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rosereview · 4 years ago

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Chain of Iron Review

Like my Chain of Gold review (which you can find on my post list or here) this is going to be a hot mess of emotions and feelings with very many spoilers. If you’re wondering if you should read this book (a review without spoilers) my thoughts are go fricking read everything by Cassandra Clare and fall in love with me. Yes, I highly recommend everything that woman has touched with a pen. But besides that, let's get into this review.

Characters

James Herondale- first let's start with one of the main characters who was a big part of this novel. To be honest I don’t have much to say about him personally without getting into his relationships with others and the plot points in the book (which I will talk about later), but I guess I will talk about my love for him. I was unsure at first (before Chain of Gold) how I was going to feel about James and if he would be a typical Herondale boy and be very similar to his father or his descendant, Jace. I was worried that he would be too similar to Will and Jace that he would not stand out, but like in Chain of Gold, I was very happy with his individual character traits and personality. While he is like Will and Jace, James is also very different and his own person. He’s a typical heart throb Herondale, while still having this very reserved and responsible side to him that I love so much. His only flaw is something he can’t control, so yeah… strong character.

Cordelia Carstairs- Like last book, I LOVE Cordelia, although this book was harder to read because of what she went through. Multiple times I wanted to just give her a hug and let her cry on my shoulder. I wish she hadn’t had to go through so much trauma in this book, but I know she’ll become a better character because of it. The whole ordeal with being Lilith’s paladin hurt very much, her unrequited (not really) love for James was heartbreaking to see continuously played on (I JUST WANTED THAT DAMN GRACELET OFF), and the parts about her father also hurt. I need to read Chain of Thorns now, just to make sure that Cordelia is alright in the end.

Matthew Fairchild- talking about Matthew makes me sad because I absolutely love him as a character and I just need him to get better. I’m so happy that he opened up to Cordelia in this book, but I need him to start loving himself again. The pain I feel when reading about him trembling and drinking himself to honestly too much (especially since he’s just a fictional character). And that’s really all I want for Matthew, is for him to be okay one day.

Grace Blackthorn- this was very interesting in Chain of Iron because we got a lot of flashback scenes from Grace’s point of view and that made me not hate her as much anymore. I still am very annoyed at her, but I like that I can finally see more of her side and sympathize with her. I’m very interested to see more of her character development, especially individually without all the stuff with James obscuring my image of her.

Lucie Herondale- someone else that I found I loved much more in this book was Lucie. In the last book, from what I can remember, Lucie was a little interesting at parts (I kind of want to say annoying, although that’s a little too harsh of a word), but I loved her in this book. She had much more character development (I thought) and her personality came out more in a less hectic way. Her inner thoughts started to make more sense to me, and I loved learning more about her as not someone who is just James’s sister, or Cordelia’s future parabatai, but as her own person.

Jesse Blackthorn- Another character I loved to see more of although we mostly just saw him through Lucie’s eyes, and I also already loved him even before. He became a much more understanding and developed character in this book and I can’t wait to see more of him now that he’s alive!

Alastair Carstairs- I totally fell in love with him in this book too! Holy shit, all I wanted to do was hug him and tell him that it would all be alright. Because he is an older sibling I think I can relate to him a lot more now, especially with all this baggage that he was keeping and trying to protect Cordelia from. I found the scenes with just him in them (like when he’s thinking about the future while looking out the window in his house after his father dies and thinking about his new baby sibling that will be born) absolutely amazing and captivating. Obviously I used to hate him because of the short stories that he was in the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy and other extra short stories, but now I need more of him and I’m internally hurting for him.

Thomas Lightwood- Another character I am hurting for and I just need him to be okay. I loved and hated the fact that he felt so hurt for James because of the killer and he wanted to unburden James by catching the killer. I was just so moved but also so angry that he was putting himself in danger that it was a very emotional time reading (like me clutching the book and shouting at Thomas to stop and go back). But I will always love Thomas and can’t wait to see more of him.

Christopher Lightwood- Last but certainly not least, is Christopher, who I am obsessed with. That one POV moment that we had from him was one of my favourites and now I need to hear from him more. I love all of his quirks and his inner thoughts are the most adorable thing but also makes me sad because he has no one but Henry to share them with and who fully understands and appreciates him for who he is. Also I still really find it wild that he’s the son of Cecily and Gabriel, who aren’t science-y people at all and who are both much more sarcastic characters, while Christopher is just so sweet and perfect. (Not saying Cecily and Gabriel aren’t perfect, but still never would have imagined them to have a kid like Christopher, but at the same time I find it so perfect that they did). Also I just love Christopher so much! I know I said that already, but I just can’t get over it. I need more of his inner thoughts and just more of HIM.

Relationships

Now we can finally talk about the characters in terms of their relationships with other characters and since I was just talking about Christopher I need to start with…

Christopher and Grace! — I loved that little moment they shared when they were in Henry’s laboratory and were bonding of the pithos. It was the best moment in the whole book and I keep thinking about it in my head. I know of the family tree from the Clockwork Princess inside cover, it says that Christopher and Grace will get married and have the Lightwood offspring, but I just hadn’t really realized that significance until now. They are so cute together and even though I have expressly said I hated Grace in the past, the way she understood Christopher and the way they could talk together, warmed my heart so much and was the most redeeming part of Grace’s character for me. I just need more moments of Grace and Christopher.

Now to the next most pressing relationship…

The James, Cordelia, Matthew love triangle!

Let's start with Cordelia and James— I love them together. Even with all the annoying shit with James and the bracelet, their relationship shone in this book and I was so happy about it. They are so perfect for each other and all of their moments together I was bursting with joy. Their chemistry, but also their solid foundation for their relationship is so well written that it’s impossible for me not to see them as together. This is their story and I’m in love with it.

Now Cordelia and Matthew— I also love them, but probably not as much. The thing is, I’m just obsessed with Matthew, so while I love the relationship just because I want Matthew to find happiness, I think James and Cordelia are better together. The problem is with Matthew is that he needs to work on himself first before he could ever hope to fully love someone else and share a life with someone else. I’m very happy for the moment though that Matthew has Cordelia at his side and that he even shared his biggest secret with her because I do think that Cordelia has the capacity to help Matthew (maybe even on this trip to Paris) but I also don’t want it to be too much for Cordelia since she already had to deal with similar issues with her dad and I don’t want it to bring up hard memories for her. But either way I just need the next book to see what happens after that VERY emotional cliffhanger. Cassie did me dirty with that one.

James and Grace— Well I hate the fricking bracelet (also side note, I absolutely love that the fandom nicknamed the bracelet, gracelet. I love that so much). But I also see why Grace felt like she had to put it on and why she couldn’t take it off, but it still makes me so mad. Especially the way she still felt she could manipulate James in the end because she had nowhere else to go. I hate that part of her, the part that her mother taught her that it’s okay to manipulate men. But I was also so happy how James went off on her at the end, it was very satisfying until Cordelia ran off, but still very happy that James got to yell at Grace like that.

Lucie and Jesse— another couple I am now fully invested and in love with. This book made me like Lucie more BECAUSE of her development with Jesse. I liked Jesse before, but this book, where we got to see lots of their development as a couple and be completely honest with each other, sealed the deal for me. I can’t wait to read more about Jesse and Lucie in the future because I am so happy for them and so in love with their love, it’s actually kind of ridiculous.

Alastair and Thomas— again, I just fell completely in love with them in this book. The scenes with them locked up together were some of my favorite scenes, but I was beyond sad when Alastair still broke it off with Thomas in the end. I needed one couple to find some sort of happy at the end of this book, but all of them ended badly! I was very mad, but I can’t wait for the next book to see them get together (because they have to get together).

Anna and Ariadne— I just love Anna so much and I want her to be happy, but in this book I also felt for Ariadne too. At first I didn’t like her because of the fact that she broke Anna’s heart, but now seeing her try so hard to make up with her… it just makes my heart break for the both of them. Also the only parts in this book that had these two in it, were scenes about their relationship, which is why I didn’t have anything to say about their individual personalities, but I would like to add that Anna is definitely one of my favourite Lightwoods and one of the best minor characters in the Shadowhunter universe.

Lucie and Cordelia— for these two I wish that we had more scenes of them as friends, but I think one of the most powerful parts of this book that made it so sad, was the fact that Cordelia and Lucie didn’t talk. The way the two girls were by themselves with their problems definitely was a huge factor of why everything went bad, and I’m very certain that if Lucie and Cordelia had talked more, things would have ended differently. So I see and understand why they weren’t able to be the parabatai pals that I wanted them to be, but I still am waiting desperately for more scenes of the two of them just being friends. Another reason I cannot wait for the last book of the series.

Grace and Jesse— because of all the flashback scenes of Grace, I was able to appreciate her relationship with her brother more. The bond that they have between brother and sister is so strong and beautiful that it’s another thing that redeems Grace as a character, and makes me sympathize a lot more with her.

The Merry Thieves— just want to say that I love them so much. I will always love them and I just need more scenes of the group of them plus Lucie, Anna, and Cordelia. That is all.

Plot

For plot details in this book, I just have a couple things to talk about, the first being: WHERE THE FUCK WAS THE REAL MAGNUS! Honestly, I know where he was, but I felt so betrayed when Lilith revealed herself to be a pretend Magnus. Every Shadowhunter book has Magnus helping to save the day, and my theory is that the reason everything went so shitty was because Magnus wasn’t there. Jem and Magnus are always needed for these Shadowhunter children who just keep getting caught up into shitty situations. He better help more in the next book (which I already know he will, since at the end of Chain of Iron he was there with Will). On that note, I also thought it was clever of Cassie to have Will and Tessa gone for the majority of the book, because I feel like if they had been there, shit wouldn’t have gotten that bad, both concerning Belial and the kids’ love lives. It wouldn’t have been believable if they had been there but all the events happened in the same way, because I’m pretty sure Will or Tessa would have given more advice to James and Lucie.

Secondly, that was some crazy business with Belial and Lilith, and also I’m so excited that Lilith is back. I think she’s such an interesting villain being Adam’s first wife and all. But also I don’t like who she’s a manipulative bitch, but I think that’s part of her charm.

Next, the gracelet. I hate it. Period. Glad it’s off.

Next plot point— all the stuff with Malcolm! Oh my goodness that was so interesting to see how Malcolm’s villain origin story started. I can’t actually believe that it was Grace that told Malcolm straight up about Annabel (I can actually believe it, I just think it ironic that she’s also a Blackthorn, and really only Blackthorns seem to have messed up Malcolm’s life). I’m very interested to see more of what he does with Jesse and Lucie now that Jesse is alive and Malcolm knows more about Lucie’s powers.

Lastly, I wanted to touch on the extra short story from the first editions of Chain of Iron, with Magnus and Jem. I think that it was an important scene concerning the future Eldest Curses novel, The Black Volume of the Dead, and maybe even the Wicked Powers series. It just made me even more excited for the future Shadowhunters books and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us moving forward!

And that’s all I have to talk about. Thank you if you read to the end and were able to sift through my thoughts. This is totally unedited, so sorry for stupid mistakes and such.

Until next time!

~Rose Reviews

#cassandraclare #shadowhunters #chain of iron spoilers #chain of iron #the last hours #james herondale #cordelia carstairs #matthew fairchild #lucie herondale #jesse blackthorn #grace blackthorn #alastair carstairs #thomas lightwood #christopher lightwood #anna lightwood #ariadne bridgestock #chain of iron review

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lizziestudieshistory · 4 years ago

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Books of 2021 - March

I had a very strange reading month in March, I read more than I usually do when studying but then fell into a reading slump in the last 10 days or so... It was all a certain book's fault!

The Burning God - R.F. Kuang (Poppy War #3)

I've already got a post somewhere explaining how I felt about The Burning God. I had a wonderful(? feels like the wrong word but I'm sticking with it) time with this series, in a morbid kind of way. It was highly worth the read and The Poppy War is one of the best debut fantasy stories I've read to date! I was slightly disappointed in some of the elements (the Trifecta still spring to mind, I was expecting so much more...) but it was a great series. Highly recommended if you haven't given them a go.

Shadow and Bone/Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo (This includes all three books, plus the Demon in the Woods)

I read this entire series back to back in the space of about 10 days... I haven't read a series this fast since I was in high school! And I LOVED it! The Grisha Trilogy is a stereotypical YA as you can get - it's clichéd, tropey, and predictable. However, I still had a fantastic time reading them, much to my surprise.

Unfortunately, I loathed Mal (don't kill me), he was one of the most toxic "heroes" I've met in YA fantasy and I'm not over the infuriating conclusion with him and Alina (if Alina had to have a partner she should have married Nikolai, come on! Roguish pirate AND a dashing prince in one man!) I'm genuinely angry that the message Bardugo gave young girls with the conclusion to Alina and Mal's relationship arc was 'sacrifice everything, including your identity, to be play housewife with a boy with such a fragile ego he ignored you for an entire book'.

I really hope the TV series removes some of his controlling and manipulative behaviour - and yes I can stomach it with the Darkling because HE IS THE VILLAIN and not framed as the paragon of virtue Mal is... I did very much like the Darkling as a hot villain, and I'm looking forward to seeing my childhood crush, Ben Barnes, do him justice ;) Seriously though, the Darkling was the most interesting character in the series, maybe tied with Nikolai, and I'm sad we didn't see more of him in the second and third books.

The Hatmakers - Tamzin Merchant

I ADORED this book! I was expecting to enjoy it but not love it, however, I fell in love. This is a debut middle grade novel set in an alternate version of 18th century London. We follow Cordelia Hatmaker, the youngest Hatmaker, attempt to find her father after he's lost at sea. The Hatmakers are an old family of magic users who make hats to effect people's mood and behaviour.

This book was so heartwarming - it was fun, sweet, and enchanting to read. I wasn't sure of Merchant's writing style at first, it was a bit too much! She's very lyrical in her style, for a children's author, and I thought it was going to grate. But it fits the tone of her world and characters so well I didn't notice it after the first few chapters. It's honestly beautifully written. Characters were great, the plot was predictable but hilarious (I'm not the target audience so that's fine), and the world was well realised, if small. Overall, it was a wonderful novel and I'd highly recommend it to everyone - I enjoyed it as much as I did Nevermoor!

There's also the BEST tiny side story about a couple of young fops who want hats to help them duel! Absolutely AMAZING and I hope they turn up in the second book!

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

Here is where the month fell down for me and I fell into a slump... So A Thousand Splendid Suns is the story of two women in Afghanistan during the late 20th century. We see the Russian occupation and the rise of the Taliban through their eyes, as well as the devastating effects the almost constant warfare had on Kabul and their lives. However, this is more the background to exploring these women's lives, starting with Mariam as a child in the 1950s and following her life after she's married off by her father to Rasheed. We also follow Laila, who's literally the girl next door, and how their lives intersect during the course of the novel. It is a powerful story about the strength of women, the bonds they form, and the consequences the attitudes of men have on their lives.

So I'm conflicted about this book, on the one hand I can very much see its merit. It's a beautifully written, engaging, and thought provoking novel. It's one of those reads that stick with you and you mull over for weeks afterwards. It makes you think and I am glad I've read it.

On the other hand, I HATED every second I was reading it. On top of the general misery you'd expect (given the description above), this book discusses domestic violence, marital rape, forced child abandonment, miscarriages, imprisonment, etc. You name it, it'll be here. I could see the reason for this but it made for such a miserable reading experience that I could barely keep myself going at times. I seriously considered DNFing it at the end of part 2 and the only reason I didn't is because it's my book club book.

It's one of those reads that are immensely powerful and worth while, they open your eyes and make you think. However, it's reading experience is so miserable it's hard to see whether it was actually worth it while you'rein the book. I would say give it a go if you're interested because it really is a masterpiece and beautifully achieves what it set out to do. But please do go into it having done your research and aware of the trigger warnings.

On the Currently Reading Stack

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Technically on the pile, if we're dating this to 31st March. Although as of writing this (3rd April) I've finished this. I had fun but still don't like heist stories... Great characters though!

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

I'm dipping in and out of this, as it's my 5th time reading it... I will finish it eventually but don't hold your breath because I'm only picking it up when I'm REALLY in the mood for Sanderson or feeling slumpy.

The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien

Another long term read, I'm slowly finishing off my annotation reread of the Lord of the Rings. Very much enjoying this read but I'm taking it slowly so I can do my annotations justice.

Bleak House - Charles Dickens

Still going, it's just an enormous and slow book... I'm going to try and finish it in April but this isn't a promise...

#books of 2021 #reading #mini reviews #books #r.f. kuang #the burning god #leigh bardugo #grisha trilogy #shadow and bone #seige and storm #ruin and rising #tamzin merchant #the hatmakers #khaled hosseini #a thousand splendid suns #not proof read

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purplebass · 4 years ago

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Dark Light Ch. 6 // Blackdale

I admit I intended to make this a 5 chapter sort of fic. As I have been writing it, though, I got more and more ideas, so it will probably have 10 chapters. I have already outlined it, which means I know what to write.

Couple/Characters: Blackdale, Lucie Herondale and Jesse Blackthorn Rating: T

✨ You can also find it on AO3 ✨

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5

Lucie’s hands turned cold after they were empty. Was that an aftershock of the Mortal Sword? She felt like throwing. She had never been on a ship, but she thought that if she were to travel on one, that would be the sensation she’d feel. She didn’t like it.

“We’ll take our time to deliberate,” the Inquisitor said, and left the room with some of the other members of the Clave. Lucie noticed that Charlotte, who was the Consul, was with them. She spared Lucie a quick glance, filled with worry. She was aware that she couldn’t help her situation either, no matter her position. When they left the room, she dared another look at Jesse. He rose from his chair, and walked towards her.

Her mouth opened in surprise. She had been waiting for that moment for days. The moment she could finally see him. Her family surrounded her before Jesse could come close, and she frowned. He managed a smile behind her, and returned to his place. She thought how sad it was. She was bathed in a circle of affection and love, with her parents assuring her that she hadn’t done anything wrong. She shifted her attention on them not to seem too suspicious, until the Inquisitor and the other members returned and everyone sat down.

The Inquisitor cleared their voice. “We have had a hard time making a decision, but we believe that this is the best solution for this situation,” they said. “We decided to punish Lucie Herondale with two years of exile, starting next week.”

The crowd started talking louder, but Lucie’s ears weren’t working anymore. She froze in her seat.

“Just because she stole a book she never used?” someone asked, and she didn’t know if it was someone from her family. “She didn’t break the law!”

“Silence, please. The law is hard, but it is the law,” the Inquisitor remarked severely. “And the law is the law to everyone. Even our children, Herondale.”

…

It all happened in a blur, and Lucie still hadn’t realized that she would be leaving the Institute in a few hours. They had let her go back with her family, but they had still considered her like a semi-criminal. Tatiana hadn’t been happy about the outcome, and she requested that they stripped Lucie’s marks, and they kicked her to the curb. The Inquisitor stayed neutral, and ordered Tatiana to stay silent, since she had no authority over the Clave’s decision.

She hadn’t dared to look at Jesse after the verdict. Was he satisfied? Was he hurt? He had sided with her when Tatiana first made her accusations, but what if that was a trap to send her away from her family? What if it was payback? He told her that his mother didn’t love her family because of events from the past, but that was too much, even for her. Was it?

Her father had tried to put a word with the Inquisitor after the verdict, but they were unshakable. They even went as far as to threaten his position as the head of the London Institute. Lucie insisted that he didn’t risk it, and that she had to face the consequences of her actions. She had admitted to her family that she had indeed stolen the book in order to use it. It was half a lie, since it was Grace who had given it to her, but Lucie didn’t want to put her into this. She was already in a tough situation as it was. She would be the only one to face the music.

That she had revived Jesse, that much was true. She was still wondering why the sword had let her outright lie. It wasn’t possible, since the sword pushed the truth out of people. She was thankful for that, at least. If she had uttered another yes , she was sure she would be with mundanes now. She shivered when she thought about the possibility. She would never be able to see her parents anymore. The exile would last two years. What were two years in comparison to a whole lifetime without her loved ones?

She sighed as she arranged her things. “I really wish you didn’t have to do that,” Cordelia said. She had spent the last two days with Lucie. “That woman is insane.”

“She is,” Lucie agreed. “We can’t help it,” she added with resentment, trying not to shed a tear. She had ordered herself she wouldn’t cry in front of the people she loved.

“Do you at least know where they are sending you?”

“I still don’t,” she informed her. “I guess I’ll know when I’ll get there.” She was gloomy as she finished putting everything she needed in her trunk. She decided she wouldn’t bring many books with her, but she wouldn’t leave her typewriter behind. That machine was important for her survival.

“The carriage is here, Lucie,” her mother called from the door, and she and Cordelia exchanged a look.

She would tear up, she knew it. Cordelia enveloped in a tight hug, and started crying. “I will miss you, Lucie. Promise me you’ll write me letters. Can you write, right?”

“Yes, I suppose it’s not against the rules,” she said, and stifled a sob.

The evening before, Lucie’s parents had thrown a celebration in the ballroom so she could say goodbye to her relatives and friends. She was convinced Jesse would come with the Lightwoods, but he didn’t. She didn’t ask about him, although she was tempted to. She had done her best not to cry, but it had been impossible. It would be harder not to weep now.

Lucie told her mother to wait, because she needed to retrieve one last thing, and to wait for her downstairs. Cordelia asked if she wanted company, but Lucie told her friend to go too. She didn’t wonder why, but perhaps, she knew. Lucie wanted to be alone to say goodbye to the Institute too. She had already walked around each room to ingrain the details in her mind. She knew she wouldn’t remember everything. It would cost her to say farewell to the people she loved. That was a bitter price to pay, although she was aware that she had done something wrong. She thought the Clave would have punished her more harshly.

Once she was ready, she went downstairs. Her family was gathered by the door. There was Cordelia, who she considered like a sister, who was already moving to tears, a handkerchief in her hands to wipe her eyes. Her brother James stood by his fiancée’s side, his hand behind her back as to console her. He wasn’t crying, but he had shed his good deal of tears already. Then, there were her parents. Her mother was weeping silently as usual, but she was also grinning. Lucie knew that smile was an encouragement, a way to be positive despite it all. Her father broke down when he saw her. He had always been the emotional type, but she knew that he would be alright.

They all went outside, where a black carriage waited for Lucie. Her uncle Jem was also there, waiting. James helped her trunk in the vehicle, which meant that their time was up.

“I promise that I’ll write a lot,” she said, her voice broken by the tears. “I’ll send pieces of my writing too, so you can read them.”

“We will also write to you, Lucie. Don’t you worry,” Will reassured her.

