Rooftop AU | Lilli and Gilbert
The past few weeks went by in a flash for her, but quite a bit had happened to her after all -- really far too much for a girl who had just graduated high school to experience. She had been happily living with her foster brother and his family prior to a few weeks ago.
But that was all gone now, nothing left to scavenge from it.
Basch -- he had shoved her under a bed and it was there that she watched her life fall apart. Her adopted parents were already gone, and Basch -- well he never woke up again. Protective Basch died protecting her, if that was any way to go.
You wouldn't call his a peaceful death.
She didn't know the name of the man that did this -- she wasn't even sure why she was left alive. Maybe it was her frail appearance and Basch's blood covering her that let her live another day. Or maybe he simply hadn't seen her, her brother's last wishes. It wasn't as if the murderer was caught either, and she found herself at a conundrum.
She couldn't say -- but where was she to go? She found herself a few weeks later on an eerily familiar doorstep, one she hadn't seen for years. Her father -- a single man who's only living was composing and publishing music couldn't handle the cost a child brought. She had been taken in by Basch and his family, whom had jumped at the offer of a younger sister for him.
But now -- now he was the only one left in her life. He was the only one she could turn to, and the witness protection group that had worked with her jumped at the opportunity of a living relative who lived at the opposite end of the country.
She just hoped that Roderich remembered he now needed to be a father to a girl that had seen too much.
"Elise." He gave her a curt nod, his greeting apparently. "You cut your hair."
She gave him a slight curtsy in greeting before responding to his statement. "Ah -- He thought it would look better in the city." She didn't say say his name, blood flashed before her eyes with just a simple thought about him.
"It looks nice --" He said no more to her, and stepped aside to let her in. "Do you have anything else needed to be brought in?"
She stiffened, all her clothing -- everything except for a select few things she had left. They were crucial evidence after all. She quickly shook her head. "I-I'm afraid not --"
For the first time since she had seen him, he let himself smile, as small as it was. "Well I suppose we'll have to take you shopping now won't we?"
Before she could stop herself she let out a small gasp. "Wo-would you really? I-I have a little money for that actually --"
"Nonsense." He dismissed the thought rather quickly as he walked her up to her room. "You're my -- daughter after all." It took him a moment to spit out the word, almost as if he himself didn't believe such a thing.
He left her in room without more than another few parting words, no doubt he wasn't used at all to have someone else in the house with him.