Remnant's System

The Vytal Festival Begins

"I'll take the date seriously, Ruby. I can see this clearly means a lot to you, so I will treat it as such."

Ruby nods. "Good!"

She begins to walk off, and I'm left alone for a moment.

There's a speech that will pop up on the monitors anytime soon to officially announced that the festival is on.

Once that happens, food stands, souvenir kiosks, and the like will all open up.

I'm excited...

I'm also lucky. This year's festival takes place in Vale, so I didn't have to travel too far.

"Hello, Everyone!"

And so it begins...

"We're excited to welcome you all, far and wide, to the 40th semi-annual Vytal Festival! To all of Vale's esteemed guests, we hope you receive a most gracious welcome. And in honor of inclusivity, we ensured our organization board is diverse, filled with people from all walks of life!"

I hear some nearby faunus gasp and whisper happily. This must have been some kind of problem with the previous festivals...

"And without further Ado, we would like to begin! We wish you a happy festival!!"

Confetti cannons all around the area go off, helping to announce that the festival truly is underway.

This is going to be fun...

"Papa, I'll be fine! Don't worry!"

I can hear the sound of a girl declaring her independence, and it makes me smile.

I can tell I'm not the only one that will enjoy myself these next few days.

"Oomph! Ah! I'm sorry! I should have watched where I was going!"

I turn around, hearing the girl that had just been speaking to her 'papa' moments ago.

"No, it's fi-"

When I finish rearing my head, everything else blocks out.

A familiar face.

A very very familiar face.

"Ce... Cecilia?"

"Hm?"

The girl looks up at me and gasps.

"(Y-Y/N)...?"

I've cried a lot more often recently than I normally do, but... I feel like this situation definitely warrants it.

"Oh my god..."

This is all I'm able to let out before the two of us give an extremely tight embrace.

"Cecilia! I'm so glad... I... You're safe! And you've grown so much... You're 16 now, aren't you?"

She smiles happily, contrasting the waterfall of tears flowing from her beautiful brown eyes as she nods in response to my question.