She hugged each one of them until Jem advised them that they had to go. Lucie and her uncle got in the carriage, and it took off without warning. The last thing she saw was her family trying to hold in tears and behind them, what used to be her home until two minutes ago.

…

We are here, Lucie.

Jem’s voice in her mind woke her up. Her eyes adjusted to the dark outside, and she sat up straighter. She had fallen asleep at some point during the trip. She was exhausted not only because of the journey, but also because she hadn’t stopped crying after she left London. She hadn’t been able to stop herself. Jem’s presence had been reassuring. She knew that even if he couldn’t speak much, he supported her silently. It would have been worse if she had been left alone or with another Silent Brother.

She gathered her skirts and exited the carriage. It was extremely chilly that night, although it was almost summer. She tried to understand where she was, but the night was too dark to take notice of her surroundings. She could make out trees all around.

Jem started walking, and she followed. The driver will bring your trunk inside, he informed her. He walked briskly as usual, while she glanced around.

There were several different noises in this place. Was that an owl? She could smell the scent of leaves after rain too. She had been distracted that she didn’t notice that they had reached the main door. The wood was dark, she suspected it was ebony. She would inspect it the following day, she decided, and added it to the list of things to do to pass the time.

She opened the door, and saw that at least there were a few sources of light inside. The driver had meanwhile taken her trunk there, and she was about to get in, when Jem stopped her.

I’m afraid I must go, uncle Jem said. My duty was just to take you here. I know you will make it, Lucie. I believe in you.

He didn’t give her time to answer, that he started walking away. “Wait, wait,” she hurried after him, and he stopped. “At least, tell me where we are. Please.”

He took several minutes to answer, that Lucie thought he wouldn’t disclose this information. It wasn’t like she would run away.

This is the Cornwall Institute, he replied. And then, without adding more, he left.

…

It was odd. Lucie had written several stories where her main protagonist was alone during some parts of her journey, but she had never known what it meant until now. She waited to take a tour until the morning after she arrived. The Cornwall Institute was small, all black and grey stone, and was deserted save for a cook slash custodian who had the duty of taking care of the property. No one else apparently lived there.

The cook seemed to be taking good care of it, at least. The room she had chosen to occupy was tidy and it didn’t smell like a sewer. The woman told Lucie that she didn’t live at the Institute, and that she would only come to cook and clean, which meant that she would be alone for most of the day. She wanted to cry, and she did. She thought about her family, about her friends. About Jesse. It would be impossible to have news about him from that place. They were still in the British Isles, but not within reach. She couldn’t even escape in order to meet him in secret. She thought that if she hadn’t tried to bring him back, this wouldn’t have happened. And yet, she would have done it again.

She had already written a letter to her family during the first week, and she was writing another one while she waited for the cook to get there, hoping she would have a letter for her. It was barely midday when she heard noises coming from the corridor, and she rose from her chair with the pretense that she had to take a break. The truth was that she wanted to meet the woman so they could talk.

She was about to open her door when she heard a grunt. It didn’t look like it came from a feminine voice, but she might be hallucinating. She grabbed a book from the desk and exited the room. Better safe than sorry.

The door of the room next to hers was open, because the light of the afternoon sun bathed the corridor with brilliant tones. She tried to get in that room when she got there. She wanted to choose her room since she would spend two years there, but the door was locked.

She advanced quietly. The sunlight reflected the shadow of the person inside. She hadn’t hallucinated yet, it seemed. She held the book higher, and she struck the person on the back two or three times to make her point. It was definitely not a woman.

“Who are you?” she asked warily, trying to look confident.

“Thanks for the warm welcome, Lucie.”

She opened her mouth in surprise. “Forget it. I must really be hallucinating,” she shook her head.

“What?”

“No, Lucie. Wait. You hit him with the book,” she told herself, frowning. “He is real. By the angel, Jesse!”

“Yes?”

“You are here.”

“I swear, I’m not a ghost,” he teased her with a smirk.

She couldn’t help herself. She cut the distance between them and she hugged him, inhaling his scent. He smelled like clean clothes and moss. She placed her head on his shoulder, forgetting that they weren’t much acquainted. She was about to detach herself from him, when his arm came about her upper back. He was returning the hug. Being the gentleman boy Lucie had known when he was a ghost, he was trying not to cross the line. The embrace lasted longer than Lucie intended, but he didn’t say anything.

…

Come evening, Lucie believed that Jesse would leave. She still hadn’t asked why he was there. Not that she minded, of course, but she was afraid that he would tell her that he just came for a courtesy visit. They ate lunch and dinner together. It felt so domestic, so heartwarming.

Cath, the cook, she had once worked for his grandparents in London. She told Lucie while they were momentarily alone. She had the perfect occasion to ask him when they decided to take a walk in the flower garden outside of the Institute after they ate their meal. She didn’t see any carriage in view, which meant that he was probably staying.

“It’s a beautiful sunset, isn’t it?” she asked casually.

He glanced at her and smiled. “You can tell that winter is over, and nature is different, yes.”

“I can’t remember I’ve ever seen something like this before,” she commented. “You know London is full of smoke coming from the factories and the chimneys. You can never see the sky as it is, the way you can see it in the countryside.”

“I wouldn’t define this place in the countryside,” he frowned. “We’re closer to the ocean than you really think, Lucie.”

“And how do you know that?” she asked, curious.

“I know because I’ve paid attention while I was coming here,” he replied.

“It was night when I came,” she retorted, and crossed her arms on her chest. Don’t be a petulant child, Lucie. Don’t. She relaxed her arms again. “I couldn’t possibly see.”

“Yes, I understand,” he nodded. “The truth is that I’ve already been here, when I was a child. This place belonged to someone in my family.”

“Does this mean this Institute is yours?”

“You know better than me that Institutes can’t be inherited, Lucie,” he said. “It was just being taken care of by the Blackthorns for generations, but at some point, everyone moved to London and it was left in the care of a guardian.”

She nodded, and looked at the path in front of them. They had reached the gates, and Lucie could finally see that there were three separate roads in front of them. She hadn’t noticed, and she had been here for a week already.

“I still have to explore this place,” she said. “I didn’t feel like walking out of the building,” alone , she wanted to add, but bit her lip. “Since I thought I’d have plenty of time to do that,” she chuckled softly, and looked away for a moment.

“Then we could go see the ocean one of these days,” he proposed, and Lucie’s heart quickened its pace. She smiled widely before she knew. “What do you say?”

She hoped she didn’t look silly. “I say that is a plan.”

Taglist (if you want to be added or removed, send me a PM): @princesslucretia @kit-12 @immortal-enemies @lucian-evander @esa-emery @danieldyers @blackthorn-trash @rinadragomir @fortunesandfables @itsdaughterofthemoon @silvenys@thomastair3 @livvyheronstairs @ holding-infinity-and-a-book @lovelaces

#tsc #tlh #blackdale #jesse blackthorn #lucie herondale #lucie and jesse #chain of gold #chain of iron #chain of thorns #the shadowhunter chronicles #the last hours #tweety.writes #Tweety.txt

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jellybeanbeing · 4 years ago

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Books That Made Me Cry pt. 2

I’ve already written a part one of this list but it’s been about two years since I wrote that one and in that timeframe I have read more books that have made me cry so here is an updated list!

Part one:

https://jellybeanbeing.tumblr.com/post/180974041971/books-that-made-me-cry

Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje

I am so surprised that this book made me cry because it was a book I had to read for school. Usually, I always feel disconnected with books I have to read for school because I’m forced to read it, but with this one, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The journey that Anil and Sarath (and I guess Gamini) go on is filled with such turmoil and tragedy. Throughout the book, each of the characters’ background are sort of revealed, bringing out who they really are to the surface. There is so much heartbreak and loss, and you’re just hoping in the end that everything will be fine but it’s not.

A Torch Against the Night & A Reaper at the Gates by Sabba Tahir

I recently reread the first three books for the third time, and it was this time that the second and third book made me sob. I think it has to do with the fact that I feel like I finally understand these characters and their motivations more clearly now, and I can connect with them. Laia, Elias, and Helene each go on their separate journeys to becoming who they are meant to be, and along the way, they are also hit with difficult and life altering changes though they never want it. They are constantly having to do things and become things that they don’t want to become but they have to for the sake of the greater good.

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare (spoilers included)

I have to congratulate this book so hard because it is the only book ever to make cry because of the romantic relationships. Like every other book on the lists of ‘books that made me cry’ made me cry not because of their romantic plot lines, but because of their own personal growth and journey and feelings. The moment where Jesse said he would give his last breath to Lucie was just perfect and everything romantic. And at the end, I could just feel the agony and sadness in Cordelia because she and James now have to “pretend” to be in love when she really is but he’s not, and it hurts so much. Also when Matthew tells Thomas (and Anna??) why he hates Alastair so much in front of Alastair and they basically tell him to fuck off, made me cry so much. This entire book is just filled with heartbreak and I know that the next two are going to be the same if not more.

On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Every time I need a shot of nostalgia or sadness, I just open this book up and cry. It’s always so emotional and the way everything just ties in together is what I love so much and it makes my heart hurt. The internal and external personal journey the main characters go through is filled with so much emotion and tragedy that it’s hard not to feel for them and what they have to go through. It focuses in each characters’ relationship within their friendships and family, and it’s so beautiful and touching.

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

I absolutely loved this book and I read it at the most perfect time in my life. The way Noah and Jude’s story is drawn out was one of my favorite things about this book. It built up the emotions and really captured their personal growths and made me care for them and their stories. Usually with books told in two perspectives, I end up enjoying one perspective more, but I equally loved their perspectives. I loved the romance A LOT, but I loved that the story stayed to its core with always coming back to Noah and Jude and their family. The entire book is Noah and Jude finding their way back to each other and mending their family and I cried so much because it was just the most perfect thing ever.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S King

Honestly, I can’t believe I cried while reading this book. I was so mellow and lukewarm about the entire book so me crying is a big shocker. I think the thing that had me feeling so emotional was how atmospheric this book was and the relationship between Vera and her father. The father-daughter relationship they had, I felt like was very different from the others that I had read about. They aren’t happy all the time, and they weren’t that close. I really liked that aspect of the book. I guess I kind of also felt a connection with Vera and her feelings of loneliness and being lost in her own kind of world.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (spoilers included)

It took me FOREVER to pick this book back up but once I did again, I flew through this one. The story itself and the writing is so magical and pretty that it’s hard not to love it. I started crying when I got to part 6 because we get Katrina’s perspective and she cares so much for Zachary. We can see her hurt and slowly start to lose hope in finding Zachary, believing that he’s dead. We continue to see Katrina and her story and understand her character more and what she is destined for. The way this story is structured is kind of like stories within a story and the way everything comes back to the beginning and ties together was goddamn beautiful and I loved it. The romance killed me because there’s a lot of missed chances and the characters trying to find their way back to each other but can’t find them, especially with Simon and Eleanor. They’re both lost and have been for so long that they have forgotten what they were trying to look for but they know they are looking for something. Zachary was such a great character to follow and the way he just plunges into this entirely new world because he was just curious and knew that there was more to the world was such a relatable and precious thing. At the end when he loses Dorian and “dies” was the most heartbreaking thing ever because he had gone so far only to end up dead without finding out more. Because this book had an open ending was all the more heartbreaking yet hopeful because we see all the characters where they longed to be and understand their further potential.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

I loved that this book was written in verse because it made the story all the more powerful and heart hitting. Will has these moments that hit him in such quick moments and so much is happening. Every single moment and person matters in that short moment before the elevator hits the ground and it’s so overwhelming to Will because he has to make a decision and you just feel every single emotion that he feels. You’re there in that moment with him seeing everything come at him and then when it ends, you just hit with “what happens next?” and I loved it and it had me crying.

#anil's ghost #michael ondaatje #a torch against the night #a reaper at the gates #sabaa tahir #chain of gold #cassandra clare #on the jellicoe road #jellicoe road #melina marchetta #ill give you the sun #jandy nelson #please ignore vera dietz #a.s king #the starless sea #erin morgenstern #long way down #jason reynolds

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stevenuniversetanzanite · 4 years ago

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Fallen Angel (Venable X reader) Part 5

Michael's character might be inconsistent in this chapter if so I'll fix it later.

Also, don't hate me too much, I have a plan with this story.

Prequel Link: The Angel Among Us (Cordelia x reader) Plot: The event’s leading up to Y/N joining Michael and the Cooperative.

Summary/idea: Two strangers come to ‘save’ the occupants of outpost 3. Neither are what they seem.

Warnings: N/A

Parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 , Part 4, Part 5 (Will add as I go)

The two of you wound up tangled in her bed. No words shared just gentle touches of hands brushing over bare skin. A black nightgown discarded on the floor. You held her close, her head rested on your chest. Most would have thought it would have been the other way around, you wouldn't complain, you won the girl- at least for now. Venable was like a sour candy, bitter at first but once you get to understand her, sweet. You hoped the lolly wasn't expired.

Before you'd found yourself, you posed her a question, "What next?"

"We take our places for ourselves."

You had no clue what she had in mind. Was this the time to tell her there was nowhere else to go? The sanctuary is destroyed and everywhere else had been contaminated with radiation. This was the sanctuary.

You could take this woman away from here and leave Michael to have this fun with the other. You had no debt to him or his father. The reason you'd joined him was because you sought the truth. You had your answers, you only stuck with them because you never found the remaining witches before the bombs went off. The witches lived on- well at least two did. There was no place to take her, you'd been exiled from your former home and hell wouldn't go so well either nowadays. Anywhere on earth would be contaminated so she wouldn't be able to go outside without a hazmat suit. The former sanctuary could be revived, steal one of the apples you'd brought from the garden, but that would take time. She'd require food for which you can't supply.

"Sounds like fun," you attempted to sound happy, but the sadness came through. "You're probably still tired, I accidentally woke you."

"I could say the same."

"Yeah, sorry, again."

"No need to apologise, we both made a fool of ourselves today."

"I should let you get back to... bed" You shuffled towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Venable asked.

"Bed?" Venable raised her brow. "The generator room."

"That won't do at all."

"It won't? Got a better idea in mind?" You smirked.

"One or two."

"Do tell." You crept closer to the woman until you were close enough where you were forced to look down at her. "Does this idea involve me in less clothing by any chance?"

"It could."

"Are you going to keep me wondering or are you going to tell me?" Venable stared at you not saying anything. "Ms Venable?" Venable gulped and fought against the urge to shrink down and into herself. "Mina?"

"Yes," she croaked out. "I... don't-" Oh god, was she going to admit this to you? It's so embarrassing. What were you going to think of her when she told you? You'd probably have been with a lot of people and yet you were her first. "I haven't- Um, had intercourse before-" or even a relationship if that's what you would even call this.

"Okay and?"

"Isn't that shocking to you?"

"Not really, I kind of guessed that would be the case," you answered. "You outlawed sex; red flag number one. You appear generally uncomfortable any time I pursue you or get close to. Your distaste for connecting to people or building an emotional connection and the fact that the act involves some form of connection whether it be a fling or long-term thing. Also your fear of people seeing your back would most likely stop you or at least you'd keep a shirt on. Need I go on?"

"Please don't"

"You also have to keep in mind that won't be the weirdest thing. You would be fucking the devil's sister."

"-And Michael's aunt. Oh god I forgot about that. I thought you two were a thing"

"Eww~"

"Only briefly. It was the first rational conclusion I came up with. It didn't help that in the beginning you didn't appear to do much, other than annoy the man."

"I think I'm going to be sick" you covered your mouth. Freezing then you had a lightbulb moment. "That's it. That's it!" Venable waited for you to continue. "We make them all sick."

The plan was simple to create an event based around some holiday, Halloween as an example and tell them that it was this weekend. The two of you would poison the supply of apples you and Michael brought with you with snake venom and feed it to the unsuspecting residents.

You'd put your plan in motion tomorrow, for tonight it was just you two. You wouldn't move an inch in fear that you'd lose her. Death followed you like the plague. Divinity doesn't come without it's consequences and yours was being unable to among the living for long. You pulled Venable closer, holding her tighter. She hummed, bemused by your actions.

"Y/n? Are you still awake?" Venable asked.

"Yeah," you mumbled.

Venable sat up, you frowned as she escaped your grip. She spun around to face you. A look of worry etched on her face. You scanned her face. You sat yourself up, pulling yourself out from underneath the redhead and gathered your clothes.

"Where are you going?"

"We need to by ourselves some time." You kept your head lowered as you dressed yourself. Venable made no attempt to stop you. A part of her forgot she was mobile enough to stall you.

"What's your plan? Think whatever you're going to do though first-"

"What I do is none of your concern," you snapped. She was taken aback. You fidgeted about as you gathered the last of your belongings. Your hands shook as you tied up your shoes. You thought about apologising, nothing came of that thought. "I'm going to see Michael-"

"No-"

"I'm buying us some time."

"H-how? What are you going to do?"

"No clue."

You closed the bedroom door behind you. Walking down the long hallway down with no plan. Your movements became less shaky. A tune played in your mind, you shut your eyes for a moment convincing yourself you were anywhere but in the last standing outpost on planet earth. The imaginary music blared, you could feel the buzz of the sub, the vibrations shaking the floor. In reality it was the power in the air from the few magic individuals. To be anywhere but here.

You loosened up, body slackened as you walked like a drunk man. For a moment you thought of hightailing it, there's probably a club in hell you could attend. No- chickening out wasn't an option. Unfortunately. You halt immediately, your eyes flung open, your nephew stood half a metre away.

"You seem to be having fun."

"I am, Mikey. Don't be a buzzkill," you responded in your usual ditzy way.

"You seem to be getting close to the outpost leader." No shit sherlock. You already knew that... right? God, I don't remember anymore. He should know, you made it blatantly obvious.

"Hmm. Want something?"

"I want your answer to my question"

"What question, you never asked one?"

"Whose side are you on?" That's right, you thought. It had been some time since you'd been 'blessed' by the man's presence. Since the checkup with Venable and you were forced against the wall and choked you'd stayed away from your nephew.

You leaned in close to the man and whispered, "my own." You straightened up and moved past him, brushing shoulders.

"We'll see how long that lasts."

"You will leave her alone or you'll face me. Got that?"

"Crystal clear."

You sat in the auditorium tuning a trumpet when Venable graced you with her presence.

"Beautiful," you mused. Venable caught what you had said and blushed deeply.

"Unlike your trumpet playing," she said. She sat down beside you resting her cane beside her. She was still using it to make Michael unaware of her being healed. She rested her hand on your knee. "What's with the trumpet?"

"It's the end times," you said, forgetting she wasn't as knowledgeable about the biblical telling of the end times.

"They don't correlate. I mean an instrument and the state of the world-"

"Not one for religion?"

"Not as much as you... clearly."

She assumed all it was bullshit that was until she'd met you. She didn't understand your rule in all this or if you had any relation to religion other than being the devil's sister. She'd have to do more research to come to her own conclusion.

"Wouldn't blame you. Most of it's bullshit written by men from minenila ago. I'll fill you in when we're out of here."

"The trumpet?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. An archangel is said to play it at the end of time."

"And you think that's you?"

"God no, but I like the instrument. I like it's my brother Michael-"

"I thought he was your nephew."

"Not that Michael. There's more than one."

"Not confusing at all."

"Human's do that too."

"I presume we got that from your kind."

"Don't know, maybe."

"How many brothers do you have?"

"Stupid question. That's like asking how many angels there are."

"Do you know the names of all of them?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not going to have to meet all of them, am I?"

"Don't want to have dinner with your future in-laws?" You said it as a joke but felt Venable tense up. "I was kidding V. You don't have to meet them-"

"It's not that. Do you see us two together-together in the future?" She didn't want to use the word 'married'.

"Yeah- unless you don't want that. I guess it would be hard seeing as I'm an angel and you're a human. It would be like a human dating the Doctor, mortals and immortals don't mix well even with my-"

"Doctor? Why couldn't a human date a doctor?"

"Not doctor....The Doctor. Doctor Who? BBC?" Venable looked confused. "God Mina, I'm forcing you to watch that later, I can't believe you haven't seen... oh wait your American, never mind. It wasn't important anyway." it also didn't help you've watched everything since the dawn of time. You'd say the same about any show.

"You're not american?"

"I'm not human, I can't be american... well animals can be American I guess- I'm not from earth so I can't be. I showed up somewhere in what's now Egypt when the land was still Pangea- at least I think it was Egypt."

"I keep forgetting how old you are."

"What can I say, those anti-aging creams work wonders." Venabe chuckled.

"Can you tell me a story from your past?"

All your stories ended the same. You alone, wandering the earth. A part of you assumed it was designed as punishment. All crumble away with time while you remain the same. Whomever you shared your life with will fade away too. The first human you befriended and the last. You left your imprint on the world as well as the people you associated with. What story to tell? One with a happy ending? if you could think of one. Your first interaction with a human, a similar looking woman to the one beside you, hair of fire, skin to pale for the beating sun of the desert you were both stranded in. You'd shown her a part of yourself you haven't shown anyone since. She left you in a bloody state, you left her worse. The kindness you showed her by healthing the damages she'd received by the dust storm (and other wounds) amped up until she'd beg you for death. That's what she deserved right? It took you eons to understand humans and every stowaway you had helped you more until you gave it all up for a taste of humanity, even if it was among witches.

Hours later, the two had retired back into Venable's room.

The selection where near completion. Michael was in his office going through his selections for the new world. He expected the company of the red-head soon. He had ordered one of the greys to fetch the woman as soon and have her come as soon as she was available.

She showed up half an hour later unamused. She addressed him by his last name as she did with everyone besides you.

"Ms Venbale, I'm glad you could make it."

"This better not be a waste of time, Mr Langdon, I was in the mix of some very important work."

Is that what she called you nowadays? Michael thought knowing just by looking at her she was with you prior to her arrival. "Then I won't keep you long. Please take a seat."

"I would rather not. If this is going to be as quick as you say it will be, I won't need to."

"Suit yourself."

"I've almost completed my selections."

"And?"

"I want you to join us... but only if you end things with Y/n."

"I will not"

"I only have one vacancy left... so it's you or her," Michael explained. "There can't be both of you. Keeping her around is a liability. It would be best if you get done with the breakup before Monday, I don't want any mess and we'll be expecting visitors." Visitors? Who the hell would be coming to the Outpost?

"And why do you think I would agree to this plan of yours?"

"She is not the woman you think she is, Ms Venable. There is more to her than either you or I can ever comprehend. As long as she is alive she is a threat. All you have to do is read any of the journals in the library and you'll see her for what she is. You may think she loves you but in a second she'd change tones. Especially by Monday night."

"What's Monday?"

"The guests will arrive."

