Drabble Request by teddiebearie

It had been a long day when Hope and Nez decided to settle down for the night. The night had settled in already, and the moon was high up in the sky.

As they set up the camp, they thought about their deeds that day. They had found a small village early in the morning and had managed to restore the hope of a few villagers, but decided to leave soon afterwards since they were close to a bigger city and wanted to spend more effort into that. Their original plan had been to reach said city that day, but the day had not allowed for it to happen.

Hope thought back to the little pit break they had taken a while back, earlier in the day, and how it had only been supposed to take 15 minutes at most. After having dumped all their stuff at a tree and sat down on a nearby log, Nez was quick to excuse herself, stating she needed to use the bathroom. Hope reassured her that she’d watch over their stuff, and then watched her scurry off.

Nez took a little longer than usual, but that was fine. Hope could wait a bit, and she was sure Nez had her reasons. She started getting a bit worried, though, when over 20 minutes had passed, and when over 30 had passed she decided she’d better go look for her. She knew it was unlikely for Nez to get in any actual trouble, given her strength and wit, but that didn’t stop her from worrying.

It took her about five minutes of searching to first hear the sobs, and another two to actually locate the source of the sobbing. When she did locate them, she found Nez in a small clearing, curled up on top of an old tree stump. She was crying quietly, and quickly tried to wipe away her tears once she noticed Hope standing in the clearing as well. “I’m fine,” she hiccuped.

Hope frowned, her heart hurting at the sight. Within seconds, she had wrapped herself around Nez and plopped down on the ground. “No, you’re not,” she soothingly rubbed her back, “what’s wrong?”

“I…” it took Nez a few moments to gather her thoughts and be able to speak, but once she did she only started crying louder, this time no longer trying to hide her sadness. Grasping tightly onto Hope’s jacket, her tears fell freely. Some landed on her glasses, since she hadn’t taken them off, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“I just… don’t feel like I’m good enough. I know I’m doing the best I can but it just doesn’t feel like enough…” and so she went on, and Hope quietly listened to her.

Once she was done, Hope soothed her, rubbing her back, “Shh, it’s okay to feel this way, but know that that’s not true. You’re not useless, and in fact you’re more than enough. You’re needed—if by no one else, then by me.”

They sat there for an extended period of time, just relishing each others’ presence and reassuring each other, and then got up when Nez felt better. Smiling a bit, she reached up to wipe her tears, but Hope beat her to it, taking off her glasses and cleaning them quickly but gently as well. Setting them back on her nose and booping it, they smiled at each other and went back to grab their stuff and return to their journey.

That night, as they lay inside their tent, Hope felt a small hand find its way on top of hers just as she was about to fall asleep. Grinning, she extended her arms over to Nez’s side of the tent and pulled her over, wrapping her up in a warm embrace. Nez squeaked in surprise, but quickly made herself comfortable. As they both drifted off, two small whispers was heard throughout the tent.

“Sleep well… and I love you.”