrun's cheeks flushed just a little bit at the compliment. Then he followed her gaze.

"Yeah, it is. That's the unfortunate part about having our capital inland -- we can't watch the ocean. The tide rolling in and out, the waves crashing on the shore, the sun rising and setting on the horizon..."

Then, with a small movement, she took his hand and stood up.

"Let's go closer to the ocean, Athrun!"

"Huh?" Athrun suddenly found his hand in hers, and he was being pulled to his feet. "Um, well, if you want, we could..."

Once they were closer to the ocean, Euphemia took a moment to admire it. The breeze felt really lovely playing with her hair like that.

"It is so beautiful..."

"Yeah, it is." The breeze blew through Athrun's hair, too. He brushed a little away from his face. "It's much nicer to look at the sea from the beach than it is from a ship. The waves really add to the image."

Euphemia watched him for a few minutes, before kneeling down close the water with a smile. She gently touched the water, it felt so nice...

"The water is really nice too!"

"Are you sure you should be doing that?" Athrun looked down at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion on his face. "You could end up getting soaked if you're not careful."

She giggled a bit. "It is just water, nothing you should worry about."

And to prove a point, she might splash some water on him teasingly. Nothing too serious, just a bit like to play a child's game.

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