"Who are these guests? Are they from the cooperative?" Venable asked, gripping the topper of her cane tightly. "How are they getting here?"

"No one you'd need to be concerned with... only Ms L/n's ex."

There was no way she could trust the man. He had been nothing but trouble since arrival. He had a point, she could ever truly know you. If you found out that your ex was still alive you'd go back . It was evident from the interactions from the beginning of your relationship that you weren't over her.

There was only one way to know about you, google you.

Venable never noticed it until now but she'd never the hum of the generator in the room next to the lab. You'd always been tinkering with it, but it's never made a sound. Is that regular? She'd never been in the room alone, either you were in there and you'd usher her out after a moment, or the door was locked.

She decided to test her luck today and tried the handle. The door glide open with ease. The room was pitch-black besides the glow of some sticker stuck on the back wall. You're doing, of course. She felt for the switch, once finding it flipping it. Nothing happened. Odd, she thought. She had her candle from when she was walking outside this section of the outpost. The auditorium lights didn't switch on either.

She made her way using her candlelight to the generator. It was off, rusted over and looked like it hadn't worked or been maintained in years. But you'd worked on it the other week. Something wasn't adding up. She tried to switch it on, hopping to hear a rubble but received nothing.

Venable sped to the computer room to test if there was any electricity in this place. The monitor light was on. She entered your name in the search bar. ERROR. She tried different variants of your name. ERROR. She slammed her fists into the desk, one hitting the keyboard. The screen blacked out. Crap. She cursed and tried to get something to appear. System reboot, the monitor said. The computer restarted itself. Venable's eyes were glued to the computer. Once the scene had light up, the language settings has shifted to default. They were the same ones she'd seen the first time when you set up the computer for her.

Blindly, she went back to the search engine. She typed out your name once more. The text entered shifted about, glitching in between the default language and another. The jumbled mess of letters appeared to spell out a place, Salem.

This was all bullshit, you must have done something to the computer along with the electricity, Venable thought. Jokingly she entered the name into the search, she got the typical (from what she could tell as it wasn't in English), the place, witch trials etc.

She scowled around some random sites until she heard a gasp from behind her.

"What are you doing?!" You snapped at her.

The red-head said nothing. She needed time to come up with an excuse. You tore her away from the computer, pushing the chair across the room and shut down the system.

"I was searching up about witches," she lied.

"No, you- you couldn't even read that-"

"What's the big deal Y/N? I wanted to know more about the stuff you talk about."

You clenched your fists, not bothering to turn around and look at the woman. "Get out."

"What?"

"GET OUT!" You spun around and roared at her. Sparks erupted out of the computer, leaving you unfazed.

You stared into her soul with your eyes fully dilated. Not just over the colour but the white of the eye. Your skin had paled down a couple shades giving you a ghastly appearance. Behind you, projected on to the wall was your silhouette, it mimicked you like a shadow but unlike you, it had wings.

Venable was stuck in place, trembling and not daring to look away for a second.

"Didn't you hear me missy?" you snarled. Her voice had a more demonic underlay. When she didn't respond you trudged up to her and pulled her up off the desk chair by her lapel of her blazer. She fought against her urge to quiver in your grip. "DON'T EVER use my technology to search me," the last part turned into a whisper.

You hadn't googled her and even if you had, she gave you permission when she first showed you the device. You had even suggested it. What had changed?

Venable grabbed you arm to try and push you away. Instant burning pain surged through her hand. She yelped and retracted her hand. You both immediately looked over to her hand. You dropped her instantly and backed away.

"I-I didn't mean to-" you stuttered out knowing your mistake instantly. Turning back to the monitor, you caught a glimpse of your ghastly reflection. "Please leave this room, you're not safe around me right now. I need to cool off."

Venable wanted to comfort you, but you made it clear not to and it was in her best interest not to aggravate you further.

You clenched your jaw, before smashing your fists into the mirror repeatedly.

She left you in that room to destroy whatever you saw fit. You were dangerous to be around, if she hadn't touched your icy skin who knows what would be of her. She hadn't searched you and yet you claimed she had. All she did was such up Salem, how was that connected to you other than witches? Where you there?

The skin that you'd touched began to deteriorate. The irritated skin bruised around the untouched areas as the rest turned to a nasty scablike wound. All in an hour, she'd found herself in the infirmary, wrapping the wound up with gauze.

"You screwed up, Y/n," Michael told you.

"I know that." Your body had yet to go back to normal no matter what you did to calm down. You teleported to Michael in hopes of his help and at worse a some snarky comments and 'I told you so's'.

"It's not so bad, now you can focus on the beginning of the world."

"Why am I here again? I got what I wanted out of this and I owe you nothing."

"You were bored and have nowhere to go."

"I could go back to heaven."

"As if they'd want you after the mess you've made."

"Hell."

"Do you want to go back there?"

"Not particular."

"Then where else would you go, besides I thought you were having fun. You enjoyed destroying the sanctuary-"

"That was my home long ago-"

"Didn't you enjoy watching it burn?"

"I want to see it burn again," you said. "Watch the waterfalls flow lava and the tree's goose blood instead of tree sap."

"Then do it. Nothing is stopping you from having your own hell on earth."

"But Mina-"

"Forget the woman Y/n, she's nothing to you. She's like all the others before her," Michael said. "You stole woman from there husbands and held them up in Eden, you were ruthless. Where has that woman gone?" He's gotten the story wrong, you didn't steal them, you saved them. "She's holding you back. Leave her and help bring a little more hell to earth."

"You're right. I'll do it," you said. He was pleased to hear that. "I'll do it this Sunday," a little less after that. "I need to... finish off Mina first."

"You can leave her to me-"

"You said to kill what 'it' wanted; I should be the one to do it." 'It' meaning the humanity in you.

"Don't take too long, the beginning of the new world can't wait any longer."

You and Venable made amends before the sunday. Both wary of the other but still going through with the previous plans of poisoning the members. Venable questioning whether to stick with you and go to the sanctuary with you or backstab you and go with Michael. You had to think about if you'd stay with Venable or find your own path void of her.

You hadn't gone back to your normal self. You decided to hide away from the others for the remainder of the week, only showing up on the Sunday night masquerade ball. Your outfit was an all black suit where the blazer with a train,paired with a black and gold belt you stole from Venable and your goldern devils mask.

The masks covered half your face, a black veil underneath to hide the rest of your discolouration skin. All skin was covered so you wouldn't harm anyone prematurely.

You stood above the music room looking down at all the unsuspecting survivors. Venable walked up behind you. You noticed she didn't have her cane with her.

"No cane?"

"No need to keep up appearances for the dead." You chuckled at her answer. "Soon it will just be us, we'll have the sanctuary all to ourselves."

"Yeah~" Venable noticed the uncertainty in your voice.

"What haven't you mentioned?"

"How do you now I haven't mentioned something?" You paused. "Oh, that's how." Your response gave you away.

"The sanctuary isn't real"

"What?"

"It was, but we destroyed it."

"Why? Y/N!" The woman took a step back.

"This is the last sustainable place left," you said not paying the woman to much mind. "We torched the place before we headed here. Those apples are from the oldest tree in existence. The one that caused the downfall of humankind."

"And we poisoned them."

"Yep."

"You killed humanity."

"You had no problem with it when you were told you were going to an outpost leader. You wanted to have a taste of power. Well you have and doesn't it taste good. The world is over. Humans are gone and you... well, you helped caused it." She was to blame as much as you were. "You'll be fine though. You got me and I'm not going to allow anything to happen to you." You smiled. "I'm going downstairs to keep up appearances. Can you get the two untainted apples? and then we can end this once and for all."

Venable nodded doing as asked. She headed to the kitchen to retereve the two apples. When she had her hands on them she paused. Michael was right, there was no snatuaray. The foundation for the two of you being there was destroyed. What was to make her believe that everything else you was saying was true too. You did have magic, there was no way you could fake what you did to her back, but the rest, how much of that was real? How about your feelings? Hers were but yours- if you were willing to lie to her, how could she know for sure?

With the wrong apple it would create a disaster.

Venable handed you an apple watching you remove your cover from your lower face, smile at her and take a bite of the apple. You gleam at her while chewing. "Well, aren't you going to eat?" Venable eyed you weirdly questioning if she gave you the right apple.

"I think we should save it, as a treat for victory."

"Well if that's the case then have some of mine."

"I couldn't possibly-"

"Oh, no, insist." You handed your apple over. "Unless you did something to mine." Venable stiffened. You covered your mouth and started coughing, dropping the apple on the ground. You hunched over, coughing with an earth shaking strength for your body.

"I can't be with you," Venable said.

"Why?" you croaked out. She doesn't respond. After a minute you straighten yourself up and dust yourself off. There was no hit of blood on you. "Oh, I know what you did. Might I say the poison gave it a nice taste." You stepped closer. "Who put you up to it? Michael?" The endearing look you used to give her faded away leaving a plain expression. You always wore emotion on your person, you looked vacant husk. It made you unpredictable. "You fool, he tricked you." You grew anctisy, "It's fine... I can work with this." You slipped off the gloves covering your hands and shoved them in your pockets. "Your just as dumb as he is, thinking that destroying the sanctuary was a good idea. He's still human, he too will be infected." You kept your undivided gaze with her. The inhuman part of your grew more evident by the second. The shadow from the computer room was back but this time had the same horns as your mask. "All humans will be dead. It's truly the end of time. I thought it would be different, God said it would be different. Guess he too couldn't give two craps about us. Hell if you read the old testament he was a bastard-" You rambled on, growing more irritated and manic by the moment.

Venable grew worried. She was frozen in place.

You retracted a blade from her sleeve and inched as close as you could.

"If I can't be with you then you don't serve a purpose." You shivved her. She grunted. You shushed her. "It's alright V, death ain't so bad." You eased her body to the ground, still clutching the knife in one of your hands. Once she was against the ground, you straddled her hips pushing the knife further into her. "All you had to do was pretend to like me and you would have been safe. I mean come on, how hard is it to do that? You humans can't make up your mind. You guys deserve to die." You added more pressure. You felt a presence at the door. Michael.

"Wasn't your toy to your liking?"

"Mickey, she didn't like me, what did I do wrong?" You ripped out the knife in one swift move. She cried out in pain.

"There will be plenty more for you in the new world."

"Your psychotic," Venable choked out.

"You're one to talk. You'll do well in hell, love. All those people you killed." You looked back to Michael. "Maybe I should go back to hell and look after this one?"

"But what about my partner in crime?"

"You got Mead."

"We'll find you, someone better, if not, she's not going anywhere." She wouldn't leave hell any time soon.

You stared down at Venable, watching the life drain from her eyes. "See you soon love." You leant down and placed a kiss on her forehead before her vision faded to black.

Don't worry there is at least one more chapter joining the two stories together. and it will have a happier ending. So don't worry that Venable was stabbed.

#wilhemina venable x reader #wilhelmina venable x reader #wilhelmina x reader

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castawavy · 4 years ago

Note

Hey Rae :) How are you today? I have a lot of questions about your witches story, and I'm sure some of us has the same questions in mind and you already told me you were ready to answer so ... 1/ What were the main plots you prepared? 2/ Were there any death? 3/ What do your characters look like now that they're adults? 4/ Do you have any plans for them or do you just enjoy the game with them? Hope it's not too much ^^ It was one of my favourite sims story ever :) Thanks a lot for creating it !

hello ben! I’m good thank you! just enjoying a very quiet sunday rn - I hope that u are well too? I am so happy that you remember my story I will try to answer ur questions hehe! I’ll put it under a cut because I tend to ramble 🤭

EDIT: WARNING THIS ENDED UP SUPER LONG x,x but if u liked my story and love spoilers it’s a good read hehe :-)

1. what were the main plots you prepared?

ah ok so I had quite a few arcs planned, and then also the overall story I wanted to tell but I never really got into it (my bad!) but I actually had a long script written of ideas I wanted on a document that I used to write my posts x,x ! So it was actually a whole story planned out just like a script! :> this script went all the way up to like 120 posts but it looked like this:

example

but yes as for actual storylines I planned out:

Violet

the main plot was that arya intended to keep power over the coven by making sure that her daughter, Violet would become it’s next leader (this goes into Violet’s arc a lot).

but basically Violet finds out that she isn’t ‘chosen’ to become the next leader, something she prepared for her whole life 😥, and so her mother kind of rejects her.

Violet kind of spirals and her mother wants nothing to do with her, but Violet finds Cordelia is being bullied by some other witch girls at school and steps in to help Cordelia fight them.

Cordelia becomes Violet’s first like real friend, because before people only wanted to be friends with Violet due to her being ‘destined’ to be an amazing witch (she still is amazing of course just not the ‘chosen one’).

so these two become friends !

and this was all I had planned so far for Violet!

Cordelia

Cordelia after moving to this new school finds herself being bullied by some of the girls at school, the reason she didn’t join a witch school previosuly was because a few years before the story her parents died very suddenly in a magical related accident, leaving just Cordelia and her brother, Olliver. Cordelia swore she didn’t want anything to do with magic and so she refused to join in with the coven.

She is a very good witch though so at the beginning of summer (a little bit before Casper moves to Glimmerbook Cordelia is offered a scholarship at the school) after talking with Ollie she decides that it is what her parents would have wanted and agrees to attend a witches academy.

Casper arrives and Cordelia and him become friends (then the story posts I did make happen)

Cordelia and Casper are supposed to attend an event at the school, where the coven will choose it’s next leader, so Cas and Cordelia go shopping for some clothes, at the mall these girls stop by to laugh at Cordelia because she is shopping for clothes she can’t afford (these are some mean witches >.>) Casper steps in, and he feels guilty that he didn’t know Cordelia was being bullied, but now he knows so it’s a lot of weight off of Cordelia’s shoulders :-)

The two go to the event party and Violet finds out she hasn’t been chosen, this doesn’t have much to do with Cordelia yet because this is before they are friends.

Once they do become friends though they hang out lots, and by now I think Casper and Val were together so they see eachother as lot as a group of four (these 4 are the main characters)

Cordelia sleeps over at Violet’s house one day though and she kind of realises she might have a crush on Violet 👉👈 but this is as far as I got planning her arc 😅!!!

Valentine

stuff was about to happen very soon but I stopped posting but after Cas finds out he is a spellcaster, Val, Cordelia and Casper celebrate by going to the arcade together.

Val isn’t used to hanging with friends so he feels kind of awkward so he and Cas step outside for fresh air, and here Val and Cas have a kind of nice conversation where Val explains he was kicked out of the academy etc. he admits he feels like kind of a failure to Cas and Cas and he like almost kiss lmaoo

afterwards Val kind of pretends it never happened and Cas doesn’t bring it up either and Val continues to see Ambrose (idk if u remember the vampire dude he was with?)

but yeah fast forward a bit and Halloween is starting soon *very important for witches kajsdgajsdg* and Val is like ‘I hate Halloween’ to Cas, and Casper finds out it’s because it’s Val’s birthday that day, and that Violet is throwing a party it’s easier to show:

then:

Val goes home after school annd like his mom is waiting x,x

basically she is annoyed because she realised he stayed out late again, so she threatens Val (Violet is there too and she tried to lie for Val so Arya scolds them both) and she uses like fire magic to burn Val >: ( and then she warns him not to do anything stupid she’s a villain basically 🤷‍♀️

At the party Val decides then to ignore both Ambrose and Cas (ambrose was texting him and Cas is at the party) because he doesn’t want them to get hurt because of him.

He breaks things off with Ambrose mainly because Ambrose is a vampire, and wants Val to become one too, which is not what Val wants, + he does care for Ambrose and realises that they don’t make eachother happy!

Then he bumps into Cas and Cas is like ‘u look upset did something happen’ to which Val argues with Casper and asks him to leave him alone + some other super mean things (oops)

Casper and Cordelia leave the party and Violet says to Val that he did something super dumb because she can tell that Casper liked Val (her and Casper have a class together so Violet knows Casper by now)

the event at the school happens and Val is nervous because he knows Cas will be there and he is worried Casper hates him now lmao, but he stays with Violet for now because she is nervous that she might be ‘chosen’ today, so the twins hang out for a bit.

Eventually Violet is like kinda of ‘stop being a baby and go talk to Cas’ xd

So Val is like yo can I speak with u and Cas is like oh um sure, Cordelia is skeptical 🤣 she’s a good friend!

Val and Cas chat, realise they are both dorks in love and kiss :-) ☕ I have more but I’ll talk about Casper now LMAO cuz these two stories now join tbh

Casper

SO AFTER arcade night Casper starts attending the witch academy after his normal school for a lesson with Morgyn Ember :> !!! In this class is just Violet and Casper cuz it’s like an extra after school thing.

Violet is smart so she soon realises this is the same Casper her brother mentioned so she tries to find out what Cas thinks of Val hehe but yeah Cas doesn’t give much away.

One day (the day after Violet fights with her mother at the event) Cas goes to class but it’s just he and Morgyn, Cordelia was staying in the library after school (she’s worried about Violet so studying to distract herself) they decide to do some duel practice

After Morgyn asks Cas about his lineage and Casper tells them that his mother is Irish, Morgyn reveals to Casper that the Irish were once some of the most powerful witches.

Next day at normal school Casper and Val get their school project grade back (this was just a funny scene tbh 😂):

Errr I lots of stuff happens with the girls but when i go back to Cas/Val by now Casper has learnt about Val’s burn mark but Val doesn’t explain where he got it

Casper is in class minding his own business when Arya approaches him and starts asking questions about his mother, Morgyn arrives and quickly makes sure to get rid of Arya (subtly) then they tells Casper to watch out for Arya because she is evil :-) lmao

Cas goes home quickly and it’s just his mother at home so he and her watch a movie, and she hints that she knows Cas likes Val but Casper is like pffft I am not dating anyone and runs off

Next day Casper confronts Val about his mother and Val tells him the truth, and he explains that he is worries Arya might come after Cas’ mother/sister Aubrey who is a toddler!! But that was also all I had planned

OVERALL:

I think that they would realise Aubrey is the chosen witch, and so the four main characters alongside Morgyn try to defeat Arya and stop her :-O !!!

2. were there any character deaths

YES AND IT MAKES ME SO SAD BECAUSE I LOVE THIS SIM but basically Morgyn tries to protect the main four kids from Arya and they investigates what Arya might be plotting, however Arya is one step ahead of Morgyn, and Morgyn can’t get Simeon on their side. Eventually L.Faba comes after Morgyn and Morgyn knows that Arya has realised that Morgyn plans to defeat her. L.Faba then kills Morgyn but Morgyn leaves a clue for the other four to find that will help them beat Arya. I orginally planned to make one of the four die but I ended up liking them so much and I couldn’t bring myself to do it, and even tho I love Morgyn too I felt like their death would be super impactful ;-; cuz they are loved by me ahaha idk they were a good soul.

3. what do your characters look like now that they’re adults?

I’m still tweaking them as I play but currently they look like this:

4. Do you have any plans for them now?

I basically intend to just play them as a generations/legacy kind of thing so yeah I’ll probably still just post gameplay following the Ward Family (cas’ family) so his sister too etc.! Currently Violet and Cordelia live in Lightwood Lodge in Glimmerbrook but Valentine and Casper moved to Evergreen Harboour, after they all attended university together!

#raesponses #madeofcc #THIS IS VERY LONG I APOLOGISE #but I've been #meaning to summerise things properly :-)

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tempusinfinituum · 4 years ago

Text

Sacrifice: the Rise of Adeline Goode

co-written with @sc-rp

II. GUIDED BY A BEATING HEART

"There is a home and a family waiting for you."

Adeline cross legged on her fire escape, facing her bedroom window. She was leaned forward so she could get a somewhat clear view of the small box TV that sat on her dresser. Her eyes were fixated on the staticky screen. She'd seen that woman before. She'd seen her more times than she could count—but always when she was asleep.

Adeline knew she was different at a young age. She could do things her foster siblings couldn't—and when you were a child of the system, what made you different made you a target. It wasn't until the summer she turned 13 that she met a young girl who claimed to be a witch. The girl shared a lot of similarities with Adeline, including things they could do like telekinesis or lighting a flame with their mind. Adeline had a constant sense of calm the few times the witch visited her.

They met her first day in the group home. Adeline was having a hard time adjusting, especially after the incidences of her last foster home. She was sitting by a small brook, leaning back against a tree when she heard someone humming. The song was familiar; Adeline's subconscious recognized the melody and she caught herself humming along. The older witch was startled, not having seen the petite blonde curled up on the ground. The two of them started talking, and before long Adeline was having to rush home to try to make it there before curfew. It was at their second meeting that the girl admitted to being a witch, telling her that's what lead her to Adeline. "I could sense you were one of my tribe," the girl would say anytime they spoke about their first meeting. She taught Adeline what she knew—which wasn't much as far as structure goes—when it came to magic. In exchange, at the older woman's request, Adeline would read to her every day for an hour after school.

When the girl stopped visiting, Adeline shut down for a few days, an unexpected depression overwhelming her existence. It lasted for less than a week, then Adeline was back to her normal self. She started spending less time in the woods—it made her sad, reminding her of her long lost friend. This, however, meant that was more time she'd spend at the group home—which meant more time to be a direct target of abuse and torment at the hands of some of the other girls.

That day on the fire escape was the first day in a year that Adeline wasn't bothered. She wasn't being pushed, slapped, or cussed out every other minute. She convinced Rita to let her skip school, telling the older woman she was dealing with a stomach bug. Once Rita had left for work, Adeline got the bag she'd kept packed under her bed. She did that in every foster home she lived in, in the event she needed an exit strategy. She was climbing onto the fire escape when—for a reason she couldn't yet tell—the voice on the TV stopped her. She turned around, sat down, and watched the interview.

Adeline felt like she was seeing a ghost, or the physical embodiment of her childhood imaginary friend. She'd had frequent dreams that involved this person, and she knew that was a sign. She had to find her. When the news flashed the name of the school once more, and Adeline quickly memorized the address that was listed beneath it. She used to think her photographic memory was one of her powers, until she changed foster homes and met another girl who shared the same talent. She felt a twinge of sadness when the girl briefly crossed her mind, but she shook it off and started on her journey to Robichaux.

It was long after dark when Adeline finally arrived at the large manor. She, being a foster child in a group home, obviously didn't have a cell phone. She stopped at one of the tourist stores that frequented almost every block in New Orleans, using the small amount of money she had to buy a map. She walked up the front steps onto the large, cypress wood porch. "Wait," she stopped herself. "What the hell am I doing?" Her fight or flight started kicking in, but it was too late. Despite her stopping herself from knocking and making virtually no noise at all, Adeline heard the lock click as it was unlocked and the front door opened.

—

Cordelia took a deep breath, her heels clicking against the linoleum in the kitchen. She had a newfound confidence to her as Supreme. Something she'd been desperately missing for so long. Something she didn't know she could be capable of. The middle-aged witch could feel the presence of someone outside and made her way to the door of the school to allow an interviewer inside - for the very first time.

"I don't believe we need to hide any longer," the witch simply stated when asked why she'd chosen that particular time in the school's history to 'come out' about what used to be their own little secret. "There's no reason to feel ashamed. Or forgotten. Or lost or alone when you have a whole world waiting for you. People just like you, people who understand and want to help you grow in your powers and abilities - it's nothing to be scared of. It's a gift," the blonde witch assured anyone listening beyond that room. Cordelia whole-heartedly hoped she could reach hundreds of young girls who were in the predicament she found herself in years before.

Even though Cordelia never truly felt ashamed due to her witchcraft, her mother on the other hand, made her ashamed of herself. Cordelia always sold herself short and felt so small. Shipped off to school at a young age and so far away from home hurt the young witch. She never knew her father, but had only heard terrible things about him from her estranged mother. She wished that as a young witch she would've had a leader like herself. And that was her greatest accomplishment to date - taking care of, teaching and most importantly, protecting her girls.

It took a day or so, but Cordelia began to see the influx of young witches come to visit her at Miss Robichaux's. Some were certainly powerful young witches, some were just beginning to spread their wings, and some weren't witches at all. She managed to find the ones that belonged to her coven, assuring them that they would be loved, cherished, and protected.

On one particular day, Cordelia felt something deep inside her. Something gnawing at her heart a little bit, something she'd never really felt before. The witch felt a presence outside of the manor - one that held familiarity and curiosity. She stood, her heels clicking against the linoleum flooring as she got up from the kitchen table. Tap, tap, tap she went. Cordelia put her hand out and swiftly unlocked the door without a single touch. Her heart skipped a beat once she reached the door and opened it cautiously.

Adeline's breath caught in her throat when the older woman opened the door. She observed the woman for a moment—not long enough to seem creepy but long enough to take in her gestures. The blondes face was gentle and kind, her composure more proper than Adeline had ever seen in an adult. Adeline focused on her eyes—they had the same eyes.

When she was little and she dreamed about Cordelia, for a brief time she thought that maybe the woman in her dreams was her birth mother. When she saw her on TV, the thought crossed her mind for the first time in years. Now, standing before Cordelia, she questioned that. Maternal instincts were practically visibly radiating off of her; there was no way she'd give a kid up for adoption.

"Uh, hi I'm..." she debated for a second on lying about her name in case the woman called her social worker, but she wasn't great at lying on the spot. "My name is Adeline. I saw you on TV...and I think I might be a witch."

Cordelia couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity once she'd opened the door and set her eyes upon the girl on the other side. She knew she'd never met her before - right? She didn't look familiar..but somehow she felt familiar. She studied her for a few seconds, although it somehow felt like much longer.

Cordelia had always dreamt of being a mother. She always wished so badly that she could give a child the exact opposite that she'd had growing up. With her husband, she couldn't get pregnant and it broke her heart. She held so much resentment inside - but now she knew why. She needed to be there for her girls - and having a baby probably would've stifled her from doing so. It didn't mean that she didn't still have that urge every now and then, even though she truly did think of her girls as her own.

The witch studied her for a few seconds longer. "It's nice to meet you," she responded, her tone soft and caring, yet still a little cautious. "I'm Cordelia. Cordelia Goode, welcome to Miss Robichaux's." The witch felt inclined to shake the young girl's hand. She wanted to be polite and welcoming, but also yearned to know more about her.

Adeline felt her heart squeeze when she heard her voice. She'd heard that voice before...it was a very, very distant memory—it probably wasn't even real. She blinked a few times, trying to force the sense of Deja Vu to the back of her mind. Even if this woman wasn't her mother, she didn't think it would be fair to put the burden of caring for her Cordelia. Adeline was damages goods and she knew it. All she would do iis self destruct and bring down everything and everyone with her. That's what always happened. She looked back up at Cordelia; her fight or flight was starting to kick in.

"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered anxiously. "I think this was a mistake." Adeline turned to walk off the porch and down the stairs.

Cordelia studied the girl. She didn't really have judgment. She'd met so many young girls - so many young witches trying to figure out their place in the world and how this new part of them would play into their lives and their futures. She'd made mistakes herself - she had regrets. She certainly couldn't judge anyone else for what they'd done in the past.

The older witch took a step or two down once the younger witch tried to leave. "Why don't you come inside for something to drink? It's okay to be scared," she said, her tone coming across a little more gently. She understood that feeling. She understood it so well.

Adeline hesitated but nodded slightly, following the older woman into the house. She looked around with wide eyes upon entering the academy. Her eyes traced almost every inch of the room, almost in complete disbelief. "I've only ever seen places like this in movies..." she said quietly, scared that her voice would echo if she talked too loud.

The fact that the academy was as nice as it was only added to the inner conflict she'd been having. She pictured a real bed, with a mattress that was a thousand times softer than jail cot she was made to sleep on in the group home. She thought about the fact that their pillows probably all had pillowcases and the sheets weren't stained from all of the past foster children who occupied that bed at one point.

She felt like her body was playing tug of war—her heart was pulling her in one direction, which was toward Cordelia. Her mind, soul, and everything else that remembered that every parental figure or those who were supposed to act as such had either died, given her away, or abused her. Plus, she didn't know this woman. She knew there was a possibility that she misremembered her dream after seeing Cordelia on the news. Something about that felt wrong, though. "It's beautiful," she commented, looking around a little more.

Cordelia led the girl inside the manor, her heels clicking against the flooring again. "If you don't mind closing the door on your way in, I'd certainly appreciate it," she said politely, finally smiling a little.

Cordelia walked to the end table in the entry way and turned around briefly to lock the door. "It's spectacular, isn't it?" She had to admit, the manor was the most beautiful home she'd ever lived in - really the only place that she felt she could truly call home.

"I know I've already introduced myself but I'm Ms. Goode. You can call me Cordelia, all the girls do," she explained warmly. Something inside of her led her to the girl that had arrived outside of the school that day. She still couldn't quite place why. So she'd have to let it go for now.

"I'm Adeline... just Adeline," she half smiled, almost tempted to reach out and shake the woman's hand. This wasn't something she would normally do; Adeline wasn't proper by any means. She was basically a child of the streets. She didn't own a pair of jeans that weren't ripped, she skateboarded, and she rarely ever brushed her curly, blonde hair. That was another factor that deterred Adeline from the thought that the woman could be her mother. There was no way she came out of that. That would be a cruel joke for the universe to play on Cordelia. She noticed the entryway to the den area, the walls inside lined with portraits. "Could we go in there?" She asked quietly, curious about the pictures.

Cordelia knew that not everyone would be comfortable would touch and if Adeline didn't want to shake her hand then she wouldn't take it personally. "Of course," the older witch said rather quickly, being pulled away from her thoughts. Cordelia began to explain the portraits, speaking a little more slowly and carefully once she reached Myrtle's. "Myrtle Snow was one powerful witch - and so very nurturing, too. She took care of me. We were family," Cordelia stated simply, a soft twinkle in her eye.

Adeline looked at the picture of the older redhead and over to Cordelia, smiling softly. She looked back at the portrait, her heart sinking a little. "You seem to have really loved her," she spoke softly and carefully. Adeline always got a hint of jealousy when her friends would talk about their parents, but especially their mothers. Adeline had to go through everything by herself, when a mother's care and guidance would have eased some of that burden. She walked slowly looking at a few more pictures. In her peripheral vision, another portrait caught her eye. She turned, her eyes locking on the painting. She approached the painting, her heart starting to beat faster. She knew that face—she'd know it anywhere. "W-why is there a picture of Fiona in here?"

Cordelia nodded slowly, studying the picture of Myrtle - caught up in her own thoughts and feelings. "You could say that," she agreed, turning to face the girl again. Her smile faltered ever so slightly. Cordelia found herself caught off guard when she heard the younger woman's next words. She didn't think she'd introduced her to the portrait yet and she found it slightly peculiar that she'd bring up the topic of her late mother. Cordelia took a small breath and walked to face the portrait. It hadn't gotten easier for her. The burn she felt in her heart, the boiling hatred for the woman that caused her so much pain and heartache. "You're very smart. Fiona was our last Supreme. The previous Supreme."

"S-supreme?" She furrowed her eyebrows, turning her head to look at the older woman. Adeline's heart rhythm started beating more unevenly, a side effect of the heart condition she had after the car accident with her adoptive parents. "What's a Supreme?" Her voice was quiet, and she tired to keep it as composed as she could.

Cordelia had heard that question so many times before and smiled gently thinking about it. She never grew tired of explaining it. "The matriarch of our coven. An exceptional witch that can perform all of the Seven Wonders," she explained. "Have you ever heard of the Seven Wonders, Adeline?" Finally speaking the younger woman's name gave Cordelia a sense of deja vu. It felt more familiar to her than a name in a song or the name of an acquaintance.

Adeline zoned out a little after Cordelia explained what the Supreme was. She'd seen Fiona a multitude of times, but the difference between her and Cordelia—she'd seen her in person. Her breathing started becoming a little more erratic and her chest tightened. "I-I'm sorry. I can't—I need to leave." Adeline turned, sprinting from the parlor and out the front door. She thought she was home free, until she reached the gate. She pushed it with her palms, recoiling when she was met with a locked gate. "Shit!" She hissed, looking down at her hands. Blood trickled from a dozen small cuts from the thorns of whatever vine was wrapped around the gate.

Cordelia didn't know what was happening and before she could stop it it seemed to be too late. "Adeline - it's okay, what is upsetting you?" She asked, quickly following after the young witch. Her heels tapped rather quickly against the flooring and out the front door. She'd stopped in her tracks once Adeline had stopped and quickly noticed the blood on the younger woman's hands. "Let me help you, okay? I'll help you clean yourself up and you can go, if that's what you'd like to do," Cordelia assured her.

Adeline looked at Cordelia with tears in her eyes. She nodded slightly, but stayed silent. Her breathing was bordering on a panic attack, and she needed her hands clean so she could dig through her bag for her inhaler.

Cordelia took a deep breath, hoping she would mimic her breathing. She reached into her pocket, taking out a few clean tissues. She took the girl's hands in her own and couldn't have prepared herself for what she saw.

“Delia, let her go. It's time for her to go," Fiona spoke softly, almost sounding like she was actually comforting daughter. Cordelia, after an hour of refusing and saying she changed her mind, loosened her grip on the baby. Fiona took her from Cordelia, who crumpled into Hanks arms. Fiona put her thumb on the babies head, closing her eyes and whispering the spell over her. She handed the baby to the social worker before going back to her daughter. She waved her hand, and everything around her froze. She put her hand gently on Cordelia's head, a tear falling from Fiona's eye. She whispered the memory spell over Cordelia. She waved her hand through the air again, and everything around her was set back into motion. She stood next to her daughters bed with her arms crossed.

Cordelia gasped, stepping back abruptly. She suddenly felt like she couldn't catch her breath and suddenly remembered more than she had in years. She still couldn't piece it all together, but couldn't stop the shaking of her hands as she applied pressure to Adeline's wounds.

Adeline recoiled back, backing slowly away from Cordelia. She'd seen the same thing, albeit from a 3rd person point of view. She was right. All of the thoughts about Cordelia being her birth mother. Her breathing was more strained, and she slipped into an asthma attack. She dropped down, opening her bag and digging frantically for her inhaler.

Cordelia knelt down beside Adeline. "How can I help you?" She asked, breaking her silence. She allowed her the room to get into her purse in case she had some kind of medicine to help her. She took the tissues back temporarily, making sure that she'd wiped the majority of the blood from the girl's hands.

Adeline shook her head as she pulled the inhaler from her bag. She shook it before putting it in her mouth. She took inhaled it a few times before she started feeling her airway open up. She was still breathing rapidly, but she didn't feel like she was on the verge of suffocating anymore. "I-I'm fine," she stuttered, tears falling from her eyes, breaking her obvious facade. "I'm sorry, I can't be here. I need to go." She stood up and threw her bag over her shoulder. "I'm sure you're great, but I..." her words were broken off by a strained sob.

Cordelia couldn't mask her confusion. She still didn't completely understand what she'd seen when she touched the newcomer's hands despite her sense of deja vu becoming more and more clear. "Is - is there anything I can do?" She asked, wishing she could help. "What can I do for you?"

"Explain what the fuck just happened," Adeline put her head in her hands, a thought popping into her mind. She pulled her bag around the front of her body and dug for her wallet. She opened it, pulling out a folded up picture and handing it to Cordelia.

Cordelia took the picture, her hands beginning to shake as she looked at it. The Supreme closed her eyes for a brief moment, taking a second to feel the energy around the photo. Details came back to her like pieces of a puzzle, all connecting together. She felt like she couldn't breathe - actually, she knew she couldn't. "I don't want to, I can't do it. I've changed my mind. Hank, we can do this," the young witch begged. "I don't want to do this," she said, tears threatening to leak down her cheeks. "I want my baby. I want my daughter."

"What are you thinking?" Adeline still felt the need to run. She could physically breathe, but her body felt like it couldn't.

The young witch's body shook violently with each sob before suddenly she didn't feel anything at all. "Is this you, in this picture?" She finally asked, breaking from her trance. "I - I don't know how to explain this. I - my God," Cordelia breathed, still in utter shock.

"The only thing I knew about my birth parents was that they didn't want me," Adeline narrowed her eyes slightly, even though she knew full well it obviously wasn't Cordelia's fault. "Fiona started showing up after my adoptive parents died. Said she was my great aunt." She crossed her arms stubbornly. "That's all I know."

Cordelia's gaze softened. "I.." she didn't completely know what to say. She remembered some parts, but not nearly enough to tell Adeline what she wanted to hear. "Great aunt?" She asked, trying to make sense of it. Cordelia started to feel queasy and tried to swallow down the feeling.

"Yeah." Adeline responded softly, not sure what else to say. She was hurt, confused, angry. She didn't know how to handle her emotions and she knew she'd eventually lash out at Cordelia if she didn't calm down. She crossed her arm and shook her leg.

Cordelia knew she probably needed time to process all of the new information - or old information she'd been given. She wished so badly that she could talk to Myrtle about all of this, and maybe she could after all. "I would like a little bit of time to process this and to think about it more," Cordelia finally chose to say, scared of pushing the hurt girl away.

Adeline furrowed her eyebrows and nodded slightly, putting her bag over her shoulder. She started toward the front door, stopping to look back at Cordelia. "It was nice to have met you." She half smiled before putting her hand on the knob. Adeline was so used to people giving her up and not wanting her that it normally wouldn't bother her. And although Cordelia didn't say she didn't want her, Adeline's trust issues were so severe she figured she may as well have. This stung more than it normally did, and tears welled up as she opened the door.

Cordelia could sense the girl's feelings and felt guilty for the way she'd reacted. "Do you have a phone number I can reach you at?" She finally asked, mere steps before she'd possibly never see the girl again.

Adeline smiled sadly and shook her head. "They don't let us have them in the group home. A lot of girls got into a lot of trouble before they'd go there. But...if it's meant to be, it will be I guess. I don't know what I expected from this, but this definitely wasn't it."

Cordelia heart sank in her chest. She really had no other choice. "Why don't you stay here tonight? We have spare rooms. Or if there's someone I could call?" She suggested.

Adeline shook her head. "No, it's okay. You need time...I understand that. Don't worry about me—I'll be alright."

Cordelia knew she couldn't make or force Adeline to stay. "Okay, will you come back?" She asked with hesitance.

Adeline chewed her lip for a second. "Do you want me to?"

Cordelia didn't hesitant in her answer. "Yes, of course," she said solemnly. She always kept her word.

Adeline smiled sadly, nodding a little. "I'll come back if you want me to come back... but don't feel obligated or anything. I've been though worse." She repressed the tears that burned the brims of her eyes as she turned the doorknob and exited the academy.

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mistyyygoode · 5 years ago

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flower shop pt.1 (Foxxay)

Prompt from anon: Foxxay fluff/angst Cordelia has agoraphobia after the acid attack. Misty convinces her to get out of the house and they go to a flower shop together. Pre-relationship/mid-foxxay falling in love, I guess.

written with: @rabexxpaulson and there will be 2-3 more parts bc of how long this ended up being. we hope y’all really enjoy this. sorry it’s taken so long to start posting these one-shots. we have this and the next one already done, and will hopefully be posting 2 times a week until we’re caught up to where we currently are!

Misty had noticed that since she had met Cordelia, her aura was dimmer than anyone else's, besides Fiona that was. She could sense that her headmistress was depressed, gloomy, and even anxious about a lot of things. She hadn't seen the woman in a few days, which was worrying her with each day that had passed. She was used to seeing Cordelia in the greenhouse, but when the woman hadn't shown up for a few days, it made her a little sad, she missed her friend.

When Cordelia didn't show up to the greenhouse for the fourth day in a row, Misty knew she needed to take it upon herself to talk to her, and hopefully get her out of the house.

Cordelia didn't feel like seeing people – she couldn't even if she wanted to. After the acid attack, her self-esteem had gotten even worse, and the house she once knew as her well as her own fingertips was now a sea of darkness where she couldn't even find her own inner light. The hours became days and the days became weeks. Cordelia no longer cared to work on her crafts or in the papers she was supposed to, and Fiona didn't help much with all the depreciating comments she always did. The only place she cared to be was her room, one she was beginning to learn every step and every pattern of.

Misty finally took it upon herself to find Cordelia, which wouldn't be hard. She knew the headmistress was most likely in her bedroom, it seemed to be the only place she ever was anymore. Misty knew isolating yourself didn't make your problems any better, so she made her way from the greenhouse to the second floor of the academy. She stood in front of Cordelia's bedroom door, slowly raising her hand to knock on the white wood.

Cordelia couldn't read anymore. She couldn't watch TV or catalog the plants and potions and spells. All she could do was lay down and sleep. Sleep was good, she could dream and be away from reality. She could pretend Fiona wasn't there. She could see Misty with her beautiful blonde curls and shiny blue eyes... that was her favorite part. Turning around on the bed, she sighed loudly. Cordelia was never one to stay in bed much. She felt useless.

Misty's knuckles softly met the wood in a gentle knock. She took in a shaky breath as she knocked on the door four times, just enough to see if Cordelia was awake or not.

One. Two. Three. Four knocks. Who'd knock four times? The usual was three. Cordelia sat up and hazily fixed her messy hair. It could only be Misty. Misty Day was the only person Cordelia was always in the mood to see. "Come on in."

Misty slowly opened the door to the bedroom. She stepped inside and closed it behind herself. Her eyes scanned the room, and she smiled to herself when she saw the headmistress sitting up in bed. "Hey, Miss Cordelia. It's Misty." She said as if the woman wouldn't know.

Cordelia had acquired a habit of covering herself in all situations. She didn't know if her clothes were totally appropriate, or matching or even clean from her tries of cooking and doing simple tasks. She pulled the covers up to her chin and shrunk in them. The sweet voice invaded her ears. Cordelia wanted to extend her hand and beg for a touch, a glimpse of the younger witch she felt herself falling for. However, she kept it to herself. "Hello, Misty. Everything alright?"

Misty bit her lip as she saw how nervous Cordelia seemed, everything from covering herself more than usual, to the awkward wait between entering the room and actually talking to her. "Yes, well, I think—I hope. Are ya okay? I-I mean, I haven't seen ya in a few days, and I was startin' to worry. Ya feelin' alright?" she asked.

Cordelia gulped softly as she looked down to nothing, gripping the covers tighter. She nodded. "Yeah, I'm just... I don't feel very comfortable outside." Her voice had died to a low and weak tone. She hoped Misty could understand what she meant with 'outside'; anywhere she could be seen.

Misty bit her lip again. She hoped and prayed that Cordelia was okay, and now she knew she wasn't. Hesitantly, she walked over to the bed and slowly sat down on the edge of it. "Miss Cordelia... I get ya, I really do, but stayin' in ya room ain't gonna help. Even if ya can't see the flowers and the pants, I think bein' around then, feelin' them would surely help." She said softly as she looked at the older witch. She felt her heart hurt at the sight of how depressed and saddened Cordelia seemed.

Hearing the steps attentively, Cordelia's body subconsciously shrank even more on the bed. She had to remind herself it was just Misty, and Misty would never hurt her. She wished she could at least see her one time. Forcing herself to relax, Cordelia looked to where the so well-known voice was coming. She worried her dry lower lip with her teeth. "I-is... is Fiona here?" It was stupid, she knew, a thirty-eight-year-old woman still somehow afraid of her own mother. In better times, she could handle Fiona; but right now, she felt weak and small and even more invisible than she already felt when she could see the world around her.

Misty's brows furrowed for a moment. She knew Fiona was a bitch. She had heard stories from the other girls about some of the things Fiona had said and done to Cordelia—unbelievable things. "She's not. I haven't seen her for a few days..." she said softly. She scooted closer to Cordelia and softly held out her hand, "Can I hold ya hand?" she asked softly.

The bed moved. Cordelia reminded herself it was Misty, and she actually wanted Misty's touch. Letting out a small relieved breath at the good news, the question cheered her soul a little. Cordelia nodded, offering her pale - paler - hand to Misty, letting it slip from underneath the covers. "I-I just don't know if I can manage b-being... with people." Not seeing the world was even scarier than seeing it, Cordelia had learned. All the sounds and touches and voices and rough, different even if known patterns overwhelmed her in a way. The dosage of her pills had already gone up, but she doubted she could actually be alright if she stepped outside of the room.

Misty frowned, but she nodded softly. "I understand, Miss Cordelia... what if it were just me though? That wouldn't be too bad then, would it?" she asked as her hand slowly and softly caressed Cordelia's that laid on her own.

The touch brought her comfort. Cordelia saw her again, Misty Day; the blue eyes she made sure to think about to keep them alive in her mind, the angelic smile and the fuzzy curls. Instead of sad memories, like the first time they had touched, Cordelia saw Misty smiling and taking care of her and the academy's - her own - plants. Misty was the only one to check on her, to help her and think about her. It was a different kindness. It was a different feeling. It was... pleasingly weird. Her pale fingertips brushed over Misty's. It was the best she had felt in a while. "B-but... would we go out?"

Misty smiled softly as she watched Cordelia's facial features change into something happy. She wondered if she was having another vision, but she didn't ask, not now at least. "That's up to ya, really. If you'd like we can go out, just the two of us. Maybe we could grab somethin' to eat, get some seeds for some new plants. I've been thinkin' 'bout what we could plant next." She said with a bright smile.

Getting some new seeds was an amazing idea. Cordelia wondered if she'd ever see the plants again. She smiled a little, a barely noticeable thing. "I'd like to get some seeds... smell some flowers..."

Misty smiled softly when she saw the smallest smile on Cordelia's lips. She continued to caress the woman's hand. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like to lose your sight, so she figured a small touch would be better than not seeing. "I was thinkin' maybe it'd help ya. Maybe even gettin' ya hands a little dirty from plantin' them would help. I know bein' in the greenhouse or my garden always helps when I ain't feelin' myself. Plus, I'll be right there to help if ya need it." She offered.

That could certainly be good. Cordelia, in her element, with Misty. Nothing was as good. But... she needed to get dressed. Once again, she began to worry her lower lip with her teeth. "Um..."

Misty furrowed her brows for a moment when the woman's mood changed so quickly. "What is it, Miss Cordelia?" she asked quickly.

"I... I've got to get dressed..." Cordelia's cheeks burned. Only Hank had seen her completely naked before, apart from Fiona and Myrtle.

Misty's eyes dropped for a moment to noticed Cordelia's bra straps. "O-oh... yes, right... do ya, uh, need help. I mean... pickin' somethin' out?" She asked nervously before swallowing hard. The idea of seeing Cordelia in just her underwear, or even naked brought thoughts to her mind she felt were wrong to have about a friend.

Cordelia was still holding Misty's hand; her mind suddenly flashed with dirty, naughty thoughts. But they weren't her own. Misty kissed her lovingly and caressed her bare waist, the other hand falling down to her—she quickly took her hand away from Misty's with a small gasp. She didn't want to see it like that. They were private thoughts, right? "Uh—um, I... I-I... I c-can't really, um," talking was hard. Did Misty have these thoughts about everyone? Cordelia hoped not... even if that wasn't really ethical. Oh boy.

When Cordelia pulled her hand away, her heartbeat picked up in speed. She wondered if Cordelia has seen what she thought for a split second. She gulped as she got off the bed, nearly tripping over her own feet. "Shit," she murmured before finding her balance.

Cordelia gulped again as she squeezed the sheets. She cursed internally. "Misty, are you alright?" she asked as she heard the stumbling. Cordelia felt like she had managed to fuck it up. Again.

Misty's eyes flickered up to Cordelia with a worried gaze. She didn't know what to say and before thinking about the best way to approach the situation, she blurted out: "Ya saw what I was thinkin', didn't ya? I'm s-so sorry..."

Cordelia didn't mean to talk about that now. Her heart picked up in speed. Should she lie? "I... we don't have to talk about it." But she wanted to talk about it. She wanted to talk and do something about it.

Misty bit her lip as she looked down. Her heart was still racing fast inside of her chest. It was so loud she thought Cordelia might hear it. "I-I'm sorry... I know it ain't right." She gulped as her palms grew sweaty. "Ya just so gorgeous, a-and ya so nice to me. I-it's unprofessional to say the least, I know that since you're my teacher 'nd all..." she stopped herself from rambling on further.

Gorgeous. That was the very last thing Cordelia felt like. She bit her inner cheek harshly as she felt herself growing emotional. "D-do you think about those things o-only with me?" Her palms were sweating. She was sweating all over, and even though she only had a sheer nightgown, she felt too hot underneath the covers.

Misty's eyes stayed on the floor. Her hands nervously played with the rings on her fingers. She gulped. "Y-yes, ma'am..." she nodded.

The words were enough to send a spiral of butterflies inside her stomach. Cordelia was somewhat relieved. "D-do you have feelings f-for me?" It was better to ask right away, Cordelia knew that. She didn't want to be played again. She didn't want to get all happy for misunderstanding things.

Misty took a deep, shaky breath. "I-I..." she stammered as her eyes slowly looked back up to Cordelia. "Yes..." she whispered nervously.

Yes. Cordelia's chest tightened up and softened down in a matter of seconds. She let out a deep breath. "Me too," she nearly murmured. "M-me too." Cordelia had never wanted to see Misty more than now.

Misty's eyes grew wide. Her heart nearly stopped for a few beats. Never in her wildest dreams has she ever imagined that Cordelia would feel the same way. "Really?" she grinned shyly.

Cordelia couldn't help but smile a little. She nodded, shyly and hesitantly extending a hand to Misty.

Misty stared at Cordelia's hand before shakily placing one of her own into it. She knew just by the simple touch the older witch would know how nervous she was.

Cordelia was trembling a little, too, and the soft-touch caused her to smile a little. She caressed Misty's hand with her fingertips. "I... I've been having those feelings for a while..."

Misty hesitantly sat back down to the bed, but this time a little closer to Cordelia. She could tell the woman was just as nervous as she was. "R-really?" she asked.

Cordelia nodded, shyly snuggling closer to Misty as she held her hand a little firmer.

Misty bit her lip before moving again so she was sitting beside Cordelia against the headboard. "So..." she chuckled nervously. "What's this mean?" her hand nervously caressed Cordelia's.

Cordelia was so nervous she kept fingers a little stiff. "I... I don't know..." she gulped. "Um... should we go out still?" she was panicking.

Misty smiled softly. "If ya still want to. If ya don't, I understand. We can go to the greenhouse and talk." She offered softly.

"I think... I think it'd be great to go out. Yeah." Cordelia took a deep breath.

Misty smiled softly. "Would you like me to help you pick something out?" She asked.

Cordelia nodded. "You... you're not ashamed of going o-out with me?"

Misty furrowed her brows as she shook her head. "Not at all, why would I be, Miss Cordelia?" she asked.

Cordelia shrugged. "It's me... most girls here are..."

Misty still didn't understand. Her hand gently squeezed Cordelia's. "Well, I dunno 'bout the other girls, but I ain't ashamed to be seen with ya... I like ya a lot, Miss Cordelia." She said as her thumb ran over the woman's knuckles.

Cordelia felt so miserable. She sniffed back a few tears before letting her head rest on Misty's shoulders. She felt so safe. "I like you, too, Misty." With trembling lips, she kissed what she could reach of Misty's neck.

Misty felt her heart wanting to leap out from her chest. The kiss sent a wave of new butterflies through her stomach. She took in a shaky breath before turning her head. She used her free hand to softly and gently cup Cordelia's cheek. Her thumb slowly ran over the part of the woman's cheek that wasn't injured from the acid. She was mindful of the small things. Gently, and almost hesitantly, she pressed her lips to Cordelia's in a soft kiss.

As her cheek was cupped, Cordelia felt what was coming. She reminded herself not to squeeze Misty's hand and, before she could even process what was going on, there was a pair of desired, dreamed of lips were against her own. She kissed Misty back just as softly, letting out a breath in satisfaction.

Misty didn't stay there long, she worried about kissing Cordelia too much that it would overwhelm the both of them. She pulled away gently, noses touching still. There was a wide smile on her face.

As they pulled away, Cordelia bit her lower lip. She held back a giggle as she smiled brightly to herself. Slowly, her hands moved to cup both of Misty's cheeks. "I wish I could see you," she said softly.

Misty couldn't help but smile when she saw the smile on Cordelia's lips. Her smile turned sad when she heard the woman's words. "Me too... I wish I could give ya my eyes."

Smiling sadly, Cordelia began to softly explore Misty Day's face. Her fingers passed on her cheeks, forehead, eyebrows, lips... she sighed. "Isn't it stupid?" she said softly. "How we can literally go to Hell and back but can't help cure diseases or disabilities?"

Misty closed her eyes for a moment. "Ya never know... I-I've looked in some books that I thought could help. I ain't found nothin' yet, but I ain't givin' up." She said.

Cordelia offered a small smile. "Thank you," she said softly, yet her voice carried all the sincerity in the world. "We should... get going?" Cordelia wasn't sure if going out was the best idea, but now she was full of butterflies in her stomach and she wouldn't miss the chance to stay close to Misty Day. Close in a way she didn't think she'd ever been able to actually be.

Misty nodded softly. "Yeah, I have a place or two in mind. Let's get ya up and ready." She said before happily slipping off the bed. She was excited and nervous to see where the day was headed.

Cordelia stepped out as well. She instantly reached for the wall. Her nightgown was a simple black and short. "Okay... c-can you get me a skirt? It can be the long, black one."

Misty tried to pry her eyes away from Cordelia's body. She hadn't seen the woman in anything less than her usual day/work clothes. "Y-yes," she said before walking toward the wardrobe. "Uh, wh-which skirt?" She asked as she tried to calm down.

Cordelia heard the way Misty Day's voice trembled. She sucked on her lower lip. "Um... the black, l-long one."

Misty nodded before grabbing the two items of clothing. "Should I set them on your bed, o-or do ya need help? I can help if ya need me to." She said as she calmed down a little, finally.

Cordelia felt herself getting nervous once again. She gulped. "I... I need some help... I tend to lose m-my balance..."

Misty nodded softly as she set the two items on the bed. She walked closer to Cordelia, softly taking her hands. "That's fine. I can help ya. I really don't mind." She smiled softly.

Cordelia hesitantly wrapped her hands around Misty's, seeing no thoughts this time, but Misty's sight. She gasped.

"What is it?" Misty asked worriedly. She softly caressed Cordelia's hands.

Cordelia smiled brightly. "I can see what you see." She saw herself. The scars were so rough against her pale face. Her smile soon vanished, and she pulled a hand away to touch her face. The image in her head disappeared. She quickly grabbed Misty's hand again.

Misty smiled sadly when she saw Cordelia's reaction. Her free hand moved to cup one of the woman's cheeks. "Ya still so beautiful, Miss Cordelia. I mean, I don't really know what ya looked like before, but you're gorgeous." She said.

Cordelia gulped back a knot in her throat. She felt her eyes getting teary. "I k-know I'm not really beautiful... I never was. B-but this is hard... and so s-shallow," she laughed bitterly at herself, trying to enjoy the touch on her cheek.

Misty's brows furrowed. "Delia, what are ya talkin' about? Of course, ya gorgeous... I mean, ya stunnin' really. Even with these scars. They don't make ya any less then ya are."

Cordelia looked down. She shook her head, taking a shaky, deep breath. "I-it's fine..."

Misty frowned as she caressed Cordelia's have and cheek. "It ain't though, Miss Cordelia. If ya can see through my eyes, I hope ya can see that I see ya like an angel sent from the heavens above." She said.

This time, Cordelia blushed a little. She saw herself, smiling all dumbly. "Can I kiss you again?" she asked dimly.

"Ya ain't gotta ask me, Delia." Misty grinned before lifting Cordelia head softly, just enough so that she could softly press her lips to plump, pink ones.

Cordelia let out a giggle before it was stopped by Misty's lips. She hummed lightly, lowly, as she moved to caress the small of Misty's back.

Misty smiled softly against Cordelia's lips as she kissed her a little harder than the times before. She kept the kisses gentle and light though, she didn't want to take this too fast.

It had been so long Cordelia had been kissed like that. She took a deep, shaky breath before hesitantly pulling away. Her heart was racing. Her stomach was twirling around.

Misty looked at Cordelia with curious eyes because of her reaction. "Ya okay?" she asked softly.

Cordelia nodded with a small smile. "Yes," she breathed out. "H-help me with the skirt?"

Misty nodded softly. "Course," she said before pulling her hands away from Cordelia's face and hand. She grabbed the skirt from off the bed, walked closer to Cordelia, and held it open. "I'm right in front of ya, hold onto my shoulders." She said.

Gulping loudly, Cordelia felt herself sweating. Hesitantly, she tapped around to find Misty, first feeling her curls and then eventually falling down to her shoulders. God, they were muscular. Once she stabilized herself, she shyly raised a leg up.

Misty smiled softly before moving the skirt so that Cordelia could slip a leg inside. "There ya go," she said softly.

Cordelia felt so useless. She stepped down and lifted the other leg up, biting her lower lip harshly.

Misty was staring down at Cordelia's legs and hadn't noticed the woman's look. She helped her step into the skirt before slowly pulling it up her thighs to rest on her hips. "There ya go," she said.

Cordelia gulped back a knot in her throat. "T-thank you, Misty." She offered a small, weak smile. "Can I hold your hands so I can choose a shirt?"

Misty nodded with a small smile. "Course, ya can. I already grabbed ya one, but ya can tell me if ya like it." She said softly as she softly took Cordelia's hand in her own. She looked at the shirt that was already laid out on the bed, it was a long-sleeved blouse with flowers on it. It was a favorite of her, she thought it just looked absolutely beautiful on Cordelia.

Cordelia nodded as she subconsciously squeezed Misty's hands. It was just so good, to see colors and patterns again. She had missed her room. A smile touched her lips. "I love this one..."

Misty smiled brightly as she squeezed Cordelia's hand back. "I was hopin' ya would. I like seein' ya in flowers." She said softly.

Cordelia couldn't help but feel her cheeks tinting. "Really?"

Misty smiled as she looked at Cordelia. "Yeah, they suit ya. They look pretty on ya, not that ya need help lookin' pretty, or nothin' like that, I just—they look nice."

Now, Cordelia could see herself. She saw the way she was smiling and the way her cheeks tinted more and more. She chuckled and looked down. "Thank you. So do you... in anything."

Misty blushed as well, looking down at her boots. "Thank ya, really... do ya need help with ya shirt too?" she asked.

Cordelia blushed even more. "Mhm..."

Misty nodded softly as she let go of Cordelia's hand so she could grab the shirt. "Alrighty, oh, we gotta get this nighty off first." She said without thinking.

Oh boy. Cordelia blushed all over once again and even more. She nodded. "I-I need a bra..."

Misty nodded softly. "Alright, I can get that for ya, too. Are ya bras in ya dresser?" She asked.

Cordelia nodded quietly.

Misty smiled sadly. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked as her hand went to grab Cordelia's again.

She was nervous. Very. And embarrassed. That wasn't how she wanted their confession of feelings to go like. "Nothing," she gulped. "Um, the black, cotton bra works..."

Misty nodded softly. She squeezed Cordelia's hand once more before letting go. She walked over to the dressed and grabbed the only black bra there was in the top drawer. "Okay, I got it." She said as she walked back. She couldn't help but feel nervous.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Cordelia had to take her clothes off. She was bare underneath the nightgown, apart from the skirt she had just put on. Hesitantly, she began taking her gown off, exposing her bare breasts and stomach.

Misty kept her eyes on Cordelia's face. She couldn't let herself see her teacher, her mentor, her crush in such a venerable state. "Can ya, uh, hold up your hands so I can get the straps on ya, 'nd then turn to I can hook it?" she asked softly.

Cordelia felt the chilly breeze on her exposed skin. She nodded and extended her arms, looking down in shame even if she couldn't see anything.

Misty frowned when Cordelia looked away from her. "What's the matter?" She asked in a soft tone as she slipped on the woman's bra.

Cordelia shook her head as she gulped, continuing to face the floor.

Misty furrowed her brows as she frowned. "Miss Cordelia, ya can talk to me, ya know?" she asked before softly motioning for Cordelia to turn by lightly turning her at the hips.

The hands on her hips were strong, warm. Cordelia liked it. She turned, nodding quietly. "I'm j-just not used to depending on others... it makes me feel even more useless."

Misty frowned even more. She pulled her hands away, so she was able to hook Cordelia's bra together in the back. "Ya ain't worthless, Miss Cordelia." She said before pulling her hands away again. It was hard for her to believe Cordelia felt so bad about herself. "At all. And needin' help from someone doesn't make ya worthless. It just means ya needed some help. There ain't nothing wrong with that, like at all." She explained before urging the older woman to turn around again.

Cordelia was tired of crying so much. She saw how her face looked, and how her eyes were so blotchy even, so they were all scarred. Turning once again, she sighed quietly. "I believe I'm not in a very good mental space right now." She said quietly, covering herself with her arms. Cordelia was a crier, but the way she had been sobbing lately wasn't typical.

Misty frowned even more than before. She grabbed the shirt off the bed. "Can I help ya with your shirt?" She asked when she noticed Cordelia was so quick to cover herself.

"Please." Cordelia nodded. She hated herself. She hated to be in such a place. She hated how broken and fragile she looked to the outside world now. She had always been like that inside, but that was only inside.

Misty chewed on her bottom lip as she held the shirt up. "Can ya lift ya arms and I'll put it on ya?"

Cordelia nodded once again, raising her arms. "I'm sorry..."

Misty instantly shook her head. "Whatcha sayin' sorry for?" she asked as she slowly put the shirt onto Cordelia.

Cordelia shrugged. "Being a mess... I guess that's not the Cordelia you are u-used to." She chuckled bitterly. "I understand i-if... I don't k-know."

Misty's brows furrowed again as she shook her head. She tugged the shirt down to Cordelia's waist before softly taking her hands into her own. "Cordelia, ya ain't a mess. And if what?" she asked softly. Her hands ran over the backs of the other blonde's hands.

With hands back on her own, she could see herself again. But she wanted to see Misty. She allowed her fingers to tangle with Misty's. "I-if... you changed your mind..." She could see how sad she looked. How miserable.

Misty frowned again as she shook her head. "Delia, nothin's gonna change my mind about ya. I can promise ya that." She said.

Cordelia saw the way her face changed to a small smile and her stomach twisted around. Letting one of Misty's hands go, Cordelia guided it to her cheek and caressed it. She couldn't see anything anymore, but she felt the soft expanse of Misty's cheek vividly. Her thumb caressed it lovingly. "Thank you."

Misty smiled softly, brightly. "Ya welcome, but ya don't need to thank me..." she said as her now free hand went to Cordelia's cheek as well, caressing it. "Do ya wanna go out still?" She asked.

Leaning into the touch, Cordelia closed her eyes and focused on it. She nodded, and her free hand moved to pull Misty closer by the waist. She still didn't say anything.

Misty smiled softly as she walked closer, now just a mere few inches between them. "Whenever ya wanna go, just lemme know." She said softly, smiling.

Cordelia nodded. She could feel Misty's hot breath tickling her face. Caressing up her waist to her arm and neck, she cupped both of Misty Day's cheeks and caressed them, gently resting her forehead against hers. "You are one of a kind, Misty Day." She whispered lovingly.

Misty felt her cheeks burning with a soft blush as she smiled even more than before. She licked her lips that suddenly felt dry as she wrapped her free arm around Cordelia's waist. "Thank ya, Miss Cordelia. Ya are, too. I really mean that. Ya amazing, and wonderful, and gorgeous, and... I could go on forever." She chuckled shyly.

Cordelia chuckled back, stepping closer to Misty; it was impossible. She leaned closer; their lips brushed. She felt the expanse slowly, and then she closed the gap. Her stomach filled with the crazy butterflies once again.

Misty felt her breath hitch in the back of her throat as she slowly and softly pressed their lips together. The kiss was soft, light, loving even. The hand that was wrapped around the woman's waist softly caressed the small of her back.

Cordelia felt her throat getting clouded with a bubble of warmth and excitement and love and everything she hadn't felt in so long. Her lips moved softly and so, so passionately against Misty's. She wanted to stay like that forever.

Misty's lips curved upward into a smile, which in turn broke the kiss. "Sorry," she giggled shyly.

Cordelia smiled as she let out a giggle back, caressing Misty's cheeks and allowing her hands to go down to her waist, caressing her sides. "I love your laugh..."

Misty blushed even more as she looked down shyly. "I love yours, too. It's cute, like the rest of ya." She said.

Cordelia giggled a little louder this time. She smiled brightly as she bit her lower lip, and her hand slipped down to find Misty's. "Come here." She guided them to the bathroom—to what she thought was the bathroom. Cordelia was about to collapse onto the wall.

Misty was quick to pull Cordelia close to her, stopping her. "Where are ya headed? Ya almost ran into a wall, and it'd be a damn shame if ya had a bruise on that pretty face of yours." She said softly.

Cordelia gasped as she was pulled back. Misty was strong, and she was weak from being in bed so much. Her body bounced back against Misty's. "Oof—" it hurt a little. She nearly fell. "Sorry—the bathroom."

Misty's eyes nearly bulged out of her head when she realized she had been rough with Cordelia. "I-I'm the one that should be sorry. I-I didn't—I... didn't mean to hurt ya if I did..." her voice was slightly shaky as she grew nervous.

Cordelia's whole body hurt. She felt as if she had been ran over, which caused her to feel even worse for how weak she had become. "It's okay." She reached for both of Misty's hands now, caressing them as she turned to her. "It's okay," she reassured once again as she began seeing what Misty was seeing.

Misty gulped as she nodded softly. She felt the slight sting of tears starting to appear, but she quickly blinked them away as she tried to smile. "I'd never meant to hurt ya, Miss C-Cordelia."

Cordelia frowned as her vision got blurry for a second. She put two plus two together, watching herself through Misty's eyes. "Misty... are you crying?" her voice dripped with love and affection.

Misty sniffled as she looked down. "I'm tryin' not to..." she mumbled.

The sight in her mind went down. Cordelia could see their feet. Her stomach tightened. "Misty... sweetheart..." she let go of one of her hands, seeing nothing once again. Cordelia blindly reached to Misty Day's waist, caressing it. She was getting better at knowing her body already. "Sweetheart, it's okay. I know you'd never hurt me... I trust you in a way I've n-never quite trust anyone before."

Misty sniffled as she looked back up. "Really?" she asked before wiping her tears away. "Cause I know the feelin'... it's why I got so scared. I-I'd never mean to hurt ya." She said softly.

"Really." Cordelia nodded with a small smile. "Don't be scared... you radiate joy, Misty Day. Kindness, light... protection. You're as pure as a diamond, like a flower blooming in the spring. I trust you."

Misty blushed bright red as she chuckled shyly. "I dunno if I'd say all that, but thank ya, Delia... I mean it. You're all that and more to me." She said.

Cordelia blushed. "I'm glad you think so highly of me," she chuckled shyly. Her hand squeezed Misty's waist a little. It was so firm.

Misty smiled softly, shyly still. "How could I not?" she asked before softly pulling away, just enough so she could start guiding Cordelia towards the bathroom. "Alrighty, what did ya need in here?" she asked.

Cordelia chuckled and looked down, walking a little more carefully now. As she felt the floor getting colder underneath her feet, she smiled shyly. "I want to see you..."

Misty smiled shyly as she looked up at herself in the mirror. She grabbed Cordelia's hand, so she could see what she did. Her hair was in its usual messy curls, her eyeliner was smudged under her eyes from not washing it away the day before, and her freckles were a little brighter from spending so much time outside.

Cordelia instantly saw the image flashing in her mind. She squeezed Misty's hands a little before smiling, biting her lower lip. Misty was breathtaking just as she remembered, but even more so now, smiling. Cordelia was in awe.

Misty blushed as she saw the look on Cordelia's face. She smiled shyly as she looked down. "Wish I could give ya my eyes or somethin'."

Cordelia shook her head as she now saw the floor. She squeezed Misty's hands. "Don't say such a thing..."

"I just mean so ya don't feel so bad," Misty explained as she looked back up, trying to remind herself that Cordelia could see through her eyes.

Instantly, Cordelia smiled once again. She nodded, lost in the sight inside her head. She let go of one of Misty's hands to hug her from behind, quickly grabbing it once again. Her head rested on her shoulder as she now saw them both together. It looked... weirdly nice.

Misty couldn't help but smile, even more, at the action. Her free hand rested over Cordelia's that was around her waist. She felt the swarm of butterflies in her stomach kicking up again—going crazy with nervousness, but a good nervousness.

Cordelia was mesmerized. She stared at the mirror, hands caressing Misty's. Misty Day was an angel sent from above. Herself, though... she looked paler and thinner and like she hadn't slept for ages. Her hair was a mess. She sighed, although her stomach twirled with happiness.

Misty smiled softly when she saw Cordelia looking so happy. "Can I do anything for ya?" she asked softly.

Cordelia looked down. "You do... you help me as no one else can. I just wish I could help myself..."

Misty frowned softly before turning to look at Cordelia. She softly wrapped her arms around the woman. "Hey, ya can help yaself... sometimes we just need help doin' that. There ain't nothin' wrong with needin' help, ya hear me?" she asked.

Cordelia didn't see anything anymore. She kind of preferred it that way, for the subject now. The arms around herself carried a strange warmth, a strange and missed feeling of being loved. "The thing is that... sleeping is all I've been doing..."

Misty smiled sadly. "There ain't nothin' wrong with sleepin' sometimes. I used to sleep a lot when I was alone 'cause I didn't have nothin' better to do with my time." She explained.

Cordelia was still hesitant to reach and touch Misty. She caressed her waist slowly. "I'm sorry... you shouldn't have been alone for so long. I'm so glad you found us." That was, in fact, the best thing that had happened to Cordelia in ages.

Misty smiled sadly. "It's okay... I feel like I've found what I've always been searchin' for." She said softly. She didn't want to admit, just yet, that it was Cordelia she was talking about. She didn't want to scare her away, but the woman brought her a feeling of safety she had never felt before.

Cordelia smiled softly. "Me too." She, as well, didn't want to admit she didn't think she had felt that way in a long, long time. "Do you mind helping me with my hair...?"

Misty smiled as well as she softly shook her head. "Not at all, Miss Cordelia. What do ya want me to do? I can just brush it, or I can style it. I mean, I ain't that great at doin' hair... mine's a rat's nest, but I know a few things." She chuckled nervously.

Letting out a chuckle, Cordelia shook her head. "I love your hair. And just brush it is perfect. Thank you, Misty."

Misty blushed as she smiled softly. "Really?" she asked as she pulled away slightly. She saw the bench in front of the sink and pulled it out and guided Cordelia to it. "Sit here," she said.

As Misty pulled away, Cordelia played weirdly with her hands. Now that she had "seen" again, being in the dark felt scary. As she walked with Misty, though, she could see the bench, so she followed and sit there. "Thank you, lo... l-love?" her voice cane softly, shyly. She hadn't done that in a while.

Misty's lips curled upward into a shy smile. She let out a nervous giggle. "Ya can call me that if ya want, I don't really mind it. I wasn't sure if I should keep callin' ya Miss Cordelia or not." She said explained as she grabbed the brush off the counter.

Giggling nervously as well, Cordelia looked down. "Miss Cordelia is uptight..."

Misty bit her lip as she lightly took some of Cordelia's hair into her hand to start gently brushing out the ends. "I know... I just ain't real sure what to call ya."

The fingertips on her hair worked so gently. Cordelia hummed lowly. "Have you ever called a loved one something before?"

Misty shook her head softly. "No, not really." She said shyly. She ran the brush through the ends of Cordelia's hair, slowly working her way up to keep in mind of not hurting her or brushing through the tangles she came across.

Cordelia leaned back softly, subconsciously. "What's your favorite flower?"

Misty hummed softly as she kept brushing and running her fingers through Cordelia's hair. "Either lavenders or sunflowers... what are yours?" she asked.

"White roses," Cordelia smiled to herself. And then she chuckled bitterly. "Hank always got me red ones..."

Misty smiled sadly. "Red roses are so borin'. White roses are always better. They're for purity, innocence, and new love." She said with a smile.

Cordelia bit her lip as she smiled softly. "I agree. They, um," she blushed. "They kinda match us."

Misty smiled shyly as she ran her fingers through Cordelia's now brushed out hair. "Ya think so?"

Cordelia nodded. Her cheeks hurt from smiling so much. She hadn't felt this happy and this excited for life in a while.

Misty couldn't help but smile even more when she saw how genuinely happy Cordelia seemed. It warmed her heart. "Would ya like to eat while we're out? Or do ya just wanna eat somethin' here?" she asked as she set the brush onto the counter.

Cordelia was embarrassed to eat out. To go out, in general. But she thought she was even more embarrassed to be seen by the girls. Which was absolutely stupid, but she couldn't help it. "Hm... out, I suppose..."

Misty could notice the conflict on Cordelia's face. She gently took one of her hands and caressed it softly. "It's really up to ya... we could even grab somethin' and go eat somewhere else. The flower shop I wanna take ya to has some seats and benches outside. We could eat there." She suggested.

The hand on hers always felt so warm and welcoming. Cordelia could see again. She saw herself in the mirror. Misty's eyes were always on her. It made her blush and tingle all over with happiness. "That sounds very sweet..."

Misty smiled brightly. "I think so too! What would ya like to eat? We can have anythin'. I could even make us somethin'." She suggested.

Cordelia giggled once again. It was impossible not to, with Misty being so cute and with all the butterflies in her stomach. "What's your favorite food?"

"Strawberries and chocolate, but that ain't really a meal." Misty chuckled shyly. "What's yours?"

Cordelia chuckled. Her insides were full of love. "I don't really know... oatmeal?"

Misty smiled softly as she chuckled. "Oh, come on, everyone's got somethin' they love. Their guilty pleasure food." She said as she caressed Cordelia's hand more with a bright smile. Her stomach swirled with happy butterflies.

Cordelia laughed, twirling their fingers together. "It used to be you..."

Misty blushed as she looked down. "I'm ya guilty pleasure?" She asked.

"Yeah..." Cordelia blushed fiercely. "You know... you like it, but you can't tell."

Misty bit her lip as she nodded. "I know exactly whatcha mean." She said softly.

Cordelia bit her lip as well, caressing Misty's hand still. "So... what about we buy some bagels and some strawberries and chocolate?"

Misty smiled brightly again. "How'd ya know I loved bagels?" she asked.

"You eat one every morning," Cordelia answered simply, lovingly.

Misty smiled as she played with the ring that was on Cordelia's finger. She chuckled. "That's true, ya know me so well, darlin'." She said, hoping the pet name wouldn't be too much.

Darling. Cordelia almost squealed. "I... pay attention, that's all."

Misty smiled shyly. "I try to, but sometimes I get too wrapped up in my own thoughts." She said softly.

"That's sweet," Cordelia smiled to herself, still playing with Misty's fingers. They were strong but still soft. It was perfect. Everything about Misty was perfect. She wanted to kiss her again, but she was scared of being too much.

Misty smiled softly. "Wanna get goin'?" She asked softly as she caressed Cordelia's hand again.

Cordelia nodded. "Yes, please. Do you... um, shoes..."

"Oh, right!" Misty said before slowly pulling her hand away. "Which pair would ya like?" she asked.

"Black flats, please." Cordelia smiled shyly.

Misty found them near the bathroom door. She brought them back into the bathroom and knelt down to the floor. "I'm right here." She said before slowly lifting the woman's foot to slip the shoe on.

Cordelia hated it so much. She liked being independent, she wasn't used to counting on other people. Shyly, she allowed her foot to slip into the shoe. "Thank you," she said once again.

"Ya ain't gotta thank me," Misty said softly as she helped Cordelia into the next shoe.

"Still..." Cordelia settled her feet and hesitantly began to get up.

Misty got up from the floor and gently took one of Cordelia's hands again. "It's okay, really. I don't mind helpin' ya if ya need me to." She explained as she guided Cordelia back toward the bedroom.

Now holding Misty's hands again, Cordelia could see. She followed Misty, nodding softly. "This is the best I've looked in ages," she chuckled.

Misty smiled sadly. "Ya always look amazin'. What are ya talkin' about?" She asked.

"You're such a sweet thing, aren't you?" Cordelia couldn't actually believe Misty thought those things about her.

Misty chuckled shyly as she looked down. "That's ya." She said.

Cordelia laughed as she shook her head. "Shall we?"

Misty smiled brightly. "Yes, we shall." She said before guiding Cordelia toward the door.

Cordelia followed with Misty, nervousness crawling in her stomach. Being out after so long felt very weird.

Misty could sense Cordelia's nervousness. "Hey, it's okay. Ya got nothin' to be nervous about." She said.

Except, she did. She had to deal with being blind, with receiving pitiful stares and, now, with stares about her new, if she could call it like that already, relationship with Misty. She nodded, though, lacing their fingers together. I do love her in a way.

Misty frowned when Cordelia didn't say anything. She stopped just before the stairs and gently caressed the woman's hand. "Please talk to me."

Cordelia saw herself once again. She looked so distressed, so pathetic... her head hesitantly looked up to Misty. "I'm just nervous," she said softly.

Misty frowned even more. Her free hand came up to softly caress Cordelia's cheek. "Ya ain't gotta be nervous. I promise. If anyone says or does anything I'll slap 'em for ya, okay?" She joked, hoping to lighten the mood and lift Cordelia a little.

Usually, Cordelia would have given a moral speech to Misty. But that wasn't usually. She chuckled lovingly. "Thank you, Misty." Her free hand caressed Misty's waist, and she leaned closer to kiss her lips until...

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theheartsmistakes · 4 years ago

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The last night is awesome and legendary and I tip my hat off to you the plot is so enticing and your style of writing is marvelous you are a very very great writer the fic is written beautifully and it is sad to see that Cordelia thinks she is alone even though many people love her but I get that seeing Grace and James together made her feel bad about herself also I cannot imagine what Sona must be going through she is alone and pregnant with an abusive husband and now both her kids are hurt 1/2

2/2 I love that apart from the intense storyline there are also small bits of humor to balance it out like the scene in the car where Lucie was half on top of a scandalised Christopher; when the Merry Thieves are preparing to get scolded/questioned(I don't know if that's the correct word) by their parents and Charles; also somewhere in the beginning when the righ lens of Kit's specs is broken now not to be like Thanos here but the fic is perfectly balanced like everything should be :)

Holy WHAT?

Wow! Thank you so much for this comment. I hope that it’s okay that I share this, because it was truly a wonderful message to wake up to! I am so glad that you’re enjoying it (imperfect as it is). And I love the Thanos reference! This was a fun one for me to write. Honestly, I almost didn’t post it, because it felt disconnected from the emotions of the previous parts, but I fell in love with the way the conversation between Matthew and James turned out. Matthew having a crisis. James “pretending” to be chill. It also inspired the next couple parts of the story where these boys get into the investigation on how to kill Belial (which, I think, has been staring us all in the face, but I won’t spoil anything) and why Lucie is lying to everyone about what Belial told her.

Cordelia is one of my favorite female character’s Cassie has produced. She has insecurities, but she also isn’t afraid to make a tiny bit of a fool of herself: scolding James in front of everyone after he left her on the dance floor, wearing a hideous dress so to not disappoint her mother, dancing in the Whispering Room (which was more badass than anything, but still slightly discomforting), and standing up in front of everyone and declaring that she got busy with James Herondale. She’s really what inspired me to write this fic in the first place and I’m really excited for when she wakes up, because she’s got some WORK to do!

Your message has set me off on a ramble and totally motivated me. Thank you friend!

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takaraphoenix · 4 years ago

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 5

1. Favorite character of this season?

Anya, I love her arc this season. She's just kind of been... there, in season 4, running along. No one really acknowledged the demon thing, there was no real bonding between Anya and everyone, she was just there. This season, finding her place in the world? Working at the Magic Box, then her in The Body – I mean seriously, her confronting mortality like that, I love it. I love her growth.

2. Outstanding minor character (positive or negative)?

Dawn. Sure, technically you could argue she's a “main character”, however... she's barely even a character, she's a plot-device so that really qualifies her as a minor character for me.

I always disliked Dawn, even when I was a teen myself. With some things, perspective shifts when you grow older, but Dawn just... always sucked. As a teen, I found her to be a cringey parody of the teen girl experience and now as an adult I still think that this is the peak of what a middle-aged man thinks the teen girl experience is. She's a cheap, one-dimensional caricature of a teenager.

She is a whiny brat, she constantly acts like “no one sees the real me”, she becomes a kleptomaniac to try and gain attention, she acts like no one loves her even though everyone constantly fawn over her every chance they got, she is a spoiled little brat that is completely unappreciative of all the things she gets. It's like they crammed every single shallow teen stereotype into this one character, making her a very one-dimensional character. Which is a bafflement considering Willow, Xander and Buffy started out as teenagers but they were always fully fleshed out characters with actual personalities. Heck, Cordelia was the most stereotypical character in the teenage years but even she got more depth and individuality.

Though I'd like to point out that while, as a character, Dawn is incredibly obnoxious, I do like her as what she is – a plot device. The way she creates new dynamics among the Scoobies, how other characters play off her and grow on her existence, the villain-plot she triggers.

3. Favorite character dynamic?

Too many, honestly. I adore the way Tara-Buffy grow in this season. Generally the friction between Spike and the Scoobies. Spike and Dawn in particular. The Buffy-Dawn dynamic too – Dawn being such a blank slate of Teen AngstTM allows for the other characters to shine in comparison. They get a new dynamic here, through the New Kiddo that puts them in perspective. Caring, gentle. The sisters-angle is a new one for Buffy and I do love her as a big sister, even if I wished her retconned sister had like... an actual personality.

4. Favorite canon romantic ship?

Spike/Buffy. Sue me, I'm Spuffy trash. Always been. The way he cares for her, the things he's willing to do. The little things. The self-sacrificial side, how he drops everything to help her whenever she needs him. And, I know, I give other ships flag for things equal or less in comparison to some of the shit that's happened/happening between Spike/Buffy, but see that's where taste comes into play. Liking and disliking things is just... all about that taste and tastes differ. For me, Spike/Buffy hits all the right spots. I love them so much.

5. Least favorite canon romantic ship?

Riley/Buffy. Once again. Seriously, this is just such a bad relationship. From the get-go she constantly put herself down to lift him up. Holding back her powers – which, of course, because otherwise she'd snap him in half during sparring – but pretending that's the max. She is always going out of her way to make him feel special and useful.

And he goes and gets fed on by a vampire and has the audacity to blame it on Buffy, because Buffy doesn't make him feel wanted enough. Even though she continuously tries making him feel important. It's ridiculous. Complaining that she didn't think about calling him when her mom went to the hospital, like she didn't have something else in her mind there? Setting her an ultimatum that she has to give him a reason to stay. After he essentially cheats on her, by sneaking around with vampires and letting them feed on him for the rush.

Now to go and leave with his little military buddies once more. After everything the military has done to him...? Their relationship was so bad for Buffy.

6. Favorite episode?

The Body. This is the singularly best episode... ever. In all television I've ever seen. This episode is overwhelmingly good. Sarah Michelle Gellar's acting is overwhelming in this episode. The choice to exclude music entirely, not even sad ones. How silence is allowed to longer, how unnerving the background noises become due to this silence.

The writing too, of course. Anya's words about death and mortality are so intense, they'll always stick with me. And not just her. Xander, Willow, Dawn, how they all handle this in a different way.

The choice alone that Joyce dies from something so fundamentally human, something no one could have prevented, something Buffy couldn't have fought. And – yes, that reaches ahead some – but the fact that the next episode also serves to have this unfold. It's not just “death and move on”. It's being dealt with, it's being digested, it's being taken seriously.

Too many writers feel the need to fun things up when it's getting serious, because they are afraid to lose their audience if there isn't a joke every five minutes. There is not a single joke in that entire episode. This show is funny as hell, but they know when not to joke. There is nothing to be made light here, this is serious, they are truly suffering. They know how important that is.

I've seen this episode surely a dozen times now. I cry so much every single time. Not just once. There are so many well-written, well-acted and well-executed moments in this episode. It's brilliant TV-making. It encapsulates what's so brilliant about this show overall; the human element, suffering, pain, dealing with pain, the balance between seriousness and humor and knowing when not to use humor.

7. Least favorite episode?

Episode two Real Me. It's the Dawn introduction episode and I've made clear what I dislike about Dawn; this episode introduces it all in the most teen angst cliche possible – writing a diary entry about how no one sees you for who you are and like no one could ever actually understand you.

8. Favorite Monster Of The Week?

...Dracula. I still... I consider that episode a fever-dream. It's one of the ones I opt to forget about whenever enough time has passed since my last rewatch because it just... doesn't fit into this show at all, it feels like a whacky filler arc in an anime, or a one-shot comic spin-off. But it's fun.

9. Least favorite Monster Of The Week?

This season doesn't actually have much of those. There's 4 or 5, depending on how you'd count, out of those 22, because this season is very streamlined about the Big Bad, more so than previous seasons were, and it is also very focused on the human issue – on Joyce's sickness and then her death. Out of those few, I guess the “let's split Xander in half” demon from episode 3 was my least favorite. It was... boring and due to this season's streamlining the fact that this was the most fillery filler episode felt a bit out of place, really.

10. Rate the overarching villain!

SO FREAKING GOOD.

Glory is a truly glorious villain. She's a god. But she is so – so frantic, so manic. She is fun to watch as a villain. The sheer size of the threat too. Which, it figures. There's always an escalation of threat.

(We will get back to that in the season 6 review though.)

Glory may just be my favorite Big Bad on this show, which only adds to how much I love this season. It's one of my favorites. Granted, I have a lot of favorite seasons.

Bonus: Other thoughts?

I love this season so very, very much. The human element, the growth, the villain-plot, the relationship developments. It's an incredible season. I'll get back to this when I finish my rewatch and actually do my ranking of seasons, but I am rating each episode – 1 to 5 – and getting the point-average, to have a more factual look at how much I loved a season. This one is through the roof, it scored an entire 1,5 more in average than season 4 did. There's only one episode in this that I gave a 1 to, but there are so many 4s.

That ending, to truly kill off your main character like that. So many gut-punches – but deserved gut-punches, not the ones that come out of nowhere and only serve shock-value.

I greatly enjoy and love seasons 1 to 3, but this season – this season reminds me why Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the best damn TV show ever created.

#Buffy the Vampire Slayer #Season 5 #Phoe's Random Show Rants #Buffy Review #Phoe Watching Buffy

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ladywhistledcwn · 5 years ago

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you’re already home where you feel loved

a shirbert soulmate au (ao3)

Gilbert Blythe had grown up his entire life hearing he was special. Everyday someone told him something that apparently made him special, it ranged from the fact that he was good at sports to the fact that he was thoughtful. He used to believe them. At first it was hard too, he didn't understand why someone who was supposedly special had lost his mother before ever getting to know her. But then the years passed and he got used to hearing his name accompanied by a smile. 'Gilbert!' the boys would shout when he entered the schoolhouse or when he made the winning score at the game. 'Hi, Gilbert!' the girls would wave at him before erupting into a fit of giggles. 'Oh, Gilbert!' the older ladies would coo at him after church service. All of this made him puff out his chest and snicker when his father would tease him by calling him 'Avonlea's golden boy'.

Then his father got sick and he stopped feeling special. People no longer grinned after saying his name, they looked at him with sad eyes that made him want to scream. And so a part of him was glad when his father asked him to travel throughout Canada. When he got off the train in Alberta he actually breathed out a sigh of relief. He was no longer the golden boy, he was no longer special, he was no one. And as the days went by thoughts of himself ceased to fill his mind, his only concern was his father and spending every minute he could with him.

Gilbert tried not to think about the fact that his father's skin became paler, and his coughs more frequent and he wheezed in his sleep. He focused on the fact that his only family was still here. He focused on the conversations they had by the fireplace in their small cabin in the mountains, and listened intently to every word that was said. He spoke frequently of Gilbert's mother, so much so that Gilbert could picture her in his mind. He could even see the curly black tendrils that would escape her bun, his father had told him that putting those tendrils behind her ear was a pastime of his.

"Were you and mom...?" Gilbert asked his father one day. The older man immediately knew what his son was referring to.

"No." He answered curtly. "That's why you're special, Gil" He softened his voice.

The word irked him now that he hadn't heard it in almost two years. He didn't think there was anything special about the small dark mark he wore on his skin, just below his ribcage. When he was five years old he asked his father about it, little Gilbert thought it was a smudge of dirt that wouldn't go away, even after many baths. And that's when he heard the word soulmate for the first time. His father explained that not everyone was born with these marks, and that made him special (the beginning of the bothersome word for him). And so Gilbert came to understand that someone, somewhere had the exact same mark on their skin, and that person was his perfect pair.

He never spoke about his mark, he didn't want to draw even more attention to himself. Not even when they read stories about soulmates in school or when Mrs. Lynde announced at the church picnic that she didn't believe there was actually such a thing as soulmate marks. "Just something that a novelist came up with and we all believed." she had scoffed.

"I don't think having a birthmark makes me special, dad". Gilbert rebuffed.

"It's more than that and you know it."

After that he changed the subject.

------------

Three weeks before their two year anniversary of leaving Avonlea, his father's condition worsened. The strain on his chest became so much he could barely leave his bed without erupting into a debilitating coughing fit. They no longer spoke as much, speaking was hard for his father. So Gilbert read to him. Before that he wouldn't've called himself a lover of literature per se. He had read all his schoolbooks back when he went to school (oh how he missed it) but he never really opened a book unless it was for an assignment. His father on the other hand, loved poetry. "These poems helped me convince your mother to marry me, you know." His father chuckled at some faraway memory.

He appreciated poetry because it made him feel connected to his parents but the little books would often include mentions of little black marks too similar to his own and he felt his cheeks redden at the thought of ever feeling what these poets describe. So, when he heard the soft breaths of his father's indicating he had fallen asleep, he closed the little book and contented himself with watching the leaves fall from his window.

Two weeks before their two year anniversary of leaving Avonlea his father uttered four words that filled him with dread. "Let's go home, Gil." It wasn't the thought of returning to Avonlea that filled him with dread but what the fact meant. It meant his father didn't think he had much time left. His doctor didn't either. But Gilbert did, even as his father became more ill he held on to the stubborn hope that they had all the time in the world together.

A week before their two year anniversary of leaving Avonlea, they returned. Their orchard had managed to survive without any care for two years, and apples littered the ground beneath the trees. That Sunday they sat in front of the fireplace as they had done countless times before. "Are you excited for school tomorrow?" His father asked.

Gilbert furrowed his brow in confusion, he hadn't been to school in two years and he wasn't planning on going now. "I'm not going to school, I'm staying here and taking care of you and taking care of the orchard."

"Nonsense, Gil. Your job is not to take care of me, you should be going to school."

"I haven't been to school in two years, why should I start going now when I'm clearly needed here." Gilbert started becoming irate, though he tried not to show it. While he had missed going to school while they were traveling he wouldn't give up spending time with his father for the world, even more so now that his condition had worsened. There was also the subject of money to consider. His father never spoke of it but Gilbert knew the meagre savings they had lived of off while traveling had ran out and now that his father couldn't work Gilbert saw it was his responsibility to take care of the farm.

"Now we're home. Don't worry about me, Gil. I've written a letter to Mrs. Kincannon and she'll help out around here while you're at school." Gilbert wasn't happy with the decision, but he knew there was no changing his father's mind. That night Gilbert dusted off his old slate and gathered his things.

A nasty thought started to creep up on him. He started thinking of how behind he actually was, how he would go to school tomorrow and sit near the front of the classroom with the younger kids when he should be in the back studying for his Queen's entrance exams. He shook the thought away, he would've gladly missed 4 years of schooling for his father. Instead he thought of the positives, of all the things he would learn and the fun he would have (school would still be fun, right? He wasn't quite sure.) and drifted off with thoughts of tomorrow.

------------

Anne Shirley tried not to dwell on the sad aspects of life. She liked to smile at the sun and smell flowers and read. Oh how she liked to read. It was as if she could escape herself for a brief moment, and become someone else. She could be a princess, or a fair maiden, she didn't really care who she was, as long as she wasn't herself. She couldn't recall a time before she could read, she didn't even remember how she learned how to read. She figured her life only really began when she opened her first book.

She learned many things from books, her favorite fact being the existence of soulmates. The first time she read the term was in a romance novel, she figured it was a wonderful idea but not something grounded in reality, like mermaids. But then the term kept popping up in different books and would stay with her even after the books were closed. The day she read the word in a dictionary she gasped and jumped for joy. This was it, the sign that she needed. 'Soulmates: a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner, characterized by the same birthmark on both persons'. That was the sign that meant that she would be happy someday, because there was someone out there who was ideally suited for her.

After learning this Anne developed the habit of stroking her left ankle whenever she felt particularly unhappy, because there, beneath her stockings, lay a small dark mark. That mark comforted her whenever the girls at the orphanage were keen on taking their anger out on Anne.

But even this small comfort wouldn't last her long. One day, right when Anne had gotten out of her bath, one of the older girls came into the room. She stared at Anne from her head to toes and opened her mouth, likely to tease Anne about her skinny frame again no doubt. Instead, she closed her mouth and drew her eyes to Anne's ankle. Then the girl started to laugh, though the laughter sounded forced and didn't reach her eyes.

"So that's why. That's why you think you're better than us. Lovely Princess Cordelia has a soulmate mark." The girl scoffed. She stepped forward and grabbed Anne by one of her braids, bringing her face close to hers. All Anne could do was try not to yelp at the pain. "Let me teach you something you'll never learn from your books, dear little Cordelia. That mark means nothing. You think you'll meet your soulmate? Fat chance. Soulmates aren't for girls like you. No one will ever love you, you'll be smart to remember that." And with that the girl threw Anne against the wall, she was unable to contain her pain at the blow. The older girl only laughed and left the room. After that Anne got back into the tub and scrubbed at her ankle as hard as she could, but the mark stayed. She tried not to look at it after that and decided to only read books with no mention of the horrid word.

Life went on. Anne left the orphanage and returned a handful of times before a mistake was made that would change Anne's life forever. She was sent to live with the Cuthbert's.

Anne's life there had its ups and downs but she was so sublimely happy that she hadn't thought of her mark at all. Until the school spelling bee where it was her against the insufferable Gilbert Blythe. "Spell Soulmate, Blythe." Mr. Phillips had instructed and Anne's breath caught in her throat. Surprisingly the boy wonder misspelled the word.

"Should've added the 'E'." He said to her afterwards, but she could barely register his words, her mind had returned to the orphanage. To that day when the older girl had told her no one would ever love her.

That night Diana stayed over at Green Gables and Anne couldn't help but confide in her dearest bosom friend what was plaguing her. When the candle was blown away and the moonlight couldn't come through the curtains and Anne could hide her shame.

"She was wrong. You know that, right Anne?" Diana had reassured her.

"I don't know that she was, Di." Anne replied, her voice trembling.

"She was, because I love you." Diana had turned to look at Anne.

"You do?" Diana merely nodded. And Anne finally realized that the older girl had been wrong. Maybe she was right in the fact that Anne would never experience romantic love. But she was loved. She was loved by Diana and Marilla and Matthew and that was enough for her.

Anne was now 14 ('Soon to be 15!' she would announce to everyone whenever she could) and had been living in Avonlea for a year. She no longer dreaded going to school, she would skip down the stairs every morning and nearly race to the school. She loved being around Miss Stacy, and in the short time she had been teaching them Anne had realized that she wanted to be exactly like her when she grew up. When Anne and Diana arrived at the school the only person there other than Miss Stacy was Gilbert.

A lot had changed since she lost that spelling competition to him. His father had died and he left Avonlea for nearly a year. During that time she found herself looking at his empty desk and wishing he was there. At first she told herself that the only reason she wanted him back was so Ruby would stop crying during lunch time. Then Ruby actually did stop crying (she still talked about him, mind you) so Anne told herself she only wanted him to return so she could have an educational rival again. Eventually, she admitted to herself that she didn't really have a reason to want him back, she just missed him.

He finally came back and she really couldn't find a reason to hate him anymore. Though she still found him insufferable, this time for another reason entirely. He had always been good at school but now he had found his calling and didn't pay attention to anything that wasn't school related. He never sat with their fellow classmates during lunch or played with the boys, it was always just his nose in a book (Anne would never admit that her main issue with that was that he also wasn't paying attention to her).

Anne warmly greeted everyone with a general 'Good morning!' when she arrived, to which Gilbert merely lifted his palm in a wave, his eyes never once leaving his book. Anne rolled her eyes and took her seat. The other students started to file in and class quickly began.

A small tap on her shoulder distracted Anne from the lesson, it was Ruby. The girl handed her a note, her hand practically shaking in excitement. It could never mean something good when Ruby Gillis was this level of excited. 'Stay after school, we're playing a game. - Josie P.' the note read. Anne immediately shook her head no, she remembered the disaster that was the last game Josie Pye suggested and Anne didn't really find herself in the mood to be humiliated.

'Come on, Anne.' Ruby mouthed, Anne merely shook her head again.

A little while later the afternoon bell rang and everyone gathered their things, but instead of heading out the door like they usually did, they gathered in the back of the classroom and sat in a circle. It seemed Anne and Ruby weren't the only ones who received a note. Nevertheless, Anne headed out the door but before she was able to leave Ruby blocked the exit.

"Anne, please stay. Please please please. Gilbert's also staying and you know he never stays for these types of things. Come on, Anne." Ruby pleaded. Anne merely groaned and turned around.

"I just want it to be known, Ruby, that the only reason I'm doing this is because I know you'll complain about it for the next 10 days if I don't stay."

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Ruby jumped up and down and hugged Anne. Anne chuckled.

The girls reached the circle and it seemed the game had already started.

"What are we playing?" Ruby said as she sat down.

"Truth or dare." Josie replied with a smirk. Anne had to stifle another groan. Now Josie Pye had two different options for torture. She either made Anne answer an embarrassing question or she made Anne perform an embarrassing act. She was already regretting caving to Ruby's pleas.

The game went in typical truth or dare fashion. 'Who do you like?' and 'Who do you have a crush on?' being the two most popular questions. Anne had already made up her mind to choose dare when it was her turn. She guessed if Josie did ask her about her crush she could just say the truth. She didn't have a crush on anyone. But she had a feeling Josie would find a way to twist her answer into something everyone else would laugh at.

And Gilbert was sitting in front of her pretending he wasn't looking at her (Anne was also pretending she didn't notice his stares) and the last thing she wanted was a repeat of the spin the bottle fiasco in front of him.

"Truth or dare, Anne?" Josie asked her.

"Dare." Anne immediately replied.

Josie had a dare at the ready, because of course she did. "I dare you to walk across the schoolhouse roof."

The circle erupted in a chorus of 'oohs' and 'ah's' with a couple of people expressing their disapproval at the dare but not enough to make Josie take it back. The only person who stayed completely silent was Gilbert, he barely even reacted. 'He thinks I can't do it' Anne thought. 'Well I'll show him' and with that last thought she stood up and walked out of the classroom, everyone else hot on her trail.

She could do this, she climbed trees all the time. She even jumped out of her bedroom window once, and while the fall hurt a little bit, it wasn't anything she didn't get over. But as she looked up at the roof her heart started beating a little bit faster. She hadn't ever climbed a tree that high, and her bedroom window wasn't that high up either.

"Are you gonna be a scaredy cat, Anne?" Josie taunted her.

"Cut it out, Josie." Gilbert stepped in, to everyone's shock. He took a few steps forward until he was close to Anne, who had already started climbing the ladder. 'Why was there even a ladder here?' Anne thought. 'This really is an accident waiting to happen.'

Gilbert wrapped his hand around her leg, preventing her from continuing the climb. At the death stare she gave him he let go of her leg, but he didn't leave to join the others who were standing at the other side of the schoolhouse waiting to see Anne walk across the roof.

"You don't have to do this, Anne. It's just a stupid dare." Gilbert said, his eyes staring into hers and she found herself unable to look away. She hated when that happened because staring into Gilbert's eyes made her heart beat faster than the thought of walking across the schoolhouse roof ever did.

"Anne Shirley Cuthbert doesn't back out of a dare." Anne managed to get out with shaky breath. She tore her gaze away from his and continued to climb the ladder. When she finally got on the roof she found it hard to breath. Her classmates below looked awfully small and the steep roof wasn't the most stable surface. 'Here goes nothing' she thought as she took the first step.

She only managed to take two more steps before she lost her footing and fell. The fall so sudden she didn't have time to register anything but the searing pain on her ankle. Hot tears came to her eyes as she tried not to make any noise that would expose her injury.

All the other students ran to her, asking if she was okay but none of them knew what to do in the situation. All Diana could think to do was hold her best friends hand and yell at someone to get Matthew in Green Gables. Anne wasn't paying attention to her classmates, her attention too focused on her breathing. If she focused on her breath she wouldn't be able to focus on the pain on her ankle and the tears on her face.

Suddenly she saw a face in front of her, stopping her from counting her 11th breath since the fall. It was Gilbert. Under any other circumstance Anne would be annoyed and embarrassed if Gilbert saw her like this, breathing erratically and crying. But she remember that Gilbert wanted to be a doctor and that all he ever did was read medical texts and maybe he could help her in some way.

"Anne... Anne!" He snapped his fingers in front of her face to make her pay attention to him. She made a mental note to tell him later to never do that again. Anne looked at him, scared to open her mouth in fear that a sob would come out. "Anne, where does it hurt?" Gilbert asked her, his instincts kicking in.

"My ankle." Her voice cracked.

As Gilbert ran his hands through both her ankles she knew something was horribly wrong, she had twisted her ankle before and that pain was nothing compared to what she felt now.

"I think it might be broken, can I take off your boot?" Gilbert asked her, concern marring his features. Anne nodded.

Gilbert went on to unlace her boot and take it off, her stockings that had already pooled around her ankle going with it. "It's definitely broken, we need to get a doctor."

"Matthew's on his way." Diana added.

Gilbert continued moving around her ankle when suddenly he gave a small gasp. Anne hadn't dared look down in fear that maybe she would see bone sticking out where it shouldn't but she quickly realized what Gilbert had gasped at. Her mark. That exposure made her feel more vulnerable than all the shed tears.

"Gilbert let go of me." Anne had found it within her to stop crying and though the pain was still there the way Gilbert was looking at her made her want to run away. Alas, she could not do that. The next best thing was at least trying to hide her vulnerability. "Gilbert let go of me NOW!" She forcefully expressed when Gilbert still held on to her ankle. The boy jerked back as if he had been burned.

At that moment Matthew arrived on his buggy, and everyone forgot about Anne's outburst in favor of helping her get on the cart.

Four hours later Anne sat in the parlor in Green Gables. Her leg in a cast and her crutches leaning against the wall. She was no longer in pain but was plagued by a foul mood. Marilla had given her quite a verbal thrashing about her recklessness and though she cried and cried Matthew had not come to her aid. She now sat staring out the window, incredibly bored. Her evening took a more exciting turn when she stopped the figure of Gilbert Blythe walking up to her front door. She wished she could go back to being bored and avoid any conversation Gilbert came here to have.

He heard him greet Marilla and exchange platitudes with her until finally he appeared before her, standing in the doorway.

"It's late, Gilbert." Anne said by way of greeting.

"I know, I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Well, now you've seen me. I'm fine." Anne knew her tone was harsh but couldn't do anything to stop it. Maybe if she was rude enough he wouldn't ask what he actually wanted to.

"I'm glad. Anne I wanted to ask about what I saw on your ankle." He finally expressed.

Anne inhaled once trying to weigh her decisions on the spot. She could tell him it was exactly what he thought it was. But this would lead to two possible outlooks. Either he congratulates her for being lucky and moves on. Or he resents her for it, as many kids in the orphanage did, and he treats her differently. However delicate and sometimes somewhat tense their relationship was, she couldn't risk losing it. Not with him. So she chose to protect it, and herself.

"I don't know what you're talking about, the only thing you could've seen was my broken ankle." She puffed out.

Gilbert looked at her, in that special way of his that made her feel much too vulnerable. So she raised her eyebrows in silent question, 'Well?'.

"I guess my panic made me see things that weren't there. Sorry about that." He finally broke his gaze and turned to leave.

"Gilbert!" Anne suddenly blurted out. "Thank you." She said, she was honestly grateful that he was there that afternoon. He hadn't done anything but worry but looking back on it, his presence was a comfort.

"I'll always be there for you, Anne-girl." He looked down with a sheepish half smile and she did the same to try to hide the color that rose to her cheeks. They said their goodbyes and she watched him leave as she had watched him come.

------------

It was a scorching summer and everyone in the group was grateful that yesterday was the last day of school, the oppressive heat in the classroom not letting them concentrate. They were all having a picnic by Anne's dear Lake of Shining Water's when Moody came up with the idea and all the other boys immediately agreed because not even Ruby's delicious lemonade could help appease their suffering. One by one the boys unlaced their shoes, took off their shirts, and jumped in the lake. The girls didn't know whether to run, shriek, or jump in. So they simply laughed.

"Oh my mother would certainly faint if she saw this scene." Ruby squeaked, her excitement far outweighing her fear of her mother's reaction.

"You'll survive a scolding, Ruby. It's our last summer in Avonlea before we go off to Queens, we should take advantage of every second." Anne laid with her head on Diana's lap as she saw the scene that unfolded before her. The sun reflecting on the lake, the tall grass swaying in the breeze, her best friend running her hands through her hair. Avonlea was a treasure to Anne and she savored every sight, every smell, every touch. She had made it her goal this summer to have as many adventures as possible, she figured she already wasted last summer sitting in her parlor, her leg weighed down by her cast, she wasn't going to waste her last summer as a girl. Next summer she'd be a woman, a student of Queen's college.

"You're absolutely right, Anne." Ruby stood up, catching everyone's attention. Ruby started to unbutton her dress when all the girls stood up as well, trying to stop her.

"That's really not what I meant at all, Ruby." Anne pleaded.

"Take it from me, your reputation is a delicate thing. Don't tarnish it for an afternoon of fun." Josie tried to redo Ruby's buttons but the girl shook her off.

"I want to live, girls." Ruby proclaimed, standing only in her underthings. "Besides, this isn't too different to what the boys are wearing." She giggled, and with that final statement she ran to the lake and jumped. Ruby had grown bolder by the day ever since she showed up on the first day of school after winter break that year and announced to the girls that she was 'now officially over Gilbert Blythe.' All the boys stood still for a second, not being quite sure what to do, until Ruby splashed Moody's face and it was like nothing had changed at all. They all continued with their splashing and yelling and laughing.

All the girls had ran to the lakeside to get a closer look. Tillie and Jane shared a look. "Oh what the hell." The girls chorused before taking off their shoes and jumping in as well. They still wore their dresses, not feeling quite as adventurous as Ruby.

"It seems everyone has truly lost their minds. I'm going home. Diana, you coming?" Josie asked. Before Diana could answer Gilbert came out of the lake and sat down on a nearby rock. It was everything Anne could do to look anywhere but Gilbert's naked torso.

"You girls coming in?" Gilbert's teasing smile adorned his face. She had become quite fond of that little smile. Sometimes during their many study sessions she would pretend she still didn't understand a geometry question, just to see that little smile while he explained for the third time. She was also guilty of making up homework just so she would have an excuse for Marilla to let her go to Gilbert's house. Not that she often needed one, the Blythe's and the Lacroix's and the Cuthbert's had practically become one family. The use of the front door had been forgone and Bash had taken to calling Anne 'Aunty Anne' whenever he talked to Delphine about her.

"Certainly not." Josie huffed and took off.

"What about you, Carrots? Aren't you jumping in?" Gilbert knew exactly what he was doing, that nickname never failed to make her smile. She didn't really remember when it stopped irking her and started making her smile. She supposed it was late last year, she was feeding Delphine while Gilbert and Bash worked outside. She was also trying to surprise them with dinner. It seemed she got a bit too carried away playing with little Delly that her stew started pouring over, by the time she got to the stove the stew jumped and exploded all over her, her clothes, and the kitchen floor. Only Delphine was safe, as she laughed at the mess from the other side of the kitchen. 'What on God's Earth did you get yourself into this time, Carrots?' He had been unable to hide his smile and she had been unable to keep herself from bursting into laughter.

"Wouldn't you just love that?" They joked like that often. She had come to know a side of Gilbert that she didn't think a lot of people knew, and she absolutely loved. No one could argue that Gilbert Blythe wasn't the perfect gentleman, and entirely too selfless. But not a lot of people could say that he was funny. Anne could. Gilbert joked about himself all the time, self deprecating and self-adulating in the same amount. ('I mean I don't even know why all the girls in Avonlea are head over heels for you' she had said while they picked apples. He stopped and looked at her 'I mean, have you seen me, Carrots? Seriously?' She burst out laughing at that.)

So she had taken to joking around with him in the same way. ('Gil, I think we need to talk about your obsession with me.' She said to him when he arrived unannounced at Green Gables for the fourth day in a row. 'You wish. The conversation we should be having is about my obsession with Marilla's cream puffs.') Sometimes a joke wouldn't perform as intended and the air between them would became heavy with things unsaid. She would never tell him that when he joked about how she loved his hair, he was right. And he would never tell her that she actually was his main reason for going to Green Gables.

"I would." He dropped the teasing smile and looked at her solemnly. It reminded her of the way he looked at her right before she walked the schoolhouse roof and like she did that day, she felt the need to interrupt his gaze. She took all of him in, from his pants rolled up to the knee, to his wet curls sticking to his forehead. She noticed his broad shoulders and her gaze lowered, to a tiny dark mark just below his ribcage. She felt dizzy.

"I need to go." Anne didn't wait for anyone's response and just started walking as fast as she could. She could hear Diana running after her and calling her name but she couldn't bring herself to stop or the slow her pace.

Finally Diana caught up to her. "Hey, what was that all about? What happened to taking advantage of every second in Avonlea?"

"I-I couldn't stay there, Diana. I-I saw him and I saw something I shouldn't've seen, I'm not even sure what it is that I even saw but what if it is what I think it is an-"

"Slow down, Anne. Tell me what's going on." Diana tried to calm her friend.

When Anne felt she had put enough distance between her and the lake she stopped walking and turned to Diana. "You saw that birthmark Gilbert had?"

"Yeah, it looked like a soulmate mark but I'm not sure, I didn't take a good look."

"I don't know what it is, Di. But I have the exact same mark on my ankle." Anne silently pleaded for her friend to understand what she was trying to say, she didn't have the strength to say it out loud. When understanding finally etched itself on Diana's face, Anne started walking again.

"You have a soulmate mark on your ankle, Anne. You've told me about it and I've seen it. I know it's not a birthmark."

Anne couldn't form thoughts coherent enough for a reply so she just kept on walking. "Does this mean that you and Gilbert are soulmates?" Diana asked.

"I don't know what any of this means, Di." Anne finally saw Green Gables coming up the hill and said goodbye to her friend.

That night Anne poured over every romance novel she could find, including the ones she swore off years ago, and all of them had their main characters having some sort of grand revelation but Anne didn't feel any differently than she did yesterday. She loved spending time with Gilbert, that was much obvious. She couldn't say she didn't find him handsome, he's an objectively handsome boy... or man, she guessed. She could even admit (if only to herself) to having a small crush on Gilbert. But love? That was something else entirely. How was she to know what love was? But love was what she was supposed to feel for her soulmate. She had to feel it even without seeing the marks. And she had known Gilbert for a long time, if he really was her soulmate she should've felt something akin to the books by now.

Anne finally got her mind to quiet down nearing 4 in the morning, only to be woken up by the sun a couple of hours later. She begged Marilla to let her stay home from church that Sunday but Marilla would not relent. "Are you sick?" Marilla help a hand to Anne's forehead.

"...No." "Then you will go to church and thank the Lord for your health. Go get changed."

Anne did thank God when they got to the church, she thanked him because Gilbert hadn't been there when they got there, so she didn't have to talk to him. She still didn't know what to say to him 'Hey, I think we might be soulmates but we also might not be because I don't think I'm in love with you'. That probably wouldn't work. She also could pretend she didn't even see his mark and go back to normal but she didn't think that was a possibility anymore. She didn't know how to be around him anymore.

After church Marilla usually stuck around to talk to Bash and Mrs. Lynde but Anne took the opportunity to hop on the buggy with Matthew, Gilbert looking at her retreating figure in confusion.

The following day the Queen's study group was meeting at the schoolhouse to go over the topics for the entrance exam and Anne had already devised a plan for avoiding Gilbert. She spent the entire morning helping everyone else and when Gilbert asked her to read over his essay she quickly lied and told him she was too busy. This went on for the next few days. Anne had only gone four days without properly talking to him and she already missed him. She told herself this was a good thing, she had to get used to not being around him, they weren't going to be together at Queen's.

Anne tried to go a fifth day without talking to him but he made it impossible. Anne had been in the kitchen, trying to make bread, when Gilbert burst in through the kitchen door. Anne wasn't at all surprised, Marilla had assured Gilbert there was no need for him to knock anymore and he had listened to her. At the time it warmed her heart to see him come in with such familiarity, as if he was entering his own home. Now it only reminded her that she couldn't even look a mess in her house. Which she certainly did now. Flour covered every inch of her, it was caught in her braids, and in her dress, and on her face.

"I know you like to think you live here but you don't so try knocking next time." Anne kept on kneading her dough as she said this.

Gilbert was taken aback at her harshness, but persisted. "Sorry... It's just... You've been avoiding me, Anne. Why?"

"I haven't been doing anything, I've just been busy. Do you need anything or did you just come here to tell me you need attention?" Anne tried her hardest to keep her voice steely. She knew he would notice if she faltered, and if she faltered she would have to tell him the real reason she wasn't talking to him. She wasn't ready for that.

"Can we not do this right now, Anne?" Gilbert sighed.

"Do what?"

"This thing where you try to push me away. I'm tired of it from last year, and this time I'm not leaving so there's no point in trying." He moved closer to her. "You know you can tell me anything. What's going on with you?" His hands covered hers, stopping her from continuing with her kneading.

Her breath caught in her throat. "I can't talk about it right now, Gil." Her facade had been broken.

"I understand that. Tell me when you're ready. Just please don't keep avoiding me, I missed my best friend." He wrapped her arms around her and Anne felt like crying, though she didn't really know why.

"You're all covered in flour now." Her voice cracked. She held back her tears but the lump in her throat kept getting bigger.

"That's alright." He said softly. "I guess I'll just have to help you with this bread now." And that's what he did. They spent the rest of the afternoon baking, few words exchanged between them. He had gone to see her because she wasn't talking to him but standing there in the kitchen, her hand brushing against his as they worked the dough, he realized it wasn't just the conversation he missed. He missed the connection. They had somehow become a unit, there was no Gilbert without Anne.

As he walked back to his house his mind wandered to the day she broke her ankle after falling from the schoolhouse roof. He had told himself that he had imagined it. That whatever he had seen on her ankle that day was not a mark identical to his. It was just wishful thinking. If they were soulmates it would explain why he had felt so drawn to her since they met.

He rubbed the side of his face remembering the bruise that had formed there after she hit him with her slate that first day they met. Even though she tried her hardest to push him away, all he wanted was her attention. This need he had for her went on, even after he left Avonlea. Anne was the last thing on his mind after his father died but he would get struck by the though 'What is Anne doing right now?' as he shoveled coal or snuck into the upper deck to gaze upon the horizon.

Working on the ship taught him a lot. After seeing a lot of the world he figured there was more to life than worrying about a certain red headed girl ignoring him, he focused solely on his future. Until his brother got married, then he figured his future could wait. And he hadn't regretted that decision once. He thought of all the things he would've missed if he had left. He wouldn't've been there for all of Delly's firsts. He wouldn't've been able to get to know Mary before she left them, in the year he had with her he had cared for her as a sister, or maybe a surrogate mother. He wouldn't've gotten as close as he had with Anne.

Anne become a fixture of his life. He knew her, in a way that maybe he didn't know anyone else, maybe only Bash. She was his closest friend. And he always left it at that, friends. But sometimes when he saw her in a certain light or when she would laugh so hard her eyes would close, he felt a tug at his chest and wondered if what he felt for her was more than friendship. But then she would finish a sentence of his without even thinking about it and he would go back to being sure, they were friends. He had never heard of romantic partners having a relationship like theirs. What they had was special, and couldn't be sullied by adding anything more to it.

When he got home he found Bash with Delphine on his hip, trying to stir some soup. "Come on let me do that." Gilbert said, taking the spoon from his hand.

Bash tried to tell him about his day in the orchard but the words didn't seem to stick, his mind still hung up on Anne. "Where's you head at, Blythe? You haven't heard a word I've said." Bash protested.

"Sorry, Bash... I just... Can I ask you something?" He forgot about the soup and sat in the chair across from Bash. Bash nodded. "Were you and Mary soulmates?" Gilbert asked.

A rueful smile crossed Bash's face. It no longer hurt him to talk about Mary the way it once did. He missed her but now he wouldn't weep whenever he thought of her. "We were. Though we didn't find out until our wedding night. It didn't matter to us anyway, it was just a happy surprise."

"Didn't you at least have a feeling that she was your soulmate before you married her?"

"No, I just knew I loved her. And I would've continued to love her even if she wasn't my soulmate. Had I met a woman the next day with a matching mark the end result would still be the same. Mary was my person." Bash answered.

"How did you know you loved her? How could you be sure it was love and not anything else?" Gilbert continued with his questions.

"It just felt right, you know? I was eating dinner in her house and talking to her and I just felt at ease, and I knew that's what I wanted to do and how I wanted to feel for the rest of my life. That make sense, Blythe?"

Gilbert just nodded. It did make sense.

"Anything you wanna tell me?" Bash asked, his usual teasing smirk coming back to his face.

"Nope." Was all that Gilbert replied before standing up and returning his attentions to the soup.

-----

Anne knew she needed to make sense of her feelings. Whenever she was unsure of something she usually talked to Gilbert about it, but obviously that wasn't an option with the topic at hand. She tried talking to Diana, and while her bosom friend had tried to help her, she was a bit out of her depths, never having experienced anything close to what Anne was describing.

Anne decided to talk to someone who she knew would have answers. After the Queen's study group was dismissed, Anne decided to stay behind to talk to Miss Stacy.

"What can I help you with, Anne?" Miss Stacy sat on her desk while Anne leaned on the desk behind her.

She wasn't sure how to approach the subject so she decided to just jump right in. "You were friends with your husband, right?"

Miss Stacy was taken aback at the question but not much surprised anymore when it came to Anne. "I was." She chuckled a bit. "He was my best friend." Miss Stacy continued.

"How did you know you wanted to stop being his friend and wanted to become his wife?" Anne asked, earning a laugh from the teacher.

"It doesn't work like that, Anne! He was always my friend, especially when we got married. I believe friendship is the most important aspect of a marriage. Oh I had so much fun with my darling." Miss Stacy's smile only got wider as she continued to speak.

"Then how do you know when your feelings for someone are... romantical?"

"I know the answer I'm about to give you is probably going to be most unsatisfactory, but it is the truth. You just know. If you're confused now there will come a moment when you'll just know. You'll know whether this person is simply a good friend, or more than that." Miss Stacy was right, her answer did not satisfy Anne but she wanted an answer and an answer she was given.

"Thank you, Miss Stacy." The teacher went on to embrace her favorite student in a hug.

"I'll miss you when you're at Queen's." She whispered in Anne's ear.

"I'll miss you too." Anne replied.

Before Anne could exit the schoolhouse Miss Stacy called her for one last thing. "If it helps, I do think whoever is giving you these confusing feelings, is also having some confusing feelings of his own." She had noticed a certain Blythe boy moping around her classroom for a few days when a certain redhead wasn't talking to him.

Anne pretended she didn't know what Miss Stacy was talking about and left.

Anne still needed to think, so she went to her favorite thinking place. The cliff. She sat on the edge as the tall grass tickled her legs and wind mussed her braids. It wasn't long before she heard steps coming toward her. She smiled at the sound, how funny it was that she could tell exactly who it was just by the sound of his steps. He took a seat next to her.

"Marilla told me you'd be here." Gilbert said.

"Think of the devil..." Anne smiled at him.

"You thinking about me, Carrots?" Gilbert mirrored her expression.

"I was merely thinking, something you never let me do. I knew it wouldn't be long until you showed up here."

Gilbert suddenly turned serious. "I can leave if you want."

Anne shook her head. "You know your presence is always welcome by me, Gil."

He nodded. "So what were you thinking about?" He asked her.

Anne thought of a multitude of lies she could tell him but she decided to just tell him the truth. The moment was so peaceful she thought nothing could ruin it.

"I think we might be soulmates." She turned to look at him. His expression didn't change and he didn't say anything. He just sat there waiting for her to continue.

"You're not surprised?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "I had a feeling. I wasn't really sure, I'm still not, but I thought we might be. That day you broke your ankle, I could've sworn I saw your soulmate mark but it was so quick, and you pulled away, and there were other things to think about, I figured I imagined it. But then you started avoiding me after seeing my mark and I started thinking about it again." Anne opened her mouth to protest but Gilbert replied before she could even speak. "I know you saw my mark, Anne. I saw you checking me out at the lake."

Anne burst out laughing at this. "I was not checking you out!"

"You kind of were." Gilbert laughed. "But anyway, whether we are soulmates or not it doesn't really matter." He continued.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because it won't change how I feel about you." He replied earnestly. He gazed at her in a way he had done many times, but looking at him now, she was sure his eyes held the answer to the question she was about to ask.

"How do you feel about me?"

"I love you." He said without hesitation. "And I'll continue to love you in any way you'll let me. If friendship is all you'll allow then I'll love you like a best friend until you no longer stand the sight of me. Though I'll probably still keep on loving you after that. Or if you'll allow it, I'll love you like a husband. I just want to be with you, Anne."

She understood Miss Stacy then. She knew in that moment she loved him. She couldn't imagine a life where Gilbert Blythe wasn't there to tease her and comfort her. She couldn't imagine ever wanting to be with someone the way she always wanted to be with him.

"I want to be with you too, Gil. Always. I love you." She said softly.

Gilbert didn't waste another moment after that, he closed the space between them and kissed her. It wasn't passionate, as they kept breaking the kiss to smile, but they wouldn't have it any other way.

They sat there, staring at the horizon. Anne's head on Gilbert's chest, his arms wrapped around her. It was as if Anne found the missing key. This was the only thing missing between them.

"Even though it doesn't matter, I do think we need to resolve the whole soulmate issue." Anne said, breaking their silence. "Let me see your mark." She said, tugging at his suspenders.

"Anne Shirley Cuthbert are you trying to get me to take my clothes off? Just what do you think Marilla would say?" He feigned shock.

"Oh come on, Gil!" She laughed. "Here I'll go first." She unlaced her boot and took off her stocking, the action reminding her of that fateful day outside the schoolhouse. Gilbert followed her lead and tugged his shirt over his head.

She inspected his mark and inspected hers. She ran her fingers over his mark and over hers and he did the same. Then Anne did something very uncharacteristic of her. She squealed. She squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck, the force of it making them both tumble to the ground. She went on to pepper him with kisses wherever she could. His cheek, his jaw, his neck, his collarbone, and finally a peck to his lips.

"I'm really glad it's you, Anne-girl." Gilbert said against her hair.

"There could never be anyone for me but you, Gilbert." She kissed him again. She would probably have trouble not kissing him after today.

But Gilbert was usually was the voice of reason between the pair and today was no different. He realized if anyone were to stumble upon them, that person would stumble upon quite a scene. Anne laying on top of him, kissing him, missing a shoe and a stocking, and Gilbert below her, kissing her, missing a shirt. "I should probably put my shirt back on."

"I'm becoming a fan of this shirtless Gilbert." Anne said sitting up. Gilbert only gave her a look.

A few hours later Gilbert dropped Anne off at Green Gables. She felt like she was walking on air.

"What's gotten into you, child?" Marilla chastised her when she took too long to set the table for dinner.

"Oh Marilla I'm in love." Anne said when they were all at the table. Matthew choked a little bit on his water but a few pats on the back from Anne and he was fine.

"I'm happy for you, Anne. But you must keep your head, your chores can't be ignored just because you're daydreaming." Marilla reminded her.

"Yes, Marilla. Oh but aren't you going to ask me who I'm in love with?" Anne continued.

Marilla scoffed. "I've seen you two making eyes at each other enough times right here in this very table to not know it's Gilbert Blythe making you crazy."

"We're soulmates."

Marillas eyes widened at that. "You are?" She asked. Anne nodded.

Marilla held out her hand over the table and squeezed Anne's hand. Matthew gave a kiss to Anne's temple and she felt oh so grateful for her parents.

Back at the Blythe-Lacroix homestead Gilbert was having a similar conversation.

"Hey, Bash. Guess what?" Gilbert said as soon as he opened the door. Gilbert nearly skipped on his way home from Green Gables and his cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Bash raised an eyebrow, expecting an answer. "I found out who my soulmate is today." Gilbert revealed.

Bash's face made quick work into turning his frown into a smirk. "Oh really? And who, pray tell, is the unlucky gal?" Bash had placed both his hands on the table, ready to get up from his seat any minute now.

Gilbert decided wait a few seconds before answering, it was his turn to torture Bash a little bit. "... Anne Shirley Cuthbert."

Bash sprung out of his seat and began doing his little dance. All Gilbert could do was roll his eyes. "Nearly three years later, Blythe. I was right all along. So you figured out part one, she's your soulmate, have you figured out part two yet?"

"What's part two?" Gilbert asked.

"Figuring out you're in love with her." Bash replied.

"Ah, it seems I figured out part two before I figured out part one." At that Bash let out another whoop and engulfed Gilbert in a hug.

"I'm happy for you, brother. You found the one, now don't mess it up."

"Why do you always have to add that little bit of venom." Gilbert complained, though he wasn't at all upset. He embraced Bash's teasing, it reminded him that the man that he had met in the most unexpected of places, really had become his brother.

"It's my job, Blythe." Bash laughed and left to get Delphine from her crib, doing his little dance every step of the way.

----------

The next morning while Anne was having breakfast there was a knock on the door. "Gilbert Blythe since when do you knock?" She heard Marilla say. She quickly gulped down her milk and went to the door.

"Anne reminded me the other day I need to mind my manners." Gilbert said, eyes piercing straight into Anne's. "Marilla may I walk Anne to the school for our Queen's study session?" Gilbert continued.

Both Anne and Marilla were shocked and rendered speechless. Gilbert had never asked for Marilla's permission for anything regarding Anne, he would simply show up and ask if she was there.

"Well I guess you'll have to ask her." Marilla said. She returned to the dinning room after that, not wanting to be witness to another round of youthful gazing between the new couple.

Anne raised her eyebrow at her Gilbert. "What's with all this newfound formality?" She asked him.

"Just wanted to begin our courtship the proper way. May I walk you to the school, Anne?"

Anne rolled her eyes at him. "You may. Let me get my things."

Once they were on the path to the school, walking the same way they had done dozens of times. Anne holding on to the crook of his elbow, letting go every once in a while to pick a flower or stroke a leaf, and Gilbert holding both of their books, she asked him a question. "What's all this about a courtship now?"

"After yesterday's events I thought we should start making things a little more... serious. I mean you're 16 and we've been lucky enough until now to have been friends this close and not have any rumors spread." Gilbert explained.

"It's just courtships are so stiff and formal and there's so many rules, you know we'd need to get a chaperone if we were to follow the rules correctly. And you're right, I am 16, much too young to be dealing with anything as serious as a courtship."

Gilbert stiffened at her explanation. "Does that mean you want to go back to just being friends?"

"No! It means I want us to be the same us we've always been. With a few new things thrown in." To make her point she grabbed him by the neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

"You're incorrigible, Carrots." Gilbert murmured against her lips.

---------

Anne's time that summer was divided between spending time with Diana and studying for the Queen's entrance exam with Gilbert. And the day had finally arrived, in a few minutes she would be taking her exam.

Diana had gone over to Green Gables that morning to wish her luck and try to settle her nerves. It saddened Anne to think that Diana wouldn't be accompanying her in this new adventure, but she knew that distance wouldn't weaken their friendship. Diana was her kindred spirit and Anne always thought of her as her second soulmate, even before she knew who her actual soulmate was.

Now she sat in the examination room, her paper in front of her. Gilbert sat on the other side of the room and offered her a reassuring smile. 'You've got this.' He mouthed. In a surprising turn of events Anne had decided when she woke up that she did not want to speak with Gilbert until after the exam. If he tried to study some more it would only make her more nervous and if they talked about something else it would only distract her.

When the examiner finally let them turn their papers all thoughts of Gilbert or Diana or anything else left her mind. And all she focused on were the answers to the questions on that paper. She recalled every single one of Miss Stacy's lessons and every equation written on her slate, and every late night study session. And somehow her nerves left her. She finished the exam and stood up and left, Gilbert's eyes following her as she moved.

A few minutes later Gilbert joined her at the bench she was sitting, right outside of the building where they had taken the exam. They were the only two that had finished.

"How did you do?" They both asked simultaneously.

"I think I did fine, but we'll just have to see." Anne answered.

"You're the smartest girl in school, Anne. I'm sure you did great. I think I did alright, but like you said, we'll just have to see."

"You're the smartest boy in school, Gil. I'm sure you did great." Anne reassured him, a smile on her face.

A month later they both found out. All the students gathered in the school for the last time to find out their exam results. Not for the first time that summer, Anne felt quite nostalgic standing there. Avonlea had become her whole life, and if she had managed to pass this exam, in a few weeks she would be leaving.

"Anne!" Ruby's voice brought Anne out of her reverie. "You and Gilbert tied for first place!" Her friend informed her.

"We did?!" Anne asked, nearly jumping for joy. She had a feeling she had passed the test but never in a million years would she had thought she would get first place. Well, tied for first place, but that was a technicality.

In that moment Gilbert grabbed her from behind and twirled her around. "Guess all those study sessions paid off, huh?"

The pair had decided they wouldn't follow the traditional courting rules, and while everyone around them was initially shocked at they way they behaved (and Anne had received many a scolding from Mrs. Lynde) they eventually moved on, another small town gossip taking everyone by storm.

"And here I thought those were just an excuse so you could spend time with me." She teased.

"Two birds one stone, Carrots." Gilbert said, making her laugh. Anne's laugh was one of Gilbert's favorite sounds, all he ever wanted to do was make her laugh.

Moody Spurgeon, klutz with a heart of gold, had decided that this was a momentous occasion, and they couldn't ignore it. "Come on, guys! This is the last time we will ever be together like this, we have to do something to commemorate it." He said once they had all learned their results and left the schoolhouse.

Anne had stayed a few minutes. She wanted to say goodbye to the place that had seen her grow up, a place that had seen her cry and laugh, the place where she officially met her soulmate. But most importantly, she wanted to say goodbye to Miss Stacy. Anne told Miss Stacy how much of an inspiration she was to her and Anne had shed a few tears when the older woman held her close and told her she was her favorite student.

"I'm so glad I met you, Anne Shirley Cuthbert." The teacher told her as she wiped her tears away. They had said their goodbyes and Anne waved as Muriel Stacy sped off in her motorbike.

"Okay, everyone. Let's meet by the lake in an hour, I'll bring the moonshine." Moody was giddy and his mood was quickly becoming contagious so everyone decided to do as Moody said. A couple of the girls went home to get some blankets, and Charlie Sloane headed off somewhere to get another bottle of moonshine, much to Anne's surprised. 'Guess people never stop surprising you.' She thought.

"I have to say I am a bit excited to see you under the effects of Moody's moonshine." Gilbert said. He and Anne walked hand in hand towards the lake.

"I have to say you'll be disappointed. Drunk Anne just happens to talk a bit more and laugh a bit more."

Gilbert looked at her in shock. "You've been drunk?! Does Marilla know about this?"

"Oh unfortunately she does, she was witness to the mess. Have I not told you this story?" Anne said, Gilbert shook his head. Anne went on to tell him all about that time when she and Diana, at the tender age of 13, got drunk on wine, thinking it was raspberry cordial. Gilbert laughed as she told him repeatedly "It was not on purpose, Gil. I genuinely thought thought it was raspberry cordial!"

These were the moments he cherished more than anything. Just talking to Anne. He wanted to know her completely. He wanted to know every embarrassing memory and every strange thought, all of it delighted him.

"What about you, huh? I have a hard time believing Mr. Global and Bookish here didn't have at least a sip of something while traveling the world." Anne asked him.

"The first time I drank some of Bash's rum I threw up. The second time I also threw up, granted it was after three glasses but still. In the morning Bash told me I tried to join a band that was playing in the street, I don't know how to play any instrument. After that I thought it best if my short-lived relationship with alcohol came to an end." Anne laughed trying to imagine 16 year old Gilbert attempting to play the drums. She made a mental note to ask Bash to tell her the extended version of that story sometime.

An hour and a half later all the classmates sat around the many blankets provided by the girls. They all reminisced and told stories while the second bottle of moonshine was passed around, the first one lay forgotten in a corner of one of the blankets, it was empty. 'You guys remember when we hopped a freight to save Miss Stacy?' 'Or when Prissy nearly married Mr. Phillips, what was that about?' Jane scrunched her nose up at that. 'Or who could forget when Gilbert came back from traveling around Canada only to be greeted by a slap in the face with Anne's slate?' Anne blushed at the memory, or maybe she blushed at Gilbert's kiss to her cheek.

It was nearing twilight, fireflies flew around them, and the breeze was blowing in a way that could only mean summer was coming to an end. But Anne felt warm all over. She couldn't tell if it was from the many layers of blankets around her, the many many sips of moonshine she had taken, or simply Gilbert's arms around her. But even her heart felt warm. In that moment she felt so content. Her best friend lay next to her, Diana's head near Anne's feet. The girls had called upon Diana to join their farewell gathering and the girl nearly drank half of the first bottle with a grimace. "The wine was much better, wasn't it Anne?" Diana said to her, even though her speech was slurred, she spoke in soft tones.

"Yes it was, Diana." Anne replied.

The conversation in the group had faded out, people opting to speak in smaller groups or simply just enjoy the sunset, not speaking at all. The alcohol hadn't made them wild and rowdy, like Moody had predicted, but rather slow and lazy. It felt as though the slightest movement of Anne's body required enormous amount of strength, so the wisest choice seemed to not move at all. Her head was against Gilbert's chest, his steady heartbeat in her ears, like the sweetest melody. Anne chuckled at the sound of Diana's soft snores, it seems she was the first fallen soldier. But no one made a move to wake her. She moved her eyes forward and saw Ruby in a similar position, her eyes were closed and Anne couldn't tell whether she was asleep or not. The difference between her and Diana being that Ruby laid with her head on Moody's lap. That day at the lake was only the beginning of something.

Anne's childhood hadn't been perfect but that moment of complete tranquility and immeasurable happiness seemed to make up for every single tear she ever shed. She was now ready for the future.

#mine #shirbert fic #it's finally out there y'all #awae fic #awae fanfiction

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